AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Before you begin reading this third installment of my film-based adaptations of L. Frank Baum's Oz books, you might want to take a look at my profile first so that you know of the kinds of stories I like writing.

That being said, this story will begin a day or so following the end of the previous story, The Return of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Expect to see an adaptation of elements from The Scarecrow of Oz and Rinkitink in Oz, among others.

As always, the characters featured in the books that are used here are the creations of L. Frank Baum, while concepts such as the munchkin guilds and the three farmhands on the Gale Farm come straight from the classic 1939 MGM movie, The Wizard of Oz. Certain concepts…and a character or two…will be original creations, and other known ones, like Hunk, have been made relatives of other key players here.

Assuming you're still here, let's get things rolling with our prologue, somewhere in California…

I: Lost At Sea

Once upon a time, at a Boarding House somewhere on the California coast…

…there lived a young girl named Mayre Griffiths. In her infancy, she took her first steps in a manner similar to a trotting horse, so she was affectionately given the nickname "Trot".

She lived at her Boarding House home alongside her mother and her father, Charles Griffiths, who was first mate to Captain Bill Weedles, a retired seaman with a wooden peg in the place of his left leg. He was the skipper of a vessel called the Anemone before he had Trot's father inherit the schooner as its new Captain. As a consequence, Charles was almost never around the home, only visiting on special occasions and holidays. Out of concern for the family, Bill…who was already a frequent boarder at the Boarding House…spent a great deal of time with Trot as she grew up. Another family relative…a former farmhand from Kansas who was now a student at an agricultural college…came by on occasion to visit the family.

Hunk and his blond girlfriend were among the many individuals gathering at the Boarding House out of concern for the news that Bill Weedles had suddenly disappeared. He had gone out on a fishing trip by himself when a violent storm had rolled in. Bill never returned from that ill-fated trip, but there was no evidence that he had drowned. The boat he used had disappeared as well, and there were no traces of broken wood anywhere when his favorite fishing spots were investigated.

The news of Bill's disappearance hit Trot particularly hard. They loved each other's company, and Bill frequently took Trot with him whenever Trot's mother, Matilda, attempted to find him so that she could habitually ask a favor of the old seaman.

On one of these occasions, Bill and Trot shared a very special journey together about a month before Bill's disappearance. In their mutual desire to learn the truth about the existence of mermaids, they headed out to sea, hoping to find some.

Much to their surprise, mermaids found them.

They even shared an incredible adventure alongside the benevolent mermaids…after Bill and Trot were temporarily turned into water-breathing merfolk themselves…before being returned to their boat. Of their experiences, they told no one. Who would ever believe them?

(Although it should be noted, dear reader, that a mysterious stranger happened to share this story with L. Frank Baum, who used it to write a story called "The Sea Fairies"!)

Still, so strong was their bond that when Trot found out that Bill had vanished, she immediately went into a silent and oddly sob-free melancholy. She wondered if his disappearance had anything at all to do with the evil sea magician they had helped to defeat during their undersea adventure. Did Zog…who was a horrible cross-breeding of human, animal and fish…have allies wanting revenge for Zog's death at the hands of the mighty King Anko, the ruler of the mermaid kingdom?

It was nothing she could ever share with her parents, nor even her relatives. It was a bad spot for Trot to be in, particularly for the fact that there was no evidence whatsoever of any kind of catastrophe. No bodies. No wreckage. Nothing.

Just a host of increasingly unlikely theories. Pirates were mentioned. Sharks swallowing him whole. The forming of a whirlpool.

But there were no answers supported by any physical evidence whatsoever.

It was Hunk who had noticed that Trot was not feeling any sense of sorrow for Bill's apparent death. He could not resist the temptation, during this visit, to walk over to Trot…standing in her solitude by the coastline as the sun began to set in the distance…and attempt a chat.

"Trot?" Hunk began. "Are you okay?"

The young girl continued to stare out upon the waters ahead of her, heedless of the seawater coming closer to her feet as the tide swept in and out over the sands beneath her.

Hunk had a hunch. He wondered if Trot's situation might be related, at all, to the reason Dorothy Gale and her Aunt and Uncle had vanished. He similarly expressed concern for their disappearance, particularly for the fact that their farm in Irving, Kansas was, by his estimations, to become the victim of a flood. Hunk wondered if they had simply moved out of state, perhaps even to relatives he remembered Henry Gale mentioning that lived in Australia.

Wherever the Gales had gone, he had hoped they were all happy in whatever lives they had found for themselves.

A part of him still wondered what had happened to them, though, and he stepped upon the space to Trot's left to join her in her seagazing, occasionally glancing at his niece.

After a moment, he broke his silence. "You know…I'm kind of concerned for some friends of mine, too. My two friends and I were hired hands working at their farm. Not too long ago, they…"

"He's still alive."

Hunk blinked at the little girl's sudden interjection, and he turned to her. "You think so too, huh? Well…I'll believe it. After all, I have a hunch that Doro…"

"I'm gonna go find him." Trot spoke with surprising conviction in her next interjection. She then turned to Hunk. "Can you help me get a boat out here?"

Hunk's eyes widened. "You're not gonna go all by yourself, are you?"

Trot frowned. "Unless you wanna come along."

Hunk scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well…it's…kinda inconvenient, Trot, I mean…I have my classes to think about, and…"

"Fine." Trot huffed. "I'll wait 'till everyone's asleep, and get a boat out here so I can go on my own."

Hunk arched an eyebrow. "But…you're so young!"

"Cap'n Bill taught me how to row!" Trot countered. "I know he's still alive! You wouldn't understand why I know he's still out there!"

"Try us."

Hunk's beautiful girlfriend from Oklahoma, Samantha Bobbin, stepped over next to the curious ex-farmhand, wrapping an arm around him. "No matt'r how crazy it sounds, Trot. Why do y' think Bill's still alive?"

Trot shook her head. "You won't believe me. I know you won't."

"We promise not to laugh, Trot." Hunk solemnly assured. "This will be just between us, if you want."

Although she lowered her head skeptically, Trot ultimately decided to challenge their beliefs through all of one quietly-intoned, but audible, inquiry when she lifted her head curiously towards them.

"Do you believe in mermaids?"

After a moment, Hunk shrugged. "I've heard of them. You think one of them might have dragged Bill down? From what I know of them, they're supposed to be…"

"They're not!" Trot firmly countered. "Cap'n Bill and I were Queen Aquareine's guests! They were nice to us! All those stories about them bein' bad were wrong!"

Samantha nodded. "I'll b'lieve that. My Aunt used t' tell us stories 'bout mermaids."

Hunk nodded as he turned his head to his blond companion. "I've heard stories too. I'm a little too old to remember them, but…"

"Funny thing 'bout my Aunt's stories." Samantha interjected. "She said that name too, Trot. She spoke o' Queen Aquareine."

"If he's down there," Trot turned her head back towards the sea. "I have to find him. I don't care what mom or dad says."

Hunk arched an eyebrow. "If you go off on your own, your parents are going to be very worried about you. Do you really want to upset them like that?"

Trot sighed loudly in her frustration, turning to Hunk irritably. "I can't let this go!"

"Hmmm." Samantha tilted her head. "And y' nev'r thought about talkin' to your parents 'bout th' mermaids?"

"NO." Trot's voice was particularly firm in her reply.

Samantha seemed to think more on this as Hunk spoke. "Maybe you could drop a hint of…" He saw Trot stubbornly look away again as his voice trailed off. "…some…kind?"

"Trot…y' gonna have to accept that this is somethin' y' just can't do alone." Samantha remarked, despite her concern for the young girl's reaction to the hard facts. "You're too little to be able t' row a boat, ev'n if Bill taught you."

After a moment, they saw Trot's head droop down. Her body began to quake. Hunk and Samantha then heard her sniffle as she began quietly sobbing. As much as she tried not to, her sorrow was far too great for her to be able to hold it in. There was no arguing Samantha's logic no matter how badly she wanted to go out on the seas and look for Bill.

The older blonde's head also lowered. She wondered if she could have said the words in a better way. Said it in a way which would not have made Trot upset so quickly. Unfortunately, there was no other real way for her to express the conundrum that was Trot's strongly-worded want to find the retired sea captain.

Hunk, on the other hand, was frowning resolutely. This was, after all, another occasion in which someone he knew had disappeared without a trace. Despite his efforts at the time, he could not find the Gales at all. Perhaps this time, he thought, he could at least make an effort to find Bill. With, or without, the help of his girlfriend.

"You know…" Hunk observed as his eyes scanned the waters ahead of them. "…if a seasoned seaman like Bill went out there to fish, I bet we could find some nice catches out where he might have gone." He then crouched down next to Trot. "There's just one problem. I know all about farming, but I haven't really done much fishing. If I took you out there tomorrow morning, would you be willing to teach me?"

Trot's head slowly turned to Hunk as she stopped sobbing, wiping the many tears that had rolled down her cheeks.

Hunk smiled, and then gave the young girl a sly wink.

"But…but…" Trot's voice still shook. "…mom and I were gonna go shopping tomorrow. We…we need food."

Samantha shrugged, smiling. "I can take her to do that, Trot. I'll just tell your mom that Hunk's gonna watch ov'r you while we're gone. You know…like a babysitter." Samantha then turned her head to her boyfriend to fix a particularly stern look upon him. "And he's goin' to be a very responsible babysitter, too."

Hunk shrugged, smiling. "Of course!" He turned his head back to Trot. "Think you can be ready at sunrise, Captain Trot?"

A slight smile was now on Trot's lips as she nodded, the lump in her throat dissolving. "Do you…know how to row?"

Hunk gently placed a hand on Trot's shoulder, smiling. "Only if you teach me."

Punctuating this statement with another sly wink, he was finally able to get Trot to giggle.

Trot imagined, in her anticipation for the "fishing trip", that she would be unable to get any sleep. Fortunately, her eyes eventually closed and she lapsed into a deep sleep.

The feel of Matilda shaking her shoulder, six hours later, brought her out of it. "Come on! Up! Up! Get some clothes on! Your Uncle Hunk is here! He's waiting for you!"

Trot nodded wearily, but became a little more alert when her mother mentioned Hunk. Choosing a loose-fitting, sailor-type outfit, she raced out of her room, only to run into Matilda again. "Hooooold IT!" She held out a hand in restraint in emphasis. "Raise your right hand, little lady!"

Trot sighed irritably as she complied. She hated doing this little ritual.

Matilda's hands went to her waist. "Repeat after me. 'I…'"

"I." Trot repeated.

"Do solemnly swear." Matilda remarked.

"Do solemnly swear." Trot repeated.

"That I will behave myself."

Trot sighed in quiet irritation. "That I will behave myself."

"And do whatever Uncle Hunk tells me to do." Matilda wagged a finger to her in emphasis of this.

Trot nodded, still looking tired. "And do whatever Uncle Hu…" She stopped a moment to let out a loud yawn. "…sorry…Uncle Hunk tells me to do."

Matilda smiled now. "And catch lots of fish."

Trot smiled at this as well, not expecting it. "And catch lots of fish." That was obviously not a part of the routine, and the young girl appreciated this.

"AAALLLL A-BOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRD!" They both heard Hunk calling out from where he was, by the shoreline.

Matilda planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Have a good time out there. Be careful! Don't fall out of that boat!"

She watched her daughter head right outside, hurrying over to where Hunk and his boat…which was tied to a wooden dock by the boarding house…were waiting. The rubenesque-figured woman lingered her gaze upon the boat until they detached the rope from the dock and floated out onto the waters, Trot visibly instructing her Uncle how to row, before Matilda turned around and made her way to the car where Samantha was waiting for her.

Trot noticed that there were a couple of fishing poles in the boat, and a couple of large metal buckets, so she couldn't help but wonder if there was no ulterior motive to what Hunk had offered, and he did indeed expect Trot to teach him how to fish.

Trot had to challenge this. "Ssssoooo…you've never done a lot of fishing?"

Hunk, however, remained quiet as he scanned the waters around the boat, working the pair of oars at a brisk pace, running them through the waters with strong grips and keeping the boat moving as Trot idly sat in front of him, looking curious and waiting for the answer to her sole inquiry.

"Uncle Hunk?" Trot then asked, breaking the silence that followed.

Hunk's eyes finally met Trot's. "How far out do you think he could have gone?"

Deep down inside, Trot felt entirely relieved that Hunk seemed to care more for the girl's want to find Bill rather than to fish. She now scanned the waters around them as well as she offered a reply. "I don't know."

"Maybe you could tell me where you found those mermaids?" Hunk then asked.

Trot pointed in a direction farther from the wooden dock, which was by now very far behind them. "Down that way."

It was then that Hunk looked to the skies, seeing that the cloud cover high above was now darkening a little, which was odd for the fact that moments before, the skies were fairly clear and the clouds were mostly white. Despite his hesitation over this discovery, Hunk resumed his rowing motion.

Trot also noticed the cloud cover as well, and she felt the winds pick up as they moved. Concerned over what might happen next, Trot fished into a pocket of her outfit and pulled out a beautiful golden ring, slipping it on her left ring finger. She had wanted to use this as proof of her mermaid claims in case Hunk really did want to go fishing, but now Trot hoped that it would somehow be a means to avoid the fate that resulted in Bill's disappearance.

Hunk spotted the ring's presence once Trot had secured it on her finger. "What's that?"

As much as Trot felt inclined to answer with complete honesty and detail, she was still hesitant to spill the beans. "It was a gift. It…brings me good luck."

Hunk's eyes once again went to the skies. A part of him wanted to give up the hunt, but they had not even begun to search. Further, he did not want to give up on Trot just yet. In fact, her headstrong nature was beginning to remind him very much of Dorothy.

"Just a little further!" Trot cried out as the winds began to whip around a little more. Despite Hunk's best efforts, however, the boat was beginning to move by itself, and with a strong current that began to draw the boat into a wide, curving path. By now, the boat was quite far from any lands, and it seemed like they were the only ones out on the ocean as they both felt drops land on their faces.

"Uh oh…" Hunk attempted to manipulate the oars against the current they were stuck in, but the waters kept rushing faster and faster, and around a central point which, to the shock of both Hunk and Trot, seemed to be deepening!

Trot gasped when she realized what was being created. "It's a whirlpool!" She cried out. "We have to get out of it!"

Hunk had to strain with all his might in his efforts to regain control. "I…I'm trying! The current's too strong!"

Indeed, as Hunk continued to try and manipulate their movement, one of the thick-wooded oars suddenly snapped in two! The skies above were now very dark, and flashes of thunder and lightning added to the steady rain which was now drenching the boat's hopeless occupants.

Hunk saw the whirlpool growing larger, its funnel going deeper into what looked like a black abyss. When he looked to Trot, however, something seemed to excite her despite the chaos of the moment.

She looked to Hunk. "I saw one! In the whirlpool!"

High winds now blasted against the both of them. "What? What did you…"

Trot now presented her ring. "This gift! It was from Queen Aquareine! I saw a mermaid in that whirlpool!"

Hunk barely heard her through the howling winds. "Can they get us out of…"

The boat suddenly lurched. In the excitement, they failed to notice that the boat was now running along the sides of the whirlpool, in a twisting, downward arc. With the violent lurch, both occupants were pitched overboard! Hunk heard Trot's high-pitched squeal as she seemed to dissolve into the surface of the rushing waters.

Hunk was also pulled into the watery maelstrom in the next moment.

There was nothing either of them could do but hold their breaths for as long as they could. As beautiful as Trot's golden ring was, it offered no magical benefits. She could only hope that the mermaid she was certain she had seen would help her.

Hunk began to flail about as he felt the rush of the whirlpool's currents. His eyes were closed, too, as his eyes were unfit to see beneath the surface. He began to wonder if this hunt he and his girlfriend had more or less agreed to help Trot undertake would come to a fatal and tragic end. The young girl, however, sounded entirely earnest when she spoke of mermaids. Was there indeed any truth to her words?

It was getting to the point where Hunk could hold his breath no further. Within moments, he would be forced to gulp in water. He would begin to drown. His expression turned fearful as he tried to keep his body aligned with the rushing currents.

Filled with regret that he had failed Trot, he finally opened his mouth, forced to accept his end…

…and in that instant, he found himself breathing air! Gasping with heaving breaths, his body rested against a damp, round surface. His eyes were still closed, but his body was completely exhausted from the strain of trying to hold his breath.

Wearily, Hunk opened his eyes…

…and saw the ocean depths around him gradually moving past.

Yet, he was not swimming!

Looking around him in his confusion, he saw that he was now upon the surface of a large, round bubble, which seemed to be moving in the opposite direction. His first instinct was to look for the mermaids Trot had mentioned.

The only things Hunk saw were various sea creatures. None, however, corresponded to the description of a mermaid.

Trot was also nowhere to be seen, either.

Entirely mystified, and at once wondering if this was how Bill had disappeared, Hunk could only wait and see where the bubble was taking him. He saw the undersea ground begin to come up, the bubble obviously traveling towards shallow waters…

…and once the bottom of the bubble touched the ground, the bubble suddenly popped. Once again, Hunk was surrounded by water. With some of his strength recovered from the deep breaths he had taken within the bubble(which confused him as well, as he did not expect a transparent bubble to be able to provide him with breathable air!), he was able to get himself out of the waters and crawl back onto a sandy shore.

After a few deep and labored breaths from his aching chest, Hunk slowly rose to his feet…

…to find himself looking upon the Boarding House. A glance to his right confirmed the presence of the wooden dock.

The morning skies above were mostly clear, too.

Hunk turned around to face the ocean once more with a look of complete despair. Not a sound other than his labored breathing escaped his lips.

Dropping his knees to the wet sand below, he could only feel the current splashing against them as it moved in and out along the sands.

Hunk began to feel as if he were cursed. First, he had lost Dorothy Gale to a tornado. Now, he had lost another friend to a whirlpool.

Somehow, unlike Dorothy, he felt that Trot was not going to be waking up in her bed hours later, safe and sound…but if what Trot said about mermaids was true, then he could only hope that they had saved her life…

…just as they had irrefutably saved his.

And at the same time, proving Trot's claim that mermaids were, indeed, benevolent creatures.

The four-winged creature was called an Ork.

Was it a fish? A bird? Its four stork-like legs, its parrot-like head…which had a beak that curved down at the front and then up at its edges…and the crest of scarlet plumes at the top of its head would lead one to assume the latter, but its thick, featherless skin and its buzzing, propeller-like tail…formed by a mass of skin, bone, and muscle…made the creature look far more unique.

This particular Ork was something of an explorer, which was unlike his more homebound brethren in the domain called Orkland. He frequently made a habit of traveling beyond the borders of his home, although he never strayed beyond the outer boundaries of the nonestic isles as a whole. Whatever world existed beyond the isles was clearly not his own, and he preferred to be among more familiar locales.

As this Ork, whose name was Flipper, continued to soar through the beautiful skies around him, he was mindful of the cargo he had in his front two feet. It was a cargo that had been entrusted to him during his journey over the nonestic domain called Mo.

The mermaids he encountered, however, wanted the ork to bring the unconscious human girl over the deadly desert that surrounded the fairyland called Oz.

Agreeing to their request, and moreso for the fact that they had once saved Flipper from the attack of a sea creature when he was unexpectedly dropped to the seas below him by a chance shot of lightning a week or so ago, his consent to bring the girl to one of the five domains of the fairy princess called Ozma would more or less fulfill his repayment of the life debt.

It was to his benefit that he liked young humans, as well. Flipper estimated that his burden could not be any older than ten years in age.

Flipper needed to fly at a particularly high elevation to be able to stay out of range of the sandy vapors that would have not only grounded him, but killed him as well. The border terrain, after all, was the Great Sandy Wastes, which was alternately referred to as the Shifting Sands, and far more often by its more well-known epithet.

The Deadly Desert.

Setting an organic foot upon its sand drifts, after all, turns a living person into nothing more than a mound of lifeless sand within the space of a single terrifying moment. Flipper's grip on the girl was particularly firm as his four wings…which were shaped like inverted chopping bowls…kept them both aloft, and high enough for them to be able to disregard the dangers completely.

Once Flipper moved past the desert, it was now a matter of where the girl was to be deposited. On this, the mermaids were not specific, so it fell to the ork to choose. Was she to awaken among the munchkins of Munchkinland? Perhaps the gillikins of the northern Gillikin Country could see to her recovery. Or perhaps the winkies.

It was then that Flipper surmised that his burden would find the most pleasant recovery of all in the care of the most powerful sorceress in the entire land...and if one needed to seek out the company of Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, one needed to go to the land to which she had been ordained a vassal: the Quadling Country.

Flipper figured that seeing the wondrous palace would clue the girl in that this was where she should go, and once the palace was within sight, the ork began his descent.

Flipper smiled once he had settled the girl, who was still unconscious, to the ground. He then lowered his head so that he could gently speak a few final words of comfort unto her. "When you open your eyes again, I hope you will think of whatever hardships you might have been through to be nothing more than a bad dream."

With this, the ork once again began its ascent, his debt to the mermaids fulfilled. He needed to get back to Orkland, after all, for despite his enjoyment of exploration, he similarly enjoyed being among his fellow orks, as well.

Ten minutes passed before Trot's eyes finally reopened.

She first confirmed that the golden ring was still on her finger. Shuddering from the chill she was getting in her wet clothes, she made an effort to stand up.

Her mouth hung open in awe at what her eyesight finally focused on as she scanned the area around her.

It was when her eyes fell upon Glinda's magnificent palace that she gasped in awe. Surrounded by a beautiful silver gate, a large front courtyard preceded a wide, long set of white marble stairs leading up to the red-walled exteriors of the palace itself, with spires stretching high into the skies beneath a lavishly-designed stronghold, the various occupants of which were female, and if they were not wearing lovely red robes, they were outfitted in more soldierly red uniforms, betraying their status as guards. Three sets of large double doors…all three of them open wide…permitted entry into the palace, and each of them were flanked by a pair of female guards.

As Flipper had placed Trot at the edge of a forest that was nearest to the palace, the curious girl began to take a step towards it…

"Wait!" An aged voice whispered aloud behind her. "Don't go there!"

Trot spun around quickly, in the direction of the voice, but saw nothing other than the forest of trees behind her.

The California girl frowned. "Who was that?" She hissed.

The idle sounds of singing birds, and the streaming of a gentle breeze, was her response. She turned to face the palace once again...

"Don't go!"

The red-robed old woman was right in front of her now, holding her open hands up to her in restraint, and Trot gasped, startled by the woman's sudden appearance. Her white-haired, slightly wrinkled face held an expression of genuine concern. The tall, robed woman, who looked to be a few years past the middle-age threshold, looked fearful as she spoke.

"You shouldn't go there!" The woman quietly advised, placing a hand on her right shoulder, lowering to a knee. "A very powerful witch lives there! I'm glad I stopped you before you reached the gate!"

Trot tilted her head curiously. "Why?"

"You would have fallen under her spell, of course!" The robed woman replied. She then gestured to the occupants beyond the gate. "See all those women? All of them so happy and content? That nasty witch captured fifty of them from all over the land of Oz to serve her in a state of mind-controlled bliss!"

Trot looked back over to the castle thoughtfully. She did indeed see the contentment on all of their faces. But one thing puzzled her about the warning she had been given.

The California girl turned back to the woman to make her conundrum known. "What's so bad about being happy?"

"Oh, come now, little one. Have you not been listening?" The woman remarked. "There's nothing bad at all about happiness of your own, but there are terrible magic spells which make you happy against your will! I would rather you be happy on your own terms."

"Well…I can't be very happy now." Trot remarked, in a somewhat sullen manner. "I'm trying to find someone. His name is Bill Weedles. Have you heard that name?"

The old woman thought for a moment, and then shook her head. "I can't say I have, but? I can take you to someone who can certainly help you. Someone a lot safer to be around compared to that wicked witch, Glinda!"

Trot's expression brightened. "That would be swell! Can I see her right now?"

The woman's grin looked a little unsettling, but she could hardly believe that she was able to find someone who bought her most wicked lie. For whatever reason, it seemed this little girl had no reason to not trust this woman, who in truth belonged to a coven of wicked witches.

She gestured for the young girl to walk with her. "Only if you follow along, my sweet little pretty."