Disclaimer: Tin Man, Wizard of OZ or anything associated with it belong in no way, shape, or form to me. Sadly, this includes Cain's gun. For some reason, there's no money either. ::pouts::
Wyatt Cain knew something was wrong as soon as he approached the main street leading to the palace gates. Guards were practically crawling out of the woodwork and every single one of them looked grim and serious. They were far too intent for a drill and there was none of the usual eye rolling or discrete banter that accompanied such maneuvers. Cain increased his pace, anxiety eating at him. What had happened at the palace to make the guards so nervy? Did anyone on the grounds have enough experience to deal with a serious situation?
Almost immediately, he forced himself to let go of that particular thought. That was a dead end and unworthy to boot. Nearly every man he and the Consort had chosen for the Palace Guard had more than enough experience fighting the Witch and her Longcoats in the rebel forces to justify their presence on the guard roster. Those that had not been active in the underground rebellion had been guards or heavyweights for trading caravans or businesses within the city and deserved respect. It was foolish for him to think that he was the only person capable of responding to an emergency situation.
Although he kept trying to reassure himself, Cain continued to pick up his pace until he was stopped at the front gate by an entire squad of guards. Despite himself, his hand started to stray toward his gun. The telling noise of a gun cocking behind his ear made him stop. With an effort, he forced his hand to relax at his side and turned just enough to catch the barrel out of the corner of his eye.
"What the hell is going on, Rob?" he snarled. "Was the Princess injured?"
Rob eyed him for a long moment before shrugging. "Sorry, Cain," he said curtly. He wasn't sorry, of course, but he wasn't willing to offend his immediate superior with no real reason. "There was an assassination attempt not even ten minutes ago. Two men breached the grounds and attacked the princesses. Both of the assassins are dead, but two guards are dead and at least one of the princesses is injured pretty badly. No one out here knows what's going on yet, except that we're to lock down the entire grounds until everything can be sorted out."
Cain stared at Rob for a moment before swearing viciously. His hand tightened around his revolver so tightly he thought it might actually crack. "Rob, from this point until you hear from me or the Consort or the Advisor in person, you will not let anyone through these gates. I don't care if it's a Viewer or the Good Witch reborn, if anyone gets in without my permission I will string you up to hang myself. Understand?"
Rob nodded curtly and holstered his weapon. "You can count on us, sir!" With a sharp salute, he waved Cain through the main gates and bolted him securely behind him. Cain broke into an all out run up the path toward the palace. His guards would not have let him onto the grounds at all if there was any chance of a threat still remaining, but he couldn't help but look sharply at everything he passed. Every gently waving tree, every inviting garden path suddenly became a place where a potential assassin could hide. Cain didn't slow down though. He couldn't slow down, not until he knew who was injured and how badly. Oh please, Deeg, he thought desperately. Please be okay.
Cain reached the palace and darted past another set of guards at the front door with a sharp salute and without slowing down even a tiny bit. One of them gestured toward the east and he took that hallway without missing a beat. He was just in time to see DG collapse completely into Lieutenant Soren Mikkelsan's arms. "DG!" he cried out. He was horrified to see the blood soaked bandages covering her arm and shoulder. "Soren, what happened?" he managed.
The lieutenant shifted DG so that she was lying in a slightly more natural position in his arms. "Assassins, sir. Princess DG was in her daily magic lesson with Tutor in a secluded clearing. No one had any idea anything was happening until we heard Tutor screaming for us. I sent half of my men after Princess Azkadellia and took the rest with me to help Princess DG. She had already taken care of the problem." Mikkelsan's voice held a muffled admiration for the younger princess. It was clear that whatever had happened impressed him immensely. "One of my other team reported that Princess Azkadellia was unharmed, but had killed her attacker. She is being escorted to the Queen and Consort now. DG was not so fortunate."
They reached the infirmary and Mikkelsan laid the princess down on the closest bed as gently as he could. Cain sank down onto a chair near the bed as he saw the full extent of the princess's injuries. "Go get cleaned up, Soren," he said gruffly.
Lieutenant Mikkelsan did not say a word, only saluted sharply and left the princess to her bodyguard. Everyone knew that Cain and DG had traveled the length of the OZ together to save it from the Witch. Everyone knew how close the two were – how they saved each other time and time again.
Medical staff bustled in and surrounded the Princess, and Cain stood up out of their way against a wall. He noticed how dark and limp her hair looked against her face. He noticed how brilliant the blood looked against her pale skin. He had a perfect view of her as the two doctors and a nurse slowly unwrapped her wounds and stitched them up. When they revealed her slashed hand, Cain gritted his teeth. When they stitched her up and she cried out softly, he reached for his gun.
When they pulled out the knife in her shoulder, DG screamed in agony and cried out for him. "Cain! Please make them stop!" she sobbed wildly. Cain was at her side in a minute, ignoring the glares of the doctors. "I'm right here, princess," he whispered. He stroked her hair gently. "I'm right here, DG. I know it hurts. I know. I'm so sorry I wasn't here to stop it, but it will be over soon. I promise." He cursed the fact that Raw was not anywhere near Central City.
Another hoarse scream tore from DG's throat and Cain turned his entire attention to attempting to soothe her. Eventually, the nurse was able to give her a sleeping drought and DG's cries slowly subsided. Cain held her hand tightly, thankful for the fact that he didn't have to participate in torture anymore. Right there and then, he swore that if he ever found out who was responsible for her pain and the guards' deaths, he would personally kill them very slowly.
The older doctor stayed behind and shooed the nurse out as she tried to clean up. "I'll take care of it," he said. With a slightly confused look, the nurse bobbed her head in acknowledgement and left the room. The two men stared at each other over DG limp body. "Do you know who did this?" the doctor asked bluntly.
Cain examined the doctor through narrowed eyes. The man was tired and splattered with DG's blood. He also looked worn out and very, very angry. "No," he said slowly. "No, I don't know who did this, but I'm wondering if you do."
The doctor showed no surprise at Cain's near accusation. His lip twisted up through and he shrugged a shoulder, although it was anything but casual if Cain was any judge of character at all. "I have seen this type of knife once before. Only once, in all the years I have practiced medicine." He fell silent and after a long moment wrapped a long piece of clean cotton around the hilt of the bloody knife that had been pulled out of a princess's shoulder. He offered the weapon to Cain. "Compare this weapon to the others used on the grounds today. If they're all the same, you have a bigger problem than you could ever imagine."
Cain looked at the knife. He was so concerned with DG that he hadn't even noticed it before this point. It was extremely distinctive. It appeared to be made out of solid copper. The blade itself was an old-fashioned leaf-shaped blade, but the hilt was a work of art. Strands of solid copper worked in sinuous patterns twinned around each other to form a hollow, latticed cylinder. It seemed impractical in the extreme, and hardly a weapon to depend on it. It was, however, a weapon to make a statement with. "What do you mean?" Cain asked in a hard voice, his heart sinking.
The doctor continued to clean his surgical tools. "I don't know for sure, Mr. Cain, and I'm not going to guess. If it's what I think, though, the Queen will be able to tell you soon enough."
Cain realized that he wouldn't get anymore information out of the doctor at the moment and backed off. He rolled his eyes just slightly. The last thing anybody needed today was riddles. For the sake of the OZ, if there was a major problem, why didn't the doctor just let everyone know what he was afraid of?
That wasn't a fair thought, though. Independent thinking was not encouraged under the Witch's reign and nobody really trusted that the time of her deprivation and depravity was totally over with. It was hard to express opinions after 15 years of keeping them to yourself. It was hard to act with initiative when that sort of action was punished with the death or torture of your loved ones. He thought of Adora and Jeb, punished with hardship and grief because he was a member of the resistance. Then he looked down at DG lying pale and injured and found it in himself to let the doctor alone for the time being. He busied himself for a moment with pulling off DG's shoes and making her as comfortable as possible.
A loud crash jerked Cain to his feet. Before he even realized that he heard the noise, his revolver was drawn and pointed unerringly at the person standing in the doorway. The infirmary door rebounded against Azkadellia's hand and thudded against the wall yet again before coming to a standstill half open. Cain forced himself to lower his revolver. "Princess," he said very, very calmly, "please do not ever do that again."
The quiet deadliness in his voice made her flinch for just a second. If Cain had not been a Tin Man at one point in time, he would not have even caught that much. He was surprised that he saw it all. The Witch was not a good person, but she was a very effective teacher. Very few people surprised Azkadellia now and hardly anyone could read her even if they did. Even now, he had to admire her because she showed no sign that she knew that he saw her flinch at his tone.
"My apologies, Mr. Cain," she said, insincerely. "Excuse me if my concern for my sister has outweighed any polite considerations for others in her vicinity." Az ignored the chair by DG's side entirely in favor of kneeling and grasping her sister's hand tightly in both of her own. "Oh, Deeg,"
she breathed softly. Her voice was so soft he almost missed it completely. The anguish in her voice was obvious and Cain found himself feeling just a tiny bit sorry for her.
"Neither wound is life threatening, Highness," he offered. "She'll be fine before you know it."
Az was weeping silently. "It should not have been her," she said. Her voice sounded perfectly normal, even politely distant despite the tears. "She's too good for this," she finished and her voice did break just slightly at that point. It was just for a second, and then there was no sign that the façade had ever cracked at all.
"Highness?" Cain questioned. "What do you mean? Do you know what happened?" A horrible suspicion grew in him. Was this the end result of a plot laid down by the Witch years ago just in case something like this happened?
Azkadellia sent him a brief withering look that let him know that she knew what he was thinking. "No, Cain, the Witch didn't plan this," she said. He instantly felt bad, but refused to back down. She reached across the bed and plucked the dagger from his grasp. She held it with the cloth still wrapped around the hilt, but allowed the blade to show. "The Witch didn't plan this," the princess repeated with distaste. "Instead, she prevented it."
Cain felt his eyes widen in surprise.
"The Witch prevented murder?!" Glitch's astonished voice dripped sarcasm from the still open doorway.
Azkadellia smirked briefly in acknowledgement of the irony but her dark brown eyes were deadly serious when she replied. "No, Ambrose. She saved the OZ."
Cain instinctively reacted to block the doorway before Glitch and the enraged noble behind him could reach the princess. He heaved a sigh at the outraged cries. "Princess, was that necessary?" he asked dryly.
Azkadellia didn't say anything at first, but only looked at her sister. "No, Mr. Cain," she whispered. "It wasn't necessary but it is true."
