Author's Note: Mein gott I've gotten too much positive attention for this! Don't you guys realize I don't deserve it?
Thank you to the people who added this to their alerts list. I will do my best to push myself to make this something worth the time you lose reading it.
Thank you fujikawaii10346 for your compliements and reviews on each chapter. It really touched my heart!
Oh my god, pocketfulofmumbles, stop being so nice to me! You've inspired me so much with your work, and I really feel that having met you and the things you have had to say will keep me working hard to push it farther and make the characters more real. I'm not there yet, even though I've finished 6 chapters. (5 and 6 still need to be read by my sister for her critique before I can put them up) I STILL need to push it farther. And I will, if not for myself, than at least for the readers like you who really believe that I can accomplish it if I work hard enough.
I confess, again, this is the first fanfiction I've ever done and so I am very nervous about EVERY aspect of it. The positive feedback as been wonderfully motivating, but the constructive feedback I've received has been just awesome. Thank you so much. And to all my readers, if you see flaws, or problems, or typos (ESPECIALLY in Mathias's name as my spell check will sometimes AUTO-CHANGE it to Mathius on me and I tend to have to go back and fix the places where it did it! I don't always catch them all I'm afraid.) please feel free to let me know.
If there is something about a character you feel is wrong, let me know, and I'll take a look at it and see how I can better develop them. I'm really nervous about characterization and so if you feel I'm doing it wrong, let me know, and give me a chance to try again. ANYWAY! On with the show.
Chapter 4: The Tin Woodsman:
The road had become more hazardous the farther away from the Munchkin city they traveled. Now the farms had become a deep, dark forest, the branches making it a rougher go. Tino had never walked so far in one sitting in all of his life and he was so utterly exhausted that, leaning on Mathias's wobbly frame for some support (which frequently sent both of them tumbling over when Mathias would walk into a pothole), he couldn't tell if it was night or if the thick canopy of trees were blocking out the sun. Mathias, being tireless, kept chattering (LOUDLY) about every little thing he observed to keep Tino awake and moving. He was still so full of vigor he wasn't ready to stop and hoped that they could go as far as possible before Tino just couldn't take a step further, which sadly came sooner than he was ready for. "God, Mathias I'm exhausted. Even Hanatamago's worn out. I don't think I could take another step." Tino whined loudly, dropping his head, almost childishly, onto the scarecrow's shoulder.
"Oh, it's too bad you can't take another step, 'cause I think I see a cabin up on that hill." Mused the brainless scarecrow, whose expression of humor instantly changed to one of surprise as Tino found some little extra spurt of juice; the tiny Finn launched himself, puppy in arms, up the hill at a break neck pace. A cabin! No sleeping on the ground tonight! No being exposed to the possible dangers of the forest with only a stuffed nincompoop and a tiny dog to keep an eye out! Maybe even a bed he could lay in and rest his feet!
As if a sign from God, the door to the cabin was unlocked and Tino let himself in, calling out into the dark, unlit building. Getting no response he wandered in, just as Mathias's swagger brought him to Tino's side. "Wow, this place is a dump." Commented the scarecrow as Tino found a little oil lamp and, using some matches he had packed in the basket, illuminated the room. Mathias was right. It was minimally furnished, which didn't bother Tino as he was used to that kind of life with his aunt, but it was the three inches of dust on EVERYTHING that left him agreeing with the brash scarecrow. "Be that as it may Mathias, it's still a place to sleep. And it doesn't look like anyone's been living here for a really long time, maybe even years. It's dusty, there's no food, and no firewood. No one's going to mind if we sleep here tonight." Really, the only thing in the cabin was a vacant hearth, a lumpy hay filled cot with a ragged old blanket, and a rather out of place oil can sitting on the mantle.
The scarecrow shrugged. "You sleep then. I don't sleep. I'll just sit here in the corner 'til mornin'." He crowed, throwing himself into said corner, looking like a head sticking out of a pile of dirty laundry. Normally Tino would have been polite and offered the scarecrow the bed as at least a comfortable place to sit, but he was just too exhausted for formalities and proper manners. 'Sorry aunt Katyusha, but I'm just too tired to care about how Mathias spends his night.' Thought the petite Finn as he deposited the basket on the floor, scooped up his dog, and came crashing down on the lumpy cot.
He had fallen asleep so quickly that in the morning he didn't remember even making contact with the bed, and part of him wanted to stay in it longer. However, he did have to wake up eventually so he gingerly pushed himself up, and with a great big yawn, stretched out his back until he heard a satisfying pop. "Godmorgen. You slept alright?" chimed the cackling voice from the pile of clothes in the corner. Tino was a little surprised to hear the voice, and with a quick look around the events of the day before all swarming back to him. Oh if only it had been a wildly interesting dream, but here he was, sitting in the dusty cabin (which was, quite frankly, giving him a stuffy nose), and in the corner was the blue eyed scarecrow leering at him with that goofy grin. "I guess so." the Finn smoothed his hair down with his hands. He'd not dreamed, and he supposed, all things considered, sleeping through the whole night could be counted as having a good night's sleep. "When do we get going again?" Inquired Mathius as he got up on his wobbly feet from his crumpled pile in the corner.
Did the scarecrow ever tire of moving on? "Soon, I guess, but can me and Hanatamago have something to eat first? We just woke up." Whined Tino and immediately Mathias looked apologetic. "Sorry, I forgot you need to eat. It's because I have no brains." Tino vaguely wondered if Mathias was going to be using his brainlessness as an excuse. He pushed the thought away, Mathias was nice on the inside, even if incredibly hyperactive, and it wasn't the scarecrow's fault that Tino was having a rough morning. (Especially with the promise of no coffee what so ever.)
He did find, however, that the simple act of eating did wake him up a little. ('Maybe I was cranky because my blood sugar was low.' Pondered Tino.) And he was grateful for the Munchkin's gift of some sweet cookies in the bottom of the basket they had given him. He broke one in half and shared it with Hanatamago as they sat on the step outside the cabin and watched Mathias wander around the woods inspecting things nearby. He was such a curious creature. Barely had he finished cleaning up the food and wandering over to the scarecrow did something shining in the distance catch his eye.
A beam of sunlight had managed to penetrate the canopy and was shining down directly on what looked like a man made of metal, frozen in an awkward position with his axe raised above his head, as though he had been in the middle of his swing. "What the devil?" Tino asked, as he and Mathias made their way for the figure. "Wow, he's certainly a pretty statue isn't he?" Commented the leering scarecrow, but to both their surprise the statue moaned loudly, and though the rest of his body remained frozen, his eyes looked to them pleadingly. "OHYAAA!" shrieked the tiny blonde, leaping away from the Tin Woodsman. "He's alive too! Wh-why is he moaning and not talking?" he questioned. The gleaming creature's moan seemed to become furious sounding, and it looked as though he made a futile attempt at moving his jaw, but it was rusted shut. Mathias took notice of this and, for once, something seemed to click. "He's all rusted up! I bet that oil can in the cabin would do it!" And before Tino could even comment Mathias had swaggered off, leaving him alone with the Tinman and his penetratingly empty gaze. Tino could only stare at him, unable to think of anything to say, knowing the seemingly frustrated creature would be unable to reply until the scarecrow returned, which, luckily, was sooner than Tino had expected.
"Here, you oil his jaw." Commanded the stuffed man, and Tino did just that and watched as the leather gloved fingers of the scarecrow gripped onto the woodsman's head and jaw and slowly moved the joint for him, getting the oil down into the crevices until finally the woodsman spoke!
"Nok! Nok! Oh please get my neck next, it's so horribly stiff." And Tino and Mathias did just that and watched as the woodsman moved his head.
"Oh, my arms, please, I've not put this axe down in over a year!" And the two continued on, with Tino oiling and Mathias rotating every joint in the poor woodsman's body. Finally the work was done and the Tinman tossed his axe against the tree and threw himself into the grass. "Takkveldigmye. I had come to think I was going to be stuck rusted into that spot until the Ragnarök."
"How did you get like that?" Tino asked. Really he wondered how he'd gotten rusted to the spot, but also, how it came to be that he was a tin woodsman. He couldn't say, now that the woodsman was talking and moving, that he should have been surprised at his being animate, as Tino'd already made friends with a talking, wobbling, leering scarecrow.
The woodsman stared up at them with empty eyes. "It rained while I was chopping wood one day. I rusted to the spot." He said flatly. Granted, it DID explain it, but it was a rather dead pan way to. "I've not seen anyone come past this place in the year that I've been frozen here, what brings you through?" he inquired. Tino opened his mouth to answer, but Mathias interrupted him, regaling the woodsman with Tino's need to return home and his own desire for a brain. When he had finished the woodsman scoffed. "You really do sound brainless. No wonder you need it so badly." He deadpanned. "Do you think if I went along with you the Wizard could give me a heart?"
The friends raised eyebrows. "A heart?" they inquired in unison. "What ever does a Tinman need a heart for?" teased Mathias playfully.
The woodsman stood back up and shouldered his axe. "I'll tell you what for, idiot. If you couldn't tell, I wasn't always a metal man-" he paused for dramatic effect as the other two gazed up at him. No, they really hadn't given any thought to the idea that he hadn't always been this shiny… and Mathias had an excuse Tino didn't have… he had no brain. "My name was Siguard, and I was the son of a woodcutter. When my father died I became a woodcutter and sold the wood to support my aging mother. When she died it was just my younger brother Erikir and I. Because we were poor Erikir became an indentured servant to an old man in the woods, as I couldn't afford to take care of him. I worked hard, and with time I wasn't so poor anymore, and I told that masked idiot that I would work to buy my brother's bond and set him free of his contract, as the horrible old cuss would find any reason to add additional years to my brother's service to him. For fear that he would lose his servant the man asked the Warlock of the East to prevent me from meeting the demand. The Warlock enchanted my axe and so one day, while I was chopping, the axe slipped and severed my leg clear off." At this Tino visibly paled. That sounded… incredibly violent and incredibly painful, and yet Siguard had spoken of it like it was a bee sting. WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY!
But that was not the end of Siguard's story. He continued. "I couldn't be much of a woodcutter with only one leg, so a kindly tinsmith crafted me a new one. This must have angered the Warlock, because it seemed like my axe would frequently slip from my hands, and sever off body part after body part. The tinsmith always fixed me. Eventually, all that was left of my original body was my torso. The Warlock got his way when one final blow cleaved my body in half, slicing through my heart. The kindly tinsmith fabricated me a new torso so that I didn't die… but I had found that I no longer had a heart and so I didn't care anymore about the plight of my brother. If my axe slipped I would not be harmed and I no longer required food or sleep. The only danger was that my joints would rust. Normally I was so careful about them, but chances have it that the one day I forgot to oil them was the day I was caught in a sudden rain storm and was rusted in that spot for an entire year. It gave me some time to think. I think that losing my heart and losing my love for my brother is the worst thing to have ever happened to me. When I heard Erikir call me 'big brother' I was the happiest man in the world, I know I don't care about him anymore, but I also know I ought to care. And for that, I first need a heart and once I have it, I'm going to get my brother back."
Mathias and Tino were greatly moved by the stoic, though fairy-tale sounding, narrative of the woodsman. "Come with us!" Demanded the scarecrow, launching up to his feet and clasping the Tinman on the shoulders. "If the Wizard can get Tino to Helsinki, and put a brain in my head, why can't he give you a heart! Come on! Let's go!" And with that he grabbed Siguard by his metallic wrist and started dragging him back to the yellow brick road. Tino smiled as Siguard loudly announced that Mathias was an idiot for pulling on his wrist when the two went tumbling down the hill together. The Finn simply packed the oiling can (just in case) into his basket and pursued them.
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Godmorgen: good morning in Danish
Nok! Nok!: Enough! Enough! in Norwegian
Takkveldigmye: Thank you very much in Norwegian
Ragnarök: The End of Days in the ancient Scandinavian tradition.
If you can't tell, Erikir is Iceland and the man that he was a servant to was Turkey. Little play on history there, but couldn't find where to put Sadiq's name in, so I just alluded to him by having Norway comment on his mask.