The Hidden Man

Chapter 7

Pawns


Oscar was tinkering with an electrical lightning machine when Jellia trudged into his apartments. He greeted her with a big smile, "Good afternoon my dear. How are our guests doing?"

"They're gone."

A wrench fell from Oscar's nerveless fingers and clattered on the floor. "Gone?"

His voice was a dry terrified croak.

"Yes, four good people. Four desperate, hurting people came to you for help and you sent them to their doom."

"But, I didn't think they'd go."

"No, you didn't think! You know people! You know how they think! You've been cut off so long you've forgotten what people are really like! You're a coward so you think everybody's a coward. You'd never confront a witch so you think no one would. You want to keep your secret to protect the Emerald City. Is your secret worth the lives of four good people?"

Oscar slumped into a chair and buried his head in his hands, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too Oscar. You once told me that I shouldn't be afraid to sacrifice my pawns. I'm afraid that sacrificing your pawns has gotten much too easy for you. I'm leaving now. I'll keep working in the Palace but I never want to see you again." She turned and left him sitting there alone but he'd been sitting alone for so long now.

"So that was the end of your relationship with the Wizard?" Professor Wogglebug asked.

"Yes, eventually Dorothy and her friends returned but I was still angry with Oscar over how he manipulated them." Jellia smiled. The Wizard never expected them to return. I'm sure he was delighted that they survived but he still couldn't grant their wishes. He kept putting them off day after day until they got fed up."

Jellia spent a good half an hour in the Throne Room ringing the bell until she got a response. "I am Oz! The Great and Terrible!" The voice then went down several decibels. "Oh, it's you. Hello Jellia."

"The Scarecrow sent me. They did what you ordered. It's time to keep your end of the bargain."

"Tell them I am communing with fellow wizards in the Ethersphere and cannot be disturbed."

Jellia crossed her arms. "The Scarecrow anticipated that you might be busy and wishes to inform you that if you don't grant them their requests they will summon the flying monkeys and order them to rip the palace to pieces if necessary until they find you and bring you before them."

"Oh! They have the cap of the flying monkeys?"

"They have an unusual looking cap. I don't know if it summons the flying monkeys for I haven't seen any flying monkeys. But they are good and honest people who would never lie. Unlike some people I know!"

"Oh, uhh, flying monkeys! Oh, tell them I will see them tomorrow morning at four minutes after nine!"

Jellia turned and walked out without another word, a small smile forming on her lips.

"And the rest is history." Professor Wogglebug declared. The Wizard was exposed as the humbug he was."

"Yes," Jellia replied. "Most of the heroes were delighted and very well satisfied with his rewards of sawdust, liquor and sewing supplies. But Dorothy was a completely different case. No amount of trickery was going to convince her that she was home in Kansas. So he set about making a balloon to take himself and Dorothy back to the outside world. He just wanted to go home."

The Wogglebug shook his head, "No, he wasn't going home. He was already home. He spent two thirds of his life in Oz. He had no family or friends in America. The Wicked Witches were dead. He felt the Emerald City no longer needed a powerful wizard to protect it." His gaze then focused on Jellia. "And he was a lonely man who had just lost his only friend."

Jellia stared down at the floor. "I did miss him, I still miss the times we had together but what he did was so horrible." She wiped a tear from her cheek. "I never spoke to him again. We say hello to each other passing by in the hallways sometimes but I never really spoke to him again.

"Yes, how he treated Dorothy and the others was pretty shabby. But he was a good ruler. He kept Oz at peace at a time when it could have erupted into open warfare. His very presence kept the Emerald City safe. It only took a few months after he left for the Emerald City to be invaded and sacked. And he's a different man now. He's changed much as all of us has changed." Professor Wogglebug gazed at the doors to the balcony, no longer made of stained glass. This wasn't just a parlor. It was an old battleground. "He's no longer a humbug, not the liar or the trickster. He's now a heroic adventurer, Ozma's right hand man. Can you think of any time he has told a lie since his return to Oz?"

Jellia pondered that a while and shook her head.

Professor Wogglebug shut his notebook and slid it into an inside pocket of his immaculately tailored coat. "I believe this is enough for today. I will take this back to my office at the Athletic College and write this new information into my history. If you don't mind a suggestion I recommend that you go to the Wizard and have a heart to heart talk with the man. He does have a lot of friends but he doesn't have a real confidant. Keeping an old grudge only lessens one's own happiness."

Jellia gave him a thoughtful look then nodded as they stood up. She clasped his hands. "You're welcome to visit anytime."

Professor Wogglebug picked up his hat and headed for the stairs. "Thank you, if you don't mind, I would like to hear your stories of the reigns of the Scarecrow and Jinjur. Perhaps in a couple of weeks?"

"Sure thing Professor, I'll see you then." After he left she sat there staring at the clouds outside her window. She had no idea why she opened up to the Wogglebug like that. Her relationship with the Wizard had always been a private thing. But perhaps some things weren't meant to be secret forever.

Jellia rose from her chair and walked across the room to a large chest of drawers. She pulled open the top drawer and her hands gently caressed a rectangular wooden box covered with black and white checks and smiled.

In his workshop The Wizard opened a door only to see a blank wall. He stared at the wall for a few minutes stroking his chin thinking. His idea to link two doors miles apart with a teleport spell seemed like a good idea, he would be able to open a door and instantly walk into Glinda's palace or another door to the Scarecrow's mansion. But try as he might he never could get them to work any further than fifty feet. He decided to give up on the idea for now. After all traveling around Oz is a large part of the fun. Still, Chef Spatula might appreciate a short cut from the kitchen to the main dining room.

He heard a knock at the door and turned his head, he was surprised when Jellia shyly stepped in. She did clean his workshop on a regular basis but only when he was out. Jellia always seemed to try to spend as little time in his presence as possible. "Hello Jellia, does Ozma need to see me?"

Jellia shook her head, "No, Ozma doesn't need to see you, I do. And I don't need to see the Wizard of Oz, I need to see Oscar Diggs." From behind her back she produced the chess set and grinned at him. "It's been a long time but I'm pretty sure I can beat you now."

Oscar felt a flush of happiness and began clearing off a table. He had no idea how much he missed Jellia until this moment. "Perhaps you can but you'll have to earn it."

Professor Wogglebug, on his way to the Royal Library happened to glance down the long hallway just in time to see Jellia enter the workshop. He paused for a minute then continued on his way whistling a jolly tune. He had a big task ahead of him. Oz history continued every day and once in a while it needed a little nudge in the right direction.

The End