Chapter Fourteen

Glindar stood atop a hill, looking out over the Land of Oz. A golden field of corn caught his eye, and a sad look crossed his face. The stalks reminded him of her. He wondered if she was still standing out in a field somewhere.

Once upon a time, Glindar had loved Fiyera. But she didn't love him back. Her heart belonged to the other wizard in their little group. At the time, Glindar didn't understand it. He remembered how jealous he had been, the rage that had been seething inside of him.

"What's so great about him?!" He had thought. "What does Fiyera see in him?! He's a freak! A freak who can barely even control his magic!" Over time, however, Glindar had gotten over his petty jealousy, and he and Elphias had actually grown to be friends.

Everything changed, however, after Elphias betrayed Ozia. Ozia recruited Glindar to be the official Wizard of the North. Glindar had been excited, of course. He thought that that meant using his magic for the good of Oz, helping people and keeping an eye out for Elphias and other evil people like him.

However, the blond man quickly learned that he was little more than Ozia's lapdog. He had to obey every order she gave him, no matter how bizarre...or cruel. Once, Ozia had told him to go to the haunted forest and remove all the courage of the alpha lioness.

"Lions are a strong and proud race." Ozia explained. "I don't doubt that one day, they could get bold enough to try rising up and overthrowing the humans of this land. That would be a great tragedy. We wouldn't want anyone to get mauled, would we?"

"I can't imagine the lions wanting anything to do with humans. They're happy keeping to themselves in the wild." That's what Glindar had wanted to say. Instead, he just nodded dumbly and blindly carried out Ozia's command like a puppet on a string. That's what he was now, he thought bitterly. Glindar didn't know what was right anymore. Of course, he didn't dare say that to Ozia's face. He was too much of a coward. He didn't want to end up like Elphias. Glindar sighed bitterly.

"Elphias-he was a much braver man than I could ever hope to be."

Dorian and the others, minus Elphias, walked back through the gates of Oz, back into the green city. The green-haired guide from before let out a squeak when he saw them.

"B-Back so soon?!" He asked, nervousness evident in his voice.

"Yeah." Dorian said gruffly. "It was easy."

"Impossible!" The boy said, his voice so high that only dogs could hear it.

"You're talking to the guy who already took out one wizard." Dorian said. "Plus, I had back-up this time." He indicated towards the girls, and Beka stroked the tip of her halberd to add to the illusion.

"So tell Ozia that we want another appointment with her." She said. "And in case she needs evidence that we really killed him, give her this." She handed the boy a wooden box and, upon opening it, almost vomited at the sight of Elphias' decapitated head.

"Gah! V-Very well, then." He took the group back to the same inn they had stayed at before, and, not even an hour later, returned.

"O-Ozia will see you. The, well, you-know-what caught her interest." The group all rose as one and followed him back to the Great Hall. After letting them in to see the witch, he ran off, and Dorian had the suspicion that he was going off to go be sick somewhere.

Once again, the group was greeted with the flames and silhouette that stretched out in front of them.

"So, you have returned." Ozia said. Her voice, while still holding an obvious element of power, was not as intimidating as before, and had more of a purring quality in it. "I must say, I'm amazed that you came back so fast. But I'm even more amazed that you were able to create such a convincing illusion." A pumpkin flew out and landed at Lioness' paws.

"Busted." she whispered to Fiyera, who motioned for her to keep quiet.

"Tricking me like that...I can't decide whether you lot are very foolish or very bold." Dorian bit his lip.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't annihilate you all right now."

"For starters, you don't have that kind of power." Ozia drew back involuntarily as she recognized the voice.

A spire of purple fire shot up in front of Dorian and the girls, revealing Elphias. He glared at the woman.

"Ozia. It's been a while."

A/N: Yeah, this was a short chapter. Sorry about that. Well, I'll be sure the next one is much better, it is the final fight, after all! Yes, Glindar is still in the story. I hope this helped to explain his character more, as well as explain the Lioness' backstory. By the way, for those of you who are wondering about the characters' ages, Beka is 17 like Dorian, Glindar, Fiyera, and Elphias are 22, and Nestor was 20 before he died. Hope that answers some questions.