"Behind Blue Eyes" by Kitty Rasputin
Chapter 14-Distrustful
DG was not at all surprised to find out that the Realm of the Unwanted was completely underground. It was one of the few things that had actually made sense since she had come to the O.Z. She knew just what kind of a place they were being sent to even before Glitch asked about it. "Oh, and my father's here? How odd."
She doubted that anybody noticed the sarcasm of her statement because they were all too distracted with what new trouble that Glitch had found. She sighed as Cain went along with their scatterbrained friend, but she knew that he did it just to make him happy. She was starting to get exhausted and a little irritable. She just wanted to get this section of the journey complete so that she could find the emerald and end things. Her irritation doubled with the run around the fortune teller was giving them. Even after Cain waved his gun, it seemed as though they were getting nowhere. The woman mentioned somebody named the Seeker that knew Ahamo, though, and volunteered to arrange a meeting between them. DG guessed from Glitch's reaction that 20 platinums was quite a bit of money, but Cain did not hesitate to agree.
When they entered the tavern for their meeting with the Seeker, Cain urged the rest of them to wait outside. DG did not want to even think about it, though. She had been separated from her friends once before and did not want to think about that happening again. She felt safe with all of them by her side.
There was no chance for the Tin Man to argue before they were introduced to the Seeker. She eyed the man in front of her carefully. Cain had told her time and again that she trusted too freely. This time, she was determined not to make that same mistake. When the man asked to see her palm, she made it a point to hold up her right hand. Even that little bit of defiance made her feel better. She only showed the mark on her left palm after the man had insisted on it.
There was no warning about what was going to happen next. The fortune teller screamed a word and the seedy little tavern erupted into pandemonium. Several men leaped from their hiding places to attack her friends. There was a flash of light before the room was dropped into darkness. DG screamed as fighting erupted all around them. A moment later, she was thrown over the Seeker's shoulder as the man quickly carried her out of the tavern.
She started yell as loudly as could kicking and screaming as she tried to get loose from the man's grip. It was hard to see her friends in the dim light, but she could tell that none of them were close enough to help her. She vowed that if she got out of this okay that she would have Cain teach her some self defense. Getting kidnapped this many times since she had arrived at the O.Z. was starting to get irritating.
DG awoke in a strange place, nowhere near her friends for the first time since she had fallen out of the tornado. She snatched up the first weapon that she could find, a broom, and held it out between herself and the Seeker. Her first concern was for her friends and she was not appeased by hearing that this stranger had no idea what had happened to them. She circled around the ladder, trying to keep as much space as she could between the two of them as she grilled the man about why he had kidnapped her.
When the Seeker revealed that he was her father, she stared at him in shock. She recovered quickly and began smacking at him with the broom, yelling out the wrongs that he had committed. The sharp thwacks sounded like they were painful, but it wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her anger. She brushed off his sentiments as if they meant nothing, but took the strange compass that he claimed was from her mother without complaint.
It was when he tried to urge her to find the Gray Gale immediately that she protested. Her friends had been there with her since the beginning of the journey. She would hate herself for abandoning them to their unknown fate after they had been through so much together. She knew that the men that traveled with her would push her needs far ahead of their own every time, though. With a reluctant sigh, she realized that her father was right. She just hoped that Cain, Glitch, and Raw would still be okay when she found them again.
She sat on the beach, trying to get the compass to work correctly for her, but her mind remained distracted with thoughts of what could have happened to her friends. She knew that Cain was capable of taking care of things, but that did not stop her from worrying. She shoved the thoughts aside and forced herself to concentrate. She was surprised with how quickly it took for the compass to stop moving and point in one direction.