Year 1275 – during the faboulocious rule of our Infant 39th Ozma, under the wise guidance of her father, Pastoria
We arrived back at Ozma Town just as the news of Pastoria's death the Ozma's disappearance had leaked out the palace. We had not wanted to arrive too early in case it alerted the suspicion that we were involved in this treason.
As it was Ozma Town was not how we left it. If, as a teenager, I had thought Shiz had become tense as a result of the rumours I had spread about Kalidah it was nothing compared to this – as far as most of the Ozian citizens were concerned this traitor could be any one of them and could be anywhere. Someone seemed to be trying to take down Oz from the inside and they did not like it, someone was a spy and they wanted their revenge as soon as they could.
On the other hand I heard the Ozma's court had taken a completely different approach. Now the ruling family appeared to be gone, leaving no apparent heirs, every one of the noblemen seemed to think Lurline wanted them to rule Oz. However, none of the nobles seemed in agreement of which of them were Lurline sent which was leading to an awful lot of backstabbing (especially of the literal sort) throughout the aristocracy. I decided I'd leave them to it for the moment, every potential ruler killed was one few competitor for my position and I knew it would be more important to win over the people than try and convince a few old toffs that Lurline had not got rid of the dynasty of the Ozmas especially so that they could gain power.
As soon as we entered the gates of Ozma town, hundreds of worried Ozians flocked towards us. Even now, after several years of Oscar's growing popularity, it still shocked me to have so many people depending on – Oz, practically worshipping – us! I was glad I had made sure we had hired an expensive carriage and worn our fanciest clothes for our return to the city.
Our solution to who was responsible for the murder and disappearance was simple, it was clearly a plot by the Animals and had been carried out by a Buffalo who had been one of the Ozma's chief advisors, and if the kind Ozians would let us we would like to help Oz in this time of need and be put in charge of Oz and sort out this dreadfulifyed problem.
It was not so much of a takeover but a simple transfer of power, already we had such a majority of the commoners and the residents of Ozma Town, that really none of the nobles stood a chance, even those who had been fighting viciously for power quickly quietened down when we gave them a large sum of money and seemed pretty mollified by the idea of cheap Animal labour – greed, it appeared, overtook a human's need for anything else. Before we had time to really digest it Oscar was not just a Wonderful Wizard but the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
But I did not get much time to revel in our success and to be able to change Oz for the better. Early the following year our spies (there were fewer now I had got rid of all the Birds but there was still quite an adequate amount) reported that the new ruler in Oz had only made Fliaan more confident that they could take over Oz. They were planning to invade within the next few months.
Oz's army had not been the strongest in a long time but had been capable of holding off invaders until the drought had struck. Now many of its members had returned home to help their families grow as much food as they could from the bone dry land and those that were still left were suffering from the food and water shortages as much as the rest of Oz. We needed to improve our army, and fast.
I spent a large amount of time in those months moving around Oz summoning rain, the drought was finally easing off but Oz still needed much more rain than it was getting, and fast. While before I had only used my powers to reward those towns that had got rid of their Animals, now I simply could not afford to hold water from any town with strong, able men, the fate of Oz and everything that I had ever known was lying in my hands.
We offered extra food rations to those who joined the army and their families and soon we were getting applicants by the thousand. We placed them in the South, by the Quadling Kells, where they would be at the best advantage to attack and then attempted to train them. But, although there was improvement, the years of drought had cursed us and most were still painfully thin and not fully competent with using their weapons when the heavily armed, well organised soldiers of Fliaan started to arrive.
We stationed ourselves in the largest gap between two cliff-like mountains, confident that this was the only easy way to pass into the rest of Oz. As I watched the soldiers from Fliaan march towards us – from my vantage point behind our men – I studied the situation hoping desperately to find some way for us to win, but it seemed impossible. Although the men from Fliaan had been travelling for days they were still undoubtedly stronger than the underfed rabble from Oz.
The Fliaans reached us just after noon, their unbreakable ranks cut easily through ours, only the sheer number of Ozian soldiers prevented them from victory before twilight.
That night I looked sorrowfully at the camp of wounded men, so many lives had been lost, and still Oz could be gone by next sunset. I felt angry with myself, for all I had done to try and help Oz to become more powerful, I couldn't do anything to save it when we really needed it.
It was a pity, I thought, that we could not get our men to the top of the mountains. With that amount of height we'd surely be at a significant advantage. But the Quadling Kells were incredibly steep and treacherous, they were covered in hundreds – maybe thousands – of huge loose boulders, even the commotion of the battle earlier had knocked several down – with fatal results to both sides.
There must be something I could do, I couldn't let Oz be lost, not after everything. The Ozmas had done a bad enough job ruling but I was not letting Oz be invaded while I – well Oscar and I – were in charge. I turned to the Grimmerie, which I now always carried around with me, and flicked through the pages looking for something, anything to help me. As usual I ended up on the weather pages – they contained some of the few spells I could just about decipher from the ancient text, a certain one caught my eye. It was a much more powerful spell than I had ever cast, in fact something of that size could probably have negative impacts on my own health, but for Oz I would do anything.
Before the sun rose the following morning I ordered the soldiers to leave the clearing and return further inland into Quadling Country. There were a couple of protests but saying I was just repeating what was told to me by the Wonderful Wizard soon shut them up. I stayed with a small group of soldiers to guard me just by the entrance to the clearing with the Grimmerie, camouflaged by the bushes around me, waiting for the Fliaans to arise.
When they did they were undoubtedly shocked that all the Ozians had left and were therefore unmistakably cautious as they entered the pass. Once I was sure all the Fliaan soldiers were between the two mountains I began chanting a spell from the Grimmerie, more determination and passion in my voice than ever before.
It was so sudden that it took me a second to notice it, the entire ground in the clearing was shaking, I watched dizzily as the boulders, set free by my earthquake, took out rows of men at a time, until the energy was completely worn out of me and I let the darkness overcome me.
Still exhausted I forced my eyes open and assessed my surroundings, I was indoors, it was light and I appeared to still be in Oz – well so far so good.
"Oh you're awake?"
It took a lot of effort to turn my head to look at the nurse, "It appears so."
"That's very good – we were afraid we'd lost you for a while – you've been out nearly a week."
Lost, that triggered an important question, "Oz, Fliaan?"
"Oh we defeated them deary, that earthquake the Wizard summoned killed most of the invaders and our soldiers slaughtered the rest. Oz is safe."
Oz is safe, what beautiful words, but what was even better was that it had been me who had singlehandedly saved my homeland! Me, weak, plain, little Delva had held off an invasion – if it was not for me Oz would be no more, but it wasn't, now it was safe!
Papa would have been so proud!