MEETING WITH SCARECROW AND TIN WOODMAN
"If this is the entrance to the tower, then all of the problems we had to face were worth it," Charley said to himself.
"Chop down the door," Dorothy suggested.
"If I do that, the guards will hear it," Charley objected.
Above them, they could hear several foot stomps.
Charley got to work. He drilled several holes so they formed a rectangle, expanded the holes with his knife, stuck a saw into it, and started sawing. In about a half hour, an entrance large enough for a man was made.
"Dorothy," said the sailor. "Quietly go up the stairs and tell Scarecrow and Tin Woodman to come down here quietly, and so the guards won't hear them."
"But what about Din Geor and Faramant?" asked the girl. "Urfin will most likely take his anger out on them if Scarecrow and Tin Woodman escape."
"I didn't think about that. What do you suggest we do?"
"Scarecrow and Tin Woodman should wait here for a little longer, while we search for a way to get Din Geor and Faramant out of prison. But I have no idea how to do that… Maybe Scarecrow could help!"
"You are right. Even though I do not like going up stairs, we need to hold a council to decide how to proceed from here."
Dorothy slowly walked up the steep stairs, with Charley behind her, casting a shadow. Lion was left below: the hole was too small for him.
Soon, they arrived to the trapdoor that led to the prison. Dorothy slowly lifted it up, sticking her head out, but putting a finger to her lips: she was afraid that her friends would yell out in joy or surprise.
Her fears did not come to pass: Tin Woodman had good self-control and Scarecrow was damaged by his imprisonment in the dungeon: the moisture caused the paint to come partially off, making it difficult for him to hear, see, and speak.
They started walking toward her when they saw her, but stopped when they saw Charley. They were still intimidated by him, even though they heard about him from Kaggi-Karr's stories.
Charley greeted his new acquaintances in a friendly manner. In response, they both took off their hats and bowed.
Kaggi-Karr was beaming in pride: after all, she was the one who made this happen, and she doubted that anyone else could have done it better.
After the introductions and greetings were made, Dorothy broached the subject of Din Geor and Faramant: "If you leave now, they will be at the mercy of Urfin Jus."
"If they come to harm, my heart will break," Tin Woodman stated.
He started crying, and the tears caused his jaw to start rusting. Scarecrow tried to oil it, but hit him in the ear. But he soon corrected his mistake, and Tin Woodman suggested: "Scarecrow, use your brains to come up with a solution."
"Unfortunately, my brains have not been working very well," Scarecrow whispered. "They must have gotten damaged from the moisture…"
"Their cell has a window with iron bars that leads to the rest of the castle," Kaggi-Karr pointed out.
"That's excellent news!" exclaimed Charley. "I have a saw that can cut through them! Now we need to figure out how to get it to them…"
He then pulled out a steel saw.
"If only my brains were still at an optimal working condition…" Scarecrow mumbled to himself.
"Don't worry, we can think for you for now," Dorothy told him.
The room became silent. How to get to the dungeon if the door at the base of the tower was guarded by soldiers and the underground passage was home to the six legged creatures?
"I can get the saw to them," volunteered Kaggi-Karr. "Bars and soldiers can't stop me!"
Her suggestion seemed reasonable, but there was a problem: the saw was too heavy for her to lift with either her claws or her beak. Everyone began to think again.
Suddenly, Dorothy lifted her hand, drawing attention.
"I have an idea!" Dorothy stated, and everyone came over to listen. "Uncle Charley, lower me down with a rope from the window."
"Are you insane?" he asked, shocked. "Do you want to get captured by the soldiers?"
"Of course not," she replied. "They only guard the side with the door, and ignore the other one. See for yourself!"
"But why you?" he asked. "Can't someone else do it?"
"Who else is there? You are too tall, and Scarecrow and Tin Woodman are easily recognized!"
Dorothy had a dress in her pack that was given to her by Prem Cocus's wife. Dorothy was about the size of an average woman in the Land of Oz, so the dress fit one her. It was green, since Cocus's wife was originally from Emerald City.
Dorothy put on the dress. She then rubbed son dirt on her face to appear more like a farmer.
"Do you have an excuse to enter the city?" asked Charley.
"Yes," she replied. "I am going to say that I am going in to sell some berries."
Charley tied the rope to Dorothy's waste. She put the saw into her basket, and tried to squeeze through the bars. They were too close together however, so Charley had to cut one of them off, hoping that no one noticed before they could escape. He then slowly lowered Dorothy down to the ground.
She then waved him goodbye and calmly walked off towards the main road.
Charley anxiously observed her until she reached the yellow brick road.
Dorothy did not go into the city at once. Instead, she went into an orchard and filled her basket with berries.
Next, she calmly walked up to the city gates. The basket full of berries, which was supposedly for sale, served as an excuse for entering the city.
Dorothy walked down the street that once was filled with green glass which looked like emeralds. Now, it was bland and uninteresting.
She entered the castle using the excuse that the berries were for the kitchens. The head chef did not recognize her at first, but was very excited when he did.
Dorothy sat in the supply closet until night came. The chef then led her to the door of the cell. Luckily, the door had a window with bars, and Dorothy proceeded to wake them up.
The two were very glad to know that Dorothy was in the Land of Oz and brought them a steel saw. After receiving the saw, the two got to work, with Din Geor standing on Faramant's s back, and in ten minutes, a hole large enough for someone to go through appeared in the barred window that faced the rest of the city.
The first to climb out was Din Geor. but how was Faramant supposed to reach the opening? The cell did not have any chairs or tables…
"We don't have any rope…" Din Geor whispered to himself.
"No rope!" Faramant repeated teasingly. "What about your beard?"
"How did I forget about it?" Din Geor asked himself.
He lowered his long beard to the ground, and Faramant grabbed it and pulled himself up. Din Geor scowled under the pressure but held. When they both got out they hugged their savior.
The cook led the group out of the castle through the back door in the gardens, and they were in the streets. They were incapable of leaving the normal way since the gates were guarded by soldiers, so they had to climb on the walls.
When they reached the farms, Faramant had a conversation with one of the farmers, who sent his fastest sons to the north east.
The meeting was to be held at the cliff where the entrance to the underground passage was, so that is where Dorothy led the two. When they were passing by the tower, she cried out "hoo" like an owl three times and waved her basket: that was the signal that everything went as planned and that they could leave the tower. A cuckoo bird's cry answered her: the signal was received and understood.
Dorothy, Din Geor, and Faramant arrived first, luckily avoiding any oakheads.
The next evening, Ruf Belan found out that the prisoners escaped and sent out some policemen to investigate the farms to see if they could find out about anything. He found out that the fugitives were heading north east: apparently, they were trying to find shelter with the Good Witch of the North
Two squads of soldiers and thirty policemen were sent there. The soldiers lagged behind the policemen, occasionally tripping on each other. The policemen ran forward as fast as possible with the Chief of Police in front, shooting rocks at any bush or tree that moved even slightly.
Every now and then, they encountered a house, which the Chief questioned about the escapees. The pre-warned people answered:
"They passed her a few hours ago…"
"Three hours ago…"
"Two hours ago…"
The pursuers got excited, sensing that their prey was near. But they ran mile after mile, and the road in front of them was just as empty as ever.
Finally the policemen snapped, and started blindly sending rocks in front of them, forming a cloud of projectiles.
Then the Chief sped forward, and his subordinates mistook him for one of the fugitives. He was buried under a pile of rocks and bricks, which broke all of his limbs and his head.
They ran up to the body, and stopped. What to do now? They did not know, and there was not anyone to command them.
Gathering the remains of their late commander, the group returned to the capital. One of the policemen informed Ruf Belan about what happened, who paled. He was hoping that the escapees would be captured, and the incident would escape Urfin's notice. Now he would have to inform the king that his most important prisoners escaped, and that the Chief of Police, one of Urfin's most valuable minions, was a casualty.
After listening to the report, Urfin said:
"I don't doubt that this is due to the intervention of that fairy Dorothy. So you do not know the location of the prisoners?"
"No, Urfin the First, the powerf…"
"Shorter."
"The worst is that we were led down a wrong path. This was well planned."
Urfin decided to not reconstruct the Chief, and the remains were used for firewood.
Assured that Dorothy had done her job, Charley led the other prisoners out of the tower. Tin Woodman had trouble getting through the hole, and Scarecrow acquired some new tears when he crawled through. Lion met the friends with glee and excitement. The group hurried down the tunnel.
As they approached the area with the hole that led to the City of the Oreminers, Charley got increasingly paranoid. He feared that an ambush was set up, or the archer was waiting to send an arrow into them. However, when they arrived to it, the hole was sealed shut by cement. Not even a crack could be seen on it.
They did not find the strange six-legged creature: it was either nursing its wounds, or the Oreminers captured it.
But how many other creatures could be found in the caves?
But Charley did not worry about it: he was confident that Lion and Tin Woodman could take them on. He only feared that the Oreminers could have set up an ambush further down the road. He only calmed down when they got into the open and met up with Dorothy and the escapees.
Before they started planning for the future, Scarecrow received some repairs. Dorothy stitched up the holes in his clothing and body, and replaced his old straw with fresh straw from one of the farms and sewed the hole back up.
She then began to paint his face back on. When she painted back one of his eyes, it started blinking.
"Stop that!" Dorothy protested. "You will ruin it!"
"So wh…t?" Scarecrow whispered. "Mo…th p...ease!"
When Dorothy painted Scarecrow's mouth back on, he started singing: "I'm with Dorothy again! I'm with Dorothy ag…"
He then remembered that he was in the presence of his subjects, and nervously glanced at Din Geor and Faramant, who put on their best poker faces. Scarecrow sighed in relief.
Charley then gave Scarecrow a staff he made out of hardwood while Dorothy was repairing him.
Scarecrow thanked Charley for it and delivered a speech:
"My friends! I am Scarecrow the Wise again, and to prove it: here are my thoughts on what we should do. To fight Urfin, we need weapons, and the best blacksmiths are the Winkies. But the Winkies live in the Yellow country, not in Emerald City. And while we are in one country, we are not in another. So what is the conclusion? We need to go to the Yellow Land!"
"Politicians and their verbiage..." Charley murmured to himself while everyone else clapped.