Chapter 25

I do not own anything from Wizard of Oz.

Still lots more to go.

Enjoy!

2 months later

Scarecrow and King Oran stood at the balcony of the city of Aglas from what were Lord Ordaran's former quarters.

The transfer of power to the family of Lord Ordaran was almost complete. Scarecrow didn't like it, but it had to be done. With Oran's goading the council would make up an agreement of no slavery and no arena games. Ordaran's family agreed to the bargaining.

There were slaves who decided to stay with their masters because they were older and had no other place to go. Scarecrow couldn't blame them. That is all they ever known, and they had no one else to turn to for income.

Lion would scoff at it and call them crazy, but that was their way of life. Scarecrow and Oran made sure that agreements were made for payment of the former slave owners.

Scarecrow could not take a position of power, because of him abdicating the throne in Oz, so Oran was put in charge of the city until transfer of power was made.

All Scarecrow could do was counsel, and he was perfectly fine with that. Oran had explained to him that after he abdicated the throne of Oz, the council of kings looked the other way for a long time about the slave trade and arena games from Ordaran because of the commerce the sea brought them. Scarecrow was not surprised, and he also knew now that the council would blame him for their ills now.

Oran and Scarecrow still had their differences, but their mutual trust was growing again, and Scarecrow was glad for that.

They sat down and drank some wine one time, and Oran smirked.

"What?" Scarecrow asked.

"You should have seen the look on Dorothy's face when I released her," Oran said chuckling.

Scarecrow laughed a little. "I can imagine. I will be forever grateful for that."

Oran shrugged. "I always knew deep down that your heart belonged to another. I just never knew who until she came back."

Scarecrow eyed him steadily. "I want you to know I will always honor Myra."

"She never would have loved you, Scarecrow," Oran said sharply. Then he took a deep consoling breath. "That is fault of my own."

Scarecrow looked at him steadily, and said, "I will still honor her, but it was just a political arrangement."

Oran scoffed lowly. "I will never do that again. Well, I have no heir to my throne anyway. So, I have decided to give what I have back to the people, and let them decide on how they should approach governing."

Scarecrow didn't say anything. He had seen how Dorothy's government from her world worked, and there were parts he agreed with and parts he did not. She called it a democracy. He wondered if that would work in Oz.

Oran looked at him questioningly. "Have you decided on how to handle Oz yet? We leave in three days."

Scarecrow shook his head. "I refuse to start a civil war over me being kidnapped."

"Scarecrow, it is more than that, and you know it," Oran said sitting back and staring at him. "Not only did she do that, but she has since bankrupted the country you made prosperous for her own personal gain, and finally she has ostracized all of your allies. Hell, I would have deserved it to at one time. She wanted you out of the way so she could continue. Remember, you always said when you were head council that there needed to be a leveling of power. She will try your loyalists for treason."

"A civil war would debt Oz even more. You and I both know the council is blaming me, and I do not have the means for it or the ambition. I just want to get her off the throne, and this is not a personal vendetta," Scarecrow said taking a long sip of wine.

"I will negotiate the best I can, and if I need help then I will call on my allies from Middle Earth. Then only then will I bring in the military loyal to me," Scarecrow continued. "Besides, yourself of course."

"You are being foolish," Oran said with conviction.

"I am saving lives in the process," Scarecrow said cocking his head to the side in thought.

Oran sat back frustrated with Scarecrow's reluctance.

"I remember Dorothy telling me a story about an ancestor of her people. She said he was a reluctant ruler, and he reminded her of you," Oran said smirking. "You were always that way."

Scarecrow put his glass down on the table, and laughed lowly. "I read the same thing when I was in her world. This was put on my shoulders, and I never knew what I was getting into."

"Speaking of which. Where is Dorothy?" Oran asked.

"Trying to talk some sense into Boren, the shapeshifter leader, once more," Scarecrow answered steadily. He didn't like it, but she was the only one he was responding to.

"She is another who despises her position, but she talked a lot of people out of rioting when we first took the city," Oran commented thoughtfully.

"She did, but don't be fooled. She is not as timid as she seems," Scarecrow smiling at the thought of his wife. "She will use her savior status when she needs to."

"Is it wise to send her there to speak to him?" Oran asked worry flickering in his eyes.

"I want to him to confess it was Ozma who paid him off to assassinate me after Ordaran failed. I know Ozma had spies here," Scarecrow answered. "And Dorothy as well, but he couldn't follow through with her, so he was promised her instead."

"For what gain?"

"Oh just to keep loyalty till I decide what to do," Scarecrow said. "Even if the people of Oz falter in their loyalty to me, they will always be loyal to Dorothy no matter what."

Oran's eyes sparked in knowing what Scarecrow was doing. "I see what you did there. Do you think he will talk?"

"He will. That is why Khali agreed to take him with us," Scarecrow said.

Just as Oran was going to answer, Oscar came in through the door his facing looking grim.

Scarecrow and Oran stood at his look.

He gripped his small crystal ball to communicate with Glinda, and this time he clutched it like his life depended on it.

"Oscar what is it?" Scarecrow asked, but he had a feeling he already knew and the old feelings came back of what they had already been through with Drigka.

Oscar began to sob a little. "Emerald City has been retaken, Scarecrow. It lies in dust."

Scarecrow walked up to Oscar and put his hands on his shoulders. "Oscar please calm down, and talk to me. Where is Glinda? Is she safe?"

Oscar nodded, and said, "She fled to Mifkit. She was injured, but safe. Ozma has done a few things."

Scarecrow scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

Oscar shook his head, and sobbed again. "She has cast a spell on the people of Oz. Some kind of illness that hits any creature to even enter the border, and the only ones that are immune are her loyalists. So, if you invade you have no reinforcements. Glinda can't reverse it, she tried, but she said it did not work for her. She even tried with the old wizard friend of Oran's, but they failed."

Just then Dorothy walked in with Boren in shackles right behind her by the guards. She heard mostly what Oscar said, and gasped in disbelief at the news. Lion and Tin Man soon followed behind.

Oran gave Scarecrow a somber look. "You have no choice now my friend."

Oscar looked around at everyone, and said, "There is more."

"What now?"

Oscar looked around again, and rubbed his eyes. "Dorothy is too surrender to her, with the emerald, and she will reverse everything, and keep her powers."

"She just wants the emerald for herself. It doesn't answer to anyone, but Dorothy," Scarecrow said.

"She knows that, and that is why she calls for her to come to Emerald City," Oscar explained.

"There is more," Dorothy said speaking up finally after gathering her thoughts.

Everyone looked over at her, and she took a deep breath.

She motioned for Boren to step forward, and he did giving Dorothy apologetic looks.

"Speak Boren," she said angrily ignoring his looks.

Boren looked around and said, "Ozma knew Ordaran would die, and she planned it that way, because she knew he would never marry her, though she was hoping for it."

Boren looked around again uncomfortably and said, "So, when Dorothy was on her way out here, I was paid by one of her people to ambush Dorothy instead of the Aglas soldiers. She promised me control of Aglas for the return of the emerald to her."

Scarecrow stepped forward as his rage grew at what the shapeshifter would have done to Dorothy in return.

Boren could see this and cringed a little. "I…..I couldn't do it. So, I tried to kill you, hoping to appease her. I got to keep Dorothy, but still had to hand over the emerald."

"She says Boren is to hand over Dorothy, and his people can have their powers back, and still take control of Aglas," Oscar finished. "Is that it?"

"I knew there were still spies here," Lion said growling.

Boren nodded as him and Scarecrow did a stare down.

Scarecrow stepped up to him in an absolute rage and said lowly. "You will die. Not now, but you will die for this."

Boren smirked at him and held out his hands. "You can take your honor, and your nobility, and go straight to the hells. I am tired of being overpowered by royalty, that is why I had no problem killing you."

Scarecrow growled at him, and said, "You speak those words, yet, you would have no problem ruling Aglas once more, and taking my wife on top of it."

Dorothy tried to calm Scarecrow. All emotions were high in the room.

"Get him out of my sight!" Scarecrow yelled to the guards.

Dorothy stood there and shook her head, and watched as Boren was escorted from the room.

"So, it's me she wants," Dorothy said thoughtfully.

"That will never happen!" Scarecrow said sharply.

"We have no choice Scarecrow, we need to start a rebellion," Tin Man said.

Dorothy stood there quietly as the men in the room began to plan the attack. She couldn't believe that Oz's own queen would sicken her own people. She could only hope they would make it back in time to save them.

She thought of the elderly and the young children were most vulnerable to this.

She fingered the emerald. She began to think about what she would do. There was no way Scarecrow would allow her to surrender, but if she had a plan it might just work.

There was no choice now; they had to begin a civil war. Ozma was losing control because her and Scarecrow continued to live, and what she did was punishable by banishment or even death. No matter what the higher council decided.

Also, this disease she spread prevented other invasions to overthrow her, because it was contagious.

She looked around at her friends, and something came to her. Something that would make them able to reach Ozma without catching the disease themselves in the process of an invasion.

She would surrender to her if she had to.

She fingered the emerald in her hand. She wondered the extent of what she could do with it. There were some things, but could she reverse a spell on the city with it?

No, after all of the lessons by Glinds as to it's powers reversing something like that could be impossible. Yes, she was able to bring Scarecrow back to life, but that is because it was the rubies were what turned him in the first place. This was a much different scenario.

As the men began to speak there was something that hit Dorothy and she began to frown. She caught Scarecrow staring at her, and she always knew they were connected mentally. It was something she could not…..no…would not do.