C36

-oOo-

The Magenta Mage was sat at a small table cluttered with ancient books and a couple of specimen bottles whose dubious contents floated in a pale vinegar coloured liquid enjoying his evening meal when there was a knock at the study door.

"I'm eating!"

There was a second or two of silence, then a voice through the closed door.

"I'm sorry Your Supremeness, but your orders were to bring any prisoners directly to you, sir."

Wiping his mouth on a monogrammed napkin, the Mage stood up. Glancing excitedly across to his hungry audience of three, he beamed.

"My dears...I do believe your friends have arrived!"

Hurrying to the door, he opened it wide finding the Captain, fist raised, about to knock again.

"Captain, please accept my apologies, I had no idea it was your good self. Please, come in, and bring my guests."

The Captain strode through the door with a brief look at the two women and the Munchkin before turning back to the doorway.

"Bring him in men."

-o-

The Mage's eyes were wide in anticipation as he held the door for the Captains men. Charlie watched horrified as two soldiers walked in, dragging Dean between them. Once they were in the study, the Mage poked his head out of the door way and looked around. Pulling his head back into the room, he looked puzzled as he sought out the Captain's eyes.

"Um...I did mention that there were two of them...Didn't I?"

"Indeed you did, Your Supremeness. Unfortunately I have to report an untoward event. I am afraid that the other one, whilst attempting to flee like a dog, fell to his death. I take full responsibility for failing to catch him alive for you sir."

"I see."

The Mage quietly closed the study door and walked over to look at Dean who, by then, was lifting his head and trying to get his bearings.

"And you're certain the other one is dead, are you?"

Charlie, already distressed by the sight of Dean and the state he was in, held her breath whilst she waited for the Captain to answer.

"No one ever survived that particular fall Lord. Me and the lads are going off again at dawn to seek out his remains and bring them here to you sir."

The Mage nodded, ignoring the gasp of shock from Charlie and her automatic denials.

"I see. That's very considerate of you Captain. You men, would you be so kind as to pop this one over on the day bed? Does he require the barber surgeon or the medic would you say Captain?"

The Captain made a show of considering his answer before he nodded.

"With respect, I rather think he might need the medic."

-o-

Dean's voice could only just be heard.

"Don' wan' no 'aircut, douche."

"In which case, could you cover the day bed before your men pop him on to it? Use the cloak that's hung over the back of it."

The captain hurried to do the Mage's bidding whilst his men stoically continued to hold Dean upright. Dean gazed bleary eyed up at the Mage.

"Who you?"

The Mage gave his new guest a hard stare.

"I am the Supreme Leader of Oz Beyond Anyone, I am the Magenta Mage, and you, scum, are my prisoner."

Dean looked the Mage up and down frowning, then, to the astonishment of everyone in the room, Dean began to snigger. Charlie wondered briefly whether he had been drugged. She smiled however when the Mage raised his voice angrily. Even mostly out of it, he manages to rile up the bad guy in less than five minutes.

"What, pray, do you find so funny about your current situation?"

Dean sniggered again before answering.

"You...You slobber!"

Both the soldiers holding Dean had the same thought run through their minds; would now be a sensible time to let go of the prisoner and back away?

The Mage stared at the idiot in front of him.

"Explain yourself."

"Suprem Lidder Ofoz Beyon' Anybody, S.L.O.B.A., you slobber! Oooo...Hey look! S'Charlie! Hey Charlie!"

Charlie gave Dean a weak smile.

"Hey yourself. I think you should stop talking now Deanie. Ok?"

Dean nodded at her seriously.

"K Charlie, I geddit, st..."

Charlie found herself feeling oddly relieved when Dean passed out in mid sentence, at least this way he would keep his mouth shut.

-o-

With his better night vision, Sam took the lead with Merrick staying very close behind him, each ready to respond should the other look like falling. Sam steadily followed the direction in which his brother had been taken. Walking diagonally over the dangerous terrain did seem to make the going a touch easier for both men, though not enough for either of them to relax and stop watching where they put their feet. Rounding the curve which had taken the soldiers and Dean out of sight, Sam was both surprised and happy to see that a path had, at some point in time, been cut into the side of the hill, at last giving them a relatively flat surface to walk on and easing the strain they were both now feeling along their spines.

-o-

Sam and Merrick picked their way slowly along the rough trail in silence, Sam's thoughts being very much with Dean. How he had come to be captured, what state he was in physically, and what the Magenta Mage had got planned for his brother? So deep in thought, Sam almost missed the fact that, whilst the path had become substantially wider, it also petered out a couple of yards ahead. Sam came to a standstill, suddenly enough that Merrick couldn't help bumping into him. Where the path ended, the dizzyingly steep slope, dotted with trees and shrubs clinging to it's sides, dramatically given way to a vertical and almost smooth, rock face, with no obvious way up, down, or around it.

-o-

Merrick looked thunderstruck.

"How...?"

Sam was already staring at the rise of the hill to his side, running his hands over it.

"Help me. There has to be an entrance."

"To what?"

"The inside of the hill."

"You are entirely serious about this?"

"Where else could those men have gone with Dean? Unless you think they simply took a flying leap off the end of the path? Which option seems most likely to you?"

Merrick scrunched his face up as though giving the question some hard thinking.

"How long have I got before I must decide?"

Sam stared at his companion.

"You, Merrick, have spent way too much time with my brother! My guess is that there are tunnels underground, probably in different spots all over Oz, linking different places. Remember the White Rabbit?"

"Yes. You seemed to think it belonged in a different world to Oz. But the rabbit didn't come through, he...Came up...Out of..."

"The ground...There. Look, I think we're standing on the entrance!"

-oOo-