Chapter 6: Getting A Head
On the day before Ozma's birthday party, Langwidere selected a head for her next move. The curly-haired redhead #27 was the bravest of her heads: exactly what she needed at the moment.
The woman had approached Langwidere in private about getting away from an arranged marriage. Langwidere had promised to help her escape and change her destiny, but the attraction of the curly red hair had been too much – she had stolen her head instead.
She approached the oldest of the Ev princesses.
"Evanna, you are going to be attending the birthday party of that Oz princess, aren't you?" asked Langwidere.
"Yes, everyone who is anyone in Ev will be there," said Evanna. "Are you?"
"I thought about it, and even bought new jewelry and accessories for the occasion," said Langwidere, lying boldly.
(She had actually been snubbed and had no invitation. Even Jinnicky the Red Jinn, the "Wizard of Ev," had been invited, but not her.)
"But in the end I decided not to go. I hate to let fine jewelry go to waste. Since you're going, I might as well give it to you."
"That is unusually generous of you," said Evanna with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"It was a whim to buy such things," said Langwidere. "I usually only adorn myself with heads, but for an occasion like Ozma's birthday..."
"I don't really need more jewelry," said Evanna.
"I suppose I'll just lock them up in a drawer, then. It's too bad; they are very fine and expensive items."
"Well, I might just look at them," said Evanna.
"Please do," said Langwidere. "Come to my apartment and I'll show you."
In the main room of the apartment, Langwidere presented a box with a pair of golden bracelets.
"This is just the first item. Please try them on."
Evanna put them on and frowned slightly. "I like them, except that each has a little round ring sticking out. What on earth are they for?"
"I'll show you."
Langwidere produced a short piece of chain and clipped it to the ring on the right side. Before the surprised princess could react, Langwidere pulled Evanna's hand behind her back and clipped the other end of the chain to the other ring, handcuffing her.
"What are you doing?" demanded Evanna. "I'll scream for the guards and have you punished for this."
"My apartment is soundproofed," said Langwidere. "I had it made that way long ago after I started my head collection."
Evanna screamed anyway. Langwidere pushed her into her cabinet room. In the presence of the magical mirrored cabinets she was able to stop the screaming instantly by removing the head of the princess.
Langwidere put Evanna's head to the side and replaced head #27 in the proper cabinet. Then she picked up her new, temporary #31 and put it on.
She looked herself in the mirror. It wasn't the prettiest head; it would never do for her collection. But as a disguise it was just what she needed. Evanna was the right height and build for Langwidere to impersonate her.
Now to hide the body. Langwidere couldn't leave it here. Not only might it be found, but it could run wild and damage her head collection. She steered it out of the cabinet room and and locked it into a closet.
Langwidere went back to the young woman's room to borrow another party dress, leaving her ruby key hidden in drawer.
When the royal family assembled for transportation to Oz by the magic belt, "Evanna" was with them.
In a flash they were transported to a grand pavilion in the Emerald City where many guests where assembling.
"Welcome to Emerald City," said the Soldier with the Green Whiskers. "Please line up for the procession to the Royal Palace, where you will be formally received by Princess Dorothy."
"Dorothy!" thought Langwidere. "That common farm girl who ruined my life is now a princess here? Life is so unfair."