The light of the sun gently slipped past the red silky curtains and into the bedroom where two lovers quietly slept. The humming and singing of the birds welcomed a bright new day in the Winkie countryside once again.
The Wizard opened his eyes to the sun's grace, his arms gently wrapped around his sleeping companion. Theodora was still sleeping, her ruby red lips showing a faint smile. He kissed her on her cheek, being careful not to disturb her slumber. He carefully got out of bed. Still wearing his button-down white shirt from the night before, he quietly slipped on his black pants and suit jacket. As he quietly opened the door, a masculine figure startled the Wizard. His right hand was in the air, about to make a knocking motion.
"Wizard, is the mistress up?" Mitchell greeted him good morning.
He glanced at the winkie captain. "No, but shhhh." He closed the door behind him and guided the captain through the hall away from the bedroom. The pair proceeded to walk towards the dining room as they started to talk.
"Wizard…something happened to Theodora's aunt. It is imperative that she go to her cabin at once…"
A concerned expression was on the Wizard's face. "Is everything okay?"
The captain stopped in his tracks and turned to him. "Gayalette was found dead late last night."
The Wizard expressed shock. "What? Who? What happened?"
"We don't know. We need to conduct an investigation into how she died. Gayelette made a lot of enemies over the years, so we won't know the manner of death until we get there…"
As the captain spoke, the Wizard interrupted him by raising his hand in the air. A hesitant look came over his face. "…Oh no, this is not going to sit well with Theodora. She's going to be devastated when she hears this news. I don't think I can do that to her…"
But the captain was steadfast. "We don't have too many options. The longer we wait, the less chance we have at ascertaining what happened."
The Wizard pursed his lips and placed his hands on his hips. "Okay, how about I go instead?"
The captain of the guards looked at him confusingly. "You?"
The Wizard nodded his head. "Yes…" He then faked confidence as he rubbed his finger along his chin and shot his cheeky plastic smile in the captain's direction. "I actually do have some investigative experience myself."
"Very well. I will assemble the men and let the mistress know…"
The Wizard grabbed the captain's arm as he turned and started to walk back to Theodora's room. "No, don't. Look, I don't want to stress her out with all of this. Let's take care of this for now and inform her later."
The captain nodded. "We will need to leave now. It will take several hours to walk there and then several hours to walk back. Including the time spent there and we are looking at most of the day."
A look of trepidation spread across the Wizard's face. "I don't know…Theodora is going to be very upset that I'm leaving…"
But Mitchell held up his hands impatiently. "Unless you want me to wake her and tell her the news, then we don't have much of a choice…" the captain started to walk towards the hallway that would lead to the main glass rotunda and exit. "Are you coming? The detachment is waiting at the castle entrance outside."
The Wizard sighed. "I am right behind you." He started to walk towards the hallway and trail behind the captain when an idea suddenly came to his mind.
"Wait", he exclaimed. The captain stopped and turned to him. "Do you have a paper and quill?"
"The Winkie servants keep a pile of blank paper in the adjacent parlor room to your left. There's a quill there too", the captain said.
The Wizard shot him a thumbs up and a smile. "I'll be there in five minutes."
Dear Theodora, the Wizard wrote.
Something happened with your aunt, Gayelette. The captain wanted you to journey with him to her cabin in the western regions of Winkie Country early this morning, but I didn't want to wake you up. I will return once we gather additional information and will give you an update accordingly.
~Wizard.
After writing this letter using the quill, he left the note on the dining room table for her to easily find.
The group then departed the castle. It was still early morning and the sun was low in the sky. As a small detachment marched behind them, the Wizard spoke to the captain, often having lengthy conversations as they crossed land bridges, forests and even massive waterfalls.
"The Winkie Country is magnificently beautiful…", he remarked.
"That it is…", the captain responded as he surveyed the land. The group was walking at a moderate pace and already had an hour's walk behind them.
"So, tell me, what was it like to be part of the Winkie Guards at the Emerald City Palace?"
"It was great. I started my duties when Pastoria ruled. I then became captain after Evanora assumed the throne."
The Wizard looked at him. "And how was it like working for her?" He was so disgusted by that witch that he dared not to even say her name.
But the captain's answer surprised him. As Evanora was the Wizard's hated arch-enemy—the witch who used any and all means to try and undermine him—he expected the soldiers to slave away for her, but that was not the answer he received. "It was actually very good. She loved the Winkie Guards. For those ten years that she ruled, she always treated us with respect and dignity. When I was made captain, she would listen to me when I made suggestions and even implemented most of what I told her. She very rarely overruled the guard's requests and gave us whatever we needed. Evanora always admired power and strength, which is why she allowed us to have our autonomy and independence. She needed us when she ruled the Emerald City as its unofficial Ozma."
"Indeed…", the Wizard responded under his breath.
"…And how is it like working for Theodora?" The Wizard smiled mischievously and rolled his eyes jokingly as he looked straight ahead.
"Have you ever wondered what it is like to work for a tornado?"
The Wizard chuckled and nodded his head.
He continued to probe the captain and ask questions he would never ask Glinda, or at least not receive a candor response to.
"Can you tell me more about the royal family?"
"What would you like to know?"
"I want to know more about the witch's upbringing. Did you know all of the sisters and daughters of the king? How were the king and queen as parents? And how did they treat their children?"
The captain sighed. "King Pastoria was a very kind and wise and benevolent ruler. He wanted the best for Oz. He wanted the best for his people. But he was also shrewd and, some would also say, ruthless. I never saw that side of him though. Queen Lurline was very tender and soft spoken. She had a very pure heart. She came from a long line of faeries that ruled Oz. And in Ozian society, it is the witches who are supposed to lead, take risks and run the household. Unlike the rest of her family and ancestors, Lurline wasn't as courageous and daring. She didn't want to do any of this. Instead, she allowed her husband to make most of the decision making. This was almost unheard of. King Pastoria was the first "Oz" the land had in a very, very long time."
"And what about his daughters? How did he treat them?" The Wizard glanced at him as they walked.
"The king loved his daughters. Oh, he loved Glinda the most. While she was not his first born, he saw her as his potential successor. His oldest daughter had renounced the throne. Locasta's her name. No, we didn't see her around much. She was a bit of a recluse, a bit socially awkward. Ever met her?"
The Wizard shook his head.
"Well, she looks nothing like her sisters. She's tall and a bit frumpy. The king would often scorn her for being lazy and unbecoming of being the land's next Ozma. She never enjoyed the trappings of royalty and wanted to break free from palace life as soon as possible. Glinda was then his next choice as she was the second in line for the throne. Evanora was not the second in line, so she couldn't be considered by the king. But she loved to discuss politics and she was quite adept at reading people, probably even more so than Glinda. She would read news as to what was occurring in Oz and in the rest of Nonestica. Glinda was as equally read and learned as Evanora. And Theodora…" Mitchell's voice began to trail off.
The Wizard continued to probe him. "What? What about Theodora?"
The captain remained silent.
"Answer me. What about her?"
Being pressed for an answer, the captain sighed and reluctantly replied. "The king, for all of his virtues, was very hard on his youngest daughter. The Ozian people are very superstitious and view magic with suspicion as it is, but especially the use of fire. The king simply never gave her a chance. I hear he locked her away in her room for most of her childhood so she could not do any harm to her fellow Ozians. She never developed the social skills necessary to lead a normal life. She had no friends, except for Glinda, whom I hear she used to be very close to. When both sisters had a falling out, that girl was never the same. One day, something inside of her just snapped. She got frustrated easily and developed a temper, especially after she felt Glinda betrayed her for some type of slight. I knew her only since she was a young adult, but she would get into these intense shouting matches with her father, the palace servants, the guards and almost everyone else. The king would call her wicked and worthless. I think one time he said he wish she'd never been born. Theodora was the king's moral failing. She was the black sheep of the family and the outcast of Ozian society. It is really a shame what that girl did to herself…"
The Wizard stopped walking and placed his hand on the captain's arm. "You know I did everything in my power to get her to stay at the Emerald City…" The Wizard's continuing guilt at the role he might have played continued to haunt him.
But the captain shrugged off his concerns. "The way she turned out had nothing to do with you. She was like this before you arrived at the Emerald City and you did everything you could." The captain then muttered under his breath. "And I don't know if I should even tell you about the other stories..."
The Wizard glanced at him. "What stories?"
Mitchell sighed. He was not going to tell the Wizard any stories about the last three years while he was stationed at Theodora's castle. The witch would have severe mood swings, and when things did not go her way, she would stomp her feet and pout around the castle furiously like a child. However, when she really became angry, she would often blame the Wizard for her banishment, her wickedness and his rejection of her. Theodora would scream about placing a curse on someone the Wizard loved. "When he has a child with Glinda, I am going to curse it", the witch would angrily declare. On one occasion, she would announce that she would place a curse on the Wizard himself.
But when the time came, the witch forgot that she ever said anything.
Other times, Theodora would announce to the guards that they would soon be invading the Emerald City to enslave its entire population "for what they did to her." They were specifically instructed by the witch to "take the Wizard alive so in his final days, he could be taught some manners."
However, every time the witch brought up conquest, the captain would look at her and simply ask "and with what army are we to accomplish this task?" She would then pivot and respond "fine! We will conquer the Quadlings then! Glinda will cower before me like the wretched helpless wench that she is and from there, we will conquer the Emerald City!" But the captain was unmoved and would continue to silently stare at her until she would simply walk away and not bring up the subject matter further.
And at the end of the day, Theodora knew he was right. For one, while the Winkie Guards had an impressive contingency of men, the walls of the Emerald City were simply too high for them to successfully scale.
As much as the witch wished to conquer both the Emerald City and the Quadlings, she also wished to control the entire Winkie Country first. And even that was not a simple matter. The western province was vast, with many cities, towns and villages that were ruled by individual clans and fiefdoms. And while they were nowhere near as well trained as the Winkie Guards, some of these communities were quite powerful in their own right.
So began the slow and tedious process of conquering these individual provinces. While the witch desired that the guards crush these localities with brute force to strike fear into the heart of every Winkie, the captain had another idea. He believed that they would achieve better results by simply marching into these towns and demanding that its people pay the witch tribute for her protection. This tribute included half of their harvest or, if they failed to produce enough, then their most able-bodied family member would labor in Theodora's castle. And it worked. Many local villages capitulated once they saw the potential might of the Winkie Guards march in.
For now, Theodora had listened to the captain's advice and shelved an Emerald City invasion. But the witch was persistent. And when she acquired the Golden Cap, the idea of invading the Emerald City was back on the table and nothing that Mitchell would tell her to the contrary mattered. To the captain, it was quite fortuitous—and a huge sigh of relief—that on the day the witch convened the captain and other Winkie Guard commanders to discuss a potential attack on the Emerald City, the messenger arrived with the Wizard's note. This shocked everyone and was quite unexpected.
No, the captain was not going to share any of the above, so he instead decided to respond with stories he witnessed before the Wizard's arrival at the Emerald City.
"I really do believe that underneath it all the mistress has good intentions", the captain remarked. "But she can be quite unpredictable. When she lived at the Emerald City Palace, there had been times where she got so angry that she even attacked the Winkie Guards themselves. There was another time when she became incredibly angry at the king because she wanted to leave the palace. He refused, saying that she would end up hurting others. The king believed that her youngest daughter could never control her powers. Her mother was a very soft-spoken woman, but she never intervened unless it was at the king's orders."
The captain continued to stare straight ahead as they walked steadily along the path. "One time, the king took her ring and ordered her back to her room. She refused. She wanted to leave the palace and explore. Theodora was incredibly shy due to her upbringing and had debilitating social anxiety. She was scared of approaching others because she was never taught how to. But she wanted to leave the Emerald City and explore the country side. In response, the king then ordered the Winkie Guards to forcefully bring her back into her room. It took more than ten of the king's men to subdue her as she was kicking and punching them. Some of the guards became battered and bruised. A few were seriously injured. She is quite incredibly powerful, even when the king had her ring. And I think that scared him the most."
The Wizard nervously eyed the ground. He then turned his head to the captain. "Why does she hate Glinda so much?"
"Oh, well that is another story entirely. But I only heard bits and pieces. From what I did hear… there was this boy…"
"What boy", he interrupted.
The captain stared at him. "So, Glinda never told you this story?
The Wizard looked at Mitchell with a hint of confusion on his face as he shook his head. "What story?"
The captain took a deep breath. "Theodora can be…how should I say this…obsessive. This obsession is apparent when it comes to daily chores given to the Winkies, but it also surfaces in her interactions with others. Before their falling out, Theodora became obsessed with this servant who worked at the Emerald City. I mean, literally obsessed. She would follow him around when the boy didn't even realize he was being followed. There was some impending dance that the king said she could only attend if she brought someone…"
So, Agatha was not lying. She was telling the truth, the Wizard thought to himself.
The captain continued. "I'd often hear her rant to Evanora as to how Glinda would try and steal this boy away from her, but yet I never saw any of the witches have any type of conversation with this boy. Shortly thereafter, Theodora exploded at Glinda. I don't know the details since I was away from the Emerald City at the time, but I heard their relationship disintegrated shortly after that."
"Hmm, interesting…", the Wizard mused.
What really happened between Theodora and Glinda, he asked himself. Theodora was not forthcoming and Glinda never spoke about it. I need to find out exactly what happened.
The Wizard continued to look down at the ground and shake his head while thinking about the captain's story, his voice tinged with frustration. "I just wish there was something that I could do to help…"
But Mitchell cut him off and looked at the Wizard. "But there is. Simply being there for her and supporting her goes a long way. Ever since you arrived at her castle, she has been calmer and even her outbursts had been less frequent and severe to her winkie servants…"
The Wizard gulped nervously. Her outbursts have been less severe? What does he mean by that?
…"I've even seen a smile return to her face, something I never saw after she left the Emerald City. I've seen her skip and laugh. She's happier. You definitely have an effect on her, Wizard…"
The Wizard then decided to change the subject. "What about when you are not at the castle? Any family?"
The captain nodded. "Why yes. I have a little one back home. She's nearly two now. We live on a manor house about a thirty-minute walk from the castle." As he walked to Theodora's castle from the Quadling Country with Finley, the Wizard did indeed pass some sprawling homes. He now wondered which one was the captains.
"Ahh, your wife must be truly proud", the Wizard said as he shot him a grin.
"Well, no wife to speak of, but my husband definitely is", the captain shot back. "We took our daughter in when she was merely an infant."
"Oh…"
The group continued silently on their journey. They soon came to a fork in the road.
"Which way?", the Wizard asked.
The captain motioned for him to stop. "We've been walking for nearly three hours and we are almost there. Let's wait until the detachment catches up with us."
As the guards marched, they continued to chant "Oh-Ee-Yah! Ee-Oh-Ah!" They had been chanting this melody for quite some time.
The Wizard turned around, annoyed. He motioned for the winkie guards to stop. "Guys…please…stop doing that."
The captain looked at him. "So, why did you really come here", he asked. "I mean, you say Glinda sent you here, but what was the real reason?"
He eyed the captain. "I guess you could say I took a leap of faith."