[Part 1]
Chapter 9: Bitter awakening
-Emerald City-
*~ Evanora ~*
Feeling weighed down was the first thing she registered. The second was the absence of her magic. It sent a jolt of panic through her and triggered a torrent of convulsions, soothed only by a weak spark of something ancient nestled under her breast.
Not gone then, she amended with an inward sigh of relief, only spent.
Her thoughts had fallen silent after that, her brief consciousness having vanished.
The next time she had regained some semblance of self was likely due to the bone-deep chill that snuffed out all other senses. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the sensation pulled on a memory, but the cold was so overwhelming that she couldn't think. It had swept her under before she had a chance to resist and she was drowning before she even knew she had been consumed.
After that, all she had known was darkness and a cold with no apparent origin.
Her third brush with awareness brought about the knowledge that her body was heavy and no amount of attempts allowed her to twitch so much as a finger. Her skin prickled with static energy and there was a certain warmth pressed against the middle of her collar, but beneath that, under skin and sinew, there was only ice and it pervade her whole body.
The effort it took to open her eyes nearly convinced her it was better to simply submit to the pull of the abyss, but then she succeeded and was met with the hazy sight of a gentle green glow reminiscent of the emerald sconces in her chambers.
For the barest of moments whilst she attempted to take in her surroundings, she thought she saw Andahan standing by her side, smiling, but when her sight became more focused she was met only with empty air. She closed her eyes and ignored the nausea that was building in her chest, praying to the Ancient Faeries that exhaustion may take her before madness.
She woke not long after to Theodora's barking voice and flinched instinctively, expecting to feel flames lapping at her skin or a perverted magic forcing her muscles to contract and boil her blood, but instead her sister rushed to her side and clasped her hand (which was numb and prickled with pins and needles).
"Sister! Thank Enilrul, I feared you may never wake!"
She felt her magic recoil from the touch, from the unfamiliar shadows dancing under the light that she had come to recognise as her sister. Looking upon Theodora she could see no reason for it, she looked much the same as she always did, but there was something different about her and it extended beyond the black painted nails and black coat draped over her blood red dress.
"Sister," her voice came out in a rasp and it grated at her throat, urging her to wonder, "how long..."
"Eighteen marks and more to come as the curse has taken quite a toll, but fret not, I've ordered you not to be disturbed." Theodora rattled on, smiling brightly as she continued to grip Evanora's hand, relaying all she has done in the past few hours.
Her behaviour was distressing. Despite her temper, Theodora has always been mild, preferring to hide in her shadow and relying on passive-aggression instead of assertiveness. The way she spoke, the way she was holding herself, it was most unlike her.
"-duties will be seen to, but until then, you're not to move from this bed."
"O-of course."
Theodora drew her shoulders up, smiled in delight and waved a hand, carelessly casting fire to travel about the room. Evanora surged upright in horror, but the flames harmlessly coalesced in the hearth she has never made use of, sparking and flickering in mockery. Her body protested and her muscles twitched in pain, but she ignored it in favour of her shock.
"When-"
"Oh, it's just a little trick I picked up." Theodora interrupted, eyes dancing with glee as she withdrew her hand and produced a snake in demonstration, the flames curling around her wrist before being extinguished. Theodora clapped in excitement. "All of that studying is finally paying off!" Theodora reached for her hand and clutched it in her own. Evanora noticed her palms were cold despite her magic use. "Isn't it just magnificent?"
"Indeed," she acknowledged quietly, observing Theodora's expression carefully.
"Well, there's much to be done." Theodora leaned over, kissed her forehead and pushed her back into bed before she leapt upright and began trotting off only to stop and spin mid-stride. "I'll be back in a little while. Get some rest, alright?"
It wasn't until Theodora had left that Evanora realised how difficultly she had been breathing and how her breathes came easier now. She slowly sat up, eyes drifting to the fire burning in the hearth, noting the deep red tinge overtaking the usual soft orange of her sister's flames.
-Glinda's Castle (Quadling Country)-
*~Oscar~*
His surprise at making it through the wall was only matched by his awe of what was hidden within. That of course was quickly off-set by the cheers of people gathered in the castle courtyard, calling out to Not-Annie with intervals of 'wizard' chanted in between.
"They've waited a long time for you, Wizard." Not-Annie explained softly.
Hesitantly, he waved at them and their cheers exploded. The kind he never gained from audiences back with the circus. He took off his hat for them and waved with a smile at their welcoming calls.
He put it back just as they landed, almost caught off guard by a woman who smiled delightedly and called, "All hail the great and powerful Oz!"
"Thank you! You're a wonderful crowd! You put the 'merry' back in the 'merry Land of Oz'!"
Though some looked confused they smiled and laughed, clapping joyfully. Oz made a note never to repeat that line again.
"Hello!" People cheered and clapped no matter what he seemed to do. As he watched them, walking beside Not-Annie, he offhandedly remarked "What? No fireworks?" He had meant it in jest, though apparently she took it seriously.
"What are fireworks?"
He paused for a moment to look at her, her earnest eyes staring at him with curiosity just as Annie had so often done when he performed for her – only for her. Perhaps it was because of the resemblance that he responded as he did. "Remind me to show you sometime."
He was shaking hands with people in the crowd when he turned around to see a man holding two bouquets, one in each hand. Reminded of his conversation with Theodora, he desperately hoped they weren't for him, but then Not-Annie answered and he turned back to the people, relieved.
That is, until they reached the stairs.
"We need your help, Wizard!"
"Please save us!"
He thought of China Girl and the ruins of what had once been her home, of the girl in the wheelchair who wanted more than anything to believe that he could make her walk. Perhaps it is because of Annie's gentle admonishment after the incident or a guilt he would never admit to, but leaned over to Not-Annie, whispering a truth he had only revealed to Finley because he was bound to his will.
"You know, I should tell you, I might not actually be the Wizard."
"Yes, I know."
His gaze shot to her in surprise. That was not the reaction he had been expecting. "Oh." Remembering what she had said about magic, he absently touched his chest, asking, "You could tell?"
"Yes." There was a brief pause before she continued, a hint of admonishment in her voice. "I can also tell you're weak, selfish, slightly egotistical and a fibber."
That passive-aggressive anger was definitely Annie. Except this isn't Annie. This is a witch with magical powers and a giant protective wall over a fantasy castle in a fantasy land full of fantasy people and very real and very deadly problems. "I see. Anything you don't know about me?"
"Whether or not you'll save my people."
"Didn't we just establish that I'm not the Wizard?" He whispered fervently whilst looking out of the corner of his eye at the large crowd gathered at the foot of the steps.
"But they don't know that," she whispered back, throwing his own words right back at him. How many times throughout the last two days had he not given Finley the exact same reply when the monkey attempted to convince him to admit to the truth? "If you can make them believe then you are wizard enough. These are desperate times, after all."
At the very front of the crowd, were previously had been men and women calling out for salvation, now stood a group of children, hopeful and uncertain with Finley and China Girl carefully enfolded in their numbers. Of the two, China Girl's eyes were the most hopeful, having every faith in him. Finley looked guilty, alarmed even, willing him to admit to a lie he had fabricated and was already so deeply enveloped in.
Softly, Not-Annie touched his back and asked, "Can you make them believe?"
For all his faults – many as he was aware they were – Oz was not stupid. He knew what she was asking, knew what they needed and knew that he wasn't and would likely never be enough. Hope, however, was something he was not entirely certain he could give. A fabrication of possibilities, yes. An illusion of light within darkness, yes. But hope? Something so fragile? Something that, if not handled with care, could lead to heartbroken children crying over lost dreams.
He swallowed and looked at the crowd in its entirety, thought of the many more in Emerald City. Could he deceive them all?
Pushing aside his sudden integrity, he erased the faces from his mind, replacing them instead with just another batch of witless fools paying to see tricks with smoke and mirrors in attempt to feel better about their miserable lives.
"Will I be compensated in gold?"
He could feel her still behind him, pausing to consider or perhaps catch-up with his train of thought. "Uh-huh," she confirmed, her expression portraying how that was the farthest thing from her mind.
Sighing, he stepped forward. "Good people of Oz. Your wizard..." he met Finley's eyes and then saw China Girl and the children all around them. He looked away, determined to remain firm in his decision. "Is here!"
If he had thought their cheers enthusiastic before, it was nothing compared to the full-blown praise they showered upon him now. The children rushed up the stairs, enveloped him one after the other, each smiling brighter than the last.
-Emerald City-
*~ Evanora ~*
Hours passed with her falling in and out of restless sleep, the cold refusing to lift from her bones. She had seen none so far aside from Theodora during her two visits and even if she dared to venture outside of her rooms her limbs were too heavy for her to even coax herself onto her feet.
An hour or two prior – borne from lack of anything else to do – Evanora had closed her eyes and focused on the magic surrounding her. Most of it was trace of her own as to be expected, but unlike the days before, it was now interrupted by a flow which, albeit familiar, was one she did not recognise.
It was heavy around her bed and shown near hearth and bedside, but most importantly, it hovered over her like a thick mist, invading the crevices her own magic had retreated from.
Someone else's magic was on her and it wasn't the vitiated reproduction of hers that she had begrudgingly adapted to. It was similar therein that it carried the same parasitic miasma, but different at its core.
Someone had used magic to revive her. Ancient magic. Tainted magic.
Evanora was unsettled by the implications.
Theodora would only tell her so much of what had happened and repeated the same assurances when she inquired about her attack. Theodora appeared to have taken up a mantra in her communication with her, making their conversations feel stilted and rehearsed.
She has little doubt that a healer must have examined her, but to reach them will prove much more difficult. From what she was able to discern from what Theodora has told her, the younger witch has taken over control of the Winkie Guards and with it, her birthright.
Ever since she had defeated their father in the Wizard's Duel, Evanora has unofficially held both the West and Eastern Seats of what had been the Cardinal Coven, but only one belonged to her by right of blood. If Theodora has claimed her seat than not only is she likely to draw the wrath of the wicked witches of the West, but Zurline will most certainly take advantage of the opportunity.
Emerald City needs its defences now more than ever.
And Theodora has taken hold of the only army they have.
Unless something is done, unless Evanora finds a way to act, the heart of Oz will fall and they will return to the devastation of pre-Faerie rule.
It was with this in mind that she had spent the majority of the night urging her magic into cooperation enough to summon parchment and quill to her side. The letters were coded and the seals warded as had been her way ever since she had taken over control of Emerald City.
Paranoia may be exhausting, but there was no doubt it was useful when enemies rose from shadows one had not thought to investigate.
She had returned her stationary to her desk and settled into bed to sleep off her exertion no more than a few hours before the sun was set to rise. If all went well, she would have a plan to initiate before breakfast.
-Glinda's Castle (Quadling Country)-
*~Glinda~*
It was early the morning after she had brought Oz back to her castle when she sent out an announcement for her people to gather. She arranged for an early shared meal – akin to the dawn-break feasts her mother had been so fond of – and asked the unconventional wizard to meet her in the courtyard for introductions to her people.
In Glinda's opinion, it had all gone quite well, save the wizard's snark, his apparent disinterest in remembering her name and the impression that her people were soldiers. It could have been better, but it wasn't as terrible as she had feared. At least, not until she learned the true extent of the wizard's ignorance regarding the land he had the desire to rule.
"But do you honestly believe that they can kill a wicked witch and an army of flying baboons?"
"I don't expect them to kill anyone."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the good people of Oz are forbidden to kill."
"Forbidden to... You want me to lead an army that can't kill?"
"If this was easy, we wouldn't need a Wizard, would we?"
That was of course the moment everything else decided to follow in the shadow of the disasters preceding the Wizard's arrival, causing her barrier to quake under the force of an evil that was now as unknown as Evanora's role.
"Something's wrong!"
"Look!"
"What is that?"
"The wall!"
"What's happening?"
"Glinda?" Oz directed her attention to the billowing clouds collecting behind them, an unvoiced question echoing behind her name.
"The Wicked Witch shouldn't be powerful enough to get through the wall."
"It looks like she's managing."
"There are only a handful of witches strong enough to breach my protection spells and none – aside from Evanora – are wicked." She turned from the brewing storm to address her people, urging them to safety, but before she could finish relaying her instruction, her barrier shattered with a resounding tremor and she stumbled from the aftershock of feeling her magic so easily undone.
Oz caught her and then promptly pulled her out of the way of an attack, which left a crater smouldering in the middle of the courtyard where her mother's fountain had once been. She didn't have much time to compose herself before he was helping her back onto her feet, both of them staring at the fire coalescing in the midst of the crowd too stunned to obey her demand for them to flee.
Despite the fire not yet having taken true form, Glinda could feel the magic suffocating her own, fighting against all she had built and even feeding off of the light around it.
She approached carefully, wand at the ready, but as darkness rose from blood red embers, Glinda felt a sudden chill run down her spine. She knew it in that moment. Knew that whomever this magic belonged to was one of her coven sisters. And she knew that they had struck a bargain with the one behind it all.
From the flames emerged a face Glinda had never thought to see amongst the ranks of her enemies, let alone with such a resentful presence. Red had been marred by a black ribbon and taste further altered to include the darkest cloak she had ever seen. That is how their attacker stepped through the flames, long boots crushing the debris beneath her feet.
"Hello, Glinda."
Oz found his voice first, managing to sound as confused as she felt. "Theodora?"
The look in Theodora's eyes, once directed at the wizard, was filled with so much anger that for the first time since following Evanora during the inspection, Glinda felt truly threatened. "You fell so easily into her snare. So easily broke your promise. My sister had the right of it. I should have never trusted the likes of you."
"What happened to you?"
As much as she also wanted an answer, Glinda did not think this was the right time to push.
"What happened to me?" This time, Theodora's burning gaze turned onto her and Glinda barely fought back a flinch. Her eyes were fierce, but there was a moment when the younger witch briefly took on a green glow and Glinda felt the trace of a power she had only ever sensed on one other witch. "You sided with the one who cursed my sister."
"I haven't cursed anyone."
"Do not lie to me!" Theodora's voice was a roar of flames, crackling and hot with burning intent. "It was your family's magic woven into the spell that nearly took my sister's life! Were it not for me, she would be dead!"
She had no means of countering Theodora's claim, could feel she truly believed what she said. It only served to confuse Glinda all the more.
"Theodora, I don't know what curse Evanora fell to, but I'm asking you, do not take out your pain on my people."
"As you have done with the rest of Oz?" Theodora sneered, an expression so very foreign on her face. "No. I'm not like you Glinda the Great Deceiver." Theodora stopped in front of her, magic thick around her. "I will spare the good people of Oz." She leaned closer until there was barely a hairsbreadth between their faces. "If you agree to return to Emerald City on charge of treason."
Hope to hear from you, thank you for your patience!
– L.L.