[Part 1]

Chapter 18: Battle plan

-Along the Yellow Brick Road-

*~ Glinda ~*

Although distracted by thoughts, Glinda could not shake her suspicions or unease. An attack along the road is bound to happen, she's certain. An 'accident' to rid the Land of Oz of herself and the Wizard. That must be the reason Evanora helped them. She wants the privilege of causing their deaths herself, unwilling to leave such creul-begotten glory to her sister.

It certainly is a wickedly devious plan, but it suits the witch so excellent in hiding her darkness.

Thus even as the Wizard relaxes, all but falling asleep, Glinda remains awake, alert. Finley is already asleep, sprawled over the Wizard's lap and the little China Girl is curled up into Glinda's side. All of them so peaceful, blissful, unprepared.

She grips her wand tightly, determined not to be caught off guard. If it comes down to it, she will be their only line of defence. She cannot afford complacency.

She cannot say with certainty how much time has passed for them on the road, no attack in sight, but it has been enough to set her nerves alight. So she wonders, theorizes, suspects. If not an attack along the road than a spy in their ranks turned assassin. The captain of the Emerald City Guard is the most obvious choice, but due to that transparency Glinda hesitates to point fingers.

Evanora did instruct him to accompany them. To earn their trust? To crash the carriage?

She hadn't thought about the later until now, but it is entirely possible. Not an ambush, but frightened horses are difficult to control and well-known for resulting in accidents. Knuck is sat at the front alongside the captain, likely prepared to forestall any sabotage, but what if he is the true saboteur?

What if he has been enchanted by Evanora? What if it isn't Knuck at all?

He certainly seemed civil toward the Wicked Witch. Additionally Evanora sent him away from the city and he hadn't attempted much of an argument.

Glinda places an arm across her face, exhausted from all the scenarios clashing together in her mind. A headache blooms behind her eyes, but light has only just begun to peek into the carriage. Perhaps the darkness of the dungeons has affected her vision.

Slumber tempts, but she resists. She must remain awake.

-Along the Yellow Brick Road-

*~ Oscar ~*

He startles awake to the sound of Knuck's trumpeting. First thinking it an attack, but then quickly calming when he realises they've simply stopped to give the horses a break. Now groggy, Oz pats Finley to get up and pushes open the door. He stretches once outside, stifling a yawn.

"Morning," Finley greets, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Why did we stop? Are we there yet?" China Girl asks, one hand retreating from her face.

"Not for a while yet." Glinda cuts in before Oz can respond, gracefully climbing out of the carriage with her wand in hand. "The road to my castle is well-concealed with magic designed to confuse those with ill will."

"So, you?" Finley looks at him pointedly.

Oz shoots him a warning look.

"We should stretch and clean up while we can," Glinda advises, looking around.

"Agreed." No one told him how uncomfortable it is sitting in a carriage for hours on end. At least he slept through most of it.

-Along the Yellow Brick Road-

*~ Glinda ~*

Despite her best efforts, Glinda could not infer a time or place suitable for an attack that wouldn't in some way expose the guilty party. The roadside is the best place for such a thing, yet their stop was uneventful, even by the Wicked Witch's standards.

Glinda's brow furrows. It has been some time since she has received any reports, but no one has made mention of the Wicked Witch's minions. In addition, Evanora did not appear to have the Silver Whistle. Could she have misplaced it?

Was her aid a means of throwing off the trail?

"What are you thinking about?"

She turns to the Wizard in surprise, blinking away the remnants of her thoughts. "Pardon?"

He seems so soft, so gentle. "Your mind was elsewhere. It did not appear to be a pleasant place."

She turns to the door and the covered pane that would otherwise act as a window. "I was thinking of Evanora. Her assistance confuses me."

She expects him to defend the woman, to admonish her for her continued suspicions. To her surprise he does nothing of the kind, only patiently waits for her to continue. She takes a deep breath.

"The day she killed my father was a terrible day for our people and the worst day of my life." She exhales shakily, remembering. "Then she exiled me and I couldn't understand, I still cannot understand why. Why kill him? She had the same position then as she has now. She had the people's trust, she had people who loved and cared for her. I can't…" She shakes her head.

"Sometimes," the Wizard says softly, hands clasped in front of him. "People make decisions out of fear. Their choices, often terrible ones, rarely makes sense to anyone but them in the moment they make it. And sometimes," he sighs, "when all is said and done, even they cannot say why they did what they did."

"He always treated her so kindly." Glinda recalls sadly. "He and I would often visit her during the busiest of days. We would bring her something to eat and make conversation or help lighten her paperwork."

"It sounds like the three of you used to be close."

"We were, or at least that is what I believed." She sighs. "I never imagined Evanora could do something like that."

"Paperwork?" The Wizard attempts with a shadowed smile.

"No," she smiles back, but it doesn't last. "Murder."

"When it comes to the people closest to us, we never want to believe the worst. Unfortunately the world isn't always kind."

"Oz used to be."

"Then maybe it can be again."

-Along the Yellow Brick Road-

*~ Oscar ~*

Oz spends the rest of the ride thinking about what Glinda told him. When he first arrived, he hadn't had much time to go over Ozian history. He does remember Theodora telling him a few things about kingship and Evanora had occasionally made mention of the history of some of the rooms in the Emerald City Palace.

If he remembers correctly, Glinda's father was King Pastoria, also known as Ozgood. He was a wizard, or rather The Wizard, and had the ability to grant wishes. He would grant the wishes of his people on one day every year. The people of Oz loved and admired him for his kindness and remember him as a benevolent and just person.

Oz cannot say that he has any personal opinion of the man, never having met him, but Glinda has voiced not one complaint about her father, only smiling that sad smile Annie used to when she remembers days she can never have back.

Not for the first time, he wonders at the resemblance as well as Evanora's role in the king's death. Glinda seems so certain that it's her and it seems to be widely agreed that the king was poisoned. What no one seems to know is the reason for it.

He stands by what he told Glinda, but if it was indeed poison and regicide in combination, there must have been some sort of plan. Oz isn't certain about the punishments in the Land of Oz, but by the sound of it the Ancient Faeries had quite some influence which they appear to have retained to an extend despite their absence.

Evanora must have known this when she decided to kill the king, so why risk it? What was her motivator?

"Castle in sight!"

Waving away his thoughts, Oz opens the carriage window and leans out to look, Glinda right beside him. In the distance, slowly creeping closer, he can make out the spires of Glinda's castle through a fissure in the protective barrier.

"That must be where Theodora pushed through."

"The barrier should have regenerated itself." He can her the frown in her voice.

"Why hasn't it?"

"There must be some sort of interference."

The carriage continues rolling forward, pulling them ever closer to the barrier and the castle it was meant to protect. Oz can't help but feel unnerved. Rightly so, he realises not long after when they ride right into an ambush of wicked, flying baboons.

-Along the Yellow Brick Road-

*~ Glinda ~*

Their arrival comes sooner than expected, despite the brief moment of heart wrenching terror when the Wicked Witch's minions came down upon them. Although her magic is not meant for doing harm, it does prove useful in scaring off their unwanted company. Only minimal repairs were required and it was rather smooth riding after that.

The moment they passed through the barrier the carriage was swarmed by Quadlings and the other refugees within her city. Between the joyous welcoming of her people and the renewed fierceness of their determination to strike back against the Wicked Witch, Glinda had little time to think of sabotage and assassinations.

It isn't until she finds a quiet moment that she realises the Wizard has been absent from her side in addition to having been rendered strangely silent since their discussion of the barrier. She asks around and finds herself herded to the Tinkers' workshop where the Wizard is in deep discussion with the builders.

She waits for them to finish, curious what mad invention has struck his fancy. When he sees her he excuses himself and makes his way to her.

"Glinda, I've got it!"

"What have you got?"

He begins walking down the street and she follows, feeling somewhat odd following his lead, yet strangely she doesn't find it to be a negative peculiarity.

"It's all in here." He pulls a book from his coat, handing it to her as he leads her back through the square.

She accepts the book and runs her hand over the cover before opening to flip through. "What is this?"

"A battle plan! It has everything we need. Illusion. Misdirection. Slight-of-hand." He exclaims enthusiastically. "That's our advantage. That's our way in."

"I don't follow."

He turns to her, a gleam in his eyes she hasn't seen before.

"We're retaking Emerald City and this is how we're going to pull it off." His expression calms and he straightens, stopping to look her in the eye. "Glinda, I know I haven't been much help since I arrived. Arrogant and egotistical even," he repeats her own words back at her. "But I want to help the people of Oz." He's serious, genuine. "I may not be the wizard you were expecting, but I might just be the wizard you need."

"You said you were just a conman."

"Precisely."

"Nothing but a trickster?"

"Yes."

She smiles. "A terrible cheat?"

"The best there is."

She grins in full realisation. "The carnival magician is going to put on a show."

"I'll put on the show of a lifetime. The likes of which the Land of Oz has never seen! Magic, mystery, prestidigitation!" He gestures grandly. Then, more softly, he adds. "It'll be my greatest trick yet."

She's hopeful, but she doesn't feel right binding him to a prophecy and a land he knows nothing about, to which he has no ties and to which owes nothing. "You can still turn back."

"I know."

"This is your last chance out."

"I'm staying."

"Even if it means risking your life?"

"I always knew I would go out with a bang."

"Then you're sure?"

"I am."

"And there's nothing I can say that will change your mind?"

"No."

"Not even gold?"

He smiles. "Not even gold."

"Alright then. Tell me what I can do to help."

-Emerald City, Dungeons-

*~ Evanora ~*

There is an ache in her head as she blinks back into consciousness, her eyes adjusting to the darkness around her. She sees only shadows at first, but then they gain form and eventually definition.

She's back in the dungeons, though this time in a cell instead of outside of it. She has a perfect view of the bars in front of her. It takes her a moment to piece together why. She's upright. Her arms bound above her head, only just visible in her peripheral. She feels the bite of iron manacles around her wrists and senses the magic dampening runes carved within without needing to see them.

A glance down reveals a metal belt pinning her waist to the wall behind her, the stone cool against her thinly clothed back. Her legs must be held in place by magic, she surmises, unable to lift them, but seeing no ball-and-chain or iron shoes keeping her from her mobility.

She continues her examination of herself and her surroundings, but is interrupted by footsteps, alerting her to the approach of guards. She looks up, eyes locked on her cell entrance, waiting to see who appears.

She isn't surprised to find Theodora flanked by guards, stopping in front of her cell, but the green skin, fiery eyes and long nose still catch her off-guard.

"Hello, Sister."

Evanora keeps silent, her gaze her only acknowledgement.

"I have wonderful news." Theodora's saccharine sweet voice makes her skin crawl more than the green face pressing against the bars. The grin on her face is unnerving. "Look. What. I. Have." She sings, holding up a small silver tube.

Then, slowly, that small silver tube comes into focus and Evanora feels her mouth fall open, a gasp trapped in the back of her throat and her tongue quite dry. "The Silver Whistle of Queen Gayelette."

"You see, unlike you, Zurline finds me much more worthy of her time and aid."

Evanora's blood runs cold.

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Until next time.

– L.L.