CHAPTER 2

Jeb awoke in his guest quarters in the palace. He laughed to himself. Who would have thought I'd ever be here? The bed beneath him felt strange after years of sleeping in tents and on cots. He had almost pulled the blankets off and curled up on the floor the night before. Getting up, he quickly dressed, then went in search of his father. The idea of seeing his father on a regular basis was going to take some getting used to. A week ago, he thought the man was long dead. He found him in the conference room, directing the setup for today's meeting.

"Jeb!" Wyatt gave some instructions to a palace staff member before walking over to join his son.

"Good morning, Father."

"Just getting things set for today. How'd you sleep? Those beds are somethin' else, aren't they? I'm still not used to them."

Jeb nodded, then turned his attention to the hustling staff. "What's this meeting about?"

"Partially to thank you for your loyal service, blah blah blah, but mostly to discuss the future of the OZ – reestablishing order, rounding up stray Longcoats, trials for servants of the sorceress, that kind of thing. Listen, I have to go check in with the queen. Walk with me."

Wyatt knocked twice on the large oak door. A pleasant woman's voice called, "Enter." He swung it open to reveal a small but powerful looking woman at an ornately carved desk. Her lavender eyes looked up and she smiled.

"Ah, Mr. Cain. How go the preparations?"

"Almost ready, Your Majesty."

"Wonderful." Her eyes fell on Jeb. "And this must be young Mr. Cain."

Jeb's eyes went to the red woven rug on the floor and he bowed his head in respect. "Your Majesty."

"I understand you coordinated the diversion that allowed my youngest daughter and her friends to sneak inside the tower."

"Yes Your Majesty."

"Then it seems I am in your debt."

His eyes shot up to the queens in shock. "In my debt?"

She smiled again. "Please don't hesitate to ask if there is anything I can do for you." She turned her attention back to Wyatt. "We will begin at noon."

"Yes, ma'am." Jeb turned and followed his father back to the conference room.

--

"But I don't want to leave you alone for…however many hours this is gonna take!"

"DG." Az stated patiently. "This is really important. They've put one of Ambrose's audio-visual recording devices in the room and I'll be watching what's going on from here. I won't be alone, I'll be watching you the whole time."

Her sister finally acquiesced as their father arrived to gather DG. He placed a kiss on Az's cheek and she forced a smile as they left. She turned the monitor to face her bed and sat down to watch the games begin.

--

All the seats for resistance leaders were filled except for one, who sent word he had been delayed. Jeb sat next to his father near the head of the table. The men and women talked amongst themselves until they were silenced by a knock at the door. Everyone stood as Ambrose, the newly-repaired royal advisor, appeared, followed by the queen, her consort, and the princess DG, who was dressed in her distinctively un-royal Other Side clothes.

At the head of the table, the queen gestured for everyone to be seated.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank each and every one of you seated at this table. You have demonstrated outstanding loyalty and courage in highly difficult times. All of you have made sacrifices for the cause of freedom, without which victory would have been impossible. I owe each of you a great debt of gratitude, and yet I am calling on your services again. We need to establish order in the Outer Zone. We have reports of looting in abandoned Longcoat stations, varying reports of renegade bands of Longcoats, and no police force in Central City. I am open to ideas." She folded her slender hands on the table and cast her lavender eyes around the table expectantly.

Anaia Sloane, a fit, middle-aged woman known for her swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat skills, spoke up from the foot of the table. "So we need Tin Men for Central City, and we need Longcoat hunters."

"A detail for the palace, too." Wyatt added. "If we've got angry Longcoats out there, this place needs to be protected."

Jeb mostly listened to the brainstorming session as plans were formulated for the next few hours. Anaia and Eliot Bassett agreed to head up the Longcoat hunters, while Reg Stanton, the man sitting on Jeb's other side, would coordinate the new Central City Police Department. Wyatt, of course, would run the palace security detail. Joan Burton volunteered to track down magistrates and judges in hiding to restart the judicial system, and Hector Worthing would round up some prison guards for the Longcoat detainees.

Everyone was chattering on about their plans when Jeb finally spoke the question that had been bothering him all day.

"Your Majesty, what happened to the sorceress?"

DG, Ambrose, and Wyatt shared a brief look as all noise in the room stopped. All eyes turned to the queen.

"To fully and honestly answer that question, I must first recount to you a story. One that, until quite recently, was known to only a few. Most children in the OZ have heard the fairy tale of the Dark Witch and the Alliance of Light, where representatives of all races in the OZ banded together to banish the witch to a stone prison for all eternity. What is not so widely known is that it was an actual event that occurred approximately 700 years ago."

A hushed murmur of disbelief rose and fell quickly before she continued.

"Over time, the exact location of the prison was lost. All that was known was that it lay south of the Crack in the OZ. I now take you to a summer nearly fifteen annuals ago. I was with my family at our retreat at Finaqua. My daughters often went off on their own to play, or pick apples, or skip stones. That particular day, they stumbled upon a cave."

As the queen continued, Jeb tried to process what she was saying. She was proposing that Azkadellia was possessed by an evil witch out of a bedtime story? He was having a hard time believing that, and from the looks on the faces around him, many of those gathered felt the same way.

"…Then I was forced to make a decision no parent should ever have to make. I had to choose between my daughters. I had enough power to either revive Dorothygale or fight the witch inside Azkadellia."

But on the other hand, what motivation would she have to protect Azkadellia? A misplaced sense of motherly love? What about her duty to her subjects?

"And so, through their bond, my daughters destroyed the evil sorceress inside Azkadellia."

A long moment of silence followed. Then Reg spoke up. "So you're saying Azkadellia is alive. And in this palace."

"Yes, but the witch inside her is dead. She has confined herself to her quarters."

Another pause.

"You'll pardon me, but that seems hard to believe."

The room then exploded with cries of "She killed hundreds of people!", "She's tricking you!", "How can she get away with this?", and the like. DG jumped right into the shouting match, retorting that none of them were there, how would they know what did or didn't happen?

Jeb noticed his father becoming more and more agitated until he finally stood and bellowed, "SILENCE!"

He could have heard a pin drop. Those on their feet sat down as he continued.

"Have we lost all civility these past years? You are speaking with the queen of the OZ!"

--

As Azkadellia watched the turmoil in the conference room, her heart sank. Of course they didn't believe it. Why should they? Even she believed it was too easy a way out for her. She was not being held accountable for her cooperation in the matter.

A knock at the door startled her. She gathered herself to appear calm and confident and strode over. Turning the handle, she found a very unlikely visitor.

"Mr. Raw." She said in surprise.

"Raw come in?" he asked quietly.

"Of course." She stepped out of the way and closed the door behind him. "Can I help you with something?"

The Viewer simply turned to the monitor showing Cain putting everyone in their place. Her confident front dropped somewhat.

"Ah yes. That."

He walked over and turned off the monitor.

"Azkadellia feel sad, lonely, confused, guilty. Much guilt and shame."

Tears sprung to her eyes at being laid open so quickly. He guided her to sit on the edge of her bed and pulled the chair from her vanity over to face her.

"Not your fault."

"That's what everyone's been saying. As DG says, 'I'm not buying it'."

"Az not know what was witch and what was her."

The tears were flowing now. "Please don't tell anyone, Raw. If they knew-" She paused. "Please don't tell."

His earnest eyes looked into hers. "Secrets safe with Raw."

She took several deep breaths calming herself. "Thank you."

After a moment, he held out an open hand. "Azkadellia…share memories?" He asked tentatively.

All at once a thousand despicable acts she had committed came into her mind. Tortures, deaths, things she'd like nothing more than to forget. She recoiled from the Viewer.

"No! No one can know! No one!"

He nodded and held his hands up in surrender, trying to settle her down. As her heart rate fell to normal again, she watched him replace the chair and head to the door. Feeling bad that he had been trying to make her feel better and was leaving like this, she called out.

"Raw, thank you for coming."

He turned at the door. "When Azkadellia ready, Raw here."

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