The Ruins of Oz
starring Samurai Jack

story by
Mercutio Puck

Chapter Six.

There was still enough light to see the path, however the orange sky could no longer be seen. The branches and leaves of the forest were so heavy that whatever light shown through looked like stars at night. Beams shined through the thickness of the very peak of the forest, producing random spots of luminescence over the woodland floor. If anyone thought it was too dark to see anything, then the sounds of leaves in the breeze, chirping crickets, and any other quiet noises of wilderness could be overheard by familiar footsteps hitting the path that was supposed to be out of the forest and to Emerald City.

Gale and Scarecrow walked on the sides of Jack. Their steps were not in sync, but they stayed together leaving no one behind. No signs of fatigue are noticeable as they continued their way down the dim, winding road.

A clang on the ground fell behind him from the pack on Jack's back. The noise startled the three of them briefly, forcing them to react and turn around swiftly. Jack was the first to look on the ground to behold what was there. The Scotsman's weapon of a leg appeared to have fallen out of the top of his equipment. Upon seeing it, he realized that he had nearly forgot what was done. This new world, where Aku is the subject to something more evil, where a young lady is the protector of the village of little people, and where trees not only talk but they ridicule anyone who passes them, has really gotten to Jack to the point where he couldn't remember how he got here in the first place. He blinked with his head down, standing at ease. He gave out a sigh, and bent over and picked up the gun.

"You don't want to lose that." said Scarecrow. "Looks pretty dependable."

Jack looked up at Scarecrow, almost with disgust in his face. He could have lost his temper and explained the whole thing to him; however, Jack knew that Scarecrow didn't know. He wasn't trying to be insensitive. Scarecrow was just trying add commentary because he was aware of how long they've been silent ever since joining them.

"You have no idea." said Jack, keeping his cool as he put the gun back in his pack. "Let's keep going."

They turned themselves to the direction they were facing before they were distracted and continued. Jack then looked at Gale, who was looking back for a split second. She was concentrated on the road as well. She kept her thumbs on the straps of her backpack to avoid any uncomfortableness on her shoulders. The longer he stared at her, the more interested he became of her story. She is the most normal looking one here that Jack has seen. She wasn't short in stature, she wasn't made of straw, she certainly wasn't a flying monkey, and she wasn't a talking tree. She was just human, just like Jack. Is it possible that she isn't necessarily a native here? She could have been just as sent to Oz as Jack was. There's even a chance that she was even from the same world as he was. He never did ask anything about her, but maybe if he did, he could find some answers as to how to escape.

"Gale." he asked for her attention.

Gale turned her head to see what Jack had to say. Unnoticed, Scarecrow also lent an ear to hear these breaks from silence.

"Yea?" she replied.

"How did you ever..." Jack tried to search for the right words, without offending anyone like Scarecrow or Gale herself. "What I mean to say is, are you..." He still had a hard time. Both Gale and Scarecrow were really paying attention to what he had to say. "How did you ever..."

Before Jack could finish, dangerous growls came from bushes on the right of the road. They shifted directions quickly, but only to hear more growls from the left. They, again, switched directions; but Gale and Jack remembered the first growls and turned around for prevention of sneak attacks. Scarecrow kept his eyes on the left, but a third set of growls coming from down the road caught them all. They backed up slowly, so they could a view from all three sides of the path.

A pair of dim, yellow eyes emerged from the darkness ahead, then twice more in the rustling bushes on the sides. They slightly moved up and down in synchronization to their heavy breathing, not necessarily all three pairs moving at the same time as each other. The sound of paw prints slowly hitting the road became louder and closer to Jack, Gale, and Scarecrow. But before anything else could be seen, the head of a white wolf appeared from the left bush with grinning eyes and a fanged snarl. Another white wolf had slyly came out of the right bush, much to the same fashion as the opposite side. Then finally, the creature coming down the road came to form. A large gray paw stepped into what little light was in the forest, followed by another. Finally, its head appeared from the shadows. A slightly larger wolf, dirtier in color making it somewhat gray, stood as high as Jack's stomach and was as wide as the blade on his sword. It grinned as it came closer, swaying its tail slowly with confidence and licking its lips. The two white wolves on the side halted, continuing to growl at the trespassers.

"Wha.." Gale stammered.

"Shh." whispered Scarecrow. "No sudden sounds, no sudden movements. These are wild wolves. At instinct, they'll hunt in packs and eat you alive."

"So, we wait?" asked Jack.

"We don't want to make the first move."

"You two take on your respective sides." said Jack. "I'll face the one in the middle."

"Try not to kill them." whispered Gale.

"I don't intend to." replied Jack. "It is up to them to retreat."

Without warning, the gray wolf charged them at running speed. Jack saw it coming straight ahead jumped backwards to the left of the road to evade it. The wolf kept its eyes on Jack as it was passing him, trying to bite him at the very last minute before turning its back on him. Jack jumped backwards again missing the bite; this prompted the white wolf on the left to take advantage of the attack on Jack. Scarecrow sidestepped in front of the white wolf with his scythe ready to defend, halting the wolf in the process. Jack put himself back in the center of the road to face the gray wolf. Both of them were waiting for the first move. Jack's patience proved to be the best as the gray wolf took another charge. Instead of moving out of the way, Jack leaped into the air, just high enough to jump over the wolf and come down slicing a little hair off of its tail. The gray wolf didn't seem to be affected by it as it just turned around and prepared for another attack.

On the left, the white wolf finally made a jump at Scarecrow, only to be blocked and thrown down by the stick-end of his scythe. The white wolf got off of its back and growled in frustration at him. The two began to circle each other, both aware of each other's tactics.

Gale was circling the wolf on the right side of the road. Her eyes were concentrated on her opponent's every step. The white wolf made a sudden change in stance, quick enough to try to make her flinch. She stood in defense upon reaction, holding her shotgun by the barrel like a staff so she could block any bites. The wolf unexpectedly made haste and rushed her at full speed as Gale positioned herself to catch its attack. It glanced over her head and stopped abruptly, using its momentum to brake itself and make a sharp turn towards Jack and Scarecrow. Gale seemed confused for a brief second, then realized that the white wolf was making an attack at the other two. She had to tell them before it happened..

"Ja.. !" she cried out. She was interrupted by a harsh strike from behind, causing her to completely fall to the ground.

Jack had took his eyes off the gray wolf for one second to see Gale as she was taking her fall. However, he didn't see the white wolf charging him, the very thing that Gale was trying to tell him. He felt the force of the attack on his sword hand. This caught him by so much surprise that he had lost grip on his blade and the wolf had sent it clear away from his reach. His attention saw the blade slide across and the beast that gave him this disadvantage was going after Scarecrow.

"Watch out!" advised Jack. Moments after his warning, he sensed a closeness in range with the gray wolf. It was too late to jump or move out of the way; and even if Jack had the sword in his hand, he didn't want to kill it. On instinct, the large animal prepared its fangs for a bone-crushing bite. Jack was quick to use his hands to protect himself, holding both its jaws open. The gray wolf's strength proved to be greater as he had pinned him to the ground. Jack's hands remained intact, using the only thing he had to defend himself.

He first looked to the left to see Scarecrow holding back both white wolves with his weapon. They were on both sides of the pole, snarling and pushing him farther and farther away from Jack's position. Still fighting the strong force of the gray wolf's mandibles, he then looked to the right to see the fallen Gale. Her body lied face down in a matter of seconds until it was rolled over to have her on her back. The shifted his view to see what had turned over. His eyes beheld yet another wolf, far bigger than the one was tangling with right now. It stood just over the half-way mark on the trunk of a nearby tree, almost as wide as the road he was on, and physically built like a monster. The hair, a little more reckless than the other wolves, was dark as coal and was almost difficult to see past all this darkness. It stood over Gale, growling over her and licking its lips like she was the next meal. That brief second of finding what has happened, Jack gasped in shock and in sadness. He could not believe this was happening at all. Avoiding the murder of nature has become his ultimate downfall and he couldn't bare to think that the people who were just trying to help him were going to meet their demise in just a matter of seconds.

"NO!!" cried Jack, echoing through the forest and startling several nested birds.

Gale's eyes began to open. Everything was a haze at first and she had to take moment to herself to realize where she was. She knew she took a hard bump, feeling the soft grass against her skin. The blurry images were making the back of her head sore. She tried to ease her headache, but couldn't move her entire upper body. She opened her eyes several times, blinking until the sights became clear. She awoke to the immense menace of the forest, staring at her with its hungry dark brown eyes and drooling for the thirst of her meat. She realized she was pinned to the ground and could not escape. Looked over to see that Jack was in the same position as she was, just barely hanging on to dear life. Scarecrow, fighting the two wolves, was at a disadvantage as well. She gasped, knowing that this was going to be very difficult to escape. Scarecrow was the only one who was still standing, but she could never imagine how long he could hold them before it's too late. She turned to the face of her demise, angry and hurt all at the same time. She scowled at this monster, ready for her fate whether it be Scarecrow finding a way out of his situation or the cruel torture of being eaten alive. She then knew why she stayed with the Munchkins all those years and not left to the outside world again, she thought.

Suddenly, upon staring at the viciousness in front of her, the expression of her face changed. From an expecting-of-fate scowl to a recognizing concern, the dark brown eyes of the wolf, though still blood-thirsty, became very familiar to her. The dark wolf's face came very close to hers, still growling at her. Even though she still feared the wolf, Gale's new visage did not budge.

"Toto?" she almost sobbed.

From that moment, no other sounds were heard. The actions were still going across the road, but two sets of ears only heard the adrenaline running through Gale's breath and the silence from the wolf's growl. The dark wolf hid its fangs and readjusted its ears, slowly moving its head back, tilting it in perplexity. Gale stared at its every move, wondering if it's actually true of what she had said. The wolf moved its head toward her face once more, still not growling or any forms of intimidation. It searched her face with its cold, wet nose, looking for the best place to get a scent. Finally, it reached her right ear and breathed in. The dark wolf unanticipatedly stepped off of her fallen body in a swift motion. Gale looked at it from her back on the ground a gradually began to sit up. The dark wolf's eyes came back to reality and then it barked abruptly, the speed of sound slightly tapping the face of Gale.

The other wolves stopped what they were doing and looked at the larger dark wolf, tilting their heads in the same fashion of perplexity. The dark wolf barked again and ran back into the wild bushes. The two white wolves were the first to follow, then the gray wolf, but not before giving Jack a last grunt.

Scarecrow fell to his knees in exhaustion, while Jack was quick to his feet and rushed to aid Gale. He was surprised and yet relieved to see that there was no harm done to her.

"Are you all right?" Jack asked.

"Wha.. ? Yeah, I'm fine." replied Gale, taking in everything that just happened. "Just a little dizzy, is all."

"Maybe you should rest." suggested Jack.

"No, I think we should keep going. I'm okay, really." she said attempting to get up, only to have her weak legs give out and making her lose balance. Jack caught her and set her down nicely sitting on the edge of the road.

"At least until you are ready to walk, Gale." added in Scarecrow. "We could wait. I mean, I could use a breather. That was intense."

"Well..." Gale thought, actually considering taking the advice. "I do feel a little better already."

"Take your time." said Jack, as he handed her a canteen from her pack. "Drink some water."

"Thanks." she said. She took a drink, and periodically drank some more while looking around the spot. She saw Scarecrow breathing heavily completely on the other side of the road, along with Jack's sword. She was still trying to take together what had just happened. She tried to stay emotionless in front of the others. She didn't think anyone was ready to hear what she had just witnessed and how she was the reason the wolves had ran away. Suddenly, she heard a piercing howl that could only be made by a wolf. Her head tried to catch the sound in the best position possible. Another howl graced her ears. She didn't know how to react, but she gave a little smile anyway. She took one last drink from the canteen and stood right up, with no faults. Another howl echoed through the forest as she tried to look for it with her ears.

"Okay." she said. "Let's go."

Even though Gale and Waco (pronounced WAY-ko) are loosely based on characters created by L. Frank Baum, I still like to think of them as my own. However, the characters Samurai Jack, Aku, The Scotsman, and The Scotsman's Wife are all property of Genndy Tartakovsky.