It was just as Dorothy had feared when they had reached their destination. The green gate that marked the entrance to the Emerald City was a dull sandy brown, broken and dented. In the distance high on a hilltop was what used to be Emerald City, now it was in ruins, looking like lost ancient old city in a jungle.
"Oh, man!" gasped Woodenhorse.
"What happened to this place?" asked Jack.
"It used to be…so beautiful." Dorothy said, sadly.
"Is this the Emerald City you've been telling me about?" asked Billina.
Dorothy nodded in disappointment. "That was the Emerald City, Billina."
Upon reaching the Emerald palace and entering through the main door, Dorothy and her friends gasped to what they found. The entire city was completely damaged and buildings were destroyed. White marble statues of the occupants of the city stood everywhere on the streets.
Dorothy cupped her hands to her mouth and called out, "Hello! Is anybody here? Lion? Scarecrow? Tin Man?"
"Maybe there's nobody here," said a nervous Jack.
"Not moving very fast, are they?" said Billina, gazing up at the statues. "We came all this way to see a bunch of stiff people."
"This is not the time to be a crack pot," snorted Woodenhorse.
"Hey guys! Look at this!" Dorothy pointed to some large red letters painted on one of the broken buildings. "It says, 'Beware the Wheelers.'"
"What's a Wheeler?" asked Billina.
Dorothy shook her head. "I don't know. I never heard of a wheeler before."
"Maybe it's an automobile, like the cars and trucks we see around Kansas." Billina suggested.
"Look at this!" Jack gestured everyone to the fountain, where he discovered a circle of dancing headless women statues. "These ones have lost their heads."
"Now that's what I call just plain carelessness," said Billina.
"Why don't you leave the jokes to me?" growled Woodenhorse. "I usually do it at a nicer time."
One of the headless statues was not dancing. She wore a large gown with a magic wand in her hand. Dorothy looked at the statue carefully and recognition dawned on her when she realized who it was.
"GLINDA!"
Dorothy embraced the headless statue of the good witch, weeping sorrowfully. "Oh, Glinda. Not you too. What's happened to you? What's happened to everybody?"
Jack and Woodenhorse exchanged sad and worried looks. They felt truly sorry to see Dorothy getting choked up at losing one of her friends to such a sad fate. Even Billina didn't make any jokes about it, especially when Woodenhorse gave her a dirty look to make sure she didn't say anything funny.
"Dorothy…" Jack stepped forward, reaching his hand out to try and comfort her.
Suddenly, there was an eerie squeaking sound. Everyone looked around in alarm but they saw nothing. The squeak made Dorothy remember the squeaky wheels of the stretcher bed she had been strapped down on at that terrible clinic. But this was no stretcher.
Around the corner, a strange creature – with wheels on both arms and legs – rolled toward them, laughing wildly. "C'mere, chicken!"
"Look out! It's a Wheeler!" screamed Billina.
"How do you know what it is!?" shouted Woodenhorse.
"Why do you think the sign said beware the wheelers for!?" retorted Billina.
Another wheeler appeared on a bridge above them, cackling. Dorothy screamed and made a run for it with Jack and Woodenhorse. But another wheeler, who was their leader, cut off her escape route.
The Head Wheeler, with a pointed nose and red hair and a purple tinted face, looked Dorothy up and down at her slim legs and slender figure, with a lustful smile. "Hey there, little lady. Wanna go for a roll with me?"
Watching all this happening, the Scarecrow felt a different emotion grow within his heart. It was something he had never felt before but he once heard the Tin Man speak of this when he first met him. He clutched the mirror's handle tightly in his hand, his upper lip lifting in a snarl.
"Eh…no thank you," Dorothy muttered, nervously.
"Back off, joker!" Jack growled in anger.
But the Head Wheeler ignored him as he rolled closer to Dorothy. "Boss says you're just a freckle-faced little girl, but I think you're – hot!" He stood up on his back legs, placed both arms on her shoulders, and tried to kiss her, making smooching sounds.
"Eew! Get off me!" Dorothy cried, as she tried to shove the Head Wheeler's face out of her face.
The Scarecrow screamed and yelled at the Head Wheeler in the mirror in a rage he never knew he had. "YOU! You worthless piece of slime! You ignorant disgusting blob! YOU FOUL OBNOXIOUS MORON!"
But lucky for him, Woodenhorse neighed in fury and lashed out at the Head Wheeler, kicking at him with his hind legs. The blow had sent the Head Wheeler falling back on his backside. "You leave Dorothy or I'll kick you again!"
The other wheeler stared in awe and whispered, "Oh, no, he didn't." The Head Wheeler moved right back on his feet and looked beyond angry. "Oooh, I'm gonna get you for this, you worthless chunk of wood! Get 'em, boys!"
All of a sudden, a gang of wheelers came in from all corners of the street, laughing maniacally.
"Dorothy, run! We'll fight them off!" shouted Woodenhorse, going into fighting position. Jack picked up an iron poker as a weapon as the wheelers closed in on both him and Woodenhorse. Dorothy picked up Billina and dashed toward the bridge, but several more wheelers could be seen lurking about on the other side of the bridge.
"Quick! That way!" Billina pointed to an open entrance in the wall.
Dorothy ran into the dark hall as the Head Wheeler beckoned the others to follow. Dorothy stopped when she realized she had run into a dead end.
"Got you!" cackled the Head Wheeler from the end of the hall. "Your trapped, toots!" The rest of the wheelers entered the hall.
Dorothy frantically searched the stone wall for a way to escape but there was none. The wheelers' laughter echoed down the hallway as they crept toward Dorothy. All hope for her seemed lost, until she noticed an outline of a door in the stone surface and a keyhole.
"The key! They key!" whispered Billina.
Dorothy fished out the key from her pocket and jammed it in the lock, turning it. The key opened up the wall, allowing Dorothy and Billina to enter.
"What the?" gasped the Head Wheeler. "Get her!"
Grabbing the key, Dorothy ducked inside, slamming the door shut. As soon as she did this, the wheelers crashed against the wall.
"What do you know? This key did come from Oz." Dorothy looked at the key in amazement. It was as if her friends knew something like this would happen.
The Head Wheeler leaned his face close enough to the keyhole and shouted threateningly to Dorothy, "You'll have to come out sooner or later! And when you do, we'll tear you apart into little pieces and throw you and your friends into the Deadly Desert!"
"But I haven't done anything to you!" Dorothy objected, through the keyhole.
"Isn't that a stolen lunch pail in your breast pocket!? Isn't that a chicken in there with you!? The Nome King doesn't allow chickens anywhere in Oz!"
Again with this Nome King person. Mombi had mentioned him before and the way she talked about him, he must sound terrible because she did say he would get rid of the Scarecrow. But Dorothy didn't know anything else about this Nome King or what his intentions were. "Who is the Nome King?"
But the Head Wheeler howled with laughter and mocked her words. His laughter was joined by more cackling, and the wheelers rolled out the hall and back into the city.
"Don't you listen to those crazy clowns," Billina assured her. "I'm sure those lunch pails don't belong to them."
"I think your right," Dorothy nodded, agreeing with her.
"What are we gonna do now, Dorothy?"
"I don't know. But let's just hope Jack and Woodenhorse are okay."
But as she turned around, Dorothy gasped in surprise. A small window let minimal light in, its sun rays rested on what appeared to be a mechanical man made out of copper. It had a round head with a cap perched on its head, a moustache attached to his nose above his mouth, a round body with skinny arms and legs just like the Tin Man's. It was covered in a layer of dust.
Dorothy approached the bronze statue, curiously. "Why it looks like a man…..a man made out of copper." To her it felt like Déjà vu on her first meeting with the Tin Man. Wiping the dust off his front chest, Dorothy found a badge imprinted on the copper's man chest and read it aloud. "Tiktok, the Royal Army of Oz."
"Army? It's just a bunch of junk, like that old copper kettle in the barn back home," clucked Billina.
"Look, there are some instructions." Dorothy said, walking behind of the copper man and found an instruction manual on his back. "For thinking, wind up number one. For speaking, wind up number two. For action, wind up number three."
Glancing at three key knobs on Tiktok's neck, Dorothy wound up all three of them. With a sudden jerk, Tiktok came to life. A ticking sound came from his body and his eyes blinked a few times.
"Why did you wind up all three of them?" asked Billina.
"I'm always curious to new things I find in Oz," answered Dorothy.
The copper man stammered before he could find the proper words to speak. "Good evening, miss."
"Hello, good sir." Dorothy curtsied politely.
"Are you Dorothy Gale, the Witch and Jester Slayer of Kansas?"
"Well, sort of." Dorothy shrugged.
"It is an honor to meet you. I am Tiktok, the Royal Army of Oz." Tiktok bowed low before her, then he stood up. "His Majesty, the Scarecrow, locked me in here and told me to wait for you."
"What's happened to the Emerald City? And what happened to the Scarecrow and all my friends?" Dorothy asked, worriedly.
"I don't know," Tiktok said, sadly. "Suddenly, everyone here began turning into stone. When you did not arrive, I called for help until my voice ran down. Then I paced back and forth until my action ran down. Then I stood and thought until my thoughts ran down. After that, I remembered nothing until you wound me up."
"Well, you should thank Billina. She was the one who found the key." Dorothy gestured to the hen, perched up on a dusty old crate. Billina just grinned and nodded.
"Thank you, Mrs. Hen." Tiktok smiled. "Where did you find the key?"
"In the barnyard in Kansas," said Dorothy.
"The Scarecrow did say he was going to send you the key with Glinda's wand right after she turned to stone."
"Well, Tiktok, the first thing we need to do is to escape from those wheelers. They're outside waiting for us, and by now might've hurt two of my friends, Jack Pumpkinhead and Woodenhorse. They said they're gonna throw us into the Deadly Desert."
Tiktok tipped his hat and bowed low. "Don't worry, I will take care of them. From now on, I shall be your obedient servant. If you keep me wound up. Just make sure my works are extra tight and I can come up with a plan."
Moments later, the heavy stone door creaked open. Tiktok peered his head out through the half open door. He looked around, making sure there wasn't a wheeler in sight.
"Hmm…lunch pail, please," he said, extending his hand out. Dorothy handed Tiktok her lunch pail, and he took it. "These wheelers can be very tricky customers."
The door pushed open farther and Tiktok walked out, followed by Dorothy with Billina in her arms. They crept down the hall and peeked out from the corner. "Oh my goodness!" Tiktok gasped, seeing the destruction of the once beautiful Emerald City. But as soon as they walked out into the light, the wheelers jumped out at them in surprise, laughing evilly.
"You stay on the staircase! I will take them down!" Tiktok shouted, ready for battle.
Dorothy climbed up a nearby staircase but a few wheelers were at the top. But they didn't go after her, they were only blocking her exit. Dorothy looked down and watched as Tiktok began spinning his round body rapidly.
"Want some of this!?" The copper man bravely fought off the wheelers, taking them down with the lunch pail. The wheelers cried out in pain when they felt the lunch pail hit them on their heads or in their faces.
"Go Tiktok! Show 'em who's boss!" Billina cheered.
The Scarecrow smiled in relief and amazement as Tiktok beat those wheelers good. "Good ol' Tiktok! I knew you'd come through this! And give that wheeler who flirted with Dorothy a black eye for me!"
Tiktok had struck the Head Wheeler hard and picked him up by the collar. "Come here, you." All the wheelers rolled away from Tiktok in fear like the cowards they were, afraid of being beaten again.
The Head Wheeler shook like an angry dog tied to a leash. "You're gonna be sorry for treating me like this! I'm a very fierce person!"
"I am only a machine, so I cannot be sorry or cheerful, no matter what happens," Tiktok said, in an angry tone of voice.
Dorothy climbed down the staircase and approached the Head Wheeler. "Where is the Scarecrow? What have you done to Jack and Woodenhorse? And what's happened to the Emerald City?"
The Head Wheeler only mocked her, until Tiktok grasped his hand around his throat making him choke briefly. "Answer her!"
The Head Wheeler stammered, "The Nome King…..he conquered the Emerald City…..he took all of the emeralds…..he turned everybody into statues."
"What about the Scarecrow and my friends?" demanded Dorothy.
"There is only one person who knows where the Scarecrow and the others are and that's…" The Head Wheeler stammered in fear before he answered the name of the person he was about to speak of. "Luh…luh…lang…Princess…Langwidere."
"Princess Langwidere?" Billina clucked in confusion.
"I don't remember her," stated Dorothy.
"We…we…took your friends to her. She…she locked them up." The Head Wheeler stuttered in terror.
"Take us to Langwidere!" Dorothy demanded with determination. She had to save Jack and Woodenhorse from this mysterious princess, and wanted to find out where the Scarecrow and all her friends are."
The Head Wheeler shook his head rapidly. "Oh no! No way! Nah-uh! Forget it!" But Tiktok choked on him much harder and longer, making the wheeler's face turn blue. Then he reluctantly gave in.
The Scarecrow's eyes widened in terror when he learned of what Dorothy's intention of visiting that evil princess. "Are you nuts, kiddo!? Langwidere is crazy! She'll have your head!"
Author's Note - I hope you liked this one. If Mark Hamill voiced a Wheeler, it would've sounded like the Joker. From what Scarecrow had shouted in his prison, it's from Dan Aykroyd on Ghostbusters. It's his first sign of experiencing jealousy for him. I've seen Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and when I watched th Knave try to seduce Alice, I imagined what would it be like if Dorothy was in the same situation as Alice. The next upcoming chapter will be about that crazy head changing Princess Langwidere and two new friends for Dorothy. I don't own Oz or the characters.