Chapter 13

I do not own anything from the Wizard of Oz. The movies, books, or anything else related to the story. I own my OCs.

This chapter will be Dorothy's and my OC the shape shifter Boren's POV.

Dorothy tried to sleep, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She could see Tin Man was pacing the area, his eyes ever watchful. Lion was against a tree snoring away.

Dorothy sat up, and looked around. The fire was out, as it was warm enough now to not keep it going during the night. The moon was big and bright in the clear sky, but was still masked by the trees of the thick forest. Dorothy had not felt they were being watched in a while. Lion went and scoured the area after they had eaten, and did not find any more evidence of the shape shifters.

She stood, and looked around again. She could hear the faint clanking of Tin Man.

"Are you alright, Dorothy?" He asked coming out of a shadow.

Dorothy smiled slightly, and said, "Yes. I have to go and…"

Tin Man nodded in understanding. "Do you have your knife?"

Dorothy nodded. "I will stay close."

She walked over to the edge of some trees, and tried to keep her privacy as she went to the bathroom. She was doing that a lot more lately, but couldn't help it.

She looked around as she pulled up her pants, and thought she heard a noise. She realized that Tin Man had stopped walking around; he must have heard it too.

She listened for a second, but the cursed her pounding heart in her ears.

"Dorothy!" Tin Man whispered loudly.

Dorothy ran back out of the woods, and found Lion awake and ready to pounce.

"Is it the shape shifters?" She asked.

Tin Man shook his head handing her a sword. "We don't know yet."

Suddenly, the sounds of drumbeats began to surround them through the woods. Tin Man lit a fire, and turned furiously at the noise.

"It's not them," Lion said.

The drumbeats became louder, and more furious. Dorothy looked around trying to make out something within the jungle, but could still see nothing.

She couldn't swallow as fear began to rush through her.

"What is it?" She asked practically crying now.

"I don't know!"

Then the first whoosh of the arrow flew past them. Then another, and then another after that.

Dorothy cried out, and Tin Man dropped the fire from his hands.

"Come out, cowards!" He yelled into the jungle.

Dorothy scoffed at him. Probably not a good idea to do that, she thought furious at him.

Dorothy's eyes widened as one appeared at the edge of the creek, and then more came out of the woods.

There were at least thirty soldiers who appeared in front of them.

Dorothy gasped. "Ordaran…." She whispered. "Ordaran's men."

Then one of them stepped forward, and spoke their common language in a heavy accent.

Lion roared trying to intimidate them, but it didn't work, because the leader just looked at him and smiled.

"We have been awaiting your arrival, Generals," the leader said.

Tin Man narrowed his eyes. "What do you want? We were coming to negotiate the release of the Scarecrow King. Nothing more."

The leader laughed. "Of course you were just coming to negotiate for him. We were expecting that."

The leader looked over at his men, and said, "Take them prisoner!"

Tin Man and Lion looked over at Dorothy and Lion said, "Run, Dorothy."

"I can fight!" She said as the men moved in.

"Take them!" The leader yelled.

Lion roared and jumped into the crowd of soldiers. Tin Man began to swing his ax. He looked over Dorothy again who was swinging the sword making the soldiers stand back.

He was able to fight them off long enough to get near Dorothy. He was worried about Lion being taken down by a few of them.

"Dorothy, you need to run," Tin Man said.

Dorothy looked back towards Tin Man two of the soldiers began to surround her. Tin Man knew she was desperate to see Scarecrow, and may let herself get captured.

"No! I won't leave either of you," she said to him her brown eyes flashing in defiance.

Tin Man punched the soldiers, and then moved to her. "Listen to me! Getting yourself captured will not help him or us. Run, and get help. We will need another way to do this."

Dorothy's eyes widened, and then she realized what she was doing. Tin Man had to smile as a look of determination came across her face, and she began to fight back with an aggressiveness that he hadn't seen since the Nargol.

Scarecrow had taught her a lot of self-defense moves, and it showed. She was easily able to take four soldiers down that were twice her size. The soldiers were not prepared for the small woman to overpower them like she did. Tin Man couldn't help but smile, and swell with pride at her fighting spirit.

"Run!" Tin Man yelled as the soldiers began to overwhelm him. He knew he would be forced to surrender soon. It was over for him and Lion. Lion was being hog tied as Tin Man had water thrown on him. He cursed the Aglas soldiers for making him rust again.

The last thing he could see was Dorothy running into the forest. He could only hope that she found her way out.

...

Dorothy did not turn to look back, but she knew she was being chased. Her lungs burned, and her heart pounded from running over brush, roots, and other things in the jungle she could not identify. She tried to hold the sword, but it became too heavy, and she finally had to drop it. Her hand reached for her knife, which was still there, and then for her belly. She did not forget that she had another life to protect.

Finally, an Aglas soldier caught up to her, and tried to tackle her. He was able to grab her shirt, and she stumbled and fell into the dirt with a thud.

Dorothy groaned for a second and turned over to see the sweaty soldier on top of her. They struggled in the dirt.

The soldier spoke a language to her that she did not understand, but knew well enough he was there to take her prisoner.

She managed to get a hand free, and felt along the ground grunting with every breath to find something as she did not know what happened to her knife.

Finally, her hand hit a rock. It was small, but it would have to do. With all her strength she hit the soldier with the rock and he cried out in pain as blood spattered all over Dorothy's face. The soldier fell back, and Dorothy took her moment to get up and run again.

Breathing heavily, she could hear voices behind her. She felt a slight pain in her belly as she ran. She grasped it, and knew she was losing her strength, but she had to keep going.

Out of nowhere a figure pounced on her, and took her down to the ground. She felt a tremendous pain in her head and saw stars for a few seconds. Dazed, she did not know where she was, and was turned over violently. Her instinct had her put her hands to her face in defense as hands reached for her arms.

She wanted to cry out as she could feel herself losing consciousness. She heard a voice in the distance, and could see the leader of the soldiers who attacked yelling at her, and starting to tie her hands together.

Try as she might, she could not get loose. The bump on her head made her dizzy, and want to vomit. She knew she was now captured like Tin Man and Lion. In a way, she didn't mind, because Tin Man was right she just wanted to see Scarecrow again.

She was about to give up, and give in to the sleep that she wanted when a black figure came out of the forest, and attacked the soldier. She smiled thinking it was Lion, and tried to sit up, but was still too dizzy.

She could hear the scuffle of the animal, and soldier, and then finally a yelp and then heavy breathing as the animal rested for a moment.

Dorothy was able to finally turn, and looked up into yellow eyes. Her eyes widened, and her heart began to pound again. She was about to scream when a hand suddenly came down on her mouth.

"Be quiet! They will hear you. There is nothing you can do for your friends now," the male voice hissed to her.

Dorothy could have sworn a minute ago there was a black panther there. Now, there was a man with slightly glowing green eyes staring down at her in the shadows.

"I have to get to my friends," she whispered desperately to the man who had let go of her mouth.

"You can do nothing for them now. How injured are you?'

Dorothy shook her head, and tried to sit up, but she still felt dizzy, and her stomach was hurting.

"I don't know," she gasped.

"Can you walk?" He asked.

Dorothy shook her head, and lay back on the ground taking deep breaths. She was cramping badly in her abdomen. She was getting worried, and wasn't sure what was wrong.

"I will get you to my sister, woman of Oz," he said.

"Who are you?" Dorothy asked. Who was this man and why was he helping her? Where did he come from?

"Boren," he said. "You will have to stand for me."

Dorothy nodded, and the man grabbed her arm and helped her to a standing position.

He helped her lean against a tree. She heard voices in the distance again, and sucked in her breath.

"We must leave now," he said to her in urgency.

"My friends…." Dorothy said sobbing a little.

"Like I said. You cannot help them now. Ordaran has taken them. He has invaded our land once more for you."

Dorothy looked up sharply, but still could not see his face. She looked at his green eyes again, and something struck her through the dizziness.

Shape Shifters!

Dorothy wanted to try to scream again, but couldn't. She could only hope that they would not hurt her or the baby, and she would be rescued soon.

She turned again to see a horse nuzzling her. She looked up to see yellow eyes this time. The man had turned into a horse, or at least she thought he did, because it still dark.

"Are you Boren?" She asked slightly suspicious.

The horse stepped back and nodded.

"I have no choice do I?" She asked.

The snorted and shook his head. A voice suddenly came into her head, and said, "Not unless you want to die out here."

The horse kneeled and Dorothy made her way to him, and got on his back. She grasped his mane, and tried to sit up, but leaned over more.

She didn't remember the ride back to their village, nor did she remember being carried by Boren into his sister's home. She did not remember the other shape shifters of the clan gathering around to see the woman of Oz, and the ones that chased the soldiers, and their prisoners away.

Dorothy sat and played with her son by the lake again. He kept splashing water onto her and Scarecrow and giggling.

Dorothy smiled as Scarecrow joined his son, and they began to play in the water. She sat content in the sunshine as she watched her son, and her husband having some fun.

She closed her eyes for a moment enjoying the laughter in the distance.

She opened her eyes as the laughter stopped and wondered what was going on.

She looked around to see the little auburn haired boy with the deep ocean eyes staring at her smiling.

"Where is your father?" She asked smiling back at him.

"He can't be here now, mommy. It is not his time or yours," he said in his child voice.

Dorothy's eyes narrowed in concern. "What do you mean?"

The boy giggled again, and took off running towards the farmhouse again.

Dorothy got up and began to run after him. "Wait! Where are you going?"

He looked back, but did not stop.

A force she could not see nor touch suddenly stopped Dorothy. She looked around confused.

She looked towards the door at the farmhouse, and a light began to glow from the inside. She gasped as the door opened, and a white light began to shine from inside.

The boy looked back at her one more time, and said, "It's ok mommy. There will be another."

Dorothy gasped as her Auntie Em, and Uncle Henry stepped outside, and smiled and waived to her.

Auntie Em picked up the boy and hugged him tightly. He began to giggle, and hugged her back. He then turned to Dorothy and waived.

"We love you, Dorothy!" Auntie Em and Uncle Henry said at the same time.

Dorothy could only stand there, and begin to cry as her son, Auntie Em, and Uncle Henry disappeared through the door.

She knew what had happened; she knew the pain in her belly, and what it was.

Her son was gone.

….

Scarecrow awoke in his bed from the dream he just had. He wiped off the sweat, and sat up wondering why in the world he had dreamed about Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. He had never dreamt of them before, and wondered why he would now.

He sat and got his bearings together. He also wondered whom that little boy was they took away from him and Dorothy.

…..

Two days later, Boren and the rest of his clan were able to chase away what was left of the Aglas soldiers who were looking for the woman.

He came back to the village, and changed back into his human form from the tiger. He went right to Khali's cottage, and knocked on the door.

The clan was angry with him for saving her, and bringing possible danger from Aglas back to them, but for some reason he did not care. He wanted to know more about her, and why she was traveling there from Oz.

He needed answers soon from her, to get her back to her people, and get his people out of danger.

Khali opened the door looking grim.

Boren looked up at her confused. "Is she dead?"

Khali shook her golden blonde head, and said, "No. She will recover just fine. I just told her."

He could hear quiet sobbing in the background of the house.

"Then what is wrong with her now?"

He could have sworn Khali began to tear up, but held back. Her green eyes showed her emotion.

"She lost the child, brother."

Boren took a deep breath, and felt sadness for the woman despite still mistrusting her.

"I would like to talk to her," he said.

Khali blocked the door, and he could see a bit of anger in her face. "She is no danger to us, Boren. She cannot talk now. Let her mourn her lost child."

Boren felt his anger grow at his sister. She was soft when it came to people, and one day it would put them in danger.

"At least tell me who she is. Did you find out?" He asked through gritted teeth.

Khali looked back into the house and nodded. Suddenly, she smiled. "She is the little girl who saved Oz once. She is Dorothy Gale."

Boren didn't know how, but something told him that she was not lying.