Bryson trembled at the taller and larger man sizing him up, as did his friends. Finley hid behind his wings and scooted closer to Bryson.
"Oh, really?" Dorothy protested, getting closer to Rabadan. "Of course not. As long as you have that stupid.. thing with you, it'll never be over. But Bryson told me about how it got taken away, and how you're just a coward! Go ahead, shoot me with it like the coward you are instead of being a man."
Rabadan fumed with anger. He grabbed Dorothy roughly and turned her around, pulling her into him, causing Bryson and Finley to gasp as Dorothy struggled against him.
"That's it. I'm taking you with me. You are going to be humilated, you little brat. Tortured. Maybe not here.. but somewhere. And we're gonna really see how much of a hero he is!" Rabadan yelled, pointing at Bryson.
"If you do anything to her, I swear to God, I will murder you." Bryson spat angrily, a bit shocked at himself. That was by far the most harsh thing he had ever said to anyone. But if he was going to say it to anyone, it was Rabadan.
Rabadan chuckled. "You? You scrawny twig? You think you can kill me?! You're not even a real man. But I'll tell you what. Meet me at that big mountain near Munckin Land. Let's see you try."
Dorothy angrily pushed against Rabadan, turning around and facing him.
"He's TWICE the man you are!" She exclaimed.
Rabadan growled and slapped her right across the face, causing Finley to gasp. And Bryson to fume.
Dorothy reeled back in shock.
Bryson had complete fire in his eyes.
He lifted up the axe, his hand shaking in anger.
Bryson stared at Rabadan and began to rush towards Rabadan.
But suddenly, Rabadan growled and lifted up his free hand, proceeding to punch Bryson right in the jaw and then use his scepeter to smack his side, and then used the tip of the scepeter to hit him hard in the gut, immense pain forming as he fell to the ground, groaning in pain and clutching to his punched jaw, his gut, and side, dropping his axe. Rabadan grabbed Dorothy and shoved her on the ground, causing her to gasp loudly. Finley looked on in horror and leaped towards Rabadan, but Rabadan grabbed Finley, effortlessly tossing him aside to Dorothy.
Dorothy gasped again, but Rabadan yanked her over. "Meet me at the mountain near Munchkin Land. The top. That's where I'll show you how fragile everyone really is." He spat at Bryson.
The scepeter quickly flashed, and he teleported away.
Bryson breathed heavy in anger in pain, still on the ground He felt like he was about to black out from pain and shock. The pain was immense. Rabadan was certainly a hard hitter. And that scepeter did a number on his side and gut. Not something he'd want to be hit with.
He realized that Finley was gone. He slowly grabbed the axe.
He cursed on the floor. How did he get this scepeter back? Was Laura okay?
Everything seemed so full of hope, and now it was terrible again. But at least one thing was for sure. He was a coward without that scepeter.
After a few moments, he slowly rose from the ground, still clutching to the places he had been hit.
He slowly walked over to the hidden stairs he had found Glinda at, walking down them, hoping her and Tin Man were still there.
And much to his dismay, they were gone.
"Damn it.."
He walked back up the stairs, being careful as he still felt dizzy from Rabadan's attack. He walked to the back door of the castle, yanking the door open and peering outside. All the people were gone.
"Shit.." he muttered.
They couldn't have all escaped that quickly. Which meant only one thing, Rabadan had them.
"Damn it!" Bryson yelled, burying his head in the side of the door.
After a few moments, he took his head out of the door. He was gonna have to do this alone. Normally, he would wince at having to be indepedent. But he wasn't the same person he had been when he had first got her. The thought still worried him, that he was gonna save his friends all by himself... but he had to. He tightened his fist. He still ached from the punch and the hit to the side and gut, but he trudged on.
He basically limped, finding it hard to walk so much after that attack. He shook his head. How was he gonna climb a whole mountain, let alone in this much pain? His anxiety was sky rocketing, but he did his best to ignore it.
He kept on limping. He remembered how long it took to get here from Munchkin Land. It was about a bit over an hour and a half. But he kept on walking.
And walking.
And walking.
And walking.
And he kept on going.
And eventually, he was in the middle of the Yellow Brick Road. At this rate, he had been walking for about 30 minutes, and his legs were about to give in. He was so exhausted of all this walking and running. He just wanted time to rest. What turned into 30 minutes turned into 45, and he just couldn't take it, and every now and then, he'd just sit on the side of the forest and just sit, then trudge on and walk more. He couldn't completely stop. His eyes wanted to shut, but he wouldn't allow it. He was sick of Rabadan. He had hurt his friends, and he wanted it to end. He just wanted it all to be over. But he kept on walking. And he wouldn't stop until his legs completely gave out, still practically limping from the soreness.
His breathing was heavy, his heart pounded in his chest.
But then, he realized the trail he was walking in was familiar, and would have smiled when he finally noticed the mountain in the distance if he had the energy to even do that. It was still dark, making it difficult to properly locate the thing, but he carefully walked closer.
He wanted to run, but was still to sore, and he kept on slowly walking. As he edged closer to the large mountain, he realized that the small mase of corn he had woke up in when he had first gotten here seemed to have disappeared. There was just the ground. Just the dirt. He automatically knew who was responsible for it.
As he continued to trudge on, it felt endless, like he would never reach the mountain. He kept going, however. He finally exited the ground where the corn field used to be, and then looked down, finding a large slope of grass. He walked down it, almost tripping, but managed to stay on balance as he went down.
He looked around, realizing he was now in a grassy field. He walked along, and soon enough, realized he was getting close to where the mountain started. He limped a bit faster to reach it. And he finally got to the very bottom of the mountain. He looked up. It was pretty large. Did he really have the stamina.. the endurance to climb a whole mountain?
If gym class was any indication, that'd be a resounding "no", but this was a whole other animal. The fate of an entire land was pretty much in his hands. As he looked at the mountain, his legs gave in and he fell into the bottom of the mountain, dropping the axe in his hand.
He was practically wheezing as his body lay there. It was a pitiful sight. He mustered up what was left of his strength, and slowly began crawling up the mountain. And as he edged up it, he looked up. Climbing this thing was gonna be worse than he could possibly imagine.