The leaf was glowing in Robin and Zelena's presence. Zelena plucked up the leaf and beckoned the Merry Men close.
With her magic, she stoppered up their ears. They would use hand gestures if they needed to show someone something, but conversation would now be dimmed.
She also used her magic to surround each one with a wind-repelling orb. Hopefully it would work with Machin Shin, though there was no guarantees. It was known to swallow scragglers. It was known to either kill them or leave them insane. Frightened of every wind in the world outside the Ways. Unable to think with logic. Mentally dented and unhinged.
Robin watched her take care of his men, a small smile twitching on his lips. Her magic mystified him in the way an unfamiliar precious jewel might mystify a jeweler. Filling him with sweet awe and curiosity.
It amazed him how her magic worked. How she could reach within herself and make stuff happen.
He sure as hell couldn't do that.
Suddenly, a fire blazed, seeming to drop from the sky. Robin shook himself and glanced in the direction the flame had arisen.
A forest fire was breaking out.
Robin leapt out of his skin. "Look!" he instructed Zelena, gripping her arm and pointing. "It's heading toward Granny's!"
Zelena poofed out of his grip in a fit of green smoke. Robin continued to watch the blazing embers, struck dumb. Heat from the fire was crawling on his face, though the fire was miles away. It took about fifteen seconds' of Zelena's absence, but abruptly the flames were gone.
From Robin's standpoint, it was as if they'd never existed. His cheeks were suddenly cool again. But he was sure wherever the fire had broken out, there were damaged tree barks.
Zelena returned. "That was…unexpected," she informed him breathlessly, "but I managed to lull that fire to sleep." She smirked. "It was like a wild animal. It didn't want to obey. It tried to resist my magic." She tossed her mane out of her eyes. "As if I were hunting it, the fool with a brain."
A smirk crawled on Robin's mouth. "I've heard that saying. 'A fool with a brain does more damage than a fool without one.'"
"In this case, it wasn't true," she assured him flippantly. "He just gave me a teaspoon of sass…no harm done. Well, back to duty," and she resumed sealing everyone's ears and wrapping them in wind-repelling orbs.
Zelena and Robin were the last two she'd seal off. When she at last turned to work on him, he closed his eyes and thought to himself, No man left behind in my Merry Men. There'd be no scragglers.
He sure hoped no one broke a leg or anything, but if Zelena couldn't Heal them, surely she could use her magic in other ways…like holding them in an aerial position until they got loose of the Ways.
But even though they wouldn't intentionally leave a man behind to be consumed by that godforsaken wind, he knew there might be things that prevented some men from coming on.
In spite of the gruesome thoughts, he was ready and raring for his adventure.
He took a deep, half-excited, half-nervous breath before stepping up to the plate. His hand did not usually shake, but in this case, his hand was spasming just enough to be noticeable. Clutching the glowing leaf in his normally calm and collected fingers, he placed it where the doorknob would be.
The immobile door loosened its limbs. Robin easily shoved it open. He beckoned the others inside, glancing behind to make sure Will wasn't coming with them.
At last, he was ditching the dodo!
Zelena led them through. Robin and her meant to be the "bookends", the two ensuring the others weren't walking casually into the throes of death.
In any case, that ghastly wind that could taste human blood was not near the entrance this time. There was no trace of wind, nor a black funnel shape looming hopefully in the background. The cracked, reddish-brown ground was plainly visible. They could see several miles up, from the star's glow stemming from below the ground. It was an oddity Robin knew meant there was open space ahead, open space where one could fall through…and fall forever…his shoulders quivered at the thought. But he kept his eyes scanning his Merry Men and the trees for Will's familiar, unwanted features.
As promised, Will had no interest in following them. Once everyone was "safe" in the Ways and Robin had closed the door behind him (the leaf would teleport off the entrance), Robin whipped out a map he'd gotten from a shady guy who had many questionable artifacts in his trench coat pockets.
The map wasn't too difficult to read. Robin decided which exit they wanted—the second closest to here. It was a two-day journey but out of the Ways would take about two months.
When he beckoned Zelena to him, he showed her the direction the map was driving them in. She watched him point on paper then nod his head to steer. She moved her foot into the horse's belly and goaded him forward.
Robin began to have stirrings in his stomach. Stirrings of doubt. They could leave now. If they did, the trace Will possibly secured upon him should already be gone. And he wouldn't be risking Machin Shin creeping up on any of his men.
But the journey was ready to be traveled. And he was hoping to find a solution to Granny's problem—before she ended up in prison under Snow White's nose.
So at the back of the line he and his horse rode. Robin swirled his head around to make sure Machin Shin wouldn't take him by surprise.
The inside of the Ways smelled faintly of glue. It made Robin smile to himself, picturing the Ways being broken and some madman gluing it back together.
He wasn't comfortable on his horse. It took him ten or twenty minutes to realize why. The ache of claustrophobia was filling Robin's nostrils, mingling with the scent of glue.
Thirty minutes into the Ways, and their party came to the holes in the ground.
There was a "bridge" several yards off that connected two great masses of reddish-brown "ground". Without the "bridge", the only way one could go forward was into the gaping, open bright yellow fall. It was too bright for Robin to scrutinize. Attempting to do so for a quarter of a second filled his vision with dark blotches of shadow. Blind spots. He couldn't see anything but yellow and blotches his own vision conjured for protection.
Zelena used her magic to give everyone in Robin's party sun blockage without moving a limb away from her horse. Robin was mighty impressed. She must be very strong in magic blood.
With the sun visor implemented in front of his sclera, he studied the bridge instead of the frightening bright yellow. He couldn't make it out well this far away. Nudging his horse, he signaled he wanted to be closer.
The bridge was full of holes. Gaps in a mouth was what it reminded Robin of. He scanned the "bridge". Which was actually a narrow strip of land.
If not for the holes, there would be enough room for two horses to pass side by side with breathing room. As it was, some areas around the large holes were so skinny Robin couldn't imagine how a horse could safely cross it. That was not the only dangerous thing about the bridge—there was no railing. Both edges had nothing to prevent anyone from falling.
Robin's heart stopped while he mulled it over. With drooping lips, he thought of Granny then mimed to Zelena he wanted to cross first. She nodded, looking like she wanted to vomit on the star providing light in the Ways. Robin gave a shaky laugh no one heard.
One foot at a time, he goaded his horse with caution. They weren't slow but were careful. He guided the stallion as if he were a barrel racer, and the stallion responded with equal skill.
When Robin got to the other end, he didn't need to mime throwing up. He actually did, leaning forward and puking on the star…or letting his puke fall freely. It wasn't like he was going to try to watch.
With a worried little frown, he beckoned Zelena to let the others cross.
Aside from Robin, everyone was a turtle on the journey. Little John's widow, halfway in line, started to try to imitate the head bandit himself, but when the bridge began to slip from under her horse's hooves, she instantly changed her mind. Slowing her horse to a halt, she panted visibly before easing her horse along the path in snail form.
Zelena was the last to cross. After her meticulous pace, she raced her horse in hearty circles. The headstrong gelding lashed his tail to show his appreciation, but still his horsepower wasn't living up to its full potential.
Robin found himself wondering if bringing warhorses was wise. They had a lot of pent-up energy, and Robin had heard the Ways was barren, save for Machin Wind. He'd brought them in case they met an enemy, and he had mostly been thinking of the heart of the Black Wind…What help could a horse provide against that thug?
Robin's horse tossed his head. The party commenced their journey, thwarted twice more by "bridges" but otherwise had uneventful walking.
There were no animals in the Ways. Robin had heard there used to be, long before Machin Wind existed, but a taint had ducked in the once safe haven. This taint made it where neither plants nor animals could grow.
Supposedly, there were shallow bodies of water that contained Shadowspawn which would grip your wrists if you touched the water. Once they got hold of you, they'd launch themselves down your throat and devour your lungs. Robin had warned his Merry Men not to touch any bodies of water in the Ways.
The third "bridge" they came to was when Marian's second best friend's horse slipped. It happened so swiftly. One second, she was on the bridge, the next, she was gone from sight. Falling so hard and fast no one could tilt their head to find her quickly enough.
Robin didn't try, considering the star was under them. He knew doubtlessly following that woman's body with his eyes would make his heart leap to his mouth—and he might vomit it up. If it was possible for a heart to dislodge itself from the prison of a ribcage. And in that moment, he felt completely sure it was possible.
Robin didn't trust Machin Wind not to find him if he allowed the party to set up camp. On the other hand, he was terrified to lose another soldier on a different bridge. After turning the moral compass over in his head, he decided it was less risky to sleep.
They set up camp, and Robin scratched down on a sheet of paper that he wanted Zelena to make a sort of tent to protect the whole band, including the horses, who were protected as long as they had a rider on their back but now would need actual protection. Zelena nodded and used her magic to make a temporary set of stalls then a tent.
Though most of his band of thieves slept peacefully, worn out from a hard day riding, a few were too worried about Machin Shin to sleep without awaking in fits of nightmares. The looming funnel breathing down their neck, tapping them on the shoulder then giving them a punch to the jaw. Guzzling their blood through an open wound shaped like a skull and crossbones.
Marian, Little John's widow, had vivid dreams of her horse crumbling before her on one of the hole-ridden bridges. Buckling his knees forward. Tossing her with trembles at his withers. Her falling and clutching the edge desperately. Then feeling Regina's boot come crushing on her fingers.
"You will pay," Regina snarled, "for making me the outcast."
Marian fell…and fell…a swooping sensation filled her stomach. She continued to fall into the bright sunlight with her eyes shut tight but her eyelids threatening to spring apart. Her heart ricocheted, and for the first time since she was three years old, she screamed in her sleep.
With their ears muffled, no one heard her.
In her dream, this was when Machin Shin came to gulp her up then brought her back to Regina and puked Marian all over her. Regina shut her eyes and turned away. "Let her die."
Marian awoke the next morning reeking of self-pity.
The rest of the journey was mostly uneventful, but as the band was piling out of the chosen exit, Robin felt a soft wind stirring at the back of his neck.
He turned and saw Machin Shin weaving its black funnel shape toward them.
Scooping up a rock, he hit the horse in front of him with it. All of a sudden, every horse that was left inside the Ways went mad with desperation to get out. Rushing each other, rolling their eyes, rearing when the way didn't pave fast enough. The mare in midst of leaving the Ways at a snail's pace sensed something was wrong and lurched out of the way.
When every last one of them had made it out, Robin practically slammed the door shut. Zelena was removing the magic muffs from everyone's ears. Several of the horses were running wild on the road; their riders were still deaf.
A roar of noise greeted Robin's ears when Zelena lifted her magic from him. He brushed his lips against hers then announced, "Time for me to pacify some horses!"
He was sad one of his men's wives was gone, but there was nothing to be done for it. Banishing the sadness to a tiny portion of his brain, he allowed the excitement that they were a step closer to helping Red and her Granny avoid Queen Snow's wretched prison to fill him.
Kicking his stallion, he removed a rope from his travel bag and formed a lasso.
