For the past week, Nimmie dutifully attended to tasks and chores for the eastern witch. She cleaned, cooked and sent messages to other Munchkins on behalf of Evanora. During this time, and whenever she was in the witch's presence, she tried not to look at her. She couldn't. She knew how hideous the eastern witch looked. Luckily for Nimmie, the hag's rustic cabin was dark. Still, it was a jarring experience.
At first, the eastern witch was gregarious and, to the Munchkin maid's surprise, a rather amiable witch. From the time the sun rose to when it set, Evanora made her work long hours. Despite working hard, the eastern witch still compensated her maid fairly. Nimmie started to believe that Evanora may not have been such a wicked witch after all.
Coming from a working-class Munchkin background, her community greatly feared the eastern witch and were secretly loyal to Glinda and the Wizard. However, they held very little power or sway in Munchkin Country. The nobility class were staunch supporters of Evanora and did whatever they asked of her in exchange for being heavily compensated.
And for the past several years, the eastern witch was able to compensate the nobility with ease. She was able to do this because she stole a sizable portion of gold from the Emerald City treasury while she ruled. This pile of gold lasted for quite some time. Unfortunately for Evanora, she was now running out of this precious metal and needed a new supply to sustain herself. There was no way she was going to clean or even cook. She shuddered at the thought of cooking her own meals. Cooking was reserved for the lowest levels of Ozian society. At all cost, she desired to maintain her power and rule over the Munchkins.
In order to avoid this horrific fate of being her own lowly maid, she turned to her naïve and somewhat temperamental little sister. What a great opportunity it would be for the eastern witch to snatch some of Theodora's wealth away. Thus, Evanora created a phony story about how the Emerald City had entered into an alliance with the Nome Kingdom. In exchange for gold, Theodora would be lavishly compensated with red rubies. Evanora knew that deep down her sister was power hungry and greedy and would fall for this hoax.
Fate had been kind to the eastern witch, since Theodora actually reached out to her first, complaining about that foolish Wizard. Good. She knew from that mysterious yellow hooded informant of hers that the Wizard had visited her little sister, probably on behalf of Glinda. Whether this "visit" was a power play or one of diplomacy, Evanora believed that Glinda was using the Wizard as a pawn for her own selfish gain. Believing that Glinda was ultimately behind his visit, the eastern witch desired to sabotage their plans.
During this discussion about the Wizard's "steamy" affairs, relishing the pained expressions on her little sister's face, Evanora also casually brought up her fake story about the Nomes. To make it seem convincing, she used magic to deceive her little sister that they were actually in her cabin. And Theodora was oh so gullible. This was not a unique trait that her little sister had. Overall, the Ozian people were a very naïve and gullible people. The eastern witch played on the public's naivete and superstitions for years while she reigned and managed to convince a huge segment of the Emerald City population that Glinda had been the Wicked Witch.
However, Evanora was surprised to learn that the gold never arrived. In the days that followed, Nimmie and several of the eastern witch's servants went to the field where the gold should have been, but there was nothing there at all. This made Evanora fuming mad.
While the eastern witch ruminated over the lost gold she felt entitled to, the Munchkin maid was about to announce some news of her own. In fact, her dearly beloved Nick Chopper had unexpectantly received an inheritance. Because of this, Nimmie would not need to continue working for Evanora after all.
"Today is my last day", Nimmie said as she beamed with excitement. "I am going to finally live with my beloved because we have enough money to build the cabin we always wanted!"
Evanora was caught by surprise. She was inwardly seething at this news, but did not let it show. Unlike her little sister, she was always a master at hiding her own emotions. "I see", she said. "And are you sure that this is what you really want?"
"Yes", the Munchkin maid stated excitedly. "We are going to be together and start a family. This is always what I had wanted! This is my dream!"
However, it was a mistake for the maid to confide her goals and dreams with Evanora, as the eastern witch had other ideas. Regardless if that gold arrived or not, she would never let Nimmie leave without a price.
"I am sorry to say…but you are not going to be with your beloved after all…"
"W-w-what do you mean", the maid stammered nervously, now aware that she made a blunder by telling the eastern witch the truth and naively believing that she would accept her departure.
Evanora's old and withered face curled into a devilish smile. "Let's just say that he is going to have an unfortunate accident today. Consider this your price for leaving me! And no matter what you do, you will not be able to reach him in time!" The old hag started to bellow in laughter as the maid quickly darted out of the cabin. She ran as fast as she could into the woods. "Nick!", she started to scream.
Some distance away, Nimmie's beloved was cutting down a tree. As he motioned for another chop, his axe froze in his hand. He couldn't move it. Suddenly, the handle became hot. It became so hot that he could not hold it anymore. He let go and his axe remained frozen in place. It then slowly started to move and glide through the air on its own.
From her cabin some distance away, Evanora closed her eyes and mumbled under her breath. She was going to magically enchant the axe so that it would hack him to death. Once he was dead, then the axe would continue to chop every part of his body up. Nimmie would then find his dismembered corpse soaked in his own blood.
Once Nick's axe started to make a chopping motion in mid-air, it started to lunge towards the wood cutter. Nick ran as fast as he could away from his axe, but with every step he took, the axe was getting closer and closer to him. It was about to chop into his arm when an unseen figure hurled Nick away from the path he was on and into the underbrush of the forest.
The unidentified figure, cloaked in yellow, quickly pointed into the woods. "This way", she said. As he had no choice, Nick quickly started to run with her. He didn't know who this person was, but he knew it was a woman because of her voice, even though the cloak hid her face. The axe continued to make a chopping motion in quick succession as it chased after them. However, because of the thick and numerous tree barks that made up the woods, the axe began to crash into several of them, slowing its speed.
"Nick!" Nimmie continued to shout his name as she ran through the woods, but she did not know where her beloved was. While she anxiously screamed his name, Nick and his mysterious helper ran into a nearby cave. Nick started to catch his breath as he entered. As he did so, he felt incredibly grateful. He was only seconds away from death and yet a complete stranger saved his life.
"Shhh", the figure cloaked in yellow said. From the entrance, they both stared at the axe as it made its way toward the cave and attempted to make its final lunge for the wood cutter. However, because its trajectory was continually disrupted from the numerous trees, its blade impaled the side of the cave instead.
Nick closed his eyes in relief and sighed. "Thank you…you…"
The wood cutter opened his eyes, but before he could finish his sentence, his savior had vanished. In her stead, he noticed a small and torn picture on the ground of a young lady with a blue and white dress with a fitted bodice. Standing next to her was what appeared to be a tin person, a man made of straw and a lion. However, before he could grab it and examine it further, the torn picture blew away in the wind. Nick blinked several times, not knowing if he imagined the whole thing. Still, he was compelled to complete his sentence and whisper the unspoken words to the one who saved him from certain death.
"You…saved my life…"