Shadows of the Emerald City (28 page)

“
You’re awake. You’re awake!” He ran to the door, opened it, and shouted “She’s awake!” He rushed back to Dorothy. Only then did she realize how little he was. This troubled her somewhere deep down where she was afraid to examine. “How do you feel? Is your vision blurry? Are you hungry, thirsty? You’re definitely not the right color, but maybe that’s normal for your kind? Can you walk? Please, please, please say you can walk.”

Two nurses burst in, likewise green-skinned and green-clothed.

“
I don’t know if I can. I haven’t tried yet. I am hungry, but first, can I talk to Auntie Em?”

“
I don’t know who that is, darling, but you have to leave the moment you are able. The giant has threatened to kill us all if you don’t get better. Please, please, get better. I have children to take care of.”

So it hadn’t been a dream. With Toto gone, she just wanted to lie down and sleep forever, but that would be wrong to doom these people because of her grief. There had been enough killing.

She lifted herself out of bed. Her legs wobbled under her and she sat back down.

“
Can I have something to eat?”

“
Of course! Anything you want, deary.”

He fed her a hearty green soup and hustled her out the door the moment she felt strong enough to walk.

The Tin Man was waiting for her, alone.

She ignored him and picked a direction and started walking. The city was a wreck, green people digging through green rubble on every side. People goggled at her, and scurried out of sight.

“
What happened here?”

“
I told the doctor to make you better. He needed convincing. I didn’t know if you’d ever wake up. Where are you going? The Emerald Palace is the other way. The Wizard has granted us an audience on the condition that I don’t destroy any more of his city. Don’t you want to go home?”

She stopped. Kansas would certainly be better than anything here.

“
Okay, let’s go.”

The Palace was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. It seemed to be carved out of one gigantic emerald ten stories tall. Distorted lights from inside traveled through the outer wall and mixed with reflections, making the surface change constantly.

The gates opened as they approached. The corridors inside were large enough to accommodate the Tin Man without trouble. He strode down the central corridor, lined by hallways leading in every direction. After a long walk, they reached a huge set of doors. The Tin Man pushed them open.

He stepped into the chamber first, and Dorothy followed behind him, trying to hide. She was so scared, she could barely walk.

The only thing in the room was a throne on the opposite side. It looked like it had been grown from crystals, all sharp, imposing edges. It seemed normal-sized at first, but it grew in perspective as they walked toward it. By the time they neared the throne, she had to crane her neck back to look up at it. The Tin Man could have sat with room to spare.

“
Where’s the Wizard?” she whispered.

Two large panels slid open in the wall behind the throne, windows to kaleidoscoping colors, shifting through every shade Dorothy had ever seen. After the constant green of the city, she was dazzled into silence.

A crack formed beneath the colored windows—it was a giant face built into the emerald!—and a deep voice filled the room.

“
I am everywhere and nowhere. I am the breath of wind that tickles the back of your neck. I am life and death and nothingness. I am the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. Who are you? Why do you disturb me?”

“
I am the Tin Man, and this is Dorothy.”

The eyes flashed red, then returned to their cycle of colors.

“
Why do you travel with her, Tin Man? A creature as powerful as you needs no one.”

“
She is my tutor. She is teaching me of love.”

“
What use is love to you, a heartless hunk of manufactured metal.”

“
If I knew that, I wouldn’t need a tutor.”

“
Why do you come before me, then?”

“
If I can’t love without a heart, then that’s what I desire.”

“
A heart? Hearts break. Hearts fail. Hearts are for sentimental fools too weak to do what is necessary. Hearts force the hard-working to tolerate the lazy, cause victims to forgive their abusers, and perpetuate the useless dreck of society. You wish for a heart?” A flash of white from the great mouth in the wall to the Tin Man’s hand. “Take this instead. It will do you more good any human heart.”

“
I want a heart, all the same.” The Tin Man let the object fall from his hand. Dorothy picked it up. It was a playing card: the ace of hearts.

“
And you, little girl? What do you demand of me?”

“
Thank you for seeing us, sir.” Her heart raced as she thought of an idea. If he was really so great and powerful… “More than anything, I want to wake from this nightmare to find Toto alive again.”

“
This is no nightmare. Reality is enough of a nightmare, but even I have my limits. I cannot raise the dead.”

Her heart fell.

“
Then the best I can hope for is to go home to Kansas to be with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.”

“
In this land, no one gets anything for free. You must complete a task for me, and then I will grant your requests. You must kill the Wicked Witch of the West. Bring me her hat as proof that she is dead.”

The Tin Man spoke up.

“
I made a promise to Dorothy that I would not kill. Killing is wrong.”

“
Is that so? Tell me, has Dorothy told you about parental love?”

“
Yes.”

“
What did she tell you?”

“
She said that everyone is supposed to obey their mother and father, because they always know what’s best for you.”

“
I am your creator, your father. Look inside you and you’ll see the truth. My voice is imprinted on your programming. Every logical construct in your brain was designed and implemented by me.”

The Tin Man whirred for a moment.

“
He’s right, Dorothy. He is my father.”

“
So, you must obey me over the girl. She’s just a friend. Part of the responsibility of love is that you must make choices about who to love. Do the right thing. Obey your parent.”

The Tin Man stood, seeming to consider.

“
Of course. If you’re truly my creator, I should listen to you. We will return as soon as we can.”

“
But—” Dorothy began, but the Tin Man picked her up and carried her out of the throne room.

Soon they were on the road. Dorothy was relieved to be out of the greenness of the city. She hadn’t realized how oppressive the green had been for even such a short visit.

“
You shouldn’t listen to the Wizard. Killing is wrong, Tin Man.”

“
But you said that I must obey him if I am to understand love.”

“
I know I said that, but—”

“
Have you ever disobeyed your parents?”

“
Well, no, but—”

“
Then how can you ask me to disobey mine? You would sacrifice my chance at love when you aren’t willing to sacrifice your own?”

He was right. She hated to admit it.

“
I can’t demand it of you, but you should at least think about it.”

“
What if I lied? What if I chose not to kill the Witch, because it’s wrong, but I told the Wizard that I killed her?”

“
Lying is wrong too. You have to be honest with the ones you love. If they really love you, they’ll forgive you anything if you’re honest and you apologize.”

“
So I must choose between three wrongs. I could kill, I could lie, or I could stop your only chance of ever going home. It’s an impossible decision. This is love?”

Dorothy shrugged. She didn’t know the answer.

They traveled for two days, and Dorothy survived on berries and fruits she collected early in the journey.

As they walked the plant life thinned out, leaving only a gray and barren wasteland. The sun shone weakly through a haze of clouds and seemed to drain the color out of everything.

She allowed the Tin Man to carry her at intervals to allow for quick progress. She didn’t like sitting on his hand and smelling of its dry blood, but she wanted to leave this land so badly she was willing to suffer through it.

Suddenly the land grew dark. Dorothy looked up to see a black mass cross over the sun at an impossible speed. It poured over the landscape like a plague of locusts, obscuring the trees in its passage.

“
Run!
” she shouted.

The Tin Man did run, holding her tight in his hand. He pumped his arms up and down for further speed. The jostling made her sick. She was facing backward, and she watched the cloud approach. Birds? She wasn’t sure. It made a terrible din, flapping and screeching like a pack of banshees.

“
Duck!
” she shouted, fighting to be heard over the noise.

The Tin Man threw her to the ground and crouched on his hands and knees around her, providing her a little safe space.

“
What are they?”

“
Flying monkeys. Minions of the Witch. I’ll keep you safe.”

The Tin Man shook from an impact, but maintained his position. More blows came, shaking him from every side, a constant barrage. The shrieks grew in. The Tin Man didn’t move.

Suddenly everything went silent.

He pulled one arm in around her, pulling her up to his midsection.

“
They’re gathering, poised to strike. Even I don’t stand a chance against so many united, Dorothy. I’ll do what I can—”

The impact was so sudden, so forceful, she lost consciousness for a moment. When she came to, the world was a blur, spinning every which way past her vision. The only constant was the Tin Man’s arm held firmly against her chest keeping her safe. The shrieking was back again, and she was buffeted by wings. The Tin Man’s free hand slapped at the flying beasts, spattering blood everywhere, but there were too many. Each beast came closer to breaching the boundary.

One beast made it through, shrieked in her face, and started to pry at the giant’s arm. The Tin Man reduced it to a red mist, but it was replaced by half a dozen, then a dozen others. Some of them carried metal bars to pry at the arm. With their combined force they levered the arm off and pulled her free.

She kicked and struggled as they lifted her up and out of the cloud of smelly beasts. Up into the clear air up above. She stopped struggling. If she did manage to wiggle loose now her only reward would be a long fall to her death.

The monkeys didn’t grip her too roughly, only hard enough to keep her firmly in hand. Their hands were calloused and rough and they smelled terrible. They traveled swiftly, and the cloud of monkeys below rose up and followed along beneath them.

Up ahead she could see a castle perched on a steep crag. No roads led to it; the castle existed only in isolation. They covered the distance quickly. They swooped down onto the flat top of a tower. In front of her was a woman in a flowing black dress. She was old and her skin was withered, but she stood up straight like a woman in her prime.

“
Hello, Dorothy. You and your clockwork soldier won’t find me so easy to kill as my sisters in the north and east. They depended too much on their magic.”

“
I don’t want you to die. I’ve seen too much death already.”

“
Then why do you travel with the assassin?”

“
I’m trying to stop him.”

“
Then you’ll be happy to know you’re part of my plans to defeat him.”

“
What do you mean?”

The Witch grinned. It didn’t seem like a mean grin, just a smile between friends.

“
He’s developed a vulnerable point. You.”

A handful of monkeys perched on the edge of the tower and chattered at her.

“
Your friend covers ground quickly. He’ll be here in just a few moments. Have a look for yourself.”

Dorothy could see him coming already. He crossed the broken landscape with blurring speed, leaping over holes and scaling vertical surfaces like he was born to do it.

“
Stop!
” The witch’s voice boomed out over the landscape, echoing and re-echoing.

Far below, the Tin Man paused for a moment to look up at them, then came barreling on.

“
Stop or the girl falls.”

Two monkeys grabbed Dorothy roughly and dragged her out into the air.

Dorothy stifled her scream. She wouldn’t give the Witch the satisfaction.

“
I will drop your pet child if you move an inch closer to me,” the Witch declared.

“
Drop her and I will crush you in my hands.”

“
And if I hand her over?”

“
I will carry her to safety, then return and crush you in my hands.”

“
I don’t fancy either alternative. Can’t we make an arrangement?”

“
I don’t want to kill you, but I have no choice.”

“
Why?”

“
My reasons are my own.”