Oz - The Ending

VII

"No!!!!!!!" Oeste wailed at the sight of Ralph's limp carcass. "What has happened?"

After Jeremy recounted what he had seen on the grassy knoll Oeste appeared as a heroic statue, fallen and borken, caste and pale, the only sign of life beneath the marble-esque form was a single tear navigating its way down her lilly cheek and traversing the fine edge of her flacid jaw before pausing suspended from her chin.

In her mind a storm of perfect magnitude was tossing senarios and regrets and possibilties on a sea of dark and merky emotion. Was it folly to send such fine friends to their doom? Could she have foreseen the outcomes as possibility? Was she overly hasty in her strategy to reach out to Dorothy?

Eventually signs of life started to return to her hardened aspect. A breath descernable in a rising and falling chest.

"I feel so sharply the loss we are suffering and I feel that is my own responsibility that such great friends have trusted my leadership and fallen for naught.

"I must employ means that would I would otherwise not wish to. Jeremy, find me Hanuman, take him an arrow and ask in my name that he comes to our aid."

VIII

It was fading to night when the the giant monkey form, suspended beneath godly feathered wings, beat its way to the balcony of Oeste's tower.

"Oeste, you have called me for a purpose which I sense you are uncertain. Bid me the service you wish and it will be done."

Oeste addressed the monkey god with much humility. "Hanuman, thank you for coming to our aid. We are at the point where strange happenings may become, through some unknown design, the demise of our way of life. Our adherence to the ways of those who came before will end and if they do there will be none left to repeat the name of your king and the source of our light. If your tenure in Oz were not so tenuous I would not have called."

Hanuman nodded in understanding and knew, as he had always done as he was a god, that his time may well be at an end. Hanuman turned and leapt into the air and departed immediately to intercept Dorothy and her travelling company.

It was not long latter that Hanuman returned with Dorothy, a dog and a cat. Dorothy herself had fainted with fear when Hanuman had appeared to them so was placed in a room, on a bed, on which to recover. The Lion had also been borne back to the tower and Oeste had him taken him and the dog to Ralph's now empty kennels.

IX

Where am I? What is this place with such homely comfort? It feels like Kansas. It smells like Kansas. Kansas. Toto! Where is Toto? What is happening... the pile of wolf corpses, the circling crows, the giant monkey...

I must have fainted again. This place. This world. Why am I here? Why can I not go home?

"Who's there?" I asked as I heard the sound of a door handle squeaking. "Who's there?"

"Fear not," came a voice, not unpleasant I must admit, not unlike Auntie Emma's own, "my name is Oeste and I mean you no harm."

As I watched the door open I was startled by the sight of a woman who for all intent and purposes, bar the attire, was the spitting image of my Aunt from Kansas. I knew that it could not be as the adornments in the room were so alien, and yet the sweet smell of country air, the sounds of bird and beast tickle playfully in my ear. "Who are you and what do you want? Am I still in Oz, or have I come to a new place?"
"You are indeed still in Oz Dorothy." How does she know my name? "I am Oeste. I live here by grace of those who have come before me and the bounty of our nature."

The soft tone of her voice, the familarity, the honesty that could be felt behind each convicted word was enough to calm my nerves considerably, but not my curiousity. "How do you know my name? Where are we?"
"Dorothy I know your name as our paths are crossed. Not a week ago you arrived from Kansas in your house and when you did the house you were travelling in landed on my dear sister Ester."

"The witch? Your sister? Then you must be the Wicked Witch of the West!" I am doomed, those wolves must have been sent by her, the monkey... the thought makes me shudder so uncontrolably.

"No. A Wicked Witch of the West I am not." Aunt Em's doppleganger took a deep breath. "Nor was Ester a wicked witch in her eastern lands. We are, were, merely leaders of people. We have fought long and hard against the 'progress' propaganda of Arrabella Nortón and North Enterprises..."

"Arrabella is a good witch. She helped me find my way to the Wizard and he has said he can help me get back to Kansas. Why do I feel so uncertain as I say this? What is going on here?" I am so confused.

"Arrabella is no more witch than I am and to call oneself good is easy when all who would say otherwise have their voices taken from them. The Wizard and his 'green' city have been sucking up the resources of the auslands in order to build the monuments to the glory of themselves. They have forgotten that there are cycles which have evolved of generations, millenia that cannot be broken without consequence. Those who tend the fields and dig the mines that pay for the gaud are, through suggestion, convinced that they love their servitude though they would not call it that. They call it 'getting ahead', 'accululation of wealth' yet all they accumulate are emperial clothes and empty cupboards so that they must take more from Oz and deliver it to the Wizard in exchange for that which they would otherwise have."

"What is all this that you are telling me? I do not understand, I do not want to understand, I want to go home to Kansas!"

"That is why I have brought you here. My friends have seen and been watching you since you arrived and I believe that you are not part of their plan. The Wizard wants me dead so that our part of Oz can be 'freed' for development, 'sustainable development' mind you..."

This is all too much. My mind is hurting, the sound of her voice is at once soothing through the memories they refresh and simultaneously the tormenting reminder of my current predicament. I want nothing but to be free from this place, from these people .

X

These past weeks Dorothy has been like a zombie. I have tried to bring her around, giving her things to do, but she is just becoming a cog. She takes to task but she is still very much in her own head. When I do manage to coax a response she maintains that the Wizard is to be her only salvation and holds the notion that the shoes which Arrabella gave her hold some power. To Dorothy the only reason I have not yet vanquished her is because of that thimble she was given.

I feel that the trial of her ordeal has taken a great toll on her psychologically and, even with a return to Kansas, she will take a while to get over this. I am at a loss as to my next move.

XI

It is over. Today Dorothy tripped and lost a one of her 'shoes' from her foot. I picked it up to return it to her and she got up in a rage and grabbed a bucket and threw it at me.

In a flash, as the water followed it's gravity assisted trajectory across the room, an idea came to me. As I was doused I feigned horror and proceeded to pretend that water was my kryptonite and collapsed to the floor and 'died'.

I heard Dorothy scream a wicked scream before legging it from the room. I quickly removed my wet clothes and absconded to an antechamber in time to hear her return with C. Howard-Lee and her dog. From her words she has descended completely into a fantastic world where she is champion of witches and has secured the salvation of some 'primitive' races previously under the spell of evil oppressors.

As they left the room I called to Jeremy. "Jeremy, it is time for us to leave this place. Dorothy believes me 'melted' and she will want to return to the Wizard to find her way back to Kansas. We must leave this place before she gets to the green city."

"Where will we go Oeste? Will we become 'Those who came before' to those who come after? But where? There is nothing but desert as far as anyone has ever seen."

"Jeremy, it does not matter now. Go, let everyone know that we will leave the day after tomorrow and that we must travel light..."

FIN