Wonderoz Chapter Eleven: Dorothy

Dorothy never mentioned of her little excursion through her basket and out the Mad Wizard’s hat to her traveling compatriots. She was very good at hiding secrets. A great trait she had inherited from her father.

But not only was Dorothy good at keeping secrets, she was also adept in stealing them. A right little dirt collector she was. But she never meant what she overheard, or, accidentally discovered. Dorothy was a deftly honest girl. She kept all her little secrets, both her’s and everyone else’s to herself. But it was not Dorothy who had the secrets, per say. It was Alice. And Dorothy protected Alice and her little secrets with much loyalty and ferocity. Although, it was rare for Dorothy to have a secret that belonged to her and her alone. So this was a refreshing sense of security for her.

Another new feeling of security she got was from Eye, who was always within arms reach. His reassuring warmth kept her from worrying herself into fits. Little did she know that this warmth came from his ever growing love for her.

There was also the axe wielding Nick Chopper who was, in fact, her father inside a trash can suit of armor. As I speak, he was hacking them through the rough terrain Eye and Dorothy had encountered earlier. As Nick chopped up a new path for them to skip down, Dorothy sat down on the yellow bricks, leaning against Flinch’s flanks and curling her fingers in his lush mane. Eye was helping Nick by moving the brush and lumber he had chopped aside, creating a stack at the base of the hill that jutted out in the center of the road.

Dorothy cooed and reassured Flinch who kept coming up with all the worst-case scenarios they could encounter their way along the yellow road that cut through the Tulgey Wood.

“Oh, there aren’t just the Jabberwocky. Oh, gosh, no!” Flinch quivered. “There are Lions, ones much worse than me. There are Tigers and there are Bears!” He gasped, shaking violently then. “Oh my! Not to mention all of the Queen’s spies. Those vile and nasty Flying Monkeys.” Flinch spat. “I hate those things! And those nasty Wheelers!”

“Wheelers?” Dorothy asked as she leaned on Flinch’s back and folded her arms under her chin.

Flinch scoffed loudly. “Awful creatures. They look like normal people but with ghastly long arms and legs that end in wheels.” He shuddered again. “Gangs of them are all over these woods! Constantly fighting over territory and bragging rights.”

“What do they do?” Dorothy asked.

Flinch grunted. “Horrible things. None of them are worth their wheel’s weight.” He rubbed his paw against his muzzle. “One gang of them, the Clubbers I believe, if they catch anyone trespassing on their territory they toss them out into the Deadly Desert.”

Dorothy’s eyes got wide. “The what?”

“The Deadly Desert,” Flinch took a gasping, short breath. “Anything living that touches its sands becomes but a mere sandcastle version of themselves!”

Dorothy gaped in awe. “And they just toss people in there like nothing?”

“Like nothing.” Flinch sniffed.

Dorothy shook her head. “Who knew such a horrible place could exist?” She muttered to herself.

“You were lucky to not have landed there.” Flinch said with a nod.

Dorothy patted Flinch’s nose then stood up and walked towards Eye whose brush pile was starting to become a small mountain itself. “Working hard?”

Eye had taken off his huge, oversized suit-coat and underneath he wore a tore and ragged green long-sleeved shirt that was tied off at the wrists and waist with golden ropes.

Eye wiped at his brow and grinned. “I’m surprised at how far around we have to travel.” He looked at the earth growing out of the yellow brick road. “It’s as if,” he looked back at Dorothy, “something is trying to keep us from getting there.”

Dorothy looked down at the overturned yellow bricks  and followed them until they ended at the other side.

“What are you looking for, Dorothy?” Flinch asked, watching after her perplexed.

I was also curious as to what Dorothy was searching for. Her eyes had become hard and you could almost hear her brain clicking and whirring with greased gears. She pushed her hair behind her ear and squatted down. She dusted her fingers across the bricks and the base of the hill.

Suddenly, her eyes shot open a little wider and her lips partly slightly. “How very odd.” She said with a nearly silent chuckle tinting her awed voice. She went over to her basket and from inside it she pulled out a towel. She went back to the hill and started wiping it down.

Flinch sat up right and watched. Eye stood beside Dorothy and rubbed at his head, his gears were now clicking away.

“What on Wonderoz is everybody doing?” Nick huffed as he came back around. He walked towards the group and stood still, staring upward as they all were. “By Lurline’s grace!” He whispered.

I whisked around Dorothy and brushed against the cool, smooth stone that made up the hill. It was so glossy-shiny one could almost see a perfect reflection inside. Dorothy put her palm against it and sighed.

Nome King, I whispered into her ear.

Dorothy blinked. “Who is the Nome King?”

“Nome King?” Eye repeated in a copy of Dorothy’s tone.

Nick growled. “An evil I thought was gone.” He put his hand on Dorothy’s shoulder and pulled her back. “That is one of his Looking Glasses. He uses them to spy all around Wonderoz.” He led Dorothy away and everyone else followed. “It’s time to go child. I finished the side road, so we best be going now.”

Dorothy grabbed her basket and nodded. “Thanks Nick. Do you need to be oiled again before we head off?”

Nick tested his joints and hummed to himself. “Best one for the road.” He squatted down so Dorothy could reach.

Dorothy handed an oil can to Eye and took one for herself.

Nick suddenly shuddered and he laughed. “I remembered just now,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “I used to take one of my children and she’d help me polish up this very armor. She loved it.”

Dorothy glanced up at Nick. “Who was your daughter?”

The bright glow of Nick’s eyes died down. “That…,” his voice cracked ever so slightly. “That, I’m afraid to say I do not remember. Although, I do want to say I had two daughters!”

Dorothy finished up oiling his elbow and wiped away the excess oil. “All done.” She stuffed the oil rag into a pocket-like protrusion on Nick’s chest. “Follow the yellow brick road.” She said with a forced cheerful smile and put the oilcans away.

“Or at least beside it.” Eye laughed, thinking he had made a clever joke. At least it was enough to have Dorothy smile truthfully this time.

Dorothy put her hand atop of Flinch’s head as they walked. Her woman’s intuition had kicked in, telling her to comfort the aptly named Flinch who was doing his best to not jump and scream at every odd shaped tree limb.

The small side road Nick had made was a little rough and in certain spots, Most of the time Dorothy rode on Flinch’s back. Sometimes Nick had to carry Dorothy way up high on his shoulder. Eye was doing well enough for skinny boy. But at the same time it seemed the wildlife was trying to escape him. Aside from his constant shaking fear, Flinch himself was a wild animal and was used to the terrain.

They came back out on the road, which was a little bit brighter than where they had been before. The road was still overgrown and eyes peered out questioningly at them. There were also strange black tracks on the yellow bricks.

“Wheelers.” Flinch sniffed at the black skids.

“Is this their stomping grounds?” Dorothy asked, examining the area for any unwanted signs.

Eye grabbed Dorothy’s hand. Dorothy squeezed Eye’s hand back. Both thought they were comforting the other. Nick placed Dorothy back on his shoulder for safekeeping. “War grounds is more like it.” He grunted.

“So they fight here?” Dorothy continued.

“That is my best bet.” Nick slung his axe over his free shoulder. “We best move quickly through here before we catch any attention.”

“I agree.” Dorothy huffed, pushing forward.

I didn’t deal well with suspense, so I flipped on ahead to see what lay before them. Luckily no Wheelers were out and about. Most were asleep in their little nests and catacombs. So, unless something happened they wouldn’t run into trouble with the Wheelers.

Unfortunately, something else lay ahead of them. He stood in the center of the road looking at his garish pocket watch. He snapped it shut and stuffed it into the pocket of his red jacket. He looked ahead and half smiled.

“No sense in waiting so long.” He laughed. “I can skip ahead and meet them halfway! How lucky for me.”

This was bad! This was so extraordinarily, sinisterly bad! The Wheelers would be a much better symptom than this. I had no choice.

The came down onto the road and stared running towards Dorothy, yapping and barking. She saw me and her eyes got wide. I rushed by her and she turned to follow.

“Toto?” She called off after me as she jumped off of Nick‘s shoulder. “Toto!”

“Dorothy!” Nick hissed warningly, grabbing after her.

I turned and looked over my shoulder at Dorothy. “The Unicorn is up ahead of you!” I barked and then I vanished into one of the Nome King’s hills.

Dorothy stopped just short of smacking into it and put her hands over the spot where I had disappeared.

“Toto?” She whispered. It had been so long since she had seen that cute, scruffy, little dog. She stayed there until the others ran back to get her.

“Dorothy, what were you doing?” Eye asked.

“The Unicorn,” Dorothy murmured as she stood.

A chill ran down Flinch’s spine and made his mane stand on end.

“Unicorn?” Eye laughed. “That was no Unicorn! That was a little doggy.”

Dorothy turned and snapped at him. “Toto told me that the Unicorn is up ahead of us on the road!”

Flinch had already darted off and jumped into a bramble bush. Eye rushed towards Dorothy and grabbed her wrist.

“Wait!” Nick called out. Dorothy looked up expectantly at him. In fact, Flinch even poked his head out of the bramble bush, burs and thorns stuck in his mane and in the fur of his face.

“I have an idea,” a smile was in Nick’s voice.