Ruler of Beasts (Dorothy Must Die, #0.6)(14)
“I have been working for a very long time to reach the glorious country of Oz,” the Nome King snarled. “Do you think I’ll stop now because a snippy little house cat says I should?”
“You’ll stop because the Queen of Oz tells you to,” said a high, clear voice behind the Lion. The Nome King’s sneer transformed momentarily to a look of shock. The Lion whirled around. Ozma stood tall and proud, her wings spread out to their full span and their golden veins glowing. Her dark hair whipped around her head, crackling with electricity. Her green eyes had darkened to black and her enchanted orb blazed with a green light that rivaled the Nome King’s crystal. The two rulers stared at each other, neither of them giving an inch.
“If it isn’t Lurline’s little protégé, the Princess of Oz,” the Nome King laughed, recovering quickly from his surprise. “Do you really think your magic is a match for mine, child?”
“I’m the Queen of Oz now,” Ozma said coldly. “And you know it is, old man. Abandon this foolish plan and leave my country in peace. There is no reason for war between our peoples.”
“Oh, there are plenty of reasons,” the Nome King said, waving his arm again. The cavern wall behind him shimmered and dissolved into a window onto another world. The sky was a dark, stormy gray over barren fields where blackened stalks of corn and wheat looked like skeletons. A harsh wind blew dust storms across the desolate landscape, whipping against the crumbling stone walls of a tiny village that looked abandoned. But as the Lion looked more closely, he saw gaunt, desperate faces in the windows of the houses. A starving dog limped through the empty streets, too hungry even to howl. And the wall was lined with—the Lion flinched in horror—heads. Some were human, and some were creatures he didn’t recognize at all. Creatures he’d never seen before.
As they watched in horror, a group of strange, terrifying creatures descended on the desolate village. Their bodies were human but their arms and legs were the same length so that they moved on all fours. How can they move so quickly? the Lion wondered, and then he saw that the creatures’ feet and hands had been replaced by whirling, spiked wheels. As they drew closer to the village, he could see their clothes—crazed, clashing patchworks of garish colors that stood out harshly against the washed-out landscape. Their eyes were mad and wild. One of them hefted a blazing torch aloft and with a screech of laughter hurled it at the nearest house. The straw roof caught immediately, and soon the entire hovel was ablaze as its inhabitants poured out into the dirt street in terror. More of the wheeled creatures set fire to the village, shrieking with glee and laughing and pointing at its helpless, sobbing inhabitants.
“Behold the Land of Ev,” hissed the Nome King. “The Deadly Desert is expanding. The drought is so severe nothing can grow. The Wheelers terrorize my subjects. The magic itself is seeping out of the land. Unless Oz shares its bounty, the country is doomed.” He glanced back at his warriors. “Plus, I’m getting really tired of living underground,” he said in a more conversational tone. “Bad for the complexion, you know? And the only thing to eat is mushrooms. I’m really sick of mushrooms.”
Ozma looked stunned. “I did not know it was so bad there,” she whispered.
“The people above the earth are starving,” the Nome King said. “The riches of Oz are vast. Why would you not agree to share them? From what I hear, the Emerald Palace is plenty big enough for two.” His words were reasonable, but there was a dangerous glitter in his pale eyes.
The Lion remembered himself. He was the King of the Beasts and the Protector of Ozma, and he was not to be trifled with. “You didn’t ask to share!” the Lion roared furiously. “You’re tunneling under the Deadly Desert to invade Oz!”
The Nome King barely flinched at the Lion’s fierce roar. He drew himself up to his full height, his eyes blazing. “Did you expect us to beg, Lion? To come crawling through the desert like some poor relation? Oz is no greater a country than Ev, and no more deserving of its riches!”
“But why are you invading?” the Lion protested. “You could have sent a messenger! Anything other than spending years digging under the desert in secret.”
“The Wizard was no friend of the Land of Ev,” the Nome King said coldly. “I did not know Ozma had replaced him.”
The Lion narrowed his eyes. He’s lying, he thought. Did Ozma guess? If she did, she was hiding it. What did she have up her sleeve? He made a noise of protest, but Ozma held up a hand to silence him.
“My dear, brave Lion,” she said gently. “The Nome King is right. If the Wizard is partly responsible for the suffering of the people of Ev, it’s our duty to help them. I will do what the king asks, if it means avoiding war.”
How could the Wizard be responsible if no one knew for certain that Ev even existed? Ozma wasn’t making any sense. But the Nome King’s eyes lit up, and his warriors took a step back, apparently deciding they would not be needed to defend him.
“We have been preparing for war for a long time, and my people are angry,” he said. “Peace will not be quite as easy as you think, Ozma. Ev is not some charity case that you can dismiss with a few loaves of bread.”
“How can we avoid a battle?” Ozma asked, her eyes wide. Lion couldn’t believe she was still negotiating, when it looked like she had already lost.