The Scarecrow of OZ (28 page)

And just like that frightened little girl, so many years ago, she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.

Caleb held Dorothy in the cramped cockpit and let her cry. He had watched over her since before she knew he existed, and he was glad to be here now. Glad to be the one to comfort her.

As they flew through the air, not a single word passed between them since they had taken off. The drone of the motor made talking difficult at best, so sitting together silently, in each other’s arms, was the best thing for them.

A buzzer sounded, alerting him that they were getting close to the perimeter of OZ.

The lead shielding around the cockpit would mask their presence from the perimeter defense systems, but the engine on the plane was like a white-hot beacon that would get them killed if they didn’t act fast.

He reached around Dorothy and gripped the engine release lever. Pulling this lever would shatter the ceramic bolts that held the engine in place and allow it to drop out of the plane. The elongated wings, and the thin cylindrical fuselage, would enable the plane to glide out of OZ un-powered, like a sea bird gliding on the updrafts along the shoreline.

He pulled back on the lever and the engine dropped away. The plane tilted up briefly before automatically leveling off.

Even without the noise from the engine, Dorothy nestled silently in his arms as they sailed over the southern edge of the continent and out across the crystal blue waters of the ocean.

There was still one thing left to do before they reached New Kansas. The original plan called for them to drop the weapon into one of the active volcanoes to the west of OZ. This gliding airplane would never make it that far, so the plan had to change.

Caleb held up the small pyramid.

Dorothy twisted sideways in the cramped space so she could face him. Without a word, she forced open the cockpit door just wide enough for him to throw out the pyramid.

He stuck his hand outside the plane, the wind buffeting the pyramid around, trying to knock it from his grasp.

One last look into Dorothy’s eyes told him everything he needed to know. He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

He released his grip and let the ancient hybrid weapon fall away.

Despite the destructive power encased in the tiny pyramid, it made a tiny splash on the surface and sank quickly, disappearing into the depths of the sea.

He and Dorothy were finally free. They would land silently in New Kansas and, from there, go anywhere they wanted. As long as flowing cloaks with large cowls stayed in fashion, he could keep his feline features hidden from human eyes.

All he had to do was convince Dorothy that there was never a reason to return to OZ again.

High up in the sky, in her own airship, the Banshee High Priestess held the telescope against her eye and studied the carnage on the ground below her.

Her arm was in a sling and several bandages clung to the side of her burnt face. If she had been but a single step to the left or to the right, she would have died with the rest of her Banshee warriors when the warehouse exploded. The concussive force had rattled loose the steel grate she was standing on, dropping her through the floor and into the sewer when everything else above her was reduced to rubble and smoke.

It had taken far longer to commandeer an airship, so she could pursue those responsible, than she had liked. It meant she was late to the party. Everything that happened here was already a day old.

The airship that had crashed into the entrance to Chambers had effectively sealed it. But the bodies scattered around did not look like victims of the crash itself.

From her safe vantage point hundreds of meters in the sky she watched the still, and headless, bodies around the airship crash site; looking for an indication of where the hybrid and his robot went after they crashed into the entrance to Chambers. Being late was not much of a concern. She could pick up the coldest trail and follow it back to her prey.

If they survived the crash and subsequent massacre, only to go down into Chambers, they would be outside of her reach; for now. Even if they had escaped into Chambers, she wasn’t worried. She had spies in every territory of OZ. If Caleb, or any of his companions, returned to the surface, she would know about it.

Unfortunately, most of her contacts, actually all of them, had fallen silent within the last twenty-four hours without warning. This was most unusual.

Even more unusual, the radio link she maintained with her spies reported nothing but static. Her hard-wired telegraph communications network still functioned, but it was as if something was interfering with her radio transmissions.

She was at the northernmost tip of the island continent of OZ. Maybe that had something to do with the radio. She was too far away to communicate with Center City. That had to be it. What else could be interfering with her radio?

The spotter, whose job it was to always scan the horizon, lowered her binoculars. “Ma’am? I think you better see this.”

The High Priestess squinted in the direction the spotter pointed. At the edge of the horizon, tiny black dots, too numerous to count, filled the sky for kilometers in either direction.

She looked through her telescope and her heart nearly stopped.

Magnified, the tiny black dots resolved into hundreds of airships, each painted black with rows of cannons protruding from the sides of the gondolas.

Something wicked was coming to OZ.

Inherit The Throne

The Warrior’s Code (COMING SOON)

Written as S.D. Stuart

The Wizard of OZ: A Steampunk Adventure

The Scarecrow of OZ: A Steampunk Adventure

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