Oz; a remake of the tale 2.11

11. Dorothy' Hunt.

 I can't let Toto off my mind; that was what I told Scarecrow. Then I received it the information I was waiting for. It has been over a week since we left the farm house. I am fully recovered and raring to go hunt some witches. Then the pigeon or rather the crow came. It just dropped the scroll on the floor.

"Toto is safe. Be here if you want to see it."

I showed everyone the message, then the scroll showed another message.

"Come alone or no Toto."

That was the reason I am standing here now by the forest edge; what was once green and brown is now all white and gray. I am without my weapons and waiting for the signal. It came soon enough withe the arrival of a Nomes dressed in a white suit.

"Follow me." The Nomes motioned to me, but I stood there without moving. The Nomes stopped and looked at me.

"Please follow me." This time I did. He led me to the forest and then there was an entrance to the underground tunnel. I was asked to step inside. The Nomes have left me there alone. I did as per instruction and soon myself in the grimy looking environment. Its wet and above all; its dark with a descending steps. The walls cannot be seen as it was all dark but then I could had swore I seen some bright gleaming orbs looking at me. They seem to blink and then vanished from my sight. I tried to make out the flooring again, but its dark shade with sinister feel to it. I reached down to touch it, and felt the coldness on the surface; cold as icy. There was a breeze going down which mean there is an outlet below.

It was not a long walk when I came upon a dining chamber with the long table and the buffet spread was lavish. There was one other catch; there was another guest there, a figure with a set of horns on the forehead.

"Dorothy, my name is...." The double horned figure communicated to me by telepathy. I was to reply but then I howled my voice out.

"Git out of that frigging costume now!" My sonic vocal boom raised up more than some decibels; the figure split out from the costume to reveal the Nomes who brought me here. The Nomes stepped off his seat and walked towards me.

"You could had let me talk. I....." I interject to his coming speech.

"The Devil do not speak or communicate. He acts without talking. Like me." I grabbed the turkey on the table and throw it at the Nomes. The turkey did not reached him as there was the Kalidah with his claws on the turkey. He was not alone as there were three more of them standing at the far corner.

"Good move, Ms.Gale. The Witch warned us. We came prepared. Now...." I did not let him complete the statement. I grabbed the turkey knife and confront them. The Nomes tried to sneak away but the turkey knife stopped his intentions.

"Tiger, tiger. Come and grab me." Tigers may be fierce but they are short on patience. The Kalidah at the table lunged at me but I slapped the bread pudding into its face. Then I pulled the leg of lamb to slammed it hard on the right paw of the Kalidah. That pushed the Kalidah' claws into the table top and stuck there.

"Told ye to cut your claws." Dorothy smiled and threw another dining knife towards the Nomes who was trying to sneak away again. The three other Kalidah stepped in but this time Hicks and Hunk appeared. They were following me and laid down a cover fire on the three Kalidah. The shots may had end up into the dark but the sound of those shots were loud to deter even a Tiger. 

"She is ours. So back off or you would want to adorn some walls here." The Kalidah did not move on seeing the boys weapon. Not when Hunk T-shirt said; Dead Stripes Wanted. I walked up to the Nomes, and pulled him up off his feet.

"The griffin or you would be the next BBQ serving." I warned the Nomes, and I think he understand me well. He led me to a new doorway and another descending staircase. I stepped forth to follow him leaving the boys behind, but he disappeared the moment he stepped in.

Its another descending staircase which was similar to the previous one. I followed on down and noticed the steps getting narrow. Then I almost stepped into the void; there was a break in the steps. I crouched down to check the steps and slowly feel the flooring. The floor was there but its unseen by the eyes. If you looked down and you would see an void but in actual fact there is none.

So its another hologram but I had to be sure. I feel the flooring for more spaces and found it all there. I slowly followed it go down and reached another platform. This platform was filled with boxes of all sizes and heights plus color. I reached the first one and opened the cover.

It was a jack in the box but this one is a big tiger head. It almost swallowed my head but by then I had side stepped to avoid it. The next few boxes I opened, all contained some carnivore creatures. There was a black panther and one of the big bad wolf. In the end, I placed the boxes facing each other and opened the cover simultaneously. Imagine Moby 'Whale' meet Shark 'Jaws'. That solved the problem when two heads collide. I spied the Nomes standing there in another doorway.

"You are invited." He motioned me to the next doorway.

He opened it and walked in. It was a fast move and I am left alone on the staircase again. Its not one staircase now but a series of staircases in all directions. Its a maze or a mind blowing maze. I mount down the stairs and this time the tunnel is cover in all kind of colors shades. Its very misleading to the senses, and soon I find myself reaching a platform to ascend again. The next platform was a long platform across and then up again. I did these a few times and soon myself every upset. This is outrageous as the staircase all lead to somewhere but then nowhere. So I let off my frustration.

My sonic vocal boom took care of the staircase. It was a hologram build to confuse the person coming in; one designed to make the person believed to be in the staircase maze. In reality the place is a platform and the Nomes is standing  there on the far corner.

"Can we continue the tour?" The Nomes smiled sheepishly. I took up my waist belt and tied it to the Nomes. I nodded to the Nomes. This time he led me to the griffins.

There was a pair of griffin and a young one in their wings. I walked up to Toto who was the smaller one and smiled at it. It snarl at me and then looked to the bigger one where the young one was hiding beneath the wings.

"Is that yours?" I asked Toto and it moved it head. Communication between me and my pet have been strained recently. If I guessed correctly, then Toto has just become a father.

That was when the cage dropped on me. It was another trap.

I raised my voice and found myself unable to shout. Something had happened and I looked up above me. There was a contraption up these and looked like a trumpet. Its swallowing my voice up and preventing me from releasing my sonic vocal boom. I reached for the cage bars and was given a burst of energy field feedback.

"That hurts." The Nomes smiled at me.

"We planned this for you. Now the White Witch have you in her trap."

"Sorry, the trap is not any weak spots." I reached into my boots and drew out the mini bombs. I placed it at the cage bars. Then I crouched as far as possible. The explosion took down the bars for me step out.

"Nomes, I hoped you can dig fast than I can shout." The Nomes were already digging another new tunnel. I looked to the griffins and smiled.

"Toto, can you tell me why you are not escaping?" The small griffin rushed across the hall to a dark corner. There was another cage and there are five more of the young ones there. Now I know why Toto did not leave. We released the young babes to its big mother and let the family fly off to a safer location. I had the Nomes to take a message to the White Witch.

"Be wary of me as I am coming for you next."