The Oz Series
Chapter 81
Part of the Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz: The Underground World arc.
What happens
The enemy hesitates to renew the attack, and a few who advance are driven back by another shot from the Wizard's revolver. Zeb thinks they have the Gargoyles on the run, but the Wizard warns gloomily that the revolvers hold only six shots each and the party will be helpless once the ammunition is gone. The Gargoyles seem to grasp this, sending a fresh small company time after time to draw the Wizard's fire, keeping the main band far off so none is shocked by the report more than once. When the Wizard exhausts all twelve bullets, he has caused no real damage beyond stunning a few by noise and is no nearer victory than at the start.
Asked what to do, Zeb proposes they all yell together, and the Wizard adds they should fight at the same time near Jim, each taking a weapon: the Wizard his sword (though of little account against wood), Dorothy her parasol to open suddenly when attacked, and nothing for Zeb. Zeb declares he will use "the king," pulling his bound Gargoyle prisoner from the buggy; the creature's arms extend far beyond its head, so by grasping its wrists Zeb finds the crowned Gargoyle makes a good club, and being strong from farm work he is likely more dangerous to the enemy than the Wizard.
When the next company advances, the adventurers yell as if mad, Eureka gives a shrill scream, and Jim neighs loudly, daunting the enemy for a time. But the defenders soon run out of breath, and the Gargoyles, perceiving this and that no more "bangs" will come from the revolvers, advance in a swarm as thick as bees, filling the air. Dorothy squats and raises her parasol as protection; the Wizard's sword-blade snaps into a dozen pieces at the first blow; Zeb pounds down dozens of foes with his Gargoyle club until they cluster too thickly for him to swing his arms; Jim kicks and Eureka leaps upon the Gargoyles scratching and biting like a wild-cat.
The bravery amounts to nothing. The wooden creatures wind their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and hold them fast, capture Dorothy the same way, and cling to Jim's legs to weight him down helpless; Eureka dashes to escape but a grinning Gargoyle flies after her and grabs her. Expecting instant death, the prisoners are instead flown far away over miles of wooden country to a wooden city whose many-cornered houses are square, six-sided, and eight-sided, tower-like, old and weather-worn yet strong.
The captives are brought to one such house that has neither doors nor windows but only one broad opening far up under the roof; the Gargoyles roughly push them onto an interior platform and fly away, reasoning correctly that wingless prisoners cannot fly and would die if they jumped from such a height, their only error being to assume the earth people cannot overcome ordinary difficulties. Jim is carried up by many Gargoyles and landed on the high platform, and the buggy is thrust in after him because it belongs to the party, though the wooden folk have no idea what it is; Eureka's captor throws her in after the others, and the last Gargoyle silently departs.
Breathing freely again, Dorothy remarks on the awful fight, and Eureka notes neither side managed to hurt the other. Dorothy is grateful they are together even as prisoners. Zeb, having lost his "king" in the struggle, wonders why they were not killed on the spot; the Wizard reflects the Gargoyles are probably keeping them for some ceremony but certainly intend to kill them soon. The Wizard proposes they examine their prison.
The space under the roof lets them see the wooden city spread beneath, stiff and unnatural. A stair descends into the house; the children and Wizard explore it by lantern light and find several stories of empty rooms, with no doors or windows below and boards too thick and stout for escape, so remaining below would be like a dark, damp cellar. As in all countries under the earth's surface, there is no night, a constant strong light coming from an unknown source. Looking out, they mark wooden Gargoyles moving in nearby houses with open windows, and the Wizard observes this seems to be the Gargoyles' time of rest, when even wooden people select a time to sleep since there is no night.
When Dorothy notices Eureka is missing, Jim reports the kitten dug her claws into the wood and climbed down the sides of the house to the ground, prompting a mock argument about whether one can "climb down." Dorothy frets the Gargoyles will get Eureka, correcting the name from "Gurgles," but the kitten crawls back over the platform edge unharmed, having watched the wooden folk going to bed. Eureka reveals the crucial fact that the Gargoyles unhook the hinges of their wings and store the wings in a corner until they wake. Zeb reasons this is why the house is used as a prison: misbehaving Gargoyles have their wings unhooked and removed until they promise to be good. The Wizard wishes for some loose wings, reasoning that since the wings unhook, the power to fly lies in the wings themselves and not the wooden bodies, so the party could fly with them while in the country. He shows Dorothy, through his spy-glass telescope from the satchel, a big rock reaching into the clouds on a distant hillside, containing an archway like the one from the Valley of Voe, which may lead to another stairway to the earth's surface; if they had wings they could fly to that rock and be saved.
Zeb volunteers to fetch the wings if Eureka shows him the way, and unfastens Jim's harness strap by strap, buckling the pieces into a long leather strip reaching the ground, over the mock objection that one can only climb up. He fastens one end to a buggy wheel and lets the line dangle, then slides down hand over hand while Eureka climbs down with her claws; together they creep into a neighboring dwelling. The watchers wait in suspense until Zeb reappears with his arms full of wooden wings, ties them in a bunch to the line for the Wizard to draw up, and climbs back with Eureka, bringing eight prized wooden wings to the platform.
Energized, Zeb reassembles the harness and hitches Jim to the buggy, then with the Wizard's help fastens wings to the horse. Because half of each wing's hinge is missing, still attached to its original Gargoyle, the Wizard uses a spool of strong wire from his satchel to fasten four wings to Jim's harness, two near his head and two near his tail, wiggly but secure if the harness holds. The other four wings are fastened to the buggy, two on each side, to bear the weight of the children and Wizard. As the sleeping Gargoyles begin to wake and will soon hunt their missing wings, the prisoners resolve to leave at once. They mount the buggy, Dorothy in the middle holding Eureka, Zeb and the Wizard on each side; Zeb shakes the reins and tells Jim to fly. Jim, unsure which wings to flop, groans and flops all four together, flying off the platform, arching his neck and floundering unevenly with creaking, unoiled wings, but keeping fair time with the buggy wings so they make good progress, wobbling up and down as they head swiftly toward the rock. Some Gargoyles spot them and collect a pursuing band; when Dorothy looks back she sees them coming in a great cloud that almost darkens the sky.
Who is in play
- Dorothy
- Valley of Voe
- the wooden wings
- underground_traveling_party
- Zeb
- Jim
- Oz
- Eureka
- Gargoyles
- Land of Naught
- the buggy
- the king
- the Wizard's sword