“What do you mean, you weren’t sure that was going to work?” the Lion demanded. Ozma shrugged.
“All the legends about the Nome King say he’s obsessed with riddles and gambling, and he loves turning people into furniture and tchotchkes and that sort of thing. I knew there was no way we could actually talk him out of invading Oz, and we’re certainly not strong enough to fight him. I was hoping he’d pull something like this, but I couldn’t be sure.” The Lion stared at her, speechless. Ozma had bet the farm on a handful of legends about a king no one else knew existed and the might of his stomach?
“It worked, didn’t it?” she said, as if she could read his mind.
The Lion had no response to that, so he decided to think about something else. “But what will happen to the people of Ev? If the Nome King was invading Oz to help them—”
“Oh, that,” Ozma said dismissively. “That was a load of hooey. Ev is incredibly rich. If the people are suffering, it’s his fault—his and the Princess Langwidere’s. There’s nothing I can do about that from here, although once I’m sure Oz is stable, I might look into deposing them both.”
“The princess who?”
“Langwidere,” Ozma said. “She’s horrible beyond belief. She has as many heads as there are days in the month and she exchanges them at will. Pray you never meet her—or the Wheelers.” The Lion thought of the strange, patchworked creatures he’d seen in the Nome King’s vision and shuddered.
“Anyway, we won!” Ozma exclaimed happily. “And we got the Wizard’s necklace back, too!”
Should he tell Ozma that Glinda was just as eager to find the necklace as she was? He decided against it. He’d figure out a way out of his deal with Glinda on his own. There was no way to tell Ozma about Glinda’s desire for the necklace without confessing she was the one who’d sent him to the Emerald City in the first place. All this intrigue was making his head hurt, especially after the stress of saving Oz from the clutches of the Nome King and rescuing Ozma from certain doom.
“We shouldn’t rest here any longer,” Ozma warned. His heart sank. He’d been hoping for a nap. But he knew the queen was right. They were practically in the Land of Ev, after all, and he’d seen all he wanted of the Nome King. “He has to obey the bargain we made, but if I know anything about the Nome King, he’ll already be trying to find a way around it,” she added. “We should go back to the Emerald Palace before he tries to return this way.”
Ozma didn’t sound too worried about the possibility that the Nome King might persist in his attempt to invade Oz after all. Was she brave, or just foolhardy? Whatever the case, he had no interest in sticking around either. “Can you teleport us back to the Emerald Palace?” he asked hopefully.
“Through a mile of solid rock?” Ozma laughed. “I’m powerful, Lion, but no one is that powerful. Magic doesn’t work like that. We could step into the Darklands and travel that way, but I’d worry about losing you.” Her gaze turned thoughtful. “Although,” she mused, “the Wizard’s necklace wants to return to the palace; I can feel it. Maybe that’s not such a bad idea after all. The necklace will make sure you get there, even if I can’t.”
At last, he could ask about the necklace without arousing her suspicions. “What is this necklace?”
“No one really knows. It’s much older than the Wizard, of course, and how he came by it—well, I’m just not sure. It’s possible it’s from the Other Place, and he used its power to get here somehow. But now it’s bound up in the Deep Magic of Oz, and it will always try to go home.”
“To the Emerald City?”
“Exactly. Its magic is incredibly strong, but no one really knows what it’s for.”
Glinda does, the Lion thought, remembering her eager face as she showed him the vision of the ruby necklace. She knew, and she had a plan for it. Of that he had no doubt.
“Everyone thought the necklace was lost when the Wizard disappeared,” Ozma continued. “It’s possible he had it with him when he left Oz in his hot air balloon, and somehow lost it over the Land of Ev. I don’t know how else the Nome King could have gotten hold of it. He was probably using it to guide his tunneling to the Emerald City. That would explain how he was able to get so close so quickly.”
She fell into a thoughtful silence. The necklace seemed to throb slightly against his chest, as if it knew they were talking about it. But that wasn’t possible. It was just a bunch of gold and rubies; even magic objects couldn’t eavesdrop on people’s conversations. Could they?
Ozma roused herself. “The Darklands is too risky,” she said decidedly. “It’ll take much longer, of course, but we’ll have to go back the way we came.”
The Lion almost groaned aloud. He was so tired, and the thought of the return journey was almost unbearable. Still, a risky magical journey through a place he’d never heard of where a ruby necklace was his only link to safety sounded even worse. He stood and stretched. Ozma rested one hand on his back. “Are you ready?”
He nodded agreement, and Ozma raised her other hand. The cavern wall in front of them began to glow again. But this time, the lines of Ozma’s magic ran in feeble rivulets down the wall, refusing to form a door. “Being turned into a statue really wore me out,” she gasped. “We’re going to have to do this the hard way.” Without waiting for his reply, she grabbed his mane and dragged him toward the wall. He opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say a word they were plowing into solid stone. And it hurt. Somehow, Ozma was dragging them both through the wall. It was like forcing his way through liquid concrete. Stone filled his ears and mouth, and for a long moment he thought he’d be stuck there, trapped inside the wall forever. But with one last, insistent tug, Ozma pulled him through to the other side. They collapsed on the tunnel floor.
“Sorry about that,” Ozma wheezed. “Close call. It’s a good thing I didn’t have to actually fight the Nome King.”
The journey back up through the tunnels to the Emerald Palace seemed to take even longer than the journey down. Both the Lion and Ozma were exhausted, but neither of them wanted to rest in the creepy, dark warren of tunnels. Ozma was so tired that several times she lost the way, and they had to backtrack. But finally the steep upward slant of the tunnel floor evened out, and the side tunnels came to an end. The Lion was so relieved to see the first of the torches that marked the corridor down from the Emerald Palace that he nearly cheered aloud, and Ozma perked up visibly.
“Not sure I’ve got much more in me,” she panted. “I’m glad we’re almost home.”
It was odd seeing her weakened like this. And even more than that, hearing her admit it. He had never once seen Glinda drained of her power. He himself had never let his guard down in front of his subjects, or even Cornelius. Ozma shared her vulnerability with him freely. He felt honored and at the same time, he wanted to warn her that it wasn’t the best idea. Someone else, someone other than himself, could pounce when you show your soft underbelly.
At last, the rough-hewn rock of the tunnel walls gave way to the cut stone of the Emerald Palace’s corridors. The Lion almost wept in relief. Ozma pulled up her hood in an attempt to conceal herself if they encountered any of the palace servants, but the halls were empty. “That’s strange,” she said, frowning. “I couldn’t begin to guess what time it is, but at least a few of the servants are up at all hours. I don’t know where everyone is.” With a snap of her fingers, she exchanged her plain dress for a regal ball gown of emerald-green satin embroidered with a pattern in gold thread that echoed the delicate gold veins of her wings. Invisible hands piled her disordered curls into an elegant updo secured with jeweled golden combs, and dazzling emerald earrings appeared in her ears. Not to be outdone, the Lion quickly licked down his mane. The ruby necklace was hidden in his thick fur.
Ozma gave him an approving nod. “We don’t look like we’ve been mucking around in nasty old tunnels and defeating an evil king!” she declared. “No one will ever be the wiser. The fact that we just saved Oz will remain between the two of us.” She winked, and the Lion felt an answering surge of pride. They had just saved Oz—if you got right down to it, he had just saved Oz, more or less by himself. If Scare and Tin could see him now! He might not have done so impressively in the battle against Jinjur, but there was no doubting the courage he’d shown while facing the Nome King.
“Your Majesty!” Both he and Ozma jumped at the sudden cry. One of the palace servants was hurrying toward them—Jellia, the Lion remembered. She was the queen’s handmaid; that was why he’d memorized her name. “Thank goodness you’re here! Where on earth have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you—your guest is here!”
Ozma looked puzzled. “My guest?”
“Oh yes, and she’s in an absolute state, the girls are running themselves ragged—please, Your Majesty, you really must come at once!” Without waiting for them to reply, the maid took off in the other direction. Ozma raised her eyebrows at the Lion, shrugging, and followed, with the Lion close on her heels. “I guess we’ll have to wait just a bit before we rest,” she said ruefully. “I know I didn’t invite anyone to the palace. I wonder who’s here.”
Jellia led them to Ozma’s throne room and threw open the doors, curtsying deeply. “Her Majesty, Queen Ozma of Oz!” she announced breathlessly, staying in her curtsy with her eyes cast down as if unwilling to face whoever awaited them. Ozma swept past her, her bearing regal. Beyond her, the Lion could see a figure silhouetted against the throne room’s huge picture windows. At first, he thought she was just incredibly tall. And then he realized she was hovering several inches off the ground.
“My goodness,” she said in a syrupy-sweet, all-too-familiar voice, turning to face them. “Look what the cat dragged in.” She giggled, and something about the sound was infinitely more terrifying than any of the Nome King’s threats. “Welcome back, dearest Ozma. And of course, Your Highness,” she added, bowing to the Lion in a gesture that was subtly mocking. “I think you have something of mine. I’ve come to get it back.”