“Well, this is some party,” said Nanny. “I wonder if I should have prettied things up with a candle.”
“Kindle candle can dull,” said Chistery.
Nanny lit a candle and sang “Happy Birthday to You,” to make Dorothy feel better, but no one joined in.
Then silence fell. Only Nanny kept eating, finishing the cheese and starting on the candle. Liir was turning white and pink by turns, and Dorothy had begun to stare blankly at a knothole in the polished wood of the trestle table. The Witch scratched her fingers with her knife, and ran the blade along her forefinger softly, as if it were the feather of a pfenix.
“What’s going to happen to me,” said Dorothy, lapsing into a monotone. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“Nanny, Liir,” said the Witch, “take yourselves off to the kitchen. Bring the Lion with you.”
“Is that old bag talking to me?” Nanny asked Liir. “Why’s the little girl crying, our food not good enough for her?”
“I’m not leaving Dorothy’s side!” said the Lion.
“Don’t I know you?” said the Witch in a low, even voice. “You were the cub they did experiments with in the science lab at Shiz long ago. You were terrified then and I spoke up for you. I’ll save you again if you behave.”
“I don’t want to be saved,” said the Lion petulantly.
“I know the feeling,” said the Witch. “But you can teach me something about Animals in the wild. Whether they revert, or how much. I take it you were raised in the wild. You can be of service. You can protect me when I go out of here with my Grimmerie, my book of magicks, my Malleus Maleficarum, my mesmerizing incunabulum, my codex of scarabee, fylfot and gammadion, my text thaumaturgical.”
The Lion roared, so suddenly they were all jolted in their seats, even Dorothy. “Thunder at night, devil’s delight,” observed Nanny, glancing out the window. “I better take in the laundry.”
“I’m bigger than you,” said the Lion to the Witch, “and I’m not letting Dorothy alone with you.”
The Witch swooped down and gathered the little dog in her arms. “Chistery, go dump this thing in the fishwell,” she said. Chistery looked dubious, but scampered away with Toto under his arm like a yapping furry loaf of bread.
“Oh no, save him, someone!” said Dorothy. The Witch shot out her hand and pinned her to the table, but the Lion had catapulted into the kitchen after the snow monkey and Toto.
“Liir, lock the kitchen door,” shouted the Witch. “Bar it so they can’t come back.”
“No, no,” cried Dorothy, “I’ll go with you, just don’t hurt Toto! He’s done nothing to you!” She turned to Liir, and said, “Please don’t let that monkey hurt my Toto. The Lion is useless, don’t trust him to save my little dog!”
“Do I take it we’ll have pudding by the fire?” said Nanny, looking up brightly. “It’s caramel custard.”
The Witch took Dorothy’s hand and began to lead her away. Liir suddenly leaped over and took hold of Dorothy’s other hand. “You old hag, let her alone,” he shouted.
“Liir, really, you pick the most awkward times to develop character,” said the Witch wearily, quietly. “Don’t embarrass yourself and me with this charade of courage.”
“I’ll be all right—just take care of Toto,” said Dorothy. “Oh Liir, take care of Toto, no matter what—please. He needs a home.”
Liir leaned over and kissed Dorothy, who fell against the wall in astonishment.
“Release me,” mumbled the Witch. “Whatever my faults, I don’t deserve this.”
17
She pushed Dorothy ahead of her into the tower room, and locked the door behind her. The long period of sleeplessness was making her head spin. “What have you come for,” she said to the girl. “I know why you have tramped all the way from the Emerald City—but go on, tell me to my face! Have you come to murder me, as the rumors say—or do you carry a message from the Wizard, maybe? Is he now willing to bargain the book for Nor? The magic for the child? Tell me! Or—I know—he has instructed you to steal my book! Is it that!”
But the girl only backed away, looking left and right, for an escape. There was no way out except the window, and that was a deadly fall.
“Tell me,” said the Witch.
“I am all alone in a strange land, don’t make me do this,” said the girl.
“You came to kill me and then to steal the Grimmerie!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
