The Wicked Will Rise

I groaned inwardly, wondering if we’d really come all this way to make small talk over thimbles full of dew. But I could also see that I was going to get nowhere unless I at least tried to humor her. “You have a unicorn?” I asked politely.

“I’m the Daughter of the Rainbow,” she said in a voice that indicated she was beginning to think I was a bit of an idiot. “Of course I have a unicorn. You simply must see him. I guarantee he’ll enchant you.” She snapped her fingers in summons. “Unicorn!” she singsonged. “Unicorn, unicorn!”

When there was no response whatsoever, she rolled her eyes, shook her head, and screeched at the top of her lungs. “Heathcliff!”

That did the job. In the distance, I heard the patter of feet, and a large, snow-white creature came bounding from the stairway and settled into a dignified crouch at Polychrome’s side.

She smiled and patted it behind the ears. It was not a unicorn. In fact, it was a huge cat—a panther, maybe?—with a long, sharp horn fastened around its head with a pink ribbon tied in a bow under its chin.

“Interesting unicorn,” Nox said. “Never seen that particular species before.”

“Look, I always wanted a unicorn,” Polychrome said. “A fairy princess should have a unicorn, don’t you agree? The problem is, purebred unicorns don’t take to being made into pets. It’s one of their biggest failings. Of which they have many, I might add. Ugh, they’re awful creatures in the end. So haughty and headstrong, impossible to train, always making a mess in the house. They’re very judgmental, too—always setting perfectly ridiculous rules about who gets to ride them and who can’t. But the Daughter of the Rainbow should have a unicorn. And I am, above all things, a fairy of can-do spirit. So, you see, I had to fashion myself a unicorn of my own. And anyway, Heathcliff is so much better than another unicorn would be. He’s very dear, he lets me pet him, and he can devour an entire human in just three bites if I need him to. So why should I have any regrets?”

She turned to the beast, who pawed at the ground looking, frankly, a bit humiliated at the charade he was being forced to enact. “And you love being my little unicorn, don’t you? You’re such a pretty, noble little loveykins, aren’t you?”

Heathcliff gave a placating rumble of a purr as Polychrome ran her fingers through his fur.

“Does he grant wishes?” Nox asked. “Like a real unicorn?”

The fairy stiffened, and she sat up very straight. “He’s extremely sensitive about that. I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention the subject in his presence again. Or mine. Now, please, let’s move on.”

“He doesn’t grant wishes,” Bright said, blowing a smoke ring and looking amused.

“Shut up, consort,” Polychrome shot back at him. “I’ll remind you that you are allowed to stay here at my pleasure. Now”—she turned back to us—“what in the world has brought you to my kingdom? You’re not the conquering types, are you? I would hate to have to fling you off the side of the Sunset Balustrade. I’m so not in the mood for a conquering today.”

“We’re not here to conquer. At least, we’re not here to conquer you. We’re with the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked,” Nox said. “Mombi sent us. She thought you might be able to help.”

“So you said. I wish I could be of more help—I do so love that old hag. Such a wit she has about her! I hope she’s doing well. But as I’ve told you, I have been utterly alone up here, save for my sprites, for quite some time now. If Mombi thought her revolutionary friends would seek refuge here, she was mistaken.”

I looked from Nox to Ozma to Bright, who seemed extremely bored by the whole conversation, and then back to Polychrome.

“Maybe I could speak to you alone,” I said.

Nox gave me a sharp look, and I shrugged apologetically. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him. At this point, of course I trusted him. It was just that there were still a few things I wanted to keep to myself as much as possible.

“Fine,” Polychrome said. “Bright, show the others to the parlor.”

Bright stood, looking disgruntled. “The work of a Royal Consort is never over,” he said.

When they were gone, Polychrome walked to the bar and sat down on a high, glossy stool. “Now I’m intrigued,” she said, patting the stool next to her for me to sit. “Mombi wouldn’t have sent you to all the trouble of coming here if she didn’t have good reason. What news can you give me of the world below?”

“Oz is at war,” I said simply.

Polychrome sighed and ate another wasp.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” she admitted. “It’s been a terrible time for us. These last few turns of the sun, I’ve often wondered if the Rainbow Falls would survive at all. The wild unicorns all took off for god knows where; the sprites seem antsy. Several of my handmaidens have developed very destructive habits; I’ve had to let a few of them go.”

I nodded.

“When Dorothy came back, you could just feel the color draining from this whole place. We’ve been hanging on, but black and white isn’t a good look for anyone here at Rainbow Falls, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

“It’s Dorothy,” I said. “She and Glinda have been draining Oz’s magic.”

“Precisely,” Polychrome said. “Or, at least, she was. But is she still? I’m Ozma’s distant cousin, you know—fairy genealogy gets complicated considering that none of us have parents, but we are cousins of a sort. We share the royal blood of Oz, and as the mistress of the falls, I am intimately attuned with Oz’s mystical rhythms. It’s easy to see that there have been recent changes afoot. The magic is returning; the falls are suddenly looking healthier than they have in ages. Dare I hope that Dorothy has been defeated?”

I shook my head. “No. But she’s been driven out of the Emerald City. And I think there’s something going on between her and Glinda. I’m not sure if they’re quite the bosom buddies they were before.”

“Well, that’s an interesting development,” she mused. “There have long been complicated political forces at work here in Oz, and Glinda has usually been at the center of them. With the witches of the East and South killed, it became easier for a while, but other factions have developed. Both Glinda and the Wizard have always been wild cards. No one has ever been able to tell quite where their loyalties lie, or what their goals are. And Dorothy is a problem. She’s quite mad, you know.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m going to kill her. Things will be a lot simpler when she’s dead.”

Polychrome scanned me carefully.

“You’re from the Other Place, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“I see. Who brought you here?”

A change had come over her. She was no longer the airy, slightly dippy fairy who had greeted us at the door. Now she seemed older, more thoughtful. Her caftan had taken on a darker tone, and there was a glare in her eyes that was honestly a little frightening. I wondered if that earlier version had been an act. Maybe there was a steeliness to Polychrome that I was only beginning to see.

Heathcliff was pacing the room, and I could see that he was different, too. His white fur was glowing with an electrical sheen, and his horn was glittering. It looked like it was an actual part of him rather than just a stupid hat.

“I was brought here on a cyclone,” I said. Before she could comment on the obvious, I said it myself: “From Kansas. Like Dorothy.”

The new shift in Polychrome made me nervous. Suddenly I wondered how much I wanted to tell her. “Mombi thought I might find other members of the Order here,” I said, choosing to go with the easiest part first. “Have you heard any word of Glamora?”

Polychrome shook her head. “In the past months, my scrying pools have been clouded. I’ve been able to see very little of the goings-on in the rest of Oz. All I know is what I feel. And while I feel great changes are afoot, you know better than I as to what has brought those changes about.”

“I know some,” I said. “But not everything.”

I made a decision. I picked up my bag and emptied it onto the bar, displaying the trophies of my battles.

The Tin Woodman’s heart. The Lion’s tail.

“Where did you get these?” Polychrome asked, her voice quiet and surprised.

“I took them,” I said. “From their owners. I know they’re important, but Mombi thought you might be able to tell me more about them, and what they do.”

The Daughter of the Rainbow was already on her feet. “Come,” she said. “I need to examine these further in my Lumatorium.”