“We’re going underground, alone, to confront an ancient enemy of Oz who might have an entire army with him?”
“Oh, I’m sure the army isn’t with him yet,” Ozma said cheerfully. “I would probably have sensed it if they were. He’ll just be supervising the final construction of the tunnels. The army won’t come through until he’s ready to invade Oz. It won’t be the least bit dangerous—I’d just feel better if you were there. A lion is a very impressive-looking lieutenant.”
Probably have sensed an army? The Lion wondered briefly if the stress of the situation had caused Ozma to lose her mind. But she looked happier than he’d seen her since he arrived at the Emerald Palace, now that he’d agreed to go with her. He couldn’t let her down now—not if the future of Oz was at stake.
“If you think it’s a good idea, I’m sure it is,” he said. Ozma’s face lit up again and she threw her arms around his chest.
“I knew you’d help!” she cried.
“When will we leave?”
“Why, right now, don’t you think? There’s no sense in wasting time.”
“Right now? Are you sure?” The Lion’s stomach rumbled, even though he’d just eaten. “What about lunch?”
Ozma laughed. “You can bring something to eat along the way. The Nome King is very close—it won’t take us long to find him. Why, we could be back in the Emerald Palace by dinnertime if all goes well. There’s an old tunnel system underneath the Emerald Palace that we can use to reach the Nome King’s tunnel.”
“Why hasn’t the Nome King used them himself?”
“The fairies—my ancestors—passed down the knowledge of the tunnels among themselves, but no one else knows about them anymore,” Ozma explained. “They’re very, very old—older than the Emerald Palace itself. Some people say they were there even before the fairies created Oz, although no one knows for sure. They may have been created by the Nomes themselves, ages ago, even before the Deadly Desert formed and separated us from the Land of Ev.”
The Lion’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know there was anything before the Deadly Desert.”
Ozma laughed. “Of course there was, silly! Nothing is forever. And the Nomes are an ancient people, nearly as old as the fairies, though luckily for us they’ve forgotten as much as we have about the prehistory of our lands. The Nome King would have invaded long ago if he knew the tunnels existed. Anyway, we should be able to find a way to get close to where the Nome King is digging. My magic connects to the magic of Oz, and I can feel any disturbances, especially this close to the Emerald City. It’s difficult to teleport underground, but if we get close enough, I can do it if we have to.”
The Lion got to his feet, eyeing the empty breakfast plates sadly. Ozma, seeing his look, snapped her fingers and a heavy bundle appeared. “There’s your lunch,” she said, still laughing, and handed it to the Lion. He tucked the bundle over his shoulder, feeling much better about the adventure now that there was food involved.
“Lead the way!” he said, and followed Ozma out of the room.
EIGHT
It was still early, and the palace halls were nearly empty. Ozma led him down out-of-the-way corridors, anxious to avoid anyone who might ask questions about where the queen was going. She had magically transformed her royal gown into a plain traveling dress and covered herself with a drab gray cloak, but she wore her golden crown, and there was no mistaking her queenly air. She was so fiercely intelligent, so alert, that it would have been difficult for her to ever truly disguise herself, the Lion thought. Her intensity shone from her electric green eyes and was clear in her precise, alert movements. Oz’s new queen was formidable indeed.
Ozma led him farther and farther into the depths of the palace, and soon they saw no one at all. This part of the castle was silent and oppressive. They were too deep for any natural light to reach them, and the hallways were lit with sooty, guttering torches that flared into life as they approached and then extinguished themselves again, leaving the hall behind them in thick, velvety darkness. Without light from the outside, the Lion had no sense of the passage of time, or how long they had been walking. Down here, the hallways were carpeted with a thick layer of dust that drifted up into his nostrils and made him sneeze. No one had been down here in a long, long time. Here and there, and then more frequently, the cut stone walls gave way to sheer rock, and the floor pitched steeply downward.