Page 130 of Witch Queens: Tales from Oz

“I am awake, you sneaky bastards!” I cried out waving my hands.

A third bucket followed the first two.

I sat up and glared at my jailors. My head hurt like a bitch, and I had no idea where Steele was.

“I said I was awake!”

It was the bald Nome who smirked at me, “We had to be sure, Witch!”

“Where is my companion?” I growled, pulling the chains that connected my hands and feet to the cave wall.

We were in a carved-out room somewhere deep underground. The walls of the cavern were slick and cold, much like granite. There was a pot belly stove in the corner that’s pipe lead all the way up through the ceiling. The room had a round wooden door that my jailer had left open.

“The Man of Tin is a much-honored guest of King Rand. He is being fed a feast in the great hall.”

I was going to kill him.

“When am I going to meet King Rand?” I asked waspishly.

“You aren’t,” his evil smile grated against everything that was in me. “The only reason you are still alive is that the Man of Tin said he needs your magic to produce tin. We tried to reason that you would be just as good to him dead, but he declined.”

Okay, maybe not kill—but maiming was still on the agenda.

“Witch, you are wasting time. Get to your feet!”

I struggled to stand, the room spun around me. I reached up and felt a sticky mess on the back of my head.

“What did you do to me?” I grumbled, pulling my hand away. It was covered with blood.

“Nothing more than you deserve,” he unlocked the chains on the wall and gathered them to tug at me.

I barely kept from falling as I struggled to stay with him.

There were six more Winkie’s outside the room holding spears.

“No, funny business, Witch!”

I was honestly flattered that they thought I would have enough in me to fight back.

Black spots appeared in my vision.

“What did you do to her?” Steele roared, and I saw him running toward me from the other end of the tunnel.

His eyes flashed red, and I saw his teeth sharpen into jagged points. He grabbed the first Nome and ripped him in half. The blood spurting across the cavern as he threw the carcass and reached for the next one. It was seconds before they were all dead.

Steele pried the iron bars apart with his bare hands. I was terrified and oddly turned on by the entire affair.

He picked me up and cradled my bruised body against his chest.

“I should have destroyed them all from the start,” his voice was deeper, darker than usual. “Are you alright?”

I wanted to say yes, but I felt like shit.

Steele started walking through the maze of tunnels. So, I closed my eyes and rested my head against his chest.

“I will be okay,” I prayed he wouldn’t put me down, and he didn’t. “What happened to King Rand?”

Steele paused, “Were you attached to keeping him alive?”

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