The Wizard of Paws chapter 19

Chapter 19
The End (of the Castle) Part I


"Hey, it just occurred to me." Checkers said. "Didn't the Great Paws say that us Terriers were going to be imprisoned?" "Imprisoned, enslaved, hardly any difference," Dorothy said, still running, which is rather hard to do in a dress. "You guys, how fast can you run?" "Dunno, never needed to," Destiny said. "Very, very, very, very fast," Checkers said quickly. "Alright, then." Dorothy set Checkers down. "Onward!" "Where?" "Follow me, then." Dorothy took off running again, using her apron to carry Destiny in like a basket. Checkers barked and ran off in a little cloud of dust. Dorothy blinked and skidded to a halt. "Where did he go?" "Right here!" Dorothy whirled around. Checkers was standing behind her. "Wow! Did you just run around the world?" "I think so. There was a bit of sand and then a bit of water and a bit of cornfields. I said I could run fast! And now I'm hungry." Checkers looked around and took a bite out of a nearby banister. "A bit dry, but hey, it's edible." "Could you run a bit slower?" "Yes," Checkers said, and followed Dorothy by running like a normal Scottish Terrier should. About five seconds later, they fell through a trapdoor and landed in the labyrinth.


"That went swimmingly!" Checkers sputtered. "Literally!" Destiny said, doggy-paddling to shore. They had managed to land in the part of the labyrinth with the pond in it. Dorothy, however, had caught herself just in time and didn't fall down the trapdoor. She jumped down instead to avoid breaking something. 


Oh. What's this, now? Something fell into what I think might be a pond. Three somethings. And one of them is a human. Hey! DOROTHY! Yay!! She can actually see! I'm not lost anymore! MARCO! MARCO!


"POLO!!" Checkers shouted back. "I think that's Werren!" "Marco!" Shouted Werren. "POLO!" They all three shouted at the same time. "Help me up!" Destiny called to Dorothy, and she picked Destiny up and set her on top of the wall. "I see him! He's just come out of some sort of cave. I hear a grizzly bear. The grizzly bear is roaring! It's coming out of the cave! Werren is managing to evade its every attack! He just ran into a wall! GET UP, WERREN!! Yes! He did. The grizzly bear...just ran through the wall! Can they even do that?! 
Holy carp! Werren can fly!!" "Werren can fly?!" Dorothy and Checkers said at the same time. "I never knew that either! And he's flying this way! Oh! He made a left turn and crashed into the castle. That had to hurt. And now he's coming back here--POLO!--and he's making a right turn! Seriously, since when could he fly, anyway..." Checkers hopped onto the wall next to Destiny. "And why is he getting bigger?" "Duck!" "Where?" Werren said as he crashed into Checkers. 


"Oh, dear!" Dorothy cried, climbing out of the pond. "Are you okay?" "I am hurting!" Werren whimpered. "Think you broke anything?" "My brain! Do you have any idea how hard it is to navigate without being able to see anything?" "Werren, since when could you fly?" Destiny cut in. "I can't fly, don't be silly," Werren said, jumping up in the air and staying there. "Erm, you're floating five feet above the ground." "What?" Werren landed with a thud. "Ah, apparently I can fly. Hm. I never knew that." "Yes, and Checkers can run around the world in less than ten seconds." Dorothy said, wringing the water out of her hair. "What can you do, Destiny?" "No idea," Destiny said. "How's your brain, Werren?" Werren tapped the ground with his paw. "Same old, same old. Why do you have a frog on your head?" "Oh!" Destiny cried, and the frog that had been sitting on her head this whole time hopped away. "How did you know that?" "You can use echolocation!" Dorothy said. "That was both random and spontaneous," Destiny said. Werren barked. "Icanseethelight--aw, it's gone." 


"You guys need to know my plan," Dorothy said, tapping them each on the head. "What is it?" "You see, once I killed a witch much like that one living there." Dorothy pointed to the castle. "I did it by pouring a bucket of water on her head. I assure you, it was an accident, but apparently, these kinds of witches are deadly allergic to water." "How do they stay hydrated?" Werren asked. "Beats me. Anyway, I think I can do the same thing here and free the Tiddlywinks." "Cool. Where's the Witch, anyway?" Checkers asked. "That's our problem. I don't think anybody even knows what she looks like." "Maybe she's the evil twin sister of Paws!" Destiny guessed. "Possibly. For all we know, she's eight feet tall and breathes lightning."