Book Three: Dark Wind in Oz

Synopsis: Dark Wind in Oz

Short Synopsis

The third book in the Hidden History of Oz series. This intense, imaginative story spans the magical land of Oz and delves into the mysterious conjoined dreamlands. To save the Wizard, and to preserve the Land of Oz, Glinda must join forces with her mortal enemy, forge a coalition of dangerous Witches, battle those that she once considered friends, and challenge the immutable forces of time and magic.

In this spellbinding conclusion to The Witch Queens Trilogy, time is running out for the Wizard. If he dies with his soul in the dreamlands, the Land of Oz will be host to his nightmares forever. However, success only guarantees survival, not a happy ending.

About the Hidden History of Oz

Oz is a magical land powered by human dreams. What is dreamed on Earth is filtered through the Emerald Engine to become magic in Oz. When a dreamer from Earth came to Oz, his dreams changed the land around him. One such dreamer was given the title of Wizard by the people of the land. This is the story of the young sorceress who vowed against all odds to protect him.

This story continues from Book Two: Crown of the Dreamer, in which Glinda betrayed the Wizard’s trust and released his hidden nightmares into the waking world. The Wizard sought the hand of another—a Witch all-too happy to manipulate his grief—and events quickly escalated from a peaceful trip across Oz into a full-blown war between lands. To stop the war, the Wizard consumed a powerful potion, unwittingly unleashing chaotic magic that transformed the Land of Oz forever.

Dark Wind in Oz

In this spellbinding conclusion to The Witch Queens Trilogy, no one in Oz is safe while the Wizard still dreams. To save the Land of Oz, and to save the soul of the dreaming Wizard, Glinda and her sworn enemy must join forces to bind the Wizard’s dreams and bring him back to the waking world. First, they must stop Death from walking in Oz and claiming the Wizard as a victim.

Glinda and the Witch, Kally, take the body of the Wizard to hide safely behind a wall of Fighting Trees. Far behind them, the Wizard’s best friend—a soldier named Omby-Amby—follows after them. He doesn’t trust Glinda, and with good reason—her need for control drove the Wizard to drink the magic unguent, which unleashed the nightmares and chaotic magic of pent-up dreams. While Omby-Amby follows their mystical trail, he battles a vengeful Winged Monkey, Fighting Trees, and a fearsome Kalidah (a tiger-bear). Through his quest to rescue his best friend, he makes an ally out of an enemy, and turns those he loves against him.

Elsewhere, Glinda travels to the Valley of Time, where the Giraffe-like Keepers of Time have the ability to pause the flow of the Giant Hourglass and stop the effects of death in Oz. She does not trust their patience, and so Glinda acts on her own and casts a spell to turn over the Giant Hourglass. Her recklessness carries a heavy price, for she now has less than two days to find the unknown cure for the Wizard and bring him back to life.

The mystical emeralds that safeguard the magic of the land drive Glinda and her companions out of the Valley of Time and deep underground into tunnels flowing with water. Kally gives Glinda the Silver Slippers with the express promise that Glinda will return them. Then they find themselves at the end of the path. They are trapped with no hope of escape. Glinda can save them, but only by revealing the secret of the Silver Slippers. Glinda teleports them to “home”—the tower where she grew up.

They find a secret library that just might be connected to the missing Ruby Palace. Glinda reads in her grandfather’s hidden journal and unlocks the secrets of the Wizard’s death-like condition. She realizes that this has happened before as she reads of similar events that heralded her mother’s birth more than one hundred and seventy years ago.

Far away, in the dreamlands, the soul of the Wizard is charged with corruption of both the dreamlands and the Land of Oz, and he is sentenced to dire punishment.

Glinda’s friends, the Fighting Girls, led by Wickrie-Kells, face struggles as the land unexpectedly changes all around them. The Fighting Girls and the Emerald Guardsmen face enemies both outside and inside their ranks as loyalties are tested and temptations are embraced.

Omby-Amby finds the body of the Wizard in the forest and joins up again with Wickrie-Kells and her soldiers. However, Wickrie-Kells is in possession of a magic scroll that has opened up her mind to the secrets of her ancestors. The whispers of the land have promised power to Wickrie-Kells in return for her soul, but only a little piece at a time. This Witch magic binds magical lines on her arms for each new spell. Wary of her flickering loyalties, Omby-Amby and those soldiers who support him depart for Emerald City. Her pride is wounded, so Wickrie-Kells takes her soldiers and turns south, toward home.

Glinda and her companions separate to gather the necessary components for the spell to bind the Wizard’s dreams. Glinda and Kally travel to gather pearls from a secret spring. Promethus, one of the wisest men in Oz, travels to Central City to enlist the aid of another Witch, Mombi. When Glinda and Kally return to collect the body of the Wizard, it is gone. They travel to a secret vault to look in the Magic Picture to find the Wizard. They see Omby-Amby carrying the body into the Onyx Labyrinth, beneath the Emerald City. Glinda is furious at the danger the soldier has placed them all in by taking the Wizard’s body. They race to the Onyx Labyrinth deep below the streets of Emerald City, which holds the source of magic in Oz—the Emerald Engine.

Glinda confronts Omby-Amby, but he will not surrender the body of the Wizard. His loyal friends battle Glinda’s army to protect the Wizard, but they are overcome. Glinda takes the body, and her Witches combine the components to create the totem on which to bind the Wizard’s dreams.

Meanwhile, the Wizard’s journey in the dreamlands comes to an abrupt end when two well-intentioned friends disturb his concentration and he accidentally drops a precious token into the void between worlds. The binding spell seizes the Wizard’s screaming soul and draws him slowly upward into the waking world.

At the same time, on the highest tower, the Witch Wall around the Wizard’s body trembles against the growing storms and dark horde surging through Emerald City. The Queen of Dreams wants the Wizard’s star so that she can make the stars right and open the gates between the worlds permanently. In the high alleys between the towers, the Winged Monkeys battle the Night Gaunts among the now-animated Hanging Gardens. Omby-Amby and other soldiers bravely stand against the gruesome things of nightmare. The Witch Wall collapses, leaving only Glinda to stand between the cruel Queen of Dreams and the Wizard. For the love of the Wizard, and for control of his dreams, Glinda swears that she will always protect Oz.

Through clever manipulation of the dark nightmare army, the Queen of Dreams is driven back through the portal into her own kingdom. Glinda wins the battle, but her victory is short-lived as the resurrected Wizard screams in horror and jumps off the tower. His fevered mind creates a new labyrinth among the towers of Emerald City, full of stairs and bridges. If he can lose himself and hide from his shadows within the labyrinth, then Glinda will not be bound to her impossible oath.

Omby-Amby follows closely behind his friend and pulls the Wizard back from the edge of the Abyss. He helps his friend to a safe place, away from the world. Above them, in a tall tower, Glinda weeps silently as the Wizard locks himself in his throne room, drives himself mad, and forgets how to dream. For what it is worth—the chaotic transformation of Oz, the near-destruction of the Emerald City, the betrayal of friends and foes alike, and the self-imposed exile of the man she loves—Glinda has won. She is the Protector of Oz.

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Dark Wind in Oz (The Hidden History of Oz, Book Three) is an intense, imaginative adventure recommended for ages 12 and up.

Available in paperback and for Kindle on Amazon, or as an ebook, wherever your favorite ebooks are sold.

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