dragons and fishes can talk in Oz, we may become any of these we
desire to. However, if I transformed myself into a tree, I would
always remain a tree, because then I could not utter the magic word to
change the transformation."

"I see; I see," said Ruggedo, nodding his bushy, white head until the
point of his hair waved back and forth like a pendulum. "That fits in
with my idea, exactly. Now, listen, and I'll explain to you my plan.
We'll fly to Oz as birds and settle in one of the thick forests in the
Gillikin Country. There you will transform us into powerful beasts,
and as Glinda doesn't keep any track of the doings of beasts we can
act without being discovered."

"But how can two beasts raise an army to conquer the powerful people
of Oz?" inquired Kiki.

"That's easy. But not an army of PEOPLE, mind you. That would be
quickly discovered. And while we are in Oz you and I will never
resume our human forms until we've conquered the country and destroyed
Glinda, and Ozma, and the Wizard, and Dorothy, and all the rest, and
so have nothing more to fear from them."

"It is impossible to kill anyone in the Land of Oz," declared Kiki.

"It isn't necessary to kill the Oz people," rejoined Ruggedo.

"I'm afraid I don't understand you," objected the boy. "What will
happen to the Oz people, and what sort of an army could we get
together, except of people?"