Chapter 14
By the time the next morning comes, both girls are anxious to leave the cave. Glinda’s head still hurts, but at this point it’s probably more due to exhaustion than the actual injury. Elphaba wakes up energized, fully recovered, it seems, from the drain of her magic, and it’s clear she’s eager to get moving.
They don’t have anything to pack up, so Glinda sticks the last dagger in her belt and Elphaba braids her hair back, and then they’re climbing out into the daylight.
“So what now?” Elphaba asks. Glinda stretches high, enjoying the strain of her cramped muscles. She settles down again with a sigh.
“Supplies,” she says, touching the blade at her hip. “All we have is a dagger and your empty pack.”
Elphaba nods. “We can stop by that stream again, and we’ll pick berries and roots and stuff to fill up my pack again.”
“It’s not enough,” says Glinda, though she starts off toward the sound of running water. “We need some actual gear.”
“I managed just fine without anything else before. We can do it now.”
“And what if it gets colder?” Glinda asks.
“We’ll find a cave, or dig into the ground, or cover ourselves with leaves. They’re not going to freeze us to death—it’d be too boring for them.”
“What if we can’t find a safe source of water?”
Elphaba rolls her eyes. “There are streams and rivers all over this valley.”
“It’s getting close to the end. The Gamemakers might cut them off somehow.” Elphaba looks like she’s going to protest again, so Glinda continues hurriedly. “And what if we’re cornered again? You have nothing to defend yourself with.”
“I have magic,” Elphaba says, a little defensively.
“No offense,” says Glinda, “But you passed out last time you resorted to that.”
“Only because I panicked.”
“Elphaba.”
“Okay, so, what? Should I carve a spear out of a tree branch?”
“Be serious, Elphie.”
The green girl rubs her forehead and sighs. “Well, where do you plan on getting supplies?”
“The Cornucopia?”
Elphaba snorts. “That’s a terrible idea.”
“There are only four Careers left. We might be able to—”
“I am not going anywhere near the Cornucopia, and neither are you,” Elphaba snaps. She closes her eyes and softens her expression. “Seriously, Glinda, a day ago they almost killed us. Can we just…come up with something that is less of a death wish?”
“Yeah, okay, you’re right.” They’ve reached the stream by now. Glinda crouches by the water, sitting on her heels, and dips her fingers in, letting the stream swirl gently around her skin. “What about the cliff face, where they cornered us? I dropped my daggers there, and…and Jeron and that other girl…surely they had something on them.”
Elphaba splashes water over her face. “The hovercrafts would have picked them up by now. There’s probably nothing left.”
“Oh yeah.” She’s a little relieved, actually. Glinda drinks a few handfuls of water before splashing some over her face and hair. She thinks about Jeron lying motionless on the ground as the Emerald City’s hovercraft picks him up. She wonders where he is now—is he still in the city, or is his body being transported back to Pertha Hills as they speak?
She shakes her head. “There has to be something.”
Elphaba touches her shoulder. “We can manage without. You know we can.”
“Yeah, but for how long?” Glinda turns to face her, but Elphaba’s gaze darts away. The blonde looks down and starts wringing her fingers together. How long? It must seem like such a stupid question, and yet, Glinda is desperate for anything that can extend their time.
Elphaba takes her hands, stilling them. “Okay. So, supplies. Maybe…maybe up where that mountain lion attacked us? The Gamemakers wouldn’t have messed with its body, so maybe your bag is still there. There won’t be any weapons, but at least we’ll have something.”
“If no one else has taken it by now,” Glinda mutters. She closes her eyes and takes a breath, then climbs to her feet. “Right. Okay. Let’s go. Um…which way is it?”
Elphaba laughs out loud, and Glinda can practically feel her stress melting away. She takes the hand Elphaba offers her and lets herself be led through the trees.
***
They move somewhat slowly. Elphaba takes her time scanning the plants they walk by, picking clusters of berries or digging up different roots and sticking them in her pouch. Glinda keeps reaching for the back of her head, running her fingers over the bump that’s still tender. Elphaba catches her once, but Glinda just combs through her hair casually and flashes a grin up at her.
It’s not very far to go, but it takes them a while to recognize the place. In fact, it’s nearly midday when Glinda stops them, and that’s only because she sees the sapling that had been snapped in half during the fight.
“There,” she says, pointing. She and Elphaba creep closer, and she draws her dagger when she feels her hair stand on end. “But…wait…”
“There isn’t a body here,” Elphaba says quietly. “You’re sure this is the place?”
“Yeah. See the tree? And look, there’s our stuff.”
Sure enough, Glinda’s bag is there, torn apart and half-buried in the mud. She kneels next to it, scooping aside the mud to see what can be recovered. Elphaba turns in a slow circle, gazing around.
“This isn’t right,” she says. “It’s so muddy here, we should at least be able to see where it was—an indent of the body, or marks from the crane if they had a hovercraft pick it up.”
“But there’s nothing.”
“Not even tracks.”
“Tracks?” Glinda rises to her feet, her eyebrows raised. “Elphie, that thing is dead. What tracks would there be?”
“I don’t know. But there should be something.” She looks around them. “You can’t even see our footprints from that day. It’s not right.”
“They just faded.” Glinda’s voice is tight. “It’s been a couple days.”
“It just…doesn’t feel right.”
Elphaba’s right, it doesn’t, but Glinda has no answer. And at the moment, she doesn’t want to dwell on it.
“Then let’s get our stuff and get out of here. Come on.”
She kneels back down and starts digging through the supplies again. The bag is too torn up to be of any use, along with the most of its contents. Glinda pulls the blanket free and Elphaba helps her shake it out and beat off most of the mud. The water bottle has a dent in it, but it’s still holding most of its water. Glinda folds the blanket around it in a makeshift bundle, then loops it through her belt. It’s less awkward than she expected, and it feels like a small victory.
“Are you happy now?” Elphaba asks, still looking around them. Glinda takes her hand.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
They pick a direction and hurry away from the area. The sun that has been shining bright all morning fades away, and Glinda glances up at the lack of warmth. The sky looks as though it’s been drained of color, leaving nothing but a pale, dreary gray, and though it’s not dark, there’s no sign of the sun. Glinda frowns.
“Do you think it’ll snow?” Elphaba asks, following her gaze.
“I hope not.”
“It’s getting colder.”
“Yeah… Let’s keep moving.”
They do, but the temperature drops around them at a suspiciously unnatural rate. The knot at the back of Glinda’s head throbs with the temperature change. She does her best to just grit her teeth and bear it, but after a couple more hours she finds herself lagging a few steps behind Elphaba. The green girl stops and looks back at her.
“Are you…?”
“Fine.”
Elphaba shifts her weight. “It’s getting bad out here. We should…”
“It’s nowhere near sundown. I don’t want to camp out and just sit there for the rest of the day.”
“But…”
“I’m fine, Elphaba.”
Elphaba looks like she’s about to argue, but then her gaze fixes on something behind Glinda. She freezes.
Glinda spins around, drawing the dagger from her belt, but there’s nothing there. She steps back until she feels Elphaba’s hand on her shoulder.
“What did you see?”
“Look.” Elphaba points at the ground. Glinda stares until she sees it—a set of paw prints in the mud, just like the one she saw the other day. She moves closer to Elphaba.
“We should keep moving,” she says. This time, Elphaba doesn’t argue.
***
Glinda makes it until the sky starts getting dark.
They haven’t come across any more tracks, but the air is still growing colder, especially now that night is falling. The throbbing in her head is exhausting her, and she’s starting to feel nauseous. Elphaba has slowed down to walk beside her, her arm wrapped warmly around her shoulders.
“Seriously, Glinda, I think we need to stop.”
“But…”
“You’re paler than the sky was earlier, and you haven’t eaten anything since noon.”
“I’m not hungry,” she protests, somewhat weakly.
“Yeah, that’s what worries me. Come on. We’re finding shelter for the night.”
“But those tracks…”
Elphaba presses her lips together and leads them forward. “We haven’t seen any in a while. We can find something small enough that they won’t be interested.”
“Another cave?” Glinda asks, making a face. Elphaba gives her a little smirk.
“It’ll be easier. And warmer,” she adds as Glinda shivers.
“We have the blanket.”
“Well, then we’ll be downright toasty.”
Glinda rolls her eyes, but she’s nearly leaning on Elphaba at this point, so she can’t argue that much. They find a tiny cave near an only slightly larger stream, and Glinda climbs inside and nearly collapses on the ground.
She unties the blanket from her belt and pulls out the now empty water bottle. Elphaba takes it from her and replaces it with a small cluster of roots from her pouch.
“Eat,” she says, rising to her feet.
“But I—”
“These will settle your stomach.” With that, Elphaba leaves to fill up the water bottle. Glinda pulls the blanket around her shoulders and nibbles reluctantly on a root. She scoots to the entrance of the cave and watches Elphaba at the stream.
Elphaba catches her gaze and raises an eyebrow. Glinda feels her cheeks heat up and busies herself with the root, which is, thank Oz, making her feel a little better.
“It’s cold out here,” Elphaba says, returning and offering the water to her. “We should go in.”
“The anthem will start soon.” Glinda takes a drink and hands the bottle back. She looks up at the sky, wondering if and when it will actually start snowing.
Elphaba sits next to her, and Glinda scoots over until they’re pressed together and she can wrap both of them in the blanket. Elphaba reaches up and gently rubs the back of Glinda’s neck.
“I think you might have a concussion,” she says quietly. Her fingers are cold, soothing against her skin. Glinda’s eyes flutter shut.
“Maybe. But what can we do about it?” She leans her head back into Elphaba’s hand.
Elphaba makes a noise in her throat, but she doesn’t say anything. A minute later, they both look up as the Emerald City’s emblem lights up the sky. The anthem rings loudly in Glinda’s ears, but at least there are no pictures tonight. The music fades again, and in the last couple of seconds of glowing light, they can see the first few flurries of snow fall. Glinda stares at it for a long while. The valley is still and quiet, and next to her Elphaba is warm. She feels calm.
“We should go in,” Elphaba breathes eventually. Glinda just nods and follows her back inside. Elphaba divides some food between them, and Glinda does her best to eat. There’s still a good amount left when she scoops it back into their little pouch of food, but she moves over and curls up against Elphaba before the green girl can scold her. Elphaba tucks the blanket around both of them, then wraps an arm around her and pulls her closer. Glinda rests her head against Elphaba’s shoulder and listens to her breathing.
“What are you thinking?” she murmurs.
“Nothing.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
Elphaba’s free hand finds hers and tangles their fingers together. She sighs. “I’m thinking about the mountain lion.”
“The tracks we saw?”
“Well, yeah, that too. But mostly the body we didn’t find.”
Glinda tilts her head up. Elphaba’s eyes are dark.
“It’s just… Glinda, you stabbed that thing in the neck. With two blades. If that didn’t kill it…”
“It’s dead,” Glinda says. She tries to sit up, but Elphaba’s arm tightens around her, keeping her close. “We saw it.”
“We barely had time to see it. We were running from the others.”
Glinda closes her eyes. She can feel Elphaba’s chest rising steadily up and down with every breath. Her hand shifts in Elphaba’s, her fingers reaching to brush against her wrist. After a moment or two, she can feel a gentle pulse.
“I don’t know,” she whispers finally.
“I don’t either, but I’m guessing we’re going to find out.” Elphaba lets out another sigh. “You should get some rest. I’ll take first watch.”
She presses her fingers against Elphaba’s wrist, reminding herself of the pulse still beating there. She tries to say something, but it comes out as little more than a whimper. Elphaba presses a kiss to the top of her head in response, whispering for her to sleep. Glinda fights it for a moment or two, but her exhaustion quickly wins over and, giving in, she buries her face further into Elphaba’s jacket, doing her best to melt into her embrace.