Escape
Chapter One: Escape
Elphaba had never been afraid of heights, so the idea of jumping off the ledge with only a broomstick that she didn’t even know would fly did not frighten her. Perhaps it should have, but she had bigger problems. Namely, the guards who were on their way up to the tower where she and Glinda currently stood. Both of them seemed to know what would happen next, and neither were willing to say it. If they acknowledged it, then it became real, and Elphaba wasn’t sure that she was ready to let go so soon. They’d only just become friends. Elphaba had never had a friend before, so now that she knew what it felt like, she wasn’t willing to let it go. Let Glinda go.
She watched as Glinda tied the makeshift cloak around her shoulders, unable to hide her tears. She wanted to say something in that moment to reassure her friend that somehow, everything would be okay. In the short time that they’d been friends, Elphaba had learned that Glinda needed constant reassurance and support. She was adored by all, but no one really saw her. Elphaba was ashamed as she looked back on the beginning of her time at Shiz, when she saw only the shallow, vapid girl who’d called her an artichoke and fought her for the last seat in class. So much time wasted, and now it was too late.
When Glinda finished tying the cloak around her shoulders, her eyes full of tears, sadness, and regret, Elphaba felt something break inside of her. She hated that she was the cause of Glinda’s pain, even unintentionally. But she couldn’t stay. She couldn’t, in good conscience, go along with the Wizard’s plans. Not when it meant turning her back on the Animals. They did not deserve this. When she’d seen Chistery claw desperately at his back, and those wings sprout out of him, she’d felt sickened and ashamed. She had caused that. She could never take it back, and now everyone would think that she was evil, some wicked witch.
If Glinda was not there with her, Elphaba did not think she could bear it. What little bit of a good life she’d managed to carve out for herself at Shiz had been blown up the moment she’d opened her mouth and read that spell in the Grimmerie. She’d probably never see her sister or Fiyero again. And while maybe she could have learned to live with that, leaving Glinda behind—the first person to show her true kindness—was unthinkable.
She’d asked the blonde if she was coming, but she’d known when Glinda had not been able to answer her that she would be left alone. Wherever her journey took her, whatever she needed to do next, all of it would be undertaken in solitude. If all of this had happened even two months earlier, she would’ve been able to handle it, but having known genuine companionship made losing it again so much harder to bear.
She watched as Glinda stepped back, taking her in as though committing her to memory. Elphaba knew there wasn’t much time left before the guards burst in, so she hid her anguish as best she could as she pulled her low ponytail free from the confines of her new cloak. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, silent tears streaming down her face as she regarded the broomstick that would either fly her away to freedom or send her crashing down to her death.
Twirling her cape behind her, she gripped the broomstick tightly in her hands, silently imploring it to work and take her away before she could be dragged back to the Wizard and Madame Morrible. She didn’t know what they would do if she were caught, but she had no intention of finding out.
But she couldn’t bring herself to leave just yet. Everything was happening so fast. She wanted to hold on to this moment just a little longer. This moment where Glinda was still hers and maybe she could return to her old life, if only she took Glinda’s advice and said she was sorry. It would be a lie, but it wouldn’t cost her anything other than her pride. And her morals.
As though she’d sensed her unease, Glinda stepped up to her and took one of her hands tightly in her own. Elphaba looked up at her, grateful for this one last moment. As they stood on the tower, right outside the opened window where the evening breeze flew in, they grasped each other’s hands tightly and told each other how they hoped for their happiness. It was all Elphaba could do. All she could promise. The future was so uncertain that there really wasn’t anything left. She did hope that Glinda was happy in whatever happened next. If they couldn’t be together, at least she still had Fiyero. She could continue studying magic and become a great sorceress. Morrible may not believe in her, but Elphaba did.
It would have to be enough.
She wanted to tell her as much, but the guards had finally broken down the door on the level below, and there was no more time. Elphaba needed to leave.
She glanced at Glinda, who glanced right back, and together they ran through the large circular opening to the platform.
They’d only just managed to take a few steps outside when more guards rounded the corner of the platform, startling both girls. However, Glinda was closer to them, and she was suddenly snatched away from Elphaba by two of the guards, gripping her upper arms tightly as they dragged her away.
Elphaba held out her broomstick like a weapon, imploring the guards to leave her friend alone. “She hasn’t done anything wrong!”
The words fell on deaf ears. She was vaguely aware of Glinda’s desperate pleas, begging Elphaba to help her get away from them, but more guards came up behind Elphaba, and they were trapped. Elphaba wouldn’t be able to help anyone if they grabbed her, too.
There was only one thing to do. She hoped that Glinda could forgive her for breaking her promise not to leave her behind again as she turned and ran back inside the tower to get away from them and, hopefully, lead the guards away from Glinda and toward her instead.
Somehow, she managed to jump over the gaping ledge in the circular tower, but there was no time to think about how as she ran through the glass window, shattering it right before she plunged down, down, down.
She screamed, losing her grip on her broomstick, falling past the endless towers and skyscrapers that made up the Emerald City, straight down to certain death.
She felt herself freefalling, twisting and flipping through the air, unable to determine which way was up. She had no idea where the broomstick had gone. She was going to look for it, but a distant, high-pitched scream snapped her attention above her. She knew that scream, and it sent a jolt straight to her heart.
Glinda, her Glinda, was in trouble.
Searching around desperately, she finally held out her hand and closed her eyes, summoning the broomstick with as much desperation and determination as she could.
She gasped when, a moment later, the broomstick slammed into her hand. She gripped it tightly, hardly daring to believe that her summoning had worked. Or maybe the wind had swept it into her waiting hand. Either way, she narrowly avoided slamming into the concrete below as she mounted the broomstick in the air and swept upwards, back toward the top of the palace tower.
When she flew back to the top of the tower, the first thing she saw was her friend being dragged forcefully through the open window, tears streaming down her pale cheeks as she fought to get away. Even from her towering vantage point, Elphaba did not miss the redness already marring Glinda’s upper arms, the firmness of the guards’ hand prints leaving red imprints in her skin, or the dark purple bruise that had formed on her right cheek, underneath her eye. Sweet Oz, had the guards punched her?
They paused when they noticed Elphaba hovering before them, all of them gasping and turning their weapons on her, as though that would do anything. Even if they threw their swords at her, they’d fall away while she flew to avoid them. From so high, they looked more like toy soldiers dressed in green, but she wouldn’t mistake them for such. They still held Glinda prisoner, and so they posed a very real danger.
“Let her go!” she screamed into the air, her voice carrying through the wind and down to the people on the tower balcony.
The guards tensed at her words but did not heed them. A few still standing on the platform waved at the two guards holding Glinda’s arms tightly in their own to take her away.
Glinda cried, “No!” as she was dragged away, stumbling in her heels as she tried desperately to match the guards’ long strides. “Elphie, please!” She called, the terror in her voice sending a shiver down Elphaba’s spine. “Stop them!”
Elphaba sprang into action without thinking. She flew around the tower, looking for an opening that wouldn’t involve getting thrown from her broomstick by the guards’ swords and lances. If she got low enough there was a chance that they would be able to grab her and pull her down. If they tried to overpower her, they’d likely win since there were many of them and only one of her. She couldn’t grab Glinda because she’d end up taking the guards holding her with them, and their weight would send them plummeting down to the earth.
There had to be a way.
“Elphie!” Glinda screamed fearfully, snapping Elphaba’s attention back to her.
Glinda had lost her struggle to keep up with the guards, losing her footing and falling to the floor. Only, the guards did not stop to let her back up. They continued to drag her now prone form, causing her friend to scrabble to find purchase with her heels, sliding underneath her along the wooden floor. She was dragged by her arms toward the circular staircase, her pale pink dress riding up slightly from the exertion.
Elphaba was flying again without realizing it. Maybe if she swooped down quickly enough, they wouldn’t have time to try to drag her off her broom. She’d stay high enough to avoid their outstretched arms and useless weapons and only fly low enough to the ground to scoop Glinda up before they could do any more damage.
But before she could put her half-baked plan into action, distant screeching drew her attention away from the spectacle in front of her and off into the distance, where a large cluster had formed and was drawing closer.
Elphaba realized the cluster were the winged monkeys she’d created not even an hour ago as they quickly flew toward her, their grasp on their new abilities as impressive as it was disturbing.
Although…
Elphaba grinned as a new plan formulated in her mind. She waited until they were close enough that she could see each individual monkey, then flew away, circling the tower and a few neighboring buildings, before flying back to the tower with Glinda and the guards, her eyes searching for her friend.
She was pleased to see that the guards had paused again as the winged monkeys had begun chasing Elphaba, captivated by the display in the sky. Glinda had managed to get back to her feet, though her arms were still held tightly by the two guards on either side of her. She struggled to get away, but they were too strong for her. She was the one bright spot in a sea of dark green, and the guards were slowly succeeding in snuffing her light out. Elphaba could see her spark fading with each failed struggle.
Then, to Elphaba’s horror, the guards holding Glinda captive had begun to move toward the staircase again, dragging her roughly between them. She gasped, her pleas for Elphaba to help her ringing clearly in the air. Somehow, Elphaba knew that if they managed to get her down those stairs and back into the palace, she would never see her friend again.
And so she moved. She flew until she hovered right in the entryway of that massive circular window, staying far enough from the guards who blocked her way inside that they couldn’t do much other than gape in shock.
She waited until the flapping of the monkeys’ wings were right behind her, then she flew upwards so that the monkeys could not stop from flying straight into the guards. She halted her broomstick when she heard the guards stumble and trip into each other, shouting and pushing into the pile of monkeys that had crashed to the tower floor amidst the chaos they’d created.
Elphaba did not hesitate. She flew through the heap of fallen humans and monkeys, pleased to see that the guards who’d held Glinda captive had not been immune to the pandemonium she’d caused. They’d fallen to the floor, becoming so tangled in the mess that Elphaba didn’t realize which of them had been the ones holding her friend.
Only Glinda had remained upright in the mess. She stood there, dumbstruck, running her hand absently along the bruise under her eye as she gazed down at the mess Elphaba had caused, wincing at whatever pain that small movement caused. Her arms were red and bruised from the vice-like grip they’d been kept in and her golden locks were messy and tangled from being dragged along the floor.
Elphaba swooped in, past the cluster of guards and monkeys still trying to right themselves and reached out with two hands to grab her friend and pull her up on the broomstick as it swept past the staircase. Glinda gasped as Elphaba settled the girl in front of her, using her body to keep her friend from falling off.
Then she flew them past the mess of stunned bodies and away from the palace, into the fading sunset toward an unknown future.