Chapter 10
Elphaba’s pants come out short and unyielding as she dodges yet another sword swung her way. Thankfully, they haven’t brought out their rifles yet. Yet being the keyword here.
Where was Fiyero?
As if on cue, the barrel of a rifle comes into contact with Elphaba's back. She is hit with a sudden sense of deja vu as Fiyero growls at her to keep her hands up. “Witch.” He spits. He’s a good actor, she’ll give him that. Both him and Glinda.
Her ears ring as Fiyero barks orders at his men, unable to hear anything through the mix of exhaustion, anxiety, and adrenaline coursing through her.
Then without warning something cold and hard knocks into the back of her head, the world going blurry then completely dark.
She blinks awake, a throbbing sensation erupting through her skull. She scowls. That wasn’t part of the plan.
Fiyero wouldn’t have betrayed you. She reasons, pulling at the chains binding her hands together. They remain tethered to the spot on the ground in the middle of the tiny damp cell with air so stale and foul smelling, it makes sewers look like a joke. He wouldn’t have.
She doesn’t know how long she was knocked out. There are no windows, just the grated bars, revealing a dark hallway. The bars themselves thrum with a certain energy which notifies Elphaba to the sudden lack inside her, something vital suddenly missing within her.
Magic dampeners.
Not only the bars, but also the chains.
Morrible.
She thinks bitterly. There’s no one else who would have the facilities.
She hopes Corvex succeeded on his part.
“I don’t like this.” The Bird looks over at her after the darkness descends over the world, the blanket of night.
“Me neither.” She sighs. “But it has to be done.”
She digs around her cloak for the hexagonal magical book she’s been carrying around for the past two years. She stares at the ornate cover, the rough worn leather, and the yellowing pages with a sudden fondness.
This book had become her companion of sorts. It was always there, humming with magical energy and the perfect spell for any occasion with a language only she could read, a history buried in its pages. She never did quite understand the attachment she’d formed with it, nor the one it had formed with her. Because it was sentient.
At first, she didn’t even want to so much as look at the book, memories of what she’d done with it fresh in her mind. Slowly but surely, though, it integrated itself into her life, becoming a part of it.
She takes a deep breath before holding it out to Corvex who eyed the book with apprehension.
“Go on.” She says. “It won’t kill you.”
One look at the Bird tells her that is exactly what he’s worried about.
“Corvex, we don’t have time.” She warns.
He sighs deeply, taking the book in his talons, levitating uncertainly in the air. “It’s… not that heavy.”
“It’s adaptable.” She states. She hesitates for a second, looking at her two companions, mainly at the Crow who also seems to be hesitating, and curiosity beckons her to ask the question that’s been bothering her.
“Corvex…”
“Hmm?”
She needs to be quick. “Why did you choose to help me? Not that I’m not grateful, I just… I mean, I’m the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda,” Pushing past the familiar sting at the girl’s name, she continues. “you don’t even know Glinda.”
“I’m friends with Fiyero.” The bird says. “And when I first met you, I was intrigued. You’re an interesting person Elphaba. May I remind you that the ‘Wicked Witch’ is a title awarded to you by the Wizard, and as an Animal, I don’t really care for the Wizard. As for Glinda,” His eyes glisten in the moonlight. “I hate to see a caged Bird. Plus, loyalty”
“She’s not a Bird.” Elphaba bristles.
“No,” Corvex agrees. “but you get what I mean.” With that he hovers at the window. Sparing one last look at Elphaba, “Good luck, Fae.” With that, he’s out the window, disappearing into the night with the Grimmerie
With any luck, if their plan succeeded, she’d see them both again. Hopefully soon.
The faint tap of footsteps against the cobblestone echoes through the desolate hallways, alerting her out of her memory. It sounds different than the guards’ footsteps, the clacking of heels clear in Elphaba’s ears.
Someone is coming. But who?
Her question is answered less than a minute later when, appearing in front of her cell, stands Morrible with her powdered face, dress, and white hair done up in that bun of hers. She dons a smug expression, eyes gleaming with a malice that makes Elphaba’s skin crawl.
“Look what the Gale Force dragged in.” Her former mentor tilts her head at the green girl. “At this rate, I didn’t get to have my fun. What a pity.”
“ Morrible, ” Elphaba spits.
“Hello dear.” Morrible drawls, drawing herself up to her full height. Elphaba doesn’t dignify her by standing. “I was hoping I’d see you again. It’s funny too, I’d pictured you almost exactly like this.”
“Almost?” Elphaba raises an eyebrow.
“You see, in my head you were caught by my meadowlark. Much more anguish on your face that day. Pity she still had feelings for you.”
Elphaba grits her teeth, surging forward, stopping just short of the bars, her chains only allowing her to go so far. “What did you do to her?”
“I made something useful.” Morrible says. “Just like I did with you.”
Nonsense. Elphaba mentally scoffs.
“May I remind you, Miss Elphaba, that you had no place in Shiz, I took you in, gave you purpose there.”
“You did that for your own personal gain.” Elphaba spits, the throbbing in her head suddenly increasing.
Morrible tsks and continues. “I did the same for your friend . She would have had no place in this world, in fact, if the Wizard had his way, she wouldn’t even be in this world. However, I made her into who she is, I made her more useful than she has ever been. I have to say, your parting gift was very nice.”
Every muscle in Elphaba’s body tightens, screaming to be let loose, to be driven into Morrible. “She’s not a toy.” She says slowly through heavy breaths that do barely anything to calm her down. “She’s not some… some weapon.”
“Oh, but she is. She’s a beautiful weapon. Would you like to see her?”
Elphaba doesn’t want to see her, not around Morrible, at least. She also desperately wants to, needs to see her.
Her decision is made for her, when someone else steps into the light, pure white wings, pale skin, and golden locks a powerful contrast to the darkness of this place. Her eyes, however, match the desolation of the place perfectly.
They’re somehow emptier than when they were a month ago. When she looks up and meets Elphaba’s eyes, she flinches, retreating into the shadows.
“There, there,” Morrible coos, holding out a leather wrapped hand. “It’s alright.”
Elphaba watches with a churning stomach as Glinda comes forward to grip the dark leather with both of her hands, avoiding looking at Elphaba completely.
“Glinda?” Elphaba tries. When she garners no response she tries again with the nickname that worked last time. “My sweet?”
To her horror, Glinda continues to stare at Morrible, not daring to look anywhere else.
Oz, what has happened in the past month?
“Glinda,” Morrible says and Glinda’s wings immediately perk up as if standing in attention. “You remember Elphaba, don’t you?” She gestures with her free hand towards the horrified green girl. Glinda gives one jerky nod before looking at her.
A hollow puppet.
Elphaba is immediately hit with that feeling when she sees Glinda.
Something glints, and Elphaba isn’t sure how she missed it before. Sitting around Glinda’s neck is an emerald collar which looks uncomfortable and heavy. The old Glinda would have complained about how poor of a fashion choice it is. This one barely seems to acknowledge it.
She wants desperately to reach out and touch her, to comfort the girl, to tell her she’s there. But her chains and a foreboding feeling restrict her.
Glinda blinks. Once. Twice. Thrice. She then looks back at Morrible, tilting her head ever so slightly to the right.
“I have no instructions for you now.” Morrible waves her hand dismissively. “I trust you can find your way back to your room? Or do you need an escort?”
Something flickers through Glinda’s eyes and she shakes her head, quickly disappearing back the way she came. Elphaba stares after her long after she’s gone.
“As you can see,” Morrible’s voice makes her turn back to the sorceress. “there is nobody left in that shell. She’s perfect for a weapon. As a friend, not so much.”
“What did you do?” Elphaba asks hoarsely, suddenly stripped of her fight.
“What I had to.” Morrible remarks. “You could have had everything, Elphaba. Side by side, we could have ruled the world.” The sorceress shakes her head, letting out a brief sigh. “Maybe you could reconsider. I’m giving you one last chance.”
Elphaba sees her old mentor’s face, and for a moment, she falters. She remembers all the good times they’d had together. But she knows that those were fake, not the memories, but Morrible. She’s a true monster. So, she gathers all her bitterness and resentment into her glare. “Not a chance.”
***
Fiyero strolls down the cobbled staircase, whistling lightly as he does so. He walks past his men, nodding at one here, smiling at another there. His mind, however, remains elsewhere.
The bottom floor is where he needs to be. He tamps down the urge to run there, instead keeping the tedious pace he has, not giving a single thing away.
Finally, after what feels like ages, he reaches the bottom. A single rotting wooden door remains with a guard dozing against it. Fiyero frowns, patting him awake.
“C-Captain.” The man stutters, straightening immediately. “What are you doing here?”
Fiyero maintains his scowl, which is quite easy considering he is terribly annoyed and impatient. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“Sir?”
“Last time I checked, sleeping is not included in the duties of anyone here.”
“Sir I-”
“What’s your name?” Fiyero demands harshly.
“Reginald Connors, sir.” The man averts his eyes.
“Well, Connors?” Fiyero asks. “You better have a good explanation. Especially since this floor contains the most powerful witch, and Oz’s number one enemy.”
“S-She’s already caught.” He stammers. “I was just-”
“Are you the only guard here?”
“Yes, sir.” Fiyero sighs.
“Get out.”
“S-Sir?”
“Are you deaf as well as lazy, Connors?” Fiyero will admit, he feels slightly guilty watching the man sweat and stumble over his words. He’s doing what needs to be done though, and that’s all that matters. He will not fail Glinda or Elphaba again.
Connors turns and flees, but before he can disappear, Fiyero calls after him. “Fetch me Cherrystone.”
With one last nod, the man disappears.
Fiyero leans against the door, fully aware that the only thing between him and Elphaba’s cell is this stupid door.
Moments later, rough footsteps are heard and sure enough, Cherrystone appears, head held high, brown eyes gleaming darkly.
Fiyero never really liked the guy.
“You called, sir. ”
“Connors is an incompetent fool.” Fiyero mutters, trying not to wince. “Take his place on guard duty.”
Cherrystone’s face twists and he opens his mouth to argue.
“Unless, of course,” Fiyero says before he can. “you’re scared of the Witch.”
Cherrystone’s mouth seals itself shut, and he immediately stands a little straighter. “Of course not.”
Fiyero turns around and smirks to himself.
Men and their egos. Especially the ones in Emerald city, and especially Cherrystone. He begins walking towards the staircase before turning around and tilting his head. “I’ll give Connors another chance tomorrow.”
Upon exiting Southstairs, surfacing back into the palace, Fiyero allows himself a tiny triumphant grin.
Once he gets back to his room is when he gets to work, quickly opening his safe and stashing the ring of keys he’d swiped from Cherrystone.
Tomorrow.
***
Elphaba looks up at the jingling of keys, rolling her eyes. “What is it today?” She calls. She assumes a day has passed since the previous guard’s visit, at least. They’d done a good job of roughing her up, she’ll give them that.
Emerald light bounces off the walls as a familiar grinning face appears in front of her. “How about a rescue, brought to you by yours truly.”
“Fiyero!” She breathes. “Oz, I thought…”
“Have some faith in me.” He shakes his head, using the ring of keys, fumbling about with them.
“Do you not know which one unlocks the cell?” She asks, amused.
Fiyero just grunts.
“Also emerald keys?” She questions, eyeing them. “That’s a bit extra.”
Fiyero grins when one of the keys finally clicks. “They’re not emerald actually. They’re copper.”
Elphaba frowns, holding out her hands as Fiyero begins the process all over again. “Copper isn’t green.” She scoffs.
“No, but copper oxide is.” Fiyero says.
“Copper oxide?” Elphaba continues frowning, her curiosity peeking through.
“Yeah,” Fiyero says, inserting the final key, holding his breath as it clicks. “When copper is exposed to the air for too long, it forms copper oxide. Some complicated stuff.”
The chains and cuffs clatter to the floor rather loudly. Fiyero winces, glancing behind him.
“Fascinating.” Elphaba says, rubbing her raw wrists.
“You okay?” Fiyero asks, taking in Elphaba’s freshly acquired scrapes and bruises.
“Fine.” She waves him off.
“What next?” Fiyero asks. Elphaba takes him in, eager, but also serious. Like the day they rescued the Lion cub.
“You don’t have to come with me, Fiyero.” She says softly. “You’ve done enough.”
Fiyero shakes his head. “No, I haven’t. Not nearly enough.”
“Fiyero-”
“You can’t do this alone, Elphaba. And I have no life here. I don’t care about anyone here. You’re my friend, Glinda is my friend, please let me help you both.”
She looks into his eyes, his startlingly vulnerable eyes and finds herself nodding. “Okay.”
His shoulders slump. “So, what next?” He repeats his question.
Elphaba thinks about Glinda, trying not to flinch when the hollow face stares back at her. She has no idea how this will go. She doesn’t know if Glinda will take well to being rescued, but she has to try, otherwise she’ll live with that guilt forever.
“You know what’s next.” She says quietly.
***
Fiyero leads her to an unassuming corridor, managing to sneak her through the palace unseen. Or, at least, it would be unassuming if it wasn’t for the monkey guards lining the place, each with their respective weapons.
Elphaba freezes. She doesn’t want to hurt these monkeys. Fiyero notices, and stops next to her. “Can’t you just put them to sleep? Like that day?”
“I don’t know how.” She says. “Fiyero, I-”
“Glinda is behind that door.” He says gently. “I’m sure knocking those monkeys out won’t do them much harm.”
He’s right of course. Elphaba takes a deep breath, summoning her magic which, even after being practically sealed for the past three days, comes easily to Elphaba. Moments later, all the monkeys have dropped to the floor, still clutch their weapons.
Elphaba and Fiyero gingerly step past the monkeys, stopping before the large door.
“Are you ready for what’s behind it?” Fiyero asks nervously.
“Of course not.” Elphaba answers honestly, her hand hovering over the knob. Steeling her nerves, she reaches forward and twists the doorknob, trying to ignore her hammering heart.
The door is, surprisingly, unlocked. Elphaba frowns, pushing it open.
The first thing she notices is the absolute darkness. The only light in the room is from the light coming from outside the door, which isn’t much.
“This is…” Fiyero says quietly.
Elphaba gets why he’s unable to finish the sentence because bile rises in her throat as more of the room comes into focus.
The air is stale, straw is scattered across the floor, four pillars hold the ceiling up across the room at regular intervals, the furnishing is sparse, if anything, and at the centre of the room gleams an emerald chain tethered to the floor. The chain leads to the same corner around Glinda’s neck.
Glinda’s who is now staring at them with bulbous brown eyes. Elphaba steps forward and Glinda scuttles back.
“What are you doing here?” She asks, her voice hoarse.
Elphaba swallows the lump in her throat, staying rooted to the spot. She probably doesn’t have much time until the alarm is raised and guards are flooding the place, but she can’t help herself. She doesn’t know what to do.
Glinda is so close yet so far.
Fiyero rests a hand on Elphaba’s shoulder before moving past her. Glinda’s eyes flick towards him, not a hint of recognition in them. “Glinda?” He tries. “Remember me?”
Glinda just stares at him, taking in his emerald suit, not answering. But when Fiyero steps closer, she doesn’t flinch back.
Then the alarms come, loud and blaring through the palace. The marching of feet sound in the distance, and Fiyero looks at Elphaba, eyes wide. “Go!”
“No!” Elphaba said. “I’m not leaving her again.”
A whimper erupts from Glinda. Elphaba looks at her to find her with her hands pressed to her ears, her wings huddling as close to her as possible.
“I’ll bring her.” He says urgently. “You can’t carry us all on your broomstick.”
“How?” She asks. The sound of the footsteps gets closer.
“I’ll handle it. Just get out of here.”
She stares at him, the footsteps getting dangerously close. She communicates what she has to with her eyes, then for good measure says it out loud anyway.”No.”
“Elphaba-”
“We fight together, we leave together.”
Before Fiyero can protest, the doors are flung open and a dozen guards, gale force or otherwise flood the room, led by a single person.
Morrible walks in confidently, no amount of concern on her face. “I must say, I was expecting this, yet I am disappointed. How cliche.” Her smile turns wicked. “And how stupid.” She waves her hand, and with a metallic clink, the chain tethering the collar drops off. She brings her fingers to her lips and blows a sharp whistle.
Elphaba watches Glinda react immediately to the sound, launching herself off the ground and pinning Elphaba to the ground. Deja vu. So much Deja vu.
Glinda looks at Morrible, awaiting instructions. Morrible tilts her head. “Get her out of my way. I don’t care how you do it.”
Glinda’s wings flap as she tightens her grip around Elphaba’s neck. Elphaba fights for a breath of air as her supply is slowly cut off.
“Glin…da.” She rasps, spots appearing in her vision, a burning in her chest. There’s no reaction whatsoever, she just continues squeezing.
When Elphaba is sure her end is near, the grip around her neck releases, and Glinda crumples on top of her, unmoving.
Elphaba gasps, gulping down air with deep, rasping breaths. She pushes Glinda off of her as gently as possible to be met with Fiyero’s grim face. He has his gun levelled at the crowd in front of them.
Elphaba sweeps her hand out, knocking some of them back with her magic. Three guards hit the wall and crumple to the ground, unmoving while two others stumble back up. Morrible is nowhere to be seen.
Together, her and Fiyero make quick work of the guards, trying not to kill them while getting them out of the way. Once the final guard goes down, a sense of foreboding permeates Elphaba.
She glances around, and sure enough, Morrible steps out from behind a pillar. “Impressive.” She muses. Elphaba straightens, glancing at the pillars.
“This is between you and me,” she calls. “let’s settle this.”
“You’ve improved, but you aren’t quite at my level yet.” Morrible raises an eyebrow. “But very well.”
“Elphaba-”
“Fiyero, shut up and stay out of this.” She grits out
Morrible is quick to throw some spells at her. Elphaba dodges them, maneuvering her way through the room. She’s not quite foolish enough to think she can beat Morrible with pure magic. While Elphaba may be good, Morrible is still, at the moment, miles better. She has another plan.
Elphaba dodges a fireball thrown her way, sweat dripping down her cheek along with rivulets of blood. Then Morrible makes the fatal mistake Elphaba had been hoping for.
She channels her magic outwards into the pillar right beside Morrible, gritting her teeth as rain pulsed down on her, unyielding. Just a little more…
With a mighty crack the pillar ripped away from the ceiling tilting dangerously toward the ground. Morrible’s eyes widen as she looks up at the ceiling, and she tries to move away too late. The pillar comes crashing down on her.
When the dust and debris clears, Morrible glares at Elphaba, face twisted in both pain and fury. Elphaba doesn’t wait to hear what she has to say.
She runs to the opposite side of the room, beckoning Fiyero. Fiyero hauls Glinda up in both his arms as gingerly as possible, minding her wings, before breaking into a jog.
They don’t stop until they reach the stables — Elphaba clearing the way with Fiyero jogging behind her — pure adrenaline fuelling them.
Fiyero throws Glinda’s limp form over Feldspar's back before climbing on behind her.
“Meet us outside the city, in the forest.” He says.
Elphaba nods, her gaze lingering on Glinda before she mounts her broom. “Take care.”
Then she’s off, zipping through the skies and to the forest.
What the next few minutes or hours may bring, she does not know. She does not know what will happen once Glinda wakes up, she doesn’t know how she’s going to deal with more than one person while travelling, she doesn’t know what the repercussions of today will bring, but she flies. She flies towards the forest, allowing herself to revel in the small victory.