"Elphaba calm down" Fiyero said with a sigh. She had been pacing up and down for the better part of an hour. "It was just a dream. Or a feeling or whatever. It doesn't mean there's anything to worry about."
Elphaba couldn't settle. She had the unshakable feeling that Glinda was in danger.
"Just a feeling! Remember last time. I knew something had happened to Nessa."
"Yeah and it didn't work out too well" Fiyero muttered in frustration although he regretted it before he had even finished the sentence. Elphaba stopped pacing and turned to look at him, a tortured expression that he couldn't bear.
"Fiyero you know I'm sorry …"
"That's not what I meant Elphaba" He cut her off. Fiyero knew she blamed herself for everything that had happened to him "Don't apologise for my choices. I just mean there isn't anything we can do even if something was wrong. Which I'm sure there isn't."
"But I have the crystal ball. I could just check."
"Really? Do you honestly think you could handle seeing her again. I mean just seeing and not being able to speak to her. Elphaba you won't be able to resist going back and we can't risk it."
Elphaba glared at him but said nothing.
"And don't act as though I don't miss Glinda too. It's just too hard. Why put ourselves though it?"
"But if she's in trouble?"
"What could we do? Oz is so far away we would never be able to get there in time to help. That part of our lives is over. We have to face it."
Fiyero could see he wasn't getting through to her and in truth he was more worried than he let on.
"I'm going for a walk. I need to clear my head." He said finally after a long uncomfortable silence.
Whenever he and Elphaba argued Fiyero would take long walks. Their new location was largely desert with almost no civilisation. He didn't know the name of the country, none of the locals they had run into spoke Ozian and none of them had any inclination to speak to him. He didn't know what they thought of Elphaba and himself. He guessed they figured she was some sort of witch and he was her slave or familiar or something. A plain old scarecrow she had magicked into animation. They didn't particularly care what the locals thought as long as it remained clear none of them had heard of the Wicked Witch of the West. Fiyero stopped as he saw something strange, a figure walking towards him. He wondered where it had come from. Behind the figure were mountains that went on for miles, they acted as a barricade between this land and whatever lay beyond it. They were impossible to cross as far as he knew, he and Elphaba had certainly tried. Fiyero froze as the figure came into view. He, it was a he, was tall. In fact slightly taller than Fiyero thought it was possible for a human to be, and his features seemed…off. Like a drawing of a human by someone who couldn't quite get the proportions correct. Something about him made Fiyero incredibly uneasy.
"A scarecrow? Out here?" The figure said aloud to himself.
Fiyero jumped. The man was speaking Ozian.
"A live scarecrow? What kind of magic is this?" The man said again, this time addressing Fiyero directly.
"You're from Oz?" Fiyero asked. He didn't feel like divulging any information about himself.
"No. But I'm glad you asked. I'm on my way to Oz right now. Unfortunately I'm lost. You don't know the way by any chance?"
"Wouldn't have a clue. Why are you going to Oz? It must be a long way to travel." Fiyero felt incredibly panicked for some reason. He contemplated giving the man wrong directions.
"I have business there"
"What business?"
"My own business. Say you aren't Dorothy's scarecrow? The one that helped kill the Witch of the West?" The man's expression was unreadable but something about his tone suggested malice although Fiyero couldn't say what this malice was directed towards.
"I haven't heard of any Dorothy."
"Really? I find that hard to believe. Everyone has heard of Dorothy. She had a friend who was a scarecrow. Supposedly he disappeared without a trace at about the same time she did. At the same time the Wizard of Oz abdicated for reasons unknown and a good witch, or so they say, took over. I'm interested to meet her."
Fiyero felt desperately wanted to ask more but he couldn't risk revealing himself.
"Means nothing to me." He was being as uncommunicative as possible. The man nodded curtly and walked on.
Fiyero found himself trembling slightly. Feeling chilled he raced home and found Elphaba crouched over her crystal ball. Her expression was set, ready for an argument, but instead he took her hand.
"I think you better check on Oz."
Elphaba stared into the crystal ball waiting for the picture to materialise. She felt intensely aware of her own heartbeat. She grabbed Fiyero's hand tighter. The fog in the glass finally cleared and there was Glinda. She looked a little older than Elphaba remembered, maybe a little warier but still stunning, her hair perfectly coifed, lips perfectly red, dress both the height of fashion and vaguely ridiculous. Elphaba felt her chest tighten with a feeling she couldn't identify although had she ever felt homesickness that's what she might have called it. As Glinda's surroundings became clear Elphaba felt a jolt of panic, it looked like a prison.
"That's southstairs!" Fiyero said with a gasp.
However Elphaba calmed down a moment later. Glinda was conversing with a guard, a tense smile on her face.
"This prisoner should be released" She was saying to the guard "Political pamphleteering is no longer a crime"
"Yes Your Goodness. Although if I may say so I wouldn't worry about these prisoners. I don't like the thought of you spending any time in this place."
"Well it certainly isn't my ideal destination" She said with a smile "However I need to evaluate the merit of the incarceration of each prisoner individually. Unfortunately our glorious Wizard was so forgetful with his paperwork."
The guard smiled awkwardly, obviously aware that the lack of documentation was nothing to do with the Wizard being forgetful. Elphaba felt pleased, releasing the Wizards political prisoners was a thoughtful move on Glinda's part.
"There is just one more prisoner I want to talk to today" Glinda continued "Madame Morrible"
So Madame Morrible had been arrested, more good news Elphaba couldn't help thinking.
As Glinda walked down the winding corridors of Southstairs she couldn't have looked more out of place. Bizarrely Madame Morrible already seemed to have visitors.
"Boq. You're here?" Glinda said sounding startled. She raised an eyebrow at the guard outside Madame Morrible's cell who was locking the door.
"I'm sorry. I just though…I should tell her I couldn't come to visit anymore" Boq said his eyes on the floor.
"If you want to spend your free time visiting criminals it's nothing to do with me" She said in a sing song voice that didn't quite mask her displeasure.
Boq said nothing and Glinda sidled past him to get to the door to Madame Morrible's cell. The guard looked at him quizzically waiting to show Boq out.
"I'll wait here for her" He said quietly although he obviously regretted his decision to come to southstairs in the first place.
Glinda couldn't help feeling panicked as she walked into Madame Morrible's room but she forced herself to do it. Madame Morrible sat in the corner of the room. Prison, as Glinda had guessed, did not suit her. Her hair was dishevelled and seemed to recede further back than Glinda remembered. Madame Morrible cast a steely gaze over Glinda as she walked in. Despite the small space, or maybe because of it, she seemed even more of an imposing figure than she had as press secretary. Glinda felt like a school girl walking into her headmistresses office to be told off.
"Glinda dear. I wondered when you would come and visit" Madame Morrible said not bothering to sound sincere.
Glinda felt a years worth of suppressed feelings being brought to the surface. She was unsure where to begin.
"I hear you're engaged again" Madame Morrible continued "I do hope this one manages to make it through the whole engagement party."
"I haven't come to chat. You're up to something. What is it?"
Madame Morrible smiled, not nicely. "Really? I haven't seen you for a whole year. There must be so much to catch up on."
"Why do you want Boq to get you the Grimmerie? You could only read a few spells and you're out of practice. What do you want with it?" Glinda tried to sound tough and no nonsense but was betrayed by the tremble in her voice.
"To help a dear ex pupil of mine. You certainly aren't ever going to get poor Boq's body back"
"I don't believe you"
"Why not? I knew Boq well. Miss Nessarose resided with me at Shiz you may recall. Why not give me the Grimmerie? Just for a while so I can fix him."
"No...you must have some…ulterior motive" Glinda suddenly felt uncertain.
Madame Morrible rolled her eyes "Well it doesn't surprise me that you find it unbelievable for someone to act with unselfish motives. I have only ever tried to do what's best for the people of Oz although I've gotten no thanks for it"
Glinda's face had gone very pale. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something and then closed it again. Madame Morrible continued
"You know when you came storming in with that green bottle I wondered for a moment whether you and Elphaba had been working together the whole time. Of course I then remembered you aren't brave enough or clever enough to pull something like that off. She could have fixed Boq's condition were she alive."
Glinda's jaw had started to ache, her teeth were so tightly clenched. "She would be alive if it wasn't for you"
"and if it wasn't for you" Madame Morrible said with a smile "But that's water under the bridge now. Sorry I suppose 'water' was a poor choice of words. Now why don't you give me the Grimmerie and do something right for a change "
"I don't trust you for a moment, you want it for something and I'm going to find out what. I didn't get the Grimmerie just to hand it over to someone like you" Her voice was trembling with rage.
"Oh really? Now you're loyal to Elphaba? How disappointing. Where was that loyalty when you watched her get murdered?" Madame Morrible seemed to have finally lost her patience "Do you suppose being melted hurts? I would imagine it feels a lot like burning to death"
Glinda felt as though something inside her shattered. She couldn't hear anymore of this.
"Shut up." She could barely speak. She was almost overwhelmed by a mixture of grief and anger. Glinda stood and moved towards the door, feeling faint. "I'm going to find out what you're up to."
As Glinda left the cell Elphaba moved the crystal ball intending for it to follow her.
"Maybe we should keep watching Madame Morrible" Fiyero said, not entirely sure why.
Elphaba shrugged. In fact she felt she could have watched Glinda all day. She desperately wanted to make sure she was ok. However Glinda shifted out of focus and she let her eyes linger on Madame Morrible who had turned to face the wall. Strangely it seemed to crumble slightly and a man stepped through, as if from some hidden passage behind Madame Morrible's cell. It had given Elphaba a slight shock however Fiyero seemed overly panicked. He grabbed Elphaba's hand tightly.
"No…that's impossible"
"There must be a passage way leading to Madame Morrible's cell. Southstairs is an ancient prison, I guess no one realised it was there."
"No that man…I've seen him before."
"Really? Who is he?"
"I don't know. I mean I saw him about an hour ago. He was here, out in the desert."
"Fiyero that isn't possible."
"I spoke to him, he said he was on his way to Oz. I definitely recognise him, he was so creepy."
Elphaba felt unnerved. She tried to listen closely to what the man and Madame Morrible were saying to each other.
"So you still haven't got the Grimmerie?" The man sounded frustrated.
"Give me time. I'm sure I will have by the end of the week."
"And you're sure the good witch won't be any trouble?"
Madame Morrible smirked slightly "She isn't anything to worry about."
"A girl who manages a bloodless coup against the Wizard of Oz seems to me someone to be wary of" The man said "There is far too much at stake for me to be prepared to take chances."
"Trust me, I've known her for a long time. Her only talent is taking credit for things done by other people. I can assure you once you're in possession of the Grimmerie she'll side with you, her lack of scruples is her one redeeming feature."
The man nodded but looked unconvinced.
"And if not we'll kill her. In fact that is the course of action I would prefer."
Elphaba did not like what she was hearing. She and Fiyero looked at each other. They didn't even need to say it out loud. They were going back to Oz.