He slapped her again, but not hard enough for her to fall. Fiyero growled menacingly.
"C'mon, let's go." said the leader, "We'll take 'em back to the Wizard."
"No!" Elphaba yelled, she knew how truly sadistic the 'Wizard' was, and how he'd treated Doctor Dillamond, and how he'd tricked her. She shuddered at the thought of what he would do to her, and worse, what he'd do to Fiyero. She felt horrible, Fiyero being dragged into all of this.
"Somebody gag her." ordered the leader. One of the guards hurried over with a piece of material and strip of tape.
"Open your mouth." he ordered. Elphaba shook her head and refused, "I said, open it!" he growled menacingly. Elphaba kept her mouth clamped shut. The man took his knife and slashed her arm; blood flowed over the deep cut, and spilled down Elphaba's arm. Fiyero watched in horror, and yelled for him to stop. Elphaba screamed, when her mouth was open in the scream, the man stuffed the gag in her mouth and sealed her mouth shut with a long strip of tape.
"There, that ought to shut you up." he said, "Now let's get moving."
"Elphaba!" Fiyero cried, he lunged forward to get to Elphaba, but the guards held him.
"Tie him up too." ordered the leader carelessly with a wave of his hand.
The guards walked over to Fiyero and bound his hands behind him, and prodded him in the back with their guns to get him to move forward. The guard swung Elphaba over his shoulder like a bag and walked forward behind the leader. She kicked him and struggled, but her attempts were feeble compared to his muscular structure. Finally, she kicked him hard enough in just the right spot. He let go and dropped her as he yelled in pain. Like lightning she leaned down and cut her bonds with the knife sticking up in his pocket before the other guards realized what was happening. Then she grabbed her broom and ran to Fiyero, knocking the guard holding him in his head with the end of her broom. He fell to the ground. She quickly swiped the fallen guards' pocket knife and freed Fiyero, then he took her hand and ran. They ran through the woods, not thinking about where they were going. They knew they would be caught, but they ran anyway. Elphaba stopped all of a sudden. Fiyero doubled back.
"Elphaba, we can't stop, they'll catch us!" Fiyero said, taking her hand again.
"They will catch us anyway." she said, "But they don't have to catch you." Fiyero looked at her, wondering what she was getting at. She quickly shoved him onto her broom.
"What? No! Elphaba, I'm not leaving without you!" he cried.
"Yes, you are." she said softly, stoking her hand across his face lovingly. The she leaned down and murmured to the broom, "Take him somewhere safe."
Fiyero stared at her in horror. He could not bear to leave Elphaba, but for her to risk her life to save his, was torture. He couldn't live with himself. He heard the Gale Force, they were close now, too close. Fiyero jumped off the broom.
"No! Elphaba, I'm not leaving you!" he cried, desperation in his voice.
"You have to." she said, then she pushed him back on and kissed him. He kissed her back, sensing the desperation in the kiss, the danger, like it was their last. But he promised himself it wouldn't be. Then she pulled back quickly and cried, "Go!" Fiyero wondered if she was talking to him or the broom. But the broom gave a sudden lurch and flew up above the forest before he knew what was happening.
"Elphaba! No!" he cried, looking down, he could see her. He yelled her name, then the Gale Force appeared, and grabbed her. The one she had kicked hit her in the head hard with the barrel of his gun, her body went limp and she was still as blood flowed down her forehead. He yelled her name again as he watched in horror. The Gale Force seemed to hear him just then, they looked up. He couldn't hear them, but he knew they had seen him when one pointed as the others loaded their guns and took aim. The broom suddenly took a lurch forward and zoomed away, the bullets went wide, missing him easily. Within seconds, Fiyero was in the clouds, far away from the Gale Force, the forest...and Elphaba. Before he noticed, his vision was blurred by desperate, grieving, tears. They brimmed over and spilled down his face. Elphaba was gone, probably dead by morning. She had saved him in exchange for himself. Fiyero only love, and he'd had about an hour with her? And most of the time was spent running. Suddenly, Fiyero's distraught tears were replaced with furious tears, angry. Then his face took on a new expression, he was determined. Determined that that kiss, was not their last, he would save her, at whatever cost. Whatever happened to him could not be as bad as living with what might happen to her. As he thought of a plan, he soon realized, he didn't know where he was going or how to get down. The broom seemed to read his thoughts as it slowly began to descend. Fiyero noticed he was somewhere around the mountains, he soon realized it would take days to get to the Emerald City from here. The broom landed on the edge of a forest just at the base of the mountains. There was a village there too. Fiyero didn't know what to do with the broom, so he stuck it in a bush. Then he walked into town.
It was deadly dark outside, so it was easy to spot the glint of lights coming from the village. He walked into what he assumed was a bar. He was right.
"Traveler?" asked the man behind the counter. It took Fiyero a while to realize he had just been spoken to, he was still thinking about Elphaba.
"Uh-yeah." he said.
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
"The Emerald City." Fiyero didn't think there was any reason to lie to this man.
"Ah, are you in the Gale Force?" asked the man.
"No! Never, I would never be a part of that vile group of monsters." spat Fiyero, remembering what they had done to Elphaba and the many other people they had captured.
"Well, you've got one of their uniforms on." said the man, looking at Fiyero like he was crazy. Fiyero looked down, sure enough, he was still wearing the green Gale Force jacket and pants.
"Ugh." Fiyero groaned. He took the jacket off, he was wearing a thin white shirt, then he took the pants off, he had brown trousers underneath. Fiyero began to throw the jacket in the fire, when the man stopped him.
"Oi, that's real gold on that jacket!" said the man. Fiyero looked at the jacket. There were gold pieces on the fabric. Fiyero picked off the gold and proceeded to throw the clothes in the fire.
"Could I get some ale?" Fiyero asked, chipping off a corner of one of the gold pieces. The man accepted the gold gratefully, knowing ale was worth much less. He gave Fiyero more than he asked for. Fiyero gratefully drank it, he was surprised at how thirsty he was.
"So, how long do you suppose it would take to reach the Emerald City?" asked Fiyero, setting his empty glass on the counter, the man refilled it for him.
"By foot, I'd say about 2 weeks, at the most, by horse, maybe 4 days at the least and it all depends when it comes down to any other means of transportation. How fast do you suppose you'd like to get there?" asked the man, after giving his best answer.
"As fast as possible." said Fiyero grimly.