Doglover645: Again? That was the first time Sera dropped the map.
LifelongLeahstar: Harv barely did anything. And Hera/Harv… um… I don't think so. Just… no. That wouldn't work for MANY reasons that I don't have time to list in an AN.
Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: *Pats shoulder* My dear Maddy, in Greek Mythology, NO ONE gets a break (You'll see what I mean after you read this chapter).
PocketSevens: I'll bet all the money in the world, because only I know the answer to that question! *Smirk*
love2read20: No, she can't just think, "Where is Elphaba" and she'll immediately know. She can, however, use her powers to make finding Elphaba much faster.
"Are we lost?" Carisse asked after a while. "We've been following the river for miles, and we've been in this forest for even longer than that."
"We're not lost," Seraphia sighed. "I just… don't know where we are."
"We're lost," Maia muttered.
"We don't even know where we're going. I think that also qualifies as lost," Carisse said.
"We're going to the Quadling Country," Seraphia said once again.
"But why? And don't tell us it's because Quadlings know everything. They're not going to know where Elphaba is," Maia sighed.
"No, but there's someone there who definitely does."
"Who?"
"Gaia."
"Gaia? You mean… Gaia the titan? That Gaia?"
"Yup!"
"Gaia's in the Quadling country?"
"Well, her temple is. If we go there, we could ask her where Elphaba is."
"Titans have temples?" Carisse questioned, raising her eyebrow.
"Well, not all of them, obviously, but she does. She's the mother of the earth. Of course she gonna have a temple."
"Are you sure about this? I mean… the titans can be a little… scary," Maia said.
"They're not any scarier than the Olympians."
"Where do you think they get it from?"
"It's our only chance at finding Elphaba."
"How do we know it's safe?" Carisse asked.
"We don't. We just have to try it. You just have to trust me."
"The last time I trusted you, I ended up tangled in vines in the middle of the Gillikin Forest," Maia said, fisting her hands against her hips.
"Well, I promise that you won't get tangled in any vines… hopefully," Seraphia said.
"Thanks."
"Let's just get going. The sooner we find Gaia's temple, the sooner we find Elphaba and the less likely chance that Maia will become tangled in some vines," Carisse said, taking the lead and not waiting for the other two girls to follow her.
Fiyero woke up before Elphaba the next morning. Yawning, he stretched out and rubbed his eyes, looking over on Elphaba's side of the bed. A strange feeling suddenly overcame him, but he pushed it aside. It went away for a brief moment, then came back, almost as if trying to warn him. When he finally couldn't take it anymore, he shook the green girl awake. "Elphaba! Elphaba, wake up!"
"Wha…" Elphaba said as she groggily opened her eyes. "Fiyero, what are you doing?"
"We have to leave now."
"Leave? Why?"
"I… don't know. I just have a very bad feeling about this. Just… trust me."
Elphaba blinked, but got up and packed up their belongings. "What's wrong?" she asked through a yawn.
"I just have this very bad feeling." He heard voices in the hallway and his eyes widened. "We have to leave. Right now."
"Why? Fiyero, is this about those voices? What is this about?"
Footsteps approached and soon, there was someone knocking at the door. Fiyero pushed Elphaba towards the far window. He ignored the fact that they were still in their nightwear as he threw their belongings out the window.
"Fiyero…"
"Open up! In the name of His Royal Majesty, King Raal!"
"Someone must have recognized me and tipped off that I'm here. My stepfather's soldiers are after me. We have to get out of here."
"We're still in our nightwear."
"We'll be on a slow path to Hades if we don't get out," Fiyero hissed, grabbing Elphaba's arm and pulling her out the window with him.
They fell and landed in the bushes just as the door opened. Fiyero quickly grabbed onto Elphaba's hand and pulled her behind him, heading towards the woods. "Run and don't look back."
Elphaba nodded and clung to the demigod's hand. She heard shouts behind her and soon heard a loud sound she had never heard before. "Fiyero, what are they doing?"
"I'll explain when we get to safety."
"Fiyero…"
"Hold on."
The two ran through the woods, jumping over logs and ducking under tree branches. The footsteps grew faster and louder and then the loud banging noise sounded again. A clock-tick later, Fiyero screamed out in pain, but didn't stop running. His free hand flew to his side as he continued to take deep breaths. Elphaba, who had absolutely no idea what was going on, felt completely helpless as she continued to hold onto Fiyero.
"Fiyero…"
"One… s-second…" Fiyero said, summoning his courage, strength, and powers. He exhaled slowly and as they ran, thick grape vines grew behind them, safely separating them from the soldiers. "Stop."
Elphaba stopped and Fiyero collapsed to the ground, clutching his side. "You're hurt. What were those things?"
"You've never seen guns before?" Fiyero asked, gasping for air.
Elphaba shook her head. "No. The Huntresses only use bows and arrows, and swords and knives."
"Wow. You girls are really old-fashioned," Fiyero chuckled, then grimaced.
"Here, let me see," Elphaba said, helping Fiyero lean against a nearby tree. He grimaced in pain, but she ignored him as she began to undo his nightshirt.
"This really isn't how I would have pictured this moment," Fiyero said as Elphaba helped him take it off.
Elphaba rolled her eyes and hissed at him to shut up as she examined his wound. It wasn't deep, but it was still bleeding. She knew she had to get it cleaned and covered before it got infected. Looking around, she noticed a large yellow flower nearby. She quickly plucked it and dug through their bags, pulling out their canteen of water and a small bowl.
"What are you doing?" Fiyero asked, watching as Elphaba poured the water into the bowl crushed the flower.
"Making something to help you," the green girl answered as she sprinkled the crushed flower into the water and using her pointer finger to stir it. Once the liquid turned a bright yellow, Elphaba pulled out a cloth from her bag and used it to clean Fiyero's wounds. The prince bit his lip to prevent screaming out, but it was burning like fire.
"Stay still," Elphaba said gently, wiping the blood away. "I know it hurts, but this will stop the bleeding."
Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Fiyero, Elphaba finished and ripped up the bottom of her nightdress. She used it as a bandage and wrapped it around Fiyero's side, covering the wound.
"Hopefully, that will hold until we can to another village. It was just a graze, but it will have to be cleaned and rebandaged in a few hours."
"What about finding your family?" Fiyero asked as Elphaba helped him to his feet. "You still need to find them."
"We're still going to do that, but you need help."
Fiyero sighed. "Can we at least get dressed? We can't just walk around in our nightwear."
Elphaba looked down sheepishly. "You're right."
The two took turns dressing quickly behind a tree, silently making a mental note to wash as soon as they reached a safer location. Once they were ready, they made sure they had everything in their bags before starting to journey out of the woods.
"Well, the Vinkus is out. Where should we head next?" Fiyero asked as they walked.
"I don't really know."
"Have you tried looking in the Gillikin?"
"Even though I come from the Gillikin, or at least… according to what I remember, I don't have a Gillikinese accent like the other girls from there. So I guess not."
"What kind of accent do you have, then?"
Elphaba gave him a look. "How would I know?"
The hero-in-training simply gave her a sheepish look and averted his gaze. "So… now what?"
"Let's try Munchkinland."
Fiyero blinked. "That's on the other side of Oz."
"We can take the shortcut through the Emerald City."
"How are we going to get there? Are we going to beseech Hermes again?"
"Again? We didn't beseech him the first time. He found us."
"Right. But we still have the problem of getting there."
Elphaba smirked and whistled. All was quiet for a moment, then Fiyero heard the sound of hooves against the dirt and looked up to see their horse.
"Do I want to know?" he asked as Elphaba attached their bags to the side of the saddle.
The green girl smirked. "That depends."
"You know what? I'm good for now," Fiyero said as he climbed on after he, wincing slightly because of his side.
"How on!" Elphaba said, urging the horse forward as Fiyero wrapped his arms around her waist.
"So… to the Emerald City?"
Elphaba nodded. "To the Emerald City."
"I… hate… everything!" Maia moaned as she dragged her feet through the mud. "Are we there yet?"
"You asked the same question two minutes ago and the answer is still the same… no," Carisse said.
"I… hate… everything! Especially you, Sera!"
"Me?" the daughter of Athena growled. "What did I do?"
"Well, you lost the map," Carisse pointed out.
"This was your idea," Maia said.
"And you lost the map."
"You got us into this mess and got us lost."
"And that's because you lost the map."
"I get it! I get it! I shouldn't have lost the map," Seraphia huffed. "Actually, I didn't even lose it! The wind…"
"Blew it out of your hands. We know. We were there," Maia said.
Seraphia glared at her, but didn't say anything as they trudged forward.
"We're almost there!" Carisse said in triumph.
"How can you tell?" Maia asked.
Carisse smiled and pointed to a sign that read 'Quadling Country: 5 miles'. "It's not so far. We just have to get out of this forest."
The group was interrupted by a low growl behind them. Whipping around, they saw a pair of glowing eyes staring directly at them from behind the trees.
"What…" Seraphia gulped.
The source of the growl emerged from the shadows and the girls gasped.
"You have got to be kidding me," Maia hissed through clenched teeth.
"Minotaurs!" Carisse sighed. "Why is it always minotaurs? Does the person or Olympian or whoever sending monsters have nothing else but minotaurs?"
"How are we gonna get past that thing?" Maia asked, already drawing her sword.
"I'll handle this," Seraphia said, drawing her bow and arrow.
"Sera, it might be better if we do this together," Carisse said, eyeing the other girl warily.
"I got us into this, I can fight off the minotaur."
"We would never ask you to fight a monster by yourself just because you lost the map and got us lost," Maia said.
"Was that supposed to sound reassuring?"
"Did it work?"
"Not really."
"Then no."
Seraphia rolled her eyes and stepped closer to the monster. It growled at her and looked like it was about to charge.
"Are we just gonna let her do that by herself?" Carisse asked, looking at Maia.
"Not a chance," the older girl said, sharing a smirk with Carisse. Redrawing her sword, she stepped beside the redhead.
Seraphia smiled at her friends as the monster charged at them. Them managed to duck out of the way and resumed their fighting stances.
"This one's really good," Carisse said, noticing how the monster was seemingly able to be fighting all three of them at once.
"Too good. It's not here on its own. One of the Olympians must have sent it out," Seraphia said.
"But who?" Maia asked as she shouted every possible obscenity she could think of. "And... why?"
The monster growled and managed to knock Carisse aside, sending the huntress flying into a tree.
"Carisse!" Seraphia and Maia shouted, watching as their friend slumped to the ground, unmoving and her hair covered in blood.
Seraphia rolled up her imaginary sleeves as she set her gaze on the minotaur. "No one sends my friend flying into trees!" she shouted at the monster before charging full speed.
The minotaur glared at her and roared before grabbing her in its fist.
"Sera!" Maia shouted, watching as her friend struggle against the minotaur's tight grip.
"I… got… this," Seraphia said, struggling to breathe and fight the monster at the same time.
"I can see that! You know, for a daughter of the goddess of wisdom, that was a really stupid thing to do!" Maia shouted up at her, through her joke was lost in the chaos. She looked between Carisse, lying on the ground, and Seraphia, stuck in the clutches of the minotaur, and wondered who she should help first.
"Maia, go to… Carisse!" Seraphia grunted, weakly pounding the minotaur with her fist.
"I'm not leaving you!" Maia said, looking like she was near tears.
Seraphia looked down at her, also looking like she was near tears. The minotaur squeezed her even tighter and she screamed out in pain. Maia's eyes widened in horror as the minotaur closed its fist around her best friend, watching helplessly as she turned into golden dust and disappeared from sight.
Can I say that final curse word now? Maia thought to herself, staring wide-eyed at the Minotaur.
The minotaur looked down at the only remaining huntress, roared, then ran away. Maia was rooted to the spot, wondering if she really just saw that. Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe she was going to wake up from this nightmare and be back at the camp with her friends. But deep down, she knew this wasn't a dream. Seraphia was gone. And Carisse…
The poor girl was still on the ground, blood tangling in her brown hair. "Carisse!" Maia shouted, hurrying to her friend and kneeling beside her. She turned her over and almost fainted at how much blood was in her hair. It wasn't the bright red blood that shows when you get a paper cut. It was the dark red that signaled that she was losing blood and losing it fast. "Okay, Carisse. Let's do this." Maia placed a hand on the back of Carisse's head where the blood was coming from. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on making her powers work. She muttered a quick prayer to her father and felt her powers coursing through her veins.
"M… Ma… Maia?"
The older girl looked down and saw Carisse slowly opening her eyes. She slowly removed her had and saw that she had stopped bleeding and there wasn't a speck of blood in her hair. "Thank Oz," she whispered, hugging the younger girl closer.
"Wha… What happened? Where's Sera?"
Maia bit her lip and turned away from Carisse.
"Maia, what happened to her? Where is she?"
"The one place we can't follow her to."
"You mean…" Carisse's eyes widened. "No."
"Sadly, yes."
"What are we going to do now?"
"We have to find Elphaba."
"But what about Sera?"
"We'll figure something out later. We can't do anything for her right now."
"Well… that went well," Carisse sighed as Maia helped her to her feet. "What do we do now?"
"We continue to the Quadling Country, find Gaia's temple, then find Elphaba."
