Hello everybody, it's me again, after this long hiatus. I apologize to my (two) readers. Here you go, and I'm too bored to be funny. I apologize, yet again.
Disclaimer: I don't own WickedXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 10: The Taste of BloodElphaba woke up when the first rays of sun began to peek through her and Glinda's window. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she got up and dressed herself for the day, noticing that Glinda was already out of bed and somewhere else in the castle by now. Garbed in her normal black attire, she walked down the stairs leading to the main hall.
She was greeted by the site of Grack and Glinda sitting on the floor of the main hall with a large map, blankets, and steaming tea (Glinda had taken hot cocoa instead). Elphaba saw Grack pointing at certain points on the map as he spoke to Glinda, who was nodding her head furiously, trying to take in his words.
Grack looked up as she approached, and waved her over to a spot next to him with a free blanket and still warm cup of tea. The green general gladly obliged, and sat next to him, wrapping the blanket around her to keep out the chilly morning air.
"Naow, we ought teh go through this stretch o' deh ferest, so we cin retrit or even mahke even moore tactical assoolts," he stated, pointing to a neck of the woods that was on hills.
Elphaba raised her hands, as if stopping something, "wait a second, what are you talking about? We weren't going to battle today!"
The giant chortled, "Yeh troy n' tell thot toh thim beasties out ther. Anyways, drink yer' tea n' stratigoize wit' me."
She eyed it warily, "what kind of tea?"
"Saline, impoorted froom Krafka."
The woman took a sip, and found that it was rather nice, "Mmm… so anyways, I see what you mean by going through those hills, but that will make it harder for our heavy regiments. What do you think, Glinda?"
Glinda, ever the blonde one, nodded, "yeah, sure. Let's just go with that."
Grack gave Elphaba a crimson-eyed glare, "Dooneh osk Glindeh aboot such 'tings. She be oonly in 'theh archerahy group… 'n even if sheh be ah ginerol, she did neh specialoize in tectics. Olso, dooneh woory aboot 'theh heavy group, ah'll be leadin' dem in froom 'dese 'ills roight ther," he finished as he stuck a finger at a group of hills just north of the hills he spoke of earlier.
"Hmm… that does seem reasonable. Ok, I'll take half of the swordsmen, all the pike men, half the archers and medics, and go in from the south. Glinda, you take the other half of archers and a quarter of medics, along with a third of Grack's forces leading in the front. And Grack, you take the last fourth of medics and the rest of your men, along with the other half of swordsmen. Also, are your men using axes, flails, or hammers?"
"Ool of 'dem 'dis toime. Oi thot 'dat we needed theh have ah woide versatility 'dis toime around."
She rubbed her chin, then took a sip of the tea, "hmm… if that's the case, do you need all three divisions?"
Grack scratched his head, then replied, "Ah could probleh make doo witout axes n' flails. But ah need de haimers."
"Okay then… give Glinda the flails and me the axemen, and I'll give you another quarter of swordsmen and half of the pike men. And a quarter of archers, too. But, I think your regiment should go down the valley then. And have Glinda on the northern mountains with me on the south if we're switching the soldiers around. Okay with you?"
He shrugged, and took a giant swig of tea, nearly scalding his throat, "Ah! Should o' let et sit fer a whoile. Anyways, 'dat wid werk, I serpoose. Okay 'den, whah don't yeh git yer armor oon."
Glinda and Elphaba nodded, as they left to the armory in the basement, while Grack went to his attic. They all met back up again in front of the doors to the castle, Grack in his black armor, adamantite cane, and violet shields, Glinda with a bright chain mail vest and forearm guards, plated gloves, hardened leather greaves, and silver chain mail leggings, in addition to a rapier at her side. Elphaba was equipped with an iron breastplate, steel plates along her body everywhere else, and a lightweight helmet built for vision. Grack hefted his cane, Glinda sighed, and Elphaba flipped through the pages of the Grimmerie, looking for a good spell to start the battle with, and they all marched out of the castle and into the horde of animals outside.
"ARE YEH RIHDY?" Grack roared out to the horde.
He was greeted with a thunderous "HELL YAH!"
Grack stood right there in front of the door, while Elphaba moved to the right half of the courtyard and Glinda moved to the left.
"ALROIGHT MEN, YEH AIR THEH LOINE OOP 'N YER WEPOON CLOSS! MEDICS COONT AS UN TOO!" he bellowed out to the horde.
Immediately, the army lined up only as quick as trained soldiers could. There was archers, axe men, flail-wielders, hammer-wilders, swordsmen, medics, and pike men.
"Alright people! Flails, line up with Glinda! Axe men, with me! Hammers, to Grack! One fourth of swords, fourth of archers, a third of medics, and half of pike men, to Grack! One fourth swords, fourth archers, a third medic, and half of pike men, to me! The rest of you, get to Glinda!" Elphaba yelled out, her voice heard amongst all.
The moment she finished speaking, the well trained beasts (and a few humans) at once lined up in their designated lines. Once they were all in the formations, Grack bellowed out, "OLROIGHT, MOI REGIMEH, GIT OUT DERE WIT MEH, FOLOOWED BOI ELPHABA, N' THEN GLINDA! NAOW, MOVE OUT!" the massive man finished with a thunderous boom of a roar and heaved himself to the opened gates.
Every man, animal, woman, she-beast, and unknown (don't know who that would be) then let loose a howl, of the most bloodcurdling proportions. And then they moved out.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXGrack removed his helmet, still marching to the castle.
"Wooh nelly, 'dis be oone hell of a march. Ah be roostin' lahk a duck 'n here!" he fanned himself with his shield.
Just then, a wolf ran down from the southern hills (Elphaba's side), carrying a tied scroll. Grack waved him over to himself, and took the message from him. It said, 'The castle is in sight, prepare men. Deliver to Glinda'. Grack thanked the wolf, and sent him back. He then took a cheetah from his swordsmen ranks and gave him the message to deliver to Glinda.
"'N be quick abott et, woold yeh?" he said with a resounding pat on the animal's back.
The beast soon returned, slightly panting from running uphill from the valley. He returned to the sword regiment and continued at the brisk pace they were marching at.
Meanwhile, Elphaba was worried. The castle seemed dead and abandoned, like no one was there. There wasn't smoke in the sky from fireplaces, little or sounds, or anything. She was worried, and told all her beasts to be ready.
Glinda was oblivious, singing a little marching ditty as she walked along, when one of her medics (a goat) came up and said, "Um, Lady Glinda, have you noticed how Grack's forces in the valley have raised their shields, strung their bows, and how there is no sign of life in the castle? Maybe we should be ready as well, for in case they know, trees can provide only so much cover from enemy fire."
The blonde woman took a moment to ponder this tidbit of information, and responded, "You're right!" she turned and hollered out to her battalion, "Be ready!"
Grack, who was still in the tube-like valley, swore a deep curse as he heard Glinda's order. He knew that anyone at the castle would have heard that if they were on the walls, and he let loose a roar, to both Glinda and Elphaba, who heard it clearly, "CHARGE! THEY ARE AWARE! BE QUICK BEFORE THEY FIRE!"
And he ran, followed by his entire fraction of an army, as did Elphaba, and the confused Glinda. Pounding his feet against the hard earth, Grack put his helmet on, Glinda drew her rapier, and the green woman pulled out her book, searching through for her opening spell. Then, seen by the entire horde, a massive boulder flew from the inside of the castle and was headed straight for Grack's column. Every beast moved aside, except for a lone soldier, who was a new recruit and oblivious of the flight paths of rocks that hurt greatly. Grack saw the lone wolf (quite literally a wolf) and ran to save him, for he knew from his years of experience where the boulder would land.
"MOVE OUT O DEH WAHY! GIT DOOWN!" he thundered at the wolf, still dumbfounded by the fact the roar was directed at him.
It was too late by the time he realized the rock would hit him, he covered his head, as if it would stop his inevitable doom. The next thing the wolf knew, he was laying flat on his back, staring at the sky. As he got up, he heard a soul shattering cry, which emitted from the whole army that saw the event. Looking at where the boulder landed, he saw why.
Grack had been flattened by it. All that was visible of his form were his legs, still clad in armor. The entire army ran to move the boulder, but it was too massive, and continuing fire from the castle made them give up and continue their desperate charge.
Elphaba and Glinda, who had both seen it through the trees, were struggling to keep back their tears as they continued their charge. The green general flipped through her pages, and found the spell she had needed.
"Alastus lifius exteniode!" she roared, pointing at Grack.
The spell she had used wasn't really supposed to help at that moment, but it would keep him alive longer if he still was. Fighting back any more urges to help him (knowing it would cost them the battle if she wasted time) she cast more spells at the castle, killing sentries on the walls and breaking off a few stones here and there.
The entire horde surged forth to the castle, eager to avenge the death of their most powerful leader. Every living thing in the army felt as if nothing could stop their raging charge, what with arrows (that had started being shot after the catapults) hitting them and having no effect. Few stopped, just prying out the arrows and letting the blood pour forth, further infuriating their anger.
Every archer, regardless of any orders to start, opened up a perilous volley onto the castle walls, with many a good soldier slain and falling to their doom from the hundreds of feet. The boulders continued to land amongst them, thankfully killing very few, for most knew to dodge them by now, seeing what they had done to their second general. Soon, they were out of the forests and pouring forth upon the western gate. Despite its massive size and reinforcements, its bottom was crumpled from the onslaught of the warriors, particularly the hammer men. They burst through, Glinda in the head, and Elphaba somewhere in the middle. The well trained soldiers of the emerald city fought well, repelling the attack as they ran to the gates to defend their homes. But, the beasts fought with bloodlust, as if they were no longer alive but messengers of death. Then, arrows were unleashed from both sides, hundreds being slain. Then, shockingly, random beats were dropping dead wherever they stood, as if killed by an invisible dagger.
The culprit was revealed to be the notorious sorceress, Madam Morrible. She was in the back of the human army, but made her way forward killing every best she could, guarded by a score of heavily armored men. Elphaba imitated her, and with a couple dozen axe-wielders and flail-users, she marched forth, dealing out death as if it were cookies from a silver platter. Glinda's rage was equal in every way, as she struck fatal blows to any munchkin or man unfortunate enough be near her with her rapier. Unable to contain her tears, she cried freely, her mind still within the battle. Then, Morrible and Elphaba met.
"So, my star pupil, here we are, brought together again by fate. What a shame it's under these circumstances," she stated nonchalantly, slaying one of Elphaba's guards.
"Hmph, pompous pig! You and the wizard started this war, and now Grack and thousands of others have paid the price!" she screamed, killing a decent number of the hag's guards.
Morrible raised an eyebrow, and smiled maliciously, "So, the great Grack was killed? Oh, this is too good to be true!"
Elphaba finished off the rest of Morrible's guards, and yelled, "You will die for everything Morrible, everything! All the deaths, the pain, the loss, everything! Now burn in the blazing infernal pits of HELL!" she roared, and sent a spell at Morrible.
The spell was different from her usual spells, which altered something, and instead, this spell was a rift, quite literally a hovering black hole. It was as if that area had just been eliminated from existence, for there was nothing there, not even light, color, or even darkness. Whatever was there, if one could say anything even was there at all, flew directly at Morrible, ready to engulf her in a vortex of infinity and nothing.
Shocked from the rage of her ex-student, the last look on Morrible's face was one of confusion, as the rift devoured her, eliminating her from existence and itself in the process. Breathing hard, Elphaba continued the good fight, despite the now mounting odds as her forces were being shot and cut down, for even with their passion and hatred infused with their souls, the beasts were simply just no match for the whole of the Oz army, and being in the castle's home turf wasn't exactly an advantage. Glinda received a nasty cut on her arm as she narrowly dodged a fatal blow from an axe.
Every beast's fury soon began to die out, and they were no longer as motivated as they had been, as the bodies began to pile, they started to make their way to the castle gate. Elphaba saw that they were losing sorely, and knew they couldn't hold out much longer.
"Retreat! Fall back! Get out of here, now! We're losing! Back to the forests!" she screamed above the cries of battle.
Every thing heard her, and soon her army began to retreat. But, alas, to no avail, for the humans had no surrounded them, stopping them from pushing farther and from leaving. The beasts surged onward, trying to push through the medley of munchkins and humans, and were fighting for dear life. Soon every archer fired furiously, felling many soldiers of the enemy side. Every melee fighter swung their weapons madly, trying to obliterate the opponents. Soon, the beasts had regained their losses, and were trading blow for blow, and the deaths mounted to massive degrees. Piles of bloody corpses were becoming truly massive, filling the air with the scent of death.
Just then, a truly unexpected thing happened. A massive boulder, half covered in blood, flew in from the outside and right onto a score of archers. And just a few minutes after that, a massive black and crimson figure sped into the battle scene, although it's left arm was missing entirely and it's right had only up to the elbow.
Once it got closer, Glinda gave a scream of joy, for it was Grack. Despite his bad condition, he hurtled forward, bulldozing over any misfortunate humans who stood in his way. when Grack got closer to Elphaba, she could see that his right foot was also shattered, his nose broken and his face incredibly bloody, in addition to the lack of upper limbs. The man ran as if he had no idea he was wounded and being attacked from archers.
Grack at last reached Elphaba and blatantly stated, "I ain't goot mooch toime left."
"I could tell."
Glinda ran over from her brigade, and ignoring the blood pouring freely from him, embraced Grack in a hug, and cried into his midriff.
"Ach, dineh woory aboot meh, li'ttle mizzy. Ah'll be olroight.," he lied to comfort her.
"Will you be able to make it back to the castle with us?" the green woman asked.
"Moost loikly noot…" he mouthed so that Glinda wouldn't hear.
Grack then broke himself from Glinda's embrace, which wasn't something to sniff at, considering the lack of arms. He walked a little ways away, and then looked up at the sky, as if he had just remembered something.
The sight of her friend limbless just proved too much for Elphaba, and she broke down and ran to hug Glinda. Every soldier, even the humans (for some strange reason) left them alone in their tears.
Glinda and Elphaba both averted their eyes towards Grack, who was still staring at the Heavens. Just then, he crouched down, and dug his stump into the ground, getting the crimson liquid all over the dirt. The dying man then moved it in a circular pattern, making a circle on the ground. He then ran two lines in between, making an 'x' in the circle. And then, he began to change.
First, his skin turned to a dark violet, that appeared to be covered in charcoal. Then, he grew to massive proportions, busting off any armor that may have remained, though his stretchy shorts remained. When at last he had stopping growing, he was the size of a house. Next, he hunched over like a gorilla, his spine cracking and popping in the process. His arms regenerated, and his nails were long and cruel, looking as if they could rip through the very fabric of time. The creature's shoulder bones seemed to inflate, as if there was a swarm of bugs that was multiplying and wanted to get out of his skin, until the skin ruptured, and two humongous wings sprouted forth, like those of bats, except made up of a leathery substance. Grack's foot then repaired itself, all the bones aligning and straightening out, with his toe-nails turning into curved talons, like those of a t-rex. Almost immediately after that, he sprouted a tail just where his spine ended, long and whip-like, with a barbed tip. The battle seemed to stop, and every soldier turned to watch the spectacle. Even with every gaze turned upon him, the mutation continued, with his eyes turning into two pitch black orbs, his hair into ashes. And two massive horns erupted from his fore-head, curving upwards to the sky and ending with razor-sharp tips that could've punctured diamonds, all at the same time that his face mended its wounds. With a demonic laugh, the monster's muscles multiplied in size, so much in fact that a great deal of skin actually ripped, exposing his purple muscles, oozing black blood.
His mutation finished, the creature stood on it's hind legs, and let loose a soul-shattering scream. Every living thing covered its ears, scrunching their faces up in pain, except Glinda and Elphaba, who were staring in awe at the event. And then, with a resounding shockwave as it put it's fists back onto the ground, the battle suddenly raged onward. The majority of the humans turned their attention to the savage thing, unleashing all of their weaponry onto it.
Grack, or what once was him, screeched a horrid demonic laugh as their blows glanced harmlessly off of him. The creature swept its claws, tearing every human within its vicinity to shreds. It lashed out its tail every which way and what, impaling men or cutting them clean in two. Blood was all over the beast, turning its skin to maroon. Once he had slain a good deal of men, about a hundred or so, he turned his attention to the western wall. Every human then forgot the beasts, and fought the monster with everything they had. The animals just dropped their jaws in awe as they watched the event unfold before them.
Humans were swept aside as the monster charged the western wall. It met headfirst, its horns bashing a great deal of stone off of the wall. Soon, the ancient wall was crumbling, and began to fall apart upon itself. Sentries and archers fell off the wall to their doom as the onslaught continued. There was a hole in the wall now, and the creature only enlarged it tenfold. Now using its claws, it began to rip apart the wall, which began to crumble over itself, due to lack of support. Turning its attention from the wall, he slaughtered a few more humans, and returned to the wall, this time at a different section.
It went on like that for a while, until both the human ranks and the wall were nearly decimated. He than, stopped suddenly, as if trying to hear something, lifting its head. The beast then turned its piercing gaze directly at Glinda and Elphaba, and sent a message only with his mind, seeing as he had lost the ability to speak, "Back to the castle, and make haste."
Ignoring the blows of the humans, he outstretched his wings, and with a powerful kickoff from his hind legs, he gusted himself spiraling into the sky, and he stopped a moment, hovering above the battle scene. It looked like an angel of death, as many people would claim later on after that day.
And with a cry of doom, it departed to the west in the setting sun.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXWell, there it is. My favorite chapter yet. But hey, that's just me, and I want to hear what you think, so click the little button on the bottom right that says "go"
And so I'm signing off for now, so goodbye. And here is the special thanks.
Angelfire-of-the-first-degree: for reading the damned story in the first place.
zarri-of-the-vinkus: also for reading the damned story in the first place.
Me: for creating the damned story in the first place
The damned story: for existing