Chapter 25
The sun peeked over the distant mountains and light slowly filtered its way down to the ground. The sound of wings flapping and horses beating the ground with their hooves soon reached those that had spent their night on the forest floor.
"Glinda!" The shout of the Captain of the Gale Force rousted everyone. He practically fell off his horse; his legs weren't working from riding for so long. The Sergeant went about getting the horses' water as Asli stumbled his way to his bride. The blonde only moaned and Elphaba quickly bolted upright, glad that her friend had made a noise.
"It's been a long night," the green woman said to the Captain.
"She seems feverish," Asli told her, noting that the hand he had put on the blonde's forehead was getting warmer than it already was.
"Well that is to be expected. Doctor Magi gave her some medicine and stitched her up so we could transport her this morning. Avantador will fly her and the good doctor out of here and to the Palace so he can get a better look at her," Elphaba explained.
"Why didn't your magic work?" Asli didn't understand.
"A wound caused by magical beings cannot be healed by magic. Apparently they did not teach us that at Shiz," the green woman shook her head. The Captain let out a loud breath and looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Doctor Magi is one of the best. He will help her once they get back to the Palace," Fiyero reassured him.
"It is first light, we should be on our way," Avantador spoke up.
"Yes, I agree. The sooner I can get Lady Glinda into a more sterile environment, the better," Magi spoke up.
"What about our child?" Asli asked.
"It is much too early to tell Captain but I promise I will do everything I can to save them both," the doctor promised, clapping Asli's upper arm to try and reassure him.
"I should go with you," he said.
"Regrettably, we need you here. King Haluk has been murdered and we must find his body to bring back to the Palace," Elphaba spoke up as Avantador gently scooped up Glinda and Doctor Magi. He was off in an instant and everyone hoped that Glinda would be all right.
"Murdered? By whom?" Asli couldn't believe it.
"My grandmother," Fiyero scowled. The Captain did not know what to say to that.
"We took her into custody yesterday and dropped her back off at the Palace. She's now locked in an enchanted cell in the infirmary," Elphaba told him.
"And the Wizard?" Asli wanted to know.
"He only had powers because Fiyero's grandmother gave them to him. She was attempting to conceal her presence and her intent was to rid Oz of me and the Wizard," the witch explained.
"So why did the King have to die?" The Captain asked.
"Mother never liked Haluk. She did it more or less because he'd served his purpose and she had no further use for him," Adalet spoke up for the first time.
"I am very sorry," Asli offered his condolences.
"We must find his body and bring it back to the Palace. He should be buried properly," Adalet said. Asli nodded.
"I think we should eat first. Our horses are in no shape to continue after riding all night," Sergeant Stewart told them.
"Agreed. We can let them rest and borrow the horses that are attached to the carriage. Do we know where we are going?" The Captain asked.
"My grandmother gave us a location. Our guess is that it is near the actual cabin she was staying in. This one was obviously a decoy," Fiyero heaved a sigh.
"Good because we don't have enough supplies to be out here for more than one more day and it is going to take us at least a day on horseback to get back to the Palace," Stewart said. Fiyero nodded and they quickly went about eating a small breakfast before heading deeper into the woods.
To Be Continued…