I'm currently on holiday so forgive me if my review replies/PMs are late.
Year 1292 – during the rule of our Wonderful Wizard
The day of Miss Elphaba and Oscar's meeting came quicker than I expected. I had arrived in the Emerald City the day before to make sure everything was ready. I was strangely nervous that day, something that I dismissed as foolishness, everything was perfect there was no way Miss Elphaba wouldn't accept this great honour, and anyway I'd stationed Gale Force guards next to every exit just to be in the safe side. Nothing could go wrong.
In retrospect I wish I'd listened much more carefully to my instincts.
I had booked the train tickets for Miss Elphaba myself, giving her a spare one just in case she wanted to invite a friend – I wanted her to see me in the most positive light possible before revealing my position with the Wizard. In fact I had even given myself an official title for the position that she would believe I was occupying Press Secretary. I liked it, I thought it sounded very sophisticated, of course Behind the Scenes Ruler of Oz would be more accurate but imagine the mouthful that would take to pronounce!
The day dawned fair – possibly because I had made sure it would with my fair weather spell I had cast the day before – and I checked for the millionth time that everything was ready. It was, of course; Oscar's stupid monkey Chistery was all dressed up and on display ready for his transformation, the other monkeys – once Monkeys but they had been caged long enough to lose the ability to speak – were lying hidden behind a curtain to test the exact potential of Miss Elphaba's strength, my precious grimmerie was still safe but ready for use, I'd devised Oscar's exact speech and practiced it through with him enough times that surely even he couldn't forget it, my own entrance was perfectly planned and Oscar's throne room had been appropriately cleaned and polished specifically to inspire the largest possible amount of awe. Now all I had to do was wait.
I spied Miss Elphaba accompanied by Miss Galinda in the Emerald City from the Emerald Palace's tall windows at just past 11, her meeting with the Wizard was to be at three. Despite my annoyance that now I'd have to put up with the infuriating blonde I was very much satisfied that both girls looked positively thrillifyed to be there, amazed by Oz's Capitol, they would not be the first nor the last, but surely after seeing all this there was no way Miss Elphaba would even question our demands.
I have never seen the hands of the clock move so slowly, the tension in my little room was building up by the second, finally it reached the third hour and I told Oscar that it was time to to call both girls in…
Looking back I still can't pinpoint exactly where we went wrong, nor what we could have done differently, but between Oscar's bumbling off the script and Miss Elphaba's wretched sense of self righteousness and the stupid monkeys appearing to be in pain, but whatever the case something completely unplanned led up to the green girl running away with my precious grimmerie.
At first I was not so panicked, yes it was unfortunate that it seemed that the girl would be of no further use to us, but she appeared to have got lost on her way out and headed in the direction of one of the towers rather than the exits. The Gale Forcers I had sent after her would capture her and get my grimmerie back and this whole disaster would be overcome with no stress on my part – Oz would never know what the stubbornness of this foolish student had cost them. Nevertheless, I knew this girl must now be disposed of – or at least… put in a position where she could in no way refuse our offer – we could not have someone who knew our secrets working against us.
I went to the palace balcony, where everyone in the city could see me, and magically magnified my voice, spouting a message that would either serve as a message to scare Miss Elphaba into submission. Or, if the impudent girl would still not listen to me, to justify to the citizens of Oz the… measures I may need to now put into place to stop her speaking out.
"Citizens of Oz, there is an enemy that must be found and captured! Believe nothing she says. She's evil. Responsible for the mutilation of these poor, innocent monkeys! Her green skin is but an outward manifestation of her twisted nature! This distortion... this repulsion..." I paused, if they green skin didn't scare the small-minded Ozians enough I needed something that would really strike terror in all their hearts "this Wicked Witch!"
The effect was instantaneous, in seconds the Ozians had gone from happily going about their usual business in the city to shrinking away in terror. I almost smiled, this was too easy, the stupid girl would be begging me to take her back in minutes now she realised just how powerful I really was.
Or at least this was what I thought until she came zooming out of the tower on what looked like a broomstick. It took me a few seconds to realise what she'd done. That blasted girl – that witch – had performed another levitation spell, one powerful enough to make something that could carry her own weight.
Jealousy rose up inside me instantly and (although I would never admit it) a touch of admiration. Years and years of studying that damn Grimmerie and I had only been able to decipherate a couple of spells and here was this girl, who had never even heard of the ancient spellbook before today, and already she was performing more impressive feats of magic than I had ever been able to manage. And with the book that she had no idea how hard I had worked to posses no less.
I had to stop her, no matter what the cost.
