Oh my God! I'm sooooo sorry this chapter has taken so long to get here. I'm terrible. I know. Time is a rare commodity in my life - but if I could freeze it for a couple of hours everyday to write, you know I would ;-)
Alright then, so this is the next chapter in the Defining Goodness saga. Oh, we're nearing the end now. And once you've read this chapter, all I'm going to cryptically say is: have faith. Trust that your authoress knows what she's doing …ur, sometimes ;-)
Thanks to everyone who's continuing to read this and thank you all so much for putting up with my very well-spaced updating!
Defining Goodness: A Dark Day
Jason staggered up cautiously to his feet. He wavered slightly - the blow from the mighty Bear's paw having clearly shaken him.
The man re-adjusted his sword hand and smirked. The expression was noticeably less confident than before the Bear flung herself into the mix.
"What's the matter you cowardly bastard? - Not quite so willing to attack now that it's not just you against a practically defenceless girl?" the Animal jeered.
Jason chuckled lightly. His lip was bleeding and impatiently he wiped at it. "Don't be so cocky Bear. I could take on a whole army of your disgusting kind if I needed to. When it comes to brains - you're outmatched."
The Animal raised a furry eyebrow. "Hmm really? And yet you're still not attacking…Working out your strategy are yah? Come on, I promise I won't bite - well not too hard anyway."
The man's eyes narrowed and in a flash he rushed forward in an overhead assault.
Glinda cried out a warning, but the Bear was ready. Throwing up her front paws onto the two sides of Jason's sword, she stopped the attack dead.
The soldier looked quite helpless just standing there, trapped - more helpless than Glinda would have ever thought possible. The Bear smiled, showing off her well-developed, pointed canines, before thrusting the weapon backwards with her phenomenal power.
Jason let out a cry, as he stumbled back and collapsed to the ground. If the man was hoping to win on brute force alone, it was he that was severely outmatched.
Glinda could have almost laughed, watching her attacker scrambling around in the earth for his sword. Lurline he looked pathetic.
"You must go now," the Bear suddenly ordered, looking to the blonde.
Glinda felt the breath abruptly hitch in the back of her throat at the prospect. What did she mean? The blonde was safe there with the Bear. They could keep each other safe!
The girl hesitated, looking panicked.
"I can't fight when I'm worrying about your safety - now do as I say!"
That's when Jason decided to come forward with a surprise thrust of his sword. No-one noticed the weapon until it had pierced the poor creature's side, before quickly withdrawing.
Glinda gasped. The Animal roared and lost her footing slightly at the sudden pain - but she was quick to regain it. The Bear managed to block Jason's continuing attack and get in a blow of her own - whipping at the armoured soldier with a quick stab of her paw.
Jason recovered fast this time however, and danced backwards out of harms way.
"Please leave now!" the creature cried to Glinda again, before charging forward.
The blonde witch watched as the Bear managed to somehow get Jason into a bizarre-looking headlock - even as the man - and his sword - flailed wildly under her immense weight.
Glinda hesitated for just a moment longer, but realised, with some shame, that there was nothing she could do to help in the slightest. The girl was only a distraction. Her rescuer had already been injured because of her! - So she ran.
Glinda's mind was a haze, but somehow she still managed to dodge the fighting - and carcasses of men and Animals alike.
She didn't dare look down, for Glinda was terrified of the lifeless faces she might recognise there.
Bucepatus was already dead, what if Elphie and Fiyero…
No! The blonde refused to think of such things. She tried to look for her green friend - but despite the woman sticking out like a sore thumb any where else, through the mess of the battle it was a pointless search.
A spear suddenly jammed into the witch's path. Glinda missed its deadly point by a mere hairs-length and dropped her own spear in the process - but she didn't stop running.
"Cavalier!" the girl cried in vain.
Lurline above, she was so useless. Glinda had successfully roused the Animal population into action only to what? Run around screaming, while they fought the battle for her? The one she herself had caused?
All further thoughts of Glinda's failings were quickly banished from her mind however, as a Boar suddenly landed side-down in front of the witch with a sickening smack.
The girl came to an abrupt stop, stared for a second, and, breathing heavily, slowly approached the Animal.
It only took the blonde seconds to notice the long slash-mark across the creature's throat and the steadily increasing pool of blood surrounding him.
Glinda let out a straggled sound. She felt the bile rise up in her own throat and quickly retreated a couple of steps, fearing she might vomit.
"Well if it isn't my pretty blonde friend."
The witch looked around to the voice with a start. Her eyes snapped open wide and Glinda felt her nausea only increase as the Ruler of Oz himself came forward on a bay-coloured horse.
She froze.
"Well isn't this just so coincidental? There I was, hoping I'd run into you," Gilder chattered almost cheerfully, before his voice changed into something sinister, "and here you are."
The pair stared at each other for a long moment - both breathing heavily with the struggles of battle.
Everything seemed to pause and blur around them, until it was like they were the only two people that mattered. It was as if the entire world was looking in on this one epic moment.
A violent blast of fury rose deep within Glinda's chest, and she tightened the grip on her wand in defiance.
"Well - I guess it comes down to this now doesn't it?" Gilder said.
The witch's eyes flashed. "I guess it does."
There was a pause as the two considered this.
"You know, I've built up a kind of respect for you," Gilder admitted casually. "I mean don't get me wrong - you've been the biggest pain in my ass, but still - you, with your pretty blonde hair and delicate, feminine features, have survived through adversities where even my strongest men would have just lay down and died."
The blonde smirked nastily. "Well it's a good thing I'm not a man then isn't it?"
Gilder nodded with a hateful smile. "It's just a shame you won't survive through this one. I'm sure that 'weapon' of yours won't be much of a challenge. It seems to only be your dear friend Elphaba who can do magic spells."
As if Elphie herself had heard the comment, a loud explosion suddenly sounded from somewhere off to Glinda's right - but she didn't dare take her eyes off Gilder.
He raised his blood-soaked blade at her. She tried to avoid looking at the weapon. It didn't appear to be much of a contest - him with a big sword, and Glinda with only her little wand for protection.
Damn her for dropping that spear!
The metallic smell of blood was suddenly so very pungent - but it only acted to fuel the witch. Despite the odds being against her, she would survive and go on from this. Glinda had been through too much just to be cut down at the last hurdle.
"I did promise Jason the pleasure of killing you, but oh well - since you're here and all." Gilder dismounted and took a couple of slow steps away from his steed. "And while we're at it, let's make this contest just a little bit more even shall we?"
And then, without warning, Gilder lunged forward with a terrible cry.
It was all over in seconds.
Glinda safely avoided the first attack and blocked the second, but then Gilder turned on his heel with swiftness seemingly impossible for his build- and the point of his sword slid through the blonde like a knife through butter.
Glinda made a gargled sound, as blood rushed to her throat. She swallowed and watched with a lucid fascination as her life oozed out from the wound suddenly in her stomach.
She gasped as the blade was brought roughly out from her broken body and, with only the barest recognition, slumped to the ground. The blonde wavered on her knees for a second, before gravity took hold and she crashed to the ground on her side.
Her hand shook with great effort, as Glinda brought it up to her face. It was damp and sticky with her own blood. She felt paralyzed. Inside, the blonde was screaming to get up and move, but her body simply could not assist.
It all felt so un-real. Was she dying?
Gilder kneeled beside the witch. His form blurred and flickered in the girl's pain-filled vision.
"Remember this Glinda?" he suddenly asked, pulling out a small dagger from his bootleg. The blonde eyed the weapon, but her head was spinning so fast she couldn't even catch a clear glimpse of it. "Oh sorry - you probably can't even tell what this is, what with all the blood flooding out your body and everything." The Ruler lent in very close to the woman's ear. "Let me help you - it's the very same dagger you tried assassinating me with Glinda." He smirked, moving the knife in accordance to his words. "Now then," Gilder continued, "this is a choice. Do I leave you here to wiggle helplessly on the ground while your life slowing drains away - or do I be merciful and put you out of your misery right now with this dagger? Hmm, decisions, decisions," he mumbled, lightly tapping the blade against his chin as if in deep thought. "Well, they don't call me the merciful Lord for nothing…well actually, now that I think about it, I don't believe I've ever heard anyone call me that, but you understand my metaphor. You'll going to die now basically."
He stood up.
Glinda's panicked breathing had consumed her - the gasping sound filling her head.
"In a way, I'm sorry about this. If things had been different, perhaps you would have made a nice right-hand lady," the Ruler mused, although it just sounded like one big, muffled blur to the blonde then.
Glinda caught flashes of the man towering over her, but nothing was clear. The pain swelling in her gut was so strong then, it was all she could do just to stay conscious.
The blonde's whole body tingled. The pain and noise was overwhelming. Hot liquid, with its metallic taste, bubbled from the corner of her mouth and suddenly it was hard to breath. She heard a choking sound and it took the witch a few seconds to realise it was her.
Gilder slowly raised his weapon.
Darkness was coming and she couldn't even describe the pain, but somewhere deep inside the blonde came the urge to struggle on. Glinda tried to cry out for help, but the noise of battle had returned and she was far too weak to shout over it. The witch felt around blindly, until her hand clutched the fallen wand. She raised it with an incredibly shaky arm, not really sure what good it would do, if any.
Unbeknownst to Glinda, Gilder watched the desperate action and sighed. "Such an unfitting end. See? You really should have just let me burn you at that stake - at least people were around to watch that." He shook his head in some odd kind of regret and sent the dagger down in one powerful movement.
WHAM!
Gilder suddenly found himself thrown to the ground. He leapt up in confusion and found Elphaba kneeling next to the bloodied body of her dear, dying friend.
He smirked. How deliciously priceless...
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And that's that chapter. Ooooohhhh, horrible, major cliffy. Heh, sorry. Hey don't panic. I have everything written up already, so hopefully the next chapter should be just over the rainbow…
Review and tell me how mean I am ;-) Till next time my pretties.
