Chapter 37

Fiyero sat down next to Elphaba, noting the plate of seemingly untouched food at her side. He picked up the plate and held it in front of her. "Looks like you didn't touch your dinner at all? You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for asking. And I ate enough to take another of Dr. Frinly's concoctions," she said holding up the half empty bottle and giving it a shake.

"Uh oh! What does he have for you this time? Nothing that's going to put you out the way those pills did I hope."

"No, nothing like that. Although he did say it would help me sleep."

"Well I'm glad to hear that. Sleep, good! Coma, not so good."

The two laughed briefly.

"Seriously Elphaba, we've hardly made any headway since leaving Glinda's place. We need to get a move on in the morning, so I hope his latest creation doesn't leave you out of sorts," Fiyero said putting his hand on Elphaba's knee.

"Well, if it does, I'll just lie in Falia's wagon until I feel better. Deal?"

Fiyero smiled. "Deal!"

"Good, now if you don't mind, I'm already beginning to feel the effects of this new medicine. So I'm going to retire early."

Fiyero looked up at the sky that was only now beginning to darken. "Well, it is a little early yet, but I guess that just means that you'll have had a good deal of rest by the time we're ready to leave in the morning." He stood up and held out his hands to help Elphaba up.

She gratefully accepted and gave him a hug. "Good night Fiyero."

"Good night Elphaba."

Elphaba turned and left for her bedroll. Falia took the opportunity to approach Fiyero.

"How's she doing?" She asked.

"Well, she seems to be doing better. Whatever you said to her seems to have really helped. Thank you for that."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm in a place where I can understand a bit of where she's coming from."

"Still, you've been a good friend Falia. I appreciate it."

Falia smiled at him, and the two sat down together.

"I'm sensing that you're not entirely convinced that she's ok though. Am I right?" Falia asked.

Fiyero thought for a moment, then turned to look at her. "I think there's still some underlying tension in her. She won't talk about it, and I don't want to pry, but yes, I think there's still something just under the surface that's bothering her."

"I see," Falia answered. "Well, if you like, I can try talking to her again."

Fiyero shook his head. "Not just yet. Elphaba is a very private person. I don't want to push her too much too soon. She'll tell me in due coarse if something's really bothering her."

"Ok, I'll go with that…..for now," Falia said. "So what are your plans for the rest of the night?"

"I don't really have any I guess."

"Good, then how about a game of cribbage?"

"Cribbage?"

"Don't tell me you've never played before!"

"Ok, I won't tell you that."

Falia looked at him incredulously. "Come with me Mr. Straw Man. I'm going to teach you a new game," she said, grabbing his hand and leading him to her wagon.

Arrinda came running through the front doors of Glinda's Estate.

"Tanon! Tanon!" she shouted.

"In here!" Tanon yelled back from the living room. He was already up from his seat and halfway to the unnerved woman.

She ran over to him and threw her arms around him. "Arrinda, what's wrong? Did you deliver my message to Captain Terriak?"

Arrinda pushed back from him slightly and slowly look up into his eyes. "Tanon, I don't know how to say this, but……..Terriak is dead."

"What?"

"He's dead! I saw his body myself."

Tanon turned and began pacing. "I don't understand. How could this have happened?"

"I don't know. I contacted the authorities. They came quickly."

"Did they say anything?"

Arrinda nodded. "All they said was that the last time they heard from him was a few days ago. He had sent word saying he wouldn't be at work for a while. Apparently he gave no explanation."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"No it doesn't. But they believe he must've been attacked shortly thereafter. They think he's been dead for a couple of days."

"So he may have been coerced into telling them that," Tanon said. He rubbed his forehead then turned back to Arrinda. "Are you alright? I'm sorry you had to see that," he said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm upset. I've never seen anything like that before."

"Do you need me to do anything for you?"

"If you don't mind sir, I need a few days off. I just don't think I can cope with this at the moment."

"Take all the time you need Arrinda. We'll be waiting for you with open arms whenever you decide you're ready to come back," Tanon said taking the woman in his arms.

"Thank you so much," she said as she hugged him back then turned to leave.

"I can't believe this," Tanon said as he began to pace.

"So what does this mean? Is there someone else you want to contact instead?" Lothier said.

"No, no…..I think it'd be best if I escorted you myself. Captain Terriak was the only one I knew implicitly that I could trust. Besides, I need to tell Glinda about this. Just give me a few minutes to pack and small bag and notify the staff. I'll be right back."

"I'll be right here," Lothier said as he held the book bag close to him. He remembered that Captain Terriak was the one who had confiscated his gun. The thought that the gun could be in someone else's hands unnerved him because he could only think of one person who would have the courage to go after a Captain of the Guard, and that was Veloc aka Renegade. Baraq's right hand man.

Tanon left the living room and immediately set out to find Ren.

"Ren!" he called. "Ren, where are you?"

Ren appeared almost immediately. "Sir?"

"Ren, my friend and I have to make an emergency trip to the Emerald City. I'll be gone for a couple of days. Can you see to it that the staff is notified for me?"

"Of course."

"I'll also need a carriage as soon as possible. Ask one of the staffers to have it ready for us in ten minutes."

"I'll see that it's done."

"Thank you Ren. I can always count on you," Tanon turned to leave and headed towards his room to pack.

Ren watched him leave. Tanon's words stung him a bit as he had always been loyal to Glinda, but money did talk, and he couldn't pass up the opportunity that was presenting itself to him. Tanon leaving for a couple of days was all too perfect. He would take the Grimmerie, and be long gone before anyone noticed.

Tanon packed quickly and headed back towards the living room. "Ok, I'm all set."

Lothier stood up. "Let's go then. I'm anxious to get this book into safe keeping."

"I agree. The sooner the better. We'll take the train and be in the Emerald City in a few hours."

"Won't it be too late to see anyone by the time we get there?"

"Not if we bring Glinda with us. They'll be happy to comply with a special request from her. So we'll go see her first."

"That sounds good. Let's go," Lothier said.

The two men walked out the front door to the awaiting carriage. Ren was outside helping them into their transport vehicle. He watched as the carriage made its way down the winding path and through the gates to the estate. Then he quickly headed back inside.

Peering around the corners to make sure no one was near, Ren made his way to the desk where the key to the closet was kept. He opened the drawer that he saw Tanon place the key in and found it easily. Ren extracted the key, walked over to the closet and unlocked it. There before him sat the object of his desire. He took the book down from the shelf slowly and opened it up to glance at the pages. Of course, it was unintelligible to him, but that wasn't the point. He had the Grimmerie, or so he thought. Now he would just need to find a way to get it to Renegade, collect his reward, and get as far away from Gillikin as possible.

"Sarina, where have you been? I told Glinda you'd only be an hour?" Kerrick said.

"Glinda?"

"Oh honey, sorry, I invited Glinda to have dinner with us. I hope that's alright with you."

"Of course it is. I'd love to see her again. It's been too long," she said with a smile.

Kerrick put his arms around her. "I thought you'd say that," he said, giving her a kiss. "Well, we'd better get going. She's going to wonder what happened to us."

"Right! We wouldn't want to keep her waiting now would we?" Sarina said with a chuckle. "You look nice by the way."

"As do you my love," Kerrick said with deep admiration for his beautiful wife. He held out his arm and escorted her to their carriage. Picking up the reigns and giving them a light snap, they headed off for the long ride back into the Emerald City and Glinda's hotel.

Glinda heard a knock on her door. She thought it might be Kerrick, but she decided to err on the side of caution.

"Who is it?" She said.

"Room Service Ma'am," came the voice from the other side.

Glinda was perplexed. "I didn't order room service. Just take it back."

"It's a gift from the hotel management for Glinda the Good. Please ma'am. I'll only be a minute. They just wanted to send some complimentary flowers and champagne."

Glinda smiled briefly. "Alright, but I'm leaving soon so…." She opened the door ever so slightly when the man on the other side came crashing through.

Glinda was thrown back, but she immediately got up and ran behind the couch to get away. The man was Renegade. He quickly closed the door and looked right at her.

"Get away or I'll scream," she said.

"Go ahead. I happen to know there are triple firewalls all around this suite. No one will hear you."

Glinda looked around frantically and spotted a vase on one of the couch's side tables. She quickly picked it up and threw it at him, hitting him square in the face.

"Ahhh! Dammit! You're going to pay for that!" he yelled as he wiped a bit of blood from his forehead.

Glinda spotted the hat stand, ran to it and picked it up. She swung it at Renegade with all her might, catching him across the back. Then she swung it again in an upward stroke, hitting him squarely in the jaw. Renegade was momentarily dazed. He hadn't anticipated this level of resistance from her, but he quickly regained his bearings and caught her from behind as she tried to flee.

He lifted her up off of the ground while she kicked and pounded at him, screaming to no avail.

"Dammit, stop fighting!" he said as her fists crashed into his arms and her elbows dug into his jaw. He moved backwards with the struggling woman in his grip but didn't see the coffee table behind him. His leg caught the edge of the table and he tumbled backwards taking her with him. As they fell back, their weight caused them to crash right through the table. Glinda took advantage of the situation by reaching for one of the broken legs and hitting him with it.

Renegade grabbed his arm and screamed in pain as Glinda tried to scramble to her feet. He quickly grabbed her ankle and tripped her up. This time, he climbed onto her back and pinned her in place. She tried to fight him off, but his weight and leverage were too much of an advantage. Renegade quickly reached into his back pocked at extracted the bottle of chloroform and a small cloth. He quickly poured the substance onto the cloth and pressed it over Glinda's mouth and nose. Within moments, her resistance level lessened, until it stopped altogether.

"Finally!" Renegade said, out of breath and putting the bottle and cloth back in his pocket. He got up and took stock of the damage she'd cause to his body. Nothing too bad, but he'd be sore for a bit. The room wasn't in the best condition either, but that wasn't his concern. He needed to get her out of there.

A laundry cart was waiting outside the suite. Renegade picked her up and placed her into the cart then placed some towels and sheets on top of her. He made a half-hearted attempt to close the door to the suite then quickly headed out. Taking the service ramps designated for staff use, Renegade wheeled the cart down the ramps and out to the back of the hotel.

Once he was outside, in the back alley, he took her out of the cart and placed her in the awaiting carriage. Looking around to make sure no one had seen him, Renegade climbed up onto the carriage, and quickly sped off.

Elphaba was in a deep sleep when she began to have her nightmare again. The same recurring nightmare about Glinda, the drugs and the mind erasing procedure. She felt the horrible sensation in her stomach that something was wrong, but she couldn't awaken from her dream world. Dr. Frinly's medication was just strong enough to keep her in a sleep induced haze.

Her mind fought to wake up, but her body and the chemicals wouldn't allow it. For now, Elphaba was stuck in limbo between delusion and reality. In her mind, she was screaming out for Glinda. Then slowly, everything faded to black, and she was in a deep sleep once more.

Kerrick and Sarina arrived at Glinda's hotel about forty minutes after they'd left his office.

"I do hope she's not angry with us for being so late," Sarina said. "I'm sorry dear. If I had known you had invited her to dinner, I wouldn't have spent so much time making myself pretty for you."

"Trust me, I don't mind you making yourself pretty for me," Kerrick said with a smile. "I'm sure she'll be fine. I think she just wants to relax and have a good time for a change."

"Well, let's get up there and make our apologies. Then we can go have a nice relaxing dinner," Sarina said.

Kerrick nodded and hopped out of the carriage. He helped Sarina down then the two of them walked arm in arm into the hotel.

"She's staying in the Ozma Suite," he said.

"Oh my!" Sarina said feeling impressed. "I've never seen the Ozma Suite before. I hear it's magnificent."

"Well now's your chance," Kerrick said.

He escorted her through the hotel and up the stairs until they reached Glinda's room.

"Ok, put on your best 'I'm sorry' look," he said to her jokingly then he knocked on the door.

As he knocked the door opened ever so slightly. Kerrick and Sarina exchanged glances then looked back at the door.

"Glinda?" Kerrick called through the opening. There was no answer. "Sarina, stand back," he said.

Sarina nodded but she grabbed his arm quickly. "Be careful," she said with a worried expression on her face.

Kerrick nodded back then slowly opened the door and peered inside the room. "Sweet Oz!" he said, thrusting the door all the way open.

Sarina came over to him and looked inside as well. She put her hand over her mouth and gasped. The room was in shambles.

"Stay here Sarina. I'm going to have a look through the suite."

"Kerrick, please, maybe we should just go get the authorities."

"Glinda may be injured inside. I don't want to wait for the authorities if that's the case. I'll just take a quick look, then we can call someone in."

Sarina nodded hesitantly and stayed by the door. Kerrick quickly made his way though the suite. The damage seemed to be confined to the living area. After searching thoroughly, he found no sign of Glinda.

"Let's go. We need to notify someone about this as quickly as possible," he said as he reached Sarina again.

"Oh Kerrick, what do you think has happened to her?" Sarina said taking his hand for comfort.

"I wish I knew," he replied. "I wish I knew."

A little over an hour later, Tanon and Lothier arrived at the hotel to find it surrounded by the Emerald City Guard.

"I wonder what's going on here?" Tanon said.

Lothier just shook his head and the two headed inside. As Tanon approached the stairs leading to the Ozma Suite, he was intercepted by a member of the guard.

"I'm sorry sir, but no one is allowed up there."

"What do you mean? What's happened?" Tanon asked suddenly alarmed.

"I'm sorry. I'm not at liberty to say."

"Listen, I'm Glinda's head of staff, if something has happened to her….."

"You're with Glinda?" The guard said.

"As I said, I'm her head of staff."

"Wait just a moment."

The guard ascended the stairs and in a few moments came back down with Kerrick at his side.

"Kerrick?"

"Tanon, I'm glad you're her,." Kerrick said. "Something has happened."

"What is it, is it Glinda? Is she alright?"

"That's just it, we don't exactly know."

"What do you mean?"

"Tanon," Kerrick said in a serious tone. "Glinda is missing."