A/N: Shout outs to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong! Glad you liked it. More on Morrible and her lack of attempts on Elphie's life soon. Thanks!
Chapter 29
Elphaba had fallen asleep on the couch while Chistery had sat down on the floor and leaned up against the couch, where he too had fallen asleep. Glinda was sleeping in one of the comfy chairs and Fiyero had taken up the other chair. Sergeant Zeki had passed out in Morrible's office chair.
Boq, meanwhile, continued to toil on the coded book. Glinda had been unsuccessful in finding a spell that would assist him in the deciphering process. Painstakingly, for each page, the key had to be determined and then the words had to be translated. Yet on every page there were numbers that remained, not fitting into the pattern. They made no sense and Boq wondered if they had missed something.
The hours continued to pass as he slowly moved ahead with his task. He was using candlelight and oil lamps to keep the room from complete darkness. Still, it isn't much light and doesn't seem to be bothering his sleeping cohorts.
There was a knock on the door sometime later and Private Schultz entered the room. He saw everyone sleeping except for the Tin Man. Cocking half a smile, he headed over to Elphaba and gently shook her shoulder. Suddenly, he found his wrist enclosed in a death grip.
"Miss Elphaba, its Private Schultz," he kept his tone low so as to not disturb the others. Needless to say, the Private was very surprised by the strength of Elphaba's grip. She didn't let go though so he tried it again.
"Miss Elphaba, its Private Schultz. Ma'am, are you ok?" The young man grew concerned when her grip didn't loosen despite his trying to be gentle. That's when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw the Captain. While the Private had tried to be quiet, the old habits of his Vinkun training meant that Fiyero didn't sleep very heavily. In fact, he only slept heavily after a long night of drinking back at Shiz or when Elphaba was by his side. Granted he hadn't had too many times for the latter, but he knew that the experience was different. She was different from all the other girls.
Let me, he mouthed and the Private nodded. Fiyero leaned down near Elphaba's ear so that only she could hear him. He whispered something and the green woman's grip released the Private.
"Yero?" She was confused.
"The Private needs your assistance," he smiled.
"Oh. Sorry," she said, carefully sitting up. By now, Chistery was awake.
"I didn't mean to wake you, but the Council wants to speak to Miss Elphaba in an hour," Schultz was apologetic.
"Now?" The green woman was surprised. That's when she realized that Boq had been working all night by himself.
"Oh Boq, I'm so sorry," she said pushing past the men and the Flying Monkey.
"Don't apologize. I don't need sleep anymore," he half-smiled.
"What have you found?" Elphaba asked.
"We do have some answers, but we also have more questions needing answers. There are sentences that start to make sense and then there are random numbers that make no sense," he heaved a sigh.
"The Council intends to grill me. I'm not sure what they will ask or if I'll be free to come back here," she admitted. Boq let the words sink in. Elphaba was fighting for her very existence and if he were ever to be a human again, her fight had to be his fight.
"Then I should go with you. We can show them what we have found so far," he said.
"Anything that would buy us more time to decipher?" She wondered.
"Oh, I have something that should be quite interesting," Boq smirked.
"Then join me. We will go to the Council together," Elphaba said.
"Me?" The Tin Man was confused.
"You hate me. They'll believe what you say. Besides, you're the one who found it. Doesn't matter what I say. They'll probably only see it as self-serving testimony," she told him.
"Elphaba…" Fiyero started.
"This is the only option. Should any of this go awry, I will deal with the consequences. I only ask that you continue what I've started, if you can. At a minimum, take care of Chistery and the others. They do not deserve anything more to happen to them," with that, Elphaba headed out into the hallway. Private Schultz looked at the Captain.
"I'll take care of her sir," he promised before scooting out into the hallway. Boq started heading for the door with his books of translations but Fiyero stopped him. The former Munchkin could see the look in his eyes. Swallowing hard, Boq headed out of the door.
To Be Continued…
