Author's Note: Sorry about the delay…I'm sure anyone reading this already knows but there have been major technical problems with ff.net lately and I didn't want to post until that was all fixed. Enjoy. =P

Chapter 4

"Slowly…slowly, a little more to your left…No, not that left, the other left!"

"You said before that there was only *one* left and right. If the opposite way is right, then where is this 'other left'?"

Boq suppressed a sigh and shook his head at Gerema.

"I meant right…it was a figure of speech."

Earlier that morning they'd discovered a flight of stairs leading up to a trapdoor in the in the cellar of Kiamo Ko, and they were currently in the process of moving furniture from the abandoned castle to their subterranean stronghold. So far, Gerema and Fiyero were proving themselves to be less than adept at teamwork, and Boq's directing skills were doing little to aid the tricky business of maneuvering the heavy wood furniture down the narrow stone staircase.

"If someone were to come in search of us," mused Gerema, setting down her end of the mattress they'd been moving and leaving Fiyero grunting under the full weight of the thing, "Would it not be rather obvious that someone had moved everything out?"

Neither man had an answer for her, and Boq began to pace uneasily. He'd always been rather claustrophobic, and hated knowing that they were hundreds of feet underground, who knew how many tons of earth packed over their heads. The torches provided little light, and even with the trapdoor open the air circulation was slow, giving the place a dank, clammy feel to it.

"I don't know," said Fiyero finally, "It would depend on their knowledge of Kiamo Ko, prior to us moving everything out." He set the mattress down with a heavy thud and rubbed his hands together, sending a little puff of dust into the air. "And even if they did realize that things were missing, there's nothing to lead them down here. They have no reason to believe anything was taken by a group of renegades running from the government."

Boq's frown deepened and he stopped pacing to lean heavily against the stone wall of the room.

"Is that what we are now?"

Fiyero shrugged, nonplussed by Boq's distress.

"You know how the tiktoks think. If you don't support them, you're against them. So at least in their eyes we are."

"Which brings us to the real question at hand," said Gerema, sitting down on the newly moved mattress. It creaked loudly under her weight, as though offended by her presence.

"Which is?" Boq prompted.

"How do five people and two donkies hope to overthrow a government," she said matter of factly as though it were the simplest thing imaginable.

Boq's eyes widened.

"You want us to overthrow the tiktoks?" he asked incredulously. "Us. By ourselves."

"My mother says it is the only way. She knows, for she is very wise."

Boq snorted in disbelief.

"Did she happen to reveal the wise secret of how we're supposed to do this?"

Gerema shook her head, and Boq covered his face with his hands in total despair. He'd started this journey in hopes of finding his family and now not only had he failed to accomplish that goal, but he was stuck underground in the middle of the Vinkus indefinitely with a couple of political zealots.

"I may be able to rally what's left of the Arjiki," said Fiyero slowly, but Gerema only shook her head.

"That would mean revealing your presence here. That is a risk we cannot afford to take."

Fiyero nodded resignedly, but Boq felt his temper begin to rise.

"Who put you in charge?" he snapped suddenly, surprising even himself. "We know nothing about your 'wise mother' or her motives. We have no reason to trust you." He turned to Fiyero. "Or you for that matter. For all I know, you're both serving the Gale Force and this is all a ploy to get us to slowly suffocate ourselves out here!"

"This isn't a time for us to turn on one another," said Fiyero quietly, "Please calm down, Boq. I know this isn't the best of circumstances, but—"

Boq started to cut him off, but they were both interrupted by Glinda's shrill voice, echoing through the empty stone tunnels.

"Boq! Fiyero! Come quickly!"

The argument immediately forgotten, Boq and Fiyero turned and dashed out of the room, leaving Gerema behind, still perched on the edge of the mattress.

They found Glinda seated by the side of Elphaba's makeshift bed, a large book in her hands and an expression of utter shock on her face.

"What?" asked Boq in a panic, "What is it?"

Glinda pointed to Elphaba, who was stirring slightly, muttering something inaudible. Boq immediately fell to his knees beside the bed, and it took all the self-restraint Fiyero could muster to keep himself from doing the same.

The don't know, he reminded himself silently. Instead, he turned to Glinda.

"What woke her?" he asked in a voice trembling with fragile hope.

Glinda frowned slightly and indicated the book on her lap.

"I found this among the provisions the Scrow gave us. It looks to be a book of spells—mind you, I can't understand it, and one of the pages was marked and so I thought—well, why not?"

"Elphie," Boq said hopefully, shaking her arm lightly.

Her eyelids fluttered slightly, and she squinted at them with the pained gaze of one who has not seen light in far too long. With great effort she turned her head to the side, her eyes widening slightly when she saw Fiyero.

"I'm dead," she murmured, more to herself than to the others, "I'm dead and this is some cruel trick of hell or wherever nonbelievers go."

Fiyero knelt beside her and took her hand between both of his, unable to resist any longer. She shivered at his touch.

"No, you're not," Fiyero said firmly, "You're safe now, Elphie, and you're going to get better."

As though somehow sensing their need for privacy, Glinda took Boq by the elbow and led him away.

Fiyero noticed that Elphaba was shivering in the musty air and he moved to touch her, but she recoiled from him so violently that he was stopped in the midst of reaching for her.

"No," she said again, louder this time, "You're not here."

"Elphie, you're delirious."

"You're dead. I killed you." Thought it was still weak, her voice had a steel edge to it and it pierced Fiyero's heart like a dagger. The haunted look in her eyes sent a wave of guilt through him so intense that he had to run from the room, from the tunnels, up into the world of grass above, and he did not return for several hours.

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