Author's Note: Aerial312...thanks for catching that...::gives self strange look in mirror:: I think my hands must have been possessed...

Chapter 30

"You can have your own room now that Elphaba and Fiyero are gone, you know," said Boq.

"I know," said Glinda absently, but she didn't move.

"What?" asked Boq, sitting down on the bed beside her.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Glinda shot back rather sharply.

"Something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!" she insisted.

Boq narrowed his eyes at her.

"Okay," said Glinda resignedly. "I just can't help thinking that taking their room would be…I don't know. A breach of faith, I guess."

"How so?"

"It's just…it would feel like…we weren't expecting them to come back." Her voice had a funny sound to it and Boq realized suddenly that she was genuinely concerned.

"Hey, look," said Boq with a certainty he didn't feel, "don't you think they know what they're doing? I mean, Fiyero has been there before; he's got to know something about the security. And Elphaba grew up in Quadling Country. Neither one of them is going to do anything reckless."

"And the boy?" said Glinda, getting up and pacing across the room.

Boq sighed heavily. He'd forgotten about the boy. Liir was a wildcard in a dangerous situation. Emotional, rash, and immature.

"The boy could learn a thing or two from them," said Boq with all the confidence he could muster.

Glinda sighed again.

"I hope so. I have so much left that I want to say to her…to both of them. And I can't shake the feeling that we're running out of time, all of us."

Boq nodded slowly.

"That meeting made me realize…things are worse than I thought. Much worse. I mean, I knew things were bad but I guess I just told myself that—" Boq trailed off, staring sadly at a large dark stain on the floor.

"You hoped that you would find your family and everything would go back to normal," Glinda finished for him.

Boq nodded, still staring at the floor.

"Well," said Glinda softly, "one thing's sure. Everything isn't going to go back to normal. At least not the way it was before."

"I should be getting paid for this," muttered Liir reproachfully as he slipped in a puddle of mud.

Elphaba glared at him.

"We all should be getting some kind of reward for the work that we're doing," she said darkly. "Unfortunately the world doesn't work that way. Especially now."

Liir looked ashamed and immediately feigned interest in a nearby tree. Elphaba noted silently that he hated being scolded as much as she did. She smiled a little despite herself.

"Like mother like son," muttered Fiyero so that Liir couldn't hear.

Elphaba nodded pushing aside a low-hanging tree branch.

"A little frightening, isn't it?"

Fiyero shrugged.

"Mildly."

They were trudging through the brush along the side of the Yellow Brick Road, attempting to keep out of sight as they neared Quadling country. The road had disintegrated even further now that there was no one to maintain it at all. Thick vines from the side of the road were beginning to take it over and tree roots had crack the bricks. It was the perfect environment for someone to sneak up on them. Elphaba looked around uneasily, feeling as though someone was watching her. Ahead a few feet, Liir caught his foot on a root and stumbled, cursing loudly.

"Quiet!" hissed Elphaba angrily.

"I can't help it," whined Liir.

Elphaba glared at him.

"Help it. Or I'll help you."

"Y-you w-wouldn't dare!" stammered Liir.

"We're almost there," said Fiyero before either one of them could say anything more. "It's just beyond the next clump of trees. They use the underbrush to obscure the mines. It's a perfect trap. If you keep following the road straight, you'll walk right into the swamp and get stuck in the mud."

Elphaba shuddered. She could smell the swamp in the air, now that she knew it was there. The moisture in the air burned the inside of her nose. She swallowed hard, her stomach a twisting mass of anxious knots. The swamp smelled like death. Elphaba had always hated it, from the moment her family had moved to Quadling Country, all those years ago. Filled with wet sand and dangerous, camouflaged water pits, the swamp was almost a sure death sentence for her. And now she was walking back into it. Willingly.

Elphaba shook her head at herself. Some things never did change.

"Come here," said Fiyero softly as they approached the clump of trees. He took Elphaba's arm and deftly guided her through the tangle of growth behind him, making sure to keep her clear of any water.

They stopped at the edge of the trees, still mostly concealed, but close enough that they could see. The mines rose up out of a drained portion of the swamp like the head of a giant sore. The ground, normally covered by murky water was instead exposed mud. The area looked raw somehow, as if the landscape itself was infected and hurting.

After a moment of searching, Elphaba saw where the captives were kept. A path cleared in the mud led down into what must have been a series of subterranean caves exposed by the draining of the would-be lake. Strewn through the mud were various rusted pieces of metal; they were pieces of old, damaged tiktoks Elphaba realized with a jolt of horror. It was a graveyard, of sorts. A little further off, near the mouth of the cave was a pile of bones. Human bones, she thought, swallowing bile.

The area around the swamp was a pristine forest, much different than Elphaba remembered it. There was no sign of the Quadling civilization. They must be in an unfamiliar part of the country, she thought…or else…they must all really be gone. Low hills rose up around the edges of the lake; caves were barely visible around the perimeter. Several yards away from the drained lake was the only sign of what had once been an entire village. An old, decaying stone wishing well stood, looking forlornly hopeful. Elphaba shivered at the sight of it.

"There's something in the bushes," whispered Liir, his eyes wide with fear.

Elphaba's heart sped up, but she refused to panic until she knew for sure that there was in fact a real threat.

"You're imagining things," she muttered, desperately wanting to believe it.

To her left, Fiyero shook his head. Elphaba turned to look him in the eye, and instantly she knew that Liir was not imagining anything. There was indeed something in the bushes.

It was large and metallic. And it was looking right at them.

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