It was nightfall by the time Fiyero, Liir, and Elphaba reached the Vinkus River. Fiyero gently laid Elphaba down on the driest part of the riverbank. He took a long, cool drink before settling himself beside her. Liir sat near his father. The journey had been rough with Elphaba vomiting every half hour. They were all exhausted. Elphaba did seem to be improving, however. She was more alert than she had been a few hours ago.
"Yero…just go. Don't waste your energy on me."
Fiyero gazed at her evenly. "I'm not giving up on you. I don't want you to give up on yourself either. We are going to get through this together. That's what families do. They stand by one another, no matter what."
Elphaba opened her mouth to protest, but Fiyero laid a hand on her arm. "I don't want to argue with you. Please just concentrate on getting well."
Elphaba sighed raggedly. She despised being weak and helpless. "Fine. But it's only because I don't want you to make a fuss." Fiyero gave her a small, satisfied smile.
The silence of the night fell upon the trio. An owl hooted in the distance. Liir lay next to Fiyero, snoring lightly. Fiyero sat watching Elphaba with a fierce intensity. Her breathing had become slightly shallow, and Fiyero was worried that she would have a relapse. He hoped Chistery would bring help soon. He was still at a loss for a medicine to aid Elphaba's healing process. Her severe allergy made treatment difficult. He would try a poison-drawing salve on each of her tattoos. The difficulty would be removing the salve, which required water. Elphaba would just have to endure it.
The flapping of wings overhead grabbed Fiyero's attention. Looking ahead he saw a torch light in the distance.
"Good boy, Chistery," he thought. Before long Boq, Glinda, and Shell stood in front of him.
"Am I glad to see you three," said Fiyero.
"We got here as soon as we could," replied Boq.
Glinda immediately knelt by Elphaba's side. Elphaba's eyes fluttered open when Glinda held her hands.
"What are you doing here?" Elphaba asked.
"We are here to help you," Glinda replied. She brushed the hair away from Elphaba's angular face.
"We?"
"Yes, Boq and Shell are here also."
Shell went over to his sister. "How are you feeling, Kiddo?"
Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "Kiddo?" she asked.
Shell laughed before responding, "Since you are not at your best the responsibility of elder sibling falls to me."
Elphaba managed a small smile. "In that case, I will cooperate. I am feeling better than I was earlier, but I still feel very weak."
"Don't worry about a thing, Elphie," said Glinda
"What about Leina? Is she ok?" asked Elphaba.
"She's fine. Just relax," Glinda soothed.
Boq handed Fiyero a bag of herbs and medicines. "We thought you might need these."
Fiyero clapped him firmly on the shoulder. "Good thinking, old friend."
He immediately began sorting through his supplies. When he found the necessary ingredients, he quickly combined them to form the salve.
"We need to move her to a more secluded location. The tattoos are all over her body," Fiyero hinted.
Shell picked up Elphaba and set her down behind a large rock. He propped her up against it.
"This shouldn't take long," Fiyero told him.
Shell nodded and returned to the riverbank. Chistery scampered over with the torch. Fiyero worked quickly, applying the salve to her upper body and working his way down. Elphaba let out a long sigh when Fiyero coated the final tattoo.
"Thank you," she whispered gratefully.
Fiyero kissed her gently. "You rest here for a minute while I wash up."
"Is she going to be ok?" asked Glinda when Fiyero knelt to wash his hands in the river.
"The salve should draw the rest of the poison out. She seems to have fought most of it off."
"Poison? Who poisoned her? How?" Glinda questioned.
"Keahn mixed a slow-acting poison with the dye for Elphaba's tattoos," explained Fiyero.
A strangled cry escaped from Glinda's throat.
"I'd like to have a few words with him," growled Shell.
"I have this funny feeling that he is in league with the Wizard," said Boq.
"It's highly unlikely. The Wizard wouldn't resort to killing Elphaba. He wants her to join with him. I would have known about this Keahn character anyway," replied Shell.
"I still think it's odd that the Wizard knew about Liir," Glinda piped in.
Everyone fell silent at her statement. Something strange was happening in Oz. Somehow, these five friends had to make it right.
