A/N: Well, it definitely puts me at ease that you all liked my last chapter. Well, yes, I know you didn't like what happened…you know what I mean. I'm not very happy with the writing of this chapter…I don't know why. And yes, I know, the look at Glinda's life is extremely short this chapter, and Glinda wasn't even in the last chapter, but Elphaba's life, though sad, is much more interesting right now. Sorry! Sawyerzelda: I've been extremely confused when it comes to paragraphs! If you'll look at chapters, like, two through five, I just kind of made up where there should be a new paragraph…the last one I didn't even try, I just decided to clump. I'm going to just start randomly putting new paragraphs in, if anybody sees a mistake, please tell me, Word doesn't catch it or anything, so I definitely need help. Pinksprinkles121: Yes, you're completely right; they would have fought back ten times more. I don't have an excuse other than I didn't really think of it, but they'll fight back later ; ). Countrybutterfly0102: Would you like a summary of the show? I'd gladly post one, no problem at all. This is awfully confusing if you don't know what happens in the show. But if you don't want to know what happens that's fine too.
Glinda's maid Lillany knocked three times on Glinda's bedroom, where she had been spending most of her time since she had become the ruler of Oz. She was always doing something-being Glinda, the Good Witch of the North was an awfully difficult title to live up to, and she needed to make sure that Oz didn't turn into a terrible place. Lillany heard a perky "Come in!"and opened the door. Glinda lay on her bed, books spread out in front of her. "Miss Glinda, you have a post." she told her.
Glinda sighed. "Yes, yes, well, I've been getting many of them lately, is it important?"
"I…didn't read it." Lillany told her, timidly. Glinda laughed and hopped off the bed. "Of course not!" She exclaimed. She grinned, never before realizing how much she must intimidate people. "Bring it to me, if you will." Lillany scurried from the room to get the letter for Glinda. Glinda sighed. "Drat," she muttered. She did love being a public figure, but she wasn't sure if she loved being so powerful. She nodded to herself. That was why she and Elphie would make such a wonderful team. Elphie was smart like that, and while she, of course, had common sense, she knew it was because she was popular that she was the leader. Lillany rushed in with Glinda's letter, handed it to her, and, after bowing slightly, ran from the room. Glinda shook her head. It was such a shame that she scared people like that.
Glinda tore open the letter and pulled out a sheet of parchment. She read it to herself a couple times. The letter was written in secrecy, from an anonymous group of people, all wanting to know what she planned to do on the animal laws. That issue she had no idea what to do on. She knew exactly what Elphie would do. Elphie would have freed the animals and taught them to talk the minute she became ruler…but Glinda had her status to worry about. Many citizens of Oz liked it better without the animals. She knew the right thing to do would be to free the animals. She didn't, however, know what she was going to do. She flopped down on the bed, letting the letter drift out of her hands. "Oh, Boq," she muttered. "Bring Elphie back quickly!"
Elphaba, led by the Gale Force guards, and hands bonded in front of her, walked out of the front entrance to the castle. The guard holding the rope set it down after an okay from his captain. Years of being humiliated of her color had taught her to keep her chin up when people stared or laughed, which she did then. The rest of the guards had been talking loudly, and when the five of them walked out, they started staring and laughing to each other about the Witch of the West, hands tied and completely alone. She breathed deep, not wanting them to see her discomfort, and chose one of the guards and looked him straight in the eye. He stopped laughing, as did the rest of them, as she surveyed them silently, back straight and head high. She felt a shove from behind as she broke eye contact and stepped forward, regaining her balance.
"Keep your eyes down," the captain commanded her. She turned, angry, and stared at him defiantly. The captain, not expecting this, got within a few inches of her face and spoke to her quietly, meanly.
"You don't seem to understand. We're in charge, Elphaba." Elphaba. The word she hadn't heard uttered from anyone besidesthose closest to herin years the captain had just spoken. She wasn't sure why, but somehow she knew that this was someone she knew. The captain continued. "If you disobey us, you-or the two we've left behind-will be punished. If you escape, we'll turn straight around and kill whoever is in that building."
They kept staring into each other's eyes, their noses inches apart. A million thoughts raced through her head as she struggled to keep the stubborn expression on her face. Her life she didn't care about-or she told herself she didn't-, she was certain they were going to take her back to the Emerald City just to kill her anyway. But Fiyero and Damaran she did care about. Hating herself for doing it, she slowly lowered her eyes to the ground. The captain smirked, and they both knew he had won. The rest of the guards, who had been so quiet watching them, straining to hear their captain's words, abruptly picked up where they had left off on their conversation, no longer watching her, nobody holding the rope attached to her wrists, leaving her alone.
As he walked away, Elphaba watched him from the corner of her eyes. She vowed to herself to figure something out before they got to the Emerald City. She wasn't sure what they were going to do with Fiyero and Damaran. It didn't sound like they planned to kill them, but it was possible they would for no reason, or after they had killed her. She knew that she had to do something, eventually.
She stood, not 100 yards from Fiyero and Damaran just inside the castle, watching eight of the eleven Gale Force men packing tents and loading horses. The other three were stationed around the castle, one to each entrance, making sure that Fiyero and Damaran stayed in. She wasn't sure ifFiyero and Damaranplanned on trying to attack them, but she wished she had had the sense to tell them not to try while she was still with them. She didn't want them to get killed during the process; she knew that whatever she could figure out would probably be best. The men seemed slightly subdued under Elphaba's watchful eye; all of them-except the captain, it seemed-appeared to be afraid of her. The captain would look over every so often, and when he did, she would lower her eyes, digging her fingernails into her skin as she did so, angry at herself for being so helpless. The rope on her wrists was rubbing at her skin constantly, so she tried not to move her hands at all. She eyed the captain. He didn't look familiar, but she knew he definitely was. There was something about the way he said 'Elphaba', and some look in his eyes that made her knew she knew him from somewhere…but where?
She watched as the captain pulled a pocketwatch from his uniform. "We've been here nearly a half hour, men," he called out. "Time to set out!"
Elphaba felt extremely nervous all of a sudden, and had an overwhelming desire to run inside the castle and lock the door, holding onto Fiyero tightly. She looked back up at the castle, looking to see if maybe they were watching her through a window. Everything looked uninhabited and normal, however, though she knew it was neither. She knew she didn't want to go back to the Emerald City with the guards, and she certainly didn't want to die. She knew both of those were unavoidable, of course, and she knew if she ran back into the castle that it wouldn't be five seconds before the soldier guarding the front entrance would drag her out kicking and screaming while they either punished her or Fiyero and Damaran-and while she had no idea what the 'punishment' was, she knew it would be something bad. She turned back towards the soldiers, watching keenly to see what they intended to do with her on the long journey back to the Emerald City. The captain strode over to her as she watched (he seemed to forget about the "eyes down" rule) and he roughly grabbed the rope that was trailing off the knots around her wrists. "Bonally!" he shouted. One of the guards turned and walked towards them, bowing slightly. "Yes, Commander?"
"You'll hold the rope as you ride. The witch here will walk beside you." Elphaba felt like a small child, as her parents made arrangements for a nanny to watch her. She bit her lip, realizing that they probably planned to make her walk the entire way back. She would not give them the satisfaction of letting them see her tired, or aching, however. Bonally, or whatever his name was, looked a little frightened at being given the task of watching her. She noticed this and gazed at him. She would have laughed, if it hadn't been such a hopeless situation. She realized that the guards were terrified of her, and while she may not be able to scare the captain, the soldiers were certainly impressionable. Bonally bowed, however, and took the rope the captain handed him. Bonally glanced at her and pulled at the rope a bit, at which she followed him, feeling lower than a domestic dog. Every soldier was mounting a horse, and Bonally went to the third to last horse in the procession and, still holding the rope, mounted the horse. He looped it a couple times around his wrist. She breathed deep, wanting to cry but knowing she couldn't, and wouldn't, allow herself to. The captain blew the whistle and so Elphaba, humiliated and missing Fiyero already, started to walk alongside Bonally's horse. She didn't look back, not wanting to know if Fiyero or Damaran was watching, not wanting them to see her at her lowest point.