A/N: Thank you guys so much for reviewing! I love posting, then seeing that I have so many new emails from reviews! It's really exciting! Oh, and I know it seems like (well, it seems like it to me) Boq likes Elphaba a little bit, or that some of that action will be taking place later…don't expect it…it's not coming. Silvermoonset: I'll try to catch my words running together…editing it, I didn't even see them! Sawyerzelda: Yes, I did hear about Idina Menzel! It was so sad! I felt bad for all the people who went and saw her understudy. And of course, I felt much worse for Idina Menzel. It must have really been disappointing to not get to do your last performance.
Fiyero sat at the upstairs window looking out at the guard at the front, muttering curses under his breath. He sadly looked away, not knowing what to do.
It had been hours since Elphaba had left, and Fiyero felt completely lost. Her last look back at him replayed over and over in his head, her finally showing that something scared her. He was angry at himself that he couldn't do anything about it, couldn't protect her like he should. He looked back out the window at the guard. He wondered if he could attack him. But the guard had a gun, and the two other guards that would come running with a shout.It wouldn't do Elphaba any good if he was dead.
Damaran paced downstairs. He couldn't believe they had taken her. She was so strong. It didn't seem like anything could harm her. He stopped, suddenly, and sat down, cross legged and his chin on his fists, thinking hard. He knew they had to do something to help her. Fiyero was useless, and probably would be until they had a plan, he was still in shock over Elphaba leaving. He knew they couldn't stay in the house under the mercy of the Gale Force. He wasn't sure if the guards would kill them or not…it didn't seem like they planned on it, but things could certainly change. And besides that, they had to get to Elphaba. Though Damaran would never have told this to Fiyero, he doubted they wouldn't kill her the minute they got back to Oz. He was still surprised that they didn't have a burial to attend to that day. Perhaps they wanted to show her off to the citizens of Oz? He shuddered, now unable to get the ghastly image of Elphaba having a public execution out of his head. He shut his eyes tightly, until he heard feet on the stairs above him. He looked up and saw Fiyero plodding down the steps. Fiyero crossed over to Damaran and sat down next to him, in the same position. Damaran looked at him hesitantly, not wanting to say anything wrong, so not saying anything at all.
They sat for a few minutes, chins on fists and legs crossed, silently, until Fiyero sighed. "So what are we going to do for food tonight?" he asked, clearly not caring whether they ate or not for the next year. Damaran shrugged. "We can go hunting."
Fiyero looked at him, wanting to strangle him for making fun of their current situation. "The guards are guarding the entrances."
"Well, I know that, there's a bunch of secret entrances that I've found over the past couple weeks, we can go through there." Fiyero's heart nearly stopped, and he jumped up. Damaran looked at him, surprised.
"Damaran! We can escape through the entrances and find Elphaba!" Damaran's eyes widened, and he jumped up also, feeling like a moron for not realizing that. It was Fiyero's turn to pace, and he did so, telling his plan wildly to Damaran. "We can leave as early as tonight…the guards will be less alert then, and they'll hardly be able to see us anyway. We'll need our hunting supplies, so we can free Elphaba." Damaran was grinning soon, realizing that finally they had a plan.
Elphaba walked, stumbling, feeling light-headed and slightly dizzy from the moisture in the air still, and the sweating she was doing from way too much exercise. She was great at running…short distances. A life on the run had taught her that, and her broom had always been in close proximity if she ever needed to escape. She had been walking very quickly for…what, three hours? Four? Five? She had no way of knowing. The soldiers didn't mind at all, she heard laughter a lot, usually when she fell. Her wrists stung from the rope, and she could tell the skin was bleeding. Sheknew that if she walked for much longer she would faint…there was too much water reaching her skin. After what had felt like days, the captain blew his whistle. She closed her eyes, briefly, relieved. "We'll camp here," he told them loudly. The soldiers started to get off their horses, and Bonally also got down, still holding the rope, and still not happy about it. She wavered on her feet, but stared solidly at him, hands in front of her, of course. He averted his eyes from her gaze and waved at the captain, who walked over. Bonally gave a slight bow. "What shall I do with the witch, Commander?" The captain looked her over. "I'll take over from here, Bonally, that will do," he told him, still looking at Elphaba. Bonally jogged away, joining his fellow soldiers with a relieved expression on his face.
The captain continued to stare at Elphaba, who just wanted to collapse on the ground. He seemed to size her up in that moment, and then reached for her arms and began to untie them. Elphaba was relieved, but didn't say anything. She realized she hadn't said a word to any of the guards, and didn't mind how that was working out. After untying her hands, he pulled the rope away from the arms, and surveyed her green wrists. She saw him looking and pulled her arms away, realizing how cut up and raw they were. She tried to read his face. Was it guilt? Pleasure? She really couldn't tell. He cleared his throat. "Remember, if you leave, whoever's back in that castle will pay for it." He walked away.
He didn't take five steps before she let her knees give out under her and collapsed, staring up at the foreboding grey clouds. It couldn't have been more than two in the afternoon, by how bright it was. It was still cold out, though. She drew her cape around her, sitting up. She wished she had tea, or milk, or something to drink. She had a short intake of breath. What if they had brought along only water? Her heart started to pound, hoping that wasn't the case. Though they did know that she was allergic to water…she took a deep breath, deciding to not think about it. She dabbed at her face with the cape, her skin thanking her already. She lay back down, glad she was wearing the heavy, lacy black dress and cape. She could faintly hear the soldiers off to the side, talking (probably about her, she mused) and laughing. Fiyero's face entered her mind and she pushed it back out again. She hadn't thought about either one of them-Damaran or Fiyero-throughout that day, and wished to keep it like that. It was easier to not think about them.
She slowly closed her eyes, and opened them again. She didn't want to fall asleep, not yet…but she knew it was unavoidable after herlong, terribleday, and so finally drifted off.
Boq watched Elphaba from a hundred yards away, wondering what she was thinking about. He felt a great feeling, the feeling of revenge, but also felt a tiny bit of guilt, something he definitely hadn't anticipated. Not so much that he was willing to let her go, but seeing her wrists rubbed raw from the rope…he shoved the notion out of his head, and smiled, thinking of watching her stumbling. 'How the mighty have fallen,' he observed, savagely. She looked awfully cold in her cape, and he saw her lay down, getting ready for a nap probably, he decided. He was right, and he watched her for a few minutes, tossing and turning in sleep, almost never still. He stood up, dusting off his jacket. He was sure the soldiers must be hungry, as they hadn't stopped since getting Elphaba. They had brought along dried meat, flat bread (the latter was probably all going to Elphaba, as nobody would touch it), tea, water, and a few fruits. He whistled. He had been given the whistle by Glinda-it was part of his uniform. He loved blowing it. It made him feel extremely important. He noticed Elphaba jolt up out of sleep, then sit up, watching steadfastly. "If you'd like, we could have supper now," he said, feeling stupid. He was going to shout out something like, "Dinner!" or "You can eat now, men!" but he felt a little intimidated with Elphaba watching him. The soldiers got into their packs on the horses and grabbed the food. Elphaba stayed where she was. Boq also went over to a horse and grabbed the flat bread, and a teabag.
He boiled some water on a fire that the soldiers made, added it to a cup, and stirred the teabag into it. He carried that and the bread and made his way over to Elphaba. She took it from him, still not saying anything. She seemed to refuse to talk. She quickly took a large drink from the tea, which Boq smiled at, glad that the journey had made her thirsty. To make sure she knew he still hated her, he added to her, "Next time you can get it yourself." Her eyes looked up at him, almost laughing at him. She kept staring as she took a bite of the flat bread, her face not showing any sign of disgust, just amusement. As he turned around to go back to his place near the soldiers, they both knew that he may hold the ropes, but she was in charge.