A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I don't have a very good excuse…I just wasn't looking much forward to writing it. Then, I had a brainstorm: I'll rush everything in this chapter and get her to the Emerald City! YAY! So yes, it's not a very good chapter, but she's finally there. : ) Kate: No, I didn't intend that conflict, but it's a very good idea! I'll definitely use it, thank you! And thank you very much for the compliments, they were very nice! And you're right about the horses. ; ) Jemima: Yes, Fiyero gets turned into the scarecrow, Elphaba doesn't die, and Fiyero probably is the scarecrow that travels with them. In a review to me, GinaB posted this: http:libretto. It's a link to read the script. And I need to make Boq less evil! In the coming chapters, I'll attempt to make him nicer. Countrybutterfly: Whoa…I most certainly wouldn't have said that, but it means a lot to me that you did. Thank you very much!

Damaran collapsed on the ground next to Fiyero. "I can't move." He informed him.

Fiyero looked at the boy, sprawled on the ground with his eyes closed. Fiyero was carrying the broom, and Damaran carrying the spear, and they both still had their bows and arrows. He nudged Damaran with his foot. "Get up," he told him half-heartedly.

"I can't…move."

Fiyero had to admit that taking a break sounded like a good idea. They had been walking for an entire day, and neither one of them had had a break. Both hadn't slept for a couple days. Fiyero sighed, and laid down next to Damaran. The tall grass continued for a long ways, and they had been walking in that. It was night then, and they knew that Elphaba and the guards were probably breaking then. But they could afford to-they were far ahead of Damaran and Fiyero, being on horses that could run much faster than the two could. Fiyero knew that they shouldn't stop, but he also knew that if they rested for five hours, maybe six, they could get their energy up and have much more strength to go after Elphaba. It would benefit them in the long run, he told himself, and within three minutes was asleep.

Six hours came and went, and by the time Fiyero woke up he judged at least eleven hours had passed by how groggy he was and the position of the sun. He sprang up, heart beating, and woke Damaran. Damaran squinted in the sunlight, and Fiyero quickly grabbed the broom. "Come on!" he yelled at Damaran. Damaran also got up quickly and took the spear. "We let too much time pass," Fiyero told Damaran, walking quickly. Damaran struggled to keep up. "They're probably way ahead of us now."

"I'm hungry."

Fiyero didn't say anything, but let them stop for five minutes to eat. After they had each had an apple, they started off again, walking a bit slower this time.

"We're never going to catch up, you know."

"You don't know that."

"They have horses, Fiyero. Unless we never stop, we're not catching up."

Fiyero didn't answer him.

…

Three days had passed since the rainstorm, and Elphaba's legs and wrists were still tied, and Boq was still angry at her for knowing who he was. She didn't ride with him, anymore, he let the other soldiers work out who would ride with her. They stuck the youngest with her, as nobody else could be forced to do it. The youngest was named Oveel, and he couldn't have been more than two years younger than she. He was frightened to death of her, and never said a word when in her presence. She had grown used to the pain the ropes caused her, though it hurt like hell. She hadn't once seen Fiyero, and thought he had probably given up. That was okay though-he'd stay safe that way.

Boq whistled in the front, but she kept staring dully at the ground. She'd nearly given up.

There were whistles and claps all around, and Oveel did the same behind her. "Look," he whispered, nudging her. Surprised, as that had been the first time he had addressed her, she looked up.

The Emerald City was in sight.

She fought the urge to scream and start writhing in the ropes grasp, and just stared, frightened. Even from the far off distance you could see several buildings, and, of course, the Wizard's palace in the middle. "We probably have a day and a half's journey ahead of us," Boq told them all, smiling. Wide-eyed, she stared at him, and he could tell the fear in her eyes. His smile disappeared, and he looked away quickly. She also looked down, and Oveel flicked the reins once so that the horse would follow the others. She took a shaky breath.

"Are you okay?" Oveel asked her, only loud enough for her to hear.

Once again, Elphaba was surprised. She was a little bit wary-kindness wasn't something she was accustomed to, and she wasn't sure if he was joking with her or not. "Yes," she whispered, lying.

Oveel didn't say anything behind her, and that was the last they spoke that day.

…

"We should be in the Emerald City by midnight tonight, if we press hard," Boq told them the next morning. Elphaba was loaded onto the horse in front of Oveel, and she tensed. Oveel and Elphaba, being the last in the group, waited for everyone else to start moving, then followed.

Elphaba half-expected Oveel to speak to her that day, but he didn't. He was gentle with her, though, as if he didn't really want to be mean to her. As the Emerald City grew nearer, her heart beat faster and her breaths grew closer together. She was scared...of her former best friend. Glinda was an influential person, and though she thought that they had made up, clearly they hadn't, and she would be put to death. If Glinda was still mad at Elphaba, she was probably still mad at Fiyero, also, so if Fiyero showed his face in the Emerald City, then he would be put to death, also. She shut her eyes, tightly, and opened them again. All of that day, she grew more and more desperate…she had to try something, but then, she couldn't. She had a fleeting moment where she imagined taking control of the reins and turning the horse around, but then dismissed it, as her arms were still behind her and they would catch up to her anyway. There was absolutely nothing that she could do…not without Fiyero, at least. She sighed, and waited for them to reach the Emerald City.

…

Boq was right. They reached the Emerald City by about midnight, when the usually active city was quiet. Elphaba was glad, at least, that not everyone in Oz would be there to witness her being brought in with ropes around her. Boq gathered them to listen to him. Elphaba's head hung low, not wanting to see any of them.

"You all have performed a necessary task to Oz, and Glinda the Good thanks you. Congratulations on a job well done." The soldiers, tired but still happy, said their goodbyes to each other briefly and took their horses back to their homes. Elphaba was lost in her own head as Boq assigned a few to take the horses with supplies back to Oz's stables, and Oveel stayed on his horse with Elphaba, not sure of where to go. Boq slipped off his horse and motioned for Oveel to hand Elphaba over to him. Oveel did, and Boq took a knife out of a holder on his belt. She took a short breath in, thinking that he would kill her right there, but he bent down and sliced the ropes on her ankles. Without thinking, she lunged away from him, about to run, but he grabbed her firmly by the arms. Oveel quickly got down off of the horse, also, and held on to her. She pursed her lips and looked away, not trying to get away anymore. Boq kept holding onto her right arm, and Oveel held on to her left, and they walked her over to where the jail cells were. They were in a building with no guards in front of it, as there wasn't anyone in there yet, and there was no door. Elphaba paused for a moment when they got to the entrance, but they kept her going. She felt doomed and nervous as they walked her down the hall of the dark building with no floor, past about five cells, then turned the corner. Boq let go of her arm, and Oveel held loosely on to her, as Boq took keys out of his pocket. He must have been waiting for this moment, Elphaba thought. He unlocked the door of a cell and opened it, turning back to Elphaba. Oveel held on to both of her arms and turned her towards him, as Boq sliced the rope holding her arms. He took Elphaba and shoved her into the cell. She stumbled in, and Boq threw the door closed, and turned the key inside of it. Oveel grimaced sympathetically, and Boq looked kind of…sad. She looked back at them, and watched through the bars as they turned and walked away, walked out of the building.

She looked around at her surroundings. The walls behind and to either side of her seemed to be made of plaster, and the door/gate to the cell had thick iron strips that ran down half a foot apart from each other, and then strips ran across those horizontally half a foot apart from each other. It was nearly pitch black, but a window at the very top of the cell-not really a window, more of a hole with two thick bars running through it-let in some moonlight. The cell was about six feet wide and six feet long, and probably no more than seven feet tall. There was a bucket in the corner, and hay strewn around on the dirt-packed ground. She let a sob escape from her lips, though no tears came. Slowly, she sank down to the ground and curled herself tightly into a ball in the middle of the cell, letting her hair drape over her face. She closed her eyes. She would sleep very little that night.

…

Four days after Damaran and Fiyero took their eleven hour nap, the two caught their breath in their throat. The Emerald City was not far off. They knew that Elphaba and the guards had probably already reached it, and they judged they could get there within a day. Fiyero smiled to Damaran. "We're almost there," he said. Damaran smiled, also.

"Do we have a plan?"

"No."

They smiled at each other, still. They would work something out. Determinedly, they walked faster, knowing that they could get there soon.