A/N: A shout out to my anonymous guest! More on what happened to the Private and Elphaba in this chapter. :)
Chapter 19
Elphaba grabbed the young man and Dilek quickly helped her pull him down the floor, so he could lay flat. The other soldiers closed the main doors and quickly ran around telling people to stay away from the windows as more bullets whizzed around. The good news was that the shots would bring other troops but that was also the bad news. It would put others in danger.
"Come on Private, stay with me," Elphaba knelt down and ripped open the young man's dress uniform to get a better look at the wound. It was in his chest and he was struggling to breathe. The green woman held herself back from swearing under her breath and quickly began chanting a healing spell. Dilek watched in fascination as the magic did its work. Private Schultz attempted to scream but his breath wouldn't allow him to. In a few moments, the young man lost consciousness.
Elphaba finished the spell and immediately felt lightheaded but before she fell backward, Dilek reached over, grabbed her shoulders, and steadied her. Prosecutor Doruk saw what was going on and quickly stepped into help.
"Are they ok?" The Prosecutor asked as he took Elphaba's frame against his legs and the Lieutenant scooted over to him to help the older man have her sit up against the nearby wall.
"I'll be fine. Healing magic is a lot. It's why not everyone can do it," the green woman said.
"What about the Private?" Dilek wanted to know.
"I've done all I can do. The rest is up to him," Elphaba admitted.
"We must get word to the judges and the other troops," Doruk said.
"No good way of doing it unless you want to end up like Schultz here," the Vinkun frowned.
"The back door," Prosecutor Emil suggested. He was helping a solider with a bullet graze in his arm.
"Is it something that anyone could know about?" Dilek asked.
"I don't think so. We only use it every once in a while," Emil said.
"Has anyone figured out where the shooter is?" Dilek turned to his men to see if they could get a handle on things out front.
"Negative Lieutenant. This guy is spraying indiscriminately," a young man, not much older than the Private, said.
"All right. Stay down. I don't want anyone getting killed. Kemal, with me," Dilek ordered. A man close in age to Dilek stood, his rank clearly shown on his shoulders as a Sergeant. Emil quickly took them to the back door. Dilek opened it slowly and stuck the shoulder end of his rifle out of it. No one shot at it, so he and Kemal carefully exit the doorway. It seemed as though the back door was not known to their assailant and they quickly ran to the side of the building. The gunman was still firing without really hitting anything, which was peculiar because he managed to hit the Private almost center mass.
"Can you tell where he's shooting from?" Dilek asked his comrade.
"No. Riza was right. This guy is all over the map," Kemal shook his head.
"Then perhaps the Private wasn't targeted and it was just a lucky shot," the Lieutenant frowned.
"Yes well, who is always standing next to the Private?" Kemal gave him a look.
"That thought crossed my mind. Let's see if we start shooting in the general direction if he ducks for cover," Dilek said. He quickly raised his rifle to his shoulder, ducked around the corner, and fired at a building some ways away. The first returned gunfire did little to stop the shooter.
"Ok that didn't work," the Lieutenant said.
"Must have been far enough away from him that he didn't notice. Still, that gives us cover. Let's get behind the next building. We must warn the Prince," the Sergeant told him. The Lieutenant nodded. They had better get a move on.
To Be Continued…