A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer! More on our shooter in this chapter. ;) Thanks!
Chapter 21
"How's he doing?" Fiyero asked Elphaba as he walked into the medical tent. She was just watching over the young man, concerned for his well-being. He had just spent the last hour or so trying to get something out of the shooter. Just as he had suspected, the poor man was a civilian who had been forced to shoot at the prosecutor's building. He hadn't meant to hit the Private, it was just an unlucky shot.
"He's still out. You sure that was an unlucky shot. I mean two centimeters to the left and you'd be explaining to his parents what happened," she looked at him. Doctor Talib was starting to move the patients into the Palace now that most of them were stable enough. The Private was not and so he'd remain in the tent for the time being.
"This guy is no sniper. He was told to just aim for the doorway. If he hit something great, if not, no big deal. He was a distraction. One meant to take all of our attention. Except it didn't work because I sent men to the Judges," the Prince explained as they left the tent to have a more private conversation.
"And no one went to get the Wizard?" Elphaba cocked an eyebrow, stopping him just outside the Private's room. He had refused to leave her side; she wasn't about to go far from his.
"He's snug as a bug in a rug," Fiyero smirked.
"So botched escape attempt?" She wondered.
"Perhaps. The timing may have been off. I mean this guy that was doing the shooting didn't have a watch. They may have told him to wait until a certain time or he started to see people coming out and decided to shoot. I was more interested in finding out who gave him the orders and where I could find them," he admitted.
"Yes priorities. The man who was doing the shooting was the low man on the totem pole. But you can work your way up that pole," she nodded.
"Exactly," Fiyero took her hand and pulled her into a hug.
"I was so worried about you today," he said, burying his face into her hair. She'd pulled it out of her usually tight braid, and it flowed down her neck, all the way to her lower back.
"I was worried about you as well. This is never going to end, is it?" Elphaba asked.
"We're going to figure this out. Then we move to the Vinkus," he told her.
"And leave Glinda in the lurch?" She pulled away from him.
"Hardly. She'll have a rebuilt Gale Force and Lieutenant Bayram," Fiyero said.
"Right," Elphaba nodded.
"Look, things will get better, but it isn't going to happen overnight. We won't just abandon her," he promised. She nodded again and Fiyero knew it was because she was lost in thought.
"What is it?" He wanted to know.
"Question that man again. I'm not convinced that the shooting had anything to do with the Wizard," Elphaba said.
"You think the target, was you? I had the same thought. That's why I was hoping the Private was awake. His training might have helped him remember what happened or at least the few moments beforehand. It's the only way to verify what our shooter was trying to say. The Judges have decided to put the trial on hold for a few days…" he didn't get to finish.
"Maybe that was more to the point," Elphaba's eyes went wide.
"What do you mean?" Fiyero was confused.
"If the trial is delayed, then the Wizard will be in the one spot everyone knows him to be in," she said.
"Sure, but if he was in court they'd know where he'd be," he was still confused.
"Yes, but it's not exactly a secret that I am there so they may guess that I would have enchanted his chains or that I'd be too much to handle. It does them no good to try and rescue him if they can't actually free him," Elphaba pointed out.
"Yeah, that would be an issue. He can't leave the Palace without you enchanting the chains so by the time they were shooting at the Prosecutor's office you'd already cast your spell," Fiyero said.
"Exactly," she nodded.
"So, they were definitely using it as a distraction then but how do they intend to get at the Wizard? The guards…" he stopped.
"What?" It was Elphaba's turn to be confused.
"The construction workers," was all Fiyero managed before the two of them went running toward the Palace.
To Be Continued…