A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer! Glad you liked it. This is the last update of 2021, so I hope you like it. More is on the way after the holiday. ;)

Chapter 35

Elphaba had decided that they weren't going to mess around with questioning Corporal Zink anymore. She had concocted a truth serum and Zink had been given a choice – drink it or have Lieutenant Zetti make him drink it. Needless to say, despite his initial concerns, Zink drank it on his own.

He'd then explained that some of his former comrades had approached him regarding his defection to the Wizard's side. While he was not a Wizard sympathizer, Zink didn't see much of a way out of it, as they threatened to kill his wife. The soldier had thought about telling Fiyero about his situation, but he grew concerned that there were too many ears and eyes all over, especially after the attempt on Elphaba's life in the middle of the compound. So, he kept going to meetings as he'd been told to. The Corporal gave them addresses of the places he visited and Fiyero hoped they would lead to capturing more Wizard supporters.

Either way, he did not know what was about to happen when Morel opened the door that day for what was supposed to be the carriage driver. He said Morel opened the door, without checking, a breach of protocol to be sure, but one that he had done himself once or twice. He and Morel only knew the pickup times and what all the carriage drivers looked like, not which driver was scheduled for what day. Sergeant Duncan oversaw the schedule, and he made sure that the carriage driver was different every day, so that no one (except himself) back at the Palace knew what was going on.

Duncan's jaw had almost hit the floor and all the carriage drivers were immediately rounded up. They found their mole quite easily as one of the men tried to run, rather than follow the soldiers sent to get them from the stables. The man refused to admit that he'd peeked at the schedules or that Zink had told him when the pickup was, but it turned out that their drunk carriage driver has loose lips once he started drinking.

Zink told them he couldn't believe he had been shot and figured he was a dead man, but the shooter had only sneered at him. He guessed that his target was wounded enough that he'd die before anyone found him. Admittedly, without Elphaba's magic, that would have been the case. Luckily, Zink's wife had been brought to the Palace and Fiyero sent some men he knew he could trust to bring her there and to protect the couple.

Now as Glinda stood up on the balcony, prepping to make an announcement to the good people inside the Palace walls, she fidgeted. The blonde did not like the plan – not one bit. Still, she admitted it had its merits. The announcement had been scheduled, so it was the perfect opportunity for the enemy to act. Though Glinda wondered how accurate any shooters outside the walls could be and how they figured they wouldn't get caught by all the roving patrols of the soldiers who had come to the Emerald City to help.

"You really think this will work? I mean what are the chances we can cut the head of the snake off and it doesn't grow right back?" the current leader of Oz asked Fiyero, who stood next to her on the balcony.

"You announce that the fire at the corn exchange was an attempt on my life and the lives of the troops that went with me. You tell them that in that struggle a high-ranking Wizard sympathizer was killed. Tell them that we believe we are close in rounding up the last of the ring leaders. While you're busy distracting them, with me by your side, Bayram, Zetti, and Dilek will be leading raids on those locations that Zink gave us. If we time it right, we get them all at the same time, and no one gets away. Even if we don't get the leader, if he has no troops…" Fiyero told her. Glinda nodded, knowing he was leaving out that Zink had figured the only reason he'd been shot was because Sergeant Zeki had been right. Zink had been at a meeting where members of the group had discussed that killing Glinda would throw the entire Emerald City into chaos and that they could attempt to take control.

"Ok let's do this," Glinda let out a huff before facing the now gathering crowd. She calmly addressed the crowd and tried to remain steadfast so that no one could see how nervous she really was. As it turned out, the blonde had everything to be worried about as a sniper took up his post. He had one job and he intended to finish it.

To Be Continued…