Chapter 7
"Tell us again who you have brought before us?" The eldest council member Twyla asked as she pushed up her glasses. Twyla was an older woman with stern but tired hazel eyes, and her hair was ghost white as it hung just below her shoulders. The court room was filled with Oz citizens all muttering among themselves as Samson stood before the council.
"I bring you the Wicked Witch of the West." Samson said as he pointed to the green witch who was surrounded by guards, but still had Glinda by her side.
"The Wicked Witch of the West?" Twyla repeated as she stared at Elphaba in shock. "Impossible, she died many moons ago."
"I speak no lie!" Samson answered. "Look! Gaze upon her skin that is green as the Emerald city. No one but her has skin like that!"
"And who do you say you are?" Twyla shouted to the green witch.
Elphaba only smiled with a grin that almost looked malevolent as she replied, "I am Elphaba, but most know me as the Wicked Witch of the West." The crowd gasped with those words only to have Elphaba turn to them and say, "Well don't be that surprised."
"How may I ask that you are still alive?" Twlya asked. "I mean all of Oz heard you were melted by Dorothy from Kansas."
"My death was staged." Elphaba replied. "Before, that young farm girl, Dorothy threw water at me I had used a complicated and temporary spell from the Grimmerie. This gave my skin an invisible shield to protect me from the water. There was also a trap door that let me escape to a secret room below the floor boards. I stayed in the tower and lived in that room until all of Oz thought I was dead."
After listening to what the green witch had said Twyla then turned to her second in command. "Norris, fetch me book number 125 and scroll number five." The man nodded his head and walked over to a huge shelf of great stature. Upon it laid the law books and scrolls of Oz. The shelf looked like it carried much weight as Norris searched the gigantic shelf until he found the book and scroll requested by Twyla. He placed the two items in front of the eldest council member before taking his seat. Twyla then licked the tips of her bony fingers before flipping the pages of book number 125. Her eyes rising up occasionally to peer at Elphaba. "May I ask why Glinda the Good is here?"
"She requested this trial." Samson answered quickly.
"Did you?" Twyla asked.
"I did." Glinda replied.
Twyla only nodded as she found the page she wanted before turning to the scroll. "I do not know why you called for this trial, Miss Glinda. I know this woman's crimes. I know all of her wicked crimes."
"She even kidnaped Glinda the Good!" Samson shouted.
"She did no such..." Glinda couldn't get the rest of her sentence out before some Ozians started yelling.
"Kill the witch!" One shouted.
"How dare she try to harm Glinda!" A second added.
"Death to the witch!" A third yelled.
"Silence!" Twyla screamed as she hit her gavel against the desk.
"Samson lies!" Glinda said once the chatter of the Ozians settled. "Elphaba never kidnaped me. It was Fiyero who did that...with Samson's help I might add."
"I never did such a thing." Samson said.
"This Fiyero you speak of." Twyla began. "I thought he died by the hands of the guards when he helped the green witch escape from the Ozian guards those many moons ago."
"No he lived." Glinda answered.
"Where is this Fiyero now?" Norris questioned.
"He is dead." Elphaba spoke up.
"Dead? What caused him to die?" Twyla asked.
"I killed him." Elphaba answered.
"There you have it!" Samson shouted. "She has admitted in killing an innocent man!"
"Yes I killed him!" The green witch yelled back, voice harsh. "But he was far from innocent."
"How so?" Norris asked.
"He tried to kill Glinda the Good." Elphaba replied. "He pushed her off of a castle ledge."
"If this Fiyero tried to kill Glinda then who may I ask saved her?" Twyla asked.
"I did." Elphaba answered only to have a group of laughter follow.
"You are the Wicked Witch of the West." Twyla replied. "You would not do such a thing so selfless as that. Besides Samson is a loyal guard of Oz. So it is a matter of either taking your word or his, and I think we all know who's going to win."
"Do you take Samson's word over mine?" Glinda quickly retorted.
"It is obvious this Wicked Witch of the West is more powerful then we thought." Twyla said. "It looks to me she has brain washed you Miss Glinda."
"That is not true!" Glinda shouted tears of desperation starting to consume her eyes. "She saved me! She did a good deed for me!"
Glinda's words fell on deaf ears however as the council members shook their heads at the green witch. "I'm sorry Glinda, but the Wicked Witch of the West would never do a good deed for anyone especially for someone as kind and good as you. Anything good is her enemy." Twyla replied as she held up scroll number five. "So now by the law of scroll number five, I elder of the council pronounce the Wicked Witch of the West guilty of crimes against Oz and it's people. For this treason she will be put to death."
"No!" Glinda shouted as tears fell down her cheeks. Samson only smiled in a hateful victory as he glared at Glinda, his eyes full of lust.
"Time for you to be crushed Elphaba." Samson whispered.
"Take the green witch away." Twyla ordered.
"I won't let you do this!" Glinda yelled at the council as she let go of Elphaba's hand and ran up to the desk where they sat.
Before anyone could respond a extreme rumble was heard coming from the ground. The earth then began to shake with great strength, but Samson knew it wasn't from an earthquake. "Curse that Alaric. I knew I shouldn't have trusted him in handling The Destroyer. Elphaba isn't even outside yet." From the feel of the tremor The Destroyer was a good distance away but the quake was still quite powerful.
"Everyone get out of the building now!" One Ozian yelled as the shaking grew causing the monuments inside to sway uneasy.
It wasn't long before the shakes in the court room loosened the ceiling. Elpahaba watched in horror as chucks of rock fell down close to Glinda. Since the quakes were so strong it knocked Glinda off her feet causing it to be impossible for her to get out of danger. "Glinda!" Elphaba shouted as she made her way to Glinda and fell beside her. The green witch then held the curly blond tightly against her body using her own form as a shield against the falling debris. "I got you. I got you." Elphaba said as chucks of rocks hit her body with a painful force. The green witch however didn't let go of Glinda. Her mind was the only thinking about pretending the rocks from hitting her blond love. Most of the people in the court room had left expect for Twyla, Norris and a few council members. A few more seconds passed before a hefty chuck of ceiling came down and landed against the back of Elphaba's skull. In turn the green witch's body went limp as darkness consume her mind. Elphaba's body then fell forward her weight leaning against Glinda's, still protecting the curly blond from the wave of falling debris.
"Elphie?" Glinda questioned, her voice filled with a slight panic when she felt Elphaba's hold on her loosen. A few more seconds of shakes and falling stones continued before they finally stopped and the Earth was still again. "Elphaba? Elphie?" But there was no response uttered by the green skinned woman.
Norris then turned to Twyla and motioned her to follow him out of the damaged court room, but she raised her hand to stop him. The scene that just happened seconds ago shocked her to no extent. Did she see right? Yes, she did see right. The Wicked Witch of the West just saved Glinda's life. Twyla then watched as Glinda cradled a wounded Elphaba who was unconscious and had a trial of blood running down her head from the result of the debris. Glinda soon feared the worst when she shook Elphaba but no reaction did that green witch make. "Elphie?" Glinda whispered as tears fell down her cheeks. "Please wake up." When there was no answer again Glinda raised her hand and placed it close to Elphaba's nose. Some relief found Glinda when she felt air brushing the skin of her hand. "Thank Oz she's at least breathing."
"Twyla we should now." Norris said as he gripped her elbow to get her attention. "Who knows if more shakes will be upon us."
"We are not leaving yet." Twyla replied. As she made her way down from the desk and stood where Glinda held Elphaba.
"We have to get her to a doctor." Glinda said as she looked at Twyla with pleading eyes.
"Don't worry we'll get her to one." Twyla reinsured the curly blond. "I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it, but I can't deny it. She saved your life. The Wicked Witch of the West performed a good deed."
"It wasn't the first time." Glinda said.
"Well either way that good deed might be the last one she will ever do." Twyla replied as she stared at an unresponsive Elphaba.
It wasn't easy finding a doctor that would look after the Wicked Witch of the West, but then again not many people, doctors included, would want to take Elphaba in even at the request of the eldest member of the Oz council. It might have taken some extra time, but soon the green witch was taken to a doctor to care for her wounds. Twyla could only look on in awe at the scene displayed before her. She didn't know what was more surprising: That the Wicked Witch of the West had risked her own life for Glinda the Witch of the North or that Glinda had such extreme concern for Elphaba, so much in fact that she wouldn't leave her side. It did shock Twyla at first to hear Glinda had requested the trial for the Witch of the West. She had originally thought she requested it out of pity for Elphaba, but now she saw that was not the case. No, pity was not the reason...love was why she did it. After making one more check on Elphaba's condition the Doctor left leaving Twlya, Glinda, and the green witch alone.
"You really care about her, don't you?" Twlya asked as she approached Elphaba's bed.
Glinda nodded as she brushed some tears from her blue eyes before replying, "She means the world to me."
"I thought the Wicked Witch of the West was filled with only anger and hate." Twlya answered as she began to pace. "But I can see now that is not true."
"I won't let you execute her." Glinda said suddenly. "Elphaba has done too much for me. I already lost her once. I'm not going to let her be taken away from me again."
"If the green witch's state stays the way it is the Oz guards will not be the one claiming her life." Twlya replied.
"Do you think she will die?" Glinda asked as she took one of Elphaba's hands in her own.
"It all depends if she wakes up soon or not." Twlya answered as she went towards the door. "I will be back later. I need to look up some things." With that the Oz council member left the room.
Glinda then turned back to an unconscious green witch. "Please don't leave me Elphaba. It's not your time yet." Glinda said as she laid her head down, and began to cry softy until her tears put her to asleep.
Samson then met Alaric to speak to him about The Destroyer. "I'm sorry, sir, The Destroyer got out of control for a moment or two. I hope his tail beating didn't cause much problems."
"Your slight mistake actually worked in our favor." Samson answered. "I heard Elphaba has been injured from a deep head wound. Not to mention her body quite injured as well from chucks of the stone ceiling. With any luck she will never wake up, but just in case she does I'll be ready with The Destroyer to crush the rest of her evil form. And if she refuses to fight against me Shiz will be mine to demolish. She might have defeated Fiyero, but that was just a battle. This fight will be the war that will decide all."