A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong! More on the carriage right now. ;) Thanks!


Chapter 10

Glinda could hear Lord Nipp coming down the hallway. She sat in her office trying to get some paperwork done but that didn't seem to be possible. The only thing that stopped the Munchkin from busting in the door would have been Sergeant Duncan who was stationed outside in the hallway.

"Sir, may I ask why you are attempting to gain entry to the leader of Oz's office?" Sergeant Duncan was keeping his cool and Glinda almost couldn't help but giggle as she heard the voices through the door.

"My carriage is not ready for my departure! I was told it was damaged by your stable hand!" Nipp's words were just below screaming at the poor Sergeant.

"Sir, Aziz was concerned that the wheel was not in good condition. In the attempt to fix it, there was an accident. He almost died. We have others fixing the wheel and installing it. You should be underway soon," Duncan was effectively blocking the man from bothering Glinda.

"Why was I not informed by Lady Glinda?" Nipp practically demanded.

"The workers were hoping to have the work done before you needed to leave. Regrettably, the wheel took longer than that. We can't have you getting stuck on the Yellow Brick Road on the way back to Munchkinland," Duncan pointed out. There was a little bit of a 'humph' from the Munchkin but then he turned and left.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Glinda bade the person to enter. As she figured it would be, it was the Sergeant. She smiled at him and said,

"Thank you for handling that."

"Of course, your Ladyship. Do you think he won't be suspicious?" He asked.

"Well, I don't think we'll get that lucky, but we had to try. Elphaba's quick thinking with having the troops sweep the carriage for anything and everything was actually most enlightening," the blonde explained.

"Oh, well then it was worth it. What did they find? How did the carriage fall off the stand that Aziz had put it on? I missed the morning meeting so I could be at my post," the Sergeant said.

"Well, the first thing they found were the missing medicines in the storage compartment on the back of the carriage. We left the medicines in there; we don't want anyone to know we were looking through their vehicle. The next thing they found was a document that I'm guessing was not supposed to be in the carriage in the first place. The problem is, they were smart to write it in code. Boq had it copied and is working on it now with Mopsi and Popsi's help," she told him.

"Could Mopsi or Popsi helped Lord Nipp pilfer the medicines? Could the document be a plant?" Duncan hated to go there in both cases. If the document was fake and they took it as gospel, things could get ugly. If anyone let the Munchkins know that they'd read the document, it could mean the Munchkins could use it against them.

"That would be a 'no'. They've been hiding to try and keep their identities concealed. I doubt they'd try and help but Fiyero checked with them and with Doctor Talib. We're definitely moving to interrogate all of the masons. As for the document, until it is decoded, we won't know what it is, but you make a good point. It could be a plant," Glinda frowned a little, knowing she'd better find Boq and let him know.

"That could take a bit. I have to admit that I can't, for the life of me, figure out why any of the masons would help the Munchkins," the Sergeant frowned.

"That is a question for the ages. Now, I think we can avoid Lord Nipp bothering me again. Why don't you check on the carriage progress and see how Mr. Aziz is doing? Hopefully, it is good news all around," the blonde smiled.

"Yes ma'am," with that the Sergeant exited the room and headed down to the stables.

To Be Continued…