A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong. The message and the possible trouble ahead are in this chapter. Thanks so much!


Chapter 16

"So, what did you find for us?" Elphaba asked as the others took seats at the table. Boq moved toward the front of the room and the board that the green woman had used earlier. He tacked an old map to the board and Elphaba looked at it, a tad confused.

"What is this? I've never seen anything like it," she said.

"This is a map of the proposed route of the Yellow Brick Road. You'll note that it doesn't travel as it does today. The Great Gillikin Railway does not exist. Instead, the Yellow Brick Road actually goes over the Glikkus Canals, connecting Munchkinland to the Glikkus," Boq started.

" Munchkinland must rise again. Do what your ancestors command,' is starting to make sense," she admitted.

"Something happened to change these plans. Promises were made somewhere and not kept," Boq said.

"Suddenly, the Yellow Brick Road is rerouted and then the Great Gillikin Railway is built, bypassing Munchkinland," Fiyero said.

"Taking a step back, wouldn't the railway make more sense in Munchkinland given the fact that the crops would move faster on a train?" Fekri spoke up.

"Yes, but the emeralds are heavier than the crops and worth more money," Chalumpo pointed out.

"That would make sense. So, what exactly does the message say?" Glinda wanted to know.

"It's a rough translation so we think they would assume that the reader would know what they were talking about," Mopsi warned everyone.

"Ok so there is a swiggle, an oddly outlined shape, which are near the railway and farmland symbols, but if you'll look at the symbol after the farmland one, it doesn't match any key. It's because it isn't a map symbol, much like the swiggle and the oddly outlined shape. Admittedly, it looks like more squiggles, but the lines actually match the lines here, where the words, 'Glikkus Canals' can be found," Boq explained.

"Why am I having a bad feeling?" Barat interrupted him.

"Because you're jumping the gun but yes, I think you know where this is headed," the Tin Man frowned.

"I think we are all having the same feeling," Fiyero pointed out.

"Well, that's where our minds went," Boq said.

"For the rest of us, please elaborate," Glinda gave them a look.

"We believe that the oddly outlines shape is meant to mean explosion and the swiggle… the rerouting of the Great Gillikin Railway," the Tin Man finally spilled it.

"So, their intention is to build a railway over the Canals and have it head through Munchkinland, but to what point and purpose?" Fekri asked.

"We believe the explosion means the removal of Great Gillikin Railway from the Glikkus to the Gillikin and rerouting it into Munchkinland," Boq said.

"But that doesn't get the food to the rest of Oz easily, if they still need to transition to the Yellow Brick Road. Building a new railway into the Emerald City would take years," Zetti didn't see why anyone would do this.

"We don't think they intend to distribute the crops any differently. We think that they're trying to force the emerald supply from the Glikkus to Munchkinland," Boq explained.

"Forcing everyone to buy emeralds from Munchkinland and allowing them to charge whatever they want for it," Elphaba shook her head.

"And since they'd have to move the stones down the Yellow Brick Road, they'd offer security for your trip back to the rest of Oz," Fiyero heaved a sigh.

"Doubling the money and holding emeralds and crops hostage," Glinda stood from her seat and began to pace.

"We can't let them go through with this but how would they build the railroad over the Canals? How are they getting the supplies?" Barat wondered.

"That's a great question but my bigger concern is that, given the far reaches of the territory, they've already begun what they have set out to do, and we just happened to stumble onto it," Elphaba said.

"Then we can't be passive anymore. We need to send a team up there to scope it out," Fiyero told the group.

"How do we do that? Everyone in this room would stick out like a sore thumb in the Glikkus and Munchkinland," Chalumpo pointed out.

"Except for me," Arif finally spoke up.

To Be Continued…