Chapter 9: The Court of Miracles

"Get up, we're leaving."

Glinda, though understanding she should be careful with the injured soldier, spared no gentleness and she wrapped her hand around his arm and yanked. The blonde, being very small, only managed to roughly pull Fiyero into a sitting position. He groaned, rubbing his arm.

"What do you mean we're leaving?" he asked the blonde.

"Exactly as I said." Glinda opened the two mahogany doors to her dresser and rummaged inside it. "We need to go and help Elphaba, and we can't do that hanging around here."

"Miss Glinda, Sarima, whoever you are, are you forgetting that I'm injured?"

Glinda briefly ignored his comment, smiling as she pulled a wool cape from the depths of her closet.

"I'm very well aware of your wounds, Captain. However, I am leaving and I cannot leave you here."

"And there would be no way that I would let you go alone!" Fiyero slid himself over to the bed and, after steadying his hand, attempted to pull himself up to standing. "There is no way you could do this without me!"

Glinda laughed sharply as Fiyero's hand slipped off the satin bed cover, sending him back tumbling onto the floor.

"Oh really, mister valiant warrior? I believe that you are mistaken. There is no way you could do this without me."

Glinda swung the cape over her shoulders and fastened it at the base of her neck.

"Besides, I know the way and you don't?"

"How do you know the way?" grunted Fiyero, making a second and much more tentative attempt to stand. "Is there some secret map in that pendant that I'm not seeing?"

"This is the map, you dolt," scoffed the blonde.

"Oh really?" Fiyero was standing now, and he stumbled over to her, grabbing at the pendant. "Where is it then? I don't see anything, and I don't think you do, either. You just hold it and state into space."

Glinda took two steps backward, watching as Fiyero almost made another trip to the floor. She couldn't help but laugh at his bravado.

"It's because it's magic," she said very slowly.

"Explain."

Glinda sighed. "Elphaba and I both possess magic. When I hold the pendant, I can see a place. Well, not just see it. It's like I'm actually there."

Fiyero raised an eyebrow. "What does this place look like?"

Glinda ran her fingers over the woven lines of the pendant.

"I believe it's a cemetery. It's cold and dark, and the headstones are massive. They tower over me so much that I have to look up at them. And each time I end up there, I see that one of the mausoleums is…well…occupied. But occupied with the living, I think. The last time I saw it, I swear I could see light and music coming from within."

Fiyero's eyes grew huge.

"It must be the Court of Miracles!" he exclaimed. "We've been looking for it for years! Every time we get a lead, we always end up at the Emerald City Main Cemetary, and then the trail stops. No wonder! We were right all along. That mausoleum you see must be the entrance to their hiding place!"

Glinda, lost in her own thoughts, jumped at the sudden feeling of weight upon her. Fiyero had his hand upon her shoulder, both from the urgency of the situation and the pain that still shot through his back.

"We have to help her," said the Captain. "If the Wizard knows where the Court of Miracles is, this time for real, then they are all doomed. We have to get there before he does. You have the map and you know the place, but how do we get there?"

Glinda gulped. This was the part she was afraid to mention, both to Fiyero and herself.

"I….I'm not sure…I mean, I can go there for a few seconds at a time, but I always come back. And…and I don't even know if I can go there physically, since I'm just seeing it."

Glinda's words began pouring out of her at a hundred miles an hour, forgetting to breathe in between.

"I don't know where this place is or how I'm supposed to get there and my magic isn't in full control yet and it just comes and goes and Madame Morrible says that I don't focus well enough but I don't even know what I would need to do to get to this place and oh my Oz what if I miss and I land us in Vinkus or across the desert and we'll be lost forever and everyone will be lost forever and it will be all my fault and…"

Glinda found herself being very forcibly shaken, one strong, calloused hand on each shoulder, by the Captain of the Gale Force.

"Glinda, STOP!"

The blonde suddenly remembered that she needed to breathe. She took a few deep breaths, giving her lungs the oxygen they needed to function.

"There, that's enough." Fiyero was standing straighter now, sternness in his voice and fire in his eyes. "If Elphaba gave that to you, then she believes you can find her. I can't use it. You are the only one who can. There are very few people in this world who possess magic. I have faith that you will be able to help. Just believe in yourself and concentrate."

Fiyero stepped back, releasing the blonde. He dropped his hands from her shoulders, and this time, he took her left hand in his and squeezed lightly.

"You can do it, I believe in you," he said, his words soft and gentle. "You can get there. Just make sure that you take me with you."

Glinda's sapphire eyes met the Captain's, and after another deep breath, she nodded. Before the took the pendant in her hand, she took the medal of St. Aphrodisious, which she had shoved into her coat pocket in haste, and pulled it over her head. The medal now rested alongside the map on her chest. Taking the pendant in her free hand, she gently and methodically ran her fingers over each part, feeling the vibrations start to grow underneath her fingertips. It was as if the pendant was a living thing, sleeping, starting to wake beneath her touch. She felt the tips of her fingers growing warmer, and warmer still, until it was so hot that she wanted desperately to let go. The heat spread throughout her body, shooting from her fingertips to her chest and back out to the tops of her head and the tips of her toes. As she slid her finger closer to the center of the pendant, the world around her started to grow blurry. A fog had entered her bedroom, distorting the pinks and frills into swirls of clouds and dust. Fiyero's face, pale and drained of blood and moderately horrified, also started to twist like a reflection in a pond. The world around her turned into a painting, almost the same way the lights from the festival reflected against the river on that fateful night when everything.

Glinda took a deep breath, and channeling everything that she had, pressed her thumb onto the center of the pendant.

First, everything was very bright. Then, everything was very dark and very cold.

Glinda felt the chill before her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. She felt a pressure on her left hand release, and then heard the sounds of a man retching on the ground next to her. The world cleared, revealing a city of gray stone and bats and death.

The mausoleum stood before her, with the same light and sound emanating from the crack in the previously-sealed door.

Only this time, she was here for real.

"I DID IT!"

Glinda's squeal broke the eerie silence of the cemertary. Despite the doom and gloom and death that surrounded her, the blonde was filled with a seonse of glee.

"I can't believe it worked!" She turned around, grinning, finding Fiyero still lying on the around after a long bout of dry-heaving. "You were right, Fiyero! I had to just believe in myself and it worked! We're here! I TELEPORTED, Fiyero! I actually TELEPORTED! Oh my holy OZ I TELEPORTED ACROSS THE CITY OH MY OZ YESSSSSS!"

Fiyero spit onto the ground and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"If you keep it up, princess, you'll end up waking all of the dead here."

Glinda kicked a patch of dirt in the Captain's direction.

"Stop being such a spoil-sport. Without me, you'd still be under my bed, leaving a blood stain on my floor."

Fiyero pulled himself back up, still very pale and a slight tinge of green.

"Traveling by magic is not nearly as cheery when you aren't the one in the drivers seat. Now I know how it feels to be stuck in a tornado."

Glinda rolled her eyes. "Come on, Captain, we've got a gypsy hideout to find!"

Glinda, in her brash naiveté, did not expect the type of welcome that she found when entering the Court of Miracles. Not ten minutes after arriving, she found herself tied to a chair and gagged next to Fiyero, who was similarly bound, surrounded by a hoard of angry and bloodthirsty gypsies.

"You're very clever finding our little hideaway."

Boq stood in front of the two prisoners, arms crossed and a wicked smile on his face. "You might have heard of this little place, where the scoundrels of Paris collect in a lair. Now, we have a very specific method of dealing with spies and intruders, and while this is the Court of Miracles, it will be a miracle if you get out alive!"

The gypsies laughed maniacally, pointing and shouting and calling for the deaths of the intruders. Fiyero struggled against his bonds, trying to break the rope tying his hands together. Glinda wanted to be brave and attempt escape, but she was so overwhelmed with fear that she sat, frozen, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Boq stepped over to the blonde, wiping a tear from her left cheek.

"Now now, little one, there is no need to cry. We're not going to off you just yet. You're the Wizard's daughter, his precious treasure. No, we'll be holding you here for ransom. If your dear daddy doesn't follow our demands, you will follow your soldier friend here on a trip to the underworld."

Boq turned his head towards Fiyero and glared, spitting onto the ground.

"I told Elphaba not to trust you. You're a soldier, Soldiers can't be trusted."

"I BELIEVE I TOLD YOU THAT I MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS"

A voice rang through the court, echoing across the underground walls. The jeering crowd grew silent. From the shadows, a green woman appeared.

"Elphie!" Glinda cried through her gag. "Elphie! You're here!"

Elphaba took a closer look at the prisoners and her face contorted into rage.

"These are my friends!" she growled at Boq, who took a step back. "They came here to help me and you treat them like this? Like prisoners? How hypocritical of you to want our own people treated well and yet you do attack any outsider that comes near us?"

"It's for our own safety," replied Boq harshly. "He's the Captain of the Guard and she's the daughter of the Wizard. They could be trying to sniff us out, with the Wizard on their heels! I will not risk the safety of our people for these two!"

"You will risk it for me, for I'm telling you to let them go." Elphaba was now face to face with Boq, their faces almost touching. "See, if you wouldn't have turned a coward and fled when the Gale Force raided the Pomme d'Eve, you would have seen how the Captain betrayed his own men to keep me safe. He took a knife in the back for me, which is much more than you would ever do."

Boq opened his mouth to reply, but immediately shut it. He knew she was right, although he would not admit it in front of his people.

"Fine, they are now your property to do with what you wish Elphaba. As of the rest of us," Boq gestured to his people, "since our hideaway has been discovered by those not of our race, we must pack up and leave. It is no longer safe for us in the Emerald City."

Boq quickly untied the hands of the prisoners, and not bothering to remove the gag or bid them adieu, took off as the gypsies began packing up their belongings. Elphaba was immediately at Glinda's side, pulling the dirty scrap of fabric from her mouth and taking the little blonde in her arms.

"You did it, Glin," said Elphaba. "You found us. I knew you could do it."

Glinda held onto Elphaba even tighter. "I was so worried about you, Elphie. My father heard a rumor about the location of this place and I had to get to you right away."

Glinda, hit with a realization, removed herself from the green woman's embrace.

"Elphie…it's not safe for you here. You have to go with them…but…but that means I'm never going to see you again."

Elphaba's face fell, and she then tried to replace it with a reassuring smile. "It's not forever, Glin. I know where to find you. I'll come back, when it's safer. Maybe you will be the one to make things easier for us."

"We could go with you."

Both women turned to face Fiyero, who had finally freed himself from his bonds.

"That's foolish," replied Elphaba. "Glinda is set to be the next ruler of Oz. She doesn't belong in the dirt with us, scraping by with next to nothing."

"Or…or maybe…I could go with you."

"Fiyero…" Elphaba rose to her feet. "What are you saying?"

Fiyero took a few steps forward and took Elphaba's hands in his, feeling her breath hitch at his touch.

"There's nothing left in this city for me now," said the soldier. "I'm disgraced. I'm a criminal. I would fit right in with you. I've slept in the trenches. I've lived on next to nothing. I can get by…as long as you were by my side."

"Fiyero…"

"Elphaba, listen to me. I know we're not much more than strangers, but ever since the day I've met you, I've been turning into someone new. It's put me on this new path, on a journey totally different than one I've ever taken, but I'm asking if you would let me come with you."

Fiyero reached up, tracing the curve of her jaw with his fingers.

"Let me go with you, please."

Elphaba took a step closer, letting Fiyero's arms encase her.

"All of this time, because of my people, because of my skin, I figured I would spend my entire life alone. I realized it a long time ago, and I had accepted it. But now…now I actually have some hope, that maybe someone will…love me."

Elphaba stopped for a moment, coming to the realization that those words she had been trying to keep silent for so long had slipped out. She turned her gaze away from Fiyero, fearful that he would look at her in disgust, or worse….pity. Instead, she felt him guide her face back to meet his, an expression lit up with a smile.

"Elphaba…I love you."

And then he kissed her, and she kissed him back with everything she had in her heart and in soul.

And Glinda's heart was torn in two.

She saw that Elphaba was happy, in love, and going to be safe with Fiyero at her side. She also knew that this meant that she would lose the only friend she had ever had. She was both happy and sad, heartbroken for the loss and guilty for feeling the heartbreak at all.

How can I be so cruel to wish for my happiness over theirs? How can I want her to stay when that could mean capture…and capture would mean….oh Oz no. It's not an option. She has to go. He has to go with her. And I have to…what am I going to do?

"Well well!"

The gypsies did not have enough time to flee. The Gale Force had already swarmed the room, with the Wizard standing front and center as their leader.

"Thank you, daughter," he said triumphantly. "You did just as I expected. You led me right to the Court of Miracles."

Glinda stood, shaking with adrenaline. "What do you mean, Father? I did not intend for you to be here."

"Exactly, my love. I knew something was going on, especially after the gypsy refused my offer and fled. I figured she would run back and hide like vermin with her filthy excuse of a people, but I had no idea how to find it. Then, it came to me! I wouldn't go searching for the Court of Miracles, I would let you take me there! The whole conversation with my new Captain was merely a ruse. I had Madame Morrible track your magic…oh darling, did you not know that all magic leaves a trace?...and it showed us exactly where to go!"

It's my fault, thought Glinda, feeling her entire body grow cold and heavy. I did this. I betrayed them. It's my fault. My fault.

The Wizard gestured to his soldiers.

"Seize them all. Dump the scum in the general prison. The Captain and the green witch will be placed in the second floor, in the solitary cells. As for my child…"

The Wizard gave Glinda a look like she had never seen before. His eyes were blank, cold, heartless, as if he didn't see Glinda as his daughter but as an enemy. She shuddered.

"Take her back to her room and lock her in. Make sure no one goes in or out other than me, permanently."