[Part 1]
Chapter 11: Suspicion
-Emerald City-
*~ Evanora ~*
Throughout the day Evanora became keenly aware of her sister's iron grip on the palace staff and the fear of the people in Emerald City. Few would meet her eye, and those who dared were made to kneel, their desperate gaze forced from her sight. Once she and Theodora had passed, people would remain cowered and others would glare.
She knows well the burn of resentment against the back of her head.
The brief walk Theodora allowed into the Spring Quarter came to a swift end after she took note that the trees were still and that the animals whimpered and hid wherever they passed.
The palace, always warm and full of life was suddenly cold and suffocating.
She could only smile and distract Theodora with flowery words as the dread in her grew with every moment spent in her sister's company.
It was chilling, seeing Emerald City like this.
Though it has been many years, Evanora still remembered Morella's Castle. There had been a certain cold, one that seemed seeped into the very walls. There had been the silence of death, hung heavy in the halls. From the servants allowed in her presence, her mind's eye burned with the visage of the terrified maids. Often – even now – on her darkest nights, she could hear Orison's tirades. She vividly recalled the smell of smoke, the touch of flames and the screams of people burned on pyres. Myriads of unsettling memories swept up her thoughts in somber gyres.
She couldn't breathe.
They were walking in the palace gardens when she made an excuse – she's not quite sure what she expressed aside weariness, but by the side glance from one of the guards she might have instead said that she was feeling retired and would be fatiguing to her chambers – and hastily retreated into the underground passages of the palace.
When she was far enough down the tunnels she stopped and leaned against a wall, finally free of the oppressing ominous air draped about Theodora.
Never before had she felt the need to flee from her sister, but in the last few hours she had noticed something dark in her gaze and an unnatural steel in her spine. Rage and magic hung about Theodora in a thick miasma, terrible and smoldering.
The thought sent jolts through her pulse and her magic sparked at her fingertips, arching from one to the other in electric green. Evanora focused on her breathing and the pounding of her heart until finally her magic settled back beneath her skin.
She waited two minutes before continuing down the passages, trailing – at first – aimlessly as her thoughts wandered, eventually giving way to suspicions and determination.
She needed a plan.
*~Glinda~*
Five years.
For five years she had been persecuted and hunted. For five years she had evaded Evanora's soldiers. For five years she had worked to protect her people from her palace in the South. For five years she had searched for answers. For five years she had only the Prophecy to hope in. For five years she had been away from the beloved home her family had raised her in.
Now that she had finally returned, it was as a prisoner.
It was inevitable, she supposed. She had always known she would come back. She had considered the possibility that she might do so whilst bound by chains. She had hoped that at least her people would have the Wizard to protect them should she fall.
Unfortunately the Ancient Faeries had not delivered upon her the hero she had prayed for.
"So. You wouldn't happen to have a plan, would you?" He asked, casual and non-expectant as though he had already given up.
She paused to look at him, taking in the way he was leaned against the wall, eyes closed and bearing resigned.
He was not what she had been expecting, but he was all she had. He will have to do.
"We escape." She answered decisively, returning to pacing the length of the sell.
"How?"
"I don't know yet." She admitted, but swiftly added, "There are ways of course. The trick lies in finding a way to do so without alerting Theodora or her sister."
"By turning invisible and walking out the front door?"
She chose to ignore his sarcasm and take the comment at face-value.
"I suppose Evanora might have ingredients for an invisibility spell in one of the storage rooms, but it would take too long to make."
He stared at her blankly. "She has an invisibility spell?"
That was not a topic that she wanted to get into.
"I have contacts in the City. If we can reach them, I'm certain we can find a way to escape."
"Great. Do you have a spell for that?"
She halted. "I don't," she smiled sheepishly, "but if we can find a way to pass on a message to a friend in the palace than he'll be able to rally them."
The Wizard considered her for a moment, then patted his pockets, a slow smirk coming to his features. "Then we have a plan."
*~ Evanora ~*
Having made her way through the tunnels, Evanora re-emerged in a nook in the throne room and hurried to the queen's crystal. Her hands shook as they hovered over the glass and anxiety roiled in her stomach. She drew in a deep breath and cleared her mind, focusing.
The fog was dense and were to clear from her vision, but part it did. She would have it no other way. A moment's search confirmed Theodora's presence outside the palace and another revealed her presence in the middle ring. She ended it there, content with what she had found.
Focusing again, she turned her sight onto a different individual, seeking him through the mists. His appearance came sooner and with far less effort, shrouds fading to reveal the captain of the guard, stoic and straight-backed in a post by the minister offices.
Shifting her attention she trained her magic upon the image of the herald and found him, humorously enough, right outside the door, futilely arguing with the guards.
Drawing away she made for the doors and prompted them open with a wave of her hand, startling the guards and earning a dropped jaw from the herald. Silently, Evanora congratulated herself in being just dramatic enough to impress.
"Afternoon, gentleman. I hope I'm not interrupting." She looked at them pointedly, daring them to tell her she was.
"L-Lady Evanora," the Winkie guard on the left stuttered, pale and disbelieving as he jumped to attention. "Ma'am!"
His partner was far from as professional, looking for all of Oz as though he were staring at an Ancient Faerie.
She stared back, eyebrow arched.
"Milady, we were told not to expect you about for another few days," the first guard bowed, urging his counterpart to do the same.
"Plans changed," she remarked offhand, projecting disinterest as she filed the situation away for later examination. "My work has fallen behind. Release the herald into my confidence and continue your duty. When you see my sister inform her I have woken and will see her at dinner."
"Yes, my lady."
She motioned Knuck to her and passed by the guards, confidently striding down the hall. When they turned the corner, finally out of hearing range, the herald spoke. "Do the healers know you're up?"
"Doubtful. Theodora has been dominating my company."
"And what is your opinion of her recent plans?"
"She has not deemed it necessary to share with me." It was a grating thought and a troubling deviation. "I suspect however that she is readying to march."
"You think she's going to risk war?"
Evanora came to a stop, the words curdling and leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. "I think we must prepare for the worst."
"Her behavior is not normal."
"I fear it may never be so again." She looked down the hall, shadows playing in her peripheral.
Short, yes, but hopefully less rushed and more compelling than my last few chapters.
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Until next time
– L.L