"Ow." Fiyero groaned as his senses started to come back to him. Pain kept them at bay for a moment longer, making the blackness at the edge of his awareness seem pretty inviting. But something told him to push through instead.

His first coherent thought was that he was glad he was lying down because he was pretty sure his legs wouldn't have held him up just then. His second was that his mattress sucked.

"It's only us now Glinda."

He frowned when he heard the voice.

"That's it. Rest now."

He finally let his eyes flutter open, surprised to find he was outside. He was even more shocked to find the mattress he thought was so uncomfortable was actually Elphaba. "Fae?"

"And when you wake up we'll be so far away no one will ever be able to find you."

"What?" Fiyero frowned. "Fae?" He looked down at her again as if she might be able to give him some sort of explanation. Of course being unconscious put a serious crimp in that plan. "Glinda." He decided to go with the next best thing.

He hissed in pain as he sat up, but quickly forgot about his own discomfort when he saw Eadlyn putting Glinda over the front of his horse so he could climb into the saddle. Once he was in place he righted the blonde, pulling her close against him before spurring the horse into motion.

It wasn't until they started moving that Fiyero realized what was going on. "Glinda!" He staggered to his feet. "Bring her back!" His plea was lost in the sound of the horse galloping away.

"Damn it!" He growled as he watched them disappear into the woods. "Way to go Tiggular!" He chastised himself. "How could you just stand here and watch him take her?"

He looked down at Elphaba again, memories of the last few minutes washing over him. All but a few of his men riding off to help Cade. Hearing shots fired. Running to see what was going on. Seeing Eadlyn manhandling Glinda. Trying to find a way to get the blonde away from the bastard. Getting shot. Trying to save Elphaba.

"Fae." He fell to his knees beside the green woman, ignoring the searing pain in his side as he looked her over for wounds. "Damn black clothes." He verbally vented his frustrations as he ran his hands over her, trying to find any bullet holes. He panicked for a second when he found a patch of blood but quickly realized it must have been his because there was no wound to go with it.

Breath he didn't realize he'd been holding rushed from his lungs when he came to the conclusion that she hadn't been shot. But then why was she still unconscious? Did she hit her head when he tackled her?

"Your vision." He gave himself a mental kick in the pants. Fae had a tendency to pass out after she had one of her visions. Or so he'd been told. The only one he witnessed first hand was just before she ran off to reconcile with Glinda. Of course if he hadn't been there to catch her she probably would have fainted then too.

But she was OK. That was the important thing.

Unfortunately he couldn't say the same for the men littering the ground nearby. He walked toward them, turning his head in disgust when he got close enough to see their ravaged bodies. How could someone do such horrific things to another living being? They were far beyond his help but he leaned over each of them, checking to make sure they were truly gone.

His right side twinged as he straightened up from the last one, reminding him yet again that he hadn't escaped Eadlyn's rampage. He looked down at his wound, still finding it hard to believe he'd actually been shot. At least it didn't look too bad. And the matching hole surrounded by blood on the back of his shirt assured him the bullet had passed through. At least no one would have to dig it out. And he wasn't losing what he considered to be a lot of blood.

Then again what did he know? It wasn't like he was a doctor for crying out loud. What if he had internal injuries? What if…

"Glinda?"

His momentary panic was forgotten when he heard Elphaba's voice. "Fae?"

"Fiyero?" Elphaba frowned as she tried to sit up.

"Whoa." He knelt next to her. "Take it easy. You were out for a while."

"Out?" Her frown deepened. "What happened?"

"You had a vision."

"I did?"

Fiyero nodded. "You don't remember?"

"No, I..." Elphaba's breath suddenly caught in her throat as an image of Breena's tombstone swirled through her still misconbobulated thoughts. "No."

"What?" Fiyero furrowed his brow when she didn't answer right away. "Elphaba?"

"I..." She swallowed hard, not wanting to verbalize what she had seen for fear it would make it come true. "I have to go. I have to get to Bree."

"No, what you have to do is slow down. You're eyes haven't even been open a minute yet." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Give yourself a second to…"

"I can't." She shoved his hand away. "I don't have time."

"Elphaba." He sighed as she climbed to her feet, sticking close so he could catch her if need be.

"Don't sigh at me Yero. You have no idea what…" Elphaba's voice trailed off when she caught sight of the guards. "What happened to them?"

"Uh…" Fiyero hadn't thought this far ahead. How was he supposed to tell her about Glinda?

"Are they…" She took a half step toward them. "They're all dead!"

He nodded. "I know."

"You know?" Her voice went up an octave. "Is that all you have to say? They're dead, Fiyero." She looked at the downed men again. "What the hell happened here?! And don't you dare stall trying to come up with what you think I want to here." She pointed at him. "Tell me the truth. All of it."

Fiyero opened his mouth to protest but knew it wouldn't do him any good. No one knew him as well as Elphaba did. She would see right through him if he tried to lie. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"We were browbeating Eadlyn to see what he knew. You had just told him we knew he was involved in the Animal kidnappings and Bree going missing and he told you to prove it." Her heart suddenly sank. "Fiyero, where's Glinda?"

"Fae, what I'm about to tell you isn't going to be easy to hear but keep in mind that freaking out isn't going to help anything."

Elphaba clinched her jaw. "Don't make me ask again, Yero."

"All right." He made a 'calm down' gesture at her with his hand. "Eadlyn took her."

"What?!" Her screech scared some birds from a nearby tree. "How in the name of Oz did that happen?! We were surrounded by Gale Force guards!!"

"You said you wouldn't freak out." Fiyero squirmed at the look she gave him. "OK so technically you didn't say it but it was definitely implied."

"Fiyero."

"All right." He took a deep breath, hating what he was about to put her through. "After you blanked out Milton told us that Cade and the others needed backup ASAP."

Elphaba's stomach twisted at the thought of what might have been going on in the camp that prompted Cade to admit he needed help.

"I left those four," Fiyero continued, "to watch over Eadlyn so I could go tell the others to follow Milton."

Elphaba impatiently gestured at him. "Can we speed this up?"

"You said you wanted to know everything." He gave her a moment to say something before he spoke again. "Eadlyn must have had a knife on him because two of those men had their throats slit. And the other two were shot. So I'm guessing he had a blade hidden in one of his boots that he used to get rid of the two holding his arms, stole one of their guns and used it on the other two. By the time I heard him firing shots the rest of the guards were already gone. I drew my gun and tried to get a shot at him but he was using Glinda as a shield."

"He had his hands on Glinda?" She clinched her jaw again.

Fiyero decided to gloss over the question, knowing she really didn't want an answer. "He threatened to shoot her if I didn't get rid of my gun. After I threw it into the woods he shot me."

"He what?!" Elphaba seemed to notice the blood on his shirt for the first time. "By the Unnamed God Fiyero."

"I'm fine."

"You're bleeding."

"No, actually I don't think I am anymore. The bullet went completely through and from what I can tell didn't do much damage." He shook his head. "And that's really not important right now. Being shot understandably stunned me. When I started to come back to my senses Eadlyn was pointing the gun at you. He got a shot off but Glinda managed to hit his arm so he missed. He…" Fiyero hesitated, knowing she was upset enough without mentioning what Eadlyn did to Glinda.

"He what?" Elphaba frowned. "Fiyero, what did he do?!"

"He hit her with the gun and taunted her about watching him shoot you." Fiyero spoke quickly, not wanting her to get mad at him. "That gave me time to get up and run toward you. The next thing I knew he had Glinda on a horse and was riding away. There was no way for me to stop him. If there were I would have tried but…"

"I know you would have, Yero." Elpahba was quick to reassure him. "Which direction did they go?"

"That way." Fiyero pointed, showing her that Eadlyn had the presence of mind to ride away from Upland Manor. "But the rest of the horses got spooked by the gunshots. I can try to round them up so we can follow them but they have a little bit of a lead."

"I don't need a horse." Elphaba closed her eyes for a moment, obviously concentrating on something.

Fiyero nearly jumped out of his skin as her broom came through the trees nearby and floated into her outstretched hand. "Where did that come from?"

"I had it strapped to my horse's saddle." She gripped the wooden handle in her hand. "I thought I might need it."

"You can't use that out here, Elphaba."

"Of course I can."

"There are too many trees." Fiyero argued.

"I'll maneuver around them." Elphaba reasoned.

"You'd make better time on a horse." He tried again.

"I don't have the time to find one, Yero."

"You called that thing out of the woods. Can't you do the same thing with the horses?"

"This broom is linked to me magically. That's why I can... Hey!" Elphaba frowned as he suddenly grabbed the broom, ripping it from her grasp. "What are you doing?! Give that back!"

"I can't let you fly off on this thing, Fae." Fiyero gestured with the broom.

"Give it back."

"No." He shook his head.

"I don't want to hurt you Fiyero."

"And I don't want you getting hurt, Elphaba. The last thing we need right now is you flying headlong into a tree."

"No, the last thing I need right now is you standing in my way of getting Glinda back." Elphaba held out her hand. "Now give it to me."

Fiyero shifted his body so the broom was even further away from her. "No."

"Fiyero." Her brown eyes smoldered as she stared at him.

"Fae," his voice squeaked, giving away his apprehension.

"I don't have time for this."

Fiyero's eyes got big as the broom started to buck in his hand. "What in the name of…" It suddenly jerked upward, slipping out of his grasp and floating back over to Elphaba. "How did you do that?"

"I told you, we're linked." Elphaba started to straddle the broom's handle.

"Fae, wait!" Fiyero took a step toward her. "At least let me come with you."

"You'll only weigh me down."

"But…"

"I don't have time for this Fiyero!" She snapped. "I have to find Glinda and get to Bree before it's too late."

"Too late?" He looked confused. "What are you talking about?" You could almost see the light bulb appear over his head. "Your vision was about Breena wasn't it?"

Elphaba swallowed hard as she nodded.

"Did something happen to her?"

"She was…" Elphaba couldn't bring herself to say it. "I don't want to talk about it. I just need to find Glinda so we can get to her."

"Fae…"

"No more Fiyero. I've wasted enough time as it is." She couldn't miss the hurt look on his face as she climbed on the broom. "Find one of the horses and get back to the house to get your side checked." Her voice softened. "I'll be there soon. With Glinda." She tried to sound more confident than she felt.

"Elphaba." He took another step toward her but it was already too late. She was in the air before he could reach her. "Elphaba!"

All he could do was watch as she flew into the trees.

Elphaba tuned him out as she flew away. She hated to leave him behind, especially when he was hurt, but what choice did she have? She could fly a lot faster when it was just her. And right now time was of the essence. The quicker she got to Glinda the quicker they could find the camp and...

Images of Bree's funeral flooded her senses again, making her breath hitch in her chest. It wasn't true. Her sister wasn't... Breena couldn't be...

She shoved the thoughts aside. Thinking of Bree would only distract her and she couldn't afford that. Not when she was trying to maneuver through the maze of trees around her. Fiyero had been right. It would have been a lot easier to catch them on one of the horses. But she couldn't turn back now. She was just going to have to stay alert.

But that was easier said than done when your heart was aching. Had it only been a few days ago that they were at the lake? They were so content, just the four of them spending some much needed alone time together. She should have known something was going to happen. Things were too perfect. She was too happy. And there was an unwritten law in the universe that Elphaba Thropp was not allowed to be happy.

Well she was going to show the universe a thing or two. Once upon a time she would have wallowed in self pity over what was going on, but not now. She had a girlfriend to rescue and a sister to save and she'd be damned if she'd let anything get in her way.

She was so lost in thought she almost didn't hear the thud of horse hooves on the forest floor. Luckily Glinda's scream broke through her revere, making her quickly point the broom in the direction of her voice.

"Hang on Glinda. I'm coming."

Her head throbbed in rhythm with the thumping of the horses hooves. Since when did she take to falling asleep in the saddle? At least she hadn't fallen off. How embarrassing would that have been? She never would have heard the end of it from Fiyero. He was like a brother, always picking at her about something.

A smile spread across her face when she felt the arm around her waist tighten. So someone had decided they could ride together after all. She let herself sink back against the body behind her. "Oh Elphie."

"Not quite but I can answer to a cute nickname too if you'd like."

Glinda's eyes flew open when she heard the voice. "Eadlyn?!"

The man behind her chuckled. "Welcome back. I had hoped you would be out a little while longer, but that's all right. I can use the company."

"What..." She frantically looked around. "Where are we?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head over the details. Just know that I've got you." Eadlyn leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. "And I have no intention of ever letting you go."

"Stop it!" Glinda tried to wiggle away from him.

"Keep squirming like that and you'll fall off." He chastised her. "Horse hooves do not mix well with pretty little blonde heads so you'd better hold still."

"Don't touch me!"

"All right." Eadlyn let go.

"Oh!" Glinda's arms flailed as she fought to keep her balance. She almost succeeded until Eadlyn gave her a shove, making her scream.

"Relax." He laughed as he caught her a split second before she tumbled to the ground. "Did you honestly think I'd let you fall? I told you I want money from your father. He wouldn't pay me much for damaged goods now would he?"

"Glinda!" Elphaba's voice split the air.

"Elphie!" The blonde turned, trying to catch sight of her lover.

"I thought I took care of her!" Eadlyn growled. "I guess I'll have to do a better job this time." He took the reins in the hand of the arm he had around Glinda so he could pull the gun from the waistband of his pants.

"No!" Glinda instantly started wrestling with him.

"Are you trying to get us both killed?!" He spat as he smacked her in the side of the head again with the butt of the gun. "Now hold still!"

Glinda slumped against him, stunned.

"Glinda!" Elphaba yelled when she saw her lover get hit. She swooped in toward the horse.

"That's it, get closer."

Glinda's blood froze at the animosity in Eadlyn's voice as he pointed the gun at Elphie. She tried to stop him again but her body just wouldn't cooperate. She flinched, closing her eyes when the gun went off.

"Damn."

She opened them again when Eadlyn cursed, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Elphaba hovering not far from them.

"Shit!" Eadlyn cursed again as he pulled the trigger over and over, the hammer clicking past empty chambers.

"What's the matter?" Elphaba asked as she circled overhead. "Forget to reload after you shot those men?"

Glinda couldn't believe Elphie was toying with him. "Use your magic on him Elphie."

"Yeah Elphie." Eadlyn agreed. "Use your magic on me. Or are you too afraid you might hurt your girlfriend?"

Glinda could have slapped herself on the forehead. Of course Elphie was afraid she's hurt her. After all, she was practically plastered to Eadlyn. And even if the witch hit him in the back with a spell the horse could go out of control.

Eadlyn smiled when she didn't answer. "That's what I thought."

"Shut up!" Elphaba growled.

"Did you know you're dating a chicken Glinda?"

"She told you to shut up." Glinda replied, knowing she had to do something and quick. Eadlyn was pushing their horse too hard and Elphie was having a hard time avoiding trees. Someone was going to get hurt.

And it might as well be her.

She pushed back against him as she used her hands to pry at the arm he had around her waist.

"What are you doing?" Eadlyn frowned.

Glinda continued to push, hoping she was strong enough to break the hold he had on her.

"What are you doing?!" He asked again.

She drove one of her elbows into his stomach, finally breaking his grip. She quickly threw herself out of the saddle, knowing it wouldn't take him long to recover.

"Glinda!"

She heard Elphie's shocked scream but was too busy curling into a ball to protect herself to react. Surprisingly enough hitting the ground wasn't all that bad, it was the rolling nearly twenty yards afterwards that hurt. She came to a stop on her back, staring up at the sky.

"Glinda?"

The next thing she knew Elphaba was kneeling over her.

"Elphie." She grinned for a moment before she remembered what was going on. "Where's Eadlyn?!"

"It's all right." Elphaba put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from sitting up. "You spooked the horse when you jumped. The last time I saw him he was holding onto the saddle for dear life as he disappeared into the trees."

"Thank goodness." Glinda sighed.

"What did you think you were doing?"

"I had to get away from him."

"And that's all you could come up with?"

"I thought it was better than you flying into a tree."

"What is it with people thinking I don't know how to handle my broom?" Elphaba flinched as she took in the scrapes and bruises covering her lover's body. "Did you break anything?"

Glinda took mental stock of her body. "I don't think so."

"Can you sit up?"

"Of course I..." Her voice trailed off as tried, making her head spin.

"Easy." Elphaba put her arm around her to steady her. "Give yourself a second."

"We don't have a second." Glinda wiggled away from her. "He could be back anytime."

"Yes I could."

They both turned when they heard Eadlyn's voice, Elphaba instantly putting herself between him and Glinda. He gave them a vicious smile before swinging the thick tree branch in his hands, hitting Elphaba in the shoulder and knocking her away from Glinda.

"Elphie!" Glinda reached for her.

"That was a very stupid thing to do, Glinda. Brave but stupid." Eadlyn glared at the blonde. "Because now I'm mad. And when I'm mad someone pays."

"Run Glinda!" Elphaba somehow managed to sidestep another swing.

"And that someone is going to have to be this green freak." Eadlyn caught Elphaba in the side.

"No!" Glinda's pain was forgotten as she stood, throwing herself on Eadlyn's back.

"Get off me!" Eadlyn easily threw her back to the ground.

"Elphie!" Glinda cried out as Eadlyn took another shot at the staggering witch, the branch hitting the back of her head with a sickening crunch. Her heart skipped a beat as Elphaba flew through the air, hitting a nearby tree before falling into a boneless heap. "Elphie?"

Eadlyn walked over to the downed woman, giving her another poke with the branch for good measure. "I don't think she'll be coming after you this time, Glinda." He dropped the branch and went back to the blonde, grabbing her by the arm to drag her to her feet. "Let's go."

"But what about Elphie? We can't just leave her here."

"She's dead." Eadlyn thought about what he'd just said. "I can honestly say I killed the Wicked Witch of the West. How cool is that?"

"Shut up!" Glinda tried to pull away from him. "She's not dead!"

"Yes she is!" Eadlyn tightened his grip on her arm, causing her to squeak in pain. "And you can easily end up the same way if you don't shut your trap and get back on that horse."

"Go ahead." Glinda met his hateful gaze. "Kill me." Tears filled her eyes. "My life's over if she's gone."

"Could you possibly be any more sickening?" Eadlyn shook his head. "You're life with me has just begun, Glinda." He sneered at Elphaba. "And now there's no one to stand in our way."

"No!" She struggled to get away.

"Just remember, you made me do this."

Eadlyn punched her in the jaw, catching her when her eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled.