Clomp, clomp, clippity clomp.

The sound of her own footsteps echoing off the walls was Morrible's only companion. Maybe if she wore different shoes the cadence of her own stride wouldn't be quite so annoying. But the boxy, rather chunky black boots she wore were the only footwear she had ever found that didn't make her feet ache. They were certainly a far cry from the high heeled, toe pinching things she used to wear as the head mistress at Shiz. Of course then she was concerned with fashion and looking her best for the parents of her spoiled students. Now it really didn't matter. The plain black frock and no nonsense footwear she was given in Southstairs were just fine by her. She wasn't out to win any beauty pageants.

Not that she could if she tried.

She growled at her own train of thought and went back to concentrating on the still closed door to Nevin's room. It seemed like forever ago that she watched two Gale Force guards carry her unconscious son over the threshold, followed closely by whatever doctor another guard had managed to scrounge up in town as yet another guard told her what happened. Why they didn't have a palace doctor on staff was beyond her. Surely Nevin wasn't the first leader of Oz to bleed for his position.

"Madame Morrible?"

Her head snapped up when she heard the voice. She instantly started berating herself when she saw the doctor standing just outside Nevin's door. How could she have been so lost in thought that she didn't hear the door open?

"I told you, it's just Morrible."

The doctor tensed as she stared toward him.

"Madame is an honorific and, as my associates in Southstairs were quick to point out, there's nothing very honorary about being thrown in prison now is there?"

"I…" He stammered.

"There's no need for you to answer. That was a rhetoriary question."

He visibly flinched as she came to a stop in front of him. She hadn't had any contact with anyone outside the palace since she was freed, but she had to expect this kind of reaction. After all, everyone's precious Glinda the Good had her thrown in prison. That ranked her right up there with the Witch as far as the public was concerned.

The thought made her want to sigh. She had created both of those girls. Elphaba was despised because she called her wicked and Glinda was beloved because she called her good. And what did she have to show for it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

But she would. Oh yes, she would have it all. And when she did everyone in Oz would pay for what her life had been like over the last year. Especially Elphaba and Glinda.

The doctor shifted, drawing her out of her momentary daze. "Now tell me, how is my boy?"

"He… I mean, I… He's…"

She rolled her eyes. "Would you stop that senseless pratterizing and answer my question already?" The urge to smile almost overwhelmed her. There was nothing quite like intimidation to get the juices flowing.

"He's a very lucky young man." He spat the words out quickly.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning the bullet passed through his shoulder without hitting any bones or major blood vessels."

"Then he's all right?"

"Well he'll be sore for a while, but he'll make a full recovery. I gave him something for pain and he should stay in bed for a few days."

If the news came as a relief to her she didn't show it. "Is he conscious?"

"Yes. He came around not long after I started examining him. But the pain medicine may…"

"Thank you, doctor." She cut him off. "If you'll excuse me, I need to see my son."

"Of course." He bowed slightly at the waist as she started into the room, breathing a sigh of relief.

His actions didn't go unnoticed. She regarded him for a moment before turning to one of the guards, who had joined them outside the door. "Please see the good doctor to Southstairs." She gave him a coy look over her shoulder as his mouth popped open in shock. "We can't have you telling all of Oz that Nevin is my son. Or that I'm even here for that matter."

"But… but…"

"You just said my boy would be fine." Morrible frowned. "Did you lie to me?"

His blood ran cold at the thought. "Of course not!"

"Then your services will no longer be needed. At least not here. There is plenty of sickliness in Southstairs though." She patted him good naturedly on the arm. "Your business will boom, dearie."

With that she sashayed across the threshold and into her son's rooms. She nodded at the guard in the sitting room, giving him a silent command to stay where he was as she proceeded into her son's bedroom.

"Mother." Nevin smiled at her from the bed.

If she had even an ounce of maternal instinct in her she would have gone to him, taken him in her arms and held him close. That's what mother's did when their children were sick or hurt. And he did look rather pathetic, all propped up on pillows with bandages wound around his bare chest and over his left shoulder and his left arm held close against his body in a sling. But she wasn't just any mother. And she hadn't been waiting in the hall so she could coddle him.

"What in the name of all that is Ozness were you thinking?!"

His smile faltered. "What?"

Morrible started pacing again. "You leave here in the middle of the night with half the Gale Force to go on some wild goose chase because that dunderheaded Boq or Tin Man or whatever he goes by told you he knew where to find Glinda."

"He did."

"That's not the point! The point is you left without telling me! You went after the witches by yourself!"

"I…"

"And look what it got you. One of your own supposedly faithful guards nearly blew your arm off!"

"It was a stray bullet, Mother. It's not like one of my men pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger for no good reason."

"How do you know?" Her tone was challenging. "Did you see it happen?"

"As a matter of fact, I did."

"You did?"

"Yes. One of the guards was fighting with one of those crop people and his gun went off."

For some reason she found that incredibly funny. "So you knew a bullet was coming and just stood there?"

"It wasn't that simple." Nevin growled as she chuckled. "I bend people's wills to mine Mother, I don't dodge bullets."

"Don't get indignant with me young man!" Her mood changed in an instant. "No one forced you to leave behind my back and get yourself shot!"

"I did it for you!"

Morrible was actually shocked into silence by his comment.

"There, are you happy now? You know my deep, dark secret. I want you to be proud of me, Mother." Nevin sighed. "I want you to realize I'm not the screw up you've always made me out to be." He looked at the bedspread rather than her. "For once I wanted you to look at me with something other than disappointment in your eyes."

"Well that's hard to do when you keep on giving me reasons to be disappointed." Her reply hung between them like a storm cloud. "Now get up."

"What?" His face fell into confused lines.

"I said get up. And get dressed. You have a speech to make."

"A speech?" He echoed her words. "What are you talking about?"

"Word of your activities," she drew out the word in a disheartened tone only a mother could prefect, "have spread throughout Oz. Half the population is outside right now, waiting for Glinda to come out and reassure them that everything is all right. Seeing as that's not possible, you're going to have to do it."

"But…"

"There are no buts when it comes to the public, Nevin." Morrible went to his closet. "You may be able to persuade people, but they will still make or break you as a ruler. I do not intend to stand by and watch you ruin the chances that have been laid at our feet." She turned back toward the bed, the hanger holding his dress uniform clutched in her hand. "Now get up and put this on!"

He did as she asked, wincing and holding his shoulder as he made his way to his feet.

"Here." She thrust the uniform at him. "Take this."

He swayed as he reached for it.

"Now, now. We can't have any of that." She gripped his right shoulder to keep him from falling over. "I guess I'll have to help you."

She pulled off the pajama bottoms he wore, his humiliated blush at the thought of her seeing him in nothing but his underwear lost on her as she sat him on the bed.

"We can spin this to our advantage." She spoke as she put his legs in the uniform pants and stood him up to finish pulling them on. "Start by letting them know the Witch is alive. Then tell everyone she kidnapped Glinda. That will explain her absence."

He bit his lip to keep from crying out as she took his left arm out of the sling and started putting on the long sleeved white shirt.

"You received word of what happened and rushed off to save the poor little dear." She nodded, approving of her own words. "The Witch enchanted the workers to attack your forces. You, yourself, were injured as you tried to pry Glinda from the wicked girl's arms."

He started to feel light headed as she finished buttoning his shirt and put his arm back in its sling.

"Everyone already hates the Witch, so it's unlikely she'll have enough bravadarism to show her face, but it will help to have those dolts out there on your side if she does. They organized quite a witch hunt last time she was around."

Morrible draped his jacket over his shoulders, knowing she would never get it to button shut with the sling inside. She brushed imaginary lint off his right shoulder as she gave him a final inspection.

"You certainly don't look your best, but you'll have to do."

"I think Boq killed one of the witches."

"What?!" She looked at him in disbelief.

"I said…"

"I heard what you said! Why didn't you mention this earlier?!"

"When did I have time? You're the one who came in here yelling and throwing around accusations. Besides, I'm half loopy from whatever that doctor gave me."

"Yes, yes." She waved his comments away. "Back to Boq."

Nevin frowned. "I gave him a dagger and told him to kill a witch. Several of my men saw him stab one of them."

"Which one?" Her wave was now an impatient plea from him to continue. "Which one?!"

"The Witch. The green one." He finally got around to it. "They said he stabbed her in the chest. Of course its all just conjecture. No one has found Boq to get the real story."

"No, you stabbed her." Morrible's eyes shone with glee. "And the story is ours to interpret as we see fit."

"I couldn't have stabbed her, Mother. I wasn't anywhere near her." Nevin frowned. "And too many people know the truth. We can't just…"

"We can and we will." She corrected him. "People will believe whatever you tell them to. Only you and I will know the real truth."

"I'm not following you."

"You would if you'd stop whinerizing and listen!" She snapped. "I already told you that everyone hates the Witch. The thought of Glinda being with her is going to fuel that hatred even more. We can cash in on that by painting you as the hero."

Nevin's frown deepened. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you're babbling."

"I most certainly am not! In your speech you portray yourself as the brave young captain of the guard, risking life and limb to try to rescue the fair Glinda from the clutches of the evil Witch. You even get injured in the process. But you also hurt the Witch. It's perfect! They'll be eating out of your hand!"

"Oh, now I get it." He nodded. "They hate her, I hurt her, they love me."

"Exactly." Morrible shook her head. "I thought you were going dense on me." She pulled a flask out of her pocket. "Here. Take a drink of this. You're a little too peekish. We don't want them thinking she hurt you too badly."

"But she didn't hurt me at all." Nevin felt her staring at him and nodded again. "Right. We hurt each other. I got it." He took a swig out of the flask as she led him toward the balcony doors in the sitting room. "Wow!" His eyes got big at the intensity of the liquid sliding down his throat. "That's some good stuff."

"It certainly is." She took the flask before he could drink again and gave him another once over. "You could have been killed, do you realize that?" He opened his mouth to respond when she added, "And then where would I have been?"

Nevin shook his head. "I should have known better than to think you were concerned for my safety."

"Don't be nasty, dearie." Morrible cupped his cheek. "Go give your speech. And try to be convincing."

Her heart swelled as he stepped out onto the balcony. Not with pride, with hope. Hope that he would be able to pull the speech off. Hope that the people of Oz would accept him as their new leader. Hope that when they did, she would be able to step from the proverbial shadows and take her rightful place at his side as ruler of Oz.

"My fellow Ozians." Nevin's voice boomed out over the crowd gathered below. "I know you were expecting to see Glinda, but I'm afraid I have some bad news. The Wicked Witch of the West is alive."

Morrible crept closer to the open balcony doors but she would have been able to hear the collective gasp of shock from where she was standing before.

"And she's kidnapped our dear Glinda."

People started shouting questions and crying and praying for Glinda.

"My men and I tried to stop the Witch, but she enchanted a group of farm hands to rise up against us. The odds were daunting. Many Gale Force guards and civilians were killed. I myself was hurt by the Witch when I tried to rescue Glinda. I succeeded in injuring her in return, but I wasn't able to free Glinda."

Another collective gasp went through the crowd.

"I throw myself on your mercy, Ozians. I'll understand if you want me to step down as captain of the guard."

Morrible's heart sank to her toes. What in Oz was he doing! She wished she had one of those big hooks they used in Wizomania to pull people off stage so she could drag him back into the room. Then she remembered that she did have something she could use… the weather.

She spread her arms wide and looked to the sky. Storm clouds instantly started gathering overhead.

"But I hope you will give me the chance to redeem myself. I know I'm no Glinda, but I believe I can fill her shoes until she returns. And she will return. I swear to you I will not rest until she does."

A cheer went up from the crowd as they started chanting his name.

He was playing on their love of Glinda and his own feigned humility to get them to accept him. Too bad she didn't realize that sooner. Thunder rolled as one of the clouds overhead burst, spilling its contents onto the Emerald City.

People were shrieking as Nevin ducked back into the room.

"That came out of nowhere." He eyed her suspiciously.

"Don't look at me." She went for angry rather than innocent.

He held her gaze for a moment before looking away. "Oh well. At least I finished my speech before it cut loose. What did you think?"

"It was…"

Nevin's expression didn't show it but he anxiously awaited her approval.

"Adequate."

"Adequate." He repeated the word as he nodded. "Somehow I knew you were going to stay something like that." He sighed. "I'm going back to bed. My shoulder is killing me."

Morrible watched him go, wondering just what was wrong with the word adequate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fiyero reread the piece of parchment in his hand for what seemed like the thousandth time before crinkling it into a tiny little ball and tossing it angrily away. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be. Their contacts in the city were wrong.

But he hadn't heard from Elphaba in almost a day. Yes she left in somewhat of a huff after their talk, but she wasn't really angry. Disappointed with him for saying the things he did about Glinda, but not mad. And she wasn't the type to leave him hanging. Either he was completely wrong about knowing her and that's why she hadn't sent word that she was all right or something had happened that she couldn't get a message to him. And if that was true then maybe their contacts weren't as wrong as he thought. Maybe Elphaba really was out there somewhere, hurt and bleeding and waiting for him to come and help her.

He clinched his hand into the best fist he could make and growled. He never should have let her go. He should have tied her to a chair or snapped her broom in half or knocked her over the head… Anything to keep her with him.

Well he had no intention of letting it happen again. He was going to find her and bring her back with him. No one and nothing would stop him.

And may the Unnamed God himself help Glinda Upland if anything had happened to Elphaba when he found her.