A/N: Shout outs to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong! So glad you liked it. :)
Chapter 14
Elphaba and Doctor Talib had locked themselves in the medical man's office. They'd been going over the medical books he had and discussing what to do. While Elphaba could try a spell, if it backfired, it would not be good for her or the patient.
"Maybe we're looking at this the wrong way," she heaved a sigh and collapsed into the chair that was across from the Doctor's desk.
"How do you mean? They have some symptoms in common. They spend the bulk of their time together," Talib looked up from the book that he'd been reading.
"With no one else seemingly infected, this could be a poison," Elphaba said.
"That hasn't killed them. They may have wished for death, but neither one is close to it, as far as I can figure," he gave her a look.
"It would be an ineffective poison, I'll give you that, but what if it wasn't enough poison? What if someone got the dosage wrong?" She wondered.
"Someone who didn't know what they were doing but knew enough to be dangerous. I could see that. Lieutenant Zetti was having the food looked at by the local alchemist. Perhaps it's time to call upon him," Talib nodded.
"My presence will garner took much attention," Elphaba said.
"Well I think I can leave you with the patients," he smirked before standing up from his desk and heading for his coat, which was hanging from a hook on the wall.
"Your vote of confidence is reassuring," she chuckled. They said goodbye and he headed out of the infirmary. Elphaba exited the office and went over to Glinda, who was finally sleeping. The cough she had was nasty and was not allowing her to get much rest. Bayram's fever had gone down and he seemed to be recovering. The green woman worried about them both but Glinda more so. Her small stature often meant that getting sick lingered a lot longer than it would in an average sized person.
"I can hear you thinking from over there," Glinda's voice was low and she did not open her eyes.
"I was trying to let you rest," Elphaba whispered.
"Light dozing on and off, I'm afraid," the blonde admitted.
"Doctor Talib has gone to see the alchemist. We'll see what he has to say. Hopefully, it'll give me direction for a spell," the green woman explained. Glinda only nodded, slowly sinking back to sleep. Elphaba left her friend and moved to Bayram, who was a couple of beds away. He too was sleeping but he did not stir when she approached. The Lieutenant was not sweating anymore, which was good, because the nurses had been constantly disturbing him to change his bedding. It had been soaked with sweat and that would not help him recover.
After checking on her patients, she headed back to the doctor's office. She bumped into Talib's assistant, Faruq, who was holding a book in his hand. He seemed very excited. Directing him inside the office, Elphaba closed the door.
"What do you have Faruq?" She asked as she offered him a seat. He flipped the book open to the page he was looking for before handing it over to the green woman.
"Munchkin Blue Bonnet," he said. Elphaba's eyes raised, noticing the book was about Oz's flora.
"Causes fever, vomiting, cough, and excess mucous production. In larger doses, it can cause breathing problems and even death," she said, swallowing hard. She recognized the flower and had always been cautioned to stay away from it, despite its beauty.
"What made you look in this book?" Elphaba wanted to know.
"We had looked at the disease books and you were going over them again to see if new eyes would help. But I got to wondering – what if it wasn't something that could be so easily diagnosed? Glinda is the leader of Oz – violent death, while always possible, would have been hard to achieve given the fact that the day before she got sick she hadn't left the Palace. So, I figured that someone could have snuck something inside the Palace. Something that wouldn't necessarily draw attention to itself," Faruq explained.
"Like flowers. You don't have to swallow Munchkin Blue Bonnet to get symptoms but given the severity of Glinda and Bayram's illness…" the green woman trailed off. In her childhood, she had asked the gardener why the wildflower was not allowed to grow on the Governor's Mansion grounds. His simple answer was that despite its beauty, it was poisonous. Just touching the flower petals or breathing in the pollen could cause minor reactions. Swallowing it could kill.
"Exactly. Someone must have ground up the flower and put it in something that only Glinda and Bayram ate," Faruq said.
"Mr. Samuels would never do that and neither would Amir," Elphaba didn't want to believe the kitchen staff would do this.
"Go. Question them. I'll keep an eye on Glinda and Bayram. There isn't much we can do until it works its way out of their systems," Faruq told her. She nodded and quickly left the room.
To Be Continued…