(AN: I'm in uncharted territory, since there are almost no records about Ozian past history, other than the whole 'Lurline enchanted the world into existence and made Ozma her heir', and, of course, the most known 'Pastorius ruled over Oz while Ozma Tippetarius was still not of age, but then the Wizard came, off'd him, spirited her away and took over Oz.' Aside from that, not much else. So I'm kind of making this up as I go along, this ancient Oz, but I have a definite pattern to this madness.)

(Firstly, I direct your attention to The Great War of Oz. As flawed as it is, there is some hints to the time-frame of events in this story. Since the events of The Wizard of Oz and Act 2 of Wicked take place at the same time, they take place in 1900 [our world's time], since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the source material of both the movie and Wicked, was published in 1900, we can assume that is the 'starting' date. However, The Great War of Oz happens in the 21st century [our current time], a hundred years after the events of Wicked and The Wizard of Oz. Therefore, counting backwards, a thousand years from 2011 would put this story around 1011 AD our world's time.)

(So this Oz is based somewhat on the Medieval Age of our world, since the Oz that you know is based on the Gilded Age of our world. [lol] This also predates the construction of 'Ozma Town', and therefore the capital of Oz is dear 'not-quite-so-old' Shiz.)

Coming of the Rak

The Ozians saw Oz stretched out before them as far as they could see, but it was not the Oz that they knew. The Emerald City was gone, as was any evidence of the Yellow Brick Road. There was no sign of sudden destruction, so it could not have happened by some war or catastrophe. They were all agape at the sight of this.

Suddenly, they heard a cry from down below. Looking, they saw, in the distance, a small black dot gliding across the plains in front of them, heading towards the Pass. They were riding fast, very fast, in fact, but this made no sense. There were no horses in Oz, how could they be moving at them so quickly?

A few moments later, they saw just why they were moving so fast. A band of soldiers, all of them in purple livery with a golden O-within-the-Z symbol upon their wrists, were riding towards them on creatures that looked like horses, yet each of them had a single horn set between the eyes. Yes, these soldiers were riding unicorns: not the fanciful, sparkling kind that Glinda had always imagined them as when she was a little girl, but horses, as real and down-to-earth as Nessa, just with a horn.

The company of riders quickly surrounded them on all sides. Their leader, a tall one with a crest of red atop his helmet, rode up on a brown unicorn with a black mane and horn.

"Halt, in the name of Her Divine Majesty the Ozma!" the captain announced.

The soldiers drew their swords, ready to attack in case the need arose. Elphaba and Fiyero eyed them and saw that they were not armed with muskets or any of the weapons they knew: just swords and lances.

"Announce yourself!" the captain said.

"Glinda!" cried the blond girl. Elphaba gave her a furtive glare.

"You!" the captain said, turning to the green-skinned woman. He obviously saw her glance. "Monster! What are you? Where do you hail from?"

"I'm from the West!" she said.

The captain laughed at this. "Nothing lives in the wild land of the Winkies!"

"Excuse me!" Fiyero said. "But I'm from the Vinkus, if you please."

The captain turned to Fiyero, looked him over, and then turned to the other soldiers. "Look at this, boys! A Winkie who can talk!"

"I don't know if you've heard," Fiyero said, placing his feet apart and looking ready for battle. "But we don't take kindly to being called 'Winkie', you know."

"Silence, savage!" the captain shouted. One of the soldiers struck Fiyero with the butt-end of his lance, knocking him down to the ground. Elphaba rushed to his side, at which the other soldiers laughed again.

"It appears the little frog has a soft spot for the wild man," the captain said mockingly. He then drew his sword and pointed at Elphaba. "As Captain of the Oakhair Division of the Royal Army of Oz, I seize you and your pet in Her Majesty's name." He then turned to Glinda.

"You!" he said, pointing at her with his sword. "You're from Gilikin, aren't you?"

Glinda nodded her head, a little fearfully.

"And what is that thing?" he pointed at Nessa. "Some kind of unicorn with no horn? What do they call it, a nulicorn?" The soldiers laughed at the captain's jest.

"Please!" Glinda said. "We're strangers here, and we don't mean any trouble."

"Do you, now?"

"Yes!" Glinda returned. She was now trying her best to remember how to behave herself, how to act like a public figure. It was much easier to hide behind stronger people like Fiyero, Elphaba or even Madam Morrible. Now the pressure was on her and she had to try to sound imposing and serious.

"And, furthermore," she continued. "As a citizen of Gilikin, I request an appearance before the Ozma."

"An appearance before Her Majesty?"

"Did I stutter?" Glinda returned.

"Insolent strumpet!" one of the soldiers shouted, and readied to strike her with his lance.

"Hold!" the captain announced, waving the errant soldier back with his hand. He then turned back to Glinda. "Why should you speak to Her Divine Majesty?"

"Because I'm a citizen of Gilikin," she returned. "One of the Arduenna clan of the Upper Uplands!"

Some scattered whispers came from the guards.

"Perhaps the question should be," the captain returned. "Why do you wish to speak to Her Majesty?"

"To vouch for my friends," she indicated to the others. "We're loyal subjects and mean no harm. Surely once Ozma hears this, she'll believe us and let us go about our business."

"And what business is this?"

"We're returning to our homes," Glinda said. "Please, let us speak to her."

The captain mused on this for a short time, while the other riders paced restlessly about, anxious to do something or at least kill these strangers and be back at their post.

At last, he nodded.

"Rythnar!" he called to one of the other riders.

"Captain!" Rythnar announced.

"Find a spare horse for the Lady Glinda," he said. "She and her...'friends'...are going to Shiz."

The ride from Kumbrica's Pass to the ford at the southernmost end of the Vinkus River was over in about an hour. These unicorns were fast, almost as fast as Elphaba's broomstick. So fast were they that Elphaba and Fiyero, riding on Nessa, were hard-pressed to keep up. They forded without incident and then headed north. From what they could discern by what the captain let slip to the other soldiers, they would pass the Disappointments altogether by riding along the western border of the Kellswater Lake.

Glinda recalled what little Dorothy had told her about their walk across Oz, how long it took and what kind of dangers they encountered. Sure, a broken bridge - probably the work of Animals in protest of the Wizard's Yellow Brick Road - wild Kalidahs, a river, some angry Trees and a poppy field were not as dangerous as some of the things she and Elphaba had been through, but she also recalled that Dorothy said it took three days or so for them to make the journey, on foot, from Center Munch to the Emerald City. Though she had no skill with maps, she guessed that they were making good time with this little journey of theirs, since it took them an hour from Kumbrica's Pass to the ford, three from the ford to the Kells-River gap, the place between the Kellswater and the Gilikin River, and another two to the Shale Shallows.

When they rode, they found a modest fort resting amid the Shallows, still very staunch but starting to look forlorn. Glinda had heard of St. Glinda, her namesake in some ways, and wondered where the Cloister of St. Glinda was. Unless her geography was totally wrong, this castle was where it stood. A crazy thought came into her head, one that had only been there when they could not make out the Emerald City from Kumbrica's Pass.

What if they were, somehow, in the ancient past of Oz? The Ozma was here, and there was no evidence of the Wizard - the City or the Road - and it would give a reason why Elphaba gave her such a furtive glare when she told the captain her name. Elphaba - knowing her, Glinda thought, she's a million steps ahead of me - has already guessed that and so refuses to reveal her name since it might cause a confusion or...

Another thought formed in Glinda's mind. If they were in the past, does that mean that they could do things that would affect how Oz happened in the future? It gave Glinda headaches just thinking about what could happen if they did something that would forever change Oz. It would be their faults and they would never be able to rectify that fault.

They stayed at the Shale Shallows fort for a few days, letting the unicorns - and Nessa - rest up from the journey ahead of them. Elphaba, in keeping with her moodiness, stayed in her room almost all of the time, and Fiyero alternated between trying in vain to comfort her, getting pushed around by the prejudiced Gilikinese soldiers, or trying to sneak past them to check up on Glinda and Nessa. Glinda, on the other hand, walked the battlements of this fort and tried to take in as much of the land around her as she could.

Wide, open plains stretched on to the west, steadily turning golden brown until they were swallowed up by the high, black mountains of the Great Kells. Those mountains, Glinda knew all too well, nestled the castle of Kiamo Ko, where it had all ended. She did not even know if there was a Kiamo Ko this long ago. All the horrible memories - however invalid they were made by Elphaba being alive - still stung too much for her to keep her gaze directed westward for too long. To the south was the way they had come. To the east there was the Restwater Lake on the one side, the southernmost wing of the Madeleines on the other, and the Pine Barrens situated almost directly in the middle thereof. They seemed to serve as a barrier between this 'middle land' and Munchkinland: the blue line that was the Munchkin River vanished into the shadows of the Pine Barrens.

To the north, back home, she saw endless plains and rolling hills. In her time, the Emerald City could be easily seen from this far south. Now there was only a wide, empty plain of rolling hills - oceans of grass as green as her best friend's skin. Farther north, she saw the land slowly slope higher, turning a steppe-brown until fading into far away peaks of white. Glinda knew that snow existed in her time - maybe on the highest points in Oz like the Glikkus Scalps or the famed Mount Runcible, but she had never seen snow that far south. The Uplands must be swimming in snow, she wondered.

After three days here at the fort of the Shale Shallows, the captain of the guard - a Gilikinese man named Flin Tenmeadows - entered their room. With him was the soldier Rythnar, who had bundles of heavy coats, cloaks and scarves in his arms.

"We leave at once," Captain Tenmeadows announced. "Better throw these on if I were you: it's very cold in Gilikin."

Glinda protested, but the serious look that Captain Tenmeadows gave her meant that he was not kidding.

If she had refused his offer, Glinda knew now that she would have regretted it immediately. Oz was never this cold in her memory, but once they left the fort of the Shale Shallows and had passed what would be the northern border of the Emerald City, the weather suddenly and drastically changed. The air was dry and cold, and the think grass faded to short, brown-ish steppe turf.

Even as fast as the unicorns were galloping, Captain Tenmeadows told them that it would be five days in the very least before they would arrive at Shiz: if they did not encounter any adversity along the way. He said something about wild creatures roaming the land that might attack them if they were not careful. Glinda was a little perturbed at this, but didn't give it much thought. The hope that this large army of soldiers would keep them safe from anyone filled her with some confidence, though not overly.

They were three days out of the fort of the Shale Shallows. The steppe-plains gave way to fields upon fields of white snow. Glinda, bundled in a heavy fur coat with a scarf wrapped around her face., was thankful that she had taken Captain Tenmeadows' advice and worn heavy clothing. From the report of her face and her now bright red nose, she would be nothing short of shivering to death from the great cold winds that lashed at them. At the far rear of the company, Elphaba and Fiyero were heavily clothed, though Nessa was not made for galloping through such conditions. Even Midgard had not been as cold as this Oz.

A sudden halt brought the company to a halt.

"Cherrystone!" Captain Tenmeadows called out. "Go and scout the drifts ahead of us!"

"Sir!" the rider shouted. Glinda saw that this was the one who had almost struck her for her 'insolence.' He rode off into the cold haze loomed directly in front of them.

Glinda turned her unicorn back around and saw Fiyero and Elphaba getting off Nessa's back. The poor horse was kneeling in the snow, looking thoroughly winded. Glinda jumped down and plopped her booted feet into the deep, cold snow. Carefully, she walked forward, one awkward step in front of another, and stood with her friends again.

"She's exhausted," Elphaba said. "We have to tell them to slacken up."

"Like they're gonna listen to anything we say." Fiyero returned.

"Are you two alright?" she asked. "Well, you four, I should say."

"Shh!" Elphaba said, throwing her emerald hand over Glinda's mouth. The muffled sound of Glinda protesting came from within, but Elphaba didn't relinquish her grip.

"We're already in trouble as it is," she whispered. "You gave away your name and where you're from. Once they find out that you don't exist, we'll be in trouble."

Glinda pulled her friend's hand off her mouth.

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you guessed?" Elphaba asked. "We're in Oz's ancient history. None of us exist, not even the Wizard or Madam Morrible. We can't be using our real names."

"So what brilliant idea do you have, then?" Glinda inquired.

"I don't know." she returned.

"We could just make it up as we go along..." Fiyero began.

Elphaba held one green finger up to her dark-colored lips, silencing both of them. Three pairs of frozen ears listened to the gentle howling of the cold, northern wind. Slowly, they became aware of another sound, aside from the stirring of the wind, their own misty breaths forming about their lips and the noise of horses, unicorns and the restless Oakhair Division.

Boom.

The sound came from the north. Slowly another one followed, and then more in rapid succession. Boom, boom, boom, the noise sounded, like thunder and drums pounding out against each other. The unicorns gave neighs of fear and backed away from the northern direction.

Just then, the soldier Cherrystone came running back in fright.

"Mammoths!" he shouted. "Dozens of them! Run for your lives!"

The soldiers began mounting their unicorns and scattering in every which direction. Elphaba, Fiyero and Glinda did not need to wait for long before they saw what it was that was coming their way.

A large figure, followed by others, emerged from the mist. It was very huge, covered in dark brown hair with two great yellow-white tusks emerging from its face. It looked like an Elephant, yet was much larger and covered in hair. Many of them were charging towards them, roaring with their trumpet-voiced trunks and pounding with their huge feet.

The two immediately threw themselves back onto Nessa's back. The horse, seeing that a large horde of frightening creatures was coming upon them, took off despite being worn out. Glinda jumped back onto the back of the unicorn and tried to follow after Elphaba and Fiyero, both of whom were riding to where the other soldiers hid. But the unicorn was bucking wildly and neighing in fear as the Mammoths continued charging, unrelenting, towards her.

"Glinda!" Elphaba called out. The little blond turned her head to the green figure atop the black horse. Suddenly, a sea of dark red mammoth hair passed between them.

"NO!" Elphaba cried out, one green hand reaching in vain out towards the mammoths, as if to save the poor little blond from certain death. She yanked on Nessa's mane rather violently, trying to pull her around. Fiyero immediately guessed what she was about to do.

"Fae, please! Stop!"

"I have to save her! I have to do something!" she wailed.

"We can't do any..."

But she was too far gone. Nessa rose up on her hind-legs, sending Fiyero tumbling back into the snow. Fortunately, the other soldiers saw her charge out. Three of them jumped onto their unicorns and rode out to bring her back.

A great fog, darker and thicker than the one created by the falling snow, descended upon them. The mammoth creatures were running for their lives, braying louder and more violently than before. Fiyero watched with horror as his beloved vanished into the darkness, into who knows what else that could be in there, waiting for them.

The noise of a great roar was heard. A unicorn brayed and someone cried out in abject terror.

Fiyero ran head-long into the smoke, heedless if he were to get trampled by a mammoth or whatever else was in here. He dove into the cloud, disappearing from view. Inside, there was a fierce smell that burned his nose and made him want to sneeze violently. As before, when carrying Glinda across the East Emnet, he wished he were still a scarecrow. He didn't need to sneeze when made of straw.

The roar resounded again. Fiyero looked up and suddenly became very thankful that he was still human.

A great shape loomed above. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before: its sheer size even rivaled that of Fafnir. Great wings it had, and four huge, clawed feet, and a tail that struck the ground somewhere in the darkness. The great smoke that made Fiyero want to sneeze was emanating from the monster's nose, and it belched fire like a dragon.

Correction, this thing was a dragon.

"Elphaba!" he shouted out into the thick smoke, hoping in vain that this was a dragon only.

There were loud noises echoing from within the smoke again, the roar of this mighty dragon followed by the panicked braying of an unlucky mammoth. Its cries eventually died down, and Fiyero feared the worst.

Just then, a hand reached up and pulled Fiyero down into the snow. He turned around to see who it was, and saw the snow-covered green face of his beloved staring back at him.

If what I've heard about snow is true, Fiyero thought, then its a good thing she's not allergic to water.

Elphaba slid herself around Fiyero, pulling herself up into a kneeling position and taking out something heavy that was within her hands. It was the Grimmerie.

"Where's Glinda?" he asked. "Where's Nessa?"

Just then, the sound of giant foot-steps faded away. The heat became much more intense.

"I smell great power," a deep, thunderous voice growled.

"I think he means you, Fae." Fiyero whispered. Elphaba just rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the violet pages of the Grimmerie. "Hurry!" he added.

The dragon's shape appeared from out of the mist. It was very huge, about the size of a hundred men, and clothed in a strange kind of armor resembling stone. A great light burned in its mouth.

"Get down!" Elphaba shouted out.

A sudden gust of snow and cold wind began to gather around the small figure of the green woman. It gathered together and then shot off directly towards the oncoming dragon. It broke upon its armored chest.

The dragon suddenly started neighing and roaring loudly, flailing its wings and tail about as if trying to free itself of some great evil. It did not belch any fire either, even though both Elphaba and Fiyero were within breathing range of this great dragon.

The smoke began to dissipate, and by reason of the sudden rushing of wind and the whooping cries of the soldiers, the dragon had departed. Elphaba and Fiyero rose and took a look at their surroundings. The snow was burned black, and there were the remnants of at least two of the great mammoth creatures. The body of a large unicorn lay sprawled upon the ground.

"Glinda!" Elphaba cried, throwing the Grimmerie into the snow, and all caution to the wind, and running over to the body of the unicorn.

"Yes?"

Fiyero turned and saw a whitened shape rise out of the snow. One of the soldiers gave a cry of alarm.

"No wait!" Fiyero said, turning around to them.

There was a whizzing noise and a dart stuck fast into Fiyero's chest.

"Fifi!" Glinda shouted. She rose up out of the drifts, heavily covered in snow, and crawled over to where Fiyero lay. The dart was stuck fast into his body, and a little dark stain was forming around where it punctured.

Blood.

"Glin..." Elphaba trailed off when she saw Fiyero injured. She turned to the soldiers. "You bastards!"

"Why?" asked Captain Tenmeadows. "For killing a Winkie? It's good sport, even if Cherrystone was aiming for her instead."

"Me? But why?" Glinda suddenly became very serious. Fiyero could die, and it might be because of her.

"Well, we didn't expect a giant snow-covered thing rising up out of the drifts." Tenmeadows stated. "Are you hurt, Lady?"

"No, not really."

"Good, then get your pets back onto that...nulicorn of yours." he laughed.

"She's called a horse!" Glinda retorted. "And her name is Nessa."

Tenmeadows turned and looked at the frightened horse, shivering in the cold snow.

"A fair word for one so homely." he said, regarding the horse. "And a scrawny thing it is, too. Never mind, up you go. You'll have to run on behind us for the last few days to Shiz."

"But Fi..my friend, he's..."

"He's only hurt," Tenmeadows said. "He won't die."

"Oh really?" Glinda asked. "Would you like me to stick you with a dart and see if you don't die from it?"

"You could try," Tenmeadows haughtily stated. "Besides, the Ozma rules in Oz. And while she lives, all of Oz lives." He then pointed to the others. "Up, quickly! We've wasted enough time here!"

Elphaba and Glinda gently put Fiyero up atop Nessa's back. Glinda whispered something to Elphaba, who ran back and took the Grimmerie, making sure that nobody saw her as she picked it up. She and Glinda then mounted Nessa and ran on sorrowfully behind the company of unicorns, trying to make it has painless as possible for Fiyero.

(AN: Horay for trying to make this story more appealing with cliffhangers!)

(According to the Oz-series, there were no horses in Oz [and that makes the 'horse of a different color' from The Wizard of Oz anachronistic], and so I decided to have them ride unicorns - down-to-earth unicorns that look almost like regular horses just with horns.)

(I think I gave away who the soldiers are/belong to: they're Gilikinese clansmen. Tenmeadows, of course, is an ancestor of dear Avaric, and Cherrystone is a distant ancestor of Commander Cherrystone from Son of a Witch. As per the Ozian color scheme - which some many have forgotten unless you've read Wicked the book - they wear purple robes because purple is the color of Gilikin.)

(The Rak is an actual dragon-like beast from the Oz-series. It is not the Time Dragon, but a different one. In this age, dragons abound more than they do in 'modern' Oz. And I had mammoths as well, cuz I like mammoths)

(The extreme weather in Gilikin is something I also invented. This story is set before the coming of the Three Adepts, and therefore the weather in Oz is very chaotic, and the north-lands are very cold. Lastly, all references to Midgard, the East Emnet and Oz-series characters and situations are belonging to their respective owners, not I.)

(I'll try to update sooner, but please, while I delve into the depths of my imagination to create ancient Oz, please feel free to review and suggest ideas.)