Hello all! Welcome to chapter 5 of Darkness of the Night. With this chapter we jump back to Elphaba and Fiyero, who are currently at their pit stop at the Inn. I won't say much about it because you just need to read and find out is happening. So read and enjoy.

Chapter 5

Fiyero gives a huge stretch with his arms over his head. He scratches the back of his head next while smacking his lips. The Winkie prince blinks the tiredness out of his eyes with a slight yawn. He didn't get a restful night of sleep. He was too busy guarding Elphaba while she slept. Fiyero was too nervous to go to sleep. He was afraid that the Wizard had people following them and would kill them at the most opportune time.

"There he is."
"They must be moving soon."

Blue eyes widen and with a sharp exhale looks around his surrounding to see where the voices are coming from. Somebody must be spying on him. The Winkie prince takes a step forward to and sweeps the area before him. He only sees the sparse vegetation on the ground. There are no trees in the immediate area to hide who was talking.

"Hmmm…"

Fiyero turns back towards the inn to scan every square inch of the place. His heart is starting to pound when he can't see anything so far. The Winkie prince has an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. He thinks it is time for all of them to leave this place. Fiyero quickly runs off to find Elphaba.

Smoke is coming out from the lone chimney in a white, smoky trail. A Hawk's head cautiously peaks out from behind it and looks around before slowly walking out into the open.

"Coast is clear" The Hawk whispers back towards the chimney. A female Robin hops out next and gives a huff with her feathers ruffling in annoyance

"You need to know how to whisper. He could have caught us. Lady Glinda specifically told us to keep out of sight and for them not to know." The Robin says as she hops over to the Hawk, who meekly scratches his head with his wing. He didn't mean to almost give away their position by speaking as loud as he did. The Hawk thought he was whispering.

"I'm sorry, I thought I was whispering." He replies in a sheepish way and he lowers his head. The Robin just shakes her head and gives a good humor chirp to her companion.

"We will work on it. Right now we have to find them and follow them so we can give our next update to Lady Glinda and Silver." The Robin flaps her wings and takes flight but hovers to wait for the Hawk to come up with her. His yellow eyes sparkle up towards the Robin before he spreads his wings and follows the Animal into the sky to continue their job

Fiyero speeds up his steps in a spook about hearing those voices and not being able to put body to those voices has definitely unnerved him. Elphaba has told him stories about the Wizard having winged monkeys being used as spies. He just it up as the green woman exaggerating a tiny bit but maybe there is some truth to it. If so, they need to make haste now. The Winkie prince remembers Elphaba saying she would be by the stables checking in on Prince and Calypso before they head out.

Fiyero comes up to the raven haired beauty rubbing the side of Calypso's neck while feeding the female Horse an apple she snuck out of the kitchen. He pauses for a second to take in the unique beauty that Elphaba has. The emerald skin shines brightly against the start contrast of the white color. He can see why Glinda was always fascinated with her during their time at Shiz. He looks down with a soft sigh. A part of him always knew that Elphaba was just using him for companionship and to compensate for not being with Glinda. The Winkie prince knew the instance at seeing the grief on the green woman's face while holding Glinda's dead body what the truth was. Elphaba still was deeply in love with her. A frown slowly appears on his face.

"Wipe that look off of your face. It doesn't suit you." Elphaba's voice floats towards him. Fiyero blinks his eyes and pulls himself out of his thoughts. He didn't realize that he was frowning. Elphaba has been watching him with her left arm wrapped around Calypso's neck. Her hair is gently blowing in the wind. The dark burn marks that rail down her face are hardly there but there was something different about her. There has been life injected back into those dull, listless, brown eyes. Fiyero feels a smile start to appear because it is good to see her feeling a bit better. He wonders what has caused the sudden turn around.

"What look?" The Winkie prince shot back with a smirk plastered on his face as he walks towards her. Elphaba rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She will let it slide this time. Even Calypso rolled her eyes at the lie.

"Never mind." The green woman replies as she lets her arm slide off the Horse's neck and walks towards him with her arms folded across her chest. Fiyero notices that Calypso is watching the exchange with a wary eye. It seems she still doesn't trust him like her mate does.

"Are we leaving now?" Elphaba questions as she tucks some of her hair behind her ear. He nods his head in confirmation. He this that is best not to inform her about hearing the voices talking about him; he doesn't want to add any more burden on her still fragile mind.

"We are. If we leave now we can make it to the castle by nightfall, if we don't have interruptions." Fiyero answers while running his fingers through his hair. Elphaba gives a soft hmm with a slight nod of the head. She looks past his shoulder to see the horseless carriage. A part of her is telling her to go back to the Emerald City. Something in her heart is tugging her back in that direction. The green woman gives a thoughtful sigh through her nose.

"You going to tell me what you are thinking about?
Elphaba blushes when she realizes that she has spaced out. She clears her throat before looking to the blonde man.

"I have this feeling in my heart. It is telling me to go back to the Emerald City but this dream with Glinda…."
"A dream with Glinda?" Fiyero interrupts with curiosity. This could explain why there seems to be a different feel about her. Elphaba looks towards him; the prince was expecting tears in the brown eyes, with a soft smile and a loving look in her eyes.

"It did. It helped me. I still grieve for her, Fiyero but seeing her again and talking to her helped. She was warning me about something. Telling me to be read for whatever comes my way." Elphaba answer as she holds her hands and grips them tightly. Fiyero wrinkles his nose but won't say anything to ruin the good mood the raven haired beauty is in.

"What does that mean?" He asks as he motions her to walk with him. He wraps an arm around her should in a protective way. To her, it felt nice but it was not Glinda's touch though the blonde could never reach around like Fiyero can with her short stature but she made up for it in different ways.

"I don't know. I've been trying to figure it out since I had the dream." She replies while putting a hand under her chin. She didn't like the vagueness of the words and Glinda wasn't one to be vague, well not with her at least. Fiyero stops to the carriage and let's go of her with a thoughtful look.

"Maybe we can discuss it on the ride to the castle." Fiyero suggest while running his fingers through his blonde locks. It seems like a good distraction. He doesn't know how long this happy mood Elphaba will be in before she sinks back into the deep depression she was in yesterday.

"We can do that." Elphaba says as she puts her hands into the pockets of her dress. Talking will probably do her some good. Her eyebrows knit together at feeling a coolness hit her fingers. The green woman looks towards that hand and pulls it out with a closed fist. Fiyero looks down towards the hand with a raised eyebrow. He wants to know what is in the green fist. Elphaba swallows hard as she holds out the hand between the two of them slowly unfurls her fingers, revealing a simple golden band resting in the palm of her hand. Tears go to her eyes at the memories that are held in the ring. The Winkie prince recognizes it as the ring Glinda gave to him to ensure it is returned to Elphaba. He opens his mouth to say something but he honestly doesn't know how to respond to this. The green woman gives a shaky exhale and closes her eyes. The good mood she has been in has flown out the window the moment she saw the ring.

"I let her down." Elphaba whispers as a tear starts to sizzle down her left cheek. She remembers the promise she gave to Glinda with this ring and she broke it.

"No, you didn't." Fiyero retorts as he gets closer to her. He reaches to comfort her but the green woman pulls away from the touch and shoves the offending object back into her pocket. She can't stand the sight of it any longer.

"I did. I promise her I would never leave her and break her heart but I did. I left her and broke her heart because of that she is dead. Now tell me how all of this is not my fault." Elphaba hisses towards him with fire in her brown eyes. She looks at him and waits for any kind of answer he would try to spew at her. When nothing came from his mouth, Elphaba walks away back towards the stable. The hurt and depression is sinking back in.

"I thought so."
Fiyero gives a sigh as she watches her walk away from him, his heart heavy. Prince walks up behind him and gives a gentle nudge of support on his shoulder. He witnessed the entire thing from his position by a tree and wants to check in on the Winkie prince first. The blonde looks towards him and rubs his nose.

"Her wounds will heal in time." The Horse whispers in his ear. Fiyero gives another soft sigh before looking towards him. He wishes that would be true but he doesn't think time will heal the wounds that Elphaba has on her soul and heart.

Poor Elphaba, she is having a hard time with Glinda's death and dealing with the broken promises she made to Glinda as well. Will she move on from her intense grief? You will have to find out in the upcoming chapters. I will tell you that it's getting good. I have written up to chapter 14 so far. I so can't wait for you all to read them. I think you will really enjoy them. I will see you next week!

DWK