Chapter 7

Elphaba froze in her tracks as pain rocketed through her head. She called out and dropped to her knees, grabbing her head and Chistery looked around before going to her side. He saw nothing and did not understand why the green woman was in so much pain.

"Miss Elphaba what is wrong?" He asked. She did not answer him and instead vomited before rolling over to lie down. Now the Flying Monkey was very concerned and he wished he knew what to do. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Elphaba replied to his earlier question.

"I guess Morrible wasn't the cause of my visions after all."

"What?" Chistery didn't understand. Since when did she start having visions?

"It seems our friend with the black magic is sending me visions. I have yet to figure out why he would send me helpful ones and still be trying to kill me at the same time," Elphaba clarified.

"Ah. What did you see?" He wanted to know.

"Avantador flies to the Vinkun Palace. Fiyero is in hot pursuit but I fear that he won't be able to stop what might be coming. We must abandon our search for this sorcerer and head for the Palace," she said.

"Isn't that just what he wants?" Chistery pointed out.

"And he wins this round. I cannot let innocents die because he sends the dragon to barbeque them," Elphaba responded. Chistery nodded in understanding and then realized their bigger problem.

"You gave Fiyero the broom," he said.

"I did but a decent size tree branch shall do in its place," she smiled slightly and Chistery quickly took to the skies and broke one off of a nearby tree. Elphaba quickly enchanted it and the two were off, racing towards the Palace.

Fiyero watched as Avantador landed just outside the Palace. The Prince was confused by his actions as he figured he would have torched the Palace already if he intended to do it. He was able to swoop in and try to land on the nearest balcony. Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at swooping and crash landed, landing in a heap and in pain.

"Prince Fiyero," Avantador nodded.

"Avantador, my good friend," Fiyero managed as he untangled himself. He could hear footsteps from inside the Palace and they were both soon confronted by Vinkun soldiers.

"Prince Fiyero!" A sergeant that the Prince recognized as Licek, quickly helped him up only to realize that his royal highness had broken his ankle.

"I need a medic!" The sergeant shouted and quickly one of the men went running.

"Are the King and Queen here?" Avantador asked as he watched the humans get Fiyero comfortable while waiting for assistance.

"They are not. I thought they were in the Emerald City," Licek said.

"They left and were heading for home. Elphaba enchanted the horses and we did not see them as we flew overhead," Fiyero told them.

"Where is Miss Elphaba?" Avantador sounded worried.

"Tracking down whoever made Chistery try to kill us over the forest. We were able to stop him and now he is with her," the Prince explained.

"It is not Chistery whom we must fear," Avantador clenched his clawed hands.

"I agree," Elphaba said as she and Chistery landed on the balcony.

"Fae!" Fiyero was glad to see her though he wondered why she was there and not hunting the one with the black magic. The doctor came running out and was about to have Fiyero taken back to the infirmary when Elphaba stopped him. She quickly conjured up a spell and fixed Fiyero's ankle. Those around her could hardly believe what they had just seen as the Prince pulled Elphaba in for a hug.

"There is evil afoot, Miss Elphaba and I believe it has Prince Fiyero's parents. I could sense the evil, all the way from my new home," Avantador was careful on how he worded his statement. Fiyero let go of his fiancée and she responded,

"I agree Avantador. We must do something but my guess is that your presence has drawn attention to the Vinkus. All eyes will be upon us now and we must fight together to stop whatever that evil is."

"Agreed. Now tell me about the enchantment of Chistery," the dragon said. Quickly, the green woman got right to it.

Meanwhile, news was spreading that the dragon had been spotted flying toward the Vinkus and Glinda and Asli received word that it was in fact true. The blonde quickly told Asli to return to the Emerald City and fortify the defenses while she would bubble over to the Vinkus and see what could be seen. They both hated to cut their honeymoon short but they had no choice. The very delicate balance that they had struck was in danger.

To Be Continued…