A/N: A shout out to my anonymous reviewer! The Witch has her hands in more than we realize. More on that now, ;) Thanks!
A/N2: Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.
Chapter 8
The group decided that they needed to reconvene in the morning. The mayor directed the royal couple and Gale Force soldier to the inn up the street. The owner, Mrs. Marfeo, quickly ushered the three to the only room she had left. It contained a queen-sized bed, a couch, and a desk with a mirror. The inn had communal bathrooms at the end of each hall. Mrs. Marfeo apologized multiple times for that but Fiyero assured her that it was fine. They had not scheduled a visit and did not want to inconvenience anyone.
"You don't mind me sleeping on the couch, ma'am?" Corporal Roth asked as he prepared the couch for bed with spare sheets and a blanket that Mrs. Marfeo brought them.
"Where else would you sleep?" Elphaba gave him a look from the bed, setting down the list of stolen items that she'd been reading. She was sitting up against the headboard with a pillow behind her. Once she'd gotten comfortable, she tried to see if there were any patterns or anything that stuck out on the list that could be used for spells.
"I'm sure the stable hands would help out. They seemed like a good bunch of guys when I brought them our horses," Roth said.
"Nonsense. Without you, we wouldn't be here, so sharing the room is the least we can do," Elphaba told him.
"Yes ma'am. Can I help with the list?" The Corporal asked.
"I could use it. Fiyero must be having a hard time getting the stink of dead goat off," Elphaba chuckled. The Prince had complained that he could still smell the dead animal after helping Doctor Howat look at it. The bathroom was open and Fiyero was going to take a bath.
"It can be hard to get that smell off. So, what does goat blood have to do with this list of items?" Roth wanted to know. He'd finished with the couch and moved toward the bed, taking a seat at the end of it.
"I am trying to sort that out. It seems that this person is more than comfortable using complicated spells and my guess is that they're using spells to do the break-ins," the green woman explained, indicating that he could sit near her.
"How does this all fit together? You really think that the witch is stealing souls?" He asked.
"Honestly, that is an old wives tale. Even the Grimmerie doesn't mention soul stealing. Morrible would have used a spell like that if she had known about it. I don't know why poor Sarah had to die. A spell was definitely used though. No bruises. No foreign objects in the airways," Elphaba shook her head.
"So, someone lures her out of her own bed and kills her. Same person probably killed the goat. There are break-ins… Say these happenings are all related – to what point and purpose? Roth wondered.
"Well, that's the trick, isn't it? I can't get out it out of my head that this was some sort of set up," the green woman told him.
"What do you mean?" The Corporal frowned.
"What are the chances that we would drive by Sarah's body at the moment that a condor would be leaving it?" She asked him. Roth thought about it but failed to come up with a good answer.
"You think that the Witch of Ugabu lured us here," he said.
"Magic can often sense magic. I have to admit that the town has given off an odd vibe, despite all the nice people we met," Elphaba said.
"So, you think the Witch knows you're here and she's using these incidents to bait you in? That makes sense to me. You're the most powerful person in Oz. The Witch could probably feel you coming a mile away. Does she want a confrontation or just to see you interact with everyone?" The Corporal wondered.
"I honestly have no idea. I wish I could make heads or tails of this list and these events," she huffed. Suddenly, they heard a rush of footsteps out in the hallway and then someone pounded on their door. Roth jumped up and quickly went to the door.
"Doctor Howat! What is going on?" He asked, surprised to see him. The Corporal quickly let him in the room and Elphaba left the bed to approach the medical man.
"Sarah's body…" the doctor was trying to catch his breath.
"What about her body?" Elphaba asked.
"It's gone!" He told them. The green woman turned to the Corporal,
"Get Fiyero."
To Be Continued…