A/N: Shout outs to my 2 anonymous reviewers! All is about to be revealed in this chapter. ;) Glad you liked it. Thanks so much!


Chapter 34

The group rushed back to the prison cells and found the one that was supposed to be occupied by Mombey. Elphaba ordered that the cell be opened. Quickly, Officer Sanberg found the right key and opened the cell door.

"I've been waiting for you," the voice was unmistakably Ugabu's, however, she did not look like the elder witch.

"What did you do?" Elphaba asked as she watched the woman transform back into herself.

"What needed to be done. She wanted to die, so I acquiesced to her request. Mombey had ruined too many lives. She didn't deserve to continue to breathe air. You know that once she was convicted of treason she would die anyway. It's only a shame that I could not perform the spell to burn her at the stake," Ugabu told her.

"You strangled her, as would have the hangman's noose, but why stay behind then? Why not run?" Elphaba was confused.

"It seems that all the spells I cast have had their revenge," the elder witch admitted. The green woman's eyes went wide.

"Pardon the confusion, but what now?" Sergeant Schultz spoke up from behind Elphaba.

"Quite simply put, my old body cannot last much longer. Absorbing Mombey's powers did enough for me to free Sarah from her prison and at first, I thought I had used them all up once the spell was done. I was wrong. My body started showing signs that something was amiss. I confronted Mombey, who only laughed. She had stolen her powers from Duchess Langwidere of Ev. You see the Duchess was a fairy and the only way to steal her powers was to kill her. So, the debt of her death was transferred to me upon me taking Mombey's powers," Ugabu explained.

"The problem is fairy powers only work for those that kill their owners. The next person who tries to steal them will have murder visited upon them. Usually in the way that the fairy was originally killed. My guess is that the borrowing spell tricked the fairy spell but only long enough for you to separate Sarah from Mombey," Elphaba said.

"The fairy powers had been used one last time for good. My soul was not clean, neither was Mombey's so the powers took their revenge," Ugabu nodded.

"So, because you stole something that had already been stolen, the fairy powers turned on you. How did Mombey kill this Langwidere?" Schultz asked.

"You cannot simply kill a fairy. They do not die if you shoot them, stab them, or even behead them. They are the most resilient creature of the magical world. Mombey did the one thing that would weaken a fairy the most. She captured Langwidere in a prison of iron. Once inside this prison, she fed Langwidere food that was highly salty. The combination of the two weakened Langwidere to the point where she begged for her freedom. Mombey promised her that, if she gave her her powers, then she'd let Langwidere go. The fairy knew that once her powers were gone, she'd be mortal. Still, the alternative was being trapped in this prison. So Langwidere agreed and cast the spell for the transfer to begin," Ugabu paused. Her throat was incredibly dry and she could taste salt. Taking a drink of water from her cell, she continued,

"Once the transfer was complete, instead of letting Langwidere go, Mombey stuck an iron sword in through the bars of the tight prison she'd created, stabbing her prisoner in the stomach. Now mortal, Langwidere began to bleed profusely. Dropping to the ground, Mombey took the sword and beheaded Langwidere."

"How is a spell going to behead you?" Schultz was still confused.

"The fatal wound was the first one. Whether, Langwidere had been beheaded or not, she would have died. So now Ugabu must die the same way," Elphaba admitted.

"Though I admit this is taking longer than I thought," Ugabu shook her head.

"Can we save her?" Corporal Roth wanted to know.

"She's been bleeding internally for days. Even I cannot fix that," Elphaba shook her head.

"It is a fitting death. I do not regret saving Sarah. It was my last good deed. My only regret is that I did not reach out to you sooner. Perhaps, we could have helped each other," Ugabu looked at the green woman.

"Perhaps we could have. Now, I will instead have to bury you," Elphaba said.

"Do not give Mombey a marked grave. We cannot take any chances with any of her followers," Ugabu coughed and found blood on her hands. The end was near.

"She will be burned as will you. Lieutenant Ral and his men are setting up a pyre as we speak," Elphaba told her.

"Good," Ugabu coughed again and more blood came up.

"Miss Elphaba," Corporal Roth was worried that this was still a trick.

"Send word to Fiyero. Tell him Mombey and Ugabu are dead. Send the message to Glinda as well. She should deliver the good news to the people of Oz," the green woman told him.

To Be Continued…