Straw Doll

"Let her go!" Fiyero commanded. "Or explain to all of Oz how the Wizard's guards watched while Glinda the Good was slain," he raised his rifle to point right at Glinda's heart.

"Put the gun down, son," one of the Gale Force soldiers commanded. "We know you'd never really hurt her."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Fiyero challenged. Then before anyone else could even blink, he pulled the trigger on his rifle. There was a bang, a shriek of pain, and a thump. Glinda was suddenly on the ground, writhing and sobbing in pain as blood sprayed from her arm. All Hell broke loose in the short few seconds to follow. Firstly, the Gale Force soldiers released Elphaba so that they could all take up their own guns again. Secondly, Fiyero began to shoot his rife again, over and over, felling any Gale Force soldier stupid enough to try and shoot him. Elphaba, all the while, ran over to Glinda's side, heedless of the gunfire happening all around her.

Quickly picking up Glinda, Elphaba ran back over to Fiyero.

"Come on!" she commanded. Fiyero needed no further incentive to send back one last hail of bullets before sprinting after Elphaba. Together, the trio vanished into the nearby cornfields. Elphaba's mind went on lockdown as she sprinted as fast as she could through the golden fields, barely even aware of how heavy Glinda was in her arms. All she could think to do was run.

But then at last, Elphaba emerged on the other side of the first cornfield. The sudden break from all those cornstalks woke Elphaba out of her mini stupor and she finally collapsed to her knees from exhaustion. Glinda rolled awkwardly out of her arms, still sobbing in pain, fighting hard not to scream as she began to use parts of her big poofy skirt to bandage her wound.

"Wait a minute. Where's Fiyero?" Elphaba panted after a few seconds of silence.

"Dead," Glinda replied, gritting her teeth in pain.

"Dead?" Elphaba echoed, sounding disbelieving and agonized.

"Dead," Glinda promised grimly. "While you were carrying me along, I watched him fall further and further behind us, trying to protect us. But there's only so much one rifle can do against a whole squadron..." Glinda didn't need to say anything else for Elphaba to get the picture. And as of right now, Elphaba wasn't sure what to think about this. On the one hand, of course she regretted knowing that it was her fault Fiyero was dead. On the other, though, her mind was still reeling from the fact that he had actually shot Glinda. She wasn't quite so ready to forgive him for that...

After a few more minutes of silence, however, Elphaba came back to her senses and used a few rudimentary healing spells to at least keep Glinda tied down until they were able to get back to Kiamo Ko and obtain real help.

"Thanks, Elphie," Glinda hissed through her pain as Elphaba finished closing up the wound and slowing down the amount of blood pouring from it.

"My pleasure," Elphaba replied grimly, then she hopped to her feet and helped Glinda to her own. Without another word, both of them headed into the next cornfield, entirely ready to sneak back all the way to the castle in the west. It was too risky to fly right now. Walking was all they had.

But only about halfway through that second field, all Hell broke loose again. All of a sudden, Glinda was on the ground again. This time, it wasn't because of a bullet, but rather, because of a large metal net that had been thrown over her, quickly entangling her within iron chains.

"Glinda!" Elphaba was hit by the very edges of the net, but it didn't take her more than a few seconds to wiggle on out. The same could not be said for Glinda. Elphaba quickly reached back, every intent to help rescue Glinda, but she didn't get very far before Glinda stopped her.