Someone Mourns The Wicked

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Sleep. That's all Glinda wanted. Throughout the night she had led a party of guards in their search but to no avail. She arrived at dawn back in The Emerald City with nobody having any news of the thief. As the sun came out so did people. At first they were confused by the increase of security but it wasn't long before panic swept through. Nobody knew exactly what had happened, just that it wasn't good. Security had been tightened and people in the streets were being questioned. Glinda had trusted her head of the guards to keep the city under control for a few hours while she caught up on her sleep. As she resided to her bedroom she looked at the empty stand were the Grimmerie had once stayed. She sighed and went straight to her bed. She hadn't even closed her eyes for two seconds when an urgent knock sounded at her door.

"Oh, what is it now." She huffed angrily and strode to the door.

She pulled it open to see a guard.

"Glinda, we need your assistance. We have a man in the emerald city who is resisting arrest, Well I say man but he isn't exactly a human."

Glinda marched through the streets, following the guard to where the man was.

"Get your hands off of me! I have done no wrong!" A familiar voice could be heard from inside a circle of guards.

She pushed her way through to see a tin man on his knees glaring angrily at a guard.

"Please release him. I shall handle him myself." Glinda stated and shooed everyone away.

Once they had all retreaded she helped her old friend Boq onto his feet.

"My, Glinda, it's been a long time. You look just as beautiful as when we first met." He smiled.

"I'm surprised you remember me after the amount of time we have been apart."

"Five years isn't that long. Plus how could I forget such a remarkable young woman."

"Still as flattering as I recall." She blushed

Her and Boq walked through the strangely quiet streets together. Though she wanted to catch up with him she had to make sure he had done nothing so bad that would have him nearly arrested.

"They were questioning a young lady," Boq began to tell his story. "She was frightened and shaking as they asked her things such as 'Where were you last night?' And 'Are you against the ways of Glinda the Good.' The woman was nearly in tears and they wouldn't ease up on her. As any gentleman would, I stood up for her and told the guards to leave her be. They didn't like it very much and I ended up punching one of them. I resisted arrest because I was only doing it to protect her."

"I see why you did it but you cannot interfere with their work. I sent them out here for a reason."

"So it was you that has sent them. Tell me why you have done this Glinda. Can you not see how frightened everyone is?" He questioned her.

"I do but you have to understand it's for the best. I can't tell you why but you must trust me Boq."

"I do trust you Glinda. I would trust you if you told me I could fly." He chuckled.

With the real matter out of the way, the witch and the tin man stopped at a small bakers where they were able to sit together and properly speak.

"So how have you been since... Well since... You know." He said.

"Since her death? It's been tough. We didn't always see eye to eye, as you may recall, but near the end we were very close. I still keep her close to my heart."

"And how about Fiyero? I haven't seen him since the little girl left Oz."

"Neither have I. Like you, Fiyero and I haven't been in contact. I hope and believe he is working somewhere in Oz, with a family and a job. It must have been tough for him to loose her." She smiles weakly.

Boq looks at Glinda with eyes full of sorrow. There was something he was keeping from her and the blonde witch could sense it.

"Is something wrong?" She asked him.

"Me? Oh yes, just fine."

"Boq, please don't lie to me. We are friends, you can tell me anything." She placed a hand on his.

"Right...friends." He said to himself. "I don't want to keep this from you Glinda and I doubt you will have heard the rumours." He starts.

"What rumours?"

"The rumours that the wicked witch is not dead. That she still roams on the outskirts of Oz."

"You are lying." She mutters angrily.

"I promise you, I would not lie."

"But you are, she is dead Boq! What don't you understand. I'm sorry but I must leave." She stood up and exited the bakery only to have Boq chase after her.

"People claim to have seen her traveling with another!" He shouts after her.

She ignored him and walked on. Was everyone insistent on making her doubt reality. It didn't take long for him to catch up with her. She was stopped by his cold tin hand on her shoulder. When the witch turned to him his face was full of sorrow.

"I'm sorry for what I said, she was your best friend and it was wrong of me to say those things about her. You may believe them not to be true but there are ways I can prove it to you, give me a chance."

His eyes burned into hers as the tin man tried to convince her. She bit her lip and sighed, avoiding his eye contact as she spoke.

"Meet me tonight, outside my meeting room. We can talk about this with another old friend of mine."