The Marriage of the Sacred and the Wicked Ch 1-*5*

[Leaified]

Yes please more!

[N0tThatGirL213]

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Chapter 6

Gerema sat at the top of the staircase that led down into the tunnels and stared out the window of one of the towers of Kiamo Ko. The land surrounding the castle looked like an ocean of green in every direction. Tall, sharp brown mountains rose on the horizon, hinting of the desert beyond. The rain had stopped during the night, giving way to unbearably hot weather that sent shimmering mirages into the air, as though the ground itself was boiling under the relentless rays of the afternoon sun. In the room below, she could hear Boq and Glinda talking, the latter prattling on about inconsequential subjects, as though filling up her mind with trivialities would erase the reality of the world.

“Did you notice how very much time he’s been spending with her?” Glinda’s voice was a high-pitched whisper, filled with school-girl glee at sharing gossip. “I mean, she won’t let him of course, but he keeps trying. I never had any idea…I knew he was heartbroken when she left Shiz, but I never made the connection…I’d always assumed there was something he didn’t tell us, something…They’re both so secretive, really, who ever would have guessed…” She trailed off and looked expectantly at Boq.

“Who?” asked Boq, who hadn’t been paying any attention. Instead, he’d been studying a map that had suddenly appeared in the mysterious book that morning. It appeared to be of the Vinkus, strangely so, since the book was, to their best knowledge, from another country, if not another world.

“Fiyero!” said Glinda, outraged that Boq hadn’t been listening to her. “You honestly haven’t noticed?”

Gerema stood up and walked across the room, searching through the debris in the tower room. It looked like the scene of a mini disaster. There were torn, watermarked sheets of paper scattered all over the floor, discolored in some sort of powdery black substance. Burn marks covered the floor in the middle of the room and up one wall, and there was a strong smell of mildew. And something else. Something dark and mysterious that she couldn’t quite identify.

“Oh.” said Boq. “Hm. Where is he?”

“I have no idea. He left a little while ago. Went out somewhere. After she yelled at him again. Not yelled even. Screamed, really.” Glinda picked a piece of dirt off her skirt, lavender today, and examined it closely as though it held some kind of special interest to her. Then she turned and glared at Boq, who was still not following. “Well? Have you noticed?”

“I don’t know…I don’t notice things like that.”

The lightly blowing wind made the hinges on the shutter creak, and Gerema turned and walked to the window to close it. Just as she snapped the catch shut, something caught her eye. A small band of figures was just visible on the horizon, their silhouettes no bigger than ants. The sight of them made her blood run cold. She watched them for a moment longer, to verify that they were heading in the direction of Kiamo Ko, then turned back to the stairs down into the tunnel. She walked noisily, trying to alert Boq and Glinda to her presence ahead of time. She didn’t feel right simply walking into the middle of their conversation.

Glinda jumped up as Gerema entered the room, and Boq looked up, his brows knitted in suspicion.

“I have information for you,” said Gerema, unperturbed by their reaction.

“Well?” prompted Glinda.

“There is a party of beings headed our way.”

Boq stiffened and Glinda gasped and grabbed onto his arm as though she were about to faint.

“Gale Forcers?” asked Boq.

Gerema shrugged.

“I do not know.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“That is up to you.” She turned to leave, but Boq went after her, stopping her with a hand on her arm.

“Now wait just a minute. You can’t just abandon us like that. You’re supposed to be here to help.” He drew himself up to his full height, which was still a good deal shorter than Gerema, and glared at her. “For all we know, you gave them our location.”

“That would do me no good, as they terrorize my people the same way they do yours.”

“But we know nothing about you!” Boq shouted. Glinda came up behind him, put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but Boq simply shrugged her off. “My family is missing somewhere, tortured, dead, I don’t know! I’m out here with a couple of anarchists, we have no water, almost no food, we’re trapped down here with a party of potentially hostile people coming toward us and you expect me to calm down!” He walked over to one of the chairs and sat down heavily, his head in his hands, crying silently.

“He’s right, you know.”

The voice made them all jump, then turn. Elphaba was standing in the doorway, regarding them with a faintly amused look.

“What?” Glinda asked, slightly unnerved by Elphaba’s sudden appearance.

“We don’t know anything about her. However, she’s helped us this far. She would have little reason to turn on us now.”

Boq got to his feet and went over to her. He moved to embrace her, but she stepped backward, and he backed off, embarrassed.

“Elphie…what…there’s a party of…we don’t know what coming this way.”

Elphaba nodded, her face expressionless.

“As long as we remain invisible, they are not threat to us. Therefore we must be sure to maintain our cover.”

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Fiyero sat in the middle of the moth eaten old canopy bed and massaged his temples. He hadn’t intended to return to Kiamo Ko, he’d vowed to stay in the tunnels where it was safe and shut out the past as he had for the last fifteen years. Gale Force work camps did wonders for one’s emotions. If nothing else, intense physical pain left no energy for guilt or sadness. He’d learned to live in a state of numbness only weeks after Sarima’s death.

He felt a pang of guilt at the memory, and at those that surrounded him. He hadn’t loved her, he told himself, forced himself to believe. And yet, knowing that he’d spent what would have been their last year together away tore at his heart. He didn’t regret his time with Elphaba, wouldn’t give it up for the world, and yet it was the one thing standing in the way of peace for him. He closed his eyes as images swam up from the depths of memory.

“The children…Fiyero, the children. They…taken…” Sarima’s voice cracked, and her eyes filled with tears of pain.

She’d been dragged, thrown, into his tent in the camp, a last gesture of torture from the Gale Force. She had been beaten nearly to death, watched her children die. Both of her eyes were purple and swollen, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. One arm hung at an unnatural angle, and her breathing was labored, every mouthful of air a fresh wave of agony.

Fiyero wrapped his arms around her broken body, tears stinging his eyes, willing her to survive.

“Sarima, what happened?”

“There was…a woman…a Witch, she said…said she killed you…she wanted to tell me…” Sarima coughed roughly, gasping with the effort of speaking. “The soldiers came…took us away…they wanted…wanted…” Her eyes fell closed, her body limp in his arms.

Fiyero leaned down and kissed her gently, as though he could bring her back. She didn’t stir.

“Sarima…” he choked, his throat unbearably tight. But the tears didn’t come, wouldn’t come, and that was the worst of all.

Fiyero opened his eyes suddenly and lurched to his feet, shaking his head at the remnants of the memory. He turned to leave, then something caught his eye. A flash of color amidst the gloom. He went over to it, picked it up, catching his breath. It was the scrap of a red scarf, one of the ones he’d sent Sarima during his time in the Emerald City. Fiyero buried his face in it as the tears came at last.

“Sarima…” he gasped, “Forgive me.”

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[VivaTaquitos]

This story is absolutely amazing. I higly reccomend you read it. I've read all the chapters that are posted at fanfiction.net, and I love it. READ THIS STORY OR ELSE!!!!