For the next few days, the settlers had to build fences to keep anything out.
And of course where Dastardly had returned to the camp, he had to help out.
Once they finished the last wall of their fence, the settlers felt like they'll be a lot safer from those Indians.
"All right!" cheered Flynn. "That'll keep everything out."
But Dastardly was distracted. He couldn't stop thinking of Cassandra.
He was shoveling the mud, humming to himself.
"Sing with all the voices of the mountain" he sang to himself.
"Something wrong, sir?" asked Zilly, nervously.
"Paint the colors of the... No, I make up songs as I work" lied Dastardly.
He didn't want anyone to know of his encounter with Cassandra.
"You've been quiet for quite a while, you know" said Flynn.
To make another lie, Dastardly stamped his foot.
"Drat!" he cried. "I missed all the action!"
"Oh, don't be mad, chief" said Klunk. "We'll brr wwhhhooo the Indians."
Like always, Dastardly didn't understand what Klunk said.
"What'd he say, what'd he say?" he asked.
"He said we'll have our chance to deal with the Indians" Zilly nervously answered before hiding in his trench coat.
Barney couldn't help but be silly.
"Yeah, we'll take care of them like we did before" he chuckled.
Then, Barney grabbed a pick axe and a coat and made himself a warrior.
"We'll shoot ourselves an Injun, or maybe two or three!" he sang.
This made Dastardly gasp and shake his head with shame.
"Oh, no. Cassandra" he said to himself.
"Who?" frowned Flynn.
"Uh, nobody."
Hearing Barney's nonsensical singing, Fred got mad.
"BARNEY!" he shouted.
"Stop singing and start working you rockhead!"
"Aw, gee, Fred" complained Barney. "I was only having fun."
But then, Flynn stepped up to the shovel Fred was holding.
"You know, fellas" he said.
"I don't think it's funny. For days, we've got no gold, we haven't have food and all Sneekly can do is sit in his tent. And nobody has ever wondered what's going on?"
The settlers frowned, unsure what Flynn was saying.
"I have" Fred finally said.
"Yeah, me too! And we're like stravin' to death!" complained Shaggy. "Even Scooby has been stealing from Muttley."
And sure enough, Scooby and Muttley were fighting over a large meaty bone.
"Rhat's mine!" barked Scooby.
"Rassa frassa it's mine!" Muttley snapped back.
Rolling his eyes, Dastardly stomped on the bone, breaking it in half.
"Oh!" gasped Scooby and Muttley in awe.
"Uh, gee, Dastardly, since did you become nice?" asked Barney.
"I don't know" Dastardly lied again. "I guess it hit me."
Then, his eyes widen.
"That's why I'm going to talk with Sneekly."
He grabbed a basket and hummed to himself.
"Dick! Do you know what works better than hitting?" called Fred. "A really big club!"
"Or a cast iron frying pan!" agreed Flynn.
Inside his tent, the Hooded Claw was gripping his head with obsession.
"I'm doomed" he cried in agony.
"No gold when I should be wallowing in riches by now!"
He looked at his maps.
"We've mined every forest, hill and swamp and what do I find? NOTHING! Why, why, WHHHYY?!"
"Hello?"
"Oh, just a minute."
The Claw reverted back to his Sneekly casual.
"Come in" he said, trying to hold himself together.
Dastardly came in, cocking an eyebrow.
"What?!" snapped Sneekly.
"I thought I heard crying" responded Dastardly.
"Speaking of, the boys are hungry and they were wondering when they could stop the mining."
Muttley snuck inside the tent, shaking the raindrops off his fur.
"Sorry, Dastardly" Sneekly said.
"Not until they find the gold. What am I over looking?"
Dastardly could tell that Sneekly was getting worse than he was before.
"Obsession" Dastardly muttered to himself.
"And I also heard that you were attacked by Indians, sir?"
Then, it hit Sneekly.
Of course, the Indians he thought to himself.
"And why did they attack you, sir?" asked Dastardly, almost nervous.
"It's the gold, Dastardly!" roared Sneekly.
"They have it and they don't want us to take it from them! Well, I'll just have to take it by force!"
Dastardly gulped and backed away.
"Okay..." he said slowly. "Then, I should go arm myself and go get your gold."
He smiled weakly and went outside.
Then, he growled and stomped his foot.
"Should have brought a frying pan!" he seethed before clapped his hands.
"C'mon, Muttley, old boy!"
Hearing this, Muttley followed Dastardly.
Sneekly stared as Dastardly left. He had a feeling something is wrong with Dastardly.
He went over to Fred and Barney's tent, waking them up.
"BOYS!" he yelled. "I think Dastardly is up to something."
"I know why" scoffed Fred. "Your howling cries scared him off!"
"I don't care! Go get him for heaven's sake!"
Barney was nervous.
"But what if we run into the Indians?"
Sneekly laughed and faked a smile.
"What's why weapons are for."
Then, he started getting serious.
"Now arm yourself and get moving or I should have you two fired!"
Meanwhile in a large cornfield, Cassandra and Rapunzel were gathering food for when the warriors arrive.
Snowball was on "guard duty", trying to keep an eye on Cassandra.
Then, the Chief approached them.
"Cassandra, you should be inside the village" he said. "Now is not the time to be running off, so don't go far."
"Yes, Father" smiled Cassandra.
The Chief smiled back.
The necklace Cassandra was wearing reminded him of her mother. And though she had passed away, he felt her presence whenever the wind moved through the forest and its trees.
Cassandra hoped that someday, their people would look to her for wisdom and strength. And she was honored by that.
"Now, you and Rapunzel shouldn't be out here alone" said the Chief.
Then, Snowball appeared at the Chief's feet.
"Don't worry, captain!" he said excitedly.
"With my cute furry looks and my fighting skills, Cass is safe and sound!"
The Chief shook his head.
"No, no. I mean I'll send for Varian."
Then, he left.
Cassandra then took one ear of corn and placed it into her bag.
"All right. You're hiding something, are you?" asked Rapunzel.
"No, Raps, I'm not hiding anything" protested Cassandra.
"Cassandra, you can tell me what it is. I promise I won't tell anyone. We're best friends."
She was interrupted when Dastardly emerged from the cornstalks with Muttley.
Cassandra jumped with surprise.
Rapunzel gasped with shock.
"It's one of them!" she cried.
Hearing this, Snowball ran to attack Dastardly.
"Muttley, you know what to do" sneered Dastardly.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Muttley grunted.
The dog growled at Snowball, who shrieked and ran away.
"What are you doing here?" asked Cassandra.
"I had to see you again" replied Dastardly.
Rapunzel was getting scared and dropped her basket of corn.
"I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to get-"
But Cassandra cupped her mouth.
"Shh! Raps! You want to get me in trouble?" hissed Cassandra.
Then, a voice called out in the distance.
"Cassandra. Cassandra?"
"Who's that?" frowned Dastardly.
"My charmless suitor" groaned Cassandra.
Thinking fast, Cassandra let Rapunzel go.
"Please... don't tell anyone" she whispered.
"What? But why?" asked Rapunzel.
"Because we are best friends."
Cassandra pulled Dastardly and Muttley away from the cornfield before Varian arrived.
"Rapunzel, where's Cassandra?" he asked nervously.
"I- I don't know. She must have gone back to the village, so I haven't seen her" lied Rapunzel.
Varian sighed, rolling his eyes.
"You know Cassandra can't keep running off in the forest. It's dangerous out there. You tell her that, she always listens to you."
As soon as he left, Rapunzel seethed.
"Yeah, right, sure she does."
That night, Cassandra brought Dastardly and Muttley to the willow tree.
"Rassa frassa incredible!" muttered Muttley.
Dastardly agreed.
"Yes. And to thing we came all the way from London to dig this place for gold."
"Gold?" questioned Cassandra.
Then, Rocky peeked out from the tree roots.
Muttley saw him and growled angrily.
"Ah, ah, ah! Don't!" scolded Dastardly. "He's a friend."
Muttley whined.
As soon as Rocky climbed up the root, he sniffed Muttley.
He chattered nervously.
"It's all right, Rocky" assured Cassandra.
"Anyway, what is gold?" she asked Dastardly.
He tried his place to explain.
"Well, gold... it comes from the ground. Really valuable. Round and shiny. Like this."
He showed a gold coin to Cassandra.
"Funny" she frowned. "Nothing like that is found around here."
"Huh? No gold?" gasped Muttley.
"Nope. Not that I've seen."
Dastardly laughed.
"All this way for nothing" he chuckled. "Those boys are gonna be surprised when we tell them. Eh, Muttley?"
Muttley nodded and then snickered.
"Are your people going to leave?" wondered Cassandra.
"Some of them might" answered Dastardly. "But some of them want a place to stay for freedom from our chief, who is called a king in our country."
"Will you go home?"
Dastardly was taken back by surprise of Cassandra's question.
He thought he could lie about it, but he decided to tell the truth.
"Well, uh..." he began nervously.
"It's not like I have much of a home to go back to. You see, it was long time ago and I was just like you."
Cassandra scoffed. She thought he was lying this time.
"Very funny" she chuckled.
"No, it's true" protested Dastardly.
"I was probably a teenager, almost going on seventeen and that's when I wanted to be an explorer."
Dastardly explained to Cassandra that he was born to a normal family, a loving mother and a hard working father. He had plenty of friends, plus Gargamel who was the troublemaking son of a crabby old witch, in boarding school and he was proud, young student, second top best in the class.
That was until one day on a cold December when it was a snow day, he and his friends were playing in the woods when suddenly a horrible snowstorm blew hard and ruined their fun.
When Dastardly and his friends ran through the storm, one of his friends (Ogee from Magilla Gorilla) fell through the ice.
Since Gargamel and most of his friends left, Dastardly and the Jetson kids, Judy and Elroy tried to save Ogee and by the time they pulled her out and brought her home, it was too late.
"She died from the cold air and she was already freezing to death" explained Dastardly. "There was nothing we could have done."
And because of the incident, Dastardly blamed Gargamel for not helping him, Judy and Elroy rescue Ogee. Then, the two had a fight in which Gargamel had won.
Dastardly was never liked by anyone other than his family and Judy and Elroy.
"It was never my fault that Ogee fell into the frozen lake" he said to Cassandra, a tear rolling down his face.
"I was never taught to recognize one's behavior. I've learn that I can never trust anyone like that again."
Cassandra felt sorry.
"And if the world will see me as a murderer for something I haven't done, then let me be evil."
"No, you're better than that" Cassandra cooed.
"You don't know, Cassandra" argued Dastardly. "You've never met someone who killed a friend."
"Yes, I do."
"Y-You do?"
"Yes. A evil spirited woman posed as my best friend's dead mother and then nearly killed her boyfriend, but luckily he saved her by removing her hair. It turned brown and the woman died."
Dastardly was quite surprised.
"Sure, everyone is different, but we're all the same on the inside" continued Cassandra. "You could belong here."
Dastardly smiled and then he felt like someone was watching them.
The wind was blowing and then he noticed something in the willow tree.
"Gah!" screamed Dastardly. "Did you see that?"
"Did you see something" asked Cassandra, almost laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" panted Muttley nervously.
Then, Grandmother Ruth emerged from the tree.
Seeing the ghost, Dastardly and Muttley screamed and hid under the tree.
"Cassandra, there's a g-g-g-ghost!" whimpered Dastardly.
"I know" chuckled Cassandra. "You should probably get up and talk to her."
"Don't be frightened, young man" said Grandmother Ruth. "A ghost like me isn't gonna scare you off."
"How can you talk to a ghost?" Dastardly asked Cassandra.
"Anything" she replied.
Still nervous, Dastardly got up and cautiously walked toward Grandmother Ruth.
"Um... hi, uh" he slowly started.
"Don't be shy, come closer" Grandmother Ruth said, using her ghostly arm to push Dastardly a little closer.
She carefully examined Dastardly. Despite his evil look, he didn't seem harmful.
"Well, he's done very little dirty work" barked the ghost.
"But deep down, he's gotta good soul waiting to burst from that hard shell. Quite handsome too. And between you and me, Cassandra, he's better than Varian and has a better attitude than your daddy."
Cassandra chuckled.
"Oh, I like her already" smiled Dastardly.
"I hoped you would" Cassandra responded.
Muttley snickered.
Then, they heard someone shouting.
"Dastardly! Dastardly! Where are you, sir?"
Dastardly quietly gasped.
"Oh, no, Fred and Barney!" he whispered.
"Why is that bad?" Cassandra whispered back.
"They see you with me, they'll kill you."
Then, Grandmother Ruth had an idea.
"Quick, you two!" she said. "Over here beside the tree."
Cassandra and Dastardly quickly hid far as they could, so Fred and Barney couldn't see them. But the two cavemen were getting closer.
Chuckling as if pretending to be evil, Ruth dove into a tree branch.
The branches came to life and picked up Fred and Barney.
"Barney, watch it!" yelled Fred.
"Wasn't me, Fred" protested Barney. "It was the tree."
Fred wanted to laugh, but then the tree grew evil eyes.
"You're right, Barney" gulped Fred. "This place does give you the creeps. We should probably get out of here."
As soon as the tree branches dropped Fred and Barney, the eyes grew red.
"Whatever you want, evil tree, please don't eat us!" cried Barney.
The tree cackled and the wind seemed to howl like the wolf.
"WHO DARES ENTER MAH FOREST!" screamed the tree. "GO BACK! GO BACK! OR YOU WILL BE DOOMED FOR ETERNITY!"
Then, Rocky climbed from the tree and growled. Muttley emerged from under the tree root, his collar was missing and his fur looked bloody and messy.
Both animals growled savagely.
Fred and Barney screamed!
"Run, Barney, run!" shouted Fred
The cavemen ran, scared out of their wits!
"Wait, Fred, what about Dastardly?!" asked Barney.
"He's a big boy, he can take care of himself!" answered Fred.
As soon as they left, Cassandra and Dastardly came out from behind the tree, laughing.
"I'm glad you're on our side, ma'am" Dastardly said to Grandmother Ruth.
Grandmother Ruth emerged from the tree.
"I've been livin' in this willow tree for years" said Grandmother Ruth. "Somebody's gotta protect this ole thing."
Rocky helped Muttley clean up. The "blood" on the dog was actually Indian paint that the raccoon stole from the village at one point.
"Gimme, gimme, gimme" the dog muttered to Dastardly.
"Does this mean you want a medal?" asked Dastardly.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Oh, all right! I'm not your owner, so here."
Dastardly handed Muttley a medal.
The dog smiled and flew up into the air and floated down like a feather, wagging his tail.
"We'd better get back right now before Sneekly sends the camp to hunt us down" said Dastardly, hooking the collar back on Muttley's neck.
Cassandra was worried.
"When will I see you again?" she asked.
"Meet me tonight. Here by Grandmother Ruth's willow tree" he replied.
Dastardly and Muttley left.
Grandmother Ruth chuckled.
"Well, I haven't had this much excitement in forever!" she shouted excitedly.
"I'm not sure about this" said Cassandra. "I was told that we aren't supposed to go near the strangers, so I shouldn't be seeing him again."
"What do you mean, Cass? I wanna see him again."
Cassandra then cleaned Rocky's fur as she thought of it. It seems like something is telling her that it's the right thing to see Dastardly again. Perhaps maybe it's...
"My dream?" Cassandra said out loud. "Grandmother Ruth, do you think he's the one that the spinning arrow was pointing to?"
Grandmother Ruth only smiled.
To be continued...
