Finally, Chapter 4! Ye~ey! XD

Sorry for taking so much time. That actually wasn't the plan so far. But as my working hours have changed recently, things got a little complicated. V_V'

Which means: The following chapters might also take some more time as usual. But the story will continue as soon as possible. So, please be patient, okey? :)

In the meantime, enjoy reading and don't be shy to tell me what you liked, disliked, or think, that should have been written different.

Love, Eeva :D

Chapter 4: Going North Part 2 – The travellers and the beast

The chattering continued, interrupted by the one or the other discussion about more stories, favorite parts of those stories and alternatives. As the night went on, the fire went out and we all finally managed to get some hours of sleep. But, when I woke up again, Cassandra was already sitting next to me, eyes open and scanning the clearing.

"What's wrong, Cas?", I asked, still a bit sleepy while rubbing my eyes.
It must have been around early morning, for the sky already began to lighten up with the first rays of sunlight.

"I thought, I heard something", Cassandra answered, not even looking at me.

"Don't panic, Cas...", I murmured and sat up. Taking a look around the clearing myself, I couldn't spot anything dangerous.
"We're outside in a wood... There sure are lots of noises, you know..." I looked again, but as I still couldn't see anything alarming, I just patted my friend on her shoulder and grinned cheeringly.

"Maybe, it was just the snore of the guys around you heard?", I proposed. But Cassandra still seemed to be eager for hearing things threatening us...

"Over there!", she said, pointing in the direction of some thick looking underwood.

"Where? I don't see anything." My eyes pierced the underwood, which was still as an underwood could ever be.

"Mmmmh... What's all the fuzz about so early in the morning, ladies...?"

Next to my other side, Eugene woke up. Yawning, he sat up, too, and looked at me questioning.

"Cas said, she heard and saw something."

Eugene blinked and started looking around the clearing, too. Then he looked at Cassandra with a broad grin in his face.

"Of course, she did.", he said while stretching ample, "We're in the woods! There's lots of noises and stuff. The wind in the trees, animals, more animals... Those guys there..." He gestured around us and pointed at the tramps who still sounded eager to saw down the whole forest at once.

"Getting paranoid outside the town walls, aren't we, our 'braveness'?", he then joked at Cassandra and gave me a good-morning kiss on the cheek.
"That's all just normal, Blondy. Nothing to worry about, believe me. I'd know, if there actually would be danger ahead, because I-"
"SHH! Quiet, you dork...", Cassandra hissed all of a sudden and put her hand to her sword, "Just look over there..."

Just as Eugene followed her gaze, Fidella and Max also started to get uneasy.

"Wha-"
"There!"

This time, I saw it, too: A tall figure, moving in the shadows around the clearing. Basically the same scenario as last night, but something was different this time. The figure seemed to be alone. And it clearly didn't look like a human beeing.

"Quick! Wake the others!", Cassandra commanded us, after shoving Varian to wake up, who – to my surprise- had curled up pretty close next to her in the grass.

"Mh? What's wrong, Cassy...?", he asked, still half asleep.

"Cassandra.", she snapped, heading in fidellas direction, to keep her clam, "And: No time for explanation, now. This really could get ugly..."

A bloodcurling roar woke the ones, that weren't already awake.

"My... So loud..."

"Somebodie's forgot to breakfast properly, or what's this noise here for?"

The bearded boss of the tramps – Who by the way had himself introduced as 'Horst the Slayer' last night. - yawned loudly and grinned. But pretty soon, he got pretty serious again, when he realized, nobody was laughing at the joke.
"Why so serious all that earl- WHOA! What the heck is this?!"

His eyes widened in shock, when he saw the distorted figure stepping on the clearing.
It looked like a giant... well... I actually didn't know, what exactly it did look like.
It had a big head, ears like a rabbit, but it was tenth the size of a small dog. Thick fur, broad shoulders, strong paws and claws and sharp teeth, with which it started attacking us right away.

"Yeah! That's what ya need first place after falling outta bed, isn't it?"

Horst and his men were the first to reattack, but to our horror, they didn't succeed at all.

"Impossible!" The one-eyed tramp with the axe cursed. He somehow managed to get through the claws and teeth and hit the monster with his axe. Which broke immediately after hitting the thick fur of the strange animal.

Then a strong paw hit the man against his chest and threw him aside like nothing. Then it moved through the rest of the tramps like they were made of cardboard.

"Our weapons don't seem to work here, boys! Gotta think of something else to get outta this... - Flynn!"

Oh, no! They were referring to the the adventures of their hero, defeating monsters, warlords and dragons...
I mean: Eugene was kind of a smart and brave man, of course! But this was pretty much not his subject at all...

"It looks like the transformed racoon", he said, but I was pretty sure, he wouldn't let me touch that animal, "You remember? The one that rioted Corona a month ago..."

"Then maybe the princess should do the same as what she did to Rüdiger", Varian promptly spoke out the rest of what hadn't just been Eugene's and my thoughts.

"Ok! I'll try..."

"No, you won't!"

Cassandra held me back, when I tried to face the animal, which was still approaching us.

"But, I have to try it, Cas! Maybe, it'll work..."

"Are you kidding?! I won't let you touch that thing, Raps!"

"Then, maybe, we should just stop arguing and run!"

Eugene grabbed my hand and we ran.

First, there were Cassandra, Varian, Eugene, Max, Fidella, Pascal and me. Behind us, there was the monster, hard on our heels. And behind the monster, there were Horst and his men.

"Hang on, kids!", he yelled, "We'll help you! Somehow..."

Eugene looked back over his shoulder.
"That's cool!", he shouted commendatory.

"Yeah! But better be fast, guys!", Cassandra added, while looking for another way, as our path through the wood and underwood had led us into an even worse situation than before. In front of us spread a fresh green plane, lit by the morningsun – but not endless after all. Shortly said: A dead end, as the plane ended at a crag, which looked quite too deep to wanna fall in.

"Stop, Fidella!", Cassandra shouted and pulled Fidella's rein to make her stop, shortly before the edge of the abyss. Eugene, Varian, Max and me also managed to stop in time. But there still was the monster behind us. And it didn't look, as if it was also up to stop so soon...

"Lars! NOW!"

Suddenly a big part of what used to be a trunk slid over the grassy plane – and straight into the monster's path! Seemed, as if someone had learned from the fight yesterday...

The animal groaned and stumbled, but it still didn't stop.

"Out of the way, kiddos!", Horst shouted, while he and two other men ran towards the monster. Then, he gave them an unspoken commando and all three of them jumped and crashed against the stumbling monster.

Not to slow it down, but to shove it over the edge of the crag!

"Blondy! Max! Quick!"

Eugene grabbed me with one arm and pulled me forward and then aside. With the other hand, he pulled Max's rein, to get him out of the path, too. On our other side, Cas, Varian and Fidella tried the same, but only Fidella was fast enough, to evade the tumbling monster, still shoved ahead by Horst and his men. Cassandra and Varian instead were hit by a flailing paw and thrown straight over the edge of the abyss, together with the roaring and flailing monster-animal.

"No!"

Eugene tried to hold me back, but I broke away from his hands and ran towards the edge of the abyss.
For a moment, I just stared down the immense depth and the last thing, I heard was aroar and then Varian's voice when he ordered Cassandra, to hold on to him. Then, all of them were completely out of sight.

To make sure, this wasn't the last time, I had seen them, I immediately opened my hair, commanded Eugene and the tramps, to cling to it, grabbed one of the lighter looking weapons of our new friends and jumped after Cassandra and Varian.

The weapon raised my weight, so I fell down pretty fast, just as I had planned. Right now, I had to trust Eugene and the other men, for the lifes of three people lay in their hands. And I just hoped, that it wouldn't be already too late for two of them...

The fall lasted a little, but then, I saw them: Cassandra and Varian.

Cas was cowering on a thick branch, which grew out of the rocky wall of the crag, trying to reach Varian, who hung further ahead of the branch. He somehow seemed to have managed to cling to the branch with the chain of his handcuffs and from the look on Cassandra's face, it seemed, as if this had saved both of their lives...

I let go of the weapon and slowed down my fall.

"Hang in there, Varian!", I adressed the young alchemist and tried to land with my feet straight on the branch to help him climb up.

"No, not there!", Cassandra and Varian yelled of one voice, but it was already to late. Just from looking at it, I didn't see, that the branch was already partly decayed, and when I stepped on it, it the frontpart with Varian and me on it simply snapped and sent us further down the abyss.

Or, at least, we were supposed to fall further down. But Cassandra quickly jumped forward and grabbed Varian by his chains, to save him from falling. And to avoid her falling after him, as Cassandra had actually left the branch, I grabbed her by her waist and clung to her as tight, as possible, the other hand still on my hair, to avoid us all from falling.

"Eugene! Horst!", I then shouted upwards, "It's me, Rapunzel! Can you hear me? We're alive and I got them! Now, we need to get back up again..."

With a short laughter in relief, I told Cas and Varian to hold on to my hair.
"Don't worry. We'll be up there in a minute.", I smiled, as they did as I told them. And just in time, a strong pulling from above started to lift us back up the cliff.

Quite in relief, we crawled up the last few inches and back on top of the crag on our own, where we were welcomed by our other friends.

"Blondy! I'm so happy, that you didn't end up as pancakes down there!" Eugene took me in his arms and gave me a short kiss.
"Me, too.", I hugged Eugene and Cassandra, but left Varian out, remembering him refusing such things recently – although, it was pretty hard for me to do so.

"It was such a big luck, that Cassandra and Varian had caught this branch that saved them from falling further down."

"Yes, it was.", Eugene agreed, "Although, you could have left her sit down there on the branch until we return from our mission. I guess, it would be the most relaxed adventure ever, wouldn't it?"

He grinned and Cassandra grinded her teeth.

"Oh, just keep your mouth shut, you old powder puff!, she gnarled, "You are just a pain in the- Oh, no!"

Horst, his men, Eugene, Varian and me, all turned into the direction, Cassandra was looking.
"I thought, it's gone...", she harrumphed, but the sound of worry was really clear in her voice.

The monster had survived the fall down the abyss, too and made it back upwards shortly after us. Something that made me pretty happy on the one hand. But, on the other hand, it wasn't all that wonderful, because, it attacked us again. And this time, it seemed really pissed off.

Ok. Maybe, I would have reacted in just the same way, if somebody had tried to kill me by shoving me down a crag...

Nevertheless: We were still in danger.

Horst and his men grabbed their weapons a little stronger and Eugene and Cassandra pulled out theirs, too, to at least look well prepared for what was coming.

The animal kept running towards us, while we couldn't do anything else but standing at the edge of an abyss.

"Just do something!", Cassandra ordered Eugene, who stood next to her, sword in hand and brain working how to get us probably all out of this.

"Why me? You always claim to be the smart one here..."
"Stop quarreling, you both!", I interfered, "Better think and-"
"I got it!" Varian shouted all of a sudden from somewhere near behind us, "Get out of the way!"

Suddenly a small, crystal-ball-like looking thing flew past us and hit the grass in front of the monster to break instantly and spill out a purple substance.

When the monster trampled into it, it got stuck immediately. Roaring and winding, it tried to free itself, but it was trapped.

"Good job, Varian!", I praised him, but soon silenced in surprise, when the boy suddenly rushed forward and pushed me hard in the back – and towards the rioting animal!

"Blondy!"

"Rapunzel!"

Cassandra moved quick enough to prevent the worst and threw her sword into the direction of the monster, which actually snapped the cold metal and broke it with the power of his teeth. Lucky me. Because, if Cas hadn't reacted like this, it would have been me, who got crushed by the monster's jaws. So, I just tumbled against the shaggy fur and tryed to steady by grasping the dust-stained hair and bumping against the chest – I guess- of the monster.

All of a sudden, my hair started to overflow with shiny yellow, and only a few seconds later, the monster was gone and I was sitting on the grass.

"It really worked!", I heard Varian cheer, "So, my theory was right..."

"What... What was that?!"

Quite irritated, I took a look around, while Cassandra and Eugene ran fast-paced into my direction.

"Blondy! Are you okey?", Eugene asked hectically, while examining me from head to toe.

"Raps... Did it do something to you?", Cassandra asked, pretty worried, too.

"No. I'm okey..."

"Really?"

I nodded.

"Thank God.", Cas sighed. Then she turned towards Varian:

"Have you gone mad, or something?!", she barked, eyes narrowed in anger, "You almost got her killed, you lunatic crackpot!"

She raised and tried to take a step in Varian's direction, but couldn't leave the space next to me. Just as Eugene and myself, as Varian's crystal ball had glued us all to the floor.

"Gnnn! Wonderful!", she snapped, "What kind of 'theory' are you just talking about anyway? That was just- "

"Cassandra, wait!"

I grabbed her arm and prevented her from throwing her knive at the alchemist, who had silenced immediately as soon as she had started yelling at him.
"Stop it! Don't hurt him! He just saved us... - See?"

I pointed to a place next to me and Eugene, who was also glued to the ground. Small, white-purple from the glue, still fluffy and clearly not evil, there was sitting our former monster, who had actually returned to its normal form after I had touched it.

"Don't be afraid, little one. Nobody's going to hurt you here..."
I tried to pet the rabbit, but my hands were stuck in the purple bulk around us.

"I hate to admit it, but she's right, Cobra-Lady", Eugene agreed to my own surprise, although he didn't seem too happy about what had happened either, "He saved us. Risky as something, but, yeah: He really saved us."

"They're right, Missy", one of the tramps who had also walked over to us agreed, too.
"Smart kid he is.", another one admitted and nodded appreciative.

"This boy's really got guts, Lady."
Even Horst was on our side. He patted Varian cheeringly on his shoulder and smiled, but the young alchemist didn't seem to know, wheter he should smile back or just continue staring down to the grassy floor under his boots.

He decided to do the latter and kept watching something that wasn't there, while Horst patted his hair like a big brother and actually thanked him for what he had done.

"Please don't feel offended, Princess", he explained, „Nor should you, Master Flynn. But, I guess without Master Varian's doing, we still would be trying not to be eaten by a mutated rabbit, wouldn't we?"

He grinned, when he saw the look on Cassandra's and Eugene's faces, for him calling Varian 'Master'. Seemed, as if he really thought pretty much of Varian's methods to solve problems...

"Now, let me help ya outta that mess there..."

But before he could walk over to us, Varian stopped him for a moment.

"Take this one.", he murmured, searching his shoulderbag and dragging out a small vial with another liquid in it, "A few drops and the glue will disappear."

He handed the vial over to Horst, who thanked him again and took it pretty cautious in his big fingers.

After we were free again, the rabbit ran away as if chased by foxes. Eugene, Cassandra and I straightened our clothes and were just ready to move on. At least Eugene and I were. Cassandra still not seemed as if she wanted to go past the events and eyed Varian with clear disappointment in her eyes.

"We should go now.", she agreed after some time, turning back to us, her voice as cold as ice.

"Cas...", I tried to ease the situation a little, but didn't succeed so far. For this reason, I decided to follow Eugene back to where he had left Max and Fidella. Pascal was there, too.
"Everything's okey, my friends.", I explained and petted Max on his neck, after putting Pascal back on my shoulder. Afterward, we went back to the clearing, where we had left the rest of the tramps.

To my relief, everyone was allright, when we arrived. Apart from the one or the other smaller scratch, but that wasn't anything to talk about for long.

"Take this, guys. Should last for about two days until ya reach the next village.", Horst said, when we finally said goodbye to him and his tramps. He gave us some food and fresh water, which he had ordered his men to bring from their village that had to be not far away from the clearing.

"You're sure, ya don't need escort on your way further north?", he asked, "Maybe, there are more of those beasts around here..."

"Let's not hope so!" I laughed friendly and shook my head. "Thank you so much for your help, guys."

I smiled brightly at the men who grinned and smiled back. Some of them even waved us goodbye, when we finally left the forest and entered the grassland around noon.

"Raps? What's wrong?", Cassandra asked, when I stopped for a moment to look over the wide, grass-grown planes.

"Nothing. It's just, well,... This is the first time ever, I've been this far away from Corona."

My eyes scanned the surrounding curiously. From the look on their faces, I could tell, that this was the first time for my friends beeing that far from home, too.

"Don't worry, Raps. We'll make the cut.", Cassandra said, "If there aren't any more stupid and dangerous ideas, of course..."

She shot a glimpse at Varian, who furrowed his brows, but stayed silent.

"Maybe, he should ride with someone else for a while...", I proposed. This time not only Varian furrowed his brows, but Eugene and Cassandra did, too. Even Max and Pascal seemed pretty skeptical.
"What? I just thought, it might be a good idea..."
"I guess, I'll better walk.", Varian said and started to go forward.
"But, it will take ages, if we just walk the whole way."

"She's right.", Eugene said then he pointed at Cassandra, " Sure, that poison-spitting, ice floe here might not be the best travelling partner so far..."

"Eugene!"

"But, if we actually are going to walk, there are two things that might happen, which are not the best of all results. First, it will take time that we probably don't have. And second: All of us will be totally exhausted, when we arrive. How are we supposed to solve any kind of puzzle like that?"

Varian had stopped and eyed Eugene in a way which led me to the conclusion, that he seemed to want to trust his words but wasn't sure, if he could.

No wonder, as the whole situation had already been difficult before the journey had even started. And Cassandra scolding him for putting me in danger made it twice as hard for Varian to open up towards us again...

"I wasn't talking about all of us walking. Actually, I just thought about myself doing that.", he finally explained.

"But that would only slow us down." Cassandra sighed and held out a hand towards him. "Come on, Varian. Don't be such a princess... - No offense, Raps."
"It's okey."

"I'm not.", Varian replied, but didn't respond to her hand anyway, "Remember, what you called me? Wouldn't it be dangerous to have someone so mad that close?"

Cassandra took back her hand, frowning.

"Hey! How about, you ride along with me, then, Varian?" I smiled and hoped, to disarm the whole thing before it could get any worse. But instead of saying yes, Varian just gave me a look which clearly said NO.

"Well... How about, the boys riding together then...?" I grinned slightly insecure, while Max neighed shortly. Varian looked at Eugene again, still not knowing, if to agree. But then, he finally nodded.
"Blondy!", Eugene hissed, while Max was neighing again.

"Don't worry, guys. Everything will be alright, I promise." Halfway happy, I walked over to Cassandra and Fidella and swung myself on the horse's back. Cassandra joined me short time after. And, I was really happy to see Varian try to climb on Maximus' back on his very own. And of course, to have Eugene helping him, when he didn't manage to do so properly.

"Not that afraid of horseshoe-wearers anymore, hm?", he grinned and swung himself into the saddle behind the alchemist.

"Sure, it wasn't your best idea to put my girlfriend in danger", he said, "But everything went out quite well, didn't it? So, don't mind her anyway. Terror-Cas's just always as 'friendly' as that."

He laughed at Cassandra's angry face-expression, while fishing for Maximus' rein.
"Ready to travel in some Flynn Ryder style?", he asked and I somehow had the feeling that this speech actually lifted some of the tension, which had been on Varian the whole time before.

"Okey.", he said, some curious spark in his eyes, "But please tell your girlfriend to stop making promises..."