Welcome to a new Chapter! :D

As you might realize by reading this chapter, the story slowly draws to a close. I hope, you enjoyed the adventures of Rapunzel and her friends so far and had your fun, reading about Flynn Ryder tattoos on someones buttocks, mutated rabbits, essence of darkness, 'Pancakes' and a bunch of pretty good friends.

Have a nice time - and see you in the next Chapter!

Love, Eeva ^^

CHAPTER 10: Mission failed? - Part II

RAPUNZEL!
My father's voice died away behind me, when I left the barn and ran away, to the bushes, which surrounded the barn not far away. Behind them, there was the forest, and although I feared the dark and chilling athmosphere in there a little, this would be my hiding spot until my father and the guards would have given up following me.
I knew, I had to be quick and always alerted, as my father wouldn't stop following me that easily. Not, until he got me. Or us.

I caught myself, how I was looking for Varian from time to time. After escaping the guards in the barn, he must have run into the forest, too. It was the most possible thing to do. But I wasn't lucky enough to find the young alchemist, and so Pascal and I had to continue our getaway on our own.
At least, Pascal was still there with me, so I wouldn't feel all alone...

Almost out of breath, I sat down on a stone.
"I'm sorry, my friend. But I can't go on another step right now anymore..."
My feet felt sore from running and my lungs seemed to have lost all Oxygen at once. I knew, that I had to find a hiding place, as soon as possible. But where? Further, I was too worried about my friends. Father seemed so angry and mad at us...
Maybe, I should have stayed and helped them. But until Equinox, there wasn't a lot of time left. And, if sun and moon didn't combine and touch the magic stoneplate together in that night, things would become even worse, than they already were...

"Oh, Pascal...", I cuddled my face against the small chameleon and Pascal cuddled back. "I'm so sorry for how everything went wrong again... I probably should have stayed and helped Eugene and Cassandra. And, I think, Varian was right, to run away and not to trust me anymore. They would have caught him, too. And then, they would have put him back into the dungeons. And I would not have been able to do anything anymore. I'd let him down again, like I let down my friends..."
Pascal cheeped gently and pressed his head against my cheek.
"You're right. I can't just sit around here wailing and doing nothing. Eugene and Cassandra have been arrested to give me a chance to go on with our mission. I won't let them down. I won't let anyone down, never again."

I stood up from the stone and took a deep breath. Yes. This time, I would keep my promises and everything would be alright in the end.

"The stone is about two days travel away from here. If we hurry up a little, we'll make it there right in time for equinox."

I turned to the north. Or, at least, I supposed, it was north to where I turned. Otherwise, I would only have gone further away from my goal and then, our mission would have completely failed.

I marched on for about half an hour, when it suddenly began to rain. The rain got stronger and stronger and soon, we were all drenched like wet cloths.

"Look, over there!" I pointed at a small caveentrance. We had to get ourselves some shelter from the rain, because in the meantime, it had grown that strong, you couldn't even walk safe on the forest floor. Everywhere was slippery, wet foliage and muddy soil, which either made you slip, or get stuck inside.

"Let's seek some shelter. Maybe, the rain will stop soon enough and we will be able to continue our journey without further problems..."

We stumbled over to the cave and entered the stonebuilding. Inside, it was warm and somehow comfortable. Searching the walls with my hands and the floor with my feet, I actually found some old torches and... fur?

Tapping carefully with my feet infront of me, I felt some thick and soft material below. When I finally managed to light one of the torches, I realized, that this was actually fur. I looked around the cave – which was actually bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. There were some pillows in a corner and another fur on the floor. Even a small fireplace was in here...

"Pascal!", I squeeked happily, "You know, what this is? It's one of Eugene's old hiding places!"

Couriously, I went from one corner to the next and examined the hiding place attentively. How comfortable it was. If it hadn't been a place to hide after stealing something from someone, it would have been one of the most coziest places in the world, I ever knew.

"Let's wait a few minutes until the rain decreases a little.", I proposed and Pascal nodded. Even, if we stayed here for a few minutes, we would still made it in time to our destination.

I lit a small fire and sat down next to it to warm up a little. The rain outside had become stronger and staring into the dancing flames, I let my thoughts run around in my brain for a while.

There were pictures in my head. Pictures of my friends. Of my father. And of the black rocks, destroying Corona little by little...
Then, there was Varian. Running away, calling me a liar without even saying a single word...

I couldn't even say 'Thank you' for the things, he had done for us. His knowledge about the black rocks sure was enormous and so useful...

"I'm sorry...", I murmured, still watching the small flames infront of me dance melee, while my thoughts went back to my other friends and my family.
"I hope you're alright. All of you..."

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel!"

"What...?"

I opened my eyes and tried to sit up. I felt still a little dull, what meant, I must have been fallen asleep again...

Oh, no! How long had I been sleeping? Was it already the next day?!

I eavesdropped. The rain outside had not fully stopped, but decreased. And there were steps outside the cave now.

"Princess Rapunzel? Are you in there somehwere?"

A well known voice was calling out for me, and after a few seconds later, a still familiar face appeared inside the caveentrance. Although against the sparse light of a remaining torch and drenched like a poodle, I immediately recognized, who had come to search for me.

"Varian!" I jumped to my feet and hurried to the entrance to hug him firmly.

"You're alive and unharmed! And you're still free - and you're here! Thank God, you made it..."

"Ehrm... Yeah. I escaped the guards, that's quite right..." Varian seemed a little puzzled about me, beeing this happy to see him. But this time, he didn't flinch or push me away.

I let go of him and thanked him for not running away, when he had the chance to do so. But the alchemist just shook his head.
"How could I ever do that?", he asked, but actually did not want any answer to his question, "I mean, it's not, that I didn't have had in mind to get away from here and stay a free man forever, you know... In fact, I really considered that things first, when I ran past the guards and into the woods... - But then, I saw, what they did to your friends. They put them in chains and they are going to arrest them, aren't they?"

I said nothing, but I still didn't have to anyway.

"After seeing you running out and into the woods, I observed the barn for some time and..."

Varian looked really compassionate, talking about Eugene and Cassandra.

"I'm sorry, Rapunzel."

I wondered, for I wasn't expecting Varian to apolgize at all, but I didn't say anything for the moment.

"I'm sorry for everything that has happened. I only wanted to help. And I wanted my dad to be proud of me. But instead, everything went wrong and ended up in a desaster. I didn't want that... Any of it..."

Varian looked sad. And dissappointed.

"I decided to help you, to clean up at least some of the mess, I left behind so far", he said, "Maybe, after all of this, you'd decide to... forget about the things that have happened... -But instead of helping, I caused even more trouble."

"Varian...", I know, I had to comfort him now, "Look: This wasn't your fault. I know, things went not too well in the last few hours... - But, do you know, why our friends chose to make a stand against my father and the guards?"

Varian eyed me curiously.

"For the same reason, you wouldn't let take anyone the place of the biggest Flynn Ryder Fan ever: You believe in him."

Varian seemed puzzled and staggered.

"Our friends, decided to block the guards from getting us arrested, because, they believe in us.", I explained, "Maybe, things got a little disordered at the moment..."

"But, it is still possible, to finish our mission? We can still continue this journey and save Corona, together?", Varian said then,all of a sudden, and to my surprise, he seemed pretty sure about his words.

"Yes!" I smiled cheering, when he finally seemed to have understood my words.

"Ok, then. Let's do this together. That is actually one of the main reasons, why I went on searching for you. You know: Saving Corona and stuff? Well, these are the things that work usually best together, don't they? From time to time, I had to hide from the guards, too. But then, night fell over the forest and I could continue searching. - And, as you see: I finally found you."

Varian smirked, after recounting his story, but got serious again, pretty soon, when he saw my reaction to it.

So, it was already evening? Or even night?!

"It must be around midnight", he answered my unspoken question, "But, don't worry, Rapunzel. We will make it still in time. Maybe. If the rain stops turning each and every path into muddy, little rivers in the next five or six minutes..."

"But, we have to continue our journey!"
My thoughts were already running feverish around in my head again. There had to be a way...
"There always is."

I looked around the cave, as if I could find an answer somewhere in here.
"But, first...", I took Varian by his arm and led him to the fireplace. His clothes were dripping from the rain and he felt a little cold.
"Sit down and warm up a little."

I threw some of the wood, which was piled high in a corner of the cave, into the almost fully extinguished flames. Which made them die completely.

"That didn't work very well.", Varian noted. Then, he started rummaging through his bag and threw something small into the remaining blaze which made the fire come back to life again in a small darting flame.

"WHOA! That wasn't part of the plan either... Although, it was really cool... - But: Do we... Do we even have the time for this?", he asked, but didn't seem discomforted by the warmth of the flames infront of us at all.

I nodded. We already needed a miacle to make it in time, anyway. So, why not start with dry clothes and warm feet at least...

Varian said nothing. Instead, he looked down on the earthy ground infront of him and started drawing.

"We are here", he explained, sketching the cave into the ground with a finger, "And we need to get right there."

He drew another symbol on the floor, some inches next to the cave.

"Our timelimit has shrunk down to two days, which means, we wont practically be able to make it in time on foot anymore, as this travelling method would take us nearly three days."

He drew some lines and more symbols on the ground while Pascal and I were watching him attentively.

"If I invented something which would make us faster, or if we had some help to get forward faster... Like..."
"Like a horse, maybe?", I asked.

Varian nodded.

"The funny thing is: I didn't see Maximus coming out of the barn with the others.", he admitted, "And even, while observing the barn, there were no horses far and wide, so, it might be possible, that he escaped, too..."
"You're right!", I said hopefully and patted Pascal, who seemed to have the same thought as me just right now.

"Maybe, Max is somewhere out there, too. Maybe, he's already searching for us..."

My face brightened by the thought about Max, coming to help us, although, I hoped that nothing bad had happened to him outside in this kind of weather...

"Yo! Anybody searchin' for a bloody, petulant ol' mare?"

Varian and I startled, when we heard the deep voice, coming from the entrance of the cave, all of a sudden. First, we thought, my father had found us again. But then...

"Horst!?", Varian jumped up in excitement and nearly fell over a piece of wood, which lay next to the fireplace, "I mean... Mr... ehrm..."

"Horst! You're here, too?" I didn't expect that, but I was really happy to see our new friend, "That's great! How did you find us? Were you following us?"

Horst grinned, while he slowly entered the cave.

"Might be.", he said shrugging, "Maybe, the boys and I were just roaming around the forest near Old Corona and then found this guy here, leading us straight to you, kids."

He smiled confidently and pulled Max behind him into the cave.

"Max!" I jumped up, too and the horse snickered, when I hugged him, "I'm so glad, you made it here."
"So, this is the miracle, we've actually been waiting for." Varian looked pretty relieved but also a little surprised of things happening as they did.

"Yes.", I affirmed his words, "This sure means, someone wants us to solve the problem."

I patted Max again, then Pascal, who jumped off my shoulder and on Maximus' head. He sure was happy to see our friend, too.

"How did you two come here?", Varian asked, eying Horst and Max a little more intent, "You don't look as if you had traveled through deep muddy forest tracks..."
"As I already said: Smart Cooky that kid.", Horst grinned again, "As a good outlaw, you - of course- do know some paths apart from the normal travelling routes..."

"That means, we don't have to wait, until the rain stops to travel on?"

"Nope."

"Great! Let's go then!"
I was eager to leave the cave and continue our journey at once. But then the fact came back to my mind that Varian was still soaked from the rain. And Max and Horst, too.

"It's okey.", the alchemist said as if he had just read my thoughts, "We don't have any time to waste, do we?"

Max snickered again and Horst nodded eagerly.
"If you really wanna get that whole sun-moon-thing done in time, you should hurry. There isn't much time left 'till Equinox, but a great deal of way to travel.", he said.

Now, it was Varian who nodded.
"He's right, Rapunzel. We can't allow ourselves to hesitate any longer. What, if something happens on our way towards the magic stone? What if...", he paused and a dark shadow scurried over his features, "What, if your father finds us? If he is going to arrest us, everything so far would have been in vain..."

"He won't.", I tried to calm Varian, "I promised you, that you'd be free again, if you help me. And that everything is going to be alright. And this time, I will keep my promise. And, I already know, how to do so."
Varian eyed me curiously.
"But now is not the time.", I put the theme off for the moment, while walking towards the entrance of the cave, Max and Pascal on my heels, "I'll tell you on the journey. Now, let's go. We've got a kingdom to save!"