Thank you all for your amazing reviews! The awesome reviewer Flikaroo asked why Raph keeps on calling Leo a kid. There are a multiple reasons. One is that it's part of Raph's slang. Another is that Leo looks smaller than him-he doesn't eat as much, you know. But perhaps the biggest reason he calls Leo 'kid' is because he's the High Prince. That automatically gives him authority over every other person in the Kingdom except Saki, and consequently, he subconsciously thinks of himself as bigger than everyone else. Oh, and he doesn't know Leo's name, so he's got to call him something. Still, Raph isn't going to call him that for much longer...
CHAPTER EIGHT
"I can't believe I'm actually wearing this," Raph said, picking at the worn out clothes he was wearing as they headed to the guardhouse, "Do all peasants wear clothes like this?"
"It's not that bad," Leo said.
"Bad?" Raph said, snapping his head towards him, "This is great! It's not stuffy or heavy and it ain't too itchy. I want all my clothes ta be made this way."
Rolling his eyes, Leo stepped off the pathway and grabbed a handful of dirt from the ditch next to the road.
"Here," he said, tossing the dirt onto Raph, "You're too clean."
"Well gee, why don't I just roll in the stuff?" Raph asked sarcastically.
"Not a bad idea, it would definitely be an improvement." Leo smirked, "But it might make us late."
Raph huffed. "Ya know, anyone else who said that would get thrown in jail. Alright then Fearless," he said as the guardhouse came into view, "Where's this girl we're supposed ta meet, anyway?"
"I'm right here," April said, stepping out of the bushes that separated the pathway they were on from the guardhouse, "And to my understanding, it was just going to be the two of us meeting, wasn't it?"
"Heh," Leo said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand, "Well, uh, you see-"
"Are you crazy?" April shouted, "Don't stand talking here! We could all get in big trouble if anyone hears us. Let's go inside. You too, muscles."
The two of them followed her inside the abandoned guardhouse, and as soon as the heavy wooden door had closed behind them April sat down on the dirt packed floor.
"Alright now," she said, gesturing for the other two to sit down with her, "What's the big idea bringing someone else with you, Friend? I thought you said you would get in trouble if anyone knows about the...wait. He does know, doesn't he?"
"'Course I know about the passages," Raph said, feeling cranky at having to sit on the bare floor. And at the fact that April was talking about him like he wasn't even there.
"He's been searching the castle with me," Leo said, "We're trying to figure out what happened to the King."
April shifted uncomfortably. "Be careful," she said, "Saying that could get you arrested."
"But it's true." Raph said, "Saki ain't the King, he's only the Steward. And we know that it's 'cause of him that the King's missing. You know that."
"So that's it," April said, looking at them very carefully, "You want to overthrow him. You know, if I even hinted that I agreed with you about Lord Saki, my entire family could be put in danger."
"We're not asking for you to join us," Leo said, "We just want information."
"Stuff you villagers know that we don't." Raph said.
"Then we can leave, and be out of your way." Leo finished.
"Oh no you don't," April said, "You can't."
"What?" Raph asked.
"Don't you get it?" April asked, "If I tell you what you want to know, it could get back to them that I was the one who told you. On the other hand, if I don't tell you, you could arrange for someone to find me searching the passages. Well, it's not gonna happen! I'm not going to put myself in danger, and I will not be blackmailed! Besides, we're just going to keep running into each other in the secret passageways. We can't just be out of each other's way."
"What do you want to do?" Leo asked.
"I want an agreement," April said, "And an exchange."
"Explain." Raph said.
"Fine," April said, "I want to be a part of your plans, because if my life is on the line I at least want to know when you guys are in trouble. So, I'm joining you on your quest from now on."
"What? You can't be serious!" Raph said.
"Hold on, Raph." Leo said, holding up a hand and actually stopping the High Prince from speaking any further, "What about the exchange?"
"I don't know if I can trust you yet," April said, "And besides, I don't want to give you something for free. I want to exchange information for work. Muscles here would be really useful around my dad's farm."
"WHAT?!" Raph cried out, standing up, "That's ridiculous!"
"No, it's not." Leo said, "You're saying that if we do some work for you, you'll give us information?"
"Right," April nodded, "And then I'll know that I can trust you."
"But how can we trust you?" Raph asked, "What if you're only doing this for some free labor?"
"Because we can just go and tell everyone that she was in the palace," Leo said.
"Right!" April chirped, "But if you do that, I get thrown in jail and you don't get your information. And good luck trying to get anything out of the other villagers."
"How do we know you really have what we want?" Raph asked.
"Aww," April said, "Is the big scary servant afraid of a little work around the farm?"
"What? No!" Raph said, "It's just that-well, it's just that-"
"Listen hothead," April said, standing up. Leo quickly stood up with her. "I'm in this with you anyway. I was ever since I found our Friend here in the passageway. We'll just all incriminate each other unless we work together. But if you want what I know, the only way you'll get it is by doing as I say. Besides," she bopped Raph on the shoulder, "You've got the muscle for it."
"What do you say, Raph?" Leo asked, looking at the Prince for permission.
"Well, when ya put it that way..." Raph said.
"Great!" April said, "I'll show you what to do. But first," she stuck out her hand, "I'm April. And since I heard our Friend here call you Raph a few times, I'm guessing that's your name. So now we know each other."
"Um, ok." Raph said, taking April's hand and shaking it. It was a far cry from all the bowing he was used to getting. "Nice ta meet you."
"Likewise," April said, "Now come on! The house isn't going to fix itself."
"I told you that you'd be great at this," April complimented, handing Raph a hammer.
"Yeah yeah," Raph said, taking a rusty nail from her as well, "All I did so far was fix the window."
"We've been trying to close that thing for years," April said, "And all you did was slam it shut? Seriously Raph, you're pretty strong."
Raph grinned, and turned back to his current task of placing the window shutter next to the window.
"Um, guys?" Leo said, looking up at the position of the sun in the sky, "I think I've been away from my duties for too long."
"What!" Raph asked, slamming the nail in violently with the hammer before turning to face Leo, "You're just gonna leave me here?"
"You said you were free all afternoon," Leo said, "But if I don't do some work soon, I won't have any dinner."
"Oh, rough." April said, "Did you at least start on making the fence?"
"Yup," Leo said, "I'll be back later to finish it. In the meantime-"
"Just go," Raph said, turning back to his work.
"Right," Leo said, and he turned to leave.
"Don't worry, Raph." He heard April say as he walked away, "I'll ask my friend Casey to join you. I can always pay him with bacon."
"There's bacon?" He heard Raph ask.
By the time Leo returned after working in the kitchen, the fields, the cellar, the attic and the stables, April's house was looking a lot better. Raph even seemed to be enjoying himself. He was sweating up a storm, the sleeves of his outfit were rolled up and much dirtier than when he'd put them on, and he was smiling in a way that Leo hadn't seen in years. There was another kid there, he must have been that Casey person April was talking about, and he looked just as dirty and happy as Raph. The two of them were up on the roof, probably fixing the shingles.
"Hey, Fearless! Come meet Casey," Raph said as soon as he had caught sight of Leo, "This bonehead's pretty handy with the tools here."
"Yo! Cool to meet you." Casey said, waving, "Hey, who do ya think is faster at nailing stuff, me or Raph?"
"Um," Leo said, "I don't know."
"That's cool," Casey said, "'Cause I'm faster. Just watch!"
"In your dreams, Casey Jones!" Raph said.
"Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to introduce these two," April grumbled as she came up to Leo, "Geez Friend, you look terrible! What did they have you do?"
"The usual," Leo said vaguely, "I'm ready to get back to work on that fence."
"Are you sure?" April asked, looking at him critically, "You don't want to rest first?"
"Thank you, but I'm fine," Leo frowned.
"Alright, if you insist." April said, "Oh, and we're almost done for today. You will not believe how much work those two did."
"So, would you mind meeting in the guardhouse later?" Leo asked, "We're still curious about the information."
"Sure thing," April said, "Although, you might want to introduce me to Raph's brothers first."
"What? Why?" Leo asked, surprised.
"Raph might have mentioned them to Casey once or twice," April said, "But seriously, if we're going to work together on this, you're going to have to be honest with me. His brothers are looking for the room too, right?"
"Not exactly," Leo said carefully, "They're looking for the truth behind what happened to the King."
"But they're looking for the room too," April said, "Right?"
"Um," Leo said, looking around them to make sure they were alone aside from Raph and Casey, "Maybe it's best if we talk about this in the guardhouse."
"Alright," April said, "We'll all meet at the guardhouse at midnight. And let Raph know to bring his brothers, will you?"
"Got it." Leo said.
April nodded, and then hurried away to do whatever it was she needed to do, leaving Leo by the pile of wood that was supposed to become the fence. So of course, he got to work right away.
As soon as Raph and Casey were done with the roof, April directed them to help Leo. The completed product looked a little sloppy at intervals because of their help, but Casey said it added character to the fence, and Raph agreed. As a reward for all their hard work, April presented them all with a chicken dinner, cold drinks, pie and the promised bacon. Raph wolfed his meal down so fast that the food almost didn't touch his plate. Leo hadn't seen his brother this enthusiastic about eating in a long time.
When the meal was over and it was time to leave, Leo practically had to rip Raph and Casey apart.
"Come on," he reasoned, "We'll both be missed in the Palace unless we leave right now!"
When he finally managed to get Raph on the road back to the Palace, he had to interrupt Raph's enthusiastic tale of some cool things he and Casey were planning in order to tell him what April had said to him.
"Alright," Raph said, sounding more like the High Prince and less like the guy who just fixed up April's house, "So, we're gonna have to tell her everything, even that we found the room. I'll let Usagi know as soon as we get home."
Leo snuck Raph in through the kitchens, and after playing a little avoid-the-guard, managed to get them both safely back to Raph's room.
The look on Donnie, Mikey and Usagi's faces when they entered the room was priceless.
"What on earth have you been doing?" Donnie asked, standing up.
"Tell ya after I'm cleaned up," Raph said, grinning like a maniac as he raced for the bathroom.
"Friend," Usagi said, looking at Leo, "Why is the High Prince dressed like that? And just why is he all dirty?"
"Don't tell him, Fearless!" Raph called out from behind the closed door, "I'm gonna do it!"
"Dude, did you see how happy Raph looked?" Mikey asked.
Leo sat down on the floor and crossed his legs. As soon as Raph was out of the bathroom, they were going to explain everything. And Usagi was probably going to be mad that no one told him about the girl in the passageway in the first place. Wait a minute...Raph didn't even tell them they found the passageway, did he?
Oh man. This was going to be a long evening, wasn't it?
As soon as Raph was out of the bathroom, he asked the others if they had any luck searching the castle that day.
"Nope," Mikey said.
"We searched the Banquet Hall again, and a few other rooms," Donnie said, "But we didn't find anything."
"Well, maybe ya didn't look hard enough," Raph said, "'Cause last night, Fearless here found the passageway."
And just like Leo predicted, that opened up a very large can of worms.
