CHAPTER FOUR

Just when the road turned a new corner and Leo could see his first real town, the town gate closed with a bang.

It was kind of loud, and sounded extremely final. To pretty much everybody, it was obvious that the town was closed for the night. This was not an uncommon sight during wartime, and anyone with a bit of common sense in the Kingdom knew that some towns still kept to this rule even during times of peace.

Of course Leo, who had been sort of raised in the Palace, did not have much common sense. That is, in the sense of knowing something that was common to everyone else.

He walked all the way up to the large gate and politely raised his hand to knock, when-

"Get away from there, you dummy!" Shouted a voice, and someone knocked Leo to the ground. "What are you, stupid?"

"Huh?" Leo asked, looking at the girl who had pushed him down. She was a small, ruffian-looking girl with jet black hair and clothing to match.

"What are you, an idiot? Don't you know what happens to people who try to invade a city after the gates are closed?"

"No, what happens?" Leo asked.

"Ugh!" The girl said, and grabbed him by the hand, "Follow me."

Confused, Leo let her lead him off the road and slightly into the woods.

"What's so important in that city that you'd risk certain death?" The girl asked as she let go.

"Oh, my group is in there. They went on ahead." Leo said with absolute certainly.

"That's it?" The girl said, "It's not like your grandma is dying! Just sleep out here until the gate opens tomorrow, idiot! They'll open the gates in the morning. You didn't have to go seeking death for something like that!"

"Thanks for the advice," Leo nodded. "Is there any way I can pay you back?"

"Huh-what?" The girl asked, completely taken aback. "You...you're not acting, right?"

"No, why do you ask?" Leo questioned.

"Because if you're not acting, you're definitely an idiot." She said, running a hand through her hair. Then she abruptly changed the conversation. "Pay me back how?"

"Well, I can cook and clean." Leo said. "And I'm not too bad with the sword, so I can be a bodyguard. Although you don't look like you need one."

"Why do you say that?"

"Aren't you an expert at martial arts?" Leo asked.

As a matter of fact, he was very impressed by her athletic physique. Of course that wasn't something he would tell her right away.

The girl sighed. "Alright, Mr. Idiot. I guess you're perceptive in your own way. You can stay in the camp as my guest tonight. What's the name?"

"Leonardo." Leo said.

"Geez, are your parents dumb too?" She commented, "Or were you named before the High Prince went missing?"

"What?"

"Come on, only babies are named that." She rolled her eyes, "You must be the only person with that name to say it so openly. Even though he's alive now, there's no way anyone would name a guy your age after a prince that died. Saying your name out loud is just the same as saying your parents didn't care."

"Oh." Leo said, "In that case, you can call me by my nickname. Call me Friend."

"...Seriously?" The girl said, "Fine, we'll go with that. The name's Karai. Follow me to camp."

She grabbed him by the hand again and led him over a stump. If Leo knew anything about the world he might have stopped when a stranger started pulling him by the hand and leading him deeper in the woods, but instead he followed her obediently. Surprisingly, the woods suddenly opened up into a clearing, and inside the clearing were rows and rows of multicolored tents. Near each one, but not near enough to catch it on fire, were campfires-and half of these had cooking pots.

"Welcome to the forbidden camp," Karai said, "You're lucky you're with me, otherwise a simpleton like you wouldn't have found this place."

Despite being forbidden for some reason, the place was actually pretty lively. Children were playing, adults were arguing, and some people were even singing.

"...And the palace flows with wine!" sang a drifter by one of the campfires, strumming on an instrument that looked suspiciously like a lyre.

"He's singing about the castle?" Leo asked, surprised.

"Yeah, for some reason it's a popular subject here. Doesn't make much sense." Karai explained, "But there's plenty of time to listen to that later. Come on, I'll show you where to stay."

She led him to the very center of the camp and pointed at one of the tents. "That's mine. You can have the storage tent next to it."

"Oi Karai! Where'd you pick this one up?" One of the drunk ladies asked.

"It doesn't matter. He says he can cook, so you tell him what to do." And with that, Karai crawled into her tent. The tour was apparently over.

"Hey, pretty boy. Make something, I'm hungry." Someone said.

Without missing a beat, Leo looked into the cooking pot on the fire and then grabbed some food from the storage box nearby.

"Looks like the stew is almost ready," he said, "But I think I can add a few ingredients for taste."

"Whoa, he's a fast one!" The drunk lady said, "I can tell you would've risen quickly in the Shredder's army."

Leo stiffened, but continued to throw whatever was in his hand into the cooking pot. As a matter of fact he had been in Shredder's army, and had risen to such heights that at one point he was even on the Shredder's horse...unwillingly, of course.

But why did the common people of this country like the Shredder? What did they need so badly that they liked him better than the King?

Do all the common people like the Shredder?

"What did you like best about the Shredder's army?" He asked out loud.

A couple people looked at him funny, but it was the drunk lady who answered.

"Opportunity, my friend. High risk, high reward. You know, I think the brass up top would have liked you," she glanced at him with glazed eyes, "You're not afraid to dive right into work, and there's still room to mold you. If you were under me, I would have had a lot of fun teaching you the ropes."

She sighed and reached for a bowl at her feet. Leo obediently took it from her, and scooped a generous portion of stew into it before handing it back.

The other people around the fire took this as a sign that the stew was ready, and soon Leo was scooping stew to everyone nearby. Food and drink make loose mouths, so Leo soon found himself listening to all their war stories. Which, in true campfire fashion, went on for a while. There was a lot of pillaging involved.

"...I was at the last battle by the castle," one of the more scarred warriors said when it was his turn, "They stationed me at a gatehouse shortly before the battle. The rumor from the locals was that the place was haunted-"

"What's going on out here?" Karai asked, stepping out of the tent. Leo immediately handed her a bowl.

"Just talkin' about the good ol' days when the Shredder was around," the drunk lady said.

"Whatever," Karai said, "You, follow me if you're done. I'll give you your sleeping bag."

Leo immediately put down the ladle for the cooking pot and stood up. Karai raised an eyebrow.

"You're ready now? That's fine, let's get going." She said, leading the way. She was still holding the bowl of stew, and didn't care whether Leo had eaten or not.

"Does everyone here like the Shredder more than the King?" Leo asked.

"The Shredder gave us jobs," Karai said, "And stop being an idiot by asking questions like that. Some people might think you're on the side of the royals, and then you'll be in trouble."

Leo resisted telling her that the Shredder was also a royal, being the King's brother and all.

"Alright, this is your sleeping bag." She handed him a bundle. "And don't worry, it's clean. I'll give you some stuff to do and tomorrow I want a good breakfast. After that, we'll go into town so you can find your party."

Leo nodded, and Karai started giving him instructions. Thankfully, it was all easy stuff like "clean my armor until it shines" and "get this impossible stain out of my shirt", so he was confident that he'd have everything done before midnight.

"...And remember, I want a good breakfast tomorrow. But you can't use the communal food." Karai finished, heading into her tent. "Well, good-night!"

The next day, Leo handed her a full plate of food as soon as she walked out of the tent. "Eggs? Where did you even get these?" She asked, "I thought you didn't have a bag with you. I told you not to use the communal food this time..." She glared at him.

"I traded some wild herbs I found for the eggs, and for the meat I-"

"That's enough," Karai said, coincidentally speaking after her first bite, "I don't really care. Whatever you did, you did good. We'll go to town as soon as you're done with the the chores I gave you."

"Oh, I finished those last night." Leo said.

"What?!" Karai practically shouted, "Those were meant for today! The town doesn't open for a few hours after dawn, so I wanted to give you something to do until then."

"I'm sorry," Leo said, deflated.

"Ugh, I guess we'll have to find something else for you to do while we wait." Karai said, taking another bite. "Well, you may be an idiot, but at least you're a good cook."

A few hours and some extra chores later, the two of them finally entered the open gates of the town. Leo wanted to say Good-bye to Karai then and there, but she just shook her head.

"It'll weigh on my conscious if I let you go around alone, so I'm going to wait until you find your group. Now, where did you say you'd meet?"

"We didn't," Leo said.

Karai groaned.

"Ok, look. If they're here waiting for you, and they knew you were coming, they should have been waiting at the entrance as soon as it opened. Since they aren't here, let's try the inns and the market square."

They walked to all three inns, but to Leo's surprise Raph and Usagi weren't at any of them. When they walked back to the square, it was full of ordinary people milling about and a few singers. The song was so catchy that Leo stopped to listen for a while. It was a whimsical song about Prince Donatello and Prince Michelangelo, putting on a clown show to entertain citizens out of love for the people.

It was interesting what the singers came up with, but he was glad they liked his brothers so much.

"Still can't find them?" Karai asked, bringing his attention back to reality.

Leo glanced around once more. "No," he said sadly.

Karai groaned again. "Listen," she said, "I can't stay here forever. I was planning to leave today, but I really, really don't want to leave someone as naive as you here alone. If they're not here by tomorrow morning, do you have another friend you can contact? Which city are you originally from?"

Leo thought about it for a moment. "Well," he said, "They know that I was originally going on a journey to see the country. It should be fine if I travel ahead of them before catching up. Do you mind if I tag along with you for a while? Which city are you going to?"

Karai just started at him for a moment, before bursting into laughter.

"Seriously?" She said, "You're asking to come with me even before knowing where I'm going?"

Leo nodded.

"What a simpleton," Karai shook her head. "Well, you can cook and clean, so I guess I don't mind. You can come with me, and we'll keep an ear out for a group looking for an idiot on our way."

"Sounds good." Leo smiled.

"Stupid," Karai rolled her eyes, "You aren't supposed to agree with me about that last part."

She started walking, then stopped and looked back at him.

"Are you coming?"

Leo just smiled again, and started walking.