Vernacula 4

"Where the heck are we?" Irma asked with disgust as the group of teens walked down a filthy alleyway that held another entrance to the infinite city. She kicked a piece of garbage and jumped back when a half rabbit-half mouse scuttled out from under it.

Caleb shook off a spider web from his shoulder absentmindedly and Taranee clung to Will's cloak as he tossed it just to her left. Will bit her lip to keep from laughing and patted Taranee's hand gently.

"This is the way to Cember" Aldarn informed them. "It's another passage to the Infinite City and it's the closest to the palace. We're keeping this post for now since our last one might have been compromised" The Guardians couldn't help but notice the change in his voice. The metal smith was brandishing a voice of steel.

They now were approaching the end of the alley where they could see what looked like a pub. "Tunsall's Passage" read across a large sign at the door. Drake spoke up, not as steely as Aldarn but not as relaxed as earlier. "We need to grab more soldiers if we're going to do a full blown raid of the palace. Not to mention Tunsall's Passage should have someone with information on her more precise locations, right Caleb?"

Drake looked over to the rebel leader who hadn't said anything to anyone since they had reemerged from the Mage's waterfall. Cornelia glanced at him too from underneath the hood of her cloak, worried about him. Caleb's eyes were unfocused on the approaching exit…

Caleb ran behind Drake as they raced back to Aldarn's house. Aldarn, being utterly exhausted, brought up the rear panting heavily.

"Hold…up…guys…" he called between pants. Caleb slowed to a stop and let Aldarn catch up to him while Drake continued running.

"You're such a weakling" Caleb laughed as Aldarn collapsed on the floor. At the comment Aldarn looked up at Caleb with fury.

"I am not! You made me chase that ball all the way into practically the middle of the forest!"

Caleb laughed at him and offered him his hand to help him get up. Aldarn took it reluctantly.

Just then, Drake came running back over the hill at twice the speed he had been going originally.

"Guys! Come quick! It's an emergency!" he shouted slamming on his brakes before running into them.

Caleb and Aldarn didn't hesitate and took off running after Drake. When they breached the hill's summit, they saw the smoldering ashes where Aldarn's house used to be.

"Oh my—" Caleb started, numb.

"MOM!" Aldarn shouted taking off running again. His friends took off after him at what had instantly become their top speeds.

Julian and Akatan were standing near the edge of the rubble talking to another blue skinned man. They both turned around when they heard the children coming, Akatan wiping his moist eyes hastily.

"Dad…?" Aldarn asked extremely frightened. Caleb couldn't breathe from the tightness in his chest: a result of both exhaustion and fear. Drake was looking around for his own parents.

"Aldarn…" his father started slowly. Julian put a hand on his shoulder.

"Maybe you should talk to your son alone" he suggested, his own sturdy voice shaky at the moment. Akatan nodded and led the still young Aldarn away. Caleb turned to his father after watching the Murmurers walk away for a while. Drake had found his father.

"What happened?" he managed to say. "Why is Master Akatan so upset?"

Julian squatted down and sat on his heels to look Caleb square in the eye. "Phobos' soldiers came and burned the house to the ground looking for Akatan. They'd gotten wind that he might've had connections with the gathering rebellion" Julian took a breath. "We…Vernacula and her mother were in the house when it happened. We don't know if they got out or—"

"CALEB!"

Cornelia's voice hit him like a jolt of lightning and he snapped out of his reverie.

A moment too late it seemed as a dark figure lunged at him from the top of one of the buildings forming the alley way, the glint of moonlight on an exposed steel dagger being the first thing to catch his attention.

"Why don't we have a concert?"

Vernacula looked up from bowing at the end of her song and gave Elyon a puzzled glance. "Excuse me, your majesty?"

"Yeah, a real concert! For all of Meridian!" She said excitedly, "We can use that old amphitheater near Shomanka that I saw on the map!"

"Elyon, my heart" Phobos began with false sympathy, "That amphitheater is old and run down. It hasn't been in use since our grandmother was queen"

Lord Cedric shifted his scales uneasily as a couple of things were drown to his attention: the trouble it took Phobos to say 'our', the fact that Elyon really wasn't giving a damn, and the something that had begun to glimmer behind Vernacula's eyes as Elyon ignored her brother and continued going on.

"Oh, that's no problem! With my new powers I can have it fixed in no time!" She stood up from her throne in her thrill and began to pace. She continued, dreamily, "Just imagine, the canopy of sky, the summer smells, the echo of the music (we'll have to have real music of course)...I'm sure the people haven't had entertainment like that in years"

The princess' words seemed to echo themselves in Vernacula's mind. The canopy of clear skies she hadn't seen in years, the summer smells that were choked up by the surrounding swamp, real music…

…the hope of freedom…

Verna shook her head subtly and tried to push the last thought out of her mind. Sure, she'd never left the palace and sure, an open amphitheater in an abandoned countryside was ten times easier to escape from than a locked room in a Medieval castle but where could she go? More importantly, how far would she get?

She didn't really know why Phobos had kidnapped her in the first place but she was fairly certain it wasn't just for her singing, no matter how amazing it was. She figured he wasn't going to give her up without a fight.

When she tuned back in, Elyon was trying to appeal to Phobos' sympathetic side and failing due to the fact the man had none.

"I'm sorry, Elyon. It's just too risky for all of us" he lied flat out. "Besides I don't think Verna—"

"I'll do it" she said before she could bite her tongue. Two pairs of blue eyes and one pair of purple stared at her. Elyon was the only one who wasn't glaring.

"Um, I mean, if your majesties will permit it" she tried to amend hastily.

"Pleeeaaaase, Phobos?" Elyon begged.

Phobos narrowed his eyes in study of Elyon. For a moment, Verna actually feared he was going to kill her. Finally, he groaned and Elyon took it as a yes. She gave him a tight hug and without another word ran to Vernacula, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her in the direction of the door. "Oh my gosh! We have so much to do!"

Verna shot a glance back at the two men still in the ball room. She caught the last part of a Meridian swear from Phobos and her free fist tightened.

She would be happy if she even made it two kilometers away from that man.

Caleb's first realization was that he had absolutely no time to reach for his sword.

He reached out and grabbed the figure's wrists as they collided. Rolling with the impact, he secured his feet in the man's abdomen and kicked him off behind him. The assailant hit the wall but quickly recovered and threw his dagger in a blink-or-you'll-miss-it display of inhuman agility. Before it got within a foot of Caleb, however, Aldarn deflected it with his own sword which he did have time to pull out.

The assailant seemed to be grabbing for another weapon when he was suddenly trapped in vines. Caleb, Aldarn and a now armed Drake all shot livid glares at Cornelia that all read 'I could've taken care of it'.

Cornelia simply shrugged her shoulders and with a flick of her wrist, the vines around one of the assailant's wrist tightened and he dropped the weapon in his hand. It was a glass bottle that contained something that looked like royal blue mercury.

"Hold it right there" Will commanded throwing back her hood as Cornelia flipped the assailant upside down and bound his arms to his torso. It was only then that the assailant's long black hair was freed from underneath the hood that relief crossed the faces of Caleb and Aldarn. Recognition registered in Drake's face as well but it was accompanied by a hint of fear. Caleb stepped forward and pulled the assailants black hood back to reveal the face of a grinning female rebel.

"Staltar, Caleb!" she said cheerfully, licking his nose.

Even though Taranee was the fire guardians, it was Cornelia's eyes that seem to blaze at the gesture.

"Valin, Valin, Valin…" Caleb replied good humouredly, shaking his head, "I thought you'd gotten over your 'assassinate me in my sleep' phase"

"Well, duh! You're not, like, sleeping are you?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "Juuuuuuuuust keeping you on your toes, rebel leader! Staltar, Aldarn! Staltar, Drake!"

"Staltar, Valin," Aldarn said tersely. Drake mumbled something to his feet as the Guardians looked to Caleb for an explanation. Cornelia personally didn't look happy at all about the possible flirting while Irma was way too busy trying not to laugh at the color of Drake's face.

"Oh, hey, Guardians!" Valin chirped, noticing the five cloaked girls. She tried to maneuver herself around in her vine prison to look at the Guardians with little success. Now Irma really laughed and Valin grinned back at her.

"Please put her down, Cornelia," Caleb told the Earth Guardian as Aldarn and Drake sheathed their swords. Cornelia gave him a sideways glare but released Valin reluctantly.

She flipped herself over on the way down and landed in a crouch, scooping up the dropped bottle in the process and securing it in a pocket. Then she straightened up, beat her chest twice with her right hand and then made a peace sign.

"Wazzup in the his-house, hommies"

"Hommies?" Taranee asked as Hay Lin giggled and repeated the motion. Valin positively beamed at her.

"Valin insisted I put her in training for undercover work on Earth when Elyon was still there," Caleb explained as he, Drake and Aldarn stepped up to the mouth of the alleyway, newly paranoid and checked both ways of the street. "She's only actually been once or twice though so her slang needs some work"

"It's still pretty good," Will commented to Valin as she lightly sprinted to where Aldarn was and looked over his shoulder the same way down the street to which the already unhappy Aldarn scowled. "How'd you learn?"

"Vance Micheal Justin movies," Valin said with a breathless sigh, turning back to Will. "Isn't he just the dreamiest?"

"Corny, I think you found your new best friend," Irma quipped as the group began to move to the mouth of the alley following the boys' lead.

"Ha ha, Irma," Cornelia replied sarcastically as she threw her hood back up, her eyes still on Valin.

"So what do you, like, have for me today?" Valin asked excitedly as the group began to cross the street to the pub. She was practically skipping. "A break-in? An undercover job? Ooh!" she exclaimed, jumping in front of Caleb so that Caleb had to stop hard to keep from running into her, "Do I get to, like, try and assassinate Phobos, again?"

"Unfortunately not. Just a simple raid, high stake though," Caleb told her as he stepped around her, trying his hardest not to smile, and continued on their path towards the pub. "We'll talk more inside"

"Sounds tight," she commented as she fell in step with the Guardians.

Taranee was staring at her wide-eyed, "You tried to assassinate Phobos?!"

Valin pouted, "Yeah and I was really close too but there was, like, a last, last, last, last, last minute complication and someone, like, tipped him off on my position. I was so bloody close!" she emphasized, slightly jumping up and slamming into the ground to emphasize her frustration.

Cornelia could have imagined it because she'd been watching Valin so carefully but the Guardian could have sworn the rebel stayed in the air a little bit too long for someone of her build. But Valin was oblivious to whatever slip she may have made and to Cornelia's icy glare as they continued across the street to the pub.

"You have to stop being so hard on yourself," Aldarn said glancing back at Valin, a little less tense now that their way into the castle was here. "You wouldn't be the first to make an attempt on His Majesty's life"

She grinned and flipped her hair back, her cheerfulness bubbling up again. "Yeah but I was just the, like, prettiest and most fantastical out of all of them. Hold up, Drake!"

Drake froze with his hand on the door of the pub. Valin skipped up past him, knocking on the door three times, kicking it twice, and then whispering something in Meridian into the keyhole. The door swung open from the inside.

"You didn't say the pAsswOrd!" she told him in a singsong voice as she walked in merrily past the enormous black and white Vathek-sized guard at the door who inspected the three rebel leaders and cloaked Guardians with a critical eye.

"Sorry, Valin," Caleb apologized as he and Aldarn passed inside, giving the guard at the door a nod to vouch for the Guardians, "Drake suffers from a disease which causes him to lose the use of his vocal chords in the presence of cleavage"

"I DO NOT!" Drake hissed at his friends with such a color in his face that the Guardians snorted and even Aldarn cracked a smile.

"I was actually beginning to wonder that myself," Hay Lin whispered to Irma who gave another snort of laughter.

Valin heard none of the exchange however as she said something to the bartender and was directed towards a booth near the back. The Guardians and rebel leaders took a bit more care of double checking their surroundings. The pub was half dilapidated and impossibly crowded. Nearly every table was full and almost everyone was a rebel with the exceptions of very few civilians all seated at one side of the pub.

Rolling her eyes, Valin waved them over. "We've got a rebel at, like, every single exit and entrance plus, like, totally three archers on the roof and my bff Kolga at the door. What's up, Kolga?" she added, waving at the mammoth reptilian man as his eyes landed on her in his sweep of the room. He smirked at her pointedly before resuming his search of the crowded pub.

"Now," she said grinning as her company filed into the booth, "say what you've got to say."

Caleb, Aldarn, and Will, all sitting across from her, launched into what they knew of Vernacula and her imprisonment. Valin listened with patience that seemed only rivaled by Hay Lin's, nodding her head at all the appropriate times and keeping fixed eye contact with whomever was speaking. Irma, Taranee, and Hay Lin, all on her side of the table, would interject quick comments here and there.

Cornelia and Drake, however, remained silent. Drake remained quiet because he couldn't think of anything to say that his fellow rebels hadn't said already that would in any way impress Valin. Cornelia kept her mouth shut because she sure she could keep the cattiness and annoyance out of her voice if she said anything to their new 'ally'. Whatever her deal was that had the boys holding her in such high regard, Cornelia certainly wasn't going to give her the same regard completely on faith. Especially if she could make Caleb ignore Cornelia so completely.

"So do you know where they're keeping her?" Aldarn asked urgently. "Do you know where in the castle she is?"

Her grin never wavering, Valin settle back down in her chair comfortably and replied, "Not, like, a single clue, dude"

The Guardians and rebel leaders stared at her in shock as the female rebel rummaged casually through her pant pockets.

"What do you—?" Cornelia began, on the verge of exploding when Valin cut her off, tossing a scroll onto the table.

"However, I do know where she's, like, gonna be tomorrow round noontime. That work?"

Aldarn picked up and unraveled the scroll as Will read it over his shoulder for the benefit of the other members across the table.

"'Her Royal Majesty Princess Elyon and His Royal Highness Prince Phobos invite you to a public concert at the Viewing Well Amphitheater in Shomanka'. Um…what?"

"Concert," Valin replied, "Kon-surt. Noun. A public musical performance in which, like, a number of singers or instrumentalists or, like, a combination of the two participate"

"Well, we know what a concert is," Will replied with a sigh, "we have those on Earth. I meant what does this mean that Phobos is letting her have one?"

"Means Ellie is much more persuasive than she ever led on," Irma commented to Cornelia who was slightly pink at her outburst. She gave Irma a look.

"Ditto," Valin replied, pointing at Irma.

Caleb dug into one of the pockets of his coat and pulled out a small money bag. From inside it, he pulled out a folded up silk square roughly around the size of a coin and began unfolding the map.

"Alright, here's the plan," Caleb began, setting the map on the table as the girls gathered around. "We'll meet here near Frosta since it's the closest city still standing from Shomanka. Will, can you have the girls here by portal in the morning?"

Before Will could speak, though, Valin turned her head to the side to look at the map at a different angle and stated, "That's a bad idea"

Aldarn looked at her with a glare. "How so?"

Valin dug into the front of her shirt and pulled out an Earth brand permanent marker and began marking up Caleb's map. "There are, like, three guard posts here, here, and here," she said, xing out several towns on the map, "Not to mention that you would totally compromise us if you, like, decided to go around this way and—"

Before Valin could finish her mutilation of Caleb's probably very expensive map, Caleb grabbed her Sharpie wielding hand and fixed her with a half amused expression.

"Valin, who's leading this rebellion again? You or me?"

The female rebel suddenly got an ecstatic look on her face. "Oh My God! Are you, like, putting it up for a vote?!"

"Oh! You totally have mine!" Hay Lin announced cheerfully as Drake began to raise his hand absentmindedly with a dopey look on his face before he caught himself. Caleb sent a scowl Hay Lin's way that Cornelia found made him look cuter, despite their situation.

"Look, can you be there tomorrow morning?" Aldarn asked Will again while Caleb relieved Valin of her weapon.

"I don't think we have anything to do tomorrow morning since it's Sunday," she pondered to herself. "Girls?"

"I have skating," Cornelia said immediately. Everyone at the table stared at her.

"You just got out of a skating competition," Taranee asked incredulously. "You have practice again?"

"Yes," was all she said, leaning back and crossing her legs, "I ranked third so I'm going to states"

Caleb opened his mouth to argue her priorities but Cornelia gave him such a look of bold faced determination that he shut his mouth again and glared back at her. He knew her well enough to know there was no use arguing with her when she was hell bent on being right.

"It's settled then," Aldarn spoke up, giving the combatants a wary look. "Frosta tomorrow morning with the exception of Cornelia"

"Off the, like, chain, yo!" Valin exclaimed raising her hand for a high-five which Hay Lin gladly gave her. Just then, the front door opened again and a tall, thin, blue skinned man walked in and Valin recognized him instantly.

"Sorry, guys, but that guys owes me, like, a boatload of money. You might wanna, like, slip out the back while I take care of this," she told them, nearly climbing over the Guardians who were already getting out of the booth. Aldarn led the way to the back door of the pub as Valin headed to meet the newly entered rebel.

"Well, I've got to hand it to her," Irma commented as the Guardians and rebels ducked out the back door, "she's some piece of work"

The Guardians flinched as the distinct sounds of a bar fight breaking out erupted from the inside of the pub.

"She can also kill you five different ways with her bare hands," Drake sighed dreamily while something heavy hit the pub's back wall.

"Oh yeah," Cornelia replied sarcastically, still glaring at Caleb who was avoiding her eyes, "she's a real knockout"

From the roof above them, a cloaked female assassin stood atop one of the bodies of a fallen archer and listened in as the group passed through the alley to the street at the pub's rear.

"So, what time exactly at Frosta tomorrow?" the skinniest of the cloaked figures asked a rebel.

"With the time differences in time, I'd say around seven which should be around quarter-day here," the rebel leader replied.

Beneath her, the archer groaned. She instantly dropped to one knee, knocking the wind out of the archer and thrusting her hand down to hit one of the humanoid's pressure points, knocking him unconscious again.

"Well, there go my plans for sleeping in," another cloaked figure said. As the group reached the end of the alley, the assassin watched as the cloaked figure in the lead held out what was unmistakable the Heart of Candracar and opened a portal. The cloaked figures went through with the rebel leader and the two remaining rebels went separate ways.

She rose then and unfastened a pouch from her belt. Dumping some sand into her hand, she secured the pouch back on her waist. Then she threw the sand on the floor with a muttered incantation and pulled her mask off with her other hand. An image of Cedric appeared in the magic sand.

"Yesssssss, Belantha?"

"We have a date and time," she reported with a sly smile.

Cookie to whomever can say "Staltar, Aldarn" without twisting your tongue because I'm having some difficulties. Valin's nose-lickin' greeting is koolkame's preferred choice of—I mean, it's his idea.

Someone asked about the names Vernacula and Valin so here's where the inspiration came:

Vernaculaa play on the word 'vernacular' meaning 'the native speech or language of a place'

Valina feminine equivalent of the word 'valor' meaning 'boldness or determination in facing great danger, esp. in battle'

Now a Word from Our Sponsors:

Verna: Um, hi everyone. We're here to kind of apologize on behalf of strayphoenix for the delay on this story.

Valin: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand to leave a lovely away message while we're, like, at it.

Verna: …yeah. (under breath) Whatever an away message is. (Normal volume) So Stray's been busy with some stuff—

Valin: —like, LOTS of stuff –

Verna: —since she last had a chance to have a go at us so she's sharing our legal rights with a lovely co-author—

Valin: —simply, like, LOVELY—

Verna: (thinking) IwillnotstranglemyfellowOCIwillnotstranglemyfellowOC… (out loud) —with koolkame who would love to have us on his stories 'Dark Gossamer Wings' and 'DJINN: The Way to Home'.

Valin: And we're, like, jacking Belantha as payback!

Verna: We are not jacking her. It is a trade.

Valin: GROSS! We're acting like Passlings now?!

Verna: (ignoring her) Yeah, so the two of them are doing a great bit of cross-advertising and we recommend you check us out in kame's stories since a full comeback on this one is going to take a bit.

Valin: It was only posted, like, now because yours truly is so, like, awesome that Stray wanted to introduce me herself before Kame, like, did.

Verna: I thought it was because we were temporarily bumped up on her priority list?

Valin: Like, that's what she told you.

Verna: What's that supposed to mean?

Valin: idk my bff vernacula

Verna: …what?

Belantha: (appears wielding a wicked knife) So who wants to jack me?

Valin: ... (points to Vernacula)