Power of the Moon (a tangled Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-One

Cassandra ran through the forest as she heard Andrew's feet pound behind her.
"Cassandra, you just got up! Try to ease into this a little!", Andrew called as they raced through the trees.
"Fat Chance Hubert! You kept me confined to that bed for 48 hours! I'm not stopping now!", Cassandra retorted as she ducked through some foliage.
"You know, it would have been much longer if I weren't there to help you!", Andrew fired back ignoring the Hubert jab.
She rolled her eyes and slowed down skimming the ground for possible tracks.
The past two days couldn't have passed any faster for Cassandra and she was angry about all the time they had given to that man to get away.
Even with Andrew taking care of her, she didn't heal as fast as she would have liked.
She was more then happy to leave the hotel behind and start moving again.
Cassandra was dertermined to find the man and get that package. And once she had it in her hands, she was going to have her revenge.
Cassandra grit her teeth angrily just thinking about how her pride had gotten the best of her and taken her down.
She had learned the hard way and she wasn't going to make the same mistake again.
Her hand self-consciously traced the right side of her face.
A scar ran down from her forehead down her eye in a thin clean line.
That scar was given to her by that man and once she'd found him, she was going to do a lot more then scar him.
Unless you call Cassandra's idea of scarring, scarring someone from life.
Andrew finally caught up to her, panting a little from the long sprint.
"You know, for someone that just came off a lot of blood loss from the head, you can move pretty fast.", Andrew commented.
Cassandra poked out her bottom lip, "And for someone who didn't lose any blood you're awfully slow. I think you're losing your touch Hubert."
Andrew huffed annoyed, "Can you just focus on finding tracks?"
"Sure, why not, but it is possible to multitask.", she said smirking.
Cassandra turned her attention to the forest and looked for any signs of someone running through recently.
Being an expert cartographer and average tracker, Cass used her skills to track down the man.
Her training back at the castle when she was training to be a royal guard payed off in all life instances.
Andrew looked around trying to help but Cassandra grabbed his arm, keeping him in place.
"Just stay still and don't touch anything.", she ordered while carefully looking at some bushes.
"Why can't I touch anything?", Andrew asked as he pulled out of her strong grip.
"Because you might mess up the tracks, that's why.", Cassandra answered without looking up.
Andrew smirked, "How about the grass, I'm touching that."
Cassandra rolled her eyes, "You can touch the grass Hubert."
Andrew decided to be a little more annoying for the Hubert jabs Cassandra kept giving.
"How about the air, huh? Or this random oak tree?", he asked brushing his hand against it. "Or what about this blueberry bush?"
Cassandra slapped his hand away and whipped around facing him, "You're going to stand there and be still and quiet or I'm going to make you quiet myself.", she warned looking scary. "You got that?", she asked staring straight into his eyes.
Andrew nodded, "Yes m'am.", he saluted poking a little fun.
"Also the blueberry bush isn't a blueberry bush, it's nightshade. One touch of that thing and you'll have itchy eyes, a sore throat and red blotches.", she warned.
Andrew stared at the bush and backed away a little, "Fun."
She sighed and turned back to her job, ignoring Andrew.
Finally she found evidence of someone being there as she ducked under a tree and some vines.
Trees were knicked and branches were broken along with the scene of some kinda've battle.
The ground was covered in a purple sticky substance and weird splotches of color stained the ground in a rainbow.
Glass also lay scattered around the area along with explosion marks on the grass and nearby trees.
Andrew ducked under the branch catching up with Cass and stopped.
"Whoa, What happened here? It looks like arts and crafts gone wrong.", he joked staring at the colorful stains.
"A battle happened here.", Cassandra answered picking up a shard of glass.
She then stood up and glanced over the scene again before making her theory, "The man was here and I'm sure Varian fought him."
Andrew looked up interested, "How can you tell he was here? Also who the heck is Varian?"
Cassandra pointed to the scratch marks on the tree, "His weapon did that, the speed of the cut and the angle would have had to be his favored chained weapon.", she answered.
"That's still not enough proof it was actually him.", Andrew evaluated.
"How about those? Is that enough proof?", Cassandra asked pointing to the mystery man's shoes that lay stuck in the goo.
Andrew gave in, "I guess, but how are you so sure they're his? Anyone could have these shoes.", he pointed out while glancing the pair over.
She sighed but answered Andrew's question, "One, I got kicked in the face with them and two, I know that the materiel of these shoes are a special leather that's only known to the kingdom Zabanial."
"Zabanial huh? Interesting.", Andrew said as he pulled out the shoes out of the goo after a mini tug-of-war.
"What is that stuff made of?", he muttered under his breath glaring at the purple glue.
He then held out the shoes eyeing them, "You're right about the leather Cass."
Cassandra snorted, "Of course I'm right, why wouldn't I be?"
"You know what's interesting?"  Andrew started, "Zabanial has always been big in keeping there secrets of the trade even though they are very strict on not trading anything from Zabanial. So if that man was wearing these shoes, he either somehow stole them or he's a native to Zabanial himself.", Andrew deduced.
Cassandra looked at him impressed, "So you do have brains in that head of yours."
Andrew looked at her annoyed but didn't respond, "So how about this Varian person?", he asked while sticking the shoes in his bag. "How do you know he was involved in all of this and who is he?"
"Varian is a teenager alchemist that used to live in Old Corona.", Cass started, "He was mine and Rapunzel's ally, but he turned against us and tried to destroy the princess's family single-handedly. He is clever and he built an army of metal automatons that attacked the people of Corona. Ultimately he was stopped and thrown into prison, but I'm sure he's escaped long before now.
"He uses potions and serums as his weapons, so looking at the scene here, I have all the proof I need. Glass, colored stains from serums and his purple goo for what originally was a raccoon trap, it can only be Varian.
"For some reason he attacked the Zabanial man and there's a good chance Varian might have beaten him. If he did beat him, I believe Varian would have taken him to his house for questioning.", Cassandra finished.
Andrew nodded, "Okay then, that seems pro efficient enough. So where would we find this teenage alchemist?"
Cassandra pushed some branches aside and pointed to a house in the distance, "Over there."
Andrew looked at her, "Then what are we waiting for?", he asked.
"Well, if Varian's free and still vengeful, he could be dangerous. I just want to be careful and I learned the importance of underestimating my opponent.", she said.
Andrew glanced at her face then back at the house, "So how do you want to go about it then? Any ideas?"
Cassandra breathed out, "We just go on over for a visit."