The Seven Heroes of Erde

Verity

Chapter Seventeen
Verity
   
    "That went well," Verity said, strolling with Ditto down a narrow lane. She and Ditto had been sent to retrieve traveling supplies, but Verity didn't know how they were going to find any in such a small village, especially if the people didn't look at all in shape to go on the kind of quest to which they were sentenced.
    "It could have been worse," Ditto said. "Much worse. Maybe next time don't immediately accept a stranger's help. Lucky for us that turned out well."
    "Who would invite us into their home and have plans to kill us? Nobody in the Water Tribe would do that. Why should it be any different here? If people want us dead, they'll kill us."
    Ditto looked as if she wanted to object but then didn't. Verity guessed it was because she also had no experience outside her own tribe. She sighed. She wanted to get home and be done with this all. This entire Shade thing seemed sketchy. They had no actual proof of anything. Of course, she had nothing to deny it either, so it could be a potential threat to her tribe. Her task was to get Ditto safely to the Water Tribe so that she could either be enlisted in war or sent home so nobody else got her abilities.
    But right now, they needed gear. Verity shivered in the cold air. "Clothes first. Come on." She led Ditto into what seemed like a long market street. People were shouting their sales and dealing with customers. It looked pathetic compared to the markets of the Water Tribe that she'd been to, but this was a small village.
    "There." Ditto pointed to a sign not far off. It was hanging off the side of a stone building. It read in bold letters, Mountain Equipment and Gear. "Let's check there first. Uh-" One hand went to her belt. "Verity, do you have money?"
    Verity sighed. "Yes." She patted a pouch at her side, which clinked.
Ditto strode forward and swung open the door. Verity followed. A cheery bell jingled above the door frame. Brown paint peeled off the walls, revealing the gray plaster beneath. A row of windows near the ceiling were the only light source. A dwindling fire glowed in a furnace behind the front desk, a poorly crafted table overflowing with paperwork. Brown liquid leaked out of an overturned cup. The store itself wasn't much to look at, but the products looked like just what they needed. The walls were lined with shelves, racks, and hooks stocked coats, rope, boots, helmets, etc. It didn't smell too great either, she noticed with a twinge. Verity approached a rack of coats and pulled one off. The thick brown fur was coated with dust. She shook it off as best she could. Verity coughed and held the coat up to Ditto, who was inspecting some boots across the room.
"Does this look about Evander's size?" Verity asked.
Ditto laughed. "That's a girls' coat!"
Verity hadn't noticed the flower designs on the carved wooden buttons. "Do you think it'll fit Ember, then?"
Ditto shrugged, then went back to shopping.
Verity tried it on. It seemed to fit, though it was quite itchy and reeked of mothballs. She checked the price tag.  "Forty copper shards? That is absurd! In the Water Tribe, we paid half that for products twice as good!"
"Well this ain't the Wa'er Tribe, now is i'?" said as husky, accented voice from behind her.
Verity recognized that voice. She turned around to see Aberdeen standing in a doorway near the furnace, his arms full of firewood. Wintry air blew in behind him.
He sneered through his grey whiskers. "I though' I told ya you had no bu'ness 'ere."
"Please, sir. We are just searching for some gear. If you could kindly let us continue shopping, we would surely leave you alone." Verity pleaded.
"Le' you shop, eh? You really think I'm gonna believe tha'?"
Suddenly it dawned on her that there was no shopkeeper. "Really, sir. We were not stealing. Please, you must believe us."
"Listen 'ere, missy. Nobo'y wants ya 'ere, so le' go o' my stuff 'n go back to where ya came from."
"Look," Ditto cut in, "we're here and we're going deeper into the tribe. I don't care if you don't like us. We have as much right to be here as you. Sell us some things to get into the mountains, and you'll never see us again."
Aberdeen opened his mouth, no doubt about to retort with a rude comment, but Verity cut in. "We will include an additional silver piece along with the total cost of our purchase."
"As if ano'er silver piece wou' make up fo' the trouble you kids'll cause me."
Ditto scoffed. "If you don't want our money, we'll go, but good luck getting enough business to keep this dump open."
Aberdeen glared. Eventually, he gave in and agreed to sell to them.
Ditto and Verity found enough gear to properly clothe their party for the remainder of their stay in the Ice Tribe. Verity now wore the brown coat with the flower-carved buttons and white fur trim that she had picked out earlier, some fur-lined leggings,  and a pair of stinky climbing boots that were so big her feet clomped against the sides each time she took a step. Ditto had opted to continue in the slightly warmer climbing gear she had packed, having originally planned to come to all the tribes.
Even though he had hundreds of them stacked in a pile behind his desk, Aberdeen refused to give them proper bags for their purchases, so Verity had four coats and a few hats and scarves draped over her arms and Ditto was barely managing to carry their four pairs of boots that they had stuffed with numerous pairs of gloves.
Suddenly a voice sounded outside. Sadly, it was a familiar voice.
The girls briskly walked outside and followed the sound of grunting, screaming, and chanting. Eventually, they saw a large crowd circled around two fighting people, as if the entire village had come to watch the showdown. They pushed through to the edge, where they found Janet. Ditto began talking calmly to the half frightened, half dizzy girl, while Verity looked to see who was in the match.
One participant was a muscular young man probably around her own age, maybe a bit older, with messy brown hair strewn over his broad forehead. The other was a girl who had blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin, chakrams in each hand, and expression that suggested this young man would not see another face for a long, long time, if ever again.
Crystal was battling it out with one of the villagers.
"Wanna say that again, igloo-face?" Crystal yelled.
"How cute, you're defending the little petal-head?" the man sneered.
Verity sighed aggravatedly as Crystal lunged for the man with a chakram in her hand. Since when did she have that? Ditto stepped forward, dropping her things. "I have to break that up!"
"Oh no you don't!" Verity grabbed Ditto's arm. "You're staying here."
Crystal had raked the chakram across his shoulder, but was stopped from hitting the ground when the man grabbed her left leg, swinging her out onto her stomach. Crystal grunted, but used it to her advantage by kicking her legs over her head, kicking him in the stomach and winding him.
Oh, that is going to hurt. Ditto took a step forward. "She's going to kill him, Verity." Before Verity could stop her, Ditto bolted forward.
As far as Verity was concerned, Ditto only knew how to grow dandelions on command. She'd used fire in the Air Tribe Escape, but Verity doubted she could do that again.
Ditto ran straight in, ramming Crystal in the shoulder. "Crystal, stop!"
"Out of the way, Copycat!" Crystal growled. She darted around Ditto and went to slice the man's shoulder again. He sidestepped and kicked her in the side, which only seemed to fuel her anger. But Ditto was actively fighting to stop them both, now. She intercepted the man's attempt to sweep Crystal. "Crystal, go get Janet, now. You can't kill thi-" She was interrupted by the man jabbing her in the ribs.
Stulte, she is going to get herself killed! Verity fought the urge to intercept. She knew she would only make it worse. That's when the sight of sparks caught her eye.
Ditto had recovered and was blocking Crystal and the man from hitting each other, which was really impressive if Verity was being honest. After a few more shouts from Ditto, Crystal, livid, retreated and hustled toward Verity and Janet.
That's when things began to heat up. Ditto rounded and punched the man, who'd been sneaking up on her, square in the nose. He stumbled back with a cry of pain, his face red.
His face shouldn't have been that red. Ditto was strong, but she wasn't that strong. The man fell to the ground.
He shouted a name at Ditto that Verity would rather not repeat. He shoved both his hands forward, sending ice spikes hurtling at her.
"No!" Verity hurtled herself forward. She cannot die, I cannot fail. Sharp water slammed into the man's face, blinding him temporarily and throwing off his aim. The ice spikes went right of Ditto. Verity skidded to a stop beside the man. "Leave," she growled. She raised her voice. "All of you, leave! This fight is over." One by one, the crowd began to disperse.
Verity turned and marched over to Ditto. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep you alive when you jump into fights like that?" Ditto smiled sheepishly, then turned and hurried over to Janet and Crystal. Verity followed.
"One of you, start explaining," Verity demanded. Ditto picked up their stuff, and Verity took up her own items. As they began walking, Crystal grudgingly began to speak. 
"Janet wanted to go somewhere and bumped into the guy." Crystal said matter-of-factly.
"Aaannndd... you attacked him because of that?" Verity narrowed her eyes.
Crystal shrugged. "Well, yeah."
"Janet bumped into a guy and you attacked him."
"Well, he looked like he was going to attack her. Plus, he said that whoever bumped into him would die if they didn't have five copper pieces, so..." she trailed off.
"You do not need to start a fight with every person you come across. Just walk away," Verity said.
Crystal scoffed. "Well that's what you do, you pacifistic seal," she said, rolling her eyes.
Verity rolled her eyes and strode ahead. Immature, every last one of them.
"Would you guys just chill out?" Janet butted in. "She stood up for me. Sure, she didn't have to go all 'assassin' on him, but it's the thought that counts."
"Thank you." Crystal said.
"It was reckless and dangerous, and almost got Ditto killed," Verity pointed out, still fairly annoyed.
"I had it under control," Ditto retorted.
"Sure," Crystal said.
Ditto rolled her eyes. "Like you would have had it under control after you killed that guy."
They bickered for a bit until finally Verity got tired and told them both to shut up, which earned her glares from both, but at least it was quiet. Soon, the house came in sight. They walked in, and it was quiet. "Hello?" Ditto called out.
"We're back here!" came Maha's eager voice from the living room. They walked in and found Ember and Maha playing some kind of hand game, involving repeatedly moving their hands up and down in opposite directions, then clapping, and repeating. " Hey, you got supplies!"
"Yep," Crystal confirmed. "And food."
"Where are the boys?" Janet asked.
"They went clothes shopping," Ember explained.
Verity sighed. "I thought you told them specifically to stay here."
"No, they just pointed out that they needed clothes, so I let them go after you guys left."
"Does no one appreciate planning anymore? You have to let us know if you are changing something."
"Whatever, it's not like they're going to die."
"You do not know that."
The door opened, revealing Keyne and Evander, each wearing only slightly worn long-sleeve shirts and pants. Evander seemed to have stuck with his traditional brown attire and Keyne with blue. Both wore the same shoes they left the house in and carried a few brown paper bags filled with additional clothing.
"Hey guys," Evander said, waving.
"Would you mind letting us know if you are going to change plans last minute?" Verity huffed.
"Sorry, I didn't think it was a big deal. I mentioned that we needed more clothes. I thought it was implied."
"Whatever. Just come in."
Keyne and Evander dumped their bags on the couch and sat down.
"What did you guys get?" Keyne asked.
"Coats, mittens, typical cold weather gear." Ditto jerked her thumb at Crystal and Janet. "They got food."
"Cool, where's Ranulph?" Keyne asked.
"In his room, rounding up some luggage for us," Ember answered.
Right on cue, Ranulph wandered in lugging a few leather duffel bags. He swung them over the couch onto the floor. "These should hold your things just fine."
Maha looked up at him. "Where are we going?"
"Well, that's just what I was going to tell you." Ranulph placed a hand on Ditto's shoulder, who looked instantly bothered by the gesture. "Jillian here still has her mission, and we need to explain the shades to the tribes, so that puts us in the perfect position to make our next move."
Maha stared at him blankly. "That doesn't answer my question."
"We're going to see the queen of the Ice Tribe!"
"Over my dead body!" Crystal blurted out sharply. "Literally."
Ranulph furrowed his brow. "What do you have against the queen?"
Verity looked over at Crystal.
"Quid? Sunt vobis insanis? Scio te et vos cum regina mala sunt sanguis sed gravissime?!" What? Are you insane? I mean I know you and the queen have bad blood but seriously?!
Everyone looked at Verity with confusion.
"Quid?" What?
"What in the world does all that mean?" said Maha.
"Verity, we don't speak Latin," Evander informed her.
"Oh! I'm so sorry," Verity said, ducking her head a little. She hadn't even realized her switch - Latin was the default language of the Water Tribe, so it just felt natural. She usually had to think about English. "I do that when I get upset, I guess."
Crystal huffed, crossing her arms. "There is no way I'm going to visit that vile, power-hungry, sorry excuse for a queen."
    Janet rolled her eyes. "Look, I know you and the queen are a bit, um, complicated, but we need to do this if we're going to stop the Shades."
    "Ranulph, you mentioned something about a 'last move'," Evander chimed in. "What exactly is that move?"
    "We need to convince Queen Saeva to comply with Jillian's mission and to believe what we have to say about the Shades."
"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Ember asked.
"The only way we can," Ditto answered flatly. "We go and talk to her, just like all the other rulers." She shuddered. "And this time, we'll keep Safir and Ragnar close enough to help us fight, if needed. Which, to clarify, I really hope we don't." 
"Di-I mean...Jillian? May I...speak with you...somewhere else?" Crystal said through an obviously fake smile. She jerked her head to the other room as an indication.
Ditto shrugged and followed Crystal. Verity wanted to follow them but respected their privacy.
"Jillian will talk sense into her, right, Keyne?" Maha asked her brother. "We won't have to go home?"
Keyne shifted uncomfortably. "Wellllllll..." He said, dragging out his response, "maybe. Crystal's kind of.. stubborn.." He added the last part quieter, probably to avoid Crystal hearing and smacking him.
This is a waste of time. I could be in my kingdom with Ditto by now, Verity thought, annoyed. No, wait. When I left, the Ice Tribe was trying to make a war alliance with the Water Tribe, due to their bad blood with the Fire Tribe. She built on that thought. Maybe seeing the queen will be useful. We could get a safe escort to my tribe. So long as we keep Ember shut up and out of sight, it could work. And Crystal too.
"I have an idea," Verity announced.