Herobrine's Message (23 page)

Leonidas doubled back yet again as the bearded soldier, apparently named Commander Crunch, leaped out and jabbed his sword directly at Leonidas's head.

“Stand 'n' fight, ye lily-livered swine!” the Commander bellowed, following up his initial strike with a series of swipes. Leonidas ducked and weaved through them all, just as he sensed another player coming up behind him. Thinking fast, Leonidas sprawled to the ground, dodging Charlie's pickaxe. The two fighters, who had both been aiming for Leonidas, locked their blades together, and he used their recovery period to draw an Ender Pearl from his inventory and pitch it up to the top of a nearby tree, warping there an instant later.

Leonidas took a deep breath, relishing the brief moment of peace. As good as he was at evading attacks, even he couldn't deal with the constant onslaught for too much longer. For the past five minutes, every turn he had made had
seen one of the four players ready to bear into him with the full force of their weapons. It was a miracle that Leonidas hadn't been hit yet.

“Get down here right now, Leonidas!”

As he heard Charlie's voice screaming from below him, Leonidas glanced up from the leaf blocks he was lying on and looked down at the clearing, only to immediately duck to avoid the arrow flying at his shoulder. Leonidas popped back up, outraged. The four players were standing in the clearing, eyeing Leonidas with the utmost contempt, as Kat loaded another arrow into her bow.

“Get down here!” Cassandrix screeched up at him yet again.

“I'll come down only if y'all promise to stop tryin' to kill me!” Leonidas bellowed back. He was beyond enraged that these players, who were supposed to be the representatives of goodness and justice in Elementia, couldn't stop attacking him long enough for him to explain.

“If you don't come down right now, Leonidas,” Kat growled, looking at him through the sights of her bow, “then I'll make you come down myself.”

Leonidas gave a harsh laugh. “Oh, and how're ya gonna do that, eh, Kat? Ya gonna shoot me or somethin'?”

Kat put her hand up to her mouth, and let out a two-note whistle.

Leonidas heard a rustling in the tree behind him. He barely had time to turn around before Kat's wolf barreled into him, head-butting him out of the tree and crashing them both to the soggy ground with a thud. Leonidas cringed, the wind knocked out of him. He was barely aware of Kat calling the wolf back to her side.

Slowly, Leonidas forced himself up onto his elbows and then his knees, only to realize that two stone swords, a stone pickaxe, and a bow were all aimed directly at him.

“Put yer hands in th' air, ye dirty rotten villain,” Commander Crunch spat at him.

Slowly, trying to be as cooperative as possible despite the anger boiling in his stomach, Leonidas obliged.

“Tell us where Stan is right now,” Kat continued, her voice monotone and her face steely as she continued to train her bow on him.

“I told ya,” Leonidas replied desperately, “he ain't here . . . in Elementia, I mean . . . he left . . .”

“So Stan was killed?” Cassandrix demanded, her already pale face now nearly colorless.

“No, he ain't dead . . . I'm helpin' him now, I swear . . .”

“Cut the crap! Where is he?” Charlie bellowed, his face radiating with supreme hatred.
“Answer me!”
He dashed forward, a noticeable limp in his step, with pickaxe drawn, and shoved it up under Leonidas's chin until they were nearly
face to face.
“What did you do to my best friend?
”

“I . . . uh . . . he . . . ,” Leonidas sputtered, panicking as he stared directly into Charlie's wrathful eyes. “I mean . . . he left . . . to go to . . . another . . .”

“
That's it!”
Charlie screamed, and he raised his pickaxe high over his head.

There were shouts behind him. “Charlie!” from Cassandrix. “Charlie, no!” from Kat. “Control yerself, lad!” from Commander Crunch. But it was too late. Charlie's pickaxe fell fast and hard toward Leonidas's skull. There was no time to react. Leonidas simply closed his eyes and winced, waiting for the blow to connect.

Then, with no warning, there was a powerful gust of wind in front of Leonidas, followed by a sharp clang of weapons colliding and the grunt of Charlie falling backward to the ground. Amazed, yet perplexed, Leonidas opened his eyes. What he saw made his heart skip a beat.

Directly in front of Leonidas, between him and Charlie, was a cloud of purple smoke, the by-products of an Ender Pearl. As the smoke particles cleared away, the form of another player became visible. Leonidas would recognize the navy pants and dark shoes, flowing black cape, and head covering anywhere. The Black Hood turned around and looked at Leonidas. He still couldn't make out the upper half of the face, but the player's pale mouth was curled up into a
reassuring smile. Leonidas could nearly hear the words ringing in his head—
It's going to be all right
.

The Black Hood turned back around, diamond sword still raised in front of him in a block, to face the four players and the wolf before him. Rex looked curiously up at the strange player, while Cassandrix, Commander Crunch, and especially Charlie, who was still lying on the ground, looked terrified at this mysterious stranger, who had appeared from nowhere to aid Leonidas.

Kat, on the other hand, stepped forward, hardly daring to believe her eyes. She looked into the hidden face of the Black Hood, and suddenly recognized him.

“It's you,” she whispered, staring in awe. “From the Mushroom Islands.”

The Black Hood turned his head to look at her, and gave a subtle, yet very distinct, nod.

“Then . . . why are you protecting Leonidas?”

The Black Hood cocked his head to the side for a moment, and then turned to look down at Leonidas again. He proceeded to give a small smile, before again turning back to Kat. She looked at him, and suddenly, an overwhelming feeling came over her. Inexplicably, she knew what the Black Hood was trying to tell her.

“Are you . . . trying to tell me . . . ,” Kat managed to get out, hardly believing what she was saying, “that . . . Leonidas
is telling the truth? That he
is
helping Stan?”

As her three friends glanced at Kat as if she had gone insane, the Black Hood said nothing. Instead, he turned on his heel and proceeded to sprint toward the cave opening where Leonidas had been hiding. When he had reached the mouth of the cave, the Black Hood jumped into the air, and an instant later, was consumed by a cloud of purple smoke. When the smoke cleared, the Black Hood was nowhere to be seen.

All five players stared at the smoke, transfixed. They continued to stare until the purple smoke had dissipated completely, and even then they still found themselves unable to move as they tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Then, all of a sudden, the players heard footsteps echoing up out of the cave. They looked on expectantly, waiting to see the mysterious player emerge from the ground. And yet, the Black Hood was not the one who emerged.

Instead, Stan2012 emerged from the cave, staring down at the ground, his face heavy and troubled, as if he had found out that the weight of the entire world was resting squarely on his shoulders. As he set foot on the soggy ground again, Stan suddenly realized that he was being watched. He glanced up, and immediately did a double take, not willing to believe his eyes.

“Guys?” he let out, barely breathing.

“Stan?” Charlie whispered, afraid that if he spoke too loud, he might scare Stan away.

There was a moment of silence as Stan stared into the eyes of his friends, and they all stared back. Then, all at once and without warning, Kat rushed forward, tears streaming down her face with Rex hot on her heels, and embraced Stan, hugging him hard and long, as if she was never going to let go.

“Kat . . . I can't believe it . . . ,” Stan managed to get out as he choked back his sobs of joy. “It's so . . . I mean, it's just . . .”

“I know, Stan,” Kat managed to get out as she buried her face into Stan's shoulder. “I know.”

Stan became aware of the sound of uneven footsteps, and he glanced up to see Charlie, clearly on a damaged foot, moving as fast as he could directly toward Stan. Immediately unaware of anything else, Stan let go of Kat and ran toward Charlie. The two best friends met in the center of the clearing and threw their arms around each other, squeezing as hard as they could. Neither of them could say anything. There were no words. They just continued to hold each other in an embrace. Nobody spoke as these two players who had come so far since their first day in Elementia and grown closer than brothers were finally reunited.

“I missed you so much, man,” Charlie sobbed, not even
trying to hide the fact that he was crying.

“Me, too,” Stan choked out in return. “I'm . . . just . . .
so
glad you're okay . . . you . . . you have no idea.”

The two players finally broke apart and were immediately pulled back together as Kat threw herself back into the circle, and the cycle started all over again. The three players, companions since the beginning, couldn't leave one another now that, after months of separation, they were finally together once more. Leonidas, Cassandrix, and Commander Crunch could only look on with joyous tears in their eyes as Rex jumped up against the trio of players and began to lick Stan's hand.

The wolf's presence finally caused Stan to remember that the others were there, and he let go of his friends to face the others.

“Guys, I just . . . I can't believe . . .” Stan still seemed to be overjoyed, and at a total loss for words. “How . . . how did you manage to find me? Was it you, Leonidas? Did you find them?”

All at once, Charlie, Kat, Cassandrix, and Commander Crunch all turned to stare at Leonidas. Even Kat, who had understood what the Black Hood had been trying to say, was completely floored by this. “Nah,” Leonidas chuckled, looking back at Stan. “It was just a bit of dumb luck is all. Although I gotta say, it's lucky ya turned up when ya did.”

“Aye, Leonidas,” Commander Crunch suddenly burst out, his voice sounding deeply remorseful, “we be so sorry fer wha' we did.” The other three players stared at Leonidas with equally mortified and repentant looks on their faces. “We should've listened t' ye . . . we didn' realize that . . .”

“Don't worry 'bout it,” Leonidas replied with a smile. “Frankly, I don't really blame ya . . . after all the stuff I've put ya through in the past, I'd call ya stupid if ya trusted me up front. Tell ya what, let's make a deal. If y'all can find it in your hearts to forgive me for all the terrible things I did, then we can just let bygones be bygones.”

Without hesitation, all the other players nodded and gave their assurances of agreement. All, that is, except Charlie. Try as he might, he couldn't find it in himself to say the words out loud, and couldn't help but feel an uncomfortable pit open in his stomach the more he looked at Leonidas, smiling and being initiated into their group.

Thankfully,
he thought to himself as he forced a joyful look onto his face,
nobody noticed.
And as Charlie turned to Stan, his best friend in all of Minecraft, finally standing next to him once more after all this time, he found that he didn't need to force himself to smile in the least.

Bill stood attentive at the base of the stone staircase with an iron sword drawn.
What is taking Ben so long?
he thought in
desperation.
What if he wasn't up there? Or what if somebody else was up there? A Noctem soldier? Or what if . . .

Suddenly, footsteps echoed from the top of the stairs, and Bill caught a glimpse of a player coming down the stairs. As he grew closer, Bill realized with a start that it was Ben, hauling the unconscious Mechanist on his shoulder. Bill sprinted up the stairs to meet his brother, helping to lift the limp form of the Mechanist.

“Thanks,” Ben grunted as they continued down the stairs.

“Don't mention it. What happened? Why is he unconscious? Did somebody attack you guys?”

“No,” Ben grunted in disgust. “He was passed out on top of his papers, and a half-empty potion bottle was on the table next to him. He's been hitting the SloPo again.”

“What?” Bill asked, shocked at this revelation. “I didn't know he used that stuff!”

“He told me about it once,” Ben grunted as he readjusted the unconscious Mechanist on his shoulder. “Apparently he started when King Kev banished him to the desert. It made it easier for him to forget his guilt over helping the King with his redstone contraptions. He told me that he hadn't done it again since he had joined Stan's army.”

“Well,” Bill replied, “either he was lying or he started again.”

“Clearly,” Ben agreed. “I tried everything to wake him
up—water, food, hitting him, everything I had on me—and I couldn't find any milk to clear the potion effects, so I figured it was best to just bring him down the way he is.”

“Well, we can worry about that later,” Bill said as they reached the doorway to the castle courtyard. “Okay, the entrance to the bunker isn't too far outside the courtyard. We should just be able to make a run for it without anything happening.”

“Sounds good,” Ben agreed. “Let's move!”

And with that, the two brothers sprinted out of the castle and into the open. Bill felt incredibly exposed as he dashed past the lava moat and across the wide-open courtyard, nothing above his head, and nothing to duck and cover behind should an attack come. By the time they had finally reached the castle gates and found an arch to hide them, Bill's heart was nearly beating out of his chest.

“There's the entrance!” Ben cried, pointing. Indeed, he was right. Just a block down the street, the gates of the mine opened into what appeared to be just a hill. They could barely make out Bob sitting at the mouth of the bunker, looking wildly around, presumably for them, his hand on a lever. Bill knew that, when Bob pulled the lever, as he would be forced to do if the Noctems appeared, the entire face of the hill would close up. The bunker door would blend into the hillside completely, creating a totally natural-looking stronghold that
was invisible to anyone who didn't know where it was.