The New Order (22 page)

Ben tumbled backward onto the ground, and Cassandrix pursued him, shovel raised. One of her goons jumped over the ledge to assist her, but he was caught across the stomach by a shovel blow from Kat. Kat was astonished when he didn't fall backward into the pit. Rather, he caught onto the edge with his hand and propelled himself into the air, his foot hitting Kat's hand and knocking her shovel far into the distance.

Man!
thought Kat.
These guys are good!
Kat sprinted over to pick up her shovel, her opponent choosing to double team DZ with his teammate rather than pursue her. Desperate to assist him, Kat was about to sprint over to DZ when she saw it.

A figure, clad entirely in black, standing on the uppermost bleacher of the Spleef arena . . . a bow raised in his hand, an arrow, flying through the sky, toward the two players closest to her.

“Look out!” screamed Kat as she launched herself toward Ben and Cassandrix, engaged in shovel combat. They barely had time to look before Kat slammed into them, knocking the three of them to the ground, the arrow grazing Kat's shoulder and sticking point-first into the snowy ground.

Kat twisted her neck around, becoming aware of the screams ringing out around the arena as she looked over at the others. One of Cassandrix's goons fell face-first to the ground, an arrow sticking through the back of his leather helmet. An instant later, two more arrows sunk into the ground next to Kat's head, and immediately afterward two more found the heart of the other Skeleton, sending him to the ground. An arrow sunk into DZ's arm, and the force of the attack sent him backward and through a hole in the ground.

“Get off me!” growled Cassandrix, pushing Kat to the ground. “What are you playing at?”

Kat regained her footing. She sensed an incoming danger, and ducked just as something whizzed over her head. She heard a screech of pain as the arrow pierced Cassandrix's leg. The white-clad player flew backward and into a hole in the ground.

Kat was unable to help Cassandrix, or even think about her. She was only able to think about the black figure who had appeared in the middle of the Spleef arena in a burst of purple smoke. The Noctem agent pitched fire charges to the ground, using them to burn a circle in the snow blocks around himself until he was suspended on a single snow block in midair. Down below, DZ and Cassandrix could be seen struggling, trying to cure their wounds and stay afloat at the same time. The figure was far from the edges of the snowfield. There was no way to get to him.

As the black-clad figure pulled off his helmet, Kat noticed a black shawl draped over his shoulders, and when his face came into view, Kat saw, with a twinge of fear, that it was Count Drake standing in the midst of the arena. As he spoke, his voice, oily and snakelike, seemed magnified. “You had your chance to listen, people of Elementia,” the voice boomed through the air. “We warned you not to toy with the Noctem Alliance, and now it is time for you to pay for your impudence. I call upon the great power of the Noctem Alliance now, to summon the punishment of the people of Element
City! VIVA LA NOCTEM! Bring on the fire!”

And with that, Count Drake pulled a blue-green orb and pitched it far into the distance. All Kat could do was watch in helpless horror as Count Drake turned around, caught her eye, grinned an evil smile, and disappeared in a puff of violet smoke.

Then, all at once, the Spleef arena erupted into a radiant light, immediately followed by screams of terror. From the tops of the bleachers of the arena, molten lava was pouring from some unseen source. As Kat stared at the liquid fire in shock, she realized it was pouring out of the dispensers that usually shot off fireworks during a victory.

Standing in the middle of the arena, so far away from everybody else and armed with nothing but a shovel, there was nothing Ben or Kat could do but stare as the massive wall of molten fire rolled down the stands and toward the center of the arena. The wave of lava was preceded by a wave of players, sprinting down the stands, over the bleachers, and over one another, trying to escape the fiery death that chased them. They saw some players trip and immediately be trampled under the wild herd of players. Others fell behind, and the lava caught them, drowning them in magma.

As the last of the players drained out the doors of the arena, Kat and Ben were speechless. They thought they had been prepared, maybe not to foresee everything the Noctem
Alliance would do to them, but certainly to handle it. But this . . . nothing in the world could have prepared them for this.

The lava was flowing from source blocks, and the once-proud bleachers of the Spleef arena had turned into a never-ending lava flow, which had started to pour over the railings and into the pit below. The snow blocks at the edge of the arena had started to melt, but Kat, shell-shocked as she was, knew that they were in no danger. They were standing at the center of the arena now, their snow blocks would be too far from the lava to melt. The only players who would need to worry now would be any players who were somehow still . . .

The realization slammed into Kat like a train, and she grabbed Ben by the shoulders and shook him. “Ben!” she bellowed. “We've got to help DZ and Cassandrix, they're still down there!”

Comprehension rushed into Ben's face, and the two of them raced to the edge of the hole to look down into it. Sure enough, the lava had poured down the arena walls and was now beginning to intrude on the edges of the water lake. The water turned to stone on contact with the lava, but immediately afterward, new lava rolled over it, creating more stone. And right at the center of the shrinking square of water swam DZ and Cassandrix, the latter of whom was freaking out and being calmed by DZ.

Ben and Kat had the same idea simultaneously. Using their diamond shovels, they struck two blocks of snow and compressed the four resulting snowballs back together into a block. With the blocks in hand, they sprinted to the edge of the remaining snow blocks.

“Up here!” Kat screamed, and tossed the snow block down as Ben did the same. The two players looked up. Realizing what was happening, they caught the blocks and placed them on the ground, hopping on top of them.

It was a mad race. The lava was closing in on the two players in the hole, and Kat and Ben sprinted as fast as they could to get the snow blocks down to the two players. Ben tossed his blocks down to Cassandrix, while Kat tossed hers to DZ. By the time the towers of snow blocks were three blocks high, the lava had completely surrounded the base of the towers. By the time the fourth block of the tower had been placed, the bottommost one had melted into nothing.

Upon seeing this, Kat and Ben became even more frantic, throwing blocks of snow down as fast as humanly possible. It wasn't looking good. For every two blocks the two players placed on their stacks, the bottom three blocks would melt from the intense heat. By the time DZ and Cassandrix were just five blocks below Ben and Kat, their towers were just two blocks high and still melting.

“Forget the blocks, there's no time!” yelled Ben. “Just help me pull them up!”

Kat and Ben sprawled out on the ground and reached down to the nearest player, who happened to be Cassandrix. She bent her knees and propelled herself upward, latching on to Kat's hand. The two top players gave an almighty pull, and Cassandrix came flying out of the hole, landing in a pile on the surface of the arena.

Wasting no time, they sprawled down again, seeing in horror that DZ's tower was down to its last block. DZ jumped just as the block melted from beneath his foot. His outstretched hand came up and just missed Kat's fingertips before he fell downward to the lava pit below.

A cry of “NO!!!” left Kat's mouth before, without thinking, she dived down into the hole, latching on to DZ's arm. She felt his hand gripping her arm back, just as she realized what she had done. She felt herself falling down the hole, the heat from the lava becoming more pronounced by the second. Then, all of a sudden, the falling stopped. Kat twisted her head backward to see Ben clutching her leg as if his life depended on it. Slowly, though, he too was being dragged into the pit by the combined weight of DZ and Kat. Just as the three Zombies were about to be pulled down into the pit together, Kat, in the midst of squinting her eyes shut in preparation, saw a pair of white hands that undeniably belonged to
Cassandrix latch around Ben's torso.

Kat didn't open her eyes again for half a minute. She was vaguely aware that the heat of the lava was growing fainter and fainter. She released DZ's hand once she had pulled him up to safety, though she hardly remembered doing so. Kat finally opened her eyes when she felt the soft coolness of the snow block on her face, and when she did, she saw DZ, Ben, and Cassandrix all lying on top of one another in a pile, exhausted.

Kat pulled herself to a sitting position and looked around. The announcer's box, the president's box, and all the other protrusions from the stadium bleachers had gone up in flames. As Kat rotated around, seeing the cascade of fire and death that was her beloved Spleef arena, a single tear rolled down her cheek, hitting the snow below her silently. The gravity and terror of the situation finally registered, and Kat's mind refused to take in any more—she passed out on the ground beside her three fellow Spleef players.

PART III:
NIGHTFALL

CHAPTER 20
AN EMERGENCY MEETING

T
here was a knock on the wooden door. Leonidas glanced up at it, his train of thought broken.

“Enter,” he said.

The door swung open, spraying Leonidas's face with an icy blast of wind. Through his squinted eyes, Leonidas saw Private Spyro struggling to get the door shut against the howling winds of the snowstorm. When it finally shut, Spyro, wasting no time, jumped to full salute.

“I have your dinner, General,” he announced respectfully.

Leonidas gave a faint chuckle. “Private, how many times do I have to tell ya? I'm perfectly capable of gettin' my own dinner on my own time.” Nonetheless, Leonidas did realize just how hungry he was, and graciously accepted two cooked chickens from Spyro's inventory.

“I'm aware, sir,” replied Spyro. “I just thought I'd bring it out to you, seeing as I was coming out here anyway. Corporal Tess sent me to deliver a message to you.”

“And what is it?” asked Leonidas, bracing himself. Leonidas, as well as the other troops, had retired from the battlefields surrounding Nocturia for the night, and so Leonidas knew this was not a message related to
fighting. There was only one other message that this could be and, truth be told, Leonidas didn't really want to hear it.

“Lieutenant Drake has just returned from Element City. He announced to us that the attack on the Spleef Arena has gone off without a hitch. Everything went exactly according to plan.”

Great
, thought Leonidas bitterly. He figured he might as well ask about it now, and hear it in Spyro's official, military voice rather than hearing Drake brag about it. “And what were the casualties?” he asked tiredly, not really wanting to know.

“The lieutenant said he sent a scout into the city, and he overheard the high-ranking council members discussing it. None of the high-ranking officials of Elementia were killed. Two of the Spleef players were killed by our snipers, and the lava trap managed to kill fifty-nine civilians.”

Leonidas shuddered at the last word. It was incomprehensible to him how Caesar could think that organizing an attack like that on players who weren't harming anybody was honorable, just, or anything besides malevolent. Nonetheless, Leonidas knew what he had to do, and he knew what the consequences would be if he failed to do it.

“Tell Lieutenant Drake,” responded Leonidas slowly, “to assemble our troops in front of the headquarters, so that I can give him an official congratulation and promote him to the rank of captain.”

“Yes, sir,” responded Spyro. He turned on his heel and marched out the door, once again struggling to close it against the frigid gusts. Leonidas spat in disgust as the cold caused him to break out in chills and huddle closer to the fire. Even now, when he was the interim commander of the Noctem Army, he was forced to stay in a tiny stone hut alongside all the other enclosures belonging to the soldiers.

Leonidas was very close to his breaking point with Caesar. The player had, after all, basically stated that he saw Leonidas as his inferior by a vast degree. What other reason could there be for Caesar ordering Leonidas to stay out in the war zone while Caesar himself went safely to the Specialty Base with Lord Tenebris? Leonidas knew Caesar didn't want him in Nocturia for the sake of leadership. Caesar had had nothing but glowing praise for Count Drake, stating that he was capable of commanding the army by himself, promoting him to lieutenant, and ordering Leonidas to promote him again if he pulled off the attack on the Spleef arena. With that in mind, Leonidas could think of no reason why he should not be at the Specialty Base with the others.

However, Leonidas's anger with Caesar cut even deeper than that, because not only had he commanded Leonidas to stay and fight, but Caesar had brought Minotaurus with him. The claim had been that it was for defense, so that two of the Noctem Alliance's strongest fighters were there to
protect Lord Tenebris should Stan's forces discover the base. However, Leonidas knew that Caesar was well aware that Leonidas was the more powerful fighter of the two. After all, Leonidas had managed to escape from Stan, Kat, and eight of their soldiers at the Jungle Base, while Minotaurus had lost what was essentially a two-on-one fight in Nocturia, only surviving because of Stan's mercy. Even comparing their fighting styles, it made no sense; Minotaurus's giant battle-axe and manic fighting style were the perfect fit for a large-scale war, while Leonidas's precise and deadly arrows were ideal for a bodyguard.

Clearly, there were other forces at play here. The choices Caesar had made, beyond enraging Leonidas with their unfairness, made no sense in the long run. There must have been some other reason that Caesar had commanded Leonidas to stay in Nocturia. And as Leonidas pulled on his ceremonial armor for the rank advancement ceremony of Count Drake, he was sure that the reason, whatever it was, was nothing good.

“The role call has been completed, and I hereby call this Council Meeting of the Grand Republic of Elementia to order,” said Stan, ending the ceremonial introduction to the meeting, which he was only doing for the sake of Jayden, G, and Blackraven. As he finished, though, Stan realized there
would be very little arguing during this meeting. The table was charged with silence, and it was clear that they were all in a very similar mind-set. DZ seemed especially electric. His arm still bore the wound of the attack on the Spleef arena.

“My friends,” said Stan, the power of his voice filling the entire room. “The day that we have feared for so long is upon us. The Noctem Alliance has launched a large-scale terrorist attack on our city. They destroyed one of our proudest buildings and killed fifty-nine of our citizens. This is a crime we cannot forgive. Atrocities committed on the battlefield are one thing. Atrocities committed toward civilians are a different story altogether. Clearly, we have to do something.”

“I agree with you, Stan,” said Jayden. “I think a few members of the council can agree with me when I say I've had my disagreements with you and some of your closer friends in the past. But after this, I think we're all on the same page now.”

“Let's not classify ourselves into friends and closer friends,” the Mechanist's old voice came, tired and weary. “If we are to stand any chance of taking down the machine of evil that is the Noctem Alliance, we must all stand united, no barriers between us of any kind.”

There were murmurs of assent around the table.

“I think it is clear this action can't go unpunished,” continued Stan, grateful for the input of the players, but determined
to swiftly agree on a course of action. “Does anybody have any ideas of what we can do?”

“Well, I don't have an idea,” said Kat, “but I do have some information that I feel I should share.”

“Go ahead,” replied Stan.

“As I was on my way up here for the meeting, I ran into a messenger from Ben,” Kat announced. “He said that their spies have determined a possible lead to the location of the Specialty Base.”

“Really?” cried DZ. “That's fantastic!” He pumped his fist up and down in triumph, only to cringe and wince in pain as he did so. He had clearly forgotten the arrow wound in his arm.

“Yeah, it is,” continued Kat, her face still serious. “He said the police just got word back from a scout who was sweeping over the Far Western Desert. Apparently, he was trekking along the border to the ocean, when he saw a boat being driven by a player in full black. He watched the player travel northeast until he couldn't see him anymore.”

“That means the Specialty Base is probably located on an island in the Northwestern Ocean!” exclaimed Jayden.

“How many islands are there in that ocean?” asked Stan, being unfamiliar with the region.

“Tons of them,” said G. “Back when Jay and I worked for Adoria, she would send us out there to map the islands and
occasionally to go on missions. It's not a very well-known area. I don't think players had ever mapped them before we did, and nobody ever goes out there except to visit the resorts on the Lesser Mushroom Island.”

“In other words,” cut in DZ, “it's the perfect hiding place for the Noctem Alliance.”

“Okay then,” replied Stan. “That's where we should concentrate our searches. Blackraven, you go down to the police headquarters and talk tactics with Ben. Have him recall his scouts and send them out into the ocean to scout out the islands.”

Blackraven gave a grunt and a nod before getting up and leaving the room.

“If that's all there is to say, then I hereby adjourn this meeting. Any final words?” Nobody had any, and the eight remaining players, one by one, got up and exited the room.

Stan walked down the hallway, not particularly aiming for anywhere, and ended up in the common room. The Netherrack fire blazed as brightly as ever, and Stan sat down in front of it, lost in deep thought. One by one, he felt others join him. After the third, Stan looked up to see Charlie, DZ, and Kat all sitting in chairs beside him. Rex was curled up sleeping next to the fire.

“It's infuriating, isn't it?”

Stan looked over and saw Kat looking at him. DZ and
Charlie looked up too.

“You talkin' about anything specific, Kat? 'Cause frankly, I'm infuriated at a lot of stuff right now,” grumbled DZ, massaging his arrow wound.

“It's just . . . I don't know . . . the Noctem Alliance just stepped so far over the line by attacking the arena. And what have we done in response?”

“You know what we're doing, Kat!” exclaimed Charlie in surprise. “We're focusing our search for them in the islands region, and Ben has promised me that the military is going to double its numbers of raids and searches.”

Kat sighed. “I know that, but that's playing by the rules! When the Noctem Alliance attacked our Spleef arena, they took a sledgehammer to the rules of war! Isn't one of those rules that you're not supposed to directly attack civilians?”

Now it was Charlie's turn to sigh. “That is true, Kat, but the fact that we're willing to play by the rules is what makes us different from the Noctem Alliance. We're fighting an honest fight against them, and you know that justice will always prevail in the end.”

“That's just it, though!” yelled Kat. She was irritated now. “I know we're doing the right thing by fighting an honest fight, but here's the thing . . . the honest fight isn't working! Where have we gotten since the beginning of this war? Absolutely nowhere! And where has the Noctem Alliance
gotten? They've killed dozens of our innocent people in their attacks!”

“Kat,” said DZ reasonably, “I want you to ask yourself this: When we win this war, do you want to have won it honestly and with integrity, or do you want to have won it by committing atrocities like they have?”

Kat turned around and looked DZ squarely in the eye. “You said when we win the war, DZ. And to be honest, I don't think we're going to win if we keep fighting the way we are.”

Stan almost fell forward out of his chair in shock. “How could you even . . .”

“Stan, answer this question for me,” said Kat firmly, turning to look him in the face now. “What's better: winning a war fought unfairly or losing a war fought honestly?”

Stan found himself unable to speak, and when he glanced at Charlie and DZ he saw that they, too, were lost for words. They were spared the need to respond, however, when the door flew open. Into the room marched a soldier, who stood at attention upon seeing Stan, and was followed, to Stan's surprise, by Oob, who looked bewildered.

“I've come with a message for President Stan,” the soldier said officially.

“The mean man in the uniform ran into me while I was on the stair, and now he will not tell me what the message is!” wailed Oob.

“Mister . . . um . . . Oob,” said the soldier in discomfort, “please wait outside while I deliver the message to the president and his council members.”

“Oob, buddy, wait outside, okay?” said DZ.

“No!” cried Oob, stamping his foot on the ground. “I want to hear the message too!”

“Come on, Oob,” said Charlie grimly. “Go outside. These messages are usually about pretty ugly stuff going on during the war, you don't want to hear about it.”

“But I would like to help!” said Oob in exasperation. “I can fight just like you can! Do you not remember that I defeated the Griefer Mr. A over the lava pit?!”

Stan sighed. “Oob, it's the messenger's job to deliver the message to the people it was meant for, and nobody else. If you just go out the door and wait there, then I might tell you the message after we hear it.”

Oob opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it again. He scrunched his eyebrows together tightly, as if he were thinking very hard, and then his face relaxed. “Okay, Stan,” he finally said. “I will wait outside.” And with that, Oob turned around and walked out the wooden door, closing it behind him.

DZ spun around to face Stan. “Why'd you lie to him!?” he shouted accusatorily.

“I wasn't lying,” responded Stan with a sigh. “Whatever
the message is, I'm sure we can tell him . . . you know, if we tone it down to a G rating for him.”

The messenger looked extremely uncomfortable now, and said, “Uh, Mr. President . . . I don't think you're going to be able to tone this message down for him.”

Stan's chest flooded with dread. Clearly, something exceptionally terrible had happened.

“The Noctem Alliance launched an attack on a target in the Ender Desert,” the messenger said.

Stan waited expectantly for more. This wasn't breaking news, it happened quite often. “And . . . ,” he finally said.

The messenger took a deep breath, and then continued. “The attack wasn't on a military target, Mr. President. It was on the NPC village.”

Stan's throat dropped into his stomach, and he was unable to think. He was vaguely aware that his three fellows shared equal expressions of horrified, all-encompassing shock. Then, without warning, the wooden door flew open, and in stepped Oob. The villager had clearly been listening at the door. Oob's mouth hung open, his eyebrows raised, his hands limp, and his eyes terrified with dismay.