Quest for Justice, page 11
“I agree,” said Charlie.
Both Kat and Stan looked at him. He had not spoken since they had decided to climb the tree, and he still looked at the ground as he spoke. Kat couldn’t believe that he was going along with Stan’s crazy idea, and Stan was just as surprised that Charlie was agreeing with him.
“Really?” asked Stan in quiet disbelief.
“Yes. The government is biased and prejudiced, and their leader is a tyrant. He needs to be brought down.”
“Oh, what noble thoughts,” sneered a sarcastic voice from behind them.
Stan recognized that voice. The last time he had heard it, a wolf had nearly ripped his throat out. He instinctively turned around and whipped out his axe to counter the diamond blade of Mr. A’s sword. The Griefer looked much better now, no longer beaten up, but full of energy and ready to kill. The diamond sword he was holding in his hands was not new but well worn, and Stan could tell that it had claimed many lives.
The others were on their feet, too. Charlie stood with a determined yet scared look on his face, holding the iron pickaxe in his trembling hand. Kat was right behind him, sword poised to strike at a moment’s notice. Rex’s hair was on end, his eyes glowed red, and he snarled at the Griefer that was now engaging in battle with Stan. It appeared that the dog had not forgotten his last encounter with Mr. A.
The battle was intense. There was no doubt that both players were incredibly gifted with their respective weapons. Kat and Charlie were ready to strike if need be, but they stood far back to avoid being slashed by the axe or impaled by the sword. Mr. A’s sword moved like lightning, blocking each swing of Stan’s axe without effort. It appeared that he was only toying with Stan.
“By the way,” said Mr. A coolly between strikes, not even breathing hard from the battle, “how did you like my presents, Stan? You know, back at the village, the Creeper in your bedroom, and Charlie’s defective helmet during the sword fight. Did those gifts make you think of me?”
An intense surge of hatred bubbled up from within Stan, and without thinking he gave his axe an unnecessarily strong swing. Mr. A fluidly sidestepped the frenzied attack, and before Stan could react, the Griefer’s sword struck him across the head. If it weren’t for his helmet, Stan’s forehead would have been slashed open. Instead he was knocked backward. His helmet flew off and dropped a hundred feet into the jungle below, while Charlie grabbed Stan before he suffered a similar fate. Charlie gritted his teeth and used all his strength to pull Stan back up onto the tree branch. Stan was not hurt, just a little dazed, and as the boys caught their breath, Kat rushed in to take on Mr. A.
She was talented with the sword, but he outstripped her in skill. They fought for about a minute before Kat was finally disarmed, her sword sent sliding down the branch. She was knocked to the ground. Mr. A was just about to deliver the killing strike when Rex flew over her and knocked Mr. A into the thick tree trunk. His diamond sword spiraled off the branch and into the jungle far below, and he looked stunned as the dog glared into his eyes, growling.
Stan did not want to kill, but he jumped up and held his axe over his head, ready to strike if Mr. A tried to retaliate. Charlie had his pickaxe at the ready behind him, and they were quickly joined by Kat after she retrieved her sword from down the branch.
The three players looked down at their adversary. He looked furious, but there was another emotion on his face, too. Stan couldn’t tell, but he thought that it might have been amusement.
“You really think that you’re gonna overthrow the King?”
Stan raised his eyebrows. He shot a quick glance back at the others, who looked a little unnerved at Mr. A’s question.
“I hate all three of you, but you don’t know what you’re talking about. I hate the King more than anybody on this server, but the citizens, upper- and lower-level, are just as bad as he is. Mark my words: try anything, and you’ll regret it. You have my warning.”
Without another word, he whipped something from his inventory: a small, black ball flecked with orange, which he threw to the ground. There was a short, hot explosion, and Stan was knocked back, with Charlie, Kat, and Rex landing on the branch beside him. He looked up and saw a cloud of gray smoke. He held his axe at the ready, prepared to defend himself, but when the smoke cleared, Mr. A was gone.
Stan brushed himself off and looked around. There was no sign of the Griefer anywhere.
“Fire charge,” coughed Kat through the gray smoke. “Great for quick escapes,” she added as she hurriedly punched out the small fire that the charge had left on the branch.
“What do you think he meant when he said the citizens are just as bad as the King?” asked Stan, pondering the words of Mr. A.
“He was just trying to unnerve you,” said Kat. “But I’ll tell you one thing: if he thinks that overthrowing the King is a bad idea, then I think that it’s a good one. I’m in on your plan.”
Stan smiled at his two friends, happy that they would always be there for him and support him no matter what. Then he noticed that Rex was chewing on something.
“Hey Kat, what’s that your dog has?” he asked.
She took the item out of the dog’s mouth and saw that it was an uncooked fish, with the tail fin ripped by the dog’s teeth. “How’d this get up here?” she wondered.
“Mr. A must have dropped it,” said Charlie. He was staring at the fish intently, as if trying to decide something. “Kat, let me see that. I want to try a trick I read about.” She handed him the fish and he whistled two notes, one high and one low.
There was a rustling in the leaves just above them. Kat and Stan instinctively whipped out their weapons, ready to attack, but Charlie quickly yelled, “Wait! Hold on a second! And don’t make any sudden movements.” Seconds later, a yellow animal dropped from the branch above and looked up at Charlie.
It appeared to be some sort of wild cat, with a golden, streamlined body, black spots, and deep green eyes. It looked quizzically up at Charlie and then at the dead fish he was holding in his hand.
“What is that?” Kat asked in amazement.
“An ocelot,” replied Charlie, eyes still fixated on the cat. “Don’t make any sudden movements,” he repeated, “or you’ll scare him away.”
Kat and Stan watched in amazement as the cat slowly approached Charlie, gave him a pondering look, and began to tentatively eat the fish out of his hand. Then, the cat’s fur began to change. The black spots began to vanish, replaced with orange stripes slightly darker than the golden fur. The ocelot had changed to take on the appearance of a tabby cat.
“Where did you learn to do that?” asked Kat.
“You two should really read that book more,” replied Charlie, stroking behind the cat’s ears. “Now he’ll follow us around like Rex does, and he’ll scare Creepers away.”
“Excellent!” said Kat. Then she hesitated. “But wait, he won’t get into fights with Rex, will he?”
“He shouldn’t,” said Charlie, and as if in response the cat walked over to the seated Rex and curled up next to him. Rex started to lick the cat’s ears.
“Aw, that’s cute,” said Stan. “What are you going to call him, Charlie?”
“Lemon,” said Charlie, as if he had been thinking about it for his entire life. “Now come on, we should try to get at least a little sleep before we start a revolution tomorrow.”
It sounded weird when he said it like that, thought Stan. He lay down with a tuft of leaves as his pillow, and with Lemon and Rex as their guards, the three players drifted out of the awful day and into dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER 11 THE APOTHECARY
It was the scream that woke Stan. Actually, it wasn’t so much a scream as it was a high-pitched, ominous, other-worldly sound that brought about a sense of foreboding, comparable to a noise that a small bird might make upon freezing to death in the Arctic.
Stan opened his eyes and found himself staring straight into the sun. It took his eyes a moment to adjust before he fully saw the impressive skyline of jungle trees silhouetted against the sunlight. Suddenly he heard the shriek again, and this time he followed the sound until his gaze met a figure perched upon the highest tree.
This figure was tall, with a slender body and long, spindly arms and legs. It appeared to be holding something in its hand: a block, although Stan could not tell what kind. The creature had glowing purple slits for eyes, and it appeared to be looking right back at Stan.
Stan did a double take and looked back out to the trees, and the figure was gone. Stan shook himself and dismissed the form as a fatigue-induced hallucination. However, even as the others woke up and they broke camp and climbed back down the vines, Stan couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness that the haunting cry had sent down his spine.
Back on the ground, they did an inventory of all their items.
“Two iron helmets, three iron chestplates, an iron sword, an iron axe, an iron pickaxe, a compass, a clock, a book, a bow, and twelve arrows,” counted Kat as they laid all their items on the ground in front of them. “And we’re going to overthrow the King.”
Stan realized that they did have a very limited amount of supplies, exactly three people devoted to their cause, and no food at all. They had a lot of work to do.
“Well, let’s get back to the basics, I guess,” he said. “We’ve got to start somewhere, so let’s establish a house out here. There are plenty of resources around this jungle, so let’s gather some materials today, and tonight we can discuss how we’re gonna do this thing.”
Kat nodded, and Charlie said, “Good idea, Stan. You go into the woods and gather some wood with your axe. I saw a mine a little while back. I’ll take my pickaxe and go see what I can find down there. Kat, you go find some food, and see if you can build a house around here that we can use until we get a permanent base.”
“Okay,” Kat agreed. “I’ll make it underground so that if the King’s men come looking for us, we’ll have a little bit of concealment.”
“Good thinking. Okay guys, let’s fall out,” ordered Stan, and with that, they put their armor back on, and Charlie and Lemon walked back the way they had come the previous day. Kat drew her sword and ran toward some wandering chickens, Rex at her heels, and Stan pulled out his axe and skirted around the edge of the lake toward the woods.
As Stan walked along the water’s edge, he noticed a type of plant growing in front of him that he had never seen before, except from a distance on Crazy Steve’s farm. It appeared to be some kind of cane, and it only grew on the sand and dirt directly adjacent to the lake. Curious, Stan brought his axe down on the base of one of the plants, and several pieces of the stalks fell to the ground. Stan picked them up and put them in his inventory. He did this to another plant, and was about to do it again when he heard a stretching sound behind him, then a twang and a whizzing sound.
Stan knew that sound quite well from his first night in Minecraft. He spun around and flipped his axe over, the metal blade just stopping the flying arrow from entering his chest. He dodged another arrow and looked up, expecting to see a Skeleton firing at him from the shade of the woods. Instead, he saw another player standing in the bushes, drawing another arrow. The player was mostly obscured by the bushes and the leather tunic and cap he was wearing, but Stan could see a neat white beard on his face.
Stan rushed the player, axe raised, deflecting two more arrows as he went. The old player was about to draw the stone sword at his belt to fight Stan weapon to weapon, but Stan was too quick. His iron blade shattered the stone blade before it was fully drawn. For good measure, Stan also spun around and cut the string of the bow. Then he kicked the old player, who was also wearing leather pants and shoes, to the ground. Stan stood over the player, axe raised.
The old player, without hesitation, ripped off the leather tunic to reveal two black sashes across his chest, each with various bottles of colored liquid attached to them. He yanked a green one from one of the sashes and threw it at Stan before Stan even realized what had happened. The bottle shattered on Stan’s chestplate, and a foul-smelling green gas seeped from the jade liquid that splattered all over him. The stench overpowered Stan, and he blacked out, falling right beside the old player.
When Stan came to, he was in a gray cobblestone room. Torches lined the walls, and Stan became aware that there were twelve machines surrounding him, six on each side. Each was one block in size and had a hole on the front of it.
“Don’t move,” said a voice, and Stan realized that the old player was standing next to the wall, away from the machines. His hand was on a button. “Cooperate with me and you won’t get hurt. Try to run away, kill me, or even move, and I press this button and you get shot to death with arrows by my machine. Why were you destroying those plants?”
“I don’t know” was the first response that came out of Stan’s mouth, and he had a feeling in retrospect that it was the wrong one.
The old player sneered. “I’ve been away from Element City for a whole year now,” he replied in his ancient yet powerful voice. “They banished me, so I was just looking for a little peace out here. I don’t need juvenile delinquents like you destroying my beautiful sugarcane farm like that.”
Stan was confused for a moment, and then he understood. “Oh, those were your plants?” he asked as he pulled the sugarcane from his inventory. “I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know. Here, take them back.” He tossed the sugarcane stalks back to the old player, and they landed at his feet. He bent over and picked them up, never taking his eyes off Stan.
“How do I know that you aren’t just one of King Kev’s spies?” asked the old player, stashing the cane in his inventory. “I’ve kept my agreement. I’ve stayed out of the city, and I have had absolutely nothing to do with any potion-related activities going on in Element City.”
“Wait, you’re a fugitive from the King?” asked Stan.
“What, you don’t know who I am?” asked the old player incredulously. “Anyone who’s been on this server for more than a few weeks or so knows who I am!”
“Sir, I’m only level nine,” said Stan as he realized at the same time that he had, to his horror, been stripped of his armor and weapon. Good thing Charlie had the clock and compass, he thought. “I’ve only been playing Minecraft for a little over a week now.”
“What? Really? But you’re so good with that axe, I’d have thought that you’d seen a good few fights,” replied the old player, who seemed genuinely impressed.
“Wait, are you saying that you don’t know who I am?” asked Stan. He’d have thought that the King would have put his face on wanted posters all over the kingdom by now.
“Should I?” the old player asked.
The words “I’m the one who tried to assassinate the King!” fell out of Stan’s mouth, but an instant later he regretted it. What if the old player was actually in cahoots with the King? He might have just earned himself a slow death by arrows! But instead of pressing the button, the old player looked at Stan, his eyes widening in awe.
“You? You’re the one who tried to kill the King? At level nine? Good lord, son, you’re either very brave, very stupid, or a liar. Okay, you can come out of there for now, but don’t expect your axe back until I’m one hundred percent sure that you’re not one of King Kev’s cronies.”
Stan stepped apprehensively out of range of the machines, and, at the old player’s gesture, followed him out of the cobblestone room. He noticed his axe hanging at the old player’s side, right next to an iron sword and a bow. He gulped, not sure what he was going to find in the next room.
What he did find was unlike anything he had ever seen before. There were rows of wooden plank tables, all of which were covered by stands that held bottles, which themselves held bubbling liquids of various colors. Chests lined the wall. In one corner of the room was a black table covered in a red velvet tablecloth embedded with diamonds, a book levitating over it. Around this table were shelves that held books of all sizes and colors. In another corner was a bed, next to which sat a furnace, a crafting table, and two chairs. The old player sat in one of these, and he gestured for Stan to take the other. A quick look out the glass pane windows revealed that it was late afternoon and that they were still in the jungle.
“I’m sorry that I had to knock you out earlier. You see, ever since King Kev banished me from Element City a year ago, I’ve had to be very wary about who enters and who leaves this jungle. He’s sent his men in on me multiple times, whether they be hired Griefers to give me a hard time or spies to try and figure out what I am up to. But I am sure that none of them would even joke about trying to assassinate their master.
“So, I will introduce myself. My name is Apothecary1.” He extended his hand, which Stan shook.
“My name is Stan2012, but you can call me Stan. I have a quick question, though. Are King Kev and the King of Elementia the same player?”
The Apothecary laughed. “Ho, ho, I had forgotten how little you know! Yes, they are the same. The same ruthless, tyrannical fiend. You do agree with me, don’t you?” he asked quickly.
“Are you kidding?” said Stan angrily. “He killed three friends of mine for no good reason, and I’ve tried to kill him! I don’t think he and I are going to be friends anytime soon.”
“Ah yes, you claimed to have made an attempt on the King’s life. I’m not positive that I believe that story, but I do want to believe it. He’s killed a good number of my friends, too, and banished a few more.”
It was at that point that Stan suddenly remembered. “My friends! They’ll be expecting me back!”
“What?” the Apothecary asked.
“My friends, Charlie and Kat. It’s almost nighttime. They’ll be expecting me back soon. We’re making a base back by that lake you found me at.”
Instantly the Apothecary became suspicious. “What do you mean? You brought others with you? How many?”
“Just the two,” replied Stan. “I have to go back to them.”
“And how do I know that you’re not part of the King’s army since there are more of you, Stan? If that’s even your real name? How do I know they aren’t watching this house right now?” The Apothecary was on his feet, his hand going to the iron sword at his side.
