Quest for Justice, page 36
“Yes, sir, General Leonidas,” the two soldiers responded in full salute.
“It’s twelve hundred hours now, and it’s time for the midday perimeter check. You know what to do,” said Leonidas.
“Sir, yes, sir!” said the players. They spun on their heels, drew their bows and arrows, and marched off until they disappeared into the heavy snowfall.
Leonidas sighed. With two players gone, work would be slower for the next hour. He turned back toward the construction, about to continue his work, when something caught his eye. There, approaching from the general direction that Emerick and Spyro had just disappeared, a light flickered through the snowfall, getting brighter and brighter. Leonidas briefly wondered if one of his men was coming back, but he quickly realized that this was neither the corporal nor the private. A figure adorned in flowing white robes came into view, a jack-o’-lantern clutched in his hands.
“I need food, Leonidas,” came Caesar’s battered voice, breathing heavily from his long trek through the barren plains. Leonidas was taken aback, seeing his comrade and equal in command here when Caesar was supposed to be catering to the personal needs of Lord Tenebris. He pulled two pieces of bread from his inventory and quickly handed them to Caesar.
“What brings you here, Caesar?” asked Leonidas, showing Caesar into the modest dirt shack, lit by torchlight. The structure served as Leonidas’s personal quarters during the construction of the new capital. “I thought Lord Tenebris told you to stay with him, and help with whatever he needed.”
“He did, and I am,” replied Caesar. Even through his mouthful of bread, his upper-class Element City accent was prominent. “Lord Tenebris is displeased that he has not received word of the completion of Nocturia. He wishes to know why you have not completed our new capital yet, and how long it will be before it is completed. He has sent me to ask you this.”
Leonidas sighed. “Don’t actually say this to Lord Tenebris, Caesar, but if it weren’t for these stupid perimeter patrols, we would have completed the capital a week ago. With only ten guys working on construction, the patrols really slow down the work.”
Caesar gave a slow, emotionless nod.
Leonidas finished his report. “Nevertheless, we’ve entered the final phases of the construction of Nocturia. We should be done by the end of tomorrow.”
“Now that is what Lord Tenebris will want to hear,” replied Caesar, standing up. “I shall give him the report.”
“Do you really have to leave so soon?” asked Leonidas. Since all the players out here were subordinate to him, Leonidas found himself with nobody to talk to, and he was truthfully becoming a little lonely. “Can’t you stay for at least a little while?”
“No, I’m sorry, Leonidas. Lord Tenebris made it very clear that I am supposed to survey the premise hastily and report back to him, no delays. Otherwise, I would be quite content to stay, but you know how Lord Tenebris is when he gets angry.”
In fact, Leonidas had never seen Lord Tenebris angry. The one and only time he had seen Lord Tenebris was on Spawnpoint Hill, the night they had lost to the Grand Adorian Militia in battle. On that day, desperate and with nothing to lose, Leonidas, Caesar, and Minotaurus had pledged themselves to a new leader. Since that day, Lord Tenebris had ordered Leonidas to build the Noctem Alliance’s capital city of Nocturia out here in the Southern Tundra Biome. His only contact with the founder of the Noctem Alliance since then had been through messengers.
Leonidas rarely saw his fellow generals. Lord Tenebris had ordered Caesar to act as his own personal advisor and servant, and what he had ordered Minotaurus to do, Leonidas could only guess. Regardless, Leonidas was well aware of what Lord Tenebris was capable of, and he did not imagine he would be very agreeable when angry.
“Then have a good return trip, Caesar,” Leonidas responded, handing his friend three cooked pork chops for the hike back to Lord Tenebris’s base. Caesar nodded his thanks, and was about to exit through the wooden door when three players burst into the dirt shack.
The three players were covered in snow, so it took Leonidas a moment to distinguish two of them as Corporal Emerick and Private Spyro. They had their bows raised and were nudging a third figure forward. This player, Leonidas did not recognize. It appeared to be a girl, dressed in a full snow suit with a red ponytail running down her back. Leonidas stood up.
“Who is this?” he asked his corporal harshly.
“We found this player wandering around, not far from our border, General,” replied the corporal. He seemed quite proud that he had led the effort of capturing a trespasser.
“What’s your name?” Leonidas asked.
The girl seemed unable to respond. She whimpered. It was then that Leonidas noticed the arrow protruding from her left shoulder. One of his men had shot her.
“Answer him, you pathetic worm. He asked you a question!” bellowed Caesar, and all in the vicinity jumped from his sudden outburst. “What are you doing here?”
The girl gave an almost inaudible whisper, and Leonidas thought he heard the words “lost” and “community” in her answer.
“So there’s a community out here? Where? I thought the colony of the King’s banished criminals died out a long time ago,” inquired Leonidas.
Another whimper escaped the girl’s mouth, and Leonidas heard the word “survived” in her response.
“So the community still exists? And you are a member of this community?” Caesar asked gruffly.
The girl gave an almost imperceptible nod before she sank to the floor and dissolved into desperate sobs.
“That’s all I needed to know,” responded Caesar with a sly grin. An instant later, there was a flash of diamond. The girl fell backward, a slash across her chest and her items lying in a ring around her. Caesar slid his sword back into its sheath.
Leonidas opened his mouth in horror, but quickly closed it again. It was necessary, he reminded himself, trying to keep his breathing steady. She knew too much, and she was a danger. Still, Leonidas couldn’t bring himself to look at her body, and he felt unable to look back toward Caesar until he heard the faint noise indicating that the girl had vanished.
“I’ll tell Lord Tenebris not to expect the capital completed for a few more days,” said Caesar, a smile appearing on his face. “But when I receive the next report, I expect that not only will the building be finished, but every member of the old community will be dead.”
Caesar threw back his head and laughed, and before Leonidas could open his mouth to object, he had swept out the door.
Leonidas stood looking at the floor for a moment, then realized that Corporal Emerick and Private Spyro were still looking at him, waiting for a command. He cleared his throat and, trying to keep his voice steady, gave the order.
“Private, you’re staying with me and finishing this capital. Corporal”—Leonidas took a deep breath—“take half the men and find the village. Leave no survivors.”
“Yes, sir,” came Corporal Emerick’s response, and he left the room without another word.
There was silence as Leonidas stood in the room lost in thought, Private Spyro standing beside him. After a minute, the private spoke. “Is it really the right thing to do, General? Those players, they’re not hurting anybody, so how can it be right?”
Leonidas, ignoring his own strongly conflicted feelings, gave Spyro the response he was supposed to give. “It doesn’t matter if it’s right or not, Private, it’s what has to be done.” Leonidas took a deep breath and fought the urge to vomit. “Come on,” he said, “we have a base to finish.
And with that, General Leonidas and Private Spyro of the Noctem Alliance left the dirt shack.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
FROM THE AUTHOR
Thank you for reading Quest for Justice. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, please tell your friends, and write an online review so that others can enjoy it too.
—SFW
CONNECT WITH SEAN
: www.sfaywolfe.com
: www.facebook.com/elementiachronicles
: @sfaywolfe
Links to buy Sean’s paperback and ebooks are on his webpage. Links to Sean’s online games can also be found on his webpage. Go to www.goodreads.com to rate and/or review this novel.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When I first began writing Quest for Justice, I never dreamed that it would ever amount to anything more than just a fan fiction. I am amazed and grateful that this book has been published, and there are a few people that I would like to thank.
I would like to thank Lexi for being the first one to edit my book and for giving me words of encouragement.
I would like to thank Josh, Scott, and Celeste, my good friends, for reading the early drafts of the book and giving feedback and criticism.
I would like to thank my younger brother, Eric, who finally promised, as a Christmas gift to me, that he would read my book.
I would like to thank my youngest brother, Casey, the first one to read the entire book and give me much-appreciated praise.
I would like to thank my grandparents, who have always supported me, no matter what, in everything I do.
I thank Jonah and Molly for taking my vision for the cover and making it happen.
And last but not least, I would like to thank my mother and father, who have given me countless hours of devotion, editing and reviewing this book more times than I care to count, and helping me to make this book a reality. This book is as much theirs as it is mine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo credit: Ashley Richer
SEAN FAY WOLFE was sixteen years old when he finished the first book of the Elementia Chronicles in 2013. He is a Minecraft player and an author of action-adventure tales. Sean is an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, a five-time all-state musician, a second-degree Black Belt in Shidokan karate, and has created many popular online games in the Scratch programming environment. He goes to school and lives in Rhode Island with his mother, father, two brothers, three cats, and a little white dog named Lucky.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
CREDITS
Cover art © 2015 by Max Gonzalez
Design by Victor Joseph Ochoa
This book is not authorized or sponsored by Mojang AB, Notch Development AB, or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.
COPYRIGHT
THE ELEMENTIA CHRONICLES BOOK 1: QUEST FOR JUSTICE. Copyright © 2015 by Sean Fay Wolfe. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015940696
ISBN 978-0-06-241632-2
EPub Edition © July 2015 ISBN 9780062416339
15 16 17 18 19 OPM 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
This book is not authorized, sponsored, endorsed, or licensed by Mojang AB, Microsoft Corp., or any other person or entity owning or controlling any rights to the Minecraft name, trademarks, or copyrights. Minecraft is a registered trademark of Mojang Synergies AB.
Extracts from the End Poem, © Julian Gough 2011. Used by permission of Julian Gough.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON M4W 1A8, Canada
www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com
Sean Fay Wolfe, Quest for Justice
