Finally, Zetta folded the harness up tight and stuffed it under her shirt, within the protection of her invisibility potion. Then she started back the way she’d come. She was nearly halfway back to safety when a horn trumpeted. The illagers all jumped to attention and gathered around the one that was holding a large banner. The raid captain, maybe? Though she couldn’t understand what it was saying, it spoke with force and conviction. The other raiders nodded and harrumphed in agreement. They all sounded angry and bloodthirsty.
One good thing was that since all the illagers’ attention was drawn to the captain, it was easier for Zetta to sneak out than it was to sneak in, which was great, because the ravager harness was bulky and kept slipping, and Zetta was really afraid she was going to drop it and blow her cover.
Just a few more steps, Zetta thought, right as a witch passed in front of her. The witch stopped dead in her tracks, then howled at her. Zetta thought she’d turned visible again, but her arms and legs were still nowhere to be seen. Still, the witch must have sensed her, or maybe sensed the potion on her—those faint, nearly invisible magic particles giving her away. Next thing Zetta knew, the witch was hurling a bottle at her. It splashed at her feet, and Zetta took off in a sprint. She didn’t have far to run, but it felt like her legs were being held to the ground as she moved. She was still going forward, just very, very slowly.
Argh. A slowness potion. And the next potion the witch was getting ready to throw looked like something a lot deadlier. Zetta ducked as the witch threw it, and the potion landed wide, splashing in the sand. Zetta kept running, ducking and dodging as she could.
Now other illagers were alerted to her presence, and arrows buzzed past her ears. But finally, the slowness released its grip on her, and she found temporary safety behind the sandy hill. She hopped on the dragon’s back and lifted it into the air and flew away as fast as the dragon could. She had her proof.
Zetta headed back toward Sienna Dunes, but she couldn’t show up with the dragon there. She needed somewhere safe to hide it. Somewhere where no one would dare look. As the Great Rift that tore through the desert came into view, Zetta got an idea. A very bad idea, but it would have to do.
The old desert pyramid that Rift had shown her over a week ago was half buried in the side of the cliff, difficult to navigate on foot, but not so bad with a dragon. She landed the dragon there, hoping the sudden weight wouldn’t send the whole structure careening into the lava river below.
The pyramid was in shambles, the half-missing wall in the front just wide enough for the dragon to fit through. After centuries of being abandoned, who knew what lurked inside? Now Zetta was about to find out. She lit a torch and stepped over the crumbling threshold that had once been the front door.
The dragon crept in behind her, crouched like a timid pup.
“We can’t both be scared,” Zetta told it.
The dragon snorted at her, nudging her forward into the room when her feet wouldn’t go any farther. It looked like the room had been blown to smithereens a long time ago, and there was a large crater in the sandstone floor. Looters, probably. Looking for treasure. There wasn’t any to be had anymore, but this big room would be comfortable enough to house a dragon for a bit.
Zetta heard the skitter of spiders in the dark corners where her torchlight didn’t reach. She killed the first without a problem, but a second one snuck up on her without warning. It was about to bite her, when the dragon smashed it with one of its huge paws. Then it sniffed at the thing and recoiled.
“Good dragon,” Zetta said. “We’re going to need you to do that about a hundred more times, judging from the size of that raid coming for us. Now listen. I need you to stay right here. Don’t move. Don’t go anywhere, do you hear me?”
The dragon made a purring sound, then nuzzled the side of its head against Zetta’s body.
“A horn scritch? Is that what you want? Okay, you saved me, so I guess that’s worth a scritch.” She gave the dragon a quick scratch behind the gray horns poking up from the top of its head, then sighed. She’d managed to not think of the dragon as a pet so far, like she’d planned. Only problem was, now she was starting to think of it as a friend.
Dragon purred again, then licked the side of her face. It wasn’t quite as awful as she’d imagined.
“I’ll be back soon. Remember: Don’t go anywhere!” Zetta said as she backed out of the room slowly, making sure the dragon didn’t follow her. It appeared like it was staying. Good. She kept her smile tight on her face, watching as the dragon’s tail smacked gently against the rubble-ridden floor. She didn’t want it to have any inkling of just how scared she was right now.
Then she was on her way back up the cliffside, using her pickaxe to staircase her way up as quickly as she could, ignoring the bits of stone falling past her and down into the lava river at the bottom of the ravine. Finally she was back on solid ground. She ran as quickly as she could, adrenaline instead of a swiftness potion fueling her, and going nearly as fast, even while carrying the bulky ravager harness.
The rift canyon ran through the desert, but it didn’t feel nearly as deep as the one that ran between Zetta and her father. She needed to start there, before she made her way to the mayor. She needed her father on her side, and that meant she finally needed to tell him the truth.
The town came into view. No sign of the raid yet. The illagers had quite a way to travel. Hopefully that meant the people of Sienna Dunes would have enough time to prepare.
Zetta knocked on her front door, hoping her father was here and not off trying to hunt down the dragon. It felt odd, asking permission to enter her own home, but after all she’d been through, she was feeling more like a stranger here than ever. Her father answered, face stern.
“The mayor’s been looking for you,” he said, more of a grumble. “Someone has to be responsible for the damage that beast caused. I won’t even ask—”
“You don’t have to ask, Dad, because I’m going to tell you. Everything.”
Her father took a deep breath, then stepped to the side so Zetta could come in. She looked him in the eyes and told him everything. From her early brewing attempts, to running off to visit her aunt for help with her potions, to cracking the ender dragon egg. He winced at that part and didn’t stop wincing as her story went on. With everything coming out of her mouth like that, Zetta started to understand how much danger she’d put herself in. How much danger she’d put everyone in.
“You fought endermen?” her father asked.
Zetta nodded, though she hadn’t put up much of a fight.
“You snuck into a pillager outpost?” He was holding the ravager harness now. He lifted it to his nose, scrunching his whole face up as he got a whiff of the gnarly smell. No way could he deny what she was saying.
She nodded again.
“And now you’re telling me that the beast that nearly destroyed our town is ready to defend it?”
She nodded once more, seeing her opportunity. “We trained the ender dragon really well, and it could help us fight the raiders. They’re coming. Maybe a hundred of them. We have to convince the mayor to get ready. Rift, Rayne, Ashton, and I—I know we’re young, but we’ve got a lot of great ideas.”
“If by ‘ideas’ you mean dragons that aren’t supposed to exist and other magical non—”
“It’s not magical nonsense, Dad. It’s just the way the world works. And our world is changing. And yeah, some of the change is scary, but there’s also opportunity to explore and create and reimagine how we want to live our lives. Mom knew that. Aunt Meryl knows that. What we can’t do is hide our heads in the sand and hope the change passes us by. We need to act now!”
Her father was quiet for a long, long time. They didn’t have time for this much silence, but Zetta had learned that sometimes things couldn’t be rushed. This was a lot for her father to process all at once.
“Okay,” he finally said. He walked over to the closet, unlocked it, then pulled out chests until the trapdoor was once again exposed. He popped a button next to the trapdoor and opened it. The chest hidden inside gleamed; Zeta figured he must have polished it. Zetta’s father pulled the brewing stand out and handed it to Zetta. She was about to thank him profusely when he pulled something else out of the chest. A small, silver star.
Zetta blinked a few times. “What is that?” she asked. But something in her head clicked, and she knew. Still, she wanted to let her father be the one to say it out loud.
“It’s a nether star. The one your mother got from the wither she killed. She’d talked about making a beacon from it to allow our miners to work with more haste. Maybe you can figure out how to use it. I’m assuming you took her book of inventions.”
Zetta nodded. “I’m sorry. I should have asked.”
“It’s fine. She would have wanted you to have it. If she could see how brave and determined you were, she’d be proud.” He smiled. “I’m proud of you.”
Zetta’s heart knocked in her chest as she heard those words. They were as precious as the nether star. She stared at the gleaming star as he placed it in her hands.
Now they just needed to get Mayor Maxine on board.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“No, absolutely not. We are not using magic to defend ourselves. Especially magic from the likes of you.” The mayor pointed at Zetta, as if there were a doubt about whom she could be mad at.
Sheesh, Zetta thought. You turn someone half invisible one time, and it’s like they can’t forgive you. And, well, there was that whole out-of-control-dragon-pretending-to-be-a-parade-float thing, too, but honestly, who hasn’t messed up big-time at least once or twice in their life?
“Zetta’s telling the truth,” Zetta’s father said, tossing the ravager harness down in front of the mayor’s feet. “She risked her own life to get proof so you would believe her. We have to use whatever means we have. If we don’t, this may be the end of Sienna Dunes.”
“The wall will protect us,” Mayor Maxine said. “And I’ll rally Captain Zayden and the fighters, and send archers to the watchtowers. Zetta’s bravery is noted, but we can’t have kids running around thinking they can save the whole Overworld!”
“I’m not trying to save the whole Overworld,” Zetta said, refusing to back down from the mayor’s glare. “I’m just trying to help this town. I’m a part of it, and it’s a part of me. Isn’t that enough?”
Mayor Maxine gritted her teeth, but her eyes were softening. “It’s not that easy. The people of Sienna Dunes won’t like this at all. We don’t do magic here.”
“Aren’t you the mayor? The people trust you. They’ll listen to you.” Zetta stared hard at the mayor, eyes pleading for her to do the right thing. This was it. The moment of truth. Zetta’s heart thudded in her chest. The mayor had to believe her.
“Fine—what do you need?” Mayor Maxine finally asked.
“We need to go into the town vault,” Zetta said, flipping through her mother’s notebook to the page showing a beacon mounted upon a pyramid made of various precious blocks. Iron. Emeralds. Gold. Diamonds. “We’re going to need all the ore blocks we can get.”
But the mayor was already shaking her head. “We can’t waste—”
“There’s not going to be anything to waste if we don’t save our town,” Zetta said, cutting her off. “My mother has instructions on what to do. We can grant extra strength, and maybe even regeneration effects, if we can build this pyramid high enough.”
“Fine,” the mayor relented. “What else?”
“I’ll need some blaze powder for potions and to craft some more brewing stands. I can make potions for arrows and general use. We’ll need lots of glass bottles. Lots of water. Rift can construct an automated arrow-firing machine. And a TNT cannon…” Zetta winced at that last part, but kept pushing through with her demands. “We’ll need materials for those, too. Rift can help you set up several along the wall. Do you have others who can help?”
Mayor Maxine didn’t even balk at the enormity of the request. She finally seemed to be taking Zetta seriously and called in Captain Zayden to divide up the assignments among his fighters. They were a ragtag crew, miners and builders and vendors all coming together to make this plan of Zetta’s work. Cora, the blacksmith, donated all the axes and swords in her shop to whoever needed them.
And of course, the ender dragon would ensure they were successful, but Zetta kept quiet about that, since she didn’t want to press her luck any further with the mayor just yet.
Back in the town hall, Zetta followed Mayor Maxine to the vault doors. The mayor had Zetta look the other way while she fed a secret object into the chest nearby, and as the chest squeaked shut, Zetta heard the faintest sound of redstone contraptions clicking behind the wall, analyzing the object to make sure it was the correct one to grant access to the vault.
Finally, Zetta watched rapt as the piston doors retracted, revealing the contents of the vault. Zetta felt more than a little pride that her mother’s invention had kept the town’s ores safe from the raiders. Dozens of chests lined the walls, labeled with everything that the town held precious. Zetta looked at her drawing again. They needed 164 mineral blocks to build a four-level pyramid. Several assistants started pulling iron ingots from the chests and crafting them into blocks as the mayor continued to take stock.
“We’re going to be short,” she said to Zetta. “But don’t worry—if I know this town, we’ll find a way to make it happen. I’ll go door to door asking for ingots if I have to.”
Zetta breathed a sigh of relief now that Mayor Maxine was fully on board. The mayor loaded Zetta down with blaze rods to turn into powder. Zetta then ran to fetch her friends and her cousin, but they were already at the stairs leading up to the town hall when she stepped outside.
“We heard the news,” Rift said.
“Illagers are coming. Lots of them,” said Rayne.
“Where’s the dragon?” asked Ashton.
“Safe,” Zetta said. “At the Great Rift, in the old desert pyramid. I want you to fetch it, but Rayne will have to show you how to get there. And, yeah, the raid is huge. But we’ve got this. We just need everyone to work together. Once you’ve got the dragon, keep it in the barn until I give the word.”
“We can do it!” Ashton shouted, before dragging Rayne off toward the north end of town.
“Rift, I need you to get some builders to construct at least four of your arrow-shooting contraptions along the wall. A TNT cannon, too. Captain Zayden can help you figure out the most strategic places to put them.”
“Can do, boss,” Rift said with a tip of his head. And then Zetta was left on her own.
Zetta returned to the vault and crafted eight brewing stands. She’d had trouble keeping up with half as many, but making as many potions as possible was really important. The mayor’s assistants kept delivering her water-filled bottles, one after another, faster than Zetta needed them. She worked hard and diligently, making notes so she kept her focus sharp and didn’t get distracted.
She started with the lingering potions. She took out all of her dragon’s breath and fell into a groove, first brewing poison potions, then ones for harming and weakness. When the lingering potions were done, she fussed about with them on a crafting table, arranging arrows in different ways until, at last, the tips changed colors and started emitting magic particles. No time to celebrate, though. She handed the petite glass bottles off to the assistants along with her crafting recipe so they could use them to make more tipped arrows. If the smell of dozens of fermented spider eyes bothered anyone, no one said anything.
It took over an hour to get a couple hundred tipped arrows made. When Zetta ran out of dragon’s breath, she started making splash potions as well. She knew she wouldn’t be much use in hand-to-hand combat, but she
could lob potions like the best of them and her aim was more than decent. Then she shoved all the arrows she could carry into her pack and had the assistants carry the rest as she made her way back out into the town square.
The arrow turrets were nearly complete. Zetta distributed the arrows to each of the firing contraptions, but she didn’t have time to stick around and watch as they were loaded in. She passed the rest of her potions to Captain Zayden, and he took them gratefully.
“You’ve really done an amazing job, Zetta,” Captain Zayden said.
“Thanks. I hope the tipped arrows are helpful.”
“They will be. And this will be, too.” Captain Zayden pulled an enchanted bow from his pack. “As long as you have one arrow, you have infinite arrows. I only had enough experience to make a few. Please give this one to your friend. And try not to break it this time.”
Zetta took the bow and carefully placed it in her pack. She promised herself she wouldn’t take it out again until she was standing in front of Rayne, not even if a dozen ravagers were threatening to trample her.
The beacon was nearly finished being constructed near the east wall. Cora the blacksmith strained as she carried a solid gold block up to the fourth and final layer and placed it down with a thud. She wiped the sweat from her brow, then stepped aside as Zetta’s father placed the final piece—it looked like a glass block, except it had the nether star caught inside, shining brilliantly like a diamond. And just like that, the beacon was finished.
The Dragon: An Official Minecraft Novel Page 16
