Her friends clearly felt the same. They wore shocked expressions, their mouths hanging open in awe.
Harper checked her compass. “We’re almost directly below our original spawn point,” she said. “Coordinates zero, zero.”
In the distance, at the far end of the bridge, she could just make out a huge, heavy door. It looked almost like a vault. “Whatever we’re looking for…,” she said, “I think it’s just ahead.”
“Then why are we waiting?” said Morgan. “Let’s go!”
They broke into a run. Their goal was so close, Harper could taste it.
But as they crested the bridge, four shadowy figures came into view.
“Who are they?” Ash whispered. She skidded to a stop, and the others stopped as well.
“Whoever they are, they’re standing between us and victory,” said Morgan.
“They must be guards,” Po said. “Right? They’re definitely here to keep us out.”
“I think you’re right,” said Jodi. “I’ve got a bad feeling….”
“Forget bad feelings,” Harper said. They all turned to look at her. “We’ve come this far,” she said. “We’ve followed a plan, and it’s worked. So I say we keep following the plan.”
Po shrugged. “She’s got a point. Why mess with a winning formula?”
“It’ll be fine,” said Morgan. “Just follow my lead!”
Morgan ran ahead, raising his sword and shield as he went.
One of the figures launched a barrage of arrows. Arrows again, thought Harper, remembering the skeleton jockeys. Nothing to worry about.
But she was wrong. Though Morgan hollered and waved his sword and did everything he could to attract their foes’ attention, the arrows weren’t aimed at him.
The arrows were aimed at the rest of them.
“Take cover!” yelled Ash.
“Where?!” cried Po. “We’re sitting ducks on this bridge!”
Harper agreed, but she didn’t waste breath saying so. She ran back and forth, desperate to avoid the arrows.
One of the four figures stepped out of the gloom. The figure was mounted on some kind of animal. Harper expected another spider jockey. Or worse.
But what she saw was unlike anything she’d seen before.
The female figure was a knight. Her armor looked a little bit like Morgan’s. But where his armor gleamed bright in the light of the glowstone, hers was dark as a starless night. She rode a four-legged reptile. It was the size of a horse, but it looked like a dragon, with gleaming yellow eyes and sinister teeth.
“That’s not…,” said Morgan. “That’s not possible.”
“What is it?!” cried Jodi.
“It doesn’t exist in Minecraft,” said Ash. “It doesn’t belong here.”
As if angered by Ash’s statement, the creature tilted its head and roared.
“Retreat!” cried Harper, realizing that escape was necessary in the face of this unknown threat. “Everyone, fall back!”
They retreated the full length of the bridge, dodging arrows the whole way. When they reached the previous room, they shut the door behind them, then barricaded it with obsidian for good measure.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Ash said. “We need to come back with a plan for how to deal with…whatever that was.”
“Let’s carve out a cave off the main path,” Morgan said. “We can cover our tracks. Make a hideout inside the walls where they can’t find us.”
“Sounds cozy,” said Po.
“Sounds necessary,” said Harper. All the confidence she’d felt just minutes ago had left her. “It looks like the Evoker King has upped his game.” She paused. “And we’d better hope we’re good enough to beat him.”
Throughout the school day, Po kept thinking back to their encounter in the dungeon. What should they have done differently? How would they ever reach that door when their path was blocked by an evil knight on a fearsome dragon? And what would they find if they did get through that door?
But he didn’t have much time to dwell on it. It was a game day for his basketball team, and game days were always busy. Every kid he passed in the hallway extended their hand for a high five. (It was supposed to be good luck.) Several of the cheerleaders had brought the team home-baked cookies, and he nibbled on them between classes. (Tony’s were the best!) And there was a short pep rally right at the end of lunch period, where everybody sang the school song. (Well, almost everybody. Po knew that Morgan only pretended to sing, which was for the best.)
Po appreciated the support. He certainly liked the attention. But it felt a bit hollow today. He knew most of his classmates would be staying at Woodsword for rehearsal tonight, while Po traveled to another school for the game. He felt like he was missing the main event.
But he was happy for the free cookies. He’d never turn those down.
At his locker after school, Harper and Ash stopped by to wish him luck.
“I wish I could stay here and help you with the play,” he said.
“Forget it,” said Ash. “The lighting cues you wrote in your script are perfect. Someone else will be able to run the lights for one rehearsal.”
“And your team needs you!” Harper added.
Po smiled. He knew they wanted to help him stay focused on the game. But he wished that the play needed him, too.
“Hey, Ash,” said a voice, and they turned to see Theo approaching. When he saw Harper standing there, he grew suddenly awkward.
“Oh. Hi, Harper. Nice to see you.”
“Nice to see you, too,” said Harper shyly. The two hadn’t really spent any time together since having a big disagreement a few months before. Theo had sabotaged the coral restoration project that the two of them had worked on. And although he’d had good intentions, Harper had been hurt by his actions.
Theo turned back to Ash. “Ms. Minerva asked me to find you,” he said. “She says she has some new ideas and might rewrite the ending.”
Ash’s face flushed, and she clenched her fists. “The answer is no!” she said. “The script is set. We can’t keep changing things!”
Theo stepped back. “Don’t blame the messenger,” he said.
“Take a breath, Ash,” added Po.
“No time!” she said. They watched as she stormed off toward the auditorium.
Harper turned to follow her. “Good luck, Po,” she said. “Bye, Theo!”
Theo rubbed the back of his head. “Hey, Po, you’re in charge of the lights for the play, right?” he said. “I had some ideas for how to automate them. It might make your job easier, and it’s a simple program….”
Po shook his head. “No can do, buddy,” Po said. “Ms. Minerva might keep changing her mind about the ending, but she’s one hundred percent against going high-tech.”
“Oh well,” said Theo. “I figured it was worth asking. I’ll get to show off my programming skills one day….Anyway, good luck tonight!”
“Thanks,” said Po. And once Theo had left, he realized the hallway had cleared out. He needed to get to the bus. But he looked longingly over his shoulder, in the direction of the auditorium, where laughter and music echoed.
Po’s thoughts were being pulled in a half dozen directions. He was thinking about the play. He was worrying about the sinister guardians of the glowstone bridge. And he was wondering what the source of the Evoker’s King power actually was.
With all that on his mind, it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise when Po made a mistake on the court. What should have been an easy block went wrong, and the referee hit him with a penalty. With their free throws, the other team took the lead.
“Keep your head in the game, Po!” yelled his coach. Po didn’t like being called out like that. Especially when the coach was right. Po needed to focus on one thing at a time.
Th
en again, Po felt he was often at his best when he let his imagination run wild. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed trying out new skins in Minecraft. With each skin, he became a different character. Those characters were often bold, fearless—so that even when Po himself was afraid, he could pretend to be someone who wasn’t.
Surely the great mage Po the Wise would not be bested at basketball. In his mind, the wizard flew across the court, covering yards in mere seconds. Po approached the basket. The wizard was suddenly surrounded by fierce opponents.
The wizard smiled. Po passed the ball to his teammate Raul. The horde rushed the wizard too late. Raul made a heroic three-point shot.
That was something else Po the Wise knew well. Teamwork was a real-life superpower.
“Attaboy, Po!” said Coach. “There’s my star.”
Normally, Po would have loved hearing that. Tonight, it made his stomach twist.
Po’s basketball team was a mixed-ability wheelchair team. That meant the team played in wheelchairs, even though many of the players didn’t use wheelchairs outside of the sport.
Po hadn’t been able to use his legs since birth. But he’d always been active and energetic, and he’d always hated being told he couldn’t do something. Po suspected the reason he’d fallen in love with wheelchair basketball in the first place was because some people assumed people with paraplegia couldn’t be athletes.
Proving the doubters wrong? That was just the sort of challenge Po relished. Po didn’t want to be just a basketball player, however. He wanted to try other things, too.
Acting, for instance.
But the thought of telling his coach that he would miss some games for play rehearsal? The idea of telling his teammates that he wouldn’t be there for them? The possibility of giving up all those high fives and cookies? Those things were difficult to imagine.
Po liked being a star. If he gave up basketball for something new, he would risk losing all he had.
At that moment, Raul passed Po the ball. Po’s head snapped back into the game. He forgot about everything except the ball in his hands, the basket up ahead, and the friends and teammates all around him.
* * *
“Po, you were amazing!” said Jodi.
“Oh, yeah,” Morgan said. “Good game, buddy.”
It had been a really close game, in fact, but Woodsword had managed the win. Friends and family had swarmed the court after the game clock hit zero. Po hadn’t even realized that Morgan and Jodi were in the bleachers.
“You two skipped play practice?” he asked.
“The set-design team is ahead of schedule,” Jodi said, beaming. “So I left early tonight.”
Morgan shrugged. “I’m still working on my part,” he said. “But Ash said she had her hands full with other stuff, so I got the night off, too.”
“Enough about Phantasm,” said Jodi. “We were talking about what a great player you are.”
Po wanted to bask in the praise, but he found he couldn’t enjoy it. “Thanks,” he said. “But I don’t know….There’s more to life than basketball.”
“What are you even saying right now?” said Morgan. He laughed. “What kind of talk is that from the guy who just won the game?”
Jodi tilted her head to one side and gave Po a long, searching look. “He’s not wrong, big brother,” she said. “There is more to life than basketball.”
“Tomorrow, maybe. Right now?” He ruffled Po’s hair. “Right now this is all that matters. You should revel in your victory, Po!”
“Yeah!” Po replied. “You’re right.” And he tried to do just what Morgan suggested. He put on a smile for his friends and acted goofy for his teammates.
But his mind was still elsewhere, chasing phantasms.
“We’re in agreement, then?” Ash asked her friends. Their expressions were as thoughtful and serious as their block faces could be.
“Our strategy got us this far,” said Morgan. “It just has to work one more time.”
“They turned us away before,” said Harper. “But this time, we’re ready.”
“Yeah,” said Po. “This time, when I see the dragon beast, I’ll only scream a little.”
Jodi elbowed him. “We’re all in agreement, Ash,” she said.
Obsidian didn’t break easily. It took time to remove their barrier. As Harper chipped away at it with a diamond pickaxe, Ash felt a flash of nervousness.
We are ready, she told herself. We can’t have come this far only to fail.
Once the barrier was down, the glow of the bridge shone bright. Ash had to shield her eyes from the glare as she stepped from darkness into light. When her vision adjusted, she saw those same figures standing on the bridge, just a short distance ahead.
“Right where we left them,” Po whispered. “Like they’re waiting for us…”
This time, Ash got a good look at them. Standing there beside the dark knight and her dragon mount was the strangest group of mobs she had ever seen. There was a fierce-looking zombie wielding an ax. There was a scruffy-looking sailor with a crossbow. And, finally, there was a robed, hooded figure with a bow.
“What are they?” Morgan asked under his breath. “Are they…are they people, like us?”
“Are you fellow gamers? Maybe we could be friends?” tried Jodi.
The sailor opened his mouth to respond. But his voice came out as a honk.
The mobs all started honking then. They sounded just like mindless villagers.
“I don’t think they’re people…,” said Harper.
“And I don’t think they’re friendly!” Po cried out as the strange quartet went on the attack.
“Jodi!” said Ash. “Go invisible. Try to get behind them.”
“You’ve got it,” said Jodi. She downed a potion of invisibility in a single gulp, and Ash watched as she faded from view.
“Everyone else, stay behind me,” said Morgan. He planted his feet firmly on the bridge and held up his sword.
Ash drew her bow. She nodded at Harper, who was preparing to throw a potion.
But before the girls could attack, the dark knight barreled forward. She ignored Morgan completely, steering her dragon around him, keeping just out of reach of his sword.
“No fair!” said Morgan, swinging his sword and hitting only empty air. “I’m the tank! Fight me!”
While Morgan’s attention was on the knight, two more of the figures slipped past him. The zombie and the sailor seemed to think better of attacking the well-armored warrior. They were headed right for Ash and Harper.
But the knight went after Po. She knocked him over before he’d had a chance to load his fireball dispenser.
And Po didn’t have any other weapons.
Ash wanted to help him, but the zombie with the ax was right in her face. Armed only with a bow, she was vulnerable to the creature’s melee attacks. She kept backing up, but before she could fire off a shot, he would lunge forward, closing the distance between them.
“I can’t see!” yelled Jodi.
Ash turned to look farther up the bridge, past Morgan. Jodi was visible again. She was on her knees beside the cloaked figure. That mob was some kind of spellcaster. Swirling black clouds streamed from his outstretched hands, engulfing Jodi in darkness.
“Our rogue is fighting blind,” Harper said. She lobbed exploding potions at the sailor, who dodged them easily, coming closer with each passing moment.
“Jodi!” cried Morgan. “Hold on, I’m coming!”
“Morgan, wait!” yelled Ash. He didn’t listen, and Ash was struck by the zombie while her attention had been divided. Now Morgan and Jodi were on one side of the bridge, Po was under attack on the other, and Harper and Ash stood between them, unable to shake their own foes.
“Oh, no. We split the party….”
“That’s it!” Ash sh
outed. “Retreat! Everyone, fall back!” She grabbed Harper, pulling her out of reach of the fighting-mad zombie and the agile sailor.
“We can’t get to you!” yelled Morgan. He was standing between the dark mage and his sister, blocking the spellcaster’s arrows.
“Plan B!” Ash said. “The potion Harper gave you earlier today. Everyone drink it and go!”
Ash watched to make sure everyone did as she’d told them. Morgan helped Jodi with her potion before drinking one himself. Harper pulled Po away from the knight, and they each quaffed their own potions.
Ash drank hers then, and she ran toward the nearest edge of the bridge.
She ran right up to the edge. And she kept running, then leapt off the bridge.
Her stomach flipped. She half expected to plummet through the darkness like before. But the potion took effect, and instead of going into free fall, Ash floated down like a feather.
“The potion of slow falling,” she said. “Harper, it’s working!”
She saw the others drifting downward nearby. Wherever they were going, they’d land safely.
An arrow whizzed by her head. Ash realized they weren’t out of danger yet. Their enemies stood on the bridge, looking down at them and taking a few final shots.
“Heads up, everyone,” she warned.
“Those guys are intense,” said Po. “I didn’t even have time to grab my dispenser!”
Dungeon Crawl! Page 4
