by Mark Mulle
“Just in time,” I said sarcastically and fell to my knees. I was back to square one with nothing to show for it. Not even the King, Queen or any of the four Champions would find out what happened here today until after the cleanup crews were done.
What a long day, I thought, and let my head sink into my chest. Though it had been a success and I had stopped a pair of mysterious traitors from assassinating the most important figures of our entire race…
…why did it feel like I had failed?
Chapter Three
I sat at my desk, writing a detailed report of what had happened just hours before when a pair of high-ranked guards entered the room.
“Officer William Johnstone?” I tensed at the sound of my name and wondered if I was in trouble.
“Yes, it’s me,” I said as I rose. If I had to answer to anybody for my acts, I was ready. The guards approached until they stood right beside me and I turned to look at them. They looked into my eyes for a long second.
“It is an honor to meet you,” one of them said, and the other simply nodded in respect. Suddenly, everybody in the Police Department rose from their desks and began to applaud. The sound of their ovations echoed around the place and I almost fell back into my chair. “What’s going on?” I asked but nobody said a thing as I was escorted out through the tunnel towards the streets outside.
Horses awaited us, along with more guards. My escorts were high-ranked bodyguards from the Royal Castle. This is some serious reception, I thought, and we set off for the castle itself. Many people on the streets watched us strangely, probably wondering what the occasion was and why I was so heavily guarded. As we reached the castle gates and another set of guards escorted me up the steps and toward the elevator room where just earlier I had fought off the two enemies — it was empty of corpses and wounded guards now — I was moved by a feeling of pride.
They stepped out of the elevator: the elegant King and his beautiful Queen.
“I have no words to thank you, Officer,” The Queen said gracefully and smiled an honest smile.
“Your Majesties, I was just—”
“Oh, please,” The King interrupted. “You are a hero. Those fighters were something else. Look at how they decimated our forces, and our guards are trained by the best. I’m not sure we’d be breathing without you. Come up with us to our private quarters, we must get to know you better!”
I swallowed nervously as I stepped onto the elevator along with the two most powerful humans of the Minecraft World and began to ascend. Only two guards were present, such was the trust that they held me in. The King nodded at the walls as we climbed and I saw the beautiful tapestries and scenes painted on them. There was something about this moment that told me I would never forget it. Ever.
Finally, the rising platform came to a halt and I followed the leaders as they walked out into their private room at the very top of the tallest tower.
“Our Champions are unaware of what happened today and I want to keep it that way,” The Queen said with a thoughtful face. “They’ve been through way too much for a lifetime. I’ve sent them far away so they can enjoy their lives for a while. They won’t hear of our troubles for a long time. It’s better that way. It’s time to continue their battle, this time not against the enemy without but the enemy within.”
It was a chilling thought, to be honest. Herobrine and his soldiers were a powerful and terrible force, an army of slaves that came from the furthest reaches of the world to destroy us…but this was something strangely more frightening. The fact that the people that we saw every day — many of them friends and companions — could end up being our worst enemies was truly terrible.
“I am ready to fight them,” I said simply and the leaders nodded. “The one that escaped, I need his face to be pasted on every single wall of the Kingdom. He cannot be allowed to escape, Your Majesties. He might just be the most dangerous criminal out there right now.”
“Fear not. It will be done within the hour. We lost many good men today.” The King looked thoughtful but suddenly his face changed again, “Still, we are thankful. We have a reward for your service.”
“No, I…”
“You are to become the Head of the Police Force. We studied your case for a couple of hours. You’ve been an officer for years, you suffered that terrible wound in an act of valor and today you proved you have the guts and the brain to be a leader. You cannot reject this, it’s an order.”
“I…” I had suddenly become a stuttering mess. It was true, I had been working hard, hoping that one day I would hold one of the highest ranks but this was totally unexpected. “Thank you, really. I shall make you proud. I promise.”
The King smiled and picked up his Queen’s hand. “I told you dear. What a man we have right here before us. A toast to our new Head of the Royal City Police Department?” He walked over to a cabinet and took out a beautiful crystal bottle. “What a day for humanity.”
Suddenly, the bottle exploded.
The King made a strange face as he lifted the remains of the glass object in his hand and looked over to us. I turned slowly away from him and saw the precise reason why the bottle had blown apart.
“No!” I screamed and threw myself at the King. The second arrow would be aimed to kill, I knew.
A few things happened at once right then.
First, the Queen screamed as she realized what was going on. The scream made the King look up and flinch as I crossed the room and pounced on him. Second, he lifted his hands up to protect himself from me but still hadn’t realized what the real danger was. Third and lastly, the arrow reached its target. It slammed into the King’s back with a thump and I bowled into him a second later. A second too late.
“Oh…” he breathed as he understood what I had attempted to do. The Queen cried out and ran over to us as we lay there on the ground and I turned him over. “It…hurts…” he gasped.
“No, my love. Please, don’t leave me!” The Queen screamed as the guards came over to help, but it was too late.
“I love you,” The King said with effort…
…And then his eyes closed.
Chapter Four
Was he…? A horrible chill ran down my spine as I saw the gracious and elegant man just lying there, lifeless and hurt. His beautiful wife wept over his…corpse?
No. We must act quickly.
“Guards, take him to a doctor right now!” I shouted as I stood and ran over to the window. I had seen something on the tower below. “Save your King, the enemy wants to weaken us like this, don’t let them!”
Before anyone could react, I ran out onto the elevator and quickly began to descend. My first assignment as Head of the Police Department. What a truly horrible way to start off. As soon as the elevator stopped, I was running. Guards and medical staff had already gotten word somehow and were waiting at the bottom.
“Help the King!” I shouted as I pushed past them and ran toward the south wing of the castle. The assassin had taken his shots from there, a tall tower with a high roof. It had been an incredibly difficult shot but I could see an expert marksman pulling it off. “Guard all exits to the castle!” I sped up as I reached the outer entrance to the south tower. The enemy couldn’t have gotten very far with the whole place surrounded and all.
It terrified me to think that someone had assassinated — or nearly assassinated, time would tell — the King so boldly.
Boom.
I kicked in the door and took out my baton as I finally entered the tower and walked inside. Immediately, I knew where the enemy had gone. Curses. They had removed an entire section of the stone floor and jumped down into the tunnel that passed right beneath the tower. It had probably been the same way the assassin had gotten in. I shook my head as I slipped down into the hole and began to head on forward. This is pure incompetence. How did he get in and out so easily? Where were the guards? I felt like screaming at the next guard I saw but it was clear that the enemy wasn’t just any old enemy either. How many more will be able to g
et in so easily? This is some next level stuff, I thought, as I continued and began to hear the flowing of a river of some sort. The sewers. I suddenly smelled them before I saw them and knew what came next.
Here goes nothing, I thought as I took a step into the stinky pools and sighed. This is all for you, Your Grace.
Whatever happened now, I was catching that mystery attacker and making him pay.
With his life.
The noxious thigh-high pools that surrounded my legs were absolutely disgusting but I couldn’t forget how the Queen had screamed when she saw her beloved husband lying there dying. It there was a chance to fix things, I needed to be there.
“You should stop; you’re only making this harder on yourself!” I growled angrily down the tunnels. No reply. My enemy was more worried on escaping the castle than fighting, it seemed. I knew it could be used to my advantage without underestimating him, of course.
The sewers were a very dirty and contaminated place, as expected. I waded through the filth and began to see small waves on the water further up ahead. Someone had literally just come through. The thought of the blond man who had escaped me couldn’t leave my mind. That moment of truth had been right there and I had let it go. This was the price of failure. A dead King and a heavily-dangerous group of criminals on the loose. If I couldn’t protect a King, how could I keep a whole city safe? I was not ready to be the Head of the Police Force. Or at least that was the way it looked. I would have preferred the arrow just hit and kill me instead, I thought with a sigh. The world would be fine without me. Without the King of Humanity, however? Not so sure.
I heard a splash at some tunnels further ahead and hurried up. It sounded almost like my prey had gotten out of the filthy water. Despite the fact that I had already been going as fast as I could, I sped up even more somehow as I felt him slipping away. As soon as I crossed a corner of a tunnel I saw the wet platform jutting out above the water. Muddy, wet footprints had been left on it, leading away toward dark tunnels.
Getting up onto it, I grasped my baton and began to jog down the dark tunnels. The soft echoes of distant footsteps kept me alert and hungry. I must catch this guy.
Suddenly, I heard a voice up ahead. No, not a voice. Several voices. The enemy had reached his people. I regretted having shouted and revealed that I was chasing him, knowing that now he had a clear advantage. Immediately after the voices exchanged some words, the hunter became the prey. I knew what was coming now, so I slipped into a side tunnel and hugged the damp walls as the enemies returned for me. The squelching of several pairs of boots made me tremble slightly in the darkness — not out of fear but of anticipation — and I ran my thumb down the baton.
“He’s close,” a voice said, and I knew there wasn’t much to do but face the enemy.
“Closer than you think,” I whispered as I left the shadows, and several of them jumped. There were six men, the blond assassin tilting his head curiously as he saw me emerge from the dark.
“Very brave of you, really. You saved us having to chase and kill you. Now we can just kill you without the chase.” His fellows began to walk around, forming a circle around me. There would be no way out. It was me or them. Each of them had a dagger in his hand. “What a mistake, bringing a baton to a knife fight.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” My finger continued to run over the small groove on the baton, the officer part of my mind telling me to face my assailants with non-lethal means…but the other animal part of my mind telling me I needed to survive more than anything. That second voice was winning. “It’s funny that you should talk about my weapon of service like that. You wouldn’t be the first to underestimate it to their peril.”
“We are trained assassins, you fool. Not those petty thieves and criminals you usually deal with. Men, enough talk. Let’s give him some of what I gave the King.”
He really shouldn’t have said that.
As the first man came at me with his dagger stabbing forward at my neck, I buried my thumb into the hidden button on the baton. The Redstone mini-circuit within it activated instantly and the baton sprung open, a Redstone powered rod shooting out of it. What had just been a regular, black police-baton was now a shining metal blunt blade, and I swung it at my attacker.
“Arghhhh!” he screamed as the shock of Redstone power shot into his body and caused his muscles to clench and cramp. He fell awkwardly to the ground and the other attackers came at me furiously. I had very rarely used the baton like that but it was truly an emergency. One attacker charged at me and attempted to pin me against a wall to finish me off, but I brought the baton up into his belly sharply and knocked the wind out of him. The shock that followed knocked him out entirely. Two more attackers came at once and I was forced to block a first attack and take another on my lightly-armored forearm. The blade cut past the armor and I winced at the pain but I had no time to stop. My return attack sent a man to his knees and a kick smashed into the head of the one that had successfully wounded me. The blond man and a short fat man remained, and I beckoned them on.
“You’re not bad, I could even say you’re quite good,” the blond man said. “Unfortunately, this is all you get.” His hands went to his back and he pulled two twin daggers out. They looked like they were made of delicate Obsidian, their edge shining with a lethal light. The fat man had a mace in one hand and an axe in the other.
I spun my baton around and prepared to fight.
The blond killer crossed the distance between us in an instant, causing me to lose balance as I lifted my sword to stop his first attacks, barely following the movement of his blades in the darkness. The fat man came out of nowhere and smashed at my shoulder with the heavy mace, causing me to cry out in pain. These are much better fighters than the others were, I realized, and backed into the wall as a knife-slash barely missed me. A sharp blow to my ribs made me drop my baton and I saw the blond man smiling as he stood before me a split second before his fist slammed into my face.
And then everything went black.
Chapter Five
I awoke, my body feeling strange as I shook the headache off. For some reason, I had been left alive. They will come to regret that, I thought, as I attempted to free a hand. Somehow, it was impossible.
“What…?” I spat, and then I looked around me and realized.
I had been wrapped with some sort of thick slime that didn’t budge. Slowly, my senses returned to me and I discovered where I was exactly.
I was hanging.
What’s going on?! I was suspended in the air by a hook, over a pitch-black pit that I couldn’t see into. I kept struggling uselessly and it only frustrated me further, so I pushed with both arms with all my strength. This set something off. Redstone lamps flicked on all around and note blocks began to ring around me. It was a horrible contrast to the darkness I had just come from, and the chaos of the scene only made my headache return.
But it got worse. Only now was I able to see what awaited me below in the pit. Zombies.
There were scores of them, all now looking up at me and stretching their rotten arms as they moaned. The hook suddenly shifted…and began to lower.
“No!” I shouted, and pushed harder against the sticky material that was smothering my body. I saw my baton resting against a wall, cruelly placed way too far for me to grab it and just a few feet past the crowd of ravenous undead. The enemy had made sure I would suffer a terrible death but given me enough hope to fight. It seemed impossible to get out but something awoke inside of me. They’ve done enough damage, someone must stop them. I could imagine them, watching me from somewhere in the large chamber I was in as I descended to my doom. “Argh!” I shouted as I pushed and pulled against the slime that enveloped my body and somehow…I felt it budge slightly.
The zombies below were desperate now, pushing against each other to devour me as I slowly lowered toward them, and I knew that there wasn’t much time left for me to escape before they began to grasp my legs. Taking a deep breath I began to swing, l
ightly at first but then my momentum picked up. The undead mobs followed me as I swung, but they were too dumb to realize what I was aiming for. My only hope remained in the baton.
Suddenly, I felt the first zombie touch the tip of my toe and I started to feel the shades of doubt crossing me. I wouldn’t reach the baton on time! Kicking off the mob’s head, I swung as hard as I could.
The strip of slime keeping me on the hook slipped off and I flew across the chamber, landing a couple of feet away from the baton. The zombies began to limp over toward me, and I cried out as I forced a hand out of the slime. The first zombie pounced on me and growled in my face hungrily, its hands sliding across the slime enveloping me and reaching for my face. With my free hand I fought it off desperately but I needed the baton. Come on, I begged to myself and reached around without looking. There! I felt the firm material of the weapon and brought it around as hard as I could. The zombie’s head came clean off as I smashed it, and then I fought the tear all of the slime off my body. With a quick click of the button, the baton came to life like it had before.
“Come on then, fight me,” I growled, and more than seventy rotten corpse-creatures threw themselves at me at once.
I collapsed as the last zombie fell, panting heavily as I landed on my knees. I was exhausted, in pain and had no idea where I was. Perhaps this was just the first test of many that I would be forced to pass by these psychos. Who are they anyway? What is this? I stood as I heard a door opening and turned. A hidden door had just slid open and invited me to walk through it. Despite my condition, I wanted to get out of the chamber more than anything, so I stood and made my way out.
The passage outside was much more pleasant than the wet chamber I had just been in, and I even felt the crunch of the carpet beneath me. I had entered a sort of office building. I’m still in the city at least, I realized. Dirt, sweat and water stuck to me like a whole new coat, and I knew that I probably stank. I stumbled along the corridor like a drunkard and ended up in a busy room full of office workers. They all stared at me for a long second and then began to shout for security. Only then did I realize my activated baton was still in my hand and I probably looked like a maniac.
