The Enemy's Revenge, Book One: Ghost Sightings

by Mark Mulle

  Chapter Two

  Notch was about to step forward when he felt someone yank on his arm. He glanced back to see James putting a finger to his lips - telling Notch to be quiet - and Notch slunk back to him. James pointed through a thicket of trees. There was a spider, even though it was day time, oddly still by a tree. Notch hadn't seen it like James had. James raised his bow, took quick aim, and fired. The arrow hit the spider, but it remained still.

  "Good job shooting something already dead." Pauline quipped, moving past the two of them towards the spider.

  "Better safe than sorry." James snapped back.

  They moved past the spider.

  They had been in the jungle for a full day now. It was the only way to get to the ocean village, which lived mostly on seafood and rarely traded with outside towns and villages. Pauline hadn't even told them yet how she had heard of the rumors, until Notch finally cornered her and asked for more information. She admitted then that one of the lone traders had come across her doctor's office, telling her that he had been there for trading wool and fish, but ended up leaving due to the spiders and ghost sightings. Pauline said she had held off telling Notch because he had been out seeing Wallace, but knew she had to let him know.

  They were now walking through a humid jungle, reminiscent of the last time that they had been trudging through one to stop Herobrine. It isn't him, Notch scolded himself, it just happens to sound the same. Luckily, they were almost to the village.

  "Hey, look." Pauline whispered, and Notch followed her gaze.

  There was another spider, lying lifeless. Followed by another. Then another.

  "What the..." James mumbled as they made their way through the fallen spiders.

  "This is...different." Notch said quietly as they moved across the lifeless spiders.

  "This is highly unusual," Pauline was whispering, "This many spiders, and all lying like this...Very odd."

  "And creepy. Can we hurry up?" James hissed.

  The three of them moved through the spiders and finally broke through the last line of trees.

  They found themselves on top of a slight hill, overlooking the ocean village. It was quaint, with some homes actually built over the water in a style that he had never seen before. It would have been beautiful - if there hadn't been rows upon rows of lifeless spiders paving the way to the village like some strange pathway.

  "Charming," James said wryly. "What a vacation spot. Nothing says 'Welcome!' like a pathway of dead spiders."

  Pauline frowned, "There has to be a reason they have so many spiders lined up like this."

  "Let's find out." Notch said, and he began to walk to the village.

  "Right," James said, "Yeah, let's go find out. Ask the crazy secluded ocean village why they have spiders making a street to their homes."

  The three of them began to walk down the hill, making sure not to fall. They walked between the fallen spiders, following the pathway to the village.

  They finally passed by the rows of spiders and stepped into the village. It was quiet. There were two fishermen out by the shore, but other than that, no one else. It was silent, minus the waves crashing in.

  "I'm going to guess there won't be a welcome building here," James mumbled.

  "We'll start at the inn." Notch pointed to an impossibly small building. It looked as if it had two rooms.

  The three of them walked inside the lobby of the inn. An old man was sleeping, his head on the desk, snoring loudly. The doors to the two rooms were on the other side and there was one lone table and a bookshelf in the lobby. Notch cleared his throat, but the old man didn't stir. Shrugging, he walked over closer to him and then tapped him on the shoulder. Nothing.

  "Hey!" Notch said, his voice raised.

  This startled the old man awake, "What? What?" He said, jolting upwards.

  "Hi, sir?" Notch asked, leaning closer so the old man could see him as he fumbled for his glasses, "Hi, we just got into town."

  The man cleared his throat, flicking through a book in front of him, confused. "I don't have anyone set to come here for another three weeks."

  "We're here early." Pauline cut in before Notch could start to explain.

  The old man frowned and looked at them, "You're the zombie pig man experts?"

  "Yes." Pauline said quickly, while Notch was still wondering what a zombie pig man expert was.

  "Who’s that?" He tilted his head towards James, who looked out of his element.

  "Assistant." Pauline said.

  "Fine. You only booked one room, but I suppose I can let you have the other one."

  "How kind of you." Notch said sarcastically, but the old man didn't notice as he handed over the key.

  Once they got set up in their rooms - Notch and James in one and Pauline in the other - they tried to figure out what to do next.

  "Why did you tell him we were zombie pig man experts?" James asked Pauline.

  She shrugged, "Did you see him? Trying to explain why we were here or that we were passing through would have taken the rest of his life span."

  "Good point," Notch said, and then leaned back against the wall. "So we can try to talk to the innkeep, but frankly, I don't think he'd be much help."

  "I'll ask him where the mayor is or something. He'll have to know that at least." Pauline said, trudging back out to where the old man was sitting.

  A long twenty minutes later, the three of them were back outside, heading off towards the house where the mayor lived. It was one of the ones that had been put on wooden sticks and was built above the water. As they made their way to the bridge connecting it to the shoreline, Notch noticed two guards posted there.

  "Who are you?" The first guard, a tall and lanky man, asked them.

  "We're here to see the mayor." Notch replied.

  "We asked who you are." The second guard, a woman with a severe looking face, snapped.

  Notch introduced them and then went on. "We were hoping to talk to the mayor about the ghost sightings and the spiders you have outside the village."

  The man eyed them. "Fine. But I'll come with you, so don't get any funny ideas."

  They followed him across the bridge in silence. Notch found it odd how guarded the mayor was. He was trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut as the guard took them inside the mayor's house. The house was gorgeous. There was a picture of Mayor Williams with his parents. The floors had plush wool carpets with lapis lazuli gems on display and paintings of the ocean along the walls. The guard went into another room and they heard low tones before the mayor came out.

  It was a man who looked about as old as the innkeep, but seemed much more aware of things. His clothes looked as if the wool had been freshly dyed and he stood up tall, but he looked extremely tired around his eyes. He walked over to them and held out his hands.

  "I'm Mayor Williams." They shook hands and Notch introduced everyone again before Williams went on. "I have to admit, you're a sight for sore eyes."

  "Why is that? Not many visitors?"

  "Because you're just the people I wanted to see."

  "How do you know us?"

  "Wallace is my brother," Williams said, having them all sit down in the living room. "He told me about the book he was writing about you, Notch, and what happened with Herobrine."

  "Wallace is your brother?" Notch asked, surprised. "He never mentioned one."

  There were pieces of cake being brought out.

  James, already making headway on the cake, said, "What's up with the dead spiders? Not exactly welcoming."

  Williams sighed, "No, I'm afraid not. We had hoped, if we put them on display like that, it would ward off the spirit haunting the village, and we would be free."

  "So you really think you're being haunted?" Notch asked.

  He nodded, "Yes. By Herobrine."

  "What makes you think it’s Herobrine? If you spoke to Wallace, then you know wh
at happened to him."

  "I know. But I can't help but feel that everything happening here is just like what happened before. The spider attacks. The random things we see that make no sense. It is like the entire village is being attacked. No one wants to leave their homes."

  Something Williams had said was nagging at the edge of Notch's brain but he couldn't think of what it was. "So what do you want us to do?"

  "Tomorrow...if you could look into places where people thought they saw Herobrine...maybe lend your knowledge..." Williams said to them.

  "Okay. Tomorrow? We could start now." Notch offered.

  "No, you've had a long journey through that jungle. It'd be best if you got some rest. Did you stop at the inn?"

  "Yes." Pauline answered.

  "Why don't you stay here instead?" Williams offered.

  "No," Notch replied, standing up. "The inn is fine, but thank you."

  Something flickered across Williams’ face, but he stood up as well, "Well if you change your mind, we have plenty of rooms here."

  The guard escorted them out of the house and back down to the bridge. The three of them walked back in silence to the inn.