The New Order (10 page)

Angered but determined to stay focused on his mission, Stan sheathed his axe, whipped out a bow and arrow, and notched the arrow, pointing it directly at Leonidas's heart, just as Leonidas did the same. The two players held their weapons up, staring each other in the eye. They were at a stalemate. Both of them were waiting for the other to make the first move.

“Hello, Stan,” said Leonidas evenly, his bow still raised.

Slightly taken aback, Stan felt somehow compelled to respond. “Hello, Leonidas.”

“Fancy meetin' ya up here,” Leonidas continued.

“Yeah,” said Stan.
This is really eerie
, he thought uneasily. “It is. . . .”

“I gotta admit, Stan,” continued Leonidas politely, as if the two of them were just old friends catching up, “I'm kind of surprised that ya came here yourself. I was honestly expectin' ya to just send a couple of your lackeys to come and do your dirty work for ya.”

Stan's eyebrow twitched in disgust. “They're not my lackeys, they're my friends. Not that I'd expect you to understand about that.” Now it was Leonidas's turn for an eyebrow twitch. “Charlie and Kat are downstairs with some of my guys, and they're gonna overpower your guys pretty fast.”

“Is that so?” said Leonidas, with almost an amused quality in his voice, which was ominous in comparison to the bow he was still pointing at Stan.

“Yeah, it is,” replied Stan, with the same portentous amusement. “And as soon as they're done mopping the floor with your men, they're gonna be up here. So if you want to fight me before they get here, I'd suggest firing that arrow.” Despite the fact that he was playing mind games with Leonidas, Stan was scared out of his wits, and just wanted the
first shot to be fired so they could stop the banter and let the weapons do the talking.

Leonidas smiled. “I'm an honorable guy, Stan. I never fire unless someone fires at me or my allies first.”

Stan returned the smirk. “Oh, you're an honorable guy? Well, you've done a fantastic job of showing it so far. Let's see, first you worked for King Kev, then you join this Noctem gang, and, oh yeah, you've devoted your life to terrorizing people who can't defend themselves. Yes, bullying is a very
honorable
thing to do. . . .”

Stan sidestepped the arrow that came flying from Leonidas's bow, then proceeded to let his own arrow fly and whip out his axe. Leonidas ducked the arrow and let five of his own fly in rapid succession, all of which were deflected by expert blocks with Stan's axe.

“Attack me all ya want with your weapons, Stan,” boomed Leonidas, a terrible look on his face, “but don't ya go insultin' my honor! Ya don't know what it's been like for me ever since the king fell!” Another spray of arrows flew from the bow, which Stan, again, deflected.

“Yeah, you joined the Noctem Alliance, which is . . . news flash, Leonidas . . .
exactly the same
as being part of King Kev's army!” yelled Stan, resentment clear in his voice.

“I didn't have a choice, Stan!” cried Leonidas. “If I hadn't joined the Alliance, what woulda happened? Ya'd have found
and killed me, no questions asked! Did it ever occur to ya that I might not want to be part of this Alliance? That I didn't choose the Alliance, but the Alliance chose me?”

Another arrow followed this statement, but as Stan blocked it without effort, he stared at Leonidas as the archer loaded yet another arrow. Stan recognized something in Leonidas's voice that he was utterly unprepared for: sincerity. Suddenly, he was seeing the ruthless, emotionless killing machine who had stalked him across Elementia with new eyes. What if Leonidas was telling the truth?

“Leonidas . . . ,” started Stan, but before he could get out any words, a voice from below Stan caught him off guard.

“Stan! Watch out, he's loaded!”

An arrow flew from the trapdoor behind Stan toward Leonidas, who rolled out of the way before landing on one knee and sending his own arrow back in the direction of the sender. Stan followed the path of Leonidas's arrow just in time to see it find a chink in Charlie's armor and sink deep into his chest.

The split second of pity that Stan had had for Leonidas was gone. All pretense of peace between the two of them had just gone out the window. Stan knew Charlie was down by Leonidas's hand, and he himself wanted to cause the archer as much pain as possible. Stan charged Leonidas, barely noticing the look of horror on his face as he brought his axe
down on top of Leonidas. The archer reacted at the last second. He kicked off the roof of the outpost and launched into the air. As Stan pulled his axe out of the cavity it had made in the stone, he saw that Leonidas had grabbed on to some vines hanging from a nearby tree and was dangling from them, desperately trying to notch an arrow.

Kat burst up through the door, a warrior's glare on her face. “Don't worry,” she said, “I've got two guys down there healing Charlie, and all the other Noctems are down. Where's Leonidas?”

“He's out in that tree,” responded Stan, drawing his bow as Kat did the same. Within ten seconds, the remaining eight members of the team were on the roof alongside them, their bows drawn and aimed at Leonidas.

Although Leonidas attempted to return fire a few times, it was futile. Firing a bow and arrow while hanging from vines was hard enough, but doing it while avoiding the rain of arrows from ten archers was impossible. Stan watched in fury as Leonidas pulled a blue-green orb out of his pocket and, without hesitation, flung it as far as he could into the dense jungle in the distance.

The split second it took Leonidas to do this cost him, however, as an arrow sunk into his right shoulder blade. With an audible cry of anguish, Leonidas released his grip on the vines and started to fall to the ground below. Stan's soldiers
managed to sink two more arrows into Leonidas on the way down; Stan couldn't tell where they had hit. Stan was counting on Leonidas hitting the ground before the Ender Pearl took effect, but Leonidas disappeared into a puff of purple smoke an instant before he would have made impact.

Stan did not have time to be infuriated at that moment. He bounded over to the trapdoor and dropped to the floor below. Ignoring the slight pain in his legs, he trained his eyes on Charlie. The soldiers had removed his diamond chestplate, but the arrow was still stuck deep in his chest, as Charlie heaved and coughed from the intense pain.

“Why haven't you healed him yet?” yelled Stan, frantically pulling his own red Potion of Healing from his inventory and applying it to the arrow.

“We're out of potion,” replied one of the soldiers, as the potion took effect, popping out the arrow and leaving just a small red hole in Charlie's chest that was in definite need of more potions. “We used it all healing ourselves after the Noctem soldiers killed themselves in a potion attack.”

Stan hardly cared that, once again, they had taken no prisoners from the raid. He was far too desperate to keep Charlie alive. “So what is there to do?”

“We have to get him medical attention,” replied Kat, pulling a potion of deeper red from her inventory. “You three,” she said, gesturing to the soldiers closest to her, “run back to
Element City, tell them to send a medic out here as quickly as possible. We can't leave here until Charlie's healed.”

“Good thinking, Kat,” replied Stan. Then he remembered something. “And the rest of you, take your weapons. Head out into the jungle and hunt down Leonidas. He's probably gone, but if there's a chance he isn't, then it's worth it to try to capture him, dead or alive. Leave all your potions with us.”

The soldiers all nodded, dropped their potion bottles into a pile, and headed down the ladders to carry out their respective assignments.

“Okay, Stan, I need you to sort out the Potions of Strength from the other ones in that pile,” said Kat, already using her own Potion of Strength on Charlie. “They're not healing, but they should keep him alive until real help gets here.”

There were a few moments of silence while Kat used her own potions to try to stabilize Charlie, and Stan sorted out the rest of them for her use. As soon as he was done, he looked up at her.

“Wow, Kat, you've gotten pretty good at this. Where did you learn so much about medicine?”

“G taught me,” Kat replied, still not taking her eyes off Charlie's wound. Then, after a moment, she afforded him a small smile. “To be completely honest, it's one of the few good things that's come out of my relationship with him.”

Stan faltered. He was aware that Kat wasn't exactly in
a perfect relationship, but he wasn't aware she was that unhappy. Furthermore, it occurred to him that, despite the fact that they were fighting for Charlie's life at the moment, he felt something he hadn't felt since before Elementia Day: he cared about Kat's happiness.

“Well,” he responded slowly, taking a shot in the dark, “if you're unhappy, then why don't you just break it off?”

Kat glanced up at him. “Well, to paraphrase Leon Livingston . . . ‘I began on a whim, continued because I loved the life, and now continue because I'm not sure how to stop.'”

Stan's heart skipped a beat. He flashed back to just moments before, when he was talking with Leonidas atop the base. Something he had said came back to Stan.
Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to be part of this Alliance? That I didn't choose the Alliance, but the Alliance chose me?

Of course, that was right before he had shot Charlie in the chest.

Stan banished the incident from his mind. Finding Leonidas again was a task for tomorrow, and as of now, another thought had come into Stan's mind. He looked at Kat as the two of them were fighting hard to keep Charlie alive and realized something.

Despite any differences the three of them might have in terms of their views, despite any disagreements they may have on the council room floor, Kat and Charlie were Stan's
best friends in all of Elementia. No matter what, he wasn't going to let politics or debates get in the way of his friendships ever again.

Stan looked at Kat one more time, caught her eye, and gave her a smile. And as she returned the smile before requesting another Potion of Strength, it was somehow clear to Stan that the feeling was mutual.

CHAPTER 10
THE VILLAGER'S VISIT

S
o Leonidas got away?” Charlie asked in a raspy tone.

“Yeah.” Stan sighed. He sat himself down on a chair beside Charlie's hospital bed. “We sent our guys out to try to find him after he ran, but he had Ender Pearls. We had no chance.”

“Trust me, Charlie,” added Kat, plopping down on the bed next to him, “we really did try to find him. I mean, beyond the fact that he's part of the Alliance, what he did to you was just . . .”

“Don't worry, Kat,” interrupted Charlie with a chuckle. “I'm sure you did all you could. We'll get him eventually.”

Kat didn't say anything; she merely looked down at the wooden floor of the infirmary and absentmindedly stroked Rex's head between the ears.

Kat had been unusually apologetic toward Stan and Charlie for most everything over the past few days. She and Stan had spent most of their time since the attack in the hospital with Charlie as he recovered from the arrow wound, and during that time Kat had made it very clear that she deeply regretted her vote on the council, and that she hoped they would forgive her.

“I mean, what was I thinking?” she had said as she and Stan followed Charlie's medical escort back
to Element City from the Jungle Base yesterday. “Why did I think that ignoring the law was a good idea? It was G—I swear that was it. He made me feel guilty about going against him.”

Stan had assured her it was okay, that he forgave her and that, even if they had set up an election, Blackraven probably would have been elected to the council by the people anyway. Nonetheless, in the single council meeting Stan had attended since the fight at the base, Blackraven's presence on the council stuck out to him like a sore thumb.

“So anyway, has the council actually decided anything yet?” asked Charlie, although he was sure he knew the answer.

“Nope,” said Stan, shaking his head grimly. “I've talked to Bill, Ben, and Bob about it, and they say the police and army are more than ready to launch a strike against the Noctem Alliance, but the council is still too divided to decide anything.”

“It's the same thing that happened with the vote,” Kat added glumly. “Jayden, G, and Blackraven are pushing for us to lower our defenses in the city and to go out into the server to hunt down the Alliance, while the rest of us are saying that we can't just drop all our defenses in the city, because if we do, they'll attack us again.”

Charlie sighed. “I'll be completely honest, guys, I've been
giving it a lot of thought while I've been lying in here, and I've realized that the way the Noctem Alliance is fighting is actually ingenious.”

Kat and Stan looked up at him in surprise. “What makes you say that?” Kat asked.

“It's called psychological warfare,” said Charlie, a shadow crossing his face. “They're attacking us in a different way every time they strike, so we never know what to expect. Because we don't know what to expect, we're terrified. And that fear is driving us apart from the inside. It's making us fight with ourselves more than we're fighting them.”

“Wow,” said Stan, realizing the truth in the statement. It made a lot of sense, actually. The Noctem Alliance struck from out of nowhere, and they were willing to die for their cause. This was a type of fighting that none of them had ever seen before, and it wasn't nearly as straightforward as their quest to take down King Kev had been. Stan was about to make a remark to that effect when the door to the hospital room swung open.

Through the door stepped someone Stan had not seen for a long time. Stan's eyes widened in surprise before his face broke into a wide grin at the sight of Oob, the NPC villager, walking through the doorframe. His brown robes were more worn and torn up than Stan had remembered, but the huge smile on his giant-nosed face was unmistakable.

“Oob!” cried Stan. Kat burst up off the bed, ecstatic, to give him a hug.

“It's good to see ya, buddy!” Stan grinned as he threw his arms around Oob as well, causing the villager to tumble back awkwardly a few steps.

“It is good to see you as well, my friends,” replied Oob jovially, struggling to keep his balance. “Now, will you please do a favor for me and let go of me? I am happy to see you but if you do not let go of me then I will fall over and get Charlie's present all dirty.”

“Aw, Oob old pal! You got a present for me?” asked Charlie, smiling as he sat upright in his bed, looking happier than Stan had seen him in a long time.

“Yes, I have a present for you,” said Oob as Kat and Stan released him. “I did hear from a traveling player that you, Charlie, had been wounded while fighting the bad men who tried to make me dead during the battle at the big castle. So I decided that I would come from the village with a gift to make you feel not bad anymore.”

Stan couldn't help but stifle a chuckle. Just hearing Oob's slow yet sincere speech pattern was enough to brighten his day.

“Thanks, Oob! You're the best!” replied Charlie. He looked thrilled. “So whadja get me?”

“Behold!” said Oob, plunging his hands into his brown
robe and pulling out something pink. Stan examined it more closely and saw that it was a raw pork chop that appeared to be oozing a little bit of blood. Oob's face was glowing with pride at the humble piece of meat, and Charlie gladly humored him.

“Thanks, Oob!” said Charlie, with an amused look. “Where did you get this?”

“Well, it is a funny story, actually,” said Oob, creasing his brow as he thought. “I had originally decided that I would bring two carrots from my village to give to Charlie. I took the carrots and immediately began to walk along the railroad tracks toward the city. As I walked through the big trees that have the yellow cats living in them . . .”

“The jungle,” interjected Kat, her face just as sincerely happy as Stan's and Charlie's.

“Thank you,” Oob replied with a smile. “As I walked through the jungle, a pig began to walk behind me. It was a very cute pig, and so I let it follow me. Then, I sat down under a big tree to rest, and when I put my two carrots that were to be a present to Charlie on the ground, Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink . . .”

“Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink?” asked Stan with a grin as Charlie laughed.

“Yes, that is the name of the cute pig that was following me,” said Oob in an almost exasperated tone, as if this
should have been obvious as day. “Anyway, Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink put both of the carrots into his mouth and ate them! I was very mad at Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink for doing that, and so I hit him with my hand. This must have made Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink scared, because he ran away from me and right off the side of a cliff.

“I looked down over the cliff, and at the bottom, I saw this!” replied Oob, holding up the pork chop with a smile. “But I did not see Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink anywhere. I was very confused, but then I figured out what must have happened. Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink was embarrassed that he had eaten my carrots, and so, after he ran off the cliff, he left this . . . thing”—he gestured with the pork chop again—“to say that he was sorry, and ran away. I don't think that Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink was very polite for not saying sorry. But it is okay, because now I have a new present to give to Charlie!

“And now, Charlie,” said Oob, his chest swelling with pride, “I give you, the gift from Mr. Piggy-Oink-Oink!” Oob held the raw pork chop out and dropped it into Charlie's outstretched hand, an expectant smile on his face.

“Thanks, Oob! This is a fantastic gift!” said Charlie, biting his lower lip to hold in the laughter. Oob beamed.

“Do you think we should tell him?” Kat asked Stan under her breath, a smirk on her face.

“Don't you dare!” replied Stan, giving Kat a lighthearted
punch in the shoulder.

“So, Oob,” said Charlie, storing the oozing pork chop in his inventory, “how's stuff in the village going?”

“Life in the village has been quite well,” replied Oob, kneeling down to pet Rex, who had been circling Oob's feet since his arrival, almost as interested in the villager as in the piece of meat he had been holding. “Ever since the almighty Notch bestowed our Iron Golem, Plat, upon us, life in our village has been very safe. As long as the villagers retreat to our dwellings at nightfall, Plat will battle the evil mobs all throughout the night.”

And with that, Oob's eyes slid out of focus, and he began to wander around the room in a confused manner, as if unsure how he had gotten there in the first place. Charlie chuckled.

“I'm glad to hear that, Oob,” said Stan, standing up and turning Oob around to face them again. “So your family's doing okay?” he continued, prompting the refocused villager along.

“Oh, my family is very happy indeed,” replied Oob with a smile. “My father, Blerge, and my mother, Mella, were very happy when I returned to the village after I had taken part in the large fight at the big castle. In the village, my family and I are seen as heroes because we helped you players. My younger brother wishes to be like me one day.”

“Ah yes, your younger brother!” exclaimed Charlie as he pulled a watermelon slice out of his inventory to eat. “How's he doing, what's he been up to? Does he know the story of how he saved your village just by being born?”

While Stan, Kat, and Charlie traveled across Elementia on their campaign against King Kev, they had been in Oob's village for the birth of his younger brother, Stull. In fact, it was Stull's birth that had made the village population large enough for Plat the Iron Golem to spawn and help the players defend the village from a siege of hostile mobs.

“My younger brother, Stull, is doing very well. He does, indeed, know that his birth was the reason that the almighty Notch bestowed Plat the Iron Golem upon us. This fact makes our family even more famous in the village. Stull does not like the attention. He much prefers to play with Plat, and with his friend Sequi, the daughter of Ohsow, the village butcher. In fact, the two of them are going to be married when they are old enough.”

“Wait, what?” spat out Kat, caught off guard. Stan's eyes widened in surprise, and Charlie gagged on his watermelon.

“I said, my younger brother, Stull, is going to be married to the butcher's daughter Sequi,” said Oob, again sounding as if this were obvious fact, before proceeding to slip out of focus and wandering around the room again.

Once they had wrangled a very confused Oob back over
to the conversation, Stan asked, “How does that work, Oob?”

“It is simply the way that we NPC villagers discover our mates,” replied Oob. “If a boy and girl are best friends as children, then they are to be married when they are old enough. Is this different from the way that players mate?”

Kat gave a dark chuckle. “Trust me, bub, it's not nearly as simple as that.” Oob nodded, a disinterested look on his face.

“So wait a second,” said Charlie, something dawning on him. “Does that mean that you're arranged to be married to someone in the village too, Oob?”

Stan's ears perked up. “Yeah, were you ever good friends with a girl villager growing up?”

“I never was,” replied Oob, no discernible emotions in his voice. “You must understand, players, that I was the last child that was born before the Sacred One left our village to protect us from the bad players. After the Sacred One left, there was a time of Great Sadness in our village, during which no children were born. The Great Sadness lasted until you players arrived and killed the Spider Jockey. During the Great Sadness, the only child born was Sequi. She was born not too long before you players arrived, so she was far too young to be my wife.”

The three players looked at one another uncomfortably. They hadn't realized just how bad life for the villagers had been before they arrived. The Great Sadness must have been
unspeakably terrible, if they had stopped having children during it. Nobody was entirely sure what to say to Oob, who was looking around at all their faces.

“You look sorry for me, players,” said Oob. They all stared at him. He was rarely able to read players' emotions accurately. “Do not be sorry for me, players. Personally, I have never been very interested in having a wife and starting a family. I was never sure what I wanted to do with my life until I met you players. Then I knew I wanted to help you protect other players and other villagers.

“And besides, ever since you good players have controlled the world, the Great Sadness has been over. New players travel through our village all the time. We have been able to trade with them, and all the members of my village are happy again. They have begun to have children once more. Our village is happier than we have been in a very long time, now that you good players are in control. We are more safe, too. In fact, there are now some players who have come to the village for the sole purpose of protecting us!”

“Those are members of the Elementia army, Oob,” replied Stan. It was true. After the Noctem Alliance had attacked Elementia during the Elementia Day festival, Stan had determined that it would be wise to give the NPC village a little extra protection. He had sent out three of his men to protect the village from any Noctem Alliance troops who
should cross paths with them.

Oob's eyes widened. “Is that true? You have used your own resources to keep my people safe? Thank you very much, my good friend Stan!” Oob exclaimed with a huge grin.

Stan was touched, and he, not for the first time, allowed himself a moment to congratulate himself for the job he and his friends had done here in Elementia. They had managed to touch the lives of the villagers, far away from Element City. It seemed, though, that Oob had finished talking, and there was one thing Oob had neglected to mention that Stan knew he had to discuss with the villager.

“Well, I'm glad that you and your people are happy, Oob,” replied Stan, giving the villager yet another warm smile before his face became serious. “But there is something I need to ask you. You say that players pass through your village all the time now. Have you ever heard of a group called the Noctem Alliance?”