The New Order (16 page)

Stan stepped outside the hole and saw that they were in the very lowest point of a valley, at the ridge of which stood one of the outer walls of Nocturia. Now fully aware that their escape would be a simple matter, Stan looked down at Minotaurus and, with no hesitation, raised his axe.

As he held the diamond blade above his head, staring
with mortal hatred at the unconscious monster on the ground before him, Stan once again felt a feeling sweep over him. It was the same feeling that had overtaken him when he had had the opportunity to kill King Kev in the Battle for Elementia all those months ago. Minotaurus was just as weak, unarmed, and vulnerable as King Kev had been then. Stan knew he could not deliver the death blow. It was not in his nature to harm the defenseless. Stan lowered the weapon to his side. He knew that, in time, he would face Minotaurus again, and when that time came, he could finish the job on equal terms.

Stan turned around and was about to walk away when he saw a bottle containing bright red liquid latched on to Minotaurus's belt. He pocketed it, and then headed back into the tunnel, where Bill was checking over the others for injuries. Stan explained the situation to them.

“So we're right outside the walls of Nocturia?” Bill asked. Stan nodded.

“Well, I say that we keep tunneling for a little while, and when we're far enough from Nocturia so they won't be able to see us, we'll dig to the surface and make our way back to Element City,” said Charlie.

“I still can't believe they attacked us like that,” said Bob as Bill helped him onto Ivanhoe's back, having healed the pig's leg with Minotaurus's potion. “What are they trying to
accomplish? Even if they had killed us, Elementia would have declared war on them anyway. Why didn't they just kill us outright if they wanted us dead? None of this makes any sense.”

“It's because we're not dealing with anything that we know,” replied Charlie as he began tunneling away from Nocturia. “The Noctem Alliance isn't a real country. I don't know what it is, and neither does anybody else. The only people who know how to play their game are their members, and the only way we can beat them is if we know how to play the game ourselves.”

“So you're saying . . . ,” said Stan.

“Yes,” replied Charlie. “Catching a member of the Noctem Alliance alive has got to be our next step.”

“Well, then what are we tunneling away for?” asked Bob incredulously, stopping in his tracks and forcing Stan and Bill behind him to do the same. “We've got a while until they figure out that Minotaurus didn't kill us. Why don't we use that time to sneak into Nocturia and kidnap one of their members?”

“You know, that's not a bad . . . ,” Bill started to say.

“That's not necessary,” replied Charlie quickly.

“Why not, Charlie? You scared or something?” asked Stan, annoyed.

“Yes, I am. Just the thought of the Noctem Alliance makes
me almost poop myself, but that's not the reason why it's not necessary.”

“And what is the reason, then?” asked Stan.

“'Cause we already have a Noctem Alliance member captive,” Charlie replied with a shrug. “You remember that messenger they sent us? Well, Kat had him locked up in Brimstone for just such an occasion.”

“Okay, that's a good reason,” said Bill fairly. “All right, Charlie, I think we're far enough away now. Why don't you tunnel up?”

Charlie nodded, and aimed his pickaxe upward. After going diagonally up for a couple of minutes, Charlie's pickaxe struck air, and he stepped up into the raging snowstorm, followed immediately by the other four players.

Charlie pulled out a map and had to squint to see it through the dark blizzard. “Okay, so it looks like Element City is . . . that way!” Charlie exclaimed, pointing in a westerly direction. “Let's go.”

“Oh, how rude of you! We host you in our city, and you leave without saying good-bye?”

All four players whipped around and found themselves face-to-face with Caesar, standing ten blocks behind them, no weapon in his hand. The reaction was immediate. Stan whipped out his axe, Charlie held up his pickaxe, Bob notched an arrow in his bow, and Bill threw his fishing line forward
and snared Caesar in the line. Bob was about to let the arrow fly when Caesar, wearing a sly smile, spoke.

“Now, now, boys. Are you sure you want to do that?”

Stan sensed movement, and his jaw dropped in terror as, from all sides of them, no less than fifty players clad in black emerged from the snowstorm, all holding Potions of Harming and aiming right at the four players.

“If you value your lives, you will all lower your weapons, and you, Bill, will let me go right now.”

He said this very calmly, and with equal calmness, Bill placed the fishing rod on the ground. He kicked it over toward Caesar, and stood with his hands in the air and a defeated look on his face. He was mirrored by the other four players as they lowered their weapons.

“It humors me that you four honestly thought escaping from Nocturia was an option,” said Caesar as he shrugged off the coils of string and stepped out of the tangled mess at his feet. “In fact, it humors me so much that I think that I'm going to let you get away with it.” He snapped his blocky fingers, and instantly, the black figures at the easternmost section of the circle stepped to the side, creating a gap.

Stan stared at Caesar. He was obviously dealing with a lunatic here. “What are you trying to do, Caesar?”

“Well, presently, I'm trying to let you go, Stan,” said Caesar obviously, gesturing to the gap. “I just said that.”

“But why the . . .”

“Does it really matter
why
, Charlie?” asked Caesar whimsically. “I'm giving you a gift. Accept it.”

“But it doesn't . . . ,” responded Bill.

Caesar snapped his fingers again, and the black figures drew back their throwing arms. Positive that Bill's last outburst had just cost them their lives, Stan flinched, preparing himself to be doused with the maroon gasses that would spell the end for all of them. Instead, he watched in awe as the men in black flicked their wrists, sending their potions backward. The bottles shattered on the ground far away from the circle, staining the snow crimson.

“Those could have been flying toward you, remember that,” said Caesar, irritation in his voice now. “Lord Tenebris ordered me to set the trap in Nocturia for you, and told me that if you managed to beat Minotaurus, you would be allowed to live another day for your resourcefulness. Personally, I would love to see you all dead, so I suggest you hurry up and scurry back to that hovel you call Element City before I change my mind and disobey my master!”

There was a moment of silence following Caesar's outburst, then Stan hastily walked through the gap of Noctem soldiers, closely tailed by his friends. As they walked through the tundra, away from Caesar and his men and back toward the city, Stan's mind was so confused that it
felt like it was going to burst.

“The sooner we understand the game these psychopaths are playing, the better,” mumbled Stan to nobody in particular, yet he still got three mumbles of concurrence.

CHAPTER 16
THE LEAK

C
aesar was pacing the floor in the common room impatiently. Oh boy, was he going to kill Minotaurus! How could Minotaurus possibly have been defeated by those players? Caesar was just thinking of what exactly he was going to say when there was a knock on the door.

“What?” he barked.

The door opened, and one of his soldiers, clad in black, walked in. “Chancellor Caesar, I think it might be pertinent for you to know that General Leonidas has just arrived.”

A fresh wave of rage swept over Caesar. “Tell him to get up here right now!” Caesar responded loudly, and the soldier hastily left the room.

In his rage at Minotaurus, Caesar had forgotten his anger at Leonidas from earlier. Leonidas was supposed to return to Nocturia immediately after the fight with Stan at the Jungle Base, and he had had Ender Pearls to expedite the journey. It was a day's travel at most, but now they were entering their fourth night after the battle!

The door swung open once more, and Minotaurus lumbered into the room, his hulking form having to duck in order to avoid cracking his head on the doorframe. He flopped down in one of the chairs next to
the fire and began to rub the crest of his head. Caesar hadn't even opened his mouth to speak when Leonidas limped through the door, looking absolutely terrible. Caesar had no sympathy for Leonidas. He had some serious explaining to do. He allowed Leonidas to retrieve a potion from the chest in the corner, mend his leg, and sit in a chair next to Minotaurus. Caesar walked in front of them, his back to the fireplace.

“You've disappointed me,” said Caesar simply.

Leonidas look outraged. “I disappointed ya, did I? What the—”

“I'll get to you in a minute,” Caesar cut in, his voice quiet with fury and his blocky finger jabbed at Leonidas. “You, Minotaurus,” said Caesar, and the giant bull-man raised his head and looked tiredly at Caesar. “Would you care to explain to me why you let those impudent players live?”

“I tried to kill them, just like you said,” Minotaurus said deeply, sounding exhausted. “Stan is very good with an axe, Caesar, you know that.”

“Yes, I do know that,” replied Caesar indignantly. “I also happen to know that you know that you're not allowed to kill Stan anyway! Even if Lord Tenebris wants to kill Stan himself, it does not excuse you from letting the other three go!”

“Caesar, I—”

“There is no excuse! One of them is a cripple riding a pig!” bellowed Caesar. “One of them was hacking away at a wall
during the entire fight! And the other one fights with a fishing rod! FISHING ROD, MINOTAURUS!” screamed Caesar, now standing over Minotaurus and bellowing in his face. “How much more incompetent could you possibly get?”

“Caesar, lay off him!” yelled Leonidas, his eyebrows knitted in anger, as Minotaurus's eyes began to tear up with fear. “Maybe he could've managed to take 'em down if ya were down there helpin' him!”

Caesar spun around and glared down at Leonidas. “Oh, so you want yours now, do you? Fine, then! What took you so long to get back here?”

“I got hurt, 'kay?” barked Leonidas hostilely, jumping up from the chair to look Caesar in the eye. “Believe it or not, when I fought Stan, he actually hurt me. Ya know, he's actually a pretty good fighter. Oh yeah! That's right! Ya don't know cause all ya do all day is sit up on your high horse, makin' Minotaurus 'n' me do your dirty work!”

Caesar raised his hand and struck Leonidas hard across the face, sending him toppling to the floor. Leonidas clutched his face in pain. The strike was sure to leave a mark. He struggled to open his eyes, and when he finally did, he was staring up the length of a diamond sword held by Caesar, whose face looked almost inhuman with rage.

“Don't you dare speak to me like that ever again!” Caesar howled. “I have my job in the running of this Alliance, and
you have yours! And unless you want Lord Tenebris to answer to, you will obey me without question! Do you understand, Leonidas?!”

So much hatred was packed into those last four syllables that Leonidas found himself stymied. He pulled his legs in, gently pushed the diamond sword to the side, and stood himself up to full height. He looked Caesar directly in the eye. The two were exactly the same height, the same height as every other Minecraft player besides Minotaurus, who was presently watching the unfolding scene with terror in his eyes.

As the two locked eyes, both full of resentment, Caesar sheathed his sword, never lowering his gaze. “I am going to the war room,” said Caesar quietly. “I have to finalize our plans for the next attack on Element City. You are going to go and check on the troops. I expect a report by nightfall.”

And with that, Caesar turned and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him, leaving Leonidas to look with passionate disgust at the place where his chancellor had just been standing.

“Oh, man, it's good to be home,” said Stan as the train picked up speed.

“Sshh, be quiet, man, I wanna just enjoy the ride!” replied Bob, sitting in the minecart behind Stan, Ivanhoe sitting in a cart behind him. Stan didn't blame Bob. Of all of
the things the Mechanist had designed, the connection of the transcontinental railroad to the monorail system was one of his favorites too.

The engineer behind them scampered to each of the powered minecarts in the back, stuffing more coal into them so the train could gather enough speed to climb the grade. Stan saw the sharp incline coming, and he felt the rush of being launched straight upward from the forest floor, over the wall, and down onto the monorail system of Element City.

Stan had used this monorail system numerous times before, but he never got over how cool it was to be traveling at breakneck pace high over the heads of the citizens of the city. Everything looked smaller from up here, and Stan could see all the houses and stores in the city. The train eventually slowed down as they neared the gargantuan castle. Stan noticed a large assembly of players in the courtyard, and vaguely wondered what was going on. They departed the main track and the engineer switched off the powered minecarts, now using a special golden powered rail that accelerated their train around the castle wall and into the royal train room.

“Okay,
now
it's good to be home,” said Stan as the minecart screeched to a stop on powered rails that were turned off, doubling as brake pads. He stepped out of the minecart and stretched his legs.

“Ditto to that,” said Bill as he lifted Ivanhoe out of his minecart and helped his brother mount the pig.

“Alrighty then,” said Charlie, joining the others. “Bill and Bob, you guys should probably check in at the police station, and get a group ready to visit Brimstone Prison. Stan and I will come with you after we talk to the council.”

“Excellent!” cried Bob. “Back to the Nether!” Ivanhoe snorted in agreement. Since the newest update, animals could travel through Nether portals, and Ivanhoe seemed to share his owner's affinity toward the fire dimension.

“Okay, thank you, SourDog, you can go now,” said Stan, gesturing to the engineer of the train, SourDog50, who caught the diamond Stan flipped to him as a tip. SourDog then hopped back into the train and pressed a button on the wall. The powered rails flashed on, sending the train flying back onto the main monorail lines.

“Hey, DarthTater, please announce a council meeting,” Stan ordered one of the head Imperial Butlers, who wore a Darth Vader mask on his head with the rest of his body resembling a potato. DarthTater nodded curtly before disappearing to make the announcement.

Stan and Charlie made their way up to the council room and sat down in their respective chairs around the table. As they sat there waiting for the other council members to arrive, Stan gave a little chuckle.

“What is it?” asked Charlie.

“It's just weird,” said Stan, smiling. “We have all these butlers waiting on us hand and foot, doing everything for us, and yet somehow we're still probably the most stressed-out people in Elementia.”

Now it was Charlie's turn to chuckle. “Yeah, well, we've got a lot of people to keep happy. I think we probably deserve a little special treatment for doing our jobs right.”

Stan nodded in agreement just as the door clicked open and the council members filed in. Stan immediately sensed something was wrong. All the council members wore looks of exhaustion and stress, and particularly between Kat and G there seemed to be a lot of tension hanging in the air. Stan guessed something was in jeopardy other than their relationship this time.

Stan got out the paper and did the formalities to open the meeting, completing them this time. He was sick of dealing with Jayden's and G's arguments, and he figured it was easier to appease them than to fight them. When he was finished, he asked, “Okay, so you guys are all clearly worried about something. What happened now?”

A lot of uncomfortable glances were exchanged around the table.

“Erm . . . do you think we should tell him, or show him?” Gobbleguy asked.

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked, alarmed. “What is there to show us?”

“Well, um . . . just, come on,” said Kat, standing up and walking toward the door. Stan and Charlie followed her through the castle until they were standing on the castle bridge, looking down into the courtyard. What Stan saw made his stomach drop.

The assembly that he had seen coming into the castle was nothing less than an angry rabble, clustering around the castle gates with soldiers standing outside, keeping the peace by forming a blockade of raised swords. The crowd was screaming and yelling, and there was an unmistakable tone of anger to the noise.

“Look, there he is up on the bridge! President Stan!” a voice yelled out from the crowd.

Immediately, the crowd exploded into a new level of frenzy, screaming and bellowing louder than any noise Stan had ever heard before. As he listened and watched in horror, he caught screams of “Your conspiracy will fail, Stan!” and “Stand and fight for us, you coward!” and “Maybe we should burn both of your castles to the ground!”

Stan ducked his head down, afraid that somebody might throw or shoot something at him. He and Charlie turned to Kat.

“Kat, what happened? Why is everybody so mad?”

“Our plans for dealing with the Noctem Alliance were leaked,” replied Kat gravely.

“What do you mean?” asked Charlie, eyes wide, sweat trickling down his forehead.

“I mean somebody in the castle or the military told the general public that the Noctem Alliance founded their own country,” replied Kat. “And that you went to try to talk to them instead of attacking them. By the way, how did that go? If it went well, then we might still be able to avert a crisis.”

“Well, it was a fiasco. I'll tell you more about it when we're back in the council room,” answered Charlie.

Kat shook her head in despair. “That may have been our last chance.”

“Our last chance at what?” Stan asked, confused and feeling sick with worry. “What are they so upset about?”

“Well, a couple things,” said Kat hastily, beginning to walk back to the council room. “For one, they didn't like that we didn't tell them about something so important. Also, they don't like what we did. Most of them seem to think after everything that the Noctem Alliance has done to us, it would have just been smarter to destroy their city.”

“Okay, hold up, you said
most
,” Charlie pointed out. “Does that mean there are still people who think we did the right thing by taking the peaceful approach?”

“Oh, you bet,” replied Kat solemnly, looking even more
upset for some reason. “I'd say about half the people think that. Also, there are some people who think we were right for keeping the mission a secret. They say it's our job to deal with it and they don't want to know about it.”

“And that's not a good thing because . . . ?” asked Charlie, confused as to why Kat still looked extremely gloomy about this.

“Everybody in the city is divided now!” cried Kat. “They're all fighting with each other over what was the right thing to do, and who's right about this whole stupid thing! It's the same thing that happened to our council, but now it's happening to everybody!”

There was dead silence as they continued walking, and they eventually wound up in the council room with the others. Stan didn't really want to speak. His head hurt from this latest development, but he and Charlie gave the council the full run-down of what had happened during their trip to Nocturia.

“Are you telling me you didn't negotiate with Caesar at all?” cried Jayden.

“Weren't you numbskulls listening?” responded DZ, jumping to their defense. “Caesar dumped them into a pit before they could say anything. He was never going to negotiate with them!”

“So we were right!” announced G triumphantly. “Talking
our problems out with them was pointless, and it would've been better if we'd just attacked them!”

“This isn't about who's wrong and who's right!” the Mechanist cut in. “Maybe trying to talk to them was worth a shot, maybe it wasn't, but that is not the issue at hand. We have an entire city's rage to quell, we can't be arguing about who was wrong or right about something that's over now.”

“Even though it was us . . . ,” mumbled G.

“Yeah, when the Nether freezes over,” Charlie snapped back under his breath.

“STOP IT!” bellowed Blackraven, slamming his fist down on the table. “The Mechanist is right, the matter isn't important now. Maybe we can discuss it further later, but right now, we have more important issues to attend to.”

“What we need to determine,” continued the Mechanist, “is who leaked that information. That person needs to be jailed for exposing classified council secrets.”

“I agree,” replied Charlie. “That's not our business to figure out, though.”