"Three bandits killed a man in city square!"
"What!?" Jesse yelled in surprise. Both him and me turned around to see a woman standing there at the entrance to the treasure room, muscles tensed as if she were about to get attacked, the doors still moving from being swung open so quickly.
"Who were they!?" Jesse asked loudly. I knew Jesse didn't take killings lightly… but at least this would stop him from asking me so many questions about what`s wrong.
"The Burning Silence." The citizen breathed.
"Great." Jesse breathed.
I took a deep breath. The Burning Silence was a gang of four people who used weapons like sword enchanted with Fire Aspect and bows with the Flame enchantment to kill people. Burning to death was the worst way to go. We had a few run-ins with them before, and we were only able to catch them once. They had a ton of speed potions. When we actually did catch them, they escaped from prison.
Jesse turned to me, face dead serious. "Lukas, get the others. We have some criminals to hunt down."
I nodded quickly before I flew to the living part of the temple. Swinging open the doors, I saw Petra, Axel and Olivia.
"The Burning Silence killed someone!" I burst out. Everyone immediately looked up me wide-eyed.
I continued, "We're going after them."
Within no time, we were running in the streets. People cleared the way to let us through. Nobody ever really dared to get in the way of the New Order of the Stone when they were going on a chase. My heart was thumping. The last run-in with The Burning Silence, Axel got caught on fire and was left with several burns, and I got a nasty cut on the side. I could only expect this time to be even worse… if we found them, that is.
When we got to the square, Jesse turned around, going into full leader mode.
"We're going to split up." He told us. "Going in smaller numbers will help us to be able to cover more ground and we'll have a better chance of finding them. Petra, you'll be coming with me. Axel, you and Lukas will also search. Olivia…."
Jesse turned to her, taking a deep breath. "Keep the citizens under control."
I looked around. Citizens were running in random directions, screaming, and just panicking in general.
"Right." Olivia said, nodding.
"Let`s move." Jesse said again.
We split up. Jesse and Petra went running in one direction, and Axel and I went the opposite way.
"So… what's the plan!?" Axel asked me over the voices of the screaming townspeople.
"We get on the roofs." I said quickly. We'll be able to spot those guys easier there!"
"There!" Axel pointed out a small shop. Its roof would be low enough for us to help each other up.
When we got there, Axel gave me a boost up quickly. I turned, and grabbed his hand, half-pulling him up while he climbed up. Dang, he was heavy.
I was no Petra when it came to jumping from rooftop to rooftop, but I think I was okay at it. We ran across the rooftops, hopping across the gaps and jumping up to higher roofs, looking for any members of The Burning Silence. They were pretty easy to spot.
I skidded to a stop on top of a building near the outskirts of the town.
"What are we-"
"Shhh." I cut Axel off.
I slowly inched over to the edge of the rooftop, getting on my hands and knees. I could have sworn I heard the obnoxious voices of one of the members of the Burning Silence… and I was right. I could see the black edgy leather flame-printed jackets of the gang members, and their bright orange dyed hair. They were just behind the building and at the edge of the woods. Sometimes I wondered if my old group, the "Ocelots", ever looked that edgy and annoying.
"We killed that dude for a crystal!?" one of the members growled.
"Not just any crystal." a big one replied. "A relic. One that was said to summon a legendary beast when held skyward!"
"Besides, it could get us big bucks." another member added in.
"Well, hold it up and see if it summons this 'legendary beast' thing!" the last member, a tall, skinny one, growled.
One of them took a bright glowing blue thing out of their inventory. Looking closer, I saw it was a shining, diamond-shaped gem. It gave off a soft, pearly gleam in the afternoon sun. Something urged me to go after it.
The one holding the crystal held it up to the sy, and the other three backed up. They waited, and waited… but nothing happened.
"Guess that idea`s blown." the member said, pulling it down.
They were completely off guard. That was my chance.
"Axel, come with me." I whispered to him.
Silently, I got up, stepping over to the edge of the building. Knowing it wasn't high enough to do much damage to me, I jumped. I rolled, ending up crouching on the ground.
"What the-!?" A member turned.
I heard the yell of Axel as he fell from the rooftop. I barely managed to avoid him falling on me.
"Oh, it`s just those Order guys." one member said. I pulled out my stone sword as Axel put up his fists.
"Do you have an explanation to why you killed an innocent person!?" I hissed, trying to looks as intimidating as possible. I knew I couldn't scare anyone. Jesse does a much better job than me, and he`s short!
"For the crystal thing, duh." the member with the relic said, putting it away into his inventory. Three of the Burning Silence members pulled out enchanted swords, either iron or diamond, and the last one pulled out an enchanted bow.
I knew Axel and I were outnumbered and outskilled. I took a few steps back.
"`Ey, kid. Why don't you spare your own life and get out of our way!?" one of the members growled.
Being an idiot, I narrowed my eyes. "Never."
"You guys can't just kill someone and get away with it." Axel yelled, cracking his knuckles.
"Well, if you say so." the tall member said.
There was silence.
"...ATTACK!" One of the members yelled, the one with the crystal, charging straight towards me. All of the others did the same.
The bandit`s enchanted ron sword met with my stone sword. Sparks flew. My arms shook fro the effort of keeping his weapon at bay. I heard footsteps behind me, and without thinking, I leapt to the side to avoid another Burning Silence member`s sword. This was going to be a hard fights.
"Guys!" I heard a voice say. I quickly lifted my head to see Jesse and Petra standing on the rooftop, of their eyes widened.
I yelped as I felt a burning pain shoot up my shoulder. I brought my hand to it, and I felt my hand burning. One of the bandits hit me with a flaming arrow.
I heard a battlecry from Petra as she leapt down from on top of the rooftop and on top of a bandit. I quickly patted out the flames from the arrow and brought up my sword to block an attack from one of the bandits. When he brought his sword back to try to stab me again, I thought fast and slashed at his side. He let out a yell, and staggered back. He threw his sword- right at my face. I barely dodged just in time for it to graze my cheek, and even then it stung like Nether. I looked around quickly. Jesse was charging at the bandit with the bow, one of his arms in flames. Petra had actually killed another one, and Axel was having a difficult time fending against one with a diamond sword.
That's when I felt it. The pain. I knew I was changing again, and at one of the most inconvenient times. I couldn't just ditch me friends in battle, but I couldn't let them know what was doing on. One of them was unarmed, and one of them was dead. I prayed to Notch that they could handle themselves, and I turned.
I ran straight into the woods.