Warnado bounded down the stairs into the foyer of the inn, with Amanda close behind. He waved over to the group standing at the table. Kay, with help from Astro and Tyron, fussed over the last straps needed to fasten his armour. Steve, and the others conversed warily, hands near weapons. After a moment of discussion across the table, the others stood up and followed Warnado into the foyer.
"I think the endermen and their friends are preoccupied in another part of town. If we leave right now, I think the odds will be good," Jennifer said. "I'll scout ahead. If the situation looks good, then I'll give the thumbs-up."
"Sounds like a plan," Kay said.
Jennifer opened the door slowly and walked out, while Steve waited at the door.
A moment later, a customer at the inn walked up to Steve and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, sir, any idea what's going on out there? Me and some friends were about to go to the bar, but now we're thinking maybe it would be better to stay inside. Given recent events..."
"Umm…" Steve replied awkwardly, suddenly having to come to terms with blocking the only exit for all the inn customers. "I'll let you know in a moment."
"This building violates so many fire safety codes…" Warnado thought to himself.
Steve then glanced out the doorway and gave the thumbs up. "All clear, let's go!" Steve then added for the curious inn customer. "That means you can go, too. Sorry, no time to explain what's going on."
"Thank you! I'll admit, it's refreshing seeing fellow guests looking out for each other, especially in these strange lands."
"No kidding," Steve said dryly.
Steve, Kay, Warnado, Amanda, the others, and a few unrelated inn guests passed through the inn door quietly. The group found Jennifer pressed against the wall of the building on the other side of the street, looking warily around a corner. The streets were unusually empty, but not quiet. At a distance they could hear the warping of teleportation, the screams of frightened villagers and the sporadic noises of a piecemeal, one-sided battle.
Jennifer signalled with her arm and dashed toward another building, the others following behind. This side of the building was bathed in sun, making the air hang more heavily in their lungs.
Somewhere on the other side of town, there was a loud banging sound that Warnado was pretty certain was the sound of a door being forcefully broken open. He looked over at Amanda, who grasped her crossbow tightly and gazed forward vigilantly. Her face was still concealing the anxiety and fear that so recently haunted her.
Astro, who was on the other side of Warnado, peeked his head around the corner of the building and then pulled himself back immediately. He motioned toward the front of the group urgently. Warnado looked the other way and saw Steve waving his arms and frowning in confusion. Astro didn't seem to be able to figure out the right gesture for what he wanted to say.
"Just say it!" Steve whispered.
"Someone's running this way," Astro answered.
On cue, the sound of rapid footsteps approached on Astro's side. Briefly, Warnado saw the runner just around the corner, his shirt loose and sweaty, a sheathed sword hanging unused at his side. An armored enderman wielding a long, curved blade intercepted him from behind and threw him down onto the ground, then stepped onto his chest and pinned him in place.
"Why did you run away?" The enderman said slowly, evidently laboring on a human tongue which was unfamiliar to them, but through which the creature's unstated threat and the gravity of it became clear.
The enderman was facing away, but the man's desperate eyes looked straight toward Warnado and the others.
"B-b… behind… you!" The man muttered and pointed.
The enderman stomped on the man.
"Ack!"
"Answer the question!" The enderman demanded.
Astro was looking at Kay. Kay was looking at Warnado. Warnado was trying to figure out what direction Jennifer wanted to go next, while simultaneously feeling disappointed that the pinned villager tried to rat them out, and also being thankful the enderman wasn't easily distracted. Then Kay looked at Astro.
"Priorities, Kay!" Astro admonished.
Everyone pinned against the wall looked at Astro. But there wasn't much time to let the shame stares play out because Kay broke from the wall and rushed toward the enderman just as it started to turn around. Kay swung his sword but sliced through air and purple sprites. The ender soldier stood behind Kay and pushed him. Kay stumbled but quickly recovered, his grin advertising smug confidence. He prepared for a slash but then feinted mid-swing. The enderman replied with a slash toward Kay's shin, which Kay was unable to pedal back from. Kay tried to suppress his grimace of pain as the curved blade rattled his armour.
Then Astro broke from the wall and threw a fireball at the enderman. The enderman's form vanished, leaving the fireball to burst against the road and leave a mark of glowing hot ash.
At this point, the unfortunate villager had a good running start and was a few buildings away. Warnado sighed in annoyance.
Kay looked down at his shin with disappointment, and hobbled back to the wall. He lifted his leg, moved it back and forth stiffly, then pressed it down on the ground. He winced.
"Astro, would you give us a hand?" Kay mumbled. His eyes were heavy, his teeth clenched. His shadow was split between wall and ground, and as a result looked hunched and full of shame.
Astro kneeled down and loosened the straps of the shinguard. Warnado only caught a glimpse of the dark red, soft-looking stretch of skin before Astro placed a hand on it. His eyes closed. Astro then stood up again. Kay looked down at his leg and tested its range of motion.
"Well…" Steve said in a matter-of-fact manner, "they know we're here now."
"My own missed shot aside, that was a pretty rash way to run into a conflict," Astro said with a sidelong glance. "I can't spend all my magic healing wounds."
"If they've learned their lesson from their encounters with us at the Tower..." Tyron warned.
"We need to keep moving," Jennifer said.
On Jennifer's mark, the group sprinted toward another building, and then one more. After a pause, they ran across a wide road, and continued running through an alley. The dirt road was bumpy and windy, with grass poking out in places. Quaint signs of village life, hung clothes, and shrubs in closed, curtained window sills, were left behind as they ran past.
Jennifer slowed and raised a hand as the road opened up. Steve peeked around her, then quickly stepped back. Jennifer then stumbled back against a nearby wall, the others following suit. An enderman walked down the street and paused.
Jennifer looked back and held up two fingers. Two endermen. Warnado conjured the energy bow, nocking an arrow slowly.
The enderman on the street shouted and vanished. Jennifer cried out. The clang of metal rang. The enderman had slashed at Jennifer and teleported back a few meters after she parried. Now, she was in a fighting stance, her bow held out to guard.
Another enderman materialized next to the first and barked a few words in an ender tongue. The first enderman replied in kind by pointing their sword at the little caravan of villagers and escapees that now stood pinned against the wall.
"This village is under lockdown by order of the Tower. There is no escape. Surrender your weapons."
"Under what charges?" Steve asked.
Kay dropped all affectation and insisted, "He has a point. We've hardly left the village, or broken any Nexus laws to the best of our knowledge."
"We're just getting some fresh air," Jennifer added.
"Outside travel is forbidden."
"Sorry, we didn't get that memo," Jennifer said.
"This is highly irregular human behavior."
"That's just your opinion," replied Jennifer, as she pushed an arrow into her bow. "Anyway, we're all busy here, so in the interest of time, I'm going to shoot this arrow into the air, and you two can speculate between yourselves who is going to get hit. I already know the answer."
"Foolish human, you can't -"
Jennifer let go of the arrow, and the bowstring whipped the arrow into the troposphere. As the two endermen gazed at the ascending arrow, Tyron rushed forward with ice-sharpened claws and slashed at the two endermen. One of the endermen howled before teleporting away, while the other escaped unharmed. Warnado looked around for an enemy to shoot and for the moment found nothing. He let the bow dissipate and joined the others in sprinting out of the alleyway.
In the distance, another enderman cried out in pain. Whether the enderman was struck by Jennifer's arrow, or hurt by some other means, would remain a mystery.