What is up you awesome readers out there! It's ButterHunter here, back with another chapter! Actually didn't take a month here, did I?
Let's get going! Oh and yay, more lines! =D
Chapter 38: Heist Day with a Twist
A few days later…
Two days had passed. Diana and Silk were both confident that we were going to get that crown very soon. It was just a matter of getting the go-ahead.
And then, it was the day.
"Cameron. Get up. It's time to go." Silk's voice came, a pair of hands shaking me.
I slowly roused myself from my stupor. Snowy was already up and looking ready, as was Diana.
"Ugh…" I complained, nevertheless sitting up and grabbing my bag. "We need to stop getting up so damn early…"
"The city where the crown is at is quite a ways from here." Diana told me. "Besides, skeletons burn in the sun, so we need to get there with the skeleton team and head back before sunrise."
"And not to mention spiders don't like fighting things during the day." Silk added. "They only attack if they are attacked or were attacked at some point during the day."
Slowly, I stood up and stretched. "Okay… I'm up. Kinda. Now what?"
Silk sighed. "You know what we have to do." she stated defeatedly, holding out a blindfold again.
"Seriously?" I asked defeatedly.
"Confidentiality reasons." Silk agreed, rolling her eyes. "If I had my way, we wouldn't have to do this. And to be fair, I don't see you trying to break free anytime soon. I trust you. Sadly, not many others do."
I reluctantly put on the blindfold, as did Snowy, and we all headed out of the facility.
Even before I took off the thing, I could it was very late at night. Once the blindfold came off, I looked up and realized that the moon was still low in the sky, still rising.
"What the-? What was the point of sleeping if we were just gonna get going so early?" I asked.
"Well, you see…" Diana started, before remaining quiet. "Uhhh…"
"You got nothing for that, huh?" I asked.
"..."
"That's what I thought." I responded.
Soon enough, we reached what I understood was the rendezvous point. A small team of about three spiders and two skeletons were gathered here, with the skeletons wearing iron helmets. They all looked right at me when the four of us approached.
"Peace, friends." Diana told them. "He's the one we needed."
The spiders immediately seemed to shrug it off, but the skeletons both turned and looked, I'm guessing nervously, at Snowy.
"She's not gonna hurt you either." Silk explained exasperatedly.
I doubt it did anything to help, but they nevertheless accepted it and moved on. One chattered in its strange language, something that only Diana and Silk seemed to understand.
"We know." Diana told them. "Lead the way. We're right behind you."
Slowly, we started swiftly making our way due south. We crossed through a few forests and over a few small rivers (where Snowy almost drenched us when she got out of one and started shaking water off like the dog she obscenely is).
I was most nervous about meeting other monsters out here. The last thing I wanted was to run into a Creeper out here. Thankfully, when I voiced these concerns, Silk seemed to grin at me. "I'd like to see them try. Even if they wanted to, since you're with us, you're basically all but untouchable."
It was a long time before we finally made it to the city. I was the first one to see the large stone brick walls of the place, a few hundred blocks away. The closer we got, the larger the place became, and I started noticing a few guards on the far walls.
Strangely, though, the closer we got, the more I got a strange feeling in my gut. I… I felt like I knew this place somehow. I don't know how, I just… I just did.
We were almost there when, suddenly, it finally clicked. "Wait, wait, wait a minute… that's Blockington. The crown is here?"
Diana and Silk looked at me a little surprised. "You know what city this is?" Diana asked.
"Yeah, I've visited here a few times over the course of a few months." I told them. "I got… some friends here."
Silk seemed thoughtful. "Hmm… that could be a small bit of a problem…"
"You think so?" Diana asked nervously.
"Maybe." Silk responded, thinking. "Right now, though, I say we stick to the plan."
"So… I guess I should get in and get in position?" I asked.
"Yeah. From the photo, we know that the crown is in the North Tower, so try and get the guard job there. Once you do, I added something to the guard bag for you. Throw it over discreetly, and we'll do our thing."
"Okay…" I slowly agreed, running the plan in my head one more time.
"You ready?" Diana asked.
"No." I admitted.
"Neither are we. Go!" Silk agreed.
I quickly patted Snowy on the head one more time, before quickly running off towards the entrance. 'Okay, okay, okay. North Tower, North Tower…'
I quickly reached the entrance. The guards stopped me at the gate, but quickly let me in once they knew who I was. Once inside, I quickly looked around. Not many people were out right now, which was to be expected, it was late at night.
I made my way to the town hall, and quickly found out that there was an armory on the wall of the city, where people could, like Diana told me, sign up to be temporary guards. In fact, they need people to work now, since it was the graveyard shift.
As fast as I could go without looking suspicious, I made my way to the armory. Once there, I spoke to who I assumed was the captain of the guard.
"Um, hello?" I started. "I understand that you're looking for people to do guard duty?"
"Yes, I am." the captain agreed gruffly. "You want to volunteer?"
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. Do you have equipment?" he asked.
"Matter of fact, I do." I stated, showing him the bag Silk gave me with all that guard stuff.
The captain nodded. "Very well. Throw that armor on, and then talk to me."
I quickly ducked into a room and threw on the heavy iron armor and leather helm. Once it was all on and I was reasonably comfortable, I headed out and returned to the captain.
"We need a guard to work any of the towers." he explained to me. "Is there one in particular that you wish to work at?"
"Yes, sir, the North Tower." I told him.
"Very well." the captain nodded. "Head out of here, make a right, and climb the first stairway on your right that you see. If you spot any trouble, ring the bell nearby. I'll make my way over and we'll see to the threat."
I nodded, and started to make my way out. "Oh, and one more thing." he called out.
The captain tossed me a large, thin rectangular chunk of wood surrounded by iron, with a symbol that I knew of as the symbol of Blockington on it. "New protocols require that all guards carry a shield in their off-hand. Great for blocking arrows and blocking some damage from sword blows."
"Thanks." I thanked, pulling the shield up with my left hand. I soon made my way up the tall tower, and before I knew it, I was in position.
The view up from the top was incredible. I saw only one guard on my right, along the far wall, but they weren't paying much attention to me. Hell, they didn't seem that interested in watching out for attackers.
I leaned the shield along the wall and reached into the bag. Soon enough I found the signal: a regular arrow, with a paper attached to it.
'Welp… I did my part. Let's hope that they can do theirs.' I prayed in my mind. I wrote down a quick message on the paper and quickly released the arrow, watching it fall to the ground.
Snowy POV…
"Is it time yet?" I asked.
"Not yet. Almost…" Diana responded, for the fifth time.
It was very nerve wracking waiting for Master to finish. We had hoped that he would've already given the signal by now, but that wasn't the case.
"What's taking him so long…" Silk mumbled.
"He's gotta be in position any second now." Diana mumbled, carefully watching the edge of the North Tower.
Suddenly, something flew over the side of it, and landing directly in the grass in front of our stakeout point. Gleefully, Silk ran out, grabbed it, and dashed back over to cover.
"An… arrow?" I asked, before I noticed the small piece of paper on it as well.
Diana took the paper and unfurled it. "Okay, he wrote on it… says, 'Guard to my right, probably your left, other than that nothing too big. In position.'"
"That's all the info we need. Let's go." Silk breathed, preparing herself. She and Diana start mumbling to each other, while the other skeletons and spiders started forming groups.
The skeletons quickly claimed a spider each, leaving the last one crawling towards me. I wasn't sure what I was doing at first, until I saw the spider turn around and start to wait patiently.
The other skeletons started riding the spiders, so I assumed I was going to have to do the same. Carefully, as to not hurt the poor thing, I sat down gently on the spider, grabbing on where the skeletons were. It made me a little sick to think about the spider, and how strange it smelled, and the tiny hairs I felt with my hands, and-
"Okay, everyone ready?" Silk asked from behind me. I couldn't turn around to look over, so I had to trust she was ready.
"Yes… please tell me I won't fall…" I moaned, a little scared.
"Oh, not at all. Just keep a good grip on your spider, and whatever you do, DON'T pinch him. He won't like that." Diana told me. I closed my eyes, and slowly nodded.
The spider started moving, right behind the other two skeleton jockeys that started going. We approached the wall, and our spiders started climbing up.
It was, well, nerve-wracking to think that the only thing keeping me from falling was handing on to a spider, but I tried not to let that thought hold onto me. I kept a firm, but not very tight, hold on the spider as we climbed higher, higher, higher…
It seemed like a whole day before we finally reached the window. Carefully, I watched the two skeletons work at opening the window without breaking it, which took another long time. Honestly, I think I was starting to shake at how long we were here, and I could tell my hands were slowly getting tighter on my spider. And sweatier.
Thankfully, they opened the window just before I could fully go panic mode, and we were soon in.
The room was spacious, and really well decorated. Although it was rather dark, I could clearly make out large glass cases all over the place, holding things that blended into the darkness. But the main attraction was right in front of us, with a smaller glass case on a pedestal, holding our prize: the skeleton crown.
I quickly got off, something that both me and my spider were both thankful for. I was REALLY not looking forward to climbing down, especially if we were going to be having to run for it.
The skeletons and spiders soon followed in after. Diana climbed in through the window, followed quickly by Silk, who was rubbing her shoulders.
"How'd you two fare?" I asked, still a little shaky from the climb.
"Nothing we've never done before." Silk replied. "Now, let's get our prize."
Meanwhile, before with Cameron…
Cameron POV…
I was carefully watching over the edge as well as looking like I was looking for trouble. I knew that if I was caught of all people, then this whole thing was done for.
I watched as both of the skeletons, riding on a spider each, quickly started climbing the wall. They were both followed by a rather concerned looking Snowy, who didn't seem like she was having a very fun time clinging to the back of a spider.
'Poor Snowy… just don't look down, and you'll be fine.' I silently urged her. I glanced back behind me for a moment to back sure no one was coming up the stairs to check on me.
I looked back down, and the first thing I noticed…
"Oh… oh my Notch…" I almost started snickering.
Silk and Diana were close behind the rest, but… Diana was sitting on Silk's shoulders, and it look REALLY goofy. Just… I wish I could convey how ridiculous seeing a humanoid spider jockey was. I nearly started cracking up at the sight.
I heard a noise right behind me, someone was climbing the stairs. I turned my attention back to the stairs, and not a moment too soon. The captain of the guard suddenly came up, and saw me standing there. "Anything to report?" he asked.
"No sir." I lied. "Been perfectly quiet up here."
"Good." the captain said, before slowly coming towards me. He started talking in a sort of husky whisper, "You know, I wouldn't have put you here if I didn't think you could handle it, but you seem like the sort of person that can get a job done, no matter the cost."
"What does that mean?" I asked in the same whisper.
"You don't know?" the captain asked, surprised. "We recently dug up some old crown in the ground, and the thing was so unique that we stored it in this very tower. If any other person had come up to me, I wouldn't have given them the job. But you… I know about you. You're a very common traveler around here, and your name has flown around a few times."
"Really?" I asked, starting to grow nervous. If people knew who I was, and word got out that I was working guard duty the night something was stolen…
"But I think that you're the person who gets things done." the captain continued, straightening up. "So just keep an eye out, and if you see anything out of the ordinary, ring the bell. Got it?"
"Yes sir." I agreed, standing at attention. "Um… if I can ask though, was there anything special about that crown you were talking about?"
"Not that I know of. It was attached to some skeleton when we found it, and the moment we took it off the skeleton dissipated into dust. Higher ups think it's worth putting on higher security, but I disagree. It's just a dusty crown."
'That's what you think…' I mumbled in my mind.
The captain soon left. I was left to think about what might be going on down there with Snowy and the others.
'Well… maybe I should focus on how I'm going to escape.' I thought.
I looked back over the edge. I noticed about maybe fifty blocks away, there was a small pond past a tree or two. That was the only water close by, the rest were farther off.
'This isn't good… if I need to leave in a hurry, I'll have to run through the city, and Notch knows that won't work well…' I thought sadly.
"Hey, you aren't panicking yet, are you?" a familiar voice chirped up in my head.
'Aira?' I called out.
"The one and only." she responded smugly. "Now, back to the topic. Have you already forgotten that you have more than just water powers in you?"
'But I thought you said that you wouldn't be able to let me fly.' I reminded her, confused. 'I thought you said that it was physically impossible at the moment.'
"I did. But I never said that you couldn't at least slow down your fall, did I?" Aira told me.
And she carefully started explaining her plan.
Earlier, with Snowy and the others…
Snowy POV…
Diana, Silk, and I approached the crown. It was held in a small glass case, tightly locked with four locks, one on each side.
The crown itself was actually very ordinate now that I could see it clearly. It was, of course, made out of bones, but a lot of the finer detailing was made out of gold, maybe some diamond chips here and there, and I could very clearly make out a sold emerald center piece in the middle of it.
"*sigh*... I was worried about that." Silk murmured.
"About the locks?" I asked.
"Yep." Silk agreed. "Unless we want to start wandering around the entire area looking for small keys to fit into each lock, I say we need to find another way."
"We could always break the glass." Diana offered, not looking like she liked that option. "It'll get us the crown, and we'll be out of here faster than anything else, but…"
"That'll raise more attention than an explosion." Silk murmured. "Not to mention that it's a horribly rough plan 'round the edges."
"Didn't you guys think about this before we came here?" I asked gently.
"We did, but…" Diana admitted. "I'll admit that sometimes we aren't the most organized of people."
Suddenly, I heard footsteps. I began to sweat. "Guys! I hear footsteps coming from down the hall!"
That sent Diana and Silk into a slight panic. They quickly looked around the place, before jumping underneath one of the large displays also present in the room, with me right behind them. The skeletons dove under opposite us, and the spiders climbed up to the ceiling, remaining motionless.
Soon enough, a guard entered the room, and apparently hit something on the wall, because suddenly the room became flooded with light.
"Okay, crown still in place, check…" the guard murmured, the sound of writing on paper following that. "All glass cases locked, check. Hate my job, super check… and finally, key to open cases on person, check."
The guard sighed, and headed for the door. "I swear, they make me do the worst jobs 'round here. When am I gonna see some real action?"
He paused at the door, seemingly entering deep thought.
That was all the motivation Silk needed. In a few seconds, while he stalled at the door, she ran out silently, quickly tapped his shoulder, and dashed under another case.
The guard turned around, looking for who poked him. "Who's there?" he yelled out.
"He's got the key we need…" Diana whispered to me quietly. "We need that key!"
Silk quickly tapped the guard on the shoulder again, this time climbing up the wall to the ceiling just before he could see her.
"If someone's there, show yourself!" he yelled angrily, the unmistakable sound of a sword being drawn ringing into the still air. He reentered the room, pausing just in front of us.
"Leave this to me." Diana mumbled, waiting. In a moment the guard turned around again, and Diana quickly got out from under the case and tapped his shoulder.
"Looking for someone?" she asked. I heard the guard turn around quickly, before a loud sound of something slamming into something else rang out. In moments, the guard fell over to the ground, knocked out by the looks of it.
"All clear." Diana said, sounding slightly… winded? I crawled out of my hidey-hole and stood up. Diana was right next to the case, rubbing her forehead.
I blinked at her. "Did… did you just head-butt him to knock him out?" I asked.
"I was always told I had a bit of a hard head. It worked, didn't it?" Diana argued in her defense. "And once we replace the crowns and lock the case, I'll bet he'll just think he fell asleep on the job."
Silk and the other spiders climbed back down, and the skeletons regrouped back at the door for watch duty. "Okay, now, where's that key…" Silk mumbled, rummaging through some of his pockets.
It took a moment, but soon enough she found the key, in a small pocket hidden on his shirt by his armor. "Got it. Now, who's got the fake?"
A skeleton over by the door creaked up in reply, reaching behind him and pulling out the fake crown from nowhere. "Where was that fake crown before…?" I asked slowly.
The skeleton creaked. Diana translated it as, "Trust him: you're better off just keeping it a mystery."
I shrugged. Diana took the fake crown, almost every bit similar to the crown, right down to the gold, save for the fact that the 'emerald' they used was instead a diamond they dyed green, and waited as Silk quickly tried to unlock the locks.
She seemed to be struggling on most of them. "Some of these- *pant* stupid locks *pant* are stuck or *pant* something." she managed to get out, struggling with the key on the last lock.
"Careful…" Diana murmured gently. "Don't break the key."
Thankfully, Silk managed to unlock the last lock after another second. Carefully, following Diana's word, I carefully lifted the heavy glass covering the crown. Silk took the now unprotected crown, holding it as if it was a piece of TNT that would go off at any second.
"Okay… now, just place the fake down, and-" Silk started to instruct.
Suddenly, I heard more footsteps coming from down the hall. "Oh no… more footsteps!" I breathed.
The skeletons at the door held the door closed. Diana and Silk threw the crowns on the table next to them. It was dead quiet for the count of ten. The footsteps grew louder.
"Oh Notch, oh Notch, oh Notch…" I heard myself saying, before a hand came around and planted it over my mouth.
"Shhh…" Diana's voice hushed, her own breath near silent.
The footsteps were right on top of the door. They stopped for maybe a second. My heart stopped…
And then the footsteps sounded like they were heading the other way.
Once they were far enough, I found myself able to breath again. "That… that was way too close…" I got out.
"I know." Silk breathed, also seemingly frightened. She and Diana picked up a crown each. "Now, let's get that crown in there before anything else can happen."
I turned to Diana and Silk. "Right. So… which one is the fake again?"
"This one." Diana and Silk said at the same time. "No, wait, that one." they corrected.
I literally felt the color drain from my face. "You… you forgot which was which?!"
Silk and Diana seemed to pale as well. "D-don't panic! I-I'm sure we can sort this out!"
They looked at the crown in each of their hands. The piece they focused on was the center piece. One was the real thing, an emerald, and the other was just a painted diamond. Surely it wouldn't be THAT hard to tell the fake apart, right?
"Umm…" Diana slowly stated. "I think this one's the real one."
"You think so?" Silk asked.
"Yeah… this one's center piece is duller than the other one, it looks like." Diana agreed, this time a lot more sure. "I'm almost positive. The diamond, even if was green, would still be a bit more clear."
The skeletons and spider threw nervous glances at each other once the fake crown was put on the pedestal, but they didn't offer anything.
"Okay, put the glass on, lock the glass, and put the key back on that guy. We need to get out of here!" Diana told me. I nodded, and carefully put the glass back over the crown, glad that I was finally rid of that heavy thing.
Silk quickly locked everything back up, and carefully put the key back in the pocket she found it in. "Alright, now, everyone out! Let's go, go, go!"
Diana quickly, yet carefully, stuffed the crown into her bag, and stood to the side as the skeletons and spiders quickly mounted. I quickly got on my spider, holding my breath for one more ride.
The ride back down was quicker, which was nice, because I was looking down the whole time. I swear, the ground looked a LOT closer at the top than it did halfway down.
Thankfully, we got off quickly, and dashed into the safety of the trees.
We… we did it.
"I… I can't believe it." I murmured, finally letting out a sigh of relief I didn't even know I was holding. "We… we did it!"
Diana and Silk seemed to be fully realizing it too. "Yeah… yeah, we did! We got the crown!"
We almost started whooping, until we remember that Master was still up at the top of the tower.
I looked out through the trees. "How are we supposed to let Master know it's safe for him to go?"
Suddenly, a loud bell rung out. Voices started shouting, and even way out here loud footsteps could be heard ringing everywhere.
"Uh-oh… I think they might've found our friend we left knocked out in the tower…" Diana realized.
"We need to get Cameron out of there. NOW." Silk murmured.
Cameron POV…
So, yeah, once I heard the bell ringing, I knew the jig was up.
"Code Z time…!" I muttered. Code Z was a term I read in a book once. It was sort of a plan, I guess. The END of one, anyway. It didn't matter whether the plan was finished, or busted, or maybe both. All that mattered was to get the heck out of there.
Fortunately, I had a plan. Kinda.
I threw the guard's armor into my bag, along with the shield, and quickly stood at the edge of the tower.
"Now or never…" I murmured, and I jumped.
Now, I know what you're probably thinking. "Cameron, that was a very stupid move to just jump of a building!"
And your right. It was.
But like I said: I had a plan.
I concentrated as hard as I could as soon as I jumped. The winds bent to my will, and my freefall to the ground became a much more controlled descent down and forward. I wasn't able to keep a level of concentration to fly, but this would be more than enough.
In moments, I finally landed in the small water lake I had spotted before. The water slowly helped rejuvenate me, and helped calm me down again.
I climbed out of the small lake and quickly made it over to where everyone was waiting. The city still had alarms blaring everywhere, but no one seemed to have seen any of us as we made our escapes. Snowy and the others seemed to be looking up at the tower, I guess waiting for me?
"Hey everyone." I greeted. Everyone present jumped half a foot in the air. "Miss me?"
"Cameron? W-where did you come from?" Diana asked. "How'd you get behind us without us seeing you?"
"And why are you soaked?" Silk asked.
"Well, when the alarms started, I knew better than to just stay put. So, I did what any sane person would do: jump safely into a small lake of water." I explained, which was true.
Diana and Silk blinked at me, looking very surprised. "I… do I even want to dig further…?" Silk asked herself.
"Maybe not right now. Maybe now would be a good time to focus on getting the hell out of here." I asked.
They seemed to agree. As fast as we could, we all started heading for the facility, Silk and Diana leading.
Some time later…
It felt like forever that we walked on the way back. I was on constant alert, half afraid that something would pop out of the trees around us. Fortunately for us, no one came to intercept us.
By the time we arrived at the facility the sun was starting to peek out over the horizon. I wasn't worried about Diana or Silk, but they seemed plenty worried about the skeletons we still had with us.
I, reluctantly, pulled out my blindfold on Silk's request and pulled it on, Snowy following suit. Just as the sun fully rose over the horizon, we entered back into the underground facility, everyone safe.
It was over.
I could hear Diana whispering to the skeletons and spider for a moment while we walked further into the building. I couldn't make must out of it, but I did make out something along the lines of, "show them the prize…"
Soon after she stopped talking I could plainly hear the skeletons and spiders scooting away deeper into the facility. So it was just us four again.
Eventually Diana and Silk pulled us into a room and let us take the blindfolds off. When I did so, I hadn't ever seen a happier face on either of the two.
"We… we did it." Diana breathed, taking out the crown for herself.
"We really did, huh?" Silk asked, stars in her eyes.
Diana carefully placed the crown down on a small table next to us. I… I honestly did feel accomplished.
"Sooo… now that we've held up our end of the bargain…" I started to ask, looking hopeful. "That means we can go home now, right?"
"Almost. Just one more thing." Diana agreed. "We just need to give our leader the crown, appointing him king. We just sent those skeletons and spiders to spread the word of our success to said leader, the one who will accept the crown."
I sighed. Finally, we were going to leave. Finally.
For a moment, no one spoke. Slowly, my happiness at finally leaving sort of… drained out of me. I… I became almost a little sad.
As best as they try to hide it, I could see that Diana and Silk… they seemed a little sad as well. We… we have to leave. Meaning we probably won't see each other again.
Meaning the next time we did meet… it might be as enemies.
After all, this was only a temporary thing.
This was only for ONE job, and that was done. Once we reached home, and they left us… it's done. We don't have to see each other again.
I mean… I guess I kinda considered Diana and Silk friendly enough. Maybe I did think of them as friends. But… would we ever see each other again?
Diana and Silk broke the tension first. "Well… I guess we should go get ready." Diana offered.
"Yeah… we'll be back shortly, okay?" Silk agreed. "Don't go anywhere just yet."
With that, they left. Leaving just me and Snowy to ourselves.
I sighed, and slowly sat down at one of the tables. Snowy sat next to me, looking a little conflicted herself.
"Well… I guess we're finally getting what we wanted." I offered.
"Yeah… we're finally going home." Snowy agreed, trying to sound positive.
I sighed. "You're gonna miss those two too, aren't you?" I asked.
Snowy didn't even try to hide it. "Yeah, I will… I mean, I know that they kidnapped us and everything, but… I can't lie, they've made this whole experience a lot easier on us."
"Yeah… dear Notch, Susie's probably been having a cow over us while we've been gone." I murmured.
"Didn't you write to them?" Snowy asked.
"I did, but still, that was a while ago. I'm not sure how well they took it." I explained.
We sat in silence for a good long time. Finally, Diana and Silk returned, each carrying a small bag each over their shoulders. "Alright, it's time. We give the crown to our leader, they give us the go ahead, and we're taking you out of here." Silk explained.
"Alright… let's get going then, huh?" I asked, grabbing the crown Diana left on the table. I really hoped that this was all we needed, and they hadn't forgotten anything else we needed to steal.
They allowed me to hold it while we walked, so I was able to get a really good look at the thing. For such an apparently powerful object, it just looked like a bone crown. Nothing truly that special.
We kept walking further, and further into the facility. I swear we were walking for miles, always turning around corners, descending or climbing stairs, or sometimes double backing from a dead end.
Finally, I saw where we were heading. A large, fancy set of oak doors stood at the end of the last hall. I was becoming very nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect upon entering.
We all paused in front of the door. Even Silk seemed nervous about entering.
"Okay… you two, just… stay calm, don't do anything stupid, and just listen to us. You understand?" Silk asked.
Snowy and I nodded. Diana took a deep breath, and then slowly opened the door. It opened very slowly, creaking all the way.
Sitting across the room, right in front of the door, was an older looking skeleton. Its bones seemed a little brittle at some joints, and it was definitely missing at least three teeth. Despite that, he seemed in fairly good shape. I could clearly see a large, custom made bow propped up next to him. And unless my eyes were deceiving me, I swear it had the same purple aura that my new bow had around it.
We slowly approached, me and Snowy on either end, Diana and Silk between us. Once we were near the throne, we stopped in place.
Diana bowed her head respectfully. "Old Bones, sir. We have the crown."
That name… 'Old Bones'... where have I heard that before?
"Ah… Diana. Silk. Such youth like yourselves have finally brought us what I wish." the skeleton creaked slowly. That voice… I SWEAR I had heard that voice before.
"Yes sir. We finally found it." Silk agreed, nodding proudly. "It's right here."
Silk gestured to me, and I held the crown up so the skeleton could see it clearly. "Ahhh… finally. The time is now."
I wasn't paying much attention to the skeleton, however. I was trying my hardest to remember why the name Old Bones rang a bell in my head. It didn't make sense…
A nudge from Silk forced me to return. "S-sorry, what?" I asked.
The old skeleton on the throne looked down at me. "I asked you what you were so thoughtful about. Is there something I should know?"
"M-my apologizes." I apologized. "Just… when Diana said your name, I… I couldn't help but think that… I've heard it somewhere before…"
And then suddenly, it clicked.
"Wait a minute… wait a minute…" I mumbled, slowly feeling the reason surface. "Weren't you the skeleton that came to Susie's place last year? The one that needed something to help an elder?"
If the skeleton had eyes, I'm sure they would've widened in surprise. "How do you know of this? That was almost a year ago."
"I… uh… may have been present when you came that day." I answered gently. I suddenly started wishing that I never opened my mouth.
Old Bones gave me a hard stare. "Hmmm…" they hummed. "I would recognize your face on sight, but I've never seen it before… and yet, I do not believe that you are lying."
"I may have been… you know, hiding. To, ah… protect myself." I admitted, looking down at the ground. I was repeating over and over in my head, 'stop asking, please stop asking, please stop asking…'
It was a long time while Old Bones looked at me. Then, they slowly relaxed into their throne. "I suppose it is of no great importance. What is important is that you have the one thing I've sought for ever since I became the leader."
Old Bones leaned forward again. "Give it to me."
Diana started to take the crown from my hands. "No no. The human. I want the human to give it to me."
I cast a nervous glance to the other three. They looked back at me with the same look.
Nevertheless, I slowly walked forward up to Old Bones and presented the crown to them. It's bony fingers slowly took the crown from my hands.
"Thank you, human. Go back to your friends." Old Bones instructed.
I awkwardly stepped back to them, hoping that I didn't do something wrong that I was not aware of.
Old Bones slowly looked over the entire crown, sizing it up carefully. It may have been just me, but I swore that they started to smile. "Ahh… finally."
They focused on the emerald in the center. "Such a valuable piece of art… I'm so glad that you found this when you did. If you had not, the humans might have figured out how it worked, and Lord knows what would've happened then."
I almost agreed, until I became tripped up in Old Bones's wording. "Pardon me, sir, but… Lord? You mean Notch, right?" I asked.
Old Bones looked directly at me. "No, human. Not Notch."
My eyes became the size of dinner plates. I looked over to Silk and Diana and silently asked, 'Did you know of that?'
They shook their heads no, just as confused. EVERYONE worships Notch. It didn't matter if you were a silverfish running in the caves below the surface, you worshiped Notch as the god that he is.
"I must say, the old king had a very keen eye for design…" Old Bones spoke up, looking the crown over one more time. "It is truly a one-of-a-kind-"
They stopped. They saw something.
It was dead silence for nearly ten seconds. Diana finally got the courage to ask, "S-sir?"
"This… this is not the crown." Old Bones stated.
Silk's eyes widened. "P-pardon?"
"I said, this is not the crown." Old Bones repeated, tossing the crown back to me. "Look at the emerald."
I caught the crown and took a second look at the emerald. I suddenly saw it. I've only seen one or two emeralds in my day, but I knew that this wasn't it. It looked like it at a distance, but…
I carefully pried the emerald out and slowly scratched the side of it. Just as I thought, it slowly became more blue the more I scratched it.
"This… this is a diamond, not an emerald." I stated, slowly looking up at Diana and Silk, my face paling. "I thought you two said this was the crown."
"W-w-w-we did!" Diana stammered, paling herself. "W-w-we must've taken the wrong one!"
"Oh no, oh no, oh no…" Snowy slowly started panicking. "I-I knew something was wrong when we grabbed it…"
"Oh Notch…" Silk swore. "S-sir! I promise, just give us till tomorrow, and I promise that we-"
"ENOUGH." Old Bones interrupted. The voice was so loud that it caused all of us to stop talking and focus on the skeleton.
It was quiet for the longest time.
"I knew that you two would've found a way to mess it up." Old Bones berated. "I should've known. Despite everything you've done, you couldn't have messed up any worse than now."
Diana and Silk looked honestly crushed. It seemed like they just died a little on the inside, to have their leader say that to them.
"H-hey, it was probably an accident that could've happened to anyone." I intervened, stepping forward again. "If you just give them a day-"
"You are the last person that should be talking, human." Old Bones interrupted again. "You helped them. You could've realized that it was not the real crown. You should've realized it before."
I was quickly growing angry. "Well sorry, but if you wanted it done you should've done it yourself." I replied.
Diana and Silk looked at me as if I was insane. Old Bones's seemed to falter. He was looking right at me, with rage in its eye sockets.
"Guards! Take these four to the cells." Old Bones yelled.
Skeletons and spiders suddenly flooded in the door behind us. The skeletons all had bows up and ready to fire.
But so was I. Except my bow was in the opposite direction. "Make one move, and Old Bones gets it!" I yelled, my bow pulled back and ready to fire at Old Bones.
"Hold on! Hold on everyone!" Silk yelled to get everyone's attention. "Let's not do something we might regret here!"
"You are the last person that should be saying that, filthy half-human." Old Bones shot back. Silk froze. "Disgraceful mess. I knew the moment we saw you that we should've kicked you and her out."
Silk seemed frozen in place. I suddenly flashed back to her diary. She never said it outright, but… I'm guessing that she got called that more than once back where she used to live.
"It'll be good to get rid of both of you." Old Bones stated. "Finally, only pure of blood will be allowed to be in our facility."
Silk slowly started breaking down. I could see it in her eyes. I became really angry. Silk was not disgraceful. She was a hard-working woman.
"Guards! Take them away!" Old Bones yelled.
The mob behind us took a step forward. I rose my bow up higher. "I said take another step, and Bones gets it!"
They stopped. They seemed reluctant to keep moving. Perhaps it was the purple aura?
"Ugh… if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself…" Old Bones mumbled, reaching for something behind them.
Out of nowhere, Old Bones pulled out an arrow and pulled back their bow. I deftly dodged the arrow that came at me.
"Hah! Missed me!" I taunted.
And then I was tackled to the ground.
"I didn't need to." Old Bones taunted back, as two skeletons tied up my arms. Behind me, I heard similar noises of Diana, Silk, and Snowy all getting tied up and taken away.
"HEY! WE'VE DONE SO MUCH FOR YOU!" Diana yelled.
"You did. But now, you've overstayed your welcome. We'll decide what to do with you later…" Old Bones explained cruelly. "Now, get me more skeletons and spiders that can get the real crown this time.
I was being dragged away, and no amount of thrashing I could muster could shake me free.
One of the skeletons dragging me clattered at me, tossing me into an empty cell, devoid of anything but a dirty, unmade bed and filthy plate in the corner.
They slammed the cell door closed after making sure they took all my stuff as well. Then they shuttered off, leaving me alone.
I was quiet for the longest time. I was still in some form of shock.
Then, a noise to my left made me look over. A small grate in the wall was sliding to the side, and Diana's face stared at me.
"Cameron?" Diana asked.
"Diana? What the hell is going on?! I thought we were getting out of here!" I yelled at her.
"I thought so too! But… I guess we misplaced the crowns. I'm sorry." Diana apologized.
"Where's Snowy and Silk?" I asked.
"Silk's with me. She's… thinking." Diana murmured. "And Snowy's in the next cell over there. I think Old Bones is thinking about what to do with us, none of it pleasant."
"There's gotta be some way to get out of here…" I muttered.
"I've already tried. There's no way to break these doors. And they have rust all over them." Diana whispered.
Diana looked upset at herself. "I'm… I'm so sorry. I never thought we would get you into this mess…"
She slowly started to tear up. "I-I'm… I'm s-so sorry…"
"Hey, hey, hey… calm down…" I gently coaxed, reaching my hands through the small grate. I gently wiped off the tears that were starting to trace her face. "I'll… I'll think of something. Okay? But… but I need you to stay strong. I'll get us out of here. You'll feel the warmth of the sun again."
That last line made Diana fully start crying. I wish we were in the same room, because I wanted to hug her into me to calm her down. But I hoped my gently caressing and soft words were having at least some effect.
Eventually, Diana fully calmed down. "Guh… Thank you… Cameron… thank you for being so kind… I wish we'd never kidnapped you in the first place…"
I gently paused, before smiling comfortingly at her. "I've already forgiven you."
Diana smiled sadly at me. She looked like she wanted to hug me so badly.
"I'll help in any way I can. Just tell me if you need something. Okay?" Diana asked.
"Noted." I accepted.
And so, I started looking around the cell, looking for any way to bust out.
Until I realized something.
My trump card.
My ace in the hole.
My last trick up my sleeve.
I could only hope to Notch above that it would work.
So yeah.
Be honest. How many of you actually expected that last bit to work out like that? I hope I didn't make it too obvious.
Hopefully, the next chapter will be the one to wrap up this little plotline happening, and finally start going into something much deeper.
As always guys, if you want to play MC with me, just PM me with what server, what time, and your in-game username. And… ah, well, for now, I think I might have to close my personal server. Just… for reasons, okay? I promise I'm not restarting it or anything, just… things are happening.
Until next time guys, this is ButterHunter, signing off for the day. I hope to see you next time, and until then, stay awesome. =D
