Chapter 8: Tension

"Felix? What are you doing?"

He jolted at Celia's question, sitting upright so fast his head collided with the dirt wall. She was giving him a quizzical look from where she sat on an opposite end of the tiny cavern. Blake, in a corner, was absentmindedly tracing his hand through the dirt.

"Just looking over some notes," Felix replied, showing her the book he'd been writing in. "I'm trying to figure out how that Usurpation boat's inner mechanisms might've looked."

The pages were covered in arrangements of pistons, slime blocks, observers, and redstone repeaters. He'd spent the better part of an hour drawing out diagrams of how the boat could have been designed, and so far had come up short. The space available was just too limited to fit a mechanism complicated enough to allow precise turning.

"I don't think I know what all of this means," Celia admitted, looking at his drawings with a furrowed brow.

Felix wasn't surprised. Redstone engineering wasn't either of their talents- he himself had only started to learn its intricacies about a month before news of the invasion first came in. "You know, I'm not sure I do either. I'll keep doing my best to decipher it."

"Maybe the Usurpation just has a different kind of piston or something," Blake said.

Celia nodded. "Indeed! You've said yourself their technology is very different than ours. Once we return to the surface, we can tear through the planks to inspect it."

"Wouldn't that risk breaking something?"

"Well, if we're not able to keep moving through the ice anyway, what's the harm?"

Felix repressed a sigh and returned his attention to the book. Whether tense silence or their bickering was worse, he couldn't say. All he knew was he would never be able to get away with talking back to nobility the way Blake was. His new ally came from a place where such things as social classes seemingly didn't exist, and before they'd even made it to Luxmouth the culture clash was rearing its ugly head.

It wasn't as if he didn't understand Blake's disagreement with Celia. She meant well, but was often too impulsive. Felix had for years felt a need to watch how he spoke to her- she was very proud, and one of the most hardheaded people he knew. The last thing he wanted was to incite an argument, especially given their social differences.

"I have to remember my place. I can make suggestions, but the final choice is hers."

He recalled Celia's eleventh birthday, and the last time things had been 'normal' between them. Felix was a year younger, as well as just a common citizen, yet she'd never had a problem with the disparity. For the longest time, they were simply two children- two friends. But after that day, things began to change.

"That's when my construction education began to intensify… and when she started having to learn more duties for her position. We saw less of each other for a while…"

By the time their paths started to cross more frequently, the gap in their statuses had become clear to Felix. And now, seven years later, things remained different between them. She was still his friend, but she was the Countess- and that came first.

"Well I still think we should try and turn back to sneak past the drowned," Blake insisted, just in time for Felix to tune back in.

"We can run across the ice if needed!" Celia countered. "If we backtrack, it will take us longer to get to safety!"

"There's not much point in taking the shorter option if it leads us right to the Usurpation again."

Neither of them had raised their voice much, but their whispers were saturated with exasperation.

"Felix," Blake said, "back me up here. You've just been sitting there-"

"What he's suggesting will only waste our time," Celia cut in. "You agree, yes?"

Sometimes he wished he'd been born as a simple farmer. They never had to deal with things like this.

"I think there's a way we can compromise between your ideas," Felix said. "You're right, Lady Celia, it would be best for us to take the more direct route rather than turn back." He looked to Blake. "But we also don't want to risk running into the Usurpation in the process. I think we could take a small detour northeast before continuing straight ahead. Before we got to the beach near your home, we passed by a village on a small island. It's not too out of the way, and we might be able to get a few more supplies there."

Celia's face brightened. "I remember that, it seemed like a charming little place."

"How do you know we're anywhere near it, though?" asked Blake.

Felix flipped his book to a blank page and drew a small circle on either end of it. "Let's say the left circle is the giant tree, and the right circle is Luxmouth. Lady Celia and I traveled west overseas, stopping every now and then on small islands to rest. The journey took about two weeks overall."

He drew an arrow from right to left between the circles, then added a third one near the leftmost marker. "Three days before we made it, we passed by that village I mentioned. We didn't stop there, but I was sure to keep track of its location. Mind you, that was when we only had rowboats. The ship we stole traveled nearly twice as fast, and we've been following roughly the same trajectory for a day and a half."

Blake's eyes widened. "So you're saying we're in just about the same place now that you were on the way here?"

"Right. And the Genesis Core following us earlier was going directly eastward, meaning we'll be able to slip by undetected if we deviate to the north a little." Felix looked to Celia next. "If that's okay with you."

She only mulled it over for a second. "It's a wonderful plan! You're a genius, Felix."

"That'll work," Blake agreed, "as long as the ice has melted enough for the boat to get through."

Getting to her feet, Celia stared at the dirt above them. "There is only one way to find that out. Shall we resurface?"

Blake stood as well and gripped his shovel. "I guess we've waited long enough. Stand back, you two. It's about to flood in here."

He dug a hole into the ceiling, and water filled the cave in seconds. Felix, pickaxe in hand, swam for the surface. Visibility in water wasn't much of a problem for him- Luxmouth being a port city resulted in ample opportunity to visit the ocean- so he realized almost instantly that the path through the water they'd traversed had been extended.

Felix also realized that the ship was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, no…"

He clambered onto the ice, then helped his companions out of the water.

"The boat is gone…?" Celia asked, still trying to catch her breath.

"I should've known this would happen," Blake grumbled.

The split in the ice continued eastward, until they could no longer see where it led. While there were no signs of the Usurpation nearby, the mid-afternoon sky was of greater concern. Blake was the first to speak up about it.

"We should get moving, boat or no boat. We'll be out in the open once it gets dark."

Celia was attempting to wring out her hair, without much success. "I agree. Are we still heading toward the village?"

"Not much of a choice now," said Blake. "It's either that, or follow the guys who were chasing us. At least we know for sure which way they were headed, so we can avoid 'em."

Felix nodded. "Getting to any kind of land is our best bet. If our pursuer has a Genesis Core that controls ice, we don't want to be stuck here."

"Just a second." Blake was offering Celia a cooked- albeit cold- pork chop and some carrots. When she accepted them, he did the same for Felix. "We'll probably be doing a lot of running, so let's try not to let ourselves go hungry. I just wish I had more time to figure out how best to ration these. Maybe I could eat mine now, or take small bites throughout the hike…"

"He's good at planning ahead," Felix thought as he bit into a carrot, "but he seems to second-guess himself or hesitate a lot. No wonder he's butted heads with Lady Celia already." He grimaced. "That's going to cause more trouble for us, isn't it? Oh boy…"

Soon enough, they were on the move again.

Ray wasn't sure which condition was the worst. His stomach clenched, demanding sustenance. His throat was dry and his breaths raspy from a lack of drinkable water. The sun had oppressively worn on him overhead, its heat making him dizzy. And after nearly two days of rowing, with minimal rest, his arms were numb. He forced himself not to think about the soreness he was in for.

His tracker no longer displayed the Bonemeal Core's coordinates, but they hadn't once deviated from a straight path to the east before he'd lost sight of them. If there was any consolation to how much distance the Inlanders had gained, it would be the presence of Lime and Crimson Squads' shared outpost in that direction.

"They're going to run into Tara's frozen sea sooner or later.

Ray fumbled for one of his few remaining bottles of water, taking the smallest drink he could from it. He then withdrew a book from his inventory, bound in a black leather cover. Its pages were covered in handwritten notes between him and other members of the Usurpation. A shining blue sigil of a hand would magically appear on the cover when two such books were near enough to one another, but that wasn't the case at the moment. His last message was to agent Lime-6, who'd scouted ahead after landing and reported finding the Genesis Core in the woods, right before everything went downhill.

"No messages from Tara, of course. Not that it matters; the Inlanders won't evade her." A sigh escaped him. "She'll get all the credit for apprehending them, too."

He'd never be able to show his face to Commandant Green again- or most other people, for that matter. In the span of a morning, Ray had allowed a Genesis Core to slip through his fingers, been nearly overrun by zombies, lost his team's transport, and lost the team itself. Such an embarrassing display would at best yield him a demotion and a confiscated Grass Core. At worst…

"It doesn't matter what happens to me," he thought glumly. "I deserve it for letting Lime Squad die. They were counting on my leadership, and…"

Inexplicably, a chill ran down his spine for perhaps the tenth time that day. Ray looked over his shoulder, and as usual saw nothing behind him but the sea. Not even the great tree was visible anymore.

"Is it just my imagination? Ever since I killed those big-nosed Inlanders, I've felt like someone's watching me… but that's absurd. There's nobody here."

His stomach clenched again. Worried that he was beginning to experience delirium from hunger, he forced himself to row faster.

The sun had already begun to set by the time Celia could make out the shape of an island in the distance. All of the day's discomforts- the panic as they fled their enemies, being drenched twice, having to hide for several hours in a cramped hole, and the strain of running across the ice- weighed on her, but she refused to let them dampen her spirits.

Not far behind her, Blake spoke up. "Take a look at the ice. There are more and more holes the further we go this way, so we must be reaching the end of the frozen area."

"And, by extension, the end of the Usurpation's territory!" she added. "Felix, your idea worked like a charm."

He was bringing up the rear, and the running had clearly taken its toll. Felix's breaths were heavy and his movements increasingly sluggish. He may not have been out of shape by any means, but he was no athlete.

"Despite his exhaustion, he's never complained. I wonder what keeps him going?"

Celia was just as tired, but she had a responsibility to uphold. Having already been away from home for around two weeks, and with the prospect of a longer-than-expected return journey looming over her, she couldn't afford to slow down. Once the Genesis Core was safely in Luxmouth's care, the efforts she'd gone through to acquire it would pay off.

"Father must be worried sick for me… I do hope he understands my reasoning."

She wasn't so naïve as to not expect a lecture upon returning. It was dangerous, what she'd done. The heir to the noble house of Lumis sneaking out of the city with no security and leaving behind only a note explaining her intentions to travel overseas was, of course, grossly irresponsible under normal circumstances.

"But these times are far from normal. Nobody else could be spared to make the journey, and besides… it may be the last chance I have to-"

Celia forced that train of thought down. This was no time to be selfish, not with the Usurpation hunting for her.

"That's the last of my food," Blake announced as he swallowed a bite of pork. "As in, all of my food. I hope you two have extra rations. Damn, I knew I should've brought more…"

"How much did you have in the first place?" Celia asked.

"Enough to keep me going for a week. I didn't expect the extra company while I was packing."

As if on cue, her stomach growled. She'd eaten the last of her share midway across the ice. "Ah… I believe we are also out of food."

"That's my fault," said Felix. "When we were leaving Luxmouth, I must not have considered just how far we'd be traveling hard enough."

Celia winced- she should have taken that into consideration as well."Maybe the villagers would be willing to sell us some of their crops," she suggested. "Lodging for the night wouldn't go amiss, either."

"I hope they're feeling generous," Blake muttered.

Doing her best to ignore the dwindling morale, Celia led them across the last stretch of ice before they swam the rest of the short way to the beach. She never thought the feeling of sand underfoot would be such a relief. They hadn't arrived a moment too soon, as the last rays of sunlight were beginning to fade over the horizon.

"Who's there?" A male, very nasal voice was calling out to them. The speaker was a villager, warily approaching with an iron hoe held in trembling hands.

Celia gestured to the others to stay back; she could handle this. "Apologies for the disturbance, sir. My companions and I were hoping your town could provide us with a place to stay for the night."

He seemed to calm down as they approached. "Eh? Oh, you aren't Illagers. What're you thinking, sneakin' up on us in the dark?!"

"We've been on the move a lot today," Blake said. "There's not exactly a lot of places to camp out on the ice."

The villager stared, frowning. "You lot were on the frozen sea? Don't suppose that was your doing, was it?"

"Do we look like we're able to freeze over a whole-"

"What he's trying to say," Celia cut in, "is that we had no part in it. The perpetrators are, in fact, enemies of ours. Have you heard of the recent invasion from the north?"

Shifting his stance so the hoe was propped against his shoulder, the villager hummed thoughtfully.

"Enemies, you say. Someone like you came to town yesterday, spouting about gray people who're tryin' to take over the world. We all figured he meant the Illagers. Never heard of a human with gray skin, have you?"

Celia withheld a gasp. "Y-yes, those would be said enemies. We've been attempting to escape them for a few days-"

"There's another human like us here?" asked Blake.

She glanced at him with narrowed eyes. "Excuse me, it's rude to interrupt."

"You interrupted me just a second ago," he replied, a noticeable edge in his tone.

"I am trying to handle the matters of diplomacy here!"

"But you haven't even introduced us, Princess."

The villager cleared his throat, now looking exasperated. "Are you kids gonna keep arguing? I'm not standing out here all night."

Celia turned back to him and apologetically bowed her head. Despite the interruption, she was interested in the same thing as Blake. "Yes, forgive me. We don't wish to waste your time. Do you think you could point us in the direction of this human, if he is still here?"

The villager paused, then shrugged after a moment's consideration. "Sure, he's staying in the church. Big cobblestone building on the outskirts of town, you can't miss it. There should even be a few beds for you to stay the night. Just don't cause any trouble, will you?"

She nodded, smiling. "I swear we will not. Thank you so much!"

With that, the villager turned and shuffled off up the beach. Celia looked to Felix and Blake, not making eye contact with the latter. "Perhaps an ally of Luxmouth is here. If he opposes the Usurpation, then he may have more information on them."

"It's worth a shot," said Felix. "Let's hear him out."

Blake said nothing, but Celia could feel his gaze on the back of her head as she led them into the village proper.

"Why does he have to be so difficult…?"

Tara was dangerously close to becoming annoyed.

Her team's search of the frozen sea had yielded no results, and upon further consideration they had agreed there was no way the three Inlanders would be able to outrun Lime Squad's redstone troop carrier on foot. Crimson Squad was now riding the ship westward back toward their outpost, having abandoned their search to the east. Their targets, essentially, had escaped and taken their knowledge of Lime Squad's fate with them. Whether or not they had stolen the light Grass Core was also indeterminate.

"I refuse to believe Ray would have been THAT much of a failure. Until we apprehend the thieves, however, I have no way to know for certain. He took the tracking map with him."

She frowned. Why hadn't her superiors in the Expansion Division or Ray's in the Industrial Division thought to provide each team with a map?

"Lady Tara," one trooper announced, "Crimsons 2 through 9 are still at the tower, closer to Lime Squad's last known position. Is a search party in order?"

"Not until our own carrier's repairs are complete," she said. "It seems the tridents those undead wielded caused more damage to our engines than expected while we were establishing our outpost."

Tara didn't like to recall that little oversight on her part. Apparently, underestimating the watery undead was a distinct possibility. Still… at least her team's ship hadn't been stolen. She wouldn't share in Ray's incompetence.

"Either the Inlanders submitted themselves to a watery grave beneath my ice, or…"

She recalled Crimson Squad's voyage to that region. The ocean was vast, and there were precious few areas of solid ground amidst the sea. Only one came to mind: a small island their vessels had spotted in the distance several days prior. Even from afar, she'd made out the silhouettes of buildings. A village of the large-nosed Inlanders, no doubt.

"Divert our course northward," she announced. "We are going to inspect the island we initially bypassed."

"Diverting," Crimson-17, standing at the controls, replied.

Crimson-14 peered into the distance as the ship turned. "If I may ask, Lady Tara, what makes you think the escapees are headed that way?"

She stared ahead with him, her eyes firm. "If the Inlanders did not drown, but kept running straight ahead, they would have begun to starve before long. Assuming they still live, their only place to rest would be in that village."

Tara split a path in the ice to the north, fully prepared to rectify her previous mistake- as well as Ray's presumably embarrassing failure.