Chapter 10: Changing Plans
Felix, clutching his leather helmet to his chest, looked between the window and his allies.
"There's a lot of them out there. And I'd guess that one with the ice block is responsible for the frozen ocean," he thought.
Ember placed cobblestone blocks in front of the door and the windows. Not much of a barricade, Felix knew, but at least they wouldn't be seen from outside.
"But I doubt it'll stop the Usurpation from wanting to take a look over here. And if the villagers tell them about us…"
"Everyone, follow me downstairs," Ember said aloud. "Our way outta here will be ready soon."
He exposed the hidden ladder and descended under the floor. Celia went after him first, then Blake. Felix entered last, covering the hole on his way. As he climbed down, a spine-chilling noise echoed around him. Long and droning yet airy like a whisper, the sound filled him with a silent dread.
The crevice they found themselves in at the bottom was even more cramped than their hiding spot under the seafloor. Most of the space was taken up by a rectangular structure five blocks tall, made of black, smooth rocks. Though the center was hollow, it wasn't empty; a purple mass swirled lazily, through which the eerie sound emanated.
"I've never seen a Nether portal in person…" Celia murmured. Felix saw her eyes trembling at the sight, yet she didn't seem capable of looking away either.
"You guys haven't ever been there before?" Ember asked, looking through another chest beside the obsidian ring.
"I have," said Blake. "That was a long time ago, though. I wasn't a fan of the zombie pig-people constantly watching me, so I never went back that much."
Felix raised a hand. "I've been there too, to collect materials. But I don't see how entering this portal is going to do more than temporarily get us out of the Usurpation's sight; it's dangerous in there."
Ember shut the chest and returned it to his inventory, turning to them. "You don't know how it- actually, never mind. I can explain what we're doing on the way. For now, you'll just have to put these on." He held out three pairs of boots covered in gold plate armor. For himself, he donned a golden helmet.
"What're these for?" Blake asked.
"I told you, we can talk about that on the way. Hurry up!"
Felix blinked. The significance of golden armor in the Nether was practically common sense for anyone even a little interested in adventuring; yet Blake wasn't aware?
"Even Lady Celia knows that. Maybe he just never stayed long enough to encounter the LIVING locals..."
Abandoning that train of thought for the moment, Felix put on a pair of the boots. They weren't comfortable, but they would suffice.
"Everyone's ready," Ember said, "so follow me. We'll be able to meet some backup inside; they're on their way to get us."
As he turned to enter the portal, however, Celia spoke up. "Hold for a moment. Wait…"
All eyes were on her. Felix could see a familiar conflicted look on her face.
"Is there a problem?" asked Ember, now beginning to sound impatient.
"We can't go," she said. "What about the villagers?"
Felix winced, anticipating the imminent argument.
"What about us?" Ember practically shouted. "If we stick around, we're dead!"
"I cannot just leave them to the mercy of the Usurpation!"
"Actually?" Blake cut in. "I'm with her. I'd never forgive myself if the villagers got killed while I got away."
He withheld a gasp. Ember's jaw, meanwhile, visibly tightened. "You can't be serious. If you don't get away, you'll die and the goons out there will have another Genesis Core in their pockets. Do you actually think you can take 'em on?"
Felix crossed his arms, thinking. "Maybe we don't have to. If we could just lead the Usurpation away from the town, the villagers will be safe. Then we can work our way back to you under their noses and escape."
Blake and Celia briefly stole a glance at one another, and Felix could see a flicker of appreciation on both their faces. Despite how dire the situation was, it made him feel a bit better that they were cooperating.
"I hate to tell you, but they're gonna enslave everyone here," Ember said. His voice had lowered with some effort, like he was trying to resist shouting again. "The Usurpation doesn't leave people alone even if they don't have what they want, I've seen them sweep over too many towns not to know that. Our best bet is to just escape while we can."
Celia looked at the ladder again. "I understand your concerns. I'm also concerned. But our enemies have come here because of us, and we have to do what we can to make things right."
"You can go to meet your people in the Nether," Felix said, "and help the villagers escape while we lead the Usurpation on a chase. We don't think they have a Genesis Core tracker, so we'll find a good place to hide until they pass. By the time they realize what happened, we can be back here and make our getaway."
Ember looked between the three of them, his mouth flapping. "You're… you're all crazy-"
Composing himself, he gave a deep sigh. "Ugh… fine, I'll get to work on that. You'd better not get yourselves killed in the meantime, okay? Good luck."
With that, he leaped through the purple miasma and was gone.
"Let's get back to the surface," Blake said, already starting up the ladder. "We'll want a good head start before they start chasing us."
"Right behind you!" Celia chirped. "We've evaded the Usurpation before, and we'll do it again."
As he climbed after them, Felix couldn't resist smiling just a little.
Blake listened closely at the top of the ladder, right under the church's cobblestone floor. Once he felt confident nobody was shuffling inside the building, he broke through the stone covering the ladder with his wooden pickaxe. Unfortunately, he would get no more use out of the tool, as a moment afterwards its head snapped off.
The three emerged from the ladder shaft and covered the hole behind them.
"Uh…" Blake began. "Crap. I just noticed a problem with our plan. It's not a very big island, so where are we gonna lead the Usurpation?"
"There's another one nearby," said Felix. "It'd require wading through the shallows, but we can make it if we hurry. There's even a small forest where we could lose them."
Blake mulled it over, then equipped his shovel. It was damaged, but would hopefully last just long enough for one more impromptu cave. "Once we're there, we can wait underground while they pass us by. Let's just hope they haven't figured out that trick after the first time."
Felix, suddenly looking troubled, removed his leather armor and presented the pieces to his friend. "Lady Celia, please wear these for now. I'll feel more comfortable if you have the extra protection."
Although she gave him an uncertain look, she donned the gear regardless.
"Nothing for me?" Blake quipped.
"You've already got new golden boots. Do you also want mine?" replied Felix with a brief grin. "I don't think you can put on two pairs."
"Maybe I'll wear them on my hands."
Celia laughed, adjusting the helmet. "Not that I don't enjoy innovative ideas of fashion, but we should be going now. I would love to hear your ideas in more detail some other time, Blake."
"Let's make sure we don't die first, okay?" he said.
With their joking over, Felix broke out a bit of the back wall with his pickaxe and took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing. Let's move."
The three crept out from the church, keeping it between them and the Usurpation's line of sight as much as possible on their way out of town. Blake took the lead, and as he walked a flurry of questions rattled off in his head.
"These ones don't know I've got the Bonemeal Core, right? Or that Celia's important? What if they DO catch up to us? Are we gonna be kept prisoner? Enslaved like Ember said? Or…"
He gulped. Maybe considering every possible option wasn't the best idea at present.
It didn't take long for them to reach the shore opposite where they arrived. Like Felix had claimed, another island was visible beyond a stretch of shallow water, just a few chunks away.
"Their leader appeared to control ice," Celia mused, "so we should only get their attention once we are nearly across. The last thing we want is to engage her amidst all this water."
Blake could make out the edge of the aforementioned forest on the island, and a satisfied warmth spread through him at the sight- the terrain would be in his favor this time. "I'm sure I can do something to help us in the woods. Maybe I'll grow a bunch of trees like a barricade, or have the grass grow tall enough that we can hide in it."
They had begun to trek across the shallows, and every sloshing footstep they took made Blake cringe at the thought of the Usurpation hearing them, even from such a distance. He cringed more, however, at Celia's sudden exclamation behind him. "Absolutely not. If you reveal your possession of a Genesis Core, your death will be their top priority!"
"And if I don't use its power," he replied, "you could get captured. Or worse. For all we know, they'll just kill us all anyway!"
"Keep your voice down!" Celia whispered, her own voice more hissing than hushed. "If they hear us too soon, we may have no choice but to find out their intentions firsthand!"
Blake's eyes narrowed. "You're the one who had to cut in first. I had a plan in the works, and then you just had to-"
"HEY!"
Any annoyance he felt evaporated, and based on Celia's stark-white face the shrill, raspy yell had a similar effect on her. With his heart rate seemingly dead in its tracks, Blake turned back toward the village to see a black-cloaked person pointing to them from the shore.
"RUNNERS!" he shrieked again, beckoning for the rest of the Usurpation squad to join him.
"They'll be on us in seconds!" Blake yelped, abandoning all attempts at stealth and galloping as fast as he could through the water.
"Too soon! It's too soon!" Celia cried.
They closed the distance in a frantic dash, scrambling onto the shores of the forested island. Somewhere behind them, a loud crackling noise emanated and a chill spread through the air.
"Okay, we're at least out of the water now. Once we're deeper into the woods, I can dig us a hole and we'll be out of sight."
"NO!"
This time, the shriek came from Celia. Blake looked over his shoulder to find she'd stopped running right at the forest's edge, both hands over her mouth. His already shaky confidence bottomed out in one fell swoop at the sight of Felix still in the middle of the shallows, frozen up to his chest with just one arm and his head free. Behind him, a long trail of ice led back to the village beach, and at its origin stood a nigh motionless Usurper, her gaze locked directly onto him.
The cloaked lackeys ran across the ice toward Felix, who Blake noted wasn't visibly struggling to escape. Rather, he had his eyes on him and Celia, and with his free hand he made a repeated gesture toward the woods.
"He wants us to keep going," he realized.
"No! We are not-!"
Ignoring Celia's protest, Blake grabbed her arm and half-dragged her with him into the trees.
"Be safe, you two. Just get away from here."
Felix didn't even have time to try and break the ice before he found himself flanked by the black-garbed Usurpers. There were thirteen in total, all wearing similar tattered cloaks. Now that he was close enough, he realized the disheveled uniforms were in fact worn over thin-looking armored chestplates, made of a strange, dull red material.
"It doesn't look like dyed leather, and it's definitely not diamond or Netherite. But it's also not like any metal I've ever seen…"
A few of them could be heard chuckling beneath their bandanas as the group's leader stepped in front of him. Despite the frost coating her hands, she showed no signs of discomfort. The woman's age was hard to guess, but she stood nearly a head taller than Felix. Her long, black hair was tied in a ponytail, leaving nothing to hide her face but her own bandana.
As she looked him over, he wished he couldn't have met her gaze directly. Calling her eyes "soulless" didn't do them justice; it looked more like a pair of off-white voids had sunken into her light gray face. Bizarre as it was, Felix almost missed Ray's open hostility. This Usurper showed no visible expression whatsoever, yet somehow came across ten times as unsettling.
"Lady Tara, should we pursue the others?" one of the grunts asked.
After another moment of silently staring through him, the leader spoke. "Troopers Crimson-17, 18, 19, and 20, search for them. Troopers Crimson-9 and 10 will remain with me. The rest of you, secure a perimeter around the village."
Her voice might have sounded about as emotional as a zombie's, except they at least had the excuse of being undead. At her monotonous command, four of the group drew curved iron blades and waded off after Celia and Blake. Six others walked past Felix, while the last two stood on either side of him.
"You've led us on quite the chase, Inlander," Tara continued. "And I hear you gave Sir Ray more trouble than he was apparently able to deal with."
"Why do all of you call us that?" he asked.
"Inlander? It's what you are. You live here, in the relative peace of this realm. This world is sheltering and nurturing, not chaotic and desolate like our home."
Felix paused. If he could get her talking, his friends might have gained more time to escape her clutches. "Where are you from? You just… showed up one day, with an army-"
The ice blocks encasing most of his body shifted, trapping him in an even tighter space.
"I am under no obligation to answer your questions," Tara said. "Now, tell me where your companions plan on fleeing to."
"I… I don't know. When we tried to sneak out, they just ran off on me."Putting on his best "despaired" face, he tried to make his voice shakier. "T-they must've known I'd be the easiest to catch, so they left me behind while they got away. Maybe they'd been planning on it for a while…"
Tara's eyes narrowed. "I find that difficult to believe. My troopers inform me you were the one piloting Lime Squad's carrier; you must have had some use to the other two." She looked at his head, then at his chest. "Hm. I was also told you would be wearing brown armor. Neither of your companions share your hair color, so Sir Ray's report of an Inlander with yellow hair could only be referring to you."
Felix's heart sank. How could Ray have gotten in contact with this group if he'd been left overseas? They'd taken his carrier, and although they'd left behind the rowboats there was no way he could have caught up fast enough in one of those to confer with his accomplices.
"Right…?"
"Lady Tara," one of the two remaining troopers, the shrill-voiced man who'd spotted them, said. "I saw the redhead you instructed us to capture wearing a helmet and chestplate similar to that description."
"Curious," she replied. "Did you give her your armor willingly? Are you a friend of the one calling herself the Duke's daughter?"
He felt himself turn a shade paler, at the sight of which Tara hummed. "I will take that as a yes. Sir Ray claims the girl identified herself as a figure of great importance to our enemies, you know. He also says your ally with the darker skin possesses a Genesis Core."
Tara cleared her throat rather harshly, as if to hide a chuckle. With a brief hand motion, the ice around Felix cracked apart and her henchmen grabbed him by the arms before he could slip on the frozen stretch of water.
"Bring him into the village. Ensure he is visible in the open. If he attempts to draw a weapon, sever the hand wielding it," she instructed.
"If this one's not important, Lady Tara, why don't we just kill him?" the other trooper asked.
She was already stepping past him as she responded. "Because his friends will return for him soon enough. And when they do, they will be ours."
"No! Let go of me!"
Celia's frantic attempts to break free of Blake's grip only resulted in her nearly stumbling every time. With how fast he was pulling her along, it was hard enough to keep her footing, and the bottomless panic burrowing into her mind only made the lack of composure worse.
"We left Felix behind…! We left him at the mercy of the Usurpation! No, no, no, I can't lose him like this!"
Blake didn't even let go of her wrist when he started to dig beneath a short oak tree some ways into the forest. The stubborn refusal to loosen his hold offered something on which to focus her grief, which had now morphed into white-hot fury. In defiance of every lesson in professionalism she'd been taught in her life, Celia drew her iron sword in her free hand and leveled it toward him.
"I. Said. LET. GO!"
Daring to look alarmed at the threat, Blake finally released her hand. However, he didn't stop digging even as he voiced his displeasure. "Are you crazy?!" he growled. "What do you think you're pointing that at me for?"
"You've caused us nothing but trouble ever since we met you!" Celia shot back. In an instant, all of her frustrations were boiling over at once. "You doubt every idea I suggest while second-guessing most of your own, and-"
Their pursuers' voices emanated from the edge of the forest, shouting instructions to fan out to one another. She made out four distinct speakers, but couldn't pay them any more mind before Blake dragged her forward, into the cramped hole with him. When he plugged the entrance with a dirt block, the hideaway became pitch black; there was no space to light a torch.
"How- how DARE you?" she sputtered. "Is your plan to hide here and hope the Usurpation passes us by altogether? Did you…"
Celia gasped. "Did you know Felix would be captured?! Was he the bait for your getaway?!"
"No," Blake said. "None of this was supposed to happen."
As quickly as she'd flared up, she went quiet. His tone was... unexpectedly somber, this time without the hostile edge she'd grown semi-accustomed to.
"I really did, for once, think the plan was foolproof," he continued, "and we'd lead the Usurpation away without a hitch. I thought it'd go perfectly, letting everyone escape. But it didn't. And because it didn't, Felix got caught."
Her eyes stung. She couldn't see anything, but his breath audibly caught in his throat. "Look, Princess."
"Cou-"
"Countess, sorry. I know we haven't gotten along much. I bet how I grew up is nothing like how you did, and I'll admit I don't understand anything about nobility or how I should act around it."
"Where are you going with this…?"
Blake heaved a sigh. "We're just… different. Different in how we think, and act, and plan ahead. And it doesn't help that you and Felix are some of the first people I've really talked to in a long time. So let's just say I'd probably have trouble socializing with anyone."
She frowned. "I still don't see your point."
"Fine, here it is: I won't lie, I keep thinking you're a pain in the ass to deal with. But… recently, I wondered if I might not have been making it any easier for us to get along."
Celia forced herself not to blurt out an agreement. As frustrating as he was to work with, she was willing to hear him out.
"You rush headlong into the unknown without planning enough," he continued. "You never think the consequences of your decisions all the way through. But maybe I… wish I could think just a little more like you do." Blake sighed again. "You were right yesterday. I do hesitate on a lot of things. I focus on the small details more than I probably should, and it's caused me trouble in the past- and the present."
She sniffed. "It's really no wonder we've had such difficulty agreeing... Felix has kept us in line, hasn't he?"
"I think he's just good at finding a solution with what's given to him," Blake said. "Too bad that all we've 'given' him are arguments to deal with."
"And it's because of our bickering that he was captured. We alerted the Usurpation to our presence too soon," Celia mumbled.
Had she not compulsively criticized his suggestion at the time, things would have turned out differently. She wiped a few tears out of her eyes, then gave up maintaining composure and sank her face into her palms.
"…what have I done?"
A few moments passed without another word. Only Blake's occasional shaky breath and her stifled sobs filled the cramped space.
"I'm going to save him," she eventually said. "I know the risks involved. I understand what's at stake if I fail. But I have to try. It's not as if we can escape by ourselves in any case."
Blake took a deep breath. "I guess so. Our odds don't look good no matter what we do, and we have no idea when Ember's going to get back. The best we can do is try and rescue your boyfriend."
She blinked. "He is not-"
"Kidding, kidding," Blake said. "Still, though. It's our fault he got captured. If you're gonna try and rescue him, I've got your back."
It was too dark for him to see, but a smile had come to Celia. She wiped her eyes one last time before replying. "Thank you. We will need a plan, though; our odds against at least ten Usurpers in direct combat don't instill much confidence."
"Tell me about it. Thanks to the leader's ice powers, we'll also have to make sure we don't fight her near the water."
Celia perked up. "Maybe we can fight them here? You said you'd be more effective in the forest, where the Bonemeal Core has an advantage. They may outnumber us, but we can use the environment against them."
"That would work," Blake said, "but it hinged on all of the Usurpation chasing us here. Only a few of them actually followed us across the shallows."
She could hear the uncertainty in his voice. This time, however, she didn't let herself become irritated. At that moment, meeting each other halfway was more critical than ever.
"Doesn't that make it even easier for us? We need only deal with a few of them at a time, rather than the entire group."
"That's not the point," he replied. "Sure, whoever chased us might be easy to take on, but I don't think the leader is among them. I'd bet you anything she's still at the village, waiting for us to try and get through the water to reach her. When we do, we'll be on her turf."
Her enthusiasm faltered. "You're right. It's not as if we can remove the ocean as a factor, either."
"Well, if we had enough dirt, or dug a trench to empty it all out somewhere underground…"
Blake was muttering to himself, continuing that train of thought. He didn't stop until Celia softly cleared her throat, at which point he clammed up and only said a brief, awkward apology.
"Removing the ocean is impractical, if not impossible," she said, "but I may have an idea in a similar vein. If we cannot bring the leader into the forest, perhaps we can turn the concept around?"
This time, he didn't chime in with a problem, but an offer. An offer which made her smile again.
"…okay, Countess. Tell me what you've got in mind."
"Sir Ray. We will reach Lady Tara's position soon. Be prepared to assist as per her instruction."
Trooper Crimson-2 stood behind him, delivering the report in a tone that almost sounded bored.
"Noted," he muttered, his voice still raspy. Ray took another swig from one of the water bottles he'd been provided, gulping it down hard.
Footsteps suggested Tara's peon had walked away. No other words were spoken, but it wasn't hard to identify the disdain with which Crimson Squad was looking at him.
"Pretentious idiots…"
Two days of rowing had brought Ray to the cobblestone outpost of their shared investigation group. He'd all but dragged himself across the ice, starved and dehydrated, until the Usurpers Tara had left behind took him in for recovery. Weak, exhausted, and operating on instinct alone, Ray had even heard one of them remark how he looked like a drowned zombie. He'd explained what had happened once he was in a fit state to talk again, then contacted Tara herself to relay his warning of the Inlanders.
Since then, repairs on Crimson Squad's larger naval carrier had been completed, and he now found himself on the deck, waiting to catch up.
"Those three were cleverer than I expected. I wonder how she'll handle it… ugh, who am I kidding?"
He scowled. There wasn't much mystery about it. Among fellow squads in the Expansion Division, and even in the Industrial Division where he worked, Tara's emotionless, dismissive responses to everything were infamous. Being partnered up with the Ice Queen herself was known to cripple morale, a fact made infuriating when he considered he would soon witness her success.
"Apprehending the Inlanders is her ticket to a promotion, meanwhile it'll be a miracle if I'm even allowed to keep the Grass Core. Why does SHE get to be the successful one? She didn't put herself in any danger at all!"
Ray's thoughts once more turned to the lost members of Lime Squad, and his heart sank. He leaned over the railing, watching the seafloor pass by below. They were taking a route around the frozen ocean, toward the island they'd discussed. The sun was high, reflecting off the water with bright shimmers, and the sight momentarily raised his spirits again.
"…the Inland is beautiful, I won't lie. Once we've overtaken it, well… then all our struggles will pay off. Lime Squad's deaths won't be in vain, no matter what happens to me."
As the carrier continued moving, he glanced over his shoulder again. A few members of Crimson Squad were staring at him, no doubt dwelling on his failure compared to their own illustrious leader, but that wasn't what concerned Ray.
The feeling of being watched by some other force was still there.