CHRONICLE
BOOK ONE: LYDIA
PART ONE: OUT OF THE GOLDEN CITY
Chapter Two, Riot
When Hanna was born, Jonas had a very important conversation with Herobrine that he didn't tell Lydia about until years after. Herobrine called him aside at his workplace one day just as the sun was beginning to set and everyone was going home.
"You know that the dissent is only getting worse," Herobrine began, and Jonas nodded cautiously. His wife had told him about the bands of bandits and the rogue nations that were rising up outside the great cities.
"I want to tell you now while there is still time that my brother and I have had a plan to deal with this for some time. I haven't wanted to use it, but...I'm beginning to think that I have no choice. Jonas swallowed.
"What is this... plan?" he asked. Herobrine grinned mirthlessly and looked away, gazing over the unfinished hall.
"I understand your anxiety, old friend," Herobrine said. "You have a newborn child, after all, and a wife with a dangerous occupation. More so these days." Herobrine turned to face Jonas. "The rogues are killing people, Jonas. Each other, and people within my cities and places where my shrines are put up. They are evil, and they must be punished." He turned away again. "I just don't want to do it until I must."
"What are you going to do?" Jonas asked, moving closer to Herobrine. Herobrine looked over his shoulder.
"I cannot tell you yet, but I swear to you, you and your family will be safe. For as long as you remain loyal to the ways of goodness, no harm will come to you by my doing. I must let my people know that evil cannot go unpunished. That is all."
Jonas bowed and turned to leave.
"Take care, Jonas," Herobrine called as he left.
Hanna grew quickly over the next few years. She was what they would call a very happy baby, always giggling and bouncing and moving around until she, at last, wore herself out and fell asleep wherever she ended up. Alayne would then pick her up and carry her to the crib in the master bedroom, staying by it and rocking it while singing a soft lullaby. Lydia would listen from the doorway.
Alayne had a low, husky voice that had a crackling undertone, as one who had shouted too much in her lifetime. But when she sang, Lydia thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. When she sang, her voice was smooth and breathy, like a whispered secret. When Hanna finally stopped waking up and wailing whenever Alayne turned away, Lydia's mother would at last stand up and see Lydia standing there, watching her with those big blue eyes, and smile.
When Hanna could stand and walk around on her own, she became much quieter and more watchful. She would especially watch Lydia, and try to imitate the way her big sister did things. When Lydia sat down in a chair at the kitchen table to write in her green diary, Hanna would go up to a chair and try to pull herself into it and sit the same way. Her first word was "up", when she was calling for Lydia to pick her up and put her in the chair.
From that day on, Hanna never left Lydia's side, not for one moment. Alayne decided it was time to let Hanna move into Lydia's room, and Jonas built a bed for her to put right next to Lydia's. It was put in place on Lydia's ninth birthday.
Lydia, of course, wrote it all down in her diary.
For a time, Hanna would watch Lydia with her dark, curious eyes and ask her what she was doing with the green leather-bound book. Lydia smiled.
"It's my diary," she explained. Hanna didn't understand. "I write things in it that I want to remember. I have some stories in here- do you want me to tell them to you?" That got Hanna's attention and instant approval.
Later, Jonas walked by the girl's room and stopped at the closed door when he heard Lydia's voice. It took him a moment to realize that she was telling her little sister the very bedtime stories that he had told her when she was younger. His heart swelled with emotion, and he smiled broadly, continuing on his way as quietly as he could.
Little Hanna was four when she made up her mind to meet Herobrine.
Jonas had taken some convincing before he finally consented. Hanna had come to him day after day, begging him to let her meet the mysterious man at his workplace that Lydia had told her about. Jonas, thinking of things that his girls didn't know about, refused, but it got harder each time. At last, he called Lydia down to speak with him. Lydia was eleven at the time.
"Lydia, honey, how much have you been telling Hanna?" Jonas asked as he sat Lydia down at the table. Lydia looked up at him with an expression of confusion.
"I've just been telling her the stories," she answered, and Jonas shook his head and sat down, running his hands through his sandy-colored hair. "And about that time you took me to work," she amended.
"Listen," he began, "I need you to know that things right now aren't the same as they were when I took you. I can't take someone Hanna's age to the site. It just isn't safe."
"I could come with her," Lydia protested. "I'll watch out for her, I promise!" Jonas realized what his daughter meant.
"You wanted to see him again, too," he said, and Lydia slowly nodded, looking abashed and glancing away.
"Look at me," Jonas ordered, and Lydia complied. "I love you. I just want to keep you and your sister safe. It's okay to want to see him again. Lord Herobrine is a good man, and a gracious god. But there are other people that live in that part of the city that are very bad people. They want to destroy what Herobrine is doing for us, and they don't like those of us that support him. I'm worried that they might hurt you." Lydia opened her mouth to protest.
"No, Lydia. I can't have any arguments. I won't take you and Hanna to come with me because it isn't safe. I could never, ever forgive myself if anything ever happened to either of you. Please, Lydia, try to understand." The girl's slender shoulders slumped. "Do you understand?"
"I understand," Lydia answered glumly, and she got up from the table and went back up the stairs to her room to tell Hanna.
But Alayne heard the entire conversation.
"Darling, you don't have to take them on site. I can arrange something." Alayne offered. Jonas looked up.
"What do you mean? You can't possibly-"
"Jonas, there's always the break day. No one will be on site, and Lord Herobrine will have no reason to be there. I've talked to him. He's willing to come to the gardens for a day to meet the girls."
Jonas's eyes widened, and he shook his head and laughed.
"I knew there was a reason I married you," he said as he stood up from the table. "When did you speak with him, exactly?"
"As a ranger of the city of Luminara, I often have guard duty at the south end of the King's Hall construction site." Alayne said in a mock-pompous tone. "I had the honor of speaking to him when he was taking a stroll by the wall. I've been listening to Hanna begging this long- when else will she get the chance?" Jonas stepped closer to Alayne and caressed her face.
"Thank you," Jonas said meaningfully, and kissed his wife.
It was a beautiful day when the entire house packed up a picnic meal and traveled to the gardens. Lydia rode with her father, riding behind him this time instead of in front on the great chestnut horse. Hanna rode with Alayne on her sleek white mare, in front of her mother holding tight to the saddle horn. Lydia turned to watch them every so often where they rode behind her and her father, and Hanna would silently stare back at her with her dark eyes full of terror. She had never ridden a horse before then.
Neither of the girls knew what was really planned for that day until they stopped at the green at the center of the gardens and tied the horses to the post. Herobrine appeared from behind a tree, and Lydia and Hanna immediately took off running for him. Herobrine pantomimed surprise at seeing them and roared with laughter as the two girls attacked, letting them drag him to the ground.
Alayne was there in an instant, but she didn't move to rescue Herobrine from her daughters. Jonas finished tying the horses' leads before coming, guffawing at the scene. Eventually, Lydia let up and stood, backing away from the immortal. Hanna rolled off long enough to let Herobrine stand, and then immediately reached up, hopping up and down.
"Up!" she squealed, and Herobrine looked between the four-year-old and her father. Jonas shrugged, motioning for him to go ahead. Herobrine grasped Hanna below the shoulders and lifted her up in the air, swinging her around as she laughed aloud with delight. After a few spins, he set Hanna back on her feet and examined her closely.
"You must be Hanna," Herobrine said, holding her tiny hand in his. "You have your mother's eyes. How old are you now?"
"Four!" Hanna said excitedly, accidentally holding up three fingers. Herobrine grinned.
"I don't think that's enough fingers there," he said, and Hanna looked at her hand in embarrassment. Blushing, she fiddled with her hand for a moment and held up four fingers. "There you go." Lifting the child again, he deposited her into Alayne's waiting arms.
"And I remember you," he said, addressing Lydia. "It's been a long while, Lydia. You've grown."
"Thank you," Lydia said, still slightly shy.
Herobrine joined the family for the picnic that day, sitting cross-legged between the two daughters of Jonas. When Alayne reprimanded Lydia for chewing with her mouth open, Herobrine slouched and said "Yes, mother," submissively as if she were speaking to him. Both the girls exploded into laughter. Alayne was not amused. She fearlessly gave Herobrine a withering glare.
"Don't you dare give them any bad ideas," she warned, and Herobrine nodded gracefully, glancing at the girls.
After they ate lunch that day, Alayne and Jonas let their daughters run around and play with Herobrine for several hours into the afternoon, until both of them were thoroughly worn out and ready to go home. Hannah fell asleep in Herobrine's arms, and Lydia slumped against her father.
"Bedtime," Herobrine said in a singsong voice, giving Alayne a knowing smile as he passed the child up to her mother seated on her white mare. Alayne returned the smile as she secured her daughter on the saddle.
But just as Lydia was carefully mounting behind her father, a ruckus broke out from behind the tree line in the garden. Jonas's horse pranced several steps, knocking Lydia off of her tentative foothold in the stirrup. She fell to the ground with a short scream, rolling away from the horse's hooves. Jonas looked at the figures coming from the trees in terror, glancing back at his wife and children.
"Is this...?" Jonas didn't finish his question. An arrow flew out of the woods, coming towards his horse. Herobrine leaped into the arrow's path and stopped it with a blast of fire, turning it to a puff of dust. Then he whirled around and helped Lydia to her feet, and pushed her up onto the horse behind her father without missing a beat.
"Get out of here!" Herobrine shouted. Then he turned to face the oncoming people. "It's turning out worse than I thought," he muttered under his breath.
Jonas and Alayne exchanged glances and slapped the reigns on their steeds. They galloped away without glancing back, trusting Herobrine.
"What's going on?" Lydia asked, clinging to her father fearfully. Jonas did not answer. They rode hard until they reached the house, and Jonas immediately dismounted to help Lydia down, then leaped up again and rode back the way he came. "Where are you going?" Lydia screamed.
Alayne wrapped one strong hand around her elder daughter's arm and hauled her inside, carrying her other child in the other arm. Once safely inside, she shut the door and locked it, bracing it with a chair. Lydia continued to ask what was happening.
"Quiet!" Alayne snapped, and Lydia fell silent in shock. Sighing, Alayne turned around and knelt before her daughter, hugging her close.
"It's going to be okay," she said, trying to convince herself as well. "Jonas went back because some of those people were from his workplace. He thought he could help. He'll be back soon." She sent Lydia up to her room, and then pulled up a chair by the fireplace and sat down herself. There was an icy feeling growing in her belly.
She gripped her hands together before her face and silently waited for her husband to come home.
Someone pounded on the front door.
Alayne leaped to her feet, snatching up her sword from where it leaned on the side of the fireplace.
"Let us in!" Herobrine shouted through the door. "Jonas is hurt!"
Alayne flew to the door and threw the chair away, fumbling with the lock. As soon as the bolt slid back, the door swung open and Herobrine hurried in, shutting the door behind him. Jonas had one arm thrown across the immortal's shoulders, and was leaning on him heavily. Herobrine had a long tear at the hem of his shirt, but didn't show any injuries. Jonas, on the other hand, had a bright weal forming under one eye, and he was limping as he stumbled along with Herobrine. Alayne narrowed her eyes.
Lydia came rushing down the stairs when she heard the noise.
"Daddy!" She exclaimed when she saw her father. Jonas tried to stand on his own and sagged again with a groan.
"Lydia," Alayne said, "Come help your father to the kitchen." Lydia quickly came to Jonas's side and helped him stand up and hobble into the next room. Herobrine and Alayne regarded each other coolly.
"What happened?" Alayne asked stiffly. Herobrine glanced behind him through the window on the door.
"A riot broke out outside my shrine. Jonas was knocked off of his horse, but he's just winded. He'll be all right in a few hours. It was over what began last night. There were people who did not approve." Herobrine explained. Alayne gasped.
"You mean the monsters?" she asked, aghast, and Herobrine nodded. "Those were your doing?" He nodded again.
"As I told your husband," Herobrine began, "You and your family will be safe from them. They cannot harm you. They are there as a guard against evil- but judging from the response," He looked out the window meaningfully, "The problem runs much deeper than I anticipated."
"What should we do?" Alayne snapped. "A riot in Luminara! We can't stay here when so many people hate you for what you've done!" Herobrine shook his head.
"No," he agreed, "You cannot. You must take your family out of the city. You came from the highlands in the south- I trust you have family or property there, still?"
"I do," Alayne answered. Herobrine smiled, giving a sigh of relief.
"Excellent. I am sending Drayda and her brothers with you. Now-" Herobrine turned away as the noise outside crescendoed suddenly. "I have matters I must attend to. You must hurry." At that, he threw open the door and strode out, mounting a huge black charger and turning to gallop down the street. Alayne watched him as he rode towards the forming crowd. Then she slammed the door and called Hanna from her room.
The family hurried to pack in the moments that followed. Lydia paused as she picked up her green diary. Lightly kissing the cover, she slipped it into her pack with her clothes.
Drayda appeared at the door just as Lydia was closing the clasp.
"It's time to go, girls," she said grimly. "Before the mob burns the house."