Chapter 13

Hello, how is everyone going? I finally managed to find the time to upload this. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I was trying to fix some things to make it fit together. Anyhoot, with over 1000 views, I hope you will drop a review and love this chapter. :)

She clutched the horses mane with one hand and put the other over her mouth to avoid throwing up. After seeing the campsite in such a terrible condition, she was horrified. She never wanted to see anything like that again. The horse was walking for only a short while before he stopped in front of the broad entrance of a cavern. Solana, who was still replaying the images in her mind, didn't notice. The horse gave a little neigh, trying to break her trance, and eventually, she looked up lazily. Noting that they had stopped, she slid off the stallions back, sluggishly landing on the ground. However, she composed herself and made her way to the caves entrance.

She couldn't help but think of her friend, wondering why her father did what he did. She was more than convinced that he had at least arranged the murder and then hired an assassin to finish the job. Why? That was all she could ask herself. Her father had once been a generous man and fair ruler. All he had once wanted to do was sever and protect the citizens. Now, after the death of his wife, her mother, she had noticed a change. Being her father, he still wanted to protect and serve his kingdom, but he took his desires to extremes.

She shook her head, getting rid of the undesired thoughts. However, as she was moving towards the cave, she couldn't help but think of the campsite with all the withered skeletons, the blood soaked grass, the tainted air... She shook her head again, scowling at herself for feeling so weak. She had seen blood before, she had slain before. So, why was she feeling so...weak? She didn't understand where the feeling was coming from. She clutched her stomach, trying to suppress that sickening feeling whenever she thought of the campsite draped in silence and littered with bones. Just as she was about to enter the cave, she heard the soft neigh of the stallion and turned to look at him.

His ears were fully laid back and he was pacing, flicking his tail and swinging his mane around, sometimes even picking his hooves off the ground to pound down again, creating very mild earthquakes. At first glance, she thought he was trying to harm her, or even intimidate her, which made her hand move instinctively to her swords hilt. However, knowing the stallion, she knew he wasn't trying to harm her in any way and turned around, hand still on the hilt of her sword. At first, she saw nothing and looked back at the stallion with an annoyed glance. Her companion, however, only lifted his head, his ears still laid back and he snorted.

A small chuckle made her turn around and look above the entrance of the cavern. Seeing a cyan shirt, dark blue pants and a diamond sword strapped to his back, she unsheathed Gideon. Brandishing her weapon against the being, she slowly backed away to rejoin her companion. The man looked at her lazily, a small smile breaking across his face.

She tried to bite down on her fear, but she couldn't help it. His presence was unsettling. And her past experiences didn't help either. From the legends that she's been told, she couldn't help but imagine him as the culprit for killing the men at the campsite. But she couldn't think of a reason as to why he would have done it. Her father would have told her it was because he could. He had the power to do so and wrecked havoc on the world for the fun of it. He would have told her just about anything to make her fear him. Now she was doubting everything he had told her, everything she knew. She now wanted the truth, the whole truth.

She wanted answers, and the horse had led her to Casroth's Standing Stone, then to Steve's house, where she looked through a few things before he led her to the campsite. Then he had led her here. She had wanted answers all along to questions she didn't know, but now those questions started forming, stirring up confusion within her mind. Confused in her thoughts about the man standing not too far from her, sitting actually and looking to be pretty lazy, she lowered her sword, but then held it up again when she saw him slowly get up and land lazily with a small thud. She wanted to glare, but found that she could not.

"You seem confused."

The sudden deep, echoing voice made her drop everything off her mind to focus on the approaching man, but that was harder said than done, as the figure walking towards her at a leisurely pace also had a diamond sword within arm's reach. She didn't answer or attempt to respond, in fear that she might say something that might upset the being and she didn't need that, not now.

"I...am." She croaked, then scrunched up her face in disgust at the sound of her voice. She then tried again with a more determined expression on her face. "I am."

Once the man was within striking distance, the stallion came forward and almost wedged himself between Solana and the man, snorting and starting to paw the ground again. The man now had an annoyed look on his face and reached for his sword, pulling it out of its sheath faster than she could blink, which made Solana step forward and raise her own sword to level with his neck, a dark look on her face.

"Lower your blade." She hissed, looking straight into those white eyes without a hint of fear. She was in defense mode, ready to slay anyone who hurt or lay a finger on her friends.

"I don't think so, Princess." He snarled, immediately crouching and throwing himself aside to avoid the caramel stallions thundering hooves. The stallion, now seemingly angry, tried to kick the man over and over again as the man kept rolling away and dodging. His calm and lazy attitude was gone and suddenly he flashed away in a haze of white particles. Solana felt the eerie presence disappear, which made her tense. Right after he disappeared, she heard the stallion coming towards her and instinctively turned around; raising her sword, she swung it in an ark around her. Her iron-obsidian blade made contact with the dark blue diamond blade, sending a sliver of pain up her arm from the strain.

"Nice blade. Where'd you get it from?" He taunted, even though it sounded like a legit question. The man cracked a grin on his face, adding pressure and almost crushing her with brute force. Her strength wasn't enough to best this man, as he was crushing her with one hand, while she was trying to defend with two hands. "It reminds me of my brothers. He had one that looked exactly the same, you know." It almost made her want to cower before him, as she knew she was most likely going to die by his hands without doing any of the things she wanted to do, like get answers and find a legend. She knew she couldn't give in, as her kingdom's fate rested upon her shoulders. She glared right into those soulless white eyes and bared her teeth, pushing with every ounce of her body to move the man off her. Slowly, with lots of struggling, she was pushing him back. He was surprised, and grew even more surprised when she found the strength to shove him away, huffing loudly afterwards and smiling at her accomplishment.

"You don't give up do you?" The man, however, didn't look too happy, especially when she shook her head and lifted her sword again, offering another go despite being barely able to keep her sword up.

"Never in a million years. I will find a way to stop my father's insane plans. Even if it means working with his enemy." He betrayed confusion for a very brief moment before laughing and raised his hand, snapping his finger. The sky grew incredibly dark within moments and thunder rumbled, making her a little nervous at what was going to happen. Then the rain came, a small drizzle at first, but was quickly intensifying.

"Well, then. Consider this a gift from me." He then pointed to her, a smile still plastered on his face. She stood there, unsure what to do, until sudden pain was greeted in the form of white haze and heard the loudest thunder boom she's ever heard in her entire life. Now she knew what to do: scream. She screamed at both the pain all over her body and the terrible loudness of the thunder that seemed to come from around her. It felt as if a thousand volts was coursing through her body, and probably was. She couldn't see, nor hear anything. The last thing she saw after the intense white, was the welcoming black.

He heard the girl scream as the lightning struck, just as he knew she has tried to restrain herself from screaming. However, with at least a few thousand volts traveling through her body, altering her body's makeup and providing mutations, she couldn't help but scream. Humans were so weak. Of course, he was monitoring the lightning to prevent any permanent damage that was not wanted. In total, the ordeal lasted a minute or so before the thunder eventually faded out and the lightning disappeared into the royal girl, who had fallen to the ground, looking almost dead if it weren't for her breathing. After she had passed out from the seemingly terrible pain, a few sparks of lightning flew off her skin here and there. Her body twitched here and there with the occasional convulsion as the lightning ran through her system. Her hand slipped from the hugged position she was in and fell with a small thud on the ground.

He smiled at his handiwork, wondering why he had done what he did. He didn't kill her, even though she was daughter to the man that wanted to kill him. He looked at the horse, who was now sniffing her hair and nudging her head. It was truly a beautiful being, a caramel steed with black stockings and mane. The horse then lifted his head as he heard the sound of the man's footsteps crunching on the semi-soft grass, ears laid fully back as he started to paw the ground, giving a clear warning.

'What is it you want, Herobrine?' The telepathic voice reached his mind and he nodded, satisfied that it was indeed his brother's creation and sheathed his sword. The man, Herobrine, almost rolled his eyes. 'She only searches the answers to her questions.'

"Not much. I just don't want to be killed again." He mused, purposely ignoring the last statement, eying the girl on the floor. After sheathing his diamond blade, he crouched on the forest floor and snapped his fingers again. The rain immediately turned to a slight drizzle, then stopped completely, only after the rain was gone did the clouds start to dissipate. "So, why are you helping the people who want me dead? I'm curious, Gideon, do tell."

'It is very simple. She has even told you. She does not agree with her father's way of doing certain things, such as gain more respect and trust from those which he rules and governs by destroying you. Surely you already know of the Kings plan by now, right?' The stallion then took a few steps towards Herobrine and nudged his arm with his nuzzle, snorting a little before turning to look at the girl again.

"Ugh, stop it." Herobrine shooed the horse away with a wave of his hand and a scowl on his face, not happy with the sudden unexpected affection he was getting from the stallion. He then lazily vanished in a haze of white particles to reappear sitting above the cave like he was prior to the 'fight', if one could call it that. "You even gave her strength to overpower me. Why?" The horse then turned his attention to Herobrine again and looked him square in the eye, seeming surprised that the powerful man changed the subject so quickly, it almost seemed like the horse was trying to lift an eyebrow, which made the situation a little humorous. The horse walked over to the edge of the cave, speaking to the powerful being that sat lazily on top of the cave.

'It is just as you said. You saw potential in her. So did I.' Once the horse had reached the edge of ledge on which the powerful being sat, the powerful being reached his hand down and pat the horse on the head. Herobrine scowled playfully, gently rubbing the horses snout and then playing with his ears, chucking softly.

"So, what are you going to do with her now, Gideon?" The caramel stallion snorted and drew his head away from Herobrine's caressing hand, his clear blue eyes looking deep into Herobrine's glowing white ones.

'I will have to see. I cannot leave her here, so I might as well take her someplace safe where she can rest and recuperate her strength.' He looked behind him at the girl again, and seeing that the shocks on her skin had vanished, walked over to her side. 'I actually have an idea where we might take refuge for the time being.' He lowered his head and sniffed her again before being enveloped with a soft golden light. With his heightened senses, Herobrine could see that inside the curtain of light, the stallions form shrunk until he was the size of the average human. Only then did the light disappear to reveal, indeed, a human.

In general, he still looked like the stallion, but the fur was replaced with a caramel trench-coat made of the finest leather and wool. He wore black shoes, had black hair, and even wore black gloves. His clear blue eyes, now seeming brighter than before, looked up from the girl to meet Herobrine's own eyes.

'I have but one question before I leave.'

"Alright, then. Shoot."

'What happened to the campsite not too far from here?' Seeing the being's eyes narrow in confusion, he added. 'Surely you must know something, if you were not the one to commit the destruction and take those lives, correct?' He looked at Herobrine, those bright blue eyes hoping for an answer and possibly an explanation, but Herobrine only stared blankly.

"If I may, what did the campsite look like?" He inquired. "Was it charred? Was the grass covered in blood? What did the scene look like, if you had a good look at it?"

'It was...terrible. There were bodies everywhere, who were reduced to skeletons but still had their clothes on. The air had an unnatural tang to it. The grass was indeed covered in blood, but there was a thin layer of some black substance on it. Nothing was charred, everything just seemed to have...rotted.' Gideon shuddered from head to toe, scrunching his face in disgust and mild fear. Sudden realization then struck Herobrine as he replayed what Gideon had just said. He knew who might've done this. No, he knew who did it and he was guessing there was a good reason.

"I... I believe I know who committed that heinous act." He took deep breath, knowing Gideon was listening intently. "I believe it could have been my...eh...assistant. I had told him to ward off anyone from this area due to some unwanted humans previously wandering in my caves. I did not intent for him to kill those in the nearby campsite." A lie. Herobrine knew that he had told the Endermen to ward off anyone nearby the caves, but he had also told him to make sure none dared venture close to it and the Endermen had done a splendid job.

Seeming satisfied with his answer, Gideon nodded and raised his hand in farewell with a warm smile, Herobrine nodding his head with similar intentions, before the man raised his other hand and snapped his fingers; both he and the royal girl disappeared in a haze of light golden particles.

"I will meet you soon, Steve. Soon." He mused to himself, smiling at the thought of finally meeting the man that he saved a few days ago; the man he had seen so much potential in. Only shortly after the duo disappeared and the haze of particles vanished, did Herobrine follow suit, disappearing in a haze of bright white particles while giving a big smile and a soft chuckle.

Hehe. What Herobrine did will be explained and used in future chapters, so don't worry. So, we found something out about the caramel steed Solana rides. Tell me what you think in the reviews, they really motivate me. Toodles!

-NilakantaDragonQueen619