Chapter 2: An Unsettled Score
Pickaxe found Jewel in a rather good mood.
She was chatting with Madison at the moment, but she was looking rather upbeat. Like the time she had Pickaxe make desserts. "You noticed, too?" asked Endre, yet again appearing out of nowhere. "What happened?" asked Pickaxe, instead of leaping out of his wits. "Well, I did hear she was going to be taking Crown for a ride on the shore. That, and she also had a really good breakfast." Pickaxe's stomach grumbled. He took a beetroot he got from Stan. "How did she even get a horse?" Endre commented.
Before Pickaxe could answer, Sarah walked up to him, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him off without saying without a word.
He had tried to leave several times. Each time he was hit with a splash potion of slowness, and dragged back to his spot just before the shore. It was mind-numbing. From the distance, Pickaxe saw Jewel leading Crown by a lead. "Ready for the experiment?" asked Sarah, Jewel nodding with minor reluctance. "Experiment?" Pickaxe inquired, perplexed. "Hold still," Sarah commanded, throwing a splash potion at Pickaxe's feet. It had a silver tint to it. "Splash Potion of Swiftness II," Sarah explained, "Allows you to run 8 blocks a second." "Okay, why's that important?" Pickaxe was getting impatient. "We're trying to see how fast Crown can run," Jewel inserted, "And we figured the faster the opponent, the better."
Pickaxe questioned why he was doing this, but nonetheless decided to comply.
After Jewel mounted Crown, she and Pickaxe took off like speed demons. While Pickaxe was moving extremely fast, faster than he had ever ran, Crown and Jewel were faster. They beat him to the end of the shore and back, to which he begrudgingly accepted this defeat. "Interesting," Sarah muttered, "He's one of the faster breeds." "Come on, guys!" Texik yelled from the village's edge, waving his hands like a maniac, "Nightfall's almost here!"
The village was drifting off to sleep by the time the group entered their houses.
Elsewhere in the village, the Nether portal was once again reactivated. Out of the purple spiraling light came forth a miner, as well as a small squad of four other miners. "Guard the exit," the first miner ordered, to which one of the miners saluted and stayed behind at the portal. The squad and its leader began approaching one of the houses… one made of obsidian and bricks.
They entered without making a sound.
Jewel was sleeping like a baby. Her hand was beside her head as she slept, her breathing soft and even. An irritating light emerged in the center of the room. Jewel murmured and tried pulling her head beneath the covers. "Staaaaan….." she groaned, raising herself so she could dissipate the light, "I told you to stop doing tha-" Her grumbling was cut short, as a sword was put against her neck. "Don't move, and don't make a sound," the wielder commanded, his voice quiet but stern. Jewel was terrified. In front of the door was another figure, his face hidden in the darkness.
"Come now Blade, where are your manners? At least give the poor girl a chance to breathe."
Jewel froze. That voice… she was familiar with it somehow. The figure walked into the light of the torch. He was clad in golden armor, save for the helmet, with a golden sword at his side. His face was handsome, with an angelic feeling to it. His wavy hair was a beautiful bronze, his eyes a shiny silver, his smile threatening to the eyes. "Parker…" was the only word Jewel could utter. The figure's smile widened. "How've you been, Jewel?"
In the mushroom house he had created, Pickaxe was starting to wake up to a faint purple light in the distance...
"Why are you here?" Jewel demanded, confused. Parker let out a small chuckle. "Why Jewel, I came to see you." He took a step forward, but Jewel took a step back. His confidence was yet to leave him. "You don't have to be afraid," he assured Jewel, "I'm not going to hurt you." Jewel's face was still distrusting. "Why should I believe you?" she inquired, "You killed Endre's father!" Parker's subtle demeanor slightly faltered at this. "It was a necessary evil," he defended, "Besides, you need to understand. There doesn't have to be any further conflict." Jewel was bewildered. "What do you mean?" "Come with me to my fortress in the Nether. Once your father sees that one of his own isn't afraid of me, he'll be open to negotiation. Jewel, please. I'm begging you." Jewel wanted to believe him. She didn't want anyone to get hurt, and his offer was tempting, but… he wasn't telling her the whole story. She had known him long enough to know when he was telling the truth, or suppressing some of it.
"I'm sorry," she admitted, "But right now, I can't trust you."
Parker looked hurt. Jewel felt guilty at what she had just done. "I appreciate the offer," she assured, "But I know you're hiding something from me…" Parker looked into her eyes. He had a solemn expression on his face. "You're right," he admitted. "I have been keeping some details... under wraps. Unfortunately…" He did a hand gesture, and the Blade once again put the sword to her neck. "...I can't tell you those details until you come with me." "No! Parker, please!" Jewel begged. He held his hand up, demanding silence. "Sorry, Jewel," he apologized, "But I can't have you telling the other miners about seeing me."
They started walking down the steps to the bottom floor.
Jewel wanted to scream. She wanted to take down her would be captors, run to her father, and have him send them all running back to the Nether. But her captors had the advantage. She couldn't use her tools effectively in her current position. Why didn't she try escaping earlier? As they headed down to the base of the steps, Jewel saw a pair of familiar purple eyes. Oh, thank goodness! Endre was part night owl! But how was he going to save her? She saw Endre toss something behind the group. They all swiveled around as they heard the sound of shattered glass.
The old water bottle trick never gets old, Jewel thought.
Endre jumped down from the balcony, pulling out his shovel. He swatted Parker to the side, as well as some of the other squad members. He knocked out Blade, who was holding Jewel hostage, freeing her from his sword. Jewel hugged Endre, much to his embarrassment. "Come on," he told Jewel, beginning to make his way to Sabrina and Reed's quarters, "We need to get help- GRAHHH!" Endre had been shot with two tipped arrows in the back. He was followed by Jewel, the two slumping to the ground in defeat. The archer put down her bow, her face covered by a black skeleton skull. She brought Parker to his feet, who dusted his armor off with an offended expression.
He approached Endre, and kicked him in the ribs.
"GFFF!" he grumbled, trying to hold back the pain. "Know your place, fool," snarked Parker. He turned to his archer. "Grab the girl," he commanded. The archer obeyed, grabbing Jewel by the back of her shirt collar and dragging her out of the house. Endre tried to get up, but his body was too weak. There was only one thing he could do at this point: "HELP!" he screeched. Blade struck Endre in the back, knocking him out. The squad could already hear the village beginning to awaken.
"Time to go," Parker grumbled.
The squad began running back to the the Nether portal, with the archer carrying an unconscious Jewel over her shoulder. When they got to the portal, it wasn't glowing. An obsidian block had been removed, and the guard was nowhere to be found. "Where did he go?" grunted Blade, who added, "I thought you had this figured out last night." "I did," Parker responded sternly, "But it appears a knotted end has been untied…" SPALSH! SWIP SWIP! SPLASH! Parker swiveled his head behind him. His squad was lying on the floor, arrows and potions at their sides. Darn, I've been discovered!, he thought disgustedly. He ran to Jewel, and slung her over his own shoulder. "SHOW YOURSELF!" he yelled into the darkness, masquerading a brave face. "Don't you mean yourselves?" said a girl's voice. Parker turned toward it, only to be shot with an arrow. He dropped Jewel, who was carried off by another figure, before being hit by a splash potion of slowness. The figures in question were illuminated by a torch one of them placed down.
Pickaxe, Madison, Texik, and Sarah did not look happy.
"So I take it your Parker?" Pickaxe guessed. Parker didn't like the looks of this guy. He looked awful for one thing, but he also had a sense of… danger to him. "Who wants to know?" Parker retorted, still trying to hold onto what little ground he had left. "Endre told me all about this guy…" Texik brought up, "He fits the description perfectly." Parker raised his hands in mock surrender, "Fine, you got me. Why does it matter?" "You were trying to kidnap Jewel," Sarah reminded him. "Ah," Parker recalled, "Yes, well, it wasn't meant to be a kidnapping." His hands slowly fell behind his back. "I originally wanted to escort her peacefully…" Blade shook his head as he slowly stood up behind Madison. "But as you can already tell…" Blade raised his weapon, and Parker held a fire charge in his hand. "Things didn't go according to plan."
Blade knocked Madison to the side, as Parker threw the fire charge at Pickaxe.
Pickaxe dodged the fire charge, and rushed towards Parker. Texik broke Madison's fall, leaving Sarah to take care of Blade. Parker's sword and Pickaxe's pickaxe clashed with sparks flying. Their weapons slashed back and forth vigorously, each miner determined not to lose to the other. "Why do you care?" barked Parker, "I haven't seen you in the village before today. Why do you care about her!?" Pickaxe kept slashing, eventually replying, "I couldn't just leave her to die in front of my own house! I couldn't leave her in the middle of nowhere without getting her home!" "Nonsense! She found her way home herself! She didn't need help!" Parker retorted.
The sparks kept flying until Parker's sword shattered.
"NO!" he cried. Pickaxe held his pickaxe up to Parker's chest. "You lose," Pickaxe declared. Behind the group, the sun began to rise. The village was at the scene of the fight, led by a beaten Endre. Sarah had Blade pinned to the ground. The archer was nowhere in sight. Reed came to the front of the group. "Abducting my daughter to try opening negotiation?" Reed shook his head, and spat on the floor. "You disgust me, boy." Parker's face was downcast. "I guess that's it, huh?" Endre gave him a scowl, "You're going to pay for what you did…" Parker began laughing. "What did I do?" Oh, well maybe this." Pickaxe raised his eyebrow in confusion.
Reed was pierced by a tipped arrow of poison.
"WHAT THE-" was all Endre could say, before being hit with an arrow himself. A barrage of arrows overtook the group. The archer was at Parker's side, having completed her work. Parker was about to grab for Jewel, but was blasted aside by a fire charge. Texik gave him a sadistic grin, "Not until I die a painful death," From behind, Pickaxe managed to toss Parker right in front of his portal, the collision causing Parker to slump to the ground. "We're not letting you go that easy," Pickaxe declared. Parker slowly raised himself against the portal. "I'd like to stick around, but… I got an invasion to plan." Another squad member snuck from behind the portal, placing block of TNT in front of it. He ignited the TNT and the portal, slipping through the gateway. "See ya!" Parker taunted, running through the portal, followed by his archer and Blade. "PARKER!" screamed Endre, running toward the the portal.
The purple energy was dissipated, and the TNT exploded in an raging blast.
Endre flew from the portal to a nearby house, slamming against the wall. Sarah ran to aid him, as Jewel started to stir into consciousness. Sabrina rushed to her side. "Jewel?" she dared to ask, her face filled with worry. Jewel's eyes fluttered; she managed to whisper, "M...mom?" Sabrina immediately embraced her daughter, relieved that her daughter was okay… for the most part. Texik was gritting his teeth. "I can't wait to beat his stupid little face into a plup!" He looked like he was on the brink of madness. Pickaxe was looking at the portal.
They had to find Parker, wherever he was.
"Where is the guy, anyway?" questioned Madison, "I'm pretty sure he isn't stupid enough to stay at the first base, but I would hope so…" Reed rotated his shoulder, grunting, "No one has been in or out of the portal since Shawn was killed…" He winced when he said the name Shawn. That must be Endre's father's name, processed Pickaxe. "Even if we were in the Nether," Sabrina added, helping Jewel up, "We have no way of guaranteeing we'd find Parker…" Now what?
"Actually, I may have our answer," Pickaxe admitted.
The group followed him into his mushroom house. They all let out a unanimous gasp. In between Pickaxe's bed and chest was the guard assigned to the portal. He looked scrawny. He wore full leather armor, his short hair a pale red, his frightened eyes a dark green. "Please," he begged, "If you're going to kill me, just get it over with." "Sweet mercy, this guy's a wimp…" muttered Texik under his breath. "We're not gonna kill you. Can you get us to Parker's base?" Pickaxe asked, ignoring Texik's underhanded comment. "Yes," he shakingly replied, "But… why aren't you going to kill me?"
Pickaxe just shrugged. "You haven't done anything to make me consider the possibility."
"Good," Reed approved, "I'll prepare a search party in the morning. After that, we can relocate you to a different location. Until then, we need to start relocating Jewel and her friends…" "What?" Jewel questioned in shock. Reed turned to face his daughter. "I'm sorry, Jewel. But we know that Parker is after you. While we're trying to locate him, we can't allow him to locate you. And it's not like your friends aren't targets after what happened. Please understand." Jewel looked like she wanted to protest. But Reed was already down the ladder when she turned to face him.
All that had happened… and they couldn't do a thing about it.