AN: Hey, hey, hey. This is one of those rare instances where I comment on the reviews, just to prove that I actually look through them.
Shaded Azure: ...You always store a megaphone in your pants? Also, I don't know what you're talking about. The mysterious green-haired Crafter could be anyone. (9_9) Anyone at all. (6_6) Aaaaanyone! \(9_6)/
One Eye Demon: I discovered the meme that is Moon Moon for the first time thanks to you. God bless.
Truepiggy: Well, Attila's been going through a rough time.
cobbforlife: Thanks for the praise. I'm honestly still amazed people follow this story.
51-13.64: Why am I so inconsistent in updating? Hmm. I don't know. Probably because I'm balancing school, work, and life along with a story closely approaching 100 Chapters.
Laner13: Glad to hear it. Though you should thank AxeHelix for convincing me of changing the format.
TheShadowOfZama: Thanks for pointing out my grammar errors. I fixed them (mostly). The dogs are just named after famous dogs. There are a few more in this Chapter.
Ari-Dexel13: I needed a bounty hunter OC to make things more interesting.
Ramsay: Paws-trating? I can't help you with that. May the Minecraft Gods have mercy on your poor, punning soul. Also, yeah, I can't wait for the Carys reaction too.
RaptorianMage: No, those are actual hungry wolves following him. Geez, you read the whole thing in a few days? I wonder if people skip this story just because of its crazy length. Carys is a complicated character, but she is one of my favorites, along with Teal, Cobb, Mark, Lenz, Wynn... aaaaaand Erin, a little.
GamerHD2158: HOW!? How can you ship Royal Whispers!? They are practically brother and sister! Why can't the guy and the girl just be good friends? Why do they immediately have to be a couple? If Wynn was a guy, I guarantee less people would be shipping them... though I can't account for that obscure 5%.
Disclaimer: I don't own Minecraft. If I did, I'd add Iron Boats.
Beta: AxeHelix
Chapter 90
Shuffle
[Carys]
"Is it my time to die yet?"
"Maybe." I replied, my interest piqued. "Maybe not."
The girl in the cell wrinkled her nose. "I'm not interested in a 'maybe not', so unless you're here to kill me, quit ogling and leave me alone."
"Normally, we would have killed you. Assassins with explosives tend to warrant that kind of response." I said. "But Jillian said to spare you, so, here we are."
"Ah, right, Jillian." Attila tilted her head up to look at the ceiling, her head thudding against the stone wall. "Jillian, the savior of Nitebane!" She practically spat.
"You have a problem with that?" Kalmarin spoke up, eyeing the assailant carefully. "She saved a lot of innocent lives."
"Some might argue she didn't save enough." She snarled, her eyes narrowing coldly.
A silence smothered the room as I gazed upon the assailant carefully. Her eyes… they had the ghost of a fierce flame to them, but it looked like something had snuffed it out recently.
"Why did you attack Jillian?" I asked, wanting to get right to the point.
Attila bunched her legs closer and nestled her chin into her knees.
"Because someone has to be held responsible."
My eyebrow twitched. Was she…?
"Responsible for saving this Kingdom?" Perry burst out righteously as he walked right up to the bars and clamped a hand over them. "Responsible for killing two Hackers? Responsible for—!"
"Here's a better question." Attila lifted her face as her grayish green eyes zeroed in to my left. "Why is a Hacker guarding the woman that killed two of his own?"
Kal stiffened at the accusation and I raised a brow. So she knew about the dark lines. She knew how to identify a Hacker.
"Well?" She asked again, a self-satisfied smirk adorning her face. "Is it in-fighting? Or maybe some convoluted manipulation to make people think Hacker rule is gone? Either way, I'm guessing it's something you wouldn't want to tell the citizens of Nitebane." She laughed harshly. "If they heard their glorious savior was working with a Hacker… well… they might think twice about following her."
"Are you blackmailing—in your position!?" Perry shouted indignantly as he withdrew a bow and aimed it between the bars. Attila looked unbothered by it. She even stood up, a manic look on her face.
"Go ahead and do it! I'm tired of sitting in this dungeon anyway! I came here to kill the woman on the throne, and if I get out of here, that's exactly what I'll do!"
"Carys, just say the word and I'll finish it." Perry hissed from my right. "Just give the order… this crazy girl is begging for it."
"Lower the bow, Perry." I rolled my eyes at the tediousness. "I still have some questions I want to ask."
Perry hesitated, the bowstring straining from the tension, before he reluctantly obeyed. He glared at Attila as he stepped back, but she only had eyes for me.
"I take it you're the one with the highest authority?" She asked as she turned her body to face mine. "With all the questions you're asking, you must at least be higher up than Hacker, anger issues, and Miss Assassin over there." I smirked at her nicknames for Kal, Perry, and Z7.
"You could say that." I offered noncommittally. "But what about you? Kal tells me you almost blew up the throne room with your slippery moves and TNT. A Griefer wouldn't have that level of skill, but a cultist, on the other hand…" I trailed off meaningfully.
"I was a cultist." She explained after a moment of silence. "Was. But I gave that up. Haven't been one for a long time."
"Then what are you?"
"None of your business. Why do you have authority over a Hacker? Why is he even here?"
"None of your business." I replied a tad testily. This was getting us nowhere. "Who are you?"
She spread out her arms and wore a humorless smile. "Why, I'm attila_akrasia—"
"Don't be smart. Tell me who you are, or—"
"You'll kill me?" She scoffed.
"No." I countered, knowing that was exactly what she wanted. Nobody willingly breaks into a heavily guarded throne room and rigs explosives everywhere with the intent of getting out alive. She antagonized Perry in the same way she was trying to antagonize me. "But we have ways of keeping you alive—not only as long as possible, but also as painfully as possible."
As I let the message sink in, I watched as Attila's skin paled and a cold sweat began to form. If need be, we could keep her breathing with a Paralysis Potion combo and a Healing and Regeneration combo. She would eventually suffer the pangs of hunger and take damage, but so long as we kept healing her with potions, she would endure it all. We used the same method when extracting information from cultists. The only way she would die is if we allowed it.
"I'm going to ask one more time and I better get a real answer." I demanded with narrowed eyes. "If you aren't a cultist or a Griefer, then who are you?"
[Floyd]
"My name is Hunderprest." He called up politely. "And I'm here for your bounty."
"Our bounty?" Soul questioned skeptically as he looked down at the bounty hunter and his pack of dogs. "They couldn't have made a wanted poster for me that quickly. I only attacked those guards earlier today. You sure you aren't mixing me up with a noodle-armed vegetable? Or… starch?" He turned to me. "Is corn a starch?"
I shrugged.
"My hounds wouldn't make a mistake like that." Hunderprest stated with an iota of pride. He knelt down and petted one of the brown-collared ones affectionately. "I've trained these dogs to seek out Crafters on wanted posters. So if they say you two are King_Cobb and Flawwed _Floyd," all the dogs growled at the mention of those names, "then I—"
He paused, his finger held up pedantically. The bandana covering his lower face lengthened; his mouth left hanging open on his last word as he gazed at us—or more specifically Soul. The ex-axe-wielder stepped forward to the edge of the tree leaves, showing off how different he looked from King_Cobb.
Hunderprest blinked owlishly before reaching in his backpack in a flurry of movement and whipping out a wanted poster. He looked from it to Soul, then back to it. Then back to Soul. Then to his dogs.
"You mutts!" He pointed a finger up at Soul. "That guy has brown hair like Cobb's, but the guy we're looking for has green eyes, not red! Green! Like the color of the hundreds of emeralds he's worth! Red and green are like opposing colors. How can you mix them up? Honestly, it's like you dogs are colorbli—" He paused before adding in a small voice, "Oh, right."
"Is this guy serious?" Soul asked me, to which I nodded.
"Yeah, I feel more threatened by Lenz than him."
"Please pay attention up there." He called up, bringing us back to the present situation. "You two are surrounded by my hounds and there's no escape. Flawwed_Floyd." He pointed to me. "Give yourself up and tell me where King_Cobb is and I'll turn a blind eye to the fake Cobb beside you."
I frowned. "No deal."
"Yeah, take your hundred-and-one Dalmatian rejects and get lost." Soul chimed in, causing the dogs below to growl angrily.
"I wouldn't insult them like that." Hunderprest warned with folded arms. "Colorblindness aside, they're pretty intelligent. They get that from me. And vicious. Also from me. You don't come down willingly and I can't guarantee your friend won't get torn to shreds."
"Oh yeah?" Soul taunted, despite the lack of his trusty axe. "Well what are they gonna do? I'm up here and they're down there."
In reply, the bounty hunter pulled out a bow.
"…Fuck."
"Look, I'm just here for the bounty." Hunderprest tried to appeal to us again. "Usually they ask just for the Heads, but this one specifically demands you alive. Otherwise I wouldn't be bothering with negotiations." He pulled back an arrow and aimed it at us. In response, Soul stacked up wooden planks for cover. "Just come down and tell me where Cobb is and the cheeky one can live."
"What makes you think I know where Cobb is?"
"Because you're his sidekick."
"Wha—No! I'm not his damn sidekick!" I seethed. Just because I was the supposed Lieutenant and he was the supposed Executive—
"Hey!" Came an unfamiliar voice from the woods. "Hey, guys! I see the criminals up ahead!"
I turned to Soul, the two of us silently sharing the same question while Hunderprest tilted his head towards the approaching voices, an irritated look on his face. The next instant, the twelve guards we fought earlier today emerged from the bushes, pointing up at us with swords at the ready.
They noticed the dogs later.
"What… how are there so many—who do these dogs belong to?" One of the guards asked in awe.
"Gentlemen." Hunderprest nodded stiffly in greeting.
"What? Who are… wait…" One of the guards leaned forward to regard the bounty hunter more closely before gasping. "It's… it's… it's Hunderprest."
A few of his fellow guards gasped in recognition of the name.
"The wild gentleman of the Berserkers? The tamer of one-thousand hounds?" One of the guards muttered breathlessly. "What's he doing out here?"
"What else?" One of the guards pointed to our tree. "He's after another juicy bounty dangled in front of his face."
"While I appreciate the metaphor linking me to my beloved hounds," Hunderprest said, "I confess myself wounded by such words. Bounty hunting puts emeralds in the pockets and bread on the table, thank you very much."
"Then let us thank you, bounty hunter, for cornering these criminals." The leader guard nodded his thanks. "We can take it from here if you wish to hunt down the other two."
Hunderprest didn't move. "Forgive me. It sounded like you actually expect me to hand these two over to you when my dogs have done all the work."
The guards tensed up, but the leader held firm. "That's right. They're within Ringwood's territory and thus are within our Kingdom's jurisdiction."
I knew enough to tell where this was going. "Soul..." I hissed to the ex-axe-wielder. "We're getting out of here while they're distracted."
"How? We're surrounded by Old Yellers and Scooby Doos."
"…How many ender pearls did you say you had?"
"I trapped these criminals fair and square." Hunderprest challenged, aiming his bow at the guards and causing the hundreds of dogs flanking him to snarl threateningly. The guards bunched up together, weighing their options.
"Well… let us pay you for it." The leader guard tried instead. "Bring them in to Ringwood and we'll pay you what they're worth. That way, you won't have to transport them to Nite—"
"Come with you to your Kingdom where I'm surrounded and outnumbered by guards?" Hunderprest posed skeptically. "Where I won't get anything for my troubles? Pay me up front and I'll happily hand them to you."
"We don't have two-hundred emeralds on us!"
"Then you won't be getting Floyd." The bounty hunter stated firmly. "You can take the cheeky one, though. He's worthless." One of the guards opened his mouth to protest. "Or you can keep back-talking me until I lose my patience and sic my dogs on you." The guard shut his mouth instantly.
Soul wordlessly handed me an ender pearl while he gripped another in his hand. He reared back an arm and I followed suit. "Where are we aiming?"
"There." I gestured to the base of Mt. Mur and hoped we had similar throw distance.
One of the dogs below, seeing our pearls, barked in warning.
"What's tha—No!" Hunderprest reacted on instinct, firing an arrow up at the tree. The projectile caught me in the leg just as I was about to throw the pearl, causing my aim to get thrown off significantly.
The pearls flew off and I could only stare in horror as they went in two completely different directions.
Soul responded quickly, grabbing me by my sweater and shoving half his ender pearls in my hands. "I'll wait by the base of the mountain. Come find me as soon as you la—"
His voice cut off as he teleported instantly, leaving behind a few purple wisps. The next moment, I felt a rush of movement, like traveling a great distance in a fraction of a second, as I too teleported elsewhere. It was a disorienting experience and I quickly got to me knees, trying to regain my bearings. No dogs were surrounding me and I was sat upon the forest floor.
But I was separated from Soul.
And he had the map.
Well, at least it can't get any worse.
"Cobbert?" A voice came from some nearby bushes. "Is that you—oh, it is you." Lenzington spoke disdainfully as he looked me over. I was just as underwhelmed as him.
It got worse…
[Carys]
"I'm…"
Her voice, despite being faint, echoed through the nearly vacant dungeon so that we had no trouble hearing it.
Attila clenched her fists and glared at me. It didn't have much impact, given all the other glares I weathered in the past. "I… I was in charge of one of the skyscraper communities." She gritted out.
"Bullshit." Perry called out. "If she was part of one of those communities, she would've been thanking y—Jillian on bended knee! She's obviously—"
"Perry, if I wanted your opinion, I would have asked it." I dismissed harshly, causing the Paragon to falter. "I was hoping you would have caught on that, among the four of us, you're the one with the least right to be here for this. So now I'm officially telling you to get the hell out of here and let us work. Is that clear?"
His mouth gaped at my harsh dismissal, but he downright blanched when Z7 leaned forward a bit, a single eye peering at him from between a curtain of hair. She fingered her daggers meaningfully, causing the Paragon to choke on his spit.
"I… yes, ma'am. Forgive me for my—"
"Go."
He shut his mouth and quickly walked away. He kept his gaze to the floor as he passed Z7, rounded a corner, and left us.
"So," I turned back to Attila and gestured for her to continue. "You were a leader of one of the skyscraper communities. Which one?"
Her face twisted in grief and anger. "The one that was blown up and burnt to hell."
Ah. So that was it. Jillian and Baltic had mentioned that one of the communities had signs of fire and explosive damage. None of its inhabitants had been found, so it was believed to be destroyed by Griefers. And now the leader of the place shows up…
"Who did it?" Kal asked sympathetically.
Attila snapped. "I don't want your pity, Hacker! It was people like you that ruined Nitebane for all of us in the first place."
Kal looked away guiltily. "For what it's worth… I'm sorry."
"It's not worth anything." She spat.
"Seeing as how you're not piling further blame on him, I'm guessing the Hackers and Griefers weren't responsible for your community going up in smoke." Attila glared at how callously I had phrased it, but I wasn't going to walk on eggshells for this girl. "So who did it? Who burned the place to the ground?"
"…The Endward Cult." Attila uttered the name with such loathing and I latched onto it. "Teal_Larkspur… that damned psycho… she ordered them all to be killed. My people… my friends… Kate…"
I took note of the name. Teal_Larkspur. If she ordered the cultists, there was a good chance she was a Lieutenant, and that alone was worth all the questions we had asked Attila.
The way she talked about her friend, though. Kate. I shifted uncomfortably as I tried to smother the feeling. An old memory. I coughed loudly and just like that, the cumbersome feeling was gone.
"So the cult killed your people and destroyed your community." I summed up before tilting my head. "I still don't see how that would make you go after Jillian, though. She didn't do anything."
At once, Attila's eyes flared to life and she lunged at the cell bars, gripping them tightly. Z7 and Kal made to intervene, but realized I was safely out of her reach. Instead, Attila screamed at me.
"That's exactly why!" She shouted, rattling against the bars. "She didn't do anything! She saved everyone, but them! The people who mattered the most to me!" She pushed off the bars and gripped at her hair, looking demented. "For years I kept that community alive! Every day was a struggle, but I always hoped something would change! That there was a point to all that suffering!"
Attila lashed out, kicking at the iron bars and causing them to clang loudly. The pain in her foot only made her voice louder.
"But they died! They all died! And then, not two weeks later, we're all saved by some random woman that answered our prayers! Better late than fucking never!" She laughed dryly, verging on insane. "What about my prayers!? What about the prayers of my people!? Their deaths are her fault! Because she was too late!"
"Is that what you were yelling at Jillian?" I guessed, unperturbed by her outburst. "You were screaming that it was 'all her fault'?"
"Yes!" She breathed heavily, her face red from all the yelling, as she stumbled back into the wall and slid to her butt. "Yes… she was too late to save them. Too late to save all the Crafters that died to those Hackers and Griefers and Cultists—not just mine. Everyone else may praise her for it—call her a savior—but that just means they forgot just how much this Kingdom lost. She doesn't deserve the throne."
As Attila's face fell to the ground and she panted from the exertion of her outburst, I watched her, carefully sizing her up. The fire had momentarily been rekindled in her eyes only to be drowned out by pathetic tears.
This wasn't the girl that had piqued my interest.
I breathed out a sigh before turning my head towards Z7. "Close the door after me."
The assassin understood my meaning and nodded while Kalmarin just looked perplexed. "What are you do—Carys!"
I ignored him as I walked over to the iron door leading into the cell and clicked the lever to open it. Attila's head shot up and she wiped away the fresh signs of tears before getting to her feet, looking tense.
I entered the cell and Z7 clicked it shut behind me. Kal tried to follow after, but Z7 barred his path.
The cell was roomy enough, considering it was meant to house prisoners. Perhaps it was originally meant for two, not that there was the luxury of any beds to tell.
I stood across from Attila and reached into my backpack to withdraw my Sharpness V Iron Sword. I hadn't used it since getting my scythe, but it seemed suitable enough for what I had planned. The shimmering metal reflected the torchlight onto Attila's face.
Attila's eyes darted to the sword, but she didn't seem afraid. She had nothing on her, having been stripped of her Inventory prior to entering the cell, so she should have been at least a little scared of the armed foe before her. Instead she looked resigned, knowing this was the final page of her life. She had nothing left to live for.
I raised the sword in the air.
Attila clenched her eyes shut.
I tossed the sword at her feet.
"Pick it up." I ordered, even as her eyes snapped open at the sound of clattering metal on stone.
She looked down at the sword and then back up to me. "Why?"
"Because you still want to live." I said simply.
She narrowed her eyes and made to sit back down, leaving the sword untouched. "You're wrong. If you aren't going to kill me then just—"
"You were right, though." I interrupted as I leaned against the cell bars. "The person who saved this Kingdom doesn't deserve the throne."
Attila looked confused at my comment before looking absolutely baffled at my next utterance.
"Which is why I put Jillian in charge."
Kalmarin looked on worriedly. "Carys!" He hissed. "What are you saying? We can't be—"
I ignored him in favor of the girl in the cell with disbelief all over her face. "What… what are you talking about?"
"Tell me," I uttered, reaching into my backpack for something before holding it in front of my face. "Being ex-cultist, does this look familiar?"
Judging by Attila's shocked gasp, she indeed recognized the Wither Skeleton mask of the Angel of Death.
"Carys!" Kalmarin hissed, trying to push Z7 out of the way. The assassin, however, kept true to her duties, keeping the Hacker at bay. "Carys! Stop! There's no point to—!"
"You're… you're…" Attila swayed on the spot, clutching the wall for support before falling to her knees. "The Paragons… the…" Her eyes darted to the Hacker and I saw the truth dawn on her. "Him and… and Jillian too. You're all Paragons…"
"That's right." I offered a dangerous smile as I put the mask away and watched her hands inch closer to that iron sword. "I'm the one that killed the Hackers. I'm the one that organized all of this. And I'm the one," I leaned forward a bit, "who was too late to save your community."
Attila grabbed the sword and lunged for me with murder in her eyes.
Inventory (Cobb): 1 Fishing Rod {Backlash} [Knockback II, Luck of the Sea III, Unbreaking III], 1 Stone Pickaxe, 1 Stone Sword, 1 Golden Shovel [Silk Touch I, Unbreaking III], 1 Flint and Steel {Weak}, 13 Cobblestone, 14 Ender Pearls, 12 Torches, 5 Coal, 2 Oak Wood Planks, 1 Stick, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Oak Wood Door, 1 Clock, 43 Dirt, 1 Water Bucket, 4 String, 6 TNT, 64 Steak, 64 Cooked Mutton, 57 Baked Potatoes, 1 Pumpkin, 1 Leather Tunic [Dyed Green, Unbreaking I], 1 Iron Leggings {Weak}, 1 Iron Boots, 4 Rotten Flesh, 46 Emeralds, 1 Map {Ringwood Region}, 1 Book {Advanced Mob-Slaying}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}
[EXP: 17]
Inventory (Floyd): 7 Ender Pearls, 1 Iron Pickaxe, 1 Bow, 1 Fishing Rod, 1 Furnace, 1 Crafting Table, 3 Sticks, 8 Cobblestone, 1 Oak Wood Door, 1 Minecart, 1 Bed, 1 Boat, 1 Potion of Regeneration II {0:22}, 1 Potion of Regeneration II {0:22}, 1 Potion of Fire Resistance {8:00}, 2 Flint, 8 Rotten Flesh, 5 Bones, 6 Gunpowder, 16 String, 10 Ink Sacs, 62 Cooked Chicken, 50 Apples, 3 Wool, 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Iron Leggings, 1 Iron Boots, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Entry Pass}, 4 Emeralds
[EXP: 24]
Inventory (Lenz): 1 Bow, 1 Shears, 2 Levers, 4 Wooden Buttons, 1 Stone Button, 5 Redstone Torches, 17 Redstone Repeaters, 3 Redstone Comparators, 16 Redstone, 61 TNT, 1 Hopper, 1 Dispenser, 3 Blocks of Redstone, 5 Pistons, 10 Cobblestone, 10 Torches, 1 Minecart, 1 Compass, 9 String, 25 Gunpowder, 57 Steak, 1 Leather Cap [Dyed Green], 59 Arrows, 1 Crafting Table, 1 Pumpkin, 32 Sugar Cane, 8 Leather, 18 Feathers, 10 Flint, 64 Emeralds, 14 Emeralds, 1 Book {Airship Piloting 101}, 1 Book {Notebook}, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Paper {Daymonte Entry Pass}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}
[EXP: 6]
Inventory (Soul): 6 Ender Pearls, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Splash Potion of Healing II, 1 Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Potion of Invisibility {8:00}, 1 Splash Potion of Slowness {1:30}, 1 Splash Potion of Weakness {1:30}, 1 Milk, 1 Iron Helmet, 1 Iron Chestplate, 1 Iron Leggings, 1 Iron Boots, 1 Crafting Table, 14 Oak Wood Planks, 10 Steak, 9 Emeralds, 1 Book {Citizenship Information}, 1 Map {Ringwood Region}, 1 Paper {Ringwood Entry Pass}
[EXP: 36]
AN: More a Carys chapter than a Cobb Chapter. Hell, Cobb wasn't even in this one, as you can plainly tell by the lack of fishing rods or internal organ monologues. Though really, I feel the Carys stuff is more interesting with Attila. Meh, who knows.
Short Chapter. Been sick this week. Not because I've been playing Mario Odyssey. Honest.
:I
(So many Moons... so little time.)