The Minecraft Story: The Beginning: Chapter 21
The ride into Fort Deepslate was humiliating. The Miter Knights had never lost so many men in one battle. They marched through gates keeping their eyes down, not wanting to look the Garrison Knights in the eyes. They knew that something went terribly wrong, but it wasn't their job to worry about it, so they resumed their duties.
It was much more comforting entering the second gate where members of the Holy Golden Knights and the Armstrong Knights awaited their arrival. The previous night of sorrow and drinking had formed bonds between the legions. Once they saw their sorry state, they began to probe with questions.
The word of a potential sighting of Herobrine in the battle spread quickly. The other legions also expressed their sorry at the loss of so many men. The General allowed one mercy onto them, he allowed them the rest of the day off, while he went into the Citadel.
The other legions offered food and drink to the fatigued knights. Marcus received several cooked potatoes and bread leftover from lunch and happily gorged himself. He hadn't realized how hungry he was. This was the first time he'd eaten since the rabbit stew back in Morzen. Images of the vendor and his daughter flooded back into head. Then images of the weeping woman, and then the young soldier. It had only been a little over one day since the attack on Morzen. But in that short time, he'd seen so much suffering, no, caused so much suffering. In the two days since he'd officially joined the Miter Knights, he had directly killed two people and many more indirectly. Thoughts swirled in his head. He could've done more to fight Franz and warn the people in the Dining Hall. He could've fought harder to keep the monsters out of Morzen in the first place. He had been one of the first to siege Zamafar. He killed that young boy who was trapped via shields. He contributed to all those deaths.
Even though Marcus was starving, he started to lose his appetite. He needed to talk to someone. He didn't want to speak to Franz and the other knights appeared like they just wanted to forget what just happened for a bit. Where was Thomas? It took a while to find him as he wasn't with the other carrier slaves. This worried Marcus. They'd left the carrier slaves at the fort because they didn't seem necessary to bring to Zamafar. He was worried a knight might've taken him for a beating. Random beatings of carrier slaves were more common with other legions. The Miter Knights prided themselves on being more sophisticated, so beatings were only used in punishment, not in entertainment. Any member of the Holy Golden Knights or Armstrong Knights could've picked him up from the group and beaten him. In fact, multiple slaves appeared to be missing.
Thomas, please be okay. Marcus thought as he searched the area. He eventually found Thomas at the same spot where they had spoken the previous night; sat next to a small hut.
"Are you feeling alright Thomas," Marcus asked, already knowing the answer. His face was red with his right eye beginning to swell up. His beating had been recent, soon he would be covered in bruises.
"I…" Thomas tried to answer, trailing off in a whispered voice.
"Who did this to you," Marcus probed, "I'll have a word with them." Thomas looked up at Marcus, but didn't speak. "Thomas please, you won't be in any trouble. I promise." But Thomas kept his mouth shut.
"What happened to your men?" Thomas asked in a low grimy voice.
Marcus was sure he was trying to change the subject, but he didn't want to pry Thomas. He explained to Thomas the events of the siege.
"Did you have to kill anyone?" Thomas asked.
"Yes," Marcus answered bluntly.
"What did it feel like?" Thomas asked, taking Marcus by surprise. He wondered where this question was coming from.
"Horrifying," Marcus answered. It was the only word he could use to describe not only his kills, but the events of the past two days.
Thomas chuckled a little and then sputtered into a fit of coughing. When the coughing subsided, he asked, "Not valiant?"
Once again, his question surprised Marcus. But then, he began to understand where Thomas was coming from. He'd often overhear some of the older knights talking about their battles and how valiant they felt to slay the enemy heretics. Valiant was a common word used by priests and bishops to describe this war during sermons. During his training, the priest would do nothing but ramble on about how valiant it was to fight for holy lands and Notch. He'd hear it so often, he would imagine himself riding into battle cutting down droves of blood thirsty heretics in a valiant charge. Now, it sickened him.
"No," Marcus answered bluntly again, "I thought it was going to be, but now…" His voice trailed off.
"Do the people in the Order of Notch really view us as animals that need to be put down?" Thomas asked.
Marcus thought about what to say, not sure if he should sugar coat the answer a bit, but he knew he couldn't. "For all of our lives, that's all we heard about the heretics. How they hated Notch and our way of life. How they wanted nothing more than to burn our homes down and kill us all."
"And they just blindly believe it all," Thomas replied. Marcus thought it had been a question, but it wasn't. "At least you could see past the lies." This took Marcus by surprise again. That was a bold thing to say to a knight. Talk like that was punishable by death. If Marcus had still been who he was two days ago, he might've killed Thomas himself.
"Yeah," Marcus said, not too sure how to respond. "I just wish it hadn't taken slicing a man's throat or stabbing a boy in the face to figure that out."
Thomas gave a nod and asked, "Do you still believe in Notch?"
"Yes, of course I do," Marcus answered, his spotting of Herobrine had already confirmed that.
"Good," Thomas replied. "With Herobrine back, I think Notch will return too. He'll save us. But I doubt he'll approve of the Holy Notch Army."
This was something Marcus hadn't given much thought, but it made sense. If Herobrine was back, then surely Notch was too. Thomas had a point. He would never approve of the sins of the Holy Notch Army. He might smite them down for their transgressions. If they were going to fight these pigmen, they'd need Notch on their side, truly on their side. A change needed to be made.