The Minecraft Story: The Kingdom: Chapter 22

May 21, 1638,

It's been a few days since the ambush. Every time I think back to the night, my body trembles. Luckily, I think I've mostly been cleared of suspicion, but that's something I still can't guarantee. Hopefully, my continued service in the kingdom's military will fully clear my name.

I still can't get over what Jadis said. The mole. Who is it? Who could possibly be that evil. There's no way it could've been an Illager, they can't blend in with us. It had to have been someone on the inside. A coward trying to save their own skin.

Although, can I really call someone else a coward?

"Up!" Alex ordered.

CLANK!

"Down!"

CLANK!

"Watch the side!"

CLANK!

Steve and Alex's sword's echoed throughout the training center as they smacked against each other.

"Watch the leg!" Alex ordered as she swept Steve's legs. He went flying into the air like a cartoon character and landed on his back.

Thud!

"Ow, da-oh," Steve said before noticing the tip of Alex's wooden sword in his face.

"And you're dead. Get up and try again," Alex held out her hand.

"Yes commander," Steve accepted her help.

Sphen laughed at Steve from the side of the training grounds, "Careful buddy, she might knock a tooth out next time."

"Oh hardy fuckin har," Steve joked back.

Alex suddenly turned her head, "Sphen, how about you and me have a go at it?"

"Alright, let's do it," Sphen stood up and strutted to the training ground.

"Hopefully, she rips your tongue out," Steve joked as he handed his wooden sword to Sphen.

The two stood at each side and sized each other up. Steve held up a red banner, ready to start the match.

"Three, two, one, begin!" Steve waved the red banner and the two launched at each other.

It was all so quick. The graceful movements, the swinging and clashing of wooden swords, Steve could barely process it. His amazement was suddenly overtaken with slight embarrassment at the realization that Alex had been going easy on him.

CLANK!

CLANK!
CLANK!
CLANK!

Every attack was blocked and parried. Swings were dodged masterfully. Steve knew he was watching two master swordsmen at work. They battled for ten minutes straight, neither one resting for a moment. A large crowd of curious soldiers stopped their training to watch. Every single one was awestruck.

Eventually, exhaustion got the better of the two, and neither could land a killing blow. They slowed down and both decided to call it a draw.

In between breaths, Alex asked, "So…you were really…just a civilian…a few days ago?"

"Yeah…I was," Sphen answered.

"Where…did you learn…to fight like that?"

"Huh…Steve asked me…same thing at the mine. When you live…in Coal District…you need to learn…how to fight."

"Still…your skills go beyond that of a novice swordsman."

"It gets rough down there in the armpit of Stone Kingdom. I wouldn't really expect a Gold District girl to understand that."

Alex scowled, "Watch your mouth there, I'm still your commander."

"You're right, I'm sorry commander."

Steve walked over to the two, "I'm sure glad you're on our side, buddy."

"As am I, it was the right call recruiting you," Alex said as she shook Sphen's hand.

"Aww, y'all gonna make me blush," Sphen joked.

Suddenly, a voice from the other side of the training grounds said, "Get ready to blush more, because I was wildly impressed with your performance." It was a soft, silky voice, one that could easily put you to sleep. Everyone turned to the source and saw Princess Alice in her emerald green dress. She walked up to Sphen with grace and elegance and placed a hand on Sphen's shoulder, "That was quite the show soldier, keep it up and I might consider recruiting you to the Royal Guardsmen."

"R-really?" said Sphen, his face turning a little red.

"Absolutely, and I hope you accept my offer unlike this dummy here," Princess Alice joked while pointing to Alex.

Alex laughed, "I like my position as commander, I like being out in the field."

"Oooorrrr did you get tired of hanging out with me?" Princess Alice laughed, "I mean, I know I've played a lot of pranks on you in the past, but you won't even serve next to me?"

"No, rather I just wanted to get away from your nasty ass stench," Alex made a dramatised waving by her nose.

Steve couldn't help but tense up a bit at the site of his commander being disrespectful towards the princess, unsure if she would punish her. He relaxed when the princess laughed along with Alex.

The two laughed at the confused looks of Steve and Sphen, until Alice said, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna execute her or anything."

"You couldn't if you tried," Alex laughed. When the two calmed down, Alex turned to Alice, "Anyway, do I have permission?"

"Yes, I grant you full permission. I'll take full responsibility if the brass get angry," Alice answered.

"Thank you, your highness," she turned to Steve, "Steve, let's go. We gotta do this now."

Confusion washed over Steve, "Um, do what exactly commander?"

"I'll explain once we're outside the gate.

…

Outside the gate, the two sat on their horses and Alex finally gave an explanation, "When we ordered you to fight with us at the pillager camps, I secretly made a promise. I wanted to repay your help by taking you back to your hometown."

Steve perked up, "Wait, really. You're taking me home? How do you even know where it is?"

"We don't, but according to where we found you, your story, and pillager positions discovered by our scouts, we have a rough approximation of where your village might be." Alex sighed, "You did good at the battle, I thought you deserved to return home and see if anyone survived. I also wanted to give you a chance to leave."

Steve looked up at Alex in surprise, "Leave? What do you mean leave?"

"I won't lie to you, it's getting bad. Me and our military leaders don't think the Stone Kingdom will survive this upcoming conflict. It's…bad. I don't think you have any more obligation to fight our battles or go through another pillager raid. So, if there are survivors and you can rebuild, you can stay if you want."

I can…go home? Steve thought. I can really go home.

"T-thank you, commander," said Steve as they began to ride into the woods.

…

They had traveled for hours. The Sun beat down on them and the horses were beginning to get exhausted. Steve looked around for any signs of his village, when he noticed something.

A line of dirt path sat hidden in some trees to his right. Upon further inspection, he noticed it was a trail they used for chopping down trees. He knew where they were.

"We're close…WE'RE CLOSE!" Steve yelled as he took off down the path with Alex following closely behind. It was another couple minutes before they burst through the trees and there it was. The large gaping cave sat as it was when he left. For a moment, Steve was overjoyed, until he saw the blown up wall and scattered bodies.

The bodies were also in the same place as when he left. The pillagers didn't move them at all. When the two got close, the horrid smell of death immediately invaded their nostrils. The bodies dressed in full iron armor had immensely decayed in the past three months. However, Steve could still recognize a few of the faces.

If their bodies are still out here and not buried…oh no. Steve thought as he charged through the destroyed wall.

"HELLO! IS ANYBODY HERE!" his voice echoed through the cave. Nobody responded. Everywhere he looked was the decayed bodies of his people and some dead pillagers. The pillagers couldn't even be bothered to bring back their own dead. "IS ANYBODY ALIVE! IT'S STEVE, I'M HOME!" Still, nobody answered.

Alex rode up next to him with a pitiful look, "Maybe there's some deep in the cave."

Steve didn't pay her much mind, he immediately rode off to where he last saw Titus. While he rode to the spot, his mind filled with the same thought. Please don't be there. Please don't be there. Please don't be there. However, when he arrived at the spot, he saw him. Titus's long rotted corpse still sat where he left him. He saw the look of pure terror was frozen on his face.

He got off the horse and fell to his knees, "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry Titus." Steve began to weep and Alex placed her hand on his shoulder.

She tried to comfort him, "This wasn't your fault."

"No…no…it was, his death at least. When we were attacked, I could've gone back for him. But there were so many and I was so…I was so…scared. I left him here." Steve looked back at Titus and began to punch himself.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"No, stop!" Alex yelled as she grabbed his hand. The two wrestled for a moment before Alex pinned him to the ground.

"Get off of me! I'm a coward! Let me die!" Steve screamed.

"I know you blame yourself, but you have to get a fucking grip!" Alex ordered, "You're not the only one who got others killed! All those men who died at the ambush, I sent them to their deaths! But that doesn't give me the excuse to just roll over and die and neither do you!" Alex pinned Steve's hands to the ground and sat on top of him, keeping him still, finally allowing him to calm down a little. "I know how you feel, Steve. I've got skeletons too, but we can't just give up. It wouldn't be right to the people we've lost. Do you understand?"

Steve stared up at her, breathing heavily, "Yeah…I do." He relaxed his arms and allowed Alex to release him. He sat up and continued crying. Alex wrapped her arms around Steve and the two sat there for a while, comforting each other.

After about ten minutes, Steve asked, "Do you think we could bury them?"

Alex sighed, "I'm sorry Steve, I wish I could, but we have to be back by tonight."

"Could we at least bury two of them?"

"Yes, we can."

The two grabbed Titus and walked over to where Rolf died. Just like Titus and the others, Rolf was still lying where he fell.

It took about an hour to bury both of them. Steve chose to bury them near the tavern. As he stared at the graves, memories flooded back to him of the good ole' days. He remembered drinking and singing songs with them. He remembered talking with them all throughout the night. He remembered his best friends.

As the two were about to leave, they heard something from further back in the cave. It sounded like voices.

"You hear that?" said Steve, "Maybe there were survivors." Steve sprinted towards the voices. As he got closer, he could tell they were coming from inside the mines. However, he also noticed how deep and gravely the voices were and he slowed down. He made it to the mines and saw four pillagers exiting the mineshafts.

They ducked behind a building and observed the pillagers. They all carried pickaxes and one carried a sack on his back. He could hear the sack clanking as they walked, it was definitely full of jewels.

"This mine's pretty much tapped out," said one pillager.

"We only got one sack full in half a day, pathetic."

"I swear, if they send us back tomorrow, I might just have to murder someone."

The pillagers passed by a corpse and one pillager decided to pick it up, "Hey, look at this."

Another pillager stared at him with apathetic eyes, "Wow, it's a dead body, that's big news there, Pokko."

"No not the body, watch this," Pokko the pillager brought the body over to a nearby house. Steve stared angrily as they dragged the body. He soon noticed it was the body of a young girl, who couldn't have been no older than fifteen.

Pokko took the body and placed it against the wall of the house. He grabbed his pickaxe and stabbed it into the mouth of the girl, sticking her to the wall. Steve clenched his fists in anger and he could hear Alex's breathing get more intense.

"What are you doing you sick bastard?" a pillager asked.

Pokko swaggered back over to the group and said, "Look, we can get some target practice in."

"Oooooh, I like target practice," said another pillager as he grabbed his crossbow. The pillager aimed at the girl and shot. The arrow pierced her right lung and bits of rotten flesh began to fall out from the wound. Steve's blood began to boil. However, the pillager celebrated, "YEAH! You see that! Right in the heart!"

"What? The heart?" said Pokko, "The heart's on the left side dipshit."

"But I aimed on the left side," the pillager protested.

"What…no, the other left si- watch this," Pokko pulled out his crossbow and shot at the girl, hitting her in the heart. "Now that's a heart shot!"

Steve couldn't take it anymore. Every nerve and blood vessel in his body was pulsing in anger. He stepped out from the house and drew his sword, "YOU FUCKING MONSTERS!"

He charged them as fast as he could. His fear for the pillagers had seemingly vanished and it felt like he was watching himself as he charged. One pillager, surprised by Steve, didn't have time to react before Steve slit his throat.

Blood sprayed all over Steve, but he wasn't done. He sliced the pillager over and over again with his sword. The blood now sprayed his comrades. One pillager had pointed his crossbow at Steve, but before he could fire, Alex grabbed it and pushed it up to the roof of the cave. This left the pillagers neck wide open and she plunged her sword into his neck.

Steve turned around to Pokko and the other pillager. The other pillager tried to reload his crossbow, but Steve smashed it to pieces with his sword and sliced the pillagers' guts open. He continued to slice up the other pillager before decapitating him and kicking him into the arms of Pokko.

Pokko had nothing but fear in his eyes and Steve gripped his sword with both hands. He tried to throw the other villager away, but it was too late. Steve stabbed his sword through the other pillager and into Pokko's heart.

Pokko stood there, the sword was still in his heart and the other pillager was still in his arms. He coughed blood onto the other pillager's head and fell to his knees. Steve pulled the sword out, causing the other pillager to fall to the ground while Pokko was still sitting on his knees. He looked up at him with labored breathing as he clutched his chest. Steve took the sword and plunged it down Pokko's throat.

When Steve retrieved the sword, Steve stood there, breathing heavily. When a hand landed on his shoulder, Steve whipped around ready to fight his new attack, only to see Alex.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Steve lowered his guard, "No…I'm not. Not after that, not after any of this. There's nothing left here! I was the only survivor!" Tears formed in his eyes. "I was the only survivor because I was a damn coward!" He wiped away his tears and faced Alex, "I'm not staying here. I'm coming with you…I'm fighting with you…because I know now what I need to do! I have to kill them! I have killed every single one of them! THEY'RE ANIMALS! NO, THEY'RE MONSTERS! NO, THEY'RE WORSE! THEY ALL NEED TO DIE!"

Steve flung the blood off his sword and sheathed it, "I'm going to exterminate every last pillager in this world."