Quest for Justice (9 page)

Then, the unimaginable happened. In a shower of sparks, the support beams of the store gave in, and the entire store and house folded in on itself until nothing remained but a smoldering pile of charcoal, flames, and scorched brick. Only one thought filled Stan's mind: Blackraven100 was most certainly dead.

As the crowd cheered at the collapse of the store, Stan drew out his axe, his eyes blazing in fury. The rage he felt consumed him, unlike anything that he had ever felt before. What he had felt at Crazy Steve's death was nothing compared to this. He raised his axe over his head and was about to charge the cheering mob when a force unseen pulled him backward by his collar, and he fell on his butt.

Kat had grabbed him, sensing what he was about to do. Stan, unreasonable with rage, pushed Kat down and leaped
back to his feet, ready to charge the mob again, but this time it was Charlie who caught him from the front and prevented him from making progress. This gave Kat the chance to bear-hug Stan from behind. She was much stronger than he was, but he continued to struggle as Kat and Charlie dragged their furious friend back into an alley, where it took the combined effort of Kat and Charlie to force Stan onto the ground.

“Stan! Snap out of it!” cried Charlie hysterically, tears streaming down his face, and it was the pain in his voice that finally made Stan stop fighting Kat. “We're all upset! And it's not our fault!” he yelled, reading Stan's thoughts. “He did the right thing, you hear me? The right thing! If I could, I would run out there and kill all those people myself, but what's the point?” His voice wasn't hysterical anymore but shaky, and most certainly pained. “They would turn on us. They hate us, remember? That would just cause more senseless deaths. More senseless, senseless deaths.” Now he just sounded disgusted.

Kat, on the other hand, still had streams of tears on her cheeks. She took her body weight off Stan and gave a sniffle. “Come on, you guys,” she said, her voice shakier than Charlie's. “Let's go to this Proclamation Day thing, and we'll work out what to do from there.” She stood up, Charlie along with her. They looked down at Stan, who was still lying on the ground.

Stan no longer felt his anger and grief choking him. He
felt nothing but repugnance at the mob that had killed his friend, which was going wild in its ecstasy, making the fire bigger and bigger. He wanted nothing more right now than to get out of this alley, away from this street, away from the injustice, and to never come back again.

Stan stood up slowly. “Yeah,” he said, looking at his friends. “Let's go to the proclamation.”

The sun was high in the sky, and the crowds were already thronging onto the grounds of the castle. The mechanical doors in front of the castle swung open, and the King walked out onto the bridge. It was from the bridge, which straddled the two front towers of the gigantic castle, that the King gave all his proclamations.

As the King walked into view, the crowd burst into cheers. It was a huge crowd, encompassing the entire population of the city.

The King did his best to make the area nice for these guests. The grounds were well kept, and there were topiary bushes of players and animals. The King's personal favorite part of his lawn was the moat of lava that surrounded his castle. Never a bad defense against attackers, it also gave the castle a majestic glow at night.

The King was content with the decision of the Council of Operators regarding what to do about the excess of new
players in Element City. He realized that his new law would outrage the city's lower-level citizens, but the upper-level citizens, who made up a good third of the city's population of just over one thousand players, would be overjoyed at the announcement.

The King's right-hand man, Caesar, who was standing to the right and behind the King, handed him a microphone. Down below, they were broadcasting the sound through the speakers around the grounds. The King cleared his throat. “Greetings, citizens of Element City!”

He had a deep, booming voice, and the townspeople cheered and created a wild tumult at his greeting.

“I have called you here before your King for a reason,” the King continued. “I am sure that you will all remember the last time I called for a Day of Proclamation. At that time, due to a player's increasingly negative influence on the Council of Operators, it was decided that a new law would be passed, one which banned a player from the server after his first death.”

There was a dissatisfied murmur at this. Many of the citizens were not fond of the law.

“I am aware that many of you were opposed to this new law. A petition from those who felt this way most strongly brought about a compromise: I would give up my operating powers, and the law would remain unchanged.

“I am an honorable man, and I always keep my word. Since then, I have given up my operating powers, and I am now as mortal as the rest of you. However, the dissatisfaction with this law did not cease. A new point was brought up.

“In recent months there has been an influx in the number of new players joining the server. This causes great dissatisfaction to the upper-level citizens of Element City, who have lived here longer and have rightfully earned the land on which they now live. These lower-level players have made life much more difficult for the upper-level players, causing shortages in jobs, in food, and in land.”

By this point the crowd was in a frenzy. The upper-level players were cheering the King's praises, and the lower-level players were shouting in fury. The King had to shout to make himself heard.

“Here is the proclamation that you have all assembled here for: Any citizens of Element City with a level under that of fifteen are required to leave Element City within one week of today's date. After that date, any players under level fifteen found in the city shall be killed, their houses—”

And that was when the arrow hit the King.

Luckily for the King the one who fired the arrow was not a better shot, or the King would have been impaled through the skull and killed. Instead the arrow bounced off his crown, pushing it off and knocking the King to the ground.

The crowd, which had just gone wild with cheers and outrage at the King's proclamation, was now silent.

The King quickly got up and looked over the railing of the bridge to see who had tried to assassinate him. It didn't take long for the King to see a clearing toward the back of the lawn. Everybody had backed away from the three players standing there.

One of the three in the clearing was a girl with blond hair, an orange T-shirt with a heart on it, and pink shorts. A dog was sitting at her side. The second player looked like a desert nomad. Both looked absolutely shocked.

But the third player, who had the standard Minecraft look, had his bow still raised and pointing at the King. Even at the far distance, the King could see the hatred etched in every line of his face, and the red fury in his eyes.

T
here was a moment of stunned silence as the King, his officials, the crowd, and even the players by his side took in the enormity of the player's attempt on the King's life. Then, all hell broke loose.

The player turned around and dashed toward the gate, and he was quickly followed by the two players and the dog that had been next to him. The King was still too shocked to be angry, but he was sure that the players would never escape alive. The King's loyal subjects would destroy the player who had attempted to assassinate their beloved leader.

But alas, the King was only half-correct. For at the exact same moment that the players turned and ran, a path through the people opened for them to escape through. It seemed while the upper-level players were indeed trying to kill the three players, the lower-level players were defending them and fending off the upper-levels. This was a revolt.

Over his shock now, the King was wild with fury at this player who had not only tried to kill him but had also turned the lower-levels of the city against their superiors. Screaming like a mad animal, he ordered that the gates be locked and that the riot control be sent in, effective immediately.

They weren't quick enough, though. The three
players escaped just as the gates slid closed behind them. The King let out a bellow of rage and ordered that police forces be sent out into the city to find and kill the boy, his friends, the dog, and any accomplices that they might have.

Meanwhile, the riot control had reached the mob. The crowd was still fighting among itself, sending players of all levels toppling like tipped cows. The riot control mainly fired arrows into the crowd, trying to subdue the lower-levels, but the leader of the control force had other ideas.

Minotaurus was a player who had, using mods (outside programs), become twice the size of a normal player and looked just like a real Minotaur, horns and all. He carried around a double-bladed diamond battle-axe that never wore out.

Normally, the King would not allow a modified player on the server, but Minotaurus had shown a wicked taste for massacre. He had been deemed worthy by the King when the King had ordered Minotaurus to prove himself by killing his own brother and two sisters on the server. He had done so without batting an eye. He was absolutely ruthless . . . and the King loved it.

The King prized loyalty, and he had made Minotaurus the head of riot control. Minotaurus could slice through men like butter with that battle-axe, and he could effectively and quickly end riots, which were common in the city. Why, no more than an hour before the proclamation, the King had
sent Minotaurus and his men out to stop an angry mob that had killed a player and set his house on fire.

The King had no sympathy for the player the mob had killed. He had been sheltering lower-levels. But the fire had been starting to spread, and the mob had kept making it bigger. Within sixty seconds of Minotaurus's arrival, all the rioters were either dead or retreating.

Minotaurus was the one who led the charge on the rioters now. He killed without mercy, slicing through anyone in his way with that giant battle-axe. Within a matter of minutes, the riot had stopped, but Minotaurus was still killing. It took five Potions of Slowness thrown by his own men to finally subdue him.

The King smiled. He was still here, and as long as he had Minotaurus and riot control, there wouldn't be any more riots of this magnitude. He did have to do something about the assassin, though. The last thing he needed was an uprising on his hands, and if there was any player that held a high risk of creating an uprising, it was the assassin. But where would he get the men? The King would make sure that the lower-levels in the capital were closely monitored by the authorities so that they wouldn't rebel, but the assassin must have known that he would do that. And the only other place where there were enough lower-levels to start an uprising would be . . .

The King knew what he had to do. He took the liberty of personally walking down to the riot control office. Minotaurus
was waiting, having been informed of the King's coming.

“I have a job for you,” the King said.

“What kind of job?” Minotaurus asked in his baritone voice.

The King watched Minotaurus's eyes grow wide with pleasure at the assignment. This kind of thing was right up his alley.

“Take half your men with you,” the King said, “Leave half here in case the citizens riot again. Destroy everything. Leave no survivors. Make sure that there is no way that civilization can continue on that spot. Take what you need from the armory. I suggest fire and TNT. Do me proud, Minotaurus.”

The giant bull-man sprang to a salute. “Yes, sir. We won't let you down, sir!”

Then, glowing with excitement, Minotaurus and half his team ran down the hall to the armory.

Stan was running. Charlie, Kat, and Rex were running behind him. They didn't stop to walk. They didn't take breaks. They kept running until they were out of the castle grounds, out of Element City, into the forest, around the crater, and down the path. They finally stopped when they were back at the Adorian Village.

Stan was amazed by his own thoughts. He had just tried to kill the most powerful player in Elementia and had then
sprinted an incredible distance back to the Adorian Village. Yet the only thing that filled Stan's mind was his astonishment that he had been able to shoot so accurately. He could only think about the fact that he had been deemed hopeless by Archie and that he had only hit the target once. That being said, he'd had time to aim this time.

Stan saw Sally and Jayden running up to them. They initially looked happy to see the trio, but the smiles dropped when they saw the looks on their faces.

“What happened, guys?” Jayden asked. “You look like you've—”

But he was cut off by Charlie, still out of breath, sputtering out, “Stan . . . proclamation . . . arrow . . . King . . . riot . . .”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sally incredulously.

“Stan tried to kill the King with an arrow,” Kat said gravely.

There was nothing but stunned silence from Sally, Jayden, and Adoria, who had just walked up and heard Kat's announcement.

“You tried to
what
?” she finally yelled, a look of terror on her face.

“What possessed you to try to kill the King?” screamed Jayden, his eyes bulging. Sally looked like death warmed over.

“That's a fair point, Stan,” said Charlie, who was trembling with fear. “Why?”

“I . . . just . . . ,” said Stan, and he sputtered for a minute,
the anger building in him again. He felt indescribable rage about their mistreatment, about Blackraven's death, and about the proclamation. After a minute of him sputtering and the others questioning, he blurted out, “He deserved it!” He told them about what had happened after his, Kat's, and Charlie's departure from the Adorian Village. It was the news of the new proclamation that stunned everyone the most.

“The King's going to kick all the lower-levels out of Element City?” said Sally disbelievingly.

“How can he do that? They make up two-thirds of the population now!” said Adoria. Charlie explained about the shortages.

“So he gets more land!” yelled Jayden. “He orders trees cleared, which opens new land, which would create new jobs! He's the
King
. He has the entire city at his command! He can do anything!”

“Oh, it's more complicated than that,” replied Adoria. “He thinks that the groundwork laid by the upper-levels makes life easier for lower-levels, and the upper-levels resent that. When you think that the city's council is made up of all upper-level players, it's not surprising that they would pass a law this selfish.”

“This is all well and good, but the fact remains,” said Kat, who had kept quiet ever since she had told them of Stan's actions but now spoke in tones of quiet fury, “Stan tried to
kill the King of this server, and if you think that there won't be retribution—”

And she was cut off by a flaming arrow hitting the side of the building next to her.
Too late
, Stan thought, a pit opening in his stomach.

As was inevitable, more arrows flew out of the woods like a swarm of hornets. The six players ran for cover as the buildings began to catch fire. Then came a swarm of men in white uniforms—the riot control office—pouring into the village.

The six players ducked behind the brick Town Hall, out of sight for a moment. Then Adoria said to Stan, “You have to go. All three of you.”

“What?” Stan said. There were many things that he had expected she would say to him, but this was not one of them. “Why? We want to help fight them off!” Charlie and Kat nodded in agreement. “I got you into this mess, and I want to help you get out!”

“No! It will only make matters worse,” Adoria replied quickly. They were running out of time. “Maybe if they find that you three are not here, they won't destroy any more of the village. Now, I'm going to go talk to them. You all get out of here, quickly!”

And before they could argue, she stepped into the clearing and began to speak. “My name is Adoria, and I am the mayor
of this village. I know why you are here. You have come to find and destroy the one who tried to assassinate the King of Elementia. I tell you that he is not here and that we will not harbor him. If you do not believe me, I will be happy to comply with a full search of the village. Please, do not destroy anything else. We will cooperate in peace.”

A moment of silence greeted this proposal. Then, a double-ended diamond axe flew through the air, straight toward Adoria.

It buried itself in her head and stomach, and she fell to the street—dead.

Stan, Kat, Charlie, Jayden, and Sally were too stunned to speak, move, or, in Stan's case, think. A player, twice the size of a normal player who was dressed just like a bull, walked up to Adoria's disfigured corpse and pulled out the axe, haphazardly brushing the body to the side.

This heinous act pushed Jayden and Sally over the edge. They both leaped out into the clearing, crying like Spartans, terrifying looks on both of their faces. Jayden whipped out his diamond axe, and Sally drew out two iron swords, holding one in both hands. Then, still issuing their warrior yell, they battled with the giant man.

Stan, his brain still unable to process what he had just seen, didn't yet feel any sadness at the loss of Adoria. He just blindly followed commands from his brain to run into the
woods after Kat, Charlie, and Rex.

At the edge of the woods, he looked back at the Adorian Village.

It was like Blackraven's house but a thousand times worse. Fire was everywhere. The houses were a blazing inferno, all of them starting to crumble already. Stan looked at the brick Town Hall and saw it explode from the inside out. Bricks flew across the town. But the worst was the people. Everywhere, new players burst out of their burning houses, wooden and stone swords drawn, but most of them were immediately felled by flaming arrows from the bows of riot control.

Stan looked down one street and saw a girl with a pink blouse, blue skirt, and white kneesocks kill a riot control player from behind with her wooden sword, but then the giant Minotaur-man came up behind her and raised his axe. Stan looked away as he heard the swish and thud of the diamond blade.

Stan was sickened by the whole event more than anything else he'd encountered so far. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. But sickened most of all. Why would they burn down the village anyway, even after Adoria had tried to reason with them? All of those lower-level players, gone . . .

Stan keeled over on his side, threw up on the ground, and cried.