Book Three: Part 2 Herobrine’s Message. Sean Wolfe Fay

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ known ever since—”

      “Silence,” Lord Tenebris ordered, to which Drake looked to the ground in shame. “It’s time for action. Drake, prepare the troops in the city to lead an attack on the underground bunker. Spyro, return to the Mushroom Islands, and put down the resistance there within the next week. Tess, return to Nocturia, and order half your troops to march to Element City. Send the two villagers with them, and I’ll send the third one your way, with whom I will expect you to start to create a massive army of mobs. You will have the troops here by tomorrow.”

      “But … my lord!” cried out Tess in surprise, as Spyro stared at Lord Tenebris in confusion. “I won’t be able to transport all my troops to Nocturia in one day. Even if the highway through the Nether was completed, I couldn’t do that! And it will take General Spyro at least three days to make his way to the Mushroom Islands …”

      Lord Tenebris smiled. “Don’t fret, my generals … Lord Tenebris would never ask something impossible of his underlings.”

      And with that, Lord Tenebris stood up from his throne and stretched out his hands: one towards Tess and the other towards Spyro. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tightened his focus. Then, in one instant, his eyes flew open, and he released all the tension in his body. Tess and Spyro’s bodies flashed for a moment, and then, in the blink of an eye, they were gone.

      Drake glanced around wildly, trying to figure out what had happened. The thought that Lord Tenebris may have just killed his two comrades flashed across his mind, but just as he was about to let out a shout of horror, the sound of Lord Tenebris’s voice echoed throughout the room.

      “Do not concern yourself with them, Drake. I have merely used my abilities to transfer your two fellow generals to exactly where they needed to be. Tess is now in her office in Nocturia, while Spyro is in the Capitol Building of the Lesser Mushroom Island.”

      Drake’s mind took a moment to comprehend what Lord Tenebris had just said, but as soon as he did, he stared up at him, awed by this incredible display of power. Lord Tenebris allowed Drake a moment of marvelling before glaring down at him. The second his piercing white eyes met Drake’s, the general cringed yet again.

      “Now, go, Drake, and prepare the armies of Elementia for the invasion of the bunker. The end of the war is near.”

      Drake gave a zealous nod of agreement, and with that, he stood up and was out the door of the council room within seconds, the iron door slamming shut behind him.

      The stone-block command room was silent as the players filed in. Stan took a seat at the head of the makeshift cobblestone table as Kat, the Mechanist and Commander Crunch sat down around the other sides. Ben, Leonidas, Cassandrix and Sirus stood against the stone wall behind them, while Bob sat beside his brother on Ivanhoe, Rex sitting obediently beside them. Only Charlie, who was getting his leg checked out by a medical team, was missing.

      “First off,” Stan said, as he looked around the room, meeting the eyes of each individual player, “I would like to say how happy I am to finally be back here with you guys. You’re all like family to me, and there’s nobody else that I’d rather be defending my home with than you. And even though … we’ve lost …”

      Stan took a deep breath, and fought to retain his composure. Although this was the first time that he had spoken to this entire group since he returned to the mines, the knowledge of which of their comrades had fallen since they last met had spread through the group rather quickly. The memories of DZ, Bill and so many more whose fates were unsure still lingered in his memory as he continued his speech.

      “… and even though we’ve lost many brave players along the way, it is our duty to ensure that their deaths weren’t in vain. Though it’s true that during the course of this war, the Noctem Alliance has pushed us to the brink of extinction, one crucial fact remains true: we’re still here.

      “The republic – the true government of Elementia, which is willing to fight to the death to defend the principles of equality for all – is still alive and well. My friends, we are that government. And it’s our mission to take back our city and once again turn Elementia into the place that its founders intended it to be. We have been hiding, defending and running from the Noctem Alliance for far too long. The time has come, my friends, to fight back.”

      There were nods and murmurs of assent around the table, as looks of grim determination took to the faces of all in the vicinity. Everybody knew that what Stan was suggesting wouldn’t be easy … or perhaps even possible. But they also knew that he was right. They couldn’t hide forever, and sooner or later, they would have to retaliate.

      “Ben, Bob,” Stan said inquisitively, looking at the two police chiefs. “Do you have a prediction on how long it will be before the Noctem Alliance discovers this cave?”

      “Well, I doubt that they’ll find us anytime soon,” Bob replied reasonably. “This bunker is pretty far underground, and it’s far away from Element City’s active mines. When we closed the bunker, the pistons shifted the dirt blocks to make the hill look totally natural, so they’d never recognize it as a mine entrance. You can thank the Mechanist’s redstone designs for that.”

      Several players gave a nod of congratulations to the Mechanist, who glanced down at the table, as if he were embarrassed. Stan found this odd; the Mechanist had never had any false modesty regarding his redstone creations before (although he had never been excessively braggy either). In any case, it didn’t matter. They had a game plan to assemble.

      “OK, I trust your judgment,” Stan said to Bob, nodding in approval. “If that’s the case, then we’ve probably got a little bit of time to get a plan together. Now, here’s the question: what do we do?”

      “Well, where’s the best place in the city to strike?” Kat asked. “We have enough manpower down here to take at least part of the city back by force, and then at least we’ll be above ground and have access to resources again.”

      “I don’t think that will work,” Ben replied gravely. “We’ve been sending spies out into the city to monitor the Noctem occupation, and it seems like they’ve formed some sort of impenetrable web across the city. Their military operations run like clockwork; if we try to invade part of the city at dusk, we’ll have the entire force of the Noctem Army bearing down on us by morning.”

      “I have an idea,” a voice came from behind the players. They turned around and saw Charlie. He hobbled across the room into his chair.

      “What did TrumpetBlaster say about your leg?” Bob asked anxiously, as Ivanhoe gave a grunt from beneath him.

      “I didn’t go,” he replied, a dark look on his face. “I heard that you guys were having a meeting to discuss what to do next, and I figured that I should be there. I’ll go see him afterwards. Anyway, did I hear you say that you’re looking for an idea of how to take back Element City?”

      Stan nodded. “What’s your idea?”

      “Well, what if we at least tried to sneak into the city under the radar?” Charlie asked, his face lighting up. “If we somehow managed to get a bunch of footholds all across the city – you know, like, take over houses in a bunch of different parts of the city – then we could launch an attack from all over the city at once.”

      “Negatory, sir,” Bob said, shaking his head. “The Noctem Alliance would never let an operation like that go undetected. Their surveillance is incredible, and they have invisible troops stationed all over the city, on the lookout for anything suspicious. We СКАЧАТЬ