Heir to a Bloody Throne

Chapter Twenty

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The cell was dark and cold.

Notch had at least had the courtesy to remove Valor's blindfold before he left him there, chained to the wall to anticipate his coming death. Steven was with him, chained to the wall on the other side of the room. Where Lithian had been. While he was glad he was safe, Val found himself selfishly wishing that he could've said goodbye.

It had been maybe half an hour since they had been locked down here. How long would Null deliberate before he put him to death? That was his plan, wasn't it? He spoke of taking out his anger on him if Herobrine was dead - surely that meant a painful end. The waiting was excruciating.

"Steven?" He spoke up quietly. The man lifted his head on the other side of the room.

"Hm?"

"How did you know that I had told him my father was alive?" Valor could feel a lump in his throat grow as soon as he started to speak, and he stubbornly forced it down.

"I list'ned in for a couple minutes b'fore I stepped in." Steven's gaze lowered again. "I was waiting 'fer a good moment. Ran outta time."

"Ah." Val nodded a bit. "Notch would've returned shortly..."

"They mean t' kill you, don't they." Steven interrupted. Valor's throat tightened, and he nodded. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, I never meant..."

"If it helps, if not for you I'm sure I would've died much sooner." Val choked out. Steven only grimaced, looking away. The two sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Valor." Steven spoke up quietly. "There's som'thin' I need to tell you." Valor lifted his chin a bit.

"What?"

"When I... all that we told people about me bein' your uncle?" He shrugged weakly. "That wasn't a lie." Val was silent, stunned.

"...what? You're my..." He hesitated. "You're Herobrine's brother-?"

"Valor, let me finish, I swear if I don't tell you the truth before that fiend gets t' you I'll regret it 'fer the rest of my life." Steven interrupted sharply. "Please." Valor gave a little nod, and he took a shaky breath.

"No... 'm not related to Herobrine." He shook his head. "Didn't meet him 'till I was a young man. Don't know why he never told you this, prob'ly to keep you from ever wantin' to seek me out. Funny how fate works out, isn' it? No, you're... you were my sister's son. I don't suppose your father ever told you where his powers came from?" Val shook his head, silent. "I thought not."

"Your father... he was undead." Steven gestured a bit. "Not all 'at unlike th' zombies you'll meet underground. He was imbued with magic... took a mortal wound, and bound himself to a magical artifact to keep himself alive. The artifact was that pickaxe of his. Didn't know how it happened, that was long before 'e met me. Sometimes I wonder how old he was." He chuckled weakly. "I'm gettin' distracted."

"When I met him, when we became friends... he told me all've this in time. Which's why, when my sister bore a child..." he gestured to Valor slightly. "An' she and the infant grew deathly ill... I called upon him to save you." Valor just stared, processing all of this. "He took you to a temple, out in th' mountains, and we used this amulet t' save you." He shrugged a bit, causing his shirt to shift enough to show the chain of the necklace. "You became like him... white eyes 'n all. Your parents had succumbed t' the illness 'lready, an' I was too young to bear the respons'bility of a child, so he took you in."

"When I saw you again in Hadleigh... I knew you right away. It'd been so long, but I knew your face like th' back of my hand. I couldn't let you slip away again, couldn' let anything take you away from me. I didn't want you t' suffer ever again." Steven scoffed softly. "Right good job of that I've done.