The Edge of MINECRAFT (Being the Second Volume of the Minecraft Trilogy)

Impatience

Breathing in the evening air, Jack strolled up to the circle of villagers. They had set up camp toward the western edge of the Northwest Rockfields, and had spent all day just hanging around and training. Scouts had been keeping an eye on the monster gathering, and from their reports early in the morning, Lucas had assumed they'd need more men. With permission from nearby village leaders, Lucas had pulled men from their towns and from a few camps. They still hadn't heard from Jameson. Lucas just assumed he was staying with other leaders for a few days to work things out.

The group's they had pulled together had soon accumulated. They were now a camp themselves, formed from the ranks of other camps. Jack now approached some of the leaders of this makeshift camp.

Lucas stood at the head of the group, with Amos and some others around him. They were discussing something fairly urgent, judging by their tones and motions. When Jack had been notified they were meeting five minutes earlier, he had assumed Lucas just wanted to go over some housekeeping. But now, he wasn't so confident. He hurried over to the group.

"-some scouts stayed back to monitor situation," Lucas was saying. "We've also heard that more groups may be moving in."

"Sheesh," groaned Jon, an expert navigator. "More of them?"

"Guys," interrupted Jack. "More of what?" Everyone turned and looked at him. Lucas frowned and leaned forward.

"Jack," he said in a quiet, stressed voice, "there are thousands of monsters out in the fields." Jack's head spun. When the reports of this big meeting first came in, Jack had assumed along with everyone else that "big" meant several hundred. Maybe close to one thousand. But not thousands.

"Do we have an estimate?" Jack asked weakly.

"Somewhere around six," murmured Amos after a moment's silence.

"Six thousand?" Jack repeated.

"Six thousand" Amos confirmed.

"Maybe more," remarked Ben.

Lucas shot the lead scout a look. Everyone was silent for a while. Jack looked around at the grim faces in the circle.

"So what do we do?" the lumberjack inquired.

"We wait,"  Lucas sighed. Jack thought for a moment more.

Finally, he posed one final question: "Does anybody want to tell me exactly what six thousand plus monsters at doing out there?"

~~~

Israphel, creeper businessman extraordinaire, surveyed the magnificent gathering of ruffians splayed out all around him. The message for the precincts to get here had been spread around about three days ago. Then some trusted partners of Israphel had gotten him involved, and soon he was pulling all sorts of men together. Monsters of all sorts from all over soon amassed in this gathering.

Now that almost all groups were there, a powwow had begun half an hour before sundown. A giant bonfire had been lit along with several torches and a great feast of meats roasted over the flames. Zombies, skeletons, and creepers ran around wildly, singing ancient chants and chowing down on ridiculous portions of meat. Slimes, spiders, wolves, and cursed horses were all stationed throughout the field, celebrating in their own ways.

In pits, spiders battled each other and caught prey while onlookers placed bets. Across the sprawl, competitions were held featuring skills such as archery and hand-to-hand combat. All in all, it was chaos. And Israphel loved chaos. He fed off of it. He breathed it. His business was hinged upon chaos. And by creating more chaos, he stayed in business.