Wither

Chapter 24-Betrayal

*Sora's POV*

We saw a mob of flying, white things from our post. Ghasts. The mob looked, as my super-smart brain would know, to be approximately 528 ghasts. Even 50 ghasts would make a formidable force against Herobrine, but with his thousands, tens of thousands give or take, of soldiers, we needed as many as we could get.

I sent a signal to Flint, Dusty, River, and Poof and shimmied down my spire. I saw them following suit. When we hit the bottom, Liz and Kai were waiting. "Is the army coming?" Kai asked anxiously, his black hair disheveled. I felt sorry for him; the span of two weeks was almost done. Thousands of innocents at Notch's castle would die because he was trapped here. The guilt weighed heavily on his shoulder, and even Liz's comforting presence wasn't lifting it.

"Yes. There look to be about 528 ghast recruits." I saw their boggled expressions and rolled my eyes. "Ugh, fine. There look to be about 500 recruits," I scoffed.

"Sorry, it's just hard to believe that you can count that fast," Liz explained.

"Well, I can," I snapped. A whoosh of scalding wind whipped my back and I whirled around with a yelp. Lauren, Romani, Peterson, and another ghast landed down in front of us. The other ghast glowed white and shrunk into a familiar shape, Toboe. The immense flock of ghasts landed and send a wave of burning air towards us. It hit me and I gasped, as did everyone else behind me.

"We've gathered over 520 ghasts," Romani reported. I rolled my eyes and let him continue. "We're fairly sure that the stragglers will not be recruited into Herobrine's Army, as there is a Ghaslandic warning note written there. They may come to join us or stay in hiding."

I nodded. "Hear anything from Ember and the blazes?"

We were interrupted by Flint calling from one of the towers he had climbed. "Blazes sighted!"

Romani grinned. "That answer your question?"

I smiled back and turned to face the oncoming horde of blazes. "There have to be at least 1,768 of them," I gasped, in awe.

***

Ember, Jayden, Jet, Johann, Seto, and Mabel-who was looking haunted due to the immense gathering of fire beings behind her-finally reached the fortress. Poof and I walked over to greet them. We were joined by Liz and the boys. "We have the blazes," Ember said, stating the obvious.

"I see," I rolled my eyes and cracked a grin.

"There are 1,678 of them."

"I know," I said blatantly.

"We need to discuss tactics," Romani said, to the point. "Ember, you'll command one squadron. Seto will command another, Sora will do the third, and Lauren will do the last. Poof, I would have you or Toboe do it, but you can't use your powers and Toboe is still recovering. Before you ask, I'm going to be maintaining an aerial position where I can oversee you all and smite the attackers.

"Ember, you'll have a force of blazes, as will you, Seto. Ah...839 of them for you both. Sora and Poof, you will have forces of ghasts. It will be smaller, but equally as powerful. 236 for you both.

"The rest of you will be sporadically placed. Dusty, you will probably be by the westward spire, launching attacks and protecting your teammates from afar. River and Poof, you'll be running a medical stand since you can't use your powers, but feel free to use solid weapons. Anyone who can fly will join Lauren. Toboe will not be fighting-."

"Why?!" An indignant cry sounded from behind Romani. "I'm perfectly able to fight! I let the injury comment slide, but this is too much!"

"Herobrine could capture you!"

"As he could with everyone else!"

"But he wants you. Don't you see that we are trying to protect you?"

"Yes, but-"

"But I am the adult and I will decide. If your injury gets better, then you ca-"

"Where's Flint?" Dusty interjected.

*Flint's POV*

I made the promise impulsively. He made me do it before I knew my friends. This was going to be harder than I thought. I jogged towards Herobrine's lair, feeling sick and awful.

"Ah, Flint," he sneered as I walked in, my dark hair sweaty. He called me by my first name since I didn't tell him my surname. "Any information yet? Your sister is just dying to hear it," he gestured cruelly to a little girl in a black cage, the whole reason I struck this bargain. "If you bring me bad information again, she's done for."

My sister started sobbing. I bowed my head and recited the gameplan. "Good. Now take him to the dungeons."

***

I was placed in a cell with my sister. We solemnly chatted about the severity of the situation and what was new. After a while we tediously napped, played, and sat in silence.

***

I started awake when I heard the tinkle of keys. A pigman with a crooked, golden smile croaked. "The war is starting."