Apprentice

Chapter 19: Dangerous thinking

Tia's POV

The wall behind me shattered into shards of concrete, bricks raining down on me, dust blowing out everywhere. I instantly duck, but then remember that this can't harm me. Glancing at Liam who is on the floor, but is now stumbling up onto his feet, my eyes snap back to the hole in the wall. 

It was a giant mutant creeper, with four legs. It hissed like a snake, jumping up on top of the building, exploding the ceiling so that it rained down upon us. I quickly run to Liam, pulling him out of the way of a particularly large brick as it shatters where he was sitting. "Kill it then, master pvper's apprentice!" I yell, shoving him towards it. He stumbles forward, calming his breathing down. He shuts his eyes and crouches. I gaze up at the giant hole in the ceiling, watching as it jumps up and lands right next to me, making the floor shudder like an earthquake.

Liam jumps up, slamming the axe into one of its legs. The creature roars, and suddenly little baby creepers come running from behind him. Cooing softly, I reach out for one. It comes close to me and I pick it up. It hisses a little and I laugh as it explodes in a little cloud of dust. I cough a little bit, examining the sulphur pile on my palm. "Oh so they're just little mobs full with sulphur? Aw, how cute! Wonder why they explode though..." I murmur. "A LITTLE BIT OF HELP WOULD BE NICE!" Liam roars and I chuckle, watching him desperately slice at the giant creeper. "No, I think i'll just watch. It's quite entertaining. Besides, this is YOUR test, not mine!" I laugh, crossing my arms and leaning against a wall, waiting impatiently.

The creeper suddenly turns to me, hissing. Liam takes the time to stumble to his feet, checking his injuries. The creeper marches towards me, ducking its head to glare into my eyes, it's deep black oblivion eye holes gazing into mine. "You sure you want to attack a quart god, the apprentice of a demigod? You sure that's a good idea, little buddy?" I grin, patting the creeper monster on its head. 

The creeper hisses at me then jumps a little causing an explosion. It does nothing but cause dust to blow up in my face, making me cough. "Jeez, calm down. It's him who stole your precious scroll, not me." I protest, dusting the dust off my face and pointing to Liam. The creeper eyes me warily for a second and to prove my point, I hiss at it like a cat and levitate. It turns away from me and heads towards Liam. Giggling a little, I float up to the ceiling. "Just gonna admire the view, you're doing a good job!" I call down to him, watching him curse as baby creepers headbutt his leg, exploding on contact. 

Gazing out at the crisp blue sky, there is a small breeze picking up, lifting my dusty hair, blowing all the particles away. I look up at the clouds. Somewhere, right now, Ridgedog was waiting for me to come back. A small pang of regret flickers in my heart but I brush it away. He has done fine without me. But...

NO! A voice suddenly yells in my head. Stop thinking about him and stop feeling sorry for him! But as much as I wanted to agree with the voice, there was something niggling at the back of my mind, like an itch that wouldn't go away. It was growing too. I...oh god, I think, looking down. I kinda missed him, in a way. Missed the protection that was there, the safety from attack. Sometimes he appeared to be sane. Those were...all moments when I had interfered in some way. Like when he got mad, and I made him a cup of tea, he would be fine. Or when he was getting depressed, I'd talk to him, change the topic, distract him. And apparently, he was getting worse now that I had gone. Was...was I really the reason he hadn't gone completely mad? 

I remember when I met Deamon in the forest. "It's not over yet." I grimace. "True. He's not going to let this go. Although he does look a little worse for wear..." Worse? Worse when I left? My mind flashes back to when we had a chat at night time, trying to block out the explosions below me. "Tia, I have known Ridge for hundreds of years, and you are the only chance of him becoming sane again." As much as I wanted to deny it, Ridgedog needed me. For some odd, strange reason he had become attached to me and now I had gone I had triggered something that never should have been. He was spiralling into depression, because of ME.

He needed me. 

"He needs me." I whisper. The voice in my head that had been shouting so loudly disappeared into a whisper. I shut my eyes. Was this...right? Did I want to go back to him after he caused me so much pain? But thinking more about it, being his apprentice wasn't all that bad. I'd learned a lot more than I had with Duncan. Maybe I could strike a de-

My eyes snap open, a grin widening onto my face. A deal. That's what I needed. A deal! If he stopped the survival games and stopped hurting everyone, I would come back! The grin spreads to the very edges of my face. Not that it surprised me, Deamon appeared in front of me, raising his eyebrows. Behind him was Featherblade, Kupo and a very angry looking Elevn. "What are you so happy about?" Deamon asks. "I need to make him a deal" I say quietly. Telling them my idea, they all begin to look at each other. "That might work, actually. If he's desperate enough to get her back, he'll agree to it. Want us to tell him?" Elevn asks, looking a bit friendlier. "Not yet. I need more time to think. Can I call you guys back down when I need you?" I ask, and they nod. "Just say one of our names, we'll be there." Deamon says before they all disappear. 

Jumping back down the hole, it turns out Liam managed to slay the creeper after all. Cutting the head of the beast as a trophy and stuffing it into a bag, he slings it across his shoulder and glares at me. "What?" I say with a snicker and he shakes his head at me. Picking him up under his arms, I fly out of the building. The sun was beginning to set once more.

"I need to talk to you. I'm going back to Yogscast Island." I tell him, going back to our now rebuilt base. "But what about Ridgedog?" he asks. "I'm striking a deal with him. If he agrees, then everything is fine and dandy. I won't tell him the deal straight away though. Let him stew for a bit" I laugh. I pause. That might not be the wisest thing-given Ridge's current state, he could snap at any minute and hunt me down and kill me before I can even say sorry. "Well, whatever. I'm going to sleep. I'm tired since SOMEONE did nothing, you lazy ass." he growls and I laugh at him. "Hey, it was your test, I don't need testing!" "You should be tested for having a mental illness to be going back to that nutcase" he grunts and I flinch. "So if Mitch went mad and you ran away, you wouldn't go back at all?" I challenge him. He pauses, turning round. "It's not the same thing." he replies, his blue eyes daring me to say more.

"How isn't it?" I ask. "He's mortal so I could handle it. Ridgedog is a demigod and could wipe you out quicker than a click of my fingers, you said so yourself. If he snaps, just one more time, no deal on the earth would save you from death." I glare heavily at him, temper rising. "Actually, it could." a voice says. Turning round, Deamon is floating behind me, by himself this time. "Do you ever go away?" I groan, but a small smile flickers onto my face-Liam wouldn't dare challenge me with a demigod on my side. "What do you mean? She's a quart god, she can be killed by loads of stuff, she said so." Liam argues, not meeting Deamon's cold stare. "Yes she can. But the amount of times Tia has said or done something that would usually end her life and she's gotten away with it is countless. And besides. Mexxy can bring people back to life."

I turn to gawp at him. "Are you serious?" I whisper. "At a price of course. But since I'm the general of the armies, he will listen to me. So if the worse case scenario is that Tia dies, Mexxy will bring her back." I turn to look at Liam proudly. "Oh I will, will I?" a smooth voice interrupts and I feel as if every hair on my body stands on end. Turning slowly, I take in the hovering majestic figure, with a royal blue coat, gold plated patterns on the shimmering gold buttons, a crown on his head with every jewel I can think of and more, his silver curly hair messy but at the same time tidy. The figure just screams importance and his very presence scared me more than Ridge ever could.

Mexxy.