Tales of Minecraft: The Curse (Remake)

11: Travelling

Alex's POV
It was morning when we were about to set off, with several quivers of arrows for Zip (I didn't need any), a new handle for Tim, a pack of food and a bedroll each. Just before we were about to leave, Fury came walking in the room with Wolf at her side, her two diamond swords strapped to her back and a small backpack.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

"It's too dangerous," Tim said instantly. "We have no idea what we're going up against, and you're just a kid."

In an instant, Fury had dropped her backpack, drawn one of her swords and stepped closer to Tim, her sword resting on his neck. We all froze.

"I'm coming," Fury said slowly. "Whether you like it or not." She smoothly stepped back and sheathed her sword. She swung her backpack on her back. "Shall we leave?"

Hours later, the rain was pouring down, the sun was setting and the warmth of Fury's home was a distant memory. The rain had soaked my skin long ago, through my shirt and the jumper that Fury had given me before we had left. Everything about me was cold: my feet, my arms, my head. Zip finally stopped, motioning for us to stop too.

"We might as well make camp now," she said, her hair plastered down to her face. "We're not going to get much further, and we don't want to get sick either."

Jade, Luke, Tim and I made a kind of shelter, attaching a large canvas covering to four trees, with one side touching the ground so the water could run off. Fury had disappeared into the trees and Zip was spreading another canvas sheet on the soaking wet ground. This canvas had a hole in the middle for a campfire, although any attempts at making a fire was useless since all the wood around us was wet. We sat in a huddle on the ground, trying to retain as much body-heat as possible. I took off my wet jumper, but it didn't help much.

Fury came back several minutes later with a stack of wood in her arms. Her dog Wolf was trailing behind her, the legs of two chickens held in his mouth. Fury had a third chicken dangling from her hand and she dumped the wood next to the hole in the ground.

"Found some dry wood in the trees," she said, pushing back her hood from her head. Her hair was still wet, despite of the hood. "Figured we would feel better after a hot meal."

Wolf dropped the chickens next to Fury and shook his coat of the excess water, splashing it over all of us.

"Wolf!" Fury chidded. "Not here! Go into the corner!"

Wolf barked and walked over to the corner before continuing to shake himself. Tim quickly got a fire started and as it blazed up, we all immediately started feeling better. Luke and Jade gutted and jointed the chickens and set them roasting over the fire while Fury wrapped some of her potatoes and carrots in some sort of foil, putting both to one side. When there was a sizeable amount of coals, she put the carrots and the potatoes on top of the coals, cooking them. While they were doing that, I layed out my bedroll and took my bow out of its waterproof covering, checking it for any wear. If the bow-string got wet, it would stretch and be unusable, but thankfully it was fine. My book was also with my bow and I sat down, reading it in the light cast by the fire.

"Dinner's ready," Fury said after a while, taking out the potatoes and the carrots from the coals. We each got half of a carrot and potato as well as half a chicken. Fury gave Wolf half of her chicken after making sure it didn't have any bones. Chicken bones are bad for dogs. After we ate, we quietly talked for a few minutes.

"It's another three days of walking to the valley," Fury was saying. "Roughly."

"It would be faster if we had horses," Jade said, throwing a chicken bone into the fire.

"True. Don't suppose any of you have some spare horses up your sleeve?" Luke asked jokingly.

Fury rolled her eyes at him, but I noticed that she was holding back a smile. "I'm going to bed." She rolled into her bedroll and Wolf snuggled down next to her. One of Fury's arms automatically hugged him. Her two swords were on the other side of Wolf, within easy reach of her hand.

"We should get some sleep too," Zip said.

Tim banked the fire and we all went to our bedrolls, curling up. My bed had been warmed slightly by the fire and I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I was standing in front of a massive castle made of dark bricks. Fire crackled around me, sending smoke billowing into the air. The castle was surrounded by a ring of lava, monsters crawled around me. Crying ghasts flew through the air, tall Wither skeletons guarded the gates and grunting zombie pigmen prowled the walls. None of them noticed me as I passed through the gates, heading for the heart of the castle. The large obsidian doors opened when I came near, revealing a room larger than anything I had ever seen before. The torches were flaming black and skulls decorated the doors and the large throne at the end of the room. More monsters were here, talking in their strange language. But something was calling me further, beckoning me, and I had to go.

I walked up one of the staircases, went across a bridge spanning from one tower to the next, heading for the tallest tower in the castle. The steps were silent beneath me as I went up them, the call becoming stronger and stronger the higher I climbed. At the top was a bolted iron door set into the bricks. My hand went forward to the handle but it creaked open before I touched it. A voice came from inside.

"Come my pawn."

When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't remember the dream.

Zip's POV

I woke up to the sun shining in my face, a sensation that I wasn't used to. I sat up and groaned, rubbing my eyes with the heel of my palm. Something furry came up and sniffed my leg and I patted Wolf's back.

"Morning Wolf," I yawned.

"Morning Zip," a voice by the fire said. I looked up and saw that Fury was already awake and eating an apple. She tossed one to me and I caught it, taking a big bite. I immediately felt more awake, the tart apple juices running down my throat.

Everyone else woke up after a few more minutes and we packed up camp, setting out again to the north-west. Fury and Wolf left soon after we left. Fury was very vague as to why she was leaving, but I tried not to be worried about it. We knew where we were going. If she ran off and left us, we wouldn't be stranded. But she didn't take any supplies with her, so I doubted that she was leaving for good. We had reached a plain of grass by now that stretched as far as I could see. The sun shone down on us, nearing its midday peak.

"At least we'll know for certain which way we're going," Luke said, shading his eyes from the sun.

"What's that over there?" Tim asked, pointing into the distance. I shaded my eyes and looked. There were several horses cantering towards us, a cloud of dirt and dust in their wake. A girl in a blue jumper was riding the one at the front, a black stallion while a dog ran at the back, keeping the pack bunched up together. All the horses were saddled.

"Where did you get these?" I asked Fury as she pulled up next to us.

"There's a massive horse station south of here. Wolf and I just got lucky when we found them. There were close to a hundred, they won't miss these guys," Fury said. "Grab a horse and get on."

With our new mounts, we were a lot faster and covered a lot more ground. After an hour or so of riding, I saw the outline of mountain ranges in the distance.

"Is that it?" I asked Fury. She squinted at it.

"It's in the right place. Let's find out."

Chapter in original book: 14 and part of 15