Ender Kingdom (On Hold for Shadows of Mianite)

Chapter Nine: Fun With Spiders

The tears filling DiamondBlade’s eyes blurred his vision. He sniffed and wiped his eyes, trying to focus on the rolling plains in front of him. “I left him,” he muttered to himself. “I just left Reader there. How could I? He’s gone…dead…”

“You’re being too hard on yourself,” snapped Plower beside him. DiamondBlade gave him an angry, rueful look, and Plower sighed. His voice grew softer as he said, “I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean to sound angry. But Reader fought for us. We can’t let him down; you know that.”

DiamondBlade stared ahead of him. “Yeah, I know. But now he’s probably dead. And don’t you say that he’s still alive,” warned DiamondBlade, seeing Plower open his mouth to protest, “because I know — and you know — that he’s not. He was brave, but there is absolutely no way an old NPC can hold off that many monsters with an iron sword.”

“Well,” Plower reasoned, “the other villagers could have helped him…” DiamondBlade’s upset look shut him up. “Sorry,” Plower muttered. “You don’t want false hopes. I forgot.”

DiamondBlade nodded and looked back at the hills. The sky was getting lighter, and the sun was starting to show above the horizon. It was like the day was trying to wipe away the night and the battle that had taken place back at the village. And Reader’s death, added DiamondBlade bitterly.

He pulled out two pieces of pumpkin pie and ate them, feeling his hunger fade away. The two rode in silence, exchanging very few words. DiamondBlade wondered what was keeping Plower quiet — was it him, or was it Plower’s sadness? I hope he’s not mad at me again. The last thing DiamondBlade wanted was his partner to be cross with him.

They rode until the sun reached its peak, and the heat began to grow. It didn’t help that DiamondBlade was wearing iron armor. “Hey,” he panted, “I’m gonna take off my armor. I don’t think we need it right now.”

Plower nodded. “Good idea.”

They stopped their horses, and DiamondBlade took off the iron armor and stored it away in his inventory. He glanced up at the sun and dismounted Dawn, saying, “I don’t think it would hurt to take a break.”

Plower glanced down at Midnight, who looked up at him and neighed. “Okay.”

Plower got off of his horse and guided both of them to a tree. DiamondBlade sat down on a rock while Plower crafted a bucket — a guy’s gotta keep some spare iron ingots, assumed DiamondBlade — and filled it with water from a small pond nearby. Plower took the water to the horses and dug a small trench in front of them, which he filled with the bucket water. Then he got four carrots and fed two to each horse. Satisfied that the horses were eating and drinking, Plower walked back to DiamondBlade and sat down with a long sigh.

“What’s wrong with you?” asked DiamondBlade, half teasing.

Plower didn’t look at DiamondBlade. “Why do you ask?” he murmured.

“I don’t know, you just seem…sad. And I don’t think it’s because of Reader. Did something happen? Are you mad at me again?”

Plower looked at DiamondBlade sharply. “Again?” he repeated. “What do you mean, ‘again’?”

DiamondBlade suddenly felt awkward. He fiddled with his armor and nervously replied, “Oh…well, when I said that I didn’t want to be the Warrior after Reader told us about the Ender Kingdom, I just thought you were angry at me.”

Plower laughed, and DiamondBlade felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “So…I’m guessing you weren’t angry at me…” decided DiamondBlade.