Maybe they are here for me, Kan thought unhappily. Maybe I am to be interrogated. Examined for evidence of pumpkin.
Kraj and two of his bodyguards floated gracefully toward the heavy wooden door that separated the hold and the underguts of the ship from the deck.
In the name of the Great Chaos and by the command of Kraj the Ancient, open this door, fragments. Obey at once and I will treat you favorably.
If only the grown-up endermen weren’t acting so strangely, the twins would have opened up without a second thought. Without a first thought. Why wouldn’t they, in these terrible times? Except for Kan, they had nothing to hide.
Except for Kan.
Maybe we shouldn’t, thought Mo, her hand paused above the door latch.
If we don’t, they’ll only break the door down. There’re nine of them to three of us, Fin answered. I don’t think we’ve any choice.
Well, that’s just dumb, Fin. You always have a choice. Sometimes it’s a garbage choice. But it’s still a choice. Mo rolled her eyes at her brother. She turned to the closed door and thought as loud as she could: If this is about Kan, you can’t have him! He’s not a human, we can absolutely promise you that! But if you try to take him, we really do have quite a lot of explosives on this ship. And a lot of other sharp things as well. So you might as well turn around if that’s what you’re up to.
Kraj’s thoughts were like hard, heavy footprints in their minds. I am well aware of what this ship possesses. The deformed fragment is the least valuable of its contents, as I am sure you are aware. I am not his hubunit. He is irrelevant to me. As you will be if you do not open this door to your elders.
Kan was the only thing on board that could get them in any kind of trouble. The twins shrugged nervously and slid back the latch. They looked up into the pale old eyes of Kraj himself. But those eyes were no longer quite as faded and misty as they had been at the Endmoot. His gaze seemed quite sharp now. Sharp and fierce.
Excellent, Kraj thought as he peered into the shadows of the hold. Just as Karshen said. The old enderman looked keenly into Fin’s eyes. Take it all, he ordered.
His two officers pushed into the hold with satisfaction. They immediately began going through the twins’ precious, beloved loot. The soldiers lifted, examined, and commented on each item as they passed them back up out of the hold to their comrades in an orderly chain.
What are you doing? screamed Mo. You can’t! That’s ours! That too! STOP! Please stop! No, that’s mine, please, not my elytra, those are my oldest pair! They were on the ship when we found it! You have no right!
One of the endersoldiers picked up a diamond axe in one hand and a crossbow in the other. She brandished both experimentally. I think I will keep the axe for myself, she thought approvingly. She was called Tamat. Captain Tamat. She wore her rank and name on the outside of her thoughts like a badge of pride.
Fin tried to grab it back. No, you won’t, because it’s mine. I took it off a raider fair and square. I’ve had it all this time. You’re a thief! A robber! Go get your own! The soldier laughed and shoved him easily to the floor.
But it is my own, she sneered. Because I took it off you fair and square. The Great Chaos works in mysterious ways!
Kan clutched his note block to his chest and backed up slowly. He kept backing up until his shoulders thunked against Grumpo’s box, wherein Grumpo wailed pitifully.
Stealers, stealers, stealers and looters and mobs, moaned the shulker. Go away! Go away or I will bite you. Go away AND I will bite you! EITHER WAY. BITTEN. Endermen don’t use weapons! Get out!
Kraj folded his long, shadowy fingers and turned to face them. They could feel his grin in their heads.
Our blessed Eresha, the Most High and Holy Mouth of the Great Chaos, has honored me and my long years of experience and made me commander of the armies of the End. She told me to leave no strategy unconsidered when planning our survival. Why should an enderman not use weapons? Humans use them, and we are better than they in every way. It is foolishness to leave a good sword on the ground when you could just as easily pick it up. It is my solemn duty to prepare our people for war. I was informed by—Commander Kraj glanced at Kan—certain reliable sources that you unpleasant Endless enderfrags have been stockpiling quite the little armory out here where no one can monitor your behavioral patterns. It should never have been allowed. You are not cruxunits. You cannot just start your own group. When this is over, you will be assigned to an acceptable End and you will mature there like any other fragment. You are not special. Naturally, none of this is yours. You have lived for years on the generosity of the rest of us. Without us, without our love and compassion for your abnormal configuration, you would not have been able to collect all of this. Therefore, really, when you think about it, it was always ours. Good payment for our gentle care.
Fin fought back tears. You mean you left us on our own with nothing and ignored us and whispered about us and wouldn’t let us stay in the city for Endermas and, and, and…wouldn’t let us go to the Enderdome, and…abandoned us just because our hubunits died and…and never came to check on us or see if we were all right.
I came, Kan thought quietly.
Except Kan, Fin admitted.
Commander Kraj looked puzzled. Yes, that is just precisely what I mean. We left you alone to grow and learn and have all these riches. If anyone had asked me, I would not have permitted it. Now, I will be asked about everything, and the world will drastically improve. Endless people are dangerous. But we were kind. I do not know what you are whining about. We allowed you to exist! We could have simply exiled you to the Overworld to achieve the lofty life goal of being target practice for some human before he gets around to something more meaningful, like digging a hole in the ground. If you keep up this ungrateful complaining, perhaps I will reconsider our stance on that topic. Careful with those swords, Corporal Murrum. You are no good to the war effort if you stab yourself on the first day. Fin, Mo, your people need you. This is our darkest hour. Everyone must make sacrifices. Everyone must give something up so that the End can go on.
Corporal Murrum finished up with the swords and bent down to pick up a large round object.
NO! Mo cried out. Not that! Don’t you dare! She scrambled up and leapt at the other soldier like a cat. She ripped at his hands in a frenzy. Let go of it! It’s not a weapon, you don’t need it! It’s mine! Please, please let go! Mo punched at Corporal Murrum’s arm. He howled and almost dropped something round and greenish-blue. Mo reached for it but missed. It’s no good for anything, she protested helplessly, furiously. It’s nothing, it’s nothing except mine. Don’t touch it!
Commander Kraj jerked his head to one side sharply. He could afford to be generous. Murrum tossed the object carelessly over his shoulder. Mo leapt up frantically to catch it and held it close to her chest.
We would not leave you with nothing, he thought as the whole work of the twins’ lives passed up and out of their ship, out of their home. You can keep a few things for…sentimental purposes. And to defend yourselves, obviously.
Defend ourselves? But…but aren’t we endermen? Aren’t we part of the End? We’ll fight with everyone else. We’ll go with you right now! Fin watched as the two soldiers turned over several books, held them upside down, smelled them, and, confused, looked to their commander for guidance.
No, I do not think we will be needing those. You cannot read a human to death. Leave them, Kraj thought. And do not be absurd. You do not have the necessary training. There is no need for you to fight. We are not monsters! The Great Chaos does not require enderfrags as sacrifices. No, you will not fight, you will simply accompany the ender units to which I assign you in order to add your intelligence to the group and augment their abilities. You are not soldiers, my poor, innocent lambs. You are equipment. Now, what else have you got in here? Do not try to lie to me, Kraj will know. Kraj always knows.
Kan looked up. His green eyes went narrow and angry. You are no better. His thoughts were a thin, hateful hiss.
Kraj’s attention cut away from the twins and refocused itself. Only a day ago at the Endmoot he’d seemed like such a kind old enderman. Now all that was gone. Pardon me, fragment? No better than whom?
Humans! Kan snapped. You come here and take what you want without asking, without caring, only thinking of yourself and what you can use. You are invading this ship just like they are invading the End. Looting my friends. Ruining their home. Taking, taking, taking. Humans take and take until they cannot even carry everything they stole. They are like big angry horses. They eat and eat because they are too stupid to know their stomachs are about to explode. And that is what you are like too. So I do not see why we should be equipment for anyone if we are going to be eaten no matter which dumb horse is doing the chewing.
Kraj narrowed his glowing eyes. How fascinating. You have so much empathy and insight into human beings, young Kan. I wonder where you found all this intimate knowledge of the species? Where this wonderful clarity could possibly have come from? Perhaps I was too hasty in calming your hubunit’s fears.
No, Fin thought quickly. It’s fine. It’s just stuff. He felt sick. He felt like he was going to throw up. Just junk. He watched Captain Tamat gather up a dozen different kinds of arrows—Arrows of Regeneration, of Fire Resistance, of Poison, Spectral Arrows, Arrows of Water Breathing, even his precious Arrows of the Turtle Master. She grabbed them like they were all the same, just a bunch of identical sticks, and shoved them out of the hold like firewood, toward the rest of the ender squad.
Take it, Mo joined her twin. We want to help. We were only saying you could have asked. That’s all.
That is what I suspected. Poor Endless trashfrags. You will find that in periods of war, niceties are a waste of time as you are a waste of ender flesh. And almost everything is niceties, in the end. In the End as well! Ah, how marvelous it feels to be in the company of my squad. I feel my brain practically sizzle with intellect. Wordplay! Can you imagine? If only the war had come years ago!
Thump-thump, thump. Grumpo’s box thudded meekly.
Commander Kraj waved his hand dismissively toward the stern of the ship. Do not bother, shulker. You hate me. I am aware.
I hope a human eats your eyes, Grumpo whispered. I really mean that.
The hold was almost empty. The books remained in a tottering tower in the corner, and a few torches. Two or three swords and a few scattered pieces of armor lay on the floor. Fin watched them congratulate one another on a job well done. But why do you need our chorus fruits and carrots and cooked mutton? What can you do against a human with that?
We are hungry, thought the corporal and the captain.
So are we, thought the three enderfrags together.
Why should I care? Captain Tamat thought as she climbed the stairs into the open air. What are you the captain of?
You had better find some food then, had you not? Corporal Murrum added, somewhat more kindly. But not much more.
Our business is concluded, little fragments, Commander Kraj announced.
Not really that little, Mo sniffed.
Compared to me, you are infinitesimally tiny. Mind your manners or I will cut them out of you. Report to the central island at midnight for your assignments. We have left plenty for you to outfit yourselves, so I expect you to present yourselves in tip-top shape, understood?
They glanced around at the barren hold. Suddenly Grumpo’s box had an echo when it thumped. Kraj stared mercilessly into their unhappy faces.
Enough. You did not deserve such luxuries and you would have no idea what to do with golden swords, which is handily proven by the fact that all you did with them while you had them was serve each other lunch. We have left you items befitting your station in life. Be grateful.
Mo, Fin, and Kan glowered silently.
I said be grateful, soldiers! Or by the Great Chaos, I will make you grateful!
Thank you, Commander Kraj, they thought in a shaky, resentful unison.
That is better. Midnight. If you shirk your duty, I shall personally tell the first human I meet where you are and how good you taste. And if I hear one more word of empathy out of you, young man, I shall happily let the medics dissect you to see if you really are an enderman all the way through to your bones.
And then they were gone. All nine of them, as though a storm had hit the ship and passed on, leaving only wreckage.
Kan stared after the commander. I remember when Kraj gave me a roasted endermite all to myself to eat at Endermas. He told me I was a handsome lad. He told me a funny story about something from the Overworld called a pig.
I don’t think he means to bounce anyone on his knee anymore, Mo shuddered.
Funny what the word “commander” can do to a person, Fin grumbled.
I hate him, Grumpo huffed without so much as lifting the lid of his box.
For once, I think we all agree with you, Grumps, Mo thought. Kan patted the shulker’s box.
Pigs are pink, the green-eyed enderman thought. Pigs are pink and they eat mud. That is what Kraj said.
Fin and Mo frowned. That didn’t sound right, but they didn’t much feel like correcting their friend. It wasn’t the time for that.
Well, what have we got left? Kan thought after a long, unhappy session of staring into the nothingness of their future.
Fin sighed. A damaged wooden sword, a Loyalty trident—I think Tamat stepped on it. A crossbow, a leather tunic for each of us, and it looks like we’ll have to fight over who gets the enchanted one. Ooh, a damaged stone sword, how posh! A lot of books, your note block, some crappy potions that didn’t get completely dumped out, exactly one bowl of chorus fruit, and whatever Mo decided to make such a fuss about.
The boys kept a respectful distance, but they were dying to see what she’d hit an enderman, a full-grown endersoldier to save.
Mo sat on the floor of the hold. She hadn’t moved a muscle the whole time. Just sat there, immobile with rage, holding on to…that thing. The thing Corporal Murrum had tried to take. That round, greenish-blue thing that had been so important to her.
It’s nothing, she thought, the white lights of her tears glittering in her friends’ minds like snow. It’s stupid. I don’t know why, I just lost my mind when I saw him tossing it around. He could have broken it.
Fin leaned in. What is it, Mo?
Mo stroked the thing in her arms fondly. It’s mine. It’s so mine I didn’t even tell you about it. I found it last summer. ED showed me.
The ender dragon gave you something? Kan couldn’t believe it. That great huge beast never did anything for anyone.
Not exactly. Not gave. It showed me. Under the island. Someone must have dropped it. Or maybe it just spawned there. Like magic. Like fate. She shook her head. But I told you. It’s stupid. I always thought it would…do something. But it never did. Mo pulled her long black arms away to reveal a large, slightly moldy, greenish-bluish-purplish-yellowish egg lying in her lap. I thought, you know, if I kept it warm in the hold with all the torches and everything, it might hatch.
Fin sat back on his heels. What in the name of the Great Chaos is that?
It’s a zombie horse egg, Mo confessed. And now it’s cracked.
Midnight came.
And went.
The endermen gathered as one nation on the ender dragon’s gorgeous barren island. They stood in formation beneath the obsidian pillars topped with crystal flames in silver cages. They stood wearing Fin’s and Mo’s life’s work. All their
belongings, stuck awkwardly onto everybody else whether any of it fit or not. The younger endermen ran between units, carrying supplies and orders, lending their intellects to the group, trying to find the right balance of minds for war. Mo was assigned to a flank of archers. Commander Kraj attached Fin far away, to a healing unit. But no matter what they said to his face, no one trusted Kan enough to take him, so he hung back, on the outside looking in, as he’d always been. Only this time, he was clutching a damaged stone sword like it could save his life.
The Great Ender Army turned their violet eyes to the night, ready to lay down their lives for the End. The ender dragon circled above them, roaring fire and hate and vengeance and death to all humans.
They were ready.
It was so quiet they could hear one another breathing in the dark. So quiet they could feel the steady song of the ender pearls inside each and every one of them. Never had so many endermen come together like this. Their intelligence crackled between them like electricity. In that moment, if not for the terrible purpose that had gathered them, the unified nation of endermen could have solved any problem put to them. They could have invented any fantastical machine. If the wisest creature alive in the universe had asked them the most difficult, mystical philosophical riddle, the endermen could have answered it in three or four seconds. That was how clever they were when they were one vast End, which they never had been before, nor would be again.
The air thrummed with anticipation. It was the kind of quiet that happens only before an incredible storm, before an unimaginable catastrophe. Before war.
And nothing happened.
Eventually, everyone went home. People were hungry. They were tired. They were even a little bored. They just didn’t know what else they were supposed to do. They had scheduled a war. If the humans had decided not to show up, the endermen supposed that they’d won by default. But had they won? They couldn’t be quite sure.
The End: An Official Minecraft Novel Page 6