by Matt Forbeck
When they reached the Fiery Forge, Archie had the redstone golems help him construct a bridge across the lake of lava. If he was going to have Illagers working in the forge, they needed a way in and out of the place, and the redstone golems could handle the heat to construct it.
Once the barest length of the bridge was complete, Archie led the other Illagers across it and down into the Fiery Forge. There they found the redstone golem Archie had left, standing over a diamond mold filled with copious amounts of redstone. The whole group gasped in astonishment at the amazing wealth on display, and Thord’s eyes began to water at the sight of the golem-mold itself.
“Hold back!” Archie warned the others as he raised the Orb of Dominance high and used it to bring the newest redstone golem to life.
When it cracked its way free of the mold, the Illagers raised a mighty cheer. Archie turned to enjoy the look of utter amazement plastered on Thord’s face. “This just seems impossible,” the evoker said breathlessly.
Archie just laughed. Then he assigned a group of the Illagers to remain behind with the new redstone golem and get to work on helping it mine and craft a new one. It struck him then that if he stationed Illagers there permanently—especially some of his best warriors—he was asking for trouble. They would eventually turn on one another out of boredom, and the ones who survived that would be sure to come after him next.
We will have a ready supply of workers—once we capture the Villagers.
Archie had been thinking more in terms of raiding the village and razing it to the ground, but what the Orb said instantly made sense. With the Villagers under his control, he could force them to work in the mines of the Fiery Forge instead, with a smaller force of Illagers set to oversee them. It would work wonderfully.
“We’ll set the Villagers to work in here once we conquer them!” he announced just before he led the rest of them back out toward the bridge. All of the Illagers cheered the choice to enslave the Villagers, although the ones who were left behind griped about not being there to see it happen.
When Archie and his retinue arrived back at Highblock Keep, the Illagers there welcomed the new redstone golem with glee. Even Walda clapped with excitement over how another such creature would add to the tribe’s might. The fact that Archie’s army would only get stronger over time heartened him. Still, part of him wanted to wait until he had an overwhelming army of redstone golems to work with before he set out on his campaign to conquer the entire land.
It is not necessary. You can take the village with the forces you have. One victory at a time.
Archie wasn’t so convinced about that, but it was Thord who changed his mind.
With the quick help of the Orb of Dominance, Archie had converted one of the largest rooms in Highblock Keep into his throne room, a place where he could meet his fellow Illagers and confer with his advisors. In fact, he had only one living—well, one breathing—advisor to whom he would listen at that moment: Walda. She stood by the side of his throne and whispered things into his ear as he met with other Illagers, giving him the context he needed to make his decisions.
In that respect, she was much like the Orb of Dominance, but with her only power being her extensive familiarity with the members of the tribe. However, if Archie had been forced to choose between the two creatures, he would have tossed Walda into the sea without a moment’s hesitation.
He suspected she was aware of that. She didn’t, of course, know that the Orb spoke to him and provided him with counsel, but she had to realize that he considered her dispensable, despite her unique set of knowledge. She was more valuable to him than any of the other individual Illagers, but that wouldn’t be enough to keep her prestigious position safe if she failed him.
Perhaps that was why she suggested that he needed a title.
At first, Archie didn’t understand why she wanted to make such a fuss. The leaders of the Illager tribe had always been just that: leaders. They weren’t kings or emperors or anything else. They didn’t have fancy names or special clothes or anything that marked them as exceptional—just the respect of their people.
“This is different,” Walda told him. “You are different. We never had a home like this before either.”
She gestured to the high-vaulted ceilings of the throne room and, by extension, all of Highblock Keep. “You’re building something entirely new. Something that ambitious requires new words to show off the new way of thinking. You need a title that declares that to the world.”
Archie mulled this over, but he didn’t get the chance to make a decision about it before Thord derailed him. The bully called him out in front of Walda and all of the other Illagers in the room—the few that Archie hadn’t assigned to various details around Highblock Keep—and he made a point of not being quiet about it.
“You’re weak,” Thord said as he jabbed a finger up at Archie, who looked down at the bully from his newly fashioned throne. “You might have everyone else here fooled, but just because you lucked your way into this place doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change you. Don’t forget: I know who you are.”
He is a threat to you and your power. Make an example of him. Defeat him now.
Archie recoiled at the idea of taking out Thord on the spot. With the power he had at his command, the bully was no longer a real threat to him—at least not physically. And Archie didn’t want to be the kind of ruler he knew Thord would be, one who crushed any who dared to speak up to him.
Who lorded it over everyone else.
Who ruled by fear.
Better to rule by fear than to be conquered.
Archie realized that the Orb had a point. If he wanted to maintain his power, he needed to crush any dissent from Thord at once. The bully was testing him now, perhaps because the visit to the Fiery Forge had illustrated how little Archie had to fear from him. The only hope Thord had was that Archie would somehow still let himself be bullied, perhaps out of habit more than anything else.
Archie knew, though, that if he showed any actual weakness in front of the other Illagers bearing witness to their conversation, he would lose much of the popular support he’d earned. If he was honest, a part of him still felt like cringing in front of the bully, but after the kind of power he’d now tasted, he wasn’t about to give in to it.
Instead, he let loose a little snarl and then opened his mouth to speak. Walda interrupted him before he could form a single word.
“How dare you question the bravery of our ruler?” she said to Thord in a scathing tone. “After all he’s already done for us? You should be crawling around here on your hands and knees to show your gratitude.”
Thord laughed. “Oh, I’m grateful enough for all that.” He gazed around at the throne room as if he would soon own it. Eventually his eyes settled back on Archie. “Don’t think I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for us Illagers. But also don’t think you can hide up here inside your keep and not have someone call you out on it.”
“I’m not afraid of anything.” Archie saw exactly what Thord was doing. If the bully could paint him as a coward, his rule over the Illagers would be as short as he was and as brutal as Thord.
Remove him.
Archie opened his mouth to do just that, but at the last instant, a concerned look from Walda stopped him. Then he realized that he’d been about to make a mistake. If he removed Thord, it might end any troubles with the bully, but it would make him seem like maybe Thord was right—and that he had struck too close to home.
Don’t worry about that!
Archie ignored the Orb. It didn’t have to deal with being in charge. That was his job.
“I was only letting you heal up after the second disaster that happened to a raiding party under your watch,” Archie told Thord. “If you are already eager to enter battle again, we will leave for the village in the morning.”
Thord froze. He
’d been prepared to taunt Archie for being a cowardly wimp. This change in tactics had thrown him. “Tomorrow?” he said in a frail voice.
Archie slid down from his throne. “Is that not soon enough? We can leave tonight if you like. I am ready for the fight of our lives. Are you?”
Thord scowled, frustrated that his gambit had been thwarted. “Me? Of course! But it would be safer to start our journey during daylight, don’t you think?”
Archie thumped the bottom of his staff on the ground for emphasis. “Night and day make no difference to me. The creatures who roam the dark can’t be more dangerous than the battle we’ll face at the end of our journey. And we’re sure to win that as well!”
Thord gave Archie a little bow, out of surprise and sheer reflex rather than intent. The fact that he recognized Archie’s power—even in such a small, involuntary way—gave Archie heart. He told himself he’d been right to ignore the Orb of Dominance’s advice about the bully.
For now.
Word went out from the throne room, and the other Illagers immediately set to their preparations. For his own part, Archie wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He settled for doing his best to look busy yet inspirational, which included brooding on the keep’s ramparts as he considered the battles to come.
After mulling it over, he decided to leave behind one redstone golem to protect Highblock Keep in his absence—plus the one at the Fiery Forge. That meant he could bring three of the massive creatures with him. Once he got back, he would go and imbue life into even more of them.
He wished he could have waited until he had forged more redstone golems, but Thord’s taunts had forced him to move up his timetable. He was just going to have to make do with the army he had.
The next morning, as dawn slid over the eastern horizon, Archie led his people and his ready contingent of redstone golems out of Highblock Keep’s front gate. He raised the drawbridge behind him with the help of the Orb of Dominance and then set off into the desert.
The caravan gave the Desert Temple a wide berth. Archie wasn’t sure exactly what was inside it, but he knew he didn’t want to bother with it at the moment. He was sure to have his hands full with destroying the village and didn’t need to waste any of his resources on adventuring through a complex of unknown size and depth.
Archie worried that Thord might try to draw him into heading into the Desert Temple then and there. When he glanced back at the evoker, though, he saw Thord staring at the distant place and shuddering, likely at the memories of the Undead that had streamed out of it and nearly killed the Illager raiding party—twice.
It took them a few days to make it all the way back to the Squid Coast. Despite Archie’s eagerness to reach the village, he ordered them to stop each evening to set up camp. This included posting guards and placing a line of torches around the area to keep any curious mobs away.
They had remarkably few interruptions, for which Archie was grateful. The last thing he needed was for the Illagers to get spooked by random mobs before they even reached the village. Of course, he needn’t have worried. As he recalled as he looked over the scattered tents one night, the tribe’s raiding parties were used to camping out in the open and dealing with such things.
They neared the village late one day, and Archie stood atop the shoulders of one of the redstone golems to address his Illagers. He’d already started to think of them as “his,” and he reflected that in his speech.
“My fellow Illagers!” he said. “This village, which stands ripe for the pillaging! This village, which hoards the land’s food! Which keeps the land’s animals! This village will soon be ours!”
The Illagers cheered for him, even Thord and Walda. Then, at his direction, they all set to preparing themselves for battle.
After night had fallen over the village like a glittering blanket of blackness, Archie led his people to the ridge that overlooked the place. From there they could see the torches of the village burning below, keeping the people there safe—or so they hoped.
“We attack all at once,” Archie said. “We charge them from out of the darkness and take them by surprise.”
“What about heroes, if they show up?” Thord asked in a defiant tone. “What are we going to do against them?” He wore a defiant yet amused smile, like a child who’d just caught a parent making a mistake.
“Most nights there aren’t any heroes in the village. And if there are?” He pointed to his redstone golems. “We’ll take care of them.”
Thord’s taunt had raised another question in Archie’s mind though. What about Yumi?
He couldn’t exactly order the others to leave one of the Villagers alone. They would become suspicious of his motives, and Thord and maybe even Walda would accuse him of sympathizing with their foes.
Don’t worry about her. She isn’t worth the trouble.
Archie stifled the urge to shout at the Orb. He understood how the Orb felt—part of him felt that way too—but he couldn’t bring himself to just abandon Yumi to the mercies of his fellow Illagers. She’d shown him so much kindness.
And what good did that do you?
For a moment, Archie actually considered tossing the Orb aside, but he realized that would be the most foolish thing he’d ever done. Without the Orb’s power, he was nothing. But he wasn’t going to give up on saving Yumi.
The only thing he could do, then, was race straight toward her home and hope she was there and that he could talk her into surrendering to him straight away. He had to admit to himself that it wasn’t much of a plan, but it was all he had.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
At Archie’s order, the Illagers charged into the village and began destroying the place. Most of them set to banging down doors. Others took the torches set up around the town and tried to set fire to the houses there. A few even decided to attack the village’s cows and pigs, figuring any damage they could do was a good start.
Archie ordered two of his redstone golems to find the village’s iron golems and attack them. The golems were, put bluntly, dumb as rocks, but they would follow Archie’s orders to the letter. Better yet, they wouldn’t take orders from anyone else—or at least anyone who didn’t have control over the Orb of Dominance. Archie expected Thord to betray him at some point, but at least he wouldn’t be able to convince the redstone golems to turn against him.
You can count on me as well.
Archie still didn’t know what he’d done to deserve the loyalty of the Orb, but he treasured it. When he’d brought the other Illagers into Highblock Keep, his worst fear had been that the Orb would decide that one of them—most likely Walda or, worse yet, Thord—was worthier of the Orb’s power than he was. He’d taken that risk anyhow, and he was relieved to have had it pay off.
Otherwise, he would never have been able to mount this attack.
The Villagers sounded an alarm straight away. It would only be moments before the entire place was up in arms. Archie knew he didn’t have much time, so he headed for Yumi’s home.
When he got there, she was already standing in her open doorway, an iron golem at her side, her eyes wild and ready. She spotted him instantly.
It would have been hard to miss him on a good day—an Illager storming into a village—but with the redstone golem lumbering behind him in the night, he might as well have had a spotlight on him. She couldn’t see his face in the light coming from behind him, and she snarled at him. “Get out of here, you awful Illager!” she shouted. “Or I’ll hand you your head!”
Archie threw up his hand as he raced toward her. “Yumi! It’s me!”
She had been about to order the iron golem to attack, but she raised her hand to stop it and squinted at the oncoming figure instead, which seemed much shorter than she had expected. “Archie?” she said in shock. “Is that you?”
He skidded to a halt just in front of her, and the redstone golem di
d the same a few feet behind. She took a step closer to the iron golem, out of instinct more than anything else. Then she reached out and wrapped him in her arms for a hug.
“What happened to you?” she asked. “Where have you been?”
“It’s a long story.” He enjoyed her embrace so much he never wanted it to end. If only he hadn’t brought an army of Illagers along with him—but if he hadn’t, he’d never have been able to return to the village again.
She released him and held him at arm’s length to get a good look at him. She seemed overjoyed just to see him alive. Then she glanced up at the redstone golem towering over them, and her breath caught in her throat. “Who’s your friend?”
“That’s part of the story.” He took her by the hand. “I’ll tell you everything later. Right now, we need to get you out of here.”
Yumi rattled her head, confused. “Wait. What’s going on? It sounds like the village is under attack.”
“It is,” he said. “That’s why you need to leave.”
Suddenly suspicious, she yanked her hand out of his. “But why is it under attack?”
She gazed out past him and the redstone golem and saw some of the buildings on the edge of the village starting to go up in flames. Horrified, she covered her mouth with her free hand. “Oh no, Archie. What have you done?”
Archie frowned. He had to get her out of there now, or everything would go wrong. “Just take my word for it, Yumi. You don’t want to be here.”
She scowled down at him. “Are you trying to rescue me from this, or are you part of this?”
He sighed, defeated. “Can’t I be both?”
She gaped at him in shock. The redstone golem adjusted its posture behind him, and she stared up at it too, then back down at him as she realized the truth. “You’re not just part of this. You’re behind this!”
Somewhere behind Archie, the sounds of battle clashed and rose as the fight was truly met. The Villagers’ other iron golems weren’t about to just let the Illagers raze the place to the ground. They were ready to fight.