Chapter Five
The town was soon behind them and the trees enclosed them. James, Notch and Dr. Henshen made a strange sight as they walked up the pathway to the mountain.
Yes, Dr. Henshen. Notch flicked his gaze towards the woman who had patched up his arm. She had shown up with James this morning. “Call me Pauline” she had said as she explained to Notch that she had an interest in the Herobrine legend as well.
Notch didn’t realize so many people were interested in this Herobrine legend. He didn’t know the motives of either Pauline or James. He decided he’d accept their help to get to the mountain village but wouldn’t trust them. Safer, in case they had something to do with him seeing Herobrine.
James had said that normally the trip to the mountain would take three days but with the increased spider activity it may take longer. They had enough supplies for a week. James had his bow and arrow and Pauline and Notch had swords. Pauline’s sword was gold, which seemed unwieldy and weak to him but he wasn’t about to say something and upset anyone.
Conversation had ceased as they had climbed up the mountain. The side of the mountain was steep and they had to climb up it. Pauline seemed swift in climbing, cat like in the way she could move quickly and easily. Notch and James were slower. Notch was never a fan of climbing up mountains. It had been unnerving enough to climb down the temple. Every time he went up higher all he could think was that it was a longer fall.
They were halfway up when the air changed. No one else seemed to notice but Notch did. The air felt heavy and almost suffocating. They weren’t up nearly high enough to cause the change in the air like that. And no one else seemed to be bothered by it. Notch was going to say something when the entire mountain seemed to shake. Pauline yelped, throwing her hand up and swung her pickaxe deeper into the mountain. Notch tightened his grip on his own pickaxe.
“Earthquake?” He yelled up at the two of them.
Neither of them answered – the mountain began to shake back and forth. Notch clung to the mountain as tightly as he could but was being jostled around. They could do nothing but wait for it to stop.
There was a grunt and then a yell. James had lost his footing. It was as though everything was in slow motion. James was falling, past Notch, his eyes wide with fear. Notch stuck out his hand to grab him and James managed to grab his arm. The pickaxe jerked from the sudden weight, almost as if it was going to pop free from the mountain. James looked up at Notch in fear. Notch’s hand was sweaty on the pickaxe handle.
Then the mountain stopped shaking. The entire mountain went still. Notch looked up to check up on Pauline. She had a firm grip on the mountain but –
“Pauline, next to you!” Notch yelled.
She turned head to look next to her, “What?” She cried down.
She can’t see him, Notch realized. Herobrine was right there – right next to her! He was looking down at Notch with a smug smile on his face, his arms crossed and was floating.
“He’s right there!” Notch yelled again.
“Notch!” James called, his hand almost slipping out of Notch’s grasp.
Notch tore his gaze away from Herobrine and looked down at James, “Can you swing your pickaxe now?”
James nodded and used his remaining strength to shove his pickaxe into the side of the mountain. Quickly and with a yelp of fear he bounced over against the side of the mountain, clinging to it as if it was his mother. He was panting hard and his eyes were tightly shut. Notch looked back up but Herobrine was gone. Pauline was looking down at him curiously.
“Let’s just get off this mountain, okay?” Notch mumbled.
Daylight was fading by the time they had gotten up and over the mountain. They had found a place to make a proper camp. They had been mostly silent since the mountain had shaken. James was especially silent, probably thinking about how close it had been for him. Notch should have known that no one else would have seen Herobrine but him. He had awakened him, hadn’t he, back at the temple?
Pauline had been eying him warily since they had gotten off the mountain. He had tried to ignore her gaze. James hadn’t seemed to notice having been too afraid of falling off the mountain. Notch thought of Herobrine’s smug look. He was trying to stop them, Notch realized with jolt.
“So,” Pauline spoke up now, “Are you going to explain to us why you thought you saw someone on the mountain?”
James stopped cutting wood down with his iron axe and looked at Notch curiously, “What?”
“I was just stressed.” Notch said quickly, trying to make wood blocks over the crafting table.
“Really?” Pauline said doubtfully.
“Yes.” Notch lied.
They were both silent and Notch hoped this meant they would drop it.
Instead James spoke up, “Was it Herobrine?”
Notch’s head shot up and he looked at him, “No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Notch looked at James and then Pauline and then sighed, “Yes, it was him.”
“You’re cursed, aren’t you?” Pauline asked.
There was a heavy silence as Notch looked at them before speaking, “Yes.”
“What happened?” James asked.
As they built the shelter, Notch explained his side of the story. He told them how he had found the temple and what it had been like inside. He went over how the temple had been empty until he had picked up Herobrine’s sword and how suddenly everything had come to life. The zombies and the fleeing of the temple. The nightmares. And seeing Herobrine.
“So you’re trying to lift the curse?” James asked when he was finished.
Notch nodded, “I feel like if I figure out what happened to the villages and the temple I can put Herobrine to rest. I feel like there is something major that happened,” He looked at the two of them, “What about you two? Why are you both interested in Herobrine?”
James shuffled his feet for a moment, unsure of what to say before he spoke, “He’s in my family line. We’re distant cousins. But sometimes…sometimes I see him. Really quickly. Usually late at night. I’ve always wanted to find out more about why I can see him. Is it because of our family connection? I don’t know. But you seemed to come along at the perfect time. I wanted to go.”
Notch looked at Pauline, “And you?”
“Nothing so interesting, I’m afraid. I’m merely interested.”
“But I’ve told you about the temple.” Notch said, shrugging.
“Yeah but now you can see Herobrine. And the spider activity…I think it has to do with you as well. Way too interesting to go home now. Plus, why can James see him?”
Notch rolled his eyes, “You make us sound like we are science experiments.”
Pauline shrugged, “You practically are.”
James was snoring. Notch figured that while he might see Herobrine once and a while, he must not be haunted through his dreams like Notch was. Pauline was sleeping quietly in the other corner. Notch couldn’t sleep. There was a tension in the air he didn’t like. He felt as if he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Then he heard it. A soft chattering noise. Spiders. Even though they had put up plenty of light, Notch hadn’t been convinced that it was going to stop them. And it hadn’t. He could hear bones jangling of skeletons as well. Notch whispered Pauline’s name until she woke up and jerked his head in the direction of the window. Though she looked exhausted, she could clearly hear the noise. She shook James quietly until he woke up.
With all three of them awake now, they tried to get to their weapons as quietly as possibly. They still had the element of surprise. Notch’s hand slid around his sword, lifting it up slowly as James grabbed his bow and arrow. He moved over to a window to peek out and then slid back down. James lifted up his hands and signaled – 4 spiders and 3 skeletons. No spider jockeys yet, at least.
There was a lot of silent arm movements as they tried to formulate a plan
. Finally, it was understood that James would try to get to the roof to start pegging them off while Notch and Pauline would swoop in and attack what they could.
Silently, Notch pressed himself against the side of their shelter, sliding forward as quietly as he could. He could hear the spiders moving around their camp. The skeletons seemed to be looking for them. He couldn’t recall ever hearing them make so much noise before. He tightened his grip on the sword. They were going to wait until James fired his first arrow and then run into the group.
But as Notch turned to try to get a better view, he was staring right into Herobrine’s empty eyes. Notch yelped and stumbled back in sudden fear, trying to get away from him. He lost his footing and fell back onto the ground. He could hear the spiders and skeleton alerted to his presence. Herobrine was gone. The first spider loomed over him when an arrow shot through it. It fell over and Notch was looking up at James who was hanging over the side of their small house.
“What is wrong with you?” He hissed.
Notch couldn’t reply. There was another spider heading his way. Notch grabbed his sword and managed to get to his feet. He cast a gaze around for Herobrine but there was nothing. He had appeared only to mess up their plan.
Pauline was fighting against a skeleton in the back, her gold sword glinting under the moonlight. James let an arrow fly and it struck a spider. Notch swung his own sword and managed to send a spider flying. An arrow whizzed past his head and lodged into the door behind him. A skeleton was walking towards him with its bow raised. Notch ran towards it, raising his shield up to deflect any shots. An arrow flew from his left side, grazing his side. He yelped in surprise at seeing another skeleton there. James sent an arrow into it and told Notch to run.
Notch managed to get up to the skeleton and strike at him with his sword. The close combat meant the skeleton was almost useless and Notch was able to take him down easily enough. Pauline finished striking down the skeleton she had been fighting which just left the last one. James had taken care of the spiders. The final skeleton seemed unsure of who to fire at. Pauline and Notch were on the defensive, waiting for it to make its move.
It fired at Pauline who swung her shield up at the last moment to deflect the arrow. Notch lunged and knocked its bow and arrow out of its hand, sending it flying through the air. He shoved the skeleton back and brought his sword down, taking care of it.
Silence filled the night air. The glow of torches illuminated almost everything – the snow covered trees and the melting snow around their camp – but it had still let enemies in.
“Everyone okay?” Notch asked.
James and Pauline both said they were fine. They fell back into silence, listening for more enemies but hearing nothing.
Finally James spoke, “So, thanks for blowing the plan there, Notch.”
Notch sighed, “Sorry.”
“Herobrine?”
“I looked up and he was right there! It freaked me, okay? It’d freak you too.”
“Hey,” James held up his hands in an innocent gesture, “I’m not attacking you, Notch.”
“Anyway,” Pauline interrupted, “Even camp isn’t safe. We were attacked even with all these torches up. I know we’ll reach the town tomorrow but this proves something strange is going on.”
Here’s the real question,” James asked, “Is it everywhere or just where Notch goes?”
“Hey, why just me?” Notch shot back, “You said you see Herobrine too and you’ve been at the last town and this attack.”
“He has a point, James.” Pauline said, a grin on her face.
James flushed, “Whatever. Can we try to get some more sleep? I want to get up early and get to town.”
“Fine by me.”
Notch spoke up, “I’ll be on guard the rest of the night.”
“Are you sure?” James asked.
Notch nodded. He wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.