THEY TRAVELED THROUGH the forest biome. Past spruce wood trees flecked with snow atop their leaf blocks, Knights Duper, Aiden, and Steve rode on their horses. Headed for home.

The journey was quiet, the knights winded after the excitement back in the secret chamber. After killing the hydra, they opened the chest and found . . .

Diamonds!

Knights Duper and Aiden couldn’t believe how many there were. Stacks and stacks of diamonds, so much that it filled the limit of sixty-four diamonds in one inventory slot and had to take up another inventory slot for the remainder. They found other items inside the chest too. Torches, buckets, and some watermelon seeds for the mundane stuff, but also gold, diamond horse armor, and some iron and emeralds. Their inventories were full, and they had to unload some superfluous items like dirt they picked up.

Knight Steve, however, gave the treasure no heed. He filled his inventory with the items they gave him, but that was all the attention he brought. His horse, Durandal, lowered its head as it traveled in the snowy forest. It was a bit tense on its haunches, seeming to know something was wrong with its master, who only gazed off into a void while riding it. Night was coming, with the sun in the distance—past the canopy of tree leaf blocks—slowly headed down to the horizon.

He’ll open it, Knight Steve decided. He’ll open that book. The voice had just come to him again just a moment before. If he opened the book, maybe the voice will stop.

That wasn’t the only reason.

He wanted to open the book. The thought made him feel eerily good inside, as if he knew he was doing something bad and actually enjoyed it. A crooked smile crossed his face. He’ll open the book soon; all he had to do was head home.

Help!

Knight Duper, at the vanguard, halted his horse, which caused the rest of the horses in the troop to stop as well. They all turned to the direction of the sound, including Knight Steve, who had turned a moment later.

In between a set of spruce wood trees, a villager woman stood there. She looked haggard and stressed. “Please help us, brave knights,” she pleaded. “We’re headed to our village not far from here, but our cart—it broke.” She motioned to the forest behind her. “We don’t want to be left alone here, especially in the night.”

Knight Duper looked at his fellow knights to get a gauge of the unexpected request and then back to the villager woman. Knight Steve wanted to tell him to ignore her. This would only delay things. They had to get home!

“Uh, sure,” Knight Duper said. “We’re always glad to help.”

The villager woman smiled and relief swept her face. “Oh, thank you, thank you, brave knights. It won’t take long, I promise.”

She began to lead the way, and Knights Duper and Aiden followed with a kick of their horses. Knight Steve looked annoyedly to the side but he went along with it. He hoped this wouldn’t take long at all.

The villager woman told the truth. They quickly found her broken cart. One of its wooden wagon wheels had broken off, while the farmer villager husband stood by it. He pressed his hat to his chest. “Thank you, thank you, brave knights,” he said with a quivering voice. He, for sure, feared the coming night.

Knights Duper and Aiden dismounted their horses to check on the cart. Knight Steve followed suit. He looked down as he went towards them and felt his agitation grow at every moment’s delay.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Really, it’s no problem,” Knight Aiden said.

Knight Duper checked the broken wagon wheel. Its iron hinge had broken from too much use. “Easy enough to fix,” Knight Duper said after diagnosing the problem.

“We didn’t have iron,” the villager husband explained.

His wife nodded in affirmation. “And we didn’t know where to find the nearest iron ore.”

Knight Steve rubbed his arm, growing more and more antsy as he watched Knight Duper set to work. The knight had set down a crafting table and began to assemble the items to make the necessary iron hinge. Come on, Knight Steve thought, quietly urging the matter to speed up. Pick up the pace!

He got his wish. A moment later, Knight Duper crafted the item and fixed the broken wagon wheel. The villager’s horse neighed in excitement and both villager husband and wife closed their eyes and exclaimed in relief. Knight Steve saw it too. Thank God. The delay was finally over.

“Thank you. Thank you,” the villager wife said. “I don’t know how we can repay you.”

Knight Aiden spoke first, hastily. His stomach rumbled. “Well, do you have any—”

“No, no. No trouble at all,” Knight Duper interrupted. He gave Knight Aiden a dirty look, but Knight Aiden only shrugged his shoulders as if saying, Sorry, I was hungry!

“The Knights of Wardland are always proud to serve,” he said. “If there’s no other problems, then, we’ll be on our way.” All the knights began to head to their horses.

Finally, Knight Steve thought. It took all his energy not to roll his eyes. Knight Duper got on his horse, but not before both the villager husband and wife came up to him.

“Wait,” the villager wife called out. “We can’t let you leave, not without showing our gratitude.”

“That’s right,” the villager husband added. “Our village is not far from here. We’re having a feast, and it’d be an honor for all of you to join us.” His wife looked at her husband and then looked up at them hopefully.

Knight Duper was rendered speechless. “I . . . I . . . .”

“A feast?” Knight Aiden said. His eyes flashed hungrily.

Knight Steve’s face felt hot. This was not part of the plan! They were going home! “No!” he exclaimed, so loud that all heads turned to him.

Knight Duper looked over, surprised at his outburst.

The spotlight on him, he knew he had to come up with a reasonable excuse. “I mean,” Knight Steve said. “I mean they’re expecting us back in Wardland very soon.”

“Surely it’s not an emergency,” Knight Duper said to him.

“Yeah, I’m sure they won’t miss us,” Knight Aiden said. “Besides, it’s a feast!”

“It won’t take long, brave knights,” the villager woman said. “It’s the least we can do.”

Knight Steve didn’t contest the issue. Instead, they decided to go to the village, which the husband and wife reassured was not far at all. Off they went, and Knight Steve grew increasingly annoyed that they were heading away from Wardland.

Day had finally turned into night, and to Knight Steve’s further annoyance, Knight Duper decided to set up camp. Tents were quickly set up, and a campfire made. It roared in the night as they ate their dinner. It turned out they had some raw chicken to roast. Happily, the villagers and Knights Duper and Aiden sat together around the fire munching on the delicious food, but Knight Steve retired early and went off into the dark to be alone.

He slumped against the spruce wood tree as a familiar voice sounded in his head.

Open me . . . Open me . . . .

The voice had come back, and he closed his eyes upon hearing it again. Soon, he told himself. They’ll all be home and he could finally do as the voice says. Do as the voice commands.

Moments passed once more, and everyone had gone to their tents with the villager husband and wife sharing one. The light from the campfire had prevented anything from spawning nearby, but while everyone was asleep, Knight Steve was wide awake. He hadn’t bothered to go into his tent and had simply stayed sitting down and slumped against a spruce wood tree. Dark circles had formed under his eyes.

Open me . . . Open me . . . .

The voice came more and more frequently now, but he didn’t mind. He almost found it soothing, like a good friend had come and kept him company. His eyes snapped to his horse, Durandal, hitched against a tree.

Everyone’s asleep now, he knew, and an idea crept in his mind. That means they won’t notice.

Quietly, he made his way over to Durandal. The horse was startled a bit, but he calmed it by touching the bridge of its nose. “Shhhhhh,” he whispered. “We’re going now, boy. We’re going home.”

Durandal obeyed its master. Knight Steve mounted his horse and then kicked its side, commanding it to go. With only the barest sound of hooves on the soft ground, they rode away, leaving the base camp behind.