Against all odds (The Pack)

Chapter 5

Warnings: None

~Preston's P.O.V.~

     "The Royal kingdom is the closest to here, isn't it? Anyone have any clue if someone would be willing to join us?"
     I shrug, "No idea."
     Jerome looks at us with surprise, "I do! But you guys haven't heard?"
     Rob and I exchange a glance, "Heard what?"
     "Apparently Mitchell Hughes from the Royal kingdom slipped out the fact that he didn't really like the war."

     Where's as Rob's eyes widen in surprise, I'm still left in the dark. From the looks of it Rob knows who this 'Mitchell' is? I guess being held prisoner for years will make you miss out on some things... I figure.

     "Sorry, who is that again?" I interject, grabbing Rob's and Jerome's attention.
     "You don't know? Dude, you've really been living under a rock, haven't you?" Rob states, obviously baffled that I don't know who this guy is.
     "Mitch is the leader of the main army in the Royal army, and not for no good reason. He's known to be one of the best fighters in the history of time!" Jerome exclaims, obviously showing admiration and respect for this guys combat skills.
     "Not only that," Rob adds, "but he's also the son of the king!"

In the Royal kingdom, they still call the ruler the 'king' and in some cases 'queen'. Probably because of tradition. Or something like that. But as the information registers in my brain, I find myself connecting all the little dots.

"So that means..." I begin, "If the rumours really are true... And we can get Mitch on our side... He's going to be a huge asset!"
     "Now you're getting it!" Jerome chuckles, punching me lightly in the shoulder.
     "So now the question is, how do we get in?" I continue, "We can't exactly stroll up to his doorstep and straight up ask him is he wants to rebel with us."
     "How about we use invisibility potions?" Rob suggest, "We can catch him in the middle of fighting... And then like quietly pull him away or something... And then-"
     "Or we could just sneak up behind him under the invisibility potion, knock him out, splash him with invisibility, and then drag him away." Jerome cuts in.
     "Okay yeah. That works too." Rob's admits. "But I don't have any invisibility potions left. I always keep some spare blaze powder, nether warts, and a brewing stand in my inventory, but... We're going to have to find some carrots, gold, a spider eye, some sugar cane, and a brown mushroom for me to make it."

     At this point we've stopped our journey, discussing our plans in a small circle in the midst of a Savannah biome. We've only been walking for a few hours, and the Royal kingdom is still a good five or six days away. In the distance, a small herd of cows are peacefully grazing on the tall grass, which sways lightly in the present breeze. But I know all to well that the biome directly after this one is a freaking frozen wasteland. Like the Nether but everything is cold and snowy and awful. And I'm sure most could agree with me on that, but myself having lava skin... Well... I'll let you figure that one out.

And before long I realize I've kinda spaced out, and am missing our entire game plan.

"...meet back here at sundown. Got it?"
"Yep." Jerome confirms.
"Preston? How about you?" Rob questions, now turning to me.
I nod slowly, nervously catching his gaze, "Yeah... I think I got it... But tell me the whole thing again because I wasn't listening."
     Jerome sighs, "You need to find Rob a piece of gold ore, a spider eye, and a brown mushroom so he can make us some invisibility potions. We're meeting back here at sundown, and while we're gone Rob's going to build us a temporary shelter." He summarizes.
      "Oh okay. That easy enough. I should be able to find all of those things in a cave."
     "Now that we're all addressed." Rob continues, "Let's get going. We don't have too many hours left."

     So as Rob goes to chop down some trees, and Jerome goes to get... Whatever it is he's supposed to get, I pick a random direction and set off, in search of a cave.

~~~

     "Aaaand gotcha!"

     The small brown mushroom pops into my inventory as I jump, and punch where it once stood on the stone ledge. Double checking to make sure I didn't accidentally drop it or anything, I place down yet another torch, and continue my journey deeper into the cave system. I really don't need torches, since my skin can easily light up the area with the same brightness, but I place them along the ground nonetheless. This way, I can always find my way back up, no matter how deep I trek into this-apparently massive-cave system. Iron pickaxe in one hand, and a torch in another, I push on in search of gold ore. Thankfully, I haven't ran into many mobs yet. A couple zombies, a creeper or two... But none of them lasted very long against sword. I've only encountered once spider so far, and it only dropped a couple pieces of string. I'll have to keep hunting them until one finally drops an eye.

     Just then my instincts kick in, and I stop dead in my tracks. I was only looking straight ahead, and not down. And down, only five blocks away, just so happen to be a gaping ravine. My heart suddenly picking up, realizing I nearly just fell to my death, I creep to the edge of the monstrous ravine. Even holding my torch out, well over the edge, I still can't make out the bottom. So instead, I drop it. The flaming torch crackles as it falls into the abyss, soon covered in shadows. Then, a good five seconds later, I hear a distant thud that echoes eerily of the cave walls.

     "That's a long way down..." I mumble, shivering and backing away from the edge.

     Pulling out another torch, I turn to head down a different path, when a small glimmer catches my eye. Pivoting back around, I hold my flickering torch up high, squinting across the ravine. Across the fatal drop, nestled in a wall, is a small vein of gold ore. I hesitate. I've spent a good hour and some in the cave already, without any signs of gold whatsoever; this is the first once I've come across. I have more than enough blocks to bridge my way across to retrieve it, and then I'd only have to get a spider eye. But, on the other hand... If I fell then...

     I stare at the shiny ore, tempting me with its rich golden hue. Then I glance back at the ravine, a groan echoing up from its depths. Back and fourth, back and fourth. I don't know how long I'm standing there before I finally come to a decision, which I dearly hope I won't regret. Even though my brain is signalling tons of red flags, I push aside the overwhelming sense of danger, and inch my way back towards the edge. Stuffing the torch away, and heating up a bit more so I light up more of the area, I fish around and pull out some blocks of cobblestone. With one last uneasy glance over the edge, leading into an endless pit of almost certain death, I begin laying blocks down to build a narrow bridge across.

     And I nearly make it too. Well... Halfway at least.

     But that's before an arrow lodges itself into my back, sending me flying into the ravine.

~~~

Question of the chapter:

Does he survive? If so, how?

My answer: 🤐