><>2nd person POV<><
::: Previously: You followed Andrew silently until he finally asked everyone's opinion on where to set up camp. You showed everyone right away that you were pretty smart when you pointed out the best location and why. At night time, you and Carter talked while looking up at the stars, telling him what the night sky meant to you: promises. And then you fell asleep, ready for tomorrow. :::
   [Mild warning: hostage situation]

     It had certainly been an interesting past three days. Well, by interesting, you mean absolutely boring. You could remember nothing but small talk with your fellow followers, as well as a small argument between you and Andrew about the right trail to follow. In that argument you had just backed off, knowing a day's worth of time wasn't too much of a loss. You and the others were finally close. REALLY, close. It was said the king was being kept prisoner just about half a mile away.

     "Alright everyone. From here on, be super quiet." Andrew almost whispers; but all of you are already riding in silence, just looking at the dark grey mountains around you. To your left is where the rocks continue shooting up above the clouds, which seem pretty low now that you are all walking through them. Below you, to your left, is where the mountain face suddenly drops down to a gorge. One slip on the thin path you are all carefully treading could be the last mistake of your life.

     Carter is right behind you, not taking his eyes off the drop below. You look over at him and scowl a little.

     "Hey," you say to get his attention. He immediately looks up at you, his face slightly pale from fear of falling. "Stop looking down." You say simply before you yourself look ahead. Carter listens and forces himself to look up from possible doom.

     "Um, Cody?" Carter asks from behind.

     "Yeah?" You say over your shoulder.

     "Um, when we get through this, would you mind coming back with me to warn my town again of the possible invasion? I know it isn't exactly your plan, but I would really like to know my friends and family will be safe." He asks you. You think for a moment. It doesn't take too long however since in your head you knew that if you completed this mission then there would not even be a need to go so far north. Instead, you could focus on heading east.

     "Sure. I wouldn't mind that. But, I will have to start heading east soon after." You tell the teen. He smiles slightly and you two continue in silence.

     Several more quiet minutes pass until the lot of you arrive at a large ledge, a cave just to the left divoting into the mountain. Andrew stops you all before going any further, keeping you all hidden from the entrance of the cave.

     "They're in the cave. Now, we rush in as soon as I shout, then surround them before they have a chance to escape. Got it?" Andrew sounded. You all nod in agreement, readying yourselves in your saddles. "...YHAAAA!" Andrew charges, all of you following. There are some surprising shouts from inside the cave and once you enter it you see firelight and what looks like a small campsite. When you all rush in, you surround the thieves from a safe distance. You and a couple others pull out the crossbows Andrew had given you. The new weapons are pretty new to you, but you remember having at least some brief training with them in your earlier years. You should be fine.

     The people you surround look like unfortunate bandits. Their clothes look like nothing but tied together rags and even those weren't very clean and cared for. You aim your crossbow at who you assume is the leader -- the only one wearing actual clothing and not a mix of potato sacks and rags. You somewhat feel bad for these unfortunate souls. It was clear they only wanted the money, maybe.

     "Put your hands up and tell us where the king is!" Andrew demands.

     "Yoso drognua akhandi!" The supposed leader shouts back, not putting up his hands like his companions. You recognize this language. It was an ancient language that only one tribe, the one farthest west, could speak. That tribe had been dispersed ages ago when their home was attacked by a band of well-skilled northern hunters. Maybe these people were some descendants of those people.

     "What?! Speak English!" Andrew shouts down at them, aiming his crossbow too.

     "They don't speak English!" You shout over to Andrew. "They must be descendants of the Taiga Tribe. A people who were thought to be wiped out ages ago!" You inform.

     "What?! And now you are going to tell us that you can somehow speak this language too?!" Andrew huffs.

     "Only a little bit." You say, catching everyone's attention.

     "Well, then what did that guy just say?!" Andrew asks you. You recall the man's words, placing them together in your head.

     "He said something about not surrendering unless death." You translate.

     "Well, tell him we just want the king and that we will leave them alone if they just give him to us, alive." Andrew orders. You obey. (The following underlined is speech translated to English for simplicity)

     "We want king. Give him. You be safe." You tell the man and his men. They seem surprised that you can speak their language.

     "Give us the money first." Their leader beckons.

     "Money we not have. Weapons we do have. Not give us king, and die." You threaten. All their eyes widen.

     The leader then falls on his kneeds, begging. "Oh please Alpha Lord, allow us to live. We are nothing but peasants. We do not know where this king you speak of is. Please, just let us live. We will be your humble servants." Then all of them except one also fall to their knees to beg.

     "Um, Cody, what are they saying?" Andrew asks you.

     "They claim they do not know who or where the king is. But, they are obviously liars." You growl the last bit. "Listen, traders, I know what a lie looks like. Just because I may make myself look like a fool at first, doesn't mean I am that. Now stand, and show me where the young king is." You demand, your speach suddenly fluent and shocking all those who understand it.

     "...Get the king." The leader tells one of his men. You allow that man to get up and walk over to one of the tents. When he comes back out, he is tightly escorting the young king you all came for. He was looking really weak, but stayed on his own two legs like a champ. Before anyone could predict what would happen next, the king was pushed to the center of the circle and held tightly by the group leader, a knife being held at his neck. Everyone on your team, you included, was shocked by the sudden hold of the situation. As you see this, your mind switches to the best way to go about this. It couldn't be any easier, like the world is setting your victories on a silver platter. Quickly, you aim your crossbow at the leader's head, but you know this is one of those moments where the moment you shoot, the captor will do anything in his power to make sure you don't get what you want, which for you, is exactly how you expected this whole thing to turn out.

     "Nobody shoot!" Andrew tells everyone.

     "Now hand over the money or the king dies!!" The one holding the king with a knife to his throat shouts. Everyone on your side backs up on their horses a bit, leaving you there, stone solid, locking the captor in a spiteful glaring contest.

     "Cody.. whatever you do.. don't, shoot!" Andrew whisper shouts. You continue glaring. Finally.. unexpectedly, you move your arm slightly to the left and fire, giving the king a painless quick death. Everyone is shocked, including the one holding the now dead body, who quickly drops him in an instant. Everyone looks at you absolutely horrified. You, just look down at your lap, casually reloading your crossbow, allowing everyone to recover from shock. Three down, two to go.. Once that is done, you pull out the sack of coins you had received a while back from that nice old family.

     "Here, the payment Anna Brinkston had promised you." You toss the bag onto the ground in front of the enemy leader. The enemy leader especially looks astonished as he hears the coins inside clang against one another. Then, he and his whole group bow.

     "I misjudged you, Alpha Lord. May the Immortals bless you for your fulfillment of Anna's passing. Make your way home in peace." The leader thanks. You smile slightly, glad inside that you had finally accomplished that goal you had lingering before you the last few years.

     "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!! You!- You crook!! You were working with them all along!?!" Andrew screams.

     "Oh please, don't think I would stoop down to such a level. This just happened to be a series of fortunate events, all falling in my favor." You smirk, turning a little to leave.

     "Then what was the money for!?" Andrew asks.

     "To help those falling under hard times. I am a generous one after all." You shrug. Then, you start to walk out the large cave.

     "By law you are now seen as a traitor! Come with us now and your punishment won't be so horrific." Andrew's threat; didn't phase you. You look away, silent, and flick the reins slightly to get Prince to start walking away. "Hey! I said stop!" Andrew shouts after you. "Ugh! Come on! Now, we need to take this traitor to Craslytas to be jailed!" Andrew commands everyone. All the once people on your side rush on your horses to surround you. Now that, you won't let happen.

     "Yha!" You shout. Prince immediately takes action and takes off out of the cave before the others can surround you. You quickly ride Prince along the narrow pathways, knowing he should be fine as long as you don't go too fast or too close to the edges. You swerve along the mountain paths through the clouds that act as fog. Eventually, you burst down below the clouds, falling into a pit of snow. Down there, you wait. Prince is alright, thankfully. You, you got some new cuts, even a small gash on your forehead, but other than that you are fine. After some silence just making sure you are alright, you head onto your next mission: to at least try to save that village. You know it might be strange swapping from someone seeming so merciless and cold-blooded to someone with such opposite intentions, but you have your reasons. Your largest reason being against that young king you had just killed. No one had said anything about him before, but that man was much more than just some young king.

     He was the oldest son of King Zandanae, who had started his empire using force and zero mercy. That king had reinvented slavery and his spent his whole life conquering weaker nations and terrorizing them once in control. In your opinion, he was worse than Herobrine himself. And that's saying something! That dreadful king's rule was brought to an end when he became sick and dies of an uncommon disease. As soon as he died, his oldest son, the one who you had just killed, promised to continue ruling the same way his father did. And that.. that was why you were planning on going Northwest. That, was why you had decided to follow the crew. It was all too perfect. Poor Andrew and his crew knew hardly anything about the royalty who ruled. You could tell from the beginning that all Andrew wanted was gold. But that Carter kid. You just couldn't tell why he had joined. Maybe he just wanted to go on an adventure doing something he thought he was right.

     And so, you get up after a few minutes rest in the freezing snow and walk with Prince in the direction of the trees. Once in a small patch of snow-covered trees, you look around. This place looks like a hidden valley of some sort. Mountains rise high up all around. It should be the perfect place to hide. But you can't hide. You remember those innocent children. The peaceful town. The nice sweet smell of bakers making bread for sport; not for war. You lead prince through the ice tipped trees. The crystallized ice coating them makes it look like they are frozen in time. You walk your way through the valley where the sunlight peeks between a small divot in the mountain range. That should be the best place to exit. It is on the exact opposite of the valley. The sun shining in changes to pink as the sunsets. This, in turn, makes the valley fill up with such a wonderful pink glow. The pink slowly darkens to purple, then to dark purple, then to a dark blue, and finally, a midnight black. By the time it gets that dark however you have already left the valley through a small water-carved passage and back into the large open world. Maybe you will go back and visit that valley. It sure was lovely. Maybe you will build your home there when your mission is finally complete.

--------------------------

     Two full days have passed and you are nearly at the town. You had taken the rout back you had suggested earlier and it helped greatly. You look around silently at the calm trees and scurrying animals. Prince is tired after walking and running so much and you are mentally lagging behind thanks to not getting much sleep last night. It was another one of those rare dreams that remind you of why you are doing all of this in the first place.

     "Cooodyyy!!!" A voice shouts from behind you. It sounds like a young man. Carter? You turn around wide-eyed. It is Carter! Did he know you were coming back here or was it a coincidence, and how did he get here so early? Did he follow the path you had suggested too? You are about to turn and run for the town before you realize you aren't his full attention. Carter points up at the sky with a terrified expression. You follow his point until you catch a glimpse of something large and dark grey. After a moment of your eyes dilating to the bright sun not too far to the left, you see the dark grey is a massive cloud of smoke.

     "..Oh no.." You breathe, unsure what to do. Were you too late?

     "Come on! We have to save them!!" Carter rushes past you on his mare. You shake your head out of the moment and race behind, quickly catching up and passing Carter.

     "Come on, Prince, it is your time to shine." You whisper in your stallion's ear. He huffs as if he can understand you. "Find a medic to take care of the injured! I got this!!" You shout behind to Carter, rushing over the remaining hill with furious speed. A new look of determination crosses your usually chill expression. You know you won't be able to save everyone, but at least you can try to save as many as possible!

     Your horse jumps into the town. Left and right you eye-burning houses. You rush to the center of town. There, you spot him:.. Herobrine.