Chapter Five

                  Silver Secrets

        After confessing he was Smithy of the Two Swords the night before and answering a bunch of questions, Gameknight had climbed down the ladder into the hidey-hole and fell into the bed that had been placed for him. Now, he was the first one up. Or so he thought.

    Sitting up, he saw that Fletchers bed, which she had insisted be placed closest to the opening, was empty. She must have tossed and turned a lot last night, because the sheets- they had taken of the covers because of the desert heat- were tangled up in knots. 

    Gameknight got up and stretched, then climbed up the ladder. At first it was hard to tell, because the yellow colors blended in with the sand, but the birch trapdoor was wide open. Sunlight streamed down through the opening. Gameknight climbed up and saw Fletcher was trying to relight last nights fire. “Here, let me try,” He offered. Fletcher looked up, surprised. Then she shrugged. 

    “All right,” she agreed. “I’ve never been much good with flint and steel.” “So,” Gameknight said as he tried to get a spark. Scrape. Nothing. “Um, how did you sleep?” Fletcher shrugged. “Okay,” she admitted. “I don’t like sleeping in the desert.” “Why not?” Gameknight asked. “It’s all the sand. It gets in my eyes, and whenever I breathe it in I start coughing and sneezing.”

   “Who doesn’t?” Gameknight asked with a laugh. Scrape. Nothing. Fletcher laughed too. “Are you going to get a spark, or are you as bad as me?” Gameknight made a crossed-eyed face and stuck out his tongue. “Nope, I’m a fire master,” he said in a funny high pitched voice. Fletcher laughed even harder. Gameknight stared down at the log. “I don’t think this wood would hold wood even I did somehow get a spark,” he said. “I mean, I’m horrible at this, but even I can tell this log is mostly ashes by now. We need a new one.” Fletcher kneeled down next to him. “Wow, your right,” she said, running her fingers through the bark. When she lifted her hand back up, long black streaks were running up and down her fingers. 

   “I guess you’ve seen this a lot.” She said. Gameknight looked up at her, surprised. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Well, if what you say is true, then something called blazes came up from some kind of underworld called the Nether, than ransacked the world for no reason and tried to eat all the trees. And then broke the ground. Which isn’t humanly possible.” Gameknight was laughing so hard he couldn’t talk. Suddenly, he stopped so fast he choked. Still, a grin spread across his boxy face. Fletcher stared down at him. “You know you look like a evil dying murder right now, right?” Gameknight shook his head. “So you did listen!” He said. Fletcher looked at him, annoyed. “Listened to what?” She asked. “To my story!” He said. “About my adventures in the Overworld.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, I was kind of forced. But yes, I heard the basics.” She kicked at the log. “Now, if you would please just light this on fire already?” Gameknight shook his head, but took out his axe and chopped up the ashy wood. Fletcher replaced it with another piece of spruce. Gameknight got into a ridiculous position, making Fletcher smile. Holding his head up high, he struck the flint to the iron. He meant it as a joke, so he was surprised when he heard a scrape and a hiss. He opened one eye and saw a spark sizzling on the log. Even as he looked, the spark grew bigger and bigger and suddenly burst into flame. 

    “You did it!” Fletcher cheered. “I- I did?” Gameknight said. “I mean- of course I did!” They both laughed. Gameknight pumped his fists. “Watch out, blazes of the underworld, because Gameknight999 is gonna burn down everything before you can even figure out how to get up here!” Fletcher shushed him, but she was smiling so much he knew she wouldn’t have cared if he kept going. 

                                                *

      A few hours later, they were moving again. Smithy and Harvester had woken up, and everyone had eaten something. The horses were fed, the cow was milked and had food. The sun was near its zenith when suddenly Harvester cried out from the front of the group. Fletcher and Smithy kicked their horses into action. Gameknight did the same. 

     “Harvester! What is it?” Fletcher cried. “Are you okay?” Harvester stepped back, shaken. “I’m alright,” she said. “But-“ 

   Suddenly, Smithy yelled. “It’s a hole,” He called out. “What do you mean?” Gameknight asked. “It’s just… a drop,” he called. “It’s a hole that just goes straight down. I can’t even see the bottom.” Gameknight peered over his shoulder. Sure enough, it was just a drop. But at the very bottom…

    “Look,” Gameknight said. “At the end of the shaft. There’s light.” Sure enough, right at the end of the fatal fall was a strange bluish glow. “I’m going down,” Smithy said. “You can’t be serious,” Fletcher said. “I’ll be fine,” The blacksmith insisted. “I jump off high things all the time! I know how to use a water bucket.” 

   “Who knows what’s down there?” Fletcher snapped. “Monsters? Lava? The Void?” Smithy rolled his eyes. “Do you actually think it’s the Void?” He asked. Fletcher turned pink. “Well- no…” “And if it’s lava,” Smithy interrupted, “I just said I’ll be holding a water bucket.”

   “But what about monsters?” Fletcher shot back. “I’ll wear my armor, okay?” Smithy said. “But…” Fletcher trailed off. “Stop worrying so much, Fletcher!” Smithy said. “I’m gonna be fine.” Ten minutes later, Smithy was in full iron armor and was poised to jump. “This is NOT a good idea!” Fletcher yelled. “Three,”

   Fletcher glared at Gameknight. “I can’t believe your not trying to stop him!” “Two…” Gameknight laughed. “When your with the User-that-is-not-a-user, Crazy and Reckless is all that’s allowed.” “One! Jump!” Harvester yelled, waving her arms above her head. 

  Smithy jumped. “Cannonball!” He yelled. The fall was so long, Smithy was soon out of sight. Fletcher covered her face in her hands. Then, far, far below, there was a splash. There was a shout, and then Smithy’s voice called up to them “It’s all right! Come on down!” “Yes!” Harvester yelled, jumping in without a thought. Gameknight looked at Fletcher, shrugged, and jumped. 

       He fell for what felt like forever, and then with a splash he fell into a one block deep pool at the very bottom. He stood up and shook the water off his legs. “You didn’t have to make something this big, Smithy,” he said with a laugh. The block of water he was standing in was surrounded in carved sandstone. On each edge, sandstone wall stretched up three blocks and then came together. Smithy shook his head. “This wasn’t me,” he said. “It’s what I fell into.”  

   Suddenly, Gameknight heard a yell above him. He jumped out of the way right as Fletcher came down. She landed in the water. Splash! A huge wave came up and smacked her right in the face. Gameknight laughed. Fletcher glared at him, dripping wet. She sighed and shook her head rapidly, sending drops of water everywhere from her sopping wet hair. 

   Gameknight turned back to Smithy. “Where are we?” He asked. Smithy smiled. “Let’s see,” he said, raising the torch he was holding up. Gameknight gasped. “What?” Smithy asked. “Turn around,” Gameknight said. Harvester and Smithy turned around and gasped. The torch light glittered on a crystal blue river, looking more clean and pure than Gameknight could ever believed possible. “El Rio De Portals,” Harvester breathed. “The River Of Portals.” Her eyes glittered in the light. “It DOES exist!” 

   Gameknight turned to look at Fletcher. Her mouth was wide open in shock. “So- so there’s  actually a river underneath Silver Desert?” She stuttered. “Yes!” Harvester yelled. “But it’s trapped. There’s so much sand above us! If it fell on us, it would smother the whole river. Oh, and probably kill us. Yep, definitely kill us.”

     “Careful where you put that torch, Smithy,” Gameknight warned. Smithy nodded. As far as the eye could see, the river- El Rio De Portals- stretched out. You could see the bottom, and it was all silver sand. No more pale yellow- it was so silver at first Gameknight thought they were on Iron Blocks. He finally noticed the ground was the same sand, and the walls were silver sandstone. The water gently lapped at the shore, and Gameknight could tell this water was smooth with no currents or undertows. Somehow, the water didn’t seem to be going in any direction. Some places were calm and so still it was hard to tell there was water. In other places there were small whirlpools. The water went where ever it thought it should. 

   It is magic, he thought. But the river wasn’t the only amazing thing down there. “Look,” Smithy gasped. To their right, the biggest desert temple Gameknight had ever seen loomed above them. It was made of the same silver smooth sandstone as the rest, but the usual temple pattern was made of what looked like iron blocks, but it didn’t have the usual edges and lines. Silver. 

     “The Silver Temple,” Harvester breathed. “It does exist.” Gameknight didn’t know he was walking towards the temple until he reached out his hand and touched the smooth surface. The three villagers followed suit. At first, it was quiet. Then…

      “Welllllllllllll,” Harvester said. Gameknight could see she was trying to keep herself calm, but she was a bomb about to explode. “Are we going in?” “NO.” Fletcher said. “I agreed to coming down into this cursed pit, but we are NOT going into some creepy building. Smithy and Gameknight looked at each other and smiled. Fletcher scowled. “Don’t you DARE!” She yelled. But Gameknight, Smithy and Harvester were already on their way inside, laughing.

    But as soon as they were inside, they stopped abruptly. It was if something had been shoved into their mouths. Inside Silver Temple, it was so quiet it seemed rude to make any sound at all. “You didn’t tell us their was a Temple,” Gameknight whispered. But it was so quiet otherwise, it was if he had yelled it for all of Minecraft to hear. “I didn’t think it was important,” Harvester said. “But the Temple was originally a place for everyone that lived on either side of the river to meet up. There was a bridge on either side that connected them to the Temple. I can’t believe it’s still here.”

   They heard someone run up behind them. “I can’t believe you made me do this,” Fletcher said angrily. “We didn’t make you,” Harvester said. “If you had wanted, you could have sat and pouted on the bridge the whole time. Fletcher scowled. “What bridge?” Gameknight asked. “I don’t remember any bridge.” They all looked at him.  “Um, the bridge we crossed to get over here?” Smithy said. Gameknight shook his head. “I don’t remember that.” Harvester shrugged. “Well, I’m not surprised. You kinda just wandered towards the temple all, like, dazed. You sorta looked like a zombie.” 

    Her eyes lit up. “Ooo, what if he turned into a zombie?” “He did NOT turn into a zombie!” Fletcher said. “Smithy, please help me with this!” But he didn’t answer. Looking over his shoulder, Gameknight saw Smithy had his pick axe out and was hacking at the normal desert Temple floor pattern. Just like outside, the pattern was made of the same strange Iron Blocks. 

   Fletcher groaned and facepalmed. “Oh, great!” She said. “Now everyone is crazy.” She glared at Smithy. “What are you doing? You do know we’re over WATER, right? What are you trying to do, drown us?” “There’s always a treasure under these things,” Smithy said. “W-A-T-E-R.” Fletcher yelled, waving her arms over her head. “DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND ENGLISH? WATER!” 

    “Always,” Smithy said firmly. And then the first block broke. The sound of water reached their ears. “See?” Fletcher boasted. Smithy dropped his pick, looking disappointed. “Come on,” Fletcher said, turning. “Let’s go.” Harvester and Smithy followed, looking sad. But Gameknight stayed put. Something wasn’t right. “Wait,” he said. They stopped. “What now?” Fletcher asked. “The sound,” Gameknight said. 

   Fletcher rolled her eyes. “What about it? What about the same thing you ALWAYS hear from a river?” “But this isn’t a normal river,” Gameknight said. “Did you hear any splashing earlier?” Fletcher stopped. “Well, no…” 

    In an instant, Harvester and Smithy were right next to the User, fighting to try and stare down into the hole. Smithy grabbed his pick and chopped at the floor, making the hole much bigger. Fletcher came over, but the look on her face clearly told Gameknight she was not happy. 

     But in a moment all there faces had looks of awe on them as they stared down into the hole. The water had turned into a raging roaring whirlpool. And even as they watched, the water slowly went down, leaving an empty square tunnel straight down with watery walls. 

   And then the water was gone. The water was calm, except for a few ripples. But a moment later even those were gone. Down at the very, very bottom, a bluish glow lit up four brown boxes. “Chests!” Harvester cheered. Smithy broke another block, and then both of them were swimming down to the bottom. Fletcher sighed, but jumped in too. 

    Gameknight went last. He readied himself to go down, but he hesitated. There was something down there. Something that would scare him from his head to his feet, he could feel it. There was no monsters, but that glow meant something. And he wasn’t going to like it.