The Secret Treasure Read online

  “I can brew potions up here if you guys can lend me supplies,” said Hannah.

  “That’s great—we can pool our resources together,” Violet told the group.

  “Once we have a bunch of potions brewed, we should try to get back to the palace and use them to defeat Daniel,” said Ben.

  “We need a better plan,” Noah jumped in. “Yes, we have potions, but that’s not enough. We need to be prepared this time.”

  As the five of them sat there thinking, the sky turned dark and night set in.

  “I bet we’re safe from hostile mobs up here.” Kyle looked at the dark sky and saw a bat fly by.

  “No, creepers climb up ladders,” Violet explained as she crafted beds for the group, “but once the beds are finished we’ll be safe.”

  The group worked together to finish the beds. As they climbed in, they heard an explosion in the distance.

  “I bet that was the griefers. I bet they met another creeper,” Violet said quietly.

  As Noah tried to cozy up underneath the covers, he could hear something or someone on the ladder.

  “What’s that noise?” Noah’s voice was shaking.

  10

  SURPRISE ATTACK

  Violet rushed to the ladder. She leapt at the rainbow griefer making its way into their living room. With two strikes of her powerful sword, Violet clobbered the pink griefer.

  “Good job!” Noah cheered, relieved.

  “There are zombies at the bottom of the ladder. I need help!” Violet shouted. The rest of the group threw on their armor and raced to her aid.

  “The griefer must have been running from the zombies,” said Ben. “Luckily you destroyed him so quickly he didn’t even realize we were here.”

  Noah shot an arrow at a zombie from the ladder, and jumped down to the ground below.

  Thump! He jumped on the zombie and destroyed it.

  The remaining two zombies were getting closer, but Violet and her friends outnumbered the undead creatures and quickly obliterated them.

  Exhausted from the battle, the gang was finally able to get some sleep. When they awoke in the morning, they were all very hungry.

  “I have a few apples,” Kyle told them. “I had been saving them in my inventory, because I never knew when Daniel would feed me.”

  “He did the same thing to me!” Hannah told Kyle.

  The group ate the apples and tried to get their strength back so they would be prepared to attack Daniel.

  “Look.” Noah was standing by the window that overlooked the town. “Daniel is leaving the palace!”

  Daniel stood out among his men. He didn’t look like his army. He wasn’t colorful like the rainbow griefers. Daniel had flaming red hair and wore diamond armor.

  “Where is he going?” Violet wondered aloud.

  “It looks like they are marching in our direction.” Hannah was shocked. “Do you think he’s looking for us?”

  “I don’t know,” Ben responded, “but this might be a good time to begin our attack.”

  “But there are so many of them.” Kyle looked at the rainbow griefer army that marched in a single line. “How can we possibly defeat them?”

  Noah had a plan. “I think we should let them pass, and when they are gone, we should storm the palace.”

  “But what will we do once we get into the palace?” asked Ben.

  “First, we’ll find my husband,” Kyle blurted out.

  “Yes, Kyle’s right. First we will set the prisoners free. They can help us win this war. If Daniel thinks they are important and powerful enough to keep as prisoners, then we need them on our side,” said Violet.

  “Then we’ll take over the palace and free the people of the town.” Ben was excited to get back to their village. He also wanted to see his dog again and make sure he was okay.

  The group stood silently in the tree house as they listened to the griefers passing below.

  “I hope they don’t look up,” Kyle whispered as she stood there.

  “Me too,” Violet agreed quietly. Violet thought about the enchanted book that she kept in her inventory. She knew that Daniel would destroy her and steal the book.

  The gang held their breath as the griefers slowly made their way through the thick leaves of the forest and toward the desert biome.

  “They must think we traveled very far from here.” Noah peeked from the window, watching the griefers walk past the house.

  “Shh!” warned Violet. “If one griefer looks back and sees this tree house, we are all finished. We can’t let our guards down until the griefers are out of sight.”

  The griefers continued their trek. The group watched their rainbow colors through the trees. They could hear Daniel shouting at his army, “Faster, men! Faster! We need to find those thieves and put an end to them.”

  “They are looking for us!” Violet said when the griefers were out of sight.

  “It’s time for us to head to the castle.” Noah put on a brave face as he made his way down the ladder in his armor.

  The gang followed. As the rainbow army searched the sandy desert, Violet and her friends were heading home. They were on a mission to restore peace to their once thriving village. Although all of their hearts beat loudly and they had no idea what they would encounter when they reached the palace, they knew this was a battle that must be fought.

  The palace was in sight when arrows began to rain down on the gang.

  “Looks like they left a bunch of griefers here to keep watch over the community.”

  “Don’t worry,” Noah said confidently. “We’ve got this.”

  Noah looked over at Hannah, and she reached for a potion of weakness to splash on the griefers that sprinted toward them.

  “I can’t move,” a griefer shouted out.

  “Me neither!” groaned another.

  Noah led the group through the palace doors and down the stairs to free the prisoners.

  “Will!” Kyle shouted as she ran down the hall in search of the room that contained her husband.

  Noah opened each door, announcing to the prisoners, “We come in peace, but come with us!”

  They were all grateful to be free and they followed Noah, the accidental warrior, through the halls of the palace.

  11

  HELPFUL HINTS

  “Will!” Kyle exclaimed when the door of the last room was opened. But it wasn’t Will. There was a woman wearing a checkered shirt and a black helmet. She thanked them for setting her free, but tears filled Kyle’s eyes.

  “Are you okay?” the woman asked Kyle.

  “I’m glad you’re free,” replied Kyle. “I just didn’t find the person I was looking for.”

  Violet comforted Kyle. “We’ll find your husband.” But Violet wasn’t sure she believed her own words.

  “Everyone! Pay attention!” Noah addressed the freed prisoners gathered in the hallway. “We are taking over the palace and storming Daniel’s room. Follow me.”

  Violet and her friends were shocked to hear someone call out, “Why? What has Daniel done to us?”

  Noah couldn’t believe anybody would ask this question. Daniel was the head of the griefers. He was the enemy.

  “Daniel devastated our town,” Violet shouted.

  Many of the prisoners joined in. “Down with Daniel.”

  Daniel’s defender, sporting a red jumpsuit and blue hair, called out, “Stop! Daniel gives us food every day and protects us from hostile mobs. Since I’ve been in that room, I haven’t had to fight and I could just craft armor for him.”

  “But you don’t have any freedom.” Ben was angry.

  “I never really left the village before! What’s the difference if I’m in here?” she asked.

  “He stopped us from seeing the sun and breathing fresh air. We don’t ever get any breaks,” one of the prisoners called out.

  “He took me away from my family,” shouted another.

  “He is keeping my husband as prisoner,” added Kyle.

  Noah co
uld hear footsteps in the distance. He looked at the woman in the red jumpsuit. “Stay here. It’s your choice. But we have to go.”

  The prisoners followed Noah down the narrow hall and up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, in a room on the right, two orange griefers stood talking.

  Noah hid tight against the wall and eavesdropped on their conversation.

  “Daniel will be back soon. We better check on the prisoners.” A griefer came out of the room and walked past Noah and toward the stairs, where all Noah’s followers were waiting.

  Noah took out his sword, readying himself for an attack.

  But the griefer stopped short when the other griefer called out, “Daniel is on a quest to find the thieves who stole his book and to get the potion expert back. He won’t be back for a long time. We can check on them later. I’m hungry. Let’s go to the kitchen and eat some cake. You know how much Daniel hates when we eat cake. We never get any. Let’s go get some now while he’s gone.”

  “Good thinking,” the first griefer replied.

  Both griefers turned and walked toward the kitchen and away from the stairs. Noah gave a sigh of relief and signaled to the others, who quickly dashed into the room the griefers had left empty.

  “The master suite is through there and over to the left,” Violet called to them. “I assume that’s where Daniel has set up his headquarters.”

  Noah sprinted in the direction she pointed, then halted and ordered everyone to stand back. “Um, I think you’re right.”

  “Oh no!” Violet’s eyes widened. There were at least forty rainbow griefers standing in front of the door to Daniel’s room. “It’s like a human rainbow!”

  “What should we do?” asked Ben.

  “Do you think I should splash a potion on them?” Hannah had a bunch of mixtures in her inventory, but she still lacked the potion of invisibility.

  “I guess that’s a good plan.” Noah was at a loss.

  Hannah bravely approached the griefers, surprising them as she splashed a potion of weakness on as many as she could at once. A group of griefers leaped at Hannah, and before anyone could come to her rescue, they overwhelmed her with their swords until she was destroyed.

  The others raced to her side, but it was too late. Hannah was gone. In a moment of rage and with all of his energy, Noah lunged at the griefers with his sword, but even with his anger, he was too weak to win the battle. With one final hit from the griefer’s sword, Noah, the accidental leader, was about to respawn in the tree house in the forest. The prisoners witnessed his destruction and quickly abandoned the palace.

  Violet, Kyle, and Ben were left to battle the remaining griefers on their own. Luckily the effects of the potion hadn’t worn off, so many of the griefers were weakened, but the battle was still uneven. Violet looked back in hope of support from any of the remaining freed prisoners, but they had all fled. Only one prisoner stayed behind. She was wearing a red jumpsuit and had her diamond sword pointed at Violet.

  12

  SPELLBOUND

  Violet was surrounded. She was in a fierce battle with a purple griefer, and now she was about to be attacked by a prisoner she had freed.

  “Stop!” Violet screamed to the prisoner, but the woman in the red jumpsuit didn’t listen. She leapt forward and, to Violet’s surprise, struck the rainbow griefer that was attacking her. With two fast blows, the woman obliterated the griefer.

  “Thank you.” Violet was shocked.

  “There’s no time to thank me.” The prisoner grinned. “We have to battle these griefers.”

  Even with the additional help from the woman in the red jumpsuit, they were still outnumbered. Once the potion began to lose its potency, there were more soldiers to battle.

  “We can do this!” Ben shouted to his friends, but he spoke too soon. The minute the words fell from his lips, another horde of griefers barreled down the hall, surprising him from behind. With Ben destroyed, there were only three people left to battle an army.

  Kyle slammed her sword against an orange griefer who was eating a piece of cake, instantly destroying him. When the other griefers saw, they came together and turned their swords on her. As she tried to fight back, she saw an arrow strike one of the griefers that was hurting her. Before one final blow destroyed her, she thought she saw her husband Will in the corner of the palace. He was holding a bow and arrow.

  “Will,” she cried out, but she never heard the response. Within seconds she was respawning in the tree house.

  Violet was the only one left. Griefers surrounded her, and she didn’t even have time to surrender. The last thing she remembered was seeing a griefer open the door to Daniel’s room. She wanted to peek inside but couldn’t.

  “Is everyone okay?” Violet asked as she respawned in the tree house.

  “I’m glad the tree house is still here,” said Ben, pacing back and forth. “I thought that griefer tipped Daniel off to our location, and assumed it would have been destroyed when we were in the palace.” Ben was nervous, and wanted to help Noah and Violet come up with a new plan.

  “It’s almost nighttime,” Violet told the battle-weary group. “We need to eat and sleep and regain our strength. We have a serious battle ahead of us tomorrow.”

  “Are we going back to the palace?” Hannah’s voice shook.

  “We have to go back,” replied Kyle. “I saw Will in the palace. We have to help him.”

  “Yes, we have to save him and the town,” agreed Violet. “We will go back and this time we’ll have a better plan.”

  “We need a miracle,” Ben called out.

  Violet took the enchanted book out of her inventory and held it up for the group to see. As she leafed through the pages, she smiled. “No, we need a little magic.”

  She gathered all the diamond armor and used the book to enchant the armor to withstand fire.

  She held up the flame-resistant armor and asked, “Does anybody have any TNT?”

  The group searched through their inventories. “I have a lot of snowballs.” Ben rifled through his things. “But only one block of TNT.”

  “I have a bunch.” Noah counted. “Five blocks.”

  The others counted their blocks of TNT as Violet paced the length of the room, trying to come up with the details for a strong attack. She paused. “Does anybody know how to make the cube of destruction?”

  “No,” Kyle replied. “I thought that was just a myth. I didn’t know that really existed.”

  “We’re going to have to blow up the palace. We need to make sure we have enough explosives to actually destroy it,” Violet informed the gang.

  “But you spent such a long time building that palace.” Noah remembered how much work Violet put into its construction. It was her first building project and she spent months designing it and acquiring all of the resources. There were massive, grand rooms to entertain in, elaborate bathrooms, twenty fireplaces in total, and four large terraces with views of the water.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore.” Tears streamed down Violet’s cheeks. “That was before the invasion, when life was different. We can always rebuild, but we’ll never be able to create anything if Daniel is in charge. He has stolen everyone’s freedom and power. I’d destroy anything I built to get our freedom back. Without that, we are nothing.”

  The sky turned pitch black.

  “Oh no, we better get into our beds. We don’t want to get attacked by hostile mobs.” Ben looked out at the night sky, searching for the hostile mobs that might be making their way toward the tree house.

  “Let’s just hope that we can sleep through the night without a visit from the griefers.” Violet climbed into her bed and pulled the wool blanket over her tired body.

  Violet didn’t tell the others that she had a hard time falling asleep. Her brain was racing with thoughts of the attack on the palace. She was trying to figure out the best places to put the TNT to optimize their power and create the most devastating destruction. She didn’t want to leave any part of the palace in
tact.

  13

  DANIEL’S STORY

  As the others slept, Violet heard voices below the tree house. She looked down. Zombies were attacking a group of griefers. They were safe from the zombies in the tree house, since the undead mob couldn’t climb up the ladder. But Violet held her breath and hoped the griefers didn’t discover the ladder. She had built the house in a thick patch of leaves, and the ladder was camouflaged with the tree bark, but that hadn’t stopped the sole griefer from climbing up the night before.

  The zombies were defeating the griefers. Violet couldn’t believe her eyes. Zombies were an easy mob to defeat. These griefers weren’t skilled fighters. Violet wondered how Daniel recruited his rainbow soldiers. They were probably very new to the world of Minecraft when he found them and convinced them to change their skin to rainbow and join his army. She wondered how he repaid them. Maybe he told them he would protect them from hostile mobs.

  Violet thought back to the battle in the palace. The rainbow griefers weren’t the best fighters. They were only powerful because there were so many of them and they were all very healthy. Daniel made sure to provide the rainbow griefers with enough food to give them plenty of lives. It took a lot of energy to battle a rainbow griefer.

  The zombies wandered around below the tree house, fading as the sun rose. Violet’s friends woke up.

  “Did you get any sleep?” asked Noah.

  Hannah walked over and handed Violet an apple.

  Violet took a bite, and with a yawn replied, “No, I didn’t get any sleep. I was too busy watching zombies battle rainbow griefers.”

  “Where are the griefers?” Ben looked below, but there was nobody beneath the tree house.

  “The zombies defeated them.” Violet chewed.

  “What? They lost to zombies?” Hannah didn’t believe her.

  “Are you sure you weren’t dreaming?” questioned Noah.

  “No, I saw it. There were four blue griefers battling about seven zombies and—”

  Noah interrupted her, “They won?!”