"The wrong people die, some of them, and the reason is this; life is not fair." 
-William Goldman

          It's strange how in war, time moves so slowly and yet goes by so fast. Months of boredom seemed to pass before they got any word from the armies that had been dispatched but the hours flashed by as part of the Team Crafted army prepared to march out and answer the request for backup that Vikk and Noah asked for in the west. It was decided that Generals Mitch, Jerome and Quentin would lead them, with Herobrine coming along, but...

          "What do you mean I'm not allowed to fight?!" Adam asked as Herobrine told him the news.

          "Think about it logically," Herobrine said reasonably. "Entity and Dreadlord most likely know that you have your magic back, word would have gotten to them somehow, but they don't know that I've been training you and they don't know how skilled you are. The longer we can keep that from them, the greater advantage we have. Think of yourself as a secret weapon."

          "So I have to stay here and do nothing until you guys get back?"

          Herobrine gave a little lift of his shoulders. "You can always keep training."

          Unfortunately for Adam, that seemed to be about as much as he could do. Steve had gone with the group to the north and Notch was off working on a project of some sort, and there wasn't much else to do at this particular time of the war. The army could handle themselves as far as guard duty and general patrols were concerned, and just sitting around doing nothing was more boring than doing the exact same drill over and over again, bending and forming Adam's magic around him, slowly annihilating the target in front of him as he did so.

          Once or twice, and very tentatively, Adam trained with a few of the younger sorcerers whom Aramis and Seto taught, although both of the more experienced sorcerers knew that Adam's magic was different to their own. It didn't achieve anything groundbreaking, although Adam did pick up a few tricks that he thought he might be able to put to use.

          Finally, the army came back from their battle and the activity was thick as wounded were moved to the hospital and armour and weapons were sorted and moved to either be repaired or sharpened and stored and refreshments were brought out and families found each other. Adam searched through the crowd and saw Jerome and ran up to him, reaching him the same time as Ty did.

          "Where are the others, they okay?" Ty asked, getting the question out just as Adam opened his mouth to ask the same thing.

          "Yeah they're both fine, and Herobrine's bringing up the rear," Jerome said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. He then gave Adam a side eye, as if he was sizing him up. "Can you do the same things Herobrine can?"

          "I mean, not yet but theoretically, yeah."

          Jerome gave a little laugh and shook his head. "You both should have been there, it was insane. I mean, we've all seen Seto when he's fighting but like... imagine that, times ten. And with a lot more... awesomeness."

          "You mean like what he did when fighting Adam?" Ty asked, jerking a head to the referenced man.

          "Well yes, but on a much bigger and cooler scale. And with less fire burning down every building."

          "Naturally," Adam said with a little nod.

          "But that aside, we figured some stuff out from the battle, we should call a meeting, let's go."

          And so, for the fifteenth time in this book, a meeting is called. You all know the drill and so to alleviate any boredom, the meeting shall be summarised in the following: from the battle, they learned that Entity's strange warrior creatures can learn, analyse, predict and change their tactics to combat your own, which means that to surprise them and gain the advantage, you have to be unpredictable and be constantly changing your strategies and plans. Easily said, not so easily done. As for the warriors themselves, they were remarkably tall and difficult to kill, but definitely not impossibly so, so with a collection of some of the best strategists and warriors around, no one was very doubtful about their chances of winning.

          Barely a few hours later, messengers bearing the crest of Lord Rob arrived at the base, bringing word of the two other battles that appeared to have happened in the days prior. Queen Anne and Lord Ghetto won the battle in the north, but not without a significant amount of help from Steve. The Gizzy Alliance went out to defend their homes in the east but despite the large might of four armies, they were defeated.

          "Is Anne okay?" Herobrine asked the second that the rider stopped speaking.

          The first rider grinned and gave a nod. "She was the one who gave me the message sir. She told me to tell you that she barely got a scratch and that it's all fine."

          "I'm going up there." Herobrine looked around at the group as if daring anyone to challenge him.

          "Actually," Mitch said slowly, leaning forward on the table, "I was going to suggest that we split up and meet up with the groups, just to share what we know and get anything they know."

          "Have a sorcerer in each group, just in case," Aramis said. "Herobrine is going up north, and I'm perhaps getting a little too old for all this travel, so Seto, would you accompany a group to the west?"

          It was decided that Herobrine, Jerome, Jason and Adam would go visit the armies in the north while Mitch, Ty, Ian and Seto went west, leaving Aramis and Quentin at home base to train and look after the wounded. Although no one said it, it would have been wiser for Herobrine to go west since they lost their battle, but everyone knew that he would refuse to go anywhere but to Anne.

          They move out quickly and in seemingly no time at all (why does time seem to bend unnaturally in war?) they were nearing the colder parts of the country and Lord Ghetto's base, which served as the temporary headquarters for his and Anne's army. They saw the tips of the fort-like base when they were still a few hours away, visible over the tops of the forest that was still between them and the base.

          "The sooner we get there, the better, my butt is killing me," Jerome groaned, rising in his saddle to stretch his sore legs.

          The others chuckled at his discomfort, the bridles of their horses clicking metallically as they rode under the green dappled light. They were all relaxed but each of them were seasoned warriors, so their eyes were constantly moving and watching for possible threats and they were ready to leap into action in a second.

          "Are there supposed to be this many crows around?" Jason asked uncertainly, looking up at the trees which did seem to have a few too many of the black birds.

          "Dirty scavengers," Herobrine growled, glaring at the birds perched in the trees, their beady black eyes watching them curiously.

          "They could be here because of the battle?" Adam asked uncertainly, not wanting to voice the disgusting nature of the food source of the crows.

          "The battle happened further north than here, they wouldn't be here because of that," Jason said instantly.

          "Then there's something else here that's attracting them," Herobrine said slowly with a frown. "Something much more recent... Didn't these guys say that they were sending out patrols?"

          The four of them looked at each other, each realising the meaning of the crows' presence, and without a word more they clapped the flanks of their horses and set off at a canter, searching for the source. It wasn't long before they found it and, like they had been worried, it was a patrol.

          Sunlight shone down into the clearing but the scene was grizzly. Several tall, black creatures were lying on the ground, easily identifiable as Entity's warrior creatures, but the four spared no glance for them or for the few horses that also lay dead. A dozen human bodies were scattered about the clearing, all lying at unnatural angles, some with limbs torn off, and all wearing the bloodstained and tattered clothing of the Snow Strikers.

          They must have been surprised by the attack, but even though they didn't go down without a fight, they had clearly been outmatched. The three Generals sat on their horses, staring at the scene aghast, but Herobrine dismounted from his horse and like a man sleepwalking, moved over to one of the bodies, slowly kneeling down beside it, reaching out a shaking hand to smooth back the wavy brown hair.

          "Oh no," Jerome breathed.

          It was Queen Anne.

          Her face was too pale, her eyes were closed but in her final moments, she had been fighting. Around her lay the bodies of four of Entity's warriors, each covered in a dozen slash marks and one with one of Anne's long daggers stretching out of its forehead. In Anne's right hand, she held a simple looking dagger, but the hilt had strange carvings and the blade had a strange glint to it and was covered in dark red blood. Her skin was cold and her body was stiffening as Herobrine ever so gently lifted her up, holding her form close to him as if she was made of the most precious and delicate china.

          Jason swallowed. "Herobrine, I'm so sorry-"

          "Go."

          The word was taunt and strained. Herobrine didn't look at them. The Generals exchanged a confused glance.

          "Um," Jerome started, "Herobrin-"

          "Go."

          It was more urgent this time and more strained, but now Adam knew why. He could sense Herobrine's magical energy pulsing and growing rapidly stronger, spreading out in waves even as Herobrine tried to stop it. And suddenly he knew what was going to happen.

          "Go, now," he said urgently, already turning his horse away and urging it forward. Confused but not stopping to question, the other two copied his movements, galloping away as fast as they could but they didn't manage to get far enough.

          The shockwave hit them as hard as the sudden scream that assaulted their ears and minds, filled with loss and anger and sadness and gut-wrenching pain, throwing them out of their saddles and sending both them and their horses sprawling. Jason and Jerome felt the hairs on their body stand on end as ripples of energy filled the air around them, but Adam got the worst of it. As he had hit the ground, he had instinctively thrown up a shield between them and the clearing, and now it was the only thing protecting them from being destroyed by the wave of pure magical energy that spat out from Herobrine, the force bending the trees back and almost tearing the grass up from its roots as that scream went on and on-

          And then it was over. The grass stopped waving and the trees stood straight again with a creaking sigh. Adam still held up the shield, panting and shaking, as were Jerome and Jason. Slowly, they shaking got back on their feet, calmed their terrified horses, and rode carefully back to the clearing. The bodies of Entity's creatures were gone, as were the bodies of all of the Snow Strikers, Anne included. Herobrine was standing alone on the bloodstained grass, his shoulders slumped, his head lowered. He didn't speak as his horse trotted from the Generals and reached him, snuffling worriedly. He gave it a small pat on the nose and mounted.

          "Let's keep going," he said. His voice was flat and without energy.

          They kept going.

 "But there's a lot of bad stuff coming up, torture you've already been prepared for, but there's worse. There's death coming up, and you better understand this: some of the wrong people die. Be ready for it."
-William Goldman [The Princess Bride]