mindcracklove | Divided by Hostilities (Chapter 4)

Chapter 3

Beef sat down at the base of the old oak as the full impact of what had happened took the breath out of his lungs. He’d been in a state as disbelief when Etho had led him to what remained of his shop, still hot and smouldering with an acrid smell hanging around. He’d seen the charred remains, hardly anything of his business left. Even the buildings to either side had been partly damaged by the flames. Etho explained he’d woken up because he smelled the smoke and heard crackling, and immediately rushed outside. With the help of a few citizens, he’d put out the flames then ran straight to Beef’s house on the outskirts of the city.
“I’m sorry,” Etho had said, as Beef went into a mild state of shock. He’d wanted to be alone, and walked out to the forest to gather his thoughts.
Now he kept repeating to himself it’s okay, you can rebuild, it will take a little time and you’ll have to work harder at the farm to harvest the meat but it’s not a huge loss. It was more the shock that had rattled him, less than the losses: he knew he could get his business back up and running soon enough. He thought he’d heard Bdubs offering to help rebuild too.
Beef decided to try and stop stressing so much. There wasn’t much he could do at the present, and worrying wasn’t going to help anything. Plus, the forest was pretty this early in the morning. The shock wearing off, Beef noticed the sun had begun to rise far off in the distance. It was a beautiful sight, the fingers of light touching everything, making the world golden and red. Beef began to forget his worries, just enjoying the beauty and serenity. Even the wasteland looked prettier. He noted that this was one of the first times he’d been in the forest alone for over a week, and enjoyed that too.
Beef was ok. The fire had taken his livelihood, but it was going to be ok. With the sunrise this beautiful, he had no time to worry anymore.

Pause had been grappling with the crush he knew he had on Beef since they first met. He knew it was a crush. He’d felt insane for being so attracted to a man he’d never met before, when he first saw the butcher. Now he knew Beef better, he thought that he might be justified in being so infatuated. Pause couldn’t explain what it was, but something about Beef was so wonderfully likeable. He enjoyed the stories they shared, the lengthy conversations about the people they knew. He liked watching Beef’s face when he talked, the way his emotions showed clearly when he explained his friends’ jobs, or what the city was like. Pause would talk too, of course, but he was more interested in seeing how Beef would react to his stories. Pause particularly liked making him laugh.
Pause had no intention of trying to push the relationship further. It was clear Beef liked him as a friend, and he was not going to try to change the butcher’s feelings. It was a silly crush, and Pause had enough experience to know it would be a bad idea to try and develop something out of nothing.

“I don’t know what you want with my land. Haven’t you got enough already?” Guude was trying to sound assertive rather than pleading.
“I can do great things with my kingdom. I need to expand,” Zisteau replied. His conversation was always firm but steady, with a slight tone that made you listen.
“So, expand in other directions. There is land outside your kingdom to every other direction.”
“I need places to build,” Zisteau said. “I’m already expanding my kingdom outwards, but I want to keep the mountains and forests pristine. I need to expand the city out here, and the wastelands and some of your plains are perfect places to start developing.”
Guude fixed Zisteau with a hard gaze. “So you’d rather force your way into my kingdom to build, instead of clearing a few sections of forest? It’s not hard to see your real motivation. Quit trying to pretend you have good intentions.”
“What do you think my real motivations are, then?” Zisteau stared right back. Guude knew Zisteau knew exactly what he was talking about.
“You want to crush this kingdom. Wipe out Daedalia entirely. You cannot stand the idea of there being someone anywhere close to as powerful as you are.”
Zisteau’s tone changed slightly to become just a little more threatening.
“You are nowhere near as powerful as me and my kingdom.”
“We’ve held you off in wars before, and we will again and again for as long as it takes for there to be peace between us. And never think for a second that we’re afraid of you.” Guude said with conviction.
Zisteau laughed. “So, is this it? Do you want a war?”
“I will do whatever it takes for my citizens and my kingdom to remain safe. Including war.”

Beef was back in town, feeling better after his quiet morning in the forest. He was cleaning up the site of the fire with the help of Seth and Vechs, who had offered to help.
“I feel really bad for you, man. This is pretty devastating.” Vechs said, depositing some charred planks into a chest.
“It’s ok. At first I was pretty upset, but I’ve come to realise it will be ok. Nobody could have helped the fire.”
“Have you found out how it started?” asked Seth.
“No, I didn’t really think about that. I have no idea, to be honest. It seems kind of odd.” Beef replied, knocking down the remainder of a support beam.
“Yeah, how does a fire start in a butchery? I mean, did you have a fire or anything?” Vechs commented.
“No, there wasn’t a fire or a furnace. I just sold raw meat,” Beef laughed.
“That’s really weird then. Was there anyone around when it started?”
“No,” Beef said again. “It was too early. Everyone was asleep.”
Vechs stiffened. “How early?”
“I don’t know, super early this morning. Like, before dawn.” Beef said. “What’s wrong?”
“I was awake that early. Listen,” - Vechs lowered his voice – “I know someone who might have an idea about how the fire started.”
“Who?” Beef asked, curious. Seth came closer.
“Don’t tell anyone. But I was coming home from the Royal Chicken – I fell asleep, ok? – and I bumped into Zis- king Zisteau. Walking back toward the palace.”
Beef whistled through his teeth. “You mean, you think he did it?”
“I don’t know. But it was very suspicious.”
“Why would he want to do that?” Seth said.
“I don’t know. There are probably thousands of reasons. He hates us, for one.” Vechs replied. “Best keep it quiet though, you can’t just go around accusing powerful kings of arson.”
“There’s no proof he did it, anyway. Thanks for telling me that, though.” Beef said. Now he felt conflicted. On the one hand, he didn’t want to cause any drama around this. On the other hand, this was something king Guude should know.

It was Pause’s favourite time of the day: Twilight, when he would make the regular trek across the empty, dead fields towards Daedalia. He climbed over the fence as the sun was setting, and went to sit by the tree and wait. He didn’t really spend time hunting anymore; he would fend off the occasional creeper, but mostly just sat waiting until Beef arrived. They had placed a few torches around the tree, but didn’t want to light up the forest too much to keep it dark for other hunters.
Beef eventually came, later than usual and looking tired. He came over to the tree, sitting down as Pause moved over.
“Hey man, nice to see you. Where’ve you been?”
Beef looked at him, exhausted. “Uh, something happened. My butchery burnt down, and I’ve spent pretty much the entire day clearing it up so I can rebuild.”
“Oh my god, I feel so bad for you? Are you okay?” Pause said, concerned.
“Yeah, I came to realise there was nothing I really can do except rebuild, get the business back on track and move on. A friend offered to help me, too. The thing is, it came as a shock.”
Pause nodded sympathetically. “That sounds tough. Hope you can get everything fixed up soon. Is there anything I could do to help?”
“No thanks. I think I’ll be okay,” said Beef. He paused. “The thing is, one of my friends thinks it wasn’t an accident. It’s unlikely the fire started on its own.”
“You think someone intentionally set fire to your shop? Who would do that?!” Pause said.
Beef lowered his voice, looking around nervously. “Please don’t take this the wrong way. Um, Vechs said he was up really early this morning and saw,” - Beef paused, and began whispering – “Zisteau. Um, king Zisteau, walking down the street towards the palace. Vechs thinks he did it.”
Pause gasped. “I’m not saying I ever thought our king was a fantastically moral person, or anything. But why would he do that? I thought he went to your kingdom to bargain for land.”
“That’s what I heard too. But rumour is that he’s going to declare war on Daedalia, or try to invade. Personally, I’d think that would be something he’d want to keep a secret. But maybe he’s just trying to scare king Guude.”
Pause sighed. “I wouldn’t put it past him. I don’t know how many people still have faith in our king, but I think most of us are tired of his aggression.”
“Most people here don’t have faith in king Guude either. I do, but I’m crossing my fingers he handles this well.” Beef said. The two men stopped talking, saying nothing more. Maybe they didn’t know what to say, or maybe they were just enjoying each other’s company in silence.
“I’m tired of talking about worrying stuff like this.” Pause said eventually. “I know it’s important, but at the moment I just want to relax.” Pause moved his back from the tree trunk and lay down in the grass. He stared up at the blinking stars through the softly shifting leaves.
“I’ve really come to love this forest. It sometimes feels more like home than Abattia does, you know?”
Beef nodded, and moved to lie down on the ground too. “It’s a lovely little ritual, coming here every night. It feels so natural, us being friends, too. You’d hardly believe we were from two different kingdoms.”
And then there was silence again, the little world inside the forest inhabited only by two men and the sound of a breeze swirling lazily through the oak leaves.

Vechs frowned, switching the wires around so that the little red torch lit up. He sighed. It seemed he was never going to get this auto-farm to work. All he had wanted was to create a small, self-sufficient chicken farm in his home, but he’d ended up with a tangled mess of red wire and comparators. Maybe he should have hired Sethbling after all. He’d always tried to be independent, having no job and preferring to do things for himself, but this was clearly outside of his capabilities. Throwing the wires into a chest, he went to the door and walked towards the city.
It was still summer, but the breeze in the air brought a biting chill that promised autumn would come soon. Finding the city a little less crowded than usual, Vechs recalled that today was the day the Abattian king was meant to be leaving. He assumed everybody was going to see him off. Remembering what he’d witnessed king Zisteau possibly doing, Vechs shivered slightly and made his way to Seth’s house.
He knocked on the door, and was grateful when the redstoner opened it quickly.
“Hi, Vechs!” Seth said brightly.
“Hi Seth! Not at the gate, I see.”
“No,” Seth said. “A few people went, but I don’t think I really need to see that man off, do I? It’s hardly more of an occasion than when he arrived. Plus, people might need my services right at this moment.”
Vechs laughed. “Actually, that’s what I came here for. Can you make an automatic chicken farm?”
“Easy,” Seth said.

Vechs watched Seth work, fascinated at how easily he laid circuits, as if he had power over the redstone signal. He was working fast, placing torches and hoppers left and right. Occasionally he would frown, shake his head a little and change something, and other times he made exclamations when something was working. Vechs had specified exactly how he wanted the farm to work, and Seth seemed to know exactly what to do.
“So, what do you do for a living?” Seth asked, fiddling with some redstone and frowning.
“Oh, nothing,” Vechs replied, watching. “I’ve never really had the desire to get a job. I grow and hunt my own food, and mine my own resources. I’m happy to work for myself.”
Seth nodded absently. “I’ve always done redstone, just because it’s something I like and am good at. When I thought about getting a job, this was the first thing I wanted to do.”
“Well, you’re very good at it,” Vechs smiled.
“Thanks. I taught myself, basically.”
“On another note,” Vechs said, lowering his voice, “I’m really scared about the whole fire thing. I’m sure it was king Zisteau, but I have no way of proving it.”
“Well there shouldn’t be any need to worry now,” Seth said, placing a hopper. “He’s leaving, or he should be very soon. If he wanted to burn the city down, I’d say he would already have done so.”
“We could be in danger, Seth. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but nobody honest would be sneaking around a rival city, lighting fires before dawn.”
Seth nodded, focused on his work. He had tried not to worry before, but Vechs’ words sent tendrils of doubt spiralling into his brain.

Zisteau had arrived home that afternoon, and found his kingdom well and still in order. Going back to his palace, the king thought about his options. The only one that stood out boldly was the most obvious decision, but it still evoked a twinge of regret. He was going to have to assert his superiority, since it seemed that the king of Daedalia would never listen to reason.
And he had reason enough to go to war. Maybe this time, he would finally achieve success.