The Veggie Caliphate - Birthland

MiecraftMan is almost home.  After sailing over the Atlantic Ocean, the coasts of the Veggie Caliphate are nearly in sight.  MiecraftMan knows it will be dangerous, be he is ready for the challenges he has to face.

Lake is angry.  He had sacrificed so much, spent so much time working up and gaining MiecraftMan’s trust.  All of that had failed, just because some illiterate, hairy dude had shot him in the shoulder.  After spending a week in a Puerto Rican hospital, Lake is ready to set sail on the pirate vessel Comet Tail and get revenge on MiecraftMan, the man who ruined everything.

Riniv is mildly annoyed at the pirate’s failure.  They were supposed to kill MiecraftMan, and now Riniv had to do it himself or send more men for the job.  He isn’t too worried though — he isn’t sure when or where MiecraftMan would arrive, but he knew his final destination.  That was wherever Riniv was.

Jordan doesn’t know when his moment will come, but he’s prepared for it.  He’s sworn to do something to get red of the tyrant Riniv, and whether that time will come in three years or three weeks, he plans to make good on his oath.

MiecraftMan could see the shores of Benin, barely visible through the early morning fog.  MiecraftMan had gotten himself and the rest of the ship up especially early that day, as they would be arriving onshore shortly.  Benin was a recently acquired territory, gained from the Peace Treaty, but MiecraftMan still thought of it has home.  He could almost taste the Veggie Caliphate air, smell the rich VC soil.

MiecraftMan looked around, and spotted Omar approaching him.  Omar was MiecraftMan’s closest friend on the ship, though Omar vehemently objected to being described as that.  Omar used to be one of the biggest bullies on the battleship, but out of everybody onboard he had definitely undergone the biggest transformation.  Instead of the blustering bully he had once been, he was now a responsible man and a close advisor of MiecraftMan.  After saving MiecraftMan that one fateful night in the Caribbean, Omar had actually bothered to learn some manners, and had taught his fellow Scruffs the same.

“You’re sure your friend is ready for us?” Omar asked.

“Yes, I’ve made arrangements and he knows the plan,” replied MiecraftMan.  MiecraftMan knew a man who owned a private dock in a small town in western Benin, and that’s where they planned to dock.  It was far enough from Cotonou and Porto-Novo to remain undetected by Riniv’s forces, at least for the time needed to leave the ship.  Riniv’s biggest flaw was that he didn’t care for the poor and middle class of the VC, and MiecraftMan planned to use that to his advantage by docking in a city who’s only inhabitants fell under those categories.

After docking in Benin, the plan was to leave a crew of about 70 on the ship to depart once again, and sail back west and then south towards the Palapyan-Botswanan Empire where they would dock permanently.  The 70 that would be staying included doctors, cooks, cleaners, as well as a few high-ranking soldiers to oversee affairs in the PBE.  Everybody else, mostly soldiers, would be leaving the ship to fight with MiecraftMan.

“We’re estimated to arrive in Benin in two hours time,” said Omar.

“Thanks for alerting me.  Go and get the rest of the ship ready as well, we’ll have to dock and then leave as fast as we can to remain undetected,” said MiecraftMan.

If everything went according to plan, the people leaving the ship would get off, then the ship would depart again, all within half an hour.  The 180-or-so men and women who had left the ship would then take some mean of transportation (provided by MiecraftMan’s friend), depart the town as soon as possible, and wrap north around Cotonou and Porto-Novo towards Nigeria and Abuja.

Soon enough, Omar’s voice came over the ship’s intercom.  “Attention, everybody.  We will be landing in Benin in two hours time.  If you are amongst those departing the ship, please ready your things.  If not, assist somebody else who is departing.” Omar’s voice cut out.

The dock wasn’t nearly big enough the battleship, which frustrated MiecraftMan.  He feared something like this would happen, but it still did not bode well for the mission.  They were forced to anchor down a few hundred meters offshore, and a boat was sent to fetch the soldiers off the ship.

It took about ten trips, but eventually everybody had been taken from the ship onshore.  It had taken twice the amount of time MiecraftMan had hoped for, but finally, MiecraftMan watched as the ship lifted anchor and set sail once again towards the horizon.  Even after seeing the ship go, it still didn’t erase the sense of foreboding plaguing MiecraftMan.  The sooner they left the town, the better.

MiecraftMan felt a hand on his shoulder.  “Old friend, follow me.  I have some bad news, which I just found out about, and I’m afraid you should see it for yourself.  You can’t call your ship back by any chance, can you?”  It was MiecraftMan’s friend, the owner of the dock.  Adaze had lived in Abuja for most his life, which was where MiecraftMan had met him on multiple occasions.  After receiving a business proposition from a friend in the Med-Atlantic Empire a couple years ago however, he had moved to Benin and stayed there since.

“No, I’m afraid not, I don’t think we’d have the time to do it safely without endangering everybody else who stayed on the ship.” replied MiecraftMan.

Adaze’s expression was grim.

As MiecraftMan followed Adaze, he pondered what the bad news could be.  Undoubtedly it would be something that halted their journey even further.

Off the side of the dirt road MiecraftMan was walking along, he saw a body sprawled on the ground.  The man was covered in tattered rags, and badly bruised, sunburnt skin could be seen where the holes in the rags were.  The man was horrible thin and gaunt, and he looked as if he hadn’t eaten in a good couple weeks.  In fact, MiecraftMan couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive.  The crows didn’t seem to care, either way.

MiecraftMan had heard that it was bad in the Veggie Caliphate under Riniv’s rule, especially in the remote parts of the nation, but the sight of the man still greatly disturbed MiecraftMan.  He wanted to check if the man was alive, and if so possibly help him, but Adaze noticed what he was looking at hurried MiecraftMan along.

“Sadly, sights like him are not uncommon.  He is most likely dead, and if not then he is beyond help.  You would most likely catch an illness from just getting near the body, and we cannot have that,” Adaze said gently.  MiecraftMan could tell it pained him to walk by the body, but he came to realize that Adaze was right in his judgement.

Adaze led MiecraftMan a little bit further along the dirt road, and then they came to a medium sized warehouse building.  They walked inside, and MiecraftMan saw eight vans parked in a neat row near the entrance.  Four other vans were in the middle of the warehouse, and were being worked on by sweaty men in overalls.  “In here are the vans you shall be taking to Abuja.  You asked for 12?  We have 12.  All the townspeople pooled their money to buy them.  Everybody here wants you to succeed,” said Adaze.

“Then what’s the problem?” asked MiecraftMan.

“They were cheap, rusty old things when we got them shipped in from Cotonou.  Our mechanics and really anybody who can use a wrench have been working tirelessly to repair them.  The bad part is that four of them are still messed up pretty badly, and they’ll need at least two more days until they’re drivable.  You intended to have nine for the soldiers and three for supplies, right?” asked Adaze.

“Correct,” said MiecraftMan.

“Well, twenty people, which is what you intend, is a tight fit.  It would work though.  However, no more.  Because we don’t have all the vans working, that means you’ll have to leave people behind until we can get the vans fixed,” said Adaze slowly.

MiecraftMan cursed under his breath.  “It’ll be a miracle if Riniv doesn’t find us in two hours, two days is near impossible.”

“I know,” said Adaze.  “We can only hope.”

The vans had been driven out of the warehouse and parked in the middle of the dirt road, where all the soldiers and some of the townspeople had gathered.  MiecraftMan was about to give a speech.

“Attention, everybody.” MiecraftMan waited until everybody’s eyes were on him, then he continued.  “First of all, thank you all so much for coming on this journey with me.  Without any of you, we would never be able to defeat Riniv and reclaim the Veggie Caliphate.  I have dire news, though.  Out of the twelve vans I had planned for us to take to Abuja, we only have eight.  This means six will carry soldiers and two will take supplies.  Each van will only take twenty people max, and we may be able to put some people on the supply vans.  Sadly, using as much space as possible, we will only have room for 130 of you.  As most of you know, we have a current company of 180.

“I won’t lie to any of you.  I’ll be as blunt as possible.  Riniv probably knows where we are right now.  An army is on their way as I speak.  The last four vans will be ready in two days to take the remaining people, but chances are slim that we’ll hold out for that long.  Riniv will come, and he will either capture you or kill you.” It pained MiecraftMan to have to tell the soldiers that, after all they had done for him.  He hoped that the soldiers could that as well.

“If you wish to volunteer yourself, step forward.  You will go down in VC history as heroes,” said MiecraftMan.

Considering the bad luck their mission had received so far, MiecraftMan saw it as a small miracle that chaos didn’t break loose the second he stopped speaking.  One man stepped forward.  Then another.  Then a third.  Eventually, 49 of the 50 had stepped forward.  All wore grim, yet accepting expressions on their faces.

A minute passed.  Then two.  Nobody wanted to be the last one to volunteer, not when safety was so close ahead.  Surely somebody else would volunteer.  Surely they wouldn’t have to be the one to sacrifice themself.  The environment was tense as everybody waited for the final volunteer.  Nobody spoke a word.  Finally, a man stepped forward.  MiecraftMan looked at the man, trying to recognize who it was.

When the man raised his head, MiecraftMan gave a small gasp.  Those dark eyes that were once we once intimidating to MiecraftMan, and later one of the few friendly faces on the ship, were staring straight at MiecraftMan.  The final sacrifice was Omar.

No, no, no, MiecraftMan screamed silently.  Why did that stupid man have to volunteer!  MiecraftMan couldn’t do anything about it though, not then and there.  He couldn’t pick favorites, not in a time like this.

“Thank you all.  To those who are moving forward, you are invaluable to the mission.  To those who are staying, you are even more important than those moving onward, and will go down in history as heroes, if we succeed in our mission.  Now that we know who will be moving forward, we shall be leaving in 30 minutes time.  We have no seconds to waste,” said MiecraftMan.

After everybody had dispersed, MiecraftMan set out to find Omar.  Eventually, he spotted the man, sitting by himself on a bench, seemingly flipping through a notebook.  He approached Omar, and sat down next to him.

“Hey,” said MiecraftMan.

“Oh, hey there,” responded Omar.

MiecraftMan looked at Omar’s notebook.  He saw photos of a beautiful young woman, smiling and waving at the camera.  “Your girlfriend?” asked MiecraftMan.

“Sister,” Omar corrected.  “She was the last face I saw before I left Nigeria to go to the Galapagos.  I promised her I’d see her again before I left.”

“You don’t have to do this, man.  I can ask for another volunteer,” said MiecraftMan.

“I’ve made my decision,” said Omar sadly.  “There’s no other way that I’d rather go then to make the mission possible.  You’ve got to defeat Riniv for me, man.”

“You saved me back on the ship.  I’ll never get to repay that dept.”

“You will if you defeat Riniv.  And hey, I might make it out of this in one piece.  Maybe Riniv slept in, or his army just didn’t really feel like it.  Maybe we can hold them off until the vans are fixed, then we can slip out unnoticed,” said Omar.

“You’re right,” said MiecraftMan.  “Never say never.”

Omar returned to looking at his photobook.  MiecraftMan got up, and walked away, defeated.  He took one last look over his shoulder at Omar, then made his way to the vans to leave with the rest of the soldiers.

When MiecraftMan got to the vans, they were already being loaded up.  All the provisions, stuff like sleeping bags, tents, food, fuel, water, had already been loaded into the vans.  The soldiers were filing into the vans as well.  A few of the soldiers were finding room for themselves in the provisions vans, while others were stepping into the drivers seats.

MiecraftMan found Adaze ordering lingering soldiers into vans with vacant spaces, and he walked up to him.  “Hey, just wanted to say bye.”

“Goodbye, old friend.  Good luck on your mission, I hope with all my heart that you succeed.  If you do defeat Riniv, don’t forget about us.  Don’t forget about the man in the street,” said Adaze.

“I won’t,” said MiecraftMan.  “I promise.  And good luck to you as well, old friend.  We’ll both need it.”

Adaze nodded solemnly. MiecraftMan then found a van with some empty seats left, and sat himself down.  A few minutes later, the vans turned on and started rumbling down the dirt road.

As the vans drove down the road, people appeared in doorframes and in windows.  MiecraftMan remembered what Adaze had said about the townspeople.  “Everybody here wants you to succeed,” he had said.  MiecraftMan smiled at that thought.

As the vans progressed down the unpaved road, some of the people in the doorframes and windows raised their hand to a salute.  MiecraftMan was no Katniss Everdeen, and this small town was no hospital, but MiecraftMan knew that he couldn’t let any of these people down.

After driving for most of the day on near empty, rural roads, the vans crossed the border into Nigeria.  They were almost directly west, maybe a little bit higher up, of Abuja.  Crossing over the former country borders caused some stir amongst the drowsy soldiers, but most just pointed or sat up a little straighter.

They drove on a little further, until the land around them was dotted with farms and pastures.  MiecraftMan decided they would stop at one of the farms for the night, and leave again in the morning.  MiecraftMan hated to invoke the hospitality of the countryside farmers, but the soldiers (and MiecraftMan himself) needed rest badly, and the vans wouldn’t do for everybody.

As they drove, MiecraftMan could see clear signs that the war had been here.  Some of the land was upturned, where a bomb make have struck, and in other places bullets littered the ground.  MiecraftMan thanked whatever veggie gods were listening that the war was finally over.

After driving a little bit further, MiecraftMan spotted a large farmhouse a little bit off the main road.  A wide, dirt path led up to it.  MiecraftMan gave the executive order to stop at the farm, and the vans turned off the road towards the house.

MiecraftMan stopped his van a few yards in front of the house, and the other vans following did the same.  The vans had clearly made something of a ruckus, because a man and woman were standing at the house’s door, staring incredulously at the vans and at the army that was emerging from them.

Clearly the two farmers thought they were being invaded or something along the likes, so MiecraftMan ordered the soldiers back into the vans, then he made his way up to the house by himself.

“Good afternoon, how are you doing?” asked MiecraftMan.

“What do you want?” replied the man.  “Me and my wife are simple farmers.  We have a family to fee-.” It seemed the man had recognized MiecraftMan, because he cut off abruptly.  “Please, come inside.  Leave the rest in the vans though, our humble abode can’t fit all of them.”

MiecraftMan followed the couple inside, where two young children were playing with toy blocks on the wooden floor.  An elderly lady, MiecraftMan assumed she was the kids’ grandmother, was sitting on a couch, watching the children.

The man sat MiecraftMan down at a table in their dining room.  “You have returned home,” the man said.

“It has been so long,” said MiecraftMan.

“Do you know how much we’ve suffered?” asked the man.  “It is more common than not that me and my wife go hungry at night just so our sons and daughter can eat.”

“I do.  I’ve come to make things right.  I plan on marching to Abuja and defeating Riniv once and for all at daybreak tomorrow.  We just need a place to stay for the night,” said MiecraftMan.

“Good, it’s been long enough.  We may have room inside for a dozen or so of your men, but they’d have to sleep on the floor.  Others can sleep in the barn, though most of your army will have to sleep in your vans or outside.  Feeding them is out of the question, I hope you have your own food.  I’m sorry,” said the farmer.

“Don’t worry, sir.  We have enough food and other provisions to last us to Abuja.  We just ask that we stay the night, parked at your farm.  If that is asking too much, we will leave now,” said MiecraftMan.

“You may stay the night, but you shall leave as soon as possible tomorrow morning.  Go tell your army that, and take the ones that need it most to sleep inside the house,” said the farmer.

MiecraftMan went back outside to return to the vans, but as he stepped out of the door he was ambushed by a boy who looked to be about sixteen.

“Take me with you.  When you leave tomorrow, take me with you.  I want to do something in the fight against Riniv.  I’ll happily go with you,” the boy said.

MiecraftMan was surprised.  “But, surely your parents need a young, strong man like you on the farm.  Besides, it would be far too dangerous for a boy like you to fight.” MiecraftMan didn’t really believe what he was saying, as he was fairly young himself, but he really didn’t want to endanger the life of this young teenager.

The boy snorted.  “Am I a strong, young man, or a boy?  Take me with you and you won’t regret it.  My parents will be fine with it - they’d do it themselves if they didn’t have my two younger siblings to care for.”

The boy was persistent.  MiecraftMan could see it would be useless arguing with him right now, and he had more important things to do anyway.  “I’ll speak with your parents about it,” MiecraftMan promised.

“Names Jordan, by the way.”  The boy, Jordan, extended for a handshake, and MiecraftMan accepted.

“Nice to meet you,” he said.

The boy went inside his house, while MiecraftMan walked over to the vans and told the soldiers what the farmer had said.

It took a long to make all the sleeping arrangements, but finally it was sorted out.  Some people slept under the vans, some in them.  A few made their way over to the barn where they would sleep, while others went inside.  Most however, set up tents and sleeping bags and slept on the soft earth.

MiecraftMan woke before everybody else in the morning.  He had slept in his van, and as he made his way out of the van and towards the houses, he wondered how Omar and Adaze were doing back in Benin.  Hopefully, by some miracle, Riniv hadn’t found them yet.

MiecraftMan had assumed that, being a farmer, Jordan’s dad would have woken early.  His assumptions were proven correct when the door to the house opened and the man stepped outside.  MiecraftMan quickly approached him, but as the farmer saw him he shot him a look of utter reproach.

“Take your army and leave now,” the man said.

MiecraftMan was confused.  “Well, yes, that was what we agreed on,” he said.

“I don’t think you realize what I mean.  You’ve endangered my family by coming here.  You need to wake your men right now and go.  You will not intrude on my house any longer,” the farmer said angrily.

MiecraftMan had a sinking suspicion about what had happened.  “Why… did something happen?” he asked slowly.

“Your friends in Benin?  Wonder what happened to them?” the farmer said.

MiecraftMan covered his face with his hands.  “No…,” he moaned.

“They’re dead.  Riniv’s army marched in at night, shot all your soldiers.  Shot any civilians who got in their way.  Innocent civilians, dead because of you.  How does that make you feel?  You used to grand, a great leader.  Then you ran, and now people are dead because of your mistakes,” the farmer said, disgusted.

Omar was gone.  All those other brave men were gone.  Adaze was probably gone.  “I will make it right, I promise you that,” said MiecraftMan.

“I hope so,” said the farmer.

MiecraftMan had known it was going to happen, but he was still really disappointed at how cruel and brutal Riniv’s military, who used to be MiecraftMan’s military, had acted last night.  He supposed Riniv may have lied to them and told them they were attacking a terrorist group or something along the lines of that.  Still, it didn’t bode well for the future of the VC, even if Riniv was killed, if most of the military was under his thumb.

Jordan’s father left to go work on the fields, and MiecraftMan was left with the task of waking up all the soldiers.  He got to it, and after a few minutes all the soldiers were packed and ready to go.

MiecraftMan took one last glance at the farm, then the van started moving.  He realized he had never made good on his promise to Jordan, and he felt slightly bad, but knew that the kid was much safer on the farm.

They had been driving for an hour when the van in front of MiecraftMan’s suddenly came to a halt.  A soldier came out of it, and walked towards MiecraftMan’s van.  He gestured MiecraftMan outside.

MiecraftMan left the van, and asked the soldier why they had stopped.

“There’s something you should see,” said the soldier.

MiecraftMan followed the man to the soldier’s van, where the soldier opened up the back.  Inside, a bunch of sleeping bags had been thrown about, and under them, where someone had clearly been hiding, was Jordan.