The Night of the Mobs (MCSM Fanfiction - Sequel to The Secrets Beneath the Lies)

Chapter 1 - Dark Cave

Jesse closed her eyes, breathing in a deep breath of the warm jungle air. A small smile played on her lips as she listened to the muffled hoof beats on the jungle floor, the occasionally parrot breaking into song somewhere in the tree-tops.
She really loved whenever the five of them went out riding. Sometimes they'd have their backpacks on and Lluna equipped with a chest, not returning for days. And, even though they'd be returning by evening that day, Jesse didn't love it any less.

"So, have we decided where we'll be riding today?" Lukas asked, breaking the silence. "Or are we just going to blindly walk in a direction we've never been in before?"

"No clue." Petra nonchalantly replied, giving her horse a pat.

She whistled to call Rascal back, who had started wandering off a bit. Hearing her command, Rascal came bounding up to them again, panting excitedly as he fell into pace beside the horses.

Lluna snorted slightly, picking up the pace a bit so she wouldn't have to walk next to Rascal. For some unexplained reason, the llama and the wolf had never quite seen eye-to-eye.

"It's so beautiful out here." Olivia remarked, tucking a string of black hair in behind her ear. She grimaced. "Although I'll trade this heat for Redstonia's cool weather any day of the week."

"Seriously, Liv? The heat is bothering you that much?" Axel asked, chuckling. "You would not like Boomtown then!"

"You know what, Axel, I've come to terms with that years ago." Olivia responded, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, look." Jesse spoke up, cutting off the forming bicker between Axel and Olivia. "The trees are thinning out slightly over here, we must be getting closer to the base of the mountain."

"That could be a nice area to stop for a picnic." Lukas suggested. "I've always wanted to ride out  here."

"Oh, I wonder if there are any caves around here." Petra thought out loud. "I've cleared almost every cave close to home, it'd be nice to have a new place to mine."

"Yes!" Olivia agreed excitedly. "I've been having sleepless nights over how low my redstone dust supply has gotten." She glared over at Axel. "We all know who's been wasting it."

"Hey now." Axel held his big hands up in surrender. "That was meant to be a simple game of hide and seek, I hide the dust and you find it. It's not my fault the bag was so weak and tore open at the bottom."

"Could you two stop arguing for one second?" Jesse asked with a chuckle.

"No, let them go on, it's entertaining." Petra replied.

Everybody laughed again, but alas Axel and Olivia's squabbling came to an end.

"Woah, it is beautiful here." Lukas said as they rode into the shadows that the overhanging cliff cast. "Look at the way the moss is slowly covering the stone. A masterpiece by nature itself."

"Oh boy, the artist have spoken." Petra said with a playful roll of her eyes as she swung her legs over the saddle.

"You can't deny that this is a stunning view, Petra." Olivia said as the others began dismounting as well. She pulled her nose as the soggy ground squelched beneath her boots. "Stunning, but still not all my taste."

Jesse chuckled slightly as she too dismounted her gelding, leading him over to the tree stump where the others were beginning to tie up their horses.

"So what did you pack for lunch?" Axel asked Olivia excitedly, slapping his hands together. "I'm so hungry I could eat a h-"

"Don't offend them." Lukas stopped him, as he stroked his horse's nose.

"Well, okay fine, I'm as hungry as a w-"