Due to the fact that the ratio of hit-to-review is 1082:27, I will only say one thing: If you're not going to review, don't continue reading from here on.
Also, I have dismissed the usual trilogy idea for Scamerz. I'm finishing it in this one.
Zanaril: Glad you liked the chapter. Here's your update.
N Lafetra: Your review was 27th. Here's the expected update. Just be glad this is Runescape Fanficion. Due to the fact that Runescape Fanfictions are forever doomed to eternal low reviewing, because of a huge lack of people aware of the Runescape section in this website, I keep my update limit at 3 reviews per update. If this was in another category, I'd wait for 5+, or maybe even 10. Be glad it's in RuneScape…
Light Knight of Life: Not betrayed damn it! DERAH DOES NOT EVEN KNOW!!!
Lastly. This goes out to the people who read more of my stories than just this one. Please, in any way you can, send me a list of my stories, in the order of most, to least. To, obviously, if you like this one most, this will appear first in said list. This is just a poll to see which of my stories I should update more often.
Chapter 9
The guards had been following the trail of the four scammers for four days now, yielding no results. They were a hard query to follow; they lit no fires, didn't leave behind trash, and always seemed to be too far ahead to catch while traveling. Even the scouts reaped no rewards. The only thing actually telling them that they were going in the right way were the hoof prints made by their horses, but those were misleading: They could have been made by anyone.
The seventh day show less progress than the ones before it. Somehow, the tracks had stopped appearing all together… Several searches were they stopped showed no sings of leaving the road. They had just stopped, in the middle of the bridge to The Barbarian Village and Varrock, but on the guards went. Rin, seemed in high spirits, even after all revelations these seven days had shown.
It was on the thirteenth day that they could officially mark this quest to get the four thieves over. Lying on the side of the road, were the remains of the cart Paul had sold to them. A quick search of the cart revealed four skeletons, all the crates that had been packed into it by the one they figured to be named Mogata, and another one named Robert. The contents of the crates seemed to have already gone rotten. Rin seemed disappointed by this. He had been really keen to catch the lord of the illegal food business now springing up in Al Kharid, not to mention the elite scammer that was the inspiration of many other thieves.
They all turned around, and started to head back to Varrock, leaving behind what remained of the elite scammers.
---
13 days earlier.
Penhaligon and the other fugitives of the law were still riding in the cart, away from the guards. They covered their tracks as well as good thieves would have been expected to. They didn't light any fires, knowing the light would attract attention. They hoped the fact that following a horse's hooves was very misleading would throw the guards off their trail.
When it seemed evident that this would not be so, they started erasing their tracks completely. And even then, the guards still followed. Penhaligon, growing tired of being chased, revealed another one of his plans to them, which they set to execute immediately.
---
15 minutes after guards leave the death site of the scammers.
"I think that's enough waiting, don't you think?" said a voice in the trees above the skeletons of the goblins inside the cart. Abiramiv dropped down from the tree he had been hiding in some distance away.
"Agreed." Said Penhaligon, dropping from a tree of equal distance on the other side of the crash site. Robert and Mogata dropped down from closer trees, brushing off spare leaves and twigs that had clung on to their clothes. Abiramiv and Penhaligon seemed surprisingly lucky when it came to this.
Penhaligon made his way over to the place where the broken cart stood. Using magic, he moved the skeletons of the dead goblins out of the way. He did not know why the guards had not been able to tell they were not human. Then, using more magic, he restored the crates to their original state, the food, clothes, and other materials no longer rotten.
"Take them all inside" He told them, his orders immediately, the boxes taken to that house on the side of the road linking the Barbarian Village and Varrock.
Once inside, they all got cozy, and met up in the dining room for a bit of lunch, where Penhaligon instantly got into business.
"We all got alibis, or reasons to be here set?" He asked
"Yup, pretty much. Wife thinks I'm off on business for the fur company." Abiramiv responded.
"Abiramiv is the only contact I have in the outside world."
"And you, Mogata?" Penhaligon asked after a slight pause.
His reply was not immediate, but it was good enough…
"I burned the school…"
They all stared at him for a moment. Then they all started to laugh. Even Mogata shared a quick chuckle. "And they have no way of tracing this to you?" Penhaligon asked
"Oh no, I burned it with a fire strike, from a far away distance."
"Oh, ok. Well, let's all get settled in… We're gonna have to stay here for a while… The guards were beginning to get suspicious of a 'certain group of scammers'. Now, they may think we're dead, but if we go back too soon, and start scamming people again, suspicions will be brought to their attentions again. So, while we're still on their minds, we'll stay here."
"Aye" The other three agreed, they all left to getting their rooms ready.
---
Rin arrived back in Varrock much faster than the trip he had taken to leave it. But there was still something troubling him. "I mean, how could they just die from crashing into a tree?" he asked the guard that was sitting in the Palace Park with him.
"I have no idea, sir."
"And there's something suspicious about where they crashed. Did you notice there was a house near there?"
"Yes. Yes, I did sir. But have you considered it was all a coincidence?"
"Hell yeah, but it all seems too farfetched… I don't know, there's something about all this that seems… Weird…"
"But, sir, there's something that was troubling me… well, actually it's troubling all of us really… How'd you know they were all scammers, sir?"
"Ah, I see… Well, don't contact him about this, but, my kid. He was always with him. I just asked him for information."
"And how do you know he was telling the truth, sir?" But the guard would never get an answer. For Rin, was already dead.
---
Derah could not believe what he had just done. Looking back on it, it almost seemed like a dream. But it was not a dream. He had just killed his own father.
---
Walking down the path to the garden, Derah had seen his father talking to a guard. Thinking his dad must have been in some sort of trouble, he shouldered the longbow Penhaligon had given him, and ran to his father's side. But he was not in trouble at all…
"But, sir, there's something that was troubling me… well, actually it's troubling all of us really… How'd you know they were all scammers, sir?"
Derah stopped in mid-step. The guard had said 'sir'. That meant he was their boss. Guards, no matter how law-full, were not the type to just be formal to just anybody… And then his father spoke.
"Ah, I see… Well, don't contact him about this, but, my kid. He was always with him. I just asked him for information."
The arrow had gone from Derah's bow to his father's heart not long after that. And, as he heard his father take his last breath, he heard himself walk up to him, and whisper in his ear the words: "So that's all I was to you? A pawn, used to capture the king of the other side?"
And he was running away long before the guard had even bothered to look up. He had kept running until he had found a decent place to hide. And even though he heard the footsteps of the guards running around to try to find his father's killer, he kept on running ideas off the top of his head. Ideas, on how to best get out of this predicament.
And the only one that seemed best above all, was to go, and seek out Penhaligon.
But first, he needed information.
---
10 days later.
Penhaligon walked outside of the door to the house. He took one look around at the many trees that dominated the side of the road. He felt defenseless without his Runite Armor. But he needed to keep the attention of the guards away from himself as much as possible.
He bought out his axe, and made his way over to a dead looking oak. He chopped off some of the limbs, and put them in his backpack. He took off one more branch, just to be sure he had enough firewood. He turned around to head back into the house…
And there, in front of him, stood Derah.
---
"What the hell are you doing here?" Penhaligon hissed.
"You've gotta listen to me… I-"
"You are not welcome here! GO!"
A look of despair came across Derah's face. He grabbed Penhaligon's shirt. "You've gotta listen to me!"
"I already listened. I heard you talking to your father. How unfortunate-" He pushed off Derah's hands, "For you, that I like to do my reading in trees that were inconveniently close to the benches where you and your old man had a nice little chat! Now go!"
And go Derah did. Running away from the spot where his last hope had been.
---
Penhaligon walked back into the house. "Was that Derah?"
Penhaligon jumped. Mogata was running up to him.
"Yes… Yes it was…"
"Well, why'd you tell him to leave?"
"His parents… Would be worried… Can't have people searching…"
"Oh…" A sad Mogata left the room. He had been looking forward to having a person of the same age to talk to.
Penhaligon sat down next to the fire in the living room, and fed it the oak limbs. He sat there, for a minute, just thinking. How'd Derah know where to find us?
Then, he felt something, against his skin. He looked inside his shirt, and found a piece of parchment. He unfolded it, and was surprised to find, that is was a letter from Derah.
---
Derah didn't know where to go. It wasn't like he would be suspected of killing his own father, but he didn't want to go to Varrock. He had suspected Penhaligon would be mad, if he had somehow found out. All that was left, was to go to his secret hiding place, and hope for the best.
The best, being, that Penhaligon forgave him.
---
After serious thought of just burning the letter, Penhaligon finally decided to read it. It contained shocking, and slightly disturbing news.
Penhaligon,
I found out the truth, and killed my father. I decided to go talk to you about it, but prepared this in case you already knew. The truth is, I did not know he worked far the Palace Guard. I hope that you can believe me, but if you don't, at least pay attention to this: They're going to your house. Before I left, I went to the head quarters of the Palace Guard, and I found out that they thought one member of your team killed my father. He had been asking too many questions about your so-called "deaths", and the guard who he was talking to said that he was murdered "Just when the enemy decided he knew too much". Please, get out. If you don't have another place to go, find "East in the home of the wood pecker, close to Romeo's fair lady." Sorry about telling my father.
HareD
Penhaligon instantly went to the rooms, and woke up his friends.