Chapter Fourteen

And so it begins

"So you're sure it was an elvish spell."

"I am sure. The spell was a powerful one, invoked by a powerful elf, and the elves do not lightly share their secrets with mortals..."

We were seated in the Flying horse inn, in Ardougne. Myself, Hawkfeather, Parrea, Adrilor and Kryarn. We were still waiting for Kysin and DarknessDie to arrive. Only half-listening to Hawkfeather and Adrilor's conversation, I let my eyes wander around the small pub. There was a hunched over short man, though not short enough for a dwarf, sitting at the bar. He'd been there since we'd arrived. And then there was the group of council workers in the corner over there. They'd come in soon after we had, and they were getting louder and louder as the beer ran down their throats. There was the tall, dark figure, wearing the darkest grey armor I'd ever seen, who walked with a slight limp. He wasn't drinking, or eating, or there with friends or anything... Maybe he was waiting, like us, for someone to arrive...

"Kysin says he's here." Kryarn's lightly slurred voice snapped me back to the conversation. He had been drinking beer since we had gotten here, though very slowly and had only gotten through a few glasses. Even this small amount was beginning to show some side effects.

I remembered my first conversation with Kysin, it seemed like an age ago though was only a matter of days. From that conversation I had easily come to the conclusion that Kysin spent a lot of time in pubs, likely more than was good for anyone. Totally aside from that, I was beginning to mistrust the dark stranger more and more, even though I had only been watching him for a short while.

"Maybe we better wait outside for them." I said. Hawkfeather nodded. Kryarn shrugged, drained the last of his beer and walked outside. We all followed him.

"There he is." Adrilor's simple statement turned our attention to the west. There was Kysin, the small black figure. He was closely followed by an unmistakable Zamorak mage. The mage had the cape and staff of Zamorak, as well as full mystic robes that were red and black in color. As he got closer, I could see his eyes, his face. The eyes were a strange shade of red and black, matching his robes. I heard Kryarn stifle a whimper beside me; when I turned to look at him he looked back as if nothing had happened. I shrugged it off as another of Kryarn's many impractical oddities. The mage's eyes shone like dying coals from a marble-white face, slightly tanned from the shadow cast by the mystical helm.

"Hello again Kysin." Hawkfeather addressed the shadow. "You're DarknessDie?" He said to the mage, who ignored the proffered hand and instead inclined his head slightly.

The conversation may have gone on in more serious and formal terms, or not gone on at all, if Kryarn hadn't interrupted.

"Hey, why don't we all go inside, get ourselves a drink. Guthix knows how much rest anyone's gotten in the last week. It's all on me." Kryarn's voice was lighter and more slurred than usual; I feared that the few beers he had drunk already was leaving him more over-confident than usual. My small fears were overcome by a sight that I had thought I would never, ever see. Kysin's dark face broke into a grin.

"The Flying horse isn't near as good as the Dragon in Yanille, but hell let's go!" He said, and walked into the inn followed closely by Kryarn and Adrilor.

At the doorway Kryarn turned. "Hey, come on guys! It's been a long week and nothing's gonna hurt us here, with all the heroes and paladins and the rest of Lathas's troupe."

"But I don't want anyone to get hangover... we gotta move on... Oh what the heck, alright. Coming you three?" Said Hawkfeather.

"No, I don't drink, haven't ever." I said. It was true. I hadn't even completed the famous Alfred Grimhand Barcrawl yet. I had never drunk more than one glass of anything at a time, and I didn't intend to start now. Beside me, Parrea shook her head, declining the offer.

"Ok, well, just take it easy you two. We're not going anywhere until at least tomorrow, so just relax until then, and meet us back at this place at about dawn." With that last message, Hawkfeather walked into the Flying horse, followed closely by DarknessDie. From inside the pub, I could hear Kryarn's cheery voice.

"So Darkie mate, what would ya like? They normally serve good, classic beer, or if you want I can get you something stronger..."

"I know it's a classic, talking about the weather and all, but is really still and quiet today? More than normal?" Parrea asked. Well, now that she mentioned it... It was still and quiet. I had been in East Ardougne countless times before, and there was always noise... the constant battle between thieves, guards and shopkeepers in the square, the river flowing through the city, the weighted footsteps of the Ardougne militia, the loud voices that always issued from the inn... They were always there... But Parrea was right. Somehow, everything seemed more still than usual. If I listened, I could catch the yells and general noise from the marketplace, at the other side of the town. Despite the bright sunlight and myself, I shivered.

"You're right... something's different, but it doesn't seem different... you know what I mean... um, dunno how to put it better..." I tried to explain that it wasn't just her, that there was definitely something different about the air.

She nodded, and grabbed a random person walking along the road. "Hey, is the weather really still and quiet, or do I need to see the doctor?" She asked the stranger.

The stranger nodded. "Aye. It's been like this for a few days gone now. But out east further, it's not this still and quiet. Some sorts of the plagues a-coming over from west, if you ask me."

"Ok, thankyou very much." Parrea said. The stranger nodded and continued on his way. "Well, I know for a fact that there's no plague, that it's just a hoax by King Lathas to keep the world out of his backyard..."

I interrupted her there. I, too knew that the plague was a fake, a plan to keep the world out of West Ardougne so King Lathas would be free to go about his evil business unhindered. But I had been under the impression that such knowledge wasn't very widely known, at all.

"Where did... no, how did you know that?" I asked her.

"Oh there's this girl Elena who lives here, nice person, she's really concerned about the poor plague-ridden people in West Ardougne. She gave me some plague sample and a few other chemicals to give to a friend in Varrock... way over the other side of the country, and it all shatters during teleportation... anyway, this friend did some tests and discovered that the plague didn't exist. At all. So I went and told the king and he told me a lot. Not much about his plans, but at least he admitted to the plague being in his imagination." I couldn't believe it. Parrea's story was exactly the same as mine!

"Heh, maybe Elena got too impatient with waiting for you, so she sent me as well." Parrea suggested, after I had told her my story. We had walked a fair way now, north. We turned east, passing the Ardougne training grounds. To our south, were the thick walls of West Ardougne... and...Hey...

"Hey, Parrea look!" She looked in the direction of my pointing arm, not at the walls, but over them...

There were lights and a cloud. Dimmed in the sun's bright glare, but unmistakable just the same. Covering the entire town, at the same level of the highest point on the walls, was a black cloud. A thick, black felt blanket that was hovering above the entire city. Within this cloud, I could see flickers of light... red light, strewn throughout the cloud, and occasionally rising above it for a second. Threads of black light, if light can be black, was rising above this cloud as well as the red.

I didn't understand it, and from the look on her face, neither did Parrea. And then... and then... it was gone. Just like that. It was all there, the lights, the cloud... everything, then I blinked and it was gone. Uncertain, I looked at Parrea.

"Where'd it all go?" She asked. I had no idea.

Beneath my feet, I felt the ground shake; reminding me horribly of the first time I had been aware that something was wrong in Runescape. I looked down; pebbles were dancing on its surface. Parrea clutched at my arm, a note of hysteria appearing in her voice.

"Zanathir look! The city the lights! Look!"

I was looking. Behind the city walls, the cloud that was there seconds ago had now come together in one huge pillar... that rose... that was stretching skywards... it's inky darkness looking to pierce a hole through the azure sky... sunlight couldn't just make it go away at all...

As I was staring at the awesome sight, of the pillar, I became aware of a voice... a strange, grating, throaty sound that seemed to come from all places and everywhere at once...

And then the pillar fell. It exploded back into a cloud... a thinner, more wispy cloud than the one that had recently hung over the city... but this new cloud didn't stay within the city walls... it spread outwards... it was coming... I felt paralyzed, helpless, just watching it approach...

It engulfed us. Or more accurately, it engulfed Parrea. Through the cloud I felt her grasp tighten, I heard her scream. Then her hand loosened... and fell away... all this time I was experiencing nothing. There was light in front of my face, and all around me... but the light was green, bright emerald... The light, it was coming from my amulet, the pendant of the elf Lord Iowerth. The light was holding back the cloud; forcing it away and around my body... it wasn't touching me...

And then it was over. As suddenly as the cloud had disappeared in the first place, it did so again now. My shining amulet faded into its typical green color again. Beside me, lying still and unmoving on the ground, was Parrea. She wasn't dead. Injured perhaps, but were she dead her bones would be all that remained...

"Parrea?" I asked cautiously. She didn't look injured, but she wasn't reacting to her name, nor did she move when I shook her. For all of twenty minutes, she just lay there, still and unmoving. And then she moved. Her eyes flashed open.

"Parrea?" I said. Her eyes focused on me, and with no apparent difficulty she sat up. "Parrea are you ok? What happened?" I asked. She merely shook her head.

"I don't know." She said wearily. "I feel ok... sort of... but... not ok... it's like the weather was; it seemed alright but you knew it wasn't somehow... Are you ok?" She looked at me.

"Yeah, I feel fine. I'm seriously beginning to think that this pendant is blessed or something... it like glowed bright green light, and the light kept the shadow away from me. I'm fine." I said. On an afterthought I added, "Do you have any idea at all what happened?"

She shrugged. "Something big, that's for sure. But what... your guess is good like mine is. We should go back to the others."

I saw the sense in that, even though I had no wish to join a drinking party. But then, if something like this had happened to them, there probably wasn't a drinking party no more. Without any difficulty she got up, and began walking to Ardougne. There wasn't anything wrong with her. I could see that... but it was so like the weather... there was something wrong, something changed and it wasn't good... just I couldn't see it exactly...

Kryarn and Adrilor were waiting outside the Flying Horse Inn when we arrived. Adrilor was first to see us, and he approached at a fast run.

"My friends! Are you injured?" He asked as he got nearer. "Oh..." his face cracked into a grin. He was staring at my chest, at the innocent looking emerald pendant hanging there. "My friend Zanathir... that is the pendant of Lord Iowerth himself! So it is true, that you were not affected by the evil, as were all other mortals?"

"Yes, it's true." I assured him. My next few words came out in a rush, "How? Did Lord Iowerth do this? What'd he do exactly? Why doesn't it affect you? Or does it?"

"Ah my friend, would that I could answer all those questions. But to some, I can provide answers enough to satisfy the need. I was not affected simply because I too am favored by the Lord Iowerth, and possess the gemstone as proof. I do not believe that Lord Iowerth did this deed, for its effect far outweighs his abilities. He is a soldier, a general, not a wizard. I no not who did it for sure; nor how they did it, nor what they actually did. But although I would see it otherwise, my heart tells me that something of great evil has befallen us this day."

"Dude, are you guys alright?" Kryarn looked concerned and scared, but otherwise unharmed.

"Yeah, we're fine. What about everyone else... Hawkfeather, DarknessDie and Kysin?" Parrea answered with a question of her own.

"Well... DarknessDie is still out of it, Hawkfeather's alright, he's in there now waiting for Darkie, in case he needs something... I dunno. And Kysin's gone. He's just evaporated. Like he was there with the rest of us when the cloud came, and then he disappeared and I haven't seen him since." He answered. Glancing over at the house to the east then back at Parrea he asked, "Parrea? What... hello? Dude you're scaring me... hey girl, are you ok...?"

Parrea was staring at the house across the river; Jericho's house, and the pigeon cages outside it. Like everything else living, the pigeons were on their backs, out cold.

"...Parrea?" I questioned of her. Her face had gone white, not that it wasn't white already but it was now much paler than normal.

"Parrea!" I asked again. By now the three of us were staring at her. She looked like she was experiencing a powerful stun spell or something. But it didn't last...

After about a minute of standing there with her mouth open and her skin whitening, Parrea came to action and sprinted off towards the docks. We followed. I still had no idea what she was on about.

She didn't answer any of our questions. She just crossed out of Ardougne, and slew a chicken there with her blood-red dagger.

And then I understood. Frozen with shock, I stood there and stared, much as Parrea had done less than a minute earlier.

The weather, the strange sounds, the lights...

It all made sense now.

I was staring at the dead chicken, we all were.

The dead chicken's corpse.

Not just it's bones.

The corpse was still there.

The chicken hadn't respawned.