Got a favorite and follower the other day, and I suddenly remembered 'Oh, yeah, that's right, I'm writing a story'. Sorry for the delay, just have had such a hectic past few weeks (an end of a very long term relationship, but the start of another wonderful one). I promise that I will be working on this more just for you guys.
So, this chapter contains Stolen Hearts quest content. While yes, this does rely heavily on dialogue from the quest (though parts have been changed to make things flow better and get rid of some unneeded information), a story is more than just the conversations (and yes, I wrote down all that was said while doing the quests). There are sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that we miss out in the game, and I've tried to bring that into this story. I have found that my 'formula' for these is two in game quests, then my own ideas. So, naturally, for Arianna the two quests are Stolen Hearts and Diamond in the Rough.
Read. Enjoy. Review. Thanks.
A few hours had passed and it was now late in the afternoon. The alleyway the two thieves was cast into shadow. The seasonally chilly wind blew through the small space, and Arianna pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders.
As they waited and time passed, Ozan had begun telling her a number of different stories of the adventures he had gone on. Each one, thought, sounded all too outlandish to be true.
"So, there we were, trapped in the underground tunnels by the cave in at the entrance," said Ozan. "It was just the two of us, Xandria with her broken sword and me with my bow and only four arrows. We had our backs against the rough stone wall as twenty trolls advanced on us…" He spoke with great enthusiasm; he was clearly very into his story.
So into his story, in fact, that Arianna almost missed the noises coming from the house she leaned back against.
"Shh, do you hear that?" she said, cutting right across Ozan's story.
The two of them fell silent, remaining absolutely still as they strained to hear any other sign of life on the other side of the wall.
Creak.
"That's the trapdoor," said Ozan quietly.
"See you tomorrow, Barty," came the muffled voice of Khnum. "Off to HQ to see if that new recruit is really Skull material."
"And that's Khnum," said Ozan, getting even quieter. "Are you ready for this?" Arianna nodded, and he smiled. "Well, then let's go."
She crept down the alley was they heard the front door of the Skullery open. She carefully peered around the corner of the building and watched as Khnum shut the door behind him.
Khnum turned his back towards her and headed down the street in the opposite direction. She waited until he joined the others on the street before stepping from the safety of the alleyway. She kept her pace casual and held back from Khnum, but had her eyes carefully trained Khnum's back.
Khnum came to the end of the street and turned left. She quickened her pace, not wanting Khnum out of her sight for too long. She got to the last building and peered around. He was ahead of her, gazing into a pen of pigs. She could tell he was talking, but they were too close to the market, and the sounds drowned out his voice.
She glanced back to Ozan, who, as he said he would, hung back and was just now catching up to her.
"What's he doing?" he asked.
"Well, it would seem as though he is talking to some pigs," she said, and looked back to Khnum. She was alarmed when she found he wasn't by the pen anymore, but moving into the market. She left her cover just as Ozan began to speak. She was sure that she heard him mumble 'and there she goes' before he was out of ear shot.
She stepped into the market and scanned the busy square. She started to panic as she couldn't find Khnum amongst them. Her eyes darted over the toy vender and the seed vendor, and finally came to rest on a wine vendor, who looked as though he was on the receiving end of less than kind words from Khnum.
Arianna began to weave her way through the crowd as Khnum headed off again. She kept her distance once more as he headed through the center of the village and past the short boundary fences. While it was only the three of them in the forest, there were many places to hide among the plethora of trees. A dilapidated building came into view and Khnum stepped up to the door, pulling a key from his pocket.
"That's the old Draynor Prison," said Ozan, stepping up behind her. They watched as Khnum entered the building from amongst the trees. "That must be their HQ, You ready for a confrontation?"
She nodded. "Let's go have a little chat with him, shall we?"
Ozan smile and together they broke from the trees and headed for the old prison. With no windows that looked out of the prison, they felt comfortable breaking cover, as Khnum would have no way of knowing that they were approaching.
"You head in first," Ozan said softly as they approached the door of the prison. "Once we know that he's the only one there, I'll step in and we can have our chat with him."
She nodded and pushed the door open. It swung silently on its hinges, despite the dilapidated state of the rest of the old prison.
The interior of the prison was very run down. Only two cells existed. The one across from her had definitely seen much better days. Each of the bars were caked with rust. The door itself was ajar, the lock was bashed and broken from a long ago prisoner turned escapee. The other cell fared much better, it could probably still be used to hold someone.
And there was Khnum, shuffling through papers on a desk before him. She took a step forward and loose rocks underfoot rattled across the floor.
Khnum heard the noise and turned around, smiling seeing it was her. "Ah, well done, recruit. You found the HQ! Welcome to the Skulls."
"Is there anyone else here?" she asked, her voice echoing around the prison.
"No, the Skulls only come here when I ask them to come," he said. Something caught his eyes and he looked over her should. His eyes widened. "Ozan!"
She turned and saw that Ozan had stepped into the prison, an arrow notched and ready in his bow.
"Recruit!" Khnum shouted, calling her attention back to him. "NOW it's time for you to kill someone."
She looked from Khnum to Ozan, her hands coming to a rest on hilts of her daggers, but she made no move towards an attack on Ozan.
Khnum looked at her expectantly. "Well? What are you waiting for, recruit?" said Khnum, his mind was churning. "Unless…you're working together? No wonder you asked about him. Damn you! I'll just have to kill you both myself!"
But before Khnum could even reach for his curved blade, Ozan drew back his bow and fired at Khnum. The arrow narrowly missed Khnum and embedded itself into the mortar between the bricks in the wall behind him. The power behind the shot was incredible, and Arianna couldn't help but stare in awe.
"No, you're good just there," Ozan said, lowering his bow. "What are you up to, Khnum?"
"Bah! Nothing you've never done, you hypocrite. When we first met, you were nothing but a thief!" said Khnum, getting angry.
"But at least I have a code," Ozan retorted. "There are some things you just don't do! You were a palace guard, for Het's sake! What happened?"
"YOU happened! That night you snuck into the palace…they blamed ME for letting you in! I was disgraced, tossed out after twenty years of loyal service, all thanks to an impetuous boy's curiosity. And they you just left Al Kharid, not a word to me."
"I had no choice, Khnum!" Ozan exclaimed. "They banished me! I'm sorry we lost touch…but that's no excuse for what you're doing now. Let me help you."
"Help me how? To become a 'good' thief?" Khnum scoffed. "Me and my gang are doing just fine!"
"You call being involved in a kidnapping fine? What's that about, Khnum?" Ozan said, his voice echoing loudly throughout the empty prison.
Suddenly the door of the prison was flung open, causing the three occupants to just and looked to the source. There stood a woman wielding a crossbow that was pointed straight at them. Fierce green eyes glared at them. Her attire and dark skin tone suggested to Arianna that she was from the desert region, much like Ozan and Khnum.
"Yes, speak up," she said, her tone matching the viciousness of her eyes, "If you have something to say, you can share it with the whole class."
"Who is this?" Ozan said, looking over the newcomer. "Another one of your lackeys, Khnum? I have to say, she's prettier than the others I have seen." He drew his bow, an arrow already notched, and aimed it at the woman. "But you're not getting the old man, sweetheart. He's helping us out."
"Oh, you're fast," she said, redirecting her crossbow to him. "But you will not stop me taking him, 'hero'." The last word was said with such spite, Arianna was sure there was more meaning behind it.
Ozan relaxed his bow slightly. "Hero?" he said, smiling very slightly. "So you've heard of me? What am I saying? Of course you've heard of me, I'm Ozan-"
"Ozan the blood marvelous," she said, her voice dripping with disgust. Now Arianna was certain there was more to this. "I know who you are. You are still a smarmy git, and now you have fallen in with this traitorous scum and his gang."
"Whoa, hold on there. We're not part of his gang. Well, not technically…" he said with a sideways glance to Arianna. "But if you're not either then who are you? No, wait, don't tell me." He paused, studying her carefully for a handful of moments. "I know this. Those piercing jade eyes…the full, soft lips…that dulcet voice…the scary looking crossbow aimed at my heart- is that you, princess?"
"Princess?" Arianna piped up, but neither Ozan nor this 'princess' responded to her.
"Urgh! Do not call me that! I am NOT a princess!" the woman said, severely annoyed.
"Of course, I'm sorry- it's Leela, right? Look, I may be many things, but we aren't Khnum's Skulls," said Ozan.
"Ha! You could have fooled me," said Leela.
"Look, Khnum's men are kidnapping someone tied to Al Kharid- we're trying to stop it. We can work together. You have to trust us. I'm lowering my bow; don't shoot," he said. He hesitated a moment before lowering his bow as he said he would.
But Leela made no move to lower her crossbow. The tension in the room was penetrating. Moments ticked away and Leela held her position like a statue.
"Or," Ozan said, breaking the tense silence, "you could shoot me, but that'd ruin my favorite shirt."
Arianna looked at Ozan astonished that he could make jokes when a bolt could be embedded in his heart within a fraction of a second.
But this joke seemed to have gotten through to Leela. After a moment, she hesitantly lowered her crossbow. "Fine," she said. "I will trust you…for now. But only because I need information too. Do not think this makes us friends. You are too late, though- the prince went missing while he was touring Lumbridge. I have followed the trail here to Draynor."
"Wait, what?" Ozan said, shocked. He looked back to Khnum. "You've kidnapped Prince Ali? I know you'd got into some serious stuff, but this?!"
"Finished your little lovers' tiff, have you?" Khnum said gruffly. "Well, I'm not telling you a thing. Neither of you have the guts to cause me harm. You still see me as a friend, and little Leela wouldn't hurt a fly with that crossbow of hers."
"Yeah, that may be so, but you don't know my friend here," Ozan said with a small nod to Arianna. "If you won't talk to me or Leela, you can talk to her."
"Me?" Arianna said, surprised she was being brought back up into the conversation like this.
Ozan nodded, encouraging her to step forward.
She did and Khnum looked at her, less than threatened by her. He looked more amused than anything else. "You're going to make me talk?" He laughed. "And how are YOU going to do that?"
She could tell he was in no way afraid of her. She was ready to change that. "Well, they might not be willing to hurt you, but I have no problem with beating the information we need out of you."
He laughed again. "Torture me all you want, little thief! I'm trained to withstand it. Besides, by the time you got anything out of me- if you did manage to- the prince would be long gone."
"Well, we'll see about that…" she said, reaching for one of her daggers.
She felt a hand close around her wrist, and she looked over to Ozan, who had stopped her.
"I'm not comfortable with that," he said, shaking his head. "Whatever Khnum might think of me, I'm still his friend." He held her arm still, until he was sure she wasn't going to try anything before letting go.
"Then what do we do?" Leela said. "We need to find the prince now! Before anything happens to him."
"Well, do you have any suggestions?" Arianna said, snapping slightly at her. "Got some kind of truth potion with you? No? Then how about contributing something useful to this conversation?"
A silence fell among them after her outburst. She took those moments of silence to calm herself down.
"Well," Leela said, tentative, "What if we infiltrate the gang? Maybe someone else in there knows something about the kidnapping."
Ozan nodded. "As far as the gang knows, Arianna is one of them," he said and turned to her. "Want to venture back into the Skullery to see what you can find out? Maybe just fill a few of their glasses with ale and they might just spill the information we need."
"So, then we can find this out easily enough ourselves," Arianna said. "We don't know need him." She nodded towards Khnum.
"Trying to attack my pride, eh?" said Khnum. "Think I might let something slip? That might work if I didn't have complete faith in my men. Even if you did manage to find something out, the three mercs I sent on this job are my best."
"Ah, so there are only three of them?" Leela said, smiling.
Khnum looked furious with himself that he let something slip. "They won't be along, they'll be with…" He caught himself. "Gah! You're not getting any more out of me!"
"Then we'll just lock you up in this cell here and throw away the key," said Arianna. "Like I said before, we don't need you…unless you'd like to make it easier for us and just tell us what we need to know."
Khnum just shrugged. "Sure, that won't be fun, but I was a palace guard for a long time. My imagination will keep my mind occupied while I'm locked up until my men break me out. And by then the prince will be long gone."
"And what if they don't come?" she egged on. "What if they just replace you?"
"Bah! I'll…I'll find a way out!" Arianna could tell that Khnum was not only getting agitated, but also somewhat panicked.
"What will you take pride in while locked up, Khnum?" she said, "Sure, you have total faith in your men, but what about your personal pride?"
"Right," said Ozan, and just as Arianna glanced at him, she could see the spark of an idea forming in his head. "What about your love of food, Khnum? How much is that imagination of yours going to feed you when all you get is bread and water?"
This seemed to be the final straw for Khnum. He frowned, certainly not liking the sound of what Ozan had said. "Now, hang on, let's not do anything rash here," he said, beginning to sweat at the thought. "A man cannot live off bread alone. I need meat, and…and cheese. Ale, fruit, wine. Coffee! Oh, gods, no, don't take away my coffee!"
Arianna smiled. "Well, if you tell us what we need to know, I'm sure we can figure out a way to make your jail time much more…palatable."
Khnum debated internally for a moment before finally caving in. "Okay, I'll talk! Just don't deprive a man of food, alright?" He seemed to relax, now that the threat of no food was no longer eminent. "Besides, the Skulls- we're only hired help. Our benefactor, Lady Keli- this whole kidnapping is her camel show!"
"Lady Keli?" Ozan asked. "So you're just a pawn in all of this. Who is this Keli woman?"
"I don't know who she is," said Khnum. "I've never actually met her, only dealt with her two cronies- some tall guy with an eye patch and his half-wit friend. My guys were just providing some support- acting as guides through Asgarnia, and as muscle if it came to that."
"So, where in Asgarnia was your crew supposed to be leading Lady Keli's men?" asked Arianna.
Khnum hesitated, unwilling to divulge any more information to the three of them.
"It's too late to clam up on us now, Khnum. Where are they?" asked Ozan with a strong sense of authority in his voice.
"Fine, fine," said Khnum. "There's a staging area directly south of here on the coast, right by the causeway to the Wizard's Tower. My men were to lead them there. There's a boat docked there, waiting for them. Once this Lady Keli had the prince safely aboard, we were getting paid and cutting all ties."
"You two get to the shore, quick," said Leela suddenly, looking at Ozan and Arianna. "There might still be time to save the prince."
"And what about you, princess?" asked Ozan.
Leela glared at him, but quickly let it drop. "I will join you once I have dealt with this fool."
Ozan nodded. "Catch up as soon as you can," he said, then turned to Arianna. "Let's go, there is no time to waste." He dashed out of the dilapidated prison with Arianna following right on his heels.
So, sorry it took so long to update, but here it is. A 7 page update to make up for the long time I've gone between chapters. And this is also part 3 of tonight's three part update.
While I'm at it, there is someone that I would really like to give a shout out to: skyflower51. Thank you so very much for that review the other day. I was beginning to forget my writing, losing some faith in it. But that review you gave me reminded me that my writing has become more than just for me, but obviously for others as well. This update is thanks to you and I hope you enjoy it as much as you have the others. Thank you :)
Cheers and until next time.