So, this chapter continues with 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.
"Whoa," Ozan whispered as the voices on the other side of the window quieted. "Did you hear that? Things seem to be worse than we thought. But I remember now, the ransom's not for the Emir's actual heart, it's referring to the diamond, the Kharid-ib. It loosely translates to 'the heart of the sun', that's what the kidnappers want." He paused, thinking for a moment. "But if the Emir won't let us take it…then maybe we should just not ask."
"Oh?" Arianna said, liking the sound of that. "So, master thief, how do we get in and find this diamond since you've done this before?"
He nodded over to the missing brickwork that she had noticed before. "Let's get to the roof," he said, "from there, I'll show you."
She nodded and used the missing masonry to haul herself up to the roof. She carefully peered across the rooftop for any guards, and was pleased to find that none were patrolling the area. She got up to the roof and took a moment to take in the view as Ozan climbed up. From the palace, the entire city could be seen, stretching out before them. Sounds and smells drifted up from the nearby market. She smiled, enjoying this city more than she thought she would have.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ozan said, standing beside her now.
She nodded. "Very."
They stared at the city for a few moments before Ozan stepped away, going to a sky light along the back of the palace. "Here we are," he said, looking through the window.
She stepped up beside him. Below them looked like a kind of grand treasury. The walls were lined with a number of chests, which alone were probably worth more than she could steal in a year alone. Each was filled to the brim with gold and gems of every color Arianna could imagine. The sun shining down through the windows made everything below glimmer.
Ozan carefully picked up window's lock and it popped open. "And now I'll tie off this other rope, and we'll climb down there," he said, carefully tying off the rope, making sure it was a strong knot. "Ladies first."
She climbed up onto the other skylights and then down the rope. She carefully lowered herself down into the room. She set foot on the floor, silently thankful to finally be off the roofs of Al Kharid. She looked around as Ozan started his climb down. The statues set between the chests around the room were so ornate and beautifully crafted. Stones of amazing quality and cut were set into the gleaming gold.
Along the southern end of the room, a strange statue was situated before a low railing. She went to glance over the railing, but a gleam caught her eye. The most beautiful diamond she had ever seen was set into the statue. A window behind the statue allowed shafts of sun to pass through the gemstone. It casted light and rainbows that seemed to dance across the floor.
"Wow," Arianna said softly, taking a step closer to the diamond.
"I know, a thief's dream," Ozan said, standing beside her, looking at the diamond. "The diamond is in some kind of contraption, but it's locked up tighter than the business end of a camel. And I should know, I've had first-hand experience," he said, then catching the odd look she was giving him, he quickly explained himself, "…er, to clarity, that's first-hand experience with the diamond."
"Mhm, sure, Ozan," she said, teasingly.
He just shook his head. "This is the room Osman found me in when I was younger. And here's the reason I was banished from Al Kharid…and the reason Khnum got kicked out of the palace guard. Funny how life works out, eh? At least I'm here for the right reasons now." He sighed. "Problem is, I never figured out how to get the diamond- I think it has something to do with the Het scales. Let's see if we have a look around to see what we can figure out." They both looked around, somewhat distracted by the gold and gems and uncertain as to where to start.
Each thief started of sift through the contents of the chests, but only to find more treasures. While it should've been their dream find, Ozan sighed in frustration. He looked down the room, taking interest in one of the chests that were shut. "Maybe one of those holds something to help us. Look into it, I'll continue looking through the rest of these."
She stepped up the chest closest to her. The chest was closed and she examined it closely, then knelt down to open it.
Ozan looked back over. "Woah, don't just yank it open, it might be booby trapped," he said, coming over to her. "Pull that sticky-out thing first." He pointed, and she moved her hand to a piece of the chest he described. "Yeah, that one. Then jiggle the doohickey there…"
She looked at him. "These are all technical terms, right?"
Ozan smiled. "Yes, of course," he said as she did as he instructed. After a few moments of jiggling, the lock clicked and the lid opened. "Bingo!"
She pushed open the lid, and all the sat inside the chest was an old, dusty scroll. She picked it up and unrolled it, then started reading:
"A Heavy Heart. The desert god Het granted the Emir two requests only. The Emir though for a moment, before asking Het to pick up three ambassadors in each hand, yet Het could discern no difference in weight between them. The Emir then asked Het to pick up two of the remaining ambassadors, on in each hand, but again found no difference. The Emir had used up his requests. The ninth ambassador- the guilty party- had not been weighted and believed himself free of justice…but the Emir knew otherwise. 'All others have been weighted and found equal, so you much carry the heavy heart of guilt!' The thief protested, but to prove his accusation the Emir sliced open the thief's belly, and out poured the diamond…"
Ozan nodded as she finished the story. "I know that story," he said, "the thief was attempting to steal the Kharid-ib from Al Kharid. But how does this help us get the Kharid-ib out?"
But Arianna had moved to look at the statue of the man in gold. "Ozan, is this the god Het?" she asked.
He took a look at the statue and nodded. "Yes, those are scales of Het, the desert god of health. Why?"
"Well, look," she said, pointing to the nine pedestals that formed a semi-circle around the kneeling god. "All these jars kind of look like people, and there are nine of them. It can't be just a coincidence that there are nine ambassadors in the story." She looked at the gold plates that the statue of the god had balanced in each hand. She picked up one of the 'ambassadors', thinking. "We'll use the scales to weigh the jars, then we'll find which one is the heaviest. It's bound to help us get that." She nodded to the Kharid-ib.
Ozan nodded and they worked quickly together, following the example of story. After a few tense moments of watching the scale weigh each set of jars, finally, one side of the scales dipped down. Arianna took the ambassador jar from the golden plate.
"Well, this seems to be the one," she said, holding it gingerly in her hands. She walked it over to the large display that held the Kharid-ib in the desert sun. She found a small circular indentation at the base of the display; it looked to be about the same size as the bottom of the ambassador jar. She carefully placed the jar into the small circle and it clicked in. The mechanism that held the brilliant diamond pulled away, allowing her to take it. She held it gingerly, as if just holding it could shatter the beautiful gem. She was completely captivated by it.
But she wasn't able to enjoy such beauty for long.
A loud squawk ripped through the air from the room below. "Diamond's in danger! Diamond's in danger!" the voice rang out. It reminded her of a talking parrot that she had once seen at the Ardougne zoo. Both of the thieves jumped, and they glanced at each other, panicked.
From the other side of the vault door, they could hear Osman's voice. "Someone's in the vault! Guards: get this door open!" He paused for a moment as he listened to a voice that came through muffled to them. "There's no reason for alarm, Emir. Whoever's in there is trapped."
"That's our cue to leave," whispered Ozan. "Quick, we have to get to the roof before..." He reached for the rope, their lifeline out of the palace. Just as he managed to get a hold of it, the rope slipped through his fingers. "…they cut the rope." He sounded defeated as he realized that they were trapped.
"Oh, please don't leave on my account," said Osman, his voice much clearer now. The thieves turned and found him standing in the doorway of the vault, smirking at the two of them. Guards flanked him on either side. "Not that you'd make it very far."
"Osman, old buddy! Long time no see," said Ozan, giving an awkward laugh in attempts to lessen the tension that seemed to be radiating off of Osman. "Um…this isn't what it looked like."
The spymaster raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really? Because what it looks like is me catching the so-called 'master thief' Ozan, whose attempting to steal the Khard-ib. For the second time…" he said, then turned his attention to Arianna and the diamond in her hands. "Only this time you've brought some nameless accomplice."
"Yeah, well…" said Ozan, trying to come up with another, plausible explanation as to why the two of them were standing in the treasury of the Al Kharid palace, but quickly resigned from his attempts. "Okay, it is what it looks like."
Osman just shook his head, then motioned to his guards. "Guards! Take the two of them away!" At his orders, the two palace guards stepped forward, taking two sets of iron shackles.
One of the guards moved to grab her, but she quickly sidestepped, evading his grasp. "Wait! The only reason we're stealing the diamond is to save the prince!"
Osman hesitated a moment, then said, "Hold." All of the guards stopped at his order. The guard closest to Arianna had made a move to grab her again, but stopped. He looked somewhat put off that the spymaster's original orders had been taken back. But Osman looked at her, studying her carefully. "Explain yourself."
"A few days ago, I came into Draynor," she started explaining quickly, hoping that the spymaster would let her tell the whole thing before changing his mind and having the two of them thrown into prison. "It was there that Ozan asked for my help in investigating a local gang. It was through the gang that we discovered that they were involved in the prince's kidnapping, so we tried to intervene. You daughter was there and she helped up, but the kidnappers managed to get away. We came straight here to warn you; to pass along the ransom note that we found on one of the mercenaries."
"And yet, I found the two of you here in the treasury," commented Osman.
"Well, we did try the front door first," piped up Ozan. "But the palace was already placed under lockdown. So, we, er, figured that we'd used a different, less conventional entrance into the palace."
"Ha! So I see!" said Osman, without any kind of amusement in his voice.
"Okay, sure, so we broke in," said Arianna. "But on our way in, we overheard the Emir ordering you not to trade the diamond. And you guessed it- that's exactly what the kidnappers want for the prince's return!"
"So, you thought you'd just ignore the Emir's orders and steal it?"
"Those are your orders, not mine," said Ozan, becoming very serious, a side that Arianna hadn't really experienced yet. "I'm no soldier. I'm not even an Al Kharid citizen anymore, if you remember..."
"Yes, and if you remember correctly," said Osman, returning the seriousness in his tone, "that's due to a situation very much like this one! Do you have anything to back up this little story of yours?"
"Yes, actually," said Ozan, "Leela gave us her passphrase to give to you."
The spymaster paused, thinking about it. "Hmm, it's true she would only freely give sure information to an ally...and only in dire circumstances." He looked at the two of them suspiciously. "Very well. If you can tell me my daughter's passphrase, I'll be more inclined to believe you."
Ozan smiled, but it quickly faded as he turned to Arianna. "Er, do you remember what was it again?"
She shook her head at Ozan's lack of responsibility. "It was," she said, then took the next part slowly, not wishing to get any of it wrong, "Ka-ko-look-iyam."
Osman seemed to hesitate, causing her to panic, thinking that she had gotten the passphrase wrong. But finally Osman said, "...okay, let's for a moment say I believe you. Why did Leela not return with you?"
"She decided to stay and try to track the kidnappers. She wasn't about to leave the trail while they still had the prince," said Arianna. "She practically ordered us here to get some aid for her."
"Ha! That certainly sounds like her," said Osman, looking quite proud of his daughter. But that look of pride quickly vanished. "But you must know my orders mean I cannot allow you to leave with the diamond. Hand it over." He looked to Arianna and held out his hand, the look so serious as if daring her to see what happens if she weren't to hand the diamond over. She took the beautiful gem from her pack and placed it into his hand. He moved back to the diamond's holder, and placed it back with a click. "Now follow me. You can tell your little tale to the Emir."
The two thieves glanced at each other nervously, but they were given no time to argue the matter as the guards pushed them forward, into the Emir's room. The room was understated, yet beautiful. After seeing the amount of gold in the treasury in the next room, it hardly seemed possible that they existed in the same place. The room was set in an array of turquoise and greens, and, while it was elegant, it was nothing like the outrageous displays of wealth she has heard of in the palaces of Varrock and Ardougne. And at its center was a bed with a man laying among silken sheets. He was old and looked very sick. Large patches of grey ran through his once brown beard. It seemed to take all of his effort to even turn to look in their direction.
"Well, Osman," said the Emir, looking over to the group as they came into view. "Who was in my vault?"
"Emir, may I present our two intruders?" said the spymaster, bowing and stepping aside so that the sickly leader could see the two thieves.
The Emir squinted at the two intruders, his eyesight failing with his health. But his eyes widened as he looked at Ozan. "My son? Is...it this him? Is he returned? Come closer, boy! I can't see you from here!" he said, waving Ozan closer.
Ozan looked over to Osman with uncertainty, but the spymaster nodded. The thief moved closer. "I am sorry, Emir. I am not your son, but I do bring news of him," said Ozan. "He has been kidnapped, and those who took him left behind a ransom note. The only thing they want is the Kharid-ib. When we heard your order to Osman, we decided to take matters into our own hands. That is why we must take the diamond, Emir."
"Without it, the prince- your son- will die," said Arianna, stepping up beside Ozan.
The Emir turned his attention to her. "And who are you?"
She bowed respectfully. "My name is Arianna Wylde."
The Emir just shook his head, looking to his spymaster. "Osman, I gave you your orders. Did you think these two might convince me where you did not? I am not one of your spies to manipulate!" The exertion caused the Emir in fall into a bad fit of coughs. He struggled to continue. "The Kharid-ib stays here! No exceptions!"
Osman bowed deeply to his lead. "I am sorry, Emir. That was not my intention."
Ozan turned to the spymaster in disbelief. "But you agreed with us, Osman! You said yourself it is just a diamond!" he said.
But the old spymaster didn't take kindly to Ozan's outburst. "The Emir's word it law! Come, let us leave him to his rest," he said, gesturing for the two thieves to make their way to the door.
It was clear to Arianna that Ozan wasn't doing to budge. "No, we've come too far to give this up now. We're not leaving until we've convinced you! I don't understand, Emir. How can you be so callous? We're talking about your own son!"
By the look on the Emir's face, many of the occupants in the room expected him to yell at Ozan, but rather he spoke softly, but full of anger. It was probably much worse than yelling. "Do not presume to judge me, child. I love my son, but I also love my people, and they must come first." He coughed as he calmed down. "It is not for you to understand. If, as you say, you wish to save my son, then I beg you to do so…" The strain caused beads of sweat to form across his face. He gripped at his chest as he started to wheeze. "But you are not taking my…my…my…heart!"
Suddenly, the Emir's eyes went wide as he let a gasp of pain.
Osman rushed to the Emir's side, panicking as he was uncertain what to do. He looked back to the vizier. "Hassan, do something!"
The large man walked over to the bedside. He held the back of his hand to the Emir's mouth and nose for a few moments, then sadly shook his head. "There is nothing TO be done…the Emir has passed," he said solemnly. "If Menaphos hears of this before the prince is returned…we are lost."
Ozan backed away from the Emir's bed, looking horrified. "No…I didn't mean for…did I do this?"
But the old spymaster shook his head. "Don't be silly, Ozan. You didn't cause this. The Emir has been very ill, for a very long time."
Hassan sighed. "You should all go. I must attend to the Emir's last rites," he said grimly, looking over his leader and longtime friend.
Before Arianna could protest, she was being escorted out of the Emir's chambers by Osman, a hand on the small of her back. Ozan was right beside her. Once the large doors were shut, Osman stepped before the two thieves. "Please, follow me," he said and, before he even got an answer from the two of them, headed down the hall, through the palace.
Beside her, Ozan looked distant, distracted. "Ozan? Are you okay?" she said, but it didn't seem to pull him from his thoughts. She placed a gentle hand on his arm, and the touch startled him out of his thoughtful trance. "Is everything okay, Ozan?"
"Yeah," he said, sounding not so sure of it himself, "yeah, I just need some air." At the next hall junction they passed, he turned and his silent footsteps took him all the way down, where he came to a window and disappeared through it. Arianna had half the mind to follow him, but she was stopped as Osman started to talk.
"Before you say anything, I hold neither you nor Ozan accountable for the Emir's death. He has been ill for a very long time," he said, then turned, expecting to find the two thieves and surprised to only find one. "Where did Ozan go?"
"I think he went out for some air," said Arianna.
Osman nodded and sighed. In just the short time that she knew the spy master, it looked as though he had aged years. He was obviously very worried about the threat that Menaphos posed for Al Kharid. "The Emir was a direct man, and yours were words he needed to hear," he said, still thoughtful.
He sighed once more, shaking his head. "In light of the situation, I am also ignoring your attempted theft- but don't get any ideas. I am the spymaster here, and it falls to me to form a plan of rescue. Although I may have need of you and Ozan once I have done so, since the two of you are eager to help the prince. Please tell Ozan when you see him that his past deeds are forgiven. His is free to return as a citizen of Al Kharid. And as for your part in this, the city of Al Kharid will reward you. You are also welcome to stay here in the palace, until I have come up with how Prince Ali will be saved."
Well, we have come to the end of Stolen Hearts…and it only took 9 chapters. Thank you all for coming with me (and Ari) so far on this adventure.
Also, a kind of side note: I'm currently the leader of clan (hence the reason that I haven't been updating so much lately), and we're recruiting. So, if any of you have a combat of 170 or total level of 1500+, send me a message in game, or join our clan chat, Heraldic Light. Thanks.