Hi guys. I'm back! Sorry for the long wait; I've been really busy with college. Still, I'll do my best to update faster in the future. Remember to review when you finish reading!
The Lance of Zaros, Chapter 2: The Knight's Escort
Paterdomus, one day later
Not for the first time, Kyran wondered at the apparent apathy of the people of Varrock. He had been the only one to take the man- whose name he now knew to be Tora- up on his offer of aid to the Myreque. Then again, maybe it was Tora's fault- a bar wasn't exactly the best place to recruit able-bodied soldiers capable of aiding a rebel group. Regardless of the reasons, though, Kyran was alone as they journeyed silently under the stone walls of the Paterdomus temple. They reached a small room lined with shelves against its edges, and what appeared to be a translucent blue barrier that shimmered and gleamed in the dim candle light. Standing in the middle of the room was a wizened man in plain brown robes. Small though he was, Kyran could feel an aura of power about him.
"Ah, hello there, Tora," the man said politely, eyeing Kyran. "I see you've got another recruit from Varrock."
Tora nodded, a grin splitting his face. "Sure do, Drezel ol' pal. In fact, seems like he might be one of the strongest fighters I've seen yet. His name's Kyran, Kyran MacTavish."
Kyran wore no armour yet. He had planned to retrieve his items from the bank in Canifis. Drezel took a good, long look up and down at Kyran, then nodded slowly. "Yes, Tora, I believe you may be right. Saradomin will have many uses for him, I'm sure."
Kyran blinked. He had never really accepted the set of beliefs that Saradomin's followers seem to subscribe to. If he truly followed any god, it was Guthix- Kyran firmly believed in a life of balance. Still, it wouldn't be productive to deliberately antagonize someone like Drezel, so he remained silent.
After a moment, Drezel nodded, and said, "Very well, then, Kyran, pass through the holy barrier beyond me, and you'll be in Morytania, where someone will escort you to the Myreque's base in Burgh de Rott."
Kyran hesitated. "Wait," he finally said. "Isn't Tora coming?"
Drezel shook his head. "No, he won't. Tora is not a soldier, he's more of a recruiter. Both roles are equally important, really. Now, you really must be on your way, Lord Drakan won't delay forever."
Slowly, Kyran nodded, then turned to Tora. "It was good knowing you, Tora. I hope to see you again someday soon." He extended a hand, which the other promptly shook vigorously.
"The same to you, boy, the same to you! Now get going and show those vampyres a good what for!" He slapped Kyran on the shoulder, then turned and disappeared into the tunnels they had used coming here.
He took a breath, and touched the barrier he had seen before. It tingled as he put his hand through, which grew to a buzz as he slipped in his arm, and finally became a silent roar as he put the rest of his body in. He stepped out into a gloomy setting, with a grey sky and the reek of a nearby swamp- it was Mort Myre, he knew. He stood on a stone bridge about a hundred feet long, and surprisingly, he wasn't alone. There were around a dozen people with him, wielding all manner of weapons and armour. There were several with wooden longbows clothed in the hide of dragons, and one who had a type of bow he had never seen before. It was black and red, in the shape of a lazy M, with spikes adorning its frame. The one who wielded it was a woman clad in black dragonhide armour, with what looked to be a strange brown backpack slung over her shoulders. For some reason, Kyran thought he heard clucks coming from the pack, but he knew it wasn't possible. Kyran worked his way around several people before moving to the front, where he saw another monk in the same robes as Drezel, and a tall man in gold-trimmed white armour- the protection of choice for White Knights and Temple Knights. However, the entire set was tarnished, with scuffs and scrapes disfiguring it. His hair was a light grey, though he looked no older than Kyran himself, and he was a less than an inch shorter than him. Suddenly, the man walked up to Kyran and shook his hand.
"Hey there. My name's David Stacks. I assume you're here to go to Burgh de Rott?" the man said in a lilting accent that sounded strangely like that of the elves.
Kyran nodded. "True, true. I've come to help the Myreque against Lord Drakan."
David grinned. "To destroy evildoers and avail them of their loot, eh? That's what everyone says, after all."
Kyran wore a quizzical frown. "Actually, I hadn't heard that part. I just came because I knew that the Myreque were down and out, you know, and they needed help."
David's eyebrows rose slightly. "Really," he said. "Well, it seems we've got a genuine paragon of heroism on our hands. How about you get suited up at the bank over in Canifis and we'll have you on your way to the Myreque?"
Kyran nodded. "All right, then. Say, roundabout an hour?"
David nodded. "Just so."
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
David looked at David in his traditional slayer gear with the black cape slung over his shoulder. As a weapon he had a spear that he had plundered off the dead body of Zamorak's favored general, K'ril Tsutaroth. It definitely hadn't been an easy kill. In fact, if he hadn't been fighting the massive demon in tandem with Kuradal, he probably would have lost and been killed.
"Wow…I've got a feeling you wouldn't even need me to escort me through Mort Myre," David said, the hints of a wry smile tugging at his lips. "I mean, you're a master slayer. I'm just a former White Knight."
Kyran chuckled. "Oh, I doubt that highly. Even my master said to me during my apprenticeship that in Morytania, no matter how strong you are, there's always someone stronger. Teams, even of two, are essential."
David shrugged. "Well, all right. You've got a healthy cache of food and medical supplies, I'm sure." When Kyran nodded, David returned the gesture. "We're ready, then. Off through the swamp, then." He took a few firm steps off the bridge onto the soft, somewhat marshy ground toward the wrought-iron gate that separated them from the swamp.
Kyran grinned and turned to David. "Once more unto the breach, dear friend."
David turned to Kyran. "That reminds me. There are several routes through the swamp, as well as several hotspots of hostile activity. We can take a long route to avoid them, or we could go the short way straight through them. Which would you prefer, Kyran?"
Kyran gave a look of mock innocence. "Me, fight? I could never do that."
David had to laugh. "You sure know how to make a point, so you do. The short way it is! We'll be going through the Hollows, and we'll have to travel by boat down to Mort'ton. Let me tell you, though, the creatures in the river aren't exactly lovers of humans, if you catch my drift."
Kyran shrugged. "That's perfectly fine by me. I'm not too fond of things that want to eat me- you know what I call those things, David?"
David gave him a quizzical glance.
Kyran grinned. "Dinner."
"Heh heh," David chuckled. "Well, good luck eating the shades that inhabit Mort'ton. I would love to see you try it. I mean it."
Several uneventful hours passed, and eventually they reached a black-watered river that was completely opaque. Try as he might, David couldn't see even an inch under the water. Anything could be lurking under the rapidly-flowing surface. Tied to a rotting wood pier near them was a rickety looking wooden boat about three metres long with a long pole attached, swaying in the current. David thought it resembled a gondola from hell.
"Let me guess," he said, raising one eyebrow. "Our transportation?"
David nodded. "Just so. I'll pilot the thing. How about you watch for, hmm, hostiles?"
"Hostiles, dinner, here it's the same thing. Let's do it!"
They boarded the boat, and David severed the rope, but instead of grabbing the pole to propel the boat, as Kyran thought he would, he pulled a strange-looking weapon out of his pack. It was a staff that looked to be made out of a fusion of silver and mithril, and on the end, there was a silver sickle with an emerald embedded in the blade. The staff and sickle were connected by a length of chain links.
"What in the name of Guthix is that?" Kyran asked. "I've never seen any weapon like it."
David grinned. "This is the signature weapon of the Myreque vyrewatch slayers- the Ivandis flail. But right now I figured it would be more versatile to use it as a method of propulsion."
Kyran scratched his chin. "It escapes me why you would need to use such a weapon when a simple abyssal whip or scimitar would work."
"Trust me, you'll see why when we get to Burgh de Rott." David pushed off, adding the propulsion from his flail to the river's own flow. This went on for what seemed like an eternity but was in reality probably no more than an hour.
"I have to say, David, I'm not seeing any of these hostiles you were talking abou-" he stopped talking as he felt a tremor from beneath the boat.
"That can't be good," he said to David, who was looking grim.
"It's not…In fact, it's worse than not good. It's terrible."
"What do you mean, terrible? What is it?"
Suddenly, four massive sickly green tentacles, covered in suckers, exploded out of the murky water surrounding them. The boat had stopped moving, which meant that something was holding them… and that was when a bloated mass on top of a spindly neck appeared in front of the boat.
"A swamp beast!" David shouted, throwing his flail down on the boat and grabbing an abyssal whip instead. "Kyran! Go for the head! I'll fend off the tentacles!"
The tentacles lashed about the boat, hungrily grabbing for Kyran, but David's whip was here, there, everywhere, slicing and slashing the writhing arms. David's flexible defense was impenetrable in the few seconds that it took Kyran to advance toward the front end of the boat where the beast's bulbous head was located. It had one massive eye and two rows of needlelike teeth in its maw, along with a black-spotted tongue that lolled behind them.
Kyran took his spear and reared back to thrust through the creature's skull when what felt like a two hundred kilo log slammed into the side of his helmet, knocking him to the rickety wooden floor of the boat. He quickly realized that it was one of the tentacles that had hit him- and it was pulling his helmet right off his head! The helmet's spines were stuck cleanly through, and pale green blood was running down over the top, through the eye holes, and onto the absorbent material of the face mask within.
"Aw, come on!" Kyran growled. "Where am I going to get another helmet like that around here?" He quickly flipped up onto his feet and slashed the tentacle his helmet was stuck in. He pulled the spines out and threw the stump into the water before deciding that perhaps putting the helmet on in its current state wasn't the best idea-so he threw it on the floor. All the while, David was flicking his whip lithely all around, distracting the beast.
"Come on, Kyran, we haven't got all day!" he said urgently. "Get it in gear!"
Kyran rolled his eyes. Hefting the spear back, he gave a mighty grunt as he skewered the head until his weapon would go no further. The tentacles, left to act on local nerve impulses alone, started to flail uncontrollably, then went stiff and plunged back into the murky water. With the beast's grip off the boat, they started drifting downstream until David grabbed his flail and got the vessel under control again.
Kyran sat down and whistled as he started cleaning his spear. "Wow, David," he said blithely, as if nothing had happened. "When you said 'hostiles', you really weren't kidding."
David gave him a wry grin. "When it comes to Mort Myre, I don't kid. Speaking of which, it seems that we've arrived at the entrance to Burgh de Rott!"
The river entered an underground cavern behind another wooden pier, which looked sturdier than the one they had departed from. Beyond the pier, across a muddy field with sparse patches of pale grass adorning it, was a simple wooden gate and fence. Kyran could see a large group of slightly dilapidated buildings in the gloom.
As they stepped out of the boat, which David had tied down, Kyran turned to his companion.
"Well," he said, grinning, "Let's go meet the Myreque!"