Chapter 52: The Four Horsemen
Master Samuel screeched with rage. Those stupid do-gooders won again, by unfair means! Fuming, Master Samuel paced up and down, glaring at everyone in his midst. Mort, the black fly, the mysterious cloaked man, James, several dark wizard elders, and several members of the Black Guard stood together as a small crowd in the middle of the wilderness. They were in a stone circle. This one was a lot like the one near Varrock, except it was bigger, the stones were older, and instead of an altar containing a locked portal which led to the prison of a demon, there was a boiling cauldron containing an evil, mysterious potion.
Seething, Master Samuel stared at everyone around him. They all looked apprehensive. In his good hand, Master Samuel held a skull with red, glowing eyes from the bottom of the stronghold of security. The other hand wasn't a hand any more-James had spent all night making a large, enchanted claw from steel, and putting it where Master Samuel's hand used to be. The claw was massive, sharp, and rusty from magic. It had the power to claw someone's brains out. Master Samuel still had control over it, since it was enchanted to be connected to the rest of his body, like a hand.
"I'm disappointed in all of you. ALL OF YOU!" he screamed, spit flying everywhere. "You've all failed me in one way or another." He then started pacing around, and he stopped at James.
"I'll start off with you, James!" Master Samuel spat. "You've done decent so far-you did very well in the brawl at the beginning. I'm also grateful for the claws-I'll make sure to use them to get my revenge on a particular Haru Axe-man. But, you disappointed me when sent up to head Haldir6 off-he defeated you, no matter how weak he was." A ripple of mutters and murmurs spread through the small crowd. Master Samuel put his hand up for silence. "Because you did well," Master Samuel continued. "You won't be punished." James sighed with relief. Master Samuel moved on to face the black fly, who was holding his sky-stick under his arm.
"You've done very badly," Master Samuel said, glaring daggers at the black fly. "You've failed me in every aspect of the trip. Plus, I never planned to keep you for long-go now, before I vomit at the sight of you." The black fly spat at Master Samuel's feet.
"I don't need you," the black fly hissed. "I have a clan of my own-we can take down Mainiac97 by ourselves." He pushed a button on his sky stick, and the machine started up with several mechanical beeps and a hiss. The black fly jumped on, and flew off into the distance.
Cracking his knuckles, Master Samuel moved on to Mort. Mort's eyes bore into Master Samuels. Master Samuel shifted uncomfortably.
"Mort," he began. "I am disappointed in you. I expected better off you, as a vampire. I expected you to tear Mainiac97's head off-instead, you just played around with him, and now he knows how to defeat you. I cannot allow someone with a weakness so obvious, and so easy to take advantage of to join us. You may now leave, and return to the second floor of the stronghold of security." Mort's nostrils flared.
"Very well," he said. "You may wish me away, but I'm like a garden weed-you think I'm gone forever, but I'll return to haunt you. I will not return to the catacomb of famine, though. My species needs to feed, and now you've allowed that pleasure. It is like a drug to me-I want more. I will gather my coven, and we will go to the habitation of Falador. When the gang that released us arrives there, we will stalk them. I want revenge-something even more desirable then blood." At that, Mort walked into the shadows, and disappeared.
Master Samuel left it there. He didn't desire to punish anyone else. Mort had that effect on people-he was very menacing, very creepy. He stepped towards the cauldron, which seemed to shiver, as if it knew what it was brewing. With one swift movement, Master Samuel threw the skull into the cauldron, where the contents bubbled, and turned from a dark purple to a blood-like scarlet.
I woke up, and screamed. We were sleeping on a pile of pillows and blankets Aaron usually kept with him-it was more comfortable then the bone-like dust of the sepulchre of death.
We were agonisingly close to the cradle of life. Once we were there, our troubles would end. But, there was an ominous glow in the back of my head-it was like a warning, as if there was something evil and menacing ahead.
Everyone woke up then, and when they saw it was me who made the noise, the sleepy confusion drained from their faces as if a plug had been pulled in their heads. Whenever I had a bad dream, it always meant that I'd seen something in my dream. It was known to everyone who knew me personally that I had an astounding ability to see the present-more commonly, what the evil side were doing.
I'd had several dreams like this before, so it never shocked me. I occasionally had visions, which seemed to occur because of little smoke-bombs Ilookgood99 gave me. My first one happened in Lumbridge, in Farmer Fred's house. The skies had mysteriously turned black, and a black bolt of lightning hit me in the head; it was obviously the work of Ilookgood99, who took advantage of my strange gift, trying to tell me something. I remembered that dream clearly-the black knight torturing the Herblore mage gruesomely. I shuddered.
I explained to everyone in the clearing what my dream contained. When I was finished, they stared at me, shock plastered all over their faces. Aubury cleared his throat.
"That isn't good," he whispered. "Master Samuel, in his rage of being defeated, has booted the black fly and Mort. Both of them obviously hate us very much, and have clans that they'll use to kill us. We have three enemies that are stalking us now; Master Samuel and his cronies, Mort and the vampires, and the black fly and his clan." I gulped at the truth in his words.
Aubury took out several body runes and a nature rune. "Clock of wisdom!" he yelled, and the time appeared on the floor. It was 9:30am.
Aubury left for ten minutes, and returned with armfuls of skulls. I gave him a confused look. He screamed, "Bones into bananas! Bones into peaches!" The pile of skulls transformed into fruit before my very eyes. I rubbed them. He smiled ruefully.
"Here is something extra to eat with your food," he explained. "I'm sorry I can't get anything better." We all accepted his offering of bananas and peaches, and ate them miserably.
We sat up, and continued once we were finished. Aaron collected his pillows and blankets, and put them back in his bag.
It didn't take long before we arrived at the cradle of life. We turned a corner, and were blinded by a pure, glorious light, coming from the ceiling. In the most pure part of the light, there was a baby's cradle. It stood, white and shining, twinkling in the light. I ran towards it, laughing, and relief flooded my body. It was over. But the ominous puddle screamed in protest. I should have listened to it, really.
Before I could go near the cradle, a massive, black, rusty chain came from the darkness, and went around my chest. It pulled, dragging me along, I screamed, and the others ran towards me. Before anything else could happen, massive ropes made from bones burst from the grounds. The chains let go of me, and the rope wrapped around my legs like an angry snake, gluing me to the floor. More ropes burst from the ceiling, and captured my hands, pulling me up as far as the ropes around my feet would allow. Then I heard a menacing laugh. Out of the shadows came a most horrible figure.
It was a man. This man had skin almost as pale as Mort's, and he was thin-so thin his bones were clearly visible against his skin. At the same time, though, he was so strong and muscled it intimidated me. He wore a rather short black cape, and grey clothes. He held a large, slightly rusty scythe, even larger and more dangerous then mine, which was at arm's length in my weapon belt. His eyes were a deep, dark red. He grinned, showing black, rotten teeth.
"Hello, Mainiac97," he drawled, looking rather bored. "Let me formally introduce myself-I am Death, of the four horsemen of the stronghold of security. I am the ruler of this floor, and I am ruler of the other three. I must admit, I am surprised you've made it this far. As you can see, a little bit of us has rubbed off on the floor we own. My floor is full of skulls and undead beasts-War's is ravaged by many wars creatures have had-Famine's is literally starved-and Pestilence's is full of disease. Nice try, though-I won't let what you have been doing to our home continue."
"What are you talking about?" I snapped, struggling against the ropes holding me. "I haven't done anything to your stupid stronghold!"
"Or so you say," he answered back. "The creatures which made the stronghold their home have become unnaturally restless. Caves are caving in. You are doing something, my friend. I am afraid we, as four brothers, must kill you, to put a stop to it."
Out of the shadows came a horse that looked uncannily like Death. Grey fur, red eyes, and very skinny. Yeah. Death jumped on the horse, which whinnied, and reared its unnaturally beautiful head. From the shadows, another three men came out, holding people in each of their arms, with look-alike horses behind them.
"Let me introduce my brothers. We were made by Zamorak, who also made these sacred halls for us," Death announced. "They are called War, Famine, and Pestilence."
War was leading. He dragged the unconscious form of Clayguy7 behind him. I felt a blow of mixed emotions-anger, hatred, worry, pity, and sadness, just to name a few. War wore normal armour, except it was three times bigger to match his massive, bulking figure, and it was black and rusty. He held a long, black, rusty, jagged sword. His horse was the same-black fur, very strong and elegant.
Famine was something different entirely. He held the struggling form of Capablanca in his arms. He wore brown furs, and there was a wild, hungry look in his eyes. He didn't look very strong-I couldn't see any muscles, but he definitely looked very fast. His teeth were jagged and yellow. He was really, really thin. His horse had brown fur, and looked starved to death.
Pestilence was at the back, his hand holding firmly onto Creator's shoulder. Creator looked sick to the bone, and he was shivering. In Pestilence's other hand, he held a massive, bulbous, dirty mace. He wore green silk. Everything about him was green and sickly-his parchment-like skin, his face, even his horse. All of them, horses and horsemen, had red eyes. I also noticed they all wore black leather hoods.
Death laughed. "You've found your match, human," he hissed. A ripple of laughter went through the horsemen. The ropes binding me released. I stepped back, joining the others, who looked like how I felt-nervous, shaky, and panicked. The rest of the horsemen threw their prisoners towards us. Clayguy7 stirred slowly, and jumped up. After assessing the situation, he pulled out his clay sword, ready to fight the horsemen to the death.
As the horses walked towards us slowly, I looked around desperately, trying to think of a plan. I thought desperately-if we fought, we were NOT going to win, that much was obvious. I then considered the horses. They looked strong-if we, by some miracle, killed their masters, they would probably attack by themselves.
It then clicked. The horses. Horses liked eating. I bent down, opened up my bag, and found the amount of apples that we found in the grain of plenty. I picked up one, and threw it towards the ground by the horsemen. The horses hesitated for a second, staring at the apple. Death laughed.
"Nice try," he mused. "But it won't work. We've trained our horses too thoroughly. We captured the strongest horses, and trained them vigorously. They won't cave in to desire." He was right. The horses continued trotting menacingly towards us-except for Famine's. Famine's horse stared hungrily at the apple, ignoring everything else. Famine obviously never fed his horse often, so the horse would have the impression of looking like Famine. Famine slapped his horse angrily.
"Go, you stupid beast!" Famine yelled. The horse didn't like that. One bit. It showed how much of a free will those beasts had, I thought. The horse bucked Famine off, whinnying furiously. Famine, yelling, crashed into Pestilence. Pestilence was sent flying off his horse, by accident, letting go of his mace. The mace, by lucky chance, flew into War, and landed on the floor with a thump. War's face was mangled-the mace had gone straight through his brain. War collapsed on the ground, breathing his final breath.
Famine and Pestilence sat up, very, very angry. Pestilence picked up his mace, and went back on his horse, ready to charge. Famine had no such luck. Famine's horse was still very angry at him. He horse kicked Famine straight in the teeth. Famine fell back, yelling as half his jaw was smashed by the impact. Famine's horse reared its whole body, and attacked Famine violently. Famine had trained his horse to fight, but never told it who to fight. When the horse was finished with Famine, all you could see was a lump of flesh, bones and blood with four limbs. The horse whinnied again, and charged off, past us, and down the corridor. It was free. War's horse followed, leaving his master's body behind.
Death made a hissing sound. One apple had ended up killing two of his brothers! Death dismounted his horse, stepped towards the apple, picked it up, and crushed it with his hand. Juice and apple flesh went everywhere. He went back on his horse, and he grimaced at us.
"Now I'm angry," he whispered. His horse and Pestilence's horse whinnied, and charged forward. We all jumped out of the way. The horses skidded, turned around, and ran towards us again. Death slashed his scythe in my general direction. He missed. He slapped his horse, which stopped. Pestilence followed lead.
Death dismounted his horse, and ran towards us. His scythe didn't miss me this time. It nipped me in the shoulder. Excruciating pain filled that tiny nip-I screamed. The others glanced at me, worried and wary. The pain subsided, but I imagined what would have happened if it was more then a nip. Death smiled, joy in his expression. Pestilence jumped off his horse, and I had to duck to avoid the massive mace that nearly blew my head off.
"Let's get him first," Death hissed, pointing at me. They both ran towards me, grinning widely. An idea then struck me. I remembered destroying that vampire in my rage. It had taken care of the shades, too. Whenever I felt that angry, my half-skull piece vibrated, along with the bone staff in my bag.
My plan was formed. I dodged the blows of the horsemen, and ran towards the cradle. I didn't want all the rewards right now-there was only one thing I wanted. The cradle, believe it or not, seemed to understand that. When I pulled back the blanket, the first thing I saw was the other half-skull. I grabbed the bone staff from my bag and the half skull from my pocket. Death and pestilence were running towards me, grinning widely. This had to work…
I attached the skull pieces. They connected like magnets, and a fiery blue glow came from the eye sockets. I attached that to the staff. The result was a skull sceptre. The skull, now fully connected, opened its mouth. A large, shiny, silver blade came from it. Wow. It was a skull sceptre with style. I spun around to face my attackers. I didn't know if it was right to call it a sceptre any more.
The rage tingled in my veins, and this time I let it overpower me. Fury exploded inside me, and the blue glow from the skull's eye sockets turned red. Even though I couldn't see it happening, I knew that my eyes had turned red. Death struck me with his scythe. It glanced off my skin. I elbowed him out of the way, and I struck Pestilence with my sceptre in his heart. Thick, green, glutinous blood spurted out, and a blank look of shock spread on his face, before he collapsed, dead at last. His horse ran off to join the other free horses.
Death looked at me, with shock, disbelief, and fear in his eyes.
"H...h…how …." he choked.
"I quote from Haldir6 when I say this; you, sir, are a bastard!" I snarled. That made it that much easier for me. A quick strike to the throat, and it was done. The remaining horse ran away, free at last.
At seeing two dead bodies at my feet, the anger and power ebbed from my system quickly. There was a moment of silence. Then, I heard applause. Everyone was clapping at me for murder. These people were innocent-they never deserved what I dished out. They were just trying to protect their home from what they believed to be wrong-doers. I explained my feelings to all my friends, tears stinging at my eyes and threatening to overpower me. Aubury stepped forward.
"Don't worry about it," he reassured. "They were evil people, sent down here by Zamorak to cause pain to those of pure hearts. I could see that in their eyes. They couldn't care less about the stronghold-all they wanted was to see death." I couldn't escape the feeling that I had sunk to the same level as them, if not lower. This shadow of doubt was something you saw often down here. I put my skull sceptre in a slot on my belt, feeling very uneasy at the power it offered me.
Mark stepped towards the body of War. He picked up War's sword, and held it high. He was claiming the weapon which nearly killed us in cold blood. It would never have the same power it had with War, though, since it was made by him, for him. In the same fashion, Osrie1 claimed Death's scythe. I didn't want it or need it-I already had a scythe. That scythe would never cause the pain it caused again, though. I decided to claim Pestilence's mace. I would clean it before using it, though. I attached it to my belt. It wasn't as heavy as thought it was. That was the power of RuneScape.
We all rested, before pulling back the covers of the cradle of life, this time to accept the whole reward. We were filled with the familiar feeling of receiving a new emote. All of a sudden, a massive, shining, red and yellow shield flew in front of me. The same thing happened to the others. I counted all of the emotes I had. I had the trick emote from last Halloween, the freeze emote from Christmas, and the dragon-fire emote from New Year's Day, the 'all around the world in egg days' emote, and now the security emote. I also counted turning into an egg, and being trapped in a massive egg, as emotes. Oh and there was the 'zombie hand' emote too.
Another reward was, obviously, money. I shared it out among everyone. There were twenty-four experience lamps there. Doing the math, I gave two to everyone, and kept two for myself. At the bottom of the cradle there was a pair of red, spiky gloves, and a pair of brown, sturdy, spiky boots. I picked them up, and showed them to everyone around, offering it to any of my friends. I didn't feel like I deserved it.
"Oh, no, none of us can take that," Haru insisted. "You take them. You earned them." I accepted miserably. I lightened up after putting them on. I needed new boots after Master Samuel scorched my old ones. I dropped the remains of my old leather boots and my leather gloves on the floor, happy on using the new ones.
Behind the cradle of life, there was a brown, shiny ladder, which led to a large hole in the ceiling, big enough for a man to fit through. I looked up, and saw, at the end of a long passage, light. My heart already felt a little lighter at seeing daylight, at last. I whooped, and motioned for everyone to follow me. I took a final glance at the cradle of life and the dead bodies of the four horsemen, and began my long climb to the top.
The climb was a very long and uneventful one. I kept hitting my head on rocks, costing me several hit points. At long last, I reached the top of the ladder. It turned out the light was coming from a portal. I was in a small, cramped area, with very familiar grey rocks surrounding me. I was in the vault of war, somewhere. I had a very basic idea where the portal led to. I didn't feel like climbing down that ladder and working in reverse back to the entrance, so I decided to risk it. I jumped, head first, into the portal.
I landed, head first, on more grey rock. I moaned with pain, and sat up. I was in the clearing at the very start. It felt like months since I was here last. I sadly saw a pile of bones and bone dust, with a green book on the top of it nearby. I could still see bloodstains from the fight we had here, ages ago. I walked towards the ladder which led to the surface, feeling proper relief and happiness for the very first time in ages. I climbed up, and I saw daylight. Pure, proper daylight.
I felt the wind wash over my face. I stared around me, and saw barbarian village, with several curious barbarians staring at me. I was even happy to see them. I climbed up properly, and felt clean, fresh air for the first time in ages. Osrie1 came out next, then Amy11. At last. At long last. We were home. Not only that, Halloween was coming up. I couldn't contain my happiness, excitement and relief.
I jumped in the air, feeling victory at long last. The shadow of doubt was gone. We'd faced the thing which was causing it. We'd defeated it. But I kept having the feeling that our troubles were nowhere near gone……