Rhylie’s Chronicle Part Four

Rhylie’s Chronicle

The Law of Thr33s

Part 4

Even though Elf cannot tell it and I am loath to, someone must, therefore, I, Historian of Varrock, capital of the world, begin……

“Oak rrrrrap!!” said the raging black boss. The two are back togetherrr? Rrrreconciled? I hatesss reconciled! AAARRRRGGGHHH, come here you fool mage, we need to talkkk!!!”
~~~
Three days after Addy’s return, the King of Varrock sent them a message. There was a rogue band of giants making trouble too near the castle, and some “Elf and Addy diplomacy” was needed. They agreed to help even though they would need to venture a short way into the dangers of the wilderness to do so.

They found the band of twelve Moss Giants near a curving, rocky cliff northwest of the city. As the pair rounded the point of the curve, the giants turned quickly, surprised. The two humans found out that the giants had been lured there by a shade with promises of gold and a feast, and told to make lots of noise. They were also told there would be a friendly match of combat with some old friends.
“I detect a smelly rat in the food sack,” said Addy. Her senses were back.
“Just what I was thinking, my dear,” Elf gave her a knowing look.
” Huh?” grunted the rather dim giants.
“Draw weapons!! Ward yourselves.” Yelled Elflen.
The giants were still milling around in a state of confusion when the figure in black robes came around the point a hundred paces away.
The hooded figure walked several steps to the side and signaled to someone behind the point. Suddenly several shades rushed around the point and formed a triangle around the hooded mage. Then a score each of lesser, greater, and black demons streamed around the corner.
Not being fond of demons, the giants finally reacted by forming a defensive wall in front of Elflen and Addy, who began to draw their bows tight!
From behind the tree-like legs of the giants they loosed a barrage of runite arrows at the murderous demons, felling several and making several others retreat.
“I’ll take care of these, beloved, see what you can do about that triangle. Advance, Giants!” shouted the elf.
“Right, hun, I know some magic that should work,” she replied, as she quickly unstrapped the intricately-carved staff from her back.
While the elf archer slew several more demons, the young lore-wielder unleashed a blazing fireball at the mage, who raised his staff and instantly quenched it.
The battle seemed to pause as a huge ball of steam rose into the gray sky.
“Hahahahahahahaaaaa,” scoffed the mage as he threw back his hood. “Everything I taught you is useless, you little idiot!!!”
“Aztrono!”……………. Her countenance sunk with full realization.
“What in Guthix’s name? Elf and Addy shouted in unison as she planted her feet and unleashed a huge earth blast at the evilly-grinning mage, who quickly turned it into a ball of mud which landed in front of the triangle of shades.
” Giants! A wedge!” shouted Elf, realizing that this was going to be a battle for their lives. The giants, who were slow to anger, became angry now for they hated demons, who often stole their children, and moved forward as a wedge-shaped unit brandishing their heavy clubs made from large yew trunks. Addy and Elf stayed behind the giants, shooting arrow after arrow into grotesque black bodies.
Elf then shouted to Addy, “Forget what you learned, go with what you’ve always known. Switch to the old spellbook.”
“You’re right, my Elf,” as she began to chant her old incantations - the ones rooted in the earth, the water, the air, and in the power of love. The air began to smell of flowers instead of blood as she found the song within herself and began to sing the words sweetly.
The giants were clubbing demons ferociously and making good progress when a black dragon appeared behind the demons and killed several giants with its firebreath.
“Elendia Telith Marseeemaaa!!!!!” Sang Addy, so sweetly that everyone was surprised when white fire erupted from her staff and roared directly at the dragon. When the fire covered the dragon, it simply rose up on its hind legs, turned, scales smoking, and ambled back around the point of rocks and was gone.
The mage, who had been hurling sharp, maiming, purple spells at the giants, looked astonished. “Well, well,” he mocked, “What have we here? You are nothing, you stupid little girl” he snickered as the three remaining giants and the elf finished the demons and turned toward the triangle. The mage, Aztrono, chanted a few arcane-sounding words and the triangle of shades began to rotate as the giants, with Addy and Elf behind them, began to advance on it. Then the mage bent down and began to form something from the mudball which had fallen earlier.
“My arrows are passing through the shades, but deflect somehow before they strike the mage,” Said the elf to his companion. “I will have to get close enough to use my Saradomin Godsword to cleave their heads from their bodies, but will that work since we can see through them?”
“Wait,” said Addy as she grabbed at the amulet she wore around her neck and chanted, “Make real the unseen, solidify these shadows,” she shouted. The shades began to take on substance – to look more lifelike. “Maybe what you taught me is useless, mage, but there are things I know which you couldn’t dream of.”
The shades looked bewildered, but nevertheless began to build up some sort of charge as their triangle rotated faster. Addy held her amulet tighter and raised her staff as Elf drew his bow and put two arrows at once into two shades which fell then disappeared. The triangle closed just before Addy let loose a large spear-like purple spell at the mage. The mage reacted by holding his hand up in a defensive gesture which served to reverse the spell, break it into three parts and send it straight toward the giants’ vulnerable lower legs. As the giants went to their knees, the elf shot three arrows at the shades which were the points of the triangle, dissolving all three. The three remaining giants were crawling forward now, straining to get close enough to club the shades and the mage. Paralysis, however was creeping up their torsos from the magic darts the mage had hurled at them.
Elflen saw this and shouted “Let clubs fly true, Giants, then lie still!”
The giants heard, and so, reared back their mighty arms and flung their clubs spinning toward the small triangle of shades which scattered to avoid them, leaving the mage, who was stooping, exposed briefly. Taking advantage of the opening, Addy, quick as lightning, drew her specially enchanted poisoned dagger and whipped it straight at the mage as she sang “True and straight, sweet blade to foe, that he would harm our friends no more.” The dagger caught Aztrono off guard burying itself in the top of his shoulder, making him scream in pain while looking up in time to see all but three of his shades felled by the giants’ spinning clubs.
“Shades form up!” he shouted as he cast a spell which formed a shimmering gray wall around him and his triangle of the three remaining minions. This just in time to deflect two of Elf’s hurriedly shot arrows. The mage then stood up with an object in his hand, pulled the bloody knife from his shoulder, and plunged it into the object. Elf and Addy stood side-by-side in front of the prone giants. Elflen drew his long, shining Sara G and Addy raised her staff above her head horizontally in a solid defensive barrier position, but as they did so, they both saw what the mage had plunged Addy’s dagger into. It was a figure made of baked clay and it was shaped like a woman. It had what looked like dark hair with highlights of red in it. It also had a strip of Addy’s own teal-colored blouse tied around it.
” You stinking, scurvy rat” Addy shouted, incredulous.
” Addy, it’s only a trick!!” shouted Elf, stepping in front of her.
With that, the shades and mage threw a black, tarry spell at Elf, which when he tried to deflect it, knocked the sword from his hand and temporarily froze his muscles. Immediately, they concocted a sharp purple killing spell to send straight to Elflen’s heart. And in the next beating of that stout heart the unthinkable happened.
“Nooooooooo” cried Addy, quickly stepping in front of Elf to ward him. As she did so, she summoned a horrible red fire from the end of her staff which engufled and incinerated the killing dart. Then she aimed the fire straight at the mage. The mage quickly jammed the figurine onto the end of his staff and countered Addy’s fire with an evil black fire. Addy found the deepest song within herself and sang power into her staff which began to hum with a song of its own and emit a narrow stream of blinding, white fire. Aztrono looked strained as he contorted his bloody arm and chanted bizarre, evil incantations to his own fell staff. The interface where the white and black fires met crackled and smoked as raw, unbridled energy heated the air. Elf began to regain movement and tried to reach for his sword. All he saw then was the screaming mage grasping the dagger in the effigy of Addy, the black fire also shrieking deafeningly, the interface exploding, and the fires moving back upstream to Addy’s staff where it exploded in her face. Elf regained his sword and in one motion hurled it directly at the mage’s heart and caught Addy before she hit the ground. Just before the sword reached him, the grinning mage raised his smoking staff and he and the three shades disappeared in a flash of sickly green light.
Elflen was in a daze as he stood with Addy in his arms.
“Oh, my Lords, I need help!” Her body was limp in his arms,yet she still breathed.
One of the giants slowly rolled to his side and spoke thickly. “Quickly…… before……. they ….. return. A cave…….50 paces…….northwest.”
In desperation, Elflen moved as fast as he could, found the nearly hidden entrance to the cave, and ducked inside. He found a pallet of dried grass and leaves where someone had once made a bed and gently laid Addy on it. She roused. All her skin was torn, bleeding , bruised and burned by the ferocity of the blast, but especially that on her face.
“Shhhh just rest”
“Whyyyy were we attacked, my Elf?” Their eyes were locked together as he dug around in his pack.
“I don’t know, but we will find out. Here, drink some water and potion of restoration.”
” I’m too broken, my love, I’m dying.” I’m so sorry I failed you.” she spoke, weakly.
“Nonsense, beloved, you saved my life! Be still awhile, you will be fine,” he said softly. He felt the black, tarry spell still working toxically within him. Secretly, he began to be very worried about them both.
” My darling, did you hear my innermost song?”
” Yes, I heard it, like all the songs you found within yourself and sang to me. Of such beauty I am undeserved. Now drink, quickly, I beg you.”
“Please, can you remember them in your heart? It is important to me.”
“Yes, how could I forget?” “I Love you very much.”
“Elf, I’m afraid,” she whispered, “Hold me tighter. Kiss me, dear Elf.”
She was looking into his soul now, and he into hers. Surely she would recover and they could go on together. Surely.
“I can do that. It’s all I ever wanted.” And then he bent down and kissed her torn lips as gently, as tenderly as he could. Then she kissed back and pulled his head to hers and kissed him harder. She drew back, then she gasped, looked deeply into him and said “I SEE YOU, my Elf. Then she sighed, closed her eyes and was gone. Yes gone. Simply not there any longer. Elflen stared at the empty pallet and his empty arms. His mouth fell open and he passed from consciousness………………………………………