A Terrible Truth

"Well here we are again, Ardougne," Tarqinder said.

"Just compare the market here to the shops everywhere else," Jake stated.

All around the four of them were tens of people all rushing about buying as much as they could from stalls. The baker heaved a number of plates of bread loaves on to his stall, he was quickly running out of stock, and needed more.

"Look at him, he's making a heap of coins with his bakery stall!" Jake exclaimed.

"Well we don't know how to bake so we can't do the same," Tarqinder grumbled.

"Where are we going to stay?" Veedi asked.

"Good question," Jake answered.

"How about there?" Mark suggested, pointing to an old house currently uninhabited.

"Looks good to me," Tarqinder said.

"You come back here!" The baker yelled.

Tarqinder, Mark and Veedi all turned to see Jake running towards them with a large chocolate cake in his hands.

"What have you done now?" Tarqinder snapped.

"Tried to get us food, but my Claws of Guthix from behind crowds of people went a bit wrong and I got spotted," Jake said quickly.

The market guards were running towards Jake, maces raised ready to attack.

"Idiot boy!" Tarqinder yelled dragging Jake away by his shoulder.

The four ran and ran until they had become lost in the crowd, having escaped from the guards.

"Sorry about that," Jake said.

"Why do you have to be so big-headed all the time? You need to calm down for goodness sake," Tarqinder grumbled.

"Alright Tarqinder, but it's only because you're a childhood hero that I'm listening."

"Hey, Mr. Tar Kender!" A voice called out.

"Oh no, not another fan," Tarqinder sighed.

"I know you! You come from Varrock! Like me!" Dancus Frumac yelled.

"I come from Varrock too, so join the fan club," Jake said standing in front of Dancus.

"Oh for Saradomin's sake I'm not here to cause an argument, I bring news that you must know," Dancus said.

"What is it?" Tarqinder asked.

"Come in here," Dancus said.

The five of them entered the old abandoned building Dancus had come from. Dancus walked to the corner and picked up the note displaying King Lathas' plot.

"Read this," Dancus said.

Tarqinder snatched it out of Dancus' hands and read the letter quickly from top to bottom.

"Is this genuine?" Tarqinder asked.

"Look at the signature, real enough isn't it?" Dancus asked.

"That certainly does seem realistic, but how can I believe this?"

"Believe what?" Mark asked.

"Believe that King Lathas is the cause of this whole damn economy problem," Tarqinder said.

"Well that's just ridiculous."

"Oh really? Well how comes then the every staff member at the Grand Exchange of Varrock was killed, including my girlfriend? And then why was there a coin minted in Ardougne not to long ago at the scene of the murder?" Dancus asked.

"You're quite the detective my friend," Jake said. "Let me read the note."

Dancus handed the note to Jake.

"It makes no sense, surely a monarch wouldn't be as stupid to try and accomplish this?" Jake asked.

"It would seem so," Dancus answered.

"Well no offence Dancus but this is the most rubbish I've ever seen-"

Suddenly the door was kicked through by a group of angry looking guards.

"They know too much!" Yelled one of them.

"Then we will kill them," another said.

"Run!" Tarqinder yelled.

Dancus, Jake, Veedi and Mark all escaped through a back door while Tarqinder swung his sword in front of the guards. They stepped back, but they then lunged forward with their maces; there were too many for Tarqinder to stop alone. As he got to his feet he sprinted out the back door, being pursued by guards.

"Kill on sight!" Yelled the first guard.

Veedi had directed everyone into the Ardougne Zoo where they hid under the bridge across the snake enclosure. The guards arrived but could not find them, so headed in the direction of Ardougne Palace.

"I came here earlier, it's quite nice place," Dancus said, getting to his feet.

"So why were you here?" Veedi asked.

"Tracking down a murderer, and also I came to see the monkeys, I love them."

"So what was in this part?"

"Err, I think it was snakes."

"Eek!" Veedi shrieked as she turned to see a large snake coming towards her.

"Don't worry they're not poisonous," Tarqinder said.

"How do you know?"

"You can tell by their appearence and size. As part of becoming a Slayer you have to work in extreme climates and conditions, and one was a journey across the Khazari Jungle. I learned a lot about snakes, and giant ants. I hate giant ants."

"Well I think we are a bit suspicious hiding in a snake enclosure, so lets get out of here before those guards come back," Jake said.

"If it wasn't for you and your greedy appetite we wouldn't have been detected!" Tarqinder snapped.

"You're criminals?" Dancus asked, slightly worried.

"No, no. The only thing committed by us is the theft of a chocolate cake, and that was by Jake here," Tarqinder said.

"I don't think it was that that caused it. The guards said that we know too much."

"So the note must have been true then, you were right Dancus, my apologies."

"Well I'm sure I'd think the same in a situation."

The guards were marching up and down the main roads through East Ardougne, in particular the market. They looked angry, and so they should have been. Their boss would be very angry when he found out they had let the people who knew too much get away.

"We'll get them, we just have to make sure they don't get out of the city," the first guard said.

Hours had passed, and Tarqinder sat with his sword and shield in hand, waiting for an attack. Mark and Jake were looking out for danger while Dancus and Veedi discussed their situations.

"No sign of them brutes then?" Tarqinder asked.

"Nope, not a sign," Mark answered.

"They're playing games with us, they know that we know that they caused this. All the things they've done; lost me my job, disbanded the Slayers' Union, took over gnome cooking and took over Veedi's restaurant, repossessed Dancus' home and lead to Mark having both his parents killed. If I ever have the fortune of meeting King Lathas, I will cut off his head with this sword."

"Would you really though?" Jake asked.

"Yes, I would be prepared to kill him," Tarqinder said.

"You said you could never kill a person," Mark said.

"This is an exception, my blade will be covered in his blood before I leave this city!" Tarqinder snapped.

It was then that the hut's doors were smashed through, and the group were cornered. A guard raised his sword and was about to slam it down on Mark's throat when Tarqinder grabbed his shield and pointed it at the guards. It was flickering shades of orange but when Tarqinder shook it a fountain of orange flames blasted out, straight at the guards. The guards soon turned to piles of ashes, and the group looked up in sheer amazement.

"What on Gielinor was that?" Veedi asked.

"This isn't your average anti-dragon shield, it's one that takes the fire and shoots it straight back. This time it absorbed quite a lot from the dragon in the cave, and somehow it had delayed reaction, so I saved it up for an emergency, and used it to save the life of Mark here," Tarqinder said patting Mark on the back.

"Thank you," Mark said hugging Tarqinder.

"Easy there my friend, I am a trained slayer."

"Well, trained or not, you're not fire-proof!" Jake said pointing a corner of the hut, it was being burnt down by the dragon's fire.

Jake used the stone to break the window and everyone jumped out, he then went to pick it up.

"I wouldn't like to go back to that cave in my life!" Jake thought as he knelt to pick the stone up, the group watched.

"Jake! Run!"

Jake turned while he put the stone back in his bag, but he was pulled by two guards, he rolled forward to get free and ran towards the group, the guards took out their maces and pulled him again, he felt down and the guards raised their weapons.

"Read this!" Jake said as he opened the book, the guards tried to read the book, but the giant Claws of Guthix emerged from it and grabbed the guards by their heads and threw them out of the city, Jake stood up and ran as fast as he could, as he had attracted even more attention to them.

"Why did you had to make such a show just to kill them? We are in serious trouble now!" Dancus asked very angrily as they hid in some bushes and watched many guards around the burning hut.

"Guys, I really need to apologise for being such an idiot, I tried to impress you all, but I messed up, I promise to be a responsible adult from now on." Jake said, his face expression showed he meant it, he then saw a man walking towards the bush holding a torch, prepared to burn them down, but he didn't expected a short, but strong, rune sword to come out of the bush and stab him in the chest, the man collapsed as Jake pulled the sword back.

They had to find another place to hide, while they ran through the streets of Ardougne, hiding in every shadowy place they saw, and sometimes having to dispatch a few guards; They finally found a place, an upside down cart, they crawled under it and rested a little.

"What about if we fight them and finish this once for all?" Jake asked.

"Well, I guess we could try," Tarqinder said.

"Whatever is happening in Ardougne Palace is destroying the world slowly, and Lathas is completely insane, and if we don't stop him then Saradomin knows what will happen."

"As you wish, but it's going to be a difficult task my friends."