The Assault

"A dragon?" Tarqinder asked.

Tarqinder and Mark had been stopped in the market by a stranger.

"I'm Jake by the way."

Jake was not alone, as out of the crowd ran a gnome. Veedi Limstrood had finally caught up with Jake, and was gasping for breath. She leaned against the baker's stall, and took in deep breaths.

"Gnomes. They're not built to run like us humans, now what do you say?" Jake asked.

"I'll decide later, for now I need a rest. Me and Mark here have had quite a journey, and I think we could do with a rest. Besides, the Sun is setting, evening is upon us. Do you suggest I cill a dragon in the dark?" Tarqinder asked.

"Oh, but please come! Lives are at stake here! If we live it until tomorrow Henry could be dead!" Veedi exclaimed.

"Who is Henry?"

"Head Wizard of the Wizards' Guild in Yanille."

"Ha, Yanille! They stopped funding the Slayers' Union weeks back, one of the reasons it closed down, and now I'm out of a job."

"Maybe they stopped funding you because nearly everyone in Yanille was killed by ogres who have now took control of the whole town apart from the Wizards' Guild!"

"Oh, damn. My apologies if I caused any disrespect, it was certainly not within my intentions."

"So will you help us?"

"Yes, but at sunrise tomorrow, a large warrior such as myself cannot travel across treacherous paths such as those in Gu'Tanoth at night."

"Fine, but you must be prepared by sunrise. We're counting on you."

"Wake up, now!" Jake called.

Tarqinder rolled over on to his back. Jake then threw a bucket of water over him, and then Tarqinder's eyes opened immediately.

"What the Hell was that for?" Tarqinder asked angrily.

"You have been sleeping long enough, it's about time you got to work!" Jake ordered.

"What work? I happen to be out of a job."

"You promised you would help us free the Head Wizard from the ogre captors, and we're running out of time to save him!"

"Oh yes, that. Well, what are we waiting for?" Tarqinder asked as he sprang up from the floor and made his way out the abandoned shed they had been sleeping in.

The shed had once housed the delivery point for parcels and letters, but now nobody could really afford to send letters, especially due to the price of stamps. The sky was a brilliant orange in the early morning, and the tall trees blew slightly in the breeze. As Tarqinder and Jake made their way off they were joined by Veedi who tried to catch up with them. Mark then realised they were going without him and sprinted after them.

Norbert was looking out the window, in the direction of Gu'Tanoth. He felt anger flowing through him, he would love to death blast every single ogre in Gielinor to death.

"Am I wrong?" Norbert asked.

"What do you mean?" Ibrahim answered, as he entered the room.

"I mean am I wrong to doubt the gnome and the boy Jake?"

"Well doubt is expected, but remember what he is capable of. He had enough brainpower to think up that escape strategy by hiding us under the ground hidden away beneath here."

"Anyone could think of that."

"That's not my point, I'm saying he works well in a crisis."

"But what good would this Tarkandhi be? His name will be more of a problem to the ogres than his strength. Even if he is the best dragon slayer, can he really fight off tens of ogres at once?"

"If you are so concerned, why did you not offer to travel with Veedi and Jake?"

"Because I was scared. I'm an old man, I'm no good against big brutes or anything in fact, even a young impling could take me on when I don't have my runes with me."

"Talking of runes, why don't we mine our own runes? We have teleports, do we not?"

"For goodness sake Ibrahim, think about it! As soon as the economy swang out of control everyone began fishing, woodcutting and mining. Where did that get us? Barely any fish, trees and ore, all of it was used. Then the runecrafters put such a strain on the essence mountains that they lost their quality. Our crafters came back with merely airs and mind runes for days!"

"It was just a thought, and surely we can fix it?"

"Well we're the only people who know how, but we can't actually get anywhere with the whole ogre population sat right on our doorstep!"

"This sword is very precious to me, it has killed countless green dragons, a fair few bronze, iron and steel dragons not to mention quite a few mithrils and King Black Dragons!" Tarqinder exclaimed. "There is a different sort of blood on here; tell me Mark, did you use it at all?"

"Once, against a wolf just east of Catherby," Mark said.

"Did you kill it?"

"Well I got the sword straight through it in mid-air."

"Tarqinder, I'm from Varrock too! I thought I saw you once on Christmas Day near the Christmas tree in the fountain," Jake said.

"What part of Varrock do you live in?" Tarqinder asked.

"Well I did live in front of the Grand Exchange, a nice upstairs I was in. Probably repossessed by now, with all my valuable stuff, just like what happened to a man named Tony near the Blue Moon Inn."

"I think I heard about that wave of repossessions, they reckon the streets are nearly empty now."

The group were nearing Gu'Tanoth, Yanille was to the west and the orange sky was gradually turning blue. The ogres were roaming around the gates into Yanille, and they looked as brutal as ever. Keeping close to the coast, the group decided they would try and avoid the ogres at all costs.

"So this is what the ogres did?" Tarqinder asked.

"Yes, they attacked the town in a bloody battle," Veedi answered.

"You were there?"

"No, no. The wizards told me and I told her," Jake said.

"We have arrived," Tarqinder said.

Smoke rose from the channels of lava surrounding the island which made up Gu'Tanoth. A large winding path lied in front of them, and it twisted upwards and away towards the various caves; including the "Cave of Doom". There were no ogres about, which was a good sign.

"Let's do this then, you lead the way Veedi," Jake said.

Henry was incredibly numb, his body had been chained to the wall for days, and every morning a new victim would be burnt to a pile of charred bones. Every morning Henry dreaded where the dragon would go, and it always seemed to breath its blast of fire towards him, only to quickly change its way and kill another poor soul. It was that time of the day again, and the dragon was pulled out of its lair. Its large blue scales shimmered in the light, and its red eyes burned right into Henry's soul as he looked in terror at it, feeling his hear pounding rapidly against his chest.

"Today will be an important kill because this here wizards goings to get burnt," an ogre said who was pulling the dragon along by its chain.

"Oh my Saradomin," Henry whispered.

The wave of fire shot towards him, but at that moment a strong looking warrior jumped in front of him and deflected the flames with a powerful orange shield which Tarqinder had removed from his bank.

"Not today my brainless friends, Henry here is going to live!" Tarqinder yelled.

Jake flicked through his book and saw a powerful blast spell which he shot at one of the ogres who accidentally dropped the dragon's chain. Sensing it was now able to overpower the remaining ogres it shook them away and blasted fire straight at them.

"Now you've done it!" Tarqinder yelled.

Veedi and Mark were trying to break the chains off of the people tied up using a knife, but to little prevail. Tarqinder through his sword to the two of them.

"Hurry! Use that to cut the chains!" Tarqinder ordered.

They did so immediately, and soon all the prisoners were free and running to get out. Mark threw Tarqinder's sword back to its owner who had spent the past minute trying to lure the dragon away. It was no good though, for Tarqinder it was kill or be killed; and he wasn't prepared to die. Jake shot a variety of spells at the dragon but to no effect.

"Don't you think you've done enough?" Tarqinder asked.

"What shall I do?" Jake asked.

"Just help Veedi and Mark get everyone out, and tell them to run! For Saradomin's sake tell them to run!" Tarqinder yelled.

"I will!" Jake called as he sprinted off.

Now it was Tarqinder and the dragon. One on one. Man against beast. Dwarf against giant.

"Well you might be a foul beast but I can't help but think how beautiful you are, look at those scales," Tarqinder said in admiration. "Nevertheless, it's time to teach you a lesson you big brute."

Tarqinder got it to chase him off into its lair, where he jumped up on to a ledge. The dragon shot fire all around the confined space, but it could not reach Tarqinder. As the dragon marched out Tarqinder pounced on its back, but could barely remain on it. The creature bucked and shook trying to get him off, and shot fire in all directions. Tarqinder then jumped on and clung on to a stalactite. He knew if he fell he would die, and he couldn't support himself much longer, he was going to fall. As the dragon walked beneath him it was about to open its mouth and deliver the killer breath when Tarqinder dropped down and landed right on the dragon's neck, swording pointing to the skin. The sword pierced at the dragon's scales immediately and stabbed it through the throat. With a final blast of fire it collapsed and fell over; dead.

Tarqinder dashed out of the cave, sword and shield in hand. A group of ogres soon caught up and closed in on him. Tarqinder noticed they were on a rope bridge over a river of lava and that he himself was clear of it.

"Something to remember my dear ogre friends, don't ever close in on your prey when your on a rope bridge and they're not," Tarqinder grinned before cutting the rope.

The bridge collapsed dropping all the ogres to their deaths. Tarqinder ran down the path and caught up with Veedi, Mark and Jake, all standing at the bottom of the path.

"Time I taught a few ogres a lesson," Tarqinder said as he headed towards Yanille, the others following.

As the group ran towards the Wizards' Guild, Tarqinder killed several attacking ogres with his sword. By the time they reached the door there were many ogres lying dead on the floor. The other ogres were now terrified and had fled back to Gu'Tanoth.

"The town is saved!" Tarqinder exclaimed.

Norbert, Ibrahim and the other wizards rushed down to greet the group. Henry had become tired from his long run, so Norbert escorted him upstairs and tried to make him as relaxed as possible. Tarqinder, Veedi, Jake and Mark followed the wizards upstair.

"Veedi, I never did believe you'd get me out of there, but you did. I owe you my life, as well as other three of you. True courage and strength, two things I feel I must develop on," Henry said.

"All you need is faith and trust, something which we all need to improve on," Veedi said.

"I am sorry I doubted you, all of you, I was a coward and a selfish man too frightened of losing his life. Thank Saradomin we found you all," Norbert said.

"I'll be off then," Jake said.

"Where are you going?" Veedi asked.

"Ardouge, I'm going to get myself some money."

"I'm coming with you," Tarqinder said. "I could do with the work there."

"And me, even if I have to team up with humans," Veedi said.

"I'm staying with you Tarqinder, maybe you could train me to be a powerful warrior one day," Mark said.

"Well if any of you ever need us, then just call on us, and we shall be there. And now we have control of the town we can begin to sort out the problems with the essence mines. If we're quick they'll be partially functioning again by tomorrow evening, we might even get a few chaos runes out of it if we're lucky," Henry said.

And with that, Tarqinder, Mark, Veedi and Jake made their way off, in the direction of Ardougne...