The Lance of Zaros, Chapter X

The Homefront

The remaining members of the Myreque were depressingly few, all able to fit into one medium-sized chamber inside Paterdomus' maze of tunnels and hallways. Kyran and Astrid stood in front of the group of about a hundred ragged, disheveled freedom fighters, illuminated by the flickering torchlight.

Kyran cleared his throat, and gestured around the room at the strange symbols written in chalk all around the room.

"You may be wondering," he started off, "why I called you in here at such an hour in the morning, along with why these runes are drawn on the walls. The truth is…we've found a place to regroup. Miscellania, an island kingdom in the north, has agreed to give us shelter and supplies while we grow stronger."

Adalyn sat in the front row, legs crossed. "Why would that be?" she asked, an eyebrow raised.

Kyran shot a look at the elf, then sighed. "We…that is, Astrid and I, well…we're, uh…we're the king and queen of Miscellania."

The shock that hit the group in front of them was palpable. The only people who didn't look surprised were Veliaf, Joel, Bull, Adalyn, and the six barrows brothers.

After a few seconds of confused murmuring, Kyran spoke up again. "Though we may be royalty, we are still your comrades in arms. We will give shelter to the Myreque until such time as we have gained enough strength to return to Morytania."

After a moment of silence, a man sitting in the front, who looked to be barely more than a teenager, raised a hand.

"Er, Kyran…I mean, ah…that is, your Majesty…"

Kyran cringed. "Please…just Kyran."

"With the resources of the Myreque what they are at the moment, that is, almost nothing, a trip overland or even by sea all the way to Miscellania is simply infeasible. Perhaps we should find another place to hole up?"

Kyran nodded. "That's a valid question you have, ah…what was your name again?"

"Victor," the young man replied. "My name is Victor Dororan."

"Well, Victor Dororan, it's a good thing we've got such a perceptive mind in our midst." He turned ninety degrees, pacing back and forth on the stone floor. "His concern is warranted. A trip all the way to Miscellania would be quite a drain on our resources. However…" he grinned, pulling what appeared to be a tattered parchment scroll out of his back pocket. "That's only if we go by foot. Or by sea, as Victor said. No, this scroll is one I've been saving for a loooong time. I bought it from an almost-reputable merchant who seemed mostly sane at the time- he said that this scroll would teleport me straight back to Miscellania if I ever needed it."

There was a moment of silence, until Victor again spoke up.

"That seems nice, but…don't teleports generally only work for one person?"

Kyran grinned. "Guthix, you're a perceptive one, aren't you? Yes, most teleports only transport one person, and this one is no different. But!" He snapped around face the crowd. "That's where the runes all around the room come into play. If I use my body as a connection between the scroll's magic and the runes, we should be able to teleport every living thing in the room all the way to that small island kingdom." He rolled up the long sleeves of his shirt, and cuffed his pants up to his knees, revealing writing of the same type on the scroll and in the room. "See? Simple enough."

Without warning, he sat down on the cold floor cross-legged and put his hands together around the scroll, closing his eyes and mumbling incoherently.

A faint buzzing started to reverberate throughout the room, and a strange green glow suffused throughout. The air in the chamber began to go hazy, like heat lines in the Kharidian desert. A gentle wind began to blow through the area, blurring the walls, obscuring them from view. In a vortex of green wind, the stone floor abruptly shifted to a grassy knoll, and the atmosphere was noticeably colder than before. Almost instantly, the wind died down, and the air returned to normal, revealing the group to be in the courtyard of a large stone castle, with statues on either side of the large wooden double doors leading inside.

Kyran opened his eyes and stood up. "Well, I'll be!" he said, grinning. "It actually worked! Back in Miscellania!"

Astrid scrunched up her eyebrows, sniffing the air. "Something's not right, Kyran. I smell…smoke. Something's burning!"

Kyran's body stiffened, and he bit his lower lip. "Yeah, you're right…Okay, Astrid, you get the soldiers situated in the castle, I need to go find Advisor Ghrim." He dashed off through a large stone doorway that had the massive oaken doors flung open.

Astrid turned towards the group. "You heard him," she said. "All of you, follow me- except for you ten. Adalyn, Alucard, Bull, Joel, Ahrim, Dharok, Guthan, Karil, Torag and Verac- follow Kyran to see if he needs any help."

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I have to say, I never expected this.

Kyran sped out of the front doors of the castle, and his heart stopped.

Miscellania was burning.

Although if it was just a fire…well, that would have been easy enough to survive. This, though…

In front of the stone walls of the castle, massive wooden fences, at least three metres tall, easy, stood like silent sentinels. The stone gates were open wide, and through them, Kyran saw what he had hoped to never see ever again.

Dagannoths were overrunning the island.

Dismayed, Kyran ran through the gate, hoping to find someone, anyone who could tell him what in Zaros's name was going on. As he passed through, he saw hundreds of soldiers in Fremennik armour locked in mortal combat with the grey beasts, spilling their blood but taking an equal toll on their foes. Kyran stared in horror at the scene, when his eyes finally locked not onto Ghrim, but Chieftain Brundt of Relleka, directing troops. He quickly pulled up next to the chieftain.

"Brundt!" he exclaimed. "What the hell is going on here?"

Brundt took a quick glance to his side, then turned back. "Kyran! Took your sweet time getting here! Finally back from your self-exile?" He said the last two words with audible contempt.

Kyran bristled. "Yeah. Yeah, I am back. But you know what I think is more important than your dislike of me? It would be, oh, I don't know, why my homeland is swarming with daggermouths!"

Brundt grimaced but didn't turn to face him again. "That's a fine question coming from a former outerlander who adopted this land as his own only because his loins found a beguiling lass who lived here! Not to mention you unceremoniously skulked away after she died. Seems like a pretty tenuous connection to 'your' homeland. Do you really have any right to call this land your home?"

Bile rose in Kyran's throat. Gone for so long, and this was how he was greeted? He choked his anger down for a moment.

"Brundt…" he started off, struggling to keep an even tone with the taller man. "Perhaps you're right. Maybe I don't deserve to call Miscellania my home. But right now, all I'm concerned with is finding out what the hell happened here! So, to restate my question- what the hell are the daggermouths are doing on Miscellania?"

A clipped, formal voice with an edge of authority answered from behind Kyran.

"Perhaps now is not the best time for a history lesson, your Majesty…"

Kyran spun around and found himself staring into wizened face of Advisor Ghrim.

"I see you've finally found your way back to the kingdom. In your absence, it so happened that the three Dagannoth Kings have found the Dagannoth Mother and restored her to health. Now she is intent on killing you…which is why she's here."

Kyran blanched. "No, that's not possible! I made sure nobody could get through that tunnel without it collapsing on itself!"

Ghrim looked as implacable and level-headed as ever. "Yes, I know, your Highness, but apparently they dug her out…that, or they simply selected a new mother to lead in her stead."

Kyran grimaced and ran his hand over the top of his head. "So then…even burying her alive didn't do anything. What the hell can we do to stop these things? We can't kill the leader, but if we don't kill her, she'll just keep coming back…"

Suddenly, Kyran got a quizzical look on his face. "Wait a second. If you haven't been trying to kill the Mother or bury her…then what have you been doing?"

Ghrim seemed older even than his actual years as he spoke. "We…have held them off. Held them off…and hoped for a solution, one that seemed like it might never come. If the truth were to be told, I…I had started to lose faith that any help would ever come. But…to see that you've finally turned up…It makes me think that perhaps this is a sign of things to come! It gives me a measure of hope."

Kyran furrowed his eyebrows, and nodded slowly. "A measure of hope?" He looked up at Ghrim, a look of sudden calm on his face. "Yes…I'll fulfill that hope, Ghrim. We will destroy the daggermouths, I promise you that."

"I don't really think that's a promise you can keep all on your own, though, is it, Kyran?"

Surprised, Kyran looked over Ghrim's shoulder and saw the ten standing there, all in a row.

Ghrim turned around, and his eyes widened.

"You…seem to have gathered quite a following, your Highness. I'd imagine they're quite…combat-capable."

The young Victor Dororan, standing in the middle of the group, grinned.

"You'd best believe we're combat-capable!" he said, brimming with enthusiasm.

"But they're not the only ones who know a thing or two about brawling, are they, Kyran?" came another voice from behind the ten, plus Victor. This time, Ghrim let out an audible, if only barely so, gasp.

"But…you can't…you were…Princess Astrid! You're alive!" he said, his mouth wide open.

Astrid wore a feral smile on her face."Oh, that's right, Ghrim, I'm alive. Which means one thing. These daggermouths? They won't be for much longer."