| abstract | - Tarqinder and Mark awoke to find Kumthalatta and his two guards standing around them, each carrying a spear. "So you awake bwanas?" Kumthalatta asked. "My apologies, we must have overslept," Tarqinder replied. "Hurry, you have both lost valuable time, now prepare to fight, and by tonight you will have got our statue back; or else." And with that, Kumthalatta walked off, his guards following. He stopped and then turned around. "Well are you coming or will you have to be forced?" Kumthalatta asked angrily. "We're coming," Tarqinder uttered, with Mark following him along. Meep the Gecko, the full name Tarqinder had given to him, bounded after Tarqinder. As he did, he pounced in mid-air and caught a mosquito which Meep quickly devoured and then licked his lips. "I can still taste that spider," Mark grumbled. "Cease your complaining bwana, or you will regret it," Kumthalatta snapped, slamming his spear on the ground. The leaves from trees drooped over the heads of the group, which made visibility poor due to little light breaching through. A jungle spider jumped out, but Kumthalatta's guards quickly dealt with it, immediately killing it with their spears. As Mark passed it, he flinched, expecting it to pounce back into life. Meep examined it with his large eyes, but as he glimpsed its fangs he dashed off, catching up with the others. Due to his large eyes, visibility was no problem for him. Ahead, it seemed to be lighter and the trees and plants were clearing away to reveal a large cave. "Is this the cave?" Mark asked. "Yes bwana, it is," Kumthalatta replied, walking towards the entrance. Inside the cave it was lit only by wooden torches, and in the center of it was a tall rock. Upon seeing it, Kumthalatta and his guards fell to their knees and bowed down, worshipping it, as if something was there; or as if something had been there. Smoke drifted around the rock, coming from the depths of the cave. "You will worship it!" Kumthalatta hissed at Tarqinder and Mark. Tarqinder and Mark quickly fell to their knees and began worshiping something which they couldn't see. "My apologies Saradomin," Tarqinder whispered. Kumthalatta and his guards rose to their feet, and Kumthalatta gestured for Tarqinder and Mark to do the same. "This rock, is holy for our statue once stood on it, and you must go further into the cave and find it," Kumthalatta ordered. "Good luck." Kumthalatta exited the cave while his two guards stood firmly in front of it, forbidding Tarqinder and Mark from exiting until the Golden Ape was retrieved. "Off we go," Tarqinder said, as he and Mark walked into the smoke. "It's hard to see with all this smoke about," Mark stated. "This cave must run deep, the smoke is probably coming from underground fires." "Like the TzHaar kingdom?" "Yes, I suppose so. All that fire and brimstone is only there because it is underground and beneath a volcano." The smoke wafted around the corner as the poorly lit pathway twisted and descended. "Watch out for rocky outcrops or any large gaps in the ground," Tarqinder said. "I can't look out for anything, because I can't see anything!" Mark exclaimed. "Rubbish Mark, you need to focus hard and let your eyes adapt to the dark." A screeching sound rang out ahead, it was not screaming, or at least not human screaming. "Why, that sounds like-" A flock of bats shot over them, they then fluttered around Tarqinder and Mark causing them to stumble and fall against the rough walls of the cave. "Get off pests!" Tarqinder exclaimed as he fell on to his back. "Duck! Get on the floor!" Mark called out. Tarqinder and Mark crouched on the floor, and fortunately the bats left them alone and fluttered away in the opposite direction. "Are you okay?" Tarqinder asked. "Never mind me, how about you? You had a nasty fall there," Mark replied. "No broken bones, only a few cuts on my arm, I can feel them, but they're not bleeding." "Right, now what do we do?" "Just keep going down until we reach something, and let's hope that something will be this flaming statue." "Oh Saradomin, I wish I had a tinderbox." "What is it with you and the dark? There's nothing to harm you in here apart from hiding creatures and nearly invisible harpie bug swarms, besides, we have machetes to fight them off with." "I haven't eaten properly in days now, not since we left Varrock. Oh how I miss the city with its firm stone structures and reliable comforts." "Mark, it has only been just over a day since we arrived here! And I'm sure that Varrock will still be standing when we get back, so stop complaining." "But will we get back? It's not as if Kumthalatta will let us go, he'll probably keep giving us ridiculous tasks to do and we'll have to do it." "No we won't, as soon as we get this statue back we're escaping." "Then why didn't we escape before?" "Remember, we want to find out what's going on down here, not to get their statue." "So why are we sitting about here? Let's go get this statue and find out what's living down here!" Tarqinder and Mark got to their feet, and then they began walking along the path again looking out for anything suspicious. Tarqinder and Mark reached a chamber which was lit, except it wasn't lit by torches, it was lit by a large fire; charred skeletons on fire. And on the walls were writing, carved in by someone with a firm hand which depicted illustrations as well as writing. One drawing showed what seemed to be a fire, fire coming from the mouth of a large powerful looking beast; a dragon. Another drawing showed what seemed to be a volcano, which was shooting out lava. Another drawing showed what looked like a lightning strike coming from the clouds, with rain and churning seas. There was also a picture of a strange upright creature, but with the face of what looked like a bird, with a large pointed beak. The final picture showed what seemed to be a crab or a lobster, it was hard to tell as the carvings were crumbling away, but the creature was holding what looked like a harpoon. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw what looked like a building with a pointed object on top, like a steeple on a church. Tarqinder put his hand to the carvings and felt them, the wall was stone cold and some carvings seemed newer than others. "What does it all mean?" Mark asked, looking at the creature with the harpoon. "No idea, but whatever it all means one thing is for certain, this fire wasn't caused by the temperatures down here, it was caused by this," Tarqinder said, pointing at the illustration of a dragon. "A dragon?" "Oh yes, I should have known when I saw all that smoke, how oblivious am I?" "We can't fight off a dragon with machetes for Saradomin's sake!" "No, you can't, and Kumthatalla and his guards won't give us any weapons, or even let us out. We could leave the dragon and find the statue and come back later to kill it, or even better; close this cave off forever." "Who did these drawings though?" "Probably one of the villagers, every villager has some sort of wise man, don't they? Someone blessed with the gift, or curse perhaps, of reading the future." "Like Dancus?" "Exactly, a Seer, except whoever did all this is a very clever Seer, and they are certainly stronger than any Seer I've ever seen, or they at least have a stronger power, because look over here, at all these drawings, they've been seeing a lot recently." Tarqinder pointed at an illustration of a demon, a man on a mountain and a boat surrounded by eels or snakes. "The demon that was summoned at the battle in Ardougne, Bruce climbing Mount Gnarvich to destroy the Grand Exchange teleport link and the boat we sailed over in to Musa Point, when it was being followed by those eels," Tarqinder noted. "There's a crab with a harpoon in this picture, do you think it's connected?" Mark asked. "I have no idea, and of course, the Seer could very well have made a few tiny mistakes, or you and I might have interpreted the pictures wrong." "I suppose there could be some sort of hidden message." They both sat and looked at the illustrations, studying each individual one in hopes of finding something. Tarqinder glanced a rough carving of a lizard, not very well marked out but it was certainly a lizard. "Meep!" Tarqinder exclaimed, looking all around him. "Meep meep," Meep uttered as he came out of the shadows having hidden away. "I thought I'd lost you, and this is no place for you to be! There's a dragon down here!" "Never mind me!" Mark said. "Yeah but you're not a young defenseless creature are you?" Tarqinder replied, pointing at his machete. "Can we get out of this place, I'm beginning to worry I'll see something I don't want to, like a picture of my death." "Come on then, maybe we can get this statue without running into this dragon." "I thought you were all for killing it." "Yes, yes, but not with Meep about it, he could be killed!" "But we still have to get this statue back; whatever the costs." Tarqinder had Meep resting on his shoulder while he and Mark headed down the now steep path towards what looked like a spacious cavern, most likely home to the dragon, and possibly the statue. As they reached the cavern they saw the statue, it was battered and dented, but it still had a strong gold colour with a slight hue. As they entered, Tarqinder felt smoke shower down on him, and that was when he noticed the rather large shadow on the floor. "Oh my Saradomin," Mark whispered. A large metal dragon towered over Tarqinder, it had a golden colour and was like no metal dragon Tarqinder had ever seen before. It's eyes burnt red and its metallic scales glinted in the fiery light from the fires burning piles of bones of other victims. "We haven't got any weapons," Tarqinder noted looking straight up at the dragon. The dragon leaned its head backwards and opened its mouth, about to shoot out its fiery breath. "Meep meep!" Meep exclaimed, jumping about near the dragon. "No! Stop it Meep!" Tarqinder exclaimed. The dragon turned angrily to face Meep who had distracted it, and as the tiny creature stared directly at the dragon, it faced a shot of fiery breath which set fire to half of the cavern. The dragon yelped trying to avoid the flames, and slammed its tail into a wall which knocked a large boulder which hung from a ledge, and if it fell it would trap Tarqinder and Mark in the burning cavern. "Mark! We have to get out! Forget the statue and run!" Tarqinder exclaimed. "And what about you?" Mark replied. "I'll be fine, I've got a final trick up my sleeve!" Mark dashes out of the cavern and Tarqinder hurled his machete up at the ledge which the boulder rested on. The boulder shook slightly, and then it came crashing down as Tarqinder dashed out of the cavern. The boulder blocked a final blast of fire from the dragon, and the cavern inside burnt away with the dragon trapped inside. Tarqinder and Mark dashed up the steep path, and then Tarqinder felt something pounce on his back. "Meep meep," Meep exclaimed. "You're alive! Thank Saradomin! You saved my life!" Tarqinder exclaimed. "Let's concentrate on getting out of this cave before we start thanking each other," Mark insisted. Tarqinder and Mark dashed upwards with Meep clinging on tight to Tarqinder's shoulder... Tarqinder and Mark stopped as they strolled through the fog, with Kumthalatta's guards coming into view, shrouded in the fog. They looked angered as they glanced at their empty hands. "Where is the statue?" Barked one of the guards. "It was destroyed, it was burnt by a dragon," Tarqinder replied. "You have failed your task, and now you will face death, bwanas!" "It was already damaged, there was nothing we could do!" Kumthalatta's guards raised their spears, and Kumthalatta himself marched over, having overheard what had happened from a distance. "You have failed to find the statue?" Kumthalatta asked angrily. "Yes Kumthalatta, they have!" A guard exclaimed. "Then execute them!" As the guards prepared to stab them with their spears, Mark managed to cut one of the spears in two with his machete and threw it at the foot of the guard aiming at Tarqinder. The guards were stunned and gave Tarqinder and Mark a chance to flee. "Stop them!" Kumthalatta snapped. "Yes Kumthalatta," the guards replied in unison as they dashed after them both. Tarqinder and Mark found it difficult to run along the sand, and Kumthalatta, his guards and a group of angry villagers were not far behind. Tarqinder spotted his sword lying in the undergrowth where Kumthalatta had abandoned it, and Tarqinder grabbed it and tried to catch up with Mark who had gotten ahead. A number of spears were launched into the sky, and Tarqinder watched them plummet downwards towards him, Mark and Meep. "Here!" Mark exclaimed pointing to a boat. Mark pulled Tarqinder on to the boat with Meep still clinging on, and the spears hit the sand, with one piercing the side of the boat. "Now look what they've gone and done," said a man on the boat before steering it away from land. "Sorry for this," Tarqinder said. "Oh not at all, I don't mind helping out two fellow explorers such as yourselves." The man was wearing an elegant purple shirt with elegant purple legs and had neatly combed hair. "So who are you?" Mark asked. "You're very well dressed to be out at sea, and this boat is rather smart." "Why, I am Sir Raef, of Falador," said Raef.
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