Betrayal at Falador (61 page)
Read Betrayal at Falador Online
Authors: T. S. Church
The alchemist smiled cunningly.
“The work is going to make me a wealthy man. I have a handsome commission, so it is a job that is worth the labour.”
The companions laughed at his acumen.
“I shall be going to Varrock” Theodore said. “And I will take your message, if it can wait for a few days. Sir Amik needs new recruits for the knights and he wants me to take advantage of my fame and act as a recruiting sergeant. Our losses were so great that we shall admit entrants who are older than usual, and Sir Amik has told me that they will cut a year off the training time in order to bolster our ranks quicker.
“And he has told me something else...” Theodore looked to his friends as if they were all part of a dark conspiracy. “I am to be made a knight on my return. In only a few more months, before the summer comes. So, too, is Marius.”
Castimir stood and started clapping, and so did Kara, and then Ebenezer and Doric, followed by Gar’rth, who knew just enough words now to understand what was said.
“Congratulations, Theo!” Castimir said. “Everything you have worked so hard for is realised.” The wizard’s eyes filled with happy tears for his childhood friend.
But there was one amongst them who hadn’t spoken. Gar’rth walked to the window after the friends had finished congratulating Theodore.
“And what shall you do, Gar’rth?” Theodore asked, looking at the sudden bitter expression on the youth’s face as he stared out of the rain-battered pane and over the city.
“Jerrod lives,” he said.
They had searched for the werewolf’s body amongst the dead of the battlefield—the soldiers had been told to look out specifically for a man with black blood—but no corpse had been found. Gar’rth had later caught his scent and had followed it for a day, first south and then east and north across the open countryside. It seemed likely that Jerrod had joined the Kinshra retreat.
He had told them of his wish to hunt his uncle down.
“He will not stop,” he said. “So I must go to him.” He had carefully rehearsed the words with Kara, and she knew that he was right, for Jerrod would one day return.
“Gar’rth will accompany me to the monastery,” she added abruptly, her eyes resting on Theodore as he averted his gaze. Everyone was aware of the tension that still existed between them.
The alchemist raised his mug of ale briskly, diverting their attention as he stood.
“My youthful friends,” he said. “And you also, Doric, if you so wish...” His voice was suddenly serious. “I will soon be a wealthy man, with more money than I can ever spend in my declining years. My children died of smallpox in their infancy and my wife died in childbirth many years ago. I have no family left. No one to care for me when my wits abandon me.” He gave Castimir a sidelong glance, as if expecting the wizard to make a joke.
“Therefore, I wish to adopt each of you as my heirs, for we have braved so much together that it is only right.”
Doric grumbled and got to his feet. “I am older than you, Ebenezer, and I am wealthy in my own right. I thank you for the consideration but this gift is best suited for the young.”
The alchemist nodded and raised his ale again.
“So be it,” he said. “To friends! And to family!”
And amongst them the woodcutter’s daughter raised her drink, knowing suddenly that she had found what she had always truly sought, though she had masked it for years under the veil of anger and revenge.
Kara-Meir had found a family she could call her own.
The End
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
There are many people who deserve my thanks for the completion of the novel. Firstly, there are the numerous test readers who criticise and offer valued feedback, and my thanks especially must go to the usual cohort: Rory, Marcus, Ben, Josh, John and Roddy.
Then there are those special people who are always there when things go wrong, like the Giraffe, who saw me through the many crises with her usual stoicism when the project seemed to be permanently under black clouds.
At RuneScape, two people at Jagex stand out in particular: Matt Ham, whose attention to detail saved me from many an amusing typo, and Mark Ogilvie, who threw his energy behind the project from the start. My gratitude must also be extended to the founders of RuneScape, Andrew and Paul, for giving the books the green light in the first place.
It would be remiss of me not to include Giuseppe Grassi also, for his excellent work over many hours on the covers and the map, which every good fantasy book needs. As an author, admitting that I would have trouble describing the feeling of elation when I held the final product for the first time is a testament to how good his instinct and artwork truly is.
And then there is the editor: Steve Saffel, who took the novel and polished it into the version that exists today. We have exchanged enough emails to write our own book on the intricacies of modern writing, I do believe, and I am the wiser for it. Thank you Steve.
My thanks must also go to Titan, and the enthusiasm that I found there for the project. Nick, Vivian, Tim, Katy and Cath. Thanks very much to each of you.
Finally, I must thank my business partner and brother, Josh, for the innumerable discussions we have had on the project, for his optimism, his ideas, and his input, and of course for taking care of the company whilst I was busy writing.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T.S. Church was born and educated in Worcestershire, England. He holds degrees in Information Systems and Business, as well as an MA in Marketing, all from the University of the West of England, Bristol. In his free time, he enjoys playing RuneScape. When not spending time in Gielinor, he likes to read and study history. He also participates (reluctantly) in adventure sports, from canoeing the length of the Thames to running half marathons.
Betrayal at Falador
is his first novel. To find out more, visit his website,
www.tschurch.com
.
RUNESCAPE: RETURN TO CANIFIS
T.S. CHURCH
Varrock is the greatest human city in the world, yet it is a city filled with dangerous secrets. People have been disappearing, taken by an inhuman abductor. Its victims murdered... or worse. For some are spirited away to Morytania, the land of the dead, where vampires rule.
As Kara-Meir and her friends—heroes of the Battle of Falador— gather for the Midsummer Festival, unrest grows against the crown. A conspiracy is unmasked, and the King is forced to send representatives across the holy river to Canifis, the capital of Morytania. For reasons of his own, he selects the now famous heroine Kara, as well as Gar’rth, unique in his knowledge of the land of the dead. They are accompanied by Theodore, Doric the dwarf, the wizard Castimir and the barbarian priestess Arisha, on a mission that will force Gar’rth to confront his violent heritage, and will reveal secrets that will test their loyalties to the limit.
For the price of failure in Morytania is far worse than death, and if their mission fails, then a new King will rule in Varrock. A King who is lord of both the living and the dead.
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