We must have destroyed our twentieth high level when a howl of rage distracts me. Kenshin angles his head at me. I shrug. “I’ll go look,” I offer. My curiosity will not be denied. Walking towards the center of the arena, I hear feminine laughter and then a yell of utter rage.

With her hands clasped behind her, Dawn is dancing out of the reach of a high level. His dark hair is spilling into his sweaty face as he takes swings at the lady smirking at him. Even so, I can’t believe he has the nerve to go after a lady like that! But she must have already beat him up pretty badly because his rune trim armor has huge dents.

“Freak!”

“Who me? The freak of nature is you,” replies the high level, pausing for a respite.

“No, she means me,” I butt in. Fierce amber eyes scrutinize me for maybe a second, and then the guy lunges for my throat. I close my eyes. A bang makes me re-open them. “Huh?”

“Another one bites the dust… Look what I fought Halofight with!” Dawn waves a frying pan (where did that thing come from?) in my face and then cleans her dusty boots on Halofight’s armor. “It was lying around…”

I rub my face in frustration. “This place is so weird.” By now, Gorgonwrath, Kenshin and Aurora have caught up with me to check that I hadn’t been murdered. They peer at Halofight, who is sprawled, nearly dead, in a most undignified manner: with his face planted into the ground.

“Let’s show him some mercy.” Before anyone can say a word, Kenshin reaches down to cut the enemy’s throat. Halofight disintegrates, leaving behind dust that makes me sneeze.

“Mercy?” I cough. “That was mercy?!” Then I don’t want any mercy.

Kenshin sighs. “He’ll live.” He jabs a finger towards the jail cells. “There he is.” I look and find Halofight staring at Dawn with his face against black bars. After a moment, he leaves the cell through a portal in the back. I guess he doesn’t want to stick around and watch.

“Then…will Luxon survive if we kill him?” I mutter. That would be a potential problem.

“I have a feeling he won’t come back,” Kenshin replies as he wanders closer to the enemy jail cell. The cell next to it contains some of our allies. Despite being killed, they give us cheery waves before disappearing into a portal at the back of the cell.

One guy pops up in our cell. It’s Creater’s brother, looking glum. “Communications are down since I’m the last messenger, and I died. Hey! You’re a commander, aren’t you?” He seems to be addressing me.

“I guess,” I say modestly and then add as Gorgonwrath gives me a severe look, “Yes, I am. Is there something I need to know?”

The messenger nods. “But first, I’m Elegonesinty. Elegon for short.”

“Freak.” I’m tempted to shake his hand through the bars until I realize my hand’s too wide--or maybe the space between the bars is too narrow?

“You have to find Fireheart and Bluestar. They’re being pursued by Luxon and a select few of his cronies, and they need help! I tried looking for help, but a couple of Luxon’s friends shot me down.”

I nod. I can feel the others all nod behind me. “Where are they?”

“Last I saw them they were in the northeastern corner of the arena, but it’s one on one over there, so be careful.”

“Will do. And thank you, Elegon.” I stifle the urge to salute and shuffle off with the others trailing after me. We all stop as we hear footsteps coming toward us and breathing that sounds like some sort of monster in a hurry to eat its prey. Then some crazy person careens straight into us and falls to the ground to land at our feet. Wolfbane looks up at me weakly.

“Watch out for Lordpain…ow,” he wheezes.

Oh crumb-buckets. You don’t want to mess with a guy named Lordpain. That scary-sounding guy strolls into our sight, presumably intent on finishing off Wolfbane, who is lolling on the ground. I crouch down and wince at the cuts everywhere in Wolfbane’s armor; each cut, not deep enough to kill, was made deliberately for causing pain rather than death. I look up into the face of Lordpain and find not the face of a monster but the face of an utter and complete lunatic.

He laughs spastically, sending shivers down my spine. We all clump together. Suddenly, Aurora is pressed against my right side and Kenshin is shaking on my left. Gorgonwrath, meanwhile, has his eyes wide with terror and his body hidden behind the lot of us. Dawn has moved closer to Wolfbane, who is practically groveling at my feet.

“Holy cow, it’s bad enough that you want to kill us,” I mutter, “but do you need to torture us too?”

Lordpain shrugs, widening his reddish eyes with surprise. “You guys don’t like it? I’m having fun!”

With her frying pan held high, Dawn attacks Lordpain, who knocks her away--three meters away---without effort. He cackles. “Do it again! So I can watch you fly!”

Oh…my…crumb-buckets. He’s truly mad! Perhaps realizing the same, Kenshin takes my shoulder and shakes his head. “He’s not going to be taken down any time soon; this guy’s more dangerous than Luxon himself.”

We’re all frozen in place. Of course, Wolfbane doesn’t seem to have any plans to move since he’s fallen unconscious. The pain was too much. But the rest of us have suddenly turned to cowards as Lordpain starts to circle, running the edge of his battle-axe against his thumb.

“Who next? Someone attack me!” barks Lordpain. He suddenly looks sane as he brushes his mud-brown hair out of his face. “Fine then! Transform!”

A moment later, Lordpain has morphed into a…girl? The girl’s murky brown eyes still have a reddish undertone, and she’s still wielding a rune battle-axe. She gives a characteristic cackle. “Will you cowards attack me now? Since I’m a weak girl?”

“Girls are NOT weak!” Dawn and Aurora shout at the same time, lunging simultaneously for Lordpain…or is it Ladypain? Well, anyway, Ladypain is taken by surprise for a moment, receiving a frying pan in the head and a stab in the gut from Aurora’s adamant sword. The high level stumbles away from both blows and sits on the ground, staring murderously in our direction. Dawn and Aurora retreat back into our little grouping.

Holy cashews, Ladypain looks ready to explode. I’m about to order everyone to flee when Kenshin attacks. Instead of attacking back, Ladypain takes him into a deadly embrace. She whispers something into his ear, making him blush and lose his concentration.

“Gosh…” he mumbles, trying vaguely to free himself, but Ladypain is squeezing him. After a tremendous crack, I realize she’s trying to break every freakin’ bone in his body!

This time, I move (about time I did something, I figure) and poke her hard enough in the side to make her let go.

She steps back, letting Kenshin fall to his knees, and hisses in rage. “Foolish idiots! I’ll finish you off the old-fashioned way! Transform!”

Before our eyes can quite catch the transformation, her features melt back into the frightening face of Lordpain. The rest of her body follows slowly. After he’s done, I point out, “Foolish idiots is redundant.”

“GAAAAH!” He swipes for my shoulder and misses miserably as I flee. Angry as a taunted llama, he storms into the middle of our group, making Aurora, Gorgonwrath and Dawn veer off in different directions. “Stop running, you stupid--” At this point, my mind begins to bleep out his following words.

While I’m off guard (entranced by his colorful language), Lordpain slashes me across the back. I scream and crumple. I don’t think I’ve ever screamed before, and it makes my clanmates stare. The pain, though, is worse than a burn from a fire, worse than Luxon’s whip, worse than the pain of losing Lady Lore. I want to tear the skin off my back just to stop the pain; how had Wolfbane managed to run to us with all those cuts in his back? I’d have died from sheer pain. “What the heck did you do to your axe?” I wail at him.

With his head slightly tilted, Lordpain is watching my agony with a deranged happiness. “Poisoned. Very nasty poison, yes it is. So much fun to--” Lordpain suddenly stops, looking confusedly at the sword through his chest. “Fun…”

“The fun’s over!” As the haze of pain leaves me, I see Wolfbane shakily pull his blade out of the high level and then kick him down. Lordpain and his poisoned axe disintegrate into dust and bones.

“You okay, Freak?” Woflbane asks, falling to his knees in exhaustion. He manages a nice smile as Kenshin helps him up again. Poor Kenshin seems embarrassed.

“I shouldn’t have let him take a shot at you like that,” he mutters to me.

“I could have done something,” Gorgonwrath adds with a disgusted look. “Ugh…I’m such a coward.”

I glower at both of them. “Lordpain is dead. So stop complaining that you didn’t do anything and let’s go find Fireheart and Bluestar!” They still look miserable, so I say more gently, “Listen, everything ended well. I’m not dead. I’m not complaining.”

And so, we set off towards the northern side of the arena--or at least the side that Gorgonwrath claims is north. I trust him though. We trek across the dark rocky arena, destroying the few enemies we come across. I’m feeling quite confident even with the cut throbbing on my back until we come upon a most gruesome scene.

“Have all the mages fallen?” Moving closer, Dawn questions the only person lying among the rocks. Her head is curled toward her chest, her hands still gripping an Earth staff. Catgirl half opens her green eyes.

“They’re all gone.”

“Someone has to stay with her,” Aurora states with a rather maternal look towards Catgirl. She helps the mage sit up against her. “I will.”

Gorgonwrath sits beside them. “I’ll stay too,” he volunteers. He gives me a hard look as if expecting me to object, but I don’t mind. I would have expected to leave someone behind to keep an eye on Catgirl. Suddenly, Kenshin steps forward.

“These guys need me. You, Dawn and Wolfbane can help Fireheart…plus, Bluestar seems very capable of protecting her.”

I smile. Fireheart wouldn’t agree. She would declare she’s capable of taking care of herself. “They’re both great warriors.” This seems to be the right thing to say as Dawn sidles up to me with a beautiful smile. I gulp and move away a bit from her. It’s not the time to be distracted…and judging by the smirk on Wolfbane’s face, I think he noticed the whole exchange. Oh boy…

“Let’s move!” I snap, rather annoyed by Wolfbane’s still present smirk. “You guys, good luck.”

All of a sudden, Catgirl smiles and then raises a hand. “Wait a moment, Freak.”

“Huh?”

“Be careful. Really. Be very careful.”

I grin and place my hands behind my head, hoping to look blasé. “Of course.” Then Dawn pushes me away with an expression on her face that looks a bit like jealousy. Wolfbane is snickering already.

We start walking; it may have been maybe twenty meters from Catgirl and the others, in the midst of blackened, dead trees that we run into Fireheart and Bluestar. They are attacking and retreating, attacking and parrying with a couple of enemies. A hot bolt of anger makes my hair stand on end when Luxon comes into my path of vision (which doesn’t extend that far in this smoggy place). He seems unruffled, untouched.

Luxon and his two buddies pause as Fireheart and Bluestar sprint towards us. Hah! Now we have them outnumbered! Familiar blue eyes twinkle at me. “Hey, Freak. You look like you’re in pretty good shape.”

I wince. Bluestar looks battered and has almost as many cuts as Wolfbane. Even so, he doesn’t seem to be in pain or discouraged. Well, Fireheart’s hand on his shoulder may have had something to do with his irrepressible joy. While Bluestar is turned toward us, Fireheart is still watching Luxon and his two cronies, who are lingering about four meters away. They aren’t moving.

“Hmm,” she huffs, “I think they’re going to leave us alone for now.”

Wolfbane narrows his eyes. “Luxon’s up to something.” He limps closer to the high levels, who are standing among a bunch of trees, watching us with intrigued eyes. “Attack us! Or are you cowards?”

They don’t respond. Wolfbane growls in anger and then Luxon says softly, “Lore is dead. I killed her myself.”

It comes as a blow to everyone, but Wolfbane collapses to his knees. Fireheart nudges him impatiently. “She’ll be fine. It’s only two leaders who are truly risking their lives. Like you, Luxon, and me. If either of us is killed, we won’t ever come back. Right?”

“Correct.” Luxon grins. “You’ve figured it out, huh? I customized that rule myself.”

WHAT? We have to get Fireheart away from these guys! Maybe we should keep her in an underground hole with multiple guards. We can’t let them destroy her. Honest to God, I can’t imagine the pain it would cause Bluestar if she was killed…

“You didn’t tell me that!” Bluestar snaps at our leader.

“Would you have let me fight?” retorts Fireheart. Her anger dies when Dawn takes her arm. “What?”

“Get away from here.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard Dawn use that voice: a cold, commanding one. “I’m not losing my sister.”

Fireheart sighs and then whispers, “Am I supposed to hide away?”

Luxon clears his throat, interrupting the argument. He lifts his thin lips into a smile. “May I also add that the death of a leader means the end of the war?”

One of Luxon’s cronies blinks. “How much hp do you have left, sir?”

The answer makes me shudder. “Almost full. Eighty-nine. A few mages caught me off guard, but I took care of them.” Those menacing words are for us. Luxon places a companiable hand on his crony’s shoulder. “Don’t worry too much about me, Tezokiller.”

I want to run away with Fireheart. NOT LIKE THAT. I mean, if I eloped with Fireheart, Bluestar would hate me forever. Furthermore, I’m not in love with Fireheart. If anything, I’m in love with Dawn. Crumb-buckets, did I really just think that? My face-palm catches Luxon’s attention.

“Why, Freak, you’re still here. Isn’t that a surprise, Trippin?” He nudges the so far silent high level, who merely smiles at me in an almost pleasant and sympathetic way. Trippin doesn’t seem evil, but he’s picked Luxon’s side anyway.

Wolfbane actually wobbles onto his feet to stand in front of me protectively. “Leave the noob alone, Luxon.”

Heh…noob again. I should feel offended, but I can’t while I’m so nerve-wracked.

“One-on-one, Luxon.”

Luxon agrees with a graceful dip of his dark head. Then he waves his fingers at Trippin and Tezokiller; they both lunge for Fireheart, who immediately parries both of their weapons and then flits away, perhaps to the one on one area. Bluestar and Dawn follow the two high levels trying to hack at our leader. They disappear, with Dawn telling me to wait here, so I’m left to watch Wolfbane take on Lord Luxon.

It’s strange to root for Blondie, who I used to hate with a passion. The two of them seem well-matched. Their scimitars lock again and again, and neither one is touched. I can sense though that Wolfbane is getting tired. Meanwhile, Luxon is nearly dancing on his feet. He’s a graceful guy. I’ll give him that.

Then Luxon shocks me by saying to Wolfbane, “You have nothing to lose if you betray them, and everything to gain if you ally yourself with me. Forget Lady Lore. Love has absolutely no worth. Do you think it was love that got me this far? That made me this powerful? No, Wolfbane! It was hate! Hate was the drive to work harder, to be better than everyone else!”

I want to yell at him that hate only brings trouble like power does, but distracting Wolfbane is a bad idea. Then I wonder if Luxon is truly happy the way he is. Sure, he’s rich. He has cronies. He probably has a house that bigger and more furnished than Hamlet’s. He has the power to enslave us. But does that make him happy? By the hungry look on his face, I guess not. Once you start craving for power, you can’t stop. I hope Wolfbane knows that.

My so-called ally is hesitating. I twitch in my effort not to say a word. Wolfbane won’t want a pep talk from me. Imagine my surprise when he looks pleadingly at me. “Lady Lore,” I mouth in encouragement.

A strange looks passes across his face; Wolfbane’s icy-blue eyes harden. Then he comes at ME with his scimitar. What? Maybe hate is more powerful than love. For a pacifist, the realization is a huge blow. It’s like the loss of a limb. Love is nothing. Hate will earn you the world! What kind of sick world is that!? It can’t be Runescape!

“No!” I dodge a blow that never comes. Suddenly, I hear an outraged, “Argg!” Glancing back, I find Luxon with a huge cut in the middle of his decorated plate body. Wolfbane is poised in a balanced crouch a few feet from me.

“Don’t play your sick mind games with me, Luxon!”

“Mind games,” Luxon spits. “What mind games?” The level one hundred twenty-six looks furious. “Freak is only a liability to you. He’s no friend of yours. Ask him if he likes you. I’m quite sure he despises you. After all, you two were fighting for one lady.”

How the heck does Luxon know that? Wolfbane looks sheepish.

“The better question is if you like him, Luxon?”

The high level turns to glare at me. His full-on glare is terrifying; my bones become liquid-like, and it takes more strength than usual to keep myself on my feet instead of falling onto the dirt and curling up into fetal position. It’s the black eyes without mercy matched with a thin, cold mouth that get me.

“At the moment, Wolfy, you’re pissing me off, but generally, you amuse me. So I like you.” Luxon gives Wolfbane a sickeningly sweet smile. “Kill the noob, and I’ll forgive you.”

Hey…I don’t appreciate that, and apparently Wolfbane doesn’t appreciate Luxon’s words either. “Shut up. I don’t need your forgiveness.”

Smiling, Luxon nods. “Good. I don’t have a forgiving bone in my body. Your betrayal earns you a death penalty, but that doesn’t mean I’m done using you yet.”

Wolfbane lunges and then stumbles into me as Luxon hits his scimitar away. I help him straighten up. His cold armor feels terrible against my skin, but then I forget the coldness when Luxon strikes. We both step back, and Luxon’s scimitar plants itself in the ground. Deep. I wince. That would have hurt…

Within a second, Wolfbane is attacking a very distraught Luxon, who’s staring at the weapon deeply embedded in the lava rock. While I back up, Wolfbane cuts into the high level’s side, then his back; he strikes at limbs as Luxon tries to punch him. Bits of Luxon’s crow-black hair go flying as Wolfbane’s blade comes up unexpectedly. Luxon barely saves himself from a beheading by doing a limbo, bending so far down that my back hurts looking at him.

“I’ll kill you!” he roars, finally getting a grip on Wolfbane’s arm. His black boot delivers a kick that shatters Wolfbane’s rune plate. My ally crumples, moaning miserably and dropping his weapon. Luxon gives him another savage kick that sends Wolfbane rolling into a lava pit.

“Wolfbane!” The raw sound coming from my throat surprises me, but Luxon merely watches as the lava fizzes and emits a cloud of smoke. Wolfbane is dead. I’m alone with Lord Luxon. Holy crumb-buckets…

Well, if I die, it doesn’t matter. There’s still Fireheart, Bluestar and Dawn and others. I won’t run and make the others fight him; I’ll fight Lord Luxon. Twenty-six versus a one hundred and twenty-six. What difference does one hundred levels make? “Bring it!”

“Oo, feeling brave today?” Luxon laughs. “I can change that. Er…wait a moment.” After a few minutes of tugging, he manages to remove his scimitar from the ground. Hmm, I guess even high levels like him have embarrassing moments. Now we’re both ready. Kind of.

Instinctively, I bring my steel sword up to clang against his scimitar. The pressure against my sword almost makes my wrists give in. I free my sword, backing away. Luxon falls forward and then brings up his blade to put a slit in my head. I tap his weapon away, making my fingers numb. Good gravy, he puts a lot of power into those attacks.

“You can’t parry me forever. You can’t win like that, Freak.” He sounds almost gentle. “Listen…I’ll let you hit me once. Then I kill you. It works out for both of us.”

I blink at him. He must have caught my blank look because he explains further, “You can say you fought me, and I can get rid of you. Everyone’s happy.”

Hmm. Free shot. Sounds good to me. Unless it’s a trick? “Swear you won’t attack me when I take my free shot.”

“I swear by the great god Zamorak.”

Not very reassuring. “Swear by Saradomin.”

Suddnely petulant, Luxon mutters, “Very well, I swear by Saradomin.” The high level opens his arms, exposing himself, so I can attack him; his blood-red cape ripples in an intangible wind.

Still not reassuring. He is Zamorak’s crony after all. “No,” I say, “Swear by Guthix.” Neither good nor evil should do. There was no way he could break a promise like that.

With a growl of annoyance, he declares, “I swear by Guthix not to attack you while you take your damn free shot. You must have learned how to be irritating from Dawn. That girl drove Tezokiller crazy by sniping poor Trippin. He used to track her down and kill her for fun.”

“Enough!” My hands raise the sword, and the sword plunges straight into Luxon’s chest. A flash of light blinds us both, and when I look back at Luxon, the high level nods in understanding. “Steel can’t go through rune…but you‘re glowing with a sudden aura…blessed by Saradomin; the damn goody-goody…won’t let Zamorak have any fun…” His dark features, sad now, crumble into dust. It all blows up in my face, so I have the sneezing fit of the century.

“Master!” Bob comes careening out of nowhere and stares at the bones laying where Lord Luxon had been standing a moment ago. “Noob, you killed him!” Bob bares his teeth at me and lunges; I’m prepared to keep fighting. Now that Luxon’s dead…it’s over. The war is over!

So, I’m not too surprised when I’m yanked out of the arena and end up sprawled on the clan wars waiting room floor. Every bit of my body is aching now, but I manage to lift my head and see a bunch of familiar faces: Bluestar, Fireheart, Dawn, Redseed, Kenshin, Catgirl, Creator, Elegon, Gorgonwrath, Aurora, Wolfbane…and Lady Lore.

“You did it, Freak,” Lore says, and then she plants a kiss right on my forehead. The touch electrifies me, and I jump to my feet with an oh-it-was-nothing grin. Our entire army is gathered in the waiting room, safe and sound. Well, talk about your happy ending.

Suddenly, Dawn breaks the circle around me as she leaves. Fireheart looks after her with a frown. “What’s up with her?” Hmm, maybe this story isn’t over quite yet. There’s still a lot of explaining and storytelling to do.

Glowing now, Fireheart gestures for me to come and sit at a bench. I feel like a celebrity as everyone tries to crowd around me: everyone except Dawn who’s staring at the purple portal impassively.

“How’d you kill him?” Wolfbane demands.

“The gods know,” I answer honestly.

“Tell us!” Lady Lore insists in her lilting voice. She’s taken aback when Redseed scolds her.

“Leave him be. Let’s go back to Varrock first.”

As Cheesecracker and Hamlet come over to high-five me, I realize that ‘Varrock’ sounds very, very nice. It sounds like ‘home.’