The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (11 page)

“
You have told me more times than I can count!” she
retorted. “But I have grown
tired
of hiding in the shadows! It has been over two
years since I have felt as much as a
flicker
of the energy. It is no longer a
problem
, thanks to the wise woman.”

“
There
are
still signs they can pick up on. They are
clever
people. At one
point I thought he knew
already
, when he spoke about your eyes.” He looked at her
sadly. “I could not bear to lose you, Josephine. After
everything
we have been
through, that would be
too
much to bear, even for a toughened old ox like
me!”

“
I know,” she said. “I am sorry if I worried you.
Perhaps I
was
too forward in entering without your
permission.”

The king smiled. “If I had done that to
my
father, he would
have had me strung up by my ankles for a week!”

“
Then I am fortunate that you are
not
your father,”
Josephine smiled back.

“
I
cannot be angry with you for long,” he said, shaking his head. He
felt his temples. “It has been a very long day.”

“
You
should rest father,” Josephine advised. Then she smiled wryly. “You
will need your wits about you if you intend to take more advice
from Mahalia.”

The king shook his head and chuckled. “We have
been just another pawn in their plans for a
long
time. But I must admit, there seems
more to
this
wizard than meets the eye. He might
just
be a wizard I can do business
with.”

Matthias stared out of the chamber window, the moonlight
casting a pale aura on his tanned face. The moon was nearly full
and the stars surrounding it were dulled by its vibrant light. The
expression on his face was a troubled one. He had been gazing up at
the sky for over an hour.

There was a chime from inside his bag, like a finger being
run over the edge of a wine glass. He jumped, caught off guard, and
turned to rummage around inside the worn fabric sack. He brought
out a smooth, glass orb, no bigger than the palm of his hand. It
winked at him as if a star were trapped inside, and he held it at
arms length warily a moment as if it might attack him somehow. Then
he adjusted his grip and the light inside it winked out. The ball
grew cloudy and purple.

“
Master Pym,” Matthias spoke into it and waited for a
response.

“
What is your progress?” An echoing voice answered him. The
mist inside the orb pulsed with every syllable. “You have arrived
in Rina?”

“
Yesterday morning. I am inside the palace,” he said quietly.
“I met with the king a few hours after I arrived.”

“
You
told him of the dragon?” the voice questioned.

“
I
did. They are preparing themselves. I’m helping them to plan their
defences.”

“
That’s good. They deserve to know what awaits
them.” The voice hesitated a moment. Then with a hint of concern,
the voice said: “You didn’t mention our
faction
, did you?”

“
Of
course
not, Master,” he whispered. “That’s none of their
concern.”

“
What about the rest of it?” The voice asked. When
Matthias did not reply, the voice continued to press him.
“You
did
speak to them about the princess, didn’t
you?”

Matthias swallowed. “I couldn’t,” he whispered. “Not
yet.”

“
Why
not?
” the voice replied tersely.

“
It is not exactly an
easy
topic to bring up!” Matthias exclaimed.
“It was to get them to believe me about the dragon!” He sighed.
“These are not people predisposed to
trust
our kind, as you know.”

“
Then we have a problem,” the voice said, after a
pause.

“
Another
one?” Matthias sniffed. “What is it
now?”

“
The Council has obtained new information. There
could be demons heading towards Rina as we
speak
. And I do not mean
days
away. We are talking
hours
, if the reports are correct. The Council has already sped
up their plans in the wake of the news.”

Matthias swallowed. “How could creatures get here so soon? I
arrived here so quickly!”

“
We are working against what seems to be a very
powerful enemy, Matthias,” the voice said. “The stone is still
revealing new prophecies. There has never
been
such a concentration of them in one
crystal before.” The orb fell quiet.

“
Master Pym? Are you still there?” Matthias asked after a
lengthy pause.

“
I’m
here, Matthias,” the voice replied.

“
What is it?” Matthias asked back. “You are holding something
back from me, I can feel it.”

“
That is because I
know
you will not like what I am about to
suggest.”

“
Which is?” Matthias breathed.

“
You
may have to take matters into your own hands if we are to keep her
safe.”

“
What do you mean?” Matthias continued.

“
How
long do you think it will take you to convince the king and the
girl of her destiny, if you have not begun to do so already? Do you
think King Arwell will just allow his daughter to come with
you?”

“
That is
why
I have to take my
time
with this!” Matthias hissed back. “I have to
handle this delicately!”

“
If
there are demons approaching Rina, then we need to get her out of
there. We don’t have time to be delicate anymore!”

“
You want me to
kidnap
her?” Matthias exclaimed, and sat heavily
on to the bedside.

“
It is for her own
good
Matthias.”

“
I doubt she would see it that way. And
then
what would I do? I
can’t
drag
her all the way to Olindia!”

The orb fell silent again. “I don’t know,
Matthias.
None
of this is ideal. Had we the Consensus we would have more
to work with, but we
don’t
.”

Matthias swallowed. “What
about
Fenzar?” he asked.

“
We
still have the advantage there,” the voice advised. “He left on a
ship four days ago. He will not reach Rina for at least a week. You
have the lead on him.”

“
That’s some good news at least.” Matthias shook
his head. “But… kidnapping the princess will undo
everything
we sought to change
by
coming
here! They already
hate
our people as it is!”

“
Hate is a small price to pay for her safety,” the voice said.
“She’s too important Matthias.”

“
Now
you
sound like the Consensus,” Matthias said
darkly.

The orb sat quiet for a moment at the comment.
Then the voice spoke again. “I have told you what you must do. Will
you do it?
Tonight?
Dawn is only hours away Matthias and the demons could be
close. You can’t afford to wait another night.”

Matthias looked hesitantly to the window and the
dazzling moon. Finally he nodded. “I will
retrieve
the princess tonight,” he said
sombrely.

“
Good. You have done well so far, Matthias.
I
am
proud of you.
Contact me again when you have her and you have escaped.” The voice
disappeared as the orb made a sound like a water droplet landing in
a pool, and the misty glow faded until Matthias was again holding a
simple ball of glass. He dropped it back into his bag, sighed, and
rose from the bed. “May the Gods forgive me for the actions I have
to undertake tonight,” he whispered to the sky. “If you still watch
over me, that is, in spite of everything I’ve done, and am about to
do.”

After several minutes of introspection in which
Matthias paced his room in thought, he finally grabbed his staff
from where he had cast it aside on the bed and made his way to the
door. He took a breath and looked at the wooden prop clasped in his
hand. “Am I
really
going to do this?” he asked himself. Then after a pause, he
nodded. “I have done much
worse
for much
less
of a reason, that much is
certain.”

He opened the door latch silently and peered out.
No one was around. The corridor was quiet save for the flutter of a
flaming torch stuck into an iron ring in the opposite wall. Quickly
and silently he slipped out the door and checked around again,
before he made his way along the corridor. He had an idea of where
he had to go based on his journey up to his guest chamber, even
though the palace
was
a maze of similar-looking corridors.

An old muscle relaxant interlace of the power
could do the trick,
he thought as he went.
Although then she will be as limp and
heavy as a catfish caught from the river! Perhaps if I can render
her unconscious, I could levitate her back to my chambers and then
make my way out the
city the way I came.
He shook his head.
This is ludicrous.

The
sound of footsteps ahead made him backtrack behind a stone pillar.
He waited whilst a liveried guard walked on by, and then quietly
slipped on ahead. Eventually after what felt like an age of
stumbling around in the darkness and the torchlight he reached a
stairwell where a tall, muscled guard stood as straight as a die to
the left of a wooden banister, the pommel of his sword sticking out
from beneath a thick woollen cloak. Matthias hid behind a pillar
and looked down to his fingers. He thought a moment about using the
power, but then shaking his head and with a flash of inspiration
stuck his hand into an inside pocket and pulled out a small, glass
phial. It was almost empty but for a small amount of liquid at the
very bottom of the bottle.

I’d almost forgotten I had
these
, he
thought and rifled around in his other pocket, pulling out a
handkerchief and pouring the last, small amount of the fluid into
its centre.
Maryn’s mandrake and deathshade knockout drops could fell
an ox
.
Which is good, because that guard looks about the
size
of one.
He hid the
handkerchief behind him and stepped out into the
corridor.

“
Excuse me, my good man,” he said in a flourishing
tone, waving his free arm. “It appears I’m rather
lost!”

The
guard flinched in surprise at his sudden appearance, but then
recovered his composure and addressed him.

“
Who
are you?” he asked in a gruff tone.

“
My
name is Matthias. I am a guest of your king. I’m staying in
chambers in the palace.”

“
What are you doing
out
so late?” the man continued to question. “It’s a
long time still until morning!”

“
I
couldn’t sleep, and I fancied a walk around the palace to try and
tire myself out a bit.”

“
Bit
of a strange time to be pacing these halls,” the man said. “You
could be mistaken for being up to no good.”

Matthias chuckled. “Nothing could be further from the
truth.”

“
How did you
get
all the way here anyway?” the man asked. “There
should be men patrolling the corridors. This area is out of bounds
for guests.”

“
Oh! I
see
,” Matthias said innocently. “I’m sorry about that.” He
drew by the man’s side. “Perhaps you could direct me back to my
chambers then?”

The
man looked at him suspiciously for a moment but then nodded and
pointed to the hallway ahead. “When you reach the end of this
passage you need to take a lef-”