The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (43 page)

The
other men looked to each other as if unsure what to do now.
Josephine addressed the burly man again. “Please, will you stop
them?” she asked him. He nodded and turned to the group of
men.

“
Lads, if any of you decides to hurt this woman or
her friends again, I’ll break their necks myself.
Got
that? Now let them
go.” One by one, they nodded and stepped aside.

Josephine nodded, somewhat surprised herself.
“Thank you. Matthias, please take whatever coin you have to hand
and leave it on the ground for these people.” Matthias nodded,
befuddled, and rifled in his pocket. He pulled out a handful of
gold and silver coins and threw them behind them. The men’s’ faces
went from terror to lust in an instant and they slipped around them
and began scrabbling at the coins, pushing each other out of the
way. “Shall we
go?
”
she asked. Matthias nodded.

“
I would suggest we leave
quickly
.” They started away from the gang, at a
brisk walk at first, but then they ran, as the men continued to
jostle for the precious coin, the wiry man sobbed in pain and the
burly man stared at the scene in front of him, disorientated and
bemused.

They
ran for what felt like miles, up a dusty road out of the town and
carried on along its length until Tanavern was just a blot on the
green landscape. Up ahead, the Gormal Mountains towered above them.
In the light they looked purple and strangely welcoming.

“
Stop!” I can’t go any further!” Josephine wheezed and
collapsed to her knees. They all fell in around her.

“
They aren’t following,” Thadius panted. “Just as well for
them, or I would have killed them all.”

“
They were
desperate
people,” Josephine retorted. “Misguided and
desperate. But they are
still
my people.”

“
Why did you tell them your
name?
” Matthias cried. “Now rumour will
spread like wildfire! ‘The Princess of Aralia was in
Tanavern!’”

“
I had to do
something!
” she panted. “I could not just stand there whilst
the situation deteriorated! I
knew
what I was doing.”

“
Did
you?” Matthias asked. “Because
I
didn’t. What you did to that man was
unlike anything I have ever
seen
. One minute you can barely snuff out a candle and
the next you’re influencing people’s
decisions
.”

“
You’re saying that the princess persuaded that man
with her
power?
” Thadius asked, his mouth gaping open.

“
It’s been written as happening before,” Matthias said. “But
not for centuries.”

“
It just felt… natural,” the princess said. “In
that moment I knew
exactly
what I had to do. I cannot explain it more than
that.”

Matthias nodded. “Sometimes I have done things
with the earth power that I was never taught. Nothing quite
like
that
, mind you. It was a very
risky
thing to do.”

“
I am
sick
of feeling
helpless
, Matthias,” she responded. “You men all bear arms
and I stand there like a lemon!”

“
I know you are fed up of feeling like that. But
taking
unnecessary
risks is not the way to go about
alleviating
that! They could have
hurt
you. You are
far
too precious to me
to allow anything like that happen.”

“
To
precious to you?” Josephine asked.

“
To
us,”
Matthias corrected and tried to stem the redness flushing
his cheeks. The princess looked away from him, her own cheeks
blushing.

“
What do we do now?” Luccius asked, sensing the
embarrassment.

Thadius shrugged. “There’s nothing we
can
do to stop them
gossiping that the princess was in their town. We will just have to
carry on and hope that the news doesn’t travel
too
far,
too
quickly.” He looked up at the Mountain ahead.
“Gormal. It has been a long time since I’ve been
there.”

“
Is
it safe?” Matthias asked him.

“
As safe as anywhere else right now!” he shrugged.
“
Wherever
we go, danger seems to follow us. I feel like we’re
dragging death along behind us on a leash!”

Matthias nodded. “A fair point.” He stared off
into the direction of the mountains. “It’s still a
long
way.”

“
A good day’s walk, I would say,” Thadius nodded.
“And we are a good few hours into
this
one already.”

“
We
could get there quicker if we cut out that winding road,” Matthias
said. “Could we make our way through that field of barley
ahead?”

“
That would be
trespassing
,” Thadius retorted.

“
You’re the king’s right - hand knight now!
How
can
it be trespassing if this is
his
land?” Matthias rebuffed.

Thadius thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I suppose you
have a point.”

“
It might be safer too, in case those men
do
come after us,”
Luccius added.

Matthias nodded. “Come on then. Before the princess of Aralia
has any more urges to divulge her identity to the locals.”
Josephine shook her head and pursed her lips, her hands on her
hips.

They
began making their way across the half-grown field of barley,
watching their step wherever they could. The crop was thick and it
was surprisingly painful when they trod on a broken
stem.

“
Damn!” Thadius growled as he snapped one stalk.
“This is going to make those villagers poorer than they
already
are!” he winced as
he blundered forward.

“
Like you said, it’s the nobles who get all the
money,” Matthias called behind him as he wove around the plants.
“But you
could
be a bit more careful! You’re blundering about like a
blindfolded bear!”

“
Don’t
push
me wizard!” Thadius growled. “I am
not
in the mood
today!”

“
That
makes a change,” Luccius whispered under his
breath with a grin.

“
I
am
sorry, Matthias,” Josephine said. “I didn’t mean to ruin
everything we have done so far.”

“
You haven’t, Josephine,” Matthias replied, as he
slipped between the crops. “I was just frustrated. I didn’t mean to
upset you. We’ll just have to watch out for people who might
recognise you. Perhaps we can find some
dye
in Gormal for your
hair
,” he mused.

“
Dye
my hair?” she exclaimed.

“
A good auburn would change your appearance
instantly
,” Matthias added.

“
There
are
worse ideas,” Luccius said from behind
her.

“
I would preferred to have kept the
mud
on my face!” she
said.

Matthias laughed. “That could be arranged,” he
retorted.

“
So
I am forgiven for my error in judgement back there?” she
asked.

Matthias stopped and turned to her and grabbed her
hands. “You don’t need to apologise princess. You are a kind and
generous person. What you said back there wasn’t the best thing you
could have done, but...” He paused, and then nodded. “But it was
perhaps the
right
thing to do, if perhaps at the wrong time.” He smiled. “I
do not think you realise quite how beautiful a woman you are.
Desperate men do not care a jot about honour or decency, whether
they are your subjects or not.” His stare lingered on her a moment,
and then he shook his head. “There is nothing to forgive, and let
us draw a line under it.” Then he let go of her hands, and turned
back to weaving through the crops.

Josephine sighed, staring after him a moment, before she
followed.

The
field stretched on for miles in all directions. After a while, they
stopped and rested together in an opening within the
crops.

“
Are we lost?” Thadius asked. “I can’t even
see
the bloody
mountains now!”

“
They’re in that direction,” Matthias indicated to his left.
“I don’t think there is far to go.”

“
You
are quite adept at this weaving around these crops Matthias,”
Josephine commented, as she caught her breath. “I keep tripping up
over my own feet!”

“
I
have had practice,” he laughed. “I took what you could say was a
direct route across the region on my way to Rina to see you. There
was no use wasting time on roads when the world’ could be at
stake.”

“
That must have been quite a journey in itself,” she
commented.

“
You
could say that. A great deal of my life of late has involved
crawling through fields.”

“
You
must tell us that story sometime!” she said.

“
I
would say another half a mile, perhaps less, and we will be out,”
suggested Luccius.

“
Ah, well, in
that
case,” Josephine grinned. “The last one to the
other side buys the drinks at the next inn!” She darted
forward.

Luccius smiled and leapt after her. “I’m game!”

“
What have you
done
to her?” Thadius said to Matthias. “She will be
singing bar songs and
gambling
before long!”

“
I
only wanted her to blend in,” Matthias said back. “Blame Luccius!”
Then he turned and ran through the barley. Thadius shook his head,
before he too darted into the undergrowth.

After another half- hour they emerged from the crops near the
base of the mountain. Josephine emerged first and raised her hands
in triumph.

“
I
won!
” she exclaimed as Matthias, then Luccius, emerged,
followed by Thadius.

“
There,” Matthias dusted himself off. “We must have saved
ourselves time, rather than snaking around that road!”

“
It
wasn’t
worth it,” Thadius replied, blundering out of the field,
his chest heaving. “I have done
far
too much running for one day!”

“
Oh
I don’t know, I think it was rather fun!” Josephine added, as she
brushed her skirts and loosened the debris that stuck to the
material.

The
wizard bowed his head. “I am glad your highness and I have seen eye
to eye in this instance.” He grinned.

“
Do not get
used
to it,” she retorted, with a smile. “I am sure
there is plenty left for us to disagree on. Come, there is no use
standing around here, or we will have wasted our advantage.
Besides, Thadius owes us all a drink!”

Gormal was quite busy despite its relatively small size.
Known unofficially as the Third City of Aralia, it verged on its
border, clinging to the edge of the Gormal Mountains that separated
the realm from Olindia. Rising smoke curled its way upward from the
many chimneys that dotted the tall buildings: the temperature was
cool so high up.

Taico Grimm paced the streets, watching his breath
mist in front of him. He readjusted a tattered sack on his back and
trudged about looking for the meeting spot where he was supposed to
rendezvous with the third sorcerer. There it was: a statue of a
woman holding a reef of flowers. His host was propped up against
it: a tall man, unmistakable alone by the confidence he emitted. It
had been quite a time since he had seen that face. Grimm flashed
back momentarily, to the darkness and the terror he had first felt
when he opened his eyes from that lengthy unconsciousness:
the
strangeness
of it all as he looked around at the four faces staring
down at him. He had been at peace before: a peace that had eluded
him for years. Then they had converted him and suddenly he
knew
what had to be done
and
why
he was back. It was as if they had flicked a switch in his
mind, opening him to the reality of his situation. That day he had
become Taico Grimm.