The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (54 page)

“
I
think so. Is it meant to be…” he paused.

“
Meant to be what?” Maryn snapped back.

“
Yellow inside?”

“
Oh hell!” she cursed. Picking up the pestle, she
showered its contents across the floor, and rooted through the
contents of a cupboard behind her before she produced another lump
of the ore. “Try this one. It should be white inside. The person I
bought these off
swore
to me they were a pure strain! I’ll hang him by his ankles!
This is the
last
time he cons me out of my money!”

Luccius ground up the new lump quickly. “Is this
alright?”

“
Oh yes, that’s normal.
Much
better. Pass it here,” she panted,
sweating with the rush. He handed over the powder, and she scooped
it out and added it to the fluid in the glass. To that she dropped
various other herbs and what looked like metal filings, and then
placed the glass onto a small stand. “Flame please, Matthias,” she
instructed. “You can make yourself useful as
well!”

“
What? Oh, right.” A small flame materialised, hovering under
the stand.

“
I want an explanation Matthias! Barging into my
shop, my
home
as wet as a fish. After such a long time and
everything
that’s happened!
And with Josephine, of
all
people!”

“
You’ll get one! I promised, didn’t I?” he snapped.

“
Bloody
quests
,” Maryn grunted, throwing leaves and herbs about
the place. “It always starts with a quest! Before you know it,
you’re in over your head. Bloody Mahalia and their bloody
endless
quests!”

“
Quests? What quests?” asked Thadius among the barrage of
conversations unfolding in front of him.

“
You’re a fine one to be talking about quests, Maryn!”
Matthias retorted.

“
And what’s
that
supposed to mean?” She answered back, inspecting a
green-looking gemstone, before plopping it into the
mixture.

“
You know
exactly
what I mean!” He continued. “You dragged me into
trouble!”

“
You didn’t
have
to follow me!” she rebuffed. She added some more
powder and dusted her hands off. “We’ll let that heat for five
minutes and then we will see what good it does.” She pressed a hand
to Josephine’s cheek. “Poor girl. You didn’t deserve to get caught
up in any more trouble.”

“
What
quests?
” Thadius growled, face reddening
again.

“
I
see you are another unsuspecting victim of Mahalia’s plots and
schemes? I’m sorry I don’t know your name?” Maryn asked.

“
Thadius,” the knight replied. She nodded.

“
The quests I speak of Thadius are the ones Mahalia
sends its people on that so
often
involve death and turmoil to
all
involved!”

Thadius nodded. “Yes, we have seen first
hand
how Mahalia
operates,” he said.

Matthias shook his head. “Not everyone in Mahalia is like
that,” he said. “There are movements now that have started up to
help women.”

“
Small rumblings from a group of people with less backbone
than a snake! Heaven forbid a woman could be seen as just as
capable as a man in such matters!” she sniffed.

“
For the love of the gods you two!” Luccius
intervened. “I don’t think now is the time for another argument!
Josephine needs our full attention!” He shook his head and his ears
waggled anxiously. “Maryn, what Mahalia did to you happened long
ago. You
know
Matthias never agreed with what they did. Why else would he
have-”

“
Luccius!
” Matthias hissed.

He
swallowed. “Sorry. But can we all just set aside the past for a
moment and concentrate on Josephine’s future?”

Maryn gaped, her porcelain white skin flushing
crimson in her cheeks. “Yes. You’re quite right Luccius,” She ran
her hands through her hair, and shifted it into some semblance of
order again. She took a breath. “I just... I never expected
to
see
you again,” she said. “And here you
are...”

Matthias smiled thinly. “I know. I’m sorry. But Josephine
needed you. I had to find you. And I knew you could
help.”

She
nodded. “It’s alright. Now, let’s see how this is doing.” She went
over to the beaker, picked up a spoon, and prodded the mixture. The
liquid had grown as thick as tar, and smelt even less pleasant. It
bubbled away with a gloop as she picked the beaker up using a
towel, and poured it into a china bowl. “Very good,” she said,
before she picked up another handful of crystals from a wicker box.
“Stand back. Unless you want singed eyebrows?” She dropped them
into the mix and withdrew her hand quickly, as a flame burst from
the bowl with a poof. It continued to burn, a mixture of
orange-blue flames, until after a minute had passed all that was
left in the bowl was a grey, powdery substance. “It is done,” she
said, waving away the smoke that curled up to the
ceiling.

“
What... is it?” Thadius asked, leaning forward to look into
the bowl.

“
It’s a combination of filium ore, emerald stone
and a few other liquids and herbs put in for good measure.
An
old
antidote with a
twist
of my own devising. Normally I would have had her
swallow the mixture, as its potency would be much greater. But
since she is in no state to drink the potion I have turned it into
a dissolvable powder. We can place it on and under her tongue and
it will absorb into the body.

“
We
gave her water,” Thadius said. “She seemed to swallow that down
OK.”

“
Then you are lucky she didn’t
choke
,” she scolded. “
Men!
Do you not ever
think?
”

Thadius grumbled and shook his head. “This all sounds like
witchcraft! ‘Emerald dust?’” he repeated. Matthias visibly winced
at the comment and Maryn’s eyes flared.

“
I will let the comment pass, soldier, since I know
you are not aware of how much of an insult I take that term to be!”
She drew herself up high; her eyes were only just level with
Thadius’s chin, but her very presence seemed to shrink the knight’s
stature. “My reputation as a healer was what convinced King Arwell
to contact me for help in the first place all those years ago now.
So, I would think my
expertise
would be proven, hmm? So unless you have
any
other
ideas of how we can help this young girl, I suggest you
keep your narrow - minded attitude to yourself!” She placed her
hands on her hips and glared. Thadius swallowed and then,
awkwardly, he nodded his head.

“
Very well. Do what you need to,” he said.

Maryn nodded. “I have done all I need to do,” she said and
indicated to the powder “Now we just need to administer it. So who
will do the honours?”

Matthias stepped forward “I’ll do it. It should be me.” Maryn
turned and thrust the bowl into his hands.

“
It smells
worse
than poison,” Thadius whispered to him, trying to
remain out of earshot.

“
I
don’t think the princess is worried so much about the smell,”
Matthias replied. Maryn stared at them both with fiery eyes. She
had clearly heard.

“
She’s a
formidable
woman,” Thadius said even quieter
still.

“
Tell me about it,” the wizard smiled. “What do I do?” he
asked, raising his voice so Maryn could hear.

“
Take some of the mixture and simply place it on her tongue.
And let nature do the rest.”

Matthias nodded. He reached into the bowl and with two
fingers, scooped some of the mixture onto his hand. Then he stepped
around the others, so he was at Josephine’s side, and bent over
her.

“
You’d best wake up soon Josephine so you can chastise me for
doing this,” he breathed quietly to her, as he lifted her head
forward and gently grazed her lips, depositing the powder on to her
tongue. He repeated the process until Maryn intervened.

“
That should be enough,” she said, and slipped in front of
Matthias, inspecting Josephine.

“
Checking my handiwork?” Matthias asked.

“
You
men can be awfully clumsy at times,” she retorted, as she watched
the powder fizz in Josephine’s mouth and slowly dissolve,
disappearing. “But in this case you’ve done well,” she said
approvingly. “It’s with the gods now, I’m afraid, and Josephine to
fight this off with the help we have given her.”

“
What do we do now?” Thadius asked.

“
We
wait. If I have done my job correctly, then the potion will loosen
the hold the petrification has taken on her. But with an
incantation made with the tainted energy...” she shook her head.
“Have no illusion that this will be a happy ending. The odds are
against her. Poor girl,” she said, and touched her forehead. “After
everything you’ve been through…”

“
Thank you,” said Matthias sadly, staring at the
princess.

“
Oh come on,” she said, shaking her head. “We will
accomplish nothing standing over her like this. I think you and I
need to exorcise some demons, don’t you?” She said to Matthias. He
nodded. “Thadius, make yourself useful and take Josephine upstairs
and lay her on my bed. Luccius, can you boil some water? There’s
tea in a jar by the windowsill,” she instructed. He nodded. “You’ll
also find a salve made of jimson weed and priory thorn in the
cupboard to your left. It should reduce the boils on your face
and…” she looked down “-wherever
else
they have appeared. Reapply it every hour until I
say otherwise.”

Luccius smiled. “It’s good to see you again
Maryn.”

She
smiled. “As much as I hate to admit it... it’s good to see you
again as well.” She looked from the ansuwan to Matthias. “Come
along, let’s sit down.”

Maryn took Matthias into her small living room just off from
the kitchen. Two wicker chairs sat by a window with a side table
positioned by them. A hearth lay dormant to their side. Not much
else decorated the room, save for several clusters of wildflowers
in vases. They sat down and Maryn pulled her chair closer so that
she could talk to him properly.

“
You
have a nice life here, it seems,” Matthias complimented. She
smiled.

“
It’s only small, but its home. More of a home that
I have had in
quite
a long time. So,” she said, patting the arms of her chair.
“Are you going to actually tell me what’s going on, or do I have to
squeeze it out of you? I can, you know.”

Matthias smiled weakly. “I
know
you can.” He took a deep breath.
“From the beginning?”

Maryn nodded. “The beginning. I know
what
Josephine is,
obviously. But what I really want to know is, what all of this has
to do with
you?
”

So
Matthias told her, from the Council’s decision to retrieve
Josephine, to Master Pym ordering him on his own mission, to his
arrival in Rina, trying to kidnap the princess and all the events
of their journey right up to the present. Several hours passed
before the story was finished.

“
I don’t know
how
you always manage to get yourself into these
messes Matthias,” Maryn sighed.

“
These things just have a habit of happening to me,” he
replied.

“
So you have allied yourself with men willing to
defy the Consensus of the Council?” She shook her head. “I would
be
pleased,
if I thought they could do anything to turn the tide in
Mahalia. But this will bring you
nothing
but trouble, Matthias.”

“
I’ve been in trouble before. It’s Josephine I am sorry for.
One way or another her life will never be the same again. And I’m
responsible.”

“
She would be trussed up like a turkey and on her
way back to Mahalia
without
you!” Maryn exclaimed.

“
And instead she’s lying upstairs,
poisoned
,” he rebuffed.

“
Self pity doesn’t
suit
you Matthias,” she said, and leaned forward to
finish her drink. “I see you took all of five minutes undoing all
my hard work with the princess,” she commented. “The wards we
worked on have
completely
evaporated.”