The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (74 page)

Matthias took a breath. “It is all very complicated,
Josephine.”

“
Isn’t life always?” she asked. She looked up at him
provocatively. “But you are an enigma I would like to know more
about.”

Matthias sniffed and tried to ignore her advance.
“We’re
all
enigmas, in our own way. Who
really
knows why we think what we think,
why
we do what we do?”
He swallowed. “Josephine, you have to understand that my past is
not what you might expect of me. I wasn’t the same person I am
today.”

“
I know you came from a farm. That much you have
revealed about yourself. Well, that and your age.” Matthias licked
his lips awkwardly. “
What?
” she asked.

“
I
lied to you before,” he said. “I’m not as young as I told
you.”

She looked at him, puzzled. “Why? Why would
you
do
that?”

“
Because I didn’t
want
you to know the truth.”

“
Which is?” she asked acerbically, backing off.

“
That I am
much
older than you are,” he said.

She turned away from him and fumbled with her
hands. “You could have told me you would rather not discuss it,”
she suggested. “Why did you have to lie to me
again?
”

“
You
were rather adamant at the time, and somewhat busy,” he replied.
Josephine remained silent. “Josephine?” he took a step
forward.

“
Somehow… I
knew
you were lying to me. Something inside told me you
were older than your appearance. But I stupidly ignored my
instinct.” She turned back round to face him. “Why is it
so
important to you to
keep it a
secret?
” she asked. “What
possible
bearing could it have on my opinion of
you?”

“
The years have not always been kind to me
Josephine. The older I have grown, the more I have had to live
with. I didn’t want you to see that part of me. I
still
don’t.”

“
I thought that you
trusted
me?” she asked.

“
I
do trust you!” Matthias exclaimed.

“
No! No you can’t,” she whispered. “People don’t
lie to those they trust!” Her eyes grew teary. “All that we have
been through these last few weeks… does it not mean
anything
to
you?”

“
Of
course
it does!” he replied.

“
You
have seen me at my most vulnerable. Learned all about my life, my
hardships. And yet you cannot bear to tell me yours?” She
swallowed. “What am I to you truly? Am I still just a mission to
you?”

Matthias leant over her. “Josephine, nothing could be further
from the truth than that,” he exclaimed.

“
Then…
tell
me why you lied to me! Why can’t you talk about
your life to me?”

“
Because I am afraid you will
hate
me!” he exclaimed, and turned away
from her, leaning on the stone crenulations, hunched over. “If you
knew
half
of what I have had to do…” he stopped.

She looked at his stooped figure. After a moment,
she said softly: “How can you predict
what
I will think if you do not tell me what I
need to know?
Please
, Matthias. If we are to carry on this journey
together,
wherever
it will take us, I
need
to know
who
you are.”

A
minute passed in silence, but then slowly, he turned again, leant
against the stone and looked her straight in the eyes. He nodded.
“You asked about my relationship with Maryn. Well, that is,
perhaps, the best place to start.”

“
Maryn comes from the city of Mahalia,” Matthias began,
settling back down into one of the chairs in the guest rooms
Josephine had been provided, with a fresh glass of wine in his
hand. “I come from a province in the north of the realm called
Maolis. It’s a relatively uneventful and unknown region: a small
collection of rural villages. When I was taken from my family by
the wizards, I was placed in the care of Maryn’s
parents.”

“
Why?” Josephine asked.

“
It’s a standard practice,” he explained. “You are housed with
a local family to acclimatise to your new surroundings.” He took a
sip of the wine. “You know, I think I am getting used to this stuff
now. Not that I wouldn’t prefer a spiced tea, but this isn’t
bad.”

Josephine chuckled at the comment and continued their
discussion. “It must have been strange, being taken from your
family and placed with another?” she remarked.

Matthias smiled. “I wasn’t the most…
cooperative
of house guests. It
wasn’t my wish to be taken to become a wizard. Not after what they
did to my mother. But I didn’t have much choice at the time.
Wizard’s don’t take
no
for an answer.”

“
It
sounds like you were press - ganged!” Josephine
exclaimed.

“
I
have heard worse analogies.” He shook his head. “Anyway, that’s how
I met Maryn. She didn’t really like me for a while. I can’t say I
blame her, the way I acted. Eventually though, as time passed, I
settled down and we became friends.”

“
How
long did you stay with them?” Josephine asked.

“
I
spent five years in their care whilst I undertook the initial tests
the Mahalian Academy enforced on me. Then they came for me, one
morning, without any warning, to inform me I had passed into the
Thirteenth Tier.”

“
What’s the Thirteenth Tier?” she asked, then raised a finger
as she recalled. “I remember earlier, when you were speaking to
Protector Balzan, you said you are a part of the Eighth
Tier?”

Matthias nodded. “They are different levels of
Mahalian study, and…” he thought. “I suppose the only word is
power, though it might not quite explain it well enough. Wizards in
the council belong to the First and Second Tiers. Beneath them are
people like Fenzar -
strong
men, with enough ability to afford them a
prominent position in our society, but they are not
quite
wise enough to
enter the highest levels. His kind make up three more tiers, and
then beneath them are the rank and file wizards, who form another
four levels. Apprentices fall in the remaining tenth to fourteenth
tiers.”

“
So you are actually… quite a
novice
, in wizarding terms?” Josephine
suggested, a slight grin on her face. Matthias spotted
it.

“
If it makes you feel better, yes,” he said. “The
Fourteenth Tier marked the very beginning of my studies, when I was
first brought to Mahalia. When I graduated to the Thirteenth, I was
taken from Maryn’s household and put in a dormitory in the Great
Pyramid. Thousands of wizards live there. It’s a sanctuary,
surrounded by a great shield of energy.” He smiled as he continued
his introspection. “It was an honour to be asked to enter that
building. I never thought in the years beforehand, when I was
practically indentured into their ranks with little choice in the
matter, that I would take up such an offer. But time and my tuition
had shown me a new path that my life could take.” He looked up at
Josephine. “I was
drawn
to the possibilities. But it
did
mean I had to leave Maryn. We had grown
much
closer in those
years.”

“
I
take it that you were not allowed to continue visiting
her?”

Matthias sniffed. “You have had enough of a
glimpse of my people’s culture buy now. What do
you
think?”

“
So
you moved away and left Maryn to continue your career,” Josephine
nodded. “That must have been difficult?”

“
It was.” He let out a breath. “But that is not the
end of it.
Nothing
so simple.” There was a knock at the door and he stopped as
a young girl entered carrying a silver platter of grapes and
apples.

“
Protector Balzan thought you may still be hungry,”
she nodded, and set the tray down by their side. Another girl
appeared through the door behind her with a steaming pottery jug
and two cups, and placed them on another small table. “He also
thought you might enjoy
this
particularly, sir.” They stepped quickly out of
the room as Matthias lifted the delicate lid, inhaling the aroma,
and shook his head with a smile.

“
Mahalian elderflower tea,” he chuckled, and set the wine
aside, enthusiastically grasping at the jug.

“
It
seems that the two of you have come to an accommodation,
considering your opinions of each other a few hours ago,” Josephine
remarked.

“
Learning the truth will do that,” Matthias said, pouring them
both a cup and setting the jug back onto the table, before sipping
delicately at the hot liquid. “A little taste of home,” he
whispered. “You know if I didn’t know better I would say Balzan
knows more about my life than he lets on.”

“
Why
is that?” Josephine asked as she sniffed at the cup with less
pleasure than Matthias.

“
My father used to make elderflower tea all the
time, from the black lace shrubs that grew on our land. Of
all
the teas, this is
without
question
my favourite.”

“
Perhaps he does,” Josephine replied, took a sip,
and grimaced. “However, if he knew
me
at all he would bring us more
wine!
” She set the cup back on the tray
and took a sip of wine to remove the taste of the tea. “Anyway,
back to your story,” she nodded.

Matthias nodded. “I suppose it was too much to ask that the
interruption would have proven enough of a distraction for you,” he
smiled thinly. He took a breath. “Maryn was no ordinary
woman.”

“
Is
there ever such a thing?” Josephine smiled.

“
Perhaps not. But in Maryn’s case, she could wield
the earth power. She practiced illegally with her talent for
years
. She even helped
me
, in the early days of my tuition. But eventually, as is
always the case, she was discovered. To her credit, she had hidden
the fact for a
long
time - longer than any woman had ever before. But
because
she had got away
with the cardinal sin of our people for so long, it made the effect
of her practise all the greater.” He shook his head. “There was an
outrage. Her family was well liked and powerful in Mahalia, for
humans in our realm. It caused
enormous
embarrassment for the council to have
missed what she was doing. A
woman
, using a power,
right
under their noses for more than two
decades
. So faced with the
certainty
of the death penalty, she fled.”

“
And
the council never found her,” Josephine commented. “All this
time?”

“
Oh they
found
her,” Matthias said, and stood, walking to the
window and looking out at the illuminated city.

“
But
how-” Josephine began, but then Matthias cut her off.

“
I
found her,” he said darkly, with his back to the
room.

Josephine’s brow creased. “I’m not sure I know what you
mean?”

“
I was
one
of them Josephine. A wizard: an apprentice for
nearly
twenty
years. I was their closest remaining link to Maryn. Her
family was persecuted,
tortured
for information. Information they never knew in
the first place. So with no other leads to act on, they sent me off
to find her. In the final year of my apprenticeship, they drafted
me into their plans to track her down and bring her back to Mahalia
to be made an example of.” He fell silent again.

“
What did you do next?” Josephine said quietly, her eyes
glistening with fascination, and cradled her wine in her
hands.

“
The only thing I
could
do - or at least, what I thought was the
only option in front of me at the time. I went after her like a
wolf after its prey, sniffing her scent across Triska. She didn’t
make it
easy
, mind you,” he snorted, and leant his arm against the cold
glass pane in front of him.