The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (76 page)

“
I have to
do
something!” Josephine wailed above the explosions below,
and shook her head. “But I can’t find my power!” she said
desperately, and grew angry. “When I need you the
most
you
abandon
me?
”
she screamed to the air.

“
I’m sorry your shield did not work my dear,”
Balzan said with grit in his voice. “But I
will
rectify this situation!” She looked at him
in confusion. His eyes flared with power, and his body began to
swirl with green and blue energy as he withdrew from his cloak a
small, black stone figurine of a creature with poles attached to
its arms and legs, affixed to a base of green
stone.

Matthias threw himself up from the pillar, his body
surrounded by blazing flames, and landed onto the back of the
dragon, grappling at the scaly plates that protruded down across
its back. He ran across the armoured skin with grace, stopping
himself by a spike protruding from the spine between its wings.
Steadying himself he raised his staff into the air, thrust it down
into the beast’s armoured plates and channelled. Lightning sparked
out of its tip, pouring into the dragon’s muscles. The beast
growled, but continued to attack the city below.

“
I’m nothing more than a
mosquito
bite to you,
am
I?” Matthias growled. He stuck his staff
into his belt and unsheathed his sword. “Well let’s see if
this
gets your
attention!” He plunged the sword into the dragon’s skin with both
hands, its blade disappearing half way into the flesh. The dragon
roared in pain and ceased its attack on the ground below. He threw
himself around in the air in an attempt to throw off Matthias, but
the wizard grasped at the sword stuck deep into its back like a
thorn, his legs sailing through the air. The creature’s beak came
at him, and he pulled the blade from its back. He slid down its
scales as if he were on ice, and with the sword pointed downwards,
sliced a deep gash into the creature’s side. Sikaris screeched and
span wildly in mid - air, throwing Matthias off, but he pulled his
staff from his belt and with a burst of power thrust himself back
on the beast again, where he sliced off one of the spikes along the
creature’s spine.

“
Come
on
Sikaris! If you
want
me, you’ll have to try
harder
than that!”

Balzan’s body shook with power.

“
Protector, what is going o
n
?” Josephine asked.

“
Retribution
, my dear!” he yelled within the swirls of energy.
“I have grown so
old
that I could not see what was happening on my doorstep! But
I
can
make it right! This
is the
culmination
of my efforts to
protect
this country!” He laughed. “To think I designed it
to ward off my
own
people!” He threw up his hands, casting a great white light
from his palms into the black clouds that now shrouded Crystal
Ember. The beam struck the sky, rippling with energy. The clouds
glittered and shone and then the beam of power returned, striking
the fortress at its highest point. The building glowed with a
heavenly aura and Balzan stepped backwards, veins snaking across
his cheeks and panted. “This fortress is
alive!
”

“
Alive?” Thadius exclaimed. “What do you
mean
it’s
alive?”

“
The Akari created Artefacts long ago, designed to
aid them in their tasks. When I left Mahalia, I stole
this
one from their
vaults.” He held aloft the figurine. “The Motekar Stone. Capable of
turning an inanimate object into a
puppet!
” With a deep creaking and crumbling, the
fortress began to mutate around them. The keep’s bricks shifted,
the buttresses becoming hands and feet and the crenulations
morphing into stumpy fingers. The main pillar of the castle
shifted, the stone obelisk becoming an almighty stone sword. Balzan
turned to Josephine. “Behold our
salvation!
”

The
princess clung to the battlements as the transformation was
completed. The stone blade was imbued with a surging, seething
energy. It glowed brightly in the dark sky through the thick, black
smoke that billowed up from the burning city. Balzan cried out to
the sky, laughing loudly.

“
Princess!” Thadius called to her. “I think Balzan
is losing his
mind!
”

She
looked at the wizard who stared up at the dragon with manic eyes,
his hands outstretched.

“
Thadius, what are we going to
do?
” she asked. There was a roar from
above, and the Dragon was flapping its wings madly. She could see
against the dark scales the red - jacketed form of Matthias. His
blade glinted in the flames, hacking wildly at the beast. She
flinched as Sikaris’s bony head reached across his own body at
Matthias and the blade sliced at the beast’s face. Sikaris knocked
Matthias with his beak, sending him spiralling in mid - air, and
then its tail smacked him in the face. His staff span away in the
sky, like a matchstick in the air as Josephine watched, and he
plunged downwards.

“
Matthias!
” Josephine screamed and stretched out a hand.
Suddenly she felt her energy surround her, and she let out a
tendril of power that caught Matthias as he fell and slowed his
descent. As she tried to bring him to earth safely, the fortress
shook and she fell backwards, hitting her head on the stone. Her
power vanished again as Thadius dashed to her side to help her
up.

Matthias spun in the air, his eyes streaming in the wind that
whipped across his skin. Something had held him momentarily in
place in the sky, but now he was falling again, faster and faster.
He could see his staff spinning beneath him. He reached out with a
hand to pull the wooden instrument towards him with a thread of
power. Before it reached him, his body met the roof of a building
with a crunch. The tiles beneath him shattered, his left shoulder
smashing into the chimney, ripping his arm out of its socket. His
right leg twisted unnaturally. He collapsed against the flue, the
sounds of screaming filling his ears, and then his mind grew hazy
as his eyes closed, darkness filling his vision.

“
Thadius, can you see him?” Josephine cried as she stared down
into the flames.

Thadius looked into the furnace sombrely. He placed a hand on
her shoulder. “Josephine. I-”

“
No!
Don’t
say it!” she snapped. “He’s
not
dead!”

Balzan outstretched a hand holding the figurine,
pointing towards the Dragon. “
March!
” he bellowed. The balcony shook as the fortress
clumsily began to lumber forwards. “Now we shall see what the
dragon is really made of!” An enormous fireball spewed from its
mouth, striking against the fortress, but it did little damage to
the hefty stone armour. “Aha! See my girl? The enchanted
stone
holds
against him! We
still
have a chance!”

With
the sword that was once a pillar in both mighty hands, the fortress
struck, slicing at the scaly skin of its enemy. The dragon darted
out of its way, but the building struck again, catching the beast
on its side. Sikaris roared with anger and swooped up further into
the air, dodging the slashing of the giant sword as he rocketed up
into the clouds, disappearing from view. For a moment the air was
deadly calm save for the crackling of the flames below in the city,
as building upon building crumbled to ashes. The wind blew the
flame further through Crystal Ember, the entire western section of
the city a blazing red - orange light. Josephine could make out the
screams of the people below, hundreds trapped in the furnace that
surged through their streets. A piercing shriek filled the air and
she put her arms to her ears to block the sound.

Out
of the clouds a twister of fire span towards the northern side of
the city, impacting on the buildings with a surge of blinding
light. The earth beneath the firestorm exploded and everything
under its heat dissolved into a molten crater. Sikaris sailed down,
out of the clouds again, and surveyed the damage below.

Tears filled Josephine’s eyes and poured down her face. “It’s
all my fault! I couldn’t stop it! I’ve killed them all!”

Thadius gripped her arm as the fort lumbered towards the
dragon again. “Princess!” he wailed above the noise and the wind.
“Princess! We have to go!”

“
No!
We have to stay! We have to help-”

“
We
can’t
help! The city is defeated! Whatever
Balzan
thinks, that creature is too
strong!”

“
There’s still a chance. We can-”

“
I
promised
your father I would keep you
safe!
I promised
Matthias
. There is nothing more we can
do
here! We must
go.
Now!
” He dragged her to the doorway. Throwing one last
desperate look to the scene from the battlement, Josephine ducked
her head through the arch and flew down the steps, leaving Balzan
cursing and waving his bony hands at the enemy.

“
All these years of isolation and now I can
prove
my worth! The
council has failed to keep the peace, but
I
will succeed where
they
haven’t!”

Sikaris stood in mid - air, his wings flapping forcefully.
Facing the oncoming fortress, the creature began to open its jaws
wide. From his throat, a blue light began to flicker.

Inside the fortress Josephine and Thadius were met with
chaos. Soldiers and servants ran in every direction. More than once
Thadius crashed into someone who was in their way.

“
Where are we going?” Josephine asked, lost in thought and
fear.

“
To
the main gate. We are leaving.”

“
What?” Josephine gasped. “But the gate will be in mid - air!
The drop will kill us!”

“
That is a chance we will have to take! Balzan is not going to
win this battle. He-” Thadius suddenly stopped dead on the stairs,
staring out a wide arch window. Josephine crashed into him with a
thud.

“
Thadius, what?” she began, but then she saw what he was
looking at. Her eyes widened. From the window the dragon could be
seen, a whirlpool of blue light and sparks swirling in front of his
jaws, and growing larger. “Oh gods Thadius, it’s going to destroy
the fortress!”

The
knight shot forward again, yanking her arm and stumbling down the
stairs, darting across the wide, open marble - floored entrance
room, slipping on the polished surface. “We will not be in it when
it does!”

“
But all these people! Thadius, we have to get them
out! Balzan, the
regent
-”

“
There’s no
time!
” The knight cried behind him.

“
No!
” She yanked herself free. “I
have
to
help
them!”

“
Princess, I know how you feel. But in
seconds
this place will be
incinerated. You can’t help stop the dragon if you are
dead
.”

She
swallowed, a tear running down her cheek. Finally, she nodded, and
the knight grasped her hand and pulled her with him
again.

The
main entrance was bolted shut, its mechanism for opening guarded by
two soldiers. As they approached, one held out an arm.

“
No
further!” he commanded.

“
Open the door!” Thadius gasped. “Open it now!”

“
I will do
no
such thing!” the guard sniffed. “We’re under
strict
orders not
to-”

“
Open the
bloody
door!
” Thadius growled, so forcefully that Josephine
jumped and the two guards reached for their scabbards. Running to
the first man, Thadius threw a blow that knocked him clean against
the wall and unconscious. The second man, sword unsheathed, swung
towards him. Not thinking, Josephine drew her power and pulled the
guard away using the air around him, throwing him so hard that he
landed and slid halfway across the hall.

Thadius ran to the series of levers on the wall that
controlled the locking mechanism.

“
We
have to get this door open. Help me, princess,” he asked, panting.
He heaved against one of the four levers. Shocked by what she had
just done to the guard, Josephine slowly walked towards the levers,
shaking herself out of her daze as she reached up to pull a second
lever downward. The clunk of a lock opening was followed by a
rattle of chains as the drawbridge behind the still closed door
clattered down. Thadius was on the third switch, forcing the lever
down to another satisfying clunk, before helping Josephine with the
final lever. With the last switch down, the final lock on the doors
slid open. As the fortress pounded its way forwards, the doors
swayed open unsteadily, crashing back and forth in their frame.
Thadius stumbled his way to the opening, clutching to the stone
frame unsteadily. Peering down as far as he could without losing
balance as they swayed back and forth, the treetops and buildings
below looked tiny. Josephine clutched to his arm as she too peered
down and gasped.