The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (79 page)

“
You
are a foolish bitzkal!” Emary spat back.

“
I have no idea what that means, but doubtless it’s
an insult. Considering I saved your skin I would expect a
'thank you'
instead, but as you
are obviously gripped by
bloodlust
right now, I will
try
not to take it personally,” Matthias replied, and
shifted the dead girl so that she lay on her
back.

“
If you were not a wielder of the world, I would
rip you to
shreds
with my bare
hands
for interfering with my fight!” She folded her
arms and her chest heaved in angry, short
breaths.

“
You
have men like me in your country?” Matthias asked as calmly as he
could, inspecting the victim’s wounds.

Emary paused a moment to recover from his
disarming tone, then nodded. “Interfering,
arrogant
creatures! You’re
all
the same. And yet people
fear
you.”

“
Today is not a good day to push me to the limits
of my patience, or
you
just might find out
why
that fear is justified!” Matthias
growled.

Luccius’s ears dipped. “Matthias,” he whispered cautiously.
The wizard looked at the concern on the ansuwan’s face and the
anger from his own faded.

“
I
apologise,” he said. “I am not myself.” He shook his head. “I just
didn’t want you to come to harm.”

Emary exhaled and her own face grew softer. She kneeled down
beside him. “You have experienced some kind of loss by these
creatures?” she queried. Matthias looked at her with surprise. “It
is obvious from your anger and the pain in your eyes that it is
so.”

He
nodded. “Two of our companions have disappeared. We have been
trying to find them and survive until we do. We aren’t from around
here.”

Emary nodded. “You are stranded in a foreign
country. So am I.” She smiled. “Perhaps I
can
see some common ground between us wielder.
But I
will
warn you not to interfere in my fights
again!”

Matthias sniffed. “I thought you only fought for
money?”

“
I
make an exception where there is sport involved,” she replied with
a grin.

Matthias looked down at the dead girl. “We had best find
someone who knows who she is,” he said.

“
I
have seen her before,” Emary advised. “She came into the tavern a
night ago. She works for the…” she tutted. “I do not know the word
for it. There is a house where the women gather and sell their
services.”

Matthias nodded, understanding. “You know where it is?” he
asked.

She
nodded down the path. “Further down this road.”

“
Is
there a watch house here at all? Any soldiers?” Luccius
asked.

“
The
opposite direction. I have only seen one man walk these streets in
the day.”

“
And
at night?” Luccius queried.

Emary scoffed. “At night you will likely find them in the
same house as this girl and her friends.”

Luccius nodded. “Well I’ll go and see if I can find someone
at the watch house anyway,” Luccius said.

“
And I’ll go and speak to the owner of the
establishment
where this girl worked,” Matthias added, standing
up.

An
hour or so later, they re - entered the tavern together. The common
room was a lot quieter this time around. The customers sat and
stared talking in hushed whispers, about them no doubt.

“
I don’t know about you two men, but
I
could do with
another drink,” Emary announced, patting them both on the back
“Something stronger than the
water
that they call ale here!”

“
More like
passed
water,” Luccius grimaced.

Emary stepped up to the bar. “Three mazers of fire water,”
she instructed.

“
You
better have the funds to match that order,” the barkeeper said with
the same lack of warmth as before, reaching under the wooden
surface and pulling a porcelain bottle with iron-tinted
pigmentations in the shape of flames from its confines. “I paid
good money for this to be imported from Aslemer.”

“
Have I not
paid
you for
every
drop of ale I have drunk these last few days?” she
retorted feistily. The man raised his brow. Tutting, Emary dove
inside her overcoat and pulled out two silvery coins with a square
hole cut in the middle. She gestured with them to the man, and then
dropped them on to the bar. They clunked like weights as they
landed. The man nodded and then set the bottle beside them and
brought out from beneath the bar three wooden, bowl-like cups, and
filled them a quarter full each.

"Is
that all you can afford?" Luccius exclaimed at the puddle of liquid
in the cups.

Emary smiled and ignored him. She handed them each a cup and
nodded toward the far wall. "There is a table free."

The
three of them sat down in the corner of the room close enough to
the fire to heat them nicely, but far enough away from other
occupied benches to stop anyone from eavesdropping.

Luccius sniffed at the drink Emary had bought. "It
smells like
paint
thinner," he said. “What did you say this was
called?”

“
Fire water,” Emary advised, grinning.

“
I thought you said you wanted something
stronger
than water?”
Matthias jibed as he studied the small cup in his
hand.

“
Smell
it Matthias. This is
no
water!” Luccius
exclaimed.

“
Less talking and more drinking!” Emary beckoned to him. The
ansuwan took the first sip and his eyes welled up with tears. He
coughed and choked back the liquid.

“
I might go blind!”
he spluttered.

Emary laughed over her own cup. "You are as soft
as
butter
, rabbit ears!"

Luccius grimaced at both the comment and the
drink. "How can you
possibly
enjoy this?"

"It has a
unique
flavour," Matthias said, smacking his
lips.

“
How
are you not gagging?” Luccius asked in
amazement.

Matthias shrugged. "Once you get past the initial shock, it
isn't that bad." He set the cup down. "Thank you."

Emary nodded. "A
peace
offering," she advised. "It seems we
are
both
victims of circumstances, wielder."

"Me a
victim
..." Matthias tested the word. "Perhaps. But I
appreciate the gesture." He took another sip.

"How
old are you?” Luccius asked her.

"I
am in my thirtieth cycle," she advised. "Why do you
ask?"

Luccius shrugged. “Just curious.” Emary smiled at
him. His cheeks flushed, and he thought hard for another subject.
“So
why
would there be a demon here Matthias?” he asked
quickly.

“
I
don’t know. The sorcerers could be extending their
reach.”

“
Sorcerers… I don’t know this word,” Emary said.

“
Wielders,” Matthias advised. “
Very
powerful men.”

Emary nodded. “And they are after you?” she asked.

“
Sort of. It’s a long story,” Luccius added.

“
That sounds like a story I would like to
hear
.”

“
Perhaps another time,” Matthias advised.

“
You have somewhere
else
to be?” she asked.

“
No.
I just don’t want to relive past experiences right now.”

“
You cannot
run
from the past,” Emary
instructed.

“
You can
try
,” Luccius interjected and finished his fire water,
sticking out his tongue.

The girl looked at them with curiosity. “You
mentioned a
dragon
outside. Surely you do not speak of a real,
living
dragon?”

“
And
if we do?” Matthias asked.

“
Then I would like to hear your story
even
more
.”

Matthias drummed his fingers on the table and
peered into the mazer at the remaining liquid. Then he opened his
mouth. “
Alright
,” he sighed. “I’ll tell you. But I have
conditions.”

Emary smiled and shifted in her seat. “Which are?”

“
If I am to tell you, then you have to swear to
keep what I have told you secret from
everyone
,” he said, placing a hand into his
pocket.

She bowed her head. “I am a woman of honour. I
will keep your secrets. What are your
other
terms?”

“
Just
one
other.” He brought his hand out of his pocket and
placed in, palm-down, on the table, and slid three gold coins
towards her. “If you
are
a bounty hunter, then I would like to buy
your
services
.”

Luccius’ eyes boggled. “
What?
” he exclaimed. “Are you
serious
Matthias?”

“
She
is seeking employment, and we need help,” he replied. He turned to
her. “You will find no more honourable quest than ours.”

“
I
take it I do not get to hear of this quest before I choose to
accept it?” she asked.

“
If
I am to tell you our story, then I need to be sure you are bound to
it as well,” he said. “So what is it to be?”

Emary looked him in the eyes a moment, and then
picked up one of the coins. “Unusual markings.” She rolled it
between her fingers. “I will agree to work with you. But with
one
additional
condition for
my
part.” Matthias beckoned her to continue. “That should my
country have need of me during my employment with you, that I will
be free to break from our contract.”

“
Not
very favourable terms for us,” Matthias suggested. “What if you
need to leave a week from now?”

“
Unlikely. But should it happen during our journey together,
then I will return to help you when my work is done.”

“
That may be too late,” Matthias said. He weighed his next
words. “But I suppose it will have to be acceptable.”

Emary grinned and held out a hand. Matthias took
it. “Then we have a
contract
,” she advised. “I would say this calls for another drink!”
Luccius groaned.

Josephine sat at the edge of her bed, fiddling
with a loose strand of cotton on the poorly stitched sheet. Sleep
was not coming easily to her. Thoughts of Crystal Ember haunted her
dreams. The cries of the children as Sikaris blew a torrent of
flame down upon them had woken her up screaming every night since
the event. She saw herself up above in the moving fortress,
powerless to do anything against the beast as it rained destruction
on the city. And then, last night, she had been disturbed by
another, more
obscure
dream.

She
was in Rina, but it was not the city she knew. It was ‘Old Rina’,
the city of legendary times, destroyed hundreds of years ago. There
were no white, stone walls, no hotchpotch of platforms and houses
clambering atop one another as in her own Rina. This version of the
city was built upon great tree trunks and wrought metals, twisted
together in bizarre and artistic patterns to form grandiose
buildings and pathways, curling around each other in masterful
designs. It was a city that had been constructed with the help of
the Akari. A city on whose ashes her own land was built.

She
moved through its streets, the stone beneath her feet flattened
completely smooth, unlike the cobbled roads of the Rina she knew
and watched as people all around her carried on with their daily
activities. Their clothing was strange to her, and yet she could
pick out similarities here and there with some of the current
fashions. Their speech was strangely alien. Given they were her
ancestors she had expected to be able to understand them easily,
but it was as if she were in a foreign land. Every few words she
caught something that sounded vaguely familiar, but the
conversations going on around her were lost to her ears. The common
tongue had evolved much in the centuries since this
scene.