The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (96 page)

Josephine walked amongst the blackened remains of what had
once been a thriving Olindian village. She had arrived after
travelling intently for another day and a half, to find the dragon
gone, and the entire landscape for a mile around charred and
devastated beyond belief. A thin spring stream continued to trickle
its way amongst the burnt wooden houses and disjointed cobbles, the
only sound in an eerily quiet land the bubbling water within its
confines as it made its way downstream.

She
picked her way gingerly around the wreckage sadly, looking for any
signs of life. But she knew there would be none. The dragon would
have left no - one alive here. How could such evil exist? How could
any one being take pleasure from killing innocent men, women and
children? She discarded the thought. She knew from what Matthias
had told her that the dragon itself was not to blame. It was the
dark possession that had taken place centuries ago that tainted its
mind that was to blame. Regardless, Sikaris had done much damage to
Olindia in the weeks since he was released. This most recent
village was yet another ghost town, reduced to dust and another
charred blot on the map. The question was now, which way did he
travel? Was there any clue as to his whereabouts now? She pulled
the water canister from her bundle and unscrewed the top. The
tiniest drip remained inside it and so she bent down at the stream
and dipped it into the cold, refreshing water. As she did so, her
ears pricked up at a sound behind her. She turned her head to look
behind herself.

Before she could even see what was coming and react, she was
struck by a surge of energy that knocked her into the stream. She
felt as if she had been beaten with a stick a hundred times in a
split second. She tried to sit up and looked up groggily. Her eyes
widened. Fenzar and the two wizards that were with him in Tamet
walked towards her.

“
Ah, my
dear
Princess Josephine,” he began. “You look
well!
”

Instantly she reached for the power and shifted herself,
trying to stand quickly from her awkward stance in the
water.

“
Ah - ah!
” Fenzar lifted a hand and another globule of
energy slammed into her, forcing her down again and dazzling her,
cutting her off from the power. She felt invisible bonds wrapping
around her legs and midriff. “
Please
, stay as you were. You have led us on
quite
the merry dance, my
girl, and I don’t
intend
to lose you again.”

“
How did you find me?”
she asked.

“
The innkeeper in Tamet told us of your work in her
establishment. But when she went to find you,
low and
behold
, you
had
vanished
. We have methods of tracking your movements, but even
then, you proved difficult to follow, weaving in and out of fields
and meadows. Finally we encountered some refugees and a woman
helpfully pointed out that a woman of your description was seen
talking with a man in their party. It didn't take much to trace you
from there when we learned of the dragon's presence here.” He
scoffed. “
Surely
you didn't intend to face him on your
own?”

“
That was the general idea,”
she said, as she struggled to
find the power again. Whatever he had done to her was making it
difficult to concentrate.

“
Where are Matthias and the
rest
of your entourage?” He
asked.

“
I don't know,” she replied. “My guardsman was
killed several weeks ago. I was trying to escape from a
sorcerer
.”

Fenzar looked at her in surprise. “You
know
about them?” he
asked. She nodded. “But not even
Matthias
was aware of their part in all this. We
kept it from lower wizards for obvious reasons.”

“
Much
has happened along my journey,” she
said.

Fenzar nodded. “You have been busier than we
anticipated. You are more resourceful than
anyone
would have assumed,
that
much is certain.”

“
I have found out a lot. But there are still a lot
of unanswered questions. But
you
could fill in the gaps for me. I know your people
have been keeping things from the rest of the world. I know the
dragon is only a part of this puzzle. You could enlighten
me.”

“
Why would I
do
that?” he asked.

“
Because we are on the same side. We
both
want to stop the
dragon
and
the sorcerers. If we work
together
then we will have a
much
greater chance of stopping
them.”

“
We may have the same goals at the
moment
, perhaps, but that is
destined
to change, Your
Highness.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
You are a
woman
who can
wield
.” He shook his head. “Not only that, you can
wield the most
unpredictable
power in the world. You are an
anomaly
. A danger to
stability.”

“
You
are afraid I might come to challenge you? Is that it?” she asked.
Her eyes could not focus on the energy as they normally could. What
had he done to her?

“
I am afraid of what you might do when you reach
your full potential and when your mind becomes
inevitably
poisoned against us.” He
sighed. “I must admit, when word reached that you were in the
fortress in Crystal Ember when the dragon attacked, I experienced a
flutter of
relief
.”

“
Is your bloodlust
so
high?” she snapped back.

“
Quite the opposite. To have the situation
rectified without my having a hand in it would have been
much
less regrettable.
You are, after all, a princess. Do you think I
enjoy
what I have to do?”

“
That is
exactly
what I think. Your entire
nature
, your posturing point to nothing
but
pleasure in your
work.”

“
On
the contrary. I do not desire this.”

“
You could always
choose
to let me
go
, if you are
so
unhappy with your orders.”

“
If
only
it were so easy. You are an unstable element in an
already
deadly
situation.”

“
And that warrants my being
killed
?” Josephine asked.

Fenzar sighed. “You are young, my dear and perhaps ignorant
to how the threads of this world are so tightly woven together.
Your every step threatens to unravel the peace.”

“
The
dragon
is free! The peace is
already
lost!”

“
Oh my dear girl, you know of the sorcerers now.
You
must
see that there is
so
much more at stake than that. Your power is too
great
to be let
loose.”

“
Then let me use it to
help
you! I have learned
so
much! I can be
useful!”

“‘
Hollow is the promise of a woman who
wields,’
”
Fenzar recited. “That was said by one of your ancient kings. Your
great – great – great – great - great grandfather, I
believe.”

Josephine nodded. “He was the one in my dreams I
think,” she whispered. “He
lay
with an Akari.
He
is the reason I am able to use this
power.”

“
We have come to the
same
conclusion. One of our scholars found that line in
an old parchment we uncovered two weeks ago. We have been searching
for answers too. Those were the first of his words denouncing the
Akari in a
tirade
of anger.”

“
Meaning what exactly?”
 

“
The Akari who he was involved with vanished with
all the others soon after giving birth. Your ancestor thought she
had betrayed him and abandoned his kingdom. As war descended, he
grew bitter and twisted. The ‘Tyrant King’, he would become known
as.” Fenzar shook his head gravely. “Your kind preach peace but
bring
nothing
but war to the world.”

“
That is nothing but propaganda and speculation!”
Josephine rebuffed. She felt a flicker of the energy for a moment
but then it snuffed out like a tinder stick in the wind.
Gods damn
it!

“
Are
you aware of the battle of Plassey?” The wizard asked.

“
I
have never heard of it,” Josephine replied.

“
Three hundred years ago, men of my land allied
themselves with Armylla the witch, to cleanse the Plassey gorge of
an infestation of riptyl demons. We let our guards down and let a
woman help us then. They launched their attack on the creatures,
only for Armylla to betray them and turn to the aid of the demons.
Six
hundred
men were slaughtered. Then there's the cautionary tale of
Melanor the farmer, who entrusted his livelihood to a woman who
pledged to bring the rains and rejuvenate his harvests only to find
himself cruelly tricked and his crops burned to ash. History
is
littered
with examples where men have been fool enough to believe
the promises of women who can wield. They have ended in death and
betrayal.”

“
Is that reason enough never to trust
any
woman who might be
able to help you? Not
least
one who may be chosen by the
gods?”

“
That is not proven, in
spite
of what Matthias Greenwald might have told
you. And I think these examples of history show a
dangerous
precedent. If you
put your hand in a vipers nest and it bites you, would you then
risk being bitten again by putting your hand back in? Those who do
not
learn
from history face
becoming
history.”

“
That's not the same
thing!
It is a foolish analogy. You can't
possibly
compare a woman to
a snake! It's in their
nature
to bite!”

“
And so it
is
with women who can wield.  You are
driven
by a
thirst
for more power. You
will
betray all those you swear fealty to
in order to possess it.”

“
How small
minded
you are,” Josephine spat. “Once I thought Mahalia
was a land filled with
wise
men. I never
liked
your kind, or the grip you held over my kingdom.
But even so, I thought that behind all the politics and power
games, there might at
least
be great minds at work behind that guise. But now
I see Mahalia is truly governed by a small minded,
backwards
elite. Your
ignorance
will be your
downfall.”

“
On the
contrary
, princess. We know more of the workings of this
world than you could ever
hope
to understand. But now I am afraid the time has
come to end this conversation. I must do what must be
done.”

Fenzar indicated to the two men lurking behind him with a
finger. One of them brought out of his cloak a miniature golden
ornament of a figure held between his thumb and forefinger. The
metal was moulded into the shape of a woman with her eyes closed,
her hands crossed in front of her chest, fingers folded.

“
Your carriage awaits, princess,” Fenzar said, taking the
figurine and raising it so that Josephine could see the full
details of the figure. She wore a circlet around her forehead, into
which a teardrop gemstone was set. It glinted in the
light.