The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1

by AJ Martin

  “You will do no such thing,” Rajinal commanded, as he forced a new candle into the holder and scraped away the solidifying waxy residue. “We need to remain hidden as Maevik says. If anything should go wrong and one of them escaped or worse, if you were killed...” He shook his head. “We cannot expose ourselves to unnecessary risks! If even one of us dies then we cannot proceed with the return. Use Grimm, Kala, as we have discussed. Give him whatever you think necessary to stop their band of travellers in their tracks once and for all.” He set the candle back in place, lit it by touching a finger to the wick, and their murderous faces lit up again.

  “I must go,” Silar announced suddenly, elegantly rising from the table. “I need to be seen in the palace in a few minutes. It will arouse suspicion otherwise.” The others nodded their acceptance.

  “Before you go, Silar, you have not said much lately on how things are progressing in Aslemer?” Rajinal queried. Silar gave a thin smile, elevating one of his thin moustaches.

  “Quite nicely. I have secured my position with Emperor Chalize even further over the last few weeks. The assault on the Ishlamarian territory was enough to win a great deal of his trust, and since then I have helped him to expand his reach further north as well. My ‘alliance’ with him is cemented. He listens to me.”

  “He still does not suspect your cover story at all?” Maevik wheezed. When Silar shook his head, the old man harrumphed. “I am surprised, I must say. A runaway wizard? I thought you would have been seen through months ago! Especially with that other wizard in Olindia. How many of their kind would Mahalia really allow to flee their ranks?”

  “Well what can I say, Maevik? It’s not just the story, it’s the way you tell it and the way you play the part.”

  “Well done my friend,” Rajinal nodded. “Your hard work there has paid off well. Even when the dragon is released, we will need to drive more distrust between as many countries as we can and sow the seeds of chaos to blind the people to their ultimate fate. We will be vulnerable until we can guarantee the return.”

  “Just you three concentrate on releasing the dragon and stopping that girl,” Silar said waspishly, pointing a long, thin finger at them each in turn. “I will deal with the rest. The dragon’s prison is more tangled and knotty than Maevik’s beard. To unpick it undetected will take time, but we can’t slack. It is still a massive task, even for us, in spite of how long we have had to prepare.” He bid a final nod to them all and then glided out of the door elegantly, his flowing dress robes sliding across the ground behind him.

  “I must be off soon too,” Maevik grumbled. “There are many threads to stitch up now this wizard has interfered.” He shook his head. “We should have been more prepared for this, especially after what Grimm managed to recall.”

  “The wizard and this merry band is of no consequence,” Kala said confidently, waving the man away with a hand. “I will make sure the princess does not get further then Gormal. I have a few new ideas for Grimm already.”

  “Good,” Rajinal said. “I am progressing well with gathering the armies.”

  “If you can call that rabble an army any longer,” Kala retorted. “They have been without authority for far too long!”

  “Tend to your own matters Kala. They are my problem. And remember, we are due to begin the next phase in weakening the dragon’s prison tomorrow as well.”

  The Bralene River

  127th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  “Well this is actually rather nice, even if the room is a little small!” Josephine laughed as she bounced up and down on her bed moments after being shown to her cabin. Everything was in miniature, scaled down to fit the proportions of the boat. The bed was just large enough to curl up on and even then it was a squeeze to avoid her feet dangling off the bottom as she stretched out and extended her arms as far as they would go to her sides. A small candleholder complete with a candle sat on a compact bedside table by the boxy bed and that was all that there was.

  “If it can be called a room,” Thadius muttered as they crowded into the room. “I’ve seen stables with more conveniences.”

  Matthias shook his head. “What did you expect?” he asked. “You’re a soldier anyway. Have you grown too comfortable in Rina and forgotten what it’s like to travel?”

  Thadius opened his mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Josephine, who said: “It is certainly better than sitting on grass and rock in the cold of night!” She patted the sheet. “This will do nicely.” She lay her head down on the pillow and stared up at the low, wooden ceiling.

  “Please, don’t get up!” Matthias said acerbically to her, as he set the princess’s bag on the floor. “Let us do all the lifting.”

  “Well you all seem determined to do everything for me anyway, so why should I fight it?” Josephine replied, a wry grin on her face.

  “Thadius is determined to do everything for you, not me!” Matthias responded. “I’m not a pack horse!”

  “Are you all going to be arguing like this all the way to Crystal Ember?” Luccius asked, squeezing past Matthias and sitting next to Josephine on the bed. “Because if you are then I really need to get a flask of whisky to accompany me the rest of the way.” He shook his head. “I hate arguments and you all are extremely good at starting them.”

  “I believe arguing is almost sport in Mahalia, is it not?” Josephine smirked at Matthias.

  Matthias opened his mouth to retort cuttingly, but then closed it and smiled broadly. “Not at all, princess. We simply debate matters strongly.”

  “Ah,” she said with an equally loaded grin. “Then you, Matthias Greenwald, are an expert at such debating.”

  “When I choose to make a point, I do so with clarity and precision,” the wizard replied.

  Luccius shook his head. “It’s like speaking to a stone,” he muttered.

  “I still wish we didn’t have to leave the horses behind,” Thadius murmured. “They were good horses.”

  “This was the only boat leaving here that could accommodate us for a week,” Matthias replied. “We might as well have ridden to the mountains if we waited for one that could accommodate the horses as well. Besides, Madam Landar at the inn promised she would take good care of them for us.”

  “More likely she will sell them on the first chance she gets,” Thadius grumbled again. “Or eat them!”

  “Eat them?” Luccius exclaimed.

  “She was Olindian. I could tell by her accent. You know they’ll eat anything that moves. I once saw one eat a cricket! What meat is there on a cricket? What is the point?”

  “Oh calm yourself, Thadius,” Josephine interjected. “I like this boat. It is cosy. The horses will be fine. When we return to Rina I will have them sent for, if that will make you feel any better? And if she has eaten them I’ll send her to the stocks.”

  They got underway shortly after they boarded, the boat making quick progress as it funnelled its way steadily down the river, its unique mechanisms whirring away inside the hull to propel two wheels at its rear that pushed the water behind itself with force. Josephine sat in her little room, quite pleased at getting more privacy from the others and watched from her porthole window as the harbour quickly disappeared behind her and the scenery changed to dense woodland. The sound of birds chirping in the surrounding trees and the churning, flowing water lulled her into a doze. She slumped upright by the window for what must have been at least an hour before she awoke again. She stretched her arms and got up off the bed, smoothed off her skirt and made her way up through the narrow walkway between the compartments and outside to the side of the boat, where she peered over the copper rail and watched the water slide peacefully by.

  “Enjoying yourself?” Luccius beamed, landing beside her without warning. She jumped.

  “Oh! Luccius, you startled me! Yes, it is quite lovely,” she replied, closing her eyes as a light breeze blew her hair back and cooled her face.

  “Quite picturesque,” he said, tapping his hands on the
rail. A pewter ring on his left finger made a chime as he drummed a tune on it. “Quite different from being on a seaborne ship.”

  “You have been to sea then I take it?” Josephine asked.

  He nodded. “It was from the Tekri Seaport. I travelled with a Tekritian Merchant Company vessel. It was pretty grand. It had the most enormous sails you ever would see! And when it moved it forced its way through the water, like it was master of the ocean and the waves should have broken before its bow at its command.”

  Josephine sighed. “A most wonderful life you have had Mister Luccius,” she replied. “To be free as a bird without a care in the world.”

  “It has its moments,” he replied. “Though I’d be lying if my life was as free as you may believe it to be.”

  “How so?” Josephine asked.

  He shook his head and waved her away. “Oh, it’s nothing. Forget I mentioned it. Don’t you enjoy your life back in Rina?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “It is a nice life,” Josephine sighed. “I want for nothing, for which I am grateful. But as I said to you before, it doesn’t afford you much time to get out and see the world. Most of my time I have spent learning how to rule Aralia when I succeed my father, or dancing at court.”

  “You’re a good dancer?” Luccius asked.

  Josephine’s mouth quirked into a smile. “Well, I practice my footwork every chance I get.”

  Luccius threw out his hands. “Dance with me then,” he said.

  Josephine shook her head. “Oh no, no really I couldn’t.”

  “Why not?” the ansuwan asked.

  “It is embarrassing! There is no music, for one thing!”

  Luccius gave up, and lowered his hands. “Well, alright. But you owe me a dance, Josephine!”

  She smiled. “Very well. But then you owe me an explanation of your previous comment.” Luccius’s ears twitched. “You cannot simply pique my curiosity with a titbit about your life and then brush it aside.” The ansuwan face fell and he looked away. Josephine watched him a moment and then turned her attention to the water again. “I must come back here to travel in this manner again, when I am done with this journey,” Josephine said.

  “I’m on the run,” Luccius said suddenly.

  Josephine looked surprised. “You are a criminal?” she asked.

  “Would it change your opinion of me if I were?” Luccius countered.

  Josephine shrugged. “I suppose it depends on the manner of your crime.”

  Luccius laughed and shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’m not a murderer or a thief, or anything like that. I’m just... not where I should be.”

  “That does not sound like much of a crime to me,” Josephine exclaimed.

  “Perhaps not where you come from,” Luccius responded sombrely.

  “Where should you be then?” the princess asked.

  “I told you my people do not get out much. Well, the reason is that it is against our laws to leave our Communities without a purpose that is deemed necessary by the Whole.”

  “The Whole?” Josephine queried.

  “The decision of my people as a unit. We all have a say in matters.”

  Josephine nodded. “I see. I take it you left then without the permission of the Whole?”

  Luccius smiled. “There is so much to see of this world! Why would anyone stay in one place? I packed up my bags and left one day and didn’t look back.”

  “Are your people searching for you?” Josephine asked.

  “I doubt it. In their eyes I have turned my back on them. They would not risk their lives for such a person.”

  Josephine placed a hand on Luccius’s arm. “It is their loss,” she smiled. “How long have you been away?”

  Luccius shrugged. “If I’m honest, I have lost count of the years now. I make my way around Triska, working here and there and earning some coin. Gambling’s always good for a few marks – especially dice! I seem to have luck when it comes to dice. People accuse me of cheating: that somehow my ears enable me to see predict the roll. I’ve had a few bar fights in my time because of that. Not that I enjoy them.”

  “What did you do before? In your… Community?” asked Josephine.

  “Nothing exciting,” he said quickly.

  Josephine eyed him doubtfully. “You know I have been brought up in a Court life, Luccius. Nowhere are there more liars, schemers and deceivers gathered together in one place. And I know when someone not telling the full truth when I see one. You do not make a good liar, ansuwan -man.”

  Luccius smiled. “It would bore you.”

  “It’s important to me if it means I find out a little more about you and who you are. You are my escort, after all. Does Matthias know what else you are hiding?” She asked. He looked sheepish. “I’ll take that as a yes. Then why will you not trust me? Have we not become close on our journey so far? Are we not friends?”

  “We are friends!” Luccius smiled. “It’s not personal Josephine. But there are some things I’d rather not tell anyone. Matthias knows my secrets because he has known me most of my life. And he understands why I hide them. Some demons should remain locked away.” He sniffed. “Just like Sikaris.”

  Josephine sighed and wrung her hands. “Well, if that is you final word, I will not press you on it further. I suppose we all have secrets we would rather no one knew. Mine was this power. Mind you, look how that has turned out!”

  “How are you feeling after your strange dream anyway?” Luccius asked as he watched a ripple in the water - a fish most probably.

  “I am alright, thank you. It just… well, it unnerved me.”

  “Well that’s understandable,” Luccius said.

  “It has been making me think,” she continued. “This may be such a dangerous journey. The others and yourself can only protect me so far. If it comes to it, I may have to defend myself. I have to be prepared to shed a little blood to do it. Even if it is my own.”

  “I suppose,” Luccius said breathily. “It was only a dream though. Remember that. We’re all here to defend you. You’re not alone. And Matthias will help you control your power. You can use that to defend yourself.”

  She snorted. “As much as it suits his needs perhaps. You really think after I have sealed up the dragon’s prison he will stay around and help me?”

  “I thought you and he had built up some trust?” Luccius asker her, surprised.

  “We have. But it has still only been a few days that we have known one another.”

  “Matthias is a good man. Complicated, perhaps, but I count him as my most trusted friend. He will help you.”

  “I don’t know if he even really likes me! You said it yourself, we argue more than we agree on matters. Sometimes we joke now, but perhaps that is all an act? Maybe he really is just using me?”

  Luccius laughed. “That’s just his way. He doesn’t hate you, Josephine, if that’s what you think. You saw how he helped you when you lost control, when Thadius and I couldn’t get to you to help. He cares about you. He’s just… well, he doesn’t express it in quite the same way as most of your kind.”

  “If in ‘quite the same way’ you mean he expresses himself as an ass, then yes, you are quite right!” Josephine snorted. Then she sighed and brushed the comment away with the flick of a hand. “I am only joking. I suppose I know he cares in some way. Oh, ignore me, I am being foolish!”

  “How do you feel towards him?” Luccius asked.

  “What do you mean?” Josephine stuttered.

  “Do you like him?” he asked. “As a friend, I mean. I did not mean to imply otherwise.”

  The princess nodded. “It’s hard to develop familial feelings for a man who tried to kidnap me,” she said.

  “You seem to have confidence in him though,” Luccius commented. “You trust his guidance?”

  She nodded. “But I am not used to someone who speaks to me as if I were not a princess. There have been very few people in my life who have done so.”

  “I would have th
ought that would be a good thing? Anyone can bow down to you and fawn to your every need. Anyone can agree with your every word. But what good is that?”

  She nodded. “I suppose it is refreshing. Most of the time.” She watched the water a moment and then sighed. “I think I will go back to my chamber now,” she said abruptly. She placed a hand on his arm. “Thank you for confiding in me as much as you have,” she said.

  “And you,” Luccius bowed his head. She turned and walked off to the underside of the boat.

  “What a pair,” Luccius sniffed, his ears twitching with amusement. “Humans.”

  Providence

  127th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Providence ploughed on through the water, the sun setting on her first day of travel. Her captain, Pren Rilam, was a stout fellow, dressed in country - style Aralian clothes: a brown waistcoat atop a loosely woven fabric shirt and baggy grey trousers tucked into tough, black leather boots. He was a pleasant enough man, which was more than could be said of the captain of the ship Matthias had caught on his way to Rina. Several times at sea he had wished he could have dunked that man in the water. But Pren seemed to be a decent man and even had a small bowl of food sent down for the traveller’s at supper for no additional cost to them. Matthias poked at the pottage with his wooden spoon as he sat cross - legged on his small bed, hunched over to stop himself from bumping his head on the low ceiling. The darkness of night clothed the countryside around the boat at the late hour and he lit the candle provided, plus one more he had stashed in his bag, to illuminate the book he now read. He was having trouble concentrating though. There was something tugging at him - a feeling of deep foreboding, a sense that something very bad was about to happen- or perhaps was happening right now. He had checked in with the others though, and they were all fine. Josephine was locked in for the night, a measure Thadius had insisted on. The knight did not want to take any risks. Still, something was stopping Matthias from relaxing. Maybe the last few days had got to him more than he would allow himself to admit.