by AJ Martin
They had two more days of travel until they were to reach their port of call: a small harbour town with little more there than the dock itself of interest. It was: “A town that even the fleas had deserted,” captain Rilam had told him, when he had originally asked to sail that far upstream. “Not many call that town as home any more, save those that have no other choice. Tanavern is known by those places around as the ‘Stew of the North’. And I don’t mean ‘stew’ as in the food. There are different kinds of appetites that are sated in Tanavern.”
Nevertheless, being the furthest port north that it was possible to reach, Matthias had insisted on their passage and the captain had agreed, for a price. From there the village of Gormal in the mountains of the same name was close. It was a village steeped in the mountains: the furthest settlement in Aralia. Once through those mountains they would be in Olindian Territory and one step closer to Crystal Ember. If Matthias read his tattered map properly, there were two ways around the mountains. They would have to determine which would be better for them. Time was slipping through the hourglass far too quickly. He would ask Thadius in the morning.
More pressingly on his mind was the fact that the princess’s time to learn about her abilities was running out. Their journey on Providence may be their only real chance to make considerable progress. Earlier in the day he had sat with her, but she had been unable to recreate her feat of the previous week until late into the afternoon, and even then she had only held the strange structures in her view for a few seconds before they vanished. She had barked at him to leave afterwards, frustrated and tired. But things were going too slowly and he impressed upon her they couldn’t leave it until the morning to try again. She had thrown her pillow at him and pushed him out of the door. Little good it would do if they made it to Crystal Ember in time and she couldn’t do anything! Not to mention the other dangers that could await her. That made his stomach turn almost as much as the dragon. He thought earlier that evening about telling her the whole truth: that the information alone might spur her on. But she was under enough pressure as it was without him adding to her worries. No, perhaps that information could wait a bit longer. He had to do something to motivate her though, and if fear wasn’t the answer then that something had to be hope. Tomorrow he would try and help her to restore some confidence.
Irritably he cast the book aside and lay down upon his bed with his hands behind his head. There was something else troubling him though at the back of his mind, beyond the current issues with the princess that plagued his senses. What was it? He closed his eyes and inhaled slowly for several minutes, calming his mind. So many thoughts and feelings spun in his head that it was growing harder and harder to keep them all together. Ah yes, that was it. It was something that had been bothering him for a while now since his last conversation with Master Pym. His mind’s eye cast itself back to the discussion.
“We stare into a Horizon of Storms, Matthias. Remember that. We must navigate them carefully or else all is lost.”
What did that mean? He knew when to read between the lines, and Master Pym never said anything to him like that without a reason. There must be some use for the phrase. He had not heard it before, not could he recall anything from his studies that shed light on the matter. Perhaps he was over- reacting to a throwaway line? Except, nothing Pym said to him had ever been throwaway. It felt as if he was trying to tell Matthias something else without actually having to tell it. Given all Pym had disclosed to him at that point he was surprised the man did not just come out and tell him. But he must have had his reasons. Wizards always had their reasons. That was the problem.
“I wish I could speak to you, Master Pym,” he whispered. “I could do with some advice right now.”
The candle on the bedside cabinet grew dim and snuffed out with a fizzle. Matthias stared at the wisps of grey smoke twirling in the air. He still had one more candle in his bag, but he left it. The darkness was quite comforting. Sleep came at last.
Before she blew out the tiny candle, which was by this late hour on its last legs, Josephine checked the lock on her compartment door. Sealed shut. Good. Thadius had insisted that she not sleep alone, but she had insisted harder that she would, and with that he had left her alone but not before he had secured her assurance that she would lock the door and not let anyone else in unless she was certain who it was. The knight was as bad as her father, if not worse.
She had been ready to go to bed a few hours ago, yet she could not quite bring herself to snuff out the candle. It had just been a stupid dream, she told herself, and nothing more! But somehow that did not help. Slowly, carefully, she slid back into the sheets and blew out the flame. The compartment fell into darkness, save for a slither of moonlight through the circular window, whose reflection off the water sent rippling shapes dancing about the ceiling. Warily, she closed her eyes. Sleep took her quickly.
When Josephine opened her eyes again she was flying in a sea of stars. She was in her nightgown and all around her was the night sky: pinpricks of starlight winking at her from where she hovered. She tried to move and whilst she could flex all her limbs, she couldn’t seem to move forward or back. She looked down and gasped. A great sphere sat just in front and beneath her, shrouded in darkness all around it. A glowing aura of blue shone along its rim.
“What is this?” she whispered, staring at the orb. She could make out shapes amongst the blue: green and brown formations mottled with speckles of white above them. Her eyes focussed on one of them, directly in front of her and she gasped. It was in the shape of Triska. She was familiar with the tooth- like shape of the continent from maps she had seen of the known world, even if those drawings and sketches were slightly skewed in places in comparison to what she was looking at now. “I’m above Erithia,” she breathed. “Above the world!” She looked around her again. “I’m in the heavens themselves!” She breathed quickly as she spun her head back and forth at her surroundings. “What am I doing here?” she breathed. “Is it the gods? Are you here?” she asked.
There was a flare from the periphery of the world below and the sun spilled into her vision. She shielded her eyes from the glare – it was impossibly bright! She squinted and watched as a line of dazzling sunshine shimmered off the sea and covered the land below. A movement from the corner of her eye made her look to her right. She gasped again. A figure was watching her, garbed in white. Their skin was a light blue and they had mercury coloured eyes. It was an Akari.
“What-” Josephine opened her mouth to ask a question, but then the world around her flickered and she was spinning, faster and faster, the stars now lines of light swirling all around her body. She opened her mouth to scream as she fell, as she was drawn away from the world, from the figure. As her vision began blurred she could make out amongst those spinning stars more worlds amongst her own, all swirling around the sun. A whispering voice filled her ears, repeating the same word over and over again: a word so foreign to her ears in its pronunciation she had to strain to make it out: Asternabai.
Her body jolted in the bed, bouncing up off the mattress, as if she had just been struck by lightning. She sat up, gasping heavily. “Bad dreams!” She panted. “They’re just bad dreams!” Her hands were shaking and her body was covered in sweat. Just as she began to calm herself, there was a thud just above her cabin and she jumped again with a shriek. There were screams. Hastily she jumped up, drew the latch on her door, and threw open her door. She ran up the stairs to the deck and then skidded to a halt, clasping a hand to her mouth at what she saw.
A creature flew down towards the boat, its bat - like, leathery, oily wings fluttering in the wind and shimmering in the moonlight. Its beak was crooked and bronzed and its eyes beady and searching. Matthias was on deck, his staff in his hand. But he wasn’t throwing fireballs at the creature as he had done before with the other creatures. Instead he gripped his staff in both hands, as if ready to strike the creature with it. Luccius also ran about the decking, gripping his spear menacingly. In
the darkness she almost missed Thadius who lay on the floor, clutching to his leg.
“Thadius!” she exclaimed and ran to him. He struggled to his feet.
“Princess! What are you doing up here! It’s not safe!” he panted.
“What is going on?” she asked and helped him stand. Her feet felt moist and she noticed that the decking where Thadius had sat was slick with blood. “You’re hurt badly!” she swallowed.
“I’ve had worse princess,” he said, hefting his sword. “Now you need to get back inside. Duck!”
The creature swooped at them and Thadius drew Josephine beneath him. It landed on the soldier’s back and its beak tore into his shirt and pierced his skin along his shoulder blade. Blood burst from the wound as the creature flapped atop him, its claws scratching his back. He pushed the princess aside and swung at the animal with his sword, but the creature flew out of range and then proceeded to torment another passenger: Lady Eliza from Olindia, who was also staying on the boat. The woman screamed and fainted, collapsing to the floor, and as the creature stretched out to claw her helpless figure, Captain Rilam jumped in front of her and waved a dagger at the creature threateningly. The beast caught him on his side before he could hurt it and then he slipped on the deck and fell down too.
“Damn!” yelled Luccius as he ran towards it, thrusting with his spear. “It’s too fast for me!” It bore down on him and he managed to slice at its wing before he was knocked in the stomach by the creature’s ferocious beak. He fell backwards over the railings and plunged into the river.
“Don’t you think now would be a good time to use your ‘secret weapon’?” Thadius bellowed at Matthias suggestively. “Josephine is in danger!”
The wizard looked at the knight and then glanced at the captain, where he lay staring at the creature in the sky. “Not if I can help it!” Matthias called back. “We still have the advantage!”
“That’s easy for you to say when you’ve not had a chunk of flesh taken from your back and leg by the beast!” the knight barked. “People are hurt! Luccius is overboard! You must end this!”
“Just keep fighting!” the wizard snapped.
The creature jumped high again, its wing cut, black liquid dribbling from the wound and spattering the deck. It turned in the air and swooped down again, its wings tucked in and fell like a javelin towards Matthias. The wizard moved backwards and then, with a sleight of foot, outmanoeuvred it, throwing his staff around and striking it hard in the face.
“Haha! Got you!” he smiled victoriously. The creature didn’t seem to like that. It turned almost on the spot and flapped at him wildly, knocking the staff from his hand and scratching at his face. Matthias spun round and then his foot slipped on the congealed blood that still splattered the deck from the creature’s wing. He cracked his head on the floor and the world blacked out.
Thadius turned to the princess again. “Josephine, get down below now!” he ordered. She looked taken aback a moment, but then nodded and began to move towards the door to the cabins. As she did so the creature screamed and sailed towards her. Thadius ran after it. “Run Josephine!”
The princess made it to the steps as a whistling sound in the air made her turn round. The creature rocketed at her head. There was no time to think. She closed her eyes, shielded her face with her hands, and then a split second later heard a loud thump. She jumped with a yelp. Delicately, after a moment of silence, she opened one eye, then another, and peered around. The creature was lying limp in front of her, a tangled mess of wings and talons. She poked at it with a foot. It didn’t move.
“What… what happened?” she asked Thadius, who skidded by her side. He looked at her confounded.
“It was as if it hit a wall in mid air in front of you!” he exclaimed, his face pale. “It was so close to you. There was nothing I could do! It was so fast! And then… it just slid off thin air and landed at your feet! ”
There came a groan from a way behind them and Matthias was pushing himself to his feet. He snapped to quickly and saw the creature lying in a lump. He jogged towards them. “Are you hurt?” he asked Josephine.
“She very nearly was!” Thadius growled. He grabbed Matthias’s arm and pulled him closer, lowering his voice. “Maintaining our cover is not nearly as important as the princess’s life! You should have used your powers!”
The wizard pulled his arm free and raised a hand to his head, wincing at the pain. “We’ll talk about it later, when we are alone,” he whispered. The knight’s eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched.
“I… I don’t know what happened,” the princess said dreamily. Thadius said it hit something in the air.” She looked at the creature again. “Did I…. did I do that?”
“Help!” a voice suddenly cried from the darkness.
“Luccius!” Josephine gasped, suddenly remembering. “He’s in the water!” She ran to the edge of the boat, poking her head under the rails. Luccius was in the water a little way behind, gripping to a rope at the stern and spluttering.
“Is it over?” he asked.
“Yes!” Josephine replied. “We are fine Luccius. It’s dead!”
“Good. Then could someone get me out of here?” he chattered. “It’s freezing!”
To The Mountains
127th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
Josephine sat on the side of her bed in her compartment below deck and studied her hands idly, lost in thought. There was a knock at the door and then Matthias said: “Josephine, can I come in?” She stood up and undid the latch and beckoned entrance. The door opened and Matthias slipped in between the tight gap, closing the door behind him.
“How is everyone?” the princess asked, slumping back on the bed.
Matthias nodded. “They’re all fine. I healed Thadius’s wounds, though he resisted for a while and didn’t speak to me throughout. Luccius is warming up. Captain Rilam gave him some brandy, so he is in his element. Lady Eliza and he are alright.”
“And your head?” she asked.
“It only hurts when I move. Or think. Or breathe.”
“Can you not heal it?” she asked.
“In a while. I tired myself out healing Thadius first.”
“I am sorry,” Josephine ventured.
“Why?” Matthias asked.
“It was after me!” she exclaimed.
“You stopped the demon!” Matthias responded.
“By accident!” she rebuffed.
“We knew there’d be more attacks. I should have been more ready myself. I was down in my room when I should have been keeping watch.”
“You are exhausted as well! I haven’t seen you sleep once since we left Rina! You can’t be there every waking second of the day. None of you can.”
“I gave your father my word I wouldn’t let any harm come to you,” Matthias responded. He shook his head. “I’m not doing a particularly good job so far. Thadius isn’t happy with me for not using my power. I can’t say I blame him.”
“You didn’t use your power because you didn’t want the captain to know you are a wizard?” she asked.
“We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile,” Matthias said. “I don’t want talk of there being a wizard around causing more problems.”
“These creatures are after me, not you. I know I made you disguise yourself further when you made me do the same, but in the circumstances, would it have hurt if the captain knew you are a wizard? It would have saved another fight. A wizard in Aralia is not unheard of, after all.”
“Perhaps not,” Matthias mused. Then he shook his head and placed a hand to his temple. “It would certainly have saved a lot of pain if I had! Perhaps it was not one of my better plans.”
“I could have done something more,” the princess said quietly. “I just stood there watching you all fight the thing! And then I ran away. It was only blind luck that I instinctively used my power.”
“Is that why you seem so sombre?” Matthias asked.
“I cannot keep relying on you a
ll alone to defend me!” She swallowed. “I froze when I saw the creature. I didn’t know what to do. I am nothing but a lucky coward.”
“Now that’s not true,” Matthias said reassuringly. “I think you are one of the bravest people I have ever known.”
She sniffed. “You are either lying or concussed.”
“I’m not lying. Though I may be concussed,” he smiled. “It takes courage to do what you’re doing princess. You should not be so hard on yourself for struggling to adapt to new circumstances. It takes time.”
“I thought you said the one thing we don’t have is time?” the princess rebuffed. She sighed. “I would like to continue with my lessons when your head is feeling better.”
“Of course,” Matthias replied.
“I want to be prepared when we reach Crystal Ember. I think I have resisted your lessons because I have been reluctant to accept my situation. But the next time something like that thing attacks me I want to be able to throw something of my own making right back at it!”
Matthias placed a hand on her arm. “We will see what we can do, eh?” he said. Then he stood up. “I’ll let you sleep,” he advised.
“There was one other thing,” the princess advised. Matthias nodded for her to continue. “Just before I awoke to the chaos on deck I had a dream.”
“Another nightmare?” Matthias asked.
Josephine shook her head. “It wasn’t a nightmare per se. I was floating in the sky, above Erithia. It was beautiful, like nothing I’ve ever seen. The stars were all around me, glittering in the dark. And then there was a figure standing in mid- air with me. I think it was an Akari.”
Matthias sat down again next to her. “Go on,” he prompted.