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

by AJ Martin

Thadius paused. “Two hundred,” he mumbled under his breath.

  Matthias smiled. “Well that must have been quite a sight! That many men scrabbling around the rocks like ants. What were you up to that meant you took this way round into Olindia?” he asked.

  “Perhaps they were hunting the ‘four maidens’?” Luccius grinned, referencing Yarin. Josephine stifled a laugh as Thadius blushed.

  “It is not as bad as it sounds,” he responded.

  “Then tell us, good knight,” Josephine said.

  “Ahem. Perhaps it is still a little delicate for your ears, your highness,” he muttered. “I was young.”

  The jagged shadows around them lengthened as they continued further into the mountains. The gap narrowed and they were forced to climb around a series of ragged stones.

  “Look! People have carved things into the mountainside,” Luccius said, pointing to a series of crude scratched sketches along the side of the rocks. Then he threw his hand over one and turned to Josephine. “Princess, best not to look perhaps,” he blushed.

  Josephine shook her head. “You all assume that I am completely naive to the intricacies of life,” she commented. “I do know what goes on within the confines of a marital chamber.” She pulled his hand away and looked at the sketch. “On the other hand…” she whispered, and turned away abruptly, blushing.

  As they continued through the pass the sun began to lower to the horizon. Already only a slither of its light peeked from above. Another few hours of walking and the dark had encompassed the path entirely. A blue-grey gloom shrouded them.

  “How much farther do you think it is to the other side?” Josephine asked.

  “At least another couple of hours I would think,” Matthias said. “Perhaps more. I’ve lost track of how long we have even been in here.” A ball of light burst forth in mid - air, and Josephine jumped.

  “Sorry,” said Matthias. “I thought we could do with some light.”

  “Why is no-one else coming this way?” Josephine asked, breaking the eerie silence that had sprung up between them. “You would think even one other person would brave the journey through here to save time.”

  “It might be the most direct way, but I know I’d just as sooner go another few days around the mountains than go through them in the dark,” Thadius responded.

  “So you are saying I am mad for allowing us to go through here?” Josephine asked as she clambered over some rocks that sloped up a few paces, and then found her footing on the cracked pathway again.

  Thadius was silent a moment. “Mad may be too strong a word, your highness.”

  From above the four of them looked like ants, winding around the narrow pathway in the immense form of the mountains, the small ball of light the only illumination in an otherwise dead-black land. A thin, bitter wind blew through the pass, creating a hollow whistling as it passed through the wretched rocks and scattered pebbles across the dry pathway. Shivers passed up Matthias’s spine, though he was not cold. He stared up nervously, watching every crack, every crevice as they passed them. Something didn’t feel right. The ominous feeling that had plagued him on Providence was getting worse. He took a breath and then four more balls of light fizzed into existence. They looked like a cluster of fireflies whirling about them.

  “I don’t like the dark,” he said in explanation.

  Josephine clutched to a shawl she produced from her bag, and Matthias fastened up his coat to his neck, its golden buttons glinting off the artificial light. Luccius threw his own green cloak about him, and pulled its hood up around his head. Thadius donned his own thick, woollen cloak, a silver emblem of Aralia pinning it together at his neck.

  “I have decided I hate mountains too,” Josephine muttered and wrinkled her nose, sniffing and ruffling around in her pockets for a handkerchief. Her face was pale and her cheeks were as rosy as her crimson nose. “And I hate the cold, too!” she added. “It is making my nose run.”

  “It has grown much colder in the last hour,” Luccius commented. “It’s that damned wind that keeps whistling around the rocks.”

  “I don’t suppose you can make some kind of heat for us wizard?” Thadius asked.

  “I can’t maintain these lights and warm you all up at the same time! Which would you prefer, light of warmth?” Matthias snapped.

  “At this point I’d settle for a candle for all the warmth it would give to me!” Josephine retorted. Then she stared forward, past the range of the lights, into the darkness. “Perhaps not,” she whispered, and shivered.

  “A fire would give us both heat and light,” Thadius retorted. “You’ve conjured up balls of flame before Matthias. Can’t you do that now?”

  “Flame takes a lot more energy to produce than a few balls of light,” Matthias replied. “I would be exhausted in a short time.”

  “Some all powerful wizard you are,” Thadius scoffed.

  “I would like to see you do better, soldier,” Matthias rebutted.

  “Just try and forget where we are,” Luccius said, rubbing his hands together. “It’s all mind over matter, you know. Close your eyes and imagine you’re in the warmest bath you have ever had, or sitting underneath the broiling sun.”

  “You’re suggesting we think up heat?” Thadius asked sardonically.

  “What I’m suggesting is that your mind will forget about the cold if you just give it the right encouragement. When I was in the Beneglet Mountains-”

  “Will you shut up about the Beneglet Mountains!” Thadius barked.

  Luccius’s mouth snapped shut, and he looked down sheepishly. “I was just saying,” he whispered.

  There was a pause before Josephine said, “I’d still settle for a candle!”

  “Alright.” Thadius stopped and closed his eyes with a smirk on his face. “Sunshine. A great, big, orange - yellow sun...”

  “Is it working?” Luccius asked, his ears twitching.

  Thadius opened his eyes. “No. I’m still freezing! What a stupid idea Luccius!”

  “Quiet, all of you!” Matthias hissed suddenly. His brow furrowed, and his eyes were sharp, glowing bright blue.

  “What is it Matthias?” asked Luccius.

  “We’re not alone in here,” he whispered back. As soon as he said it, a ghostly whispering arose from the shadows, thousands of voices merging to become one. It was terrifying in the dark.

  “You’re right there, wizard!” The voice echoed off the cliff face, exploding around them. Thadius drew his sword in a second and Josephine threw her head back and forth, surveying the rocks.

  “Whose there?” Josephine asked. Matthias spun back and forward, his boots crackling on the loose stones beneath. He stepped around the others in a circle, peering into the darkness as they waited for a reply.

  “You don’t recognise my voice?” came the reply.

  “No.” Matthias whispered. “It can’t be.” With a flick of his wrist he sent the balls of light scattering about the mountain walls. Shadows frolicked around them, the light warping and ricocheting off the rock at a dizzying pace. One of them struck the concealed figure and instantly the other lights whirled to join their counterpart, illuminating the figure of Taico Grimm. His eyes glowed a deep, malicious green from within a hooded cowl.

  “Oh my gods,” Josephine breathed and stepped backwards in shock. “He’s alive!”

  “How can that be possible?” Thadius breathed, hefting his sword. “Princess, stay close to me!” he commanded.

  “I thought I would come and pay you a little visit, my good knight! To say no hard feelings for cutting me head off!” His voice echoed, metallically, a deep, unnatural rhythm from within his throat. Black veins snaked around Grimm’s forehead. His cheeks were tattooed with symbols; curling shapes like a foreign language snaking along his pallid skin.

  Matthias stared up at him, stone-faced. “They brought you back, didn’t they? The sorcerers of Arash Malhat?”

  Grimm shook his head. “Your terms are out of date wizard. That name hasn’t be
en used by them for a long time. But you’re right, the sorcerers are the ones who brought me back again.” He looked inwardly a moment. “They cannot let me go.”

  “What have they done to you?” Matthias asked with what sounded like an almost genuine concern. He indicated on his own face to where the symbols were on Grimm’s. “Those symbols...”

  Grimm’s face contorted in distaste. “Done to me? You speak like this-” he flourished at his face with a gauntleted hand “-is a bad thing! I can assure you, this is a definite improvement to how I felt before!” He stepped off the ledge and sailed downwards on the air, to touch the ground in front of the group with barely a twitch of his body. “I was growing more confused than I ever had been before! So many thoughts and feelings dogged my mind. It had almost got to a point where I considered helping you again! Can you imagine?” he laughed. “It has been a long time since such a thought occurred to me. But then one of the sorcerers helped me. They provided more clarity to my thoughts and more strength to my withering body.” He shook his head. "I feel more alive than I have in many months. Many years, some would say.” He started laughing to himself. “Time weathers even the mightiest stone.”

  "Who are you?" Matthias asked. “What are you to them that they would spend so much time helping you? You’re just an assassin! They are ten a penny in this world!”

  Grimm shook his head. “Naive and small, and destined for a fall! I am the chosen one, Matthias,” Grimm whispered. "The one who will bring this cycle to an end and leave the path free for the final victory!"

  "What cycle?" Matthias asked. “Do you mean the year? What victory is it you speak of?”

  Grimm smiled. "The cycle the gods began!" He exclaimed. "The endless, repeating path that they sent me down in the hope I would be their puppet. Just as you are to them now. We are all their puppets, born into this world to do their bidding. But no more! I was cut free from their strings! The sorcerers have shown me that there is another way.”

  "If you are anyone's puppet, it's the people who you are working for now," Matthias said. "Whatever they have convinced you of, it's lies."

  "The only lies are those of hope, peddled by the gods and those who worship them!"

  “The gods created this world Grimm. They deserve faith. They want to help us to return this world to peace!”

  “Lies!” Grimm spat. "I have seen the future and it will never be the utopian world that their dogma portrays!"

  Matthias shook his head a moment. “Taico, I think I understand how you feel," he said.

  "You have no idea!" the man spat back.

  "I see the imperfect world you see!” Matthias fought back. “Some people live each day in ignorance, never looking beyond tomorrow or the next week. They consume themselves in drink and work and lust, and then they die. But others see life as it truly is: how hypocritical and unpredictable it is and how the same mistakes are made again and again.” He took a step forward. “But the world is this way because we allowed ourselves to let it get this bad! To let fear and hate drive a wedge between us and let people like the sorcerers take advantage of our fears. If you work against the gods, Grimm, you turn your back on all hope that the world can be a better place." He shook his head. “I might be wrong, but I think you want that more than anything.” Matthias squinted his eyes. “Something in your life has driven you to this path out of desperation.” Grimm looked at him more passively, as if the rage had left him momentarily. His eyes grew softer and he swallowed. "You said you thought about helping us. Well, there's still time!” Matthias said passionately. “You can make a difference!”

  Grimm’s eyes worked back and forth, and then he stumbled backwards, and his face creased as he closed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. He began talking to himself, whispering. “Time. Around and around we go, and where the dice fall, nobody can know. Except me.”

  “Matthias, there is something in this man. It is unlike anything I have ever felt,” Luccius said from behind. His ears flickered quickly as if he were feeling the air. “It’s like he is trapped in some way.”

  “Trapped?” Josephine asked. “How?”

  “I can’t explain it,” Luccius shook his head. “It’s like something has a hold of him and won’t let go. I can feel his emotions. They’re fighting each other. I have never felt it from humans before.”

  Matthias nodded and turned back to Taico Grimm where he was backed against the rocks. “Grimm. Tell me who you are. I can help you, if you will let me.”

  "You still don't see wizard!" he said in agony. "You are no more enlightened than the others!" He tapped his temples. "The future is here! In my mind! And it can't be changed for the better however hard you try! I tried and I lost everything!” He looked up, his eyes enraged again. They sparked green. “How small you are. I was once like you. Hopeful.” He smiled. “But now I am so much more! They have given me the power to become the Vessel of deliverance! All I need to do is stop you, and the way is clear once again! History will unfold and there will be peace in me at last. My mind will be overcome and dissolve before a higher power and the world will unfold without me."

  Matthias swallowed. “Grimm, do you know what these men have turned you into? Those symbols on your cheeks are poison to anyone who wears them. You’re tainted, and they’ll suck your soul dry!”

  “You speak as if you care!” Grimm said. “But the truth is, there is little soul left.” His face contorted. “The gods took that from me, all those years ago!” His head twitched. “They took everything from me. All that time watching, listening, seeing!” He spat on the ground. “The gods began my downfall. I am soulless, no matter what happens.” He stood up straight. “So I will do what must be done. The girl must die.”

  "I still don't understand how you can be alive," Thadius said. "But if you don't let us pass I will cut your head off again, and this time I will make sure it cannot be reattached!"

  Grimm laughed. "Soldier, had things been different I would have liked to have called you friend.” He shook his head. “But your time has always been marked. Here or there, it makes no difference.”

  “Why do the sorcerers want to release the dragon?” Matthias continued. “Why would they want that thing to return to this world? It makes no sense, Grimm! If it’s power they’re after, there’ll be none of it when that creature is freed! It will destroy everything! They can’t hope to control it! You must see that their plan is mad!” Matthias squinted. “There is reason within you somewhere. Deep within your riddled mind, there is a sanity screaming to get out! Don’t let them control you.”

  “I knew what had to be done long before they arrived!” Grimm exclaimed. “They just gave me the ability to take action myself! This world needs to be reborn! The flame is just the beginning. It will mark the start of things to come. And it cannot be stopped.”

  “I’ll stop it!” Josephine growled. She started forward, but Thadius gripped her arm and pulled her back.

  Grimm shook his head. “You have to die princess! Only then will this endless song cease!”

  “What did I ever do to you that you loathe me so much?” Josephine asked.

  “I do not loathe you, Princess,” Grimm replied. “For a time I loved you above all others. But I see you for what you really are now.”

  “And what exactly is that?” She said defiantly.

  “Death.” The word sent shivers up her spine. “You must be stopped.”

  “You’ll have to go through us first!” Luccius growled at him, hefting his spear.

  “If I have to, ansuwan!” he growled, and threw out a bony hand. Waves of green and black energy surrounded Luccius. He wailed and dropped to his knees, the spear falling from his hands and rattling to the floor as the energy spun around him. His skin blackened and legions sprouting from his skin. Boils ruptured all over his hands and cheeks and his skin burned and flaked off around his forehead. Matthias stepped in front of him, and the energy sparked off a field of white around him. Grimm lowered his hand and the energy s
topped.

  “Stop this!” Matthias exclaimed. “You’re being controlled by them somehow! They are filling your head with trickery and mad ideas! You must listen to us!”

  “No! No more talking! No more of your false words!” Grimm spat back. “This must happen!” He vaulted forward at Matthias, who threw out his left hand. Taico sailed backwards on a beam of light that speared its way into his stomach and collapsed against the wall of the pass.

  “Get Josephine out of here!” Matthias cried behind him to Thadius.

  “You won’t escape!” Grimm hissed, and threw a fist into the stone behind him. The rock shattered, and began to fall forward. Thadius threw himself around Josephine as debris shot through the air and bounced off his back. Dust enveloped them as the path ahead was blocked by falling boulders.

  “You bastard!” Thadius growled, and ran forward, raising his sword. He whirled the blade at Grimm, but his body twisted and weaved, avoiding the advance. His bones cracked and doubled back on themselves, and he slipped past Thadius like a snake, grabbing him by the leg and with strength unnatural to someone so skeletal, pulled him over. He landed with a thud onto his back. As the man turned, Matthias was there, his own sword slicing through the air with a hum at his face. Grimm threw his hands together and stopped the blade before it could touch him, and twisted it out of the wizard’s hand. It clattered to the floor and Matthias hit out at him with his staff. Grimm blocked him with his upper - arm, and punched out at Matthias‘s stomach. The air rippled and the wizard flew back, his boots cutting into the ground as he fought the energy Grimm directed at him and slowed to a halt, maintaining his balance.

  “Well it seems that we are more of an equal match for one another now wizard, are we not?” Grimm smiled.

  “They have given you more borrowed power,” Matthias replied. “But these abilities are not yours to own. You will use them clumsily, like a butcher would wield a sword. They will fail you.” Matthias shook his head. “If you face me, you will die. Again.”