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

by AJ Martin

  I need to get out of here! I need to leave. Now!

  As if she had commanded it, she disappeared from the room and collapsed onto a stone floor, water splattering the ground. She was soaking. How had she done that? The bolt still stung her side, and she pulled back the tear in her clothing, inspecting the wound. The bolt was stuck fast, and black veins were spreading out from it covering her shoulder.

  This is my mind dying, she thought. My body is crippled, and this is my last chance. My only chance! Gingerly, she pushed herself to her feet.

  “That was a clever little manoeuvre!” Grimm’s voice cried out. He stood to her back now, crossbow still in hand.

  “Why do you want to kill me so badly? What have I done to you that is so completely terrible, that you wish to see me dead? Please, tell me! I would like to know before I die who exactly you are to me!”

  “You are the embodiment of all my disappointments,” he said, looking at her through his sallow eyes. “The future that could have been.” He laughed. “They tried to convince me you could help! They made me their puppet in the hopes I could guide your hand! But it was all lies!”

  “Who? Who used you?” Josephine asked.

  “Who do you think? Those false gods!”

  “I don’t understand?” Josephine replied.

  “And you never will,” Grimm said. He hefted the crossbow.

  “You are not real,” she stated bluntly. “You can’t hurt me!”

  “Oh I assure you I am, and I can! I will kill you and then this will all be over! We will both be at peace!”

  Josephine took a breath. She held out her arms. “Very well then,” she said shakily. “Pull that trigger.”

  Grimm’s face grew puzzled. “No fight? No struggle? You will just stand there and let me point and shoot?”

  Josephine took a breath. “Yes,” she whispered.

  He nodded. “Then you have come to your senses.” He took a satisfied breath. “Goodbye,” he whispered, and pulled the trigger. The bolt shot from its mechanism. Its wooden shaft shattered inches in front of Josephine. She exhaled in relief. Grimm gaped. “How did you do that?”

  “I think I am starting to understand this place, at least a little,” she said. “This is my body and you are just an intruder. Your poison gave you a chance to invade my mind, but in the end it is my mind. As long as I can defend it, and as long as I remain strong, I don’t think you can kill me!”

  “If you could see what you must look like in the real world, you might not be so sure,” Grimm responded.

  “Oh yes, I am sure the poison is withering my body away,” she said coolly. “But in my mind, where it really counts, where I am guessing the magical part of the poison takes effect, now that is failing miserably, is it not?” She took a breath. “It wasn’t enough that you could destroy my body. You can’t just kill me with hemlock or any regular potion, because my power protects me!”

  Taico sneered. “So you figured it out! It doesn’t matter! I am not going anywhere! I’ll wear your mind down just as the gods did to me! No - one can survive continued torture! Not even you! I will keep pursuing you until you can’t take it anymore! You are a small, scared little girl Josephine.”

  The room shifted and instantly she knew where she was: her chambers, on a day had been burned on to her mind. She turned and saw herself and her mother regarding her.

  “Stop it!” Josephine hissed angrily at Grimm.

  “What’s wrong Josephine?” Grimm asked from her side. “Can you not face your own past?”

  She watched as the lightning coursed through her mother’s body, surging from Josephine’s own hands. Her mother contorted, her eyes wide. Then she fell to the floor.

  “No!” Josephine screamed as she watched her mother hit the ground, striking her head on the cold stone floor, her eyes gazing up at her with fear and pain before the life disappeared from them. She watched herself fall beside her mother, tears streaming from her eyes as she cradled her lifeless body in her arms.

  “This is the darkness you bring to the world!” Grimm said. “The darkness you will continue to bring. You can’t change who you are! You are an angel of death.” Grimm shook his head. “I have seen you kill so many people Josephine, again and again. You will hurt so many more people before you are finished. Unless we end this now.”

  “Why do you torture me? I am trying to stop any more people dying! Why would killing me help?”

  Grimm stared at her. “There was a time I thought like you do. A time I thought that you could help. But all that has changed now. I realised that it is all a lie. There can never be peace! Not true peace! They showed me that. The only way is to burn the land and start again!”

  “You don’t know what you are saying!” Josephine whispered. “You contradict yourself with your own words! You are truly mad!”

  “If I am, then it is because of you,” he sneered.

  Josephine turned to him and her eyes burned with rage. “I will not let you confuse me,” she said. “Someone out there has awoken me, opened my mind to let me fight you.” The scene shifted into smoke and she was standing above the heavens again. The stars shone brightly. “This is my mind. I am in control!” She turned to Grimm, who hovered with her.

  “I-” Grimm stopped. His cheeks bulged, and he made a choking sound as he raised his hands to his neck.

  “You are the poison, and I have to drain you from the wound!”

  His face reddened. “You... must... die!” he spluttered.

  “Not today. Not because of you! I am stronger than you think!”

  “This... is not... the end...”

  “Goodbye, Mister Grimm,” she whispered, as he began to dissolve, and scattered into the stars.

  She stared around her. The image of the world began to fade and her head suddenly felt lighter. She began to hear voices again. Thadius and Luccius were talking. She smiled.

  Here I come Matthias. Watch me fly.

  Revival

  137th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  “Do you not drink anything but endless tea?” Thadius asked as Maryn set another tray on to a small stool and began handing out the delicate cups to Luccius and himself, before taking her own.

  “I find it calming,” she said as she breathed in the aroma.

  “I would kill for a tankard of ale,” Thadius muttered.

  “Then you can clear off to the Fat Hen,” Maryn sniffed. “They will indulge you I am sure. But in here, it’s tea or nothing. Bloody westerners and their poisonous drinks!” she muttered.

  Thadius looked at the spiced mixture swirling in the cup. “The Fat Hen. If I wasn’t so worried about leaving Josephine’s side...” he commented, but then raised the cup to his lips nonetheless. He spat it out after taking a sip. “That is disgusting! What’s in this?”

  “Fennel, vanilla, root - weed and moss,” Maryn said.

  “It tastes like pond water!” he spluttered.

  “I’ll dunk you in the nearest damned pond if you don’t shut up!” Luccius added, shaking his head.

  “What’s got your hair in a twist?” Thadius retorted.

  “Where would you like me to start?” Luccius exclaimed. “Perhaps that we have been here for nearly six days now and Josephine still hasn’t woken up! Perhaps it’s the thought that Sikaris is even closer to being freed. Perhaps I’m also worried that the men behind it all are apparently ancient sorcerers. And maybe, just maybe, it’s that my oldest and dearest friend is three days closer to Crystal Ember and is marching to his death?”

  “I’m not quite that close,” a voice said from the bedroom doorway and they turned to see Matthias standing in front of them. He dropped his bag on the floor.

  “Matthias!” Luccius exclaimed. “What are you doing here? It’s been days! Why have you come back?”

  “I got out of town before the sun went down on me and spent the next day traipsing across fields in the rain,” he said as he leant against the wall and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Then I
was camping out by the river last night, watching the swirling patterns as the current pushed downstream. And then I realised how futile what I was attempting to do really was. I was a droplet of water fighting against the current, against events I could never hope to overcome alone.” He took a breath. “And the more I thought about Josephine lying here, the more I realised I couldn’t leave her. Not when she is like this.” He walked over to the bed. “So I turned around and came back.”

  “But what about the dragon?” Thadius asked.

  Matthias shook his head. “If Josephine doesn’t wake up, then what good will I be able to do against him? Josephine is more important. And we have all come this far together. How could I leave her at the time when she needs me the most? How could I leave you both?”

  “Well I am glad you finally came to your senses on that matter,” Maryn sniffed. “You may be powerful Matthias, but you’re not that strong.” She walked up to him and embraced him in a hug.

  “I thought I had to try,” he shrugged. “But my people are working to stop those behind all this. That much I am certain of. Without Josephine, that is perhaps the only chance we really have, and I am not the one to accomplish that task.”

  “Perhaps you want this back then?” Thadius said, and Matthias turned to him. The knight had his pendant dangling in his grip. “Now it won’t be dissolving in my hands?”

  Matthias smiled at the pendant. “She told you?” he asked.

  “The moment you were out of the door.” Thadius snorted. “You were going to your death, travelling there alone. What a stupid idea that was!” He held out the pendant to Matthias

  Matthias shook his head. “I gave it to you for safekeeping until Josephine is safe and home again. That hasn’t changed.”

  “I know,” Thadius said, letting the pendant dangle.

  “I think after the lies I have told you so far, I still need to prove my good intentions to you.”

  Thadius looked from the metal object and then back to Matthias. “I no longer need this to convince me of those.” He held it out to the wizard again meaningfully, who took it with a nod of the head. “For what it’s worth Matthias, I am glad you are back.”

  Matthias smiled. “I knew you couldn’t live a day without me, Thadius,” he joked.

  The man shook his head and snorted again. “Let’s not get carried away.”

  Matthias fastened the pendant back around his neck. “That feels better. I felt like I was missing an arm. How is she?” he asked, staring at Josephine.

  “I honestly don’t know,” Maryn replied, standing to one side. “She seemed to look better for a while and her temperature has subsided, but she hasn’t awoken, or moved as much as a toe.”

  “Is there nothing else you can do?” Matthias asked.

  “If there was, I would have done it by now,” Maryn replied. Matthias sat on the bed and watched Josephine as she slept. “I’m sorry Matthias. I really am.”

  He smiled sullenly at Maryn. “You did everything you could do Maryn and I am grateful.” He turned to look at Josephine again. “She looks so peaceful.”

  They sat for a while in silence. Rain began to patter on the windowpane and the room grew dull as the sun fell behind grey cloud. Thadius shifted in his chair and chuckled suddenly. The others looked over to him.

  “The first time I met the princess she was a baby,” the knight smiled, hunched over in his chair, hands placed together. “I was about eight or nine and my father brought me to see her. She was a wrinkly little thing, no larger than my forearm. The king placed her in my arms and I held her for a while.” He swallowed. “In that moment I felt such a responsibility to her. I was only a child myself, but somehow I felt deep within me that my goal in life was to look after her at all costs- to keep her safe. And then she vomited all over my tunic.” The others laughed quietly. “I’ve always been there for her, watching over her. I might not be royalty, but she is family to me.”

  “She cares for you too, a great deal,” Luccius replied.

  Matthias sighed and shifted on the bed.

  “What’s happening in there Josephine?” he asked and reached out with his hand. He moved her hair back gingerly with his fingers and stroked her forehead. As he did the princess inhaled deeply and her eyelids flickered. Matthias withdrew his hand in surprise and his eyes boggled.

  “What did you do?” Thadius asked excitedly, springing to his feet.

  Matthias shook his head. “Nothing!” he exclaimed. “I only touched her!”

  “Well do it again!” Luccius exclaimed.

  “Matthias,” Josephine murmured softly.

  “I’m here!” Matthias replied.

  Gingerly, Josephine opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling.

  “I made it,” she whispered and smiled.

  Matthias laughed ecstatically. “You’re alive! Oh gods thank you!” He lifted her from the bed and embraced her in a hug.

  “Don’t suffocate her then!” Maryn retorted, and he loosened his grip.

  “Where...” she began. “What is this place?” she croaked.

  “We’re with a friend,” Matthias answered. “You’re safe.”

  She nodded dreamily and looked around. “Thadius,” she smiled. “You are here. I could hear you in my dreams.”

  Thadius smiled. “Where else could I be but by your side, your highness?”

  She took a deep breath as she started to come to. “Is it too late?” she whispered. “How long have I been asleep?”

  “About six or seven days, I think,” Thadius said. “I’ve lost track. A very worrying few days.”

  “So long!” She swallowed. “I’m thirsty.”

  “Here,” Maryn said, appearing again by her bedside with a glass filled with a green liquid as if on cue. “Sit up if you can and drink this.” Josephine shifted in the bed and pushed herself up against the headboard.

  “That’s not more of that pond water tea is it?” Thadius asked. “We’ve only just got her back without you poisoning her again.”

  “That sword of yours, soldier, is awfully long,” Maryn commented.

  “What about it?” Thadius asked.

  “I was just wondering if I stuck it up your backside if the tip would appear out of your mouth. Maybe then it would cut off that flapping tongue of yours!” The knight blushed and turned away from her piercing stare. Maryn handed Josephine the glass, who stared dreamily at its contents before taking a sip. “Thank you. This is nice,” she said. “I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve...” Then she squinted as her sleep - riddled eyes focussed on the woman. “It’s you! You’re... Esther?”

  “We meet again, princess. And my real name is Maryn,” she smiled. “I never did give you it all that time ago.”

  “But, why am I here? With you?”

  “Maryn is a friend of mine,” Matthias answered again, and smiled. “It seems our lives are more entwined than we knew.”

  Josephine shook her head. “I don’t even know what to say!” she exhaled. “I am confused.”

  “Maryn brewed a potion to cure you. We weren’t sure it would work,” Luccius added.

  “So you gave me the strength to defeat Grimm?” she asked.

  “Grimm?” Thadius repeated.

  “He was inside my head,” Josephine continued. “He appeared in my thoughts and tried to kill me from the inside out. But... I stopped him. With your help it seems.” She swallowed more of the drink and then nodded. “Thank you, Maryn. I think... I would be dead now if it weren’t for you.”

  “You’re welcome. A nasty incantation if ever there was one. I could hardly let you die after all that hard work we did together! ” Maryn smiled. “But enough talk. You are still dozy, after all. You must be hungry?”

  Josephine nodded. “I believe I am, as it happens,” she said, realising just how empty her stomach felt.

  Maryn nodded. “Then I will see what I can conjure up!” She walked to the doorway and then turned. “Not literally, you understand,” she added, before heading
downstairs.

  Josephine set the glass on to the table by her side and eased her head back on the pillow. “I have so much to tell you,” she said.

  “It can wait until later,” Matthias said. “You need to rest.”

  “It’s alright,” she whispered. “I would rather talk to you. It may take me some time though. I am not exactly in top form.”

  Josephine told them of her dreams slowly as she began to wake further, of meeting the Akari and fighting Taico Grimm.

  “What is this ‘rift’ the Akari spoke of? Their prison?” Luccius asked, puzzled, when she had finished.

  Josephine shrugged. “They didn’t manage to tell me very much else before Grimm ... before he... whatever he did to her!”

  “Sounds as if they want you to open their prison,” Luccius pondered. “But how can you do that if you don’t know what or where it is! It would have been helpful if they gave you more of an idea where you needed to go.”

  “From the way she spoke, I do not think the Akari knew herself,” Josephine said. “It was all very hurried. She didn’t seem to be able to communicate with me easily.”

  “Unsurprising, if they are trapped,” Luccius continued. “But still, you would have thought they could have at least given you a clue!”

  “So... if I understand correctly, the Akari are still alive in this other... world? Trapped somewhere so mysterious and hidden that they may as well be dead. Then they come to you in your dreams and give you a new quest to undertake, when we haven’t even completed the last one?” He shook his head. “This just gets better.”

  “Well I see you are as cheerful as ever, my good knight,” Josephine laughed. “I have missed you, Thadius.” She turned to Matthias. “You’ve been very quiet.”

  “Have I?” Matthias asked.

  “Yes. It is most unusual for you. It gives me pause.”

  He gave her a warm smile. “I am just thinking,” he replied.

  “About anything in particular?” Luccius added.

  “There is simply a lot to take in,” he replied.