novice.
“It is a potion for an ancient charm,” he told her, seemingly enjoying her attention. “It has only been brewed twice before, once by Lord Tollen’s junior alchemist, Lord Mateo, and then by Lord Tollen himself. Unfortunately, it was, as far as I am aware, unsuccessful on both occasions. However, I believe I know why and so I intend to modify it somewhat, before I attempt its use. This is far from ideal but unfortunately it’s the only option we have, and our one opportunity to gain control of the Djinn before it is too late.”
He rested the cauldron on its small tripod and set a block of tar stone alight beneath it.
“What exactly does the potion do?” El-on-ah asked
Ka stiffened, his expression frozen in concentration. Immediately she sensed his reluctance to share this knowledge with her. After a while, she wondered if he had even heard her question.
Working in silence Ka used the mortar and pestle to grind the mineral ores into a fine powder. Then adding water he began to condense the mixture, until after a few minutes, a concentrated blood red liquid formed and began dripping down into a small phial below the condensing tube.
El-on-ah looked on in uncomfortable silence, watching as he pushed a stopper into the neck of the phial, before placing it into a small pocket hidden within the fold in his robe. A perverse smile etched its way across his features, but this look of self-satisfaction did not last, rapidly morphing into an exasperated grimace as he realised he had forgotten something important. Within seconds, a solution appeared to come to him. Grabbing El-on-ah’s hand, he examined her ring.
“Take it off,” he said curtly. “Take it off! ...I am going to need it.”
“But My Lord” she pleaded, “you cannot leave me without my ring. What good is an ascendant without their ring? I will be powerless…”
“TAKE IT OFF!”
His words were spoken with an expression of such malevolence that El-on-ah had to stifle a shiver. Her hand trembled as reluctantly, she removed her potens ring and gave it to him.
Slipping off his own ring Ka placed it into his pocket together with the phial of potion. Then with some difficulty, he worked El-on-ah’s slightly smaller version onto his finger. Glancing up fleetingly at El-on-ah’s distraught face, his expression tempered.
“If things go as planned,” he said, his voice reassuring, “I will return this to you. If they do not, then you will have little need for it anyway.”
He looked down at her sullen, questioning face.
“You will have little need for it El-on-ah.” He said, pausing as he clasped her chin roughly between his fingers, “because if I do not succeed, you will be assimilated by the Djinn, ring or no ring.”
Pushing her jaw back as he relinquished his hold on her, he strode towards the opening of the other cave.
“Clear up this mess,” he said, motioning to the charred equipment and remnants of potion congealing in the flask. “Then get some rest. We leave in two hours.”
Three hours later, feeling somewhat refreshed after their short respite, the four of them were cantering at pace along the main Cynnabar road. They made fast progress in their journey towards the city and within a few hours they could see its imposing silhouette on the skyline.
The Hydrargyrum capital city of Cynnabar appeared deserted as they approached. Plumes of smoke snaked upwards into the heavy ochre sky, thick with yellow smog from the natural volcanic gases and ash. The once beautiful city, famed for its red domed buildings, brilliant blue lapis lazuli mosaics and delicate gypsum crystal, had been virtually obliterated by fyre. Only the magnificent domed Pyrus, its banners still flying and the shops and dwellings on the east side of the city, appeared to be intact.
Lord Ka pulled up his horse, manoeuvring to face the others who were following behind. They had stopped behind an outcrop of rocks at the foot of the Helios Mountains, which overlooked the city of Cynnabar.
“I will go on alone from here,” Ka said, stifling their protests with a decisive wave of his hand. “There is no value in us all putting ourselves in danger. I will take the Pukis with me. If either of us does not return by dawn, then you must assume the worst.”
The three of them looked at each other uneasily. El-on-ah turned back to Ka.
“What do you wish us to do if...” she faltered.
“If... I do not succeed” said Ka “Then you will be in imminent danger and you should leave Hydrargyrum immediately and attempt to warn the High Council’s of Aurum and Ferrum. It is imperative that you impress on them their need to prepare for immediate surrender, or for a war that they cannot possibly win.”
Ka gestured to El-on-ah for her to hand over the Pukis. On noticing her morose pout, he patted her hand as he lifted Puk from her.
“I will take good care of him El-on-ah. The Djinn are not likely to harm a Pukis. They have a natural affinity with dragons, both of them being creatures of fyre.”
Wedging Puk between himself and the pommel of his saddle, he swung his horse around towards Cynnabar. The mare danced in anticipation of their departure.
“If I am successful,” said Ka, lifting his reins to steady his mount. “I will send the Pukis back with further instructions. Until then, keep out of sight and get some rest, you look tired.”
Ka drove his heels hard into his horse's flank. It flinched momentarily before rising to an unsteady gallop along the uneven, stony road toward the capital.
Less than an hour later, Ka entered the southern gate of what remained of the city wall. Earlier he had noticed what he had assumed were Hydrargyrum standards flying from the spires of the Pyrus. Ka could see now that he had been mistaken. The standards had been replaced by gold and red banners with a flaming inverted pentacle at their centre; the banners of Erebus, ensigns of the Djinn.
He slowed his horse to a steady walk as he rode through the blackened, ruined streets of the city. Its hooves strummed out a rhythmic clatter, echoing eerily through the empty streets and announcing his arrival. Almost from the city gates, he was aware that he was being watched. For some time, Ka’s watchful eyes had been detecting movements at the margins of his vision, flickering shadows, and he had also heard the occasional ominous clatter of dislodged stones. Consequently, he was not surprised when, on turning the corner of one of the more intact streets on his approach to the Pyrus, he was confronted by an officer of the Afreet Army.
The soldier’s red scaled skin was clothed in leather and metal armour. Two enormous, bat-like wings could be seen tightly folded beneath his short red cloak. Reptilian eyes regarded him with guarded suspicion as he approached.
Responding to this, Ka raised his hands to his head in an attempt to indicate that he was unarmed. El-on-ah’s potens ring glistened threateningly as it was hit with a shard of afternoon sunlight which broke through the cloud. Balanced on the saddle in front of him, Puk turned his face from the Afreet’s penetrating gaze and buried his muzzle into the thick, black fabric of Lord Ka’s cloak.
When they were a few feet from him, the officer lunged forward, aiming an Afreet fyre spear directly at Lord Ka’s torso. When the officer spoke, his voice was a thundering guttural roar that shook the air around them.
“I am Zelron, prime officer of the Great Afreet Army of Erebus. WHO ARE YOU that dare venture, into the realm of the Djinn?”
Ka attempted to contrive his response to relay a confident air of authority and power. He spoke in a deep, steady tone.
“I am Ka, Lord Alchemist of Hydrargyrum, Blood Ascendant, and Commander of the Ophites. I am the one responsible for your freedom. Were it not for myself and the Ophites, then the seal on Tollen’s gate would remain intact and you and your kind would be rotting still, in the bowels of Erebus.”
Zelron lurched towards them and jabbed the tip of his fyre spear into the centre of Ka’s chest.
“If what you say is true,” said Zelron, with a cynical sneer, “ then what do you hope to gain, from this grave error that you appear to hav
e made?”
Ka was prevented from answering by a loud, rhythmic beating sound that boomed down from the air above them. Another sound joined the first, a piercing, high-pitched screech that froze the blood in his veins. Looking up, Ka saw four-winged Afreet. They turned like great birds in the sky, twisting in mid-air before dropping to the ground beside Zelron. Their huge red wings folded neatly into their shoulder blades as their feet hit the ground.
Ka was surrounded. Summoning all of his resolve, he focussed his eyes unwaveringly on Afreet Commander, Zelron.
“I wish to speak to the Fyre Meister of Erebus.” he said, “I have a proposition to make to him, which could be of great benefit to us both.”
“You wish to speak to Meister Phlegon?” He said incredulously, “you believe you can negotiate with him!”
Ka reeled as if he had been slapped hard in the face. He had not anticipated that Phlegon would still prevail as ruler of Erebus.
Zelron laughed as he saw Ka’s expression, it was a hideous and jarring laugh that resonated unnervingly in the street around them. Ka marvelled at how every sound the Afreet uttered seemed designed to intimidate. His mind was reeling. If Phlegon were alive and in control then, it would, without a doubt, drastically affect his plan and almost certainly reduce its chances of success.
Phlegon had been the Fyre Meister, who had been betrayed and imprisoned by Lord Tollen, an ascendant
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