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

The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 Page 2

by AJ Martin

A Change of Plan

  113th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Matthias stared out of the chamber window, the moonlight casting a pale aura on his tanned face. The moon was nearly full and the stars surrounding it were dulled by its vibrant light. The expression on his face was a troubled one. He had been gazing up at the sky for over an hour.

  There was a chime from inside his bag, like a finger being run over the edge of a wine glass. He jumped, caught off guard, and turned to rummage around inside the worn fabric sack. He brought out a smooth, glass orb, no bigger than the palm of his hand. It winked at him as if a star were trapped inside, and he held it at arms length warily a moment as if it might attack him somehow. Then he adjusted his grip and the light inside it winked out. The ball grew cloudy and purple.

  “Master Pym,” Matthias spoke into it and waited for a response.

  “What is your progress?” An echoing voice answered him. The mist inside the orb pulsed with every syllable. “You have arrived in Rina?”

  “Yesterday morning. I am inside the palace,” he said quietly. “I met with the king a few hours after I arrived.”

  “You told him of the dragon?” the voice questioned.

  “I did. They are preparing themselves. I’m helping them to plan their defences.”

  “That’s good. They deserve to know what awaits them.” The voice hesitated a moment. Then with a hint of concern, the voice said: “You didn’t mention our faction, did you?”

  “Of course not, Master,” he whispered. “That’s none of their concern.”

  “What about the rest of it?” The voice asked. When Matthias did not reply, the voice continued to press him. “You did speak to them about the princess, didn’t you?”

  Matthias swallowed. “I couldn’t,” he whispered. “Not yet.”

  “Why not?” the voice replied tersely.

  “It is not exactly an easy topic to bring up!” Matthias exclaimed. “It was to get them to believe me about the dragon!” He sighed. “These are not people predisposed to trust our kind, as you know.”

  “Then we have a problem,” the voice said, after a pause.

  “Another one?” Matthias sniffed. “What is it now?”

  “The Council has obtained new information. There could be demons heading towards Rina as we speak. And I do not mean days away. We are talking hours, if the reports are correct. The Council has already sped up their plans in the wake of the news.”

  Matthias swallowed. “How could creatures get here so soon? I arrived here so quickly!”

  “We are working against what seems to be a very powerful enemy, Matthias,” the voice said. “The stone is still revealing new prophecies. There has never been such a concentration of them in one crystal before.” The orb fell quiet.

  “Master Pym? Are you still there?” Matthias asked after a lengthy pause.

  “I’m here, Matthias,” the voice replied.

  “What is it?” Matthias asked back. “You are holding something back from me, I can feel it.”

  “That is because I know you will not like what I am about to suggest.”

  “Which is?” Matthias breathed.

  “You may have to take matters into your own hands if we are to keep her safe.”

  “What do you mean?” Matthias continued.

  “How long do you think it will take you to convince the king and the girl of her destiny, if you have not begun to do so already? Do you think King Arwell will just allow his daughter to come with you?”

  “That is why I have to take my time with this!” Matthias hissed back. “I have to handle this delicately!”

  “If there are demons approaching Rina, then we need to get her out of there. We don’t have time to be delicate anymore!”

  “You want me to kidnap her?” Matthias exclaimed, and sat heavily on to the bedside.

  “It is for her own good Matthias.”

  “I doubt she would see it that way. And then what would I do? I can’t drag her all the way to Olindia!”

  The orb fell silent again. “I don’t know, Matthias. None of this is ideal. Had we the Consensus we would have more to work with, but we don’t.”

  Matthias swallowed. “What about Fenzar?” he asked.

  “We still have the advantage there,” the voice advised. “He left on a ship four days ago. He will not reach Rina for at least a week. You have the lead on him.”

  “That’s some good news at least.” Matthias shook his head. “But… kidnapping the princess will undo everything we sought to change by coming here! They already hate our people as it is!”

  “Hate is a small price to pay for her safety,” the voice said. “She’s too important Matthias.”

  “Now you sound like the Consensus,” Matthias said darkly.

  The orb sat quiet for a moment at the comment. Then the voice spoke again. “I have told you what you must do. Will you do it? Tonight? Dawn is only hours away Matthias and the demons could be close. You can’t afford to wait another night.”

  Matthias looked hesitantly to the window and the dazzling moon. Finally he nodded. “I will retrieve the princess tonight,” he said sombrely.

  “Good. You have done well so far, Matthias. I am proud of you. Contact me again when you have her and you have escaped.” The voice disappeared as the orb made a sound like a water droplet landing in a pool, and the misty glow faded until Matthias was again holding a simple ball of glass. He dropped it back into his bag, sighed, and rose from the bed. “May the Gods forgive me for the actions I have to undertake tonight,” he whispered to the sky. “If you still watch over me, that is, in spite of everything I’ve done, and am about to do.”

  Treachery in the Moonlight

  113th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  After several minutes of introspection in which Matthias paced his room in thought, he finally grabbed his staff from where he had cast it aside on the bed and made his way to the door. He took a breath and looked at the wooden prop clasped in his hand. “Am I really going to do this?” he asked himself. Then after a pause, he nodded. “I have done much worse for much less of a reason, that much is certain.”

  He opened the door latch silently and peered out. No one was around. The corridor was quiet save for the flutter of a flaming torch stuck into an iron ring in the opposite wall. Quickly and silently he slipped out the door and checked around again, before he made his way along the corridor. He had an idea of where he had to go based on his journey up to his guest chamber, even though the palace was a maze of similar-looking corridors.

  An old muscle relaxant interlace of the power could do the trick, he thought as he went. Although then she will be as limp and heavy as a catfish caught from the river! Perhaps if I can render her unconscious, I could levitate her back to my chambers and then make my way out the city the way I came. He shook his head. This is ludicrous.

  The sound of footsteps ahead made him backtrack behind a stone pillar. He waited whilst a liveried guard walked on by, and then quietly slipped on ahead. Eventually after what felt like an age of stumbling around in the darkness and the torchlight he reached a stairwell where a tall, muscled guard stood as straight as a die to the left of a wooden banister, the pommel of his sword sticking out from beneath a thick woollen cloak. Matthias hid behind a pillar and looked down to his fingers. He thought a moment about using the power, but then shaking his head and with a flash of inspiration stuck his hand into an inside pocket and pulled out a small, glass phial. It was almost empty but for a small amount of liquid at the very bottom of the bottle.

  I’d almost forgotten I had these, he thought and rifled around in his other pocket, pulling out a handkerchief and pouring the last, small amount of the fluid into its centre. Maryn’s mandrake and deathshade knockout drops could fell an ox. Which is good, because that guard looks about the size of one. He hid the handkerchief behind him and stepped out into the corridor.

  “Excuse me, my good man,” he said in a flourishing tone, wavi
ng his free arm. “It appears I’m rather lost!”

  The guard flinched in surprise at his sudden appearance, but then recovered his composure and addressed him.

  “Who are you?” he asked in a gruff tone.

  “My name is Matthias. I am a guest of your king. I’m staying in chambers in the palace.”

  “What are you doing out so late?” the man continued to question. “It’s a long time still until morning!”

  “I couldn’t sleep, and I fancied a walk around the palace to try and tire myself out a bit.”

  “Bit of a strange time to be pacing these halls,” the man said. “You could be mistaken for being up to no good.”

  Matthias chuckled. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “How did you get all the way here anyway?” the man asked. “There should be men patrolling the corridors. This area is out of bounds for guests.”

  “Oh! I see,” Matthias said innocently. “I’m sorry about that.” He drew by the man’s side. “Perhaps you could direct me back to my chambers then?”

  The man looked at him suspiciously for a moment but then nodded and pointed to the hallway ahead. “When you reach the end of this passage you need to take a lef-”

  Matthias drew the handkerchief to the man’s nose and with effort held it a moment as the man struggled. Luckily for him the drops were potent, and in another second the man collapsed to the floor unconscious. Matthias looked at him sadly. “I’m really very sorry,” he said to him, and pulled him into a more dignified position before continuing up the stairs. They stretched up a fair way and curled around a thick stone trunk, but after a minute he emerged into a mahogany panelled walkway that led up to the chambers of the princess. He gingerly peered around the corner. Another guard stood in watch in front of the door to her room. He paused and thought for a moment, and drew out the handkerchief from his pocket again. The cloth was slowly drying. Besides, he needed to be quieter than he was downstairs. There were doubtless people inside the princess’s chambers and he couldn’t afford to alert them to his presence.

  Matthias replaced the handkerchief into his pocket and slowly felt with his hand around the wall, and then, eyes illuminating in the gloom and with a flick of his fingers, sent a tiny bolt of energy towards the guard. It struck him silently and with a muffled grunt, the man collapsed on to the floor.

  “Sorry,” he whispered as he walked towards him, and pushed his body out of the way of the door. “You’ll be fine in a few hours.” Then he stared at the door. The round, black handle stared back. A half - dozen maids inside, perhaps, he thought to himself. I’ll bind them with a simple pattern and then silence the room. He nodded, staring at the door. A minute passed as he raised his hand above the handle and left it suspended there whilst he gathered his nerve. “Come on you stupid old-”

  A whooshing noise made him spin around. A looming face enveloped his vision and he felt his body being slammed against the wall to the side of the door. The air within his lungs was pushed out with the force and as he tried to take a breath he felt the cold, sharp steel of a sword blade press against his Adam’s apple. When his eyes focussed again, Thadius's furious face stared back at him.

  “Thadius!” Matthias gasped. “I-”

  “The king thought you might be up to no good!” He growled. “He tried to ignore his suspicions, to give you the benefit of the doubt, but there was just a nagging doubt in his mind that made him wake and ask me to keep an eye on you. It looks like he was right to do so!” The man’s chest heaved in anger. “I actually thought that you were here to help! I apologised to you, and you sat there and let me think you were a man of honour! Give me one good reason why I should not slit your throat right this instant?”

  Matthias' nostrils flared, and he sucked in air through gritted teeth. “You don't know the half of what I am doing here tonight, Thadius,” he spluttered.

  “Nor do I want to!” The man hissed. “All I know is you are outside the Princess’s chambers. What were you planning? Was the dragon all a ploy to put us off guard, to make us believe you were helping us?”

  “The threat of the dragon is real!” Matthias wheezed through Thadius’ clenched fist. “I’m not here to hurt anyone!”

  “Pah!” Thadius growled, his face growing redder by the second. “More Mahalian lies! I should slit your throat!” He pressed harder on the wizard’s neck with his sword.

  “I would rather you didn’t,” Matthias panted. “Blood is… difficult to get out of stone.”

  “How dare you joke with me!” Thadius looked ready to explode.

  “I apologise,” Matthias coughed. “But… I need you to calm down… and let me go!”

  “Let you go?” Thadius laughed. “Are you insane?”

  “I don’t want… to hurt you. You are a good man, but I am… rather struggling… to breathe now!”

  “You can suffocate for all I care! I am not going to let you go!”

  “I could get out of this in a heartbeat… if I wanted to,” Matthias retorted.

  “Really?” Thadius snorted. “You know, I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth!”

  Matthias moved a hand from clutching the sword at his neck to Thadius's chest. “This will sting.” There was a flash of green light and Thadius flew through the air and crashed against the opposite wall. He slid to the floor, sword spinning away noisily. He looked up at Matthias in fear. The wizard clutched at his throat and gulped down air. “Are you alright?” he asked Thadius.

  “What… what do you care?” he growled.

  “I could run right now, right out of this palace and this city, knock out all your guards and flee. I also could have killed you a moment ago and taken the princess. I still could.”

  “Then why don't you?” Thadius panted angrily, clutching to his chest where a wisp of smoke puffed from his singed jacket.

  Matthias looked to the far reaches of the corridor, then back at Thadius, and shook his head. “Because you need to know the truth. I'm not doing it this way! This isn’t why I have come here! I wanted to earn your trust, not destroy it!” He reached down and offered a hand to Thadius. The soldier looked up at him hesitantly, but after a moment, he took it and was hoisted to his feet. He stared at Matthias with confusion. The door to the princess’s chamber opened and Josephine appeared in a night - dress, surrounded by maids. Seeing the two men before her, she clutched the garment tightly around her, folding her arms across her chest.

  “What is going on?” She exclaimed.

  A Gift from the Gods

  113th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  The doors to the king's personal chambers burst open and through them came Thadius and Josephine, followed by Matthias, who was flanked by two guards. The wizard had agreed to be bound, so that his hands were held tightly behind his back by shackles and chains, and the soldiers pushed him down heavily on to the floor, where he landed with a thud. He lay at the king's feet, and the man stared down at him with a thunderous expression. He had been roused from his sleep and apprised of the situation a short while ago.

  “I welcome you into my home, wizard, give you food and shelter and you do this?” He raged. “Explain yourself!”

  Matthias looked up at him, and then back at the others. He sighed. “I'm sorry,” he whispered. “For all of this.”

  “I don't care if you're sorry or not!” King Arwell growled. “I want to know why you did this? Why did you try to hurt my daughter?”

  “I didn't try to hurt her!” Matthias snapped back. He looked back at the girl, her doe eyes regarding him with anger and curiosity, and sighed again. “I was asked to take her away from here.”

  “Kidnapping?” Thadius growled.

  Matthias opened his mouth to retort, but then he realised there was no point in denying the charge. He had been asked to kidnap her. “Yes,” he confirmed sadly, and looked to the floor. “But not for any reason you might think,” he added.

  “Is any reason expected to make wha
t you have tried to do seem any better?” Princess Josephine asked, glaring at him.

  Matthias looked to her sadly and took a breath. “We know about your abilities, princess,” he sighed, and she took a step backward.

  “I don’t have the slightest idea what you are talking about,” she replied.

  “With respect, Your Highness, you are a bad liar. I can see it in your eyes. Most wizards could. I know what to look for, and it’s there: a crackling of power deep within you.”

  Thadius looked confusedly from Matthias, knelt on the ground, to the princess and then to the king. “What abilities are you speaking of?” he asked.

  Matthias looked up at Thadius. “The princess wields a great power,” he said. “Like a wizard.”

  Thadius laughed, and then, seeing no one else was, stopped. “But… there has to be some mistake?”

  “It is no mistake my good soldier,” Josephine sighed. "It is the truth.”

  “Josephine!” the king hissed, but she held up a hand.

  “It is pointless to deny it now, father,” she sighed, rubbing anxiously at her arms.

  “How long have you known?” Matthias asked her.

  “Since my sixteenth year. Four years ago.”

  Matthias exhaled sharply. “Four years!”

  “How did your people find out?” King Arwell asked, his face was a mixture of anger and fear.

  “The seeing stone showed us,” Matthias said.

  “The stone? But… but why?” the King asked again. “What has that got to do with anything you told me?”

  Matthias looked painfully between King Arwell and Josephine.

  “Answer him,” Thadius growled, and kicked a boot at Matthias’s back. The wizard stumbled across the floor.

  “Thadius, please!” Josephine exclaimed. “That is not necessary!”

  “You both deserve to know what is going on here!” Thadius growled.

  “Yes, they do,” Matthias interrupted. “Which is why I agreed to be brought up here. But I did not agree to being kicked or beaten.” Matthias looked up to King Arwell, who was studying him.

  The king took a breath, licked his lips and said: “Pick him up. Take off those chains.”

  “But Your Majesty!” Thadius began, but the king held up a hand.

  “He could break free of those chains easier than you or I could snap a twig! There is no point. If he were going to hurt us, he would have done so by now. Am I right?” He asked Matthias, who nodded.

  The guard behind Thadius picked Matthias up off the floor and began to unlock the chains from his hands and feet. When he was done he backed away to join the other guard, and the king dismissed them. Matthias stroked his wrists.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “You can thank me by telling me what the hell is going on here!” the king barked. “I want the truth! You are capable of telling it, aren’t you?”

  Matthias nodded. “I’ll start from the beginning. Or at least the beginning as I know it.” He leaned against a chair. “The seeing stone I have spoken of was discovered several months ago, purely by accident in a dried up riverbed in northern Mahalia. It was passed through several hands and delivered with great pains to the Great City and our scholars began to decipher its messages. The first prophecy that was uncovered was that the dragon was breaking free. Everything I have told you about the dragon is true. But what I didn’t tell you… what I couldn’t bring myself to tell you earlier, is that there was another message encoded into the stone. It was a message that frightened my people even more than the prophecy about the dragon.” He faced the princess. “It was about you, Your Highness.”

  “Me?” she whispered.

  Matthias nodded. “The clerics deciphered the stone further and were presented with premonitions of you using your power. It was a future echo: an image of what might be. A little like the captured moment I spoke of earlier, but one drawn from what could be, not what has happened.”

  The Princess gasped. “But there must be a mistake! I would not even know how to use this power!”

  “Your Highness, how much do you know about your power?” he asked.

  Josephine glared at him, “I have never used them,” she growled.

  “The circumstances surrounding my daughter’s condition are complicated,” King Arwell added. “We have fought to suppress the power and hide it from view.”

  Matthias nodded. “To keep my people from finding out?”

  The King smiled. “I take it you do not have children, ambassador?” He asked. Matthias shook his head. “Then you would not then know the lengths that a parent will go to protect them. I know all too well how Mahalia deals with women who can channel magic. You subjugate them, take them and lock them away. When the power first manifested itself, when Josephine began to break things when she entered a room, when windows would smash at random, the queen and I considered asking for your people’s help. I had even penned a letter to your Council requesting their assistance! But then there came news of the ‘Southern Persecutions.’ I read intelligence that your people had rounded up women who could use your earth power who had tried to rise up to throw off your oppression against them and murdered them in their hundreds. I realised that your kind could never find out what Josephine possessed. It would be too dangerous to risk bringing your people in. Not to mention that there have been public hangings here as well, you know, against possessed women who can use your magics. The masses enjoy a good witch hunt.” The king’s brow began to bead with sweat as he continued and he rubbed his hands together nervously whilst Matthias, Josephine and Thadius listened. “My daughter kept the power to herself as long as she could, repressed it as she would have done a bad memory. But the build-up…” he stopped, sighed and rubbed at his forehead, where a thick vein snaked its way across his tight skin. The hand he cast across it visibly shook. Beside him, Josephine had hung her head and a tear was rolling down her cheek.

  “I killed one of my maids first,” she said, taking up the story. “I lost control and ripped the skin from her bones!” Her lips trembled. “I have never seen such horror. A mangled carcass was all that remained when the guards came to see the cause of her cries! There was blood everywhere, and she looked up at me, flayed and helpless, before she finally died.”

  “And that was only the first,” King Arwell said morosely.

  “I should have fought harder,” Josephine shook her head.

  “But it was an accident!” Matthias said softly. “You couldn’t have helped it.”

  “It didn’t look like an accident,” the king responded. “Princess or not, the woman was dead at her feet with no explanation, no indiscretion or crime to account for it. The guards who witnessed the scene were shocked. But I couldn’t let them spread the word, so I locked them away, in the Traitors Tower. They’re still there, save for one, who died of the cold two years back.”

  Thadius shifted. “Erical, Esteban and Julius, Your Grace?” he asked.

  “Three of the finest men I have had serve me,” the king said grimly. “But I had to protect my daughter.”

  Thadius nodded. “It never seemed quite right, some of our finest men turning traitor.”

  King Arwell nodded. “It was what I had to do to keep my daughter safe. It was not a noble thing to do by any means. But I felt it was necessary.” Thadius said nothing.

  “You said the maid was the first,” Matthias said grimly. “There were more?”

  “There were two more,” Josephine said. “A hound I bent down to pet one morning grew so docile at my touch that he began to fall asleep in my arms. It was almost a half - hour before I realised it was dead. I had stopped its heart.” She took a breath to steady herself, and the king placed a hand on her arm. He continued for her.

  “After the maid died I sought for another way to help my daughter other than contacting Mahalia. I looked for someone – anyone - who could help Josephine, but who was able to hold their tongue. I sent out men I trusted to scour the land for some
one who could cure her. All the while my girl was becoming more and more dangerous to those around her.”

  “Did you find someone who could help?” Matthias asked.

  The king nodded. “Eventually. But it was too late.” He swallowed. “One afternoon I found my daughter sitting in her chambers. At her feet, her mother…” He shook his head.

  Thadius gasped. “My gods!” he exclaimed under his breath.

  Matthias took a step towards the princess. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

  “I do not need your pity, wizard,” she muttered through a shaking voice.

  “I’m not offering any,” he replied softly. “I’m only offering sympathy.”

  “My mother only wanted to hold my hand to comfort me. It was a simple gesture. Do you have any idea the torment that has placed upon me? I killed my own mother!”

  Matthias shook his head sadly. He looked to the king at his side. He had seemed such an almighty man just a minute ago, but now he looked pale and fragile. The princess herself looked like a delicate porcelain china figurine, ready to shatter into pieces if she were so much as touched. Matthias had stumbled into a deep family torment.

  “I can’t imagine what you both must have gone through,” he said. “What a terrible thing to have happened to you. But you said you no longer feel the power now?”

  The princess nodded. “As my father said, he found someone who was able to help me. A wise young witch who had experience in helping women with their powers. She wanted me to learn how to use my power at first, but with some persuasion by my father, she taught me how to suppress it. That was over two years ago. I thought it was finally all behind me.” She shook her head. “But now here you are.” She looked at him with steely eyes. “I take it you meant to take me back to your realm to suppress me?” she asked. “That was your reason for sneaking up to my chambers?”

  Matthias shook his head. “It is not as simple as that, Your Highness. You’re forgetting about the prophecy. It showed you using your power. That’s how we knew about you.”

  “Why would the gods show you a prophecy of me, of all people?” the princess asked incredulously. “What do I have to do with the release of the dragon?”

  Matthias looked awkward. “We believe…” he stopped. “I believe that you are destined to stop the dragon from being released.”

  Josephine’s eyes widened. “Me?” she whispered, stunned. “You think I could stop the dragon?” she exclaimed.

  Matthias nodded. “I do.”

  “You cannot be serious?” The king scoffed. “What deception is this now?”

  “It’s no trick Your Grace!” Matthias rebuffed. “Everything I told you about the dragon’s release is true. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell you everything last night. It was too much to ask of you to believe me about the dragon and your daughter’s role. You do not trust my kind.”

  “So you decided to kidnap me?” the princess hissed. “So you could use me as some sort of… shield against that great lump of rock in Olindia?” Her voice was scathing.

  “It wasn’t the original plan,” Matthias said, shaking his head. “I was going to raise the subject over the coming days, when I had earned your trust. But I was ordered to retrieve you immediately as my people believe you are in danger. It was a mistake to do it the way I tried, but it was borne out of concern for your life.”

  “Rubbish!” The king growled. “Concern is not a trait I associate with your kind. Treachery, however, suits you down to the ground.” He scoffed. “You expect me to believe that your people, who despise women who can use the world’s powers, would allow my daughter to use her abilities to stop the dragon? Why would you make such an exception to centuries of repression and subjugation? You have killed empresses and queens: great women throughout history, because they dared to wield any kind of power.”

  “She has been selected by the gods,” Matthias reiterated. “Not only that…” he paused, the look on his face pained.

  “Out with it!” the king barked. “I have no further patience left for your procrastinations, ambassador. You will tell me everything! Give me the answers I want to know.”

  Matthias nodded. “You deserve to know. But will you allow me to ask a question, if it will help me to present you the full picture?”

  The king nodded begrudgingly. “If it is necessary to obtain the truth,” he sighed.

  “How much do you all know about the different powers of this world, and the Creation?” Matthias asked them all.

  “A little,” the princess replied. “I began to read into them when my power first surfaced.”

  “What did you learn?” Matthias asked.

  She gestured blankly with her hands. “I read that there are five powers that run through the world, each of them different in some way, and they can be used by people and creatures of the world. That is all I know. I do not know which one is mine. I did not try to find out any more about how to use it, only how to get rid of it before it hurt anyone else. As for the Creation,” she began, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “I recall a little, but not much about that from my reading when I was younger,” Thadius advised. “It marked the beginning of the world.”

  Matthias nodded. “It was time of great confusion and terrible conflicts which continued for many, many centuries.” He turned to the princess. “You are correct princess, there are five powers. Only, there used to be only four. Back when the world was created, the gods wove four energies in an unending stream across Erithia. The power passed through every rock, every blade of grass, and every creature like a complex tapestry, weaving around everything and stretching on forever. From what we know they were never meant to be used how they are now. When the world was new the creatures that grew were simplistic. But then some of the emerging animals found ways to tap into the powers and drink the energy into their bodies. Some, like the first humans who became wizards, were advanced enough to wield them, whilst others, who became demons, were driven mad by the force of the energy flowing into them. They were angry, confused and they broke the world.”

  "Your point?” The king growled. “I did not ask for a history lesson!”

  “This is all relevant, I assure you, Your Grace. But it is complicated.” He took a breath. “The gods themselves couldn’t stop the emerging demons.”

  “Why not? They’re gods, aren’t they?” Thadius asked. “They can control everything.”

  “Not everything.” Matthias grimaced. “I don’t want to go off track, but from what we know, from ancient texts, the gods cannot control true evil. Even on their own creation, once the madness took hold of the creatures which had tapped into the powers, and they grew angry and hateful, they couldn’t control them.” Matthias shook his head. “The gods are still a mystery. No one understands them fully. Anyone who claims to is a liar. The history we have written down in the archives is that the gods weren’t prepared for what had happened. Their idea was to create a utopia. Erithia was meant to be beautiful. But they did not factor in the possibility of evil. They had never seen anything like it. And when evil was given an opportunity to grow, it spread like the plague. The entire world was being torn apart. Humans were born into the madness and though many fought back, just as many joined the cause of the demons, inflicted by the very same madness as the other creatures. And that is when the gods stepped in to try and fight back.”

  "They made the Akari,” King Arwell nodded.

  “You do know about the Akari then?” Matthias nodded.

  “Of course!” the king scoffed. “You may have suppressed most of my people’s learning, but a few lucky ones like myself are still taught of the Akari and the Great Peace.”

  “I have never learnt about them,” Josephine sniffed with a hint of disdain.

  “That is because you never did like learning about history,” he smiled. “You were always more interested in learning about the here and now than about the past.”

  Thadius coughed and interrupte
d them. “Excuse me, Your Grace, but I have to clarify something. You don’t mean to say you believe the Akari were real?”

  The king nodded. “Of course they were.”

  Matthias nodded. “They were as real as you are, Thadius,” he answered. “The gods created them in the hope of stopping the madness that was spreading across the world. They were made to be strong, but physical strength and determination on the Akari’s part wouldn’t be enough, and so with them the gods wove a new power into the world; the fifth power, or the pure power as it’s called by those who study them. The gods made it so that the Akari alone could use the new power and they made it an energy stronger than any of the others and capable of overwhelming the other four combined.”

  “And with it they brokered a peace that lasted over two thousand years,” the king added, nodding.

  “Until seven hundred years ago, when they all vanished,” Matthias added.

  Thadius shook his head. “I can’t believe the Akari were real! I mean, I know I’m not a scholar, but I have read many books! At least six of them! You would think I would know the truth!” He exhaled. “Where did they go?” he asked.

  “No one knows for sure,” Matthias replied. “In the space of a single day, they all disappeared as if they had never existed. People at the time assumed that the gods took them back, that they weren’t needed anymore.”

  “But then came the Great War,” the King said. “And the Akari never came back to help.” He scoffed. “Humans have been left alone to fend for ourselves for centuries. We had to fight that war alone. We have been fighting against oppression ever since. In one form or another,” he added, casting a steely gaze over Matthias.

  “I was a little surprised you didn’t know they were real Thadius. When you mentioned they were mythical yesterday, when we were studying the carvings of them in the entrance hall, I was taken aback a moment. But then I remembered that perhaps I am in an enviable position when it comes to knowledge.”

  The soldier frowned. “I’ll try not to take that as an insult.”

  “Time has covered over their legacy to most people here,” the king said. “But that’s mostly down to your kind again,” he said bitterly to Matthias. The wizard looked abashed. “They have become figures of myth and legend like many other creatures have over the years, since your kind denied my people the will to learn as they once did.”

  Matthias took a breath. “I think, perhaps, we might be moving off topic.”

  The king sniffed scornfully at the diversion. Then he nodded. “Are you going to tell us what this has to do with the prophecy then?”

  Matthias nodded. “I needed to know how much you knew of the Akari and their power. You see, they haven’t left us completely, Your Grace.”

  Arwell looked puzzled “You mean they’re coming back?”

  Matthias shook his head. “Not quite.” He raised his hands to accentuate his next point. “This is what I had left to tell you yesterday. The part of the prophecy that I could not find the will in myself to speak of yesterday because it is almost too unbelievable to say.” He swallowed and looked to Josephine. “Princess, you don’t just have any power. You have the pure power. You possess the power of the Akari.”

  “That is ridiculous!” She spluttered.

  “The seeing stone has shown that you are the sole known heir to their fifth power. You are the only one alive this day with the ability to stop the dragon.”

  “That’s insane!” The king barked. “Utter madness!” He seized Matthias by the collar.

  “Your Grace!” Thadius exclaimed as the king shook the wizard.

  “There is no way that any of this is true!” The man spat.

  “The seeing stone told us,” Matthias said as calmly as he could. “They have never been wrong. Ever.”

  “This is a trick,” the king hissed. “A Mahalian plot!” He let go of Matthias, who stepped back, feeling his neck. The king paced across the floor. He struck out a hand, pointing at Matthias. “Where is your proof?” he asked.

  Matthias looked from the maddened king to the princess, who was watching him, glassy-eyed. “The proof sits within you Josephine. Don’t you feel it?” he asked.

  The king spun his head to look at his daughter, who took a breath. Her hands were shaking.

  “But I... I’m human!” she struggled.

  “Your Highness, I am not even going to pretend for a second that you are actually an Akari creature. But you’ve somehow been given access to their abilities. There is only one way in my mind that you can have been given that gift. The gods must have chosen you somehow to undertake this task!”

  “Guards!” the king bellowed, and on his command the soldiers returned, bursting through the door and running straight for Matthias. They grabbed his arms tightly. “I have listened to enough of these farfetched stories, given you far too much time to weave your lies into my daughter’s mind! I don’t know what the real reason is that your people have sent you here, but I am not going to let you brainwash me or my daughter into believing them! Take him away!” He barked, and Matthias was dragged to the door.

  “You know what I’m saying is the truth!” Matthias yelled to them. “You’ve been chosen princess! You have to listen to me! Please!” The door slammed shut behind him. The king walked unsteadily to his chair and fell into it, his head in his hands.

  “Your Grace,” Thadius whispered, kneeling by his side. “How can I help?”

  The king shook his head. “Just go. Leave us Thadius.”

  The soldier nodded and turned to go. Then as he was opening the door, he turned. “Whatever you need of me, Your Grace and Your Highness, I will do my utmost to help you.” Then he turned and left the room as the king hunched over and the princess watched the door with shock in her eyes.

  Considerations

  114th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Matthias sat on the rotting, damp, moss - covered wooden cot of the cell he had been thrown into. He was still in the palace, but somewhere under the structure, and a small, barred slit in the brick wall beheld daylight beyond and showed him a small view of the palace’s exterior wall from below ground level. He had been dragged and thrown in the room by the guards and left for the better part of a day now. It might even have been longer.

  He looked up at the sound of footsteps from the corridor beyond and the wooden door was unlocked and pushed inwardly. Thadius appeared in the doorway. He stepped into the confines of the cell and the door closed shut again behind him. For a moment he stood and watched Matthias silently.

  “Afternoon,” Matthias said.

  “Did you sleep well?” Thadius said and indicated to the cot.

  “Like a damp old log,” Matthias replied acerbically.

  “Why didn’t you stop my men from dragging you down here?” Thadius asked him.

  “Was that what you were expecting?” Matthias smiled and shrugged, then shook his head. “I said I would tell you the truth about why I was here, and I have. I told the king and the princess everything they needed to know. If I were to break free from here, what would that accomplish? They need time for what I have told them to sink in. Besides,” he said, looking around the room. “It’s quite cosy in here, once you look past the dirt.”

  Thadius chuckled. “I’ve heard it called many things, but never ‘cosy’.”

  “Why have you come to see me?” Matthias asked. “Or are you here to kill me?”

  Thadius paced forward a step, placing his hands in his pockets. “Was that what you were expecting?” He smiled. “Your people are idiots,” he said, and began to pace the room. “Asking you to kidnap the princess? How could that possibly have gone well?”

  Matthias leant back against the cold, stone wall. “I must admit, it was not one of their saner requests,” he said. Then he shrugged. “I think they panicked. They believe there is danger nearby, and they wanted me to keep the princess safe.”

  Thadius shook his head. “Don’t you think it would have been better
if you had asked?”

  Matthias chuckled. “You’re probably right, it would have been. That was the original plan. But there we go. These things happen.”

  “Not often. Or ever, now I think on it,” Thadius smirked.

  Matthias shifted in his seat. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I betrayed your trust.”

  Thadius snorted. “You assumed that a true trust existed between us.”

  “And I assumed wrongly?” Matthias asked. “Because it didn’t seem that way when we were working on the plans to clear the catacombs.”

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t trust you fully, even after you had impressed the king with your revelations. A young wizard sneaks into Rina with important news?" He shrugged. “I’m a sceptical man at the best of times. Something in my suspicious head told me not to let my guard down around you completely.”

  Matthias smiled at him. “That is probably a sensible thing,” he said.

  Thadius walked back to the door, and knocked three times to a guard on the other side. It opened at his instruction. “But… you’ve proven one thing to me,” he added.

  Matthias brushed the floppy hair from his eyes. “What’s that?”

  “You haven’t run away. Even when you had the opportunity to do so, when you could have killed me or taken the princess by force, which I believe you were very capable of doing, you stayed to face the consequences of your actions. So perhaps there is something that can be trusted in you. What that something is, remains to be seen.”

  Matthias nodded seriously to him as he left the room and the door slammed shut again, and the sound of locks being barred filled Matthias’s ears. He sighed and looked out the window. “If you find out what it is, please tell me,” he whispered at the closed door.

  Princess Josephine slumped heavily down onto her four-poster bed, before letting her body fall back onto the comfort of the silken sheets with a sigh. She had endured a long conversation- well, it was more an argument- with her father once the guards had taken Matthias away, and time seemed to blur together as the hours passed and she walked the palace corridors flanked by the ever - present guards her father had insisted be thrust upon her whilst Matthias was close by. Now she had retired to her room to think on the events.

  Her father had been enraged by Matthias’s revelations to a point that no - one could reason with him. He could not bring himself to accept the story he had told them about the Akari creatures. The problem was she knew somehow that Matthias was telling the truth. Within her there seemed to be an instinctual confirmation that the power Mathias spoke of was that which she possessed. But the question remained how that could be so? And why would she, amongst all others in the world- all those more capable people- be selected by the gods?

  When she had told her father she believed Matthias, he had exploded even more than when he called for Matthias’s removal from the room. They had fought for hours afterwards, going over every word of the story, re - living the years of terror within their minds. Now she knew what the energy was that dwelt inside her, she felt an inkling of gratitude in amongst her anger and distrust of the wizard, that he had given her some answers at long last. But there was much more that needed to be discussed with him, now the dust had settled and she had taken the time to gather her thoughts. But the king had demanded that she not go and visit the ambassador in his cell and going to speak with him would be tantamount to treason against a direct order of the king, whether he was her father or not.

  She lay on the bed for a long time thinking, until she noticed that the sky had grown red-orange as the sun began another retreat beneath the horizon, and so she got up and made her way to her door. As she opened it two maids curtsied to her.

  “Go and fetch Thadius, Lynna,” she instructed to the maid on the left. “Bring him here immediately.” Lynna curtsied and ran off. Josephine shut her door again, sat down in a chair by the window and waited, watching the sky turn to the deep - blue of evening.

  Some time later there was a knock at the door and Thadius bowed his way into the room.

  “Your Highness, you had asked to see me?”

  The princess stood. “My good man, I am pleased that you have come. Thank you for seeing me.”

  “Anything for you princess. You know that,” he smiled at her.

  “How is your father?” she asked him awkwardly, rubbing her arm.

  “Well, Your Highness. He is out of town at the moment, visiting relatives in Chine.” She nodded, and then they stood in awkward silence for a moment, before Thadius said: “Your Highness, forgive me, but I gather that you did not ask me here to ‘catch up’?”

  “No. No I did not.” She exhaled. “I…” She paused a moment. “I need to see the wizard, Thadius.”

  Thadius sighed. “Your Highness, the king has expressly forbidden you to go and see him. I can’t disobey those orders.”

  “And so you should not,” she replied. “So I need you to bring him up here, to my chambers.”

  Thadius looked puzzled. “But Your Highness just said-”

  “I am not allowed to go and see him. But my father said nothing about the ambassador coming to see me.”

  Thadius thought a moment, a look of complete disbelief on his face. But then he sighed, and for a brief moment, a smile appeared on his face “As you wish, Your Highness.” He bowed again and left the room.

  Another half-hour later, Thadius reappeared, and with him was Matthias, unbound and standing side-by-side with the soldier.

  “Thank you for seeing me again princess,” Matthias said. “I was beginning to get cold in that dungeon, and there are only so many bricks to count to while away the time.”

  “I need to know something,” the princess said without acknowledging what Matthias had said. “What will happen if I do not help you to stop the dragon?”

  Matthias shrugged. “We will try and find another way I suppose.”

  “Is there another way?”

  Matthias smiled thinly. “I don’t believe so, Your Highness. Not unless my people can find the people who are breaking the dragon free. But time is running out for that hope.

  Josephine sniffed. “I have a problem, ambassador,” she said, and began to pace the room.

  “Please, call me Matthias,” he said. “What is it?””

  The princess nodded. “I might not have been exposed to your people in their previous visitations to Rina, but I know full well what your kind do to women who use a power. Do you expect me to believe that your people, who abhor women who can wield energy, will simply let me continue to live as a princess without any intervention, when my part in this little quest is completed?”

  Matthias paused as he thought. Then he continued. “There are far greater issues at hand,” he said.

  Josephine’s eyes narrowed. “That is not an answer.” She shook her head and snorted derisively. “My father is right, you have a gift when it comes to speaking ambiguously.”

  Matthias continued. “We must continue to try and find the people responsible and throw our efforts into that,” he said.

  “And if you cannot find them in time? As you freely admitted, the sand is very much at the bottom of the hourglass in relation to this matter,” she said.

  “Then the dragon will escape,” he said.

  “For what reason?” she asked. “Are you telling me this prophecy did not tell you why these shadowy people would work to release a creature capable of wreaking utter devastation on this continent?”

  “I can only imagine that answer will become clearer in time,” Matthias replied.

  Josephine raised a hand to her forehead. “So if I do nothing, if I ignore your warnings and sit tight here in Rina, a lot of people will suffer.” She sighed. “How do you even expect me to stop the dragon escaping, if I haven’t got a clue what I am supposed to do? I have never been able to control my power! I was only able to suppress it with the wise woman’s help!”

  “There are some similarities between the different powers. If t
he gods have given you this gift, they must be confident that you will be able to use it. You wouldn’t give a hammer and an anvil to a blacksmith without them knowing what to do with them, so why would they give you something you couldn’t use?” He smiled. “Somewhere within you is the knowledge to wield your power. It just might need nurturing, which is where we can help. Where I can help.”

  The princess nodded hesitantly and then moved to the window. The sky was dark now.

  Matthias watched her. “Your Highness, you hold the pure power. It is the strongest energy ever created. It is simply too almighty a power to be suppressed forever. You act like a conduit for the power: it funnels itself through you like an aqueduct. I doubt that what this wise woman taught you, whoever or whatever she was, will last for any considerable length of time. She will have only put a cork in the pipe, shored up the defences inside of you with a few loose logs against a torrent of energy. However much it may seem to be stable within you now, I believe it will unleash itself again eventually, regardless of the lengths you have gone to stop it. It is the will of the gods. You can dam up the river, but eventually the wood will rot and water will flow again. It’s only a matter of time. My people can help.”

  “Mister Greenwald, forgive me if I am blunt, but I would sooner trust the dreadlord himself than your people right now,” said the princess.

  Matthias nodded. “I understand,” he said. Then he took a breath and started forward towards her. “Then trust me,” he said.

  “Trust my erstwhile kidnapper?” she mused.

  “Your Highness,” Thadius interrupted, looking awkward, “Forgive me if this is not my place, but I feel obliged to speak on this subject.” The princess looked at him, surprised a moment, but then nodded for him to continue. “I do not wholly trust Matthias. Since he came here he has given me - has given you - very little reason to, and his actions have been dishonest, to say the least, in what he attempted to do. But in remaining he has shown a glimmer of loyalty. And I do believe that what he has told us about the dragon and about you, is true.”

  “Are you saying you think I should help?” she asked.

  “Princess, we have known each other for a long time. I have served your family for my entire life. Your safety is my first priority. But I also believe in you, Your Highness, in everything that you do, and if this is your calling, then I know you can do it.”

  Josephine smiled. “That was laced with positivity, Thadius!”

  “I know,” he said chuckling. “I think I might be coming down with something.”

  “I have never known you to be so… progressive.”

  Thadius smiled back. “I imagine it won’t last for long, Your Highness, should you decide to do this. But if you do, then I know you can do it.”

  Josephine turned back to Matthias. “There is a problem, however, in that I do not trust you, Matthias, in spite of your protestations. My father says you are unlike any wizard he has ever met, but that does not necessarily mean you are more trustworthy than those that have come before you.” Matthias opened his mouth to speak, but she held her hand up. “Ah-ah! I have not finished. If the stakes are as high as you say, if the dragon is so close to being freed, then perhaps I have no more time for such matters. What I do need, however, is honesty. If this is required of me, then I need my questions to be answered with absolute candour. There are to be no more lies or falsehoods.”

  Matthias nodded. “I will speak the truth on those matters that concern you, princess. You have my word on that.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “Should I agree to assist- and I am not saying I will- then what would happen then? Are there other wizards that are to accompany me on this journey?”

  “Before I tried to kidnap you the plan as it was originally intended was that I would have helped you to realise your abilities, if they were not already apparent, with the help of my Master, a great and powerful wizard.”

  “Is he nearby?” the princess asked.

  Matthias shook his head. “No, he’s in Mahalia. But I have a way to communicate with him instantly from here. Together, he and I would work to make sure you could control your power as we travelled to Olindia, where we would then try to stop the dragon’s release. Meanwhile, in Mahalia my people will try to find and cut off the people who are intending to free Sikaris.

  “In case I were to fail?” the princess asked.

  Matthias shrugged. “To put it bluntly, yes.”

  The princess paced the floor of her room. “How many people live within the dragon’s reach?” she asked. “Hundreds of thousands?”

  “A lot more than that,” Matthias replied.

  The princess nodded. “How many of them will die if Sikaris is released and I selfishly remain here?” She shook her head. “I hate this power. You call it a gift from the gods, but all it has brought me this far is pain and suffering.”

  “I understand that,” Matthias responded. “What I’m offering you is a way to stop events like those in your past from happening again.”

  Josephine sighed. “How could I avoid using this power under such circumstances? How could I refuse and live with myself as people are killed in their masses? I have no choice in this matter if I want to look myself in the eye ever again.”

  “Then you will help?” Matthias asked tentatively.

  After a pause she nodded. “I will come on your little sojourn, but under several conditions, all of which are not optional.”

  Matthias smiled and nodded. “Which are?”

  “The first is that I will be accompanied by a full, armed guard. I do not intend to trudge my way to wherever it is we are to go.”

  Matthias licked his teeth with his tongue awkwardly. “That may be a problem. Such a large guard is slow and conspicuous. I…” Josephine lowered her head so that she was looking at him over her brow. “Ahem. I’m sure that will be fine.”

  She nodded. “Secondly, which seems to be a given anyway, is that you will teach me about my energy personally. Now we are acquainted I do not wish to meet any others of your kind if I can help it.”

  “Consider it done, Your Highness,” Matthias replied.

  “Thirdly, you will give me your word that if I stop this dragon-”

  “You will,” Matthias nodded. “I have every confidence in you.”

  “How inspiring of you,” Josephine said acerbically. “Very well. When I stop this dragon, you your people will allow me to return home to Rina. I will not be made into a trophy for your people to wheel out whenever there is call for it, or reprimanded for my use of this energy. I am not going to become your puppet.”

  Matthias took a breath. Then after a pause, he nodded. “You have my word.”

  “Very well then,” the princess said, and gathered her skirts. “Now that is agreed, we had best tell my father.”

  Discussions

  114th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  “Never!” The king barked, his face purple as beetroot as he spat at the trio in front of him. “I will never allow it! And as for you, Thadius! You have betrayed the orders of your king? I should have your head for such a matter, friend or not!”

  “Thadius did not betray your orders!” The princess countered. “The wizard came to visit me, not the other way around. Your orders did not prohibit such an occurrence.”

  The king opened his mouth to bark a fierce reprisal, but then considered the words she had uttered, before he scoffed. “A technicality is no justification when you know it still goes against my wishes!”

  “He was following my instruction,” Josephine advised. “If you are to be angry with someone, then direct it towards me.”

  The king shrugged. “I would if I thought it would make any difference to your behaviour!” He threw his hands up. “Why do the gods test me so? Is running a kingdom not enough in this day and age without a daughter who would sooner get herself tied up in the schemes of a wizard than to listen to her king and master?”

  “Father, my respect for you runs deeper
than you can imagine. But this concerns my future. I had to speak further with the ambassador.”

  “The consequence of which conversation is that you intend to follow a near stranger and a wizard to boot, into our neighbour’s land? To battle the Great Dragon himself?” The king laughed. “What sorcery did you place upon her mind wizard?”

  “I told her only the truth, Your Grace,” Matthias replied calmly.

  “Father, I am going with the ambassador. Believe me, it is not my preferred choice, and it may even be the worst decision I will ever make. But I must help defend our people- all people- against this threat.” She swallowed. “I feel deep within me that it is the right thing to do.”

  “And if I do not allow it to be so?” The king rumbled.

  “Whether you permit it or not I will be going. Your alternative, Your Grace, would be to imprison me,” the princess said bluntly.

  King Arwell looked aghast and turned to Matthias. “You have poisoned my own daughter against me,” he growled. “You have done what I never thought would have been possible.”

  “Your Grace, I only want to help,” Matthias replied. “I made a mistake with my recent actions, but it was a mistake borne out of good intentions. I have pledged to teach your daughter how to control her abilities and she has my word that once this situation is over I will return her to you.” Matthias shook his head. “I know there is nothing more I can do to convince you of my good intentions.”

  The king raised a hand to his brow and placed the other on his hip. “Even if your intentions are just, this is my only daughter. Would you let your own child go on such a dangerous journey?”

  Matthias shook his head. “I can't answer that Your Grace, not having been a father. How could I measure your fear without that first-hand experience? There is nothing comparable to the love of a parent to their child, or so I understand.”

  “Father,” Josephine whispered softly. “One day you will not be here to protect me and I will have to stand on my own. What kind of a future queen will I make if I ignore the greatest threat to our people for centuries and hide away in a corner under your arm? I could never call myself the defender of the phoenix throne should my lack of action now result in the deaths of millions.”

  The anger in the king’s eyes began to fade, replaced with a sorrowful expression. He exhaled heavily. “Your mother was always stubborn, you know,” he said. “But I swear you are a hundred times worse!”

  Josephine smiled. “So you will let me go?” she asked.

  The king nodded. “I suppose I will,” he said reservedly. “But only with a pledge from you Thadius, that you will look after her yourself!”

  Thadius bowed his head. “I would want nothing more than to protect the princess, Your Grace. However, surely there is someone better suited to carry out such a task? One of your generals perhaps?”

  “Thadius, there is no one I would trust more than you with my daughter’s safety,” King Arwell replied. Then he scoffed. “Perhaps I would have sent the king’s hand, had I not just sentenced him to death for betrayal!”

  Thadius flinched. “Oh yes, of course. I’d forgotten about that Your Grace.”

  The king nodded. “You are the most trustworthy of all my men. You always have been. It is about time you rose to the position you have denied yourself for so long, Sir Thadius Wilhem.”

  Thadius swallowed and his eyes bulged. “Your Grace I… I don’t feel ready for such an honour.”

  “You have earned a knighthood a hundred times over! No more will I accept your refusal! You might not feel you have earned it, and I have tolerated your refusals before because I think a great deal of you. But this time I command it. You are charged with my daughter's wellbeing on this journey.”

  Thadius swallowed and knelt down. “I will serve you well, my king.”

  “You’re damned right, you will!” the king smiled and then, his expression growing icy again, he looked to Matthias. “And if this wizard betrays us one more time, I want you to personally take his head off.” Matthias held firm his stoic expression, not even swallowing at the prospect.

  Thadius nodded again. “It would be my pleasure, Your Majesty,” he chuckled.

  The king stroked his beard. “This morning I awoke with the greatest thing on my mind being what I was to eat for breakfast. Now I have a daughter with the fate of the world resting on her shoulders.” He turned and strode to a set of double windows, laying his arm against the alcove. “It is a dangerous world out there and you have never been in it, my daughter. You cannot possibly know how many dangers await you.”

  The princess swallowed. “I will be well protected, Your Grace,” she said.

  “You are a brave girl, Josephine. You always have been. But I know you do this out of a duty to the people.” He turned to face her again. “There is still time to walk away from this.”

  “If I can learn to control these powers, then it will be all the better for me as well as your people.”

  The king took a deep breath and nodded again. Then he looked to Matthias. “When must you go wizard?”

  “As soon as possible, Your Grace,” Matthias replied.

  “I thought you might say that,” the man said gruffly. “Thadius, prepare an escort to accompany you to Olindia.” He looked pensive. “Perhaps I should come with you as well.”

  “Your Grace, it is bad enough to risk the princess going on this journey, but for you to come as well…” Thadius said.

  “King Arwell, it is going to be difficult enough to hide the presence of the princess when she is surrounded by a cortège of guards. With the king joining us as well, word will spread. We don’t know who is breaking the dragon from his prison. We don’t know how much they already know about your daughter. The less of a fuss that is made, then the better our chances will be. I would not advise you to come,” Matthias said. The king looked sternly at him.

  “You must stay father,” the princess said sadly. “I would have you come with me, but if I do not succeed, then your kingdom will need its king to be here to prepare for the dragon’s arrival.”

  The king looked pained, but eventually, after a moment, he nodded. “Very well,” he said gruffly, and added: “The women always claim to know best, do they not?”

  “The world has known no other truth for hundreds of years,” Matthias replied.

  A Trust is Earned

  114th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Matthias returned to his room a little later, guarded from the outside now, of course, where he was left to his own devices. Beforehand the king had allowed him, begrudgingly, to venture into the city, escorted by two soldiers, where he had proceeded to lay invisible lines of energy across some of the more common routes up to the palace. If a demon were to trip them, he would know about it.

  When he arrived back at his room, his staff stood propped up against a chair, collected from where he had left it in the corridor earlier. He was glad of its return, having had it for so long. He used it, like many wizards, as a conduit to channel the earth power, which all wizards of Mahalia wielded. He could channel the power without it of course, but with its help he was able to better focus his strength and use the energy to greater effect. Other wizards used a staff as well for the same reason, whilst some others preferred wands or even, in some rare cases, swords or lances. But he found the staff to be adequate and given its sentimental value, he would not be parted with it for any other prop. That walk in the forested countryside, where he had found the branch seemed such a long time ago now and yet, in the great scheme of the world’s life, he was but a tiny step forward.

  He sat in one the chair beside it and grasped its gnarled, bulbous top, patting it thoughtfully. He had disobeyed his master’s order to kidnap the princess. Pym would not be happy at that. But then again, it would not be the first time he had shirked his elders. He was confident that this way was better, with the cooperation of the princess rather than resorting to coercion, as was so often the case with his p
eople.

  He fumbled in his bag and pulled out the communication orb, placing it on the table in front of him. He would speak with Pym later that day and let him know what was happening. First he needed some time to rest. He hadn’t slept in the cell and he couldn’t remember the last time he had actually drifted into unconsciousness. He eased himself out of the chair and moved to the bed, crawling on top of the goose - feather duvet and arranging himself into a cross - legged position, his staff resting horizontally over his knees.

  “Time to meditate,” he whispered to himself. “Then perhaps I can clear my mind enough to find sleep again.” He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing, drawing in the air through his nostrils and exhaling it back out through his mouth. He tried to block out the cawing of crows somewhere outside the window. After uncountable minutes had passed, Matthias felt his head start to grow heavier and images began to dance in front of his mind, as he entered a deep, dream - like state.

  He was standing in the centre of a street, the cobbles beneath his feet shattered and scorched. His clothes appeared unchanged and he had his staff in his hand. Where was he? He looked around. The sky was a ruddy orange, dense with clouds. His ears pricked at the sound of crackling wood and a multitude of voices. No, they weren’t voices. They were screams and wails. Around him, buildings sprung up from the ground and instantly burst into flames and then, swooping across his vision, the silhouette of the Great Dragon Sikaris soared through the sky. He stepped back in shock a moment until his mind caught up with his instincts. He knew he was meditating and so in no danger but still, it all seemed very real. These were the events of the past. Or at least, it was his mind’s representation of them. He was in Crystal Ember, the capital city of Olindia, and this was the last day of the greatest war ever fought. This was the day the dragon was captured.

  He started forward, following the direction of the dragon’s flight. The creature swept down towards the buildings below and flame burst from his lungs. The buildings turned to smoke and the scene altered, and Matthias was standing elsewhere in the city. There was an almighty explosion and then the sky erupted above him. Around the dragon energy struck him in many forms: lightning bolts and piercingly sharp icicles rained down onto his back from the clouds. Flashes of power lit up the darkness and forced the creature down to the ground. He could not make out the beast’s features from where he stood: he was a dark shadow in his mind’s eye. Against his black form a hundred lassoes of power wrapped around the beast, looping his neck, grasping his arms and legs and tightening around his tail. Sikaris strained against them, ripped several from his body, the energy shattering as they broke pulled him to the ground. All around the dragon wizards conjured up more of the vibrant energy ropes and pinned him down. The beast roared and tugged the restraints as the men approached him and began to place their hands all across his body. From their palms, sandy-light rippled outwards with a crunching noise until they covered the entire beast’s form. The energy glowed and the wizards stepped back. Sikaris broke free from the restraints and flapped his wings. He bent down to survey the people beneath him and roared, and then, with a whoosh the light around his body faded and the creature turned to stone, petrified.

  A knock at the door pulled Matthias out of his meditation suddenly. He beckoned entrance and a maid came into his room carrying a tray of fruits and a porcelain teapot, steaming from its spout.

  “Compliments of the king,” the maid advised, before bowing her way out of the room.

  Matthias smiled at the teapot. “He must have had some squirrelled away,” he pondered to himself. “Though why would you show such generosity to me now after all the events of the day? Unless it’s poisoned, of course!” He shook his head and smiled, raising the cup to his lips. But before he took a sip he paused and lowered it again and then, rifling in his bag again, pulled out a small wooden strip and dipped it in the liquid before removing it again and shaking it several times. He held it up to the light. The wood turned pink and he breathed a sigh of relief. No poison. At least none he was able to detect. He shook his head again. He was being foolish. He cast the wooden tester aside and took a sip of the tea. The beverage had a mild taste, though with a spicy tang of cinnamon which struck the back of the throat as he swallowed, and he let its aroma soothe him as he sat back into a chair, cup clasped in hand on his stomach, and, finally satisfied that he was not about to die, admired his surroundings. He had been too distracted before to fully appreciate the room. It was compact full of elegant touches. The bed - posts were painted golden, the rug on the floor made of a fine fur: wolf, he thought, by its feel. The chair he sat in and its companion opposite were magnificently upholstered. As he continued his survey an object caught his eye resting on the top of a cabinet. It was a small, golden, carved looking glass. He reached a hand out and flicked a finger, his eyes momentarily shimmering blue. The looking glass lifted off the top of the cabinet and hovered through the air into his waiting palm. He admired its craftsmanship and then turned it over to the reflective glass front, looking at himself in the mirror. Gingerly he felt up at his cheek and he smiled with a half-hearted chuckle at the image before him.

  “What would you have all thought eh? Your son in a quest to save the world, time and an age from when we all were together?” He looked at his eyes with great deliberation through the slightly wavy surface of the mirror and his smile faded. He lowered the glass. “Foolish old Matthias,” he whispered and set it aside. “Talking to the dead again.” He looked at the backs of his hands. “So much still to learn, it would seem.”

  He yawned suddenly and rubbed at his eyes. He knew he was tired, but his head suddenly seemed as if it might fall off and roll away from the floor, it felt so heavy. He placed his hands to either side of the chair to push himself up. Time for sleep, he said to himself. But he couldn’t muster the strength to rise again from the chair. He fell back into the comfortable hold of the chair. Oh well, perhaps I will just rest here then…

  He didn’t remember falling asleep, but the next he knew he was being awoken by someone kicking his right foot. His eyelids opened under duress. It was night! How long had he been asleep? Shadows flitted about in the gloom, cast by the light of a dozen candles sitting in a candelabrum on the table to the far side of the room. As his eyes focussed, the shadowy figure of Thadius emerged in his vision, sitting in the chair opposite him. He sat up in surprise.

  “Did I wake you?” Thadius asked.

  “Yes!” Matthias exclaimed, trying to wake up quicker than his body would let him. “But don’t let it bother you!” he said with distaste.

  “Oh, I wasn’t bothered,” Thadius replied.

  “What… what are you doing in here?” the wizard asked.

  Thadius leaned forward, “Tea?” he beckoned to Matthias, picking up the pot. Then, feeling the lack of warmth on his hand, added: “Cold tea?”

  “No, thank y-,” Matthias began and then stopped just as abruptly. Realisation dawned. “Oh. So it was poisoned?”

  “Not poison,” Thadius said. “Just something to help you sleep.”

  “But I tested it for contamination!” Matthias retorted, running his hands through his hair.

  “Well perhaps we have some of our own tricks up our sleeves,” Thadius smirked.

  “Why?” Matthias asked angrily.

  “Because the king wanted me to check you didn’t have anything else on you that could be used against us. He was hoping there might even be something on your person that would cast your stories into doubt.”

  Matthias gritted his teeth. “I don’t have anything to hide here! I’ve told you everything you need to know!”

  “Oh I know, I searched your bag while you slept,” Thadius advised. “I suspected that we wouldn’t find anything else of note there.”

  “You think I have hidden something then?” he asked irritably.

  Thadius shook his head. “No, I don’t. Believe it or not, I think you really have told us everything. But the king wanted to be sure
. He is worried about sending his daughter off with you wizard. Very worried. And I did as I was ordered. I put you to sleep and checked your belongings. If it puts the king’s mind at ease then more the better.”

  “He should be more concerned with the people who are out there trying to bring the dragon down on us!” Matthias exclaimed, grabbing the teapot from the table and pulling off the lid. He sniffed the liquid tentatively. “Oh. You used turtleweed! Of course.”

  “Impervious to your testing methods. Or so the king told me.”

  “It’s also incredibly rare in these parts.”

  “The king knows some well-travelled people,” Thadius shrugged.

  Matthias shook his head. “You are quite the devious ones yourselves,” he said and stuck his finger in the drink. His eyes flared blue and a sliver of energy wound down the wizard’s outstretched digit.

  “What are you doing?” Thadius asked.

  “Neutralising the plant so I can drink this tea! I’m thirsty!” he huffed. “Luckily enough a friend showed me how.”

  Thadius shook his head and chuckled. “Look Matthias, I went out on a limb for you earlier, when I backed you up in front of the princess. The gods knows why I did that. I believe your stories, even if the king does still have doubts. I must be mad, but I believe your tales.”

  “I’m grateful you stepped in for me with the princess.” He poured a cup of the tea and then set the pot down carefully. He picked up the cup and began circling a finger around the rim slowly, watched diligently until steam began to rise from the reheated liquid before sipping it. He sighed. “Better.” Matthias set the cup on his lap. “You could have searched my things and departed and I would have never known what you had done. I was so tired I would have never suspected you’d send me to sleep.”

  “So what am I still doing here?” the soldier asked. Matthias nodded. “I have stayed because of that which we spoke of earlier. Trust. I believe in your stories but that doesn’t mean I believe in you. Not fully.”

  “How can I prove myself to you further?” Matthias asked. “All the proof of my intentions I have is words.”

  “The only thing I can think of… is that.” He pointed to Matthias’s pendant.

  The wizard looked down, and then felt to the medallion dangling from his neck. “Oh no,” Matthias said. “I can’t.”

  Thadius shrugged. “I know how much it means to you, now I know what it contains. To keep something of such personal worth to you... now that, I think, would convince me further.”

  Matthias swallowed, clutching tightly to the metal beneath his palm. He wore a pained expression on his face as he looked at Thadius. But then, hesitantly, he took his hand away, and slowly reached around the back of his neck and undid the chain’s latch. The pendant swung free as he drew it away from his body and gingerly held it out.

  “If you lose it…” Matthias said.

  Thadius reached out an open palm and Matthias dropped it into his hand. His neck felt naked without it. Lighter. He felt half a man!

  “Now you have something precious of mine to look after, and I something of yours,” Thadius said. His fingers curled around the pendant, and he drew it to him, before attaching it around his own neck.

  “There. How does it look?” He asked Matthias, who had gone slightly pale.

  “It looks… strange, on someone who is not a wizard,” he said.

  “The only way someone will get this from me is if they cut my head off,” Thadius advised him.

  “Then I have to protect you as well, it would seem,” Matthias said with a half - smile.

  Thadius chuckled and then rose from the chair. “Thank you,” he said. “I think now we finally might understand one another. Now we both have something of the other’s in our care that we never want to lose.” He moved to the door. “I have a dozen men preparing for our coming journey.” He pointed to Matthias as he opened the door. “You should get some rest. You look tired,” he chuckled, and closed the door.

  The Dark of Night

  115th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Matthias sat in his room for several hours that night, pondering matters silently. He became aware after a while that he had been instinctively running his hand along the bare spot on his chest where his pendant usually lay against his skin. He lowered his hand to the chair’s arms and pushed himself up.

  At least I can manage that this time, he thought wistfully to himself. Turtleweed. He shook his head and chuckled at the ingenuity. There’s none of those wild plants growing anywhere near Rina for the king to have harvested such a sedative. How did he even know it couldn’t be detected by our testing sticks? It’s almost scentless too, unless you know that it’s there and even then, it’s only the slightest whiff that gives away its presence. He pulled off his shirt and placed it carefully over the back of the chair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the looking glass again, lying face-up on the table. He picked it up again and angled it to look at his bare neck. The skin had a slight sheen where the chain had sat for so long and was less tanned than the rest of his body. He grimaced in the flickering candlelight and cast the mirror on to the chair cushion, making his way to the bed and slipping beneath the covers. He waved a hand and the candles all went out, and darkness shrouded the room. He closed his eyes, and fell asleep almost instantly.

  A chiming sound stirred him from his slumber and he opened his eyes to a pulsing light. He sat up with a sharp intake of breath. The communication orb.

  “Can’t I get some sleep without being poisoned or interrupted?” he grumbled. He rose out of the bed again and flailed towards the orb that sat on the table. It was still dark outside, so it was fortunately nowhere near morning yet – although that also meant that he had probably only been in bed for an hour or so at most. He grasped the sphere and clutched it tightly in his hand, before falling backwards on to the duvet and closing his eyes. Purple light swirled around his arm as the Orb made contact.

  “What is happening?” the voice asked anxiously. “I have not heard from you in ages!”

  “I’m sorry Master Pym,” Matthias replied. “The kidnapping didn’t go as expected. I was caught.”

  “Caught!” The voice snapped. “How?”

  “That doesn’t matter now,” Matthias said, inside his head. “All you need to know is I have told the king and the princess about her abilities and the full reason for my being here. They have agreed to help of their own free will, as we had originally intended to be the case.”

  The voice was silent a moment and then it continued. “That is good news. Something I have had little of lately. Well done.”

  “Thank you. I apologise I didn’t contact you sooner. It has been an… eventful day.”

  “No doubt. In any case, I have also contacted you for another reason. There has been a change.”

  Matthias’s heart jumped. “Another one?”

  “The Council has reviewed their conclusions of the seeing stone’s premonitions and have found that the dragon’s prison is much closer to destruction than we had anticipated.”

  “How much closer?” Matthias asked and held his breath.

  “We believe it is now in the very final stages of being unlocked. There are but a few weeks of work to dissolve the petrification.”

  Matthias exhaled heavily. “But that isn’t enough time!”

  “Then you will proceed quickly to Olindia. You must teach the princess how to use her power in the time you have left.” Matthias was silent. The voice continued. “You are an able wizard, Matthias,” the voice said, with a hint of warmth in its disembodied tone. “Perhaps a little too headstrong, even after all I have done to rein you in! But I am confident that you will find a way to train her. I will be at hand to talk to for advice if you need me. Then we will see where fate leads us all.”

  Matthias nodded, forgetting that Pym could not survey his movements. When he spoke again it was with hesitation. “I promised that the princess would be free from restraint when she i
s done with her task,”

  “Let’s hope that is a possibility.”

  “I gave her my word,” Matthias said. “I will keep it.”

  “I must go,” the voice said suddenly. “There is a great deal to do here as well. Get the princess to Crystal Ember and help her to reinforce the dragon’s prison. Maybe then the Council will see reason. We will speak again soon, Matthias.” The voice disappeared again with a plop. (Perhaps a different word to plop as makes me think of poo.... can’t think of alternative but perhaps pop?)

  Matthias sighed. He was sweating. He sank back into the bed, letting the glass ball fall away from his palm onto the quilt. He lay there for a while staring up at the carved wooden canopy of the bed. Suddenly his head was bombarded with a blinding flash and an image of the city outside filled his vision. He sat bolt upright and hissed. Another flash and a creature shot briefly across his gaze, meandering across a cobbled yard in the thin moonlight.

  “Oh gods no, not now!” he whispered. Something had just tripped two of the markers he had laid earlier.

  He flew up out of bed, the sheets cascading to the floor as he grasped his shirt from the back of a chair and pulled it on hurriedly, before shoving his belongings into his bag, grabbing the orb from the bed and shoving it into his pocket. He jumped into his boots, threw on his coat and opened the door.

  Two guards in purple livery turned to face him, lances sliding across to bar his way.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” the first, on the right said in a common, Aralian accent.

  “I have to get to see Thadius. The Princess is in danger,” he panted.

  “Danger?” the second one said. “The only danger she is in is from you from the way we hear it. Now go back inside until morning. We’ve got orders not to let you roam the halls at night.”

  “You don’t understand!” Matthias cried. “I have seen creatures in my mind! They are on their way to the palace!”

  The men looked to one another, and then back to Matthias. “Of course they are. Now go back inside and we will give the king your message.”

  Matthias looked to them both, jaw clenched tightly. Then he took a breath. “I’m ever so sorry. I really am.”

  “Wh-” the first guard said, but before he could finish Matthias threw out both his hands and plunged his fists into both guards’ stomachs. Sparks shot from Matthias’s knuckles and the men shuddered, their bodies contorting, before falling to the floor like limp fish, their weapons jangling onto the floor. Matthias stepped over them, rearranging his bag and staff where they rested on his back and shoulder. “I really am sorry,” he said again to the two men who were both unconscious, slumped in a heap on the floor.

  Matthias ran down the corridor, throwing his head to look behind himself at regular intervals as he went. The corridors were mostly dark the way he went, though now and again there were stand - lamps burning with their oil - soaked wicks. He saw no – one along the way, save for two serving women who he heard coming along one corridor, gossiping as they walked. He flew into them and sent the trays they carried flying. They screamed as their contents crashed to the floor.

  “Sorry!” he cried back, but he didn’t stop. He eyed every shadow warily as if it might leap at him and tear his head off, and he embraced the earth power once as he ran, ready to strike at what turned out to be no more than a rat scurrying across the corridor.

  As he made his way along another passageway he stopped and clutched to his head as another snapshot of the city flashed into his head like a bolt of lightning, sparking his brain. Another creature had triggered yet another trap he had laid. It was closer, nearer the palace.

  How many creatures are there? He thought nervously. The trap had been triggered not five minutes away. As he reached the princess’s chambers another guard stood outside the doorway. Seeing Matthias he threw down his pike, its sharp, pointed end aiming directly at Matthias. The wizard threw out a hand and a bolt of lightning struck the pike, sailed up its wooden haft and surged into the guard, who contorted and collapsed to the floor like the others. Matthias hopped over him and burst into the princess’s chambers, smashing the door inwards with his arm and blundering into an antechamber that was filled with maids and servants. They began screaming as he thundered towards them and one tried to halt his path: a bulky great woman with hips the size of tree - trunks. He skidded to a halt in front of her, her burly arms outstretched to catch him.

  “Get away you ruffian! Selphie, raise the alarm, quickly!” She growled to one of the maids, a tiny little thing with a face like a mouse, and she ran off at speed to get help. The woman advanced forward, no fear in her blazing eyes. “I’ve looked after this babe since she was sipping at her mother’s teat! There’s no way you’re getting past me!”

  Matthias took a step back. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry!” he said, a remorseful look on his face, as he outstretched an arm. The space in front of his hand shimmered like heat waves, and a green blob of energy spluttered out of his open palm, wrapping around the woman’s arms and waist and legs, and pinning her like a skittle. She toppled over onto her side with a grunt, and strained against her bonds. “It’ll dissolve in an hour,” Matthias said. The woman growled absurdities back at him as he passed through the other maids, who parted in fear. One fainted clear to the floor. He reached another door and threw it open. The princess was in bed as he skidded towards her.

  “Mister Greenwald! What the-” Josephine started from within pulling her bedcovers up to her neck. “Get out!” she commanded.

  “I’m sorry princess, but you’re in danger. We have to leave the palace right now!”

  “What kind of danger?” she asked, pushing herself as far away from the wizard as she could, until she was pressing heavily against the headboard.

  “Demons are inside the city. They’re on their way here. They’re after you. They know what you are! We-”

  A heavy hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. Thadius punched him in the face. Dazed, Matthias stepped back, but the burly man came at him again. ”You bloody-” the knight began, but Matthias interjected.

  “There are demons in the city!” Matthias cried to him, and he stopped as he drew his fist back again.

  “What?” Thadius growled.

  “I laid traps, invisible markers that could only be triggered by these creatures. They started being sprung a few minutes ago. They are after the princess!”

  Thadius stared in surprise. “I- I-”

  “We don’t have the time!” Matthias exclaimed. “They could be inside the palace right now! We have to go!”

  Thadius paused a moment, but then he lowered his fist and nodded his head. “Alright. I will get the men together who are coming with us.”

  “There isn’t time for that!” Matthias hissed. He spun around to face the princess. “Get dressed, Your Highness. Quickly. And find something to cover your face up with.” She nodded and darted to behind a wooden divider, where she hastened to change.

  Matthias turned back to Thadius. “Is there a secret way out of this palace?” he asked. “Some way that no one else would use or suspect?”

  Thadius nodded. “There’s a hidden exit. It isn’t far from here. It was designed to get the king and princess out in an emergency.”

  “Good. Then there’s no better time to use it!”

  “I… apologise for hitting you. I thought…”

  Matthias shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. How are you getting along princess?” Matthias called to the girl as clothes flew across the top of the divider.

  “I am almost ready!” she exclaimed, panting as she hurriedly pulled on her clothes.

  “What have you done to Lady Pombar?” Thadius asked, looking through the open door to the lump on the floor outside.

  “Oh Gods! I forgot,” Matthias said. “She got in my way. I didn’t think.” He darted out of the door. The woman was in the next room, being propped up by the other maids.

  He approached her
with Thadius in tow. “I apologise,” Matthias said. “There was no time to explain.”

  “Who is this man, Thadius?” The lady asked, her plump face red as a tomato and her eyes burning with rage.

  “He is a friend, my lady Pombar,” Thadius said, placing hand on her shoulder. “Of sorts.”

  “Some bleeding friend!” she winced. “Look what he has done to me!”

  “You did well to try and stop him just the same.” Thadius turned to Matthias. “Can you release her?”

  Matthias looked sheepish. “The bonds can’t be released until they dissolve. It will take a good hour at least.”

  The princess emerged from the previous room, a black hooded overcoat worn atop a purple dress that appeared beneath. “I am ready, she said. “I had several bags in here for the journey that my maidens had begun to pack, though I doubt we can carry them all now.”

  Thadius moved to where the bags were piled in the corner of the antechamber, and grabbed two, thrusting them around his shoulders.

  “But what about your own bags?” the princess asked.

  “I need only the clothes on my back and the sword at my side,” he replied. “I can carry these two.”

  “We need to leave,” Matthias said.

  The Princess nodded. “Thadius, would you lead the way, please, my good knight?”

  The burly man nodded, and turned to go. He paused at lady Pombar and the maids that were piled around her. “Tend to her well,” he instructed them, and he nodded to her. She snorted. “Tell no one anything of this,” he said “-save the King. He must be alerted when we are safely away.” He left the room, followed by Josephine. Lady Pombar stared daggers at Matthias who took up the rear.

  “I am so sorry again,” he said, and quickly moved out the room.

  “Is my father not being told we are leaving?” Josephine whispered as they made their way down a dark corridor. Thadius snatched a flame from the wall.

  “We will send word to your father once we have cleared the city and reached a safe harbour,” Thadius replied. “From the sounds of things, we will be lucky to escape here alive tonight.” The torchlight flickered on his square face. His eyes watched the corridors carefully. “This way,” he said, beckoning to a dark corridor. “There will be no people down here, and it is the quickest route to the hidden exit.”

  “Oh gods,” Josephine breathed. “It is real, this threat that you spoke of. They want to kill me.”

  “You still assumed I was over – exaggerating?” Matthias asked.

  “No. I mean, I had hoped.” She shook her head. “Perhaps a little.”

  They moved through the darkness and turned a juncture in the corridor, heading down another otherwise dark, thin passageway, at the end of which stood a thin, spiral staircase. Thadius led them down, the torch flickering and purring in the silence, and they emerged in an abandoned wing of the palace, making their way through one of the many kitchens, this one not used for several years if the cobwebs were anything to go by. Quickly and quietly they wove through the ancient maze.

  “This used to be the old queen’s wing. It was used by your great grandmother, princess. When she died suddenly and painfully in the night, your great grandfather, King Athelbert declared this part of the castle cursed, and banned anyone from living or working in it. It’s been abandoned ever since.”

  “And now we are making our way though it? But what if it is cursed?” she hissed.

  “There's no such thing as curses,” Matthias said as they made their way through more cold, abandoned corridors.

  “How do you know?” Thadius sniffed.

  “You don’t think being a wizard makes me qualified?”

  “Then how do you explain strange deaths with no explanation? Ghosts that roam hallways, moaning and groaning.” The princess asked.

  “The world is complex and filled with wonders and patterns that aren't always easily seen by us. Sometimes strange things just happen, but there's always a rational explanation at its root.”

  Josephine sniffed. “That's just a long winded way of saying 'I do not know.'”

  Matthias smiled. “Very well. I don’t know. What I do know is that a curse of the kind you speak of is borne out of fear and fantasy blurring together. You could lay traps with one of the powers, but that’s the extent of it.”

  They carried onward. Everything was deadly silent apart for their footsteps. Quite suddenly, Thadius stopped at a doorway, and Josephine bumped into his back, snapping to with a start.

  “Ouch!” she grumbled.

  “My apologies your Highness,” Thadius said.

  “Will you be quiet, the pair of you!” Matthias hissed.

  “I beg your pardon?” Josephine growled, baring her teeth. She turned to Thadius, who eyed Matthias severely.

  “You forget yourself, Matthias,” Thadius advised stonily. “You are escorting royalty here.”

  He took a calming breath. “I apologise Your Highness. I am just a little on edge.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Thadius added, peering into the gloom from which they had ventured. “But let’s keep our heads cool, alright wizard?”

  Matthias nodded and bowed his head to Josephine apologetically. She acknowledged his apology with a nod of her own.

  “Why have we stopped?” Josephine asked, changing the subject.

  “The stairs beyond this door should take us down and out of the palace.”

  “Once we are outside, we will need to move quickly to reach the exit to the city,” Matthias added.

  “Right then,” Thadius said taking a breath. “Let’s go-“

  As he spoke the torchlight began to flicker, and Josephine yelped.

  “It’s the oil. It’s going out,” Thadius grumbled. As if hearing the words, the flame whimpered and snuffed out.

  “It’s alright,” Matthias said, and outstretched a palm.

  There was a fizzle like a wet firework, and then a popping sound, and a small ball of light hovered excitedly in front of Matthias. It shimmered in the shadows; a pure white light leaving a trail of sparks spiralling slowly down from its body to the flagstone floor, where they died out instantly.

  “Perhaps I should go first,” Matthias said, his sapphire - tinged eyes burning through the darkness almost as brightly as the ball of light in front of them. Thadius nodded and took up the rear.

  Matthias walked forward into the dark stairwell, and the ball moved with him, hovering around like a tamed firefly following its master. Taking a deep breath, the princess followed after him. Thadius took one last scan of the area behind them and then followed, dropping the used torch and closing the door behind. The stone steps below lit up with the new light from Matthias’s hand. They were extremely narrow - barely wide enough for the heels of their feet to rest comfortably on the tiny stones - and in the dark, navigating down them was awkward.

  Josephine ran her hand along the outer wall for support, as did Thadius behind, the multitude of bags thrust about his back slowing his progress. Matthias, in spite of the light, used his staff to check for the next stair in front of him before he stepped down. It seemed time slowed to a crawl as they made their way down the never - ending stairs.

  “How high up were we?” Josephine asked. “This is ridiculous!” she said in a haughty tone.

  “Have patience, Your Highness,” Thadius replied. “It can’t be far now.”

  Finally, as if prompted by the words, the outline of moonlight on a doorframe came into view beneath the final stone step as they rounded the corner, and Josephine breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Thank the gods for that,” she breathed. “My feet are killing me.”

  “It’s not over yet, princess,” Matthias replied, peering over his shoulder. He caught her eye a moment. They were like deep pools in the gloom, and for a moment he held her gaze, before smiling encouragingly. “You’re doing well,” he added, as her brow creased and she swallowed.

  “This door needs a key,�
�� Thadius muttered. “I didn’t think about that.”

  “I don’t need a key,” Matthias replied confidently, waving his palm over the lock. The door clicked and creaked open.

  “Mahalian tricks,” Thadius whispered with a grumble. “What’s the point in having a lock if people can just open it like that?” Matthias grinned and pushed it open a notch. Moonlight shone through the opening. The ball of light that had guided them fizzled into nothing, and the shadows that had danced around them from its aura subsided.

  They emerged from the building slowly, looking around hesitantly. They were in a garden area, overgrown and filled with brambles and weeds.

  “We should be at the southernmost part of the palace grounds. This is a small garden, a space in a corner of the grounds hidden by bushes. Ah! There,” Thadius said, pointing to a tall hedge. “We need to go through there and we should be able to make our way around and down. There’s a walkway about quarter of a mile from here that leads to a ladder into the habitual quarter.”

  “You expect me to climb over that?” The princess asked with a scoff, nodding to the hedge.

  “Oh come on, I’ll give you a leg over,” Matthias said with a grin. She rolled her eyes and turned to Thadius, who obliged instead.

  “Have it your way,” Matthias said with a shrug, as he grappled with the hedge and hoisted himself over its branches, landing on the other side gracefully. The princess was having more problems. Her dress was catching on twigs, and as she swung her legs over to the other side to drop down there was a tear, and her black cloak ripped. She began to fall to the ground, but Matthias caught her before she hit the floor.

  “Got you! Safe and sound!” Matthias said.

  The princess was surprised and for a moment she sat in Matthias arms, before her dignity got the better of her and she flapped at him until he let her to the ground. “Get off! Get off!” she spluttered.

  “You’re welcome,” Matthias said as she brushed herself off and inspected the tear in the side of the cloak.

  The princess opened her mouth to retort, but then there was a large thud from behind them, and Thadius landed awkwardly on the ground. He looked up at them sheepishly.

  “It’s been a long time since I climbed any trees,” he muttered, getting to his feet.

  “Come on,” Matthias said as he laughed silently, and beckoned for Thadius to once again lead the way.

  They crept through the moonlight, ducking into shadows made by the buildings surrounding the Palace.

  “Have any more of the creatures set off your traps?” Thadius asked Matthias quietly.

  “No,” Matthias replied from behind, his eyes scanning every which way. “There were only a couple more, and they could have dodged them. If they are in the palace they might take a while to realize we’re gone.”

  “Let us hope that my father’s men have caught them all!” The princess added. “Perhaps then we can start this journey the way it was meant to have been undertaken! I was meant to be accompanied by a full guard!”

  “One thing at a time,” Matthias whispered.

  “Do not act as if you are not pleased,” the princess whispered back. “You never wanted to bring soldiers along on this journey, did you?”

  “Thadius is here and he’s a soldier,” Matthias rebuffed.

  “You know what I mean,” Josephine sniffed.

  Rina was even more of a maze at night than it was in the day and the ladders and stairwells that stretched all across the city were even more perilous for it as they made their way down. Trying to get Princess Josephine down ladders with her dress was particularly interesting, and her slipper – like shoes kept sliding off the stairs leading to more than one close call. Eventually though, as they descended the city, they dropped down into Market Road, where Matthias had encountered the stalls the day before. It was empty now, and lamplight glowed through some of the windows of the houses lining the street. They were halfway down the empty road when Matthias paused and held up a hand. He craned his head.

  “What’s that noise?” he asked. The others strained to hear.

  “What noise?” asked Thadius, his eyes darting back and forth.

  Josephine leaned her head to one side. “I don’t hear anyth-” she was stopped short as a rotting wooden gate a pace behind them burst open, and a creature lurched out of the debris towards them. Its head was rotten and its body disintegrating. It was a corpse of a creature, and it stunk like one. Its eyes were wide, twisting limply in their bony sockets towards Josephine. It snarled at the princess.

  “Thadius!” Matthias yelled from where he had been knocked to one side, struggling to get to his feet. The creature lunged towards Josephine.

  Thadius had his sword in hand already, and struck at the creature with his blade. Its head fell to the stones, black blood smattering the cobbles, and a second later its body followed, dribbling more fluids from its open neck. “You don’t need to tell me wizard,” he huffed. The creature’s mouth worked silently for a moment before its eyes closed and it fell still.

  They looked up to the sound of scuttling along a wall, and another creature dropped down a pace behind them; a large, furry insect - like with segmented eyes like a fly, analysing them with interest. It flexed its six – fingered, suckered hands and then sped towards them. It opened a toothy mouth, saliva dribbling across the path as it attacked. Matthias held out a hand but Thadius got to it first again, his sword ready. He threw the blade behind his shoulder as he ran and swung hard. The creature barged into him, narrowly missing the blade, and sent Thadius sprawling to the floor, his weapon clattering uselessly away. The creature clicked through its mandibles with triumph and carried on towards the princess.

  Matthias stepped in front of her and cast his hand in the direction of an empty barrel propped up against a wall. It shook slightly at his attention, and then, with a throwing motion towards the oncoming creature, Matthias sent the barrel careening into it. The wood split against its bulk and the monstrous figure fell in a tangled mess.

  “Let’s go!” Matthias yelled. “Thadius?” he called to the man who was struggling to his feet.

  “I’m right behind you. Just go!” he yelled, snatching his sword up. Matthias grabbed the Princess’s hand and darted off down the street, Thadius in tow.

  They made it through another few streets and alleyways before another creature caught up with them. Grey and hairy with the bulky stature of a gorilla, only twice as large, it rolled its wild, red, poisoned eyes madly about when it spotted them.

  Matthias skidded to a halt and released Josephine’s hand. “Go on ahead you two!” he barked as Thadius caught up. “Move! I’ll catch you!”

  Thadius nodded, and they ran off, whilst Matthias stood to face the beast. It had a ring in its wrinkled, leathery nose, and chains attached to it trailed off on the ground, probably used to hold the creature back before it had been let loose.

  “If you’re a pet then I do not want to meet your owner,” Matthias whispered, as he slipped his staff from beneath a strap on his back and held it tightly. The beast roared, and beat its chest. “Have it your way then,” Matthias said. With cat - like agility he pounced towards it, spun and sailed above its head and landed facing the beast’s behind. He darted for one of the chains trailing along the ground as the creature spun to face him again, grabbing a rusted link tentatively between his fingers. Matthias pulled hard, digging his heels into the gaps between the cobbles, and the beast reared back on itself, its sausage like paws grappling with the wet, cobbled floor. It tugged back, pounding with its muscular back legs for leverage, and Matthias went flying about on the ground, still clutching to the chain. The other swung untamed in the air, and Matthias made for it as the beast paused in the tug of war to turn again for a better position to fight. His palm clamped around the leash and he quickly, methodically wrapped them both around his fists tightly and pulled. The beast slid across the alleyway, landing on its rump with a thud. Seconds later it was pulling at him
again and Matthias tottered about the alley like a drunk, thudding into a wall with a force. The links pinched his skin but he held on tight, grunting with the effort of holding the reins, ducking a swipe of a paw and then, as he ducked and weaved another melee attack, a thought struck him. He grinned wickedly as his hands sparked to life and hundreds of volts of electricity coursed through the chains into the creature. It convulsed with the raw power conducted through the metal.

  Matthias let go, and it fell, collapsing onto the floor, smoke rising from its silvery skin. He wiped his brow, and then, without remorse, turned and ran, grabbing his staff as he did.

  Thadius dragged the princess along the streets so hard that she flopped along behind him like a ragdoll, her shoes flapping from her feet, skirts awhirl. They stumbled through streets and alleyways, faster and faster.

  “Are you… sure this is the… right way?” Josephine wheezed as they descended a line of steps.

  “I’ve lived in this city… all my life Your Highness! I know where to go!” Thadius puffed, sweat caking his shirt.

  They both looked around as they heard a pounding behind them, and Matthias approached them from behind, catching fast. He missed the steps and hurtled through the air, legs whipping along as he landed without stopping and caught up to them.

  “Not much further!” he panted, retaking the lead. “Faster! They’re still coming! There’s at least two more!”

  Jadin the gatekeeper was standing on guard again as Matthias skidded around the corner. Instinctively, Matthias’s hand dived into his pocket and pulled out a handful of coins from inside his cloak. Jadin spotted him, began to smile and then, seeing the look on Matthias’ face, scowled, confused.

  “If it isn’t my good friend again, leaving so soon after he’s arrived!” he said suspiciously. “And in a hurry too!”

  Matthias smiled as best he could at him as he bundled the selection of gold and silver into the man’s hand. “I am afraid so. I have urgent business elsewhere,” he panted. “Now if you would kindly open the gate-”

  “I’m afraid I can’t open this gate for you,” Jadin said. “The only exit to be used at this time of night is the main gateway.” He shook his head. “Besides, no offence, but you look up to no good.” He sighed. “Maybe I was nai... er... oh what’s the word?”

  “Naive?” Matthias ventured, in an attempt to hurry things along. He doubled over as his lungs tried to suck in air, and rested his hands on his knees.

  “Yer, that’s the one, naive – in thinking you was a good lad earlier, if you is running about like a thief. Who’s chasing you?”

  As if on cue, Josephine and Thadius rounded the corner. They slid to a halt inches from crashing into Matthias. Josephine slumped against the wall, her chest heaving. Thadius coughed heavily. His lungs burned like they were on fire.

  Jadin spotted Thadius instantly. “Here, Thadius! Look here – I-I stopped him! He’s the one you want!” He nodded to Matthias, who rolled his eyes. “Tried to bribe me as well, he did!” Jadin held out the handful of coin.” His eyes then fell on Josephine.

  “What?” Jadin gasped. “Is that-?” Jadin stuttered, pointing to the princess. “Is it?”

  “No, it’s not,” Matthias replied, still wheezing. “And they’re not chasing after me! Thadius?”

  Thadius stepped up to Jadin. “You are ordered to open this gate, sir,” he commanded forcefully. “On the command of the King’s Guard.”

  “Oh, no can do sir, I’m afraid. Rules is rules I’m afraid, no matter who you a-uuungh!”

  Thadius had him pinned against the wall with one hand. “Open the door, Jadin!” he barked. “Or when I return I will tell your wife exactly what you did in that tavern the other week! Or should that be who?” The coin in Jadin’s hand scattered to the floor and rolled about the alleyway.

  “Alright! Okay, okay!” Jadin spluttered. Thadius released his grip, and the gatekeeper scrambled with his keys, unfastening bolts and latches and locks and threw the door open. “There. It’s open. You can go!”

  “That’s the spirit Jadin,” Matthias quipped, winking at the guard as Thadius and Josephine darted through the opening and out into the night beyond. “He’s harmless really.” He patted Jadin on the back and stepped briskly through the gate. “You can keep the change,” he added, nodding to the scattered coin on the floor. “Oh and one more thing.” He dove into his pocket one final time, and threw another gold coin towards the gatekeeper, who caught it clumsily. “Don’t let anyone else through.” He jerked a thumb towards the shadowy outline of Thadius. “He wouldn’t be happy if you did.” He disappeared a moment and then reappeared again one last time. “And keep yourself safe!” With a nod and a final grin at the bemused man, Matthias disappeared with the others into the darkness of the night. The sounds of whispering among the three people dispersed into the distance as Jadin watched them go.

  The gatekeeper scratched his head and then, dismissing his musings about the trio with a shake, turned his attentions to the more important matter of the coin at his feet.

  “Well, I’ll say one thing for that boy. He is certainly one generous young man.” There was more here than he could earn in a month! Six months perhaps! He closed the gate, re-bolted the many, many locks and sat back down again on his old barrel to keep watch, clinking the money between his hands.

  The alley grew silent again and Jadin enjoyed a little snooze on his rickety perch. He pulled his coat tighter around him. There was a chill in the air tonight.

  There was a clatter from the shadows, and with a start Jadin lurched up. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, and his eyes strained as he peered into the shadows. Watching the darkness in front of him, he fumbled behind his back until he found the handle of the small, brass oil lamp propped on the crate and gingerly held the light up.

  “Hello? Who goes there?” Silence. Jadin took a step forward, and the faint sound of stifled breathing carried across the air. “Come on! Out with you! I’ve had more than enough crap for one night! Jacob, if that’s you mucking around-”

  A figure emerged from within the shadows, and it was not Jacob, nor was it anyone the man recognised. Jadin’s breath caught at the sight that lay before him, and his eyes widened in fear. His lip quivered. “Now, now! I don’t want no more trouble. I-”

  The figure moved fast. The knife whipped about quickly, expertly, and Jadin’s body fell to the ground. Blood spilled from the wound in Jadin’s throat, and the figure stepped over him and picked up the keys.

  “The first blood...” the figure voice whispered. “Just as it was foretold.”

  Riddles in the Dark

  115th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  “Do you intend for us to walk the entire journey to Olindia on foot with those creatures in pursuit?” Thadius whispered as they continued to wade quickly through the long, damp grass beyond the gate. The outline of Rina stood tall behind them in the moonlight, in spite of how quickly they moved. They had been out of the city for nearly a half - hour and nothing else had appeared to follow them the way they had come.

  “Horses would have attracted too much attention, don’t you think?” Matthias replied. “Besides, there was hardly enough time to breathe let alone get to the stables. I wasn’t going to mess about with saddles and stirrups with a twenty-ton demon breathing down my neck!”

  “Well I am just glad that we made it out of there,” Josephine said. “Those creatures were terrible. I have never seen the like.”

  “Some call them demons, others call them helspawn,” Matthias advised.

  “I know what a helspawn is, ambassasor,” Josephine whispered tersely. “There are very few in Aralia who do not know of them. We share a border, after all, with the wastelands of Helriven. What I was speaking of was their strength and size. The beasts I have seen brought back to Rina on occasion from the abandoned wastelands are emaciated, skeletal creatures. These were very different.”

  “They come in all
shapes and sizes,” Matthias replied. “Those creatures your people encounter in Helriven are weak from their struggle to survive on scraps of food. These ones are different. They’ve been bred for a purpose, like a pack of hunting dogs.”

  “Four hundred years of us slaughtering their kin should have taught them their place,” Thadius growled. “They must be either desperate to be killed or just plain mad.”

  “Or afraid of something far more than your king’s armies?” Matthias ventured.

  “Who are these people who want me dead, that they could command demons?” Josephine asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine, princess,” Matthias said. “But my people intend to find out. Whatever could cause the gods to be afraid enough to send a seeing stone down to Erithia surely cannot remain hidden in the shadows for long.”

  “I wish I hadn’t asked,” Josephine shivered.

  They carried on walking in the darkness, stumbling across the grassland. Rina grew smaller as they made their way down the sloping grassland, until the tops of the city disappeared into the dark.

  “What exactly did Jadin do in that tavern Thadius?” Matthias asked to make conversation as they continued.

  “I don’t feel it would be quite appropriate to tell you with the princess present,” he replied, coughing awkwardly

  “I see,” Matthias said, smiling to himself in the darkness.

  “My feet are hurting already,” Josephine said, changing the subject. “I am unused to walking in such terrain. How far are we to the nearest-” Josephine was cut off by a surge of flame and a mound of earth exploding from behind. Her legs flew from under her, and she stumbled to her knees.

  “Stay down!” Matthias yelled back, and Josephine covered her head with her hands and screamed as flame burst inches from her face and smattered her cheeks with mud. Thadius threw their bags to the ground and took his sword in hand. The blade gleamed in the moonlight. Matthias whirled around as another surge of flame ruptured the ground nearby. Dirt exploded into the sky and covered them.

  A figure darted through the grass towards them, bolts of light shooting from his hands. They struck the earth all about them and ruptured the ground, the mud surging into the sky with the force of the impact. Matthias threw an arm forward, palm outstretched, and a fireball began to form, growing larger until it encompassed his entire hand. His arm reeled as he let it fly, hurtling towards the dark figure, who dodged the flame, forward - rolling through the grass, before springing up nimbly and launching towards Matthias.

  As he drew close, the attacker’s features were revealed. He was a human man, with knotted, greasy black and grey hair curling down to his shoulders. He wore all - black clothing; muslin breeches were tied up with string and a loose - hanging cotton shirt, open at the collar, clung to his sweaty, skeletal form. He was an almost invisible silhouette in the deep darkness of the night, except for a silvery blade he clutched in his left hand, which he now whirled at Matthias. The wizard deflected it, pulling his staff from his back with seconds to spare and thrusting it into the sword’s path. The moonlight shone off the polished weapon and the man’s face was briefly illuminated off the blade's reflection: his hawked nose jutted out from a thin, emaciated face and a narrow, grinding jaw flanked with high cheekbones. His rotten, yellowed teeth, encrusted with muck, were bared in fury as he swiped savagely at Matthias again and again.

  Thadius swung at him but the man managed to spin away from the longsword almost inconceivably given his decidedly delicate frame, and let a bolt of energy burst from his palm, striking the soldier in the chest. He went down like a wounded bear. The man turned and flailed at Matthias again but the wizard ducked down, narrowly avoiding a deadly slash at his neck, before bringing his staff back around at the attacker, striking him heavily on the temple. The man fell but before Matthias could pin him he kicked out and caught the wizard on his left shin. Matthias lost his footing, and stumbled to the ground. Throbbing pain seared up his leg. He cursed and grimaced at the man before him, who nodded triumphantly, muttering to himself and fumbling through the grass with his blade towards Matthias again.

  Matthias rolled as the blade sliced into the wet soil where his head had been and stuck in the mulch. He outstretched his hand and used the earth power to push the man to the ground, the air groaning with the effort of being manipulated. As the assassin landed on his back with a thud, Matthias sprung himself up using his legs as a counterbalance, and quickly pressed the end of his staff against the man’s neck. There was a sucking noise, and the man’s body seemed to grow rigid. It was over.

  “Who are you? Why did you attack us?” Matthias demanded. Thadius came up beside him; a smoky tear burnt into his shirt and stuck his blade next to Matthias’s staff at the man’s neck.

  “Answer him, or I’ll cut your throat!” he growled. “Did you send those monsters?”

  The man spluttered and coughed, but Matthias didn’t release the pressure of his staff on the man’s neck. The man began to laugh manically. “Cut my throat!” he bubbled. “It will make no difference. You are all dead! We’re all dead!”

  Matthias looked down at the man with dazzlingly blue eyes, shimmering like sapphires held against a candle, his face intent. As he did the man’s brow contorted. A thin vein snaked from his hairline to his nose, and it pulsed menacingly.

  “I can do far worse than cut your throat, if you force me to. I can make your blood boil beneath your skin.”

  Thadius turned his head to Matthias. “You can do that?” he asked, astonished. Matthias ignored him and continued.

  “Right now your skin feels as if it is just a little sunburnt and you feel a little sweaty. That’s your blood just slightly raised in temperature. Now, feel the fire coursing through your veins.” The man began convulsing. “I could cook you from the inside out!”

  “What are you doing wizard?” Thadius asked.

  “I know what I’m doing,” Matthias said angrily. “Now I ask you again, friend,” he said, as the man’s body shuddered and blood dribbled from his nostrils. “Who the hell are you?”

  The man looked at him wildly. “Alright! Stop!” He growled through the pressure on his neck, as his face began to smoke in the cold night air. Matthias released the staff from his neck and his eyes dulled back to hazel. Thadius kept his sword pressed to the man’s neck.

  “Speak then,” Matthias commanded.

  “My name…” he wheezed “…is Taico Grimm.”

  “Taico Grimm,” Matthias repeated, weighing the name out on his tongue.

  “An appropriate name for such an unappealing man as yourself!” Josephine sniffed as she approached, brushing grass from her skirt and her hair. “I am fine, by the way,” she snorted at Matthias and Thadius.

  Grimm’s face grew soft as he saw her. “You are so... different in the flesh,” he whispered, and his eyes flickered between anger and what appeared sorrow. “You are so beautiful without the blood drenching your hands!”

  The princess looked to her palms. “Whatever do you mean?” She asked. “What blood?”

  “The blood of thousands of men and women.” He smiled. “The wizard will come and the cycle will start, his intervention will tear the world apart,” Grimm breathed, nodding.

  “Answer her properly,” Thadius barked and pressed his sword harder into the man’s throat.

  “Burly man with arms of steel: curiosity and heroism will be his heel!” Grimm chimed, his eyes working madly as he stared from one of them to the other. He began to laugh. “Oh you cannot know what terrors await this world now!”

  Thadius looked to Matthias. “What is wrong with him?”

  Matthias didn’t take his eyes from where Grimm lay. He shook his head. “I don’t know,” he whispered.

  Thadius growled, and anchored his sword further on the man’s neck. “Speak sense!” he growled. “Tell us, Taico Grimm, why did you try and kill us? If you do not I will slice your throat this instant! I swear it!”

  Grimm swall
owed, his constricting neck muscles pressing harder against the blade before he continued. “I was meant to stop you...” he paused as he coughed up some phlegm, which dribbled down his neck. Josephine wrinkled her nose in disgust as she wiped mud from her cheeks. “I was to stop you from leaving Rina. I have to stop you! Please,” he whispered. “You have to stop!”

  “Are you a wizard?” Matthias questioned. The man shook his head.

  “No.” He chuckled. “Oh no!”

  “But you wield energy?” Matthias continued.

  “I only wield that which was given to me to do my job! I was imbued with power so that I might stop you.”

  “That’s not true,” Matthias exclaimed. “You’re lying.”

  “What’s wrong?” Thadius asked, confused.

  “Borrowed energy is a myth. There was a suggestion made centuries ago that it may be possible to give someone who should not be able to wield the ability to do so. But that has never been proven to be possible even after thousands of attempts by my people. Those who can use the world’s four energies do so because they are born with the ability.”

  “I was not born with this ability,” Josephine commented.

  “With respect Your Highness we don’t know much about your abilities yet. Besides, you seem to be a unique case.” Matthias shook his head. “Depending on what or who creatures and people are descended from, many can wield one of the other four powers. They channel them through their bodies like a conductor. The idea that someone, somewhere could grant another access to one of those powers and pass them like a sword to be wielded…” Matthias shook his head. “It’s impossible.”

  “It’s true!” Taico exclaimed. “Oh wizard, you are but a minnow in this world! You think you know so much! But you are clueless.” He shook his head and began scolding himself. “Stop talking!” he winced. “Stupid man! After all this time you still cannot help yourself!”

  Matthias stepped over Grimm again. “Who gave you the ability? If it is true, you will tell me their name!”

  Grimm stared up at Matthias. “No!” He barked. “So young. There is so much more...” he closed his eyes, and a tear slid from between his lashes. “You cannot stop it.” He began to wail uncontrollably. “How I wished you could stop what is yet to come, Matthias of Mahalia! How many times you disappointed me!”

  Matthias knelt down. “You know me somehow?” he asked calmly.

  “Know you? Oh, how I know you all! You have been a part of me for so long. Your names have become like a poison to me, eating away at my very soul!” He began sobbing again.

  “Grimm, tell me,” Matthias whispered. “I can help you, if you will tell me what I need to know.”

  Suddenly Grimm’s eyes shot open and he shook his head manically. “No you fool!! It cannot be! You are a liar! Empty promises of a thousand nightmares! This is a trick!”

  “He’s mad, wizard!” Thadius whispered. “A lunatic.”

  Matthias nodded. “I think you might be right. But the question is, what truths lie behind that madness?”

  “I am afraid,” Josephine whispered.

  “We should cut his throat and be done with it. Put him out of his misery,” Thadius said. “He is making little sense as it is.”

  “He will be no use to us at all if he’s dead,” Matthias said. “Take your sword from his neck.”

  “What?” Thadius exclaimed.

  “Remove the sword! Matthias barked. “Or must I remove it myself?”

  Thadius looked at Matthias with fire in his eyes. But then he removed the steel from Grimm’s throat. The man calmed, and after a moment, he sat up, gingerly, feeling his neck.

  “Taico Grimm is not your name,” Matthias said. “It is ancient Sumerian, the oldest language known to exist. It stands for ‘Fated Warrior.’ It is not a name.”

  “I am Taico Grimm,” he whispered. “The Four anointed me in the name of the Master as the one who would bring about the return.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Josephine asked.

  Matthias’ eyes narrowed. “The Four?” Matthias asked. “The Four what?”

  “No! I will not tell you!” he hissed, shaking his head back and forth. “How can this be happening? So clear... everything was so clear, and then now... I should not be talking to you! And yet... I always longed for this moment that could never come!”

  Matthias sighed. “I want to help you. It is clear you are not well. But I can’t help you unless you tell me who sent you and for what purpose? You must tell me!”

  Grimm smiled. “You have fire enough in you! But it will not be enough!” He thrust out a hand quicker than could be seen, and gripped Matthias’ neck tightly, catching him off guard. Grimm sneered. “Oh very nearly wizard did you force me to divulge my gift!” He threw the wizard back before Matthias could wield the power enough to repel him, and spun to his feet. “But the second chance they gave me has provided me with the clarity to see what must be done!” He outstretched a hand and a swirling green light erupted from his palm, straight towards the princess. Matthias threw his arm up towards Josephine and before the energy could strike, a bubble of white enveloped her. It sparked as the energy surged into the barrier Matthias erected. “The girl must be extinguished! There is no other option!”

  Thadius swung his sword hard and fast and the blade met the back of Grimm’s neck. It took a split second for it to part the man’s head from his body and with the severance, the energy stopped, the body falling to its knees, and then collapsing sideways into the wet grass. Grimm’s head rolled a few paces, and then came to rest by Josephine’s feet, his features pressed into the dirt. Matthias let his hand drop, and the bubble around Josephine vanished.

  “Your Highness,” Thadius cried, and rushed to her side, grasping her by the shoulders and kicking the head away. “You are safe now.”

  Matthias stood up, staring at the body that lay in the ground in front of him. He exhaled, and covered his mouth with a hand pensively.

  “This is your fault,” Thadius barked. “You should never have let him loose from my sword!”

  “I needed information,” Matthias said, as he looked at the body, which still twitched, before he turned back to them. “I thought he could give it to us. I was wrong.”

  “Your error very nearly cost Josephine her life! Why would you trust a madman and his lies anyway? He never had any intention of helping us! He was trying to kill us!”

  “I had a feeling,” Matthias replied. “I can’t explain it. There was more to him than just a madman.” He shook his head. “His eyes were old. Knowing.”

  “And what would you know of such things?” Thadius retorted. “You are barely older than the princess you escort!”

  Matthias looked at Thadius a moment, as if to respond, but then he relaxed, and simply nodded. “Perhaps you are right.”

  “We should go back,” Thadius said. “Back to Rina.”

  “If we go back the princess will be in more danger,” Matthias said calmly.

  “She is in more than enough danger with you making fool decisions!” Thadius growled.

  “What did he mean, ‘she must be extinguished?’ Who was he? Why does someone I have never met want to kill me so much?” she asked.

  Matthias knelt by her side. “Because they are afraid of you, Your Highness. You are strong, and whoever these people are who are trying to release the dragon, you can stop them.” He sighed. “You may be the only one these people are afraid of.” He sighed. “I am sorry. I should not have allowed that to happen. Thadius is right about that. Whatever this madman could have told us about the people who are after you, it was not worth your life. And you should not have had to see that.” He glanced back at the severed head, its features buried in the grass.

  Josephine nodded. “You are forgiven,” she whispered, after a pause. “After all, you did save me from him. Twice.” She took a breath, “And a beheading, though unpleasant, is not uncommon for me to see, ambassador. My father used to take me to Trai
tor’s Gate to watch the punishment of criminals.” She stood and stared down at the body. “Mister Grimm got what he deserved for trying to kill me, whatever his motives were. Thadius, we cannot return. As much as I wish to, this must be done. If I can stop people like him, then we will press on. Gods know we have lingered here for long enough.”

  Grudgingly Thadius nodded his agreement. “What should we do with the body?” he asked. “We can’t leave it here for anyone to find it. We could burn it?”

  “And light a beacon for anyone nearby to see?” Matthias shook his head. “We will have to leave him. We don’t have the time to dig him a grave.”

  Thadius frowned at him and nodded. “Boiling his blood, wizard? One moment you were ready to turn him to steamed pork and the next you wanted to help him. You are far more dangerous and unpredictable than I could have believed.”

  “Says the man who cut his head off with one blow,” Matthias retorted.

  “Perhaps when you have quite finished squabbling, we could carry on?” Josephine interrupted. “I have had more than enough fighting for one night without you starting another!”

  Matthias smiled and nodded. “As you wish, Your Highness,” he said. “Come on, let’s go.”

  They carried on through the night, leaving the body of Taico Grimm to bleed into the soil.

  Feelings of Helplessness

  115th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  King Arwell sat in his chair by the fire, a delicate glass of whisky in his hand. The vessel had been a gift from the Tekritian ambassador, made of fine crystal of the like not seen anywhere else in the world. It was one of a set he had now acquired over the years from the man and he cherished them. Despite the achievements of his own kingdom, nothing of the like had ever been produced in Aralia. Such delicate frosted leaves winding around the glass. Some nights he would simply sit and stare at the beauty of it. Tonight though, he cared not for the glass, but for the alcohol within, which he had drained and replenished several times over in the last hour.

  He had been roused from his sleep with news that the princess had up and left in the middle of the night accompanied by Thadius and the wizard. Several of his men had been hurt in the fracas and Lady Pombar, one of his most trusted of servants, had been incapacitated with some incantation that had frozen her to the spot. He had ordered an immediate search of the city for his daughter and now, in the early hours of the morning, the streets were alive with soldiers. The people of Rina watched apprehensively as the men hammered on doors and checked down alleyways, unsure of the reason for the unrest.

  Waiting as patiently as he could, the king sat and stared into space, thoughts of all manner of horrors filling his mind. The sky outside was still dark, though it would not be long until sunrise now. He swigged from the glass again and the strong liquid caught in his throat before a burning warmth spread down to his stomach. As he stood to refill the glass again, the door to his chambers burst open and a young soldier strode in.

  “Your Grace!” he saluted.

  “What news have you?” Arwell asked.

  The soldier shook his head. “I regret there is nothing good to report, Your Grace. A gatekeeper has been found severely injured on the east side of the city. He’s had his throat slit and is unconscious, though he does appear, by some miracle, to still be alive, even if it is just barely. The gate he guarded leading onto the plains was wide open.” The soldier looked apprehensive.

  “What else?” Arwell beckoned. “By the look on your face I know there is more. Out with it man!”

  “We’ve also found the remains of several creatures nearby. They appear to be helspawn of some kind. Captain Tiberius says they are of a breed he has never seen before. They are larger and look much more ferocious.”

  “More ferocious?” the king spat. “We’re talking of helspawn here man! They already look ferocious!”

  The guard shook his head. “Yes Your Grace. As I say, I am relaying only what Captain Tiberius has told me.

  “Where is Tiberius now?” the king asked.

  “He is surveying the rest of the city as we speak, but it appears that your daughter may no longer be in Rina.”

  The king exhaled heavily. “Gods damn you wizard!” he growled. “This is not what was planned!”

  “Your Grace, with your permission I will prepare a search party immediately to scour the lands around the city. We will find her.”

  “At once!” the king snapped. The man bowed and turned to go. “Wait!” Arwell ordered suddenly. “No. No, you must not prepare a search party. You must do nothing of the like.”

  The soldier looked puzzled. “No, Your Majesty?”

  Arwell nodded and closed his eyes a moment. “We must not look for her.”

  “Your Grace, do I understand you correctly? You wish for us to stop our search?”

  “Boy, there is nothing more I would like than to rouse every damned soldier in this city – every man with eyes and order them to look over every blade of grass to find my daughter. I would leave this very instant myself and come with you if I went with my heart. But I cannot allow my fear and selfish instinct to overcome what I know is to be the course of action that must be taken. If we start looking for her, we might lead more of those creatures straight to her.” He took another gulp of his drink.

  “Your Grace, I think I am missing something here. I do not understand your reason? The princess is gone! Kidnapped, perhaps!”

  “My daughter must not be found. Not by us, or anyone else. And she is not kidnapped. She is with Thadius and the wizard, the man who was here these past days. They will take care of her.”

  “Your Grace, as I understood it, the ambassador from Mahalia was dragged before you in chains not two days ago! How can you trust this man?”

  “I trust Thadius and he assured me he trusts the wizard, even if I don’t.”

  “But… where are they going?” the soldier continued to ask.

  “Somewhere I cannot disclose.” He nodded. “She will come home when all this is done. In the meantime, we must defend the city.”

  “When all is done? Your Grace, what are we to defend Rina against?” He scratched his head. “My pardon, but I am deeply confused.”

  “Things more deadly than your young mind can imagine,” the king said bluntly.

  “But Your Grace-”

  “Do you intend to make it a habit of questioning the words of your king?” Arwell barked.

  The soldier stepped back. “No. Of course not, Your Grace. My apologies.”

  The king waved him away. “Tell Tiberius to come back and speak with me. We must fortify Rina.”

  The man took one last look at his king in stunned silence, before bowing again.

  “Of course, Your Grace. By your leave.”

  King Arwell watched the man go and then, with a cry of despair, he threw the glass to the floor. It shattered to pieces and with a thud he sank back into his chair and stared at the floor.

  “Be safe my daughter,” he whispered. “And when your work is done, come back to me.”

  Emalin Noire

  115th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  It took the rest of the night walking for the three travellers to reach the nearest village to Rina. Emalin Noire was a small town with a small population. The sheep in the outlying fields outnumbered the people inside the village by three to one, and the small number of quaint houses the people lived in, built of grey stone with thatched roofs and window boxes full of flowers, were spaced out around a cobbled square, through which a steadily flowing stream ran its length: an offshoot from the river Iden that flowed onwards to the fields, spilling off into irrigation ditches dug along its length. Colourful, painted wooden shutters were closed to ward off the night breeze, the windows having not glass but a diamond latticework of bound canes which did little to stop the cold.

  Matthias, Josephine and Thadius moved through the quiet town square. It was still early, dawn having just broken the darkness, and a grey h
aze still hung across the town. No - one was around and Josephine cupped her hands into the cold, clear water and drank gratefully. Her throat was as dry and scratchy as a briar patch. She could have plunged her head into the stream.

  “Thirsty?” Matthias asked, standing over her, a rakish grin on his face.

  Josephine stopped a moment, nodded silently, and then drank some more. The water kept spilling between her fingers before she could drink a good handful. Matthias chuckled.

  “I probably wouldn’t drink too much of that water, if I were you,” he continued.

  “Why?” The princess spluttered, dipping her hands in to the water again.

  “We’re downstream from Rina and this water comes from the river on the outskirts of your city.”

  “And why is that a problem?” she asked tersely, between sips.

  “Where do you think your sewage is dumped?”

  Josephine stopped mid - gulp and her face paled over.

  “It’s fine princess,” Thadius interrupted. “The water is filtered further upstream. Continue drinking if you wish.” Josephine gave Matthias a scolding stare, and continued.

  “In that case, I think we could do with filling these.” the wizard knelt by Josephine’s side, and began dipping two canisters in the water. “I didn’t have any time to prepare them before we left Rina.” When they were full, he strapped them around his waist. “How exactly do you filter the water?” Matthias asked.

  “After all that has happened to us overnight, you are interested in our plumbing and drainage solutions?” Thadius retorted.

  Matthias shrugged. “Perhaps another time. Are you alright?” Matthias asked, watching the knight as he scanned the village.

  “Just looking for trouble,” Thadius said sombrely.

  “You’ve been here before?” Matthias asked.

  “I have,” Thadius replied. “Many years ago I served on guard duty here. I haven’t returned since. There is not much to write home about. Any newcomers to the village and the news will be spread around in minutes.”

  “Then perhaps we should keep moving,” Matthias replied.

  “I will be dead from exhaustion first!” Josephine exclaimed. “I need to rest!”

  “There’s an inn, the Grey Fox, just down there,” Thadius pointed. “We should be able to get some food and a drink. I for one could do with something.”

  Matthias nodded hesitantly. “Alright. But we won’t stay for long. And before we go in, we might have to do something about your appearance.”

  “What do you mean?” Josephine asked.

  “You’re the heir to the throne of Aralia. I’m sure that your father’s loyal subjects would know the face of his daughter if she were to arrive in their presence, especially this close to Rina and in such a small village. And as for the way you speak. It is very...”

  “Yes?” She growled, her eyes narrowing.

  “Very… majestic. It might help our efforts if you were to speak more like your countrymen.”

  “And how exactly is that?” she scoffed.

  “Well… you know. A bit more… common.”

  “Common?” The princess hissed.

  “Yes,” Matthias continued. “A bit like Thadius!” he jerked a thumb at the soldier.

  “Watch yourself, wizard,” Thadius warned, and waved his pipe at Matthias. “I would show a little more respect to my charge. And to me as well, if you value your legs. I have little patience for you after last night.”

  “You know what I mean,” he said. “It’s important you heed my advice in this matter. Don’t enunciate in quite the same way. Just try to blend in!”

  As Matthias stared into Josephine’s enraged eyes, there was a flickering moment in their recesses of hurt. He sighed, as he felt a pang of guilt lower his heart. “Princess, I know this is difficult for you, and this isn’t what you are used to. But I need you to understand I'm not asking you to do this for my own benefit, or putting you through any of this for some kind of personal pleasure. I’m trying to protect you. You do know that, don’t you?”

  “You claim honourable principles,” she said, her lips trembling. “But I cannot help but believe you enjoy this. I do not know anything about you! You are a stranger from a foreign land who has dragged me away from my home, and since we have left you have failed to address me in the manner to which I am entitled. I am still the princess. Whether I am in the city or not and you are under my father’s orders to care for and respect me! I am heir to the throne of Aralia!”

  “Yes you are,” Matthias said. “Your face is well known for being one of the most dazzlingly beautiful in all of the western nations. You are the ‘Jewel of the West’, a woman any prospective lord would be lucky to wed. Look at you,” he continued, gesturing to Josephine. “Beneath that cloak you still wear the clothes of royalty, and above it your hair shines golden and your eyes dazzle with the beauty of a future queen. It is a beauty that will get you killed if you are recognized. Beyond the safety of the palace walls, not all people look up to royalty. And those that do would bow to your feet as soon as they laid eyes on you.”

  Josephine swallowed. “What would you have me do?” she asked. ‘Am I supposed to shed my skin like a snake until I fit a guise that will satisfy your tastes? I cannot change who I am, Matthias Greenwald!”

  Matthias smiled gently. “With time, anyone can change. All I would ask is that you heed my advice and disguise your beauty, at least a little, until we are safe again.”

  Josephine looked to Thadius. “You agree with him?” she asked. Reluctantly, Thadius nodded.

  “He speaks sense, Your Highness. As much as I wish he did not, I think you should disguise yourself in some manner if it will keep you safe, which I believe it will. Emalin Noire has enough gossiping housewives to spread the news of your presence far and wide.”

  Josephine licked her lips and finally, after a moments pause, reluctantly nodded. “Very well. But what of you wizard? You wear a coat with delicate golden embroidery, leather boots, fine breeches and you carry yourself around as if you were a prince! Such a presence will likely cause a stir as well.”

  Matthias nodded. “You may be right. But these clothes also mark me out as a man of Mahalia. People think twice before approaching a man they suspect may be a wizard. We are feared by many, as you say. Their fear may also act as our protection.”

  Josephine sighed. “You have an answer for every question, don’t you?”

  Matthias smiled. “I find it helps when you wish to win an argument. But perhaps you are right, in this instance,” Matthias said. He put his bag down and untied the thick knot that held it closed, pulling out a thin, black - green cloak made of a glossy material. He threw it around his shoulders. “It protects against the water. At least a little,” Matthias said. “What do you think?”

  “Better than before, at least,” Thadius replied. “If still a little unusual. I have never seen the like.” He shook his head. “Wizards.”

  Matthias smiled. “Good. Now, as for yourself, princess?”

  “Very well then. How am I to make myself appear less regal? Walk with a hunch? Hop on one leg?”

  Matthias chuckled. He bent down and ran his hand across the moist mud, which ran along the bank of the stream, and plied it between his fingers of both hands.

  “May I?” he gestured.

  Josephine sighed. “If you must.” He ran his hands across her hair, spreading the mud through her golden locks, and then across her brow and cheeks. By the time he was finished, her once porcelain complexion was tarnished with the dirt, and her glossy, blonde hair was flat and dulled.

  “Better,” Matthias said, smiling. “What do you think, Thadius? Seeing as you are so quick to comment on my fashion techniques?”

  The knight frowned. “She looks like she has been mucking out the pigs!”

  “Exactly. We will have to find you some less respectable clothes as well, at some point. But until then, just keep wearing your cloak.” He rubbed a litt
le of the mud onto his own cheeks and smoothed it in. “There. We look like a pair of farmhands!”

  “Farmhands with leather boots and pearls?” Thadius added, nodding to the wizard’s shoes that stuck out from below the shiny cloak and Josephine’s necklace that still peeked from the top of her shawl.

  Matthias sighed. “It’s the best we can do for now. You may want to change your own clothes as well at some point. You still wear the garb of a Rinian soldier, and a sword larger than most men!”

  Thadius smiled. “Maybe they will think twice before they come near us then?” he said.

  Matthias shook his head. “Alright. Shall we get on?”

  The inn appeared quiet from outside, which was hardly surprising given the time of morning, but the door was open so they made their way in. A woman was mopping the floor. She was tall and slender with her curly red hair tied by a ribbon into a ponytail. The chairs all around the bar were turned upside down, resting on the tables, bar one, where an elderly man sat, a hat over his face, snoring. The woman stopped and pulled herself upright as they entered.

  “Morning,” she said with an air of confidence. “Up with the cock, aren’t you?” She smiled. “I’m up to get away from mine,” she gestured to the ceiling with her eyes. “The lazy oaf.”

  Matthias smiled. “I hope we aren’t disturbing you?” he ventured. The woman shook her head.

  “Not at all. Nothing to disturb at this hour, save for old Weasel over there.” The snoring man didn’t stir at the remark. “We used to try to get him out every night, but after a time, you just think ‘what’s the point?’ So we let the old thing be. He’s never any trouble. Anyway, how can I help you? You look as if you’ve been through the ringer. Especially you, little lady,” the woman nodded to Josephine.

  “It’s been a long night of travelling,” Matthias continued. “The two of us come from Tekri,” Matthias indicated to himself and Josephine, “And this man is our guide, a soldier from your country who we met on our travels. He is taking us to Rina. We’ve been travelling overnight, so we can reach the city today for the market.”

  “It’s dangerous to walk the roads at any time, let alone in the dark, even with an escort as burly as your man here. It’s a wonder you were not mugged, or worse. Take my advice. It’s not worth it. I’ve seen too many people hurt on the roads to the city.”

  “I would like to see anyone try their luck, my good lady,” Thadius replied, with a smile.

  The woman walked to the bar and propped the broom up. “Can I get you three a drink? You could surely use something to eat as well? I have some pottage left from yesterday. Turnips and peas?”

  “Sounds delightful,” Josephine said, her stomach rumbling gratefully.

  The woman nodded. “Have yourselves a seat. I’ll be back in a minute.” She left the bar through a short door, and sounds of clunking came from what must have been a kitchen area.

  Josephine turned to Thadius. “What is pottage?” she asked.

  “Oats and vegetables in a stew,” he replied. “It may be a bit basic by the standards you are used to, princess,” he said.

  “Shh!” Matthias hissed. “Don’t call her that here!”

  Thadius rolled his eyes. “There’s no – one here!”

  “There’s old whatever - his - name - is over there. He could be a spy for all we know.”

  Thadius looked at the old man. “Doubtful.”

  “I would eat anything after all that walking!” Josephine replied.

  A moment later, as the three of them turned some chairs over at the table closest to the bar, the woman returned, with a tray of three bowls of steaming food and thick spoons, and three chunks of bread, which she placed in front of them. The pottage was thick and grey. Josephine looked at it curiously.

  “I’ll just get you a drink as well,” the woman continued and went to the bar.

  “Well at least it smells enticing,” Josephine whispered under her breath.

  “It will keep you alive and give you enough energy for the day,” Matthias whispered back.

  “So what business have you in the Rinian market?” the innkeeper continued, returning with two tankards and a goblet. “Wine for the lady,” she smiled, and set the metal cup in front of her.

  “Thank you,” Josephine said. “We are merchants,” she added.

  “Merchants?” The woman said. “Merchants without any wares?”

  “We have coin to buy new produce,” Matthias chimed in, giving Josephine a brief look of disgruntlement. “We wish to take back some of the local wares to Tekri. And we have been told of the market’s incredible stalls.”

  The woman smiled. “If you are going to lie, you had better tell your woman to get some more practice.” She waved her hands as Josephine blushed. “I don’t want to know what you are up to, with a soldier of the realm by your side. All I ask is that you don’t muddy up my floor, you pay your bill, and if there is any trouble, you will be out on your hides. Soldier or no!” She nodded to Thadius.

  “We mean you no trouble,” Matthias said. “I apologise for the deception. We only want some food before we continue our journey.”

  The woman chuckled. “You wouldn’t be the first people to come in here with a tale to spin. I’ve heard them all! Well, that is, I thought I had until last night.”

  “What happened last night?” Josephine asked.

  The woman pulled up a chair and sat by them. “I thought I had seen it all. I’ve seen Aslemerian priests, dark-skinned men, women dressed as men - men dressed as women, for that matter - but a creature arrived here yesterday the likes of which I have never seen before in my life! And he could spin a tale with the best of them.”

  “What kind of creature?” Thadius asked, looking concerned.

  “See for yourself,” the woman said and jerked her head to the far side of the tavern. They turned to see what she was looking at. A figure had emerged from upstairs: a tall man, dressed in a dark green, velvet waistcoat, brown hemp breeches and a white sleeveless shirt, which he wore confidently; the top buttons undone to his chest. His light - brown hair was worked together tightly, tied and knotted into locks that curled up and around his head. Separating his freckled brow and hairline was a white bandana of coarse yarn. His skin was tanned. With his hair tied up the way it was, two long, pointed, curving ears protruded outwards around the sides of his face, with small semi - circular notches taken out at regular intervals until they curved backwards, their ends splitting into two points as they wound their way up past his hairline

  “I don’t believe it,” Matthias whispered, staring at the man.

  “What?” Thadius asked.

  “I know him.” The figure spotted them at the only occupied table and his eyes widened like saucers.

  “Matthias? Matthias, is that really you?” the man asked as he strode towards them.

  “Luccius!” he exclaimed and nearly kicked his chair out as he rushed over to greet the man, embracing him warmly. “My gods but it’s good to see you!”

  “How can you be here?” the man named Luccius asked.

  “I could ask you the same question!” Matthias replied.

  “I’ve come a long way since we last saw each other Matthias!” Luccius replied, a large grin on his masculine face. His accent was rhotic and the twang foreign compared to the Aralian dialects. “I told you I would travel far across the world! Now look at me! I have been to the fabled city of Rina, the furthest from home I have ever been! Probably the furthest my people have been for hundreds of years.” He laughed loudly and patted Matthias on the shoulders. The wizard laughed with him.

  “This is incredible! It’s been what, five years at least?” the wizard asked.

  “More like ten!” Luccius replied.

  “No, it can’t be that long!” Matthias waved him away.

  “Ahem,” Thadius coughed loudly.

  “Oh yes!” Matthias said awkwardly, caught off guard. “Let me introduce you to my travelling companions. This is�
�” He suddenly eyed the barwoman, and then turned back to Luccius. “You know, where are my manners? May we have a drink for my friend?” He asked the woman. She smiled.

  “Of course. Though if you wanted me out of earshot, you only had to ask.” She turned on her heel and made her way to the bar. Matthias shook his head, smiling.

  “As I was saying,” he continued. “This is Josephine.” Luccius bowed gracefully to her, taking her hand and kissing it delicately. She blushed.

  “Such a fair lady! Matthias, what have you done to deserve to travel with such beauty?”

  “This is her… well, this is Thadius.” The knight stood to shake Luccius’s hand.

  “An impressive sword!” Luccius commented, indicating to the decorative hilt of Thadius’s weapon. “Suitable for the knights of Aralia themselves, I’ll wager?”

  Thadius coughed. “Yes. Yes, I’d imagine it would be, if I were one.”

  “I’m not bad with a sword myself. Perhaps we could spar together later, if you have time?” Luccius continued.

  “Perhaps,” Thadius retorted.

  “When did you learn to use a sword?” Matthias asked.

  “I have learnt a lot in ten years,” Luccius smiled. “I’m a little more worldly than before. So, where are you three going?” Luccius asked. “Is Matthias taking you on one of his famous trips?” He grinned at the wizard.

  “You could say that,” Thadius replied stoically. Then he shook himself. “Famous trips?”

  Matthias shook his head feverishly. “Not now, please Thadius,” he implored. The man looked at him suspiciously. “It’s a long story Luccius,” Matthias replied. He shook his head. “I cannot get over you being here!”

  “Ahem. Excuse me for asking, but what… what exactly are you?” asked Josephine, her eyes drawn to the man’s long, curving ears. Luccius smiled at her and ran a hand across them.

  “I’m an ansuwan, Lady Josephine,” he grinned. “My people don’t travel far from home, if at all. I’m not surprised you haven’t heard of my kind before. We haven’t ventured this way for a long time.”

  “Ansuwan?” Thadius weighed the word up. “That means ‘elf’, in the old Aralian tongue, if I’m not mistaken?”

  Luccius shook his head. “A term my people have endured for many years, especially this far west it seems. It’s a misconception that I must admit has started to grate lately. Wherever I go people point at my ears and yell ‘Look, there’s an elf!’”

  “My apologies,” Thadius nodded. “If not an elf, then what is an ansuwan?”

  “Ansuwan used to live all across Triska,” Matthias interrupted. “Until the kings of the different nations took a dislike to their unique affinity with the world and their long lives, which they saw as dangerous to their sovereignty. So they made up stories of mischievous creatures that stole children from their beds and drove them away. The myth of elves is all that remains of those lies.”

  Josephine shook her head. “I am astounded I have never heard of your people before today!”

  “It’s a big wide world out there,” Matthias added.

  “We have an affinity with the world around us that humans don’t,” Luccius continued. “My people remain solitary creatures. It keeps them safe from the wars of the world. Most of the time.” The innkeeper returned with another tankard. “Thank you Renna. This woman is a marvel! Have you tried your pottage yet? Best pottage I have ever tasted!”

  The woman smiled and shook her head. “This one has all my serving girls brushing their hair all day and whitening their faces with whatever they can get their hands on! Such a charmer. My husband hated him from the moment he laid eyes on him! Which reminds me,” she added, and held up a finger. “As much as I don’t want to, I had better rouse the man from bed, otherwise he is likely to stay there all day! I won’t be long.” She nodded and disappeared through the doorway again. The creak of wood indicated her movement upstairs.

  “Where do you come from?” Josephine continued to ask.

  “We live far to the east in small communities we call S’aals. I come from Tovem S’aal. As I said, my people don’t like to get out much. Except, that is, for me! So I will let you off for calling me an elf Thadius. Not many people know we ansuwan exist. Save for wizards, who know where to look for us.”

  “And how exactly did you two meet?” Thadius asked.

  Luccius opened his mouth but Matthias cut him off. “Perhaps that is a story for another time,” he said. “The pottage is getting cold.”

  “Well, it is a sincere pleasure to meet one of your kind!” Josephine smiled.

  Luccius grinned, and nodded. “The pleasure is all mine.” Josephine flushed.

  “I can see you haven’t changed that much in these last few years,” Matthias retorted, shaking his head.

  Luccius shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just being polite to a very pretty young lady!” he said.

  “Well just as well remember you’re almost seventy! It wouldn’t work Luccius!”

  “He’s seventy?” Thadius exclaimed. “He doesn’t look any older than you do!”

  “And how old am I?” Matthias asked, smiling.

  “Well you’re … you’re… I don’t know!” Thadius shrugged.

  Matthias smiled, and raised his brows. “Exactly.”

  “Ansuwan age differently to humans,” Luccius answered. Then he looked at Matthias. “Most humans.”

  Thadius shook his head. “My grandfather died when he was forty! That seemed long – lived!”

  “I’m curious,” Matthias interrupted. “Where are you travelling to now, my old friend?”

  “I haven’t decided yet,” Luccius replied. “I’ve been here for three days.” He shook his head. “I was going to leave yesterday, but then something told me I should stay for one more night. I’m glad I did now!”

  Matthias smiled and nodded. “Undoubtedly.”

  “You never answered my question Matthias,” Luccius pressed. “Where are you three off to?”

  Thadius stopped with a spoonful of pottage halfway to this mouth and stared at Matthias, mouth open.

  Matthias took a deep intake of air as he leaned back in his chair. “We’re travelling to Olindia.”

  The smile on Luccius’ face faded. “Olindia,” he chewed over the word. “Things I have picked up on my journey suggest that Olindia may not be the safest of places to go sightseeing right now.”

  Matthias leaned forward, in spite of the emptiness of the inn, save for the one known as Weasel. “What do you know?” he asked.

  “I know a great many things,” Luccius replied. “I know how to win at dice nearly every time and come out of a bar fight with barely a bruise.”

  “Don’t play games with me Luccius. I haven’t the time.”

  The Ansuwan nodded. “It isn’t anything specific. You know I can sense when people use energy. Whenever you used the earth power in the past, I might not have been able to see it, but I could feel it. I have felt the same thing here, but much, much larger. There’s... something, the further north - west you go. A pulsing.” Luccius sighed. “I’ve tried to ignore it if I’m honest. What could I do, after all? But you’re involved in it, aren’t you?

  Matthias nodded. “Aren’t I always?” He looked to the sleeping man Weasel, with his hat propped over his head. “I think maybe we should go somewhere a little more private to talk, don’t you? He may be as drunk as a skunk, but I’d rather not take any more chances.”

  “We can talk in my room,” Luccius nodded. “Follow me,” The Ansuwan said and made his way around the back.

  An Old Friend

  115th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  The four of them crowded into the small room of the tavern, Josephine perched on the side of the small and creaky bed, and Thadius propped up on its frame. Matthias closed the door, making sure there was no one in the hallway as he did so, and leaned his palms against its course wood. His eyes flickered, and there was a faint breeze for a moment, ac
companied by a sucking sound. Then he lifted his hands.

  “The room’s sealed. No one outside can hear us, even if they wanted to.”

  “First thing’s first,” Thadius said, squaring up to Luccius. “How do I know what you say can be trusted? Why should we trust you with our secrets?”

  “Luccius is a very old friend of mine Thadius,” Matthias interjected.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” the knight grimaced.

  “I see that these people’s distrust of your kind runs deeper than most,” Luccius said, brow raised.

  “With good reason!” Thadius exclaimed.

  “There is no one I trust more than Luccius, Thadius. Which is precisely why he is here.”

  Luccius looked surprised. “You knew I would be here?” he asked.

  “No,” Matthias replied, as if it was answer enough on its own. “I’ll explain later.”

  Luccius nodded. “To continue our discussion from downstairs, I’ve kept away from Olindia myself. I was going to visit, but as I say, something doesn’t feel right that far north - west.”

  Matthias nodded. “Your instincts are spot on as always. I’ve been sent to Olindia. It’s the dragon, Sikaris. He’s being freed.”

  Luccius’s eyes widened. “You are sure?” Matthias nodded and the ansuwan rubbed the back of his neck. “Well that would about do it,” he nodded. “These pulses were strong enough to keep me awake at night sometimes. But how could anyone break the dragon free?”

  “I’m not sure how, or why, for that matter. All we know is we have to stop it from happening. The gods themselves have warned Mahalia of this.”

  Luccius looked at Josephine and Thadius for a moment. “But on your own? No other wizards? I don’t understand. With such a threat, why are you travelling to Olindia with only a woman and a knight by your side?” He bowed to Josephine. “No offence meant.”

  Matthias shook his head. “The situation is complicated. Not even the combined power of all of Mahalia’s best wizards would stand any hope of blocking the forces that weaken Sikaris’s prison. We would barely scratch the surface of what they are trying. It’s a force beyond the knowledge of Mahalia: an old, unknown mix of energy and weavings.”

  “Then... what difference can you three alone make?” Luccius continued to question. “Who are these people? Do you intend to fight the dragon alone? You’ve been known to leap before you look Matthias, but this is danger on a completely different scale!”

  “I’m not the one who is going to try and stop the Dragon. This time, I’m just an escort.”

  Luccius looked confused, but then, after a pause, he followed Matthias’ gaze to Josephine. He started forward, his tall frame overpowering Josephine’s own, and stared intensely into her eyes for a moment.

  “May I?” he asked, as he moved to hold her hand, and gripped it gently as she nodded. He lifted it and placed it on his chest, his own hand covering hers, and closed his eyes.

  “What’s he doing?” Thadius asked warily.

  Matthias shrugged. “You’re asking me? The ways of the ansuwan are still a mystery to me, even after knowing Luccius for so long.”

  Suddenly Luccius gasped, and let the hand drop. Josephine jumped on the spot.

  “You are a sorceress?” he asked, uncertain. “No,” he corrected himself. “There is a purity in your gift. I...” he turned to Matthias. “What is it? I have never felt any power like it. I could not even sense it around her it is so foreign to me. Had you not pointed it out...” He paused, and turned back to Josephine again, grabbed her face in his hands, and analysed her as if he were looking for some hidden markings. Finally, after a moment, he gasped again.

  “You’re an Akari! Or, at least, your energy, it... tastes heavenly. Angelic.” He grew more excited as he spoke. “You are an angel!”

  Josephine nodded. “Thank you, I think. And you are correct. I appear to possess their power. Though do not ask me where in the world I have inherited it from! According to your wizard friend here, I have been ‘chosen.’ Whatever that means.” She sighed.

  Luccius sat, or more accurately, he fell back onto the bed. “That’s impossible! How can you exist?” He turned to Matthias? “She is not possible!”

  “She is still standing here,” Josephine added, and raised a brow. Luccius blushed slightly at the remark.

  “And yet,” Matthias replied, and indicated to the princess. “I know it doesn’t make sense, Luccius, but it’s true. That’s why I’m here. I’m helping to realise her abilities. I’m taking her, together with Thadius, to Crystal Ember. She has the power to seal the dragon’s prison, once and for all. The gods have chosen her to do this. It has been written, in a seeing stone, that she can stop them.”

  Luccius seemed surprised at the comment. “A stone? But if the gods have seen fit to send a message then...” he looked awkward, and stopped mid-sentence.

  “Then we are all in very grave danger,” Josephine finished, for him. “You needn’t mind your words around me. I am growing aware of the implications. Which is precisely why we are on our way to stop this from happening. Believe me, I wouldn’t be going for anything less!”

  Luccius shook his head. “Forgive me Lady Josephine. It is just you are so young. It is difficult to perceive you wielding such power. And you of all people Matthias, to get swept up in all of this.” Then he stopped, and chuckled. “Actually, now I come to think on it, it makes perfect sense that you are in on all of this.” Thadius’s face creased with worry at the remark. Matthias shook his head again and shrugged.

  “You know me, Luccius. I wish there was time for you to get your head around this, but we’re in a lot of danger,” Matthias said. “Events have been set in motion. There are creatures following us. Demons sent by the people weakening the dragon’s prison, whoever they are. They know what is happening.”

  “They seem intent on killing me and anyone that stands in their way,” Josephine said. “We were attacked last night.”

  “We need to get to Olindia as quickly as possible," Matthias added.

  Luccius nodded. “Would another companion help you to reach Olindia faster?” he interrupted, before Matthias could even ask.

  “You’re sure?”

  “I wouldn’t have bothered offering if I wasn’t sincere!” Luccius said, a smile returning to his face.

  “You want to come with us?” Thadius exclaimed. “Why in the gods would you volunteer for this?”

  “I’ve never been one to walk away from an adventure. Have I Matthias?”

  “No, you haven’t at that,” Matthias shrugged. “But this is different from anything we’ve ever encountered before Luccius. It’s causing the world itself to bend and the gods to call upon every piece they need to fight their cause. And if you think I’m being overdramatic, then ask yourself why you and I are standing here now face to face after so long? I believe you have been nudged here by the gods Luccius, whether you know it or not. They may be physically weak but they have other means of touching the world. Small things can build up.”

  Luccius nodded. “There has been something in the air around me for a while now, a feeling of... unfinished business. I had thought it was to do with travelling or... well, other matters. But it seems it may have been someone trying to get me here.” He nodded. “You can count me in on your journey.” He stood up. “Besides, I was getting a little bored travelling on my own all the time.”

  Josephine smiled. “I will feel a lot better with you by my side as well, Mister Luccius. You have certainly brightened up the room! I would be grateful for your company on this trip.”

  The ansuwan bowed his head. “It would be my pleasure to escort you to Olindia. But one thing. Please don’t call me Mister. It’s just Luccius.”

  She thought about it, and nodded with a smile. “Very well, but I will extend the same courtesy to you. Please, just call me Josephine.”

  “Alright Josephine. You have yourself a deal!”

  The princess laughed.
Then she turned to Matthias. “Not you though, ambassador. You can call me by my full title.” She looked pleased with herself.

  “You two got off on the wrong foot, did you?” Luccius asked.

  “You could say that,” added Thadius, kicking off from the bed frame and unfolding his arms. “Matthias tried to kidnap Josephine a few days ago.”

  Luccius looked to Matthias. “Kidnap?” he asked in disbelief. “You have been a great many things Matthias, but a thief and abductor is not one of them.”

  “I had my orders, Luccius. Orders I regret trying to follow,” he added. “But enough of debating the past,” he said dismissively. “If you are coming Luccius, we have to leave now. It’s a long way still to Olindia, and time is not our friend.” He made for the door. "I think it's high time we found some horses, don't you? Thadius, do you know where we can find any?"

  Thadius nodded. "Elmthorn Mews is a few minutes walk away. They should be able to provide us with some."

  Matthias nodded. "Well then, shall we get this journey started properly?"

  Their group left the inn shortly after, paying for their meals and leaving Renna to tend to her bar and her husband. When they arrived at the stable, Luccius knew the woman who tended to the horses and managed to charm her into providing four well-bred horses at a reasonable price.

  “I won’t ask how you became so familiar with that woman that she would offer us four palfreys at such low cost,” Matthias said as they ambled along on the top of their horses.

  “It’s best not to perhaps, when we are in the company of a lady,” Luccius smiled.

  They left Emalin Noire along a wide, well-trodden dusty pathway. Matthias took the lead, whilst Thadius fell behind to guard their rear. Josephine and Luccius engaged in conversation.

  “I have always wanted to visit the Sea Port of Tekri,” the princess mused.

  “There is nowhere I have ever been that quite compares,” Luccius said. “They have buildings that soar up to the clouds, built of metals that shimmer in the sunlight! Ships line the docks for miles and miles along the shoreline.”

  The princess shook her head in wonderment. “My father has always feared and admired the Letan Empire in an almost equal measure.”

  “It sounds as if he has an important role in Rina?” Luccius commented.

  Josephine blinked in surprise. “My goodness!” She held a hand up to her mouth. “In all our conversations my position was never brought up, was it?” Luccius looked confused. “I am Princess Josephine Arwell. My father is King Joseph Arwell of Aralia.”

  “You’re the heir to the throne of Aralia?” he exclaimed.

  Josephine nodded. “I did not realise that we hadn’t told you that until now!” she grinned.

  “Princess Josephine,” Luccius whispered the title.

  “I told you to just call me Josephine!” she advised.

  “That was before I knew you were royalty! It seems there is still quite a bit you have to fill me in on, Matthias!” he called in front.

  “All in good time my friend. All in good time,” Matthias called back. He was enjoying riding further ahead, the feel of the wind blowing through his hair. Explanations could wait until later. There was a long way to go.

  “Oh my Gods, I flirted with the Princess of Aralia!” Luccius said, smacking his forehead with a hand.

  Josephine laughed and leant forward to him. “Well I shall let you in on a secret: the princess quite enjoyed it!” Luccius went bright red and his ears twitched. “Anyway, I feel I have embarrassed you quite enough for one day. Let us discuss other matters. Perhaps about your home. Are you homesick, being so far away?”

  Luccius shrugged. “I suppose, in a way. I miss the place. But not the people.”

  “Why not the people?” she asked.

  “Ansuwan are... different from humans in many ways. They do not place the same value on exploration and invention. It is a world away from the one your kind has built. I have always felt more at home in the company of man.”

  Josephine nodded. “I see. But your home itself, it is a pleasant land?” she asked.

  Luccius smiled and his deep hazel eyes gleamed. “Oh yes. Streams of pure, dazzlingly clear water run past houses made of the finest, most magnificent materials you will ever see. Platinum, diamonds, minerals of all sorts are plentiful in Tovem S’aal. When the sun shines down through the crystalline trees, it lights up the lands with a sparkling glow. It’s a little piece of paradise, unaffected by the rules of the rest of the world. Time works differently there. A day in your land can be a week in Tovem S’aal, and a week can be a month. It’s all because of an energy fountain.”

  “A what?” Josephine asked, entranced.

  “Our people built our community around it. They’re breakages in the ground, where energy pours out from the centre of the world. It changes the landscape around it. There are only three in all of the Triskan Continent, and all of them have been colonized by the ansuwan. I think it’s why we have such an affinity for sensing the powers. We are raised around them in such concentrations, it’s in our blood.”

  “But you cannot use them?”

  Luccius shook his head. “No. We’ve never been able to. It’s probably a good thing. But it does extend our lives quite considerably as the powers often do with others who wield them.”

  “I would very much like to visit your world some day,” Josephine said. “If I escape from this,” she said, and her voice became sad.

  “You’ll be just fine, princess,” Luccius said. “Matthias won’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered.

  Josephine snorted. “I’m not so sure about that,” she sighed.

  “Matthias is a good man,” Luccius said. “I’ve known him for a long time. He might seem a little rude sometimes, but that’s because of his people. He doesn’t agree with them a lot of the time, but he loves his country. He’s torn between his own morality and the will of his people, and more often than not it gets him into trouble. But I know he’ll get you back from all of this. Because he cares about what happens to you.”

  “Cares about my power, you mean,” she replied. "I am simply a tool to wield."

  Luccius shook his head. “I mean he cares about the person you are. Trust me, he will not let anything hurt you.”

  Josephine looked at Luccius and then to Matthias, who was riding some way ahead.

  “He is a curious man,” she said. “So guarded and suspicious. He is everything a wizard of Mahalia is rumoured to be. And yet... at times he seems almost human.” She shook her head. “I cannot work him out.”

  Luccius smiled. “He’s a wizard. You’re not supposed to be able to. They like it that way.”

  She smiled. “How did you both meet?” Josephine asked.

  Luccius snorted. “Now it seems that may be a story he does not want me to tell you yet, and therefore the one story I’ll have to decline in telling.”

  Josephine looked at Luccius curiously, but then nodded. “Very well. I suppose you have your loyalties.” She turned back to face the front. Matthias turned in his saddle up ahead and caught her eye.

  “Are you alright?” he called back to her.

  She nodded. “I am fine. Thank you.” He nodded back, and smiled.

  “You’re doing well, your highness,” he said, before he turned back to survey the direction they were travelling.

  She shook her head again as she stared at the back if his head. “Very curious,” she whispered.

  The body of the innkeeper’s husband lay sprawled on the floor of the bar, his throat cut. Several paces away, the man known as Weasel lay bleeding in a corner from his stomach, propped up against the far wall, unconscious. His innards were splayed out across the floor in front of him, cut to pieces, his intestine a shrivelled, pink sausage snaking across the sullied floorboards. Two other men lay on the floor, bloodied and unconscious.

  Pinned against the
wall by a thick, menacing arrow, Renna dangled helplessly, her face pale and eyes wide with terror as she watched the man in front of her sniff the air like a bloodhound. Taico Grimm stepped over the men’s bodies and pressed his fingers against the wood of the table closest the bar. “They have only been gone a few hours,” he whispered distractedly. His hands were stained red, a bloodied knife still gripped in one hand and a crossbow slung on his back. He ran his fingers across the wood, and then stopped, with a sharp intake of breath, and began feeling the wood with intent. “There was another here, with them!” He took a deep snort, and then he began to laugh. “It’s him! Oh I had almost forgotten about that creature! How could I have forgotten? The mind is such a fragile thing,” he said, pressing two fingers against his head repeatedly and staring up at the woman. He started forward. “What did they speak about?” he asked her.

  She looked at him with fire in her eyes. “How much... they... enjoyed... the pottage!” she spat.

  Grimm sneered. “Witty. Do you think that will save you? Only I can save you.”

  “You’re killing me!” she barked. Grimm laughed.

  “I’m not talking about that! I am the only one who can stop the oncoming storm. I am the groyne that will break the waves as they pound this land!”

  Renna swallowed hard as she struggled to breathe. "Why are you doing this?" she panted.

  "Because it must be done. Because I have seen the true strength of both the light and the dark and in the end, the darkness is stronger and will prevail. And so it must come to pass, one way or the other, that the world will be reborn." He shook his head. “No-one can know the burden I carry. No-one!”

  She shook her head. "You're a madman! You... will burn for this!"

  Grimm smiled. "When all this is over, we will all burn." He turned and walked to the door. “I am sorry it had to end this way for you. Trust me though; it is preferable to what is to come. And it is only just beginning.” He nodded and stepped out into the daylight.

  An Old Discussion

  79th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  “Alone?” Matthias exclaimed, brushing his lengthy hair from his eye line and behind his ear. “You want me to do this single - handedly?”

  Augustus Pym, his former mentor and a member of the Council of Wizards, strode the room slowly, hands tucked into his robes. He was a tall man, with an aquiline nose and a high forehead, slightly wrinkled even though he was still in his middling years. He was starting to grey in places in the crown of his short, brown hair but compared to the others in the Council he was practically youthful. Still, whatever his age, he was a wise man. He hadn’t become a member of the ruling Council of Mahalia without the brains to back it up.

  “You heard me right,” Augustus said calmly, eyeing Matthias carefully.

  “But... why?” Matthias said breathily.

  “There is always a need for an explanation with you, isn’t there my young friend? Is it not enough that your old mentor wishes it to be so?”

  Matthias looked down, chastened, but then, defiantly, raised his head again. “I am not as young as you continue to perceive me to be, Master Pym. And in this case, I believe I need to know what is happening!” He stepped forward, and the man flicked a wrist at him.

  “Ah! Ah! No moving from the spot unless instructed! You know the protocols!”

  “Oh to hell with the rules, Master Pym! You’ve never been a great one for them before!” He stepped forward and drew close to the older wizard. “That’s the reason I admire you so much!”

  Pym smiled. “I can see you ignore me and flout the rules of our people as you always have done in such matters.” He sighed, but then smiled. “It is perhaps the reason I have asked you to do this. Because I know you will ignore some of the rules that hold us back and threaten to destroy us. You will do what needs to be done. Not what the Protocols dictate.”

  “But surely this is too important to be left to me alone?” Matthias asked.

  “You doubt your own abilities?” Pym asked.

  “With this? You bet I do!” he said.

  “Then you sell yourself short, Matthias. You are a promising wizard. Intelligent, powerful, and above all, resourceful. You are the perfect candidate for this. You successfully retrieved the Ark last year. The Council were very impressed by that.”

  “But it’s not the council who are asking me to do this, is it?” he said. Matthias swallowed. “Is there no way to convince them to change their mind?”

  Pym smiled again, and shook his head. “Once the Consensus has been made, it is easier to move the continent than to change the direction our people will take. And in this case, they are quire clear what must be done with Princess Josephine.” He pulled himself up tall. “So it is up to you and I, and a select few others, to see to it that things proceed in the manner they need to. For the good of Triska and the entire world of Erithia. Besides, you needn’t be worried. From your point of view, you are taking orders from the Council. A small part of it, at least.”

  Matthias shook his head. “Have the Council any idea yet who is doing this? For what reason anyone would want to free the dragon?”

  “Matthias, you ask too many questions.” Pym smiled. “You know the old saying, curiosity killed the cat?”

  “At least cats have nine lives! I only have one, and I would be happy to keep it! And I’d rather have all the facts and risk death knowingly, than stumble blindly into something of which I only know half of the story!”

  Pym laughed out loud. “Too true. But in this case, I have told you all I can. In the meantime, your job is to see that Princess Josephine takes the course she needs to. Once she has, there will be no turning back. And we will have succeeded. Josephine is an asset, not a threat. The Council must see that, but sometimes they have to be forced to acknowledge it. You must leave tonight. Use whatever means you can to get to Rina as quickly as possible. You must arrive before Fenzar at all costs.”

  Matthias nodded. “I will do what I can, Master Pym.”

  Augustus sighed, and moved to the window. “I know you will, my old apprentice.”

  Matthias opened the latch. “Let’s hope the Council will be persuaded by our actions and choose the better path.” He slipped out the door.

  Pym sighed. “So do I, Master Greenwald. So do I.”

  Onwards

  116th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  After much travelling and with the sun calling time for another day and setting on the horizon, Matthias decided, with much cajoling from the others in their party, that they had better stop to rest for the night. With no town nearby, they decided to set up camp in the countryside. Their horses were tied to a nearby tree and twigs and other bits of kindling were gathered by Luccius and Thadius from a nearby copse and arranged in a small heap.

  “Is anyone here any good at lighting a fire?” asked Thadius as he placed a few more branches into the stack and piled dried grass on top. He grasped a stick of wood as thick as his thumb, and started to twist it between his palms furiously.

  "You're doing it wrong," Matthias said. Thadius eyed him grumpily.

  "Oh really?" he retorted. "I'd like to see you do better!"

  Matthias raised his hand. There was a crackle, a wisp of smoke and then flame burst from the wood stack. Thadius fell backwards, stick still in hand, wide eyed.

  “Another use for having a wizard around!” exclaimed Luccius, chuckling.

  “I’ll never get used to your tricks, wizard,” Thadius grumbled, and threw the stick into the flame. Matthias laughed.

  They all sat together in the warmth for a while, Matthias with his eyes closed in meditation, Luccius playing cards with himself using a pack he produced from his waistcoat and Thadius eyeing the darkness beyond the fire’s wake warily, sword resting on his lap. Josephine fiddled with the grass absently. Her eyes were heavy, her face pale, and her shoulders hunched over.

  “You should get some rest, princess,” instructed Matthias, opening
his eyes. “It has been a long day for you. There will be many more like it.”

  She managed a weak, tired smile. “Are you going to force me to sleep, ambassador?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Then I would prefer to remain awake.”

  He nodded. “I understand.”

  “No, I very much doubt that you do.”

  He smiled. “I know that you are far away from home, that you have been taken from the comfort of your life and that beyond anything else, all you wish is to go home again. But you can’t, because deep within you is a sense that what you are doing is the right thing to do. And that’s what’s keeping you here.”

  Josephine stared at him in silence a moment. Then she said: “You do realise that it is incredibly annoying when you manage to do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “Manage to read my thoughts and get them so completely and utterly right. How do you do that?”

  Matthias smiled. “Maybe you and I aren’t so different after all?” he ventured.

  She smiled thinly. “Perhaps.” Then she sighed, ripping a daisy from the ground and twiddling it between her fingers.

  “What’s the furthest you’ve been from home princess?” Luccius asked.

  “Not far,” she replied. “I am told I visited Olindia when I was younger, with my father. But I can’t remember that far back. I have lived a very... sheltered life.”

  The ansuwan smiled. “Well, what better company could you have for your first long trip away? You certainly couldn’t be safer. If you think lighting fires is all Matthias can do, you haven’t seen anything yet! As for myself,” Luccius continued, “I’m a dab hand with a spear or a quarterstaff and I’m none too bad with a sword either now! And I’m guessing Thadius here uses his own sword for more than cutting up his food or flossing his teeth. How’s about a little practice between us, Thadius?” he asked.

  Thadius rubbed his face with a hand. “I am tired,” he said. “Another time.”

  “Are you all right?” Luccius asked him.

  “It is nothing,” he answered. “It is late and it has been a long day,” he muttered.

  “You should get some sleep as well Thadius,” Matthias said. “It’ll be another long day tomorrow. Perhaps longer. I can keep a watch.”

  Thadius snorted. “I would sooner slit my own throat than rely on you to keep watch, after all the excitement of the last few nights,” he said.

  Matthias shook his head. “Suit yourself. But if you have come this far with me then you must trust my judgement at least a little now. You can’t stay awake forever."

  "I believe your intentions are honourable. It is the method you choose to employ them that scares me still. So until you prove you are capable of leading us to safety, I will remain awake."

  Matthias nodded and smiled. "There may be hope for you yet, Thadius."

  “If you have finished with your daily trading of barbs, I have a few more questions to ask you Matthias,” Josephine added, interrupting the banter with a frown.

  Matthias propped himself into a more comfortable position on the floor and gestured with a hand. “Go ahead and ask them. I’ll try and answer you. If I can.”

  “Very well," she said and took a breath. "Firstly I want to know if you have any idea who is trying to break the dragon’s prison. I know you have said you do not, but you must be able to make a guess of whom it may be? You must have some inkling.”

  Matthias licked his lips. “I never lied to your father princess when I told him I had no idea who had done this. I really did not know any more than I told you back in Rina. But I have been thinking after our encounter with Taico Grimm. I have never met anyone who claimed to be using a borrowed power before.”

  “How is that significant?” Josephine asked.

  “That kind of talent is the stuff of legend. If it is true, and I’m not certain by any stretch of the word that it is, then it means whoever is after you possesses skills unlike any that have been seen for a long time. Unfortunately, Grimm gave precious little away, aside from a name: The Four. It didn’t mean anything to me. At least not at first. But then I remembered something I learned a long time ago. Have you ever heard of ‘Arash Malhat’?” he asked.

  “Who is he?” Josephine asked. Matthias shook his head.

  “It is a place. Or it was a place, a very long time ago, situated near where the Seaport City of Tekri rests now. It was a land built before Aralia even existed. I think around two thousand years ago, if my memory serves me. It was a land governed by sorcerers: the equivalent to the Council of Mahalia, but for their own kind.”

  “How is a sorcerer different from a wizard?” Thadius asked. “I don’t see the distinction.”

  “From an outside perspective, it would seem very little,” Matthias continued. “But a sorcerer uses a completely different thread of energy than a wizard. It is a more raw, visceral power, and much more dangerous.”

  “And this Arash Malhat was a land filled with sorcerers?” Josephine asked.

  Matthias nodded. “It was a land of sorcerers, governed by four Arch-Sorcerers. Aside from that, I must confess I know precious little about the land itself aside from a few stories passed down from generation to generation. In particular, there is one I recall more than any other. The tale of the fall of Arash Malhat tells of the final governors of that realm and the final days of their land. They were greedy, selfish men, all of them, and more often than not Mahalia was drawn into conflict with Arash Malhat, against their blind ambitions. It was a time of immense wars between wielders. But this was when the Akari still lived, and such a thirst for power by the sorcerers was not tolerated. To stop them, the Akari razed Arash Malhat to the ground and extinguished all the sorcerers within its walls.”

  “They killed them all? How many?” Josephine asked, her eyes widening.

  Matthias shrugged, “I’m not sure. Hundreds? Definitely. Thousands? Perhaps. Either way, they did what was necessary to preserve the status quo. And as a final punishment, they made an example of the four Arch-sorcerers and sent them into exile.” Matthias took a breath. “They disappeared from history as far as I know. I believe that was around six hundred years ago.”

  Thadius laughed. “I may be mistaken, but you can’t possibly think that the ‘four’ that Grimm was talking about are the same men?”

  Matthias shrugged, “It is, as I said, only a theory. But it would fit the facts as they stand.”

  “But how could they live for so long? Six hundred years?”

  “When you use the powers of the world, they can do things to your body. The deteriorating effects of time can be slowed.” He cocked his head. “It is unlikely that such people could remain alive for so long, but not impossible. They may have found a way.”

  “Your Council, ambassador. Did they not see anything of these perpetrators through the seeing stone? Did it tell them nothing of those who would release the dragon?”

  “The stones are not able to be read like a book, princess. It isn’t always easy to decipher their entire meaning. But I think that they were investigating the possibilities as I left.”

  “What do you mean, ‘you think?’” Thadius grumbled.

  “The Council have not been entirely clear with me about the details of their investigation,” he said reservedly.

  “That’s encouraging,” Thadius retorted. “Why not?”

  “It’s a long story Thadius.”

  “We have a lot of time it would seem,” the knight proffered.

  “Perhaps but I am not willing to tell it,” Matthias said more sternly.

  “I did say no more secrets, ambassador,” the princess said. “It sounds very much like you are hiding something from me again.

  “A discussion around my people’s politics would bore you princess. We haven’t enough water for such a dry story.” He took a breath. “Speaking of my people, I had better talk with my contact in the Council and let them know what has happened to us so far. G
rimm’s ramblings might help them and ultimately us, if they can find these people and stop them before they are successful in breaking the dragon free.”

  Matthias shuffled in his spot and leant to where his bag was lying on the grass. He fumbled inside it and pulled out the small communication orb. “I use this to speak with my people,” he said, at the looks from the others.

  “I saw that in your room the other night when I was… making sure you were comfortable,” Thadius finished abruptly. Matthias smirked.

  “Think of it like, well…” he struggled for an analogy.

  “A carrier pigeon?” Thadius tried.

  Matthias looked at him. “A carrier pigeon, in a glass ball, flying messages back and forth between Mahalia and here instantaneously.” The others looked at him blankly, and he shook his head. “Perhaps not, Thadius.” He shrugged. “In any case, it will let me speak with Mahalia straight away without having to wait days or weeks for a response. It’ll only take a minute.” He clutched the ball tightly in his palm and closed his eyes. Purple light began to swirl around the sphere and his hand.

  “Amazing,” Thadius exclaimed. “I could do with one of those. Imagine being able to speak with your father as we sit here. Or give orders to soldiers on the battlefield.”

  Josephine nodded. “The tools of wizards are impressive, I will begrudgingly admit.”

  There was a sudden, ferocious buzzing from the sphere. Matthias looked down.

  “What is it?” Thadius asked.

  “I don’t know. But something is-” In a second, the orb exploded in Matthias’s hand, shattering into fragments. They dove away as glass bit through the air, and Matthias closed his eyes with a cry and held out his palm. Blood covered his hand where glass has embedded itself into his skin. He was shaking.

  “Oh my Gods!” Josephine shrieked, and grasped at his arm. “It is alright! Stay calm! Thadius?”

  The knight slid besides Matthias. “We need to get the glass out,” he said, and delicately placed his finger and thumb across the largest piece. “I’m going to pull it out, alright?” he said. Matthias nodded, grunting. In a swift movement, Thadius jerked the glass out and Matthias cried in agony. “One piece out, five to go.” He moved to the next, and prised it out delicately. Blood dripped from the open wound.

  Josephine scrabbled in her bags and pulled out a handkerchief. She waited for what seemed like minutes as Thadius removed the last of the glass and Matthias grunted in agony, and then placed the balled up handkerchief into his palm and closed his fingers shut.

  “Grip tightly Matthias,” she instructed. “We must stem the blood flow. Do as I say!” she ordered, as his grip loosened, and she closed it again, keeping her hands tightly over his bloodied fist.

  “Are you alright Matthias?” Asked Luccius, kneeling in front of him, wide-eyed.

  Matthias nodded. “I’m… fine,” he breathed. “It was just a shock. Thank you,” he said, nodding to Thadius and then to Josephine, who took her hands away slowly. He hissed at the pain and then sat back, propping himself up against his bag.

  “What happened?” asked Luccius.

  Matthias shook his head. “I don’t know. I was starting a connection and then it just… exploded!”

  “Can’t you heal yourself Matthias?” Luccius asked. “You’ve done it before.”

  Matthias nodded. “The pain caught me off guard. I can’t wield enough of the earth power just yet. I should be able to soon, when I can focus.”

  “You can mend your wounds with energy?” Thadius asked.

  “Minor wounds,” Matthias breathed. “But it takes a lot of effort. It is easier sometimes to just let it heal naturally, for all the effort it takes.” He shook his head and cursed. “They’re behind this,” he growled. “The sorcerers! I know they are!”

  “You have no proof of that,” Luccius said. “It could be any number of people surely?”

  Matthias shook his head. “No. Why else would Taico Grimm refer to ‘the four?’ What other fours are there?”

  “The four elements?” Thadius suggested.

  “Four suits in a deck of cards!” Luccius continued.

  “Four wheels on a carriage,” Josephine added.

  “Alright. I see your point. But they’re the only ones who could be interfering with the communications stones! I don’t know of anyone else who could manage such a thing.”

  “It’s quite a large reach to suggest that the only possible perpetrators could be six hundred year old men,” the princess advised.

  He shook his head. “Maybe. I know Master Pym would be able to help us find out though. And now I can’t contact him!” He sighed. “I really am all alone in this now.”

  “We are all in this together,” Josephine said. “Is that not what you have told me so far? I am the one who has to ward off this dragon, not you! Perhaps you can appreciate some of the loneliness I feel, to be away from my people, now you are cut off as well.”

  Matthias looked up, and after a pause, nodded silently.

  “Well this has been yet another exciting day,” Thadius said, standing up and placing his hands on his hips. “It would seem that danger gravitates around you wizard, like a fly around dung.”

  “Matthias,” Luccius said gravely, his eyes narrowing. “Something is happening.”

  Matthias leaned forward. “What do you mean?” He asked as Luccius picked up a fragment of the orb.

  “I can sense something...” his ears twitched. “An energy.”

  “Is it coming from the remains of the orb?” the princess asked.

  “No. It’s all around us, but I think it has touched the orb somehow.” He stroked the piece of glass with a finger. It feels wrong. Dangerous.” He swallowed. “I think you may have just showed them where to find us.” His ears twitched again.

  “If they know where we are then surely we should-” the princess stopped mid-sentence and exhaled heavily, clutching her stomach.

  “Princess, what is it?” Thadius asked, kneeling by her side.

  “I-I don’t know... ungh!” She hissed and doubled over in pain. The sky rumbled menacingly above them.

  Luccius gasped. “Matthias! It’s surrounding Josephine!”

  The princess groaned, her mouth dropping wide open. Her hands shook and above them, sheet lightning crackled, illuminating the skies.

  “Matthias,” she breathed. “I think it is my power! It feels like it did before.”

  Matthias leapt up and gripped her shoulders, the bloodied handkerchief still clasped between his fingers. He closed his eyes and his brow furrowed.

  “They are suppressing your control somehow,” he said. “Princess, I don’t know how they are doing this, but only you can stop the flow of energy from overcoming you. You have to concentrate!” Josephine shook heavily, her whole body convulsing. Her eyes met Matthias’s and tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “I’m scared!” she cried.

  “I know. It’s alright princess.” Matthias cradled her face in his hands. “Look at me! You can stop this!”

  As Josephine stared at him, a tingling spread through her body and her chest heaved. There was a flash of white light from her collarbone and Matthias was thrown backwards, striking the ground hard and tearing up the grass as he slid away with the force. Wind whipped around Josephine, a cyclone billowing faster and faster. Leaves and grass and flowers swirling around in the whirlwind. Luccius and Thadius watched powerlessly, forced back by the gale.

  Matthias gasped as he pulled himself up. The wind was growing stronger by the second. He pushed his way forward, but his legs fell from under him and he tumbled face down into the mud.

  “Princess!” Matthias called, but the wind was too loud for her to hear. He forced himself up again and concentrated. His eyes glowed and around his body a field of light radiated outward, a bubble shielding him from the wind. He marched on towards the princess, right at the storm’s centre, the bubble flickering as the winds battered the shell. The twister had re
ached the clouds and grew wider with every second. Luccius stabbed his spear deep into the ground, forcing the metallic blade into the soul with a boot where the blunt edge met the wooden haft. He clutched to the pole tightly.

  “Thadius! Hold on!” he yelled. The knight grasped towards the spear with both hands, but then his feet slipped on the grass and he found himself being dragged backwards towards the swirling tunnel of wind. He slid past the tree where the horses were tied and whinnying madly, their hooves struggling for traction against the sucking power of the cyclone whirling around the princess. Thadius’s back struck a hard root sticking out of the earth and as he skidded further he thrust out with a hand and gripped at it.

  Josephine held her head in her hands, curled into a ball at the epicentre of the whirling tornado as Matthias approached, his eyes streaming as the wind seeped through the bubble he had created. Blood still dripped from his hand and his body was exhausted as he struggled to barely hold the shield in place, but he drove onwards. The bubble flickered again and then collapsed, as he grew weaker. His coat rippled and threatened to pull him back like a sail catching the wind, but he fought against it and fell to the princess’s side. He threw his arms around her.

  “It’s alright!” he wailed in her ear against the din. “I’m here princess! You’re fuelling it with your emotions! Try to calm down!” Josephine stared up at him intensely, her cheeks sodden with tears. Her hair billowed around her face in a dervish. Her panicked eyes sparkled, as he had never seen them before. They were silvery orbs, devoid of pupils, like liquid mercury. “Trust me princess,” he said, and smiled in spite of the fear he felt at his core. “You are stronger than them! You can regain control! You are the princess of Aralia!”

  Josephine gazed up into his defiant eyes and as she recognised his lack of fear she began to regain a control in herself. The winds died down, slowly at first, but then all of a sudden, as if they never existed, they were gone. The horses tugged at their tethers, eyes wild, and nostrils flaring. Luccius’s feet touched the ground again and he slipped to his knees, exhausted, still clutching tightly to his spear. Thadius let go of the root and lay on his front a moment, gathering his strength before he staggered to his feet and ran towards Josephine.

  “Princess! Are you alright?” he said, falling to his knees by her side. Matthias held her tightly in his arms.

  “I couldn’t stop it! I’m sorry!” she sobbed. Matthias could feel her heart thumping hard against his chest. He stroked her head with his undamaged hand.

  “It’s over now princess!” Thadius whispered. “You’re alright!”

  Watching from afar, Luccius went to the horses and tried to calm them down. As he stroked their manes and patted their necks, he looked up as a slight rumble of thunder shuddered overhead. Then he looked back to the princess and called to her.

  “It’s gone now Josephine. The energy that I felt around you has left.”

  “There, you see? They’ve given up. You won,” Matthias whispered.

  “For now, perhaps,” she sobbed. “For now.”

  A Thawing of Relations

  116th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Josephine sat huddled with her knees tucked up to her chin by the remade fire, watching the smouldering embers through tired eyes, red-veined and glassy with unshed tears. Her hands still shook and she nibbled restlessly on her bottom lip. Thadius sat by her side, a hand resting on her back comfortingly. Luccius stood propped against the tree, still stroking one of the horse’s manes. Matthias stood by his side and studied Josephine from afar, his hand caked in dried blood but otherwise repaired.

  “Look at her,” Matthias whispered sadly. “She’s broken.”

  “I have never sensed that kind of power before in my life,” Luccius replied. “If you hadn’t got to her when you did…” Above them the rumbles of thunder caused by Josephine still threatened menacingly. “You saved her from herself.”

  “For now,” Matthias said sadly. “But that trick won’t work forever. If the barriers she has put up in her body are so weak that people can open them from afar, then she will struggle to keep them under control for much longer, especially now they have been reawakened. I have to help her control them Luccius, but I’m afraid I don’t know how.” He shook his head. “I thought I could use my training as a template for her own. But I don’t think that’s possible. Her power is too different.”

  “She’s no wizard, Matthias,” Luccius replied. “There is no precedent for this. You have control over the power you wield. You spent years of your life learning how to conduct it. Josephine’s powers have not seen the light of day for age upon age. There is no living being who can tell her how it works.”

  Matthias looked from him over to where the young woman sat, shivering in spite of the heat of the fire, her fragile figure bent over into a ball.

  “No,” he exclaimed defiantly. “I told Josephine and her father I would help her to control her powers. I made a promise. I won’t just leave her to tackle this on her own. There has to be some way.” He ran a hand through his thick hair. “I have to do what I can Luccius.”

  The ansuwan looked at him suspiciously. “Why have your people really sent you to do this Matthias?” Luccius asked suddenly. “And don’t tell me it is because you are the best man for this job, because as talented as you are, my old friend, there are wizards with decades more experience and knowledge than you have. Would they entrust you alone with something so important? And a woman who can wield, to boot?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. That doesn’t sound like the Mahalia I know.”

  Matthias stared at Luccius a moment, and then shook his head. “It’s complicated.”

  “How?” Luccius asked.

  Matthias shook his head. “The Council is not what it once was. Fear is a powerful catalyst for action. Whether that action is measured and appropriate is another matter.”

  “What action?” Luccius asked. “What are you hiding? This is me, Matthias!”

  Matthias shook his head. “You know I can’t say.”

  “You don’t trust me?” The ansuwan asked, his ears drooping slightly.

  “I don’t trust myself,” Matthias said. “I don’t want to drag you into this more than I need to. Because of that I must keep my own counsel.”

  Luccius frowned. “I don’t like being in the dark,” he said glumly. “And I would imagine neither would Thadius or Josephine.”

  “Trust me, ignorance is better sometimes,” Matthias said. “Now let that be an end to it. Please.”

  Luccius took a breath and nodded. “Very well. For now.” He folded his arms.

  Matthias turned back to look at the princess. “I will help you,” he whispered. He heard Luccius snigger and looked at him. “What?”

  “I can see something in your eyes Matthias, when you look at her.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Matthias exclaimed. This only made Luccius’s grin widen even further. He raised his eyebrows and gave Matthias a telling look.

  “She is beautiful, Matthias. A little fiery, but then you do love a good argument!”

  Matthias shook his head disapprovingly. “Don’t be so wool - headed.” He looked back over towards the fire. “I only want to help her. That’s all. You‘re reading too much into things. Just because you’ll jump on any woman who will have you doesn’t mean everyone else does.”

  Luccius snorted. “Thank you very much!” he shook his head. “I’ll have you know I’m a lot more mature than that now. And I stand by my assertions. You like her. Remember, I have a sense for these things.”

  “Just because your people sense changes in the wind and the powers does not mean you can read minds or emotions!” Matthias retorted. “It’s all in your head,” he said sternly.

  “Of course it is,” Luccius rebuffed, crossing his arms.

  “Oh shut up Luccius and stop being such an idiot!”

  Luccius shook his head. “Wizard, you can pretend all
you like, but you are just as much a slave to your emotions as the rest of us.”

  Matthias looked at him a moment, and then he sighed. “Oh what point is there in feigning ignorance to you,” he smiled. “You know me too well ansuwan.”

  Luccius smiled. “I could say the same to you of me.” He unfolded his arms. “The question is, what are you going to do about your feelings?”

  Matthias shook his head. “There is nothing I can or will do,” he said sternly.

  “Why?” Luccius said. “Because she is a princess?”

  Matthias shook his head. "It’s not just that,” he sighed. “When I look into her eyes I see how young she is. With a soul full of optimism and promise.” He swallowed. “It’s… beautiful. And here I am, taking her on a path that will dampen that spirit. I have seen too much of the true nature of this world that I can no longer look upon it with the same youthful, innocent eyes that Josephine still does.” Matthias smiled thinly. “Sometimes, however much you might want to pursue something, or someone, it just isn't meant to be. Your lives are too different. And you have to accept that.”

  Luccius nodded. “I understand. But sometimes is it not worth the risk, because of how dangerous the world can be?”

  “Not when the fate of the world already hangs in the balance.”

  The sun began to rise over the horizon, a beautiful, blazing crescent of warmth radiating across the plains, signalling a brand new day. It spread across the princess’s face and Josephine opened her eyes delicately. She was not aware that she had even fallen asleep, but after the previous day’s events she had felt as if her entire body had been leeched of its life. She sat up slowly and rubbed her blackened eyes. Luccius slept opposite and to her side, Thadius nodded his head in slumber, resting on the knuckles of his hands as he gripped the pommel of his sword.

  “He fell asleep about an hour ago,” said a voice behind her. She turned to see the silhouette of Matthias against the dawn. He turned and made his way to her left, where he proceeded to sit, crossing his legs. “He kept watch over you all night, even when I told him I would do so myself. He is a stubborn mule.” He smiled. “It almost seems a shame to wake him, but we should be going soon, if you are feeling up to it?”

  Josephine nodded her head sleepily. “I am well enough, thank you. My arms and legs ache, but aside from that, I am surprised how well I do feel.”

  Matthias nodded. “Your body has rested. Wielding energy can be exhausting, but from my own experience, after a good sleep, I usually feel right as rain. I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

  Josephine rubbed her eyes. “How is your hand?” She asked.

  “Oh, good as new!” Matthias grinned, and flexed his fingers, showing her his repaired palm. “Just needed to repair the skin.”

  Josephine smiled. "Mahalian tricks. Is there anything you cannot do?”

  He thought a moment. “I’ve never been very good at cooking,” Matthias ventured.

  Josephine smiled. “Then you are in good company. I have never cooked a meal in my life.” She shook her head. “That was… quite a night.”

  Matthias nodded. “I’ve had better,” he said. "But then again, I've also had worse."

  “Matthias,” Josephine started again, and then stopped, awkwardly. “I-”

  “There’s no need to say anything Josephine,” Matthias intervened. “You weren’t responsible. If anything, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have tried to communicate with my people.”

  Josephine shrugged. “Nevertheless I should have been able to block whatever was trying to control me.”

  Matthias shifted his position and moved closer. “Well at least we know one thing now. Your strength in the pure power reacts to your mood. When you calmed yourself down, the storm died off.”

  “I could feel the barriers slipping away. There was nothing I could do. I was petrified. And I think you are right. I think my fear did fuel the energy further.” She brushed the hair from where it blew across her face, and tucked it behind one ear.

  “It’s alright to be scared with that much power running through you.”

  Josephine shook her head. “I wasn’t afraid for myself. I mean, all the pain that was passing through my body was terrifying, but my life didn’t seem to matter. I did not care what happened to me. All I could think about was that I was going to die and I had failed everyone. Rina was going to go up in flames because I could not control myself, and I could do nothing to stop it.” She wiped her eyes. “Through it all I saw my mother again, as she was the day she died: Lying there at my feet, as clear as it had been the night it happened. The same face has haunted me every day since she died, but never has it seemed so strong an image as it did yesterday. The shock that was ingrained on her face… and yet, she was gone also. She went from being my mother to being a shell in less than a second. Her eyes were so vacant...” Josephine swallowed back tears as she choked on them. “I killed her, and if I fail in this I have as good as killed my people as well.”

  Matthias looked down at Josephine’s sodden face. “My mother died when I was young,” he said suddenly and licked his lips. “It was my fault.”

  Josephine stared up at him. “How?”

  “She was able to wield the earth power. She had been able to since I was born. No - one knew, save my father and our family, until, one morning, when we had gone to market, to peddle our wares, I was attacked by a thief. He drew a blade on me and held it to my throat, and said he would kill me unless my mother and father handed everything they had over to him and his friends. If we did that, we would surely starve, but they did so nonetheless.” He snorted. “But then the thief wouldn’t let go. He held on to me, pulling my hair, pressing the blade into my throat. He said he would release me when he reached safety. And then... my mother snapped. She ripped the knife from the man’s grasp with threads of energy, picked him up into the air, and threw him across the path to save me. She did this in broad daylight, in a Mahalian town.”

  “Why do your people hate women who can use the powers so much?” Josephine asked.

  Matthias shook his head. “It’s a foolish, ancient belief that if a woman can wield the power she wields it for the side of the evils of the world. It has something to do with ancient folklore surrounding the earliest days of life. A woman was said to have been the first human to surrender to the urges of the dark, and with her allure, she persuaded men to join her.”

  “I am surprised your people would place such stock in a story.”

  Matthias smiled. “Some tales grow more powerful as they age until the very fact they are so old and have survived so long means there must be a truth in them somewhere.” He shook his head. “In any case, the city was soon made aware of my mother’s actions. A few days later my mother was taken away. I learned soon after that she had been killed trying to escape. She was screaming my name as she died.”

  “That’s awful,” Josephine whispered. “I am sorry, ambassador.” Her brow furrowed. “Yet you became a wizard?”

  Matthias smiled. “That is another story, and one which I might tell you another day. The world is but a series of contradictions, if nothing else.” He shifted, and grasped her hand. “In any case, the reason I am telling you this is to show you that you are not alone in your pain. We all have experienced tragedy in this world in some way or another. And we all- or at least, most of us- find ways to cope; be that seeking comfort in others, the gods, or in other ways.”

  “I might find that comforting were I not directly responsible for her death,” Josephine sniffed. “It was my hands that struck my mother. And unlike your own mother, mine was not saving me from harm. There was no apparent danger. She was just talking with me and then in the blink of an eye, her life was taken from her. It was a pointless death.”

  “You are not responsible for circumstances out of your control Josephine. Just like today.”

  Josephine took a breath and wiped away her tears. “If only I could believe that,” she said. “You know wizard
... I have always believed that I would live a short life.” She shook her head. “No, it is more than belief. It is an instinct, one whose presence I have always felt. When the power emerged I felt a form of vindication for that instinct. In the years since I have felt my mortality more acutely than I can explain. That is partly why I agreed to go with you. If it is true, if I am to die young, then my final moments will be in aid of helping people. My death will not be pointless. And so, in turn, neither was that of my mother.”

  Matthias nodded. “I cannot say what lies in store for you Josephine. I will try my utmost to protect you, to train you, but the gods alone know where we will tread.”

  Josephine sniffed. “The gods who gave me this power and then left me to deal with the circumstances alone? Do you really believe they have any grasp of this ball which they have started rolling?”

  Matthias shrugged. “I try to have faith that the gods will prevail. They have lived millennia in watch over us. They have seen more wonders and more dangers than any other creatures on this world. They may not be able to touch the world directly any longer, but I have to believe they know what they are doing in entrusting you this responsibility, in sending down the seeing Stones to guide us.”

  She shook her head. “Perhaps. I am not sure what faith I place in the gods. It has always been a point of contention between my father and I. Anyway,” she said, taking a breath, “it is no use talking over such matters now. It will make no difference. Gods or not, what matters now is my kingdom and how to save the world from more torment.”

  Matthias nodded and turned to scan the horizon. “If we make it to Crystal Ember in time, then Aralia will be safe.” He smiled. “You will find a way to stop the dragon.”

  “Your faith in me is both encouraging and unnerving,” she said and smiled.

  “You are not alone in this. I won’t let anything happen to Rina or to you. Not if I can help it. You can trust me princess.”

  Josephine nodded after a pause. “I do trust you.” She sniffed. “Though I will confess, I still did not completely until last night.” She looked up at him. “But without you I would have ripped myself apart. I owe you my life.”

  Matthias shrugged. “I didn’t do anything particularly. It was all you. You regained control.”

  “But it was your being there that calmed me down so that I could do so. For that I am in your debt.”

  Matthias shrugged. “Think nothing of it princess.”

  She shook her head, and gave him a warm smile. “Oh for goodness sake, call me Josephine.”

  The Web Grows

  120th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  King Arwell had awoken early every day for the last week. That was of course when he could get to sleep in the first place. Since Josephine had left, he had slept very little

  There had been no more sightings of demons since the night of her disappearance and no more news of his daughter since that night. Whilst he supposed that was a good thing in that it meant his daughter was lying low and hopefully, therefore, on her way to Olindia, he would have given anything to know exactly where she was and what she was doing. He had contented himself to hunting on the Plains of Rina and the Eastwood nearby, but even though it provided a reasonable distraction, his thoughts always returned to Josephine. The only cure, it seemed, was to drink as much as he could and look forward to a few hours of unconsciousness in the evenings before his nightmares woke him once more.

  As he ate his morning meal he read through papers presented to him by his advisors: dry documents about the continued bad harvests to the south of Aralia. It was hardly surprising news given how close to the borders of the ruined lands of Helriven those fields affected were. It was lucky that anything grew around there given the scar that the Blasted Lands had cast across Triska’s southern reaches for the last four hundred years. Still, it seemed that the pestilence was spreading further north than it had done for many years. The only option it seemed would be to try to approach Tekri and purchase some of their grain. It was hardly ideal, especially considering the self - worth that the emperor of their realm already felt towards his land.

  As he finished the last mouthful of meat, Darien, one of his youngest aides, knocked on the door and entered, bowing deeply to him.

  “Your Grace, beg my pardon interrupting your breakfast, but there is a man who urgently wishes to meet with you.”

  “This early?” He looked out the window. The sunrise must have only been an hour ago at most. “Who is it?”

  “It is a wizard, Your Grace. His name is Lord Fenzar?”

  Arwell’s stomach lurched. “Fenzar? Are you sure?”

  “Quite sure, Your Grace. He left me little room for error.”

  The king nodded. “That does sound like Fenzar. Send him in at once,” he advised and rose from the table. What could this be about?

  A few moments later an elderly man cloaked in a purple and green coat as thick as the pelts of at least a half dozen animals walked into the room. His face really was as gnarled as Arwell remembered and his hair had grown even wispier than the last time he had seen him.

  “Your Grace,” the man said airily as he bowed, clutching with wrinkled fingers tightly to his tall, golden staff, stopping him from falling on to his face. “I am grateful you have agreed to meet with me at such an early hour!”

  “You hardly left me with much of a choice, ambassador,” King Arwell sniffed. “It has been a long time.”

  “Indeed it has Your Grace. I have been incredibly busy of late and your good kingdom has suffered a lack of my attention.”

  “And yet it has survived,” the king smiled haughtily. “No escort today?”

  “Alas, I did not have the time to bring with me the same luxuries as on a normal visit. I have only brought two other men with me this time. They are dining at your pleasure as we speak.”

  “Well how very generous of me.” The king offered a seat to the man before taking his own.

  “Your Grace, forgive me if I am wrong, but you seem a little highly strung.”

  The king looked at him in mock surprise. “Highly strung you say? Well, I wonder why that would be?” He snorted. “What do you want, Fenzar? I have had more than enough unexpected visits from Mahalia of late and I am in no mood for any more games.”

  The old man’s face screwed up and the wrinkles along his cheeks deepened. “Visits, Your Grace? What visits would those be?”

  ‘Why, ambassador Greenwald, of course!” the king exclaimed.

  “Greenwald? Matthias Greenwald?” Fenzar asked. The king nodded and the man raised a hand to his lip. “I see.”

  The king leaned forward. “What’s wrong? You did know about his visit?”

  Fenzar shook his head, “I am afraid we did not, Your Grace. He was not sent by the Council.”

  Arwell’s head spun. “What do you mean?”

  “Matthias Greenwald is a junior wizard, by most definitions. To my knowledge he was on assignment in Tekri on a trade mission. We would never have sent such a man to meet with you, Your Grace. Especially about the matter which I have come to speak with you about today. Is he still here? I should speak with him.”

  “No. He left some time ago.” Arwell swallowed. “And he took my daughter with him.”

  Fenzar rose from his chair. “Matthias Greenwald took your daughter? Where?” he asked, his tone growing anxious.

  “To Olindia. He told me that the dragon was breaking free and that only my daughter could stop it. Oh my gods, what have I done? It was all lies, wasn’t it?”

  “Lies?” Fenzar shook his head. “No, in that regard he was telling the truth. The dragon is breaking free.”

  The king stood again. “Then I do not understand what is happening here!” he barked.

  “Your Grace knows of your daughter’s abilities?” Fenzar asked.

  Arwell looked at him through blazing eyes and nodded. “I have known for some time,” he said defiantly.

  “I see. Yet you did not tell us
about it?” Fenzar probed. “You did not trust us?”

  The king snorted. “You know what our relationship with Mahalia is like.”

  Fenzar nodded. “I will admit that our dealings with you have been fragile, at times. But I am dismayed to learn quite how little you put your faith in us.” Fenzar pointed a finger at the king. “You truly think that your daughter could stop the dragon’s release?”

  “Matthias told me the truth about what power my daughter holds inside of her. She is strong.”

  Fenzar shook his head. “Oh my, my, my, I am afraid that is where you are wrong. Young Matthias Greenwald has been spinning you grand tales I am afraid. His assumptions are quite incorrect. He is both young and naïve if he has been filling your head with such nonsense!” The ambassador began to pace the room. “The Council is working on stopping the dragon ourselves. We believe we now know who is responsible and we are pursuing them. When we find and stop them we will in turn stop the dragon’s release.”

  “Then your people never had any intention of using my daughter?” the king asked in surprise.

  “Oh goodness no! Your daughter should have no part in this. No woman should be involved in such a task. To do so invites destruction on us all.”

  Arwell struggled to breathe. “Then you are telling me that Matthias has taken my daughter against your knowledge? What is he? Some kind of a… rogue?”

  Fenzar nodded gravely. “It would seem so.”

  “Darien!” Arwell cried and the man came bursting into the room. “Fetch Tiberius. Get him here now!” The man bowed and left the room hurriedly. “I must find my daughter,” Arwell continued, shaking. “I will kill that wizard! Why would he be doing this?”

  “I may have an idea who is behind this,” Fenzar nodded. “There are some in our Council who do not always see eye to eye with the Consensus. It may be that Matthias is working under instructions from them.” He folded his hands into his coat. “That is a separate matter entirely, however, and one we will deal with internally. The most important thing now is that we find your daughter, Your Grace.”

  “For once it would seem we are in complete agreement ambassador.” The king’s face suddenly grew dark. “But… if Josephine was not meant to stop the dragon, then why are you here?”

  “My reason for coming was to help your daughter. Her sickness must be cured.”

  “Sickness?” Arwell repeated. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Why, the abilities she wields. They are a poison! They must be drained from her.”

  “Drained? How?” The king’s stomach grew icy. He had heard such words before from Mahalia.

  “We would bring her back to Mahalia where she would be cleansed of the abilities. As all women are with such a curse.”

  “Cleanse my daughter?” Arwell growled. “How do you cleanse such power when you have no knowledge of it?”

  “We would of course find a way. We are highly skilled in such matters.”

  “And if you could not?” Arwell growled. “What then?”

  “It is best not to think of such things, Your Grace.” Fenzar smiled. “We are here for the good of your people. To help you and your daughter. As we always have been.”

  “No!” the king yelled angrily. “No, what you have always done is twist events into a manner that suits your realm.” He pointed angrily at the man. “You will not touch my daughter! You will go nowhere near her!”

  Fenzar glowered at him. “Your Grace, this is not simply some young woman who has tapped into minor powers. This is much more than that. The gods have sent us a warning about your daughter. The seeing stone we found has given us the opportunity to stop the dragon and your daughter, before it is too late.”

  “You speak as if she is a threat to the world!” Arwell barked.

  “She is, your grace. You do not want to hear it because she is your blood. But she could destroy this world. We must stop her before it comes to that.”

  King Arwell ran forward and grasped the man’s collar, forcing him against the cold, stone wall. “I will kill you, you old goat, if you even think about pursuing her!”

  Fenzar smiled. “Your Grace, please remove your hands, or I will have no choice but to remove them by force.” Arwell puffed and panted as he gripped the man’s clothes. But finally he loosened his grip and let the man go. “Thank you, Your Grace.” He smiled. “It pains me to put it this way, Your Grace, but my coming here was but a courtesy to you. We were not seeking your permission to do anything. We are wizards after all, Your Grace. We have guided Triska in the absence of the Akari for four hundred years.”

  “You have guided us because you are greedy, selfish people!”

  “If we were so selfish, why would we let you continue to rule? You are a good man. We are forced to make hard decisions to protect the peace. Your daughter is a threat to that peace and she must be stopped, one way or another.” The ambassador looked pityingly at the king. “I know this pains you Your Grace. But if you stand in our way, I assure you, you will regret it.”

  There was a knock at the door. Captain Tiberius entered. “Your Grace. I came as quickly as I could.” He bowed, and eyed the ambassador warily.

  “Well, I believe I have taken up enough of your time, Your Grace,” Fenzar said. “I see that my presence here is not required. We will find Josephine for you. Is that clear, Your Grace?” Arwell swallowed. But finally, he nodded silently. “Very good. I will of course send word to you when we find your daughter. And we will.” He smiled. “I will take my leave of you. It was most pleasant seeing you again after so long.” The ambassador turned and made his way out of the door.

  “Is everything alright?” Tiberius asked the king. “What the hell is that piece of work doing here?”

  The king shook his head. “My friend, I need you to find my daughter. Before it is too late.”

  A Faction Uncovered

  121st Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Augustus Pym walked through the corridors of the ninth level of Mahalia with intent. His heart was pounding despite his attempts to calm down and he looked behind himself on several occasions to ensure he was not being pursued. When he made it to his chambers he breathed a sigh of relief. Hurriedly he brushed his door with a hand and the locking mechanism unbolted at his touch and moved inside the dark room quickly, closing the door behind him. As soon as the latch clicked shut again, he knew he was not alone.

  “You must have been waiting here quite a while, Chancellor Arion,” he commented calmly. The room illuminated as candles all around the chamber ignited.

  The chancellor of Mahalia sat with his hands folded in his lap. He was an elderly man, by every stretch of the word, with thin, white hair and a stooped, hunched back. His bulbous nose stuck out from his pocked face like it was swollen. He wore the robes of state for his position: a deep, purple velvet gown dotted with sewn-in jewels and adorned with an ermine fur lining. He held on to a tall, elaborate metal staff made of the impenetrable Urunahenium, passed down between chancellors for centuries.

  “I was enjoying the peace and quiet of your surroundings. Especially after the events that I have been met with this morning,” he said, his lined face regarding Pym sullenly.

  “Events?” Augustus asked, feigning ignorance as best he could. It was not enough.

  The chancellor smiled and shook his head. It was a cheerless expression. “You know what events I speak of.” He lowered his brow and stared at the younger wizard a moment, readjusting his grip on the staff in front of him. “Lord Fenzar has just arrived in Rina. It appears that Matthias Greenwald has already spirited Princess Josephine away across the continent and quite out of our reach.”

  “Matthias Greenwald?” Pym said with surprise. “But I thought he was discussing the trading embargo in Tekri with-”

  “Do not take me for a fool!” The old man barked, his eyes blazing. “I know you had a hand in this! You were his mentor, after all! And you spoke out against our decision to curb the princess’s
power.” He sneered. “You speak out against our decisions more and more it seems as time moves on.”

  Pym remained stone-face a moment longer, but then, realising lying was pointless, he sighed and shook his head. “Very well. You are correct, chancellor. I sent Matthias to Rina to take the princess.”

  The chancellor’s posture altered and grew more relaxed around his shoulders as his suspicions were vindicated. “For what purpose did you do this?” he asked.

  “The purpose the gods had intended, chancellor,” he said defensively. “To stop the dragon.”

  The chancellor stared at him a moment. “I see. And why, then, did you not undertake such a task yourself, if you felt with such conviction that you were following the will of the gods?”

  “I had originally planned to rendezvous with Matthias, if time allowed. But my responsibilities here have become too great lately.”

  “You had a responsibility to the Consensus to carry out our wishes!” The chancellor growled. “Yet that loyalty does not seem to weigh upon your thoughts.”

  “My thoughts have been heavy with thoughts of nothing else,” Pym said passionately. “But my belief in the gods goes beyond my loyalty to you.”

  The old man regarded Pym for a moment. “I find it hard to believe you did all this alone behind the Council’s back?” he asked.

  “It wasn’t that difficult, chancellor,” Pym said. “Not once I had convinced Matthias of the importance of helping me. I was hoping that once you saw what Princess Josephine was capable of, then you would change your mind about the decision to strip her of her abilities. Perhaps you would see how much of an asset she could be.”

  “You fool!” the chancellor hissed and stood up quicker than would have seemed possible for a man his age. “You have let a witch loose on this world!”

  “Then she is a witch the gods have entrusted the fate of the world to,” Augustus said defiantly, raising his voice.

  “You don’t know that!” the chancellor hissed.

  “I know that the path we are taking will be the death of us all, if we continue to walk down it. The alternative seemed better than the promise of death that awaits us under the Consensus.”

  The chancellor stood up and loomed over Pym. “The Consensus has kept this world safe for centuries,” he said, leaning on his staff. “And overseeing this realm I have ensured decades of peace by enforcing the will of that Consensus! Who are you to question the wisdom of hundreds of wizards that has steered Triska from devastation since the last great war? And sending the girl with Matthias? He is too young to deal with such complex matters!”

  “He is more than capable! I would not have sent him had I not believed in him. And as you continue to inform me, I stand by my beliefs. The girl can be an asset. We should not ignore all that she can become. We don’t know why she has been given this ability by the gods. We should not presume that she is a threat simply because she is a woman.”

  “Women are unstable!” the chancellor exclaimed. “All women who have ever used the power have betrayed themselves! They are weak – willed and the pawns of darkness. And this girl alone is capable of exerting immeasurable power!”

  “Which is why she must be harnessed, not destroyed!”

  “What if we cannot control what she becomes? Given what we now know about the prophecy, if Josephine Arwell does turn to the darkness, as all women who wield are drawn to do by their very nature, then we will have lost all hope of shaping the events of the future!”

  “We lose hope by burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the fact that we must change our perceptions!” Pym walked to the cloistered windows of his chamber and stared out at the expansive view of snow- capped mountains, the fields far below stretching to the horizon. “We need her to save this world from the danger that is returning. It was dangerous enough when we believed it was just the dragon. But if we fail to stop these men accomplishing their endgame as we now know it to be, then Josephine Arwell may very well be all that stands between us and destruction.”

  “We will not fail!” The chancellor growled. “Not in this matter. We are the protectors of peace! We alone have been wise enough to see beyond petty quarrels and preserve the known world from its own turmoil.”

  Pym took a breath and stood his ground. “If the stone is accurate, then Josephine Arwell will contribute more to peace than we could ever hope to achieve in a thousand lifetimes. She has the gift that can unify us all. We have guarded this world these many centuries, but we have only ever been caretakers, standing in for the true peacekeepers.” Pym sighed. “I fear that we may have forgotten that and grown too comfortable in our position of power to relinquish it when the time comes.”

  The chancellor sneered. “And you think that time is now?”

  “With all my heart I do chancellor. I wouldn’t have taken such drastic action for anything else.”

  The chancellor’s face grew grave. “You have questioned the abilities of the Council and committed treason against its decisions. Have you any idea how much you have damaged your standing? You may have just handed this world to the dark with your actions!”

  “We can only fight such a darkness with a strong enough light that will penetrate its depths and cast away the shadow. And we are but a candle to its malevolent recesses when compared to the light of the Akari.” Pym shrugged. “As for my reputation, it has never been something that has bothered me. Not least when the fate of the world stands in the balance.”

  The elder man shook his head. “Many years ago I saw a promise in you, Augustus. You were so devoted to our cause. What has happened to you to betray us so profoundly?”

  “The only betrayal I would have made by following your orders would be to my own conscience and to the gods themselves. This had to be done.”

  The elderly man towered over Pym. “You will recall Matthias immediately and have him return the girl to Lord Fenzar in Rina. He will then bring Princess Josephine back to Mahalia. We will deal with the prophecies without her ‘help’.”

  Pym looked down a moment. “I have lost contact with Matthias. I am unsure why.” He shook his head. “Chancellor, I appeal to you one more time to reconsider. Let Matthias continue on this front so we can focus our efforts where they need to be! Then when the princess is strong enough, she can fight with us!”

  “If you believe I would overturn the decision of the Consensus, then you are as foolhardy as the young wizard you have sent out on this mission. After all these years, all your time on the Council, you still fail to see the bigger picture.”

  “That picture is one painted through the eyes of prejudice,” Pym said sourly.

  The chancellor slammed his staff into the ground angrily. “Enough! I have heard enough from you. I am calling an emergency meeting of the Council. Your actions must be discussed further. Or have you forgotten that is the way things are done here?” He opened the door with a flick of his wrist and it slammed into the brick wall behind. “Damn you, Augustus. I could forgive your insolence, perhaps your remarks, but this blatant betrayal? Let us hope you have not thrown us all to the wolves.”

  Mile by Mile

  122nd Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Several days had passed since Josephine and her escort had seen a town. They had kept up a brisk pace through a bright and colourful countryside. Trees all around their route seemed to glow in the misty morning sunshine. Dew glistened off their leaves and branches and beads of water flicked up off the grass as their horses trod on through uncut fields.

  Every now and then they passed within sight of a building of one kind or another: a small farmhouse beckoned invitingly to them in the distance, its chimneys smoking happily and further on a barn sat conspicuously alone in the expansive countryside. It was tempting to ride closer to civilisation as they travelled across hills and valleys, bypassing well- trodden pathways, but then Matthias reminded them that would defeat the point of their going unnoticed.

  It was an unusually warm day for the region a
nd the sun beat down hard on them as they carried on riding. Luccius’s ears flapped back and forth in the heat, flicking like those of the horse he rode on. Matthias took off his coat and slung it atop the pommel of his saddle.

  “This is unbearable heat,” Thadius muttered and flapped the neckline of his shirt to aerate his body. “I’ve not known it to be so hot at this time of year before!” He looked up at the sun and squinted. “I don’t suppose you can cool the sun down?” he asked Matthias.

  The wizard laughed. “The sun is a little beyond my reach Thadius,” he replied. “And even if it weren’t, there is only so much we wizards can do with our powers. You’ll ask me to take you to the moon next!”

  “Well you would think given that we are doing the gods a favour they could see to it to make our journey a little more comfortable!” the knight grumbled.

  “It’s probably to do with the atmospheric changes caused by your power Josephine. The clouds have completely dissipated for miles.”

  “You mean to say I caused this weather?” Josephine gasped.

  Matthias nodded. “It should return to normal soon.”

  Josephine raised her brow. “Had I known I could have created such gloriously sunny weather I would have used my powers a long time ago!”

  After several more hours of riding through open land, the landscape ahead of them began to grow dense with trees and they passed into a small wood, where its canopy of oak tree leaves shrouded them from the baking midday sun. The air was cooler in the shade and a mist hung lazily between the branches.

  Thadius breathed a sigh of relief. “I have never been quite so happy to get out of the sun! Where are we anyway?” he asked, surveying the woodland.

  “I think this is Bletnhelm Wood,” Matthias said, pulling out his map. He nodded to confirm. “We’ve made good progress.” He put the parchment away again and exhaled heavily, drumming his fingers on his saddle. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could do with a break.” He placed a hand to his lower back. “This saddle is starting to ache!”

  “It’s a good place to stop,” Luccius nodded. "The horses would like a rest."

  "You speak as if you can talk with them," Thadius chuckled.

  "No, not really," Luccius replied. "I just listen to their nickering."

  "You mean you understand them?" Thadius asked.

  "In a way." He pointed to his ears and ran a finger down the inside curve. "Ansuwan are able to sense things that humans have no perception of. Animals voices, the whistling winds, even plants give off moods and sensations."

  “Plants?” Thadius repeated incredulously. “You’re joking with me!”

  “I’m not!” Luccius defended.

  Thadius shook his head. "I had no idea," he said. "What's my horse feeling?" he asked.

  "That you could stand to lose a few pounds," Luccius chuckled.

  Thadius's eyes narrowed. "Very funny," the knight grumbled.

  “I must admit, I would like to rest awhile,” Josephine said. "The horses may have been carrying the burden of our weight, but I am starting to feel quite uncomfortable riding." She wiggled in her seat, as if to accentuate her point. “It would be quite nice to close my eyes for a while.”

  Matthias shook his head. “Not yet princess. You will have to sleep later."

  She sighed and looked at him with a wearied expression. "Would you care to tell me why?"

  Matthias smiled. "We need to begin your lessons!”

  A short while after they had set up camp in the woodland, Josephine sat cross - legged on the dusty ground, with Matthias sitting behind her, his knees propped underneath him, his hands over her eyes. Thadius and Luccius sat a way back, talking amongst themselves about the wonders of listening to horses and daffodils, Thadius smoking his pipe with one eye on the princess as he puffed away.

  “Now do you see anything?” Matthias asked.

  “Of course I do not see anything! You have your hands over my eyes!”

  Matthias rolled his eyes. “That isn’t what I meant. You’re doing what we talked about? Focussing on a fixed point in the middle of the darkness?”

  “Yes! I am focussing and I do not see anything! This is not working Matthias!”

  “Patience,” he said. “You need to relax more.”

  “It would help if I knew what exactly it was I am supposed to be seeing!” she huffed.

  “You’ll know it when you see it. Now relax! We’ll sit here all afternoon if we have to!”

  "We bloody won’t," she grumbled. Huffing, Josephine readjusted her legs more comfortably and then, sighing, fell silent. Her breathing deepened, and again she focussed on a point in the blackness of her closed eyelids. She sat this way for a minute, her breathing rhythmically growing longer and deeper. Gently, Matthias began to massage her temples with his thumbs, his hands still over her eyes.

  “What are you doing?” She whispered to him through her contentedness.

  “It helps to relax your mind."

  "How many women have you said that to before?"

  "Just concentrate,” he said, his cheeks flushing. “When I was learning, a friend did this for me. It helped me, so I hope it might do the same for you.”

  As Matthias continued to massage her forehead, Josephine’s shoulders fell and Matthias could feel her back slumping against his chest, the warmth of her body pulsing through the thin fabric of his shirt. His own heart began pounding faster and he found himself fixated by her flowing hair as he carried on massaging her head, which began to tilt to one side. After a while Matthias thought he should check to see whether she was still awake, but thought better of it and instead carefully withdrew his hands from her temples and continued to wait patiently. As her head lolled further forward and to the left, her hair fell clumsily about her face. Gingerly, he reached out and tucked a length of her blonde locks behind her ear. Suddenly she sat bolt upright, drawing breath sharply, eyes snapping wide open. She pushed herself to her feet.

  “I didn’t do anything!” Matthias blurted before he could stop himself. “I mean… what is it?”

  “There was something…” she said, tucking more of her hair behind her ears nervously. Matthias noticed and his cheeks blushed. “It was a… a flickering, swirling pattern, and only for a moment, but it was most definitely something!” She grabbed Matthias’s hands and pulled him up. “What was it?” she asked. “I’ve never seen that before!”

  Matthias smiled. “Well I can’t say for certain, but it sounds like you were becoming attuned to the power.”

  “Attuned? What does that mean?”

  “It’s complex princess. I’m not sure I can describe it. At least, not very well.”

  “Please try!” Josephine pressed him.

  “Well alright.” He paused a moment and scratched at his head, thinking. “Erm…”

  “Matthias Greenwald!” she prodded, when he didn’t say anything more.

  “I’m thinking how best to explain,” he responded. “Alright, here goes. When wizards first begin training we don’t conjure up a flame from nowhere by waving a hand about or, as is a popular misconception, by reciting magical chants. What we do is learn to tune ourselves into the threads of the earth power running through the fabric of the world, and then focus them into a desired outcome. If you twist them in different ways, combine them and weave them properly, they can be moulded to create fire, ice…”

  “The ball of light you produced when we were in Rina?”

  “Exactly. I focussed the earth power and manipulated it through my body like a conductor. Out of that came the ball of light. I was trained to shift my perception of the world so the threads can be visibly seen in the mind. We do that firstly by relaxing and focussing on one singular point just like I’m teaching you, and then our natural affinity towards the earth power shifts our gaze towards seeing the threads.” Matthias paused. “Did anything I just say make any sense to you? It’s not easy to explain and it is many years since I have had to try to."
>
  Josephine nodded. “I believe so. You think I became accustomed to the energies for a moment? I could quite literally see the fifth power?”

  “I think so.” Matthias smiled. “So you do understand. Well done!” He leaned forward. “What did it look like? The earth power looks sort of like... tendrils of light. Different colours and thicknesses of string coalescing around you. Was it like that?"

  “It was… different. A little like staring at the sun for too long. There were patterns dancing across my vision. It almost...” She stopped and squinted

  “Almost what?” Matthias prompted her.

  “It almost felt like... like fire. A raging fire.”

  Matthias thought for a moment, nodding. “I see.”

  “Is that bad?” she asked.

  “Bad? No. No I don't think so. Just different. But then I would expect nothing less from the fifth power.” He smiled at her. “Well done Josephine. You’ve done well for your first proper lesson!”

  Josephine nodded. “Thank you. I do not feel any different. I expected to feel something new.”

  “Such as?”

  “I am not sure exactly. Something momentous. Trumpets going off or the like.”

  “Well, trumpets or not, you’re one step closer to fulfilling your destiny.”

  The princess scoffed. “I never wanted a destiny.”

  “We don’t always have the freedom of choosing our own path princess."

  She shook her head. “That is easy for you to say! You became a wizard of your own choosing!”

  “That’s not exactly true,” Matthias said, and Josephine looked taken aback.

  “You didn’t?” she asked. Matthias shook his head. Then Josephine nodded. “Your mother... of course. I am sorry Matthias, I had forgotten.”

  He shrugged. “It's alright.”

  “What did you want to be, if not a wizard?” Josephine asked.

  Matthias smiled. “I was going to become a farmer like my father. My family rented land from the local nobleman in the southlands of Mahalia.” Josephine grinned. “What?” Matthias asked.

  “I apologise, but I just cannot picture you as a farmer. Covered head to toe in mud and pulling up cabbages! You seem far too proper!”

  “This from a princess? You’re still speaking like you have a silver spoon in your mouth you know.”

  “There is no one here!” she rebuffed.

  Matthias shrugged. "A fair point I suppose. In any case, I'll have you know I grew up learning the ways of a farmhand. I could milk a cow at the age of five!”

  “I am sure that must have been very rewarding for you,” Josephine retorted with a wry smile. “So what changed for you? Especially after…well...”

  Matthias smiled. “It’s alright, you can say it. After my mother was killed by wizards.” Josephine nodded. “Men and boys who are found to have the ability to wield the earth power aren’t given much in the way of a luxury of choice. I discovered I was able to wield shortly after my mother was taken away. I was... quite upset about the matter.”

  “Understandably!” Josephine exclaimed.

  Matthias smiled. “It would seem my mother passed on her talents to me. I found, much like you, that when I let myself get emotional, the ability would leak out. But unlike you, I seemed able to control some things with the power from the start. I could pick objects up, throw them around. For a young man, angry at the loss of his mother, such abilities were a gift.”

  “What did you do?” Josephine asked.

  “I was foolish enough to think that I could fight all of Mahalia alone. I was wrong. Obviously. I picked a fight with a wizard the first chance I got. The very first one I challenged I got slapped down like a misbehaving pup. From that day on, everything changed for me. I was not allowed to remain a loose cannon, using the power to pick fights or disturb the peace. I was made to leave behind my old life, my family – what remained – my father, brothers and my uncle, and was taken to the capital, where I was trained to become a wizard. That was a long time ago now,” he said distantly.

  “Did you ever see your family again?” Josephine asked.

  Matthias shook his head. “It wasn’t permitted. Past associations can be dangerous, especially where family is concerned.”

  “That sounds horrible,” Josephine said. “Like kidnap!” She caught Matthias’s eye.

  “Well that was a subtle dig in the ribs,” he smiled.

  “Subtle wasn’t my intention,” she smiled back.

  Mathias sighed. “You’re right, in a way. It’s complicated. Mahalian culture is confusing to explain. I didn’t like it, not at first, and I fought them with every fibre of my being. But after a time I began to see the benefits of a life as wizard.”

  “But your mother!” Josephine said. “How could you look them in the eye every day and respect the very people who had killed her for no good reason?”

  Matthias smiled. “When your great, great grandfather had your great, great grandmother put to death for treason, did his son and daughter, your ancestors, not find a way to speak with their father, even when he had killed their own mother? Nothing is ever as black and white as it would seem, Josephine. It’s never easy, of course, but as a wizard I have the opportunity to influence this world more than I ever would have as a farmer, and hopefully make it a better place, so that things like what happened to my mother won’t happen again.”

  Josephine nodded after a moment’s pause. “I suppose I can understand. Do you miss them?” she pressed. “The rest of your family?”

  Matthias nodded. “All the time. Anyone who says otherwise is a liar. But I comfort myself in the knowledge that what I am doing is for the good of all people, my family included.” He laughed under his breath. “But back to the point of this conversation. If anyone had told me beforehand that this would be my life-” he gestured with his hands to their surroundings, “I’d have laughed in their face. A farmhand from the lowlands, a peasant by most definitions, charged with looking after a princess whose actions could decide the fate of the world?” He shook his head. “Whatever you think your life will be, it usually never works out quite the way you intend. The gods deal you a different hand than you expect. They like to be unpredictable.”

  Josephine shook her head. “What do you do if you don’t want to play their hand? The gods have no right to be playing a game of chance with people’s lives. I am not a pawn to be used! No one should be.”

  “Well, you can resist them and turn down the hand they have dealt you, and wait to see what the next deal holds. But the gods see more than we do and they have been playing this game for a very, very long time. Aeons pass and they wait until the time is right to strike a blow against the evils that they fight against. Life is all one big game to them, and our lives are their instruments whether we like it or not. We are all pieces being moved around on their board.”

  “What do you think I should do?” she asked.

  “I think you should play them at their own game,” he smiled.

  “And hope for the best?”

  “It’s all you can do.”

  “My mother hoped for the best. She was a devout believer in the gods. Look what happened to her.”

  “Sometimes people just get dealt a bad hand.”

  Josephine smiled. "You certainly have a way with words Matthias. You would make a good speech writer." She sighed. “Since my birth I’ve been brought up in the knowledge that I would one day take my father’s place on the throne. I’ve been trained in the ways of court life, of the nuances of the Privy Council and politics. I’ve mastered etiquette and diplomacy. Mostly. But I don’t know how to fight! I haven’t a clue how to do any of this!” She shook her head. “If the gods wish me to fulfil this destiny then they could have prepared me better! I do not like the uncertainty."

  Matthias shrugged. “Uncertainty can be quite exciting.”

  Josephine’s lips curved into a resistant smile. “Then you are a more adventurous person than I am, Matthias Green
wald.” She shook her head. “Oh, let’s just get on with it then! All this moping and mulling over things is getting me nowhere.” She tucked her skirt about her and sat back down, placing her hands in her lap. “So what do I do now?”

  “Now,” Matthias began, as he sat himself back down on the ground and crossed his legs, “we are going to try that again. Only this time, when you do see those patterns in the darkness, don’t flinch away from them or open your eyes. I want you to embrace them. Reach out to them.”

  “And how will I know if I am doing that?” Josephine asked.

  “If I'm right, you’ll know,” he nodded. Just remember: don’t be afraid and shy away. You’ll get there.”

  Josephine took a deep breath. “Very well. Here goes. Wish me luck!”

  Matthias shook his head. “You don’t need luck, princess.”

  She resisted a smile and closed her eyes. The scent of damp moss and dirt and woodland filled her nose as she let her mind release itself. She was aware of her fingers twitching, however much she tried to ignore them, and she could sense the presence of Matthias sitting in front of her, his eyes watching her. She pushed the thought away. She had to clear her mind. For what felt like hours, she let her consciousness float away into the darkness of her mind. Then, as if out of nowhere, it appeared- a swirl of light. She gasped. Her hands were tingling.

  Matthias watched the princess carefully, analysing her expression. After a while he leant forward in anticipation as her face creased.

  “Josephine?” he whispered. “What is it?”

  She sharply drew an intake of breath and swallowed. “I can see it again,” she whispered back dozily.

  “Describe it to me,” Matthias asked.

  Her eyes darted back and forth rapidly beneath her eyelids. “It’s beautiful. A trail of lights, like… like fireflies. They’re swaying back and forth. They’re changing colour, swirling around. It’s like stardust!”

  “Stardust?” Matthias asked.

  “An old tale from Aralia. My people call the streaks that sometimes appear briefly across the night sky ‘fairies’. When they glide through the air on a clear night they would sometimes leave stardust in their path. It looks just like that.”

  “I see,” Matthias nodded. “You mean falling stars,” he advised. “They’re rocks from the heavens, burning as they enter our realm.”

  “Well that is certainly a lot more boring than them being fairies,” the princess commented. “But the stardust would still work in that context, I suppose.”

  “Can you get closer to the patterns you see?” Matthias asked. “Or can you pull them towards your mind?” He cradled his chin in his long fingers and patiently watched.

  The princess went silent for a while, but her breathing continued to be quick. Then after several more minutes, she smiled. “They are getting closer. I think I am drawing them to me, but I…I don’t know how.”

  “That doesn’t matter right now. It’s an unconscious reflex. Now can you-”

  “No! They’re not just lights,” Josephine interrupted with a gasp. “They’re structures. I can see now they are drawing closer.”

  “What do you mean, ‘structures?’” Matthias’ frowned and licked his own lips nervously.

  “I can’t quite explain. They’re spheres, but with… webs of what looks like string joining them. They’re so intricate, so beautiful! There are more now. They’re everywhere! It's a fiery, dazzling pattern!”

  Matthias thought for a moment. Then, resolving an internal dialogue, he nodded his head.

  “Josephine. Open your eyes.”

  “Open my eyes? But you told me not to. I don’t want to lose them Matthias. They’re so incredible! I have never seen anything like it!“

  “No, neither have I,” Matthias said, with a hint of trepidation in his voice. “But I don’t think you will lose them. Josephine, open your eyes,” Matthias commanded. “Do it. Now.”

  Her eyelids began to flicker, the whites of her eyes showed, and then she opened them fully.

  She smiled. “They are still here!” She waved her hand at them dreamily. The structures moved around her fingers, swirled around her palm like water. “I can’t feel them on my skin, but they are there and reacting to my motions!” She smiled and looked to Matthias, whose brow was furrowed. “What is wrong?”

  “Can’t you see?” he asked, and nodded to her hand. She followed his eye line, and though her vision was covered with the tiny structures, she noticed that the air was rippling where she was waving.

  “Perhaps we should stop for now,” Matthias said cautiously. He looked worried. Josephine nodded and lowered her hand. It took an effort to release her grasp on them, but she did, relaxed her concentration, and one by one the little lights winked out of her focus. She slumped back, and exhaled heavily.

  “Well”, Matthias began, taking a deep breath “I’d say that lesson went very well. Very informative.”

  The smile on Josephine’s face could have melted ice. “I was in control! For the first time, I felt that I knew what I was doing!”

  “Except that you didn’t. This was a good start Josephine, but we don’t know what it was you were doing to the air.”

  Josephine sighed and folded her arms. “You are determined to devastate my good mood, aren’t you Matthias Greenwald?”

  “I just think we need to be careful,” he said. “We don’t know how your power works yet Josephine.” Then he smiled. “However, I’m pleased for you as well. You did very well!”

  “Thank you, Matthias!” She nodded back formally and then laughed.

  “It's only the beginning,” he added. “Remember that!”

  “Oh, but what a beginning!” Josephine exclaimed, clapping her hands.

  “That looked... interesting,” said Thadius, approaching with Luccius in tow. “I take it you’ve made some progress?”

  Matthias uncrossed his legs and took to his feet. “Oh yes, we certainly have.”

  Luccius smiled and clapped Matthias on the shoulder. “I knew you’d be able to teach her! Well done Josephine!” he said, nodding to the princess.

  “Why thank you, Mister ansuwan!” She chuckled. “You are most kind!”

  “We didn’t mean to interrupt, but it’s getting late. You’ve been alone here for almost two hours,” said Luccius.

  “What?” Matthias exclaimed. “Has it been that long?”

  “We had better be moving off,” Thadius added, and Matthias nodded.

  They spent the rest of the remaining daylight riding on, but as the sun set and with no village in sight in which to rest, they set up another camp in the middle of a field. There was a building just in sight off the next hill, but with any luck the owner wouldn’t notice them, even with Matthias starting another fire to ward off the chill of the approaching night.

  While Josephine slept heavily beside Luccius, who was leisurely blowing on the set of pan pipes he kept tucked in his pocket, Thadius sat on watch, puffing on his pipe, while Matthias hunched over next to him, studying his tattered map again.

  “Know where we are?” asked Thadius, blowing a smoke ring into the cool night air.

  “Vaguely,” said Matthias. “I think we passed this stream a few hours back.” He pointed to a small winding blue line snaking up the map. “Which would put us around about... here.” He poked a finger at the tattered parchment. Thadius craned his neck to see.

  “That seems about right. I have never travelled this way before, but by my guess that puts us at another good three weeks to Olindia,” he said glumly. And we don’t have that long I wager, judging by the look on your face?"

  Matthias shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

  “By horse it would take three weeks. But there might be a quicker way,” Thadius advised. “Look, that stream is an offshoot of the river Bralene. If we could re-join it and follow its path we will arrive at this small village here.” He pointed again to a dot on the map. “I think we can catch a r
iverboat from there, straight up to the border.”

  “What kind of boat?” Matthias asked curiously.

  “Longboats. They’re relatively new and are renowned for their speed, though I have never been fortunate enough to see them myself. They use steam from burning wood to propel them. Clever stuff.”

  Matthias inspected the map and nodded. “We’d still have to cross through the mountain pass afterwards on foot, but it could save us a good week, if not more. If these boats travel as quickly as you say and through the night as well, when we would usually have to rest up, we might be in luck.”

  Thadius nodded as he studied the map by the flickering light of the fire. It crackled happily on its diet of twigs. “It’s a good idea, if I say so myself. But do you think you can teach the princess everything there is to know in only two weeks?” He spoke in hushed tones to avoid waking her. “I’d have thought three weeks whilst travelling was hard enough.” His pipe top glowed red as he sucked at it.

  “We have made progress.”

  “That wasn’t my question. You shouldn’t rush her wizard. Maybe that extra time travelling by horse would be better if it gives her more time to get to grips with what you are attempting with her. I would be willing to forgo a boat ride if it means helping the princess.”

  Matthias shook his head forcefully. “No. We need to get to Crystal Ember as soon as possible. At least if we get there with time to spare we can practice a little more there.”

  Thadius shook his head and tipped his pipe into the fire. Some of the burning tobacco caught on the breeze and scattered across the grass, the glowing embers winking out in the dew. “This mission is madness. There’s so much uncertainty! You act like you know what you’re doing, but you barely have a clue more than I do about how to stop Sikaris!” He shook his head and ran a hand through his course hair. “What have I let the princess get dragged into?”

  “She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” Matthias asked.

  “She’s my princess,” Thadius advised.

  “I know that. But it’s more than just hierarchy that makes you so loyal.”

  “The princess is like family to me,” Thadius said. “I have grown up looking after her. My father and the king are close friends. This might be your idea of fun Matthias, but believe me, it’s not mine. If anything happens to the princess I will never forgive myself.”

  Matthias leaned forward and his eyes regarded Thadius with a steely gaze. “I won’t let anyone hurt her Thadius,” he said.

  “You just want your pendant back,” the knight scoffed after a pause.

  Matthias smiled. “Perhaps a little. Why don’t you get some sleep? I’ll keep watch.”

  “I’d rather-”

  “You can’t stay awake for our entire journey Thadius.”

  The knight looked at him with a pained expression and then begrudgingly nodded. “Alright. Just you keep your eyes peeled!”

  Matthias saluted. The knight shifted wearily and arranged his pack into a pillow, pulling his coat over himself. In moments he was snoring. Matthias laughed under his breath and then turned back to his map. He traced the river with a finger.

  “Onwards and upwards,” he sighed.

  Reprisals

  125th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  “You failed us Grimm,” grumbled the malevolent voice of the old man who stood shrouded in darkness. His anger was withering and the figure of Taico Grimm cowered back at his rage. His hair had grown thinner and his already sunken eyes had settled even further into his skull. The room he stood in the centre of had no windows to speak of, but the candles flickered all around him and cast their warped light on his emaciated body and a thin, pink scar stretching all around his neck.

  The figure that towered over him was cloaked in a thick, black shawl. Only his eyes flickered a deep purple in the light. “We gave you a taste of our power. We even sent out demons and the names of people who would help you enter Aralia unseen. Not to mention the building sketches and maps! You had all the hidden passageways and routes through the city to get you into the palace. All that coupled with your unique insight should have been more than enough. Yet you let yourself be decapitated!”

  Grimm felt his neck warily, his eyes darting back and forth. “The events were new,” he swallowed. “I am not used to that which I have not seen before.”

  “Nevertheless she is only a girl, her powers not yet realised! Destroying her should have been as easy as crushing an egg. Especially how well you should know her.” The figure shook his head. “We trusted you, Grimm, with the most important of tasks.”

  “I’m sorry!” Taico sobbed, and a tear trickled over his yellowing skin. “I tried my best, but the wizard overpowered me!” He shook his head. “I was unprepared for how strong he really is. The powers you gave to me were not enough!” He raised a shaking hand to his brow. “I was not meant to be part of this, and yet, here I am. You have changed things.”

  “You became a part of this when you stumbled across our plans,” the voice said coldly. “You agreed you would help us to change what you know. You agreed it was for the best, remember?”

  Grimm nodded. “I know I did,” he swallowed. “It is for the best.” His face contorted. “It is for the best?”

  “It was not easy for me to knit your body back together again,” the figure continued. “I’m not getting any younger, you know! It was just fortunate that the wizard did not burn your body, or else we would not be able to get you back. You’re not important enough for that effort.”

  Grimm shook his head sadly. “I should be dead! Twice over now! Flesh and bone clinging to life,” his eyes narrowed. “Such a long time ago it was since I felt human!” His head twitched. “Flame and ash. Flame and ash!” He looked up. “You ripped me from my grave!” He fell to his knees. “My head... my thoughts... so confused! I don’t know what to do anymore!”

  The cloaked figure stood, and walked to Grimm, where he towered over his brittle figure. “Are you doubting your loyalty to us again?” he asked.

  Grimm shook his head. “No. No, I know what must be done! But it is difficult.” He swallowed heavily. “My son...” he cried. “I miss my son!” The tears fell from his chin to the floor and pooled on the stones at his feet.

  “He’s dead,” the figure said bluntly. “Everyone you knew and cared for is dead. After all you have seen, you still cling to your petty relationships. If we are to succeed you must rid yourself of your old life completely. Nothing else matters but what you have been asked to do!”

  Grimm nodded, wiping his nose with a sleeve. “I am Taico Grimm. I am. I know I am.”

  The man sat down again. “Yes you are. You have no son. You have no life except to complete your mission.”

  Grimm nodded. “Then I will be at peace?” he asked.

  “If you succeed.” The figure readjusted his cloak and cowl. “You will go to the third of our party in the mountain village of Gormal. There he will instruct you as to your next task and what new opportunities await you to deal with this threat.”

  “I will do as you command my lord,” Taico snivelled. He looked up at the figure and then bowed his head. “I am sorry I doubted you.”

  “You are still young, Grimm, in many ways,” the man said. “You will learn perhaps, in the time that remains for you.”

  “Young,” Grimm mouthed and looked at his hands. They were pallid and snaking veins pulsed against his thin, dirty skin. “By your count perhaps.” He shook his head and turned to leave the room.

  “Grimm?” the figure barked at him as he opened the door and the cold of night spilled into the room. “Do not get yourself killed a third time. We are only so generous, even in spite of your unique foresight. Think of that torment before you do something stupid. You will never be at peace then.”

  Grimm nodded. “Yes master. It is as you command.” Grimm sighed. A single tear slid down across his face again. “I will do what must be done.”

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

  “Oh thank the gods,” Josephine exclaimed as she plonked herself down into a wooden chair by the lit hearth in the inn’s common room. “I have never been so happy to see a chair in all my life!” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

  Despite Matthias’s misgivings, the others had agreed to rest at the nearby inn when they arrived in the village of Tykal. Luccius strode immediately to the bar and ordered drinks for them, knocking his back before the others had even taken a sip of their own. He returned to get another.

  “I can’t believe we made it to Tykal so fast,” Thadius said as he placed his pitcher down and took out his pipe.

  “The poor horses,” Josephine groaned from her chair.

  “My poor backside!” Thadius interjected. “Sorry princess,” he said.

  Josephine waved him away. “You are not alone in that respect,” she said, shuffling in her seat and wrinkling her nose. “I shan’t be able to sit right for days!”

  Luccius returned to the table, a pewter pitcher in hand, froth spilling over its edges. He collapsed into a spare chair and sipped at his drink.

  “You know, a few days ago I was travelling across Triska, making my way from tavern to tavern and sampling the different ales. Why I agreed to come with you I can’t think. I must be mad! I should have learned from the last time we went on a trip together Matthias.”

  “What happened last time?” Josephine asked.

  “You don’t want to know,” Luccius said. “Suffice to say I came out of it with a broken jaw. That’s saying nothing about poor old Vala!”

  “Vala?” asked Thadius. “Who is he?”

  “A friend,” said Matthias, taking a sip of his ale and smacking his lips as he analysed the taste.

  “He went hobbling back to Mahalia with some of the harshest words for you I have ever heard!” Luccius burst out laughing and slapped his thigh.

  “Perhaps not a friend any more,” Matthias muttered into his pitcher.

  “Well, I do not intend to come out of this journey with a broken anything!” said Josephine haughtily.

  “If we have finished telling stories,” Matthias said and gave Luccius a scolding look, “we really should carry on with your training princess.”

  “Oh no,” Josephine exclaimed. “We are not doing anything of the sort. We are going to sit. Right here, by the fire, having pleasant conversation. After which I am going to sleep on the boat until we reach wherever it is we are going to next.” Matthias opened his mouth to interject, but the princess raised a hand. “Uh-uh! Shush you! No protesting. I have my mind made up!” Matthias shut his mouth, folded his arms, and sighed.

  “How are we going to book passage on the boat?” Thadius asked, changing tack.

  “Well it’s quite complex really,” advised Luccius. He beckoned with a hand and Thadius leaned in closer. “You see, we go to the dockyard,” he began, and Thadius nodded. “- and we ask one of the captains ‘can we book passage on your boat please?’”

  Thadius leaned back and frowned, before tapping tobacco into his pipe. Josephine giggled.

  “There’s no need for that,” the knight grumbled, sticking the pipe stem into his mouth and waggling it around huffily between his teeth. “Cocky elf,” he muttered.

  “I will go in a moment and arrange it,” Matthias announced wearily.

  “Are you alright Matthias?” asked Luccius. “You don’t seem yourself.”

  Matthias nodded. “Fine my friend. Just tired I suppose.”

  “Is that a weakness I hear uttering from your lips?” Thadius jibed.

  “Even wizards get tired, you know,” Matthias rebutted.

  “Well I am not surprised,” Josephine chimed in. “We have been riding so hard and I have not seen you sleep since we left Rina!” She shook her head. “When we get aboard a boat you really should get some rest. My training can wait a while. We have been doing well, have we not?”

  “We have, but we also have a long way to go. And I will rest. But right now, I need to book us passage on a boat.” He stood wearily and made his way out of the door, swaying as he went. Josephine shook her head.

  “I don’t know. You’d think he was the one who has to shore up the dragon’s prison,” she said rubbing her eyes. They were bloodshot. “Oh what I wouldn’t give for a bath and a hot meal!”

  “I’m sure that could be arranged,” Luccius replied. “We have more than enough coin left to pay for it between us I’ll wager?”

  Thadius nodded. “The king provided me with ample coin for our journey and I have some myself besides.”

  Luccius nodded. “This is a good tavern. Many of the better Aralian inns I have been to have bathing tubs. The last place I went before we met had the biggest copper tub you have ever seen!” He leant to Thadius and whispered in his ear. “It even had enough room to fit two people in,” he said and elbowed the knight in the ribs. The man looked at him and shook his head.

  “Are all your people so lascivious?” he asked.

  Luccius grinned but did not answer the question. “Matthias will be awhile arranging passage anyway. I’ll go and see about getting us some food. Whilst I’m there I will enquire about the bath!”

  The tavern owner bobbed her head as she set the roasting meals down in front of the three of them a short while later and announced that a bath was being drawn for the lady as she spoke. Josephine nodded gratefully as she picked the chicken up delicately in her hands and gnawed at the meat and ravenously gulped the food down.

  “Hungry?” came a voice from her side and she turned mid chew to see Matthias returning to their table. She stopped chewing and swallowed the chunk in her mouth, licking her lips and wiping her mouth.

  “Hungry for a proper meal. Not the stale bread and water that I have endured for almost a week,” she advised him.

  He chuckled. “I’ve booked us passage on a boat leaving in two hours. We were lucky - apparently it’s a quiet day for passengers. We will have to leave the horses though.”

  “That’s a shame. They are of good stock,” Thadius noted, eating his own meal. “But it can’t be helped I suppose.”

  “A few days of sitting in more comfortable surroundings will do us some good,” the princess commented.

  “We will have to practise for some of the journey princess,” Matthias advised. Her face fell.

  “You will not leave me alone for a moment, will you?” she grumbled.

  “This is not a pleasure ride, Josephine,” Matthias barked back. “You have to meet me in the middle somewhere!”

  “Meet you in the middle?” she growled. “I believe I have been quite accommodating to your people’s requests thus far! I have been dragged out of my life and imposed upon to march along with you on this nightmare mission!”

  “You don’t know how lucky you are!” Matthias said back.

  “Lucky?” she hissed. “In what respect am I lucky to be the one forced to accomplish this task?”

  Matthias opened his mouth but then stopped and shook his head. “Forget it. I should have thought before I spoke.”

  “A rule you forget at least three times daily!” Josephine chastised him. She stood up from her seat.

  “Where are you going?” Matthias asked.

  “To have my bath!” she snapped and turned on her heel. “Would you like to follow me and continue this argument, or am I allowed to have some time to myself?”

  Matthias waved her away. “We’ll continue this discussion and your studies on the boat,” he said more forcefully. She harrumphed and stomped off.

  “Well that went very well,” Thadius grumbled. “I should smack you in the mouth for speaking to the princess in that way.”

  “Then why don’t you?” Matthias snapped at him. Then he sighed. “I’m sorry Thadius.” He stood up.

  “Where are you off to now?” Luccius asked him.

  Matthias shook his head. “I’m going to get another drink. For some re
ason ale has become much more appealing to me in the last week.”

  The deep water that lapped around Josephine’s body steamed as she lay in the copper tub, inhaling the vapours that rose from the water. Her head was reclined and she wiggled her toes around happily, listening to the slosh that they made. Living in close company with men for a week had practically driven her mad! To be surrounded by them all day and night was intolerable! Thadius for all his decency and respect for her refused to let her walk further than a few paces away from him at all times for her own safety. Matthias jumped on her every time she sat down to rest, eager to get her to start playing around with her power. Luccius was the only one who had not upset her yet, but even his cheerfulness was starting to grate in the absence of any space. She closed her eyes and slipped further into the tub.

  Taking a bar of soap from a small pewter dish on a stool beside her she began to scrub the dirt and mud from her body. The soap smelt less than nice. The inn was probably unable to afford the fragranced, perfumed goods she was used to, she supposed. Not that she bathed very often, but it was nice to relax in private surroundings and given the state she was in from trawling across Aralia, she felt grateful to get some of the mud off her skin. She ran the small oblong across her arms and down across her stomach, letting it cleanse her aching muscles. Suddenly, something out of the corner of her eye made her glance at her feet. A wisp of red liquid was swirling around with the water. It took her a moment to realise it was blood, coming from her left foot. Shocked, she bent to inspect it for cuts, but before she could bend all the way over, the water all around her began to grow cloudy and thick with the red liquid. Her breathing grew quick, her heart thumping in her chest.

  “Hello?” she called outside, hoping a serving girl would hear. “Is anyone there? Hello?” she cried again more desperately, as the water all around her turned a deep red. It began to bubble. “Help!” she screamed. “Thadius! Matthias! Help me!” Her legs hung limply as if they could no longer be moved by her willpower and she twisted her stomach and tried to force herself out of the water. Suddenly the bottom of the bath fell away and the bloody water around her turned to deep, ruddy clouds. “What is going on?” she wailed as she hovered in the dark, crimson- tinged sky. She looked up and jumped. A large, spherical rock hung just as she did in the air. It was enormous, like the moon only much larger and its surface was shrouded in murky cloud. Out of nowhere the sun burst from behind it and she winced as her eyes constricted. The brightness took over her entire vision and then she heard a voice in the distance calling her name. It started to grow louder until it filled her ears and she placed her hands to them to try and drown it out.

  Suddenly she sat up in the bath with a sharp intake of breath. Water droplets fell from her hair. She threw her head down. The water lay still and perfectly clear, save for the distilling murkiness of the soap mixing in the water. She had fallen asleep. It was only a nightmare! Her heart still pounded in her chest, her breathing short and quick. Both relief and terror gripped her and she took a moment to gather her senses before she scrambled out the bath. She wanted to be out of that room as quickly as she could- she almost forgot that she needed to dress first. Fast as she could, she dried herself off with a linen cloth hanging by her side on a wooden prop and threw on her clothes before she dashed out and down the stairs and into the common room. Her face was a picture of terror.

  “Princess, what’s happened?” Thadius started, rising.

  “We have to go,” she said. “We must leave now!” Her breath still caught in her throat, and she had to swallow to keep from gasping.

  “Why? What’s happened?” Matthias asked.

  “I… that is…” Josephine began, but stopped. “I had a bad dream.”

  Matthias looked at her askance. “A dream?”

  “I take it that it wasn’t a good one?” Luccius asked.

  “It was not,” Josephine replied. “There was blood. Lots of it and it was my own.”

  “Oh.” Matthias raised his eyebrows. “Luccius can you get the Princess a glass of spring wine? It will steady her nerves.”

  “My nerves will be steady-” she snapped, before leaning forward and lowering her voice to a whisper again. “I will be fine once we leave here!” she finished.

  “Well you don’t have too long to wait now. We should be leaving for the boat in a half-hour,” Matthias said. He indicated to the spare chair. “Sit down and gather yourself.” She nodded and plonked herself down in the chair. “I’m sorry about our argument,” he said to her. “You are right. Apologising is becoming a bit of a habit for me. It is one I am not accustomed to.”

  Josephine shook her head. “Apology accepted,” she said, still slightly breathless. Luccius returned and gave her the wine and she took it gratefully and sipped at the sweet drink. “I think all our nerves are a little frayed. You must understand that I am not accustomed to being ordered about either by anyone other than my father.”

  Matthias nodded. “I’ll try to be a little more patient. I’m just worried, given how little time we seem to have, that you won’t be ready when we arrive at Crystal Ember.”

  The princess nodded. “Very well then, I will practice more on the boat. I suppose it will be a good opportunity to learn further.”

  “The captain agreed to take us as far as the river flows until it runs through the mountains at Gormal. There the way is too narrow to safely pass through. There is a small village, though the captain says we are probably best not staying there too long. It’s not known for welcoming outsiders apparently. I had to agree to pay him an extra mark to get him to travel that far upriver.”

  “Some of the villages that way are suffering from crop shortages,” Thadius advised. “The people aren’t happy about it.”

  “We’ll have to tread carefully then,” Matthias acknowledged.

  “Oh!” Josephine exclaimed suddenly, and looked down at her feet. “Thadius, would you be so kind as to go and retrieve my shoes from beside the bath?”

  The longboat Providence lived up to its name for being a long boat. It spanned half the village harbour and its lengthy carriage suggested that in a previous life it had been a cargo barge. But where once its bowels had housed goods there were now quarters for people’s passage. It was a lavishly decorated vessel; its underside painted a deep green, and the rest of its bulk a deep red. Josephine inspected the bizarre boat as they approached.

  “It looks a little... cramped,” she said, her nose wrinkled in distaste.

  “You’d rather ride by horse?” Matthias retorted.

  “No!” Thadius quickly interjected. “Please, Gods no, my behind can’t take anymore saddle sores.”

  Matthias grinned. “I’ve reserved three of the uppermost compartments. Space enough for all of us. ”

  “I suppose a boat is a boat,” she sighed. “And I have not had the pleasure of trying this new contraption before.”

  “A few years ago these boats had to be towed by rope on either side of the river by horse,” Thadius informed them. “It wasn’t a very fast way of travelling.”

  “How does it work now then?” the princess asked Thadius.

  “It is quite clever, Your Highness. The steam is made by burning logs and materials, and it drives some kind of mechanism that moves the thing.”

  “How clever,” she said. “Moves it how?”

  “Now that I don’t know,” Thadius said.

  “You would have thought they could have made it a little bigger,” the princess remarked.

  Matthias shook his head. “If they made it much bigger it wouldn’t fit in the river.”

  Taico Grimm watched the group board the Providence from the depths of his alleyway hidey-hole. So, they were travelling by boat, were they? He had been stalking them a good few miles, but in his weakened state he hadn’t dared to make any move against them. He waited until they had all stepped below deck and then deftly hot-footed his way on to the ship, ready to dart behind the nearest cargo b
arrel should they come out again. When he reached Gormal, and received his orders, then maybe he could finish this once and for all and find the peace that had eluded him so long. The storm would be breaking soon.

  A Dark Sect Meets

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

  Four men sat opposite each other at even intervals around a large, round oak table in the centre of the dank, poorly lit, cramped room of the unremarkable townhouse. The walls were bumpy and uneven; their plaster yellow and musty from the smoke of years of pipes being puffed in the unventilated house. A half - melted candle sat in the centre of the thick table - top, its shape heavily disfigured by the pulsing flame. Beads of wax spilled out over the brass housing and onto the wood. The light it gave the room was minimal, but accompanied by several wall - mounted candles stuck unevenly into candelabras behind the men, it provided enough light for their meeting.

  The eerie shadows of the four men danced about the room. They could not have been more different in appearance from each other. The first was in his middling years, his coarse, auburn hair pulled back tight and fastened with a silky black ribbon. A pony - tail spilled out over his back. In the right light he could even have been classed as handsome, but in the spectral, flickering candlelight his beauty was distorted and disfigured and a scar that ran along his cheek signalled that he was anything but tame. He wore a high collared coat of navy blue and gold, with delicate lace that spilled out from a white shirt underneath. He clasped his hands together and scrutinised the others through his deep, grey eyes.

  The second man opposite was old and bony. Glazed, inset blue eyes weighed his counterparts through their misty, milky film. His thin beard and wispy grey hair gave him an eccentric appearance, but the look on his face was more murderous than mad. Around his neck he wore a thick gold chain and a chunky pendant in the shape of a raven hung from its length, its wings stretched out in flight. Two emeralds for eyes caught the candlelight and winked menacingly. He clutched at a thick black fur cloak around him, buttoned at the neck with a thick, gaudy brooch of a gothic design.

  The third man, to the right of the second, was young in comparison, but still older than the first. Thin, greased moustaches hung down from his upper lip and dangled freely below his chin, from which a small, trimmed beard spiked outwards. His clothes were markedly different to the others. He wore bright colours: a deep blue robe tied a yellow sash that cut across his skinny midriff. His straight, slicked back hair, greying at his temples, was tucked behind his ears, and he raised a thin, plucked eyebrow at the others as they argued with each other. He was slim, with long fingers and a tall neck, and he sat regally in his rickety chair, observing the show in front of him.

  Across from him sat the final man: a tall figure, towering above even the third, who himself was decidedly tall even sitting down. What marked the fourth man apart were his eyes. They were brown - red and his irises were thin slits, shaped like those of a snake. He too had a pony - tail like the first, though shorter and more stylized than that of the other man. The clothes he wore were like those of a western merchant: a brown and green waistcoat worn atop a plain cotton shirt, criss-crossed with a lace tie at its top. His face was jagged as if he had been clumsily carved from a piece of coarse stone and like the other, he wore scars across his face: one along his cheek, another across his nose, stretching up to his brow. It was he who hammered his huge fists against the table, ceasing the argument that was continuing on between them.

  “Enough!” he demanded in a deep, booming voice. “We are achieving nothing sitting here arguing again!”

  “Perhaps you should have issued such an ultimatum earlier,” the first, and youngest contested dryly. “It would have saved us much of the evening. I could be sitting back in a comfy chair, drinking brandy in the company of good women right now, if you made these two shut up sooner!” He examined his fingernails as he slumped in the chair, a thick- soled boot resting on the edge of the table as he pushed himself backward so the chair pivoted on two legs. “I had two young beauties waiting for me tonight: a young livery maid with slender, tanned calves, brilliant bosom, a loose tongue and even looser morals and a prostitute with the dirtiest laugh you've ever heard. Instead, here I am sitting here listening to the same old bickering! Hundreds of bloody years of bloody bickering!”

  The red - eyed man pushed back his own chair and stood, leaning forward across the table. His overbearing posture brought a disgruntled look from the oldest man and an uncomfortable shifting of position from the one with the long moustaches.

  “I don’t care what evening entertainment you had planned for yourself Kala. Sometimes I think you forget exactly what it is you are still doing here! You’ve grown too comfortable in your hedonistic lifestyle.”

  “I had to fill the years doing something Rajinal,” the man named Kala scoffed. “Unlike you I chose to enjoy my isolation from society.”

  “Well now is the time to remember that your duty is to our master, not some whore who wishes to bleed you dry of every penny you have left in your possession! As for you two,” he began, staring at the others angrily. “The matter of sovereignty over the lands of Triska isn’t something we will have any decision on. We have become side - tracked by your selfish greed at a crucial point. We need to rethink our immediate plans in the light of this new turn of events.”

  “Our plans?” The oldest sneered, his voice crackling. “As I recall these plans are not ours to claim. We could never be so visionary as to imagine such possibilities! Not even in our youth did we even comprehend such an idea!”

  “Oh let him be old man,” the youngest directed. “It was a term of phrase. A slip of the tongue. Besides, when have you ever been so humble? Rotten old fig,” he whispered, and then smiled at the withered man, who clicked his tongue at him.

  “A ‘slip of the tongue’-” the old man accentuated, “-could mean the difference between victory and defeat! That is the delicacy of the events we have now set in motion. We are on a precipice! So long we have laid low and waited and now, at the eleventh hour the gods seek to take back control of this game!"

  “Could we please get back to the point,” the third grumbled. “I am sick of metaphors and endless prattle from this one! I managed to slip away this evening, my first opportunity for over a week. Yet here we are wasting it with petty banter. I was only voicing my concerns about what happens after we succeed."

  "If we succeed," the oldest grumbled again.

  "Maevik, one more word like that from you and I will rip out that voice box from your brittle old throat and feed it back to you!" the burly man barked. The old man fell silent, his mouth twisted in distaste. "Now, are we all ready to get on?" The rest muttered agreement. He folded his thick, hairy arms and shifted restlessly on his chair, tapping his big, booted foot on the floor. He was a giant of a man.

  “Where had we gotten to?” the youngest asked. The fourth took the floor again.

  “We were discussing Taico Grimm. You were telling us of his progress, Maevik? Or rather his lack of it. You had just informed us that his assassination attempt on the princess had failed.”

  “Yes. The wizard has reached her. Just as it was foreseen, I hasten to add. He overpowered Grimm, despite the power I had imbued in him. In the struggle that ensued, Grimm got his head cut off.”

  Kala scoffed. “Our investment in him is truly paying off! What a waste of time that was. We should have let him rot.”

  “Grimm may still prove useful,” the burly man retorted, holding up a hand. “Please Maevik, continue.”

  “The other two men depicted by him are also with the princess.”

  “The knight from Rina and the ansuwan?” Kala asked. Maevik nodded.

  “Of all the possibilities Grimm described, they were always amongst the four who overcame our plans. Their presence is a result of the gods’ interference and a threat to us,” Maevik said.

  “This is bad news,” the third said. “I feel it in my bones.”
r />   “Nonsense Silar. Everything is still going to plan!” said Rajinal. “They haven’t achieved anything yet.”

  “I don’t recall any of these recent events in any of our planning!” Silar spat. “A single seeing stone has sent our plans spiralling out of control! Now the girl is on her way to Crystal Ember to stop the dragon from being released. A girl who should not even be possible!”

  “Her presence is why we still need Grimm,” Maevik advised. “His knowledge is still useful to us while she is alive.”

  “But Grimm’s very presence has altered those events he has foreseen. How can we be sure of anything?” Silar asked.

  “We can’t,” said the burly man named Rajinal. “But he knows her. And his presence here may be the one thing the gods didn’t predict. We’ve taken their tool and moulded him into our own.”

  “Perhaps. But Grimm is not as important as the dragon. The return hinges on Sikaris being released. If there is no distraction, no threat to draw the eyes of Triska-”

  “The dragon will be freed!” Maevik snapped. “I have sent more spawn after the girl.”

  “I feel so much better,” Kala mocked. “The Helspawn and Grimm you sent to take care of it before have worked so well so far! Bravo!” He clapped his hands slowly, derisively.

  “As I recall,” Maevik growled, his half dead eyes regarding the younger man icily, “Using Taico Grimm was your idea in the first place?”

  “We all agreed we needed him!” Kala muttered back at him.

  The room grew darker suddenly as the candle in front of them snuffed out. Rajinal rose and picked up the holder from a pool of spilt wax, speaking to the others as he went to change the candle.

  “Is there any indication that the full extent of our plans have been uncovered by anyone else?” he asked.

  “No,” Maevik growled. “There are no signs of any other movement towards the south. It seems the seeing stone have not compromised our efforts completely. Fortunately Mahalia is not astute enough to have drawn the right conclusions from the premonitions they intercepted.”

  “They have been astute enough to make an attempt on my life!” Kala exclaimed. “Two weeks ago one of their kind found me, amongst all the people in all the places in Triska! You underestimate them too much Maevik. They known about us, at least, which is only one step away from their learning the full truth. Their net is closing in on us.”

  “Wizards are tricky creatures. We all know how much they’ve scuppered more than one of our plans to bring dysfunction to Triska over the last few centuries,” Rajinal added. “But we have always remained one step ahead of them.”

  “We must remain in hiding as much as we can until the time is right,” Maevik advised. “We can use Taico Grimm to scupper their plans. Remember that Grimm is not just useful to us for his foresight. We need a vessel for the return. We have sought after one for so long, and none has been as ripe a candidate as him.”

  “He is practically an empty shell,” Rajinal nodded. “One we have been able to have considerable influence over.”

  “You’re welcome,” Silar said, steepling his fingers.

  Maevik turned to Kala. “Grimm is going to come to you. I thought it best as my ability to provide more borrowed power is clearly not enough. I suggest you make his abilities more permanent. Give him enough firepower to stop the wizard and kill the princess. That will tip the scales in our favour. Then we can deal with Mahalia separately. As long as we remain hidden they cannot stop us.”

  “Are you sure giving Grimm permanent abilities is a good idea? Especially those that Kala can provide?” Silar asked.

  Maevik sighed. “You doubt him too much Silar! Grimm is a loyal subject now. He will obey all of our orders to the death.”

  “Again,” Kala chuckled.

  “Exactly,” Maevik snorted. “Or do you doubt your own abilities?”

  Silar sighed. “Such ‘convincing’ is unpredictable, especially with a man in his condition. He is insane. He was insane before we even laid our hands on him, let alone now we have taken the last shreds of his decaying mind and bent them to our will!”

  “It will hold,” Maevik said. “We have only months now until the time comes.”

  “I could do a much better job of stopping them myself,” Kala retorted. “I doubt the girl has attained the ability yet to do anything of any real damage. I could kill the wizard and this guard, isolate the girl... hmm, yes, that pretty little thing, I’d like to have her all alone. I am sure I could teach her a trick or two. She isn’t married yet, is she?” He looked to the others, who watched him impassively. “No, she’s not. Then she’s not been properly broken in.” A sickening smile broadened his face.

  “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 a
re 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 thought 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.

  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 he
r 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 bef
ore 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 all 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.

  “They just stared at me. But then as I went to speak to them I was pulled away. I began falling and the stars span around me. And then I heard a word. It was repeated a half dozen times before I awoke in a fluster.”

  “What was the word?” Matthias asked with interest.

  Josephine thought a moment. “Asternabai.”

  “Asternabai?” Matthias repeated, screwing his nose up.

  “Yes, that is it. Over and over again.”

  “You are sure it was Asternabai you heard?” Matthias asked.

  Josephine nodded. “I am certain. Why, what does it mean?”

  Matthias shook his head. “There is a ‘celestial event’ known as the Asternabai.”

  “Celestial event? What is that?” the princess asked.

  “The stars above us are more than just fixed points of light in the darkness. They move around the sky in many ways. A ‘celestial event’ is when the stars change their positions to a way that has some consequence or impact on our world. My people have spent centuries trying to decipher them. They’ve named some of the known movements according to their effects. The patterns tend to repeat over time. Asternabai is the name of one of them. I remember it from my studies.”

  “What did it mean?”

  “I don’t know. It was a long time ago that I learned their names and even then there were two thousand known patterns. The problem is that my people still haven’t figured out what many of the patterns do, if anything. The problem is trying to sort out cause and effect.” The princess looked blankly at him. “Have I lost you?”

  “About a minute or two ago,” she smiled. “But that is alright. What I would like to know is why I was being told about one of them.”

  “Oh what I wouldn’t give to be in the Mahalian archives right about now! Thousands of books and parchments and repositories of information at my fingertips.”

  “I thought wizards were supposed to be wise and all - knowing?” Josephine grinned.

  He tapped his head. “There’s only so much information I can fit in here,” he rebuffed. “I’m not a walking library!”

  “You disappoint me. The more time I spend with you Matthias, the less superior you seem.”

  Matthias smirked back. “I never claimed to be superior.” He shook his head. “You’re certain it was an Akari you saw in your dream?”

  “As sure as I can be!” Josephine replied. “How many blue skinned creatures can there be? Surely it can’t be a coincidence.”

  “It could have just been a dream, I suppose,” Matthias said doubtfully, and his eyes narrowed.

  “How could I have known the name ‘Asternabai’ if it were just a dream of my own making? What I saw of the world wasn’t like the drawings of the land you see in maps either. I really was looking down on Erithia.”

  Matthias nodded. “No, I suppose you are right. People have been known to have visions like that before. Especially people who have looked into seeing stones. They say that for one unprepared to look into the stone, into the eyes of their gods, the images can turn them mad. The effect of looking into it stays with them for the rest of their lives. But then, you’ve never looked into a seeing stone.” He shrugged and took a deep breath. “It could mean that the gods are trying to talk to you directly somehow. It’s never been written about before, but then there is a first time for everything.”

  “But if there was an Akari in my dream then maybe it was them trying to talk to me.”

  “The Akari are all dead,” Matthias replied.

  “I thought you said they all vanished?” the princess asked.

  “That’s right,” Matthias nodded.

  “Well in my vocabulary vanished is very different to being dead, is it not?”

  Matthias nodded slowly. “I suppose. No - one was ever known to have found their bodies. From all I have read it’s like they’ve were… torn out of the world.”

  “Then if the Akari are still alive, then they might be able to talk to me.”

  Matthias shook his head. “You can’t be sure of any of that.”

  “Then we need to find a way to be sure!” the princess said excitedly. “Although… why would they start to speak with me now? After all the time I spent struggling with the powers, why would they choose now to speak with me?”

  Matthias shrugged. “Perhaps we have awakened something within you. In training you we might have opened a door in your mind that you have kept firmly closed. Maybe if we keep training we might be able to find out more.”

  “Then we had best work quickly,” said Josephine. “Because I do not want to keep having bad dreams!”

  Desperation

  129th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Josephine and Matthias spent the next two days in constant tuition, locked away in Josephine’s compartment. The first day they managed to advance to a point where Josephine could control the strange, sphere - like structures she had seen again. She seemed to see more of them this time and pointed out that they sat on everything and everyone as if they were made up of them. Using instinct she reached out along a line of them and managed to pick up the candle from her bedside table and suspend it in mid - air. It fell to the floor a moment later and Matthias had to snuff it out with his boot, but it had been enough of an advance to boost her confidence. The next day she grasped her power much more quickly. She was able to switch between seeing the structures and seeing the world that lay beyond them, as if she were focussing back and forth on them like distant objects. Holding on to the sight of them for longer made it possible for her to begin exploring what she could do with them. She and Matthias practiced together, the wizard telling her how he saw his own power and how he used it in different ways. For a time Josephine tried to recreate the invisible wall that she had subconsciously made to repel the flying demon before. It didn’t work and instead she sent the door bursting off its hinges.

  By the time Providence made the final leg of its journey she had managed to discover another ability. Focussing on the lantern that hung on a hook by her bed, she lit it using the power and then carried it across the room, placing it onto the table beside herself.

  “See? I knew I could do it this time!” she smiled and folded her arms proudly.

  Matthias nodded. “You were right. I’m impressed. But can you extinguish the flame?” he grinned.

  Josephine smiled. “Easy,” she said, and turned to the lamp. She squinted at the wick, let her mind focus and then stopped. “Alright, I haven’t a clue.”

  Matthias laughed. “With your power, your guess is as good as mine. But if I were going to try and extinguish the wick, I would be able to pull threads of the earth power together until they formed bonds that can create water.”

  “But how do you know what threads to put together?” Josephine asked.

  Matthias thought about it a moment. “You know what, I don’t know. I just sort of… know. It was quite a while ago I learned all this, and most of what I do is instinct now.”

  “Well, you’re a fat lot of good as a teacher!” Josephine retorted. “I’ll find out myself, shall I?” She shook her head and focused at the wick again. “I wonder?” She concentrated again and the lamp and the air around it began to buzz with tiny, swirling balls. As she thought of what she wanted to do, the air shimmered, and the balls began to grow green and then a vibrant turquoise. She outstretched a hand, to help her concentrate, and pointed at the glowing orbs, took them with her mind and moved them on to t
he wick. There was a splutter, and then the flame snuffed out, and a few droplets of water splashed onto the table.

  Josephine smiled. “I did it!” she exclaimed.

  Matthias nodded happily. “That was great,” he said, and nodded his head to the lamp. The flame reappeared with a puff. “But don’t get too confident.”

  Josephine slumped back on the bed, folded her arms, and grumbled at him.

  Providence docked at the final harbour soon after Josephine and Matthias had finished their training for the day. They bid goodbye to the captain, alone now and ready to make his return trip.

  “I half wonder if he knows who I really am,” Josephine said. “He was bowing to me and preening away back there.”

  “I am just surprised Lady Eliza did not remain on board with him, with all the doe-eyes she had been showing him,” Thadius chuckled.

  “How much did you pay him for that door you broke anyway?” Luccius asked.

  “I gave him three marks,” Matthias answered.

  “Three?” Thadius exclaimed. “That’s enough for him to buy a new boat!” He turned round, and the captain was still waving them goodbye. “I’m not surprised how happy he is now!”

  “It was the least I could do for all the chaos he’d been put through since we boarded. He was nearly killed after all.”

  “He was scratched!” Thadius scoffed. “ My back got ripped open by that creature and I haven’t seen so much as a groat from your coffers! How much money do you have in those bags of yours exactly?”

  “Anyway, here we are!” said Matthias, ignoring him, and threw his arms open theatrically to distract them. The others looked to the scene in front of them with less enthusiasm. Cracked yellow bricks paved the ground haphazardly in the small gap that constituted the dock, sandwiched between two crumbling houses.

  “And just where are we again?” asked Luccius.

  “Tanavern,” said Thadius. “Not the most pleasant of places to arrive in, unfortunately.”

  “It’s a little run down,” replied Luccius, looking around the way in front with saddened eyes.

  “Shh!” hissed Josephine. “The people will hear you!” she said, as several of the townsfolk continued to stare at them as they walked on. “May I suggest we make our way through town instead of standing here in judgement of it?”

  They walked through the cramped little village, if it could even be called a village, warily. The houses were in disrepair: the roof tiles of many houses were cracked and missing in places, parts of the stone - bricked walls crumbled into piles around their foundations and doors were splintered and warped.

  “What happened to this place?” asked Josephine sadly as she looked around, carefully sidestepping the cracks in the broken cobbled pathway, where weeds popped up in clusters. “I cannot believe that this is part of Aralia!”

  “This is a poor village, princess,” Thadius replied quietly.

  “How so?” she whispered, as they continued.

  Thadius continued awkwardly. “Farmers and peasants have suffered here of late with the enclosure laws that have been put in place. The nobles in the countryside nearby do well out of the land worked by these people, but the people who till the land struggle to make ends meet out of what is left. Many people have left this region in the last few years I believe.”

  “That is awful!” Josephine exclaimed. “Who put in place those new laws?” she asked.

  “Ah, it was your father, princess,” Thadius said awkwardly.

  Josephine stopped a moment and looked up to Thadius. Her eyes were saddened. “Of course,” she said after a pause and her jaw tightened. “How silly of me.” She shook her head. “Well, I think I shall have to look into this more upon my return. What was it you were saying about life being a series of conflicting morals, Matthias? How can this be fair when I live in such luxury?”

  Matthias nodded. “This would be an example, Josephine, yes,” he said flatly. “I’m sorry you had to learn it this way.”

  She shook her head. “Perhaps this is the only way to truly learn humility, to experience its cause first - hand.”

  “There’s an inn up there,” Luccius pointed to a crumbling building, which was subsiding into the ground.

  “It might be best if we skip that inn,” Matthias said, listening intently as they approached. He looked to one of the upstairs windows, where the curtains were drawn. “I think the goings on in there would likely scar Princess Josephine for life.”

  Luccius’s ears twitched as he listened too, and then, eyes wide, his cheeks blushed. “You may be right,” he whispered.

  Josephine looked at them both. “What do you-”

  “Come along princess,” Thadius said hurriedly and placed an arm around her waist, directing her on swiftly.

  “Are you sure we don’t have time for a visit?” Luccius smiled as they followed.

  “We already have our hands full with you for a companion. I’d rather not take syphilis along for the ride as well,” Matthias said sarcastically. “Now come on.”

  They passed the building and continued to walk through the town. The locals that gathered outside the inn didn’t look particularly friendly, especially to the group of well - dressed newcomers who they eyed as they passed by.

  “I must admit I had thought Captain Rilam was at least exaggerating a little when he spoke about this place,” Matthias said under his breath.

  “There’s little chance of acquiring horses here, I would wager,” Luccius added. “Most of the villagers probably can’t even afford one, and where they can they certainly aren’t about to go selling them out to us.”

  Matthias nodded. “We’ll have to continue to Gormal by foot then, I’m afraid,” he said. “I-” They were stopped in their tracks as four men appeared in front of them, gliding in from an alley to their right. They were the same men who had been gathered around the inn behind them moments before. Thadius stopped dead and instantly slipped in front of Josephine and unsheathed his sword. Matthias looked behind them. Two more men stood behind, blocking their escape.

  “Nice sword,” one of the men said to Thadius: a large man, a head taller than the knight and with beady eyes and a beard that left his upper lip bare. His hair was ruffled and his blue waistcoat torn and unravelling.

  “Yes it is,” Thadius said, his jaw clenched. “It would be a shame if I would have to use it.”

  A smaller man, wiry but with noticeably large biceps beneath his cotton shirt, leaned forward. “I’d like to use my own sword on your woman,” he smiled. “How’s about you let us have a fiddle with her?”

  Thadius started forward, his face burning with rage. “How dare you talk about my charge that way! If you don’t shut your mouth I’ll chop your ‘sword’ into tiny pieces!”

  “We want no trouble,” Matthias said, stepping forward and holding up a hand. “Why don’t you all step aside gentlemen and we will forget this?”

  “Why should we?” One of the men behind them sneered, his face red with spots. “You come into our town dressed in your fine clothes, strutting around the place! And you expect to pay no toll?”

  “There is no toll in this town!” Thadius barked. “I am a soldier of Aralia and I will have you all hung for theft if you deny us passage and try to extort money from us!”

  “A soldier of Aralia?” the burly man repeated. “How’s about that boys? A soldier has come to pay us a visit from the king!” They all began to laugh. “Looks like you’ve left your battalion behind, soldier! A bad idea, coming to Tanavern on behalf of the bastard of a king right now with no backup.”

  “His highness is none too popular around these parts,” another man in front, with thin, grey hair brushed to one side and a scar on his lip, added. “His laws have torn families apart here.”

  “Matthias,” Luccius whispered. “Perhaps you should do something.”

  “Not yet. I want to try to avoid a scene,” he whispered back.

  “Whilst I respect that, the last time y
ou tried to avoid a scene I ended up soaking wet in a river!” Luccius retorted.

  “If you’re here on behalf of the king,” the burly man rumbled, “then you can pay us what is owed by him to us.”

  Josephine stepped around Thadius. The knight grabbed her and tried to pull her back, but she shrugged him off and held up a hand to stop his advance. Then she turned back to the men and drew herself up high. “You are correct, you are owed a great deal,” she said loudly and clearly. “You have been dealt a great disservice here, and I will see that things change for you all. You have my word.”

  “And who are you? The king’s whore?” The wiry man snorted.

  “Josephine-” Matthias said, but it was too late. Her face had fallen and she scowled at the man.

  “I am Princess Josephine Arwell, the heir to the Phoenix Throne! And whatever your situation, your language is not acceptable!”

  “You’re the princess?” the burly man said, staring the girl up and down. He chuckled. “Pull the other one. The princess would never set foot here!”

  “Wait!” the grey-haired man said, and his eyes narrowed. “I recognise her! I was in Rina several years ago when the princess was visiting the sick. She’s a bit older, but it’s the same face! I know it!”

  “Alright,” Matthias said, shaking his head. “This has gone on long enough. We don’t want trouble, but if you don’t move right now then you will be in a great deal of it.”

  “The pretty boy’s angry!” the wiry man sniffed. “What you going to do to me, pretty boy?”

  Matthias sighed. “You asked.” He raised a hand and the man shot backwards, landing in the mud and sliding until he hit the wall of a house some way away. The others followed his path, and then turned back to the group in front of them.

  “What did you just do?” the burly man started.

  “I don’t want to have to hurt anyone else,” Matthias said.

  “He’s a wizard!” the grey haired man hissed.

  “We hate your kind even more than the king!” said the large man, his beady eyes narrowing and his jaw clenched. “Freaks, the lot of you! You think you can take us all on then, wizard?” he retorted.

  “I’d die trying,” Matthias responded with a smile.

  As they continued to banter with the men, Josephine concentrated and tried to find her power. Perhaps she could help Matthias in some way. She was nervous, and her heart was pounding, but she managed to find the energy and pulled it into focus. As she did, she felt compelled, as if by some instinct, to approach the large - set man who blocked their way. She started forward to him and placed a hand on his arm before the others could stop her. Thadius froze mid - step, paralysed in shock at what she was doing.

  “This isn’t necessary,” she said to the man, and she felt the power slide down her arm and caress the man’s skin. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but it felt… right somehow. “Please, tell your friends to leave us be. I will see that you are compensated. But I cannot do that if you start killing these men,” she indicated to her party.

  The man’s expression changed as she spoke to him. The frown softened and his eyes seemed to grow less hateful. He swallowed. “I… I…” he fumbled, as he looked at her with a mixture of confusion and intent. Then he nodded. He turned his head. “Lads, let them pass.”

  “What?” The wiry man hissed, standing up and dusting himself down.

  “You heard me!” his friend barked. “Her word is good!”

  “Like hell I will!” The man ran, blade in hand, towards Matthias. The wizard raised his staff and then threw it down again as if about to strike a hammer on an anvil. The man’s chest crunched, and he fell, clutching himself and wailing. “My ribs! They’re broke! Demon!”

  The other men looked to each other as if unsure what to do now. Josephine addressed the burly man again. “Please, will you stop them?” she asked him. He nodded and turned to the group of men.

  “Lads, if any of you decides to hurt this woman or her friends again, I’ll break their necks myself. Got that? Now let them go.” One by one, they nodded and stepped aside.

  Josephine nodded, somewhat surprised herself. “Thank you. Matthias, please take whatever coin you have to hand and leave it on the ground for these people.” Matthias nodded, befuddled, and rifled in his pocket. He pulled out a handful of gold and silver coins and threw them behind them. The men’s’ faces went from terror to lust in an instant and they slipped around them and began scrabbling at the coins, pushing each other out of the way. “Shall we go?” she asked. Matthias nodded.

  “I would suggest we leave quickly.” They started away from the gang, at a brisk walk at first, but then they ran, as the men continued to jostle for the precious coin, the wiry man sobbed in pain and the burly man stared at the scene in front of him, disorientated and bemused.

 

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