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

The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 Page 3

by AJ Martin

A Shortcut

  129th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  They ran for what felt like miles, up a dusty road out of the town and carried on along its length until Tanavern was just a blot on the green landscape. Up ahead, the Gormal Mountains towered above them. In the light they looked purple and strangely welcoming.

  “Stop!” I can’t go any further!” Josephine wheezed and collapsed to her knees. They all fell in around her.

  “They aren’t following,” Thadius panted. “Just as well for them, or I would have killed them all.”

  “They were desperate people,” Josephine retorted. “Misguided and desperate. But they are still my people.”

  “Why did you tell them your name?” Matthias cried. “Now rumour will spread like wildfire! ‘The Princess of Aralia was in Tanavern!’”

  “I had to do something!” she panted. “I could not just stand there whilst the situation deteriorated! I knew what I was doing.”

  “Did you?” Matthias asked. “Because I didn’t. What you did to that man was unlike anything I have ever seen. One minute you can barely snuff out a candle and the next you’re influencing people’s decisions.”

  “You’re saying that the princess persuaded that man with her power?” Thadius asked, his mouth gaping open.

  “It’s been written as happening before,” Matthias said. “But not for centuries.”

  “It just felt… natural,” the princess said. “In that moment I knew exactly what I had to do. I cannot explain it more than that.”

  Matthias nodded. “Sometimes I have done things with the earth power that I was never taught. Nothing quite like that, mind you. It was a very risky thing to do.”

  “I am sick of feeling helpless, Matthias,” she responded. “You men all bear arms and I stand there like a lemon!”

  “I know you are fed up of feeling like that. But taking unnecessary risks is not the way to go about alleviating that! They could have hurt you. You are far too precious to me to allow anything like that happen.”

  “To precious to you?” Josephine asked.

  “To us,” Matthias corrected and tried to stem the redness flushing his cheeks. The princess looked away from him, her own cheeks blushing.

  “What do we do now?” Luccius asked, sensing the embarrassment.

  Thadius shrugged. “There’s nothing we can do to stop them gossiping that the princess was in their town. We will just have to carry on and hope that the news doesn’t travel too far, too quickly.” He looked up at the Mountain ahead. “Gormal. It has been a long time since I’ve been there.”

  “Is it safe?” Matthias asked him.

  “As safe as anywhere else right now!” he shrugged. “Wherever we go, danger seems to follow us. I feel like we’re dragging death along behind us on a leash!”

  Matthias nodded. “A fair point.” He stared off into the direction of the mountains. “It’s still a long way.”

  “A good day’s walk, I would say,” Thadius nodded. “And we are a good few hours into this one already.”

  “We could get there quicker if we cut out that winding road,” Matthias said. “Could we make our way through that field of barley ahead?”

  “That would be trespassing,” Thadius retorted.

  “You’re the king’s right - hand knight now! How can it be trespassing if this is his land?” Matthias rebuffed.

  Thadius thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I suppose you have a point.”

  “It might be safer too, in case those men do come after us,” Luccius added.

  Matthias nodded. “Come on then. Before the princess of Aralia has any more urges to divulge her identity to the locals.” Josephine shook her head and pursed her lips, her hands on her hips.

  They began making their way across the half-grown field of barley, watching their step wherever they could. The crop was thick and it was surprisingly painful when they trod on a broken stem.

  “Damn!” Thadius growled as he snapped one stalk. “This is going to make those villagers poorer than they already are!” he winced as he blundered forward.

  “Like you said, it’s the nobles who get all the money,” Matthias called behind him as he wove around the plants. “But you could be a bit more careful! You’re blundering about like a blindfolded bear!”

  “Don’t push me wizard!” Thadius growled. “I am not in the mood today!”

  “That makes a change,” Luccius whispered under his breath with a grin.

  “I am sorry, Matthias,” Josephine said. “I didn’t mean to ruin everything we have done so far.”

  “You haven’t, Josephine,” Matthias replied, as he slipped between the crops. “I was just frustrated. I didn’t mean to upset you. We’ll just have to watch out for people who might recognise you. Perhaps we can find some dye in Gormal for your hair,” he mused.

  “Dye my hair?” she exclaimed.

  “A good auburn would change your appearance instantly,” Matthias added.

  “There are worse ideas,” Luccius said from behind her.

  “I would preferred to have kept the mud on my face!” she said.

  Matthias laughed. “That could be arranged,” he retorted.

  “So I am forgiven for my error in judgement back there?” she asked.

  Matthias stopped and turned to her and grabbed her hands. “You don’t need to apologise princess. You are a kind and generous person. What you said back there wasn’t the best thing you could have done, but...” He paused, and then nodded. “But it was perhaps the right thing to do, if perhaps at the wrong time.” He smiled. “I do not think you realise quite how beautiful a woman you are. Desperate men do not care a jot about honour or decency, whether they are your subjects or not.” His stare lingered on her a moment, and then he shook his head. “There is nothing to forgive, and let us draw a line under it.” Then he let go of her hands, and turned back to weaving through the crops.

  Josephine sighed, staring after him a moment, before she followed.

  The field stretched on for miles in all directions. After a while, they stopped and rested together in an opening within the crops.

  “Are we lost?” Thadius asked. “I can’t even see the bloody mountains now!”

  “They’re in that direction,” Matthias indicated to his left. “I don’t think there is far to go.”

  “You are quite adept at this weaving around these crops Matthias,” Josephine commented, as she caught her breath. “I keep tripping up over my own feet!”

  “I have had practice,” he laughed. “I took what you could say was a direct route across the region on my way to Rina to see you. There was no use wasting time on roads when the world’ could be at stake.”

  “That must have been quite a journey in itself,” she commented.

  “You could say that. A great deal of my life of late has involved crawling through fields.”

  “You must tell us that story sometime!” she said.

  “I would say another half a mile, perhaps less, and we will be out,” suggested Luccius.

  “Ah, well, in that case,” Josephine grinned. “The last one to the other side buys the drinks at the next inn!” She darted forward.

  Luccius smiled and leapt after her. “I’m game!”

  “What have you done to her?” Thadius said to Matthias. “She will be singing bar songs and gambling before long!”

  “I only wanted her to blend in,” Matthias said back. “Blame Luccius!” Then he turned and ran through the barley. Thadius shook his head, before he too darted into the undergrowth.

  After another half- hour they emerged from the crops near the base of the mountain. Josephine emerged first and raised her hands in triumph.

  “I won!” she exclaimed as Matthias, then Luccius, emerged, followed by Thadius.

  “There,” Matthias dusted himself off. “We must have saved ourselves time, rather than snaking around that road!”

  “It wasn’t worth it,” Thadius replied, blundering out of the
field, his chest heaving. “I have done far too much running for one day!”

  “Oh I don’t know, I think it was rather fun!” Josephine added, as she brushed her skirts and loosened the debris that stuck to the material.

  The wizard bowed his head. “I am glad your highness and I have seen eye to eye in this instance.” He grinned.

  “Do not get used to it,” she retorted, with a smile. “I am sure there is plenty left for us to disagree on. Come, there is no use standing around here, or we will have wasted our advantage. Besides, Thadius owes us all a drink!”

  The Third

  129th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Gormal was quite busy despite its relatively small size. Known unofficially as the Third City of Aralia, it verged on its border, clinging to the edge of the Gormal Mountains that separated the realm from Olindia. Rising smoke curled its way upward from the many chimneys that dotted the tall buildings: the temperature was cool so high up.

  Taico Grimm paced the streets, watching his breath mist in front of him. He readjusted a tattered sack on his back and trudged about looking for the meeting spot where he was supposed to rendezvous with the third sorcerer. There it was: a statue of a woman holding a reef of flowers. His host was propped up against it: a tall man, unmistakable alone by the confidence he emitted. It had been quite a time since he had seen that face. Grimm flashed back momentarily, to the darkness and the terror he had first felt when he opened his eyes from that lengthy unconsciousness: the strangeness of it all as he looked around at the four faces staring down at him. He had been at peace before: a peace that had eluded him for years. Then they had converted him and suddenly he knew what had to be done and why he was back. It was as if they had flicked a switch in his mind, opening him to the reality of his situation. That day he had become Taico Grimm.

  Grimm walked up to the tall man and lowered himself to one knee. “My Lord Kala, I have arrived.”

  The man chewed at a piece of straw clenched between his teeth and gave him a cold stare. “Yes, I can see that Grimm. It has been a while. You look even more haggard than before and that is saying something, given the state you were in then!”

  Grimm nodded. “I am weak. Time is catching up to me.” He swallowed.

  Kala nodded. “So it would seem. But there is a lot more for you to do for us Taico.”

  “Time catches up to us all,” Grimm continued, ignoring him. “Death will come for you too, eventually. I have seen him. He brings the silence.”

  Kala smiled. “Death wouldn’t dare pick a fight with me.” He plucked the straw in his mouth and held it between his fingers. “I hear from Maevik that you failed to stop the princess from leaving Rina?”

  “There were complications. But that is not an excuse. Do with me as you wish.”

  Kala smiled. “We already do!” he scoffed. “Never forget that you are here simply because we wish it to be so.”

  “I understand,” Grimm swallowed. “Though sometimes, the darkness of before seems so welcoming to me. It was so peaceful.”

  “You will never be at peace again unless you do what must be done!” Kala rebutted. “You will wander in eternal purgatory unless we can lay to rest those demons that have haunted you. The gods that betrayed you and gave your life away so readily.” Kala smiled. “We are helping you to find your lasting peace, Taico.”

  Grimm nodded. “I know in my mind what has to be done, My Lord. That is why I am here. I wish to break the cycle once and for all!” He stared into space a moment. “But... the burning stench of flesh hangs in my nostrils like a plague. It never goes away!” He looked up at Kala, his face confused. “If the dragon is freed, that stench will become a reality. How can that be right? How can I escape it when it will cover the world?”

  Kala bowed his head, so he was face to face with Grimm. “Do you doubt us, Taico?” he asked. “Sometimes pain has to be endured in order for peace to be enjoyed later. Well, when we are done and our enemies have been eliminated, a peace will come. And then, so will your own. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Yes, I do,” Grimm replied. “I am sorry, My Lord. There is so much confusion in my mind.”

  “And that is why you have been sent to me, Grimm. I can provide you with more clarity. I can give you more strength to complete your task. Remember, there is more for you to do than just kill the princess. If you are successful, then your final journey will await you. The path to peace.”

  Grimm stirred with happiness. “As you command, my Lord.”

  He indicated up a path with an outstretched arm. “Come, we will go back to mine to talk of what I have planned for you.”

  They made their way across the streets of the expansive town to a remote part of Gormal.

  “They will pass through here soon, My Lord,” Grimm advised as they walked.

  Kala nodded. “I know. It is tempting for me to intervene. But there is too much at stake for me to reveal myself. That is partly why you are so important to us, Taico. One of your tasks is to intervene where we cannot. You have seen what can be.” As they walked, they passed two young women who instantly caught Kala’s eye. When they were out of earshot, Kala asked Grimm: “How long has it been since you were with a woman?”

  Grimm squinted. “I... can’t even remember,” he answered. “There has been no room in my head for such things for decades.”

  “Your soul truly is ragged, Grimm!” he said. “When a man stops lusting for the simplest of pleasures in life...” he looked back at the women, who continued to talk. “Before we get down to business, perhaps we should have some fun! Coercion is such a useful trick to impress upon a person’s mind. Especially minds as weak as these fickle, little people.”

  Kala stopped and his eyes crackled a deep purple. He stared intently at the women until they froze a moment, as if in shock, and then, delicately, they turned around, looked at him, and smiled seductively.

  “You see Taico, how easy it is to influence the minds of others?” he turned back to the man, but he was lost in thought. “Oh very well,” Kala sighed, and released his hold on the women. They seemed confused momentarily, but then, as if nothing had happened, went back to their conversation. “You really are no fun at all!” He put his arm around the skeletal man. “Come on then, let’s get down to business!”

  The Tangled Web

  129th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  The trek up the mountain was the last leg of a long day that had drained the spirits of the four travellers by its end. With more to teach Josephine than could be imparted whilst travelling, and with no energy to continue onward through the mountains yet, they decided they would pay for a room at an inn and rest for a night before attempting to travel through the mountain pass and into Olindia.

  “Know anywhere in particular where we could stay, Thadius?” Matthias asked as they walked the cobbled streets.

  “There used to be a pub called the ‘Aslemerian’s Head’,” he suggested.

  “Charming,” Josephine sniffed.

  “If I remember rightly it is just off the central square. I last came here about fifteen years ago,” Thadius smiled. “The place has changed a lot since then. There are so many more shops and people. It’s become much more civilised.” He suddenly stopped them in their tracks and gasped.

  “What is it?” Josephine asked, glanced around. “Those men haven’t come back have they?”

  “That is the shop of Istaban Malazar!” crooned Thadius, and pointed to a building ahead of them, its window filled with swords, quarterstaffs and blades of all varieties that glinted in the sunshine. His pupils had grown so wide that his eyes looked like shiny black onyxes.

  “My gods Thadius, you had me worried there for a second!” Luccius said. “Why are you so excited about a weapons shop?”

  “He is the finest armourer in the country! I had forgotten he had established himself here. We have to go in!” he pleaded like a child.

  “What is it with men and their weapons?” Jos
ephine asked. She turned to Matthias, who was gazing at the shop himself. “Not you as well?” she exclaimed.

  Matthias shrugged. “I have learned to appreciate fine craftsmanship,” he said. “When I was young I used to help the blacksmith in our town. I was his striker for a while. He was an able man, but none of the swords he ever made were like these.” He turned to Josephine, “Five minutes wouldn’t hurt,” he said.

  “Oh very well then!” She exclaimed, and exhaled, throwing her arms up. “Men! You are all like little boys!”

 

  The shop was crowded with weaponry along all sides of its cramped confines. Pikes and spears lined one wall, strapped in place by leather buckles to prevent them falling, and on the opposite wall hung swords of all shapes and sizes from wooden brackets. Thadius looked at them in wonderment.

  “Hello gentlemen,” a man said from the far side of the room. He was a burly fellow, with arms bulging from a sleeveless, blue tunic. He had a bristled face and slicked-back hair, and his eyes regarded them kindly. “Can I help?”

  “Are you Istaban Malazar?” Thadius asked keenly.

  “The very same!” the man replied, wiping his brow with a cloth and leaning on a wooden work - surface with his fists.

  “Mister Malazar,” Thadius said breathily, “I have heard praise of your wonderful weapons for years! It is such an honour to finally see your work!”

  “Well it is always nice to meet an admirer,” the man said in a northern Aralian accent. “I would hazard a guess that you are a knight?”

  “My name is Thadius and I am part of the king’s guard of Rina,” he explained.

  “So much for keeping a low profile,” Luccius whispered to Matthias. “We aren’t very good at this are we?”

  Matthias shook his head. “I think I might give up and just hang a banner above our heads.”

  “I have made weapons for the army before,” the man said. “Are you in the market for a new blade?” Thadius and Malazar continued to talk, so the others left them to it.

  “I wonder if I could get a new spear?” Luccius posited.

  “I think they’re horrible,” Josephine said to them as she poked at the hilt of one of the swords. “Whoever would want to buy such things?”

  “One day you’ll be queen, your highness, and then you will be in charge of all the men who wield these horrid things,” Matthias said. “You’ll rely on them to save your kingdom. And if it wasn’t for one of these horrid things Taico Grimm might have killed you.”

  “Don’t remind me of that repulsive man!” Josephine sniffed. “I had just started to forget the whole incident. And just because I may command men who use weapons does not mean I have to like them. War,” she tutted. “If women alone ruled the world there would be no such thing.”

  “An interesting thought,” Luccius nodded. “I’ve never been involved in a war really. Nothing larger than a tavern brawl by most definitions.”

  Josephine smiled “And you are all the better for it,” she said wistfully.

  “Oh my!” Matthias said suddenly, as his eyes fell on a sword in front of him. Its hilt was shagreen and burgundy cotton - wrapped and its scabbard a deep red. A cord of gold hung from it. He reached up and lifted it from its stand, turning it over in his hands.

  “Ah, I see you have found the salakha,” said Istaban as he walked over with Thadius.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” beamed Matthias. He drew the sword slightly out of the scabbard. The blade shone in the afternoon light. Engraved into its length were several symbols.

  “That doesn’t surprise me. I would like to take credit for its creation, but this particular sword came from hands more skilled than my own, as much as I am loathed to admit such a thing. It came from Lantai, a land beyond the North Sea. The writing is from their language. It is a dedication to the gods. Here,” Istaban proffered and took the sword from Matthias. He drew it completely from the sheath, and it hummed. “Look here.” He indicated to the other side of the sword. “The creator engraved a dragon into its surface as well. The dragon was of deep spiritual importance to Lantai. So I am told, anyway.”

  Matthias caught Josephine’s eye a moment, before turning back to the sword. The blacksmith passed it to Matthias to hold.

  “It’s so light,” Matthias added, as he gazed, mesmerized at the blade. Carefully, he took the scabbard from the owner and replaced the blade. “How much is it?” he asked.

  Malazar smiled. “Ah. Well this is the point in this conversation where most prospective buyers have balked, and the reason it is still here. I can’t let it go for less than three hundred soldars.”

  Luccius whistled and Thadius’s eyes bulged.

  “My house is worth only sixty soldars!” the knight exclaimed.

  Matthias looked to Malazar, and then back to the sword.

  “Time to put it down Matthias,” Luccius smiled.

  Matthias raised his brow and smiled. “I will give you ten Mahalian auldins. That’s worth as much as two hundred and fifty soldars.”

  “What’s an auldin?” Josephine asked Luccius quietly.

  “It’s a block of gold with the stamp of Mahalia embedded on top. They are about the length of your thumb. You could buy a lot with even one of them,” the ansuwan advised her.

  The smith eyed Matthias warily. “You have the dress of a nobleman, my friend, but where would someone so young have got such wealth from, to spend it on one piece?”

  “That is my business,” Matthias replied with a smile. “Will you accept my offer?”

  “I will see your gold first,” Malazar said hesitantly and gestured for the sword.

  Matthias nodded and passed it back to him. He shrugged the bag off his back and placed it on the floor, and rifled deep within until his fingers found what they were looking for. He drew out a dark, wooden, latched box and placed it on the floor. He slid out the front panel, and then pressed on two small buttons hidden beneath it. It clicked, and he opened the lid. Inside were two sets of gold blocks: five piled one on top of the other in each. Matthias lifted the box up and passed it to Malazar, who set the sword aside and took the receptacle, the surprise evident on his face. Gingerly he drew one of the square blocks out and inspected it carefully, turning it over and over and holding it to the light. The metal glinted yellow on his face and his eyes sparkled. Finally, he nodded his head.

  “Well, I’ll give it you my young friend, I didn’t really expect you to have the money!” He took a deep breath, and then nodded. “Alright. Ten auldins it is then.”

  Matthias nodded and smiled. “It is a pleasure to do business with you Mister Malazar. Oh, you can keep the box,” he gestured, as the man passed him the sword.

  “You mean to say you’ve been lugging that box of gold around all this time?” Luccius asked, agog, as they left the shop. “Those men in Tanavern would have had a field day! Where did you get that kind of money?”

  “I saved it,” Matthias replied.

  “How? By selling your soul?”

  Matthias shook his head. “We should be getting to the inn,” he said, and began walking on.

  “I can’t believe you just bought that sword for that much money!” Thadius exclaimed. “You’ve just given Malazar enough of a fortune to build a castle!

  “What could you possibly need with a sword anyway?” Josephine asked as they carried on walking. “You’re a wizard!”

  “It never hurts to have a back - up plan,” Matthias replied.

  “That’s an expensive back up plan,” Luccius commented.

  Josephine pulled them to a stop again. “Matthias, it’s to do with that dragon carved onto its blade, isn’t it?” Josephine asked. “I saw you look at me in the shop when he mentioned it.”

  “It’s not Sikaris, if that’s what you think,” Matthias replied. Then he nodded. “But you’re right, I did buy it because of that. It’s also the reason I paid so much. And believe it or not, this sword is a bargain for the price.” They looked at him
askance. “This blade isn’t made of any steel or common metal. It’s made of urunahenium.”

  “That whole blade is made of the rarest metal in the world?” Luccius asked. “Then that must be worth…”

  “At least fifty times what I bought it for. And it also means that it is damned near indestructible. The only thing known to be able to tear through forged urunahenium is… anyone care to hazard a guess?” he asked.

  “Wizards?” Thadius ventured, shrugging.

  Matthias shook his head. “No! Dragons. Their teeth are one of the only things known to be able to break this metal. The engraving of the dragon is a symbol that this is urunahenium. It’s like a hallmark. Istaban must have mistaken it for a simple decoration.”

  “So with a blade like that…” Josephine paused. “Could you fight a dragon with it?”

  Matthias shrugged. “Perhaps. I don’t know. A normal dragon maybe, but I’m not sure about Sikaris. He has been enchanted with a power remember? He’s like a hundred dragons, all rolled into one. But it can’t hurt to have it, just in case.”

  He tucked it into his belt, where it fit quite nicely as he tied the cord to the leather strap.

  “What do you think?” he asked, modelling the weapon, its hilt poking out from his coat.

  “Very nice. Now can we please find somewhere where we can eat something?” Thadius muttered.

  “You’re just jealous because you didn’t buy anything,” Matthias jested.

  “I couldn’t afford to! Not with the money I make.” He grumbled as they made their way through town.

  “When we return to Rina, Thadius, I will have that man make you whatever sword you would like,” Josephine smiled. “You have more than earned it.”

  The knight blushed. “Princess, that isn’t necessary. Being here to protect you is payment enough.”

  “Perhaps. But I will buy you one anyway as a token of my thanks,” she said. “Ah, there’s the inn!” She pointed, to a large, three-storey building as they emerged from the cobbled street into the square. “Oh my!” The princess raised a hand to her mouth in surprise. “When you said it was called the ‘Aslemerian’s head’, I did not understand why until now!” She looked up at a rotting head that hung from a pole fixed to the side of the inn. It swung slightly in the light breeze, bone protruding from the sagging, green-grey flesh, empty, bony eye sockets peering into nothing.

  “I believe he was slain in a great battle many, many years ago,” Thadius explained as they approached. “One of many conflicts the Olindians had with Aslemer.”

  “And we inherited it?” The princess asked. She grimaced. “It still has skin!” she commented and shook her head. “I think I may be sick. The smell…” she pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve and raised it to her nose.

  “I thought you went to beheadings in Rina?” Matthias asked.

  “Yes, but that’s different! I never… I mean, I never saw...”

  “You never stayed around to see the consequences of those beheadings?” Matthias finished bluntly. “Your culture takes pleasure in displaying the trophies of war and justice. When I arrived in Rina there was a young man hanging from one of your scaffolds. He had stolen a loaf of bread. What honour is there in displaying his corpse for all to see for such a minor crime?”

  The princess looked at him with a mixture of guilt and nausea, her face downcast. “Please can we go in?” she asked wanly. “I believe I have experienced enough insights into my people for one day.”

  They took up a private room within the inn to rest. It was a modest size, with three beds and a chair with a desk. After they had stored their baggage they rested for an hour or so in the comfort of their surroundings until the sun went down and the smell of cooked meat from the kitchen below proved too much to resist. They made their way down to the common area and purchased four hearty meals: salted pork with boiled potatoes and cabbage. They all collapsed back in the room after they had finished.

  “That was worth every penny!” Thadius said, smiling. “I have not eaten such good meat in a long time!”

  “It was a nice change of pace, I’ll grant you,” Matthias replied, nodding. He turned to Josephine. “Princess, did you enjoy it? You seemed quiet downstairs.”

  Josephine looked up at him absently. “The meal was very pleasant,” she said quietly.

  Matthias stood up. “I have offended you again, haven’t I, with my comments earlier?” he asked, walking over to her.

  Josephine shook her head. “No, your comments were quite valid, Matthias,” she replied. “I was just not prepared for them, or the reality they depicted of my people.”

  “Princess, the Aslemerian fought in battle,” Thadius added. “His death would have been honourable.”

  “But what of his afterlife? Hanging outside for all to see? What honour is there in that? What honour is there in hanging a young boy with mouths to feed?” She shook her head. “These are my father’s laws. These are laws I will be expected to uphold one day!”

  “They are laws that have protected our people for many years,” Thadius advised.

  Matthias placed a hand on the princess’s shoulder. “I shouldn’t have been so blunt. You have enough to deal with, without me giving you a morality lesson into the bargain.”

  There was a knock at the door that made them all jump and take notice. Thadius reached for his sword that he had cast aside onto the desk earlier.

  “What now?” the knight whispered.

  “Who is it?” Matthias called out.

  “Your pardon, but I need to speak with Thadius,” a voice called back through the thin wood.

  They all stared at the knight, who shook his head and shrugged. He made his way cautiously to the door and loosened the latch opening it slowly. A middle- aged man stared back at him, clothed in the garb of the watch. He was a dumpy man, a head shorter than Thadius and he stared up at him through a face riddled with pock - marks and scars, his black beard mottled with grey.

  “Begging your pardon,” the man said. “I do not mean to disturb.”

  “Who are you friend?” Thadius asked. “And how do you know me?”

  The man smiled familiarly. “My name is Yarin. I’m not surprised that you do not recognise me,” he replied and pointed to his face. “This face was much more youthful and handsome than it has become in these last fifteen years. We were posted here together here. Do you remember the ‘knight of the five maidens?’” he asked cryptically. Thadius was visibly taken aback. He coughed and blushed, looking back at the others, who stared intently. Gingerly, he nodded. “We drank a toast to our victories in this very inn that night.”

  Thadius stepped back from the door and gestured for his entry to the room. “I remember you,” he said quietly. “My gods, but you have changed!”

  “As I said, I have not aged very well, my friend,” he replied, patting Thadius on the arm as he stepped inside. “But you I recognised almost straight away down in the inn. You are a little taller, perhaps a little more leathery, but still the same face nonetheless.” He bowed to the others and lingered on Josephine a moment. “I must admit to being taken aback at seeing you though, even in spite of recent news. I thought it best not to approach you in public, so I waited until you had retired up here.”

  “News?” Thadius asked. “What news is it you speak of?”

  Yarin licked his lips. “I work for the watch. Two days ago we received one of the king’s carrier pigeons. It was one of many sent out, it would seem, to many of the towns in Aralia.” The others leaned forward as he spoke. “The note informed us to keep a look out for you by name, and that you would be travelling with two others: a young girl and a man.”

  “Has something happened in Rina?” Josephine interrupted.

  Yarin shook his head. “The note did not go into great detail. But it said that if you were seen we were to report it back for attention of Captain Tiberius in Rina that we had found you. We were also asked to warn you Thadius, if possible, that you and the princess are in
great danger.”

  Thadius nodded. “We are aware of the dangers that we face.”

  Yarin shook his head. “I do not think you are,” he advised. He took a breath. “The note said that you are being pursued by Mahalian wizards and that your lives are also in danger from the man who currently escorts you to your final destination.”

  Thadius’s spun his head to look at Matthias. “From this man?” he asked.

  Yarin nodded. “That was what the note said, if this is your escort.”

  “Matthias what is this about?” Josephine asked, rising from her seat, her face puzzled.

  “Come away from him princess,” Thadius advised her and started forward, gripping her arm.

  Matthias stepped towards him. “Thadius,” he began, raising his hands and trying to keep calm. “I think we should all discuss this in private.”

  “Why? So you can bind us up like suckling pigs?” the knight growled. He turned to Yarin. “We will be along shortly to speak further. I will meet you at the watch house.”

  “Will you be alright?” Yarin asked, eyeing Matthias warily.

  “I can handle this one,” Thadius said angrily. The watchman nodded and stepped quickly out of the room.

  “What is going on Matthias?” Luccius asked, his face panicked and his ears twitching nervously. “Why are there wizards coming after us?”

  Josephine stepped back a pace, not taking her eyes from him. “They are coming for me. Aren’t they?” she asked. Matthias nodded. “Why?”

  Matthias swallowed. “I...” he began. His hands shook. “I haven’t been fully honest with you all,” he said.

  Thadius laughed angrily. “What a surprise that is!”

  “But I promise I am not here to hurt you!” he added quickly. “Gods, I would never hurt you!”

  Josephine’s eyes were glassy with tears. “Why? Why would you lie to me?” she asked. “Again?”

  “Out with the truth!” Thadius barked. “The whole truth this time! If you are even capable of such a thing!”

  Matthias nodded. “Alright. The truth is that I was not sent here by the Council. At least, not by the Consensus.”

  “Consensus?” Thadius asked impatiently. “What the hell’s that?”

  “The Council makes decisions by majority vote. The Consensus,” Matthias explained. “I was sent to seek Josephine by a small minority. They are a faction who disagree with the Consensus and their decision regarding what to do with you, when they uncovered the seeing stone.”

  She took a breath. “And what decision would that be?” she asked bitterly.

  Matthias swallowed, his voice shaking. “To neutralise you.”

  “Neutralise?” Luccius exclaimed. “They wanted to strip Josephine of her abilities?” Matthias nodded again. “But why? What about the dragon? What of her power?”

  Matthias shook his head. “It didn’t matter. You know how my people feel about women who can use the energies. They saw you had this ability through the prophecy and they grew scared. All they could see was the danger you represented. A danger just as concerning, if not more so, that the dragon being released. So they resolved to send a group of wizards to collect you from Rina and bring you back against your will to Mahalia, where you would be cleansed of the abilities.” Matthias took a breath. “But Master Pym who I told you of and a few others wouldn’t let that happen! How could we be so short sighted to not see what a gift you are to the world? So they sent me to take you away from Rina and to stop the dragon. Pym thought once the Council saw how much of an asset you could be to the world, that they would let you be. Or otherwise, you would be too strong for them to stop you, if they still thought otherwise.” Josephine sat down on the chair, her jaw clenched tightly. A tear slid down from her cheek. “Josephine, you must believe me, I would never-”

  “Do not call me Josephine!” she spat. “You do not deserve that right!”

  Matthias lowered his head. “We were trying to protect you,” he whispered.

  “You lied to me,” she said sadly. “I started to trust you and you lied to me again. It does not matter what your intentions were!”

  “So these people following us now,” Thadius said more calmly. “They are trying to stop you?” He asked. “They are coming to hurt the princess?”

  Matthias nodded. “They must have arrived in Rina shortly after we left and found you gone. Which is obviously why the king has sent word to look for you. He must be worried. He has no way of knowing what I am doing or how far we have come.”

  Thadius stepped forward until he was nose to nose with Matthias. “You are more foolish than I ever would have thought possible,” he whispered to him. “But… you are a fool who may have saved the princess through your actions, nonetheless.” Matthias blinked in surprise.

  Josephine looked up. “Thadius? He has betrayed us!”

  “Your highness, if he had not come, then these wizards would have arrived in Rina and taken you away. There is no way we could have stopped them from doing that.” He kneeled by her side. “I do not pretend that his lies do not hurt even me,” he said to her. “I had almost begun to like him. But what’s done is done. Now we know the truth, we must look at this with cool heads if we can and decide what to do now.”

  She blinked back more tears and swallowed, before nodding. “What would you suggest?”

  He sighed. “We have two options the way I see it. We can try and return to Rina, and avoid these men for as long as we can. Perhaps they will give up, or the threat of the dragon will keep them occupied long enough that we can find another way out of this. Perhaps your father can defend you from Mahalia. Or we could carry on and let this wizard try to teach you all he can, so that if they do catch up to us, you will be able to defend yourself.”

  She nodded. “I know which I would prefer at this point,” she said. “I want to see my father more than anything right now. But,” she said with a pause, as she rubbed her eyes with a handkerchief. “To return home would be to abandon innocent people to the dragon and put my own selfish needs first.” She looked up at Matthias defiantly. “They will not give up finding me, will they?” she asked.

  Matthias shook his head sadly. “No. Not unless the Council changes its mind.”

  She nodded again. “Then I have no choice but to continue, do I?”

  Thadius stood “We should speak to Yarin and have him send word to your father that you are alright. We must explain to him what is happening. Come with me princess. We will go to the watch house and write a message.” She shook and he put an arm around her as they walked to the door. She stopped a moment and turned to Matthias.

  “You criticise my people’s actions and my culture so openly, when in fact your own is just as jaded and hypocritical beneath a veil of calm and wisdom.” She shook her head. “My faith in you is broken, wizard,” she shuddered, her lip trembling. “Do not expect to get it back.” She turned and left the room and Thadius closed the door behind them.

  Matthias fell on to the bed and put his head in his hands.

  “You could have told me, Matthias,” Luccius said angrily. “How long have we known one another?”

  “It was my burden to bear,” Matthias said.

  “You know what your problem is, Matthias?” Luccius said and started for the door himself. “You try to bear everything on your own shoulders. You ask people to trust you? Well, sometimes, you have to trust other people too.” He stepped out the door, leaving Matthias alone.

  The Aruun Pass

  129th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Josephine finished writing on the scroll of paper and set the quill back in its inkwell. It was now late into the night. Thadius picked up the note and read it in the candlelight, nodding.

  “This should put your father at some ease, at least,” he nodded, and rolled it up.

  “Apart from the fact those wizards are still out there somewhere, hunting me down,” she said. “Is it not bad enough that I am being pursued by demons and madmen?”<
br />
  “It would have taken a pigeon two days or so, perhaps, to get here from Rina. If we assume that your father sent word as soon as he was able to upon learning of Mahalia’s plans, then that means the wizards only left at around the same time. It has taken us a while to get this far. It will take them just as long, wizards or not. I would say we have a week or so advantage over them. And they have to find you as well. They don’t know how far we have come, or by what path.”

  “I suppose,” Josephine sighed. “Oh Thadius, what am I to do? How can I possibly look Matthias in the eye after what he has done? I am so angry!”

  Thadius patted the scroll in his hand. “The only consolation in this entire farce is that he saved your life,” he said. “I don’t condone what he has done, your highness...”

  “But?” she ventured.

  “But perhaps a lie told for the right reasons...”

  “Is still a lie,” Josephine finished. “My gods, I thought you would see my point of view more than anyone!” She stood from the desk.

  “I do, your highness! But the wizard has a way of growing on you,” he said. “In a strange way, I was starting to like him.” He shook his head. “That he saved your life in this convoluted way still proves he has some shred of decency.” He sighed. “And I think he cares for you more than he would like to admit.”

  Josephine clasped her hands together and paced the room. “How confusing this world is Thadius, the more one ventures into it.” She shook her head. “I thought it was complex before I left Rina, but now…” She sighed. “I suppose I need to see beyond such lies sometimes for the greater good. But it is overcoming the hurt that it makes me feel that is the most difficult.”

  Thadius nodded. “In his head, I think he felt he was protecting you from the truth.”

  Josephine nodded. “Then he is a fool if he thinks I need any more protecting from such matters! And he is only too keen to point out the flaws in my world! My father will strangle him when he gets the chance.”

  “Princess, he will have to fight me for the honour of doing so first,” Thadius smiled. He indicated to the scroll. “Shall we get your note to Yarin?”

  Josephine nodded. “Do you think we could remain here tonight though? I do not think I can face speaking with Matthias yet.”

  The knight nodded. “I’m sure there is somewhere you can sleep.”

  “Thank you. Then perhaps tomorrow we will continue with this journey. The sooner I can finish this, the better.”

  Matthias had lain awake all night, alone in the room, thinking on what had happened that evening. Just after sunrise the latch on the door at the inn clicked from the outside and Matthias stood abruptly. Luccius walked in. The wizard’s shoulders sagged.

  “You seem disappointed to see me?” Luccius suggested.

  “I thought you were Josephine,” Matthias replied.

  Luccius nodded. “I’d wager she doesn’t want to be around you right now.”

  “I think that’s a bet you would win hands down.” Matthias paced to the window. “Where have you been?”

  “Oh, you know me Matthias. I’ll sleep anywhere. I felt like I needed some space to think myself.”

  Matthias nodded. “Do you forgive me, old friend?” he asked.

  “It’s not me you should be asking that question to,” Luccius responded.

  “I owe you all an apology,” Matthias replied. “You are right in what you said Luccius. I do need to trust people more.”

  “That much is true,” came a woman’s voice from the open doorway. Matthias turned. It was Josephine.

  “Princess!” he breathed. “I-”

  Josephine held up a hand. “Matthias, be silent!” she commanded. The wizard looked chastened and shut his mouth. “You lied to me throughout this journey about such an important matter. That is something I cannot forgive you easily for.”

  Matthias nodded. “I understand. I never wanted to hurt you princess.”

  Josephine acknowledged his words with a nod and her face looked pained. “I am afraid you have,” she said sullenly. “I thought we were finally achieving a mutual respect for one another.”

  “We were,” Matthias said.

  “And yet you did not respect me enough to furnish me with the full truth of the situation I find myself in?” She sighed.

  “When we first started out on this journey I didn’t know you,” Matthias advised. “I was told to keep you safe and that is what I felt my silence on the matter was doing. But then I grew to understand and respect you. Both of you,” he indicated to Thadius as well. “I should have told you then.” He fumbled with his staff awkwardly.

  “Yes you should have.” The princess walked slowly around the room. “Thadius in an uncharacteristic degree of positivity has continued to defend your actions,” she continued, a slight smile forming on her lips at Matthias’s surprised face.

  “Don’t think I approve of your lies though wizard,” Thadius added.

  “It is perhaps only through his good graces that he has convinced me that even through I cannot forgive you as of yet, you were acting in my best interests. Perhaps in time I will understand your actions. Perhaps I only reacted the way I did because of the bond I feel had begun to grow amongst us.” Matthias nodded and remained silent. “If we are to continue this journey together, we can have no more secrets between us. Between any of us!” she said, looking to the others. “Agreed?”

  They each nodded in turn. Finally, Matthias nodded. “Agreed, princess.”

  She sighed. “You can still call me Josephine,” she proffered.

  Matthias nodded. “Thank you. I promise I will not let my people do anything that would hurt you, Josephine,” Matthias pledged. “If they catch up to us-”

  “We won’t let that happen,” Luccius added, smiling. “Not until Josephine can face them on her own terms at least.”

  “Can we get going?” Josephine asked. “I would sooner forget this place ever existed.”

  Matthias looked out the window. “It will take us a long time to traverse the Aruun mountain pass,” he said. “It’s a long way and it might be dark again before we reach its end, even if we leave this early.”

  “There is a better way around,” Thadius replied. “We would be forced along the mountain edge, but it is the safer route. The Aruun pass is shorter but it has not been maintained well. No merchants or horses could make it through there now.”

  “How long would it take to go round that way?” Josephine asked him.

  “I would guess three days,” Thadius advised. “It is a much longer way. The path stretches almost to the coastline. There are a couple of inns, around half and three quarters of the way along the road and a small watch house, if I remember.”

  Josephine shook her head. “Then that is too far out of our way,” she advised. “We must go through the mountain.

  “The pass really is not a nice place to roam, princess,” Thadius said. “We post guards at our end of the border, but once you are in, you are effectively on your own. There are paths, if you can call them such, that stretch further into the mountains as well. They used to lead to small colonies of people who enjoyed the heights of the higher peaks. But any civilised people have long since abandoned them. Neither Aralia nor Olindia lay claim to the pass themselves and there have been known to be bandits operating within their confines.”

  Josephine shook her head. “I have not come this far to be afraid of some corridor!” she said. “We have faced demons and assassins and desperate men all wanting to hurt us. A few bandits should be no problem for a wizard and a knight. We will leave today and we will be in Olindia before the night is out.”

  “She has a point,” Luccius said. “What bandits would pick a fight with a wizard?”

  Matthias looked to Thadius and then back to Josephine. “I’ve already endangered your life several times in the name of haste. Perhaps the longer path would be better.”

  “Do not start to get sheepish now that you have been chastene
d by me wizard!” Josephine commented. “Your honesty and bluntness might be grating sometimes, but I welcome it more than if you would wrap me in blankets and treat me as if I were a fragile figurine. We can do this, Matthias,” she said.

  Matthias looked at her a moment and then nodded. “Alright,” he agreed. “We travel the Aruun pass.”

  The mountain pass gouged itself deep into the mountain range. It was a series of cavernous hollows and narrow pathways which snaked through the mountains. Josephine and her party set off briskly from Gormal, climbing the rocky pathway of shoddily - carved steps up to the opening in the mountainside. The pass went by another name to the locals: shadow’s gap. The sunlight barely touched the interior, but peeked its way though cracks and crevices where it could. It was a perfect place to be ambushed by anyone looking for trouble.

  Matthias grimaced at the path ahead. The weathered, sharp rocks of the entrance resembled teeth in a rocky mouth, swallowing them whole as they passed into the sun - starved interior of the great, grisly maw.

  “We have to be alert in there,” Matthias said warily.

  “I’m always alert wizard,” Thadius stated back.

  “Then be even more alert,” Matthias retorted. The knight grunted.

  “Perhaps I should have taken up Yarin’s offer of a couple of watchmen to accompany us,” the knight mused. “He was more than willing.”

  “It would have taken too much time to explain everything,” Josephine replied. “Unless you wanted to run through with them the reason we are here? Because I did not. We needn’t drag anyone else along on this journey. It hardly seems necessary. What could two more men do that Matthias could not do with his wizardly powers?”

  “Obey my orders?” Thadius proffered.

  “I hate mountains,” Luccius muttered, changing the subject as they entered the pass. “Have you ever heard of the Beneglet Mountains, Josephine?” he asked.

  “Vaguely,” she replied. “Only by name.”

  “They’re in the very north - west of Triska. Miles and miles of ice-capped peaks, three times the height of these mountains. Once I had to go to an ansuwan retreat hidden deep within them. Of all the places to construct a Community...” he scoffed, shaking his head.

  “Your people would burrow to the centre of the world to escape outsiders,” Matthias said. “And Beneglet is a religious sanctuary, remember? The ansuwan monks probably like it that way. It gives them more time to reflect with even less people bothering them. Of course, that never stopped you from paying them a visit.”

  “Well anyway,” Luccius continued, ignoring Matthias. “They are covered from top to bottom in snow. After even a half - day of climbing and trekking, I could barely feel my feet! And I was garbed in seal pelts and furs from head to toe! By the fifth day of climbing I’d reached a passage through the mountains not unlike this one. And what should emerge from out of the snow, than a wolf pack. They had totally surrounded me, most likely stalking me for hours and I hadn’t even noticed.”

  “How did you escape?” Josephine asked.

  “Well, wolves might be mighty clever hunters, but they’re no match for a group of ansuwan! A team had been sent out to look for me when I didn’t arrive on time, and they sent the wolves packing.”

  “The luck of Luccius strikes again,” Matthias smirked. “You are the most blessed man I’ve ever met! You wear luck around you like a shawl.”

  “Let us hope that luck is with us now,” Thadius muttered.

  “After that moment I swore I would never go anywhere near a mountain again!” Luccius continued.

  “Yet here you are,” Matthias mused.

  “I did come this way into Olindia before when I was stationed here briefly. I am pleased to say I never had any problem,” Thadius said.

  “You and how many hundred other heavily armed soldiers?” Matthias joked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “What is it Matthias?” asked Luccius.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “Trapped?” Josephine asked. “How?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “You would have me give up now and let you leave?” Grimm shook his head. “My old friend, you don’t know me very well, do you?”

  The blade of Thadius’s sword burst through Grimm’s chest, its end sticking out an arms’ length, covered in black, sticky blood. Grimm gasped and stared at the end a moment, and then the knight pulled it back out again with a swift tug, and stepped back. Grimm remained standing. He looked at the wound in his chest, and then turned to the knight.

  “That hurt,” he said, before his free hand shot out and pulses of energy that wriggled from his hand like hundreds of snakes burrowed into the knight’s body. Thadius dropped limply to the floor, his muscles turned to jelly, and his sword fell to the dirt. “I am afraid that I have grown quite a bit more resilient since we last met,” he said, staring down at the man. “I have felt the maggots and the rot of decay. Now it cannot touch me as it once did.”

  “Stop it!” Josephine cried from where she had moved to comfort Luccius. She tried to use her power, but she couldn’t. Fear paralysed her ability. Grimm turned to her, but Matthias stepped in front of her, a hand raised defensively.

  “Stay away from her Grimm,” Matthias commanded. “She has done nothing to you.”

  “She has done everything to me!” Grimm exclaimed, and shook his head frantically. “Her and the false gods! I wouldn’t expect you to understand. You are just as much a victim of your faith as I once was!” His nostrils flared. “Step out of my way wizard and let me end this!”

  “If you think I am going to let you hurt her, whatever your confused reasoning might tell you she has done, then you are sadly mistaken. I gave you a chance to live.”

  Grimm shook his head. “Then prepare yourself wizard! Because I will not lose her again!”

  Matthias and Grimm faced each other, swirls of energy counteracting the other, sparking off the rocks. The wizard leaped and bounded across the path, dodging bolts of light that surged from Grimm’s palms. He threw a line of fire at the man that engulfed his withered body, but it barely touched him.


  “Will we dance with each other like this all day?” Grimm asked, as the circled one another.

  “I have barely started,” Matthias said. “You’re on the losing side, Grimm.”

  The man snarled and his eyes flared. He began running at Matthias unnaturally fast, his fists flying as he pummelled him, striking with an upper - cut to the chin that sent the wizard to the ground. The lights that had swirled around them dimmed, as Matthias lost consciousness. Darkness enveloped the pass a moment, before a dim light emerged in front of her. Grimm had turned to Josephine, his body surrounded by a murky green aura. His serpent-like glare met her doe - eyes. She rose slowly, her legs shaking, but she forced herself to keep calm as he approached and took a deep breath.

  “I suppose you are planning to kill me now, are you?” she asked. “Well you can just think again! I am not some helpless damsel who will just lie down and let you cut me up into pieces while I wait for a knight in shining armour to arrive! I am powerful!” Her heart pounded in her chest, and in truth, she felt like her legs could give way at any moment.

  Grimm smiled and his yellow teeth seemed to glint in spite of the lack of light. He was more than ugly, he was wretched: the body and face of a haggard, walking corpse. “So why have you not slain me with your gods - given powers?” he asked. She swallowed, unable to reply. “I know how powerful your gift could be, princess,” Grimm said. “I have seen what you are capable of. But it is a potential that you could never hope to fulfil. A longbow has the power to kill a man, but only if the one who wields it has the strength to pull back the string.” He stepped forward, and his foot caught on something. Matthias’s staff sat at his feet. He bent down to pick it up and Josephine pounced. She jumped on him, clawing his face with her nails. She fought to find the power, but it wouldn’t come! He grabbed her arm and tore her off his back, throwing her to the ground.

  “Why do you resist? With a flick of a wrist, this could all be over for you! You would not need to worry about the world you leave behind. You would be at peace!”

  “People are relying on me,” she said, as she felt the wetness of blood on her tongue from her cut bottom lip. “I can’t let them down!”

  “You can’t stop the inevitable princess,” he said calmly, and held up the staff in his hand. “You are fighting against the tide. Not even your friends can help you.”

  “I believe that is mine?” said a voice from behind him. Matthias was on his feet again. He nodded to the staff, still in Grimm’s hand, as the man spun to look at him. Grimm shook his head.

  “None of you know when to let fate take its course and die, do you?” he said.

  “We’re not the only ones,” Matthias rebuffed. “Why do you persist?”

  Grimm snarled and flailed wildly with his arms. A cluster of green bolts crackled towards Matthias, and the wizard raised both his hands. The energy evaporated before it could touch him. Grimm shook his head.

  “I am foolish to have underestimated you,” he said. “That much is true.”

  “So perhaps you have also underestimated our chances to save Triska?” Matthias said.

  Grimm laughed. “Your wordplay will not convince me wizard,” he said. “You are persuasive. I will admit last time you set seeds of doubt in my mind, but now but I know I must continue!”

  “You believe you must continue because that is what they have made you think,” he said calmly. “Who are you to them Grimm? Why have they chosen you to do this?”

  “Enough!” Grimm wailed, and leapt and span across the walls of the pass, jumping back and forth, shooting energy from his palms. It exploded into the ground, leaving sizzling craters where Matthias has stood. Matthias picked up his sword where it lay in his path and leapt into the air, whirling at Grimm. Blood spattered the ground as the blade sliced from his left cheek, across his nose and up to his brow, disfiguring the man’s already tarnished face. As his feet found ground again, Matthias turned and with a roar, he threw out his hand. Lightning burst from his palm, surrounding Grimm where he landed. The energy crackled around him, and Grimm wailed. His skin popped, burst and charred as the bolt assaulted his body. Matthias’s face greyed and veins snaked across his forehead as he continued the attack. The walls sparkled with the flashes of light, until, exhausted, Matthias let the bolt go and dropped to his knees.

  Grimm was a blackened mess, his skin burnt like coal, but he remained standing. His bloodshot eyes regarded Matthias, silently, and he smiled. Then he opened his mouth and took a deep breath. As he did so, his skin healed. His body shook with the effort, but in moments, he was healed, aside from thick veins that mottled his face like Matthias. His face had grown even more sallow and the skin over his cheeks looked wafer-thin, as if his cheek - bones would burst through at any moment, but he was no longer charred and smoking.

  “They protect me because I can help them bring their plans to fruition,” he said through deep breaths. “I will be the Vessel. Together we will bring about the cleansing of the world and it will be reborn.” He looked at his hands, which were grey and skeletal, and the back to Matthias, who stood gingerly, exhausted with the effort. “You have this fight wizard. But it doesn’t change anything.”

  With lightning fast speed he swung towards Josephine. She yelped as he came at her, and again tried to focus her power to repel him, but failed. He grabbed her fiercely, twisting her arm around her back and stood behind her, his free hand on her neck. Matthias rose and started forward.

  “I will destroy you,” Matthias growled, and raised a hand. “Don’t hurt her!”

  “The tides of chaos will blind everyone,” he said breathily, as his grip tightened on the princess. His nails broke her skin and blood poured from the wounds. “The alliance will bring forth the Return.” He pushed Josephine toward Matthias. She fell to the floor, and Matthias ran to her side. Grimm looked down at them, his eyes cold. “The cycle will be broken.” His body burst into purple-black light, beams radiating out from his torso. Then he was gone in a flicker of purple lighting, and the darkness returned. Matthias relit a ball of light with effort. He had drained himself. He stared for a moment where the man had vanished, stunned. Then he drew his attention to Josephine.

  “Matthias!” She gulped awkwardly. Her skin was paling as he watched. “I... I don’t feel well. I’m...” She passed out, her eyes rolling up into their sockets.

  “Princess!” Matthias patted her on the cheek. “Josephine, wake up! Oh gods, no!”

  “What’s happened? Matthias, tell me!” called a voice. Thadius stared at them from where he lay, limp and floppy, like a gutted fish.

  “Josephine’s fallen unconscious! I don’t know why. Grimm pierced her neck with his nails, and-” He stopped as he tilted her head to look at the half moon shapes on her side. The blood that sat in the wounds was thick, tarry, dark red- black, and tinged with green. When he touched near the wounds, the pressure made more blood ooze out like curdled milk. “Thadius, I think Grimm has poisoned her with something!” he called back.

  “Can you help her?” he asked.

  Matthias pressed his hand to her forehead and shut his eyes a moment, taking a deep breath. His brow creased, and his eyes worked beneath the closed lids. “I can’t even tell what it is. I can’t do anything!”

  “Then you have to get her to someone who can!” Thadius called gruffly. “Leave us and go!”

  Matthias balanced Josephine in his arms and stood up. “I’m not leaving you behind!” He walked over to them and laid Josephine back on the ground, and went over to Thadius first.

  “I implore you, please, take the princess out of here! Get her to a village! A doctor might be able to help her!”

  “A doctor won’t be able to help her Thadius!” he exclaimed, as he sat beside him.

  “You have to try! You-”

  “Just shut up, you great boulder,” Matthias grunted. He felt at Thadius’s arm then moved his hands to his chest. His eyes flared. “I think I can heal you,” h
e said. “I’m going to channel energy into your body Thadius, to reanimate your bones and muscles. It may hurt a little. “

  “Just do it!” Thadius ordered. “Quickly!”

  Matthias closed his eyes, concentrating, and then Thadius gasped, cried out, and his chest jumped off the ground in spasm. His body shook for a few moments, face contorted in pain, and then it was all over. Matthias sat back.

  “That hurt a lot!” Thadius grunted.

  “Can you move?” Matthias asked.

  Thadius moved his head, then flexed his fingers, before he pulled himself upright with a groan. “Apparently so,” he said. “Now see to Luccius!” He leant over Josephine and stared helplessly at her, stroking her hair back.

  “I should have protected you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry princess!”

  Matthias inspected Luccius, who stared up at him.

  “You look terrible,” the ansuwan whispered hoarsely.

  “You don’t look so good yourself, old friend,” he said back, and pressed a palm to Luccius’s forehead for a moment. Matthias’s lips thinned, and then he exhaled, frustrated, shaking his head.

  “I can’t heal this Luccius,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I’ve tried to blunt the pain a little. Is it any better?”

  “Remember… when we tangled with that glashtyn demon?” the ansuwan asked, as Matthias helped him sit up.

  “The horse - demon?” Matthias muttered in recollection. “I remember you were kicked in the groin so hard you couldn’t walk for a week.”

  He smiled, and nodded. “This is worse,” he said, as he grasped Matthias’s arm and hoisted himself up onto his feet, where he swayed.

  Thadius stood, holding Josephine in his arms. Her head hung limply to one side. “Should we return to Gormal?” the knight asked.

  Matthias shook his head. “There’s nothing there that will help her,” he said, and turned to the rocks that blocked their path ahead. “If we can get to Olindia I think she might stand a chance.” He ran forward, and pressed the rocks. They didn’t budge. He took a deep breath, and embraced the earth power fully once more. His head pounded with the effort, and he could feel his body ready to give way at any moment. It was as if he had run a marathon; he was weak, hot, sweaty, and his lungs burnt as if they could not get enough air, only it was his body that craved rest from wielding rather than running. The rocks began to crunch, and with a groan they burst into pieces, until all that remained of the blockade were a few misshapen stones and a mass of pebbles. He let go of the power as soon as they yielded, save for a trickle to maintain the light, which at that moment seemed too much to cope with, and turned to the others. “Can you carry her for long?” he asked Thadius. His head was spinning.

  “As long as it takes,” Thadius said.

  Matthias nodded. “Then let’s go,” he said sadly.

  They set off down the path, slowly and surely, picking their way around the stony ground. The cold and the dark seemed the least of their troubles now.

  Dowsing

  130th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  In the barren, malnourished Olindian territory directly beneath the shadow of the Gormal Mountains, where it grew too cold to cultivate crops, there were no towns, villages or farmhouses to speak of. Save for one or two watch towers manned at sporadic intervals, depending when the guardsmen could be bothered to get up from their beds, barely any signs of civilisation marked the area at all. There had been no real bad blood between Aralia and Olindia for almost forty years so the need for larger armies guarding the area was minimal. Given the unimportance of the mountain region, Olindia seemed content to let it lie abandoned and focus on the arable land where the climate grew warmer.

  A sombre band of travellers strode through this land now. Josephine’s flagging body lay cradled in Thadius’s quaking arms, her head lulling back and forth as she fell against his chest. Hours had passed since she had been infected. They had walked through the night and now dawn began to peek across the horizon. Her skin was cracked, so dry that it flaked off at every opportunity and a pallid grey had now begun to form around her eyes and lips.

  “It’s a form of petrification,” Matthias had said, when he noticed the new effect of the poison on her. “I’m certain of it. It is as if she is being remade in stone. Every last drop of water is being sucked from her body.”

  “Is there nothing we can do to stop the effect?” Thadius asked, staring down at the girl in his tired arms.

  “There are so many ways to petrify someone. With weaves of energy, like the dragon, you can suspend someone in a stone shell indefinitely. But poison, like this seems to be, will completely turn the victim to stone forever. And each type has a specific antidote or way of releasing the hold on the target.” He shook his head. “We should keep her hydrated as much as we can. Pour water over her if we have to. It might slow things down. Use the canisters we have left.”

  “Can’t you create water with the power?” Thadius asked. “You created a ball of water and turned it to ice in Rina.”

  “I pulled water from the air in the palace because it was thick with moisture,” Matthias said and indicated to the landscape around them. “But water is the hardest element to divine from the air. It’s the key to life and it keeps itself guarded well. I can only manage to retrieve small amounts here. I could pull some water from around us, but not much. Not enough to make a difference.”

  “Well we had better find a stream soon then. Otherwise we’ll soon run out, and she is already as dry as the Renegath Desert.” Thadius replied dolefully.

  Matthias stopped. “At the rate she is deteriorating, it won’t make any difference how much water we give her if we can’t cure her,” he said. “Giving her water won’t stop the deterioration, only slow it down and sooner or later the poison will win.”

  “Then what do we do?” Thadius asked helplessly. “I won’t just let her die!”

  “Neither will I!” Matthias exclaimed. There was silence for a moment and then Matthias continued. “There is an option I’ve considered. But it’s a long shot,” he added.

  “I’d say a long shot is better than nothing right about now,” Luccius added. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Do you remember Maryn?” Matthias asked the ansuwan. Luccius raised his eyebrows and whistled.

  “Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while,” Luccius nodded. “She would be difficult to forget,” he replied.

  Matthias nodded. “True enough.”

  “Who is this woman? You think she can help Josephine?” asked Thadius impatiently.

  “She is an old acquaintance,” Matthias said. “And yes, I do. One thing is clear: this is an enchanted poison. I thought about finding a doctor, but this is beyond any apothecary. Maryn knows a lot about potions. She might be able to concoct something that can help.”

  “And you think she’s nearby?” Thadius asked

  “I keep track of her movements,” Matthias said. “Or at least, I used to.”

  “That is… disturbing,” Thadius commented, shaking his head.

  “Are you saying she’s in Olindia?” Luccius asked.

  “It’s been a while since I have been able to locate her,” Matthias said. “But she was in Olindia when I last checked.”

  "Do you track all your acquaintances?" Thadius asked.

  "Only the pretty ones,” Luccius whispered.

  "I was looking out for her," he replied to Thadius. “It is a long story. She could be long gone by now. But if she is still around...”

  “How exactly can you find her?” Thadius asked.

  “There’s an old method used by wizards to find people. As I said, I have used it before. But I have only ever found it useful to find people in a short range."

  "How short is ‘short?’" Luccius asked.

  "It depends on the wizard," Matthias said. “And the last few times I have tried, I met with limited success.”

  Luccius nodded. “Well it is worth a try, do
n’t you think Thadius?”

  The knight looked uncomfortable between the two men. Finally, he nodded. “What do you need?” he asked.

  “Simply something personal of Maryn’s. The more personal, the better.”

  “Well, we’re buggered then, aren’t we?” Thadius exclaimed, as Matthias began to rustle in his bag. “Unless you have someth-” He stopped mid sentence as Matthias pulled out a lock of brown hair. Thadius raised his brow. "How-"

  “Don’t ask,” Matthias cut him off. “Suffice to say, this should be what I need.” He looked to the horizon. “It’s getting late again and we’ve barely covered any distance from the mountains. Perhaps we should stop here and attempt this. The sooner I try the better.”

  Thadius nodded. He eased Josephine out of his arms, laying her gently onto the ground and exhaled as the weight was lifted from his body. Luccius pulled a blanket from his bag and placed it beneath her head. She sighed as if she felt the cotton against her skin, and he sat by her side and stroked her forehead.

  “It feels like I’m petting a flagstone,” Luccius said sadly.

  Matthias unfurled his map and placed it on the road in front of him. “I need some stones to weigh it down, so it doesn’t blow away,” he instructed. “I’ve had this map longer than I’ve been a wizard and I’m not about to let it get away from me now.”

  “That explains why it’s been scribbled on so much and why the parchment smells like a dead goat,” Thadius replied, picking up clumps of rock around them big enough to weigh the parchment down and setting them along the edges of the stained map. He paused a moment and squinted at the diagram. “I didn’t get a proper look at this map before. That place there in northern Aralia: Vershallah? That hasn’t been called that in years!” He shook his head. “Decades even!” he exclaimed. “Just how long have you been a wizard?”

  “Long enough. Thank you,” Matthias replied, as he shifted the stones a little, and lowered himself onto his knees and sat cross - legged on the road, the map laid in front of him. He placed the lock of hair, still in his hand, on top of the map.

  “How does this even work?” Thadius asked. “It’s a piece of parchment and a lock of hair, for goodness sake!”

  “Everything is connected in this world Thadius. Believe it or not, we all share a common link, even you and me.”

  “I am glad,” Thadius said acerbically. “But that doesn’t explain how this all works.”

  “What should happen,” Matthias continued, “is that when I focus energies into the lock of hair, which I have placed roughly where we are on the map, I will seek out a match using those threads of power. They will stretch through the roots of the world and return to us any echo of Maryn that they find. I should then be able to decipher where Maryn is. Thereabouts.”

  Thadius sighed. “But... but it’s a piece of hair! How does it even know what to do?”

  Matthias smiled. “It’s complicated. The hair doesn’t know anything. It’s not alive Thadius. But it provides a link between Maryn and I, wherever she is. My mind translates that through the earth. I can then realise the location on the map. Is that any clearer?”

  “As mud,” Thadius exhaled. “Give me a compass any day.”

  “A compass wouldn’t help us find Maryn,” Matthias replied. “This might.”

  “Well get on with it then,” Thadius blustered.

  “Why will it only tell us if Maryn is in the nearby region?” Luccius asked. “If everything is connected as you say, then surely we can find her anywhere?”

  Matthias sighed. “Because I’m not strong enough to extend its range. A powerful enough wizard could drill through the entire world’s roots searching for a person. A strong enough wizard could do this with the power of the mind alone: use a memory of a person to home in on them. But I’m not that strong. No one is. Not anymore. Time was a wizard could track down a person with a thought and drop out of the sky on them like a spirit, use the roots in the ground as a system of travel. But that age is long gone. If I’m lucky, I can search for Maryn for a few miles. If not, I might only be able to search the valley.”

  “And you are sure it is worth trying to find this Maryn?” Thadius asked. “I’d rather not go on a wild goose chase for nothing with the princess like this.” He turned to look at Josephine.

  “I think it’s her best chance, Thadius. Better than any doctor or apothecary. Contrary to popular opinion, bleeding is not a good way to relieve the fever. All they’d do is cut her open and stick leeches on her skin. Maryn knows much more than that.”

  “Who is this woman to you that you have such faith in her abilities?” Thadius asked.

  “A good friend,” Matthias said with piercing eyes. “Or at least, she was a good friend.” Matthias looked saddened. “We didn’t part in the best of company.”

  “Did you try to kidnap her too?” Thadius acerbically.

  Matthias smiled mockingly. “Not quite. It’s a long story. One we don’t have time for.”

  “But you still think she will help you?” Thadius continued.

  “She’s a good woman. Whatever quarrel is still between us, she will help the princess. That much I am sure of.”

  Thadius broke off his stare and sighed. “Alright. Let’s get this bloody started then,” he groaned wearily.

  Matthias nodded. “Wish me luck. You might want to step back a bit. I’m not sure how this will go.” They took a few paces backward, and when they were at a safe distance, he opened his body to the world and channelled the earth power through it. If Thadius and Luccius could have physically seen the Power Matthias now drew, they would have seen tendrils creeping from the ground like fast growing plants, sliding up through Matthias’ body and into his head, snaking through the air to place themselves on the lock of hair. The hair shone in Matthias’ eyes, as thin wisps of energy that looked like shoots burst from individual strands of the auburn hair and arced back into the ground. He channelled the energy carefully, delicately; connected links where they needed to go. To Luccius and Thadius, he was just crouching on the ground with a look of concentration on his face. They sat and waited patiently.

  The multi - coloured rainbow of strands sunk into the soil, spread across the land like tendrils. Minutes passed, and Matthias began to draw a sweat on his forehead. His shoulders ached and he shook slightly as he kept the flows constant. Across his cheek a thin black vein began to form.

  “What’s happening?” Thadius asked, sitting forward.

  “It’s alright,” Luccius said, placing a hand on his chest and stopping him. “It’s a sign of exhaustion. Did you not see it on him the Mountain pass?”

  Thadius shook his head. “It was dark. And I was somewhat indisposed, if you remember? But I recall now come to think of it… yes. He had the veins on his face then as well.”

  Luccius nodded. “It’s a side effect of focusing the earth power for too long, or too much. The longer he goes on using the power, the more of those veins will emerge. Eventually his body will get to a point where he will either have to yield the energy or he will pass out. There’s only so much you can pull through you I’m told. In my mind, I see it as a little bit like having lightning surging through your body. Soon or later, you will burn up. Of course I have no idea really.”

  “But you can feel the energy?” Thadius asked. “You have some kind of senses that can pick up on what he is doing?”

  “It’s like the sensation before a storm. The hairs on the back of the neck stand up when someone channels energy.”

  “What do you feel now?” the knight asked.

  “That Matthias is channelling a lot of power,” he replied.

  Thadius stared as another vein began to rupture from Matthias’ skin across his brow. “The veins all vanish when he stops using it?”

  “After a while. Though Matthias once told me that if a wizard tries to draw too much power at one time, it could burn them out completely. The veins become scars and they damage their ability to wield the power forever.
Like sticking a piece of wood in a flame for too long. Eventually it will turn to ash.”

  Behind them Josephine whimpered, and her eyes flickered. She looked in pain. Thadius turned and placed a hand on her cheek. “It’s alright princess,” he whispered, and delicately poured more water into her mouth. “We’re nearly out of water,” he said. “There’s barely half a canister left.”

  “We have to find a town sooner or later,” Luccius replied.

  “By which time we will all be as parched as this dust!” he ran his fingers through the earth. Luccius reached into his bag and pulled out a small, silver phial about the size of a thumb. “What is that?” Thadius asked.

  “We call it ‘Beria’ in ansuwan,” he said, and undid the cork wedged deep in the object. “I have saved it for an emergency. I would say this is emergency enough.” He took a sip and passed it to Thadius. “You won’t need much.”

  The man took the phial and sniffed at its contents. “It smells disgusting!” he exclaimed. “What’s in it?”

  “Wormwood flowers, fennel, aniseed, and a fruit from the S’aal called chisbeth.” He smiled. “Best pick me up I’ve ever had.”

  Thadius stared at it a moment, and then, shrugging, took a sip. “It feels like my tongue has been set on fire!” he exclaimed, handing it back.

  “Give it five minutes and you’ll feel as if you could run for miles,” Luccius replied with a smile.

  “Perhaps we should give it to Josephine,” Thadius said.

  “If only it were that simple,” Luccius replied. He looked back at Matthias. “If it was he wouldn’t be trying so hard.”

  “You’ve known Matthias a long time, haven’t you?” Thadius asked the ansuwan.

  “Longer than any other man, save my own kin,” Luccius replied. “Why do you ask?”

  Thadius shook his head. “A man who tries to kidnap one of the family you have pledged to protect is not a man one should trust,” Thadius said soberly. “He has lied several times about his motives and his actions. But... he has convinced me somehow that we are doing the right thing. And he gave me this,” he said, and pulled down his shirt a little so the emblem of Mahalia became visible across his chest.

  Luccius nodded. “That’s worth a lot to a wizard. To most it means more than family.”

  Thadius covered the medallion up again. “You are a man who I see is honest and true. So tell me, Luccius, is he truly a good man?”

  Luccius smiled. “My good knight, he is the best of men you could hope for as an ally in this dark and dangerous world. None of us can claim to be truly pure of blood.” He shifted his position. “He was trying to do what was right, Thadius. Kidnapping her wasn’t the best way to earn anyone’s trust, and neither was lying about what he was doing, but whatever the methods he has employed, he saved the princess, that much is certain.” Thadius nodded.

  Matthias stared at the lock of hair with determination. Or it could have been desperation. Right now, he wasn’t quite sure. It had been a long time since he was taught this, and he had only practiced, in his training, to find a pigeon hidden a floor up from his classroom. Maryn’s image flickered in front of his vision: her glossy, long auburn hair and those dazzling blue eyes of hers. His nose seemed alive with her scent, her perfume, and his heart - beat with the image of her face: her porcelain skin, her pale lips. His stomach fluttered despite his best attempts to stop himself. It had been a long time since he had allowed himself to think about her in such detail. Usually such thoughts ended with a numbing in his chest: a sucking, vacuous black hole in the pit of his stomach. Maryn considered him a traitor to her and she vowed to kill him if she ever even set eyes on him again. He hoped that was said in the heat of the moment.

  He forced more of the power through himself, funnelled it down through the lock and map until he was grunting with the strain of it all. Smoke began to rise from it, and the smell of burnt hair filled the air.

  “Come on,” he growled. “I know you’re here somewhere!”

  “Matthias, be careful,” Luccius called to him. “Don’t hurt yourself.”

  “I need to find her!” Matthias panted. “Josephine is depending on me!”

  He pushed more power through the earth as his face began to pale and more veins snaked across his face. He closed his eyes and pulled everything he could through him, until he felt like the world was spinning away from him and his body would burst into pieces. Maryn’s voice echoed in his mind. Was it just a memory? Or was he hearing her through the world? She was talking about… fennel - weed and… milk of the poppy? He couldn’t recall ever talking to her about either of those. The image of a house flickered and then melted away, only to be replaced by Maryn’s face again, as clear as if she were stranding in front of him.

  He opened his eyes as he heard a gasp from Thadius, and stared down at the map. The lock of hair was on fire. Above it, a glowing star-like object shimmered. It remained where it was for a moment, and then it was moving, back and forth to all areas of the map, spinning around as if possessed, its white light sparking and pulsing until it rested above the map, towards the centre of Olindian territory, and stopped. “There we go!” Luccius breathed. “You did it Matthias! That must be where she is!”

  Matthias exhaled heavily, and fell back. He let the power go, and Luccius reached forward and threw his coat over the burning hair, putting out the flame.

  “I could hear her,” Matthias whispered. “It wasn’t just a memory.”

  Thadius pulled Luccius’s coat from the map. “You burnt your keepsake,” he said, picking up what remained of the lock of hair and passed it back to Matthias. He took it and reviewed the damage. Thadius squinted as he studied the map. “Where exactly did the light shine above?” he asked.

  “By the looks of it, it was not too far from here,” Luccius replied. “I think it was above this area,” he indicated.

  Thadius tutted. “There must be at least a dozen towns in that area! How do we know which one she’s in?”

  Matthias grimaced. “I should have waited, seen if I could have narrowed it down.”

  “It’s a clump of hair and a ball of light!” Thadius exclaimed. “How specific could it get? I’m amazed anything happened at all!”

  Matthias smiled. “That almost sounded like some kind of admiration.”

  The knight stifled a grin, but his eyes gave away his mood. “I would not go that far,” he said.

  “You couldn’t have carried on for much longer anyway, by the looks of you,” Luccius added.

  Matthias leaned over the map. He studied the place names, squinting. Finally, he pointed to a town.

  “Kardak Tavna,” he whispered.

  “Sounds familiar?” Luccius asked.

  Matthias nodded. “Perhaps.” He shook his head. “I’m not certain, but it... feels right.”

  “It has to be worth a try,” Luccius said. “Doesn’t it?”

  “It’s all we have to go on,” Matthias said. “All the chance Josephine has. If Maryn isn’t there, we don’t any more time to find her.” Matthias swallowed.

  Thadius rose to his feet. “Come on then,” he said. “Let’s get going. I’d say it’s a good days or two’s walk from here to that village. Not to mention we are all exhausted.”

  Matthias packed up his map and Thadius took Josephine in his arms again. The wizard watched her sadly as she flopped to rest on his arm again. Her hair, once glistening and golden, had turned a silvery-grey.

  “Hold on Josephine,” he whispered. “Please. Hold on for me.”

  Playing for Time

  130th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  King Arwell re - read the scroll that he held tightly between his hands for the fifth time. Captain Tiberius read over his shoulder.

  “You are sure it is from her?” he asked.

  “It’s definitely her writing and I recognise the tone of my daughter’s voice even in ink. It is her. I’m certain.”

  “There is the possibility she wrote this
under duress,” the captain suggested.

  The king smiled and laughed under his breath. “You have never gotten to know my daughter very well, have you captain?” he said. “You have more chance of dressing a pig in a jester’s robes than making her do anything she wouldn’t want to do. She would rather die.” He cast the note aside. “No, this is from her and that means she is alive and well.”

  “Then this is good news,” Tiberius remarked.

  “But she is still being followed,” Arwell added. “By Fenzar and the gods’ know who else!”

  “I received word today on Lord Fenzar and his progress through our land. Lord Robert informed me he and his other wizard companions requested the use of his household for the night. That would put them a week away from Gormal if he leaves tomorrow.”

  “Lord Fenzar doesn’t know the meaning of haste, especially when he has a glass of brandy in his hand,” Arwell sniffed. “Dragon or not, he is an arrogant, selfish man. Perhaps Lord Robert’s home comforts will delay him yet further.”

  “If, as you said, your grace, the Mahalian Council believes they can stop the people behind the dragon’s release, then he may not be worried about the dragon, but more about your daughter. This respite might mean he doesn’t see her as a threat? Perhaps he is confident she can be brought to heel easily.”

  “I have given up on understanding the motives of wizards,” Arwell sighed. “One moment Fenzar tells me my daughter is the greatest of dangers to this world, and the next he takes up residence with one of my nobles for a sojourn!” He shook his head. “Did Lord Robert say anything else in his message?”

  “Nothing of import. However, in my return message, which I sent this morning, I also informed him that we believed your daughter was heading for West Riding. Knowing the man as I do, I would imagine this information will find itself easily into the hands of Fenzar.”

  “That man has a mouth as big as an estuary,” Arwell scoffed. “Robert has most likely already spilt the beans. He is a self - satisfying, ambitious man.”

  Tiberius smiled. “I’m hoping that my misinformation will draw Lord Fenzar down the wrong road for at least another few days.”

  “Why I let Robert remain in such a position... I must be growing soft in my old age.”

  “He was of help in securing the North from rebellion all those years ago. But after these events are over, it may be that Lord Robert will outlive his usefulness?”

  Arwell smiled. “Perhaps, my old friend. We shall see where the wind blows.” He shook his head. “But we can’t assume Fenzar will fall for your ploy. As pompous as he is, he isn’t stupid.”

  “Assuming this Matthias Greenwald keeps up the pace he appears to have so far, then Princess Josephine should keep ahead of them in spite of my redirections and reach Crystal Ember before they can be caught. The question is, what happens when Fenzar makes it there as well?”

  Arwell nodded thoughtfully. “Regent Caldur has no love of Mahalia. And he has one thing we do not: leverage against them. He would see Josephine is safe and returned to us, or else he will harbour her in the city until an agreement can be reached with the wizards. That much I am certain of.”

  Tiberius nodded. “Then perhaps then the Regent can buy us time.” He paced the room, tucking his thumbs into his belt. “I will gather some of my men and arrange for them to leave with me at first light tomorrow for Olindia. Dragon or not, you will need me there to defend your daughter and negotiate her release from Mahalia’s grip.”

  Arwell placed a thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose. “My head swims with the twists and turns of it all. How I long for days when an enemy would simply lob a few boulders at you. All this scheming! Mahalian wizards against their own, some seemingly intending to help me, and the others seeking to tighten their grip on my kingdom.” He shook his head. “There has to be a way to convince Mahalia as a whole as to Josephine’s innocence. She could never be a threat to them. Not my Josephine!”

  “Mahalia will only be cowed by a strong hand. They have grown too powerful. Perhaps the time has come, your grace, that we show them our resolve on the matter? That we will not be bullied by them!”

  Arwell spluttered with laughter. “You suggest I wage a war against the wizards? Believe me, Rylin, it would give me no greater pleasure at this moment. But to do so would be certain death! Do you know what happened to the last King of Rina to question Mahalia in such a way? Before my ancestors succeeded to the throne?” When Tiberius shook his head, Arwell continued. “Let’s just say that Mahalia made sure that he would never be able to produce an heir with the twisted assets he left him! Then they installed my great, great, great grandfather on the throne, because they knew he would cooperate with them. And so they have left Aralia alone since, as long as we continue to comply.” The king paced to the window, and looked out upon the fields below. “We have had a leash tied around our necks for centuries, and it has only grown tighter.” He shook his head. “It is a collar I have tried subtly to break free of for decades, without success.” He sighed. “But I know one thing for certain. War is not the way of freeing ourselves from its bonds. No, if we are going to find a way out of this, it must be by using diplomacy.”

  Tiberius walked up to him and chuckled. “I remember a king that fought off the advances of the Aslemerian Empire with a steely resolve. That brought thousands of the foreign dogs to their knees!”

  Arwell snorted. “Many years ago now, when I was a foolish young man,” he retorted. “Before I knew the consequences of taking risks with peoples’ lives. I welcome your advice, my old friend, but were you to know the burden that sits upon my shoulders you would not so readily call for war.” He patted the man on the shoulder. “There must be a way to preserve the peace and save my daughter. Every man has a price and the wizards are no exception.”

  Tiberius nodded. “If you say so, Your Grace. I will support you in any direction you will take.”

  Arwell smiled. “My most trusted friend. Where would I be without your help?”

  “With your head on a spike, if your enemies would have their way!” the man chuckled.

  Arwell nodded. “Thankfully, we live in more stable times. Domestically, at least. Now, you must prepare to travel to Olindia. Take... Samuel Clover with you,” he instructed. “He is a skilled negotiator. If anyone can broker a truce with Mahalia, it will be him.” He clenched his hands. “Perhaps I should come with you,” he mused.

  “Joseph, you said yourself even your daughter advised against leaving Rina. The truth is we do not know if Josephine will succeed in bringing this dragon to heel. If all this madness is true, then your place is here, defending your realm. Let me deal with Fenzar.” He smiled. “Who knows, if this young wizard has taught Josephine enough, then she may very well be able to deal with him herself.”

  Arwell smiled. “That would be a sight I would like to see. And then perhaps we can free ourselves from Mahalian interference, once and for all.”

  Maryn

  132nd Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  The light of a dozen or so candles bounced about the walls of the whitewashed little house in which Maryn lived and cast out the dark and dankness of the dreary day outside. Rain beat the windows with a regular tapping, falling in waves upon the red tiled roof. The sky outside was pale and grey, but light enough to provide some natural illumination.

  Maryn poured a bubbling concoction from the steaming pewter carafe into a tall, china mug. The scent of peppermint and other mixed herbs filled the room. Delicately she set aside the jug, took the cup in both hands and sipped gratefully at its contents, drawing in the mint aroma with a sigh- refreshing. Idly she moved to the kitchen window and watched the raindrops slide in randomized movements down the distorted glass. She actually quite liked days like this, being inside the house in the warm, with the candles glowing, safe from the torrent outside. The heavens hadn’t let loose on the world this much in many weeks. In a place as cold and wet as Olindia could be, at least this far
in land, it was no mean feat they had made it this long without a downpour. It was good for the herbs, she told herself, and contented herself to tending the little shop. There wasn’t really much else to do on a day like this. No one had been in to her shop all day, which was no surprise, really. She wouldn’t set a toe outside in this, let alone a foot!

  Her reflection caught in the window and she studied herself momentarily. It had been a while since she had contemplated something as simple as her own face: a mirror was a luxury she had abandoned a long time ago as well as the vanity that required such things. In spite of that, she found herself staring at the ghostly figure in front of her.

  “You are growing old,” she whispered to herself dryly, and pawed at her cheek with a hand. Her eyes were drawn from lack of sleep. She had been plagued by bad dreams and it showed. In truth, she looked for all intents and purposes to be no older than a woman in perhaps her thirtieth year. But she could see through that thin veneer to the person beyond. With using the earth power came the added benefit of delayed ageing. She had looked young for many more years than she deserved to, by human standards at least. But now, as with all who wielded such power, time was catching up with her. The more her body grew used to the energy as the years went by, the more her body began to age again. Still, eighty was not a bad age by any means for this all to happen, she supposed. She was lucky to have survived at all given everything she had lived through.

  She drew herself out of her daydreams as there was at a knock at the door. With a tut, remembering she had fastened the shop’s door shut against the relentless wind, she set down the drink and wandered through, out of the kitchen and into the hallway. The knock came again as she pushed a red curtain aside and made her way through to the shop front.

  “Just a minute!” she called. The knock came again. “I said-” she unfastened the lock and threw open the door. Her heart jumped into her throat as she stared at the man beyond the doorway.

  “Matthias!” She exclaimed and took a step back. Her eyes flared bright blue as she stared at the sopping wet wizard, his hair pasted to his forehead, raindrops sidling down his face. She looked quickly, panicked, to the people behind him. “Luccius?” she acknowledged. The ansuwan nodded to her.

  “Can I- that is to say, can we- come in?” Matthias asked. “We need your help.” He shook his head. “I swear I’m not here to hurt you Maryn.”

  Stunned and still in shock, she nodded. “O… of course,” she said, and her eyes faded back to their natural colour. She stepped aside to let them through, tidying her hair and brushing her skirt. When they were all inside and dripping on her clean wooden floor, she closed the door.

  “Matthias what are you doing here? What…” She stopped, her gaze drawn to the girl in the soldier’s arms. Her eyes opened like saucers. “Oh my gods. It’s Princess Josephine!” She swallowed and raised a hand to her mouth.

  Matthias looked to Maryn with confusion “How do you kn-” then, realization dawned on him. “It was you! You were the wise woman who helped her contain her power!” He wiped the water from his nose. “I should have known!”

  Maryn shook her head. “What’s happened to her? How did you find me?” She asked. “What are you even doing with her?”

  “Please, Maryn, I will tell you everything later. I promise! I will explain, but first, please,” he begged, “you have to help her.”

  She swallowed, and nodded. “Of course.” She reached out and felt Josephine’s forehead, and then drew her hand back with a hiss.

  “What is it?” Thadius barked. Maryn’s eyes were wide, her brow creased.

  “What kind of power did this?” she asked, turning to Matthias.

  “She was infected by a necromancer,” Matthias answered.

  “That isn’t possible! There aren’t any necromancers! Not any more!”

  “I assure you Maryn, there is at least one. I’ll tell you how and why when I can. But all of it can wait.”

  “Can you help her?” Thadius asked imploringly.

  Maryn shook her head and tapped her lip with a finger. “There’s the problem of filtering out whatever is causing-”

  “Answer him!" Can you help?” Matthias repeated fiercely in desperation. She caught his eye for a moment, and her brow creased. She looked from him to the girl. “Yes. Possibly. Probably. But it will not be easy. I’ve never seen this level of petrifaction.” She took a breath and steadied herself. “You,” she looked at Thadius. “Bring the princess in here. Follow me. Quickly!” She beckoned them into the kitchen, where she grasped the mug and the rest of the clutter on the table and gathered them to one side. “Place her here. How long has she been like this?” she asked as she raced back into the shop.

  “About four days now, nearly five,” said Luccius.

  “That long? It is a wonder she isn’t dead already!” Maryn bellowed through the hallway. She shuffled back in with a cluster of jars and square pots cradled in her arms, and dumped them all by Josephine’s side. “This is a very nasty strain. Very nasty,” she muttered as she dashed about the kitchen. “I’ve seen things like it before, but never as vicious as this. I can feel the dark energy infused in the poison, even by touch. Pestle and mortar, third cupboard to the right,” she instructed, pointing. Luccius dove into action and began rummaging around the cupboards. “It’s an insidious infection,” she said as Luccius handed her the bowl. “It won’t just be attacking her body, but her mind as well.”

  “Her mind?” Thadius repeated. “How can it do that?”

  “A part of the infector is left behind. It infests the mind like a parasite and feeds off her soul. For her to have survived so long shows just how strong this girl is. And I should know, because I taught her how to be!”

  “How can you fight something that attacks your soul?” Luccius asked.

  “The mind is the key to its potency. It takes over your thoughts and dreams and then shuts down the body piece by piece when it has completed its work.” She looked up. “A Necromancer, Matthias?”

  “That’s right,” he whispered.

  “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me just how a Necromancer has come to walk this world again?”

  “Not right now, Maryn, if it’s all the same to you.”

  “No, I thought not. Well, however they have, the energy they have used is twisted and nasty. This might not take. Not very easily anyway, but it will give her a fighting chance at the very least. Grind up this.” She handed a chunk of something to Luccius, who held the pestle and mortar clasped in his hands. “Nice to see you again, by the way, Luccius,” she acknowledged as she poured a thick red fluid into a glass, and her brow creased up. “What exactly has happened to your face?”

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” he muttered.

  “I see. Well I will see what I can do about that once we are finished here. Give it some more oomph man, you’re not going to even dent it the way you’re going!” She brushed a wisp of hair from her face. “It is lucky you brought her to me. I doubt very much anyone else would be able to help her with this.”

  “Most other people who practice medicine don’t have the knowledge you do.” Matthias replied.

  She held up a finger. “You’re not going to worm your way into my good books by flattery wizard.” She shook her head. “Do you think I can just forget everything?”

  “I rather hoped you had,” Matthias said sombrely. “It has been a long time.”

  She frowned. “They say time heals old wounds, but this one between us Matthias has become infected and gangrenous. If I could have forgotten what happened I would have, but it is rather engrained on my memory!”

  Matthias nodded. “I know. I understand that. I’ve tried to keep an eye on you all these years, find out where you’ve been.”

  Maryn shook her head. “I knew it was you. All those wards I put up to stop the Council from finding me again and still someone found a way through them. It had to be you!”

  “You found a way to
block me recently though,” he commented.

  “A new kind of ward I had never thought of trying before,” she advised.

  “That explains why I lost track of you,” he replied.

  “Yes, and it should have stayed that way! How did you track me down this time?”

  “The ‘Ricat Demora’,” Matthias advised. “The lock of hair you gave me…”

  “You still carry that around with you?” she asked, surprised.

  “You never know when these things may come in useful,” Matthias replied. “I used so much of the power trying the incantation, I almost burnt myself out.”

  “Well, lucky for Princess Josephine you did not. Ah!” she exclaimed. “That would also explain the bad dreams I have been having! You’ve caused me sleepless nights! An effect of the echo you pulled from me!” She shook her head. “Luccius have you finished grinding that filium ore?”

  “I think so. Is it meant to be…” he paused.

  “Meant to be what?” Maryn snapped back.

  “Yellow inside?”

  “Oh hell!” she cursed. Picking up the pestle, she showered its contents across the floor, and rooted through the contents of a cupboard behind her before she produced another lump of the ore. “Try this one. It should be white inside. The person I bought these off swore to me they were a pure strain! I’ll hang him by his ankles! This is the last time he cons me out of my money!”

  Luccius ground up the new lump quickly. “Is this alright?”

  “Oh yes, that’s normal. Much better. Pass it here,” she panted, sweating with the rush. He handed over the powder, and she scooped it out and added it to the fluid in the glass. To that she dropped various other herbs and what looked like metal filings, and then placed the glass onto a small stand. “Flame please, Matthias,” she instructed. “You can make yourself useful as well!”

  “What? Oh, right.” A small flame materialised, hovering under the stand.

  “I want an explanation Matthias! Barging into my shop, my home as wet as a fish. After such a long time and everything that’s happened! And with Josephine, of all people!”

  “You’ll get one! I promised, didn’t I?” he snapped.

  “Bloody quests,” Maryn grunted, throwing leaves and herbs about the place. “It always starts with a quest! Before you know it, you’re in over your head. Bloody Mahalia and their bloody endless quests!”

  “Quests? What quests?” asked Thadius among the barrage of conversations unfolding in front of him.

  “You’re a fine one to be talking about quests, Maryn!” Matthias retorted.

  “And what’s that supposed to mean?” She answered back, inspecting a green-looking gemstone, before plopping it into the mixture.

  “You know exactly what I mean!” He continued. “You dragged me into trouble!”

  “You didn’t have to follow me!” she rebuffed. She added some more powder and dusted her hands off. “We’ll let that heat for five minutes and then we will see what good it does.” She pressed a hand to Josephine’s cheek. “Poor girl. You didn’t deserve to get caught up in any more trouble.”

  “What quests?” Thadius growled, face reddening again.

  “I see you are another unsuspecting victim of Mahalia’s plots and schemes? I’m sorry I don’t know your name?” Maryn asked.

  “Thadius,” the knight replied. She nodded.

  “The quests I speak of Thadius are the ones Mahalia sends its people on that so often involve death and turmoil to all involved!”

  Thadius nodded. “Yes, we have seen first hand how Mahalia operates,” he said.

  Matthias shook his head. “Not everyone in Mahalia is like that,” he said. “There are movements now that have started up to help women.”

  “Small rumblings from a group of people with less backbone than a snake! Heaven forbid a woman could be seen as just as capable as a man in such matters!” she sniffed.

  “For the love of the gods you two!” Luccius intervened. “I don’t think now is the time for another argument! Josephine needs our full attention!” He shook his head and his ears waggled anxiously. “Maryn, what Mahalia did to you happened long ago. You know Matthias never agreed with what they did. Why else would he have-”

  “Luccius!” Matthias hissed.

  He swallowed. “Sorry. But can we all just set aside the past for a moment and concentrate on Josephine’s future?”

  Maryn gaped, her porcelain white skin flushing crimson in her cheeks. “Yes. You’re quite right Luccius,” She ran her hands through her hair, and shifted it into some semblance of order again. She took a breath. “I just... I never expected to see you again,” she said. “And here you are...”

  Matthias smiled thinly. “I know. I’m sorry. But Josephine needed you. I had to find you. And I knew you could help.”

  She nodded. “It’s alright. Now, let’s see how this is doing.” She went over to the beaker, picked up a spoon, and prodded the mixture. The liquid had grown as thick as tar, and smelt even less pleasant. It bubbled away with a gloop as she picked the beaker up using a towel, and poured it into a china bowl. “Very good,” she said, before she picked up another handful of crystals from a wicker box. “Stand back. Unless you want singed eyebrows?” She dropped them into the mix and withdrew her hand quickly, as a flame burst from the bowl with a poof. It continued to burn, a mixture of orange-blue flames, until after a minute had passed all that was left in the bowl was a grey, powdery substance. “It is done,” she said, waving away the smoke that curled up to the ceiling.

  “What... is it?” Thadius asked, leaning forward to look into the bowl.

  “It’s a combination of filium ore, emerald stone and a few other liquids and herbs put in for good measure. An old antidote with a twist of my own devising. Normally I would have had her swallow the mixture, as its potency would be much greater. But since she is in no state to drink the potion I have turned it into a dissolvable powder. We can place it on and under her tongue and it will absorb into the body.

  “We gave her water,” Thadius said. “She seemed to swallow that down OK.”

  “Then you are lucky she didn’t choke,” she scolded. “Men! Do you not ever think?”

  Thadius grumbled and shook his head. “This all sounds like witchcraft! ‘Emerald dust?’” he repeated. Matthias visibly winced at the comment and Maryn’s eyes flared.

  “I will let the comment pass, soldier, since I know you are not aware of how much of an insult I take that term to be!” She drew herself up high; her eyes were only just level with Thadius’s chin, but her very presence seemed to shrink the knight’s stature. “My reputation as a healer was what convinced King Arwell to contact me for help in the first place all those years ago now. So, I would think my expertise would be proven, hmm? So unless you have any other ideas of how we can help this young girl, I suggest you keep your narrow - minded attitude to yourself!” She placed her hands on her hips and glared. Thadius swallowed and then, awkwardly, he nodded his head.

  “Very well. Do what you need to,” he said.

  Maryn nodded. “I have done all I need to do,” she said and indicated to the powder “Now we just need to administer it. So who will do the honours?”

  Matthias stepped forward “I’ll do it. It should be me.” Maryn turned and thrust the bowl into his hands.

  “It smells worse than poison,” Thadius whispered to him, trying to remain out of earshot.

  “I don’t think the princess is worried so much about the smell,” Matthias replied. Maryn stared at them both with fiery eyes. She had clearly heard.

  “She’s a formidable woman,” Thadius said even quieter still.

  “Tell me about it,” the wizard smiled. “What do I do?” he asked, raising his voice so Maryn could hear.

  “Take some of the mixture and simply place it on her tongue. And let nature do the rest.”

  Matthias nodded. He reached into the bowl and with two fingers, scooped some of the mixture onto his ha
nd. Then he stepped around the others, so he was at Josephine’s side, and bent over her.

  “You’d best wake up soon Josephine so you can chastise me for doing this,” he breathed quietly to her, as he lifted her head forward and gently grazed her lips, depositing the powder on to her tongue. He repeated the process until Maryn intervened.

  “That should be enough,” she said, and slipped in front of Matthias, inspecting Josephine.

  “Checking my handiwork?” Matthias asked.

  “You men can be awfully clumsy at times,” she retorted, as she watched the powder fizz in Josephine’s mouth and slowly dissolve, disappearing. “But in this case you’ve done well,” she said approvingly. “It’s with the gods now, I’m afraid, and Josephine to fight this off with the help we have given her.”

  “What do we do now?” Thadius asked.

  “We wait. If I have done my job correctly, then the potion will loosen the hold the petrification has taken on her. But with an incantation made with the tainted energy...” she shook her head. “Have no illusion that this will be a happy ending. The odds are against her. Poor girl,” she said, and touched her forehead. “After everything you’ve been through…”

  “Thank you,” said Matthias sadly, staring at the princess.

  “Oh come on,” she said, shaking her head. “We will accomplish nothing standing over her like this. I think you and I need to exorcise some demons, don’t you?” She said to Matthias. He nodded. “Thadius, make yourself useful and take Josephine upstairs and lay her on my bed. Luccius, can you boil some water? There’s tea in a jar by the windowsill,” she instructed. He nodded. “You’ll also find a salve made of jimson weed and priory thorn in the cupboard to your left. It should reduce the boils on your face and…” she looked down “-wherever else they have appeared. Reapply it every hour until I say otherwise.”

  Luccius smiled. “It’s good to see you again Maryn.”

  She smiled. “As much as I hate to admit it... it’s good to see you again as well.” She looked from the ansuwan to Matthias. “Come along, let’s sit down.”

  Maryn took Matthias into her small living room just off from the kitchen. Two wicker chairs sat by a window with a side table positioned by them. A hearth lay dormant to their side. Not much else decorated the room, save for several clusters of wildflowers in vases. They sat down and Maryn pulled her chair closer so that she could talk to him properly.

  “You have a nice life here, it seems,” Matthias complimented. She smiled.

  “It’s only small, but its home. More of a home that I have had in quite a long time. So,” she said, patting the arms of her chair. “Are you going to actually tell me what’s going on, or do I have to squeeze it out of you? I can, you know.”

  Matthias smiled weakly. “I know you can.” He took a deep breath. “From the beginning?”

  Maryn nodded. “The beginning. I know what Josephine is, obviously. But what I really want to know is, what all of this has to do with you?”

  So Matthias told her, from the Council’s decision to retrieve Josephine, to Master Pym ordering him on his own mission, to his arrival in Rina, trying to kidnap the princess and all the events of their journey right up to the present. Several hours passed before the story was finished.

  “I don’t know how you always manage to get yourself into these messes Matthias,” Maryn sighed.

  “These things just have a habit of happening to me,” he replied.

  “So you have allied yourself with men willing to defy the Consensus of the Council?” She shook her head. “I would be pleased, if I thought they could do anything to turn the tide in Mahalia. But this will bring you nothing but trouble, Matthias.”

  “I’ve been in trouble before. It’s Josephine I am sorry for. One way or another her life will never be the same again. And I’m responsible.”

  “She would be trussed up like a turkey and on her way back to Mahalia without you!” Maryn exclaimed.

  “And instead she’s lying upstairs, poisoned,” he rebuffed.

  “Self pity doesn’t suit you Matthias,” she said, and leaned forward to finish her drink. “I see you took all of five minutes undoing all my hard work with the princess,” she commented. “The wards we worked on have completely evaporated.”

  “They were only a temporary fix,” Matthias said. “They were ripped apart by the sorcerers as soon as they knew about her. She has to learn how to use them, not run away from them.”

  “Are you saying that’s what I did?” she snapped. Matthias said nothing, simply looked to the ground. She sighed. “We have certainly started again from where we left off, haven’t we?”

  “It seems that way. And I really don’t have the energy for an argument.” Matthias replied.

  “I know you weren’t responsible for what happened. And I know what you did saved my life,” Maryn sighed. “But you led them right to me. That was something that broke my heart!”

  Matthias nodded glumly. “That’s a decision I regret every day. Perhaps I could have refused, found some way of defying the Council’s orders. But at the time I couldn’t see any way out of it. And then afterwards… sometimes I wish I had forced you to take me with you. There have been times since I have wondered if that was the biggest mistake I have ever made.”

  They were silent a moment, but then Maryn continued. “It wasn’t written. The gods took you down a different path and here you are now, making a difference to someone’s life and doing some good.” She offered a hand. “Perhaps we never will see completely eye to eye on the past. But given the circumstances, perhaps we can broker a truce?”

  Matthias took her hand and shook it without hesitation. “Agreed,” he said. Then, after a pause, he let go, and sank back, rocking in his chair, watching Maryn silently.

  “What is it?” she asked him.

  “You still look exactly the same as you always did.”

  She chortled. “Now I know you’re lying!” she sipped at her delicate china cup. “Just before you arrived I thought to myself how the power is losing its grip on my skin. I’m starting to feel time beginning to catch up with me.” She nodded. “As it should be. One cannot live forever, after all.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Matthias chuckled and finished his tea, placing the cup back on to the small table between them.

  “You look well enough, despite coming in here soaked to the skin,” Maryn said. Then she peered a little closer. “But it’s happening to you as well. Your eyes are older.”

  “And wiser?” he ventured.

  “That remains to be seen,” she shot back.

  Matthias’s smile fell a little. “I have felt a watchful eye over my shoulder all the more these past few years,” he said. “Time loads a lot onto our shoulders as the ages pass. Even more since I have been travelling with the princess, I have felt time stalking me. She is so young and I am so old in comparison.”

  “You give yourself little credit as always,” she said softly. “That you have grown older is no bad thing. How else can one gain experience? You want to change the world and lead Mahalia into the future with these other wizards? Then you need the wisdom that comes with age to do so.” Her face grew sad. “The outcome of all you have told me could change the world. Thousands of people will live or die depending on the decisions made in the coming weeks. Depending on what you do.”

  Matthias nodded. “I know.” He shook his head, and stared out the window. The rain had abated a little and sunlight was peeking its way through the thick cloud.

  “Do you love her?” Maryn asked suddenly.

  He looked up at her, wide eyed, shocked by the suddenness of the question. “You have always been abrupt, Maryn, but that is another level entirely.”

  She smiled. “You do then,” she nodded.

  After a moments pause, he answered. “I care about her a lot,” he began. “She is unlike any person I have ever met before.” Then he started to laugh. “I know what you’re thinking. Stupid old foo
l, falling in love with a human.”

  “You’re not so old as to never fall in love again,” Maryn replied softly. “And who can dictate who we will fall for?”

  “I’ve seen too much,” he said sharply.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” she asked.

  “It has everything to do with it. Josephine is young, innocent and uncoloured by the madness of this world.” Matthias sighed. “I have hurt people, Maryn. You know what I’ve done. Destroyed the lives of people who never deserved such a fate. On top of all that, I have helped to bring about revolutions and topple rulers as part of Mahalia.” He shook his head. “I would bring her nothing but pain. Just as I did to you.”

  “Pain may wait for that girl whether you are the one to cause it or not,” she replied. “Is it not better to face it with someone who knows the truth of the world?”

  Matthias looked at her a moment, then shook his head. “I feel uncomfortable talking about such things with you,” he said.

  “You think it improper to speak of such things with one who knows you so well? Who else can you talk to like this? Not even Luccius knows you as I do,” she replied.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” Matthias said.

  Maryn smiled. “You assume that I have been alone all this time?” she asked, and he looked up at the wry grin on her face. She shook her head. “There was a time when I cried over such things as the lost love of youth. But trust me when I say, Matthias, you will not hurt me in discussing this aspect of your life.”

  Matthias nodded. “Then I have run out of excuses not to talk about it, it seems.”

  Maryn shook her head. “Well, if you truly do not want to discuss it, I will not press you on it further.” She leaned forward, “But one piece of advice I will give you. Do not let fear hold you back, or else you will regret it the rest of your life. And if you plan on living forever, that could be a long time.” She smiled.

  He nodded to her and smiled back. “I’ve missed talking to you. You always were good at helping me see clearly. I’m not nearly as good at it as I like to think.” Maryn bowed her head in acknowledgement. “If she doesn’t recover, I’ll never forgive myself,” Matthias added.

  “She is strong – willed,” Maryn commented. “When I helped her to suppress her power, she fought against it with a strength like no one I have ever seen. I have never met someone so determined. And infected with poison that strong, she should have been dead within a day at most.” She shifted in her seat. “If she really has been picked by the gods, they might be on her side, helping to keep her here.”

  Matthias shook his head. “Well they’re not helping enough,” he said bitterly. “It’s not enough.”

  Luccius appeared in the doorway. They both looked up at him earnestly.

  “Still no change,” he said sadly.

  Maryn rose and patted Matthias on the shoulder. “Why don’t you get some sleep?” she suggested. “There is plenty of room for you all. I will watch the princess for a while.”

  Matthias shook his head. “No. I’ll relieve Thadius.”

  “You need rest, old man,” Maryn said sternly but with a smile.

  “I won’t sleep. Not with Josephine still like this,” he replied. “I couldn’t.”

  She smiled. “Stubborn mule as always,” she muttered. “Well then, I’ll make another tea. Gods know we haven’t had enough already.” She left the room.

  Luccius sat in her vacant seat. “This ointment is helping a treat,” he said, indicating to his bare arms. “She’s a clever woman, Maryn.”

  Matthias nodded. “She is at that.”

  “I’m certain the potion will help Josephine. We just have to be patient.”

  Matthias smiled. “I’ve never been very good at that,” he quipped.

  Luccius nodded. “Did you talk about things?” he asked, taking off his bandana and running a hand across his twisted locks of hair.

  “We did,” Matthias replied.

  “And?”

  “We have called a truce.” He smiled.

  Luccius nodded. “Well that is good. If experience tells me anything, it’s that if anyone can hold a grudge for that long, it’s a woman. Better to calm the waters. Make peace.”

  Matthias nodded thoughtfully and his sharp eyes studied Luccius. “Wise words, but are they ones you’ll ever follow? Will you ever go back and make peace with your people?”

  Luccius’s face grew pensive. “Perhaps. When the time is right. But not now. As much as I miss that place, I can’t go back yet. There’s too much to do.”

  “You can’t run forever,” Matthias said bluntly, rising from the chair. “From anything.”

  “I can try!” Luccius grinned. “I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?”

  “The world seems to have a funny way of ensuring that our past catches up with us again,” Matthias suggested and indicated to his surroundings. “What better proof do you need than my standing here, in a place I never thought I would be, with a person I never thought I’d see again?”

  “If the world wants me to go back before I am ready it will have to take me on a leash,” the ansuwan said mockingly.

  Matthias smiled thinly and nodded. “I’d best go relieve Thadius,” he said, turning to the door. “If I can prise him away.”

  “Matthias,” Luccius said, stopping the wizard in his tracks in the doorway. The wizard turned around to face him again. “What…” He paused. “What do we do if the princess doesn’t wake up?”

  “I thought you said you were sure that she would?” Matthias asked.

  The ansuwan swallowed. “I am. Sort of.”

  Matthias looked at him and nodded. “If she doesn’t, then I’ll take care of it.”

  Luccius looked confused, but before he could question any more, Matthias turned and left the room.

  A World of Dreams

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

  Josephine opened her eyes to the glow of a full, yellow moon set in a jet – black, night sky. She was lying on her back and for a moment it felt like she was paralyzed and unable to move. Her fingers felt gingerly beneath her and found the familiar touch of grass. She grew puzzled.

  Where am I? Where are the others? She thought hesitantly.

  “Hello?” she called out, but no - one replied. “Matthias? Thadius? Luccius?” There was no answer and so she sat up with effort, her head groggy and heavy and looked around tentatively. She was definitely not in the mountain pass anymore. She looked down at the grass she had felt beneath her. It was a disturbingly dark green, almost black, as if it were infected by something. It stretched out to the horizon; a sickly field of dying plant life that surrounded her in all directions for miles.

  Where in the gods am I? Josephine thought. Her memory jogged suddenly. Taico Grimm. She threw a hand to her neck, feeling for where he had dug his nails into her skin. There was no pain and from what she could feel, no cuts. Am I dreaming?

  Her ears picked up a whispering voice, vague and distant.

  “Is there anyone there?” she called out. Her voice echoed around her, but no one replied. The air tasted strange as well: metallic like iron. Like blood. She shivered, even though she wasn’t cold. There was no heat or chill that she could feel at all – no sense of temperature. It was as if her skin had been dulled.

  Everything here seems wrong! Delicately Josephine rose to her feet. Turning this way and that she tried to decide on a direction, straining to hear the voice again. It was gone. Each way she looked nothing differed, and so she picked a path and started walking.

  What felt like hours passed; hours of walking across the eternal grassland with no end in sight. Walking began to feel somewhat pointless. Yet there seemed nothing else to do and as she continued she started to feel a pull on her, as if she were being drawn forward by an invisible thread. So she carried on. It was another half - hour at least of walking, when she suddenly felt the wind in her hair. It came from nowhere, but the further forwar
d she walked the stronger it became. It was glorious, a feeling of reality bursting through the endless, lifeless landscape. As she continued on, fighting against the wind, her ears pricked up. There was a new sound in the distance.

  What is it? Could it be water?

  The wind seemed to grow stronger still, trying to push her backwards and she almost felt as if she could feel hands made of air, grasping at her, forcing her back. But the invisible thread kept her on course, tugging at her, and she stretched out her arms and flailed madly to keep going. She could feel no energy flowing through her, no ability to even grasp the power-however weak she may still be in its use- to help her push through. A bloodcurdling laugh echoed around her in the wind, and her neck grew tight, as if the wind were trying to suffocate her. She panicked and grasped at her throat against the invisible forces. With the blackness of unconsciousness starting to mask her vision, she forced her legs on and managed to take another step. As she did so, the wind seemed to lose its grip. Another step forward and she could breathe properly again. She ran forward as the wind died down, through the grass as fast as she could, and then, as quickly as she had started running, she skidded to a halt and yelped. The land in front of her had disappeared, replaced with thin air. She was standing on the edge of a cliff! The sea swirled below her. She looked behind, expecting to see the expanse of green field where she had come from. There was nothing. The land had disappeared. She looked down at her feet and saw that the grass had been replaced by flagstones, surrounding her in a small circle. What was going on?

  The sea thundered against the cliff - face, crashing into jagged rocks beneath her. She didn’t recognise the area, but it made her feel uneasy, as if she wanted to turn and run and not look back. The sea seemed formed, for a moment, into a malevolent face. It howled up at her, a whirlpool of a mouth shrieking its hatred for her presence. She closed her eyes as the face erupted towards her, stretching up the cliff. It was going to swallow her!

  There was a sucking sound and then the sounds of the torrent disappeared. She opened her eyes, and was presented with a grand hallway. Enormous pillars of red marble flanked her left and right, stretching outwards toward an archway. The ceiling was immensely high, taller than any building she had ever set foot in. Gold plastered its heady domes on which ornately painted blue beings were wrapped in marble - etched togas, surrounded by silvery clouds. They were unmistakably Akari. She couldn’t help but stare in wonderment. Until recently she had thought them nothing but a myth- an ancient story of people who may have lived well before her time. But now, looking up at those ethereal beings, she almost felt a kinship to them. In a way she was connected to them through the power she held inside her. She may not be an Akari, but someone had chosen to give her their power and so some part of her was like them. They looked divine, gazing down at her from their seat in the heavens, the ones sent by the gods to bring peace to the world. Well, the power certainly hadn’t brought peace to her world. All it had brought her so far was death and sorrow.

  She started forward across the room, her gaze still fixed on the fresco, but stopped again as she heard whispers. She ducked behind one of the pillars and tried to listen to where the voices were coming from. They were faint, and they seemed to have no point of origin. It was almost as if… as if they were coming from inside her mind. Which was silly, she reasoned, since she had decided that she was already inside her mind as it was, in some kind a dream. But then, this whole situation was silly. Why could she not wake up? What was happening out there in the waking world? How long had she been dreaming like this?

  The voices were pulling her towards the archway in the far wall. She took a step away from the column she had hidden behind, and the whispers babbled in her head, louder this time, overlapping voices. Or was it one voice? Another few steps and the whispers became clearer. Someone was repeating her name, over and over again. They were beckoning her to come to them. How did she know that? She could not explain it. But she knew they wanted her to continue.

  “Who is there?” she called out, pausing again. The whispers stopped. The only answer she got was her own voice ricocheting through the room. Warily, she glided towards the archway in front of her, and passed into its dark confines. She emerged into a new hallway, divided into two shadowy routes. Which way should she go? Left or right? Each looked identical. The whispering came again, if it could still be called that. It had grown louder and nearly drowned out her thoughts with its intensity. She thought it was coming from the left. Tentatively she padded down the corridor and turned the corner. A doorway welcomed her, with black wooden panels, but there was no bolt, no lock. She pressed on it, expecting it to be stuck fast, but it evaporated at her touch into smoke. A dark spiral staircase wound down to the left. She tutted. More walking! The voice that filled her mind was coming, somehow, from its depths:

  “Josephine. Josephine. Josephine. Josephine.” It was never ending.

  “Be quiet!” She called down the stairwell. “You are giving me a headache!” The voice continued. She shook her head and descended the stairs.

  “I am coming as fast as I can!” she called as the voice continued to chant her name.

  Her spine tingled as she continued downwards. Hundreds of steps! How tall this building must be to accommodate such depths!

  She stopped as she heard another voice, one that was happily familiar. It was Thadius! But she couldn’t make out what he said. It was muffled: distant. She thought she heard another voice asking with him, but whoever it was, she couldn't tell.

  “Thadius!” she cried out. “I’m here! Where are you?” But he didn’t reply. Only the repetition of her name carried on, bouncing around her head incessantly.

  She reached the bottom of the stairs. Another door stood between her and the next room. This one instilled fear within her; dried blood smeared the ancient wood, drawing patterns she did not recognise. Gingerly she reached out and touched the door again, pressing it with her fingertips. From where she tapped, smoke began to rise. The wood blackened, and flame sparked into life, eating at the material until the entire door was ablaze. And then it stopped, as the wood turned to ash and collapsed into a smoking pile on the floor beneath her. She stepped beyond the doorway.

  The room she emerged into was unlike anything she had ever seen before. A maze of mirrors surrounded her, as tall as the ceiling, reflecting light from unseen sources. Her reflection stared back at her. The voices in her head seemed to bounce of the mirrors in the same way as her own image, and she could hear that they were coming from within the maze.

  “Oh well,” she sighed, “here goes.” She walked forward, her own face staring back at her through hundreds of reflective panels, and met with her first fork in the road. She chose the left way, as the voice seemed to her to be stronger that way, and carried on until the path split into three. Whichever way she turned, her own face looked back at her, and the light shone in her eyes.

  “Oh Matthias I really wish you were here right now,” she whispered, and then smiled. “Instead of me.” She pressed on. “You would likely have some Mahalian trick to navigate this maze. Whereas I have only my eyes and my ears to guide me. Neither of which is much help right now.”

  She stopped as the hairs on the back of her neck prickled and turned swiftly, convinced someone was behind her. The mirrors glared back at her. Swallowing, she continued, picking up the pace around the maze. Something caught her vision in the mirrors: a small, black shape rushing past, and she turned again. Nothing.

  “Pull yourself together Josephine!” she whispered. She moved deeper and deeper within the maze. As she stepped forward, another voice permeated the first. She couldn’t hear what it whispered, but something deep within her told her that it came from someone or something evil. Such black and white descriptions were hardly ever appropriate. The world was such a mixture of shades of grey. But in her core, she knew without any doubt that the voice belonged to the darkest soul she had ever encountered. It would kill her if she let
it. An instinct told her to run. She began to grow panicked and disorientated. The room spun, faster and faster, and she threw her hands to her ears as the voices continued to cry out her name and the cackling, tormenting voice bombarded her.

  "Stop it! Stop it please!" she cried, as everything blurred around her. She screamed, and the mirrored glass around her shattered into a million pieces. Instantly she was falling, faster and faster, through darkness that seemed to have no end. She shut her eyes as she waited for the ground to find her and crush her bones. She knew it was a dream, but somehow, she felt that if she were to die here, she would never wake up.

  She hit water with massive force and sank, deeper and deeper, bubbles escaping from her mouth. She fought hard to open her eyes against the murky blue - green water that surrounded her and flailed around desperately. Her eye caught an object below her in the depths: light glinting off a large, golden ring embedded into a stone plinth. No, it wasn’t just one golden ring. There were three rings, implanted into the surrounding stone, with symbols engraved all around their circumference. Gasping for air, lungs heaving and her heart pumping, she scrambled towards the surface. Her head broke the water and she drew air into her lungs with a great gasp. Her vision danced with multi-coloured spots. Viciously she hit out with her legs to keep herself afloat and wiped at her eyes with a hand to clear them of water.

  “Welcome child”, said a voice behind her.

  She spun round towards the owner. Light shone from the figure that stared at her; a beautiful, intoxicating figure, dressed in robed of pure white. She was dazzling. She was an Akari.

  Visionary

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

  “You… you’re an Akari!” Josephine exclaimed, staring at the ethereal figure standing above. The creature had pastel blue skin, unblemished, smooth like porcelain. Veins of dark blue ran across her cheeks and speckled her forehead. Her eyes shone like mercury. Behind her back she seemed to have wings, although they flickered in and out of Josephine’s vision and she couldn’t be sure they truly existed or if she were painting them out of her imagination. The Akari wore a white peplos, its cut running diagonally across her neck and chest, leaving her right shoulder bare. An ornamental clasp at her left shoulder held the garment in place, and the tubular cloth hung down to her ankles. A pattern of meandering gold lines in a repeating square pattern ran around her midriff. The creature surveyed her with its unearthly stare. Josephine was in awe at its unusual beauty, but tried to speak. “You have summoned me?” she asked.

  The woman shook head from where she stood on the plinth above her. “I did not do this”, she replied and her body flickered. “Though we did try and speak with you before, many times.”

  “Then am I... am I dead? Is that what I am doing here? Are you to guide me to the temple of the passing?”

  The Akari smiled and tilted her head. Her velvet words fell into Josephine’s head and caressed her mind. “You misunderstand your circumstances child. Though in a way, you are almost correct. But I am not here to take you to the next world.”

  “Then... then why am I here?” Josephine asked.

  “You are dying”, the Akari said.

  “I thought you just said-”

  “There is a great difference between dying and being dead, child.” She smiled. “I do not expect you to understand.”

  Josephine’s face grew angry. “You patronise me,” she said angrily.

  “I speak only truth,” the creature said, apparently ignorant of Josephine’s anger. “How can one so young understand the complexities of life, death and all of creation?” The Akari shook her head. “But this is irrelevant. As I said, you are dying. It has altered your state of being. In doing so, it has allowed us to speak with you at long last.” Her form flickered again and a momentary annoyance registered on her pale face. “Though our link is unstable. I do not know how long we have.”

  “How are you speaking to me from beyond the grave?” Josephine asked.

  “I am as alive as you, and perhaps a little more”, the Akari said.

  Josephine blinked back her surprise. “You are alive? Then where are you? Why did you leave? People barely remember you even existed!”

  “We are trapped,” came the response.

  “Where?” Josephine asked.

  “In a reality beyond your comprehension. But such questions of how and why are not as important as that which must be done.”

  “They are important to me! I have so many questions!”

  “Then they will have to remain unanswered. For now at least. I have no more time to give you child. I am sorry.”

  “No!” Josephine cried. “You will talk to me! Tell me why you gave me this power? Of all people, why me? You made me kill my mother!”

  “We gave you nothing”, the Akari said. “It was always within you.” She smiled. “You are a part of us.” The room rumbled as if an earthquake shook the ground and the Akari looked about herself, concern on her face. “We grow weak, speaking to you in this way. You must stop wasting time! Now, you must listen, for there is much for you to do.”

  Josephine shook her head in desperation. “Are you talking about the dragon? You want me to stop it from being released?” she asked. “I am trying! But people keep getting in my way!”

  “The beast is irrelevant,” the Akari said.

  “How can it be irrelevant? The prophecy... the gods told the wizards that the dragon must be stopped! By me!”

  “The beast is one part of a much larger puzzle, child. It is insignificant in light of that which is to come.” She flickered again, her form destabilising dramatically and she looked around pensively. “Something else is here. It is working against us. Against you.”

  “Something else? I don’t understand! I-”

  “You have to free us!” the Akari said with haste. “Find the gateway to our prison and open the rift! It is the only way that your world can be truly saved. We are the only creatures that can bring peace.”

  Josephine swallowed. “How do I do that? Where is this prison?”

  “The gateway was hidden and buried. The tainted beings-“ The Akari closed her pale eyelids as another quake shook the room. Rocks from the ceiling above plopped into the water.

  “Are you alright?” Josephine asked.

  “I am afraid our time is at an end,” she said hurriedly. “You must survive and do what must be done. We must stop Soral!”

  The Akari gasped as a blade end emerged through her chest. She looked down, surveying the wound, before regarding Josephine with pained eyes. “The four tainted ones will bring forth the Alignment!” she cried. Then she dissolved, shattering into pieces, revealing the rest of the blade behind her figure and Taico Grimm, holding its hilt.

  The Council Meets

  135th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  The circular amphitheatre that housed the Council Chamber of Mahalia stretched on for what to the untrained eye seemed miles. A trick of the earth power made the walls semi - transparent, so that the room was alive with the real view on the outside of the room, which sat at the top of the pyramid - shaped structure of the city. Clouds moved overhead, overlain across the ancient, ornamental architecture of the ceiling that seemed almost pointless given how little it was seen beyond the sky. Under normal circumstances the room would perhaps be half full at most, with many wizards abstaining their right to sit and discuss matters both trivial and mundane. Today, however, the room was packed. Today was the day that Augustus Pym would be hauled over the coals for all to see.

  Pym sat in what in his situation could only be referred to as the ‘dock’. He was under no illusion: he was on trial whether it was named so or not. No - one went against the consensus. Not for many years at least, and never in relation to something so important. The chancellor stood on the central, circular dais, resting his weight on the old, wooden plinth that had been restored countless times throughout the centuries and was covered with gold leaf and amber jewel
s.

  “My fellow council members,” he bellowed, his voice projected by a subtle twisting of the air with the earth power so that it filled the entirety of the room. "I have called this meeting to address an issue of great importance concerning the actions of a member of this council, Augustus Pym, which go against the Consensus of this chamber on the matter of Princess Josephine Arwell.” The room murmured with delight. It was not often that such a topic was discussed openly amongst the chamber. “As you will recall, the decision of this council regarding the fate of the girl was that, in light of the revelations we have uncovered in the twelfth seeing stone, Josephine Arwell was to be retrieved from Aralia, her nature purged and thereafter contained until the current crisis we face has been resolved.” He turned to Augustus. “Councillor Pym, however, has seen fit to take matters into his own hands. He has sent Matthias Greenwald, whom many of you will be aware is only a recent graduate of this realm, to train Princess Josephine.” The murmurs became louder and more excited with each passing sentence. “Without consulting the council, this plot to undermine the unity of this house has placed us in even greater danger than we were already in. As we speak the princess is on her way to the city of Crystal Ember. She believes she can stop the dragon from being released!” The chancellor paused until the commotion ebbed and he could continue. “Lord Fenzar has engaged in a pursuit of Matthias, however as of yet he has not been able to locate him or the girl." He took a breath. "To say that I am disappointed in the actions of Councillor Pym would be a grave understatement.” He turned to Augustus, who watched him placidly from his box. “This council must then decide on the actions to be taken to restore this situation to our control and furthermore, decide the fate of Councillor Pym. I therefore open the floor for your discussion.” The man stepped back as hundreds of men rose from their seats and began waving their arms in the air to gain attention. Inspecting the crowd, the chancellor pointed to a man in the front row. “Auric, please speak,” he nodded.

  The tall, stick - thin man, with mottled, wafer-thin skin, rose surprisingly deftly from his seat given his obvious age and raised a bony hand. “Counsellor Pym,” he began, “What have you to say of these actions brought against you? Surely you are aware of the delicacy of our predicament? Why would you go against the Consensus in this matter?” 

  Augustus rose from his seat, slowly and carefully, and adjusted his robes. His face was unyielding as he spoke. “It will perhaps come as little surprise to many of you that I originally opposed the will of the Consensus to capture the princess. My expression of distaste for the decision was made quite clear in the deliberations we have had these last few months. In my judgement the seeing stone made it quite clear the gods’ intentions for Princess Josephine: she is the one and only chance of stopping the Return.”

  “That is a matter of opinion,” Auric replied, but then motioned to Pym to continue.

  “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps it is just my opinion. The stones can be interpreted in many ways. But I remain definitively forward - thinking in my approach to matters of this world as they stand. And I believe Mahalia must face the future with an open mind if it is to remain standing as tall as it does in the politics of this continent.” He took a pause. “Faced with the strength of my convictions to revelations of the seeing stone, I took action to correct what I see as a fatal error in judgement by this realm.” The hubbub of the room grew louder again as he continued. “The world stands on a knife edge! We have not faced such a challenge in hundreds of years! The stone has shown us the solution to our problems: a young girl endowed with the power of the Akari. Should we let our bias of women using the power blind us to all that she could do for peace in this world?”

  “With respect, Augustus,” another voice boomed out, from a man who rose from his seat several rows back. “That was not your decision to make. All possibilities were discussed and the majority voted to contain the girl and fight the upcoming storm ourselves. The girl is too dangerous to be let loose!” 

  “Our strength alone will not be enough.” Pym replied bluntly.

  “You doubt our abilities?” The man continued.

  “Malik, we may yield the earth power and we may have survived this long as a great country as a result of our relationship to it. But to think we are superior to anyone else, that our realm will last forever simply because we believe it will is to set ourselves up for a mighty fall. We must adapt and challenge our preconceptions if we are to continue. We are not powerful enough to stop this alone. I believe that with my whole being. And if we do continue down this path, Mahalia will fall.”

  “Treasonous talk!” Another man called out angrily, hammering his fists on the wooden pew in front of him.

  “You question my loyalty to this realm Fessalin, simply because I have the courage to speak out against conservative elements? I work to protect this council and the people of Mahalia in all things! Even from itself!” The room continued to echo with the arguments of the men, until the chancellor stood again on the podium and raised his hands.

  “My friends, I know you will agree that Councillor Pym has given a lot to this council over the years. I am convinced his actions are meant to be for the good of this realm.” He turned to Pym. “But you are naive if you think the girl can be trusted. She is a woman who can wield! How many women have we had to suppress over the years because of their behaviour with the powers?”

  “Too many,” Pym said through gritted teeth, and then raised his voice again. “And too many have been dealt with harshly simply because of their gender and our fear!” The room exploded again with voices. Another man raised his hand. He was a young looking wizard, with an upturned nose and a rounded face. The chancellor beckoned him to speak.

  “Tell me Augustus, have you disclosed the full extent of the prophecy to your apprentice? Is he aware of everything that is to come?”

  “I have told Matthias only what he needs to know. He is not aware of the Return, only of the dragon. I had hoped that with the princess brought to me and partly trained in her abilities, we could reach a new Consensus and that this subterfuge could be ended for the greater good. He didn’t need to know the rest.”

  “Then your actions are not all foolish, it would appear,” the man finished and sat back down, his harsh gaze boring into Augustus’s face.

  The room grew quiet for the first time, and the chancellor pulled from under the plinth a clear glass ornament the size of his fist, with spikes sticking out at all angles.

  “I think the time has come. You will cast your votes into the star of judgement and let us drawn an end to this. Do we continue with the current Consensus? Or do we follow Councillor Pym’s suggestion to aide the girl?” He let go of the object, which hovered above his head. All around him, wizards raised their hands. The star began to glow, shifting its colour from purple to blue. Finally, it settled on a blue hue, pulsing with a subtle hum, and the chancellor nodded. “It is settled. We continue along our current course and we will simultaneously work to retrieve the girl from Matthias.” Pym sat heavily back in his seat and lowered his head.

  The chancellor turned to him. “Councillor Pym, you have gone against the will of this council in open defiance of our laws and practices. You have seen the Consensus on this matter not once, but twice. Do you now accept the will of this council?”

  Pym looked up defiantly. He knew what he should say, to save his skin, but his mouth would not form those words. “No,” he said bluntly.

  The chancellor nodded. “Then as chancellor I have no alternative but to imprison you for your actions. You have committed treason against your government.” He shook his head. “Do you have anything further to say to this council?”

  Pym stood again. He raised his head and broadened his shoulders. “There seems little mote that I can say and nothing it appears that would change the mind of this ageing and bigoted chamber. All I will say is that I fear you have gone against the will of the gods. They have chosen this world’s saviour and you have c
hosen to go against her.” His jaw set hard as he looked over the room. “You have signalled the downfall of Mahalia in your intransigence. When this city crumbles I hope you will remember my words and look back at this day with regret. I know I will.”

  Decisions

  135th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Josephine lay in Maryn’s bed, her face pale and her body thin. Thadius sat on a stool by her bedside, a weary head in his hands, his sword cast aside, and Matthias shifted his position against the far wall, where he studied his shoes. Luccius sat opposite Thadius, cured of the boils by Maryn’s lotion. His ears pricked as he heard the sound of birds and he looked up to the window where the sky was a black - grey blend, tinged by the pink light of a new day.

  “I barely noticed the night pass,” he said dreamily. “How long have I been sitting here?”

  “About five hours since the last time you asked,” Thadius answered glumly.

  The ansuwan shook his head and rose from his seat. “What are you thinking about?” he asked Matthias.

  “I’m trying to decide what to do,” he said, running his thumbnail across his bottom lip.

  “About what?”

  “Whether I should continue on to Crystal Ember.”

  “You can’t be serious?” Thadius exclaimed. “What do you possibly think you could do there on your own?”

  Matthias shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Without Josephine it’d be certain death facing Sikaris!” the knight added.

  “Maybe. Nevertheless someone has to try, don’t they? The prison could break any day now. Standing around here is not accomplishing anything and if Josephine... if she doesn’t...” He shook his head. “Someone has to try.”

  Maryn entered the room, wearing a woollen night - gown and carrying a tray with three steaming porcelain cups of tea.

  “I thought you could do with something to wake you all up,” she said. “My own blend of spiced tea. How is she?”

  “There doesn’t seem to be any change,” Thadius said wearily.

  “Maryn, can you please try and knock some sense into Matthias?” Luccius asked. “He’s talking about going on his own to stop the dragon!”

  Maryn set the tray to one side. “You have a plan?” she asked him.

  “No,” said Matthias.

  “Ah. You have lost your mind then?” Maryn asked.

  “Possibly,” Matthias sniffed with a thin smile. “It should have worked by now, shouldn’t it?” he asked her. “I can tell by that look on your face that the answer is ‘yes’.”

  “It doesn’t look good,” Maryn replied. “However, she is still alive and that much is a miracle in itself. Perhaps in a few more days we will know for sure.”

  “It has been three days already. There is too much at stake to wait any longer,” he said. “I can’t stay here when the dragon could be freed at any moment.” He looked at Josephine. “As much as I want to.”

  “Fine. Go then!” Thadius said angrily. “We don’t need you. This mission is over.” He stepped forward, his black-ringed eyes glaring at Matthias. “If the princess wakes after you have gone I’m taking her back to Rina. I will fight off wizards or demons or whoever else decides they would like to try and hurt her.”

  “If she does wake up you have to follow me and get her to Olindia,” Matthias advised.

  “To do what? Get killed? Without any more training, what will she be able to do?” He stood. “This is all your fault! You and your scheming people! Why couldn’t you just leave her alone?”

  “You know what my people would have done if they had got to her first! Or worse, if those creatures had reached her first, she would be dead!” exclaimed Matthias.

  “Well, you’ve certainly done a great job of avoiding that out here, haven’t you? She’s coming back with me, to her father. The dragon be damned!”

  “You’re a coward!” Matthias spat. “Josephine would stay and fight! If she were awake she’d carry on if it meant she could save lives!”

  “Oh, I dare you to call me a coward again wizard!” Thadius bared his fists. “If you cared an inch about the princess you wouldn’t ask me to take her further into danger!”

  “I care about her more than I can say!” Matthias growled.

  “You barely know her!” Thadius barked.

  “Men,” Maryn muttered. “This house wasn’t built for such rigorous cockfights.”

  “Both of you just stop it! For the gods’ sakes! You aren’t helping anything!” Luccius yelled. He took a deep breath and ran his hands anxiously through his locks. “Matthias, if you need to go, then you should go.” He took a breath. I will stay here. If Josephine awakes… when she awakes, I will tell her where you’ve gone. Then it will be her decision as to what she does and where she goes!” He eyed Thadius with a piercing stare. “Whatever she decides, I will come and find you when I can. I’m not going to leave you on your own.”

  Matthias stepped back and nodded. “Alright,” he said after a pause. He brushed past the knight who stood defiantly rigid, nostrils flaring. He could have been made from wood his back was so straight. Matthias knelt by Josephine’s side, and his face grew soft. Fumbling by her side, he picked up her hand and stroked it softly with his thumb.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t keep you safe,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I lied to you. Both times. I should have told you the full truth from the start. I was trying to protect you. I hope whatever else you think of me, that you will believe that.” He took a breath. “I may not have known you very long,” he continued, “but I am all the better for being in your company.” His words caught in his throat and he had to steady himself. Then he laughed under his breath. “All these years and then you come along.” He shook his head. “Why now, so late on, must I have found you?” He stopped and turned to look at Maryn. She smiled at him. Matthias turned back and then, leaning forward, kissed the princess on the forehead. “Goodbye Josephine.” He placed her hand down by her side, stood, and turned away, making his way to the door. At its entrance he paused, a hand on the frame and then after a beat turned to the others. “I was never very good at leaving in the middle of an argument. You aren’t a coward Thadius. We couldn’t have made it this far without you.”

  The knight nodded begrudgingly. “That is big of you to admit,” he said gruffly.

  “The truth is, I care about you all. You have joined me on this journey to protect the princess and I...” he stopped. “Never mind. You should all just get as far from here as you can, in case the worst happens.” Then turned again and disappeared downstairs. Maryn followed him down to the shop floor. As he grabbed his bag and threw on his coat, she stood in the doorway, watching him.

  “What?” he asked her.

  “Why does it have to be you? This is the council’s doing! They are the ones who can’t decide which side of the fence they should be on! It’s not you who should be going to face the dragon but them! They should have sent as many wizards as they could to escort Josephine, not argue about whether or not she should be imprisoned! And now you have to pick up the pieces! Why would you still blindly follow them after all their mistakes?”

  “Maryn, I love you dearly, but you never did understand,” Matthias said.

  She shook her head. “No, and I never will.” She folded her arms. “You’re an idiot,” she said.

  Matthias smiled. “I’ll miss you too.” He buttoned his coat. “Thank you for trying to help,” he said, taking his sword from where he had propped them behind the counter. “Perhaps this will come in handy after all.” He tied it back to his belt, stuck his staff around the straps on his back, and hefted his bag, opening the door. “I’ll be alright, you know. You wish you could get rid of me so easily.” He turned and walked down the path, and didn’t look back. Maryn watched him disappear around the corner, and then made her way back upstairs.

  “He’s gone,” she said to the others. Luccius let the back of his head bang against the wall, and his ears drooped.
/>
  “Our journey together is over then,” he whispered.

  “I still have his pendant,” Thadius said suddenly, feeling around his neck at the metal arrowhead. “I’m surprised he didn’t ask for it back.”

  “Oh no,” Luccius grimaced.

  “What’s wrong?” the knight asked.

  “The only time a wizard would ever relinquish the pendant is when they are going to die,” Maryn advised.

  Thadius shook his head. “He gave it to me ages ago.”

  “That’s different to leaving without it,” she said.

  “And that makes you think he is going to die?” Thadius questioned.

  “When a wizard dies, their bond is broken with the pendant. The crystal at its heart is linked to the wizard who bonds with it. The metal around it dissolves to prevent it being stolen and used against Mahalia.” She shook her head sadly. “He left it with you here because he has no further use for it where he is going. He knows he’s not coming back.”

  Repellent

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

  Josephine’s eyes widened as Taico Grimm towered over her.

  “You! Get away from me!” She kicked back in the water, and gasped. “I do not know how you are here but-”

  “I poisoned you princess,” he said. “A concoction not used in many centuries, apparently. You were supposed to be dead by now. But you always were stronger than you looked. Your mind seems to be fighting me.”

  “Who are you?” she asked. “Why do you speak like you know me so well?”

  “I do know you princess,” he replied. “I know how much of a disappointment you are! But I am here to straighten things out, once and for all.” A crossbow materialised in his free hand where the sword had been. “Think of me as a manifestation of the poison that fills your veins. A part of the man you have known that remains to finish the deed.” He aimed the crossbow. “Sweet dreams, princess.” He pulled the trigger.

  Josephine dived, the arrow sailing above her head, funnelling into the water. Desperately she pulled herself downwards, deeper. If this was her mind, however altered, however changed, then surely she could get away from here? A popping sound of bubbles made her spin around. A crossbow bolt pierced her right shoulder and she cried out, air escaping from her open mouth. Blood poured from the wound and blotted the ocean.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “Who? Who used you?” Josephine asked.

  “Who do you think? Those false gods!”

  “I don’t understand?” Josephine replied.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “Stop it!” Josephine hissed angrily at Grimm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “This... is not... the end...”

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

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

  Here I come Matthias. Watch me fly.

 

 

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