by AJ Martin
“Ambassador, if the dragon is as close to freedom as you say he is, then it is Olindia that your people should be warning first,” the king said. “After all, the dragon sits atop a pillar in their capital city of Crystal Ember, like a hideous great gargoyle! They will be the first place to be struck if he breaks free.”
Matthias shook his head. “Olindia won’t listen to The Council anymore. We haven’t been welcome for a good few years.”
“Ah yes, the other wizard. I had forgotten about that,” the king responded, nodding knowingly. Matthias showed little response. The monarch tapped his lip. “Then you really did come here for the sole purpose of warning me of this danger?” He asked. “There is no catch? No subterfuge? Your people want nothing in return?”
Matthias looked the king straight in the eye. He looked dejected a moment, and he took a breath. “All I would ask is you keep an open mind when it comes to my people, Your Grace. We are not all as alike as you might think. My reason for being here is to help, however it might come across.”
After a pause, King Arwell nodded. He moved around the table and placed a hand on Matthias’s shoulder. “Then… you have my thanks,” he said. “Perhaps it is time for a change in relations between us. I would welcome any suggestions you might have to fortify our city against this threat.”
Matthias nodded. “Well I’m not a soldier, but I will help where I can, Your Grace. Perhaps…” he paused a moment, and then continued. “Perhaps we could talk further later?”
The king nodded. “You will stay in the palace whilst you remain here. I will have some rooms prepared.”
Matthias spent the rest of the day assisting the king with preparations to make the city safe. Given how Rina was built (designed would be too good a word for the hotchpotch of layers that stacked on top of each other), defending such a structure from a creature like the dragon would be no easy task, even with the thick wall that surrounded its innards. Most of the king’s higher ranking men were away from the city, undertaking campaigns which the monarch was not likely to reveal to him, and so Matthias worked mostly with Thadius and the king to avoid spreading the word of the threat facing them too far for the moment.
It turned out that Rina had a maze of catacombs carved out beneath its foundations, which the king had kept secret from most people aside from his most trusted men. There was space in their confines for most of the inhabitants of the city, if not all, and if they were cleared then there would be room for another hundred or so. The first task they decided upon was to empty them to make that room. That did mean removing the bodies of the ancient nobles that were deposited down there, but the king advised that since the tunnels had not been used for burials for well over a century, the likelihood of anyone missing the corpses was slim, and when it came to a decision between storing the bodies of the dead and saving the living, there was no contest. It would be difficult to remove the bodies without causing panic, and so it was decided that they should be taken via a secluded tunnel during the night, by the most trusted members of the King’s Army, and moved by wagon to a remote location for reburial.
“It seems I may owe you an apology,” Thadius said to Matthias that evening after they had feasted on roast pheasant and the king left them to take care of other matters.
“I don’t see why?” Matthias asked him.
“I didn’t trust your intentions,” he said. “And I have been quite rude to you. But I can see from your efforts with us that you really are here for a good cause.”
Matthias regarded him a moment. “It’s as you said: trust has to be earned. You had no reason to take a stranger at his word, not least from one of my people.”
“You speak as if you do not like the way your country is run?” Thadius suggested.
Matthias smiled. “There are aspects of my country’s nature which I don’t agree with, that much is certain. But isn’t that so of any land?”
Thadius snorted. “You expect me to answer that as we sit in the dining room of the king?”
Matthias chuckled back. “Perhaps not. But your country has had its share of rebellions. People don’t always see eye to eye with each other.”
“I’m not sure I see your point?” Thadius responded, squinting at him.
Matthias shook his head. “No point,” he sighed. “In any case, I had best be off to bed. I am sure there is more I need to speak to King Arwell about tomorrow.” He stood and bowed his head. “Thanks for your company,” he said, before he left the room.
Thadius stared after him. “Stranger than a barrel full of earwigs, that one,” he muttered, before lighting his pipe and kicking back in his chair.
“Are you mad girl?” King Arwell barked as he paced the floor of his daughter’s chambers. “You must be,” he spluttered with a manic laugh. “Why else would you venture into his company like that?”
“I wanted to see what he was like father,” Princess Josephine replied. “You have kept me at arms length of Mahalia for so long, that I have never had the chance to meet a real wizard before.”
“There is a very good reason for that!” he exclaimed
“He did not have the look of one that would do harm to me. He was unlike those other men you have told me about.”
“He is… different, I will grant you that. And he has been helpful today. But he is still a wizard of Mahalia! Do you have any idea what their Council could do to you if they found out about you?”
“You have told me more times than I can count!” she retorted. “But I have grown tired of hiding in the shadows! It has been over two years since I have felt as much as a flicker of the energy. It is no longer a problem, thanks to the wise woman.”
“There are still signs they can pick up on. They are clever people. At one point I thought he knew already, when he spoke about your eyes.” He looked at her sadly. “I could not bear to lose you, Josephine. After everything we have been through, that would be too much to bear, even for a toughened old ox like me!”
“I know,” she said. “I am sorry if I worried you. Perhaps I was too forward in entering without your permission.”
The king smiled. “If I had done that to my father, he would have had me strung up by my ankles for a week!”
“Then I am fortunate that you are not your father,” Josephine smiled back.
“I cannot be angry with you for long,” he said, shaking his head. He felt his temples. “It has been a very long day.”
“You should rest father,” Josephine advised. Then she smiled wryly. “You will need your wits about you if you intend to take more advice from Mahalia.”
The king shook his head and chuckled. “We have been just another pawn in their plans for a long time. But I must admit, there seems more to this wizard than meets the eye. He might just be a wizard I can do business with.”
A Change of Plan
113th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
Matthias stared out of the chamber window, the moonlight casting a pale aura on his tanned face. The moon was nearly full and the stars surrounding it were dulled by its vibrant light. The expression on his face was a troubled one. He had been gazing up at the sky for over an hour.
There was a chime from inside his bag, like a finger being run over the edge of a wine glass. He jumped, caught off guard, and turned to rummage around inside the worn fabric sack. He brought out a smooth, glass orb, no bigger than the palm of his hand. It winked at him as if a star were trapped inside, and he held it at arms length warily a moment as if it might attack him somehow. Then he adjusted his grip and the light inside it winked out. The ball grew cloudy and purple.
“Master Pym,” Matthias spoke into it and waited for a response.
“What is your progress?” An echoing voice answered him. The mist inside the orb pulsed with every syllable. “You have arrived in Rina?”
“Yesterday morning. I am inside the palace,” he said quietly. “I met with the king a few hours after I arrived.”
“You told him of the dragon?” th
e voice questioned.
“I did. They are preparing themselves. I’m helping them to plan their defences.”
“That’s good. They deserve to know what awaits them.” The voice hesitated a moment. Then with a hint of concern, the voice said: “You didn’t mention our faction, did you?”
“Of course not, Master,” he whispered. “That’s none of their concern.”
“What about the rest of it?” The voice asked. When Matthias did not reply, the voice continued to press him. “You did speak to them about the princess, didn’t you?”
Matthias swallowed. “I couldn’t,” he whispered. “Not yet.”
“Why not?” the voice replied tersely.
“It is not exactly an easy topic to bring up!” Matthias exclaimed. “It was to get them to believe me about the dragon!” He sighed. “These are not people predisposed to trust our kind, as you know.”
“Then we have a problem,” the voice said, after a pause.
“Another one?” Matthias sniffed. “What is it now?”
“The Council has obtained new information. There could be demons heading towards Rina as we speak. And I do not mean days away. We are talking hours, if the reports are correct. The Council has already sped up their plans in the wake of the news.”
Matthias swallowed. “How could creatures get here so soon? I arrived here so quickly!”
“We are working against what seems to be a very powerful enemy, Matthias,” the voice said. “The stone is still revealing new prophecies. There has never been such a concentration of them in one crystal before.” The orb fell quiet.
“Master Pym? Are you still there?” Matthias asked after a lengthy pause.
“I’m here, Matthias,” the voice replied.
“What is it?” Matthias asked back. “You are holding something back from me, I can feel it.”
“That is because I know you will not like what I am about to suggest.”
“Which is?” Matthias breathed.
“You may have to take matters into your own hands if we are to keep her safe.”
“What do you mean?” Matthias continued.
“How long do you think it will take you to convince the king and the girl of her destiny, if you have not begun to do so already? Do you think King Arwell will just allow his daughter to come with you?”
“That is why I have to take my time with this!” Matthias hissed back. “I have to handle this delicately!”
“If there are demons approaching Rina, then we need to get her out of there. We don’t have time to be delicate anymore!”
“You want me to kidnap her?” Matthias exclaimed, and sat heavily on to the bedside.
“It is for her own good Matthias.”
“I doubt she would see it that way. And then what would I do? I can’t drag her all the way to Olindia!”
The orb fell silent again. “I don’t know, Matthias. None of this is ideal. Had we the Consensus we would have more to work with, but we don’t.”
Matthias swallowed. “What about Fenzar?” he asked.
“We still have the advantage there,” the voice advised. “He left on a ship four days ago. He will not reach Rina for at least a week. You have the lead on him.”
“That’s some good news at least.” Matthias shook his head. “But… kidnapping the princess will undo everything we sought to change by coming here! They already hate our people as it is!”
“Hate is a small price to pay for her safety,” the voice said. “She’s too important Matthias.”
“Now you sound like the Consensus,” Matthias said darkly.
The orb sat quiet for a moment at the comment. Then the voice spoke again. “I have told you what you must do. Will you do it? Tonight? Dawn is only hours away Matthias and the demons could be close. You can’t afford to wait another night.”
Matthias looked hesitantly to the window and the dazzling moon. Finally he nodded. “I will retrieve the princess tonight,” he said sombrely.
“Good. You have done well so far, Matthias. I am proud of you. Contact me again when you have her and you have escaped.” The voice disappeared as the orb made a sound like a water droplet landing in a pool, and the misty glow faded until Matthias was again holding a simple ball of glass. He dropped it back into his bag, sighed, and rose from the bed. “May the Gods forgive me for the actions I have to undertake tonight,” he whispered to the sky. “If you still watch over me, that is, in spite of everything I’ve done, and am about to do.”
Treachery in the Moonlight
113th Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
After several minutes of introspection in which Matthias paced his room in thought, he finally grabbed his staff from where he had cast it aside on the bed and made his way to the door. He took a breath and looked at the wooden prop clasped in his hand. “Am I really going to do this?” he asked himself. Then after a pause, he nodded. “I have done much worse for much less of a reason, that much is certain.”
He opened the door latch silently and peered out. No one was around. The corridor was quiet save for the flutter of a flaming torch stuck into an iron ring in the opposite wall. Quickly and silently he slipped out the door and checked around again, before he made his way along the corridor. He had an idea of where he had to go based on his journey up to his guest chamber, even though the palace was a maze of similar-looking corridors.
An old muscle relaxant interlace of the power could do the trick, he thought as he went. Although then she will be as limp and heavy as a catfish caught from the river! Perhaps if I can render her unconscious, I could levitate her back to my chambers and then make my way out the city the way I came. He shook his head. This is ludicrous.
The sound of footsteps ahead made him backtrack behind a stone pillar. He waited whilst a liveried guard walked on by, and then quietly slipped on ahead. Eventually after what felt like an age of stumbling around in the darkness and the torchlight he reached a stairwell where a tall, muscled guard stood as straight as a die to the left of a wooden banister, the pommel of his sword sticking out from beneath a thick woollen cloak. Matthias hid behind a pillar and looked down to his fingers. He thought a moment about using the power, but then shaking his head and with a flash of inspiration stuck his hand into an inside pocket and pulled out a small, glass phial. It was almost empty but for a small amount of liquid at the very bottom of the bottle.
I’d almost forgotten I had these, he thought and rifled around in his other pocket, pulling out a handkerchief and pouring the last, small amount of the fluid into its centre. Maryn’s mandrake and deathshade knockout drops could fell an ox. Which is good, because that guard looks about the size of one. He hid the handkerchief behind him and stepped out into the corridor.
“Excuse me, my good man,” he said in a flourishing tone, waving his free arm. “It appears I’m rather lost!”
The guard flinched in surprise at his sudden appearance, but then recovered his composure and addressed him.
“Who are you?” he asked in a gruff tone.
“My name is Matthias. I am a guest of your king. I’m staying in chambers in the palace.”
“What are you doing out so late?” the man continued to question. “It’s a long time still until morning!”
“I couldn’t sleep, and I fancied a walk around the palace to try and tire myself out a bit.”
“Bit of a strange time to be pacing these halls,” the man said. “You could be mistaken for being up to no good.”
Matthias chuckled. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“How did you get all the way here anyway?” the man asked. “There should be men patrolling the corridors. This area is out of bounds for guests.”
“Oh! I see,” Matthias said innocently. “I’m sorry about that.” He drew by the man’s side. “Perhaps you could direct me back to my chambers then?”
The man looked at him suspiciously for a moment but then nodded and pointed to the hallway ahead. “When you reach the end of
this passage you need to take a lef-”
Matthias drew the handkerchief to the man’s nose and with effort held it a moment as the man struggled. Luckily for him the drops were potent, and in another second the man collapsed to the floor unconscious. Matthias looked at him sadly. “I’m really very sorry,” he said to him, and pulled him into a more dignified position before continuing up the stairs. They stretched up a fair way and curled around a thick stone trunk, but after a minute he emerged into a mahogany panelled walkway that led up to the chambers of the princess. He gingerly peered around the corner. Another guard stood in watch in front of the door to her room. He paused and thought for a moment, and drew out the handkerchief from his pocket again. The cloth was slowly drying. Besides, he needed to be quieter than he was downstairs. There were doubtless people inside the princess’s chambers and he couldn’t afford to alert them to his presence.
Matthias replaced the handkerchief into his pocket and slowly felt with his hand around the wall, and then, eyes illuminating in the gloom and with a flick of his fingers, sent a tiny bolt of energy towards the guard. It struck him silently and with a muffled grunt, the man collapsed on to the floor.
“Sorry,” he whispered as he walked towards him, and pushed his body out of the way of the door. “You’ll be fine in a few hours.” Then he stared at the door. The round, black handle stared back. A half - dozen maids inside, perhaps, he thought to himself. I’ll bind them with a simple pattern and then silence the room. He nodded, staring at the door. A minute passed as he raised his hand above the handle and left it suspended there whilst he gathered his nerve. “Come on you stupid old-”
A whooshing noise made him spin around. A looming face enveloped his vision and he felt his body being slammed against the wall to the side of the door. The air within his lungs was pushed out with the force and as he tried to take a breath he felt the cold, sharp steel of a sword blade press against his Adam’s apple. When his eyes focussed again, Thadius's furious face stared back at him.
