by AJ Martin
“Surely you must have some idea about all of this business,” Thadius asked. “You’re a wizard, after all! This sort of thing must all be second nature to you - talk of ‘rifts’ and ‘gateways’?”
Matthias shrugged. “I’ve never heard of anything of the sort before.”
“Well something’s worrying you,” Josephine commented. “I can see it on your face.” She leaned forward in the bed. “What is it? Tell me. Please, Matthias? We agreed no more secrets.”
He took a breath. “The Akari say that you are destined for something else. Something besides stopping the dragon. Whatever that something is, it must be something to do with the people who are trying to release it and their reasons for doing so.”
“The Akari woman did mention four people who must be stopped. It could be the sorcerers?”
Matthias nodded. “Perhaps.”
Josephine squinted as she thought. “She named two other things before she vanished as well. They did not make any sense to me. One was about stopping something called ‘Soral’ and the other thing they mentioned was about an ‘alignment’.”
“Alignment of what?” Luccius asked.
“I have no idea,” Josephine said. “That was the last thing she said before she was killed. Or whatever happened.”
“I have never heard of anything called ‘Soral’ before.” Matthias shook his head. “But Taico Grimm told us that their plans were bigger than we could imagine.”
“If you choose to believe that madman!” Thadius sniffed.
“I do,” Matthias rebuffed. “He may be a madman, but he has told us a lot so far. I don’t think he is capable of lying.” He stood up and paced the room. “When I spoke to Master Pym last, in spite of everything he told me about this mission, he didn’t seem quite willing to tell me all he knew.”
Thadius looked at him wryly. “Now you know how the rest of the world feels about Mahalians,” he sniffed.
Matthias smiled thinly at the comment. “How can we possibly defend against something we have no idea about? As much as I hate to admit it Thadius, you may be right. I do not like being in the dark about things. I wonder if the council already knows about the sorcerers and about this ‘Soral’.” He exhaled. “What could they have been keeping from me?”
“If that is so, then it is a good thing, surely?” Luccius said. “It means they might be way ahead of us in stopping them.”
Matthias nodded. “I suppose you are right. But I just feel like we’re fighting the wrong war here now,” he said sternly. “Something bigger is happening and we don’t know what it is. And I wish that Pym had trusted me enough to tell me. Perhaps if he did we wouldn’t be in this situation now.” He shook his head. “All the puzzle pieces don’t quite fit together yet.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “We’re missing massive chunks. Agh! I need a bigger head.”
“Your head is big enough as it is,” Maryn said, carrying a tray with a bowl of soup and some bread on a plate. Chunks of carrot and potato sat in the broth. “Here you go.”
“Thank you Maryn,” Josephine said and ripped a chunk off the bread and dipped it in the steaming soup. “Well if it is all the same to you Matthias, I would rather forget the rest for now and focus on one thing at a time. The only thing we know definitely is that we must stop this dragon. The Akari might believe Sikaris is unimportant compared to their freedom, but quite frankly they can wait. I started this journey and I intend to finish it. And I do not trust your people to get this job done.”
“You still want to go after Sikaris?” Thadius asked. “Even after all of this?”
Josephine nodded. “The world is depending on me Thadius. Think of all those people living in Olindia now, quite unaware that their world may soon come falling down about their heads. They need my help.”
Thadius nodded begrudgingly. “As you wish my lady,” he said, and bowed his head. “I will stand with you always.”
Josephine smiled at him. “And where would I be without you? Matthias, how far are we from Crystal Ember?”
“Three days. Perhaps four. We aren’t far away now.”
She nodded. “Very well. That means you and I haven’t much more time to try and find a way that I can patch up the cracks in the dragon’s prison.”
“Right… yes,” Matthias scratched his head awkwardly. “I had forgotten about teaching you.”
“Do you think we can still make it in time to stop his release?” Thadius asked. “Since we left Rina you’ve been drumming into us how little time we have and we’ve been here for days.”
“We’re not finished yet,” Luccius interrupted. “There’s still time.”
“How do you know?” Thadius asked.
“Something in the air…” he shook his head. “I just know that we’re not too late.”
“Is this another one of your mysterious abilities?” the knight scoffed.
“Well, it just so happens I agree with you Luccius,” Josephine nodded. “I can stop this. And as we have no idea if your people are aware of the sorcerers or not Matthias, I intend to do my bit.”
“You intend to learn to stop the dragon in less than a week?” asked Thadius.
“You forget how brilliant a teacher I am,” Matthias added, grinning at him.
“Don’t lose hope Thadius,” Josephine said, and reached for his hand. “I know you are cautious and I value your opinion. But you must have faith in me.”
Thadius took a breath. “I always have, your highness.”
“Well even if you have all decided to continue on your adventure, you at least need a few hours’ rest,” Maryn interjected. “There’s no use our bringing you back from the brink princess only for you to collapse within a stone’s throw of Crystal Ember.” When Josephine opened her mouth to challenge her, Maryn raised a finger. “You know my resolve is absolute, Princess! Royalty or not, I will strap you to this bed if I need to in order for you to get some rest.”
Josephine nodded. “I have not forgotten your method of teaching from when we first met,” she smiled wryly. “I don’t think I had been smacked since I was a little girl, until you came along.”
“I practice tough love in my teachings,” Maryn smiled. “But it is necessary, nonetheless. And I was very proud of you when we had finished our work.”
“I was grateful to you, as well,” Josephine replied. “But I did not know then what I do now. As much as I hated having these powers, now I know I must learn to use them.” She shifted the tray from her lap and nodded. “Very well, wise woman! I will rest awhile longer.”
“We can leave in the morning,” Matthias said. I will try and purchase some more horses from the inn.”
“I’ll come with you!” Thadius said hastily and then leaned in towards Matthias to mutter in his ear. “I can’t manage any more of this tea!”
The night passed by quickly. As Josephine slept, and Thadius spent some much-needed time at the Fat Hen, Matthias studied his map intently, whilst Luccius packed his bag. The ansuwan started to laugh.
“Something funny?” Matthias asked, smiling back.
“Oh it’s nothing. It’s just when we started this journey I think the princess would have rather chopped her arm off than come with you. And now here she is, eager as anything to get going. It’s strange how things change.”
“She is keen to get underway,” Matthias replied. “I suppose that’s a good thing.”
“You suppose?” Luccius replied. “I thought you would have been pleased?”
Matthias shook his head. “I just don’t want her to come to any more harm. This talk of freeing the Akari… it means even when she stops the dragon’s release, there is more work for her to do. More dangers. I had hoped that after we had been to Crystal Ember Josephine could return home.”
“It seems that the gods have a different plan in mind for her,” Luccius nodded.
“Well perhaps they should do a little more of their own dirty work,” Matthias grunted.
“You know it doesn’t work that way
,” Luccius replied.
Maryn appeared in the doorway, her face troubled. “There is a problem,” she said, without waiting for them to ask.
“Another one?” Luccius said. “Can we not wait a little while to recover from the last?”
“What is it?” asked Matthias with concern.
“When I left Mahalia I was conscious of being caught by the council,” she advised. “As time went on and I settled here, I began to form arrangements with the people I helped. They became my eyes and ears against them. I asked them to bring me word if ever they spotted anyone or anything that might indicate their presence in Olindia.”
“Fenzar,” Matthias said gravely. “He’s nearby.”
Maryn nodded. “A friend says a group of wizards have booked rooms at the tavern in Korina. That’s the next village.”
“How far away is that?” Matthias asked, sitting up intently.
“About a half - day’s walk south - west of here.” Maryn shifted uneasily. “People talk, Matthias. If Lord Fenzar asks people in the village if they have heard of a woman who can wield the power, they could point them here to me. If that happens, you can’t be anywhere near here.”
“How long ago did they arrive in the village?” Matthias asked.
“According to my friend, not until late in the afternoon. A few hours ago at most.”
“But it still would have given them the opportunity to question people in the village,” Matthias nodded. “And even if not, they’re still too close for comfort. Even with you, me and Josephine wielding our powers, if she could even manage to right now, we would not be enough to overpower Fenzar in our current state. He is strong, in spite of his age.”
“Should I fetch Thadius?” Luccius asked.
Matthias nodded. “We’ll leave before dawn breaks. Maryn, you should come with us.”
Maryn shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
“But if they do come here-”
“Then they will find a wise woman who deals with medicines, and I will cover myself the best I can.”
“And if they realise you can use the earth power?”
“Then I will fight them all to the last breath. This is my home now and I will not be forced from it. I have run enough.”
“And you call me stubborn?” Matthias retorted.
“Where do you think I learned the skill from?” she chuckled.
Luccius retrieved Thadius from the inn as Matthias awoke Josephine and prepared to leave. As the first slithers of light began to creep on the horizon, they gathered themselves in the shop front.
“The ostler has saddled the horses,” Thadius said, entering the shop.
“Did you see anyone else out there?” Matthias asked.
“It is deathly quiet out there,” he said. “I had to rouse the boy from his bed to get the horses from the stables!”
Matthias nodded. “Good. That’s good. We might just have some luck left then.”
“I packed you some tea,” Maryn advised them. “Thadius, I put a particularly good smoked variety in your bag.”
“Oh good,” Thadius joked with a smile, and then bowed to her. “Your hospitality is appreciated,” he said. “As is all you have done to help the princess.”
Matthias lowered a hand to take hers. “Yes, thank you, Maryn for all you’ve done.”
She pulled her shift about her tightly. “I’m just glad I could help. And… it was good to see you again, Matthias.” She smiled. The wizard nodded back.
“I can’t help but feel guilty that I’ve dragged you into all of this and put your life at risk again.” Matthias shook his head. “Please be careful. If Fenzar does come here-”
“Just let me worry about that old goat! You focus your worry on stopping Sikaris.” She turned to Josephine. “My dear girl,” she said, placing a hand on her cheek. “You have the weight of the world on your shoulders. But you also have a great gift in the friends that you travel with. Let them carry some of the burden for you.”
Josephine smiled. “I will try. My thanks go to you again, Maryn. You have saved me twice now, in different ways, and I will not forget it. I will find some way to repay you.”
“Bring yourself home safely and consider the debt paid,” Maryn smiled.
Matthias opened the door. “Well then,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Onward we go to Crystal Ember!”
“And onward to victory!” Luccius added.
“And victory,” Matthias repeated, with more confidence than he felt. Nevertheless, his heart fluttered with hope once more. As long as Josephine was alive, there was always hope.
Crystal Ember
142nd Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)
Josephine worked hard to improve her understanding of her power over the remaining days it took to reach Crystal Ember. Given she was only at the start of her journey wielding such complicated energy, Matthias remarked she had become surprisingly adept at handling the threads of power that controlled the air. Within hours of discovering new strands she had managed to find ways to manipulate them as a means of defence to push others away. Her second accomplishment however remained very much a work in progress. Matthias had tried to guide her through possible ways of creating a barrier around the dragon, drawing upon his own knowledge of the earth power. But when it came to moulding the two energies it was like night and day. The cocoon Josephine did manage collapsed after a few minutes.
Now they were within a stone’s throw of their destination, nearly at the point when they would have to erect a shield around the dragon that would have to last indefinitely and block the efforts of the most powerful sorcerers the world had known for centuries. After hours more trying, of focussing what little Josephine knew of her energies into a pattern she thought by instinct could create a barrier, the princess was forced to give up, exhausted and jaded by the lack of progress. It was only as they began to approach the valley in which Crystal Ember resided that Josephine managed to create a spherical shield that seemed to hold itself in place. She extended it around Thadius who rode along on his horse, unaware of the invisible forces that she wove around him. Matthias tried to force his own energy toward the knight, and at first the barrier appeared to work. It blocked his first attempts, but after a few more attacks the wall collapsed and Matthias broke through, sending Thadius hurtling from his horse as he did so. Numerous apologies later, there was not enough time to attempt it again, as the ancient city of Crystal Ember appeared into their view, standing proudly in the midday sunlight. Cradled inside its enormous, circular, fortified wooden walls, thousands of houses dotted the cramped, cobbled streets below them.
For nine - hundred years the capital of what was now known as Olindia had occupied the same valley. What had started as a cluster of straw huts grew into one of the most impenetrable, prosperous cities in all of Triska. Looking down from the apex of the valley, Crystal Ember was an impressive sight amidst the greenery that marked the region. Its wooden walls stretched high around the city, the massive pomery constructed from the hardy, Olindian redwoods that grew in the northern forests and were known for being the tallest and strongest trees ever known. Historical annals wrote how the wall took almost fifty years to construct, as the old king sought to entrench himself in what were then the disputed midlands of Western Triska. When complete it was impossible for his Aralian and Aslemerian neighbours to oust him from the land, even through siege, and from the initial strength of those walls the beating heart of a new nation grew exponentially.
Built years after the founding of the city, its renowned fortress sat at the most northerly point within the stocky walls, standing like a stone monolith, constructed of gigantic chunks of stone. Four stocky, stone bastions stood at each corner of the curtain wall and multiple spires raised up high into the sky from its battlements. Centuries later the fortress remained almost completely unchanged from its original plans, save for one element: at its back a stone spire rose higher than all the others, an obelisk of smooth, plain basalt c
hiselled to a point, reaching up to the clouds. In centuries past the location on which the spire rested on had once housed a dazzling crystal: a collection of diamonds mined in the quarries of the realm, fused together with the earth power and mounted on the fortress as a symbol of its innovation. Those times were long gone and the crystal destroyed in the last great war.
There was only one monument in Crystal Ember that rivalled the fortresses for its height, standing almost as tall as the spire in the central square of the city. On top of an enormous marble pillar, thicker than the biggest of tree trunks, the body of the Great Dragon Sikaris sat overlooking the people below, his figure petrified in stone, frozen in a pose of mid- attack. His jaws lay open as if in the middle of a roar and thick, carnivorous teeth jutted out at all angles from the gaping maw. His tongue was poised in its centre, curling into a point and protruding out of the mouth like a sinuous snake, tasting the air. Thick collar bones and horns of ivory protruded outwards from a scaly frill and two almighty wings stood half outstretched, their tips curling inward on themselves. The beast’s tail wound around the stone pillar, curling down half its length, and long, ivory claws glinted in the sunlight. Black eyes like obsidian observed the people below with an emotionless stare, their life frozen and dulled by the spell that had held the creature in place for four centuries.
Josephine and her company approached the outer walls of Crystal Ember on horseback, following the dirt road towards the main gates where a half - dozen soldiers stood watching their arrival.
“You had best approach first,” Matthias whispered to Josephine.
“Me? Why?” she hissed under her breath.
“They’ll listen to you!” Matthias advised.
“Would they not simply let us in anyway?”
“They probably will in time, but trust me, my way will be quicker.”
Josephine nodded reluctantly and urged her horse in front of the others.
One of the guards, a youthful looking man with a bushy beard that looked out of place on one so young, approached her and signalled for her to halt with an outstretched hand.
