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

by AJ Martin

  Matthias let his head fall dejectedly. Josephine looked to him and then addressed the regent again. “Many probably asked of you that very same question when the protector sought sanctuary in your lands. Matthias Greenwald is a honourable man. In spite of everything that your people and mine think of Mahalia, this wizard is one I trust with my life, and the lives of my people. I know it is difficult to ask you to do the same, but I would implore you to try.” Matthias looked to her and a smile bloomed on his lips.

  Caldur turned from Josephine to Matthias. “Strong words from a woman whose family I have great respect for. Is there anything you can do to reinforce those words?” he asked Matthias.

  “Regent, may I be candid?” Matthias asked.

  “Please do,” the man nodded, and then he chuckled. “A candid wizard? This should be interesting.”

  “I have journeyed a long way in an effort to preserve peace and save as many lives as possible. Along this trip I have met with many people of power, and have had to convince them time and again that what I speak is the truth. It has been like herding cats. My methods up until now have been unorthodox, illegal, and even on occasion, perhaps dishonourable. But in the end, all I want is to help save this world from danger. I know you don’t hold any belief in Mahalia’s council. That is fine. As Balzan might have told you, I have similar reservations for some in its ranks. But believe me, as an individual, as a man who has risked his life on this journey, when I say we have precious little time left for doubts. The dragon could break free at any moment. The men who work on releasing him are relying on our mutual distrust to further their cause. The dragon doesn’t care about who trusts who or which country doesn’t like which. It will kill indiscriminately, because that is what it has been programmed to do by forces older that any of us and more sinister than we can comprehend.”

  Regent Caldur sat in silence for a minute, his narrowed eyes studying Matthias carefully, steepled fingers bending back and fourth.

  “A fine speech, young man. If, indeed, you are as young as you look. It is, perhaps, the finest speech I have heard come from the lips of one of your people in all my years. And do you know why?” Matthias shook his head. “Because it came from the heart, which is something your kind seem to forget even exists.” He looked back to the princess. “I can see why you place such faith in this man.”

  “Please regent,” Josephine pleaded. “Help us.”

  Caldur tapped on his desk and sucked his bottom lip as they looked on. Then after a moment of agonising hesitation, he spoke again.

  “Alright, princess, I hate to see you looking so troubled. It will not do at all. Suppose you are correct. How are you going to stop the dragon breaking free?” he asked, open - handed. “I understand that you are believed to wield some kind of power?” He sniffed. “I find that hard to believe of you.”

  “It is true,” the princess responded.

  “You do not find her abhorrent?” Caldur asked Matthias. “A woman using the powers of this world?”

  Matthias smiled. “Quite the opposite.”

  “Perhaps I should be concerned myself,” the regent said. “But I have always thought that if a woman using the power makes Mahalia so nervous, then it can only be a good thing.” He smiled. “But you are so young, my dear girl, and so fragile!”

  “I thought the same of myself once. But I am not as delicate as I look. I have survived a great many things, regent, and I can do this,” Josephine said defiantly.

  Caldur was silent for a moment more whilst they all looked on at him. Then he clicked his tongue and drummed on the green leather table surface again.

  “Only a fool would dismiss such a warning completely out of hand when it is given, I suppose. Especially when it is reinforced by the legitimacy of Protector Balzan.” He turned to Josephine. “I can see that you too have taken great pains to reach me, my dear lady, to warn us of this threat. So how can we help you?”

  “With your permission, I will need to make use of your fortress,” Josephine asked. She looked to Matthias again for guidance.

  “We need to use the battlements,” Matthias added. “It will assist the princess in resealing the prison.”

  Caldur nodded. “I will permit you access to the fortifications. You will understand that you will be required to be accompanied, however. Protector Balzan will do. Ask him for whatever else you might need to assist you.”

  “That is a most kind offer, regent. You have my thanks.”

  Caldur nodded. “It’s the least I can do, I suppose, now you have come all this way. That, and I also insist that we dine together tonight, when you have finished… whatever it is you need to do.”

  “I have eaten very little recently,” Josephine smiled. “A feast would be a welcome offer!”

  Caldur smiled and stood up, bowing to Josephine, as she stood up in turn and curtsied. “I remember when you were so very young. How time passes without our realising.”

  Josephine laughed. “I remember coming here very well,” she replied, with a girlish smile. “You gave me sweets. I don’t suppose you have any?” she asked. “They were lovely.”

  “I am afraid I do not have any brought up to me anymore.” He gnashed his jaws. “Rots the teeth. But I am sure I could rustle some up for you though. I will have them sent to your chambers,” he chuckled. “However, if you don’t mind princess-” he gestured to the various stacks of parchment about his desk. Unfortunately this horrendous paperwork does not sign itself.”

  “Of course,” Josephine nodded. “Thank you again. We will bid you good day.” Caldur went to reach for the door and opened it for her.

  “I certainly hope that your beliefs are wrong,” he said quietly to himself as he closed it behind them.

  Up the Tower

  142nd Day of the Cycle, 495 N.E. (New Era)

  Protector Balzan shuffled along the corridor, followed by Matthias, Thadius and Josephine. Luccius had left them at the regent’s office moments earlier.

  “I won’t be needed for this,” he suggested, as the protector motioned for them to join him. “I’d imagine you will all be busy for quite a while. If you three don’t mind, I would like to go back down into the city for a while. See the sights. It is, after all, why I travel.”

  “And I suppose that tavern you spied on the way in has nothing to do with it?” Matthias joked.

  “I’ll have you know that sightseeing is a great passion of mine.”

  “As is the brewing of ale, as I recall!” Matthias grinned.

  “No so much brewing it as drinking it,” Luccius replied, shrugging.

  “That’s fine,” Matthias replied. “If we need you, we’ll send word.”

  “Nicholas, please escort our guest back out to the square,” Balzan commanded.

  The pompous little man bobbed and then turning on his heel, led Luccius away, who waved to them all as he left with a grin.

  Matthias shook his head. “That’s him lost for the evening.”

  “Ahem,” Balzan coughed. “Shall we proceed?”

  “Please,” Josephine replied. “I should like to get this over with.”

  “In a few hours, all this will be over,” Thadius replied as the three of them followed Balzan a few paces behind, down darkened corridors towards the battlements. “We can return to Rina and forget that any of this ever happened.”

  “I think it is beyond me to forget all that we have been through Thadius. Nor do I think it would be wise to do so,” Josephine replied. “Besides, the Akari chose me for some greater purpose. The dragon is not the end of this.”

  Thadius sighed. “I do not like this one bit. After all we have faced so far, what more could be on the horizon?”

  “A horizon of storms,” Josephine smiled under her breath as they walked along.

  Matthias looked at her. “What was that?” he asked. “That was very… poetic.”

  She shook her head. “Oh, nothing. An old poem I once read I believe. Well, one I began to read. The phrase just popped into my
head. It seems quite appropriate now, don’t you think?”

  “A poem?” Matthias repeated. “Written by whom?”

  “I don’t recall. It was in a box of documents I stumbled upon once.” She shot a blushing glance at Thadius who seemed oblivious as he glanced out of a passing window and inspected his surroundings. Josephine leaned in to whisper to Matthias. “It was in the archives of the palace.”

  Matthias nodded. “And you aren’t meant to have gone down there,” he confirmed. “The agreement your people had about that with Mahalia…”

  “I snuck down there sometimes when I was younger. There is so much history in those books.”

  “I thought you didn’t enjoy reading about such things?” Matthias asked.

  “Only when I was forced to do so by my tutors! Besides, I think the fact that the archives were restricted made the books down there all the more interesting.” She sniffed. “Your people restricting our own historical works. It’s ridiculous! Why shouldn’t I have read those books? I could learn a great deal of interesting facts.”

  “I think that was the reason my people made that agreement with your ancestor.”

  “Your people do not want to be popular, do they?” Josephine asked. “’Don’t do this, don’t touch that’,” she mocked him.

  Matthias shook his head. “I don’t think popularity is their motive princess,” he chuckled. “A horizon of storms,” he repeated as they walked.

  “Ah! I know who wrote it now!” Josephine exclaimed. “It was Isser Interlok.” She nodded. “Yes, definitely.”

  “The mad bard?” Thadius added, listening in after all. “You really were in a place you shouldn’t have been princess! His work is said to have been cursed!”

  Matthias looked at Thadius with humour. “There’s no such thing as a cursed poem,” he sniffed. “Isn’t he the one they built the playhouse for in Rina’s courtyard?” Matthias asked.

  Josephine nodded. “It has lain unused since long before I was born,” she said. “About fifty years ago, give or take.”

  “Why don’t they knock it down then?” Matthias asked.

  “Because there is a belief that the building holds the same curse as that which inflicts the man’s poems,” Thadius advised. “To knock it down would be to release them from its stones.”

  “Your people have some strange superstitions,” Matthias replied.

  “We are several floors down from the battlements,” Balzan called back to them, walking a few paces in front of them. “It will take a few minutes more to get there.”

  “Very good, protector!” Josephine called back to him. Then she leaned back in to Matthias. “Why do you appear so worried again?” she asked, noticing Matthias’s furrowed brow.

  “I’m not worried,” Matthias replied.

  Josephine looked at him askance. “The look on your face says it all,” she said. “It’s your ‘something’s wrong but I do not want to tell you,’ face. You’re getting worse at hiding your thoughts wizard. Come on, out with it.

  Matthias shook his head. “Someone has spoken that phrase to me before. It was something Pym said to me, what feels like a long time ago now. He used that exact wording. I remembered wondering about it then. It was such a strange thing to say. I didn’t know it was related to your mad poet.”

  “Perhaps it’s a coincidence?” Josephine suggested.

  “Maybe. But I don’t tend to believe in coincidences.” Matthias’s eyes narrowed. “Do you remember how the rest of the poem goes?”

  Josephine shook her head. “I only read a few lines. It was all very sombre and if I recall, one of the archivists came along and I had to run and hide. I was only eight or nine at the time.”

  “Strange then that the line stuck in your mind for so long,” Matthias whispered.

  “Does everything have to have a deeper meaning to you?” Thadius hissed. “Why does anyone remember anything?”

  They turned a corner and reached a hefty wooden door set into a circular stone wall, where they caught up with Balzan. The protector opened the door, tugging it from its housing. “The spiral steps beyond here stretch up quite a way,” he said. “I hope you have the energy.”

  “If you do protector, I do,” Josephine smiled, as he ushered them through. Matthias was the last to go through, followed by Balzan.

  “What were you whispering about back there?” Balzan asked. “One could be suspicious of mutterings in such a time of apparent crisis.”

  “Nothing important,” Matthias dismissed. “We were talking about poetry, if you must know.”

  “What prose could have been so secretive that you needed to whisper about it behind my back?” the man continued.

  “For a man with so many secrets of your own you seem determined to listen in on everyone else’s!” Matthias snapped.

  “Matthias, it is alright,” Josephine called behind her. “The protector was simply curious. I am sure he does not mean any harm. Is that not so, protector?” Josephine asked with an edge of command about her tone.

  “It is as you say princess,” Balzan replied cordially. “Merely the curiosity of an old man.”

  “Whilst we are on the subject of curiosities, I myself am curious of something,” Matthias said tersely.

  “And what would that be, young wizard?” Balzan asked as they continued to ascend.

  “I asked you earlier how you lived with yourself for doing what you did to our people. For selling secrets, causing so much death. You never answered me properly.”

  “Matthias, is this really the time?” Thadius asked. “We were just starting to all get along. Why upturn the apple cart?”

  “This might be my only other chance to ask,” Matthias replied. “And as everyone else seems to trust this man so blindly, I want to know.”

  Balzan puffed as he hoisted himself upwards. “What is done is done boy,” he wheezed. “What bearing would my feelings have on your opinion of me? You have obviously made up your mind already.”

  “I am no boy,” Matthias barked back. “So stop being so condescending towards me, and answer the question!”

  The princess shook her head. “I might as well not ask anything of you wizard, if you are going to ignore my requests,” she said to Matthias. “I told you to drop it!”

  Balzan stopped and the others above stopped with him. “It’s alright princess. I live with myself because there is no other option. I know what I did was right.”

  “How can you justify betraying your own people like that?”

  Balzan sniffed. “Many would say you have betrayed your people as well by coming here against the Consensus. I wonder what people will say about you in forty years? Perhaps before you judge me you should ask why I was giving away secrets.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Matthias.

  Balzan sniffed. “You are a smart wizard, Matthias, but you seem to struggle between who you were before you were a wizard and who you are now. You jump from the logic of a scholar to the anger of a youth in rebellion against a people whom you don’t feel you conform to. Nonetheless, it surprises me how someone who clearly seems to have the ability to see the black, the white and most importantly the grey of our people’s actions, can not ask himself what the other side of the rumours and stories Mahalia spun out about my actions could be.”

  “You… are telling me the stories are untrue?” Matthias asked warily.

  “A man does not reach my position in the council and just throw it away, you know! One hundred and twenty one years I worked my way up that ladder. But when I reached the top, when I became a fully-fledged member of the council I found nothing but corruption.” He spat the word. “There is one thing that rules the council above all else: fear. Fear of losing all that they have become. Fear of anything destabilising the order of things. You know this! If you have come this far against the consensus as you have, you know how much they value their place in the world, how it blinds them to all opposition.” He placed a hand on Matthias’s shoulder. “As I said, ask your
self what stories the council might tell of you and your actions, to justify their own.”

  Matthias shook his head anxiously as he absorbed the information. “What…” he began. “What did they do to you? Why did you leave?”

  Balzan indicated above him. “I suggest we keep moving as we talk,” he said, and so Josephine and Thadius began to ascend again. Matthias began walking again, glancing back down at Balzan as he did. “The truth of those days is that the council were planning an attack. A terrifying, unprovoked attack on Olindia. They saw what was happening here, with the revolution, and they feared what other rebellions it would bring. So they planned to help restore the monarchy that performed all their bidding. The old king might have hated Mahalia, but he didn’t have the spine to stand up to them. Moreover, they were prepared to shed a lot of innocent blood to do it.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t let them. So I passed on information to Caldur and his allies. They fortified their borders, strengthened their rag - tag insurrection. By the time Mahalia was ready to perform their surprise attack, it was too late. They couldn’t go into Olindia without inciting full scale war in open view of all of Triska.” He sniffed. “Mahalia was not stupid enough to damage their image as peacekeepers so much in outright warfare – not least a war that could go horribly wrong. So they shelved their plans and had to put up with the change of government.”

  “And then they found out it was you that was passing information on,” Matthias nodded, realisation dawning.

  Balzan nodded. “Of course. So they exiled me. It was a dark affair. They tortured people to get the information they needed to do so. People died through those deeds. Then they spread rumour that I was responsible, that I had killed hundreds to keep my subterfuge unknown, that I was planning to betray Mahalia to increase my own standing, and enact a similar rebellion as had happened in Olindia.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I see those lies have worked very well.” They emerged at the top of the stairs, where a thick wooden door stood closed. Thadius and Josephine stood on the step as the two wizards reached them. “So there you have it, Matthias. You pushed for the truth and I gave it to you. Do you see now why I am so bitter towards your- our - people? It is because they broke my heart,” he whispered. “All those years, believing we were so much better than anyone else! But in the end we were worse.”