The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (46 page)

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.

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?”

“
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?”