The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (47 page)

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 chastened 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.