The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (19 page)

How many creatures are there?
He thought nervously. The trap
had been triggered not five minutes away. As he reached the
princess’s chambers another guard stood outside the doorway. Seeing
Matthias he threw down his pike, its sharp, pointed end aiming
directly at Matthias. The wizard threw out a hand and a bolt of
lightning struck the pike, sailed up its wooden haft and surged
into the guard, who contorted and collapsed to the floor like the
others. Matthias hopped over him and burst into the princess’s
chambers, smashing the door inwards with his arm and blundering
into an antechamber that was filled with maids and servants. They
began screaming as he thundered towards them and one tried to halt
his path: a bulky great woman with hips the size of tree - trunks.
He skidded to a halt in front of her, her burly arms outstretched
to catch him.

“
Get away you ruffian!
Selphie
, raise the alarm, quickly!” She growled
to one of the maids, a tiny little thing with a face like a mouse,
and she ran off at speed to get help. The woman advanced forward,
no fear in her blazing eyes. “I’ve looked after this babe since she
was sipping at her mother’s teat! There’s no way you’re getting
past me!”

Matthias took a step back. “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry!” he
said, a remorseful look on his face, as he outstretched an arm. The
space in front of his hand shimmered like heat waves, and a green
blob of energy spluttered out of his open palm, wrapping around the
woman’s arms and waist and legs, and pinning her like a skittle.
She toppled over onto her side with a grunt, and strained against
her bonds. “It’ll dissolve in an hour,” Matthias said. The woman
growled absurdities back at him as he passed through the other
maids, who parted in fear. One fainted clear to the floor. He
reached another door and threw it open. The princess was in bed as
he skidded towards her.

“
Mister Greenwald! What the-” Josephine started
from within pulling her bedcovers up to her neck. “Get
out!
” she commanded.

“
I’m
sorry princess, but you’re in danger. We have to leave the palace
right now!”

“
What kind of danger?” she asked, pushing herself as far away
from the wizard as she could, until she was pressing heavily
against the headboard.

“
Demons are inside the city. They’re on their way here.
They’re after you. They know what you are! We-”

A heavy hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him
around. Thadius punched him in the face. Dazed, Matthias stepped
back, but the burly man came at him again. ”You
bloody-
” the knight began, but Matthias
interjected.

“
There are demons in the city!” Matthias cried to him, and he
stopped as he drew his fist back again.

“
What?
” Thadius growled.

“
I
laid traps, invisible markers that could only be triggered by these
creatures. They started being sprung a few minutes ago. They are
after the princess!”

Thadius stared in surprise. “I- I-”

“
We
don’t have the time!” Matthias exclaimed. “They could be inside the
palace right now! We have to go!”

Thadius paused a moment, but then he lowered his fist and
nodded his head. “Alright. I will get the men together who are
coming with us.”

“
There isn’t time for that!” Matthias hissed. He spun around
to face the princess. “Get dressed, Your Highness. Quickly. And
find something to cover your face up with.” She nodded and darted
to behind a wooden divider, where she hastened to
change.

Matthias turned back to Thadius. “Is there a secret way out
of this palace?” he asked. “Some way that no one else would use or
suspect?”

Thadius nodded. “There’s a hidden exit. It isn’t far from
here. It was designed to get the king and princess out in an
emergency.”

“
Good. Then there’s no better time to use it!”

“
I…
apologise for hitting you. I thought…”

Matthias shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. How are you
getting along princess?” Matthias called to the girl as clothes
flew across the top of the divider.

“
I
am almost ready!” she exclaimed, panting as she hurriedly pulled on
her clothes.

“
What have you done to Lady
Pombar?
” Thadius asked, looking through the
open door to the lump on the floor outside.

“
Oh
Gods! I forgot,” Matthias said. “She got in my way. I didn’t
think.” He darted out of the door. The woman was in the next room,
being propped up by the other maids.

He
approached her with Thadius in tow. “I apologise,” Matthias said.
“There was no time to explain.”

“
Who
is this man, Thadius?” The lady asked, her plump face red as a
tomato and her eyes burning with rage.

“
He
is a friend, my lady Pombar,” Thadius said, placing hand on her
shoulder. “Of sorts.”

“
Some bleeding friend!” she winced. “Look what he
has
done
to me!”

“
You
did well to try and stop him just the same.” Thadius turned to
Matthias. “Can you release her?”

Matthias looked sheepish. “The bonds can’t be released until
they dissolve. It will take a good hour at least.”

The
princess emerged from the previous room, a black hooded overcoat
worn atop a purple dress that appeared beneath. “I am ready, she
said. “I had several bags in here for the journey that my maidens
had begun to pack, though I doubt we can carry them all
now.”

Thadius moved to where the bags were piled in the corner of
the antechamber, and grabbed two, thrusting them around his
shoulders.

“
But
what about your own bags?” the princess asked.

“
I
need only the clothes on my back and the sword at my side,” he
replied. “I can carry these two.”

“
We
need to leave,” Matthias said.

The
Princess nodded. “Thadius, would you lead the way, please, my good
knight?”

The
burly man nodded, and turned to go. He paused at lady Pombar and
the maids that were piled around her. “Tend to her well,” he
instructed them, and he nodded to her. She snorted. “Tell no one
anything of this,” he said “-save the King. He must be alerted when
we are safely away.” He left the room, followed by Josephine. Lady
Pombar stared daggers at Matthias who took up the rear.

“
I
am so sorry again,” he said, and quickly moved out the
room.

“
Is
my father not being told we are leaving?” Josephine whispered as
they made their way down a dark corridor. Thadius snatched a flame
from the wall.

“
We
will send word to your father once we have cleared the city and
reached a safe harbour,” Thadius replied. “From the sounds of
things, we will be lucky to escape here alive tonight.” The
torchlight flickered on his square face. His eyes watched the
corridors carefully. “This way,” he said, beckoning to a dark
corridor. “There will be no people down here, and it is the
quickest route to the hidden exit.”

“
Oh gods,” Josephine breathed. “It
is
real, this threat
that you spoke of. They want to kill me.”

“
You
still assumed I was over – exaggerating?” Matthias
asked.

“
No.
I mean, I had hoped.” She shook her head. “Perhaps a
little.”

They
moved through the darkness and turned a juncture in the corridor,
heading down another otherwise dark, thin passageway, at the end of
which stood a thin, spiral staircase. Thadius led them down, the
torch flickering and purring in the silence, and they emerged in an
abandoned wing of the palace, making their way through one of the
many kitchens, this one not used for several years if the cobwebs
were anything to go by. Quickly and quietly they wove through the
ancient maze.

“
This used to be the old queen’s wing. It was used by your
great grandmother, princess. When she died suddenly and painfully
in the night, your great grandfather, King Athelbert declared this
part of the castle cursed, and banned anyone from living or working
in it. It’s been abandoned ever since.”

“
And now we are making our way though it? But what
if it
is
cursed?” she hissed.

“
There's no such thing as
curses
,” Matthias said as they made their way
through more cold, abandoned corridors.

“
How
do you know?” Thadius sniffed.

“
You
don’t think being a wizard makes me qualified?”

“
Then how
do
you explain strange deaths with no explanation? Ghosts that
roam hallways, moaning and groaning.” The princess
asked.

“
The world is complex and filled with wonders and
patterns that aren't always easily seen by us. Sometimes strange
things just happen, but there's
always
a rational explanation at its
root.”

Josephine sniffed. “
That's just a long winded way of saying 'I
do not know.'”

Matthias smiled. “Very well. I
don’t
know. What I do know is that a curse
of the kind you speak of is borne out of fear and fantasy blurring
together. You could lay traps with one of the powers, but that’s
the extent of it.”

They
carried onward. Everything was deadly silent apart for their
footsteps. Quite suddenly, Thadius stopped at a doorway, and
Josephine bumped into his back, snapping to with a
start.

“
Ouch!” she grumbled.

“
My
apologies your Highness,” Thadius said.

“
Will you be
quiet,
the pair of you!” Matthias
hissed.

“
I
beg
your pardon?” Josephine growled, baring her teeth. She
turned to Thadius, who eyed Matthias severely.

“
You
forget yourself, Matthias,” Thadius advised stonily. “You are
escorting royalty here.”

He
took a calming breath. “I apologise Your Highness. I am just a
little on edge.”

“
You’re not the
only
one,” Thadius added, peering into the gloom from
which they had ventured. “But let’s keep our heads cool, alright
wizard?”

Matthias nodded and bowed his head to Josephine
apologetically. She acknowledged his apology with a nod of her
own.

“
Why
have we stopped?” Josephine asked, changing the subject.

“
The
stairs beyond this door should take us down and out of the
palace.”

“
Once we are outside, we will need to move quickly to reach
the exit to the city,” Matthias added.

“
Right then,” Thadius said taking a breath. “Let’s
go-“

As
he spoke the torchlight began to flicker, and Josephine
yelped.

“
It’s the oil. It’s going out,” Thadius grumbled. As if
hearing the words, the flame whimpered and snuffed out.

“
It’s alright,” Matthias said, and outstretched a
palm.

There was a fizzle like a wet firework, and then a popping
sound, and a small ball of light hovered excitedly in front of
Matthias. It shimmered in the shadows; a pure white light leaving a
trail of sparks spiralling slowly down from its body to the
flagstone floor, where they died out instantly.

“
Perhaps I should go first,” Matthias said, his sapphire -
tinged eyes burning through the darkness almost as brightly as the
ball of light in front of them. Thadius nodded and took up the
rear.

Matthias walked forward into the dark stairwell, and the ball
moved with him, hovering around like a tamed firefly following its
master. Taking a deep breath, the princess followed after him.
Thadius took one last scan of the area behind them and then
followed, dropping the used torch and closing the door behind. The
stone steps below lit up with the new light from Matthias’s hand.
They were extremely narrow - barely wide enough for the heels of
their feet to rest comfortably on the tiny stones - and in the
dark, navigating down them was awkward.

Josephine ran her hand along the outer wall for support, as
did Thadius behind, the multitude of bags thrust about his back
slowing his progress. Matthias, in spite of the light, used his
staff to check for the next stair in front of him before he stepped
down. It seemed time slowed to a crawl as they made their way down
the never - ending stairs.

“
How high up
were
we?” Josephine asked. “This is ridiculous!” she
said in a haughty tone.

“
Have patience, Your Highness,” Thadius replied. “It can’t be
far now.”

Finally, as if prompted by the words, the outline of
moonlight on a doorframe came into view beneath the final stone
step as they rounded the corner, and Josephine breathed a sigh of
relief.