The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (40 page)

“
I
wish I could speak to you, Master Pym,” he whispered. “I could do
with some advice right now.”

The
candle on the bedside cabinet grew dim and snuffed out with a
fizzle. Matthias stared at the wisps of grey smoke twirling in the
air. He still had one more candle in his bag, but he left it. The
darkness was quite comforting. Sleep came at last.

Before she blew out the tiny candle, which was by
this late hour on its last legs, Josephine checked the lock on her
compartment door. Sealed shut.
Good
. Thadius had insisted that she not sleep alone,
but she had insisted
harder
that she
would
, and with that he had left her alone but not
before he had secured her assurance that she would lock the door
and not let
anyone
else in unless she was
certain
who it was. The knight was as bad as her
father, if not worse.

She had been ready to go to bed a few hours ago,
yet she could not quite bring herself to snuff out the candle. It
had just been a
stupid
dream, she told herself, and nothing more! But somehow that
did not help. Slowly, carefully, she slid back into the sheets and
blew out the flame. The compartment fell into darkness, save for a
slither of moonlight through the circular window, whose reflection
off the water sent rippling shapes dancing about the ceiling.
Warily, she closed her eyes. Sleep took her
quickly.

When
Josephine opened her eyes again she was flying in a sea of stars.
She was in her nightgown and all around her was the night sky:
pinpricks of starlight winking at her from where she hovered. She
tried to move and whilst she could flex all her limbs, she couldn’t
seem to move forward or back. She looked down and gasped. A great
sphere sat just in front and beneath her, shrouded in darkness all
around it. A glowing aura of blue shone along its rim.

“
What
is
this?” she whispered, staring at the orb. She could make
out shapes amongst the blue: green and brown formations mottled
with speckles of white above them. Her eyes focussed on one of
them, directly in front of her and she gasped. It was in the shape
of Triska. She was familiar with the tooth- like shape of the
continent from maps she had seen of the known world, even if those
drawings and sketches were slightly skewed in places in comparison
to what she was looking at now. “I’m above Erithia,” she breathed.
“Above the world!” She looked around her again. “I’m in the heavens
themselves!” She breathed quickly as she spun her head back and
forth at her surroundings. “What am I
doing
here?” she breathed. “Is it the gods? Are
you here?” she asked.

There was a flare from the periphery of the world
below and the sun spilled into her vision. She shielded her eyes
from the glare – it was
impossibly
bright! She squinted and watched as a line of
dazzling sunshine shimmered off the sea and covered the land below.
A movement from the corner of her eye made her look to her right.
She gasped again. A figure was watching her, garbed in white. Their
skin was a light blue and they had mercury coloured eyes. It was an
Akari.

“
What-” Josephine opened her mouth to ask a
question, but then the world around her flickered and she was
spinning, faster and faster, the stars now lines of light swirling
all around her body. She opened her mouth to scream as she fell, as
she was drawn away from the world, from the figure. As her vision
began blurred she could make out amongst those spinning stars more
worlds amongst her own, all swirling around the sun. A whispering
voice filled her ears, repeating the same word over and over again:
a word so foreign to her ears in its pronunciation she had to
strain to make it out:
Asternabai
.

Her body jolted in the bed, bouncing up off the
mattress, as if she had just been struck by lightning. She sat up,
gasping heavily. “Bad dreams!” She panted. “They’re
just
bad dreams!” Her
hands were shaking and her body was covered in sweat. Just as she
began to calm herself, there was a thud just above her cabin and
she jumped again with a shriek. There were screams. Hastily she
jumped up, drew the latch on her door, and threw open her door. She
ran up the stairs to the deck and then skidded to a halt, clasping
a hand to her mouth at what she saw.

A
creature flew down towards the boat, its bat - like, leathery, oily
wings fluttering in the wind and shimmering in the moonlight. Its
beak was crooked and bronzed and its eyes beady and searching.
Matthias was on deck, his staff in his hand. But he wasn’t throwing
fireballs at the creature as he had done before with the other
creatures. Instead he gripped his staff in both hands, as if ready
to strike the creature with it. Luccius also ran about the decking,
gripping his spear menacingly. In the darkness she almost missed
Thadius who lay on the floor, clutching to his leg.

“
Thadius!
” she exclaimed and ran to him. He struggled to
his feet.

“
Princess! What are you doing up here! It’s not safe!” he
panted.

“
What is going on?” she asked and helped him stand. Her feet
felt moist and she noticed that the decking where Thadius had sat
was slick with blood. “You’re hurt badly!” she
swallowed.

“
I’ve had worse princess,” he said, hefting his
sword. “Now you need to get back inside.
Duck!
”

The
creature swooped at them and Thadius drew Josephine beneath him. It
landed on the soldier’s back and its beak tore into his shirt and
pierced his skin along his shoulder blade. Blood burst from the
wound as the creature flapped atop him, its claws scratching his
back. He pushed the princess aside and swung at the animal with his
sword, but the creature flew out of range and then proceeded to
torment another passenger: Lady Eliza from Olindia, who was also
staying on the boat. The woman screamed and fainted, collapsing to
the floor, and as the creature stretched out to claw her helpless
figure, Captain Rilam jumped in front of her and waved a dagger at
the creature threateningly. The beast caught him on his side before
he could hurt it and then he slipped on the deck and fell down
too.

“
Damn!” yelled Luccius as he ran towards it, thrusting with
his spear. “It’s too fast for me!” It bore down on him and he
managed to slice at its wing before he was knocked in the stomach
by the creature’s ferocious beak. He fell backwards over the
railings and plunged into the river.

“
Don’t you think now would be a good time to use your ‘secret
weapon’?” Thadius bellowed at Matthias suggestively. “Josephine is
in danger!”

The
wizard looked at the knight and then glanced at the captain, where
he lay staring at the creature in the sky. “Not if I can help it!”
Matthias called back. “We still have the advantage!”

“
That’s easy for you to say when you’ve not had a chunk of
flesh taken from your back and leg by the beast!” the knight
barked. “People are hurt! Luccius is overboard! You must end
this!”

“
Just keep fighting!” the wizard snapped.

The
creature jumped high again, its wing cut, black liquid dribbling
from the wound and spattering the deck. It turned in the air and
swooped down again, its wings tucked in and fell like a javelin
towards Matthias. The wizard moved backwards and then, with a
sleight of foot, outmanoeuvred it, throwing his staff around and
striking it hard in the face.

“
Haha!
Got
you!” he smiled victoriously. The creature didn’t
seem to like that. It turned almost on the spot and flapped at him
wildly, knocking the staff from his hand and scratching at his
face. Matthias spun round and then his foot slipped on the
congealed blood that still splattered the deck from the creature’s
wing. He cracked his head on the floor and the world blacked
out.

Thadius turned to the princess again.
“
Josephine
, get down below
now!
” he ordered. She looked taken aback a moment, but
then nodded and began to move towards the door to the cabins. As
she did so the creature screamed and sailed towards her. Thadius
ran after it. “
Run
Josephine!”

The
princess made it to the steps as a whistling sound in the air made
her turn round. The creature rocketed at her head. There was no
time to think. She closed her eyes, shielded her face with her
hands, and then a split second later heard a loud thump. She jumped
with a yelp. Delicately, after a moment of silence, she opened one
eye, then another, and peered around. The creature was lying limp
in front of her, a tangled mess of wings and talons. She poked at
it with a foot. It didn’t move.

“
What… what happened?” she asked Thadius, who skidded by her
side. He looked at her confounded.

“
It was as if it hit a wall in mid air in front of
you!” he exclaimed, his face pale. “It was so close to you. There
was nothing I could do! It was so
fast!
And then… it just slid off thin air and
landed at your feet! ”

There came a groan from a way behind them and Matthias was
pushing himself to his feet. He snapped to quickly and saw the
creature lying in a lump. He jogged towards them. “Are you hurt?”
he asked Josephine.

“
She
very nearly was!” Thadius growled. He grabbed Matthias’s arm and
pulled him closer, lowering his voice. “Maintaining our cover is
not nearly as important as the princess’s life! You should have
used your powers!”

The wizard pulled his arm free and raised a hand
to his head, wincing at the pain. “We’ll talk about it
later
, when we are alone,” he whispered. The knight’s eyes
narrowed and his jaw clenched.

“
I…
I don’t know what happened,” the princess said dreamily. Thadius
said it hit something in the air.” She looked at the creature
again. “Did I…. did I do that?”

“
Help!
” a voice suddenly cried from the
darkness.

“
Luccius!” Josephine gasped, suddenly remembering. “He’s in
the water!” She ran to the edge of the boat, poking her head under
the rails. Luccius was in the water a little way behind, gripping
to a rope at the stern and spluttering.

“
Is it
over?
” he asked.

“
Yes!” Josephine replied. “We are fine Luccius. It’s
dead!”

“
Good. Then could someone get me
out
of here?” he
chattered. “It’s
freezing!
”

Josephine sat on the side of her bed in her compartment below
deck and studied her hands idly, lost in thought. There was a knock
at the door and then Matthias said: “Josephine, can I come in?” She
stood up and undid the latch and beckoned entrance. The door opened
and Matthias slipped in between the tight gap, closing the door
behind him.

“
How
is everyone?” the princess asked, slumping back on the
bed.

Matthias nodded. “They’re all fine. I healed Thadius’s
wounds, though he resisted for a while and didn’t speak to me
throughout. Luccius is warming up. Captain Rilam gave him some
brandy, so he is in his element. Lady Eliza and he are
alright.”

“
And
your head?” she asked.

“
It only hurts when I move. Or think. Or
breathe
.”

“
Can
you not heal it?” she asked.

“
In
a while. I tired myself out healing Thadius first.”

“
I
am sorry,” Josephine ventured.

“
Why?” Matthias asked.

“
It
was after me!” she exclaimed.

“
You
stopped the demon!” Matthias responded.

“
By
accident!” she rebuffed.

“
We
knew
there’d be more attacks. I should have been more ready
myself. I was down in my room when I should have been keeping
watch.”

“
You are exhausted as well! I haven’t seen you
sleep
once
since we left Rina! You can’t be there every waking second
of the day. None of you can.”

“
I
gave your father my word I wouldn’t let any harm come to you,”
Matthias responded. He shook his head. “I’m not doing a
particularly good job so far. Thadius isn’t happy with me for not
using my power. I can’t say I blame him.”

“
You
didn’t use your power because you didn’t want the captain to know
you are a wizard?” she asked.

“
We’re supposed to be keeping a low profile,” Matthias said.
“I don’t want talk of there being a wizard around causing more
problems.”

“
These creatures are after me, not you. I know I made you
disguise yourself further when you made me do the same, but in the
circumstances, would it have hurt if the captain knew you are a
wizard? It would have saved another fight. A wizard in Aralia is
not unheard of, after all.”