The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (77 page)

“
It’s too far! We will be killed!” she wailed. The wind blew
her hair in her face and she threw her head to keep it out of her
vision. Thadius looked from ground to the dragon, the swirling blue
light expanding so that only the tips of its wings were visible
behind. In its centre, the light was beginning to flicker and
shimmer and sparks burst outward.

“
Princess, could you slow us down if we jump?” he
asked.

“
Slow us
down?
”

“
I
just watched you throw a man across this hall! Surely if you can do
that you can slow us down if we jump? Break our fall in some way?”
The light in the centre of the whirlpool was growing dangerously
brighter.

“
I-
I don’t know how!” said Josephine. “I just did it without
thinking!”

“
Well then do it again!” Thadius replied and gripping
Josephine by the shoulders, threw them both out of the
doorway.

In
mid - air, hurtling towards the ground, Josephine drew on her
energy. She focussed it unconsciously, closing herself to the
outside world, visualising two bubbles of air, one around herself,
the other around Thadius. It seemed as natural to her as breathing.
Slowly they started to stop, until they were hanging by invisible
forces several metres from the ground. Josephine let go of the
power and they both dropped the rest of the way to the floor. She
rolled into a patch of grass unharmed, but Thadius came crunching
down onto a block of splintered wood. He growled in pain. There was
a blinding flash of blue- white light behind them, and a searing
beam of energy shot toward the fortress from the dragon. Where it
struck, brick and mortar exploded, showering everywhere, burning
straight through the fortress. The stone seemed to dissolve, and in
seconds, what little remained of the destroyed fort fell to earth.
The pillar- come- sword that had been its weapon flailed from a
disembodied arm and crashed down onto the buildings below.
Josephine watched in stunned silence. Pieces of stone crashed to
the ground around her, as a thick cloud of dust covered the city.
Sikaris hovered above a defeated Crystal Ember, barely even
scratched.

“
Quick, this way,” Thadius gasped, clutching to his bloodied
leg and delicately taking Josephine by the arm.

“
Where are we going?” She asked, dazzled.

“
As
far from here as our legs will take us,” he whispered.

“
What about Matthias?” she asked. “And Luccius?”

“
Josephine,
look
at the city,” he said sadly. “How
could
he have survived
that fall, let alone the fire that’s choking every building as far
as the eye can see? And if Luccius had any sense he will have
gotten out by now. Now come
on
.” He led her clumsily across the debris, through the dust
and out of the broken wooden walls out of city.

“
No! Matthias!
” she cried as Thadius dragged her
away.

Luccius shot through the crowds of screaming people, pushing
past the mob desperate to escape from Crystal Ember. He was sure he
had seen where Matthias had fallen from the sky, somewhere nearby.
A man leading a woman by the hand crashed into him and he fell
down, trampled by people climbing over him. Scrambling to his feet,
bruised and crushed, Luccius called Matthias’ name. It would do no
good- there was too much noise, too much chaos to pick out a reply.
Luccius stumbled into an alleyway away from the
stampede.

“
Gods
damn
you Matthias!” he shouted to the air. He pounded
his fist into the wall. His ears pressed back against his head. The
dust was beginning to sting his eyes. “Where are you?” He kicked at
a stick on the floor, and the piece of wood clattered around on the
stones. Then realisation dawned what he had struck. He fell himself
to the floor and his palm clasped around Matthias’s staff. Clasping
it in both hands, he ran out of the alleyway, weaving around the
people in the street. He spun around and around, staring from roof
to roof. Then he spotted him, a blurry figure leaning against a
chimney on a nearby roof.

“
Matthias!” he cried, dashing to the house and bursting
through the broken door, hurtling up the stairs as he tucked the
staff through his belt. He climbed out the upper bedroom window,
grabbing at tiles in the dusty mist and pulling himself up onto the
roof, crawling across to where Matthias was sitting.

“
Matthias!” he breathed, and patted at his friend’s face to
wake him.

“
What’s happening?” he asked dozily as he came to.

“
It’s the dragon, Matthias. It’s levelling the city. We have
to get out!” He began pulling Matthias to get up, trying to keep
balance on the slipping tiles.

Matthias shook his head. “No. Josephine. We… have
to find…
Josephine
.”

“
The fortress has been
destroyed!
” Luccius said sadly, his eyes glassy
with tears.

“
What?
” Matthias breathed, and looked to the sky where
the fortress had lumbered before.

“
I’d
like to hope that Josephine is still alive, but there is not much
we can do to find her now. How could we find her in this?” He
started to drag him down the rooftop towards the window.

“
We have to
find
her!” Matthias yelled, clutching at his
head.

“
Don’t you think Thadius would have had the common
sense enough to get her away from here?” Luccius asked. “If
they
have
survived, he would have taken her to
safety.”

Matthias swallowed. “I… I suppose,” he said groggily, his
eyes panicked. “Where… where should we go?” he asked as Luccius
began guiding him to the window ledge.

“
Wherever we can. As far away as possible! And let us hope
that Sikaris doesn’t follow! My gods you’re heavier than you look!”
They fell back into the building, and Matthias cried out in pain.
“Sorry. I think you might have a broken arm, and possibly a broken
leg. Can you walk?” he asked.

Matthias looked down at his disjointed leg and then at his
bulging arm. He took a breath and his eyes crackled sapphire as he
wove a weak thread of power around his leg and arm. The bones
crunched and he winced as they re - joined and set themselves back
to where they were supposed to be. Then he yielded the power and
with an effort, rose to his feet. “I can now,” he said.

“
Then let’s get out of this hell,” Luccius nodded.

As
they fled through the southern gate and out of Crystal Ember, a
mushroom shaped plume of flame erupted from within the remains of
the devastated city.

The
Broken Bow Inn was as crowded as it was messy. Drunken men packed
the small tavern, slopping ale over each other and the already
sticky floor as they recited bawdy songs and laughed at crude
jokes. Others sat playing card games and casting dice across the
uneven wooden tables, small piles of wonky, bronze coins lying in
stacks. The air was stale and hazy, filled with smoke from weed
pipes and no one looked up when Matthias and Luccius entered into
the smog through the rusty - hinged door, which creaked like the
menacing caw of a crow as it resisted being opened. Matthias’s once
fine coat was now so dirty and torn that it drew little attention,
especially in the darkness of night and the poor illumination of
the few candles dotted around the place. He had removed the pendant
from around his neck despite his distaste for the act and placed it
in his pocket. A wizard in Olindia at a time like this could find
himself in trouble and he didn’t dare to take the risk right
now.

A
barman was propped up on a splintering beam of wood behind the bar,
cleaning a mug absent-mindedly with a soiled cloth that, suffice to
say, was having little effect. Luccius approached him, leaning
forward over the bar so that he could be heard over the commotion.
Mud mottled his cheeks and his hair was unkempt.

“
Do
you have any rooms for a night?” he asked.

“
No,” the barman said, not taking his eyes from the
room.

“
Are
you sure?” Luccius tried again. “We can pay generously
for-”

“
Positive
.
No
rooms.”

Matthias moved beside Luccius and tried not to wince as he
propped himself up. His leg wasn’t broken anymore- he had managed
to heal the bone with the earth power- but it was still extremely
painful when he put pressure on it.

“
If
you have no rooms, then perhaps we might get something to drink?”
he asked. The barman huffed, threw the cloth over a shoulder,
slammed the mug at the back of the bar with its other similarly
soiled brothers and began pouring ale into two small, leather- clad
pitchers, making his every move appear to be a chore as he did
so.

“
Two
beers,” he announced, placing the pitchers on the bar before them
and spilling some of their contents in the process. The pungent
liquid dribbled onto the parched, unvarnished wood of the bar.
“That’ll be a bronze mark each,” he grunted.

“
That’s a bit
steep!
” Luccius exclaimed.

The barman leaned forward and grabbed the top of
the pitchers, his dirty fingers dipping into the ale. “If you don’t
want em’ you can leave,
pixie
,” he said with distaste.

Luccius frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but Matthias
stepped in and put a coin on the bar.

“
Here’s a pound,” Matthias said bluntly and then rifled back
into his pocket, pulling out a handful of smaller change. “And five
shillings. Will that do?”

The
man reviewed the money and grunted. “It’ll do,” he said, and drew
the money towards him and let it fall off the bar and into his
other hand, where he then shoved it into a pocket on his apron. He
returned to his previous position, finding another mug to attempt
to clean while he daydreamed.

Luccius sniffed and grumbled under his breath. “He’s a rip -
off merchant!” he hissed. “That could have bought a days’ worth of
meals and a room for the night in some places!”

Matthias lifted the pitcher to his lips. “He’s taking
advantage of the situation,” he said. “I’ll bet he has had a few
refugees from Crystal Ember in here before us. The only tavern in
town, and not another village for miles - he can probably smell the
desperation on us,” he said, and drank the bitter liquid
gratefully. His throat was so dry after walking for two days that
he could have drunk a gallon of the stuff, even in spite of how
disgusting the brew tasted.

Luccius grimaced, as he tasted the ale. “Warm
horses
piss
would be more appealing than this stuff Matthias!” he
spluttered. Matthias looked at him with surprise at the comment.
“Sorry,” he sighed. “I’m just tired.”

“
I know. I’m tired too. But this will keep us from
passing out from lack of fluid. Besides, I don’t
see
any stables around,
do you?” They looked at each other and laughed under their
breath.

Matthias turned to scan the rest of the cramped room. There
was very little to peak the interest. A group of old men were
roaring with laughter at a wiry old man’s tale about his wife who,
by the sounds of the story being told, deserved a medal for
remaining with him. Three men sat playing some kind of card game to
their left. Fives, it looked like. At another table, a game of dice
was in full swing, the men playing sat with pipes stuck firmly
between their brown stained teeth.

“
I’ve been in some sordid taverns in my time…” Luccius said,
shaking his head.

“
I
believe
you,” Matthias replied with a smile. He took a breath.
“It’s still better than trudging through fields in the rain,” he
added, playing with a torn seam on his coat.

“
But
if there’s no rooms-”

“
There’s
always
a room, for the right price,” Matthias
interrupted. “I’ve still got a fair amount of coin in my pockets,
though a lot of it
was
in my bag that was in the palace.”

“
I
have a little,” Luccius advised. “And I could probably double it if
I challenge those men at Fives. I doubt they have ever played
someone like me!”

Matthias shook his head. “I don’t want to draw attention to
us,” he said. “I’m too tired for a fight.”

Matthias suddenly became aware of a figure draped in shadow,
hunched over at the far end of the bar. He squinted at them, but
the meagre candlelight wasn’t enough to see any more.

“
Luccius,” he said. “Your eyesight is better than mine in the
dark.” He nodded discretely to the figure. “Can you make out that
person?”

Luccius turned and looked in the direction indicated. “It’s a
woman,” he advised. She stooped over the bar with her hands clasped
around a pitcher twice as large as their own. She was wearing
strange clothes the likes of which he had never seen before. “She’s
foreign,” he added.