The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 (78 page)

“
Where from?” Matthias asked.

Luccius shook his head. “I don’t know. I… I’ve never seen
features like hers,” he whispered. Her eyes had a thin slant to
them, slightly inset in her smooth skinned, tanned face. Her hair
was long, dark brown and ran down past her shoulders, spiking
abruptly at the ends. Several braids hung loosely from her scalp,
wound with a blue ribbon. Other strands were decorated with silver
charms of different shapes.

“
Give me your hand,” Matthias said quietly.

“
Why?
” Luccius asked, turning back to
him.

“
Something I learned from Protector Balzan. I can
see through your eyes.” Luccius looked at him in disbelief.
“
Really
,” Matthias added.

Luccius nodded and placed his hand, palm down,
onto Matthias’s own. “Judging by the people in here Matthias,
they
may
misconstrue this,” he said.

“
They’re too interested in their drink and games to
notice and given how dark it is I’m lucky if I can see my
own
hand,” Matthias
said back. “Besides, if your
ears
didn’t draw their attention already, then
this
certainly
won’t.”

Luccius turned back to the woman and squinted.

“
You’re right,” Matthias said, his gaze turned
inwardly, looking through Luccius’s own vision. “I’ve never seen
anyone with features like hers. She
could
be from Aslemer, I suppose, but her skin
isn’t quite tanned enough.”

Matthias continued to look through Luccius’s eyes at the
woman. Her clothing was equally as unusual as her face. The
overcoat she wore was made of a coarse, black material Matthias did
not recognise. It could have been wool, but it was woven too
closely. Beneath it she wore a tight blouse, with a tear across the
torso. She wore a thin, grey skirt with a slit running up its
length, and leather boots.

“
I
understand why she is sitting in the shadows,” Luccius whispered.
“The men in here would likely take advantage of a woman of her
unusual beauty.”

“
True enough, but I think they would have a hard time of it if
they tried anything,” he said thoughtfully. “A woman drinking alone
in a bar like this is not short on confidence, and… not short on
weaponry,” he added, nodding to a long knife that hung from her
waist, its leather handle worn from use. Around her right wrist she
wore a band of tightly woven thick black leather, and on her
shoulder was a tattoo of the sun. A scar projected across her right
forearm. “She’s a fighter and no mistake.” The wizard shifted his
hand and Luccius withdrew his own.

“
I
wonder why she’s in here?” Luccius asked, turning his gaze back to
the rest of the tavern and drinking more of the ale with a
grimace.

“
I
would
suggest you ask her, but I don’t think that would be wise.
She
obviously
wants to be alone.”

“
Yes
, I
do
,”
a heavily accented voice said from the shadows. “But it is
apparently
difficult
to be ignored in this land.”

They
gave a start. “I wasn’t aware that we were speaking within
earshot,” Matthias said.

“
I could pick out a pin dropping onto a mattress,
let alone your heavy whispers. Did you
want
something?” her voice growled at them from
the darkness. “Or were you simply content with
looking
at me?”

“
We
don’t want anything,” Matthias replied. “I’m sorry if we disturbed
you.” He turned back to his drink.

The
woman continued to stare through the darkness, hawk-like eyes
narrowing, catching the candlelight. “You are some kind of
warriors?” she asked them, rising from her stoop and emerging from
the gloom.

“
Not
really,” Matthias said.

“
Your long - eared friend is heavily armed for
someone who is not a warrior,” she replied. Then she spied
Matthias’s sword sticking out from under his coat. Her eyes
widened. “Where did
you
get
that?
” she asked.

“
I
bought it,” Matthias advised.

“
You
cannot
buy such a weapon,” she replied. “You
claim
you are no warrior,
yet you wear something like
that
,” she said in awe and gestured to the sword. “I
know of no
greater
indication of your true nature than a
Sakatilla.”

“
Sakatilla?” Matthias repeated.

The
woman thought a moment, and then translated. “Dragon - Tooth
Sword.”

“
You have
seen
a sword like this before?” Matthias asked. She
nodded. “Where?”

“
They are made in my country,” she said sharply. “For the
Ouroborian Legions.”

“
I’ve not heard of them,” Matthias advised. “What country do
they serve?”

“
Lantai,” she replied. “Across the ocean.” She
shook her head. “If you have come into possession of that sword,
then it means its past owner is dead. Did
you
kill him?” she asked
bluntly.

Matthias shook his head. “I
told
you, I
bought
it.”

“
Then you made your purchase from a
murderer
,” she said with distaste.

“
I’ve heard of Lantai,” Luccius cut in, trying to steer the
conversation away from the sword. “It’s across the northern ocean
somewhere. Ships travel there from the harbour at Ordovier.” He saw
the look from Matthias and added: “I met a captain of a ship once
in Tekri who claimed to have sailed the entire shoreline of Triska
and beyond.”

“
It
sounds like you are far from home,” Matthias said, trying to turn
the woman’s attention to other matters.

“
I have had little choice in this,” she said, and
gulped back more of her ale. “My country is occupied. I had no
choice but to flee to the land of
cowards
.”

“
You
are a soldier?” Luccius asked, ignoring the insult.

“
Unofficially,” she said. “I fought to protect my
family, my village, when the Tasakai invaded. I
failed
,” she said with thinly disguised
disdain.

“
You
must have been in Triska for quite a while to have come this far
south from Ordovier,” Matthias commented.

“
Two…
months
, I think is the word in your tongue,” she said,
nodding. “It has felt like
much
longer.”

“
What have you been doing since you arrived?” asked Luccius,
sipping at his drink.

The
woman smiled. “I fight.”

“
For
who?” Matthias asked.

“
Anyone who can
afford
me,” she replied.

“
You’re a bounty hunter?” Luccius exclaimed. “Why in the name
of the gods have you fallen into that trade?”

Hearing this, the woman turned and walked to him
until her face was inches from the ansuwan. “What is left of my
people is trapped under the fist of murderers. One day I will
return and deliver justice to my people, when the time is right.
Until then I must survive, and I must fight to keep my abilities
strong. It suits my purposes.” She lingered and Luccius felt his
cheeks redden as her angered face shifted into a smile, before she
turned away, flicking her hair at him and returning to her ale,
downing the rest of the pitcher and wiping her mouth with an arm.
Droplets from her lips smeared the fine hairs on her skin. She
slammed the pitcher to the wood. “Your ale is
weak
in this land,” she commented. “It is
a constant in
everything
I have seen in this
Triska
.” She said the word as if it were alien to her,
and distasteful.

“
What’s your name?” Matthias asked her.

“
Emary,” she replied, staring at the bottom of the empty
pitcher at the remaining foam.

“
An
unusual name,” Luccius commented.

“
Perhaps to
you
,” she sniffed.

Outside the Inn a woman screamed. The bar exploded with
commotion. Matthias and Luccius looked to each other.

“
Is
it Sikaris?” Luccius asked.

“
There’s only one way to find out,” Matthias nodded, and
together they turned on their heels and pushed through the
gathering crowd to the door. Emary followed, ripping a dagger from
where it nestled in her belt and shoving her way through the
throng. No - one else ventured out of the safety of the tavern:
there was a big difference between being curious and being a hero,
and none of the patrons came anywhere close to being that noble or
adventurous.

The
light from inside the buildings dotted along the street provided
the only illumination on the dark path outside. There was no one
else to be seen in the shrouded streets. Matthias threw up a hand
and a ball of bright white light sprung up and hovered a foot or so
in front of his face. Emary stepped back a pace and eyed him
warily.

“
You are a
wielder!
” she hissed.

“
I’ve never heard it put that way before,” Matthias said as he
walked the street intently, peering in between the buildings in the
darkened alleyways.

“
It’s too
quiet
to be Sikaris,” Luccius whispered. Matthias
nodded.

They
stopped as the ball of light illuminated a cloaked form in a
backstreet to their left, bent over the body of a young woman. She
lay lifeless on the ground, her youthful face pale, eyes drained of
their life. Her lips were covered in an oily black
slime.

In
the light the hooded figure’s facial features could be seen beneath
a head of spines, curving back like a porcupine. A thin, wide mouth
sneered at them, sharpened teeth glinting, and its eyes glowed a
dark umber. Its pincers still dripped with fresh blood on to the
dead woman's garments.

“
Sykanth!
” Emary gasped.

“
Sorry?
” Luccius responded, hefting his
spear.

“
A
creature of the shadows,” she elaborated.

“
We
call them demons, or helspawn,” Luccius advised.

“
Stay back, or I’ll rip you to
pieces!
” Matthias hissed at it. The
creature’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I
know
you understand me, so believe me when I
say I
will
do it.” The creature snarled at him and pawed the air with
its pincers mockingly. “An innocent girl lies
dead
at your feet. I am in
no
mood to be
trifled
with!” Matthias
warned, his eyes crackling with the earth power.

Emary stepped around Matthias and towards the
creature.

“
Hey!
Get back here!” Matthias barked at her, but she
did not listen. She marched forward, dagger in hand. The beast
snarled at her and raised its claws, and then launched itself at
her. She ducked out of its path with ease and sliced at its back,
cutting deep into the monsters flesh. It dribbled green blood onto
the path and shrieked, before spinning back round, slashing at her
again. She weaved her way around its blows, kicking and punching at
it expertly.

“
Not
bad
for someone who’s not a soldier,” Luccius
exclaimed, eyes fixed on the woman dancing around the creature with
precision, as if engaged in a waltz.

Matthias looked annoyed. He glanced up at the sky. Overhead,
thick, grey clouds were just visible in the dark. The wizard threw
up a hand to them and out of their depths a bolt of lightning
flashed, the fork striking the demon with pinpoint precision and
blowing its skull to pieces. The body fell to the ground in front
of Emary, what remained of the head steaming at her feet, green
blood bubbling out of its charred arteries. As the blood pooled
around her boots, Emary rounded on the wizard.

“
What did you do
that
for? I had things under control!” she growled. Her
teeth ground together almost audibly.

“
When fighting with a demon you can
never
assume you have the
upper hand! They’re feral, rabid
monsters
, but
astonishingly
clever in spite of their animal
instincts. You can’t
play
with them. They’ll find your weak spot soon enough
and have you for dinner before you can even blink. Like
this
poor girl,” he
said, and knelt down to stroke the hair back from her greying
forehead.