Free The Flames of Deception - A Horizon of Storms: Book 1 by AJ Martin Page A

experience in researching the prophecies in the
past.”
    “ But
you can’t tell who the people are who are supposed to be breaking
the dragon free?” Thadius asked. “There are no recognisable
faces?”
    “ No,” Matthias said with distaste.
“ Unhelpfully .”
    "I can't believe that anyone anywhere would want to free the
dragon!" the king exclaimed. “How can you really be sure of these prophecies?”
    Matthias smiled. “Your Grace is free to believe what you want
of course. But I have come here to tell you that the Council of
Mahalia recommends that you prepare for this threat.”
    “ And what if we ignore your warnings?” Thadius
asked.
    “ They are not my warnings, or Mahalia’s. They are from the
gods.”
    “ According to you,” the king rebuffed.
    Matthias shrugged. “Regardless who the prophecy is from, if
you don’t prepare then you risk the event that this country will
burn.”
    “ A
threat?” the guardsman asked.
    “ A truth ,” Matthias responded.
    Thadius’s face grew dour. He turned back to the king. “Your
Grace? What do you think of this news?”
    King Arwell exhaled deeply. “If this is the truth...” he
trailed off, shaking his head. “I believe in many things. The first
is to never underestimate a Mahalian wizard.” He looked to Matthias gravely.
“If he says it is true then gods help us, it most likely
is.”
    “ But Your Grace would be the first to admit that Mahalia is known for
deception. Wizards weave trickery in every word they speak!”
Thadius exclaimed. He turned to Matthias. “You seem no different in
that.”
    “ Your every sentence does invoke a deep sense of
confusion in me ‘ambassador’,” the king said to Matthias. “There’s
an old saying: ‘Better to bed in with a den of vipers than to take a wizard at face value.’” Matthias raised a
brow. Then the king sighed. “But then again, there is also another saying: ‘Foolish is
the man who distances himself from the advice of those who wield
fire and water.’”
    “ Might I ask which of those you are inclined towards?”
Matthias asked.
    King
Arwell sniffed. “I have been king for nearly thirty years, mister
Greenwald. In that time I have been lied to many times by your
kind. But even so, I have always been inclined – some would say
pushed- to swing to the latter and heed your people’s warnings.
Sometimes your Council has led us on a true course, and other times
I have been burned by them. As have my forebears. It is a delicate
balance to navigate your ‘recommendations’.”
    “ Your Grace, you will certainly get burned should the dragon be
freed,” Matthias advised. Then he sighed. “I know that you have no reason to believe
me. But if I were trying to deceive you, then why would I ask you to arm your men to the teeth? ”
    King Arwell looked at Matthias thoughtfully. “Your
people were the ones who sealed Sikaris into that prison. Can’t you simply, I don’t
know, reinforce the cell?”
    Matthias took a sip of his wine and smiled. “Your Grace knows
that this is no normal prison. I’m afraid it’s not as simple as
that. The cage was formed by petrification, an old trick of the
earth power that turns skin and bone to stone. It’s not something a
wizard has been able to perform for quite a long time.”
    “ You have forgotten how? ” Thadius asked. “I thought your people were meant
to be clever? ”
    “ It’s not so much a case that we have forgotten how. It is more
that no – one has the strength to weave the necessary threads of
power anymore.”
    “ You
mean your people have grown weaker?” the king asked
quickly.
    “ In short, yes,” Matthias replied just as abruptly.
“We are less powerful that we used to be, less adept at using the
earth power of the world.”
    The
king’s lip twitched into a thin smile. “It’s unlike a wizard to
admit to weakness,” he said.
    “ My
people aren’t infallible,” Matthias shrugged. “Why pretend it is
otherwise?”
    “ I have