Hellfire

King and Wizard

King Orthius is the king of the grand city Valarius. It's city was known for trade across the world. Exotic fruits, jewelry, fabrics, and many other high valued merchandise sold in its markets. The cities residents lived in buildings that were either falling apart or were made of strong stone. The poorest of the poor and richest of the rich lived in harmony. They cared not for how much money their neighbor had or how dirty they were. However, they did not trust outsiders. Travelers and tourists were considered a disturbance to the peace. The city of Valarius was peaceful and happy. All because of their new king, they became the strongest empire in the nation.

Resting in the center of this great city was the grand palace of King Jonathan Orthius II. He became the ruler a year after his father passed away. Only being a man of 30 years, he had some knowledge of ruling a kingdom. However, he had help. Years before he took the throne there was a wizard auction happening in the city. Orthius was there and a certain wizard caught his eye. This wizard was dressed in dark green and black robes, his hair was uncombed and too long to see his eyes. Orthius never knew what came over him to buy the wizard. Since that day the wizard, Crotus, became his court wizard. Crotus was a wizard of summoning and fire. He learned his skills from an ancient wizard that served under Solaris during the hellfire battle. The two made an excellent team, even if one was considered an enemy.

The doors to the throne room opened slowly as Crotus walked in. His black glided behind him as he drew near the king. Orthius sat upon his throne waiting for his court wizard. Reaching the steps of the silver throne, Crotus knelt on one knee with his head lowered.
"You called for me?" The wizard asked without raising his head. Orthius motioned for him to stand and he did so.
"Yes, we are having an important guest come into the city today. She is supposed to arrive in the Dusk market by the North gate. I want you to go and greet her." Orthius held out a parchment of paper. Crotus walked halfway up the steps and reached for the scroll.
"If I may ask, who is this important guest?"
"She is know by many names, but is commonly know as Sarah the priestess of Solaris." The King sat back in his throne as Crotus walked down the steps.
"Sarah..." The fire wizard whispered under his breath. A sudden burst of laughter escaped the Kings mouth. The laughter echoed off the walls. Crotus stood confused.
"Don't worry my friend, I shall tell you later about why miss Sarah is coming." Calling Crotus a "friends" still made him uncomfortable. Wizards aren't friends in this country. The confused wizard then exited the throne room to make his way to the Dusk market place.

The wizard traveled through a market, making his way through the crowd. His green and black cloak trailed behind him gathering up dust. It was busy today, new supplies had just come in. Salesmen held up jewels and diamond necklaces to try and get ladies attention. Others were in between buildings surrounding the marketplace, because they were selling black market items. Crotus loved seeing new items, especially books. Each month this wizard would come and find a new book to enjoy. As he walked down the street, the wizard pardoned civilians. He would say excuse me and move on through the crowd. Most of the residents would glare at him since they could easily identify him as a wizard. Finally reaching the end of the chaos the man sighed of relief.
"By my masters' beard, this city isn't hot enough already." He shook his cloak to get a cool breeze. Crotus looked back at the crowd. It was still busy. Some women were talking to their husbands about buying items. Children were reaching into robes of the adults trying to find their coin purses.

As he was looking upon his city a voice called out to him.
"Well by Solaris, if it isn't Crotus the court wizard." Crotus looked towards a stand near the end of the market. A man was grinning and was waving to him. His eyes were squinting from the light of the sun and his face was turning red.
"You know who I am?" Crotus asked while walking to the man.
"Of course laddie. You walk by here every month, same day, same time. I notice you always buy a book. Appears you didn't find one this time." The man leaned against the wooden surface and chuckled. He stroked his bushy beard and continued chuckling.
"I'm afraid not, I'm looking for something, well...someone else." Crotus replied feeling bad about not getting a book.
"Well you're in luck!" The man threw up his arms startling Crotus back.
"I'm a book merchant. I sell spell books but I also sell some stories here and there." Crotus never noticed the books around the stand. Some had magic circles carved into them others had different languages carved into golden letters. The wizard wanted to look at them all, but he has to meet someone. An important person who was very late.
"You said someone. Who is this someone? I reckon she's a very lucky lady."
"She is important."

A girl ran through the streets out of breath. Her mouth hung open taking in quick and short breaths. A white cloak flew behind her whipping at the wind. A sharp pain in her head startled the girl throwing her off balance. The witch hit the dirt ground and a cloud of dust appeared once she hit it. Contents flew out of her punch on a leather belt tied around her waist. Bottles and objects laid near her either cracked or broken.

Once the dust cleared, she sat up and brushed the dirt off. The girl wore white robes with leather shoulder pads. Light green outlined the white and her cloak was now completely dirty. People passed by her wondering why she kept on sitting there. They didn't bother to stop and help. The people knew outsiders when they saw them.

Suddenly, a hand touched her shoulder. The girl turned around sharply to hit whoever it was out of reflex. A man fell down right behind her covering his face. His green and black robes were now also dirty.
"I'm sorry please forgive me." She crawled over and helped him up.
"I'm fine," he chuckled, "I've had worse." She sighed of relief and started to pick up her belongings.
"The question is, are you okay?" The man started helping her pick up objects.
"I'm fine. All that happened was that I arrived late." She brushed a bronze strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear.
"You're Sarah? The priestess of Solaris?" The wizard exclaimed nearly dropping the items he just gathered.
"Shh, we're being watching." Sarah placed a finger upon his lips shushing him. The man looked towards the rooftops and saw a figure move away. It moved to fast to identify the spy. Once they were gone Sarah stepped back and bowed her head.
"I am Sarah the priestess of Solaris." Crotus immediately bowed back.
"I'm Crotus court wizard of King Orthius." Her head snapped up making her hair go messy again.
"You're my guide?" He shrugged and chuckled. Crotus lifted her up and brushed Sarah's hair out of her face.
"You must have thought I was a slave." He said but then stopped when Sarah had a look of confusion on her face. A slight breeze blew pass adding more chills to the conversation.
"Slave? Aren't you a wizard?" Crotus' heart dropped. She didn't know about the wizard slaves. How could a priestess of the Earth not know about the slaves?
"Do you not know? How long have you been on this world?"
"A year, I've been traveling that whole time. Why?" Crotus stayed silent.

He raised his arm to the side and a purple magic circle appeared on the ground. Citizens near them scattered and glared at them. Crotus learned to ignore the glares but Sarah was new. They all gave nasty sneers to the priestess. Dark light reflected off of the buildings surrounding them. A cloud of smoke appeared and a figure rose from the ground. It's skinny figure appeared ghost like and dead. Once the smoke cleared and the magic circle disappeared, the two magic users were left with a strange creature. It appeared to be a horse but it was just bones. Purple flames replaced mane hair and organs were visible inside of the creature. A heart was visible and was beating. It's lungs expanded and drew back into the rib cage. A dark leather saddle rested on its back. Sarah stepped towards the strange beast. She reached for its face but Crotus grabbed her hand.

"He doesn't appreciate strangers." Sarah nodded and drew back. Suddenly, his hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her up upon the horse. It felt strange at first because the horse had no muscle or flesh. The flames didn't burn Sarah when they grew close to her. It was like a butterflies wing, a gentle touch, startling at first then relaxing. Crotus pulled himself up and swung his leg over to the other side.

"Lean back when you need to, I'll be here." Crotus whispered into her ear while grabbing the reins. His knuckles turned white from gripping it. Crotus raised his legs and then came back down onto the horse's side. The beast leapt up into the air on its behind legs letting out a loud neigh. It came back down onto the ground then charged forward through the streets. Civilians were forced against the nearest wall. They swore at the wizard as he rode by. Sarah pulled up her hood to keep the cool wind away from her face.

Crotus led the horse out of the city and into the farm district. The farm district was a section of the city built for agriculture purposes only. A huge wall surrounded the city making it seem like a smaller world. The sun was slowly disappearing behind the great stone wall. Sarah's head lowered then raised again. Her eyes opened and closed. She felt tired and was falling asleep. A tiring journey drained all of her energy. Remembering his words, she leaned back onto Crotus.

The creature beneath their legs snorted as they rode through the valley. It's scarlet eyes looked back at him.
"No I am not going to drop her." Crotus rolled his eyes. He was the only one who could understand the undead creature. It snorted twice this time.
"Don't worry you'll be home once we arrive at the palace." He smirked but his mind drifted. What did Orthius have in mind for her?