by Dean Cadman
LUSAM
THE DRAGON MAGE WARS
BOOK THREE
by
DEAN CADMAN ©2016
www.deancadman.com
First published 2016
This edition published 2016 by Dean Cadman
ISBN-13: 978-1523280919
Copyright © Dean Cadman 2016
The right of Dean Cadman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any persons who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
For the past twelve days Lusam and his party had been relentlessly pursued by the enemy agents they had first encountered outside Stelgad. Not long after Lusam had managed to guide them safely out of the fog covered valley, and they had accidentally discovered the possible existence of another Guardian book hidden somewhere in the mountains ahead of them, the agents of Aamon also emerged from the fog behind them. Fortunately Neala and Alexia had spotted the enemy agents almost immediately as they had emerged, giving them a crucial head start through the sparse trees on the west side of the valley.
They had also been exceptionally lucky that first day, when they had managed to trick their pursuers into following a fake trail laid by Alexia. It had gained them a few precious hours’ distance between themselves and the agents. Up until that point they had been forced to travel in single file, with Lusam at the rear, using his magical shield to protect the others as best he could. The flat valley floor had been strewn with huge boulders, some the size of a small house. In one way it made it easier to gain some cover from the multitude of magical-missiles constantly being fired at them, but it also made it very difficult for Lusam to maintain his shield around everyone as they dodged in and out of the boulders. Both Renn and Neala had sustained minor injuries during that first day, but fortunately neither injury was serious enough to slow them down much.
The valley floor they had travelled through was flanked on both sides with an almost vertical rock face, making it impossible to climb—not that they could have even tried while being pursued as they were.
When they reached the far end of the valley they were faced with a stark choice. Directly in front of them the ground had ended suddenly, plunging several thousand feet down a sheer precipice to a valley floor below. They found two paths, one leading west up the mountain where they needed to go, and the other path ran east, possibly to the valley floor below, but they couldn’t be sure because it was hidden by trees a little further along.
The path leading up the mountain was completely exposed, with no cover whatsoever. If they had gone that way they would not have survived long once the agents had a clear view of them. They had quickly decided the only possible option was to follow the path to the east, and try to lose their pursuers first, then try to find another way back up the mountain later.
They had followed the easterly path for only a short distance when Neala had noticed a small cave in the rock face below. They quickly came up with a plan for Alexia to create a fake trail, while Lusam levitated the rest of them down the sheer rock face and into the cave below. Neala had been petrified at the thought of stepping off that precipice, but Lusam had convinced her it was the only way, and so she had reluctantly agreed. Alexia had somehow managed to cause a small rockslide, which sent dozens of boulders crashing down the steep path and through the trees below. Later when Lusam had asked her why, she had told him that it would have made it almost impossible for the agents to tell if they had indeed travelled that way or not with all the broken foliage the rocks would have caused.
When Alexia signalled her return to Lusam, he quickly levitated her down the rock face and into the cave before she could be seen by the pursuing agents. Fortunately the cave had been deep enough to hide their presence from the agents, and they had passed them by without discovering their hiding place. It had been difficult to decide how long to stay within the cave. If they tried to leave too soon and were spotted, their lead would not be significant enough to safely allow them to climb the western path. But if they stayed too long and the agents discovered their ruse too early, they might lose any advantage they already had, or worse, they might even be discovered within the cave with no way to escape.
They agreed amongst themselves that the agents would likely need at least two hours to discover their deception. They waited within the cave for an hour, then levitated back up the rock face and put as much distance between themselves and the agents as possible.
They had managed to climb the exposed western path before being discovered once again by the agents. Thankfully the agents were now over half a day behind them on the winding path up the mountain, and because the path switched back and forth so much as it climbed higher, it also gave the agents far less opportunity to fire randomly at them from below.
That was nine days ago, and since then neither side had gained much ground on the other.
***
The light was fading fast as they continued to climb the mountain path. A path leading to where, none of them knew—but it was the only option now available to them. They had been running on and off for almost two weeks now, and they were all on the verge of exhaustion. However, if it hadn’t been for the keen eyes of Alexia, who had managed to kill three rabbits with her bow, things would have been a whole lot worse for them by now. Along with the ra
bbits, they had also managed to collect a fair number of berries as they climbed the ever steepening mountain path.
For the first two nights, while climbing the mountain, Lusam’s party were forced to travel all through the night. The agents following them had refused to stop for the night, and that had forced Lusam’s party to also keep moving. As the lack of food and rest took its toll on both parties, there seemed to be a mutual acceptance to stop for the hours of darkness. Only once did the agents try to gain ground on them during the night, but they were easily spotted by their bright auras moving in the darkness below, and all it achieved was yet another night of no rest for both parties.
It soon became apparent that Lusam’s party had one big disadvantage over their pursuers. Only Lusam and Renn were able to see the agents’ auras, which meant one of them had to always be acting as lookout during the night, just in case the agents tried to gain ground on them once more. This meant that both Lusam and Renn were becoming more and more exhausted with each day that passed.
Over the past several days it had become almost like a game between the two parties. Lusam’s party would find a spot to camp before full darkness, making sure the agents could see them clearly, and when the agents were happy they had stopped, they also made camp. Only on two occasions were Lusam’s party fired upon after they set up camp, both missiles harmlessly impacting on Renn’s blessed shield as he acted as lookout. After that night no other attacks came. Neither party wishing to waste energy they simply didn’t have.
Tonight it was Renn’s turn to take first watch, and he took up his position while the others tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible. Neala had picked up a small branch, and was busy whittling it with one of her knives when Alexia broke the silence. “You never did tell me about those enchanted knives of yours. What exactly do they do anyway?” she asked, nodding towards the knife in Neala’s hand.
“Oh, Lusam made them stronger, so they would always stay sharp and never corrode,” Neala replied, turning the knife over in her hand, as if only just now noticing she was holding it.
“Ah, okay. That’s certainly very useful. Does the enchantment make them fly any further?” Alexia asked. Neala was about to answer her, but was interrupted before she was able to.
“No, it doesn’t make them fly any further. I never thought about that when I enchanted them to be honest, or I probably would have tried to add that too,” Lusam replied, almost collapsing next to the two girls through his exhaustion.
“Really, you could do that?” Alexia asked.
“I think so. Why do you ask?” Lusam replied.
“Maybe if we make it out of here alive, you could enchant my bow to make it shoot further?” Alexia asked hopefully. Lusam nodded absent-mindedly at her request, then realised that given the small amount of food they had left, maybe enchanting Alexia’s bow wouldn’t be a bad idea at all. It would take very little effort to enchant the bow, and if they did happen to see any more game animals on their way up the mountain, it would give them a much better chance of gaining some more food.
“Give me your bow,” Lusam said, sitting back up and holding out his hand.
“No, I didn’t mean for you to do it now. You need to save your strength. You’re not getting enough rest as it is, always having to stay awake half of the night on lookout duty. I wish I could see them, and take my turn. I feel so useless not being able to help out,” Alexia said.
“Yeah, me too. I’m sick of all this running. We’re all exhausted, not to mention almost starving. I wish we could just fight them,” Neala said, looking back down the mountainside towards where she guessed the agents were now camped.
“There are too many of them to fight right now. Our only chance is to find that book. Maybe I can learn something new that might help us defeat them, or at least slow them down a little. But in the meantime, let me enchant your bow. It would be a real shame to miss the opportunity of some easy food, just because it was out of normal bow range, don’t you agree?” Lusam said smiling.
“I do, but surely you could use your magic to kill any animals we come across?” Alexia replied. Lusam laughed, but it was a humourless laugh.
“Normally I would agree with you, but as you’ve seen, each time I use my magic they attack us. They can’t see my aura, but they can see me when I use my magic. I’m not sure if I could protect us all with my magic shield against another sustained attack. There are at least twelve of them down there, maybe more. And each time they attack, I have to use at least twelve times more energy than each of them do. I have been wondering why they haven’t pushed us more over the last few days, and I think I may have worked out why,” Lusam said wearily.
“What do you mean? They have been matching our pace ever since we started climbing this mountain path,” Neala said looking confused.
“Yes, they have been matching our pace, but for the last few days that’s all they have done. At first I thought they knew something we didn’t about what lies ahead of us, maybe a dead end or something worse, but I think I finally worked out what they are doing. They are simply trying to exhaust us, or more precisely, me,” Lusam said.
“But I thought we agreed that they were even less prepared for this journey than we were. They must be in just as bad shape as us, if not worse,” Neala said, again looking down into the darkness towards where their enemy would be.
“Maybe at the start of this journey we did have a slight advantage, but no longer. I have been watching them closely today using my mage-sight, and what I saw will certainly swing the advantage back in their favour very quickly. As you all know, during the day while we’re travelling I have to position myself within our group so that my shield will protect our vulnerable spots. At first the lack of missiles coming from them was a welcome relief, but keeping my shield active all day while travelling is extremely tiring in itself. Although I began to notice a while ago that when I use my magic more often and push myself, I seem to be able to do even more later without feeling as tired. A bit like when you overuse your muscles, it hurts while you are doing it, but later you’re stronger for it. The problem is, I don’t have enough time overnight to fully recover my energy reserves, so each day I grow weaker and weaker.
“Today I noticed that none of the agents were using a magical shield any more. They are rebuilding their magical reserves, albeit slowly without food, but the result will still be the same. At some point there will be at least twelve magi who have full power reserves, and myself with a very depleted one. I’m sure they intend an all-out assault on us within the next day or two, and I’m also sure it’s going to be a very one-sided battle when they do,” Lusam said in a very sombre voice.
“Then we better convince them to start using their shields again, lad,” Renn said, obviously paying attention to their conversation, whilst keeping a lookout for any activity below.
“I thought about sending a fireball or two at them today, but I decided against it. I figured it was just a pointless waste of energy. Whatever I sent their way they would see in plenty of time to erect their shields and block it. It would only weaken me, not to mention they would surely fire back at me, sapping my strength even further.”
“I see your point, lad. I guess if you tried to drop your shield during the day they would more than likely send another missile at you, forcing you to use it, or killing you if you didn’t,” Renn said.
“Then we need another way to persuade them that not using their shields is a bad idea. Alexia, could you hit them from this range with an arrow?” Neala asked.
“No, I’m afraid not. I’ve been watching them closely, and they have never come within my bow range. That was one of the reasons why I asked if your knives would fly further, but then I remembered they had shields anyway, so I never mentioned it,” Alexia replied.
Lusam sat up straighter as he thought about the possibility of enchanting Alexia’s bow for increased firing range. He knew he could enchant the bow easily enough, but he was also considering the arrows. I
f he could increase the range of both the bow, and the arrows, it should be enough to make the agents of Aamon use their shields at all times. If they didn’t, and they dropped further back out of range instead, they risked losing sight of Lusam’s party altogether, and he doubted very much that they would want to do that.
“Alexia, did you see where the agents set up camp tonight before we lost the light?” Lusam asked.
“Yes, I always look, just in case they did come close enough for me to take a pot-shot at them. Why do you ask?”
“Tell me, if I enchanted your bow to reach their camp how many arrows could you get into the air at once?” Lusam asked. Alexia looked back down the hillside, as if judging the distance to where she last saw the agents before the failing light had hidden them from view.
“I think four or five, but in the darkness I probably wouldn’t hit anything,” she replied still looking in the direction of the agent’s camp.
“Hmm, I’m sure you wouldn’t, but if we attacked them at first light we might just kill or wound enough of them to even the odds a little. As soon as they realise what’s going on they will resume their shields immediately, but maybe we can thin them out a little before that happens. If I enchant both the bow and the arrows, it will vastly increase their range and killing power. If I can increase the range of your weapon enough so that it makes it impossible for the agents to remain out of its range, whilst at the same time maintaining sight of us, they will have no choice but to use their shields at all times, even while they sleep,” Lusam said.
“That might just work, lad, but you can bet they will likely send an awful lot of missiles our way when they realise their current plan will no longer work. Are you sure you can handle such an onslaught in your condition?” Renn said, sounding a little concerned.
“No, I’m not sure I can handle it. But the alternative will mean certain death for all of us if we just continue to wait and play into their hands. At least this way we get to choose when and where to make a stand. Besides, every one we kill is one less that can fire at us later, and any that are injured would either have to be healed or left behind. Healing someone takes a lot of energy, so if they did heal any of their wounded it would also weaken them further. A win-win situation if you ask me,” Lusam replied. The others remained silent for a few minutes, each obviously playing out the various scenarios in their minds, and the lack of alternatives available.
