by Dean Cadman
“Yeah?”
“Thank you, for what you did today. You saved all our lives. When I was hit by that sharp rock I knew I’d probably die, and that was fine—but I knew Lusam would try to save me no matter what the cost to himself, and that he too would probably die because of it,” Neala said with tears in her eyes. Alexia finally took her eyes off the agents’ camp below and turned to face Neala.
“To be honest, I thought we were all going to die on this mountain, Neala,” Alexia replied in a hushed voice. “I even prayed that your deaths would be quick and painless, and that Aysha would take care of your souls. I never really expected to live through today, but now that I have, I have so many unanswered questions. At first I thought the enchantment on my bow had allowed me to kill the Empire agents, but Lusam said he didn’t think that was possible. Nothing else I can think of makes any sense, but there they are… dead,” she said, pointing towards the three dead agents still lying in the mud. Neala thought about it for a while, but found she too had no answers as to how it was possible.
“I don’t suppose it matters how you killed them, Alexia, only that you did, and we’re all alive because of it,” Neala said, placing her hand on Alexia’s and giving it a small squeeze. Alexia smiled at Neala’s words of encouragement, and nodded her head in reply.
Six hours later it started to rain again. Light at first, but becoming increasingly heavy as the minutes ticked by. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed through the dark night sky above. Lusam woke to the sounds of thunder echoing inside the cave. At first he thought they were once more under attack from the Empire agents, but when his sleep-hazed mind started to work again, he realised it was simply a storm outside. He had no idea how long he had slept, but he felt much better than he had in days.
As Lusam made his way towards the cave entrance, he noticed Neala taking advantage of the storm outside by refilling their waterskins at a tiny waterfall. It had been created by the deluge of rain running down the rock face high above them, then it flowed into a small channel, where Neala easily collected it as it cascaded over a final rock and onto the path where she stood. Neala offered Lusam a waterskin she’d already filled, and he accepted it gladly. It had been the previous day since any of them had drunk very much, and they had all been desperate for water.
Alexia remained on the edge of the mountain path, looking towards the agents’ camp far below, never once showing any signs of being bothered by the violent storm above or the rain that was soaking her to the skin. Lusam walked over to where she sat and offered her a drink of water.
“Any movement down there?” he asked, holding out the waterskin to her.
“No, they haven’t moved all night, but I’m not sure how long their fire will last in this rain,” she said, taking the waterskin from Lusam and thanking him. Lusam slipped into his mage-sight and looked at their camp below. As he suspected they had erected a shield over their camp, protecting both themselves and their fire from the heavy rain or any magical-missiles he might decide to send their way.
“Their campfire is protected from the rain by a magical shield, as are they. I need to finish healing Renn’s leg, but after I’m done I can take over here for a bit while you get some sleep if you like?” Lusam said.
“No, I’m fine, thanks. You and Renn have been without much sleep for days acting as lookout, it’s about time I took my turn,” Alexia replied.
“Yes, me too,” Neala said from behind them. “I’ll take over from Alexia now, so she can get some rest. Once you’ve finished healing Renn’s leg, you should try to get some more sleep too, before the sun comes up. I don’t think we should stay here any longer than we really have to.”
“Yeah, I don’t like being penned in by this rockslide either, but we need to wait until Renn is ready to travel again before we can move on,” Lusam said. “I’ll go see to his leg, then I’ll try to get some more rest as you suggest.”
When he reached the cave entrance he noticed Renn was already awake. He could see the pain etched on his face, and felt bad that he hadn’t dulled it for him before leaving the cave earlier.
“Try to stay still. I need to mend that leg of yours before you start trying to move around on it,” Lusam said kneeling by Renn’s side. He placed a hand on Renn’s leg and magically numbed the pain for him. Renn let out a grateful sigh of relief as the pain first diminished, then vanished completely from his badly damaged leg.
“Thanks, lad, you’ve no idea how much better that feels,” Renn said, still a little out of breath with the earlier pain. After a moment Renn seemed to become fully aware of his surroundings, and asked, “What happened to all those Empire agents?”
“Alexia killed most of them somehow, but we’re not sure how. The rest of them have retreated further back down the mountain. They seem happy to simply remain in their camp for the time being, but we’ve been watching them closely, just in case they change their minds again,” Lusam replied.
“Your enchantment allowed her arrows to pass through the agents’ shields?” Renn asked with a look of astonishment on his face.
“No, I don’t think so, or at least I don’t know why it should have.” Renn was about to say something else, but his words were cut short when he gasped loudly.
“Quick, help me stand up, lad,” he said desperately. Lusam was about to argue with him until he saw Renn’s sword had started to glow with its eerie blue light.
“Oh, Gods!” Lusam said out loud, visions of Netherworld creatures springing into his mind. Neither he nor Renn were currently in a fit state to battle any Netherworld creature the Empire agents may have summoned.
“Come on, lad, move!” Renn said, attempting to stand up alone, and failing miserably.
“You can’t stand on that leg, Renn, and you certainly can’t fight on it!”
“Stop arguing, and help me up, will you?” Renn replied angrily. Lusam did as he asked, supporting Renn’s left side so he could hop towards the cave entrance. Renn’s sword was now glowing very brightly, and sounds of battle from outside the cave reached them within. Lusam was terrified something bad would happen to Neala or Alexia whilst they moved so slowly towards the sounds of battle outside.
When they reached the cave entrance, what they saw outside shocked them both. Neala was engaged in battle with an Empire agent, her daggers moving incredibly fast as she dodged in and out of range. She scored hit after hit on her target, but no matter how much damage she caused, the agent kept advancing on her.
Lusam could see another agent emerging from the darkness further down the path, and he was heading straight for Alexia. Alexia hadn’t noticed the approaching agent yet, as she was busy retrieving her bow from where she had been on lookout duty. Lusam didn’t waste any time warning her, instead he sent a fireball in the direction of the oncoming agent. He fully expected the fireball to harmlessly impact on the agent’s shield, but instead it exploded on his chest, fully engulfing him in flames. Lusam couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched the fire-engulfed agent continue walking towards Alexia without showing any signs of pain whatsoever. Then realisation struck him like a thunderbolt; they weren’t actually alive, they were undead minions, just like the ones Renn had described, and that was why Renn’s sword was glowing.
Instinctively he knew the flaming undead-agent would not stop advancing on Alexia, and the fire would likely cause her far more problems than the undead-agent would have done by itself. He saw Alexia had already reached her bow and replaced her quiver, but the creature was closing fast. Lusam concentrated hard and sent out a pulse of force towards the approaching undead-agent. It struck the undead-agent with such force that it blasted it clean over the edge of the path and into darkened night sky beyond. It flew like a flaming meteor through the dark night sky, falling thousands of feet to the valley floor below, ending in a shower of sparks.
Alexia looked towards Lusam and nodded her thanks, then drew back her bow in one fluid motion and released an arrow in the direction of Neala. Lusam held his breath
as the arrow cut through the night sky, glowing brighter as it got closer to the undead creature. With a thud, the arrow ended its flight, now embedded deep in the skull of the undead-agent Neala had just been battling with. The undead-agent instantly ceased moving, and collapsed to the floor in front of Neala.
Lusam remembered that he was still supporting Renn by his side, and when he turned to see what Renn wanted to do next, he saw the look of complete astonishment on his face.
“Are you okay?” Lusam asked. Renn simply nodded his head, whilst remaining slack-jawed at the scene now unfolding before him. Neala had now dropped back to the base of the rockslide, knowing her weapons to be ineffective against the undead-agents. Alexia however, calmly stood in the centre of the path, and watched, as four more undead-agents lumbered their way towards her. She calmly removed and nocked one of her arrows, drew back her bow and waited. She remained motionless until the lead undead-agent came almost within touching distance, then one after another, in quick succession she sent an arrow at the head of each undead-agent, dropping them where they stood; each arrow glowing brightly just before impact, then returning to normal as the undead-agent fell.
Lusam released a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. He thought Alexia had frozen through fear, or some other unknown reason.
“What were you doing? Why didn’t you just shoot them?” Lusam blurted out. Alexia was still searching the darkness further down the path for any more undead-agents, but Lusam knew there were no more nearby; all the weapons had lost their eerie blue glow. A moment later Alexia must have come to the same conclusion, as she inspected her now normal looking bow. Remembering Lusam had just spoken, she turned in his direction.
“I’m lazy. I didn’t want to walk a long way to get my arrows back,” she said grinning, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Neala burst out laughing, closely followed by Lusam, and then Alexia herself. Renn remained silent until they had all quietened down again, then he addressed them all.
“Now I know how Alexia managed to get through the magical shields of the Empire agents and kill them, and how she killed these undead-agents,” Renn said, pointing towards the remains of the undead-agents all around them.
“How?” asked Alexia curiously.
“You are wielding a blessed weapon, Alexia,” Renn stated simply.
“That’s impossible,” Alexia replied, “I’m not a paladin. You of all people should know that only paladins can use a blessed weapon, and this is a bow, not a sword or hammer. No paladin I have ever heard of has ever used a bow. When Hershel gave me this bow, he said it was only a low-quality hunting bow, used to kill game in the forest. You even heard him yourself.”
“It’s true that a paladin doesn’t use a bow, and I have never heard of any using one either, but I just witnessed it with my own eyes…” Renn trailed off in his statement, eyes widening with sudden realisation. “Aysha be blessed,” he whispered loudly. “When we were in The Sanctum of Light and Aysha visited us, she said she had blessed all the weapons in the temple. Your bow was inside the temple, as were your knives. They must have been blessed along with all the regular paladins’ weapons and shields. Aysha must have known you needed a bow, and as with everything else in life, she provided what you needed.”
“Wait…” Lusam said sceptically. “I thought you told me a blessed weapon only had power in the hands of a paladin, and even then its power was linked directly to the amount of faith the paladin had in Aysha?”
“That’s right, lad, but you heard Aysha tell the recruits that they didn’t need to be fully trained paladins to wield her weapons. If I remember her words correctly, she said: Fear not, my young paladins, hold true to your faith and your weapons will become powerful allies upon the battlefield.
“I have seen and heard the evidence of Alexia’s faith in Aysha, and I can tell you that I believe it to be absolute. Nothing I have seen or heard would make me doubt her ability to wield a blessed weapon, paladin or not.”
Alexia somehow knew Renn’s words to be true. She immediately fell to her knees and thanked Aysha for the blessing she had bestowed upon her. She felt humbled beyond words that Aysha would allow her to wield such power in her name, and promised to use it for only good, and to help protect Lusam and the others on their journey, wherever it may lead.
“Come on, let’s go fully heal that leg of yours,” Lusam said, breaking the awkward silence a few moments later. Renn grunted and nodded his reply, obviously still deep in thought about what had just occurred. Inside the cave Lusam set about healing the bones within Renn’s leg, then he repaired the damaged muscles and tendons. When he was done he slumped down against the wall at the back of the cave.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Lusam said after several minutes.
“Aye, lad, I guess I am. You know, I never said anything outside, but Alexia being able to use a blessed weapon is troubling me somewhat. There has never been a female paladin before.”
“Why should the fact her being a girl bother you so much? Surely if Aysha allows Alexia to use her power, you should be happy about it,” Lusam replied, a little confused at Renn’s reactions.
“No, you misunderstand me, lad. It’s not the fact she’s a girl and can use a blessed weapon. It’s the fact that the High Temple has only ever recruited men to become paladins in the past. It seems we’ve missed out on a golden opportunity to recruit female paladins too, and all at a time when our numbers have fallen to dangerous levels. It seems we’ve been very short-sighted, lad, something I intend to try and rectify as soon as we reach the High Temple in Lamuria, of that I can assure you.”
Chapter Thirteen
Zedd watched impassively as the fireball streaked through the night sky, plunging thousands of feet to the ground below. He already suspected it was one of the reanimated agents he had sent after the boy-mage, but his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the agents’ reactions as it finally hit the ground in a shower of sparks, severing its tenuous link with its master. Zedd smiled to himself, knowing it was one less dead agent he would have to hide should he be discovered here.
He never really expected the undead-agents to kill the boy-mage, or even cause them much trouble if he were being honest. Of course, he would be delighted if they had killed any of the boy-mage’s party, but now the boy-mage was obviously aware of their presence, he could no longer hold out much hope of that.
Zedd felt confident that the boy-mage and his party wouldn’t attempt to leave their camp tonight, not in the dark, and certainly not in a storm such as this. If all he had achieved by sending the undead-agents up the mountain after the boy-mage was to give them all a sleepless night, then he was happy with the results. A few minutes later Zedd’s thoughts were interrupted by the agent who reanimated the dead agents.
“Sir—I thought you should know, all my undead minions were destroyed.”
“That’s okay, they have no idea how many more might be out there in the dark,” Zedd said with a wicked grin. “I’m sure they won’t be getting much sleep tonight. I, on the other hand, intend to take what sleep I can while it’s still dark. Cole, you’re on lookout duty. Wake me if they try to leave camp. Although I doubt they will until morning. Make sure you’re both ready when they do leave camp, because as soon as they cross over that rockslide, we will be levitating back up there.”
“Yes—sir,” Cole replied, with his now usual worried look firmly in place.
***
The storm had raged throughout the night. That, combined with the possibility of further attacks, had kept them all from sleeping for most of the night. Even though Lusam had only managed a few disjointed minutes of sleep, he still felt far better than he had done in days. Coupled with the fact that they now had food and water to last for at least several days, Lusam felt that their situation also seemed much brighter, just like the weather outside, he thought to himself.
Lusam emerged from the dim light of the cave, and into the bright morning sunshine outside. He was keen to move
on, now that they had rested a little and regained some of their strength. He saw Renn was still on lookout duty and went to sit with him while he ate some breakfast.
“How long have you been here?” Lusam asked.
“A few hours, that’s all, lad. I took over from Neala when their campfire went out. She couldn’t see them in the dark, so she called for me to take over.”
“Any movement down there?” Lusam asked between mouthfuls of meat.
“No, they seem to be content just staying put, for the moment.”
“That’s what bothers me. I can understand them wanting to remain outside the range of Alexia’s bow, but why just sit there like that? They’re either waiting for reinforcements to join them, or they intend to attack us again. I never thought I’d say this, but I hope it’s the latter. Either way, I think we should move, and sooner the better,” Lusam said.
“Aye, lad, I think you’re right. I came to the same conclusion while I was watching their camp earlier, but I think there’s also a third possibility,” Renn said still watching for movement.
“What’s that?”
“Well, maybe they’ll just try to follow us at a safe distance. Who knows what’s up ahead of us? Maybe they know something we don’t, and plan to take advantage of it later. At the very least, if they did follow us, and happen to come within communication range of any other Empire agents, they would still know exactly where to find us. After all, finding wherever the Guardian book is hidden is one thing, but we have to also leave these mountains, and there’s no guarantee that there will be any route out, other than the one we’ve just used.” Lusam thought about his words carefully before replying.
“I see what you’re saying Renn, but it changes little. If they have reinforcements coming from behind, we should move forward quickly. If they intend to follow us at a safe distance, we should still move forward, and if they already have reinforcements ahead of us, we should move forward and engage them before we get trapped between them both. Whichever the case may be, it seems that the right thing to do is move forward. Let’s just hope we can actually find that second book, and it can help us somehow, or we may all end up dead on this mountain yet,” Lusam said.
