Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three

by Dean Cadman

  “Reform your minions into a walking shield again. This time, we all go,” Zedd commanded. Zedd started to cast a levitation spell on the freshly killed agent’s body. It was made far more difficult by the distance between himself and the corpse, but he managed to achieve his goal, and the corpse floated towards where he stood. Once the corpse was directly below the first of the openings in the ceiling, he levitated it up to block the shaft, pinning the corpse tightly over the hole. Then he signalled to move forward, towards the next opening. Once they arrived, he repositioned the corpse to block that hole instead. He repeated this process all the way along the path until they all safely reached the stone arch. Positioning himself at the back of his men—closest to the drop-off should he need to jump—and with Cole very nearby, he gave the command to move through the ruined stone arch.

  Each man moved beyond the huge stone pillars of the ruined arch, crouching as best they could, behind the undead-agents they were using as a shield against the girl’s arrows. All were expecting to see the boy-mage’s party waiting for them, and feel the sting of death any moment, but all they saw instead were two people in the distance, running towards a huge ruined building. Zedd brought the fresh corpse back down to the ground at his feet.

  “Reanimate it,” he said to the man who still controlled the other minions. The man nodded and did as instructed without question, while Zedd studied the immense building before him. The expanse of courtyard to the building was enormous, but offered little in the way of protection against the arrows of the girl. He could see two huge dragon statues, one each side of the massive staircase that led to the front of the building. ‘They’ll provide excellent cover—if we can reach them without being killed first,’ he thought to himself.

  “I want all the minions up front forming a shield around us while we cross this courtyard. If one of them falls in front of you, levitate that corpse to reform the shield. We will head for the dragon statue on the right of the stairs,” Zedd commanded—nobody argued.

  ***

  Neala was going out of her mind with worry. She had fully expected Lusam to be unconscious for about forty minutes—like the last time he touched the book in Helveel—but it had now been at least two hours. At first, she had simply sat down and made herself comfortable for the expected wait. But after the first forty minutes had elapsed, she started to become more and more worried as each minute slowly passed. She tried to tell herself that maybe it had actually taken longer than forty minutes in Helveel, and that she had lost track of time, but after the first hour, she knew that wasn’t the case.

  It wasn’t until she walked around the outside of the room and saw the dried blood that had trickled from Lusam’s ear earlier that real panic set in. That had made her feel extremely anxious for Lusam’s safety, but not as much as the fresh blood that was now dripping freely from his nose. Even though she knew he couldn’t hear her, she still called out to him, but there was nothing she could do to help him. Long before they had found Coldmont, they both knew the moment he touched that book, he would be on his own.

  A few minutes later she thought she heard the start of another tremor. Unlike the large tremor they felt earlier, this one felt much more distant, and the floor didn’t shake underfoot. She could just about hear the occasional muffled impact of falling masonry, as it crashed onto the floor somewhere above her. Instinctively, she backed away from the rubble pile that blocked the doorway, half expecting it to suddenly slide into the room, but nothing moved. Neala was no expert when it came to tremors, but this one didn’t seem quite right to her. There were sounds, but no movement. Tentatively, she placed her ear to the wall—a trick she had learned as a young thief in Stelgad—to amplify the sounds and make them much easier to hear. What she heard turned her blood cold. It wasn’t a tremor at all. It was the sound of many distant explosions. Each one resonating through the very foundations of the building. Renn and Alexia must have been forced to retreat to Coldmont, and now they were under attack by the Empire agents. Neala desperately wanted to go and see if they were alright, but knew she couldn’t leave Lusam here alone in case there was another tremor. She also knew her weapons would be ineffective against the agents’ shields, and would do little to slow any undead-agents either. All she could do was wait, and pray that Lusam would awaken before it was too late.

  ***

  Renn and Alexia braced themselves at either side of the huge crack in the wall. Outside, the Empire agents had taken shelter behind one of the massive dragon statues at the foot of the stone staircase, making it almost impossible for Alexia to shoot at them. Every time Alexia or Renn tried to look through the crack to see what the Empire agents were doing, they were met by a barrage of magical-missiles. Several of their missiles entered the building through the huge crack, impacting against the walls and ceilings inside Coldmont, and causing untold damage to the intricate artwork and masonry inside.

  Renn began to use the inside of his shield as a mirror, so he could keep an eye on their movements outside. Several times his shield was almost ripped from his grip when a missile struck it, but he managed to just about keep hold of it. At first when the magical-missiles had started to strike the weakened structure of Coldmont, both Renn and Alexia became very concerned about the stability of its walls. They fully expected the imminent collapse of large sections, with the distinct possibility of them both being under it when it happened. It wasn’t until Renn noticed the red shimmer of the walls as they were struck that he realised they were actually protected by some kind of magical shield. The only other building Renn knew of with a shield was the High Temple in Lamuria. He had never seen it himself, but he had overheard one of the magi speak of a room deep within the temple with such a shield.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Alexia said, back braced against the wall, and arrow nocked ready to shoot.

  “I’m afraid I don’t have one, lass. To be honest, I was hoping Lusam would be back before now. If he was, and you had the protection of his shield, you could go out there and kill them easily. I just hope whatever is protecting this building lasts long enough until Lusam gets here,” Renn replied, raising his shield to take another look outside. What he saw startled him so much that he almost dropped his shield on the floor. Staring back at him in the reflection was an Empire agent, and he was no more than an arm’s-length away from him. Renn quickly jumped back away from the opening, giving himself more space to attack the agent. A heartbeat later the agent came through the opening, turning towards where he had seen Renn. It wasn’t until the agent had fully entered the room that Renn noticed it was actually an undead-agent, and so, much less of a threat to him. Stepping forward, he ended the undead-agent with a single thrust of his sword to its chest, then quickly retook his place beside the huge crack, once again checking the reflection in his shield.

  “I’ll have to remember that I can’t tell the difference between the dead and the living agents by their reflection in my shield,” Renn said chuckling to himself, as his heart rate began to return to normal after the sudden shock.

  “I wondered why you hesitated so long,” Alexia replied, trying to hide her amusement at the shock she had seen on Renn’s face. “I was about to shoot it, but I saw the bloodstain on its back where my arrow had passed through it, so I left it for you to kill.”

  “Thanks,” Renn replied sarcastically.

  “You’re welcome,” she replied biting her lip.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lusam dropped to his knees like a sack of coal when the book’s force-field released him to gravity. Luckily for him, Neala was standing close enough to catch him before he hit the floor as he toppled sideways.

  “Lusam!” she half-screamed, helping him to sit back up. Lusam held his head in both hands, eyes closed against the blinding white light in the room. His head pounded with pain, far worse than anything he had ever felt before, and he also felt like vomiting. Even when he had almost drained himself entirely in Helveel after healing Lucy, his head hadn’t hurt like it did
right now. He knew something was very wrong, and he knew he had to fix it before he lost consciousness to whatever was causing the excruciating pain in his head. Once he gathered himself enough to concentrate, it only took him a few moments to find the cause of the pain. He found that he had two burst blood vessels within his head, each one bleeding freely, and each one threatening his life. He immediately repaired the damage to the blood vessels, then began checking for any other problems but found none. Although the pain lessened considerably, he still felt like he’d been kicked in the head by a dozen galloping horses. After checking one last time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, he blocked the remaining pain using his magic. When he opened his eyes he saw Neala by his side, tears rolling down her face, and a look of despair in her eyes.

  “Oh—Lusam! Are you alright? I was so worried about you,” she said, hugging him tightly.

  “I’m okay,” he said, hugging her back. “My head is still trying to sort itself out, though, but that’s how it felt the last time too. It took a while for everything to start making sense before, so I guess it will be the same this time.”

  “We have to go, Lusam…” Neala started to say, but was interrupted by Lusam.

  “Whoa! What’s that?” he said pointing towards the book pedestal. Neala looked, but couldn’t see anything.

  “I don’t see anything,” she said. Lusam looked at her, then back to whatever he had seen.

  “You don’t see that sparkling green light leading away from the pedestal?” Lusam asked, still pointing towards the pedestal.

  “No. I can’t see anything, only the stone pedestal. Are you sure you’re okay, Lusam?” Neala asked in a concerned voice.

  “Yes, I’m fine. It’s right here. Look.” He stood up and walked towards where he’d been pointing. He bent down towards the green light and pointed it out once more to Neala, but she still insisted she couldn’t see anything. Lusam wondered if it was part of the door opening mechanism that had been damaged by the tremors. It seemed to be the same colour as the light he had seen in Helveel, but whereas that light had been a constant beam, this light seemed to be moving. It almost looked like it was travelling from the pedestal through the wall. He didn’t want to touch the light with his bare hand—just in case it was some kind of force-field—so instead he picked up a small piece of stone from the floor and touched the green light with it. Instantly the light of the room seemed to flare incredibly brightly. Instinctively he covered his eyes from the sudden glare and felt himself falling—it was like the falling sensation he sometimes got when he dreamt that he was falling. A moment later the light dimmed again, and the falling sensation subsided.

  “Whoa, that’s weird,” he said, readjusting his eyes to the light. “Did you see that bright light, Neala?” She didn’t reply, but he did notice that the green light had now shifted its position to the opposite side of the pedestal. “I suppose we better get out of here and rejoin the others,” he said turning towards Neala, but she was gone. He stood up and spun around, expecting her to be behind him, but she was nowhere to be seen. He called out her name, smiling to himself. He thought the sudden bright light must have scared her into fleeing the room, over the rubble mound, and back into the corridor outside. His smile vanished when he turned towards the exit. Instead of seeing the rubble mound, he saw a perfectly intact door. It was at that moment he realised he was no longer in Coldmont—but where he actually was, he had no idea.

  At first glance everything inside the room looked exactly the same except the exit. It wasn’t until he looked a little closer at the green light emanating from the pedestal that he noticed something strange. On the upright of the pedestal, and at the same side the light was emanating from, there was a single word. It was glowing green, just like the light itself, and it read ‘Absolution.’ He checked all around the pedestal for any more words, but there was nothing visible, not even to his mage-sight. Then he noticed the book itself. The writing on the book cover was still written in the strange language, but now he found that he could read the words. The book also had a single word written in gold letters on the cover, and that word was ‘Freedom.’ Had he just found a third Guardian book? He knew he couldn’t attempt to read it right now, he had already been unconscious for forty minutes, and needed to get back to Coldmont and help the others as quickly as possible—if he could.

  Lusam had no idea if he could return to Coldmont using the same method that had brought him here, nor did he know whether or not he could return here again in the future, even if he could. He had no idea what lay at the other side of the door, but he knew he must risk taking a look. If he was unable to return here later using the strange green light, whatever knowledge he might gain from the other side of the door now could be crucial in finding this place again later.

  He easily located the five indentations using his mage-sight and connected all five points using his magic like he had done the first time in Helveel. The door began to open very slowly, and he waited to see what lay beyond. When the door had opened enough to peer through the gap, all he could see was complete darkness at the other side. He created a light orb and found while doing so that his magical reserves were extremely low. At first he was confused. He knew that when he had entered Coldmont he wasn’t fully rested but he did have a reasonable amount of reserves available. Now his magical reserves felt almost completely depleted. A moment later realisation struck him; he did in fact have the same amount of magical reserves left as when he’d entered Coldmont, it was just that now, it seemed to be stored in a much larger reservoir somehow. What he would have once considered as a good amount of magical power now appeared to be almost completely empty to him. He guessed his storage capacity had at least quadrupled, and maybe even more.

  Lusam sent the light orb through the door opening and into the darkened corridor beyond. He didn’t want to illuminate the area too much, just in case wherever he had found himself was still inhabited. He needn’t have worried, because only a few seconds later he recognised the first of many familiar rooms and objects—he was back in Helveel. Realising the possible implications, he raced back to the book room, hoping he could get back to Coldmont and possibly use the pedestal as an escape route for all of them. Somehow, he knew for certain that he could, as the knowledge from the second Guardian book began to come more into focus within his mind.

  He reached the book room just as the door began to close, but he still had plenty of time to enter the room safely. The room instantly sensed his presence and illuminated the walls and ceiling around him, banishing the darkness inside. He extinguished his light orb, then reached for the green light that was still emanating from the book pedestal. He saw the bright flash of light again, felt the same strange sensation of falling, and once more found himself in Coldmont.

  “LUSAM!” Neala shouted, diving on top of him and almost knocking him to the ground.

  “I’m fine, don’t worry,” he said, laughing at her overexuberance. She clung to him like a limpet to a rock, kissing him over and over. He was certainly enjoying all the attention from Neala, but he couldn’t help noticing how upset she was too.

  “What’s the matter, Neala? Has something happened while I was gone?” Lusam asked, concerned at how upset Neala was.

  “Yes… no, not when you disappeared just then, but before, while you were with the book. You were unconscious for much longer than we expected. I’ve been hearing explosions coming from upstairs. I think Renn and Alexia might be in trouble. We need to go help them, Lusam, now!” Neala said through her tears.

  “How long was I out?”

  “I don’t know, maybe just over two hours,” Neala replied, halfway up the rubble mound.

  “Gods! And Renn and Alexia have been trying to fight them alone for all that time? No wonder you’re so upset,” Lusam replied, shocked at how long he had been unconscious, and how long his friends had been left to hold off the Empire agents alone. He scrambled over the top of the rubble pile, creating a light orb as he went.

>   “So what happened when you vanished?” Neala asked, following him over the rubble pile.

  “I’ll tell you all about it later, but we better go help Renn and Alexia first,” Lusam replied, sliding down the other side of the rubble pile into the corridor beyond. Neala agreed, and they both hurried towards the main chamber.

  Many things were becoming clearer now in his mind from the Guardian book. None more so than a much deeper understanding of magical power, its origins, and how to use it. He had always known that everything living contained a certain amount of magic, and even a few non-living things, but he had never fully understood how it all worked, until now. How everything was interconnected, from a blade of grass, to the air he breathed. Magic was everywhere—and now he knew how to access it.

  Lusam and Neala sprinted down the rest of the corridor towards the main underground chamber. With each footstep they could hear the echoes of explosions grow louder from up above them. When they reached the huge underground chamber Lusam stopped dead in his tracks. Neala noticed him stop and turned to berate him, but she was cut short by his voice.

  “Neala, wait a second, please. I’ve just discovered something important,” Lusam said, jogging over to the wall that was protected by the red force-field. He placed his hand flat on the wall and called forth the power from within it. Within a heartbeat his magical power reserves were full to capacity, and he felt the massive surge of energy within him. He understood now how the walls had been made, and why. Every time anyone had used magic against the wall in the past, it had stored that energy, creating an immense power source. That power had once provided heat, protection and a safe environment in which to practice magic. It was even possible that the magi of old would not simply stop practising when they ran low on magic, they may have recharged their reserves directly from the wall, just as Lusam had done—he wasn’t sure of this, but he felt it was a distinct possibility.