by Dean Cadman
Lusam waited for Renn to say something, but he remained silent, simply shaking his head. Lusam grinned at him and was about to try and say something witty, when Renn interrupted him.
“That was very impressive, lad, but don’t you even dare think you’re getting out of going to the High Temple with me to complete your training,” he said in a serious voice.
“The thought never crossed my mind,” Lusam lied.
“Glad to hear it,” Renn said, dragging him into a bear hug and slapping him on the back. “Well done, lad. Seeing that alone was almost worth the climb up this mountain. But now, I guess we have to climb all the way back down again,” Renn said laughing.
“Actually no, we don’t,” Lusam replied with a smug grin. Renn raised an enquiring eyebrow. “Some things that I absorbed from the book are still a bit fuzzy in my mind, but I’m pretty sure we can all get out of here much quicker and easier than we arrived,” Lusam said cryptically.
“But what about those two agents out there?” Alexia said, peering through the crack at the two remaining agents. “If we leave them alive, won’t they just follow us?”
“I was just thinking the same thing. And what about the book—if they were to read it, wouldn’t they become more powerful too? I know we can’t take the book out of the room, but surely we should stop them from discovering it in the first place,” Neala said, looking a little worried.
“They can’t read it. I’ve no idea how I know that, but I do. If they try to read the book, it will kill them. And as for them following us—they can’t do that either. I’m sorry, I can’t fully explain it at the moment, but trust me, I know I’m right,” Lusam said confidently. All three looked a little sceptical at Lusam’s words, but no one questioned his judgement in the matter.
“So, how do we get out of here then, lad?” Renn asked.
“It’s something I discovered inside the book room. Follow me, I’ll show you,” Lusam replied, turning and heading back towards the basement stairs with Renn, Neala and Alexia following close behind. Lusam created another light orb, and they all descended the dark stone stairs into the basement. As they reached the final few steps to the basement, another small tremor shook the ground beneath their feet. Lusam strengthened his shield, just in case any masonry fell from above, but the tremor stopped as suddenly as it had started.
“Maybe we should hurry,” Alexia said, looking nervously up at the ceiling and the falling dust. Lusam felt confident that most of the building would remain standing for a very long time to come, and would only succumb to the tremors once its magical enchantments failed. But he also couldn’t deny the damage he’d already seen with his own eyes—most noticeably the giant crack that ran through the front wall of Coldmont—so he knew the building must be vulnerable if the tremors were strong enough.
“You’re probably right,” Lusam agreed, maintaining his shield around everyone. They all jogged the entire length of the corridor to the book room, stopping only when they reached the pile of rubble that blocked the doorway.
“Who’s climbing over first?” Neala enquired. “I don’t think it’s safe for all of us to try and climb over at once.”
“Wait, I might have an idea,” Lusam said thoughtfully. He extended his mage-sight into the rubble pile and searched for a route through to the other side. Although there were many large pieces of stone and debris within the rubble pile, it was far from a solid barrier. Even though some of the gaps were extremely small, he still easily found a way through it to the room beyond. He sent out a thin strand of force-field along the route he had found, and once he had reached the book room, he stopped. Encasing the whole rubble pile in another force-field so it didn’t collapse, he expanded the thin strand running through its centre. It was like watching a door open, as his central force-field pushed apart the two halves of the rubble pile, to reveal the darkened room behind it.
“Show off!” Neala half-whispered jokingly, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
“Hey! I wasn’t showing off!” Lusam replied, in a fake hurt voice. “I intended to fully block the doorway before we left Coldmont, just in case anyone else stumbles across this place. I figured that if I had to move the rubble pile to cover the door, I may as well move it to let us into the room too. But if you prefer, I can close it back up again after the rest of us are inside and let you climb over the top of it.” Neala narrowed her eyes and pouted her lips at Lusam, almost daring him to try it.
Alexia laughed. “You’re braver than I gave you credit for, lover-boy.”
“Hey, don’t encourage him,” Neala said, trying to hide her smile, but failing miserably.
Lusam gave a mock bow, gesturing for Neala to enter the room first, but Alexia had already beaten her to it. The bright light erupted from the ceiling and walls, illuminating the Guardian book which sat upon its pedestal. It was then that Lusam noticed the name on the book for the first time, it read: Absolution. It was the same word he had seen on the pedestal in Helveel, but when he looked at the pedestal here, he saw a different word, this one said: Freedom. And that was the name on the book in Helveel. Suddenly it all made sense to him—the pedestals had five sides, one for each of the Guardian books—the various names on the pedestals referred to whichever destination book you wished to reach. It was incredibly simple, but by its very nature had its own inbuilt safeguards.
Renn noticed Lusam’s sudden distraction. “Is there something wrong, lad?” he asked, trying to see what Lusam was staring at.
Renn’s voice brought Lusam back from his wandering thoughts. “No, not really. I’ve just discovered something interesting about the Guardian books, that’s all,” Lusam replied. He couldn’t help noticing that Renn’s curiosity suddenly piqued at his words. Smiling at Renn, he added, “Don’t worry, I’ll explain later.” Renn nodded, then glanced back at the Guardian book and pedestal, just in case he’d missed something important, but saw nothing.
“I don’t understand. There’s no other way out of this room. I thought you said you had a way out of here for us?” Alexia said, looking around the small circular room with a confused look on her face.
Lusam chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain,” he said walking towards the book pedestal. “I know you all can’t see it, but there’s a green beam of light emanating from this pedestal. It was only after I finished reading this Guardian book that I was able to see it myself for the first time. I thought at first the light was caused by the damage to the building, but when I touched the light, it did something incredible. First I saw a bright flash, then I felt a distinct falling sensation, and then Neala disappeared—or at least I thought she had. I soon realised that it wasn’t Neala who had disappeared, it was me. I was in an identical room to this one, except the door was still intact. After I opened the door, I soon recognised that I was somehow back in Helveel. As the information from the book settled into my mind, I realised that I can use the pedestal light to instantly transport us all to Helveel.”
Lusam positioned himself next to the green beam of light that emanated from the pedestal, ready to make contact with it, and take them all instantly to Helveel.
“I think we all need to join hands for this to work. Actually, I’m pretty sure any physical contact would do, but holding hands seems the easiest solution,” Lusam said, taking hold of Neala’s hand. He waited until they were all in physical contact with one another, then reached towards the green light.
Before his hand even touched the beam of light, a bright flash erupted within the room. Lusam turned his head towards where the light had flashed and was astonished to see a group of men in black robes standing before him. He immediately felt the silence spell envelop him, quickly followed by a restraining spell. It was similar to the one used by the Empire agent in Helveel when Neala had been kidnapped, but this one was many times more powerful. Lusam was about to try and free himself from the restraining spell when a man in a bright red robe stepped out from behind the others. Suddenly, it felt like his mind was on fire.
Lusam had never felt pain like it before, and judging by the screams of his friends, neither had they. Lusam could barely think through the intense agony, but eventually he managed to open his eyes and look at his assailant. He detected an almost imperceptibly thin line of power emanating from the man’s head, reaching out towards him and his friends.
Lusam reached for the thin strand of power, and found it within his own mind, at the source of his own pain. He followed the thin strand of power back to its origin, making a two-way connection between himself and the man in the red robes. Once Lusam’s conduit was open, he sent forth a huge pulse of magic along the connection. The man’s eyes widened in shock, as his brain liquefied within his skull, and he fell to the floor, dead. The agony Lusam and his party had been feeling ceased immediately, but the sheer force of the death-pulse he felt rocked him. ‘Whoever the man in red robes had been, he’d certainly been a very powerful mage,’ Lusam thought, trying to regain his composure.
Lusam felt the grip of the restraining force-field suddenly intensify, so much so that it even restricted his breathing. He could see the magic flowing freely between the men standing before him. They were combining their power, amplifying their strength many times over. Lusam pushed back with his own force-field, just enough to breathe but no more. He was unable to turn his head to see the others but he still held Neala’s hand tightly—he just hoped the others hadn’t released their grip on each other. One man stepped forward, his crimson aura burning like a sun to Lusam’s mage-sight. Never had he seen such a powerful aura in anyone before. He wore a black robe like the others, but his was edged with gold and silver around the hem, sleeves and hood. Lusam could feel him trying to get into his mind. Probing and prodding for weaknesses in his defences.
Lusam reached deep within his magical reserves and prepared to channel a huge amount of power into his own force-field. He would try to push the restraining force-field off himself and his friends. All he needed to do was reach the green light, then they would all be safely away from Coldmont, and out of the reach of these men. Taking a steadying breath, he violently released the energy into his own force-field, expanding it as fast as he could. The instant Lusam’s power spiked, all the men seemed to become aware and visibly braced themselves. Lusam sent out a massive blast of energy into their restraining force-field, collapsing it instantly, and slamming most of them against the far wall of the room. He reached forward, touching the green light, and the world grew blindingly bright as they all felt the strange falling sensation. A moment later, they were all in the book room in Helveel—or at least three of them were—Renn had not made it through.
Lusam released Neala’s hand and dived towards the green light emanating from the pedestal, increasing the strength of his force-field as he did so. When he appeared in Coldmont, several of the men were still either getting to their feet, or were still dazed on the floor. One was about to attack Renn, but when he saw Lusam suddenly appear in front of him, he switched targets instead. Lusam absorbed the attack on his shield, noting how much more powerful the blast was compared to the Empire agents outside. He grabbed Renn’s arm and again dived for the green light emanating from the pedestal. After a brief period of blinding light and the now-familiar falling sensation, Lusam and Renn found themselves reunited with Neala and Alexia in Helveel.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Zedd knew he’d lost the battle the moment he saw the boy-mage appear through the crack in the wall. He had only ever seen one other person with an aura as powerful in his entire life, and that was Lord Zelroth himself. The boy-mage had been very powerful even before he had arrived here, but now his power had grown immeasurably. Whatever he had found, or done, within the walls of this gigantic building had made him into an incredibly powerful mage.
Zedd secretly ordered Cole to withdraw behind the huge dragon statue with him, and then sent all the remaining agents to attack the boy-mage. Zedd didn’t really believe that he could withstand a direct hit from the boy-mage, not even with Cole’s extra magic at his disposal. His plan had been to use the sacrifice of his men as a distraction against the boy-mage, and hopefully gain enough time to escape around the edge of the building. He only needed a few seconds to cross the open space between the dragon statue and the wall of the gigantic building. Once he was safely to the wall of the building, and shielded from any direct line of sight attack from the boy-mage, he could choose to either levitate up to the roof or keep running—but he never got the opportunity.
Zedd watched in awe as the undead minions were incinerated before his eyes and his two remaining agents were effortlessly tossed aside like rag dolls. He fully expected to die at any moment, and by the look on Cole’s face, so did he. Instead, he heard the boy-mage call out something in the northern tongue, something he didn’t understand, but judging by the reaction of Cole, he did.
“What did he say?” Zedd asked Cole.
“He said: It’s over, and we should go home.” Cole replied, hoping Zedd would take the boy-mage’s advice, but instinctively knowing he wouldn’t.
Zedd watched as the boy-mage disappeared back inside the gigantic building. ‘Killing or capturing the boy was now completely out of the question, but gaining access to whatever had made him so powerful… now that was a prize worth a thousand trips up this mountain,’ Zedd thought, smiling to himself.
Cole knew his fate lay in Zedd’s hands. He’d known ever since they first entered the forest outside Helveel in search of the boy-mage. He also knew that Zedd would never allow him to go free; he knew far too much. Even if they ever made it out of these mountains alive, he felt sure Zedd would dispose of him long before they ever reached civilization again. Cole had witnessed Zedd breaking so many of their laws, from failing to report their—and the boy-mage’s—position in Stelgad, to commandeering over a dozen men without permission. He’d witnessed him not only threaten but actually execute his own men, then have them reanimated—as if they were nothing more than northern dogs—to do his bidding. He’d even borne witness to Zedd leading Vintenar Yeroth into a deadly trap, knowing full well that he’d be killed. And now he had just seen him send the remainder of his men to their certain deaths, for nothing more than to gain a few precious seconds to save his own skin. Any one of his many transgressions would earn him severe punishment, or even death within the Empire. Cole was the only one alive who knew what had happened. Without him, Zedd could simply walk out of these mountains without anyone knowing what had transpired and return to his life without consequence. There was no way he would allow Cole to live, and they both knew it.
“Go take a look, see if they’re still there,” Zedd said casually, as if he were merely asking someone to go outside and check what the weather was like, or to see if the bread in the oven had finished baking yet.
Cole didn’t argue—‘what difference did it make how he died now?’ he thought to himself. He scrambled up the giant slope at the side of the stone staircase, expecting at any moment to feel the sting of death, but it never came. When he finally reached the top, he placed his back to the wall and shuffled towards the giant crack in the wall. It was then that he felt yet another tremor beneath his feet. He already had his magical shield up and was about to try and strengthen it when the tremor suddenly ceased again. He listened intently for a moment, but couldn’t hear anything over the blustery wind outside as it whistled around the building and statues. Taking a steadying breath, he poked his head around the corner, hoping he wasn’t about to be impaled on one of the girls’ arrows or blasted by the boy-mage—but there was nobody there. He signalled to Zedd that the coast was clear, and breathed a sigh of relief.
A few moments later Zedd joined Cole, and they both entered the building through the giant crack in the front wall. It looked even bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. Zedd had only ever seen one room as large and grand as this before, and that was inside Azmarin, back in the Empire of Thule. Azmarin was the seat of power for Lord Zelroth, and had been for countless centuries. It did
n’t appear to be as large from the outside because most of it resided within Mount Nuxvar.
Legend has it that the God Erebi sought refuge within Mount Nuxvar whilst trying to evade the wrath of Aamon during the first days of the Gods’ war. Erebi’s location was soon discovered by Aamon, and during the ensuing battle, a large section of the mountain was destroyed, leaving a gaping hole within its side. Later—after the Deceiver Goddess Aysha and her brother Driden had trapped Aamon within the Netherworld—Mount Nuxvar first became a place of pilgrimage for the people of Thule, then, a century later, Lord Zelroth claimed it as his own, and built the mighty Azmarin there.
Fortunately for Zedd and Cole, the floor of the huge chamber held countless centuries of dust and dirt, making it easy to trace the footsteps of the boy-mage and his party. They followed the clear trail to the rear of the huge chamber, and then into the almost total darkness of a descending stone staircase. They could hear muffled voices somewhere in the distant darkness, but they could see no lights or movement from where they were. Zedd created a small light source, and they both slowly descended the stone staircase into the blackness below. As they reached the bottom of the stone staircase, they saw a bright flash in the distance—but no sound followed it. The muffled voices suddenly stopped, but were quickly replaced by loud screams of pain. Zedd froze to the spot, listening intently for any clues as to who or what could be down here with them in the darkness. Whatever it was, it was capable of causing the boy-mage and his party great pain, and that certainly deserved Zedd’s attention.
A moment later, Zedd felt the largest death-pulse he had ever felt in his entire life. It was so powerful that it momentarily disorientated him, and he was forced to steady himself against the side wall. Cole wasn’t so lucky, and found himself on his knees by Zedd’s side.
“Do you think that was the boy-mage’s death-pulse?” Cole whispered next to Zedd’s ear a moment later.
