Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three

by Dean Cadman

  “It’s not really a game, is it, Bekah?” he asked in a whisper.

  “No. No, it’s not a game, Kayden,” Rebekah replied, kissing his head and hugging him close to her.

  Chapter Thirty

  Lusam woke to find Neala’s smiling face very close to his own. She kissed him gently on the forehead, then said in a sultry voice, “Good morning, sleepy-head.” Memories of the previous night—fresh in Lusam’s memory—surfaced once more, and he began to smile back at her.

  “Good morning to you, too,” he said in a whisper, then kissed her gently on her soft lips. Her smile widened even further, as she propped herself up on one elbow facing him, seemingly studying his face in minute detail. Lusam felt more than a little self-conscious at the close scrutiny his face was suddenly receiving from Neala, and was about to ask exactly what she was looking at, when she broke the silence.

  “I think we better get up. I don’t know what time it is, but I’ve already heard the others moving around for quite some time now.”

  “You sure we can’t just stay here all day?” Lusam asked playfully, raising his eyebrows. Neala gave him a gentle nudge on his arm, and then faked outrage at his suggestive mannerisms, before climbing out of bed and getting dressed in full view of him. Once she had finished dressing, she turned to find Lusam staring at her, and his face flushed brightly as their eyes met. She smiled at him, knowing full well what he had just been thinking.

  “Come on. Get out of bed then, we’re going to be late,” Neala said, standing next to the door and looking back towards Lusam. But he didn’t move. Neala raised one eyebrow at Lusam and smiled, knowing full well he wasn’t going to get out of bed while she was still in the room watching him. Smiling to herself, she opened the door and left him in private to get dressed alone, much to Lusam’s relief, she guessed.

  Renn and Alexia were both in the main chamber, fully packed and ready to leave when Neala met up with them.

  “Finally, you’re out of bed. We thought we might have to break down your door and dowse you both with cold water,” Alexia said, grinning at Neala and making her blush. “Where is lover-boy, anyway? I hope you haven’t tired him out too much, we have a long way to travel today.” Neala scowled at Alexia, and was trying to come up with a witty reply when Lusam arrived.

  “Sorry I’m late. I was…” Lusam started to say, but Alexia interrupted him.

  “Yes—we know,” she said winking at him, then turned and walked towards the stairs that led to the shop above without another word. Lusam’s face turned bright red as he stood there with his mouth open, wondering exactly what had been said in the short time he’d been absent. Renn and Neala both burst out laughing at the expression on Lusam’s face, and quickly followed Alexia to the stairs, leaving Lusam behind to his own thoughts.

  Lusam soon caught up with the others, and together they entered the darkened shop and headed for the door. They had all said their goodbyes to Mr Daffer and Lucy the night before at dinner, and had decided to leave the bookshop before first light, hopefully avoiding any potential customers, as well as the crowds out in the streets of Helveel. Neala had pointed out, however, that if there were any Empire agents already on the lookout for them in the city, it would be far easier to spot them with fewer people out and about on the streets. But they all agreed the benefits outweighed the risks in favour of setting off before first light.

  Lusam took the key from the hook on the wall and unlocked the door. He quietly opened the door and peered out, scanning not only the streets, but also the rooftops for any signs of auras—but saw none. They all exited into the street outside and Lusam relocked the door, hiding the key within a large hanging basket, as he had agreed to do the previous night with Mr Daffer.

  “OK, lad, we’ll meet you both a couple of miles down the north road, once you’ve recovered our horses and supplies. Safe travels,” Renn whispered. Lusam and Alexia both nodded their heads.

  “Are you sure I can’t go with Lusam?” Neala whispered anxiously.

  “We’ve already discussed this. The Empire agents already know your description, Neala. If you were spotted with Lusam in Helveel again, we might end up having to run for our lives all the way to Fairport. And I, for one, don’t relish the thought of doing that again,” Renn whispered.

  “Don’t worry, Neala. I’ll take care of Alexia,” Lusam whispered, trying to ease her worries.

  “It’s not Alexia I’m worried about,” Neala replied, giving her friend an accusatory look. Alexia grinned at Neala, knowing exactly what she meant.

  “Don’t worry, Neala, I’ll take good care of him for you,” Alexia teased her.

  “Yes… that’s what I am worried about,” Neala whispered through clenched teeth. Then she turned and started walking towards the north gate with Renn, glancing back over her shoulder only once before they disappeared around the corner.

  Lusam was curious as to what Neala had been referring. No doubt something from their past, he guessed. He made a mental note to ask Alexia or Neala about it later, after they were safely away from Helveel.

  “Come on, let’s go before we’re seen by someone. Stay in the shadows and follow me,” Alexia whispered. She and Neala had scouted the best route to the east gate the evening before, making sure Alexia was familiar with the street layout. Alexia was fully aware that Lusam knew the city very well himself, but he wasn’t used to sneaking around in the shadows like Alexia. Whereas Lusam would undoubtedly have taken the most direct route to the east gate, Alexia, on the other hand, had looked for a route that would give them the greatest amount of shadows to hide within and as few overlooking windows as possible.

  As expected, when they approached the eastern gate they noticed two city guards on duty outside—one at each side. They had all discussed this potential problem the previous evening, but Lusam had been confident he could deal with them easily enough—even though he hadn’t explained exactly how he would do it. Renn and Neala, however, were planning to exit the city through an underground passage that led from Renn’s secret temple in the northern part of town.

  Alexia and Lusam crept as close to the gate as they could without leaving the dark shadows of the looming buildings overhead. Lusam could just about make out Alexia’s face in the dark and saw her silently mouth the words, “Now what?”

  Lusam held up his hand, indicating for her to remain where she was, and she nodded her understanding. His plan had been to use the same draining spell he had used on Shiva’s men in Stelgad—to quickly render them unconscious—but he’d been hoping to find only one guard on duty, or if there were two guards, for them to be at least standing closer together. Instead they were both sitting on a wooden stool, one at each side of the gate: a gate that was wide enough to allow two horse-drawn carts to pass each other with ease, and probably foot traffic all at the same time. There was no way he could reach both guards at the same time. Then he suddenly realised he didn’t need to. What he had learned from the second Guardian book sprang back into his mind. Everything was connected by magic. That meant both the guards and Lusam were already in contact with each other, he just needed to reach for them. The earth connected them, even the air connected them. For no other reason than preferring to make contact with something solid, Lusam chose to bend down and touch the earth by his feet. Using his mage-sight to guide him, he sent out small tendrils of magic through the earth in the direction of the guards. He couldn’t believe how much life there was in the dirt under his feet. Each minute living creature acted as a tiny conduit for his magic. At first he thought he wouldn’t be able to reach the guards from where he was. It seemed the further away he probed, the harder it was to maintain the connection through all of the various living and non-living matter between him and his intended targets. It took him a great deal longer than he had anticipated to locate the larger reservoirs of magic held by the two city guards. But when he finally did, he drained all but a small amount of that magic in the blink of an eye, and the two guards slumped in their chairs, u
nconscious.

  Silently, Alexia appeared by his side, startling him a little as she did so.

  “Did you kill them both?” Alexia whispered, sounding a little more concerned than Lusam would have expected her to be, as she scanned all around them for possible witnesses or other potential threats.

  “No, I didn’t,” Lusam whispered back. “But they’re both going to wake up with a serious headache in a few hours’ time,” he added, smiling. “We had better go, just in case anyone detected my use of magic. They shouldn’t have, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  “OK. We need to cross that bridge and get to the treeline as quickly as possible. Follow me, I’ll try to keep us hidden as best I can,” Alexia whispered, then turned and briskly exited the gate without waiting for a reply. Lusam followed close behind her.

  Alexia followed the bank of the river in the direction of the forest, keeping them both from creating any kind of silhouette that might be seen from within Helveel. Lusam knew this area well, having walked it many times with Neala while they collected gold from its sediment a few months earlier. He knew there was a huge fallen tree not far ahead of them, between the river and the forest beyond. He and Neala had used the tree to sit on and eat their picnics several times in the past, but he had a different use in mind for it today. Lusam caught up with Alexia and pointed in the direction of the fallen tree. It was just about visible; a slightly darker shadow in the darkness ahead. Alexia nodded and changed direction slightly towards the fallen tree, moving away from the river bank and towards the forest beyond.

  When they reached the fallen tree they both stopped running and crouched down behind it for cover.

  “Alexia, stay hidden behind the tree for now, please. I’m going to check and see if anyone saw us leaving Helveel. I’ll hide my aura so they won’t see me looking,” Lusam whispered.

  “No problem,” Alexia replied, making herself as comfortable as possible next to the fallen tree. Lusam completely shuttered his aura, then slowly moved to a vantage point where he could clearly see most of Helveel. He scanned all the rooftops and the ground between them and the city, but he saw nothing. He could see the—still unconscious—guards at the gate, but nothing else with an aura moved within the city that he could see.

  “I think we’re in the clear,” he said, relieved that they weren’t likely to be chased again anytime soon.

  “That’s good news. Let’s hope Renn and Neala had the same kind of luck,” Alexia replied.

  “Talking of Neala… what was that all about between you two outside the book shop?” Lusam asked, guessing now was as good a time as any to discover what was going on between those two.

  “Oh, it’s a long story. Something that happened a long time ago in Stelgad. Something Neala doesn’t seem to have forgiven, or forgotten about, by the sounds of it,” Alexia replied quietly, chuckling to herself.

  “I’m guessing Neala doesn’t find it quite as amusing as you do,” Lusam whispered, imagining all kinds of possibilities.

  Alexia debated with herself whether she should tell Lusam the full story or not, and finally decided she would, as she was sure Neala would tell him her version of events later anyway.

  “It was about two years ago when it happened. The guild we were part of—the Crows’ guild—merged with a smaller guild from Stelgad. We gained their lands and properties, and most of their members as part of the deal. It was one of those new members that caused the issue between us. His name was Swift. He was a good-looking guy, and he knew it. All the girls were clamouring after him, including Neala and me. He had shown an interest in Neala during the first few days, so I backed off and left them to it.

  “A few days later it was my turn on the rotor for lookout duty, so I went to the roof like always and found Swift already there. Unfortunately, he too was on lookout that night. We got talking—as you do—and he made it out that he wasn’t really interested in Neala and told me he had only spoken to her so he could be near me. Even though I was young, I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for his lies… except I did. Or more precisely, I did momentarily, but that was enough. He leant in to kiss me, and for a heartbeat I kissed him back. The only problem was, Neala chose that exact moment to come visit me on lookout duty. I pushed him away but it was too late, she had already seen us. I was devastated. All he did was laugh about it.

  “I couldn’t even leave my station to go after Neala and explain. If I had, and had been discovered, I would have faced severe punishment for abandoning my lookout duties. So there I stayed until morning, wondering what was going through my best friend’s mind downstairs, while I spent the night on the roof with her new man. Needless to say, she didn’t speak to me for weeks afterwards, but it took Swift less than a day to find his next love interest within the guild, ignoring both Neala and me as if we had never mattered. He was just scum as far as I was concerned.”

  “Oh, I see,” Lusam said, feeling strangely jealous of a guy he had never met and likely never would, as he was probably killed along with all the other Crows’ guild members the night they were attacked.

  “Yes, so now you know. That’s why she never wants to leave me alone with you. She thinks I might try to steal you away from her,” Alexia said with a sad smile.

  “I’ll talk with her about it later if you like,” Lusam offered.

  “Thanks, but it’s all in the past as far as I’m concerned. We’ve already spoken about it, and we both agreed to move on and put it behind us a long time ago. I know she’s only brought it up again because she cares so much about you, and I understand that, so there’s no harm done, honestly,” Alexia replied grinning at him. “Besides, it’s far too much fun teasing her about it to get upset.”

  Lusam shook his head to himself in the darkness. “Talking of ‘moving on’, maybe we should get going before Neala comes looking for us.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” Alexia replied standing up. “Let’s go then, lover-boy. We wouldn’t want to keep you two apart for any longer than necessary, would we?”

  “Hey, behave. Or I might have to tell her you tried to kiss me,” Lusam replied jokingly.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Alexia gasped.

  “No. You’re right, I wouldn’t,” Lusam replied chuckling quietly to himself.

  ***

  Renn led Neala to a very inconspicuous looking building in the northern part of Helveel, situated between what looked like a cobbler’s shop and a dress shop. He walked up to the door and Neala fully expected him to knock, but instead he pushed aside a small plaque hanging next to the door revealing a small rope. He took hold of the rope and tugged on it three times before replacing the plaque. Neala thought she had heard a distant bell ring inside the building when he tugged the rope, but she wasn’t sure. Several minutes later, and still no one had answered the door.

  “I don’t think anyone is home,” Neala whispered.

  “Don’t worry, they know we’re here, lass,” Renn replied quietly.

  After another couple of minutes a small spyhole slid open in the door. “Who goes there?” a voice enquired from behind the door.

  Renn didn’t reply, he simply removed his sigil of Aysha and presented it to the spyhole. The spyhole snapped shut and several locks and bolts could be heard being unfastened at the other side of the door. The door swung inwards to reveal an elderly tall, skinny man dressed in his nightshirt, holding a lantern—not what Neala had been expecting at all. Renn stepped inside and Neala followed him in, the large heavy door closing behind them with a dull thud. The man refastened all the locks and bolts on the door quickly, then checked through the spyhole one last time.

  “About time, Renn!” the tall man said, turning and walking away down the hall, completely ignoring Neala.

  “It’s good to see you again, too, Arturo,” Renn said sarcastically.

  “Bah!” he spat, flailing his arm as he said it.

  “Don’t worry, he’s always like that. That’s why he got assigned this post—because of
his wonderful social skills,” Renn whispered, grinning at Neala.

  “I heard that! And I actually requested this assignment, ya big oaf! I thought I’d get some peace and quiet here, seeing as very few people were supposed to know about this place. But it seems some of the local paladins never leave me alone,” Arturo griped.

  “Twice in the last two years is hardly pestering you,” Renn said defensively.

  “It is when both visits are in the last twenty four hours!” Arturo spat back at him.

  “I’ll try leaving a few more years between visits next time, I guess,” Renn replied, shaking his head and looking apologetically towards Neala.

  “You do that! But for now, you can see yourselves to the tunnels. I’m off back to bed.” And without even glancing back, he was gone.

  “Pleasant chap,” Neala said under her breath.

  “Hmm, he seems to get worse with age. Come on, lass, let’s get moving. I’ve been told the tunnels are fairly tight, so the going is slow in places. It surfaces about a half-mile from Helveel in a copse of trees, just off the northern road. Arturo said the tunnel might be partially flooded in parts, due to the heavy rain they’ve had recently. I guess we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed it’s not too bad,” Renn said.

  “Oh, wonderful, I finally get to wear some clean clothes, and now we’re going to be crawling through a mud-filled tunnel,” she said, shaking her head. Renn chuckled, and they both headed for the basement where Renn had been shown the tunnel entrance the previous day.

  Arturo had left several candles burning in the basement for them, together with two oil-filled lanterns. Renn lit both lanterns using one of the candles, then opened the hatch in the floor to reveal a very tight-looking opening to the tunnel. He handed both of the lanterns to Neala, then said, “I’ll climb down the ladder first, then you can pass me both lanterns down before you come down.”

  Neala nodded and took the two lit lanterns from him, then watched as he squeezed through the tight opening and disappeared into the dark tunnel below. She moved to the edge of the opening and lowered one of the lanterns into the hole. She could see Renn had reached the bottom of the ladder several feet below and lowered the first lantern down to him. After passing him the second lantern, she climbed down the ladder, closing the hatch behind her.