Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy

by Carey Scheppner

  The next challenge for Rebecca and Cyril was something they had never encountered before. A group of brown creatures made of earth lumbered toward them. They were a magical creation of the earth elemental known as golems.

  A well-placed spear thrust by the old woman penetrated the golem’s chest. It did nothing to hurt or injure the golem. Cyril stepped forward and bashed the creature with his mace. Chunks of the creature sprayed in all directions, yet it kept coming. Cyril wasn’t quick or agile, but compared to the golem, he was fast. He took a couple more swipes at the golem before it punched him in the chest with a rock hard fist. The cyclops staggered back, winded, but sprang back to swing his mace hard against the golem’s head. The head shattered into bits of rock and clay and the body stopped moving. Then the body crumbled into a pile of dust at Cyril’s feet.

  Rebecca had a similar experience. She sliced off the golem’s arm with her axe and then dodged the golem’s other arm as it tried to punch her. Swinging around, the dwarf sliced off the golem’s outstretched arm leaving it unarmed. The creature stood there uncertainly, long enough for the dwarf to slice her axe deep into its neck. In what seemed like slow motion, the golem’s head toppled from its shoulders. Then the body collapsed just like Cyril’s opponent, into a pile of dust.

  Across the battlefield, screams and yells could be heard as the inexperienced farmers stabbed and hacked at the golems in a futile effort to kill them. Rebecca and Cyril had discovered how to defeat the golems, but there was no way for them to communicate that to anyone in the midst of battle.

  A sudden, burning light appeared behind the defenders, causing most fighters to glance in the light’s direction. A gigantic flaming figure stood high above the crowd. It was Tyris. He spread his fingers and from his fingertips sprang numerous bolts of flame. These bolts became tiny figures of flame, like miniature fire elementals. They ran through the fighters with incredible speed, seeking out orcs, goblins, ogres, lizardmen and cyclops. When they found them, they set the creatures ablaze. Even the lizardmen couldn’t defend themselves, since magic was useless against elemental magic. When the mini fire elementals encountered the golems, they attempted to set them ablaze, but the golems were fireproof. The fire elementals were simply absorbed by the golems. But that wasn’t the end of the fire elementals. They continued to burn inside of the golems. Eventually, the golems became red hot - then white hot. Finally, the heat was so intense the golems became like molten magma. The golems could do nothing as their bodies built up with so much heat they exploded in a shower of stones and debris. All fighters from both sides ran to avoid being showered with molten debris. When the scene settled, both the mini fire elementals and golems were gone. The earth elemental continued making golems while Tyris made more mini fire elementals to help the sides they fought for.

  The introduction of Tyris’ flame creatures gave the defenders hope and momentum, and for the first time, they pushed the attackers back ever so slightly.

  Another ongoing battle was the magical one. The close combat was taking its toll on the grey mages, and their numbers were dwindling rapidly. Lizardmen were doing more damage with isolated fireballs and ice bolts and they were casting more ‘slow’ and paralyze’ spells that were hindering the defenders. The tide was turning in favour of the attackers again.

  The new surge of enemies pushed Cyril and the old woman back even further. They now had their backs to the moat. The farmer who had been fighting with Rebecca had gotten lost in the confusion, so Rebecca stood with Cyril as the last survivors of the front lines were forced to put up their most valiant resistance. The battle was intense, but the numbers were too few to fend off the tide of darkness. Lieutenant Farnsworth was bloody and battered when he signaled the retreat. The defenders withdrew across the makeshift bridges of the moat while archers in the remaining towers gave the army a chance to escape. The hordes of darkness followed the humans, showers of arrows raking their number as they pursued.

  Once the humans were across, a signal was given at each bridge and the footings were blown using magical fire sticks. One by one the bridges collapsed into the moat and those fortunate enough to avoid the arrows were thrown into the cold waters of the moat. Those who could swim tried to reach the shore without getting hit by arrows. And if that wasn’t challenging enough, a number of mermaids in the western end of the moat surfaced to pull unsuspecting enemies down under the water. Very few of those creatures were able to come back for air.

  The battle along the shoreline of North Lake surged back and forth as the sailors battled valiantly with the support of the ships’ cannons. The cannons were the only thing that prevented the sailors from being overrun, the lethal cannon balls doing damage to large contingents of enemies at a time. Captain Rubin was at the forefront, his sailors fighting as valiantly as their captain. Providing support from behind with her bow was Della the elf. She was too busy to wonder where Kazin was.

  Alric tread carefully as he selected his victims. He could only use his dagger to stab a few enemies here and there without being detected. His dagger thrusts were quick and lethal. By the time the body fell, he was long gone in the crowd of enemies. The elf kept this up as he searched for the lizardmage who had used him. Lizardmen were difficult to tell apart, but Alric had a good eye when it came to identifying his targets. His experience with tracking targets he was planning to steal from gave him an edge in that skill. So far, he never saw anyone close, but he still had plenty of territory to cover. Undoubtedly, the lizardmage he sought would be higher ranking and positioned near the back of the army out of harm’s way. He was presently working his way to the back. Thankfully, this led him away from the heavily guarded earth elemental, who was now approaching the moat. Even back here the ground shuddered with each step the elemental took. Monsters and humans alike kept falling to the ground like drunken idiots. The elf used this to his advantage by stabbing some orcs and ogres who were trying to get back to their feet. To anyone watching, it looked like the monsters simply fell down with the shuddering ground. No one paid attention when they failed to stand up again.

  Not far from Alric another elemental appeared. It rose, swirling like a storm cloud, high above the battlefield. Taking a deep breath, it blew a strong wind in the direction of the sailors and their ships. Several ships broke from their moorings and were pushed out to sea. Some of them even capsized. The heavier cannon ships were blown into disarray, their cannons pointing the wrong way. The stirred up dust and sand gave cover to orcs and ogres, who charged against the sailors. The sailors had nowhere to run with their backs to North Lake and most of their ships adrift.

  Meanwhile, the earth elemental had reached the moat. A contingent of lizardmages followed it, chanting their summoning magic. A short lizardmage with a black robe and red trim raised his curved staff and issued commands to the earth elemental. The elemental bellowed and pulled some arrows from its chest. Then it stamped its foot with such vehemence that the remaining archer towers collapsed. With the shower of arrows halted, the elemental moaned and raised its hands. With an ear-splitting grinding noise, the earth below the moat began to rise. It pushed up so that the water that was in the moat was thrown back against the defenders like a tidal wave. The wave washed the defenders right to the wall of the Tower of Hope. Many people died in that onslaught, being drowned or crushed like ants. With a cry of victory, the attackers surged ahead once more.

  A shriek that sounded in the sky above was barely audible to the attackers, whose cries of victory sounded across the battlefield. Only when a wide swath of flame and destruction scoured a path through them did they notice the dragon. The first casualties were the creatures who were making headway against the sailors. The sailors eliminated any stragglers and took a breather as they waited for the next ranks of attackers to approach. Many cheered the dragon on when Della informed them it was Kazin.

  The next swath of destruction occurred in front of the tower where the heaviest fighting took place. Kazin made sure his flame was directed at th
e earth elemental and everyone around it. Unfortunately, there were too many lizardmages guarding the elemental, and their shield fended off the blast of fire. Those not close enough to the elemental were incinerated.

  Cyril and Rebecca exchanged glances. Who was this dragon? It couldn’t be Kazin. He was dead. Whoever it was didn’t like lizardmen any more than they did. Thankful they had a dragon for an ally, the duo rallied their forces and began a counterattack.

  Now Kazin was at the right flank where General Larsen and his cavalry were caught in a pitched battle. The fighting here was close, so Kazin had to keep his flame directed at the second rank of enemies. It was enough. General Larsen and his cavalry were able to disengage and return to the back of the tower’s battlements. This time, they didn’t go into the courtyard, but changed direction to charge the enemy once again. This time Frosty joined them as well, his horn striking any creatures that got close.

  Kazin had turned around by now, so he gave the enemies another blast of flame. This disoriented the front lines and made it easier for General Larsen’s cavalry to strafe the enemy. The general signaled his thanks to the dragon.

  Seeing things under control on that front, Kazin made a brief landing in the courtyard to allow Mara and Vera to disembark with their supplies. Then he flew up and over the battlements where skink warriors were firing their crossbows at enemies who were already within range. As Kazin looked across the battlefield, his heart sank. There were enemies as far as the horizon. Ten dragons wouldn’t be enough to stop the tide of monsters. Nevertheless, he knew he could make a difference. He lunged toward the earth elemental and blasted the area with fire. The result was the same. Magic protected the elemental, but destroyed those who were not close enough to the shield protecting it. At least this allowed the ground forces to get nearer to the elemental to have a chance to attack the lizardmen who were summoning it.

  Kazin blasted enemies left and right with his flames. How long he could keep this up he did not know. He had never run out of flame breath before, so he didn’t know his limit. He was sure he would find out before long.

  The dragon approached the air elemental and blasted it with flame. As usual, it was protected by a magical shield. He turned over the open water of North Lake and made another attempt. This time, the air elemental blew directly at Kazin, forcing the flames back onto the dragon. Thankfully, Kazin was flying too fast to feel any substantial effect from the flame. He circled and made another attempt at a lower altitude. The elemental blew back at his flame again, but Kazin changed direction and flew straight up. The flames missed him, but surged across the battlefield, wiping out a nearby contingent of orcs. The damage was more than Kazin could have caused on his own, and he realized the extra air gave his flames additional potency. Kazin expanded on his idea. He flew down low and blasted a swath as far as the earth elemental. Then he turned left and flew until he was close to the air elemental. Once within range, Kazin let out his fiercest breath of flame. As predicted, the air elemental blew at the dragon again. Kazin soared straight up, but this time he was a bit too slow. He felt the searing flame on the underside of his belly as he gained altitude. Despite this one drawback, his plan worked perfectly. His flames were amplified and sent roaring across the battlefield toward the earth elemental. All creatures in the path of the flames were burned alive. As the flame struck the shield surrounding the earth elemental, most of it was absorbed. But some of the fire got through because it was enhanced by elemental magic. Some of the lizardmages within were set on fire, and their concentration of the ‘summoning’ and ‘shield’ spell were broken.

  Fortunately for Narg, there were still enough lizardmages able to control the earth elemental and maintain the shield, but barely. With nostrils flaring, he commanded the earth elemental to put some distance between it and the air elemental. The elemental complied, moving closer to the left flank. As it walked, the shuddering ground shook the battlement walls, causing cracks to appear in its surface. Narg told the earth elemental to stomp the earth again and the cracks widened. A section of the battlements went down, taking several skink warriors with it.

  Narg didn’t have time to improve on that success. A number of soldiers and grey mages, flanked by mini fire elementals, advanced on him. It was then that he noticed that he was exposed on all sides. The dragon had burned everything beyond his shielded area. Then he remembered his shield. The humans wouldn’t get through. The only threat was the mini fire elementals. He gave the earth elemental a command and a number of golems within the shield wandered out to do battle with the mini fire elementals. The human soldiers kept coming. At the edge of the shield, the human attackers and a cyclops began beating at the shield with their weapons. Narg laughed at the futile efforts of the humans. If it wasn’t for the shield, he would have used magic to burn them to a crisp by now.

  A small contingent of lizardmen approached from the left and began casting offensive magic at the stupid humans. The grey mages turned and cast their ‘deflection’ spells to counter the offensive magic. As the fireballs and ice bolts reached them, they were deflected back to the casters. The lizardmen were quickly defeated. Jerrin, the grey mage, turned to Narg and looked him straight in the eye. He smiled wickedly and pointed at the lizardmage. “You’re next,” he mouthed.

  A tap on Narg’s shoulder made him spin around. He stared into the eyes of a female dwarf. “What? What do you want?”

  “Excuse me,” said Rebecca politely. “Are you in charge here?”

  Narg took a step back. “Yes. Yes, of course,” he stammered. “How did you -?” He didn’t finish his sentence because the dwarf had already plunged her dagger into his chest. The searing pain was so intense he scarcely let out a scream. His eyes were wide and his nostrils flared as his body was dissolved by the dagger’s magic. Then he fell to the ground in a gory heap.

  The earth elemental watched this happen with detached amusement. Some of the other lizardmages who were present reacted by canceling their shield spells so they could combat this new threat.

  This allowed Cyril and the other soldiers to penetrate the group of lizardmages. They only had a few moments to attack before Cyril cried out, “Dragon!” He led the humans and dwarf away at a sprint, and the slower lizardmages tried frantically to call up their shield again. It was too late. As Kazin flew over them, he blasted them with his fiery breath. After he passed, many of the lizardmen were ablaze, screaming in agony. Cyril turned around and led the charge back to finish off the lizardmen. The earth elemental felt the release of the summoning magic and was grateful for her freedom. She watched with interest as the last of the lizardmen controlling her was felled. Then Cyril and the other fighters were drawn off to fight some approaching orcs.

  The dragon landed nearby and transformed into a human black mage. He put his hands up as a sign that he was not going to harm the elemental. Kazin slowly approached the elemental and reached it the same time as Rebecca.

  “Kazin?!” exclaimed Rebecca when he was close enough to recognize. Kazin smiled. “Hi, Rebecca. It’s nice to see you again.”

  “You were dying -.” Her voice broke off as she absorbed the fact that Kazin was alive and well.

  Kazin directed his attention to the elemental. “Are you alright?” he asked the gigantic creature.

  The elemental blinked at the mage. “Of course.”

  “I was afraid I might hurt you with my flames,” stammered Kazin. “I wasn’t sure I could help you get free without hurting you.”

  “Was that your intention?” asked the elemental. “To free me?”

  “Yes,” said Rebecca suddenly.

  The elemental turned to the dwarf. “How did you manage to penetrate the shield, dwarf?”

  “My name is Rebecca Mapmaker,” said the dwarf. She hated being called ‘dwarf’. “I discovered my magical dagger allows me to walk through magical shields like they aren’t even there.” She held up her dagger so the elemental could see it. “Don’t ask me how it works.”

  The
elemental nodded. “Well done. You should be rewarded for freeing me.”

  Enemies were now approaching the mage, dwarf and elemental. The elemental held up a hand and the earth around them opened up, revealing an infinitely deep crevice. The first few enemies tumbled headlong into the hole and fell screaming to their deaths.

  “There,” said the elemental. “That should keep them away so we can talk in peace.”

  “Can you help us fight the lizardmen?” asked Rebecca.

  The elemental shook her head. “It is too dangerous. I could fight for you for a while, but the lizardmen here are plentiful. They could easily summon me if they regroup and combine forces with their magic. Then I would be fighting for them once again. Do you want to take that chance?”

  Rebecca sighed. “I guess not.”

  “I have spent too much time in this plane,” said the elemental. “My powers grow weak. I have enough energy for one more major thing before I go, but for you I will offer a small gift.” She reached down and gently touched Rebecca’s head. “From now on, you will have an increased ability to sense mineral deposits and gems as you travel the tunnels in the mountains. You shall change your name to Rebecca Gemfinder.”