Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy

by Carey Scheppner

  Rebecca’s jaw dropped. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Suddenly, a voice inside Kazin’s head called his name. Kazin recognized his familiar’s voice and looked across the battlefield to see the unicorn staring at him, a stark white figure amidst a throng of enemies. The unicorn fought alongside General Larsen. Everything seemed to be in suspended animation. Nothing moved.

  “What is it?” asked Kazin mentally.

  “See if the elemental can open a pass through the mountains in the north. Sherman waits with an army to aid us.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Kazin. Sherman was queen Milena’s brother and guardian, and the last thing Kazin had heard was that Sherman was supposed to have gone on a quest.

  “Yes,” said Frosty. “It is also a perfect opportunity for our realms to join for trade.”

  Kazin turned to the elemental. “Can you open a pass through the mountains north of here? We have reinforcements waiting there to assist us.” Rebecca gave Kazin a curious glance but said nothing.

  The elemental paused before answering Kazin. “It is a tall order,” she said at last, “but I will do it.”

  “Thank you, earth elemental,” said Kazin, bowing slightly. As he did so, the orb atop his staff caught the elemental’s attention.

  The elemental’s eyes widened. “Your staff has an enchantment upon it!”

  Kazin nodded. “Yes. The water elemental put it there.”

  The elemental’s eyes stared at Kazin as though seeing into him. “The enchantment is a powerful one, and it won’t be complete until each elemental has cast his or her own enchantment upon it. The water elemental has deemed you worthy of such magic. After your bravery in trying to free me, I believe that trust is not misplaced.” The elemental placed her hand on Kazin’s staff and hummed in a deep, mesmerizing voice. Then she removed her hand. “There. Now seek out the other elementals. They are both still on this battlefield. When you are away from me, I will open the pass as you requested. Now hurry. Even as we speak, the lizardmen are trying to summon me.”

  Kazin didn’t need any urging. He changed into a dragon and let Rebecca climb onto his back. She was hesitant at first, never having ridden on a dragon’s back before, but she wanted to get away from there to let the elemental do her thing. The dragon soared into the air. Kazin blasted the enemy with fire on his way back to the tower to drop off his passenger.

  The earth elemental raised her arms into the air and a deep rumbling noise filled the earth and the air above it. Cracks spread out to the north from the place where the elemental stood. Creatures and humans alike fell to the ground as the earth shook. The cracks widened and vast numbers of enemies fell into them to disappear forever. As if by a miracle, the Tower of Hope and its battlements were immune to the earthquake. A loud crack sounded out of the north, and a large crashing noise followed. The earth elemental sank into the ground, and as she disappeared, the rumbling ceased. All was still except the rush of air surrounding the air elemental. The forces on both sides took up arms, and soon the din of battle resumed once again.

  By now it was getting dark, but the light generated by Tyris and his mini elementals provided plenty of light for the defenders. The fire elemental had worked his way to the aid of the sailors. With the dragon’s absence, the air elemental was once again disabling the ships that had repositioned themselves to fire their cannons at the attackers. But the sailors were seriously outnumbered. The remaining ground forces were scrambling to get on board the last of the docked ships to safety. A group of sailors was cut off from the ships by a gang of ogres, so Tyris ran into their midst and created an inferno. The ogres became flaming torches and ran into the lake to quench their burning hair. Mermaids made short work of them. This gave the sailors the opportunity they needed to retreat to the ships. When the last of the sailors was safely aboard, the ships cast off and utilized the air elemental’s wind to establish a suitable distance between themselves and land.

  With this accomplished, Tyris ran with incredible speed back to the tower. He had expended a great deal of magical energy and needed rest. He had to move quickly, wary of magic users who could summon him on sight. He reached the battlements and slipped over the section that had collapsed. Then he was behind the wall out of sight.

  General Slong saw the gap left by the earth elemental and directed his troops to the middle of the battlefield. The battle on the left against the inadequate cavalry was holding its own and the shoreline was now being secured. Now the siege against the tower could begin. He had lost a lot of fighters when the earth elemental had created the crevices, but they were still more numerous by far. Slong nodded to the lizardmen in reserve. It was time to use their ‘shield eating’ spell to weaken the tower’s defenses. The lizardmen weren’t very effective until now because they couldn’t concentrate their magic. Now they could inflict maximum damage with a majority of defenders holed up in one spot. The dragon was still a threat, but with enough lizardmen combining forces, he was sure they could combat the annoying creature. There were more of them than one dragon could handle.

  Even as Slong schemed, the dragon was blasting another swath through the attackers.

  Within the confines of the tower’s battlements, Vera was scrambling to heal poisoned people. Some of the other clerics watched the level one cleric closely and learned the spell as she went. Then they began to use the spell themselves to expand her work. Most of the other clerics had their hands full with injured soldiers and civilians.

  The wall in the rear section of the battlements suddenly opened and the cavalry forces came galloping in. Their numbers were depleted significantly since the start of the war. Each time they galloped back out to do battle, it seemed like they were starting from scratch. The enemy had such overwhelming numbers.

  General Larsen dismounted and led his horse to a trough to drink. The others did the same.

  Frosty wandered over to Vera. He didn’t even seem out of breath after the intense fighting. “How’s it going?”

  Vera finished healing a poisoned soldier, who got up and shook her hand in gratitude. “I’m feeling better than I can remember. Thank you.”

  Vera smiled wanly and turned to Frosty. “Things are coming along alright. But I don’t see how it will be enough to prevent the lizardmen from defeating us.”

  “Don’t worry about that part,” said Frosty. “Just concentrate on healing people. Let the fighters deal with the war.”

  Vera nodded and turned to her next patient. It was an old woman with a wrinkled expression. She leaned on her spear while the cleric healed her bloody arm and then cured her of the poison. Then she thanked the cleric and headed back to the portcullis.

  Lieutenant Jim Farnsworth turned and saw her. “Mother! Did you get healed?”

  “Yes. Yes, I’m fine,” said the woman.

  Jim embraced her in a joyful hug. “That’s wonderful!”

  When they separated, Elsie Farnsworth said, “But I’m still fighting. Every fighter is needed in this war.”

  “But, Mom -.”

  “No ‘buts’, son. I’m doing this and that’s final. If your father can fight, so can I.”

  Jim sighed. “I’ve never been able to win an argument with you. Let’s go.” He put his arm around her and led her to the portcullis.

  Vera derived satisfaction from her successful spell casting. It was something she never expected she would live to experience, considering her ineffective spell casting when she had left the tower. Her determination to find a cure for the disease had paid off, and here she was at the forefront of the healers in the Tower of Hope. By healing the disease, she was giving people hope in the face of evil. The people were seriously outnumbered, yet they still clung to the hope of victory. She was doing her job. The cleric turned to face the eager faces that relied on her to cure them of the disease. There were dozens lined up here, and hundreds more to come. It would be a long night.

  After dropping Rebecca off on the battlements, Kazin landed in the courtyard and tra
nsformed himself back into a human mage. He strode over to a supply booth to obtain some food and water. His flames were temporarily used up, so he decided to take a short break before resuming his onslaught of the enemy. Even if his flames ran out, he could cast offensive magic as a dragon. But even that was taxing. If he wanted to cause maximum damage, he needed to pace himself. Blasting a swath of enemies with fire in this war was like harvesting a wheat field with scissors. Only a miracle would stem the tide of monsters. Kazin got ready to transform back into a dragon while Frosty gave him words of encouragement. Then he was off.

  As the dragon flew off, the enemy ground troops were inching closer to the battlements. Crossbow bolts rained down on them, but they pressed on. Rebecca used her crossbow as she made her way to the lower level to assist in sealing the breach in the wall. The elite fighters among the defenders remained outside to hold back the attackers as best they could. It wasn’t easy to fight in the headwind created by the air elemental, and even though the ground was wet, there were clouds of dust making visibility and breathing difficult.

  Back on the battlefield, Alric was furious. He had worked his way through most of the enemies but had failed to see his nemesis. Several times he thought he had seen the elusive lizardmage, but each time he was disappointed. Many lizardmen fell to the elf’s dagger. A few times he was nearly discovered, but he kept quiet and moved away from suspicious enemies who jabbed at the air thinking someone invisible may be near. The only place he hadn’t checked yet was the group of lizardmen surrounding the air elemental. Most of the spell-casters in the vicinity were lizardwomen, judging by their slightly different appearance and attire, but it was still worth investigating.

  The elf was just maneuvering around some ogres to get within range of the elemental when the dragon came into view. He had wondered about the dragon when it had first appeared. He never realized there were other dragon mages still in existence. Perhaps he needed to get out of the elven lands more often.

  There was no time to react as the dragon cast ice bolts, lightning bolts, fireballs, ‘mass paralysis’ and ‘fear’. Five spells at once was something only an experienced human black mage could accomplish, and with the magical power of a dragon, it was devastating. Orcs, ogres, and goblins either stopped dead in their tracks or ran in every direction with gut wrenching fear in their eyes. Explosions and fires consumed groups of creatures all around the hapless elf, but thankfully, he was unharmed. A number of lizardmen nearby were also unharmed, and they were casting ice bolts at the dragon. Angered, Alric immediately dispatched them before they could adjust the direction of their magic to match the dragon’s course.

  The group of lizardmages surrounding the air elemental were unharmed due to a powerful shield created by a number of those within its protection. Alric knew he wouldn’t be able to penetrate that shield either, so he decided to wait for an opening.

  He watched as the dragon circled around to the north and came in at a low angle. As he let loose with a fiery blast, the lizardmen in charge of the elemental gave an order. As the flame reached the shield, the lizardmages creating the shield stopped chanting. At the same time, the air elemental grew in size and blew at the wall of approaching fire. With a thunderous hissing noise, the fire was repelled and blown back across the battlefield. The flames burned and singed all the forces that had the misfortune to be in its path, but Kazin was already high in the air.

  Narla cursed. This strategy was not working. There was only one way to deal with the pesky dragon. The air elemental had to do battle in the air. The lizardwoman hissed to her counterparts. The shield remained down while the lizardmages chanted to control the elemental. Then Narla gave the orders to the elemental. With a powerful blast of wind, the elemental surged high into the sky. Narla pulled her navy cloak tightly about her shoulders to fend off the cold gust.

  In the sky above, almost everyone watched in fascination as the elemental created a tremendous turbulence. The dragon was spun around like a scarecrow, unable to control his flight. The elemental raised his hands and then thrust them ahead of him, sending the dragon hurtling across the sky.

  Narla’s fish-like lips spread across her face into a sinister grin. This was more like it. With the dragon out of the way, the war would be over sooner. The humans had lost!

  Narla’s grin looked ridiculous as she sagged to the ground. No one even noticed, since their eyes were staring upward. Three more lizardmages were slain in a similar fashion before one of the lizardwomen noticed what was happening. She cried out just as a knife slit her throat. The other lizardmages were torn between defending themselves and keeping the air elemental under control. This indecision played into Alric’s hands as he magically expanded his dagger into a sword and slashed the lizardmages with wild abandon. Those still controlling the elemental were straining under the pressure of maintaining the spell as their numbers were being reduced by the invisible imposter.

  Up above, the elemental was about to inflict the finishing blow on the dragon. Kazin was being thrown toward the ground at incredible speed. The defenders on the tower’s battlements watched in horror as the dragon was about to be smashed into the ground.

  Then, with a slight flick of his hand, the elemental stopped the falling dragon in mid-air. He turned his gigantic head to look at the lizardmages who had controlled him for so long. His body, which already twisted in a swirling blue, began to spin even faster. One by one, the lizardmages began to be drawn up into the spinning vortex. The wind was experienced by everyone on the battlefield. As the last of the summoning lizardmages was sucked into the vortex, the air elemental threw the flailing bodies in every direction. Some bodies ended up way out in North Lake, others landed on their allies, and some even landed in the tower’s courtyard.

  Then the elemental stopped spinning and floated calmly in the sky like a cloud. He had held the dragon far enough away from the vortex he had created to eliminate the lizardmages, so the dragon was unharmed. He turned Kazin upright and drew him near enough to talk to him. No one below was able to hear what was said.

  “I knew you would come to my aid,” said the air elemental.

  Kazin looked at the elemental through reptilian eyes. “You know who I am?”

  “Yes,” said the elemental. “I saw your staff when we met at the Tower of the Moon. You are the dragon mage. Turn yourself back into your true form so I can see you.”

  Kazin looked down nervously.

  “Don’t worry,” said the elemental. “I will not let you fall.”

  Kazin transformed himself back into his human form and sat in mid-air, dressed in his black robe and holding his staff.

  The elemental examined the mage for a few moments without saying anything. Then he spoke. “I sense the enchantment on your staff. You must have proven yourself to the other elementals. I saw you free the earth elemental. I suspect you had a hand in helping the water elemental. I need no more proof that you are the dragon mage of significance.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Kazin.

  “I can say no more,” said the elemental. “Now hold out your staff.”

  Kazin held up his staff. The elemental waved his hand over it twice. Then he lowered his hand and said, “There. You have received a gift I have rarely given in my existence. I have another gift for the one who killed the chief lizard woman. I could not see who it was because they were invisible, so you will have to seek out that individual and give him the reward.”

  Kazin nodded. “I think I know who you mean.”

  “Good,” said the elemental. He waved his hand over Kazin’s staff again. “Simply touch that individual with the orb on your staff and he will be rewarded with powerful air magic.”

  “Understood,” said Kazin.

  “Now change back into a dragon. I am going back to my realm.”

  “But aren’t you going to help us?” asked Kazin, looking at the legions of enemies surrounding the tower. From up there it looked like incredible odds.

  “This isn’t m
y fight,” said the elemental. “I rarely intervene directly in worldly events. But look to the north.”

  Kazin looked north and blinked his eyes. The sky was dark and he thought he saw lights twinkling in the distance. Then it occurred to him. Sherman’s army was coming!

  “You’d better get down there and help your friends,” urged the elemental.

  Kazin looked back at the tower and saw the black horde attacking the defenders. Apparently they could not hold out long without help. Kazin looked back at the lights in the north. They were still a few hours away at best. He had to help the defenders hold on long enough for Sherman to get there. In an instant, Kazin transformed into a dragon and flew to their aid.

  The elemental watched the dragon fly away in satisfaction and then dispersed into thin air. As he dispersed, he gave the clerics in the tower a gift. He blew away the clouds to reveal the full moon. The cleric’s magic would be at full strength.

  By now, the last of the defenders had retreated behind the wall. The portcullis was slammed shut and an additional barrier was thrown behind it. Skink warriors frantically fired crossbow bolts at the attackers. There were so many monsters crammed together it was impossible for them to miss.

  Orcs were climbing over the damaged part of the wall while defenders within beat them back. Ogres were banging at the portcullis with a battering ram. Goblins shot arrows at the defenders. Lizardmen were casting spells at the skink warriors while clerics tried to shield the magic of each attack. The clerics weren’t ready to create a mass shield because they wanted their long range fighters to do some damage. A mass shield would protect everyone but also prevent anyone from shooting back at the enemy.

  A contingent of cyclops came forward with crudely fashioned ladders and held them in place against the walls while goblins scurried up them to infiltrate the archers and skink warriors. Soldiers and civilians appeared to push the ladders out from the wall with long poles.

  As if that wasn’t enough, a handful of catapults materialized and fired rocks over the battlements into the courtyard.