Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Four

by Dean Cadman

  Cole had no intention of waiting around until Zedd found his new limits. He knew no matter how powerful he’d just become, even he couldn’t control the entire Netherworld. He knew exactly how to get his attention, and dropped his mental barriers around Zedd’s mind. He watched as his eyes went wide with fear, and his legs gave way under him. He grasped his head with both hands, and began whimpering like a scared child. Cole only left him like that for a moment, but it was more than enough to regain his attention. He slammed up the mental barrier around his mind once more, and repeated his calls to leave.

  “Let’s go!” Cole said, half-dragging Zedd to his feet.

  Zedd nodded at him, then turned back towards The Rift to witness another, slightly larger creature, trying to force its way through the small tear into their world. He commanded his four Culzachs to attack anything that came through The Rift, then turned and started to run as fast as his shaking legs would carry him, towards the relative safety of their magic circles.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Alexia was extremely relieved when Stelgad finally came into view a couple of hours before midday. The route which Hershel had chosen for them through the Kucas Peaks, had been a long and arduous one to say the least. It had taken them over three weeks to complete the journey. A journey which could have been made in just over a week if they had taken the usual road route from Lamuria to Stelgad. Whether the extended trip had achieved the desired effect of strengthening the camaraderie between the new recruits, remained to be seen, but she was certainly glad it was over. The constant buffeting in her saddle by day, and the incessant insect bites by night had not left her with pleasant memories of the trip.

  One good thing to have come out of the trip, however, was her newfound friendship with Morgan. He had proved to be very different from what she’d expected him to be. His reputation amongst the other paladins had certainly gone a long way towards her making certain assumptions about him, but surprisingly, most of those assumptions proved to be ill founded. Sure, he had a wicked sense of humour, and one that often got him into hot water, especially with his superiors. But as she had found out over the past week or so, not all of his pranks were what they seemed to be.

  After Hershel had agreed to let Morgan drive the wagon, instead of continuing with his punishment on the mule, his badly chafed legs had begun to heal quite quickly. He had been very grateful for the salve Alexia had made for him, and they’d spent several evenings talking and getting to know each other better. Much to the obvious delight of Pippa and several of the other female recruits.

  It didn’t take Alexia long to realise, however, that the man’s reputation was far worse than the actual man himself. His reputation painted him as being both worldly-wise and a womaniser, neither of which—she knew now—could be further from the truth. In fact, she couldn’t think of anyone she had ever met that fit the description less. Whenever she had spoken to him at first, he could barely even look at her without blushing. It soon became obvious to her, that he’d not had much experience even speaking with girls, let alone doing the things his reputation suggested.

  Alexia had spoken quietly with Hershel about Morgan’s true intentions behind his prank with the new recruits, as she thought it was important that he knew the truth. After she had explained that Morgan had only done it to test the potential faith of the new recruits, Hershel surprised her by saying that he already knew. Apparently he had guessed Morgan’s true intentions even before leaving Lamuria, but pointed out that it wasn’t his place to test the new recruits, and certainly not in such a manner. He assured her that the proper time and place for such tests, would be when they reached The Sanctum of Light, and by the proven methods used by the paladins for the best part of two millennia. Alexia found it difficult to argue with Hershel’s logic, but still felt it was a little unfair punishing Morgan for what was essentially him only trying to help, no matter how misguided his efforts had been.

  As they approached the northern city gates, Alexia could see the beautiful smooth white stone spire of The Sanctum of Light poking out above the city walls. She smiled to herself and shook her head slightly. Never in all the years she had lived in Stelgad, could she ever have dreamt that one day she would call The Sanctum of Light her home. In fact, she had actively avoided it for most of her life in Stelgad as a thief. Although the paladins were never a direct threat to her, in the same way the city guards had been, her religious beliefs had still kept her away from Aysha’s house. She’d often felt a sense of guilt, knowing that her career as a thief was directly opposed to Aysha’s own teachings, and for that, she had prayed for forgiveness many times over the years.

  The two guards at the city gate stepped out and blocked the entrance, crossing their long pikes to bar the way.

  “Halt! Who goes there?” one of the guards called out. Alexia recognised both him and his voice immediately, as a guard she had narrowly escaped from as a thief several times in the past. She had no idea what his real name was, but she and a few of the other thieves had nicknamed him Dog, on the account of him never knowing when to let go once he got his teeth into someone. He seemed to take any escape from justice as a personal affront to himself, and would often actively hunt the perpetrator for days, even lying in wait for them during his off duty hours. The man was truly relentless.

  “Step aside, Sergeant Miller,” Hershel called out to him. Alexia saw the instant recognition on his face when he heard Hershel’s voice. It was obvious that he knew who he was, and immediately began to move aside as instructed. That was until he saw Alexia riding next to Hershel. His eyes suddenly went wide with glee, and a wicked grin spread across his face, as he thought he would finally catch his quarry. He took a quick step towards her, then froze mid-stride when he noticed the insignia on her collar, signifying her rank as Praefectus. Alexia smiled at him as they slowly approached the gate.

  “Nice to see you again, Sergeant Miller,” she said, winking at him as they rode by.

  “So, do you know Sergeant Miller well?” Hershel asked, once they were out of earshot.

  “No, not really. I usually tried to keep my distance from him,” Alexia replied grinning to herself.

  Hershel chuckled. “Aye, I bet you did at that,” he said quietly.

  A few minutes later they were all gathered outside the main entrance to The Sanctum of Light. After unlocking the huge wooden doors, Hershel ordered the blessed weapons to be unloaded from the wagons, and taken into the armoury for safe keeping. There wasn’t much food left over from their journey, but what little there was, soon found its way down to the kitchens for later use.

  “You, you and you,” Hershel said, pointing to three new recruits, “assist Morgan with the stabling of the horses. I want them all fed, watered and groomed properly before you return here. And don’t even think about cutting any corners, I will check.” Although he addressed them all, he was looking at Morgan when he spoke his final warning. “The rest of you, I want to see you lined up for inspection in the main hall in two minutes. Go!” Hershel yelled at the gathered men and women, causing a mass scramble towards the main entrance. Alexia also started walking towards the main hall, but Hershel gently grabbed her arm, preventing her from leaving. He waited until the paladins and new recruits were well inside the building, then turned to speak with her.

  “Sorry Alexia, I haven’t had much chance to speak with you alone since we left Lamuria. When we go inside, I’m going to need you to choose one of your female recruits as a squad leader. She will be responsible for relaying your orders to the others, as well as bringing any problems that may occur within the group to your attention. As you know, we’ve never had any female recruits here before, so I’m not even sure what to expect myself yet. I doubt they’ll pose the same problems as we often get with the male recruits, but they’re bound to have some of their own issues, I’m sure.”

  “Hershel, I know you tried to teach me as much as you could before we left Lamuria, but I’m still not completely sure what I’m su
pposed to be doing yet. I just hope that I don’t make a mess of things,” Alexia replied in a hushed voice. Hershel chuckled to himself.

  “Don’t worry, just follow my lead and I’m sure you’ll be fine. Just remember one thing—those recruits haven’t got a clue that you don’t know what you’re doing yet. So if you keep it that way, you won’t have a problem. It will take time Alexia, but you’ll get the hang of it, I’m certain of it. Besides, you can always ask me if you’re not sure about something,” Hershel said, trying his best to reassure her.

  “Thanks Hershel. I appreciate that,” Alexia replied.

  “No problem at all. Now let’s get inside and sort out these new recruits. I’d like to have them all settled in before dark if possible, then we can discuss exactly what we’re going to do with them over a brandy in my office later,” Hershel replied, giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

  Alexia selected Pippa as her squad leader, not only because she had spent more time with her than any of the others, but also because she was popular amongst the other female recruits. The other women already seemed to look up to her, and that made her the perfect choice to be squad leader as far as Alexia was concerned.

  Once they were in the main hall, Hershel gave the new recruits a short welcome speech, along with a long list of rules to obey now that they were fully fledged paladin recruits. Many of the rules Alexia had never even heard of herself, but she kept that information strictly to herself. Once he had done, Hershel issued new orders for the recruits to visit their appointed barracks, where their squad leaders would assign each recruit a new bunk. He sent one veteran paladin with each group to show them their respective new barracks, and Alexia was relieved to see the two groups leave the main hall in opposite directions. “At least he’s had the good sense to keep the two groups as far away from each other as possible,” she thought, smiling to herself.

  Morgan groaned loudly to himself as he entered the empty stable block and saw what lay before him. It had been months since any horses had been kept there, and whoever had been responsible for taking the last of the horses, had failed to clean out the stables before leaving. He knew that the paladins had left in a hurry to reach Lamuria when the attack came, but now it meant that he and the three recruits would have to clean out the stables before they could even start to tend the horses. They would be lucky if they had finished before nightfall, and any thoughts of joining the others for a hot meal were now long gone.

  “Okay lads, let’s tie up the horses outside and get to work cleaning this place up. Do any of you know your way around Stelgad?” Morgan asked.

  “I do, a little. I lived here with my aunt for a while as a kid,” one of the recruits said.

  “Brody, isn’t it?” Morgan asked. He hadn’t had much time to become acquainted with many of the new recruits yet, and only knew a few of their names. He remembered Brody because of his size. He was well over six feet tall, and as broad as any man he had ever seen. He remembered teasing him back in Lamuria about his size, saying the paladin’s Order would dock his pay towards the cost of the extra chain mail and leather they would need for his new armour. He had taken it all in good humour and even teased Morgan a little in return.

  “Yes, sir,” Brody replied.

  “Do you know where Carters’ storage barn is in the south west corner of Stelgad?” Morgan asked, but was only met with a blank stare. “It’s opposite the old smelting works.”

  “Ah… yes, I know where you mean now. The big building with the flat roof,” Brody replied.

  “Yes, that’s the one. I need you to go there and speak with a man called Rytin. Tell him to send, wait… how many horses do we have?”

  “Thirty-five horses, and five mules, sir,” one of the other recruits replied.

  “Sweet Aysha, we’ll be here all day,” Morgan cursed to himself. “Okay, speak with Rytin and ask him to send over fifty large bales of hay. Tell him that Hershel is furious about the state of our stables, and that he’s looking for someone to blame, so he best not take too long about it,” Morgan said grinning at him.

  “But, does the Praefectus even know about the state of the stables?” Brody asked sheepishly.

  “No, but that doesn’t matter. Rytin is petrified of Hershel. A couple of years ago he supplied us with a shipment of hay that was contaminated with poison hemlock. Three horses died, and many others became sick, including Hershel’s favourite. I was there when he confronted Rytin, and trust me, it wasn’t something he would want to ever repeat,” Morgan replied with a wide grin. Brody smiled back and nodded that he understood, then left for Carters’ storage barn.

  “Sorry, but I don’t know your names,” Morgan said.

  “Archie, sir,” replied one of the men.

  “Darius, sir,” replied the other.

  “Okay, Archie, I want you to fill all of the troughs with water from the pump outside. Darius, you’re with me in here shovelling I’m afraid,” Morgan said, screwing up his nose as if to emphasise his distaste for the job.

  No sooner had Morgan found the tools to start their work, than Archie came back inside the barn to report that he had a problem.

  “Sir, there’s no water in the pump,” Archie reported. Morgan sighed quietly.

  “Could anything else possibly go wrong today?” he thought to himself. “Okay, listen very carefully. Go out through the gate we came in today, and turn right. Follow the river until you see a large tree standing by itself. Almost directly in line with that tree you will see a pipe extending into the river from the bank. If you look carefully, you’ll see where the two parts of the pipe join. You need to carefully twist the part that is submerged in the river, off the pipe which runs underground. Whatever you do, don’t lose it in the river, or Hershel will really chew you up. Once you’ve removed the pipe, clean the end which sits in the water, then carefully refit in back the way you found it. It will be clogged with river weeds, that’s all. We normally have to clean it at least once a month. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” Archie replied, turning to leave.

  “Oh, and don’t go drowning yourself in the process. I’m in enough trouble with Hershel as it is. I don’t want to have to explain how I lost a man whilst cleaning out a stable,” Morgan called out after him. Archie gave him a wide grin and disappeared through the barn door. Morgan shook his head to himself, handed Darius a shovel, and began the unenviable job of clearing out the stalls.

  Archie almost got himself lost on the way to the city gate, and had to ask a passing merchant for directions. Navigation had never been his strong point, but he was soon through the city gate and on his way to fix the blocked water pipe. He could see the solitary tree that Morgan had described in the distance, and simply followed the river bank until he found the pipe. It took a bit of jiggling around before the two pieces of the pipe separated from one another, but eventually he had the offending item safely in his hands and away from the water’s edge. Morgan had been right about it being river weeds blocking the end of the pipe, but he soon had it clear again. Replacing the pipe was even easier than removing it, and apart from his muddy boots, he was no worse for the ordeal when he’d finished.

  As he climbed back onto the grassy bank and began to clean off the mud from his boots, something suddenly caught his eye. When he looked up, he saw something glinting in the sunlight above the city wall. It took him a moment to realise that it was actually something inside The Sanctum of Light’s tall spire. It looked beautiful as it sparkled hypnotically in the strong sunlight. But as he studied it more, he noticed something strange. The sun was actually behind the tower, so it couldn’t possibly be reflecting off whatever was inside it. He could only assume that it must be some kind of beacon which the paladins activated whenever they were in residency at The Sanctum of Light, because he knew it hadn’t been illuminated when they’d first arrived in Stelgad.

  Archie was in no rush to get back to the stables and start shovelling them out with the others, so he walked slowly along
the riverbank, admiring the beacon as he went. It seemed to getting brighter with every footstep he took, and by the time he reached the city gate, it was almost as bright as the sun itself. It reminded him a little of The Heart of the City in Lamuria, which hovered in the sky above the High Temple. Since it had become visible again after The Battle of Lamuria, he had never tired of looking at its beauty, and he wondered if the beacon was something similar.

  Archie almost got lost again on his way back to the others, but he recognised one of the nearby buildings and was soon back on track. The horses were still tied up outside, along with a growing pile of dirty used straw when he arrived back at the stables. He was about to announce his return, but decided to simply resume his original task of filling the water toughs instead. That way he secretly hoped he might avoid having to shovel the muck from inside the stables with the others, and it seemed to work too. When Morgan did come back outside and see him there, he simply asked if everything had gone well at the river, and Archie assured him that it had. Morgan thanked him, then left him alone again to continue filling the water troughs, much to Archie’s relief.

  The horses seemed intent on drinking the water as fast as Archie could fill their troughs, and it soon became a much longer job than he’d first anticipated. He was just about winning the battle, when a pair of wagons arrived carrying the fifty bales of hay Morgan had sent for earlier.

  Morgan and Darius came out with their final buckets of muck and added them to the huge pile in front of the stables, just as the first of the wagons pulled into the courtyard. Brody jumped down off the lead wagon with a huge grin on his face.

  “Rytin sends his regards to Hershel, and apologises that he couldn’t come himself,” Brody said, still grinning from ear to ear.

  “I’ll be sure to pass on his regards,” Morgan replied loud enough for the wagon driver to hear. “He’s just been called back to The Sanctum of Light on urgent business, but I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” The wagon driver nodded, and began to uncouple his wagon from the horses. The stable door was more than wide enough for the whole wagon to be wheeled inside and unloaded, instead of having to carry each individual bale in by hand from the courtyard.