Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Four

by Dean Cadman

  They wheeled the first wagon inside to the far end of the stables, and tipped off the bales of straw as they pulled the wagon forward again. It was far from a perfect distribution between the stalls, but it would still save them a lot of time later. They repeated the process with the second wagon, and they soon had all fifty bales of hay inside the stables. It was then a simple task of distributing one bale of hay per stall, and they soon had the work done between them.

  Once the wagons had left the courtyard, Morgan was keen to know what Rytin had said when he’d been asked to deliver fifty bales of hay the same day.

  “So, was Rytin happy to see you?” Morgan asked, trying hard to keep a straight face.

  Brody gave him a stern look. “I asked him for fifty bales of hay, and he told me it would be delivered by the end of the week. I thought he was going to skewer me on the end of his pitchfork when I said we needed it delivering today,” Brody replied seriously. Morgan and the others burst out laughing at the thought of the huge man being chased away by Rytin and his pitchfork.

  “So, what did you say to make him change his mind?” Morgan asked, knowing full well what the answer to that was.

  “I told him Hershel had sent me, and that he wanted it delivering immediately, or he’d come down and get it for himself,” Brody replied with a huge grin. Morgan roared with laughter, and the others followed his example, as they began bringing the horses inside the stable.

  Most of the horses were inside their stalls before Archie remembered about the glowing beacon he’d seen at The Sanctum of Light.

  “How do they get the tower to glow like that?” Archie asked.

  “What tower?” Morgan replied, shutting the final horse inside its stall.

  “The Sanctum of Light tower. I noticed it was glowing when I was down by the river, and just wondered how they did it, and why? I thought it might be to signify that the paladins are back in residency,” Archie said.

  Morgan laughed again. “You’re not going to get me that easily, Archie boy,” he teased him.

  “Get you with what?” Archie asked slightly confused.

  “With your tower prank, of course. It’s never been lit in almost two millennia. Surely you could have come up with something better than that,” Morgan replied, chuckling to himself.

  “Well, it’s lit now,” Archie said shrugging. Morgan searched his face for any signs of humour, but didn’t see any. Either he had some competition as head prankster now, or he was just about to find himself in the biggest trouble he had ever known.

  “So, what is it?” Archie asked, as Morgan headed for the door. Morgan sprinted to the far side of the courtyard so he could get a clear view of the tower beyond the other buildings, and his heart almost stopped in his chest. The spire glowed in the midday sky like a second sun.

  “Seven Hells!” he cursed under his breath. “We have to get back to The Sanctum of Light and warn the others. Right now!”

  “Warn them of what?” Brody asked.

  “The Great Rift is open again,” Morgan replied, scarcely able to believe his own words.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Morgan burst through the doors of The Sanctum of Light, closely followed by Brody, Archie and Darius. It was obvious by the lack of activity inside that no one had seen the bell glowing in the tower.

  “Hershel!” Morgan shouted, as he raced towards the main hall. He flung the large heavy door open, almost collecting a new recruit as he did so. “Have you seen Hershel anywhere?” Morgan asked desperately. The recruit pointed towards Hershel’s office at the back of the building, and Morgan was already racing towards his door before he could even respond. He didn’t even knock, he simply threw the door open and barged inside. Hershel was relaxing behind his desk with a glass of brandy in his hand, but when Morgan suddenly burst in, it startled him so much, he spilt half of it down his tunic. His eyes went wide with anger.

  “WHAT IN AYSHA’S NAME!” Hershel bellowed as he came to his feet dripping in brandy.

  “Sir, the bell is lit!” Morgan blurted out, trying hard to catch his breath.

  “What? What bell?” Hershel asked angrily, dabbing at his tunic with his handkerchief.

  “Sir, The Sanctum of Light Bell… it’s lit!” Morgan said, with his eyes wide and his chest heaving for breath. He could see the doubt in Hershel’s face, and given the number of pranks he’d played on him over the years, he couldn’t blame him for it.

  Hershel could see the fear in Morgan’s eyes, and as much as he wanted to believe it was just another one of his pranks, he instinctively knew it wasn’t. He bolted for his office door, not even looking back to see if Morgan had followed him, and ran straight for the bell tower. The door was barred, but he tossed the heavy oak beam aside as if it was weightless. The huge double doors swung inwards, flooding the main hall with the golden light from the bell high above in the tower.

  “Aysha have mercy on us all,” he gasped. He knew exactly what it meant: The Great Rift was open again. Only this time there were no dragon riding Guardians to fight the Netherworld creatures, and none to seal The Rift again either. He stood motionless, stunned by the enormity of it all. How could they possible survive this? How could the world survive this?

  He fell to his knees in prayer, and begged Aysha for guidance.

  Including himself, he had only thirty five paladins under his command, of which twenty-seven were still unproven recruits. He had no idea yet how many of those possessed enough faith to wield a blessed weapon at all, let alone against an army of Netherworld creatures. And then there were the mental effects of being in close proximity to the Netherworld creatures to consider. None of the new recruits had been trained in how to resist those effects yet, and without that training, they would likely be nothing more than quivering wrecks on the battlefield. They would be easy prey for the Netherworld creatures, and possibly even dangerous to each other.

  “Sir, what are your orders?” Morgan asked nervously by his side, bringing his mind back into focus on the present. Hershel slowly stood up, took a deep breath, then turned to face Morgan.

  Hershel placed his hand on Morgan’s shoulder, then calmly said, “Sound the alarm. We’re going to war, son.”

  Hershel stood patiently in the main hall waiting for everyone to gather there. It was taking far longer that he would have usually tolerated, but he was well aware that the new recruits had no idea where anything was yet. They hadn’t even been assigned weapons or armour since arriving that morning, and Hershel knew that his handful of veteran paladins were now working as fast as they could to remedy that situation. It was Alexia he felt most sorry for. At least the fifteen male recruits had all of the veterans to help them. Alexia on the other hand, had twelve female recruits to deal with all by herself.

  “Sir, all the recruits are fully armoured and are being assigned weapons and shields now. Sorry sir, I meant to say all of the male recruits,” Morgan reported nervously.

  “Thank you Morgan,” Hershel replied absent-mindedly. “Morgan…”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “I need to send at least one person back to Lamuria to fetch Lusam and all of the other paladins, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions of who I should send?” Hershel asked.

  “Me sir?” Morgan replied, slightly shocked that he would ask him his opinion.

  “Yes, you Morgan. Obviously I can’t send a fully trained paladin back to Lamuria, so I must send one or more of the recruits instead. But the problem is, I have no idea yet which of them has enough faith to be of use on the battlefield, and which do not. I was hoping you might have some insight with that prank you pulled back in Lamuria. You saw their reactions, so tell me what your gut instinct told you about them that day. Aysha knows, that’s all I have to go on right now.”

  Morgan thought back to the day he pulled the prank in Lamuria, and realised that most of the recruits who had shown any real fear had not come back after leaving. Most of them had simply returned to their regular army duties, but there
was one who hadn’t. His name was Finley, and although he hadn’t run away like the others, Morgan had seen the look of fear in his eyes, and also overheard him speaking with some of the other recruits later that night about it. He had no doubt that the man could have become a paladin given enough time and training, but he no longer had that opportunity, and Morgan felt fairly certain that he would fail to wield a blessed weapon without it.

  “Finley, sir. Apart from the ones which never came back, he was the only one that I saw any doubt in,” Morgan replied.

  “Thank you, Morgan,” Hershel replied.

  “Sir, Finley seems like a good man. I’m sure he would make a fine paladin if he was given enough time…” Morgan started to say, but Hershel held up his hand and cut him off mid-sentence.

  “Then you may have just saved a good man’s life, Morgan. I promise you, he will get the chance to prove himself later, if that’s at all possible. But for right now, we need every capable paladin to embrace their faith like they have never done before. It’s not the time for us to be trying to teach that faith.”

  Morgan nodded to Hershel’s words, but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of guilt at naming Finley that way. He made a promise to himself, that if he survived what was to come, he would help Finley in any way he could to strengthen his faith.

  The male recruits were the first to enter the main hall, closely followed by the veteran paladins. There was a distinct nervous energy in the room, especially amongst the new recruits as they lined up and waited for the others to join them. Hershel scanned the faces of his men, he could see that the news of The Great Rift being open again had already filtered through their ranks. Their ignorance of what would be waiting for them there, was both a blessing and a curse. An important part of any paladins training was to learn about all of the various Netherworld creatures known to exist. They needed to be able to swiftly identify each one, and know its strengths and weaknesses. Without that knowledge, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

  A moment later a door at the far end of the main hall opened, and the female recruits entered. Alexia led them swiftly into the main hall and they took their places alongside the men. Hershel indicated to Alexia that he wished to speak with her in private, and they both moved towards the back of the room.

  “We don’t have much time, so I’ll make this brief. I need to send someone back to Lamuria to fetch Lusam and the other paladins. Morgan has already indicated one of the men that he believes may lack enough faith to wield a blessed weapon on the battlefield. I was wondering if you had any similar doubts about any of your female recruits. I think it would be prudent to send two people back, as we can’t risk the possibility of the message not getting through,” Hershel said in a hushed voice.

  Alexia had only one name in mind. It was one of the recruits she had spoken to on their way to Stelgad about showing lack of commitment during prayers. She had found out later that both women involved had been close friends in the regular army, and when one had decided to join the Paladin’s Order because of her faith, the other had simply decided to come with her.

  “Yasmin,” she replied. “I believe she only joined us because her friend Keira wanted to join the Paladin’s Order. Apparently they were close friends in the regular army according to Pippa.”

  “Very well, thank you,” Hershel replied nodding slightly. “Alexia, I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you how dire our situation is right now. The last time The Great Rift was opened, it took the combined efforts of all the Guardians and their dragons to stem the flow of Netherworld creatures, and even then it was a close run thing in the end. If you’ve read the history books I gave you, you’ll also know that it took the sacrifice of a Guardian and his dragon to seal it again. We have neither any more. What we do have, after I send two back to Lamuria, is a total of thirty-three paladins, twenty-five of which are yet untested in their faith.

  “Now, I don’t know if Lusam will be able to close The Rift again, but I have to believe that he can, and we have to make those men and women believe it too. Having faith is one thing, but losing all hope on the battlefield is quite another. We have to give them something to fight for. Something to aim for. Some reason to stay alive long enough to make a difference. Without that, we’ve already lost this battle before it even begins. Do you understand?” Alexia nodded silently. She didn’t need convincing that Lusam could close The Rift. After all, Aysha had chosen him for a reason, and what greater reason could there be than this?

  “Alexia, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to assign you three of my veteran paladins. Not because I doubt your own abilities, but because they can identify the Netherworld creatures, and can show you which of their weaknesses to exploit.”

  “That sounds sensible enough to me,” Alexia agreed.

  “Good, now let’s at least look like we’re confident when we address our troops,” he said smiling at her.

  They turned back towards their assembled paladins, and walked confidently to the centre of the room to stand before them, shoulder to shoulder. Alexia’s heart hammered in her chest as she scanned the faces of the men and women standing before her.

  Hershel met the eyes of every man and woman in the room, searching for signs of fear and doubt. He found far more than he had hoped he would. He knew that if he couldn’t allay their doubts and fears here, before the fighting even began, it would be a lost cause once they were on the battlefield. He took a deep steadying breath, and began.

  “I will no longer refer to any of you as men, women or recruits. From this day forward you are all Paladins of Aysha—soldiers of God. I can see in many of your faces that you have already heard the terrible rumours about The Great Rift. Well, I’m afraid that I must confirm those rumours to be true. As I speak to you now, our great bell shines brightly above our heads, and that can signify only one thing: The Great Rift is open again. Now, I’m sure you all know the history of Afaraon well enough to remember how The Rift was sealed the last time, and by whom. Unfortunately the Guardians are no longer with us, but we must not lose hope.

  “After the Guardians parted this world almost two millennia ago, Aysha created a new Order to control the Netherworld creatures left behind in our world, and unto that new Order, she entrusted weapons of great power. Weapons that Aysha herself has blessed with her own divine power. You are now part of that Order, and you carry those very same weapons by your sides. So, it now falls to us to take up the mantle of the once great Guardians, and attempt to stem the flow of Netherworld creatures coming through The Great Rift, just as they once did. Aysha has already given us the tools to achieve this. Now all we need is to have enough faith to carry it through.”

  Hershel let the whispers between the paladins grow, hoping he had emboldened them enough with his speech, but many of their faces soon told him otherwise. He had failed, and now they were likely to fail also. He knew that he had to push on regardless. If they didn’t reach The Great Rift soon, they would stand no chance at all of holding back the hordes.

  “ATTENTION!” Hershel bellowed, and calm was instantly restored to the room. “Finley… Yasmin… step forward.” Both recruits stepped forward, looking even more concerned than the others. “I have a very important mission for you both. I need you to ride as fast as possible to Lamuria. You are to give this letter to the High Priest, and him alone. It is a request for every available paladin to be sent immediately to The Sanctum of Light, along with all available blessed weapons. It also requests that the Saviour of Lamuria joins them too. I believe that he will be able to seal The Great Rift for us, but time is of the essence. You must hurry. Take two horses each from the stables, enough food and water, and this seal,” Hershel said, handing Finley a metal seal. “It is the Paladin Order’s own seal. It will grant you the ability to change your horses at any town or village along your route, guaranteeing later payment from the Order. Collect some food from the kitchens, and go now!”

  “Yes, sir,” both said almost in unison, and quickly vanished through the
doorway to the kitchen, no doubt very relieved at their apparent stroke of luck. Hershel turned his attention back to the whispering men and women before him, and a hush fell over the room once more.

  “Our plan is a simple one. We hold back whatever comes through The Great Rift until our young mage arrives with reinforcements. If we can do that, I believe we might still have a chance of resealing it again. If we fail, however, we die, it’s as simple as that. Never again will your faith in Aysha be more crucial to your own survival, and that of the paladin next to you. These creatures will invoke a fear in you, the likes of which you could never have imagined. But you have to remember, you can overcome that fear. Normally the mental exercises required would have been part of your training here at The Sanctum of Light, but unfortunately that is no longer an option. The only advice I can give you is this: keep your mind firmly on the task at hand, and your faith in Aysha strong and you will overcome it.

  “We will form small groups of four paladins. Each group will contain one veteran paladin who can identify the various Netherworld creatures, and instruct you on how best to kill them. If your veteran should fall in battle, you will separate and each join another group which still contains a veteran. This is for your own safety. There is no point in trying to attack a creature from the front, when it’s only possible to kill it from behind, or from the side. You will, of course, learn to identify them yourselves, but it will take time. Give yourself that time by following my orders. May Aysha watch over and bless us all. Let us pray,” Hershel said, removing his sword and kneeling before it. Thirty-two other paladins followed his example, each praying for strength and guidance for what was to come.