Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Four

by Dean Cadman

  “Nice shooting, old girl,” Hershel said, giving her a friendly pat on the back. “Well done everyone. Now we wait until the sun goes down.”

  “What about that?” Alexia said, nodding towards the Carazhal. It was still in the process of tearing apart the ill-fated creature that had tried to enter The Rift.

  “For now we leave it alone, but I have an idea how we might be able to use it to our advantage later,” Hershel said, but didn’t elaborate any further. Alexia noticed that two of the three creatures she had just killed, had come to stop inside the perimeter of Aysha’s light.

  “Is it safe for me to retrieve those two arrows?” she asked quietly.

  “Perfectly. In fact, if you’re quick about it, you could probably get the other one too while its busy mutilating that,” Hershel replied, nodding towards the Carazhal. “But it’s probably easier and safer to take one of the spare swords, and earth-bind it at the edge of our perimeter.”

  Alexia chuckled. “Yeah, I never thought of that.” She located one of the bundles of weapons and took out one of the swords, then headed towards the closest dead creature. She kept a wary eye on the Carazhal, but it seemed to be more interested in the treeline where several other creatures were lurking in the shadows. She quickly removed the two arrows, and slowly stepped towards the outer edge of Aysha’s light. She could see the creatures in the treeline become agitated as she moved towards them. She plunged the sword into the ground, and a new extended area of Aysha’s light surrounded her and the dead creature.

  One of the smaller creatures suddenly broke cover from the trees and raced towards her. Its other-worldly screams battered at her mental defences, but she easily blocked it out. Even though she knew she was safe within Aysha’s light, she couldn’t help taking a step back away from the advancing creature. It leapt through the air towards her, claws held out ready to eviscerate her on contact, and impacted hard on the outer edge of Aysha’s light. It screamed in agony, as it was thrown violently backwards away from the light. Alexia hadn’t even seen the Carazhal start its charge, but obviously the smaller creature had, because it screamed in terror. It desperately tried to scramble to its feet, but it was already too late. The Carazhal leapt onto the smaller creature, pinning it to the ground with its huge muscular arms and legs. The smaller creature clawed desperately at its stomach, but its razor-sharp claws didn’t so much as scratch the thick armoured skin of the Carazhal.

  What it did next both shocked and horrified Alexia. It grabbed the smaller creature by the head in its huge clawed hand, and stood upright with it dangling from its outstretched arm. The smaller creature struggled desperately to escape its clutches, but it just ignored its efforts. Then it turned towards Alexia and walked slowly to the edge of Aysha’s light. Alexia quickly bent down and removed her arrow, then stepped back inside the original perimeter, before removing her earth-bound sword. The Carazhal had already stopped at the first boundary, but as soon as Alexia removed the sword, it moved forward to stand next to the main boundary of Aysha’s light. It locked eyes with Alexia, as if studying her carefully, but never attempted to cross the boundary.

  “I think he likes you,” Morgan jested, bringing forth a few nervous laughs from the others. The Carazhal locked its eyes on Morgan, before returning its gaze back to Alexia. While the smaller creature was still struggling to escape from the clawed grasp of the Carazhal, Alexia noticed a movement out of the corner of her eye. When she glanced towards it, she saw another creature emerging from The Rift. When she returned her gaze back to the Carazhal, she noticed it was still looking at her. But it was the way it was looking at her which surprised her the most. There was no mistaking the intelligence behind its piercing eyes.

  Making an impromptu decision, Alexia slowly raised her hand towards The Rift, and pointed at the emerging creature. Amazingly, the Carazhal looked in the direction she pointed, and hissed loudly. The creature was only halfway through The Rift, and the Carazhal seemed to realise that it still had time to spare. It looked back at Alexia, tilted its head a little, then without even looking towards the smaller creature in its hand, it crushed its skull and killed it instantly. Then it did something even stranger. It tossed the dead corpse of the creature inside the boundary of Aysha’s light, as if offering it as a gift to Alexia.

  “See, told ya he likes you,” Morgan said, gaining another round of laughs and chuckles for his efforts. The Carazhal glanced in his direction again, but quickly turned its attention to the emerging Netherworld creature, and raced towards The Rift to intercept it coming through. Alexia stepped back behind the circle of swords with the other paladins, and released a pent-up breath she didn’t even know she had been holding.

  “Well, that was interesting,” she said nervously.

  “Yes, it was. I once read that the Carazhal were intelligent, but I had no idea that they were that intelligent. I would suggest you all keep your shields close to hand, it obviously knows that it can throw dead things through our barrier. I wouldn’t want it to start using us as target practice, but if it does, you better have your shields ready,” Hershel said, keeping a close eye on the Carazhal.

  “I don’t think it’s hostile,” Alexia said. “I was well within its killing range if it had wanted to throw that corpse at me. It seemed to know who we were, and what we were doing here.”

  “You might well be right, old girl. If it’s been here since the last time The Great Rift was opened, it will no doubt have come across many paladins since then. At first they used to hunt them just like all the other Netherworld creatures, but as soon as they realised that they actually hunted their own kind, the paladins left them alone. After all, why send men into the forest to kill them, when there is already a creature there doing it for you?” Hershel replied.

  “So what you’re saying is, that it probably sees all paladins as fellow hunters?” Alexia asked, shocked that she was even suggesting it.

  “Maybe. After all, there are many creatures in this world which hunt alongside others. If this Carazhal has been used by other paladins to kill Netherworld creatures in the past, it’s perfectly plausible that it would see us as a possible asset to its own hunting, even if it doesn’t consider us an actual ally. Besides, the idea that I had earlier about how to use it, might just prove that theory correct,” Hershel said chuckling to himself.

  The sun finally set a few minutes later, and the Netherworld creatures began to rise in earnest. The Carazhal slaughtered dozens as they tried desperately to free themselves from their earthly bonds. Only a few managed to escape its clutches as they emerged into the night, and many of those were killed trying to gain access to The Rift a few minutes later.

  The new paladins seemed to be holding up well against the combined effects of the partially opened Rift, and the close proximity of a dozen or so Netherworld creatures. Hershel was relieved that the Carazhal had been there, and gave a silent prayer of thanks to Aysha. He certainly believed in luck, but encountering both this and the earlier Roazhar went way beyond luck as far as he was concerned.

  Hershel waited patiently until the Carazhal had done its grizzly work. The few Netherworld creatures which had managed to evade it, had already retreated well into the forest, or at least out of range of the slower moving beast.

  “Alright, now it’s our turn to clear the area,” Hershel suddenly announced.

  “It looks pretty clear to me already,” Alexia said, looking at the countless corpses and body parts scattered all over the surrounding area.

  “It is, apart from all the ones under our feet,” Hershel replied grinning. “Okay, listen up, this is what we’re going to do. We need to be closer to The Rift so we can earth-bind the spare weapons directly in front of it. Hopefully that will stop any more creatures coming through. On each of my commands, you will remove your weapons from the ground and take a step towards The Rift, then immediately rebind your weapon again. We will then wait for any Netherworld creature to rise from the ground we have revealed, and hopefully the Carazhal
will do the rest of our work for us. If not, we will kill them ourselves from inside the safety of Aysha’s light.”

  “That’s a clever tactic,” Alexia said, genuinely impressed with his plan. Hershel grinned at her in the eerie blue glow of their weapons and shields.

  “I’m not just a pretty face,” he replied jokingly.

  “That’s for sure,” Morgan agreed from the other side of the circle, eliciting a few chuckles.

  “Ah good, I was hoping someone would volunteer to kill the Netherworld creatures for us,” Hershel said, “I guess that would be you, Morgan.” Morgan let out a groan, but knew better than to argue with him. Alexia stifled a laugh of her own. She could see now why Morgan always seemed to be in trouble with Hershel one way or another, he just couldn’t help himself.

  With the absence of any nearby Netherworld creatures, the Carazhal was now patiently waiting for new ones to emerge from The Rift.

  “Why do you think it kills them all? It can’t possibly eat all the creatures it kills,” mused Alexia, looking at the Carazhal.

  “People kill other people, and we don’t ever eat each other. Maybe its kind is at war with the others inside the Netherworld, who knows?” Hershel replied, then added, “Or maybe it’s just like a fox inside a chicken pen. They will always kill every chicken they can find, even though they’ll only carry one away with them to eat.”

  Alexia nodded to his words, as she remembered the thousands of Empire magi that Lusam had killed outside Lamuria. The few dozen Netherworld creatures that the Carazhal had killed here, paled into insignificance compared to what humanity could do to each other. So who was she to judge its actions?

  “Ready on my command! … Move!” Hershel called, and as one every sword was withdrawn from the ground, moved towards The Rift a single footstep, then plunged back into the earth again. Almost immediately, two shiny carapace-like skulls started to poke through the ground where Aysha’s light had been only a moment before. The Carazhal didn’t take much notice of them moving, and remained firmly in place at The Rift. Alexia knew that if it didn’t see the emerging creatures, Morgan would have to risk himself to kill them. She quickly moved to The Rift side of the circle, and called out to the Carazhal. It looked towards her as she called out, but seemed little interested in her until she pointed towards the emerging creatures. It took one last look at The Rift, then bounded over to where she stood bathed in Aysha’s light. She pointed again, and walked towards the emerging creatures.

  “Careful,” Hershel said. Alexia didn’t reply, but she kept a close eye on the creature. A moment later it saw the heads of the two emerging creatures, and removed both in a blink of an eye with a single swipe of its razor-sharp claws. Black liquid squirted out like two fountains in the ground, covering the ground all around the buried corpses. Alexia called out to it again, and pointed to what would become the next place to be revealed from behind Aysha’s light. She turned and nodded to Hershel, and he gave the command to move. Alexia took a step back from the Carazhal, just in case it decided to charge her, but it remained perfectly still.

  A moment later, three more black armoured heads began to emerge from the ground. The Carazhal tilted its head slightly, and hissed quietly at Alexia. If she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn that it had just thanked her.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Zedd and Cole finally entered the outskirts of Helveel just after nightfall. Their clothes were stuck to them with sweat, and covered in mud from digging out the dragon heart earlier. Thankfully they had not seen a single Netherworld creature during their trek through the forest, and none had seen fit to pursue them after fleeing The Rift. The four Culzachs which Zedd had taken control of, lasted for almost an hour against the emerging Netherworld creatures, and had eventually succumbed only to the sunlight. They had given Zedd and Cole the perfect head start, and enabled them to bypass their magic circles altogether.

  Zedd had insisted that his newly found power was more than enough to protect them against any pursuing Netherworld creatures, or any others which they might encounter during their journey. At first Cole had been sceptical about his claims, especially knowing how much of his reserves he had already expended at The Rift. But after checking his aura for himself, he was amazed by what he found. Zedd’s power had increased dramatically over what it had been before. He had always been far more powerful than Cole, but now his aura was at least as bright as a Darkseed Elite.

  Zedd’s mind had been in turmoil throughout most of their journey, whilst he tried to make sense of what had happened to him since joining with the shard. Many fragmented and distorted memories vied for position in his mind. Some he could make sense of himself, and filled in the missing information for the shard. Like images of cities that he had visited himself, but the shard no longer remembered the names of. They were different, much older than he remembered, but they were still unmistakably the same places, and he put the names to those places for the shard. Between them, they worked through countless memories, repairing what they could, and discarding what they couldn’t. By the time they had finished, both Zedd and the shard knew far more about the world, than either had done alone.

  One of those memories had been an image of Coldmont, and he had recognised it almost immediately. It had not, however, been the same image of a broken and derelict Coldmont that he remembered seeing himself. The image of Coldmont that the shard remembered was of a vibrant and spectacular looking building. One where dragons and their Guardians took off and landed in the immense courtyard outside. And where dragons bathed in deep magically heated pools, whilst men and women tended to their every need.

  His memories of the broken stone columns, statues and stairs, were replaced by ones of such incredible grandeur, that he could scarcely believe it was the same place. He saw memories of magnificent dragons climbing the massive stone staircase outside, then entering Coldmont through its two enormous doors. Both his memories, and those of the shard’s overlapped seamlessly. All apart from one thing; the Guardian book. The shard had no knowledge of any such book within Coldmont, and eagerly sought any information it could about it. Zedd realised that the Guardian book must have been created after The Great Rift had been sealed, and therefore after the time of the shard’s own memories.

  When Zedd had first encountered the shard, it had craved companionship above all else, but now, that craving had been replaced by a thirst for knowledge. It absorbed information from his mind with the enthusiasm of a young child, and offered what it could back to him in exchange. But ever since Zedd had revealed his memories of the Guardian book within Coldmont, and explained that it had been created by the Guardians, that thirst had suddenly become insatiable. The shard began to insist that he read the book, and when he explained that he couldn’t, and the reasons why he couldn’t, the shard promised that it would help to protect him. He had no evidence to suggest that such a thing was even possible, but somehow, deep down inside him, he knew it to be true. He felt more powerful than he had ever felt in his entire life, and he began to weigh up his options.

  Soon Lord Zelroth would discover that they had failed to fully reopen The Great Rift, and when he did, he would send someone to kill them both. Zedd had no doubt that he could withstand a single Darkseed Elite now, or possibly even an Inquisitor with Cole’s help. But Lord Zelroth was unlikely to send just a single assassin after them, and even if he did, and they both managed to survive whoever he sent, he would only send more next time. Eventually they would both be killed, whether it was during their first encounter, or a subsequent one. Either way, the end result would still be the same.

  All hopes of returning to his family and hiding with them in The Badlands were now gone too. He had absolutely no doubt that Aamon would be able to track their movements now that The Great Rift was partially open, and that information would surely find its way back to Lord Zelroth. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that he didn’t have a choice. He could either attempt to read the Guardian book as
the shard had suggested, and possibly become powerful enough to survive whoever Lord Zelroth sent after him. Or he could keep running and watching over his shoulder for the rest of his life, however long that would be.

  “Over here,” Cole called, startling Zedd out of his reverie. He hadn’t noticed, but Cole had turned off down the street, and he’d carried straight on unawares. Zedd turned to follow, then noticed him bend down and pick something up from the ground. Zedd was too far behind him to ask what it was, but he watched as Cole casually approached one of the many street vendors. By the time Zedd caught up with him, the street vendor was handing over two large pastries to Cole, and had his hand held out for payment.

  “That’ll be four copper please, sir,” the vendor said. Cole placed a small round pebble in the man’s hand and thanked him, then turned and winked at Zedd with a grin on his face. The vendor studied the small pebble in his hand as if he was about to say something, but instead, he placed it in his satchel and retrieved enough change for a gold piece. He handed the change to Cole with a smile, and thanked him for his patronage, then returned to his other duties without another word. Cole handed Zedd one of the pastries, then started walking back down the street.

  “I guess we should look for a card game in town, so I can win you enough money for a ticket south tomorrow, not to mention a bed for us tonight,” Cole said, taking a large bite from his pastry.

  “That sounds like a good idea, but I’m not going south any more. We’re both going back to Coldmont, so I can read the Guardian book there,” Zedd replied. Cole almost choked on his pastry.

  “We’re going to do what?” Cole said, coughing loudly. “Aren’t you forgetting something? The moment we step foot inside Coldmont, Lord Zelroth will know someone is there, and when he comes to see who it is… well, we might as well have let the Netherworld creatures kill us back at The Rift, because it would have been a whole lot less painful than what he will do to us. Besides, you already know if you try to read the Guardian book, it will kill you.”