Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Four

by Dean Cadman

  “How so?” Renn asked curiously.

  “Well, can you see how they are all lined up to face our approach?”

  “Yes, but how does that help us?”

  “On our current course it doesn’t. But once we get within their firing range, I’ll give Durlan the signal to turn towards that pinnacle of rock. You’ll all need to hang on at that point, because I intend to increase the speed of the boat by quite a bit. As we travel towards the pinnacle of rock, their ability to fire directly at us will quickly vanish. Soon, those ships on the left that you can see now, would have to fire over the top of all the other ships to reach us. And if they do that, they’ll risk hitting their own ships…”

  “And with little wind, they won’t be able to move their ships into a better firing position quickly enough,” Renn finished for him.

  “Exactly!” Lusam said, with a wide grin on his face.

  “Nicely done,lad! I’m impressed,” Renn said.

  “Thanks,” Lusam replied, beaming at his praise. Neala rolled her eyes and shook her head a little.

  “Don’t overdo it Renn, or he’ll never get that swollen head of his through the doors of Irragin,” she jested, causing everyone to laugh at Lusam’s expense.

  A few minutes later the first missile was launched into the air from one of the Empire ships. It fell well short of their range, and consequently no more followed until they had crossed the point where that missile had fallen into the sea. Lusam had already erected a strong shield around their boat, making sure that the leading edge of the shield was by far the strongest point. When they crossed the point where the missile had struck the sea, a flurry of fresh missiles erupted from the Empire ships. They arced through the air towards their small boat, but not a single one impacted on Lusam’s shield.

  “Shall I turn yet?” Durlan asked nervously.

  “No, not yet. I want to get a lot closer than this. It will give them far less time to reposition their ships, and I also want to try something myself,” Lusam replied, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the Empire ships ahead. The missiles continued to grow in number and frequency, but very few impacted on Lusam’s shield. Most splashed harmlessly into the sea, sizzling loudly as they did so.

  “It looks like they refused your offer,” Neala said, pointing towards one of the enemy ships. Lusam recognised the ship immediately by its blackened mast, and his heart sank. He had given them every opportunity to deliver his offer of mercy to the others. But even if they had not had the opportunity to deliver it, they had all heard it for themselves, and had still decided to stand against him. He watched as several magical missiles were launched from the black masted ship towards their position, one even hitting his shield. Renn placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a small squeeze.

  “You did your best, lad, and that’s all any of us could have asked for. They’ve made their choice, now they will have to deal with the consequences of that choice,” Renn said quietly. Lusam knew he was right, but it didn’t make his task any easier now that he had seen the faces of the men he would soon have to kill. He nodded to Renn, and went to stand at the front of the small boat.

  The enemy’s magical missiles gradually became more accurate as they approached the blockade of ships, but even so, most still splashed down and fizzled harmlessly in the sea around them. The small size of their boat was definitely an advantage against the enemy magi, at least until they turned broadside to them, and offered them a much larger target to hit. But before they did that, Lusam wanted to try and ensure that the Empire ships stayed right where they were for as long as possible.

  Lusam created several small fireballs in his right hand, and launched them at the enemy ship furthest away from the rocky pinnacle. Even before they had reached their target, he had created and sent six more of the same towards other ships in the blockade. He had no intention of destroying the ships and scattering their men into the sea. If he did that, they would simply swim to shore and rejoin the battle against him, or worse still, seek out Neala, Renn and Durlan hiding behind the pinnacle of rock. All he intended to do was destroy their mainsails, and give them even less opportunity to manoeuvre their ships once he started to attack them. His aim was true, and several of the small fireballs from each batch hit their intended targets, quickly setting the canvas alight.

  “Now Durlan!” he called out, and the small boat lurched to starboard. He strengthened the area of the shield which now faced the Empire ships, and quickly increased the speed of the boat. He had been so intent on warning the others to hang on when he sped up the boat, that he forgot to heed his own warning, and found himself thrown backwards into the small boat—much to Neala’s amusement.

  The magical missiles rained down all around them, but most fell harmlessly into the sea behind the boat as they sped along. Lusam sent more groups of fireballs to ignite the sails of the other ships, and by the time they were beyond the final ship, twenty-five of the twenty-seven vessels were desperately trying to put out fires in their rigging.

  “When I leave the boat make sure you hold onto something, I have an idea how to get you clear of the danger faster,” Lusam said, looking towards the line of enemy ships. Neala startled him by spinning him around to face her, and throwing her arms around his neck. He could see the tears of worry in her eyes.

  “Be careful, Lusam. I love you,” she whispered in his ear.

  He smiled and hugged her tightly. “I love you too. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine,” he whispered, trying to reassure her. She tightened her grip on him until he could barely breathe, and it was only the sudden impact of several missiles which seemed to remind her of their situation. She released him to arm’s length and tried her best to smile at him, but he could see it was a forced effort and that she was truly worried about him leaving her. He leant forward and gently kissed her soft lips, before pulling away and giving her a reassuring smile.

  “Good luck, lad. And may Aysha be with you. Remember, you’re fighting him on his own ground, and on his own terms, so be careful,” Renn said, clapping him on the shoulder.

  Lusam nodded. “Renn, look after her for me,” he said, watching the tears roll down Neala’s face.

  “We’ll be fine, lad. You just worry about yourself out there,” Renn replied.

  “Okay, I guess it’s time then. Don’t forget to hold on tight once I leave the boat,” Lusam said, turning his attention back to the line of enemy ships. He didn’t wait for a reply, and after activating the enchantment that he’d placed on the barrels of nails, he simply levitated himself off the back of the small boat. Magical missiles were impacting almost constantly on his shield now, and many were still hitting the shield around the small boat.

  He reached into the water below his feet with his mind, and traced a route to the rear of the small boat. Once he had located it, he created a column shaped magical barrier from the surface of the water, to the seabed below, and instantly froze its contents solid. Next he extended a thin line of ice from the top of the stable column, to the stern of their small boat, then rapidly increased the length of it. It grew like a giant horizontal icicle across the surface of the sea, pushing the boat through the water ahead of it. He knew the magically strengthened hull would withstand the extra strain, and was able to push it well beyond the point where he could no longer protect it with his shield.

  He took one last look at the distant boat, and saw Renn standing at the stern with his shield, ready to intercept any missiles which broke through their enchanted barrier. Fortunately, most of the attacks were now focussed on him, and those that weren’t missed their small target by quite a margin. Lusam took a deep breath to steel himself against what he was about to do, then turned back to face his attackers.

  From where he was hovering, the Empire ships were in an almost perfect line. None had yet been able to move, and only the closest ship could safely and accurately fire on him without the risk of hitting any of their own people or ships. He closed his eyes in silent prayer, and asked Aysha to grant him
the strength and guidance that he would soon need. He also prayed that she would take the souls of the men he was about to kill into her care. He knew that the men didn’t worship Aysha, but they were still men. And they were still her creations. When he looked up at the ships before him, he suddenly realised just how many people he would have to kill. For a moment he doubted his own resolve, then he remembered why he was there: to rescue his mother.

  A multitude of missiles impacted heavily against his magical shield, and he could now feel the small drain on his power reserves. It wasn’t much, but it was definitely noticeable. He moved through the air towards the closest ship, scanning the deck for the strongest crimson aura. The moment he saw it, he reached out towards the man and located his Necromatic ring. He tapped directly into the ring, and started to drain his magic. He was close enough to see the look of shock and bewilderment on the man’s face, as his power drained freely away from him. Dozens of new lines-of-power sprung from the man, as he desperately drained his underlings of their magic to stay alive.

  A moment later Lusam felt the first death-pulses, as the weakest of the magi succumbed to their commander’s greed for life. The attacks on Lusam had already faltered, and now only the blind volleys from other ships arced through the air towards him. It took him less than a minute to drain every man on board that first ship, and the death-pulses came thick and fast. It made him feel sick to his stomach, and he had to remind himself—on more than one occasion—why he was doing it. His mother had spent more than a decade as Lord Zelroth’s prisoner, and had no doubt suffered for every second of that time. Now Lord Zelroth would pay for what he had done to her, and if these men chose to blindly follow him, they would pay too.

  As Lusam levitated himself across the corpse-strewn deck of the first ship, he sent a large fireball crashing through its timbers. The wooden planks exploded as the missile struck, sending debris high into the air all around him. Almost immediately the ship began to sink. He knew the ship would soon be sitting on the bottom of the sea, along with every man that had been aboard her.

  He destroyed the next three ship in a similar fashion, draining everyone on board before sending them to the bottom of the ocean with their dead crews. The Empire magi had already worked out his plan of attack, and knew that they couldn’t simply stay lined up as they were, and wait until he destroyed them one by one. The two ships with intact sails had already moved out into open water, and many more were now slowly moving away from the blockade line.

  Lusam’s magic reserves were now fully recharged by what he had drained from the Empire magi, so now he could begin using their own magic against them. He reached out towards the fourth ship and fully encased it inside a magical barrier. Many of the unfortunate magi on board immediately incinerated themselves when they attempted to send fireballs at him. Their missiles impacted on the inside of the barrier, exploding with devastating consequences for anyone unlucky enough to be standing nearby.

  Lusam reached out to the Empire commander’s Necromatic ring, and began to drain him of power. But instead of taking it for himself, he fed it back into the magical barrier around his ship. He began to shrink the barrier in size, crushing the timbers of the ship as he did so. The screams of terror from the men were truly blood-curdling, but he continued regardless.

  The first death-pulses were from those magi that were crushed or impaled by the ship’s splintering timbers, quickly followed by the weaker magi as their commander drained them dry of magic. As Lusam continued to relentlessly shrink the magical barrier, the main timbers of the ship began to shatter with a series of deafening cracks. The whole ship suddenly folded in the middle, sending men crashing towards the centre of the vessel and their certain deaths. Dozens of death-pulses came from the shattered ship. Only a few men clung desperately onto deck fixtures, and life itself, but even they didn’t last long. With one final push, Lusam crushed the entire ship to a fraction of its original size. When he released the magical barrier, the flotsam showed no signs of life, nor did it resemble anything which might have once been a ship.

  The Empire ships were now beginning to move away from their original defensive line, which meant more and more of them could now fire openly at him. One of the ships caught his attention more than the others, as it sailed straight past him on an intercept course with the pinnacle of rock. It was the ship he had boarded earlier and made his offer to. Dozens of magical missiles were striking his shield, but he hesitated as he watched the black masted ship sail by. For a moment he thought that they might have decided to take him up on his offer, and leave the battle without a fight. But a moment later the bitter truth was revealed, when more than ten missiles hurtled towards him from its deck. He suddenly realised that not only had they refused his offer and attacked him, they were also now attempting to kill his friends.

  A wave of anger washed over him, blinkering him to all else around him.

  He levitated himself as fast as he could towards the black masted ship, almost skimming across the surface of the water as he went. He didn’t even have to check their auras to pick out their commander. He knew him by sight now. He locked eyes with him, and saw the surge of power as he strengthened his own shield. Lusam reached out and created another large column of ice directly in the ship’s path. A moment later, the ship crashed into it, sending its entire crew sprawling onto the deck.

  Lusam levitated himself onto the ship’s deck, and came to rest directly in front of their commander. He scrambled to his feet, and gave Lusam a look of complete hatred. Lusam felt the impact of a missile on his shield, and spun around to see who was responsible. The man was busy forming a second fireball in his hand, but never got the chance to complete his spell. Lusam sent a powerful missile of his own, which tore straight through both his shield, and his torso, leaving a gaping hole the size of someone’s head through his chest. The man didn’t even have a chance to react before his dead body slumped to the ground.

  Lusam stepped towards the commander, and placed a finger against his shield. He tapped directly into his power reserves and began to drain them into his own. The commander’s face went pale with fear as he realised what was happening, and predictably started to drain power from his own men. Lusam slowed the power drain slightly, then latched on to the lines-of-power emanating from the commander’s Necromatic ring, giving him a direct connection to every man on the ship.

  He tapped into those lines-of-power, and intercepted the magic for himself, denying the commander access to his own men’s power. He watched as the commander’s eyes went wide, knowing he was about to die, but Lusam stopped the power drain just before killing him.

  “Why didn’t you take my offer?” Lusam asked, knowing full well that he didn’t understand him. The commander spat to the side in a show of contempt, and said something in his own language. Lusam didn’t need a translator to understand its general meaning. Nor did he have the time or inclination to wait for one. They had made their choice, and now they would pay the price.

  He reached out through the dozens of lines-of-power to each man standing on the deck, and using their own magic, he encased each one inside a barrier, then rapidly reduced the temperature inside. One after another they froze solid, and their death-pulses swiftly followed. Now that the men were dead, even the slightest swell of sea was enough to send several of them crashing to the deck of the ship. They shattered on impact, sending thousands of shards of frozen flesh scattering across the open deck of the ship.

  Lusam glanced out over the ship’s rail at the remaining Empire ships. Many of them were now heading in their direction, and if he didn’t stop them soon, they would pose a real danger to Neala and the others hiding behind the pinnacle of rock. He turned away from the commander without another word, and levitated off his ship. With a single thought, he rapidly raised the temperature inside the barrier, and incinerated the man without another thought.

  The moment he stepped clear of the ship, missiles began to rain down all around him again. Several hit the ship h
e had just left, saving him the trouble of having to sink it himself. He decided to deal with the stationary ships first, before they had a chance to fix their sails and move. He quickly levitated back towards the line of ships, and noticed that the mobile ships turned to intercept him. It was good to know that he was their target, and not Neala and the others.

  He lined himself up with the stationary ships, and reached out with his magic into the sea below him. He formed the image of what he intended to do in his mind, and released a massive amount of power. A long jagged shard of ice erupted from the ocean’s surface, and grew rapidly towards the helpless ships. It tore clean through the hull of the first ship, severing it clean in half, and continued towards the next. One after another it cleaved the immobile ships in two, scattering their crews, or killing them on contact. Twelve ships were torn apart, and hundreds of Empire magi were thrown into the sea, or dragged down to their deaths by the sinking wreckage.

  He then released another massive pulse of magic into the water, freezing the ocean’s surface. He sent out tendrils of power on the leading edge of the ice to drain any mage it came in contact with, and used that extra power to extend the growing ice field. Hundreds of death-pulses filled the air, as he walked across the frozen surface of the sea towards the few remaining ships.

  One ship had turned directly towards him, and it looked like it intended to ram the ice he was standing on. He raised a hand, and with it, a massive wave enveloped the ship. With a single thought he froze the water in mid-air, and added more from each side of the ship, encasing it in what quickly became a hollow iceberg. He then created a water spout to add more and more ice to the top of the hollow iceberg, forcing it to sink deeper and deeper into the ocean. Both men and ship were forced below the waves, and over a hundred death-pulses were felt by all.

  Less than twenty minutes later, every ship had been destroyed, and every enemy mage killed. A sudden eerie silence fell over the wide natural bay of Bruecia. Only the relaxing sounds of the waves gently lapping against the shoreline could be heard. The sudden serenity belied what had just taken place there, as was evident by the countless bodies and flotsam now littering the surface of the flat calm ocean. He hung his head in shame at the death and destruction he’d just caused. How could the life of one woman be worth the lives of so many, even if it was his mother? How many families had he just torn apart by his actions? How many loved ones would not see their husbands or fathers return tonight?