Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Four

by Dean Cadman

  “What’s the plan, lad?” Renn asked, taking his mind off the other two paladins. Lusam stood up and immediately sent another barrage of attack towards the Netherworld creatures.

  Lusam slowly shook his head, studying the creatures beyond their circle. “I’m not sure. All I can do for now is keep them away from the blessed weapons. At least until I think of something more permanent. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but those heavily armoured creatures are actively defending the Vesdari. Each time I blast them away from the circle, they reform around all of the Vesdari to protect them before returning to the blessed weapons. The Vesdari are using them as a conduit to drain the blessed weapons from a safe distance. I’ve already tried to close The Rift, but I can’t while those Vesdari are still feeding power back into it… the power! Of course. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

  “Think of what, lad?” Renn asked confused, but it was already too late. Lusam shot into the air, and headed directly towards The Rift. Neala desperately called after him, but he never heard her words over the howls and screams of the awaiting Netherworld creatures.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  It was only a theory, but at the moment it was all Lusam had to go on. He levitated himself directly above the Netherworld creatures, and dropped a series of painful electrified missiles into their ranks. The creatures howled in pain, and several sprang into the air to try and attack him. One brushed his magical barrier with its sharp claws, draining a small amount of power from his reserves for the Vesdari below. Lusam increased his altitude slightly, and watched as the creatures turned their attention back to the blessed weapons. He could clearly see how the creatures were magically connected to one another, and ultimately to the Vesdari they served.

  He could see the four individual lines-of-power delivering the magic to The Rift from the Vesdari below. He reached towards them, and created one of his own. He then used it to create a bridge between two of the Vesdari’s power lines, before severing their connection to The Rift. He’d half-expected the Vesdari to reform a new conduit into The Rift, but they didn’t even appear to notice what he had done. Instead, the magic intended for The Rift, was channelled directly into the second Vesdari. Lusam quickly created another two power lines and linked two more Vesdari into the chain, before severing their connection to The Rift. Now each Vesdari was feeding their magic to the next, with only one still connected directly to The Rift.

  Lusam smiled to himself, as he watched the blissfully unaware Netherworld creatures continue to drain the blessed weapons below. He levitated himself back towards the centre of the circle, and landed gently next to Hershel.

  “Hershel, I have an idea how we can kill those Vesdari, and probably most of the other creatures too. But it will require sacrificing a few of your blessed weapons,” Lusam said, looking at the pitifully small pile of spare blessed weapons.

  “How many would you need?” Hershel asked, also looking at the few remaining weapons. Lusam had no idea how many he would need. All he knew was that it had taken the complete destruction of Renn’s blessed shield, most of his own power reserves, and whatever the Vesdari had taken from Renn’s blessed sword to kill the one which had attacked them before. This time there were four of them, and hundreds of the other creatures too. He also remembered the amount of damage just a single Vesdari had caused when it exploded, and couldn’t even begin to imagine what the resulting devastation of four would look like.

  “Probably eight, but maybe more,” Lusam said, sending a powerful blast towards the creatures again, scattering them throughout the treeline.

  “Eight!” Hershel exclaimed, looking at the few remaining weapons. “How certain are you that whatever you are planning will work?”

  Lusam shook his head. “I’m not. But if we do nothing we’ll eventually lose this battle regardless. I could keep blasting them away from the blessed weapons, but eventually I’ll simply run out of magic. Not to mention more and more of them will keep coming through The Rift. Sooner or later, they will win.”

  Again he sent another blast of magic at the creatures, scattering them amongst the trees. Howls and hisses or anger filled the surrounding forest, as the creatures regained their feet and reformed up their ranks once more. Hershel nodded slowly, looking out towards the advancing creatures.

  “Alright, take whatever you think you might need. And may Aysha bless us all with a little luck this day,” Hershel said.

  Lusam nodded his thanks. “I’ll try to take them a long way into the forest, so use the time wisely to regroup while you have the chance.”

  “Finally, I might be able to retrieve my arrows,” Alexia said.

  “Why, where are they?” Lusam asked, scanning the surrounding ground.

  “I don’t know. The creatures carried off the corpses of the ones I killed into the forest somewhere.”

  “I didn’t think Netherworld creatures were so intelligent, or that they would work together in that way,” Lusam said, scattering the creatures once more with his magic.

  “They don’t, lad. Or at least they didn’t used to. Whatever Aamon has done to those creatures has altered more than their appearance; it’s also changed their behaviour. I wouldn’t even like to guess what they were capable of doing anymore, but at least these particular ones don’t seem to generate as much artificial fear as regular Netherworld creatures do,” Renn said, looking out towards the creatures.

  “Yes, thankfully,” Hershel agreed.

  Neala chuckled. “Shame he didn’t make them any better looking.”

  “Why, you’re not thinking of dating one are you? I’d stick with lover-boy here, his hugs are far better,” Alexia said, winking at her best friend. Neala pouted at her, but didn’t bite.

  “Is it only paladins that can do that, or can anyone?” Lusam asked, quickly changing the subject, and pointing towards the blessed weapons stuck in the ground.

  “No lad, anyone can earth-bind a blessed weapon, but only a paladin can wield one,” Renn replied.

  “That’s good,” Lusam said, checking that his altered lines-of-power were still in place, before sending yet another blast of magic towards the creatures. He quickly collected eight of the blessed weapons into a pile, then levitated them off the ground.

  “How will we know if whatever you’re doing has worked?” Hershel asked.

  “Oh, you’ll know alright,” Lusam replied grinning. “Just be ready to leave if it doesn’t work. Whatever happens, we can’t let them keep draining the blessed weapons like that. All it’s doing is accelerating the opening of The Rift. If I fail to kill them, the best we can do is leave the area for now. So be ready for me to levitate you all out of here, including as many blessed weapons as you can take with you. The fewer we leave behind, the less magic they can gather.”

  “Be careful,” Neala said, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

  He kissed her head, then held her out at arm’s length. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Just be ready to leave if I fail.” She nodded and gave him one last kiss, then he levitated himself and the blessed weapons towards the advancing creatures.

  As soon as he was above them, he dropped another volley of painful missiles into their ranks to gain their attention. The moment they struck their targets, he lowered the shutter around his aura and exposed its full strength to the creatures below.

  The effect was immediate.

  Every Netherworld creatures turned his way, and scrambled frantically to reach him. They climbed on top of each other, and leapt towards his massive show of power. Slowly he began to back away from the paladins, and every Netherworld creature followed him as if it were being led by an invisible rope. He increased his speed, allowing an occasional creature to make brief contact with his shield to keep them interested. As he travelled, he tapped into the surrounding trees and regenerated what he could of his power. He knew that he would need every bit he could muster, if he was to be successful in what he planned to do.

  The howls and screams of
the Netherworld creatures echoed throughout the forest as they chased down their quarry. Several other Netherworld creatures joined the chase, none of which Lusam recognised. He had travelled at least a couple of miles before he started looking for a suitable place to make his stand. The spot he finally chose was one with a small gap in the tree canopy above. He sent a blast of magic towards the pursuing creatures, scattering them backwards through the forest, then landed gently on the ground.

  He strengthened his shield as much as possible, then began to plunge the blessed weapons into the ground in a large arc. The blessed weapons instantly burst into life, emitting an eerie blue glow all around them. He quickly moved forward beyond Aysha’s light so that the creatures would encounter his own barrier first, then knelt down on one knee and waited. The advancing Netherworld creatures howled and screamed with anticipation when they saw him waiting there, and crashed into his barrier with a sickening crunch.

  Lusam instantly felt the massive power drain on his reserves, and was glad he had chosen to kneel down. The creatures frantically tore at his barrier with their razor-sharp claws, desperate to reach him inside. He located the final Vesdari which still had a link to the Netherworld, and connected it to one of the others. Then he severed its link to The Rift, creating a closed circuit of power between the four Vesdari.

  Now they had nowhere to vent their magic, only to each other.

  He placed his hand flat to the ground, and reached out all around him for any magic that he could take. He knew the trees could never survive the resulting explosion, so he tapped into their magic and pulled it into himself to feed the Vesdari’s insatiable appetite for power. Further and further he reached out for power. Trees and plants died in their hundreds, and he still sought more. Once he had reached the absolute limit of his range, he allowed the Vesdari to continue draining his power. He knew that he needed to retain enough magic to escape the area, and also levitate the paladins to safety should his plan fail.

  Once Lusam had reached what he judged to be a safe limit, he retreated behind the safety of Aysha’s light. His head spun and he felt dizzy with the sudden loss of so much power, but he gathered his thoughts and prepared for his next move. The Netherworld creatures had switched seamlessly from feeding on his power, to that of the blessed weapons. He checked one last time that the Vesdari hadn’t discovered his ruse and created a fresh connection to the Netherworld, but they appeared to be completely oblivious to what he had done to them. He smiled to himself as he levitated himself into the air above the creatures, all the time watching the lines-of-power between the Vesdari grow in size and power.

  The moment the lines-of-power began to pulsate Lusam knew it was time to leave the area. The Vesdari desperately tried to rid themselves of their excess power. They forced it along the lines-of-power which connected them together, while the other creatures continued to relentlessly draw power from the blessed weapons. Lusam catapulted himself vertically into the air as fast as he could, leaving the doomed creatures far below.

  A moment later there was a blindingly bright flash below him. The resulting shock wave impacted on his shield with the force of a giant tsunami. It took all he had to keep his shield in place and himself in the air, as he watched in complete awe as the mushroom shaped cloud began rising towards him. The sound of the explosion was so intense that it damaged both of his ears, and he lost all sense of balance. It only took him a few moments to repair the damage, but by the time he had, he was completely enveloped within the rising cloud, making it impossible to see anything beyond his own barrier.

  Lusam manoeuvred himself out of the dust cloud and into the surrounding clearer air. The utter devastation he witnessed below staggered him. Thousands of trees had been blown over in a gigantic circle around the epicentre of the explosion. The ones near the centre were now nothing more than splintered and charred remnants, and no longer resembled trees in any way. Further away from the explosion trees had been flattened to the ground, as if a giant foot had suddenly come down from the heavens and crushed everything beneath it.

  Lusam levitated himself slowly back towards the ground, whilst searching for any signs of movement below. Several of the heavily armoured creatures had somehow managed to survive the explosion, but all were critically injured and wouldn’t survive for long. The body parts of Netherworld creatures littered the area for as far as he could see, and smouldered slowly in the afternoon sun. Lusam scanned the entire area for any signs of the Vesdari, but not even their corpses had survived the massive explosion. It was evident that their much weaker armour had been little defence against what had just occurred.

  The destruction of the trees and plants greatly saddened Lusam, but he knew it had been necessary. If he allowed The Rift to be fully reopened and the Netherworld creatures unrestricted access to their world, it wouldn’t only be the trees which would pay the price—everything would die.

  He levitated himself off the ground once more, and headed towards the edge of the devastated area. He needed to replenish some of his power reserves, and the undamaged trees were his only immediate option. He skirted the edge of the area taking what magic he could from the standing trees without killing them, and all of the remaining magic from the fallen ones at the edge of the blast area. It was a pitiful amount compared to what he had already used, but it was better than nothing, and he was soon on his way back towards The Rift.

  As he approached The Rift clearing he was relieved to see that no one appeared to have been injured by the explosion. Several branches had been torn from the nearby trees, and a fresh carpet of leaves now littered the ground, but everything else seemed to have been unaffected. The paladins had taken the opportunity to reposition themselves much closer to The Rift, taking back the ground they had recently lost.

  As he came closer, he saw Alexia kill a newly emerged Netherworld creature with her bow. As soon as the arrow struck the creature, two paladins began moving forward towards the corpse. They moved swiftly, earth-binding one weapon in front of another until they reached the dead creature. After removing the blessed arrow, they quickly made their way back towards the newly formed perimeter. Lusam checked The Rift with his mage-sight, and was relieved to see there were no longer any lines-of-power feeding magic back into the Netherworld. It seemed that the explosion had indeed killed all of the Vesdari, and whatever creatures remained in the forest, were no longer able to feed power directly back to the Netherworld. At least for now.

  One of the paladins noticed Lusam’s approach and alerted the others, causing a loud cheer to ripple through their ranks as he came into land gently amongst them. Neala was the first to greet him with her usual enthusiastic hug, so Hershel and others had to wait until she was done before asking how things had gone.

  “Yes?” Hershel asked expectantly. Lusam smiled and nodded, causing the paladins to go wild all around him, cheering and whooping as if the entire battle had already been won.

  “Great job, lad,” Renn said, clapping him on the shoulder.

  “I wouldn’t celebrate too quickly, I still have to close that Rift. And the problem is, I’ve already used most of my magic killing those Vesdari,” Lusam said quietly. He turned to face Hershel and continued. “If you and your paladins will allow me, I need to take some magic from each of you. It won’t harm you in any way, and whatever I take will naturally regenerate over the next day or two. I still don’t know if it will be enough, but it’s the best chance we have right now.”

  Hershel nodded, and immediately ordered his paladins to form a line. Everyone except Alexia—who remained to despatch any emerging Netherworld creatures—formed a line around the inside of their perimeter. He explained to everyone what Lusam intended to do, then gave them all a chance to opt out if they preferred—but no one did. There were, however, a few nervous looking faces amongst the paladins, and that fact didn’t seem to escape Hershel’s attention.

  “I’ll go first,” Hershel said, stepping forward. Lusam scanned the gathered paladins, and although man
y of the veterans, and some of the recruits had aura’s stronger than an average person, they were still far from being a mage of any kind. Lusam smiled and placed his hand on Hershel’s arm.

  “Thank you, Hershel,” he said. It only took him a heartbeat to locate his reserves of power, and add most of it to his own.

  “So how do we do this?” Hershel asked, trying not to sound nervous in front of his paladins.

  Lusam’s smile grew wider. “It’s already done,” he replied, taking a step back.

  Hershel’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Oh…”

  Lusam moved to the first paladin in the line, and was greeted warmly by Morgan.

  “Thanks for what you did earlier,” Morgan said, grinning at him.

  Lusam nodded and smiled. “You’re very welcome,” he said, reaching out to touch Morgan’s arm. The moment Lusam made contact with him and began taking his magic, he screamed and fell to the floor, spasming uncontrollably at his feet. The other paladins gasped loudly, and began looking at Lusam as if he were one of the Netherworld creatures about to shred them to pieces. Lusam couldn’t understand what could possibly cause such a reaction. He’d already taken power from many people, and none had shown any signs of harm whatsoever. His face flushed bright red under the accusatory stares of the gathered paladins, and he fell to his knees to try and help Morgan.

  Hershel grabbed Lusam shoulder before he could begin examining Morgan, and when Lusam looked up, he saw Hershel shaking his head. Lusam had no idea what was going on, until Hershel spoke.

  “Morgan, get up!” Hershel said, but he didn’t respond, still occasionally twitching on the ground. “Get up now, or I’ll have you on latrine duty for the next two years!” Morgan sprang to his feet, and stood to attention wearing a huge grin on his face. Lusam’s jaw went slack, as he looked up from his kneeling position at a perfectly healthy Morgan towering above him. The gathered paladins roared with laughter, and even Hershel found it hard to keep a straight face.