Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book One

by Cadman, Dean

  “I can't just leave her to die! There must be another way. There just has to be,” Lusam almost begged.

  “There is. We can cut through the forest and intercept them before they reach Stelgad. We can gather and hunt food as we go, get water from the streams, and remain well away from the roads and out of the reach of agents. It will be hard going, and the pace we must set will be swift if we are to beat them to Stelgad, but we can do if we leave right now.” Lusam thought about his options, or lack thereof, and decided he must trust this paladin of Aysha, with both his and Neala's life. He nodded his agreement to Renn, and they both set off quickly in the direction of the forest and Stelgad beyond.

  Chapter Eleven

  Skelly had no idea who the strange man in the black robes had been, or how the boy had managed to thwart his throwing knife as he did. If he didn't know better, Skelly would have sworn the boy's wound had healed itself, by the way he seemed to move without the encumbrance of pain when he stood up and moved towards him.

  Too many strange and unexplained events to risk getting involved in someone else's fight, Skelly thought. He'd also experienced a strange feeling in his mind as he looked at the man in the black robes, as if he was crawling through his head, looking for something.

  Skelly wasn't often afraid of anything, least of all an unarmed boy and a strange looking man in a robe with no apparent weapons. This time however, his instincts screamed at him to get out of there, fast. If there was one thing in this life he was sure of, it was to trust his instincts. They had saved his hide more times than he cared to mention. And he wasn't about to start ignoring them now.

  Carrying the unconscious girl over his shoulder, he quickly made his way back to the horses. Carter had been a good fighter, but he wouldn't be hard to replace by the guild, so he wouldn't be missed much either. One advantage of his demise was that Skelly now had a spare horse to carry the girl, instead of having to double up on one horse. It would certainly make for a faster and more comfortable trip back to Stelgad, and that alone was worth losing Carter for, Skelly thought, allowing himself a wry smile. Reaching the abandoned warehouse where they had left the horses and supplies, it didn't take him long to saddle them and prepare to leave Helveel. He lay, the still unconscious girl across the saddle, and fastened her on securely with a rope so she wouldn't fall off, or try to escape when she woke up. He removed a bottle of whisky from one of the saddlebags and poured some onto the girl's face and hair, then took a swig for himself, before returning the bottle to the saddlebag. He knew the poison would probably render her unconscious for another couple of hours at least. He did have an antidote with him, but decided it would be easier to leave town with her in this condition, rather than her screaming or trying to fight him from the saddle of her horse.

  When they reached the town gates two guards saw their approach and stepped out to stop them in their tracks.

  “Halt!” one of the guards said loudly, holding up his hand.

  Stopping several paces away, Skelly replied, “Good afternoon gentlemen. How may I be of service?”

  “What's the meaning of this? What business do you have with that girl there?” the other guard asked, nodding towards the girl tied onto the saddle face down.

  “Oh, don't worry about her gentlemen. She's just my wayward niece. She came to the carnival to have a good time, but I'm afraid her and her friends had a little too much of a good time this afternoon. I caught her with an almost empty bottle of whisky, slumped in the corner of the town square. I didn't want her causing you good fellows any trouble, so I decided to take her home for her father to deal with her—when she finally wakes up, that is. Although, I think her headache will be punishment enough,” Skelly replied laughing loudly.

  The first guard approached the girl and lifted her head with a suspicious look on his face. He leant close to her mouth and sniffed, pulling back swiftly at the stench of alcohol radiating from her. He turned to his comrade in arms and nodded. The second guard briefly looked back at Skelly, before waving him on through the gates.

  “Make sure she doesn't make a habit of it in the future,” he said, as they past through the gates.

  “Oh, I can absolutely guarantee she won't give you any trouble in the future gentlemen,” Skelly replied, grinning at the guard, then looking at the girl tied to the saddle.

  It was almost three hours later, when they were well out of sight of Helveel, that Neala began to stir. Her head spun, and her vision was blurry. Her ribs were on fire, and it was hard to catch her breath as she was being jolted continuously. When Neala could finally focus her vision, she recognised that she was looking at the ground as it continuously flashed by at a constant speed. She could see the legs of a horse. A horse she was riding. No. Not riding. Trying hard to get her mind to work, and thinking through the haze that was clouding her thoughts, she realised she was somehow tied to the horse.

  Neala remained silent for several minutes, trying to make sense of her situation. She could see the man she had fought in front of her on another horse, but she wasn't sure if anyone was following behind without turning her head to see. But that would let anyone who might be there know she was awake, and that would negate her small advantage. She listened carefully for the sound of hooves behind her, but heard none. She needed to know what she was up against, so she decided to turn her head and look to be sure. As she suspected, it was just her and this one man. Returning to her original position, she closed her eyes again and tried to think of a way out of the situation she now found herself in.

  It was about another hour before the horses stopped and she heard the man dismount, then start walking towards her. Still feigning unconsciousness, she lay motionless and waited.

  “There's no point pretending to be asleep still. I know you're not. The poison I gave you doesn't last that long,” he said, circling her horse and coming to stand in front of her face. Neala remained silent and didn't move. “You have two choices: you can ignore me and stay tied to that saddle until we reach Stelgad, or you can talk to me and ride upright. Your choice. It doesn't bother me either way,” the man said, waiting for an answer. Neala knew she couldn't remain here much longer without doing some serious damage to herself, so she relented and answered the man.

  “Who are you? And what do you want with me?” she spat at him. The man laughed at her, then slapped her hard across the face, making her wince, and her eyes water.

  “Who I am, is the person taking you back to Stelgad to face justice for your crimes. The only thing I want from you is a little respect, and some peace and quiet during the trip back. Now … here's how this will work. If you co-operate, I'll secure you in an upright position, instead of how you are now. I'm sure it would be much more comfortable for you.

  “Unfortunately, I have strict instructions to deliver you to Stelgad alive. That doesn't mean I can't cut you up plenty on the way there though. If you try to escape, I'll make sure walking is not an option for you, ever again. If you give me any other kind of trouble, I'll simply put you back to sleep until we reach Stelgad. Do you understand my terms?”

  Neala already knew she couldn't stay tied to the saddle as she was now, or she would be in very bad shape before the day was done, let alone all the way back to Stelgad. Reluctantly she decided to agree with him.

  “Yes, I understand,” she hissed at him. The man slapped her again, this time harder. Her ears rang with the impact, and she saw stars in her vision. She gasped at the sudden pain, but tried hard not to cry out.

  “I said I required your respect. Your answer didn't sound very respectful to me. Try again,” he said calmly, standing close to her down turned face.

  “Yes, I understand,” Neala replied again, trying to sound as genuine as possible this time.

  “Good. Much better,” the man said, as he cut the rope that connected her hands and feet under the horse. Neala wasn't ready for her sudden release, and found herself crashing to the floor, where she sat winded trying to catch her breath. The man bent down
and lifted Neala easily off the floor by her arm, and back onto her feet.

  “What's your name girl?” the man asked, still holding on to her arm. Neala couldn't see any advantage in not telling him her name. She doubted he would have heard of her before anyway.

  “Neala … my name's Neala. What's yours?” As soon as she asked his name, she regretted doing so, fully expecting another painful reminder not to ask questions. The man laughed out loud at her, before replying, “You can call me Skelly,” he replied casually. Skelly then bent down and untied the rope from around one of her ankles: so her feet were no longer tied together. Neala probably would have tried to kick him in the face and flee at that point, but the name he'd just given her, made her think twice. She'd heard the name “Skelly” many times before in Stelgad. And what she knew of that name, made her quickly reassess her situation. If this was the same Skelly as the one she'd heard of, she was in even bigger trouble than she thought. His reputation as a cold-hearted killer, unequalled with a blade did nothing to put her at ease. She had no doubt he would carry out his threats if she gave him even the slightest cause to do so.

  Her mind turned to Lusam at that point. Instantly, she felt guilty of not thinking of him sooner. She needed to find out what had happened to him, but she knew questioning Skelly directly, would likely earn her only more pain. She decided to try and use a different tactic instead.

  Smiling at him, she replied, “Pleased to meet you Skelly.” He looked at her with cold blue eyes, trying to spot any sarcasm in her face, but saw none. Neala could see the unasked question on his face, and decided to be bold enough to answer it for him. “I figured if we'll be travelling together for more than a week, we might as well be civilised with each other,” she said, still smiling. He looked at her for a moment longer, then just nodded his agreement. “Get back on your horse, we have a long way to travel today,” he said, taking hold of the horses reigns. She did as he asked, and he retied her feet under the belly of her horse, and her hands to the saddle.

  “May I ask you something before we set off please,” Neala asked hopefully.

  “You can ask,” he replied, tying Neala's horse to his saddle.

  “Did you kill the boy I was with?” she asked, trying not to choke on the words. Skelly turned in his saddle to look at her, obviously contemplating whether to answer her question or not.

  “No, I didn't kill him. The knife that my associate put in his belly probably did though. The last I saw of him, he was having problems of his own with some guy in black robes. Neither your boyfriend or the man in robes are any of my concern, so I have no idea what became of either of them.” He turned his back to Neala and kicked his horse into movement without another word. It was a good job Neala's hands were tied to the saddle as her horse jolted into motion, or she would have found herself on the ground again.

  Her mind was reeling at the information Skelly had just shared with her. She didn't think he would lie to her about not killing Lusam. That wasn't his style, she thought. She knew nothing about the man in black robes, other than he had tried to pursue them in Helveel. She knew some of what Lusam was capable of with his magic, and felt confident he would have protected himself against the man in the black robes. She thought about the knife in his belly, and knew he was capable of healing that injury too, given enough time. That was the problem, had Lusam had enough time to heal himself before confronting the man in black robes? She just had no way to know. For the rest of the afternoon she remained silent, constantly playing out the possibilities in her mind over and over. She knew if Lusam was still alive, he would be coming to try and save her. All she could do now was wait and hope he would come.

  As they approached a fork in the road, Neala became aware of two men stood in the road blocking their path. Neala took a sharp intake of breath, as she noticed them both wearing black robes, identical to the man's in Helveel. Skelly didn't slow the horses as he approached the men, but Neala noticed him visibly tense up when the two men made eye contact with him. Shortly afterwards, they focused their attention on Neala, and she too involuntarily tensed up, as she felt a strange sensation wash over her. It was like thousands of ants crawling around in her head, then it stopped just as suddenly as it had started. The two men moved to the side of the road, and let them pass unchallenged.

  It was at least a mile further down the road before Neala felt confident enough to speak. “You felt that too, right?” she asked.

  “I did,” Skelly replied, without turning his head, or slowing his horse. Neala offered a silent prayer to Aysha that Lusam would survive and find her in time, then resigned herself to her fate if he didn't.

  ****

  Acknowledgements

  When I began writing Lusam it was my intention to write an easy-to-read fantasy series of books. One that could be read by anyone, whether they were new to the fantasy genre, or die-hard fans such as myself. I intentionally avoided setting out too much of the world in this first book, keeping the knowledge of the reader in line with that of Lusam`s limited understanding of his own world. As his horizons broaden, so will the fullness and complexities of his world be revealed to you, the reader.

  It is my sincere hope that you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you will join Lusam and Neala again as their quest continues in the Dragon-Mage Wars series, Book two.

  I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who offered me support and encouragement during the long days, and weeks writing this series of books. I would especially like to thank my wife, without whom I`m sure this project would never have seen the light of day, and my two boys Luke and Sam, who were obviously my inspiration for the main character Lusam.

  I would also be delighted to hear your thoughts and comments regarding Lusam and Neala`s adventures, what you liked, and even what you didn't like, as you, the reader are the most important person to any authour.

  Please email me if you wish to be added to my mailing list. You will receive updates on forthcoming books and release dates, plus much more.

  deancadmanauthour@hotmail.com