Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (16 page)

“So, what do you think they’ll do then?” Alexia asked nervously.

“I’m not sure, really. Their biggest concern has to be you and your arrows. So their main priority has to be depleting your stock of arrows. They’ve been taking all the arrows they can each time you’ve killed one of them. I think it’s safe to assume that even though they don’t know how many arrows you have left, they’ll know that you don’t have enough left to kill them all…” Renn said, trailing off into deeper thought.

“The way I see it, it’s going to be a fine balance between resources, information, and misinformation,” Renn added a moment later.

“What do you mean?” Alexia asked, confused.

“Well, we don’t want them to know we’re alone here, or how many shots you have left, right?”

“Right, but how can we achieve that? If they see us, they’ll know Lusam isn’t with us,” Alexia replied.

“Then we don’t let them see us. Well, not at first anyway. I think we should hide behind one of these pillars, stay completely hidden, and wait for them to come to us.”

“That sounds dangerous to me. What if they surprise us and we end up having to fight all ten of them at close quarters? We wouldn’t stand a chance!” Alexia said, concerned at his plan.

“I doubt they
could
surprise us. We’ll definitely know when they’re approaching,” Renn said, tapping the blade of his sword with his finger. “Let me ask you a question. If you were their commander, and you came across this stone gateway—one that you couldn’t possibly see what was waiting for you on the other side—what would you do?”

Alexia thought about it for a moment, then smiled at Renn.

“I would send one of my undead-agents through the gap to see if it was a trap,” she said confidently.

“Exactly! And if we’re a few paces from the stone archway when we kill it, they won’t know how it died, or who killed it,” Renn said smiling back at her.

Alexia’s eyes went wide, as she said excitedly, “Wait a minute!” She then ran along the ridge above the path for a short distance and peered over the edge. She expected to be able to see the path, but instead found that it was obscured by the man-made wall. The wall had been purposely built at a slight angle to overhang the path, making it impossible to attack anyone from above. ‘
It doesn’t make any sense! Why would people capable of constructing such an incredible temple overlook the simple advantage of being able to attack potential invaders from above?
’ Alexia thought to herself. She knew that the giant stone archway had once had some kind of gates in place, because she could see the massive corroded iron brackets still attached to the blocks of stone, where they had once been hung. The gates had long since decayed to dust, or possibly been blown over the edge of the mountain by some huge storm, but evidence remained of their past existence nonetheless.

“Is there a problem?” Renn asked from the side of her. She hadn’t even noticed him approach, and that was the second time today he had managed to sneak up on her without being noticed, something not many people could do. ‘
He’s certainly light on his feet for a big man,
’ she thought to herself.

“Not really. It just doesn’t make sense,” she said out loud, mainly to herself.

“What doesn’t?” Renn asked curiously. Alexia’s attention seemed to snap back to the present momentarily as she glanced at Renn, but then she seemed to drift back off into whatever thoughts she had just been having earlier. Suddenly she gasped, turning in circles, as if looking for something on the floor, but there was nothing nearby.

“Renn, lend me your sword a moment, please,” she said, holding out her hand but still scanning the floor all around her feet. Renn looked at her strangely for a moment, but couldn’t see any reason not to give her his sword, so he removed it from his scabbard and handed it to her. She took it without a word, then started pacing the top of the wall, all the time seemingly looking at her own feet. Renn was about to ask her what she was doing, but she spoke first.

“Is the metal of your sword toughened by magic?” she asked, still looking at her own feet.

“It is, but what do you intend to do with it?” Renn asked, starting to become concerned for the welfare of his trusty weapon. Alexia didn’t answer him, instead she jabbed the tip of his sword into the centre of the flagstone she was standing on, then moved on to the next, and did it again. Clang… Clang… Clang… Thud!

“I knew it!” Alexia exclaimed, dropping to her knees. She removed one of her daggers and started to dig around the flagstone that she had hit last. From where Renn stood it looked the same as all the others, but he too heard the different sound it made when his sword struck it. Less than a minute later Alexia had prised up the flagstone to reveal a murder-hole beneath. It was relatively small, maybe only two hand-widths square, but it gave her a perfect view of the path below. Renn boomed out a laugh behind her, startling her so much that she was glad she had been kneeling down, and not standing near the edge of the wall.

“Well done, lass! I’d say that might have just tipped the balance in our favour. How did you know that would be there?” Renn said, offering her a hand up.

“I didn’t know for sure, but nothing else would have made sense if it hadn’t been there. I expect there are at least several more along this edge too,” she said, pointing along the line she had just been walking. “At first I thought I might be able to see the path below from the edge of that wall. It would have been a good spot to shoot from, but the wall next to the path has been built at a slight angle, so from above you can’t see the path at all. I noticed earlier, when we first arrived, that the stone arch used to have a substantial gate attached to it. Then I started thinking—if the stone arch and its gate was a defensive measure, why would you intentionally block any chance to attack a potential enemy below, especially if they were trying to storm your gate?

“The only thing that made sense were these murder-holes. They would have been far more effective than standing on the edge of the wall, out in the open. Imagine trying to storm that gate with arrows or burning oil raining down on you from above. In fact, I’m sure you remember just how steep that last section of path was? Imagine what would happen if it suddenly became slick with oil. I wouldn’t be surprised if their enemies simply slid off the edge of the mountainside to their deaths, without so much as a shot being fired.” Alexia said, chuckling at the imagined image of a line of Empire agents sliding down the steep path and vanishing over the edge of the mountain at the bottom.

“You might just be right there, lass,” Renn agreed, clasping her shoulder and smiling. Renn began to say something else, but was suddenly interrupted by the ground shaking beneath their feet. He pulled Alexia away from the edge of the wall, just in case it collapsed beneath them. Even on the flat surface of the immense courtyard they struggled to remain standing. Renn watched as giant chunks of masonry fell from the façade of Coldmont, crashing onto the huge steps below. Dust bellowed out through the damaged half-open dome on the roof, and sections of gigantic stone pillars rolled around the courtyard like a child’s toy. The tremors only lasted for a few seconds, but it felt like minutes passed before the ground grew still once more beneath their feet.

“Do you think they’re alright in there?” Alexia said nodding towards Coldmont.

“I hope so. I would have felt it if Lusam had died, but that doesn’t mean they might not be injured, or even worse in Neala’s case, I’m afraid. Unfortunately we have a job to do here. We’ll have to just hope and pray that they will be okay in there,” Renn replied, just as a second, much less powerful tremor was felt beneath their feet.

“Maybe praying isn’t such a bad idea after all,” Alexia said, still looking at Coldmont in the distance.

“It rarely is, lass…
it rarely is
,” Renn replied stoically.

Renn estimated it had been the best part of two hours since they had watched Lusam and Alexia enter Coldmont—and still they waited—with no sign of them, or the Empire agents. Alexia had started to show signs of worry after the first hour, but Renn had reassured her that all would be well, and they were probably having to search the huge building room-by-room. It seemed to pacify her for a while, but he had to admit even
he
was beginning to get worried for Lusam and Neala’s well-being now.

Renn and Alexia had discussed at length their plans for the coming battle. They had decided that they would strike fast, then fall back to Coldmont. Alexia had managed to uncover several more murder-holes, giving her an almost unrestricted view of the entire path below. One of their biggest concerns was the sheer size of Coldmont’s courtyard. Even running at full speed it would take too long to cross if they were being shot at by the Empire agents. Without Lusam’s magical shield, they would be relying totally on Renn’s shield for protection against any incoming missiles. Against one or two agents it wouldn’t have been much of a problem for Renn, but against five—and a further five undead-agents—probably meant that neither of them would likely make it across the huge courtyard alive. So the plan was to try kill at least one of the Empire agents through the murder-holes. Then while the Empire agents were in disarray, Renn and Alexia would cross the courtyard as quickly as possible—hopefully without being seen—and re-establish a defensible position inside Coldmont itself.

Thirty minutes later Renn’s sword and Alexia’s bow began to glow with a soft blue light. Renn nodded to Alexia, then took his place behind the huge stone pillar of the ruined arch. Alexia stood above the furthest murder-hole, making sure she didn’t move and attract any unwanted attention from below. Then they waited. Time seemed to slow to almost a standstill. No movement could be seen below, or sound heard in the still air. Alexia realised she had no idea just how far away her blessed bow would detect the undead, and knew it was too late to ask Renn about it now. So there she stood, arrow nocked and bow half-drawn, waiting for whichever Empire agent was unlucky enough to walk through her sights.

Moments later she had her first glimpse of an Empire agent below and almost loosed her arrow at him. It was only through sheer luck that she noticed the blood stain in the centre of its chest, signifying it to be one of the undead-agents. Panic flooded through her, as she realised for the first time that she would be unable to tell the difference between the undead-agents and the living ones she needed to kill. She looked towards Renn and saw that he was watching her. She signalled to Renn the approach of an undead-agent, and he nodded his understanding. Thinking fast on her feet, she realised it would be unlikely that any other Empire agent—undead or living—would approach the arch until they knew the fate of this one first. She quickly stepped back away from the murder-hole and ran towards Renn.

Renn noticed her sudden rapid approach and immediately suspected she was coming to warn him of some unforeseen danger they had overlooked. He half-expected the entire Empire force to emerge from behind the ruined stone arch at any moment. But halfway to his position, he noticed Alexia holding up a hand, signalling all was still well. Confused, he waited for her to arrive and explain what was going on.

“Renn, we have a problem. I can’t tell which agents are alive and which are undead. I almost shot the one coming up the path, but luckily I saw the bloodstain on its chest just in time. What are we going to do?” Alexia said in a whisper, sounding very concerned.

“Go back to your murder-hole and watch for any more coming up the path. After I kill this one, I’ll come and join you there. If I tap your shoulder, you’ll know to shoot the agent,” Renn replied calmly. Alexia nodded her understanding, then ran back to her murder-hole, glancing through all the others as she passed them, just in case any more agents were on their way up the path—she saw nothing.

Back at her murder-hole she watched intently for any movement below. Even when she saw the flash of Renn’s sword kill the undead-agent, she remained vigilant. She intentionally listened for Renn’s approach, but knew that if she hadn’t been expecting him, it would have been the third time that day he had managed to sneak up on her. She smiled to herself as she realised she knew highly trained thieves with less stealth ability than the big man at her side. She made a mental note to ask him about it later, providing they both survived the next few minutes, of course.

It was another five minutes before they sent the next undead-agent up the path. Renn whispered in Alexia’s ear to hold her fire and let the undead-agent come to them. They waited for another ten minutes, but there was no sign of the undead-agent. Renn had half-expected this tactic after the first undead-agent had been killed.

“I think they have instructed that undead-agent to stand still, out in the open, so they can see it die. Or more precisely
how
it dies. I was hoping they wouldn’t do that,” Renn whispered.

“Why? What difference does it make how it dies?” Alexia whispered back slightly confused.

“Well, they know you probably won’t waste an arrow on it, and I can’t go out there and kill it because they would all fire at me…”