Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (20 page)

“Oh, thank the Gods!” Neala said, equally relieved at seeing them both unharmed. “But now what are we to do? We’re trapped in here.”

Lusam laughed, and gave her hand a little squeeze. “I don’t think we need to worry about those Empire agents any more,” he said grinning at her. “Just stay behind the walls when I go outside, I won’t be long.”

“You’re going outside alone?” Neala asked in a shrill voice, fearful for his safety.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I learnt some interesting things from that second Guardian book,” Lusam replied winking at her. Neala look at him sceptically, but held her tongue.

“About time! We’ve been worried about you both. Where’ve you been, lad?” Renn said, still trying to see the agents outside Coldmont through the reflection in his shield.

“It’s a long story, but first let me deal with these Empire agents,” Lusam replied, as four magical-missiles struck his shield, barely registering in his mind. “Everyone stay inside, please. I won’t be long.”

As Lusam walked towards the giant crack in the front wall, he noticed for the first time the strong magic that ran through its construction. It seemed to share the same type of magical protection as the walls in the basement, and now he could clearly see the pulses of energy flowing throughout it. His attention drifted to the dead Empire agent on the ground—directly in front of the opening. Something about the dead Empire agent being inside Coldmont bothered Lusam deeply. It was almost as if his presence somehow sullied the sanctity of Coldmont. He noticed the Necromatic ring on the dead agent’s finger, and remembered what Renn had told him earlier about the rings:
nobody in Afaraon really knew how they worked, and most of their spies were caught and killed, all because they wore easily recognisable fake rings
. With the knowledge he’d just gained from the second Guardian book, Lusam thought he had a good idea how the rings worked. He felt confident that if he had time to study the enchantments on one of the rings, he
could
work out how they had been created. He decided to remove the ring from the dead agent’s finger and keep it for later, when he had more time to study its enchantments. He ignored the increased number of missiles striking his shield as he removed the ring in full view of the agents outside Coldmont. Once he had the ring safely in his pocket, he levitated the dead Empire agent off the floor and walked through the giant crack with the corpse in tow. The missiles that now struck his force-field felt like nothing more than pin-pricks in comparison to the hammer blows that he’d felt before reading the second Guardian book.

Lusam walked casually to the top of the giant stone staircase and looked down to the agents below. He could see four living and four undead agents. The undead agents began moving towards him as one, but he simply encased them all in a single force-field, then levitated them into the air. He added the dead Empire agent from inside Coldmont to the others within the force-field, then contemplated what to do with them all. He remembered Renn’s earlier words: ‘
Necromancy is a vile and dark magic—an affront to Aysha and all that she represents
.’ Having seen it for himself, he tended to agree wholeheartedly. Without a second thought, he rapidly increased the temperature within the force-field holding the five undead agents, incinerating them instantly. A few seconds later when he released his force-field, only ash remained, and being so high up in the mountains, the strong winds had no trouble at all carrying it away.

Two of the Empire agents stopped attacking and retreated behind one of the huge stone dragons, but the other two continued to move towards Lusam, firing at him with everything they had. Lusam knew that they no longer posed a threat to him, but they
did
do something that had always annoyed him greatly—they cast the silence spell on him. ‘
It’s the first time any of them have bothered doing that for a long time
,’ he thought to himself. He knew that killing the Empire agents would free him of their spell, but he suddenly realised he didn’t need to do that. He now knew exactly how to counteract the spell—the book in Coldmont had given him the knowledge to break their spell.

Lusam smiled at the two agents approaching him, making them pause mid-stride. “I’m afraid that particular spell no longer works,” he said, enclosing them both within another forcefield. “I hope you both know how to fly,” Lusam said, tilting his head to the side and smiling openly at the look of sheer terror on their faces. Lusam used a simple push spell on the force-field holding the agents, but instead of pushing gently, he put a huge amount of force behind his push. The force-field containing the two Empire agents shot away from Coldmont like an arrow, and once it was beyond the courtyard, he released his force-field, allowing them to fall to the valley floor below. He knew they were dead the instant his force-field moved—he didn’t think anyone could survive the sudden increase in speed—the twin death-pulses he felt confirmed it.

Lusam glanced towards the two remaining agents, still cowering behind the large dragon statue. For a moment he considered killing them both, but decided against it—they had chosen to stop attacking him—he could think of no good reason to kill them other than revenge, and that, somehow, felt wrong to Lusam.

“It’s over—I suggest you go home,” Lusam said, loud enough for the remaining two agents to hear him, but he heard no reply. Lusam turned around, and headed back inside Coldmont. He was met by three astonished faces as he walked through the giant crack in the wall.

“What?” Lusam asked innocently.

“Are you kidding me! That was incredible!” Neala said, throwing her arms around him and giving him a big hug.

“Yeah, none too shabby, lover-boy,” Alexia said grinning.

Lusam waited for Renn to say something, but he remained silent, simply shaking his head. Lusam grinned at him and was about to try and say something witty, when Renn interrupted him.

“That
was
very impressive, lad, but don’t you even dare think you’re getting out of going to the High Temple with me to complete your training,” he said in a serious voice.

“The thought never crossed my mind,” Lusam lied.

“Glad to hear it,” Renn said, dragging him into a bear hug and slapping him on the back. “Well done, lad. Seeing that alone was almost worth the climb up this mountain. But now, I guess we have to climb all the way back down again,” Renn said laughing.

“Actually no, we don’t,” Lusam replied with a smug grin. Renn raised an enquiring eyebrow. “Some things that I absorbed from the book are still a bit fuzzy in my mind, but I’m pretty sure we can all get out of here much quicker and easier than we arrived,” Lusam said cryptically.

“But what about those two agents out there?” Alexia said, peering through the crack at the two remaining agents. “If we leave them alive, won’t they just follow us?”

“I was just thinking the same thing. And what about the book—if they were to read it, wouldn’t they become more powerful too? I know we can’t take the book out of the room, but surely we should stop them from discovering it in the first place,” Neala said, looking a little worried.

“They can’t read it. I’ve no idea how I know that, but I do. If they try to read the book, it will kill them. And as for them following us—they can’t do that either. I’m sorry, I can’t fully explain it at the moment, but trust me, I know I’m right,” Lusam said confidently. All three looked a little sceptical at Lusam’s words, but no one questioned his judgement in the matter.

“So, how do we get out of here then, lad?” Renn asked.

“It’s something I discovered inside the book room. Follow me, I’ll show you,” Lusam replied, turning and heading back towards the basement stairs with Renn, Neala and Alexia following close behind. Lusam created another light orb, and they all descended the dark stone stairs into the basement. As they reached the final few steps to the basement, another small tremor shook the ground beneath their feet. Lusam strengthened his shield, just in case any masonry fell from above, but the tremor stopped as suddenly as it had started.

“Maybe we should hurry,” Alexia said, looking nervously up at the ceiling and the falling dust. Lusam felt confident that most of the building would remain standing for a very long time to come, and would only succumb to the tremors once its magical enchantments failed. But he also couldn’t deny the damage he’d already seen with his own eyes—most noticeably the giant crack that ran through the front wall of Coldmont—so he knew the building must be vulnerable if the tremors were strong enough.

“You’re probably right,” Lusam agreed, maintaining his shield around everyone. They all jogged the entire length of the corridor to the book room, stopping only when they reached the pile of rubble that blocked the doorway.

“Who’s climbing over first?” Neala enquired. “I don’t think it’s safe for all of us to try and climb over at once.”

“Wait, I might have an idea,” Lusam said thoughtfully. He extended his mage-sight into the rubble pile and searched for a route through to the other side. Although there were many large pieces of stone and debris within the rubble pile, it was far from a solid barrier. Even though some of the gaps were extremely small, he still easily found a way through it to the room beyond. He sent out a thin strand of force-field along the route he had found, and once he had reached the book room, he stopped. Encasing the whole rubble pile in another force-field so it didn’t collapse, he expanded the thin strand running through its centre. It was like watching a door open, as his central force-field pushed apart the two halves of the rubble pile, to reveal the darkened room behind it.

“Show off!” Neala half-whispered jokingly, rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

“Hey! I wasn’t showing off!” Lusam replied, in a fake hurt voice. “I intended to fully block the doorway before we left Coldmont, just in case anyone else stumbles across this place. I figured that if I had to move the rubble pile to cover the door, I may as well move it to let us into the room too. But if you prefer, I can close it back up again after the rest of us are inside and let you climb over the top of it.” Neala narrowed her eyes and pouted her lips at Lusam, almost daring him to try it.

Alexia laughed. “You’re braver than I gave you credit for, lover-boy.”

“Hey, don’t encourage him,” Neala said, trying to hide her smile, but failing miserably.

Lusam gave a mock bow, gesturing for Neala to enter the room first, but Alexia had already beaten her to it. The bright light erupted from the ceiling and walls, illuminating the Guardian book which sat upon its pedestal. It was then that Lusam noticed the name on the book for the first time, it read:
Absolution.
It was the same word he had seen on the pedestal in Helveel, but when he looked at the pedestal here, he saw a different word, this one said:
Freedom.
And that was the name on the book in Helveel. Suddenly it all made sense to him—the pedestals had five sides, one for each of the Guardian books—the various names on the pedestals referred to whichever destination book you wished to reach. It was incredibly simple, but by its very nature had its own inbuilt safeguards.

Renn noticed Lusam’s sudden distraction. “Is there something wrong, lad?” he asked, trying to see what Lusam was staring at.

Renn’s voice brought Lusam back from his wandering thoughts. “No, not really. I’ve just discovered something interesting about the Guardian books, that’s all,” Lusam replied. He couldn’t help noticing that Renn’s curiosity suddenly piqued at his words. Smiling at Renn, he added, “Don’t worry, I’ll explain later.” Renn nodded, then glanced back at the Guardian book and pedestal, just in case he’d missed something important, but saw nothing.

“I don’t understand. There’s no other way out of this room. I thought you said you had a way out of here for us?” Alexia said, looking around the small circular room with a confused look on her face.

Lusam chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain,” he said walking towards the book pedestal. “I know you all can’t see it, but there’s a green beam of light emanating from this pedestal. It was only after I finished reading this Guardian book that I was able to see it myself for the first time. I thought at first the light was caused by the damage to the building, but when I touched the light, it did something incredible. First I saw a bright flash, then I felt a distinct falling sensation, and then Neala disappeared—or at least I thought she had. I soon realised that it wasn’t Neala who had disappeared, it was me. I was in an identical room to this one, except the door was still intact. After I opened the door, I soon recognised that I was somehow back in Helveel. As the information from the book settled into my mind, I realised that I can use the pedestal light to instantly transport us all to Helveel.”

Lusam positioned himself next to the green beam of light that emanated from the pedestal, ready to make contact with it, and take them all instantly to Helveel.

“I think we all need to join hands for this to work. Actually, I’m pretty sure any physical contact would do, but holding hands seems the easiest solution,” Lusam said, taking hold of Neala’s hand. He waited until they were all in physical contact with one another, then reached towards the green light.

Before his hand even touched the beam of light, a bright flash erupted within the room. Lusam turned his head towards where the light had flashed and was astonished to see a group of men in black robes standing before him. He immediately felt the silence spell envelop him, quickly followed by a restraining spell. It was similar to the one used by the Empire agent in Helveel when Neala had been kidnapped, but this one was many times more powerful. Lusam was about to try and free himself from the restraining spell when a man in a bright red robe stepped out from behind the others. Suddenly, it felt like his mind was on fire. Lusam had never felt pain like it before, and judging by the screams of his friends, neither had they. Lusam could barely think through the intense agony, but eventually he managed to open his eyes and look at his assailant. He detected an almost imperceptibly thin line of power emanating from the man’s head, reaching out towards him and his friends.