Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (21 page)

Lusam reached for the thin strand of power, and found it within his own mind, at the source of his own pain. He followed the thin strand of power back to its origin, making a two-way connection between himself and the man in the red robes. Once Lusam’s conduit was open, he sent forth a huge pulse of magic along the connection. The man’s eyes widened in shock, as his brain liquefied within his skull, and he fell to the floor, dead. The agony Lusam and his party had been feeling ceased immediately, but the sheer force of the death-pulse he felt rocked him. ‘
Whoever the man in red robes had been, he’d certainly been a very powerful mage
,’ Lusam thought, trying to regain his composure.

Lusam felt the grip of the restraining force-field suddenly intensify, so much so that it even restricted his breathing. He could see the magic flowing freely between the men standing before him. They were combining their power, amplifying their strength many times over. Lusam pushed back with his own force-field, just enough to breathe but no more. He was unable to turn his head to see the others but he still held Neala’s hand tightly—he just hoped the others hadn’t released their grip on each other. One man stepped forward, his crimson aura burning like a sun to Lusam’s mage-sight. Never had he seen such a powerful aura in anyone before. He wore a black robe like the others, but his was edged with gold and silver around the hem, sleeves and hood. Lusam could feel him trying to get into his mind. Probing and prodding for weaknesses in his defences.

Lusam reached deep within his magical reserves and prepared to channel a huge amount of power into his own force-field. He would try to push the restraining force-field off himself and his friends. All he needed to do was reach the green light, then they would all be safely away from Coldmont, and out of the reach of these men. Taking a steadying breath, he violently released the energy into his own force-field, expanding it as fast as he could. The instant Lusam’s power spiked, all the men seemed to become aware and visibly braced themselves. Lusam sent out a massive blast of energy into their restraining force-field, collapsing it instantly, and slamming most of them against the far wall of the room. He reached forward, touching the green light, and the world grew blindingly bright as they all felt the strange falling sensation. A moment later, they were all in the book room in Helveel—or at least three of them were—Renn had not made it through.

Lusam released Neala’s hand and dived towards the green light emanating from the pedestal, increasing the strength of his force-field as he did so. When he appeared in Coldmont, several of the men were still either getting to their feet, or were still dazed on the floor. One was about to attack Renn, but when he saw Lusam suddenly appear in front of him, he switched targets instead. Lusam absorbed the attack on his shield, noting how much more powerful the blast was compared to the Empire agents outside. He grabbed Renn’s arm and again dived for the green light emanating from the pedestal. After a brief period of blinding light and the now-familiar falling sensation, Lusam and Renn found themselves reunited with Neala and Alexia in Helveel.

Zedd knew he’d lost the battle the moment he saw the boy-mage appear through the crack in the wall. He had only ever seen one other person with an aura as powerful in his entire life, and that was Lord Zelroth himself. The boy-mage had been very powerful even before he had arrived here, but now his power had grown immeasurably. Whatever he had found, or done, within the walls of this gigantic building had made him into an incredibly powerful mage.

Zedd secretly ordered Cole to withdraw behind the huge dragon statue with him, and then sent all the remaining agents to attack the boy-mage. Zedd didn’t really believe that he could withstand a direct hit from the boy-mage, not even with Cole’s extra magic at his disposal. His plan had been to use the sacrifice of his men as a distraction against the boy-mage, and hopefully gain enough time to escape around the edge of the building. He only needed a few seconds to cross the open space between the dragon statue and the wall of the gigantic building. Once he was safely to the wall of the building, and shielded from any direct line of sight attack from the boy-mage, he could choose to either levitate up to the roof or keep running—but he never got the opportunity.

Zedd watched in awe as the undead minions were incinerated before his eyes and his two remaining agents were effortlessly tossed aside like rag dolls. He fully expected to die at any moment, and by the look on Cole’s face, so did he. Instead, he heard the boy-mage call out something in the northern tongue, something he didn’t understand, but judging by the reaction of Cole, he did.

“What did he say?” Zedd asked Cole.

“He said:
It’s over, and we should go home.
” Cole replied, hoping Zedd would take the boy-mage’s advice, but instinctively knowing he wouldn’t.

Zedd watched as the boy-mage disappeared back inside the gigantic building. ‘
Killing or capturing the boy was now completely out of the question, but gaining access to whatever had made him so powerful… now that was a prize worth a thousand trips up this mountain
,’ Zedd thought, smiling to himself.

Cole knew his fate lay in Zedd’s hands. He’d known ever since they first entered the forest outside Helveel in search of the boy-mage. He also knew that Zedd would never allow him to go free; he knew far too much. Even
if
they ever made it out of these mountains alive, he felt sure Zedd would dispose of him long before they ever reached civilization again. Cole had witnessed Zedd breaking so many of their laws, from failing to report their—and the boy-mage’s—position in Stelgad, to commandeering over a dozen men without permission. He’d witnessed him not only threaten but actually execute his own men, then have them reanimated—as if they were nothing more than northern dogs—to do his bidding. He’d even borne witness to Zedd leading
Vintenar
Yeroth into a deadly trap, knowing full well that he’d be killed. And now he had just seen him send the remainder of his men to their certain deaths, for nothing more than to gain a few precious seconds to save his own skin. Any one of his many transgressions would earn him severe punishment, or even death within the Empire. Cole was the only one alive who knew what had happened. Without him, Zedd could simply walk out of these mountains without anyone knowing what had transpired and return to his life without consequence. There was no way he would allow Cole to live, and they both knew it.

“Go take a look, see if they’re still there,” Zedd said casually, as if he were merely asking someone to go outside and check what the weather was like, or to see if the bread in the oven had finished baking yet.

Cole didn’t argue—‘
what difference did it make how he died now?
’ he thought to himself. He scrambled up the giant slope at the side of the stone staircase, expecting at any moment to feel the sting of death, but it never came. When he finally reached the top, he placed his back to the wall and shuffled towards the giant crack in the wall. It was then that he felt yet another tremor beneath his feet. He already had his magical shield up and was about to try and strengthen it when the tremor suddenly ceased again. He listened intently for a moment, but couldn’t hear anything over the blustery wind outside as it whistled around the building and statues. Taking a steadying breath, he poked his head around the corner, hoping he wasn’t about to be impaled on one of the girls’ arrows or blasted by the boy-mage—but there was nobody there. He signalled to Zedd that the coast was clear, and breathed a sigh of relief.

A few moments later Zedd joined Cole, and they both entered the building through the giant crack in the front wall. It looked even bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. Zedd had only ever seen one room as large and grand as this before, and that was inside Azmarin, back in the Empire of Thule. Azmarin was the seat of power for Lord Zelroth, and had been for countless centuries. It didn’t appear to be as large from the outside because most of it resided within Mount Nuxvar.

Legend has it that the God Erebi sought refuge within Mount Nuxvar whilst trying to evade the wrath of Aamon during the first days of the Gods’ war. Erebi’s location was soon discovered by Aamon, and during the ensuing battle, a large section of the mountain was destroyed, leaving a gaping hole within its side. Later—after the Deceiver Goddess Aysha and her brother Driden had trapped Aamon within the Netherworld—Mount Nuxvar first became a place of pilgrimage for the people of Thule, then, a century later, Lord Zelroth claimed it as his own, and built the mighty Azmarin there.

Fortunately for Zedd and Cole, the floor of the huge chamber held countless centuries of dust and dirt, making it easy to trace the footsteps of the boy-mage and his party. They followed the clear trail to the rear of the huge chamber, and then into the almost total darkness of a descending stone staircase. They could hear muffled voices somewhere in the distant darkness, but they could see no lights or movement from where they were. Zedd created a small light source, and they both slowly descended the stone staircase into the blackness below. As they reached the bottom of the stone staircase, they saw a bright flash in the distance—but no sound followed it. The muffled voices suddenly stopped, but were quickly replaced by loud screams of pain. Zedd froze to the spot, listening intently for any clues as to who or what could be down here with them in the darkness. Whatever it was, it was capable of causing the boy-mage and his party great pain, and that certainly deserved Zedd’s attention.

A moment later, Zedd felt the largest death-pulse he had ever felt in his entire life. It was so powerful that it momentarily disorientated him, and he was forced to steady himself against the side wall. Cole wasn’t so lucky, and found himself on his knees by Zedd’s side.

“Do you think that was the boy-mage’s death-pulse?” Cole whispered next to Zedd’s ear a moment later.

“I don’t know—but it was far too powerful to have come from one of the paladins,” Zedd replied, mostly to himself.

Zedd could now see a light at the end of one of the corridors. He extinguished his own light source and slowly started walking towards the light, Cole followed close behind. There was a brief sound of movement, quickly followed by another flash of bright light, and then a cry of anger. Almost immediately, another bright flash—more voices—and yet another bright flash. ‘
Something strange was going on in that room
,’ Zedd thought to himself.

“Cole, go see if you can see what’s happening down there,” Zedd said in a hushed voice. Cole paused, contemplating refusal, but a moment later his fatalism took over once more, and he did as commanded without question. Slowly and carefully, he approached the lit room at the far end of the corridor. When he was within twenty paces of the room, he could hear voices. Empire voices.

In an instant, Cole’s spirits were lifted by the mere sounds of their voices. ‘
Whoever they were, they had to be very powerful to have killed the boy-mage, and now Zedd could no longer kill him—well, not in front of an agent so powerful anyway
,’ Cole thought, smiling to himself. Cole stepped into the brightly lit room, and his world instantly came crashing back down around him. What he saw staggered him. On the floor, wearing the red robe of his station, was a dead Inquisitor. Inquisitors were considered to be the most powerful of all magi, and all but invincible. They could render almost any mage powerless through their special mind magic, and were used to interrogate anyone who managed to resist the mind reading abilities of lesser magi; almost nobody could hide information from an Inquisitor.

It was then that Cole noticed the ten Darkseed Elite guards that towered over the body of the Inquisitor. ‘
Darkseed Elite guards, here? But that would mean…’
Cole thought numbly. Then he saw him—Lord Zelroth stepped out from behind the ten Darkseed Elite guards. Cole fell to his knees, prostrating himself in front of his Lord.

As Cole’s knees hit the floor, Zedd appeared in the doorway behind him. Just like Cole, it took his mind a while to comprehend what he was seeing before him. Zedd’s face lost all its colour, as the magnitude of his situation began to sink in. In moments his mind would be read by Lord Zelroth, and he would be killed. His family would be stripped of all their wealth and either killed or forced to become beggars on the streets of the capital, Irragin—he wasn’t sure which fate was worse.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” Lord Zelroth asked, glowering at them both.

“Sire, my name is Zedd, and this is Cole,” Zedd replied, trying to think of a plausible story as to why they were here. “Sire, we were searching for the boy-mage in the base of the mountains near Stelgad when we stumbled across his tracks. I sent word back to Stelgad that we intended to follow his trail, and for them to send reinforcements, but none came. We had no food or water, or provisions of any kind for such a journey, but I felt we must follow him, no matter what the risk to ourselves. We followed the boy-mage and his party for over two weeks in these mountains. It was my suspicion that he was heading for their secret training facility, and I knew how important it was for the Empire to discover its location, so we continued alone,” Zedd said, realising that everything he had told Lord Zelroth would soon be found out to be a lie after he read his mind. ‘If
he read his mind
,’ Zedd thought. ‘
Maybe he should embellish his story more, just in case he neglected to read his mind.
’