Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (3 page)

“Are you guys trying to scare me to death before I go out into the darkness alone or what?” Lusam said, sounding rather nervous. Renn laughed loudly startling them all a little.

“Don’t worry, lad, you’re not likely to come across any undead up that path, but if you do, try not to bring them back here with you. I’d like to get some sleep later when you get back so I’m fresh for tomorrow. I can do without fighting any undead tonight,” Renn said still laughing. The two girls also laughed at his comments, but Lusam didn’t seem to find it quite as amusing for some reason.

“Okay, I’ll go and leave you guys to have some more fun,” Lusam said sarcastically.

“Wait,” Renn said. “You can’t just vanish into thin air, the agents are bound to have a lookout, and if they see your aura vanish they will know something is amiss. Come and sit behind me, but do it slowly so whoever is watching down there can see you disappear behind my brighter aura. Once you’re sitting down reduce the strength of your aura gradually until it’s completely gone before standing up. Also, when you leave camp don’t walk in front of anyone else and block their aura either, or it may give away your position.”

“Oh, I’d never have thought about that,” Lusam said, moving slowly to Renn’s position and sitting down behind him.

“I’ve spent far too much time observing enemy agents from a distance to overlook things like that, lad. I’m sure they will also be trained in such tactics, so let’s not give them any more help than we have to,” Renn said. Lusam grunted his agreement and started to gradually fade out his aura from sight. Once he had completely hidden his aura he stood up and moved to the back of their camp. He said his goodbyes and quickly left their camp behind, making sure not to walk in front of any of the others as he did so. He then headed up the path to scout out what lay ahead of them for tomorrow’s crucial retreat up the mountain.

After Lusam left nobody spoke or moved for a long time in camp. Renn was busy carefully watching for any signs of movement in the agent’s camp below, and even though neither Neala or Alexia could see their camp, they too found themselves staring in that direction. After several minutes Renn heard movement from behind as one of the girls stood up. A moment later Alexia appeared at his side and knelt down beside him.

“Renn, may I ask something of you, please,” Alexia said quietly by his side.

“Sure, what is it?” Renn replied, never taking his eyes away from the enemy’s camp below.

“I’ve never met a paladin of Aysha before, but would it be appropriate to ask for a blessing from you in preparation for tomorrow’s battle?” she asked sheepishly. Renn was surprised by her request, and didn’t really know how best to respond. He had never been asked for a blessing before by anyone, let alone given one. As a paladin he was a solider of Aysha, not a priest who dealt with the spiritual needs of people. He considered her words carefully, and what his response should be for a few moments before he replied,

“I’m honoured you would ask me, but I think the best person to request a blessing from would be Aysha herself. I would be more than happy to join you in prayer in this regard,” Renn said.

“Thank you, Renn, I would really appreciate that,” Alexia replied. Neala watched as Renn removed his sword and took to one knee in front of it, head bowed in prayer, while Alexia knelt beside him also in prayer. Neala felt strange mixed emotions. She had never been a religious person, but for some reason right at this moment she felt left out, as if she were missing out on something important. She found herself also praying for their success in the coming days, but still felt a tinge of jealousy that Alexia had prayed alongside a paladin of Aysha for some crazy reason.

When Alexia and Renn were finally finished praying, Alexia returned to Neala’s side and sat quietly in the darkness.

“I didn’t know you were the religious type, Alexia,” Neala said quietly.

“Yes, I always have been since I was very young. We had a priest of Aysha join us in the forest when I was a young girl. He came to try and convince our band of thieves to change their ways. Although no one there would have caused him any harm intentionally, at first he was ridiculed for his beliefs and views of the world by many. Not long after he arrived in camp we were viciously attacked by a roaming patrol and took heavy casualties. He saved many lives that day, and the respect the other members of our band gave him from that day forward helped cement his place among us. He came to understand the injustices we faced on a daily basis, and apparently decided to make our ‘
godless band of men and women
’ his personal mission. He started conducting sermons within our camp soon afterwards. At first his congregation was made up of only a few people.

“As time passed, either through luck, coincidence, or his direct intervention with Aysha, no one knew, but our luck changed for the better. Patrols lessened, injuries and deaths decreased dramatically, and there was a new found prosperity in our camp. I think the real reason for the change was the fact that the priest had convinced our leaders that they didn’t need to kill people in order to rob them. Traders and travellers were no longer killed or harmed as long as they didn’t resist too much, and as a result the local authorities simply posted warnings not to travel through our forest. Of course, many did as it saved a lot of travelling time in comparison with travelling by road, but the authorities deemed it their own fault if they were robbed, due to ignoring their advice in the first place, and we were left alone for the most part.

“The priest became almost talisman-like, and everyone wanted his blessings. His congregation grew rapidly, and I became one of his young followers. He taught me and a few other youngsters many things about life outside the forest, and instructed us all in the ways of Aysha. Many years later he was killed during one of the many raids sent by the Duke of Oakedge. He was trying to protect one of our elderly women, and was viciously cut down as he did so. They left him there to bleed out, ignoring his pleas to spare the women and children. I was there when he died. He asked me to promise him that I would not stray from the path of Aysha after he left this world. I freely made him that promise, and from that day on I have put my complete faith in Aysha for all things, and I will continue to do so for as long as I draw breath,” Alexia said quietly.

“What was the priest’s name?” Renn asked from the darkness.

“His name was Sigmond,” Alexia said quietly.

“I know of whom you speak. He was a good man, and it saddens me greatly to learn of his passing in that way, but his mission was as you guessed; to spread the word of Aysha to any and all non-believers. It seems he achieved his goals. He would have considered even one saved soul worth his life, and from what I just overheard he certainly achieved that,” Renn said. “Come, let us thank Aysha for our mutual friend, and his successful life.” Alexia didn’t reply, but gladly accepted Renn’s offer and rejoined him in prayer for her old mentor and friend.

Lusam slowly and carefully followed the path, making sure his footing was good before taking each step. It was slow progress, but he knew how important it was for their plan to remain a secret from the Empire agents below.

After about an hour the path widened and became much less steep, levelling off into a small plateau. He couldn’t see above or below, but he felt sure it remained almost vertical on both sides of him. The wide flat path would make it much easier to run, but it would leave them extremely exposed to the magical-missiles coming from the Empire agents who would be chasing them tomorrow. A few minutes later Lusam stubbed his toe on a large rock sitting in the middle of the path. After hopping around on one foot and quietly cursing to himself for a while, he felt sure he hadn’t broken anything and resumed his exploration, albeit with a little more care. It became increasingly apparent that this part of the mountainside was unstable, as more and more rocks littered the path the further he travelled.

His worst fears were confirmed when a few minutes later he found the path completely blocked by a rockslide. He couldn’t see how high the blockage was in the darkness, or how far across the path it stretched. He needed to use his mage-sight to check, but he wasn’t sure if he would still remain unseen, even whilst his aura was shuttered. He made a mental note to ask Renn later if he could detect any signs of his magic, when he used his mage-sight and had his aura completely shuttered. For now he needed to err on the side of caution though, just in case he could be spotted in the darkness by the Empire agents. He needed something to block their line of sight to him, so he started to carefully feel his way around the area, looking for anything large enough to hide behind, but found nothing.

He made his way back to the safety of the rock face and away from the edge of the dangerous drop-off, before leaning against the wall to think for a moment. He leant back against the wall, but instead of finding a solid wall behind him, he instead found himself falling. He was about to initiate his levitation spell, when his fall came to an abrupt and painful halt, as his elbows met the hard unforgiving rock-strewn floor, quickly followed by the rest of him with a solid thud.

“Ouch!” he said, wincing at the pain in his elbows, and the lump now forming on the back of his head. Carefully, he knelt up and reached out with his hands, trying to work out where he was. He could feel a smooth wall to his right and traced it upwards, making sure there was enough room to stand up there, as he didn’t want to add another lump to his now throbbing head. When he regained his feet he followed the smooth wall to where he expected to find the path again, and was quickly rewarded with just that. Realising it must have been some kind of cave he had discovered, he returned to the entrance and gingerly stepped back inside. Knowing the Empire agents could no longer see him, he quickly slipped into his mage-sight so he could finally get a proper look at his surroundings. The cave wasn’t very deep, in fact, it wasn’t really a cave at all, it was more like a scoop of missing rock from the mountainside. It was only about five paces deep, and just about high enough to stand upright near the entrance, with the roof becoming lower the further back you went.

When Lusam saw the extent of the rockslide his heart sank. It was at least three or four times higher than he was tall, and stretched all the way across the path to the drop-off at the far side. There was no way they would be able to safely climb over such an unstable obstacle, and certainly not while under constant fire from the Empire agents. One sudden movement, and the whole pile of rocks could easily slide over the edge taking them all with it, to their deaths far below. He also knew he could not possibly levitate everyone over the rockslide all at the same time, not in his current weakened state, and not while he was under constant bombardment from the Empire agents. Feeling totally dejected he sat down to contemplate what options still remained to him, but could only think of one: stand and fight. He knew very well how that would end, and it wouldn’t be good for any of them.

Lusam had lost track of time as he sat there in the dark cave entrance. He knew he should return to camp soon, but he had no idea how he would tell them all of their impending doom, especially Neala. The weather seemed to be worsening too. The wind had grown gradually stronger since he had left camp earlier, and was now whistling around him in the cave entrance. It was then he realised that the whistling noise of the wind was actually coming from behind him, from within the cave itself. He followed the whistling sound to the rear of the small cave, and found what looked like a pile of rubble. When he looked closer, he realised it was actually made up of debris from the rockslide outside, and not a solid wall as he had first thought. He began to clear the rubble using his hands. As he did so, he felt the wind coming through the widening gaps strengthen, and he instinctively knew it would lead him to the far side of the rockslide. Several minutes later and he was proved correct, when the last of the debris fell in on itself to reveal a small tunnel that led around the rockslide outside. He squeezed through the gap and crawled for a short distance, before emerging on the opposite side of the rockslide.

While standing close to the rockslide, Lusam used his mage-sight to check the path further along. For as far as he could see the path was clear, but it turned a sharp corner and disappeared from view about half a mile in the distance. He wished he had time to check the path further ahead, but he knew he had to return to camp now if they were to have a chance of attacking the Empire agents at first light. He crawled back through the cave, returned to his normal-sight, and exited back out onto the path at the other side of the rockslide. Happy with his discovery, and the fact that he could now deliver much better news, he started to retrace his steps back to their camp further down the mountain path, this time being much more careful not to stub his toes again on any large rocks.

***

Zedd’s patience was wearing thin, but he knew his plan to exhaust the boy-mage would work eventually. He had tried to physically chase them down, but without supplies he had found it impossible to maintain the pace necessary to close the gap between them. He had tried a direct magical assault, but at this range it had also proved ineffective. He had been fortunate that amongst the men he had acquired there was a summoner. Summoners were magi who specialised in summoning magical items, and one of the things they could create was a type of bread. It was created using the magical reserves of the summoner, and although it sated the hunger of the men, it held little in the way of nourishment. One thing a summoner was able to do however, was to summon real water from the ground, or even the air, which meant at least no one went thirsty.