Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (45 page)

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. We should go tell the others about the boy’s condition, and arrange a search party for supplies,” Neala said, heading for the opening without waiting for a reply. Lusam followed her back out into the sunlight above, squinting against the bright light until his eyes adjusted to it once more. Alexia was still holding the little girl whilst sitting on the steps of a nearby building, but Renn was nowhere to be seen.

“How is he?” Alexia asked over the shoulder of the little girl.

“He should be fine now, but we need to get some food and water into him soon,” Lusam replied, glancing around for Renn. “Where did Renn go?”

“I’m not sure, he headed off down that way a few minutes ago, said he wouldn’t be long,” Alexia replied nodding towards the well at the end of the street.

“Any idea what this building is?” Neala asked, looking at the stout door behind Alexia.

“It’s the temple,” Rebekah said quietly without lifting her head.

“Thank you, err…” Neala began to say.

“Her name is Rebekah, and she told me her brother is called Kayden. Rebekah, these are my friends, Neala and Lusam, and the big one who was here earlier is called Renn,” Alexia said.

“Hello, Rebekah, it’s nice to meet you,” Neala said, sitting on the step next to her and Alexia.

“Hello,” Rebekah said shyly, glancing in Neala’s direction momentarily before burying her head once more into Alexia’s shoulder. Neala raised her eyebrows at Alexia, but she just smiled back, obviously not bothered at all by the young girl’s affections. Neala stood up and tried to open the heavy door of the temple, but it was securely locked. Without hesitation she removed a small pouch from her tunic that contained her lock-picks, and set to work on the door lock. She allowed herself a wry smile as she remembered the last time she had used them in the basement of Mr Daffer’s shop, to unlock the cell doors, and check for any
treasure
left behind by the previous inhabitants. The lock clicked, and the door swung open on its well oiled hinges to reveal a large open room, with lines of wooden benches facing an altar on a raised platform at the far end. On the stone walls were various paintings and tapestries, all depicting the ocean in one form or another. The floor was a simple flagstone affair, with long narrow carpets running along the walkways, and up onto the raised platform where the altar was. ‘
All in all, nothing special,
’ Neala thought to herself, as Lusam came to join her.

“There’s a stack of bench cushions over there,” Lusam said, pointing towards the back corner of the room. “If we spread some out on the floor at the front, we can bring Kayden up here and make him more comfortable, while we go find some food and water. I’m sure Alexia will watch over him while we’re gone.” Overhearing their conversation inside the temple, Alexia came to join them with Rebekah. She had somehow managed to convince Rebekah to let go of her neck, and now she stood by Alexia’s side, holding her hand instead.

“I’m sure we can make a nice bed for your little brother, can’t we, Rebekah?” Alexia asked, crouching down next to her, and pushing a strand of blonde hair away from her eyes. Rebekah nodded mutely, seemingly a little less distressed than she had been earlier.

“Thank you, Rebekah. I’m sure Kayden will like that very much,” Neala replied smiling at her. Lusam had noticed some writing carved into the walls around the room, and was curious to see if it was magical in nature like the writing in Helveel and Coldmont. He slipped into his mage-sight and examined the text, but it remained nothing more than a simple stone carving. Disappointed, he turned back towards the others, and was stunned by what he saw. Rebekah had an aura much brighter than an average person. In fact, he was sure—given the correct training—she would not only be capable of sensing magic in others, but performing it as well. He clearly remembered the strength of his grandmother’s aura, and Rebekah’s was slightly brighter he judged. And so it stood to reason that if his grandmother could perform magic, so could Rebekah.

At that moment Renn returned, carrying a large cooking pot, several wooden bowls, and a bag full of what Lusam guessed were vegetables. Alexia and Rebekah were already busy carrying cushions to the front of the room, and arranging them on the floor to create a bed for Kayden.

“Renn, can I speak with you a moment, please,” Lusam said, indicating with his head towards the far corner of the room.

“I guess
I’ll
go get Kayden, then,” Neala said sarcastically shaking her head, and heading for the door, leaving Lusam to have his chat with Renn.

“Sorry, Neala,” Lusam called after her, but she just raised her hand, and continued out of the door to fetch Kayden.

“What’s up, lad?” Renn asked quietly.

“Take a look at Rebekah’s aura,” Lusam replied, nodding towards the little girl. Renn’s eyes widened, as he too noticed the little girl’s aura for the first time.

“Interesting,” he said, studying the little girl and his surroundings in more detail.

“That’s it… just
interesting?
I thought you’d be a lot more excited about discovering her potential than that,” Lusam said disappointedly.

“No, I mean yes, I am…” Renn replied, just as Neala returned carrying Kayden, “but
that
makes it even more interesting, I’d say,” Renn added, nodding towards the boy in Neala’s arms. Lusam glanced towards the boy and couldn’t believe his eyes; he too had an equally bright aura.

“What’s going on here, Renn? I thought you said the Empire killed all the newborn magi in Afaraon, and the ones that the Hermingild managed to save were always sent to the High Temple in Lamuria to be trained. How can two children like these be missed by both the Empire and the High Temple?”

“I’m not sure, lad, but I think I might have half an answer to your question. Do you see that symbol up there?” Renn said, pointing at a carved symbol high above the altar platform. Lusam looked, but he didn’t recognise the symbol.

“Yeah, what about it?” he replied.

“That’s the sign for the God Deas. These people, like many seafarers, worship Deas, not Aysha,” Renn replied, as if that should explain everything to Lusam.

“I don’t understand. What does that have to do with surviving the Empire’s culling?” Lusam asked confused.

“The Empire’s culling… nothing. But it does explain why they weren’t taken to the High Temple for training. You see, lad, in Afaraon it’s become a long tradition to visit a temple of Aysha as soon as a woman discovers she is pregnant. The priest is expected to bless her pregnancy, which he or she does, but they also examine her magically for the telltale signs of an unborn mage. These days the tradition is kept up because it’s considered unlucky not to visit the temple for a blessing, and it’s extremely uncommon for a priest to discover a potential unborn mage amongst the general population. But two centuries ago, when we first discovered that the Thule Empire was trying to eradicate magic from Afaraon, the visit to the local temple was the difference between life and death for many a mother and her child.

“All the priests were taught the necessary spells to detect such a child, and it was, at first, a decree of the King that every expectant mother should attend their local temple at least once during their pregnancy. Of course, the real reasons behind the decree were kept a secret from the general population, so as not to instil panic, and many ignored it completely, at least at first. But it didn’t take long for people to realise that many of the mothers who didn’t attend their local temples often turned up dead soon afterwards, along with their newborns. Various superstitious nonsense was blamed for their deaths, but regardless, it soon became the norm for all mothers-to-be to visit their local temples at least once during their pregnancies. And even to this day, the tradition is still upheld by most people in Afaraon. But the people of this village worship Deas, not Aysha. Therefore, the children here would not have been discovered by the High Temple, but as to why they were not discovered by the Thule Empire, I have no idea,” Renn said. Lusam nodded at Renn’s words, realising how little he knew about the history of Afaraon and its people. In fact, he also realised he knew very little about the Afaraon of today—something he would have to try and rectify before they reached Lamuria he expected.

“How’s the boy?” Renn asked looking in his direction.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine as soon as we get some food into him. I gave his body the energy it needed to fight off the infection, but he’ll still need to eat and drink to speed things up. Sorry, but it looks like we’re not going anywhere until tomorrow now,” Lusam replied, knowing how badly Renn wanted to reach Lamuria.

“Don’t worry, lad, I doubt it’s changed our plans much anyway,” Renn replied.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, by the looks of those undead-minions out there, I’m guessing the Empire agents took the cream of the crop with them, and left the slow and damaged ones here for us to find. You can bet they’ll do exactly the same thing in every village and town between here and Lamuria too,” Renn said.

“I don’t understand. Why should that change our original plans? It’s not as if we can’t kill them easy enough,” Lusam replied.

“Sure we can kill them, lad, but only if we can see them coming. Do you have any idea how far the next town or village is away from here?”

“No?” Lusam enquired, thinking Renn was about to tell him.

“Neither do I, lad. And I would suggest the last thing we want to be doing right now is sleeping outside under the stars. Especially when we have no idea how many of those things are out there. You’ll almost always find that villages and towns are traversable from one another within a single day’s travel. It’s the simple rules of commerce that dictate that, lad. But if we set off now, without knowing how far it is to the next village or town, we might not make it before nightfall. I’d also imagine that after today’s events,
you
could use some rest too, before we move on. For all we know, the Empire agents could be holed up in the next village or town waiting for us, and if we arrive unprepared, well… I’m sure you can see my point, lad,” Renn said.

“Yeah, right now it would certainly be a very short, one-sided fight, that’s for sure,” Lusam agreed, chuckling.

“My thoughts exactly, lad. So I think we should use the time we have here wisely, to stock up on whatever supplies we can find, and recover some of your strength before we even think about moving on. Hopefully, by the morning the boy will be well enough to travel, if not, we’ll have to reassess our options then. For right now though, I suggest we cook some food, and maybe get to know our two young friends a little better. I’m sure the girl knows this village better than we do, and if we’re lucky, she might know how far, and how big, the next village or town is.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lusam agreed, as his stomach let a out another loud growl at the mere mention of food.

It had been Lusam’s original plan to build a small fire outside the temple to cook their food, but instead, Neala had discovered a doorway that led into a small room hidden behind a curtain, at the front of the temple. It looked like it had been used as an office or small study of some kind. There were book cases with various types of books, and cabinets containing everything from parchment and ink to the odd bottle of brandy and rum. But by far the best thing in the room—from their perspective—was the large stone fireplace, complete with a stone shelf for cooking on. Renn had fetched the water from the village well, while the others had prepared the vegetables, and it wasn’t long before they had a large pot of bubbling broth cooking next to a roaring fire. Lusam also dug out the small amount of fish they had left from that day’s uneaten breakfast, and added it to the bubbling pot, creating a delicious smelling aroma that filled the entire room.

Kayden had begun to stir a little from his deep sleep, and Alexia had even managed to coax him to drink a little water. His fever had broken, and even some colour had returned to his cheeks by the time the food was ready to eat. He didn’t eat much, but it was enough for his body to start healing itself, Lusam judged.

After they had all eaten their fill, Rebekah seemed to become far more relaxed and talkative within the group, especially after Alexia had gone to close the main temple door, having realised that Rebekah had been reluctant to stop looking in that direction for too long; obviously worried that one of the creatures would somehow find its way inside.

Renn had told Rebekah an amusing story about a horse and a cat, then expertly brought the conversation around to:
had she ever seen a horse in real life, and if she had, had she ever ridden one?
Rebekah proudly revealed that she had often visited the horses in farmer Jack’s paddock on the way to see her mother in the fields, but had never had the opportunity to ride one yet, even though she would like to very much. A few minutes later Renn had not only found out where the paddock was located, but also where the orchard was where Rebekah usually got her apples from to feed the horses.

“Fancy a walk, lad?” Renn asked, nodding towards the door.