Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (53 page)

“Is there a problem, lad?” Renn asked, startling Lusam out of his reverie.

“No, sorry,” Lusam replied, quickly catching up with the others, who had almost reached the doors of the High Temple. As Lusam approached, he could clearly see that even the doors of the High Temple were enchanted with some kind of spell. Hershel entered first, beckoning the others to follow, with Renn entering last.

“Wait here, I’ll go and speak with one of the acolytes and see if we can gain an audience with the High Priest. I won’t be long,” Hershel said quietly, then headed off to find his acolyte. Inside the High Temple was even more breathtaking beautiful than the outside had been. The stone vaulted ceiling rose high above them, forming a procession of intricate arches running the full-length of the immense building. Huge stone statues of former Kings, Queens and High Priests lined the outer walls, each one many times taller than a man. The incredible stained glass windows which had looked so beautiful from the outside, looked positively divine from the inside as the sunlight streamed through the multicoloured glass, flooding the entire floor of the High Temple with its rainbow of colours. Massive chandeliers hung from the ceilings, each one powered magically, and each one another drain on the city’s vastly depleted power source.

A few moments later Hershel reappeared and announced that the High Priest would see them as soon as he had finished dealing with a visiting dignitary—one who had been visiting the King before being trapped in Lamuria by the current Empire’s siege. Apparently he had been petitioning for days to the High Temple to allow him to contribute towards the magical reserves of the city—something that only the priesthood and the well-known magi of Lamuria were ever allowed to undertake—and he had just been granted permission to do so by the High Priest himself. ‘
A most unprecedented decision to take
’ according to Hershel, ‘
but, no doubt one undertaken due to the current dire needs of the city.’

They all waited patiently for what seemed like an awfully long time before the High Priest and his visiting dignitary finally appeared in the main chamber. Lusam had been reading the many inscriptions carved into the stone walls before they arrived. Most of them were about the history and creation of the world, and Lusam recognised many of the stories as the same ones Renn had told him in The Dark Forest. The High Priest had already bid farewell to the visiting dignitary and signalled for Hershel’s party to approach. The dignitary casually nodded his greeting to them all as he walked by, and continued towards the main temple doors. Something felt oddly familiar about the man to Lusam, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. As the man walked slowly away, the coloured sunlight streaming through the windows momentarily glinted off his hand. ‘
No, not his hand… his ring! ‘
Lusam thought, realising too late why he looked familiar. He slipped into his mage-sight and gasped when he saw the crimson aura. He immediately knew the man was an Empire agent, one no doubt sent to infiltrate the High Temple, and find out how depleted the city’s power source actually was. A few more steps and he would be outside the protective walls of Aysha’s High Temple and able to communicate with with his brethren outside the city. If that happened, and they learned of the fragile state of the city’s defences, they would launch their attack without delay, killing everyone inside the walls of Lamuria, and gaining access to everything the city had, including the Guardian book if it was there. Lusam knew he could not allow that to happen.

“Excuse me, sir,” Lusam called loudly in the man’s direction, whilst moving towards him at a fast walking pace. The man already had one hand on the door, but when he heard Lusam’s calls he glanced over his shoulder.

“I’d like to thank you, sir, for helping with the city’s defences,” Lusam said holding out his hand.

“No need, I was happy to help,” he replied, turning back to the door.

“No, I insist,” Lusam said, finally catching up with him at the door. The man turned to face Lusam and offered him his hand half-heartedly. Lusam took hold of his hand and turned it over so he could see his ring.

“Oh, I have a ring just like that one,” Lusam said, surreptitiously removing the dead Empire agent’s ring from his pocket.

“I doubt that,” the man said arrogantly.

“Actually, I do… look,” Lusam replied, holding out his other hand with the Necromatic ring clearly visible in his palm. The man’s eyes widened when he saw the ring in Lusam’s hand. He desperately tried to form the words of a spell, but Lusam had already located the man’s magical reserves, and a heartbeat later he had drained all but the tiniest amount of magic from the man. The man collapsed unconscious on the floor, and Lusam heard the running footsteps and concerned voices behind him.

“What have you done?” the High Priest asked sounding extremely concerned as he approached the unconscious man.

“I just saved all our lives, and everyone else’s in Lamuria,” Lusam replied calmly. “He’s an Empire agent, and if I had let him step out of that door he would have contacted his people and reported
exactly
how much power you had left in the city’s shield. I’m certain if the Empire had discovered how weak you are, they wouldn’t have hesitated to launch everything they had at Lamuria.”

Lusam was fully expecting the High Priest to ask him how he could possibly know that he was an Empire agent, but to his great surprise—and relief—he didn’t. Instead he smiled at Lusam and offered him his hand.

“You must be Lusam, the one Hershel has told me so much about. He informed me of how you discovered the spy at The Sanctum of Light in Stelgad. I presume you used a similar method here?” the High Priest said pointing towards the unconscious Empire agent. Lusam nodded as he shook his hand in greeting.

“Well, it seems Aysha has delivered you to us safely, just in time to save us all, thank you, Lusam. And speaking of our sacred and beloved Aysha, I believe you have had the
great
honour of meeting her not once, but twice in person, as well as receiving her blessing several times before that. I have to admit, Lusam, even though it is unseemly for a man in my position to say so, I
am
more than a little envious of you,” he said smiling at Lusam.

Lusam didn’t really know how to reply to that, and thankfully Renn broke the awkward silence between them. “How long is he likely to be unconscious?” he asked nodding towards the Empire agent.

“I’m not sure, but probably a couple of hours at least I would say. He won’t be in any fit state to be throwing his magic around for a little while longer than that though,” Lusam replied, not envying the man’s headache when he did finally wake up. Renn then formally introduced the others to the High Priest, explaining briefly how they had rescued Rebekah and Kayden in Prystone, and soon after had noticed their magical potential. He decided not to mention their curious local tradition of giving birth at sea, and how it might mean a new source of magic for Afaraon—if any of the surrounding towns and villages had been spared the fate of Prystone. That was something they could revisit after the current crisis was over, if any of them survived it.

The High Priest signalled for one of his acolytes, who promptly came over to assist him.

“Your Grace?” the acolyte said bowing his head slightly.

“Please inform today’s duty officer that we require the immediate removal of this Empire agent. Tell him that the prisoner is currently unconscious and likely to remain that way for some time yet, but to make the necessary preparations for when he regains consciousness so he is unable to use his magic. And under no circumstances is he to be allowed outside the High Temple walls, is that clear?”

“Yes, Your Grace,” the acolyte replied bowing once more, then he rushed off to find the duty officer. The High Priest waited until the acolyte had gone before turning back to Lusam.

“Would you mind me asking exactly what you did to render him unconscious before he was able to silence you?” the High Priest asked curiously.

“Their silence spell has never really worked on me… well, not in the way they intend it to do anyway. All I did was drain most of his magic reserves into my own, which caused him to lose consciousness,” Lusam replied, glancing over at the Empire agent. The High Priest’s eyes widened in surprise at Lusam’s explanation.

“Our teachings tell us that it is impossible to take another’s magic by force, Lusam. The only people to ever have shared another’s magic were the Guardians themselves, and they only shared it with their bonded dragons. It is, however, understandable given your lack of proper training how you might misinterpret what you just did to that Empire agent. But for now, we must thank Aysha you were able to do whatever you did, before he managed to silence you,” he said smiling at Lusam. Renn chuckled quietly to himself, gaining the attention of the High Priest as he did so.

“Do you find some amusement in my words, Renn?” the High Priest asked, giving him a stern look.

“Forgive me, Your Grace, I meant no disrespect,” Renn said bowing his head in deference, “but I’m afraid you have not been made fully aware of Lusam’s capabilities yet. May I suggest we speak further in private about this matter, Your Grace.” The High Priest gave a curt nod then turned on his heels without saying another word, and headed towards the far end of the main chamber. Lusam noticed a brief look of sympathy on Hershel’s face for Renn, but neither of them spoke a word as they all followed the High Priest.

They eventually passed through a large door at the far end of the main chamber and entered a long corridor. Lusam was relieved to see that only normal candles illuminated this part of the High Temple, instead of the magically powered lights that adorned the main chamber. As they walked down the long corridor they could clearly hear children’s voices and laughter coming from somewhere up ahead. Rebekah and Kayden were still holding Alexia’s hand, but the sounds of other children seemed to pique their interest somewhat. A moment later it became apparent that it was no coincidence the High Priest had chosen that particular route. He stopped outside the door of what they soon discovered was a classroom and knocked quietly, before opening the door.

“Good afternoon, Your Grace,” a woman greeted him, and her greeting was quickly echoed by all the children in the classroom.

“Good afternoon, Miss Hiroko… good afternoon, children,” he replied smiling at them all.

“Is there something I can help you with, Your Grace?” Miss Hiroko asked curiously.

“Yes, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if our two young guests here took part in your class this afternoon, while I discuss some important matters with their friends.”

“No, I don’t want to. I want to stay with Alexia,” Kayden said hugging her leg tightly.

“It’s okay, Kayden, it’s only for a short while. I promise I’ll come back for you very soon. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time with all the other boys and girls here,” Alexia said trying to reassure him.

“We were just about to have some cake and milk if you would like to join us,” Miss Hiroko said, holding out a plate of delicious looking cake.

“Do you promise to come back for us later?” Rebekah said quietly to Alexia.

“Yes, of course I do Rebekah. You two go and eat some of that yummy cake and have some fun while we talk about all the boring stuff,” Alexia replied winking at her. “Maybe Kayden could show Miss Hiroko how he makes his wooden spinning top move, I’m sure she would like that.”

“Oh, I would like to see that very much, Kayden. Could you show me, please?” Miss Hiroko said enthusiastically. It was the perfect distraction for Kayden, he was inside the classroom demonstrating his spinning top even before Alexia had the chance to say goodbye to him. Rebekah on the other hand was far less enthusiastic about it, giving Alexia such a sad look when she bid her farewell that it almost brought her to tears. At first Alexia felt angry that the High Priest had decided to do what he had done without discussing the matter first with her or one of the others, but when she thought about it more, she realised the less Rebekah and Kayden knew about Lusam and the Guardian books, the less danger they would ultimately be in.

The High Priest led them further down the same corridor, which eventually opened up into a large circular room. Five more corridors led away from the room, each one equally spaced around its perimeter, but it was what Lusam saw in the centre of the room which caught his attention the most. In the middle of the room was a large round table with five chairs, three of which were currently being used by men dressed in priest’s robes. On the table in front of each man was what appeared to be a glowing gemstone. Each one was the size of a large apple, and each one glowing to their touch. The two unoccupied places also had gemstones set into the table, but neither of those two were glowing like the others, at least not until Lusam looked at them using his mage-sight, then he had to shield his eyes from the intensity of their blinding light. He instantly recognised them as much smaller versions of the huge floating gem outside the High Temple. The light they emitted seemed very familiar to Lusam, and it took him a moment to realise why. They didn’t glow like Renn’s blessed sword or Alexia’s bow to his mage-sight, instead they reminded Lusam of a person’s aura: a very powerful aura.