Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three

by Dean Cadman

  Alexia awoke not long after, and propped herself up against the ship’s rail. She certainly looked better than she had during the voyage, but she was still very pale.

  “How are you feeling?” Neala asked.

  “I’ve been better,” Alexia replied, stretching out her back. “Where are we?”

  “Captain Waylon found us a nice sheltered cove to spend the night in,” Lusam replied.

  “Thank Aysha for that,” Alexia half-whispered to herself, rubbing her eyes and attempting to stand. She almost ended up back on the floor in a heap, but managed to steady herself in time. “It feels like the damn ship is still moving around under my feet, even though it’s not.”

  Renn laughed. “Yes, your mind gets used to the movement of the ship, and when it stops, it takes a while to adjust again. You’ll notice it even when we’re on solid ground I’m afraid.”

  “Oh Gods. I never want to travel by ship ever again,” Alexia stated flatly, making the others chuckle at her words.

  “I know you probably don’t feel like it, but you really should eat something, Alexia,” Renn said. Alexia responded by putting her hand over her mouth and shaking her head, whilst turning a lighter shade of grey. Neala handed her a waterskin so she could at least have a drink of water, then went back to their supply bag to find the rest of them some food. She soon discovered that all they had left was a small piece of dried travel bread, and some smoked sausage—nowhere near enough for the four of them to share as a meal.

  “Hmm, I think we have a small problem,” Neala said over her shoulder.

  “What’s that?” Lusam replied.

  “We don’t seem to have enough food left for our trip,” she said, holding out the two remaining morsels of food for the others to see.

  “That’s not good, I’m starving,” Lusam said, standing up rubbing his stomach.

  “You’re always starving, so there’s nothing new there,” Neala replied rolling her eyes at him.

  “I’m sorry, I should have remembered to get us some more supplies when we reached The Serpent Isles. With everything that was happening aboard ship I completely forgot,” Renn said.

  “It’s not your fault, Renn. We all knew we had only five days’ worth of food when we left Fairport, so we all should have remembered to restock,” Neala replied.

  “We’ll be fine, I can catch us some fish,” Lusam offered.

  “How are you going to attract the fish without any bait?” Neala asked, curious if he could attract the fish like he had the other animals in the forest near Helveel.

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Lusam replied grinning, “we just give Alexia that bread and sausage to eat, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of bait a few seconds later.”

  Alexia tried to respond, but couldn’t because of her dry retching.

  “Oh! You’re really going to pay for that one later,” Neala said, stifling a laugh of her own.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  The entire crew were up well before first light preparing the Pelorus for her onward journey, and by the time the sun began to rise, they were already underway. Lusam had managed to catch several good sized fish the previous evening and cook them using his magic—and, without any of the crew even noticing. After eating nothing but travel rations for most of the previous week, the freshly cooked fish had tasted truly delicious. And after recovering her appetite, even Alexia had asked for a second helping. Lusam was, however, far less enthusiastic about the prospect of having to eat it for breakfast the following day, and did little more than pick at it. Alexia refused it altogether, most likely knowing she would be seeing it again very soon if she did eat any. Fortunately, the sea was much calmer than it had been the previous day, and the wind had also eased somewhat. The sun felt warmer on their skin today, and they dozed away the early part of the morning together on the aft deck.

  Lusam and the others were rudely awoken by loud shouts coming from the rigging high above, and what sounded like a large wave breaking over a rock close to the ship. Renn was the first up to see what all the commotion was about, closely followed by Neala. He expected to see the ship had strayed too close to the rocks, but what he saw instead, was far worse. In the distance, directly off the port side, was an Empire ship. The noise they had heard wasn’t waves breaking over rocks, but instead, huge fireballs missing their intended target, and hitting the sea close to their ship.

  “Lusam! Get up, lad!” Renn shouted, removing his shield and trying to intercept one of the magical-missiles, but failing. It exploded through the upper deck close to where they were now standing, and out through the side of the ship, ending its flight in the sea with a loud splash and hissing sound. The ship rocked violently, and shards of wood showered the upper and lower decks. Lusam immediately erected a force-field around the side of the ship facing the enemy vessel, but not before another fireball found its target, thankfully only damaging the forward starboard rail. Men soon appeared with buckets of water to dowse the flames caused by the two impacts and assess the damage.

  Captain Waylon had appeared on deck as soon as the first calls went up, ordering his men to set more sails and increase their speed to maximum. The Empire ship was coming at them directly from the east, trapping the Pelorus between it, and the cliffs to their west. The only direction his ship could turn was to the east—away from the cliffs—but that would put them on a direct intercept course with the Empire vessel. His only option was to try and outrun them south, and he knew that was never going to happen. This time he had gambled with his, and his crew’s lives—and lost again.

  “Renn, we need to get the captain to turn the ship towards them. There’s no point me wasting my energy shielding the whole length of the ship, when I can protect us just as effectively by shielding only the front. And, it will give them a much smaller target to hit once they’re within range to hit us with any kind of accuracy,” Lusam said, watching the enemy ship as it came ever closer. So far the Empire ship had been sending magical-missiles their way without any real accuracy, most landing harmlessly in the sea around their ship, But Lusam knew it wouldn’t take them long to come within range for a much more focused attack. All the Captain was doing right now, was delaying the inevitable by trying to outrun them.

  “I suggest we both go speak with him, lad. He’s not likely to listen to me, especially if you’re not there to convince him otherwise,” Renn replied. Lusam nodded, and within seconds they were on the main deck approaching the Captain.

  “Captain,” Renn shouted. The Captain glanced his way, but ignored his call, continuing to issue orders to his men.

  “Captain Waylon,” Renn repeated.

  “I’m a little busy right now. If you haven’t noticed we’re under attack!” Captain Waylon said angrily.

  “You need to turn the ship towards them,” Renn said, ignoring his tone.

  “Are you crazy? This isn’t a war ship, you know! We don’t even have any weapons onboard to fight with. Not that we would get close enough to use them, even if we did,” Captain Waylon spat at Renn.

  “Actually, yes, we do have a weapon onboard. And it’s quite possibly the most powerful weapon in Afaraon, Captain,” Renn replied with a smug grin.

  The Captain laughed mirthlessly. “I’ve heard about your blessed weapons before paladin, but what use is a sword going to be against a ship full of magi?”

  “I wasn’t referring to my weapon, Captain,” Renn replied, putting his hand on Lusam’s shoulder. “This is our weapon, right here. And the very reason we are travelling to Lamuria in the first place. He may very well turn the tide of this war for us, Captain.”

  “A boy! What can he possibly do against that?” Captain Waylon said pointing towards the Empire ship. Lusam raised his right hand in front of himself, and created a fireball in the palm of his hand the size of a man’s head. The Captain’s eyes went wide at the sight, and he took an involuntary step back in shock.

  “Turn the ship Captain, and I’ll show you what I can do about that,” Lusam said no
dding towards the enemy ship, which had now started to turn towards a parallel course, so it could fire more accurately at the Pelorus. The Captain seemed to be too shocked to move, and it wasn’t until Lusam had extinguished his fireball that he seemed to fully come back to himself.

  He looked at Lusam for a moment, before shouting his new orders to his crew. “Helmsman, hard to port. Set an intercept course,” he bellowed.

  “Captain?” came back a questioning call from his helmsman.

  “Just do it. That’s an order!” Captain Waylon yelled.

  “Aye, Captain. Hard to port,” came the helmsman’s reply.

  “I hope you’re right,” Captain Waylon said to Renn, but remained staring at Lusam. Renn just smiled at the captain and nodded.

  Lusam quickly made his way to the bow of the ship, with Neala, Alexia and Renn following close behind. The two ships were still about a mile apart, and the Pelorus was now heading straight for the Empire ship. Lusam slipped into his mage-sight and was shocked by what he saw. There were at least a hundred magi aboard the enemy vessel. Their collective aura burned like a crimson flame across the full width of the enemy vessel’s deck. He could easily pick out the most powerful mage aboard, and from what Renn had already told him about Empire hierarchy, deduced that he would most likely be their leader. He could clearly see the enemy lined up on the deck ready to fire at the Pelorus, waiting until they thought they could swifty destroy it.

  “Renn, there must be at least a hundred men on board that ship,” Lusam said quietly.

  Renn whistled. “That’s a lot of fire-power, lad, are you sure you can handle it?” he asked, noticing the number of auras himself, and sounding slightly concerned. Then the assault began. Lusam raised his shield to protect the Pelorus, but didn’t return fire. Lusam staggered slightly as over a thirty missiles impacted on his shield.

  “Why don’t you fire back?” Neala asked, also sounding a little worried.

  “There’s over a hundred men on board that ship,” Lusam repeated, as if that was an answer to any of their questions. He knew he could easily destroy the ship. But it wasn’t just a ship, it was a ship with over a hundred men aboard, and he didn’t know if he could kill all those men and live with his conscience afterwards. There was a slight pause in the assault after their initial volley. No doubt the Empire magi were trying to figure out why their missiles had been blocked, when there was apparently no mage aboard to stop them. That gave Lusam an idea. Maybe he could convince them to leave by revealing his true strength to them.

  Lusam sent a single missile directly at the man he judged to be their leader. He didn’t intend for it to kill the man, only to shock him by its strength. He had judged how much power to put into the missile by the strength of the man’s aura—he hoped he hadn’t overestimated the man’s magical ability. At the same time Lusam loosed his missile, another volley erupted from the enemy vessel, this time all heading directly towards him. They had obviously seen him create his own missile, and now knew exactly who was responsible for shielding the ship. It actually made it easier for Lusam to defend against, as he could reduce the overall size of his shield due to the concentrated fire. Lusam took the impacts again, staggering at the increased power the magi had put behind them this time.

  “Lusam, what are you doing, lad?” Renn asked frantically.

  “I can’t just kill all those men—I just can’t,” Lusam replied, regaining his footing. Lusam watched as his missile found its target. Then he felt the unmistakable death-pulse of three magi, as did Renn standing by his side. At first Lusam thought he had overestimated the power he had put into his magical-missile and killed the man outright, as well as two others that must have been close by when his shield had failed. But when he looked again, their leader was getting back to his feet, as were a dozen more men scattered across the deck. It all started to make sense when he remembered what Renn had told him, of how the Empire agents shared their magical power through their Necromatic rings. The sudden massive strike on their leader’s shield, must have completely drained two of his underlings, killing them instantly.

  Lusam thought his plan had worked, as no more missiles came from the enemy vessel for more than a minute after he had struck their leader. Then they suddenly started again. This time with even more power behind them. ‘What’s wrong with these people?’ Lusam thought to himself, as he braced himself for the incoming missiles. Again he staggered as they impacted heavily on his shield.

  “What’s wrong with you, lad? Finish them!” Renn half-shouted at Lusam.

  Lusam ignored him, and instead fully lowered the shutter around his aura. His aura was so bright, Renn had to shield his own eyes, and even the attacks from the Empire ship ceased, as they stood on their deck open-mouthed at the sight before them.

  “Listen to me, lad. I understand what you’re trying to do here. I really do. But making them run away will not help anyone in the long term. Either they will call for more support, or simply wait until the Pelorus is on her homeward journey before destroying her. And even if that didn’t happen, where do you suppose they were heading before they spotted us? Lamuria of course. If you don’t finish them off now, you’ll only allow them to kill more innocent people later, whether it’s the crew of this ship, another ship, or even innocent women and children as they carve their way to Lamuria,” Renn said passionately. Lusam knew he was right, but how could it ever be right to kill so many people. He knew for certain that the men aboard that ship would kill everyone they came across if he didn’t stop them, and so he also knew at that moment he had to stop them, no matter what it cost him personally. Lusam turned to face Renn, and with misty eyes, nodded that he understood what he must do.

  Even though Lusam knew these men were his enemy, and worshipped Aamon not Aysha, he still said a silent prayer for their souls as he prepared to do what must be done; something he would have considered unthinkable only a few short minutes earlier. He shuttered his aura once more, and summoned a powerful ball of flame in his right hand, before letting it fly in the direction of the same man he had hit earlier, quickly followed by two others. The two ships were much closer to each other now, and it left little chance for the man to dodge his fate. The first one struck cleanly, killing at least fifteen of his underlings, as he drew magic from them into his own shield to survive. He managed to dodge the second one, but it still took down three of his men who were unfortunate enough to be standing in the line of fire. The third and final missile also found its target, sealing the fate of every man aboard the enemy vessel, including their leader.

  The only men who remained, were the crew of the ship, who were now frantically trying to retreat. Lusam was numbed by feeling so many death-pulses. Never before had he felt death so intensely. He knew he couldn’t allow the ship to remain afloat and retreat back to the Empire, only to bring more of its evil to the shores of Afaraon. He had no desire to kill the men aboard however, as they posed little threat to anyone, even if they did manage to swim back to shore. The two ships were now less than a hundred paces apart, and the helmsman aboard the Pelorus had already adjusted their course so they didn’t collide with the enemy ship. Lusam reached for the sea between the two ships with his mind, and isolated a narrow column of water. He encased the water within a force-field and instantly froze its contents, creating a long blade-like structure twice as high as the enemy ship, and twice as long as the ship was wide. The newly formed ice-blade desperately wanted to escape his grasp and shoot to the surface by itself, but Lusam still gave it a strong push of his own to help it on its way. The giant shard of ice broke through the surface of the sea, cutting the enemy ship cleanly in half, scattering men, bodies and timber from the enemy ship over a large area. The two halves of the ship quickly sank, leaving only the flotsam of what once was. The giant ice-blade was the only refuge for the few men who had survived, but even that began to melt rapidly in the relatively warm waters.

  Neala could tell what it had just cost Lusam to kill all those men, and she kne
w there was nothing she could say that would make him feel any different, so she simply hugged him tightly, and reminded him that she still loved him. Renn only gave his shoulder a squeeze, but remained silent, and even Alexia chose not to try and lighten the mood with any of her jokes or jibes. The absolute stillness aboard ship was palpable. Not a soul moved on deck, not a sound made, or an order issued. It was as if they were suddenly afloat a ghost ship.

  Lusam eventually broke their embrace, realising himself there was something amiss with the crew. He reached for Neala’s hand, intending to return to the aft deck to seek out some much needed solitude, but when he turned around, he found every member of the crew frozen to the spot with a complete look of awe on their faces. Then as one, a huge cheer went up, and men started scurrying like ants towards him to congratulate him for his destruction of the enemy ship. They surrounded him in seconds, lifting him off the deck onto their shoulders, and forcing him to release Neala’s hand. At first Lusam tried to resist the praise and attention of the men, but their overwhelming jubilant mood was infectious, even to him, and he found himself smiling at their obvious relieved joy. The celebrations continued for several more minutes, until Captain Waylon joined them on the fore deck, at which point the men quietened a little, and returned Lusam back to his feet in front of the Captain. The Captain smiled and held out his hand to Lusam, who took it in return.

  “Thank you,” The Captain said, shaking his hand firmly. Lusam nodded to the captain, not sure he was ready for words just yet, and the men cheered loudly again, but thankfully left him on his own two feet this time. Lusam couldn’t help thinking about how many men, just like these, must have lost their lives, and how many ships had been destroyed lately by the Empire ships in this area. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the precise numbers, but he knew from what he had heard that it must be in the hundreds, if not thousands.