by Dean Cadman
Zedd realised too late the implications of the paladin seeing where they were, as another volley of arrows emerged from below the cliff-tops to claim another six of his men’s lives. Zedd roared in anger and frustration. He didn’t care about the men’s lives, but he wouldn’t be denied his victory by a single girl. Again, he ordered his men to retreat another hundred paces. He decided he would collapse a section of the cliff on top of her, but first he needed to know exactly where she was.
“You!” Zedd commanded, pointing to a man at the front. He came running over to stand in front of Zedd.
“Yes, sir?” the man replied standing to attention.
“Go take a look over the edge of the cliff-top and see where those arrows are coming from.”
“Yes, sir,” the man repeated, and set off towards the edge of the cliff-tops. Once he was close enough to the edge, he dropped down to his hands and knees and peered over at the enemy below. It was the last thing he ever did. A heartbeat later his death-pulse was felt by all, and he slumped to the ground where he was, never to move again.
Zedd turned back towards his army and pointed to another man. “You! Go take a look,” he said. The man’s face visibly paled, and he hesitated a moment too long for Zedd’s liking. Zedd reached towards the man’s Necromatic ring with his mind, and drained every drop of magic from the man instantly. He dropped like a sack of coal to the ground, and his death-pulse was felt by all on the cliff-top.
Zedd knew that if he was to gain the men’s unquestioning loyalty, he had to show them that he could not be trifled with. Sure enough, the next man Zedd pointed to carried out his orders without hesitation. He reached the edge of the cliff and peered over the edge, then he turned and started to run a zigzag course back towards Zedd’s position. Everyone watched in utter astonishment as a glowing arrow crested the cliff-top, then followed the man’s zigzag retreat precisely, before striking him cleanly through the heart from behind. The man stood still for a moment looking down at the arrow protruding from his chest, then looked up at Zedd in sheer bewilderment, before finally falling forward. His death-pulse was felt before he even hit the floor.
Zedd was beginning to become more and more infuriated by the unfolding events, and he had to remind himself that he had already won this battle. The city’s shield had already been destroyed, as had most of the southern part of Lamuria. There was no longer any reason to engage this female paladin at the bottom of the cliffs on her terms. Soon the gates of the city would be breached, or they would simply destroy the wall and enter that way. Either way, Zedd and his men would soon be making their way into the valley bottom to claim the city, and they could deal with the paladins then.
Regardless that he no longer felt it necessary to check the position of the female paladin, Zedd still contemplated sending Vintenar Nahau to take a look, but decided against it. Instead, he would let him live, knowing that every day of his life he would be reminded of how Zedd had stolen this victory away from his friend Baliaeter Varorde. It would be Zedd’s name that was remembered throughout history, not Baliaeter Varorde’s, and certainly not Vintenar Nahau’s.
Zedd was already aware that the only way down to Lamuria was at the far end of the valley. He knew there were several single file tracks leading down into the valley at his end, but they would leave his men extremely exposed to attack, and it would take far too long to get them all down into the valley below. The problem was, since Baliaeter Varorde had ordered all of the undead-minions to attack the city gates, it had also had the added effect of concentrating all of the paladins towards that end of the valley too.
After a moment he realised there might be a way to potentially solve three problems at once. If he recalled all of the undead to attack the paladins at the base of the cliff, then they began to attack the wall again once the paladins were dead, it would draw the other paladins towards his end of the valley. That would hopefully take them away from both the city gates, and the road leading down into the valley. Once the paladins had taken the bait, he could leave several hundred of his men in full view to keep the paladins busy, while he secretly took the rest of his force and circled around to the north end of the valley. If his plan succeeded, they would emerge undetected at the far end of the valley with an almost unrestricted path to the city gates. A few well placed magical-missiles and the gates would yield without much of a problem now the city’s shield was down. More importantly, if they caught the paladins unaware, and launched a sudden massive attack from their rear, they could devastate their numbers before they even knew what had hit them.
Zedd issued his new orders, recalling all of the undead army to attack the paladins at the base of the cliff, then he patiently waited for them to arrive. He left his own undead-minions at the far end of the valley, as well as Cole’s, making sure he would have them as additional protection when he arrived there later.
The undead army had not made it halfway across the valley floor, before a bright flash in the sky caught Zedd’s attention. His jaw hung slack at the sight before him. Where there had been only empty sky above the Deceiver’s High Temple a moment earlier, now there was a giant glowing crystal. It hovered motionless in the sky, pulsing with a bright blue light against the late afternoon sky.
Zedd formed a small fireball in his right hand, and sent it towards the strange object in the sky. He watched as it arced through the air towards the strange object in the sky, then gasped loudly when his missile impacted harmlessly on the city’s invisible shield.
“No!” he screamed at the sky. Filled with rage he ordered every magi to open fire of the city’s shield. Then he watched open-mouthed as a single figure emerged from within the Deceiver’s High Temple, one with an aura so bright it was impossible to look directly at it. He knew instantly it was the boy-mage, and he also knew it was time to leave.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Lusam emerged from the High Temple into the late afternoon sun. He no longer shuttered away his aura from view, but instead, he let the full power of it be seen by all. The new magical knowledge the Guardian book had imbued him with, had now become much clearer to him. He knew the Empire magi no longer posed a threat to him or the city, and he wanted to give them every opportunity to retreat by revealing his true magical strength to them. Even though he knew they almost certainly wouldn’t.
Lusam could feel the pulse of the city’s power source above him now, and when he looked up, he was surprised to see it glowing incredibly brightly, not only to his mage-sight, but also to his regular sight.
As he walked towards the city wall, the utter devastation the Empire magi had wreaked on the southern part of Lamuria became evident. Everything had been destroyed. Not a single building or structure remained standing. He scanned the remains of the buildings with his mage-sight for any signs of life, but found none.
Lusam levitated himself onto the top of the city wall in full view of the Empire magi above. He could see the thousands of undead on the battlefield below him, all connected to their masters on the cliff-tops above by a thin strand-of-power. Instantly he knew the reason why necromancy had never been used during the Dragon-Mage Wars. He remembered how Renn had told him that the vile art of necromancy had been created by the dark God Aamon, and how it had been used before the Great Rift had been torn open to raise vast undead armies. But after the Guardians had been created, it suddenly vanished from use again. It was not used again until much later in the Empire’s history, long after the Guardians had vanished from the world. The reason for this was now glaringly obvious to Lusam; necromancy had an inherently fatal flaw. A flaw that left the users of it vulnerable and exposed to anyone powerful enough to detect and manipulate those tenuous magical connections.
Lusam quickly appraised the battlefield below. He could clearly see that most of the remaining paladins were towards the rear of the undead army, and pursuing them towards the base of the southern cliffs. Then he noticed a small group of about fifteen paladins trapped between the cliffs and the advancing undead ar
my. He watched as the undead army surrounded the paladins, forcing them into an ever tightening group behind their own shields. He immediately recognised two of the paladins as Alexia and Hershel, and breathed a sigh of relief at seeing them both still alive and well.
With a single thought, Lusam created a magical barrier around the group of stranded paladins, then expanded it explosively. The surrounding undead army were scattered across the battlefield like chaff to the wind. It only took the paladins a moment to notice Lusam standing on the city wall, and the cheer they gave was audible even to him. Lusam gently levitated the group of paladins within the safety of his magical barrier, and tightly skirted the base of the cliffs with them. He knew he would have to expose his magical barrier to the attacks of the Empire magi for a short period of time—while he crossed the open area between the base of the cliffs and the city wall—but he was not unduly concerned about it. Most of the Empire magi were already focusing their fire on his position, so when the group of paladins suddenly emerged from behind the cover of the cliffs, only a handful of missiles struck his magical barrier before he brought them within the safety of the city’s shield.
It saddened Lusam greatly that revealing his aura to the Empire magi had done little to dissuade their attack on Lamuria. He didn’t want to kill all those men, but they seemed to be leaving him with little choice. He simply knew he had to stop them. He said a silent prayer to Aysha, asking her for the strength to do what must be done, and for her to take the souls of the men he was about to kill into her care. He knew they didn’t worship Aysha, but they were still men—they were still her creation.
“Lusam!” Alexia called out excitedly as she sprinted up to him, closely followed by Hershel and the rest of his group.
“Please, tell us you have some good news,” Hershel said, looking a little worried.
Using his mage-sight, Lusam looked out over the battlefield at the tens of thousands of undead, all clearly linked to their masters above on the cliff-tops.
“Tell me Hershel, do the history books tell us why necromancy stopped being used after the Guardians were created?” Lusam asked quietly. Hershel thought for a moment before he replied.
“No, they don’t, only that the Guardian’s easily destroyed the undead armies of Aamon’s followers, but nobody knows for certain how they did it,” Hershel replied.
“I do,” Lusam said, stepping off the city wall.
Even before he had stepped outside the protection of the city’s shield, Lusam had already tapped into thousands of lines-of-power leading back to the magi on the cliff-tops. He levitated himself quickly to the valley floor below, absorbing the impact of hundreds of missiles as he did so. Once he became a stationary target, those numbers increased dramatically, but it was already too late for the Empire magi.
Lusam expanded his shield to make contact with thousands of the undead on the battlefield, and tapped directly into the tenuous connections they had with their masters on the cliff-tops above. He forced open those tiny power conduits, and drained the power directly from the Empire magi to feed his own magical shield. Every impact on his shield drained more and more power from the Empire magi above.
The first massive barrage of magical-missiles that struck his shield claimed the lives of hundreds of Empire magi. The death-pulses were so numerous and frequent, it was impossible to count them all. The undead fell in their thousands on the battlefield, as the connection to their masters ended with their deaths.
The paladins at the north end of the valley were no longer fighting, or even pursuing the undead. Instead, they watched in complete awe, as Lusam single handedly took on not one, but two armies simultaneously. The Empire magi had now massed their entire force of undead around Lusam, and no longer seemed interested in the paladins at all.
Lusam expanded his shield further and further, incorporating more and more of the undead into his web of power. As he did so, the power requirement to maintain the ever growing shield also increased, draining the Empire magi even more quickly than before. He watched, as thousands of lines-of-power winked out of existence, as the Empire magi died above him in greater and greater numbers.
The bombardment on Lusam’s shield suddenly lessened considerably, even though several thousand Empire magi still remained. He suspected their commander had called a ceasefire to try and determine why his men were dying in such large numbers. Even though Lusam had no desire to kill so many people, he knew he could not allow a force of that size to remain within Afaraon. If he did, the death and destruction they would cause would be incredible. Lusam also knew that if he allowed them to leave, they would simply return again in the future, and in even greater numbers to attack Lamuria. But more importantly, if they realised how they had been defeated—by using their own undead-minions against them—the next time might not be such a one-sided battle.
The lines-of-power linking the undead to the Empire magi were like a gigantic glittering spider’s web to Lusam’s mage-sight. Each strand criss-crossed each other as they made their way towards the cliff-tops above. He reached out with his new senses, searching each strand in turn, until he found the one he was looking for; the one that led to their commander. Lusam seized that delicate line-of-power and forced it wide open, then he turned to face the city behind him. He traced a second line-of-power to the city’s power crystal, and used himself to create a new link between the two. Then he began to let the power flow through him, slowly at first, then increasing its flow gradually, so as not to catch the Empire commander unawares and kill him.
Lusam levitated himself high above the height of the cliff-tops, so he could clearly see the Empire army below him. As he increased his power-drain on the Empire commander, he noticed hundreds of new lines-of-power materialise below him—each one linking the Empire commander to another man under his command, as he desperately tried to remain alive by taking their magic through his own Necromatic ring.
Hundreds of men fell where they stood, as they were completely drained of magic by their own commander. Lusam steadily increased the flow of magic, and channelled it all into the city’s power crystal. Lusam watched as hundreds and hundreds of auras winked out of existence below him, each quickly followed by a powerful death-pulse. The undead collapsed in their thousands on the battlefield below, as either their masters died, or they abandoned them to try and save themselves.
But nothing could save them now.
Less than five minutes later, and it was all over. Every Empire magi had been completely drained of their power, and every undead-minion stilled forever on the battlefield below. All, that is, apart from a handful of undead that remained at the opposite end of the valley. Lusam traced their tenuous lines-of-power off into the distance, where he saw two men fleeing in the opposite direction. He reached for the glittering lines-of-power—ready to drain the two remaining magi—but as he did so, they suddenly released their hold over their undead-minions, and the lines-of-power vanished. As Lusam watched them disappear over the crest of a hill, he felt certain he saw at least one other strong aura in the distance, but he couldn’t be sure.
Lusam couldn’t believe the number of corpses that littered the ground below him, both in the valley, and on the cliff-tops. It was a truly apocalyptic scene. Thousands upon thousands as far as the eye could see lay motionless on the ground. The feelings of guilt he felt were indescribable. It felt as if his insides were being torn out by some invisible force. How he could ever reconcile what he had just done—he had no idea. Then Aysha’s light suddenly washed over him, taking him from the depths of despair, to the heights of euphoria in less than a heartbeat.
“Despair not, my child. Know, what you have done here this day will save countless lives in the future. If you had failed, and the Great Rift to the Netherworld reopened, those men would have still perished, along with everyone else in this world,” Aysha’s voice said in his mind, her final words fading away to nothing.
Long after Aysha’s voice had faded from his mind, Lusam realised he was s
till levitating in mid-air, high above the valley floor. Slowly, he turned back towards the city, and was astonished by what he saw there. Thousands of people were now lining the streets, and all were looking directly at him. Not knowing what else to do, he calmly levitated himself back down towards the city’s wall, then onto the street below.
The utter silence of the crowd was truly palpable. Not a single person moved or spoke a word. Not a cough, sneeze or whisper was to he heard from any amongst them. Only the late afternoon breeze made any sounds whatsoever, as it blew gently through the trees that lined the city’s paved streets. Every eye of the crowd was unflinchingly locked onto Lusam, and it made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He couldn’t tell if they pitied him, or feared him. Then he heard the clanging of a metal gate in the distance, followed by a cacophony of excited voices. He was glad of the sudden distraction, as the crowd turned to face the direction from which the noise was coming.
Lusam’s heart jumped in his chest when he saw who it was. Heading up the street towards him were more than a hundred paladins, all led by Renn. Lusam was extremely relieved to see that Renn had survived the battle seemingly unscathed, but the one thing that filled his heart with joy more than anything else, was the incredible sight of Neala. She wasn’t walking with the paladins, she was being carried on their shoulders as they playfully jostled her around between them in celebration. It seemed she had suddenly become very popular amongst the paladins, and Lusam had to admit feeling more than a little jealous by all the attention she was receiving from the men.
As soon as she noticed Lusam watching her in the distance, she squealed and wriggled to be let down, then sprinted up the street towards him. She almost knocked him clean off his feet when she launched herself at him, and enveloped him in a tight hug. Lusam was sure she hadn’t even noticed the massive crowd silently watching their every move only a few paces away, but he wasn’t about to ruin the moment by pointing it out to her.