Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Four

by Dean Cadman

  Lusam really wanted to offer his help in moving the statues, but he didn’t want to cause the men any loss of earnings by doing so.

  “Am I right in thinking you have to move all of these?” Lusam asked, gesturing towards all of the statues lined up against the outer wall. Again, it was only the older man who replied, the others either nodded or remained frozen in place.

  “Aye, sir. We need to make a space between King Skylas and High Priest Chorken,” the man replied, pointing towards two of the statues in the centre of the line.

  “Won’t that take a long time?” Lusam asked.

  “Yeah, too long,” the teenage boy said without even turning to see who had asked the question. The older man and several of the others gave him a withering look, but it was one he never even noticed, as he continued to grease the floor between the statues.

  “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but who pays you for doing this?” Lusam asked. The teenage boy laughed loudly.

  “No one pays us,” he said, still not turning around to see who had asked.

  “Hold your tongue, boy!” the older man snapped at him.

  “Or what? You’ll fire me? You know as well as I do, we’ll all be out of work soon enough,” he said in a resigned voice.

  “I said hold your tongue! You’d do well to listen, boy, or you may find the King takes more than your livelihood,” the older man hissed at him.

  “The King? Why would the King take your livelihood?” Lusam asked.

  “Shall I tell him, or will you?” the boy asked defiantly.

  “Neither! Now attend to your given task, or go home boy.” The boy muttered something under his breath, but said nothing more.

  “So, why would the King take away your livelihoods?” Lusam asked the older man again.

  “Sir, we really must keep working,” he replied, ignoring the question and turning away from Lusam.

  “I’m no expert, but judging by the amount of work you still have to do here, and the amount of time you have left to do it, I doubt a few extra minutes speaking with me will make much of a difference. Or am I wrong?” Lusam asked, hoping he was somewhere near the mark. The man didn’t reply, but he didn’t deny Lusam’s observations either. It seemed the man didn’t want to incriminate himself or his men with the King, which was understandable, especially since Lusam knew just how far the King was willing to go to get whatever he wanted.

  “Okay, I understand you don’t wish to speak with me, just in case you cause yourself more trouble, but answer me this: when were you given this job to do?” Lusam said quietly. The older man kept his back to Lusam, but he reluctantly answered.

  “This morning,” he replied quietly. Lusam was stunned. He knew there was no possible way that anyone could complete the task in the allotted time. Either the King, or someone else at the palace had overlooked the task, and were now trying to bully these men into performing nothing short of a miracle. Or it had all been done intentionally to delay the statue unveiling ceremony even further. Either way, the end results would be the same: a longer delay before he could leave Lamuria and rescue his mother. And that was something Lusam simply would not accept.

  Lusam could clearly see the lines on the floor that the men had carefully chalked out. Each one an equal distance from its neighbouring line. If he moved all the statues from King Skylas’ one way, and all the others from High Priest Chorken’s the opposite way, a gap would open up in-between the two. A gap just large enough for one more statue: his.

  The first statue he had to move was the one the boy was still working beside. He reached out with his mind towards the giant piece of carved stone, taking hold of it in its entirety. He had no wish to hit the boy in the head with it as he moved it, so he levitated it well above him before manoeuvring it to the left. He almost lost his concentration and dropped it again, when he saw the look on the boy’s face. His mouth hung wide open as he watched the massive statue float directly above his head, and land gently on its marks at the other side of him. His mouth worked, but no words came out as he looked for the first time at Lusam. His eyes went wide as he recognised who he had been speaking to. It was incredibly lucky that Lusam had already put the statue down, or he would definitely have dropped it a moment later.

  The boy attempted to stand up, completely forgetting that he had just spent the past several minutes greasing the floor underneath himself. He ended up in a very painful looking splits position, with a look of complete shock on his face, and tears rolling down his cheeks. While he whimpered on the floor, his older colleagues roared with laughter at his expense, and Lusam couldn’t help but join in with them.

  It took almost ten minutes before everyone managed to stop laughing, and during that time, several curious acolytes tried to ask what was so amusing, but nobody was able to stop laughing long enough to answer them. Even the boy eventually saw the funny side of it—after he had stopped whimpering at the pain.

  In the end, it took Lusam less than fifteen minutes to move all of the statues to their new positions, and the men were extremely grateful to him. The older man’s name was Sokor, and he eventually told Lusam the full story behind what had happened. Apparently, one of the King’s aides had overlooked the need to rearrange the statues inside the High Temple, and had only given them the job to do that very morning. When Sokor informed the aide that it was impossible to do in the time he had allowed, he had threatened Sokor with ruin if he failed. The aide had guaranteed that Sokor and his men would never get another contract again in Lamuria, unless they completed the job on time. Although Lusam had been relieved to discover that it wasn’t another ploy of the King’s to delay the statue unveiling further, it only heightened his distrust and dislike of the political system in Lamuria.

  As planned, Lusam collected several books from the High Temple library, then made his way towards the Guardian book room. His route took him towards the rear of the High Temple, then through a familiar series of long stone corridors, before reaching a large oak door. The heavy oak door was securely locked, just as it had been when the High Priest had first taken him to the Guardian book room several weeks earlier. He reached for the locking mechanism with his mind, and with a single thought, the lock opened with a resounding click.

  He pushed open the heavy oak door, revealing the familiar wide stone staircase which led down into the darkness below. With another thought, he created a small light orb to hover just above his head, then he stepped through the opening, making sure to relock the heavy door behind him. He had no doubt that any spy intent on following him would have little trouble opening the basic lock on the door, but he didn’t intend to make it any easier for them than he had to.

  The wide stone staircase ended abruptly at the main chamber of the basement. Lusam increased the intensity of his light orb to reveal the full size of the immense room. It was even larger than the one in Mr Daffer’s basement in Helveel, but instead of having several corridors leading away from it, this room only had the one. Lusam had already seen the incredibly detailed picture of Irragin, painted on the ceiling high above his head. He had spent a short time marvelling at its beauty when the High Priest had first brought him here. But this time he found himself staring at it for an entirely different reason. He now knew it was where his mother was being held, and possibly tortured by Lord Zelroth. Suddenly, it didn’t seem so beautiful to him anymore.

  It ate at his insides, like nothing else he had ever known in his life before. To know that his mother was there, right now, and he himself so powerful, and yet still unable to do anything about it. It was bad enough to think of all the time she had endured there when he hadn’t known she still lived, but now—now it was unbearable. He said a silent prayer to Aysha for his mother, then made both himself and his mother a promise. He would make Lord Zelroth pay heavily for what he had done to her.

  It took more strength than he had imagined to move on from that image. He knew it was crazy, but it felt like he was abandoning his mother all over again by leaving it behi
nd in the dark. He had to remind himself that he needed to find enough gold to pay the Nauroe, to enable him to actually rescue her. So, with a heavy heart, he significantly reduced the light level of his orb and plunged the image back into darkness once more, then turned towards the long corridor which led to the Guardian book room.

  Opening the giant carved stone door was like second nature to him now. He didn’t even have to look for the five small indentations on the floor, ceiling and walls. He simply formed the image in his mind to connect all the points of the star, and let his power flow. The door made a slight grinding sound, as its slow opening process began. Once the gap was large enough for Lusam to pass through, he stepped across the threshold and into the small circular room beyond. The brilliant bright white light burst into life, illuminating the small round room.

  It took a moment for Lusam’s eyes to adjust to the strong light within the room, but when they did, he could clearly see that nothing had changed since the last time he had been there. The Guardian book sat on its pedestal, the name Transcendence glowing on its ornately bound cover. The two names still glowed bright green with power on the book pedestal: Absolution for Coldmont, and Freedom for Helveel. And the lines-of-power radiated out from those names, passing through the walls as if they weren’t even there.

  He placed the books which he was carrying on the floor next to the wall, and located the five small indentations within the room. He had never purposely locked himself inside any of the book rooms before, but knew that he must this time, just in case the King’s spy actually made it that far into the High Temple in pursuit of him.

  Lusam reached out with his mind once more, connecting all five of the indentations with a continuous line-of-power. The green shimmering line-of-power formed a perfect five pointed star, mirroring the one carved on the outside of the massive stone door. The door lurched, then made another slight grinding noise as it began to slowly close once more. Lusam could feel the vibrations through the soles of his boots, as the giant stone door finally closed with a solid thud.

  He knew the King’s spy would not be able to open the magical stone door, but he was still curious to see if anyone had indeed followed him down there. He slipped into his mage-sight and tried to see beyond the massive stone door, but no matter what he tried, he couldn’t see through it. He tried unsuccessfully for several minutes to defeat the magic that was protecting the stone door, but eventually he was forced to give up. He felt both relieved and reassured that even he hadn’t been able to penetrate the magical protections the Guardians had placed on the room.

  Turning towards the book pedestal, he located the word Freedom and its associated line-of power, then reached his hand towards it. The room flashed brightly before his eyes, and he began to feel the strange falling sensation as he travelled almost instantaneously to Helveel. A heartbeat later he saw another bright flash, the falling sensation abruptly stopped, and he found himself in an almost identical room to the one he had just left. The only differences were, there were no library books on the floor, and the names on the Guardian book and its pedestal were different. Everything else looked exactly the same.

  Lusam didn’t waste any time in opening the large stone door, and soon found himself in the familiar surroundings of Mr Daffer’s basement. He created another small light orb, and then headed straight for the main chamber. He wondered if the entity inside the wall could sense his presence there, then shuddered at remembering his brief, but traumatic contact with it. As he passed into the main chamber, he glanced at the wall using his mage-sight, wondering if it would look any different to him now, but it didn’t. All he saw were the same glowing words of the riddle he had seen before. He read the words out loud to himself, “The final five created five. The five creates one. And one you must possess to seek the five, and then become one.”

  Lusam pondered the words over and over in his mind, hoping that having read another Guardian book, they might now make sense to him, but they didn’t. The meaning of the first part seemed obvious to him: the final five Guardians created the five books. But he realised that the second part could have meant a great many things, none of which he came up with fit the remaining part of the riddle. He had to face the likelihood that he might never discover the true meaning behind the words. The only glimmer of a hope he could hold on to, was the fact that he still had to finish reading the ancient journal he had found there. Maybe, if he was lucky, there would be an entry explaining the meaning of the riddle—or most likely, not.

  Chapter Twelve

  Using his mage-sight at the top of the basement steps, Lusam watched Mr Daffer and Lucy inside the main shop for almost half an hour. Lucy was dusting the bookshelves, while Mr Daffer—between serving customers—was busy wrapping various books in brown paper to be sent out as deliveries later.

  Lusam couldn’t simply walk in and announce his presence there, as he would have to reveal how he had come to be in their basement in the first place. Neither Mr Daffer nor Lucy knew about the Guardian book room in their basement, and he needed to keep it that way, not only for their own safety, but for all of Afaraon’s. What he needed to do, was wait patiently until they left the main shop area. When he had an opportunity, he would rush through the shop to the main door and open it. Once they heard the door bell ring, they would come back into the shop and assume Lusam had entered from the street like everyone else. Or at least they would, if they ever gave him that opportunity.

  Ten minutes later Lucy finished dusting the rows of bookshelves and disappeared into the rear of the shop. Lusam thought Mr Daffer was never going to leave, until a moment later when Lucy called out to him, asking if he would like a cup of tea pouring. Thankfully he accepted, and he promptly retreated into the back room to meet up with his wife.

  Now was his chance.

  He tried the door handle, but found it was locked. A single thought and the lock clicked quietly open. He carefully opened the door, slipped out, and closed it gently behind himself, whilst always keeping an eye on Mr and Mrs Daffer in the rear of the building. He took large bounding strides on his toes towards the front door, making sure to make as little noise as possible, and breathed a sigh of relief when his hand finally reached the door handle. He quickly opened the door to activate the bell, then closed it once more as if he had just walked through it. A moment later Lucy appeared from the rear of the shop.

  “Lusam!” Lucy half-squealed in delight, as she ran across the shop floor to envelop him in a hug. “It’s so good to see you again. We were so worried about you when we heard the news.”

  “News… what news?” Lusam asked confused, but giving her a friendly hug back. She held him out at arm’s length and looked him up and down, as if inspecting him for injuries or imperfections.

  “We heard what happened in Lamuria. What you did there. Our Lusam, the great hero of Afaraon,” she said in a voice brimming with pride. Lusam had expected the news of what had happened in Lamuria to have reached far and wide by now. But he had no idea how Lucy and Mr Daffer had associated him with what had happened there. He had not planned on telling them what he had done in Lamuria, but there seemed little point in denying it now. He couldn’t help smiling back at her obvious pride in him, but also couldn’t help wondering just how many other people in Helveel would recognise him now. If they did, it would make collecting the gold far more difficult for him.

  “How did you find out?” Lusam asked curiously.

  “Oh my, the news was everywhere Lusam! Everyone was talking about it, in fact, they still are. At first we only heard what had happened there. That a young mage had defeated the entire Empire’s army and saved Lamuria from certain destruction. No one believed it at first, but as more and more trade resumed with Lamuria, and the same story kept being told, it became generally accepted as being the truth. Later, the names of the heroes were brought back to Helveel. The young mage that had defeated the magi army, and the girl who had held back the hordes of undead preventing them from gaining access to the city g
ates. The names people spoke of were Lusam and Neala. I just knew it was you Lusam,” Lucy said beaming with pride, as she placed a hand to his cheek.

  “Lusam!” Mr Daffer exclaimed, as he rushed over to greet him. He shook Lusam’s hand so vigorously, he thought he might lose it. “It’s good to see you safe and well.”

  “Thank you,” Lusam replied, a little overwhelmed by their greetings.

  “Where’s Neala and the others?” Lucy asked, as if suddenly realising Lusam was alone.

  “They’re still in Lamuria. I came by myself,” Lusam replied, thankful for the change of topic. “Renn is on a mission for the High Temple, and Alexia joined the paladins and is on her way to The Sanctum of Light in Stelgad.” Lusam paused, not knowing what to say about Neala. He could hardly tell them the truth about what she was actually doing in Lamuria, but he didn’t want to lie to them either.

  “Did Neala join the paladins too?” Lucy asked.

  “Yes.” Lusam found himself saying without thinking. Then he quickly added, “She’s on a mission too, so I had to come by myself.” There was more truth than not in his statement, but it still didn’t make him feel good about himself not telling them the whole truth. He realised that he should have had a much better cover story prepared before arriving, but knew it was too late now. He would have to improvise as best he could.

  “You look really tired, Lusam. Is everything alright?” Mr Daffer asked, looking closely at Lusam’s face. Lusam chuckled, and realised it was yet another thing he couldn’t tell them any details about.