Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Two

by Cadman, Dean

  “Ow!” Neala said, holding her ribs with one hand, and her forehead with the other. “What did you do that for?” Skelly leapt on top of her, driving his knee into her ribs at the exact point where the pain was at its worst. Neala gasped, and almost blacked out with the sudden excruciating pain, not even noticing the blade now held against her throat.

  “You're lucky I don't kill you right here and now for what you did,” Skelly said, with true venom in his voice. Neala was about to deny any knowledge of what she had done, but before she could, Skelly pressed his knife harder against her throat to silence her. “Don't bother denying it girl, I've already found the evidence in the bottom of my waterskin. Looks like you weren't as thorough as you thought when you tried to wash away all signs of the poison. I have to say though, I underestimated you girl, you're smarter than you look, but it won't happen again, you can count on that. Now get up!” he said standing up himself, but not before giving her one last dose of pain in her ribs with his knee as he did so. Struggling to stand up, she was suddenly and violently dragged to her feet by her hair, and thrown towards her horse, pain once again exploding throughout her head and body. She mounted her horse without a word, and was roughly retied upright in her saddle, before he returned to his horse, and they resumed riding south towards Stelgad.

  Neala knew asking Skelly any questions about their whereabouts, or how long she had been unconscious, would only result in more pain for her, or at best, be met with stony silence. She had only travelled this road once before on her way to Helveel, but she was sure the forest off to their right was The Forest of Dannar, and if she was correct, that would mean she had been unconscious for at least a full day, maybe more. She remembered travelling alongside the forest for about three days during her tip to Helveel, so depending on how long from this point it took to pass it, she could then work out more accurately how long she had been unconscious.

  She didn't have to wait that long however, because an hour later they entered a small village she recognised from her previous journey. Unfortunately it was further along the road than she had earlier estimated, putting the time she had been unconscious closer to two days, not one. Renn stopped the horses outside a small provisions store, and tied them securely to the post outside where they could drink freely from the water trough, then entered the store. A few of the locals gave her some strange looks, but none of them enquired as to why she had been tied to the horse, they simply ignored her and went about their daily business.

  It wasn't long before Skelly emerged from the store carrying two new waterskins, and a packet of what Neala guessed would be travel rations. He filled both waterskins at the pump used for watering the horses, then he fastened one of them to his saddle, before approaching Neala's horse with the other. He untied her hands and gave her the waterskin, which she gladly took to quench her raging thirst.

  “Thanks,” Neala said, genuinely grateful for the water, and taking the longest drink she could ever remember in her life, almost draining the whole waterskin. After she handed the waterskin back to Skelly, and he had retied her hands, she was relieved to see him refill it once more at the pump, before attaching it to her saddle.

  As they left the small village behind, Neala couldn't help wondering if she had managed to give Lusam the extra time he would need to arrive at Stelgad in time to save her, or if she should have taken the much greater risk, and tried to kill Skelly outright with more poison in his water instead. She decided there was no point second guessing herself, she would find out soon enough what fate held in store for her.

  ***

  Zedd awoke to the smell of meat cooking, and the sounds of wood cracking in an open fire. It took him a while to focus on his surroundings, but when he did, he could see he was inside some kind of cave, or cavern. The entrance was half blocked by a large boulder, and there was a small fire near the opening. He pushed himself fully upright into a sitting position, gritting his teeth against the searing pain behind his eyes, unable to fully look at the daylight flooding the entrance of the cave. Through half-closed eyes he noticed a shadow appear in the cave mouth, silhouetted against the bright sunlight beyond.

  “Ah, you're awake at last, sire. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever wake up,” Cole said, dropping a pile of wood he had collected next to the fire.

  “What happened to me, why are we in this cave?” Zedd asked, confused as to what was going on.

  “I really don't know sire. One moment you were happily relaying the information to me, of what was happening during the battle between the boy and the Vesdari, and the next you screamed out-loud clutching your head, and then fell to the ground unconscious. I tried to wake you for a long time, but I couldn't. It was almost dark when I found this cave. I carried you inside, and sealed the entrance with that large boulder, just before the creatures emerged outside. I didn't think the creatures could reach the surface through the rock floor inside the cave, but just in case I was wrong, I drew a magic circle on the floor, just to be safe,” Cole said, pride evident in his voice.

  Zedd slowly absorbed the information he had just been given, and tried to remember what had happened during the battle. He remembered the boy had been almost fully drained by the Vesdari, then the Paladin had shown up to save him, striking the creature with his sword, and keeping it away from the boy. He had even felt some pain himself as the sword struck the Vesdari. He remembered at the time thinking that it was strange, but put it down to the magical connection he shared with the creature. The last thing he could remember seeing, was the creature lunging at the boy for its final attack, only to be pinned to the ground by the paladin's sword. The paladin then jammed what looked like a shield between his sword and the creature, causing a huge power surge, followed by an incredible pain behind Zedd's own eyes, causing him to black out. The next thing he knew, he woke here, in this cave.

  “Did you hear an explosion?” Zedd asked, almost sure he knew the answer already.

  “Yes sire, I heard a huge explosion come from the south, shortly after you collapsed. I guessed it was the Vesdari reaching the limit of its magic absorption and exploding.”

  “I think you're right, but I'm not sure it fully completed its mission,” Zedd replied.

  “I doubt very much anyone could have survived that explosion, sire, not even the boy mage, or a paladin of Aysha,” Cole said confidently.

  “I'm not so sure of that.... either way we will need proof. You did well finding us a safe-haven to recover Cole, it will be at least a day before I am able to resume our mission, but we must know if the boy mage still lives or not in the meantime. Tonight, just before sunset, when they are close to the surface, you will summon and take control of a Netherworld creature, then send it to the location of the battle to confirm whether the boy lives or not,” Zedd commanded. Cole instantly went from looking proud, to looking equally terrified at the prospect of summoning his own Netherworld creature, and having to control it.

  “Yes sire,” Cole replied nervously.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lusam and Renn had made good ground in the hour before darkness, and had found an easily defensible location for their camp at the base of a large rock formation, with only one open side to the forest. Lusam was eager to locate Neala using her enchanted knife again, and so he set to work casting his magic before full darkness fell, knowing his magic may attract unwanted attention after dark. He was very happy to find that they hadn't travelled as far as he had expected them to have, given the time that had elapsed since he had last checked their location. Maybe they would reach Stelgad in time to rescue Neala after all; he could only hope and pray that would be the case.

  They both talked about their incredible encounter with Aysha well into the night, mainly about the meaning of her strange words to Lusam just before she had vanished, and left them once again alone in the clearing. Neither of them could agree on exactly what she had meant, but both were sure they would find out in time. The night passed without a single creature approaching th
eir camp, and they both slept soundly for the first time in days.

  At first light they struck camp, eating a swift breakfast of fruit and nuts while on the move, determined to put as much distance between themselves and their pursuers as possible. They discovered a small stream not five hundred paces from where they had stopped the night before, so they refilled their waterskin with fresh water, and had a quick morning wash in the clean water, before resuming their journey south.

  It was a much more uneventful day than the previous few had been. The forest seemed to thin out a little, making the running much easier for them, and even the numerous game trails they followed seemed to be heading in the their direction for a change. For the first time in days, Lusam felt confident that he would reach Stelgad in time to rescue Neala from her grizzly fate at the hands of Shiva.

  Once again as darkness approached they began looking for a suitable camp-site, which they found with ample time left before the sun vanished completely over the horizon. They soon fell into what was fast becoming a well practised, and choreographed setting up process of a temporary camp, Lusam clearing debris from the sleeping area, and Renn making sure his sword was placed in the ground at the optimal distance from camp, before unpacking and eating any food they might have collected during the daytime. Neither of them really expected to see many, if any Netherworld creatures this far from the rift, but they made their preparations just in case. Lusam once again checked on the location of Neala, and found her to be where he expected her to be.

  “How much further to Stelgad?” Lusam asked. Renn thought about it for a moment before replying.

  “It's hard to say for sure, but we've travelled faster and further than I thought we would have done so far, so my best guess would be that Stelgad is only a day, maybe two away at the most.

  “We'll see the forest thin out gradually more and more as we approach Stelgad. Most of the loggers will only travel so far into the forest to cut the wood, half a day from Stelgad at most, but there are always a few who are willing to risk their necks for profit, so we will no doubt start seeing the evidence of loggers even sooner than that.”

  “Oh, that's better than I thought, I was expecting at least another three or four days running,” Lusam said enthusiastically.

  “When we first set off from Helveel I wasn't sure if you would be able to keep up with me, so, I over-estimated the days of travel to compensate a little, just in case, but you seem to have done just fine lad,” Renn said, with pride in his voice. “Thanks, I think...” Lusam replied, unsure if he'd just received a compliment, or Renn thought he was actually slowing him down. He supposed it didn't really matter now they would reach Stelgad in time to save Neala, so he settled down for the night, and dreamed happy thoughts about the girl he was on his way to rescue.

  ***

  Cole had thankfully managed to locate one of the weaker Netherworld creatures and bind it to his will, before sending it off to the battle scene to find out what the final outcome had been there. They had resealed themselves inside the cave for the night, and redrawn the magic circle to exclude the entrance of the cave, allowing Cole to control his creature from outside the circle. Even though he was pretty sure the creatures couldn't materialize through the solid rock floor, being outside the protection that the magic circle provided made him nervous.

  It was the first time Cole had ever tried to mentally control another creature, and the sensation of seeing through its eyes while it travelled so quickly along the ground made him feel queasy and unstable on his feet. Zedd had described the large river he had seen through the eyes of his Vesdari, and how he had eventually found a crossing downstream. The Aroichi Cole had found and bound to his will moved much faster than the Vesdari had done, covering the distance to the river in less than half the time.

  When he finally reached the crossing he started to struggle with control of the creature, when it resolutely refused to cross the water. It took him almost an hour to force the little creature across the makeshift bridge, but once it was across it soon made up for the lost time and arrived at the scene of the battle. What Cole saw shocked him; an area of at least five hundred paces in all directions had been completely devastated.

  “Wow!” he muttered under his breath.

  “What is it, what do you see?” Zedd asked from close behind, startling him a little, having temporarily forgotten he was actually standing in a cave, and not at the location he was seeing through the creature's eyes.

  “It looks like the explosion destroyed just about everything, sire,” Cole replied, still overawed at the scale of the destruction.

  “Can you see any bodies?” Zedd asked, becoming slightly irritated at having to ask the obvious question.

  “No, not yet sire, I'll start to search the area now, but they could have been thrown a fair distance in any direction by the explosion, I guess,” Cole replied.

  He began searching the area, using his creature's eyes to scan the ground for any evidence of bodies, or indeed, the even less likelihood of survivors. He had been searching for over half an hour, when something out of the ordinary caught his attention. Two large trees had been blown over on top of each other, forming a vee shape as they had fallen. Within the vee, stacked up against one of the tree trunks was a large pile of fruit and nuts; then he noticed the remains of a small camp-fire. His heart sank as he realised that at least one, and probably both of their quarry had survived, and now he would be forced to pursue them even deeper into this dreadful forest.

  “Sire, it looks like they must have survived the explosion. I can see evidence of a camp here, so at least one of them survived it,” Cole said.

  Zedd questioned him about the scene for several more minutes, before instructing him to release his hold over the creature; which quickly vanished into the forest making a loud hissing noise when he did. Zedd had thought about sending the creature after the boy and paladin, but he knew Cole couldn't travel and control the creature at the same time, so that only meant the gap between them would widen even further. He decided they should rest for the night, and then at first light set out after the boy once more. Hopefully the Vesdari had taken its toll on the boy to some degree, maybe slowing his pace a little, so they could close the gap between them faster.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lusam woke the next morning after another, thankfully, uneventful and peaceful night, still energised from the encounter with Aysha the previous day. They quickly ate the remains of the fruit and nuts Renn had left over, then struck camp, for what Lusam hoped would be the last time within this particular forest.

  They travelled swiftly through the ever thinning forest, but by late afternoon they had yet to see any evidence of logging, like Renn had said they might. Lusam started to feel a little disheartened that they may need yet another night in the forest, but just as he was beginning to resign himself to the idea, the first batch of felled trees suddenly appeared as they entered a small clearing.

  “I guess we're not far from Stelgad now,” Lusam said, pointing towards the cut tree stumps.

  “Yes, I'm sure we will be there this time tomorrow,” Renn replied.

  “Tomorrow! Surely we can make it by dark tonight if we keep running, can't we?” Lusam asked hopefully.

  “Not necessarily. It depends how far the loggers were prepared to travel into the forest to cut these large trees. We could still be a full day away, or more,” Renn replied.

  “These loggers you're talking about, I'm guessing they wouldn't want to spend more than a night in this forest at most. So, even if it took them a day to get here and cut the trees, they would return back the following day, and that's still risking their necks, right?”

  “Yes, I'd say one night in the forest would be their limit, if they wanted to keep breathing that is, but there are always crazy people out there willing to do crazy things for money, so who knows for sure?” Renn said.

  “Okay, so let's assume my theory is correct, and these logged trees are only one day from Stelgad
, then, if the loggers while carrying all of their equipment could make it here in one day walking, and still leave themselves enough time to cut the trees, I'm sure we could make it out of this forest by nightfall, if we started running now,” Lusam said, hoping he could convince Renn with his logic. Renn gave some thought to what Lusam had just said, then replied,

  “Maybe you're right, or maybe you're wrong, I don't know, but I do know that it's not worth risking our lives over a theory. I say we stick to our normal routine. We run as far as we can until the sun starts to set, then look for a suitable camp-site for the night. I know what you're thinking lad; we haven't seen any creatures for the past two nights, so we shouldn't see any tonight. Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. At this side of the river there are always Netherworld creatures roaming around at night, we've just been lucky the last couple of nights, that’s all.” Lusam knew he was right; risking their lives when they were so close to rescuing Neala was crazy, and besides, he knew they were at least a day ahead of Neala and her captor, so there was no point taking any unnecessary risks.

  “Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, I was just a bit too eager to get out of this forest that's all.”

  “That makes two of us lad, I'm none too keen on it myself,” Renn said laughing. “Come on lad, let's get moving, who knows, we might make it out of this forest before nightfall yet.”

  By the time the sun had started to set, they had been running through a completely different type of forest for hours. Not a forest of old mature trees like they had been running through for the past few days, but a forest of much younger trees and saplings, interspersed with grassy clearings, and evidence of long-ago cut tree stumps. When they had first come across the change in the forest, Lusam had once again been full of optimism that they would exit the forest before nightfall, but that wasn't to be, and they found themselves making camp once again for the night.