Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (5 page)

Zedd awoke to the unmistakable magical pulse-of-power that follows the death of a mage, quickly followed by three more, and then a fourth moments later.

“SHIELDS!” Zedd shouted at the top of his lungs. All around him sleep-dazed men were scrambling for whatever cover they could find. Zedd saw several of his men return fire, aiming at what looked like several of the enemy fleeing up the mountain path, and disappearing from view once they crested a small ridge. One solitary figure remained. Zedd was about to check their aura, but it wasn’t necessary, as his identity was confirmed almost immediately by several incoming magical-missiles.

“Hold your fire!” Zedd commanded. Only moments later the magical-missiles impacted harmlessly on their shields. Zedd knew the boy-mage must be weak by now. It seemed that he too had realised he was becoming weaker day by day, and had decided to mount a challenge against Zedd and his men while he was still able to do so. Zedd instinctively slipped into his mage-sight, and was truly shocked by what he saw. The boy-mage had an aura more powerful than any he had ever seen before. He had no doubt that he would lose a one-on-one battle with this boy should it ever come to that. Fortunately he had fifteen men at his disposal, then he suddenly remembered, five had just been killed. Now he only had ten men. Anger coursed through him at the loss of a third of his men. Men he had ordered not to use their shields. ‘
It was a big loss of course, but at least they were fully rested, unlike the boy-mage, who by now should be almost magically exhausted,
’ he thought to himself.

His men awaited their orders, and the boy-mage stood his ground further up the mountain path. ‘
The boy was arrogant to think he could withstand the combined force of ten fully rested magi and me
,’ Zedd thought to himself. He would make him pay for that arrogance, and the death of his men.

“Target the boy-mage, and fire at will. I want him dead!” Zedd commanded his men. Each man sent missile after missile at the figure standing before them. One after another the magical-missiles found their target, but he didn’t falter. On a couple of occasions several missiles came back their way, only to be easily absorbed by their shields.

“Increase the power of your attacks!” Zedd half-screamed at his men. They did as he asked, and the air around them almost sizzled with the intense magic now emanating from the hands of each man in their camp. The boy seemed to stagger a little, but still held his ground. Then he started to slowly walk away, as if in no great hurry at all.

“Don’t let him escape. Send everything you have at him. NOW!” Zedd shouted above the noise. Again the boy simply carried on walking away, as if they were hitting him with nothing more than rotten tomatoes. Zedd couldn’t understand it. Something was wrong here. Why would the boy-mage simply stand there and take all this punishment? His magic reserves would be devastated absorbing all their attacks, and why does he only send weak missiles to attack us in return? Maybe he was simply trying to give his friends time to escape?

Zedd noticed that ever since the boy-mage had started his slow retreat, some of their missiles were now missing their target. They needed to get closer, so every shot would count.

“Cease fire!” Zedd commanded. His men gladly followed his orders. In the short time they had been attacking, most had used well over half of their magic reserves, and were now feeling the effects of using so much, so rapidly. “Everyone, maintain your shields. I want one man on point, firing at the boy every five seconds. When you have fired ten times, switch with another man. We must keep up the pressure while we make some ground on him. Now move!” Zedd commanded his men. His men formed up into a tight line, and they started running towards the boy-mage, with the man on point firing magical-missiles every five seconds as instructed. The boy kept absorbing their shots without apparent effect, but he didn’t seem to be in any rush to escape, simply maintaining his almost casual walking speed away from them.

Only once did they lose sight of the boy-mage when a small crest blocked their view. Zedd expected him to have taken advantage of the momentary lack of incoming fire by increasing his speed, but when they once again could see him clearly, he was no further ahead than his previous walking speed would have carried him. Something strange was going on here, and Zedd needed to figure it out fast.

After another twenty minutes of hard running they had closed the gap to the boy-mage, but nowhere near enough. The path switched back and forth across the mountainside, each time rising higher and higher above them, and the boy-mage was still several levels above them. Zedd needed to catch the boy-mage at a much faster rate, especially if his men were going to be in any fit state to fight once they got within range of the boy. Zedd had been studying the way the mountain path had been constructed. He could clearly see a dip in the path up ahead of the boy-mage, and felt sure they would lose sight of him again for a short while until he later re-emerged further along the path.

“Hold your fire!” Zedd shouted. The man on point ceased firing, and they all came to a stop to await fresh orders from Zedd. “If any man here cannot levitate, raise you hand now,” Zedd said. Three men including Cole raised their hands, which was far better than Zedd had expected. The last thing Zedd wanted, was to be a ferry service for someone else incapable of levitation, but he also understood how exposed they would be in the air, and he also knew he could tap Cole’s magic if he needed it.

“Cole, you’re with me. You two, pair yourselves with someone who can levitate your worthless hides up the mountainside, and make sure you shield them on the way up. When the boy disappears from view again we move fast. I suggest you make it to the path he is on as fast as you can. You wouldn’t want to be still in mid-air when he can see you again,” Zedd said, grinning at the terrified looks on some of his men’s faces. He knew that it took a very powerful mage indeed to be able to levitate and maintain a shield of any kind at the same time, let alone one strong enough to withstand an assault from a mage as powerful as that boy. Zedd sent another couple of weak missiles towards the boy-mage while they waited for him to disappear from view again, not wanting him to become suspicious of their sudden ceasefire. As he approached the part of the path that would conceal him from them, and vice versa, Zedd sent one last missile his way.

“Get ready,” Zedd said watching the boy as he vanished from sight. He waited a few moments longer before issuing the order. “GO!” Zedd shouted, and before anyone else left the floor, he and Cole were on their way.

***

Renn stumbled backwards a little as the magical-missiles intensified in power and numbers. Several had impacted on Lusam’s magical shield, but the vast majority had been harmlessly absorbed by Renn’s blessed shield. They had stood still in the beginning, offering the Empire agents a target they couldn’t refuse, or miss. Lusam had projected his aura just in front of Renn to mask his presence, and their plan seemed to be working even better than they had imagined. They had expected the Empire agents to advance on their position immediately, but instead they had fired hundreds of missiles at them from their current location. A few moments ago the missiles had greatly increased in strength and number, and Renn now struggled to maintain his balance and accuracy intercepting them. A handful of missiles struck Lusam’s magical shield, and he too stumbled a little at the force of their impact.

“We have to start moving, Renn. I can’t absorb many more of those impacts, and if you’re knocked over they will see through our ruse when they spot two auras instead of just one,” Lusam said desperately.

“Aye, lad, you’re right. Let’s see if we can’t make them miss a little. I’m getting a little tired of being a punch bag anyway,” Renn replied as he took another dozen blows in quick succession. They both began their slow careful retreat, making sure to stay close enough to each other so they would appear to be only a single person from down below. Luckily they were still in the dark shadows of the mountain, otherwise their deception would never have worked so well, but they both knew that would change very soon now that the sun was rising fast.

They crested a small mound onto a flat section of path and momentarily lost sight of the Empire agents. Lusam took the opportunity to refine his shield around Renn, putting more power into the parts that had taken most of the strikes so far. Just as he finished the Empire agents once more came into view, and the missile bombardment resumed like clockwork.

“It seems like they want me dead pretty bad,” Lusam said with a nervous laugh.

“Aye, lad, that they do,” Renn replied, bracing himself against the massive impacts. “At least some of their shots are missing us now.”

“I know that’s supposed to make me feel better, but somehow it doesn’t,” Lusam replied with another nervous giggle. Suddenly the bombardment from below stopped and the mountainside fell into an eerie silence.

“Renn, can you see what they’re doing down there?” Lusam asked, still back to back with Renn and unable to see for himself.

“It looks like they’ve finally decided to come after us, lad. They’ve started running towards us,” Renn replied calmly.

“Well, I suppose that was inevitable. I suggest we keep moving, it’s a long way to the cave at this speed,” Lusam said, guiding Renn backwards up the mountain path. A moment later the magical-missiles resumed, but this time only single shots, and evenly spaced by five second intervals.

It continued that way for another twenty minutes, with the Empire agents slowly gaining ground on them. Renn kept Lusam informed on their progress, but neither of them were overly concerned at the speed which they were being caught by the Empire agents. The missiles once again stopped coming, but only for a short time, and were resumed moments later just before they lost sight of the Empire agents again.

“You better take a look at this,” Renn said suddenly. Lusam spun around and looked over his shoulder. What he saw turned his blood cold. The Empire agents were levitating themselves up the mountainside, and were now almost at the same level as they were. Lusam mentally kicked himself for not thinking about that possibility. How could he have been so foolish not to have even considered that they might do that?

“I know you’re weak, but now might be a good time to send a few missiles of your own,” Renn said frantically. Lusam could see eleven agents in total; three groups of two, and five single auras, all levitating towards the path they were now on. Strangely, only the groups of two had shields activated, the other five agents didn’t. Lusam wasted no more time, and sent powerful missiles directly at the five unprotected agents. One of his missiles missed completely, impacting the rocks further along the mountainside. Three of his missiles hit their intended targets, each one killing an agent on impact. The final missile also struck an agent, but not before he had created a magic shield around himself. Although the missile didn’t kill him, a moment later he died anyway, as he struck the ground below, unable to re-establish his levitation spell in time.

“Well done, lad, you got another four of them,” Renn said grinning, “I think it’s time we left now though.”

“I think you’re right, let’s get out of here. Stay in front of me, and stay close so I can keep you inside my shield,” Lusam replied, just as the first missile struck his shield with such force it sent him sprawling to the ground.

Zedd watched as the first missile narrowly missed one of his men, and instead impacted on the mountainside behind them. Then a moment later three missiles found their targets, killing another three of his men. Then a fourth man all but killed himself, when he fell from the air and landed with a sickening crunch on the rocks below, only because he had tried to erect a shield for protection and was unable to reactivate his levitation spell before he hit the ground. Zedd let out a scream of frustration and rage. Frustration that he was surrounded by weak fools, and rage because he considered the men to be his, and no one but he had the right to kill them, least of all this boy. Now he had only six men at his command.

Zedd gathered the few men he had left and started the hunt. It only took a moment to reach the flat part of the path and regain sight of the boy-mage. What he saw enraged him beyond anything he had ever felt in his life. The boy-mage wasn’t alone, the paladin was with him. Suddenly it all made perfect sense. How could he have been so foolish? No one could have survived that amount of magic thrown at them. No one except a paladin, that is. Zedd roared an almost primeval scream of rage towards the boy-mage and paladin, then sent forth his wrath in the form of a series of magical attacks. The first missile struck the boy-mage with such force it actually lifted him clean off his feet and sent him crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust. The paladin must have heard or felt the impact, as he turned around just in time to avoid the second missile hitting him square in the back. Instead he took it cleanly in the centre of his shield and staggered backwards with the force of the impact.