Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (26 page)

“Relax,” said Kazin. “There are outposts along the base of the mountain that can alert General Larsen of an impending attack. The troops there are also equipped with homing pigeons, so word is bound to get through. An advance warning from us would make little difference. We have a better chance of stopping things at the source. If we can find and free the trapped elementals, we might be able to persuade them to purify the water and undo some of the damage they’ve caused since being controlled by the lizardmages.”

“I agree,” said Cyril. “The elementals need our help. If we don’t save them, no one will be safe from the consequences.”

Vera nodded. “O.K. What are waiting for? Let’s get those lizardmen before it’s too late!”

Chapter 20

A
ll clear,” said Alric, removing his invisibility cloak. He came back to the scene of a recent, but short-lived battle.

“Great,” grunted Rebecca, dragging the last of the orcs to the side to join with the others.

“Clear this way,” reported Tyris from another tunnel. He turned his attention to the wall where the lizardmens’ portal had been. “Now we have to find a way to activate this portal.”

“I’ll try some of my magic,” offered Alric.

“By all means,” said Tyris. He stepped aside so the elf could have access to the wall. “In the meantime, I think I’ll dispose of the bodies.” He turned to the dwarf. “That’s good enough, Rebecca. I’ll take it from here. Stand back.”

Rebecca backed away from the elemental and the pile of dead orcs. The elemental strode into the pile of bodies and raised his arms. Instantly, the mass of dead orcs lit ablaze in an intense inferno. There was a momentary stench, but it was ventilated from the chamber by a convenient gust of wind originating from one of the tunnels.

Alric, busy casting a spell, glanced only briefly at the inferno before turning his attention to the wall. Rebecca averted her gaze as well, her eyes stinging from the brightness.

A few moments later the bodies were turned to ash, as were the orcs’ clothing and weapons. All that was left was a pile of dust.

“There!” said Tyris, satisfied with his handiwork.

Alric was still trying various door opening spells, all without success. “It’s no use!” he said at last. “The magic the lizardmen used must be different somehow.” He turned to the elemental. “Can’t you help somehow?”

Tyris shrugged. “I’m afraid not. I can’t cast spells.”

“Can’t you burn your way through the door?” asked Rebecca.

“I could eventually burn my way through that rock,” said Tyris, “but it won’t do much good. You see, portals like that are designed to transport the individual or individuals to another place entirely. The other end of the portal may lie halfway across the mountain.”

“Oh,” said Rebecca dejectedly. “So, now what?”

“Now we wait,” said Tyris. “The lizardmage said he would be back in two hours. Time is almost up.”

“There are bound to be orcs showing up to meet the lizardmen,” said Alric. “We should hide.”

“I agree,” said Rebecca. “We need the element of surprise.”

“Yes,” agreed Tyris. “The orcs are bound to show up before the allotted time, so we’ll have to deal with them quickly before the lizardmen show up. We’ll use the same strategy we used to take out the guards.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Alric. He donned his cloak. At that same instant, the portal in the wall began to materialize.

“The portal is opening!” whispered Rebecca. There was no time to hide. All three of them braced themselves. “Lizardmen!” she growled menacingly, charging toward the portal to join Alric. The elf cast a spell on his dagger to make it into a sword.

When something other than a lizardman stepped out of the portal, the dwarf was caught off guard. In fact, she became frozen in her tracks.

The elf did not take the time to identify the intruder. He sank his blade into the intruder’s shoulder and pulled back to take another swing. A short scream was followed by a chant and as Alric swung his sword again, it clanged off an invisible barrier that protected the intruder. Seeing another smaller figure nearby, the one, he surmised, who had cast the spell, Alric instinctively lunged at her with his sword outstretched. The spell caster, dressed in white, stepped back while chanting another spell. She pointed a staff in Alric’s direction.

Suddenly, Alric was no longer able to proceed as a sleep spell struck him with full intensity. The elf crashed headlong to the ground and lay still. Meanwhile, two of Tyris’ fireballs whizzed past him toward the intruders.

Another spell caster, dressed in black, held his staff in front of the white-robed intruder, the orb of his staff absorbing the fireballs that flew his way.

Tyris already had another volley of fireballs flying in the opponents’ direction.

“Stop!” cried the black-robed mage, his attention on the flaming figure in the background. One fireball got past his staff and struck the white-robed spell caster. With a cry she went down, the amulet around her neck flaring brilliantly.

“Vera!” cried the cyclops, who had suffered at the hands of the invisible sword wielder. Released from the shield spell when Vera had cast the sleep spell on Alric, he bent over the cleric and cradled the unconscious figure in his massive arms.

“Stop!” cried the black-robed man again. “We don’t want to harm you!”

“Release my friends!” ordered Tyris, “or suffer the consequences!”

“O.K.!” cried the mage. “Tell them to stop attacking!”

The cyclops looked up at the fire elemental, angrier than he had been since leaving the Tower of Hope. It only frustrated him further that the flaming man was immune to his paralyzing ability. He growled at the flaming man, but looked down when Vera came to with a moan. She opened her eyes and Cyril quickly looked away, but not before the cleric smiled at him while looking directly into his eye for a split second.

The cyclops helped the cleric to her feet while the elemental repeated his order. “Release my friends!”

“Be patient!” snapped Kazin suddenly. “You injured the one who can release your friends.”

Tyris was taken aback by the sharpness of Kazin’s tone. “You dare to talk to an elemental that way?” intoned Tyris angrily.

“I meant no disrespect,” said Kazin, a little more calmly. “You injured my friends. I’m as upset as you are.”

Vera was standing on her own now, and Tyris was amazed that she was alive at all. She looked at the elemental. “I will release your friends now. You must promise us that they will not harm us.”

Tyris nodded, still amazed that the cleric was unharmed.

Vera freed the dwarf first. Rebecca resumed her charge and skidded to a stop when she heard Tyris shout, “Stop!” Waving her axe threateningly, and without taking her eyes off the cleric, she said, “What? Who?”

“Do not harm them,” said Tyris.

The dwarf looked around, disoriented.

Vera then went to deal with the invisible sword-wielder. “Hmm. This one should be interesting.” She felt around until she could feel the body. Grabbing hold of what she thought was an arm, she chanted a wake spell on the individual.

“Relax, Alric!” called Tyris. “They mean you no harm.”

“Huh? What?” said the elf. He rose groggily to his feet.

“Show yourself!” ordered Kazin.

“Why should I?” snapped Alric, looking in the direction of the speaker. He almost gasped when he recognized Kazin as the human mage who resided in Greenwood. He couldn’t allow Kazin to see that he had possession of the cloak!

“I like to see who I’m dealing with,” responded Kazin.

A cry from the cleric gave Alric the reprieve he needed. Everyone looked at Vera, who had just now remembered Cyril’s stabbed shoulder and looked to see his arm covered in blood. “Cyril! Your wound!”

“It’s nothing,” said Cyril stoically.

“Nonsense!” said Vera sternly. She began to administer her healing magic to the wound.

Kazin turned back to the elf, who was busily jamming something into his pack. When the elf rose, he locked eyes with the mage.

“There, uh, now you can see me,” stammered the elf. “Satisfied?”

Kazin knew the elf was hiding something. He decided to keep a close eye on him. He turned back to the fire elemental. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Don’t even think of trying to summon me,” growled Tyris.

Kazin shook his head. “I don’t plan to. But I do need your help.”

“Why?”

“Because the air elemental told me to come and find you.”

“Why would the air elemental want me?” asked Tyris.

“Apparently, you are the only elemental still free of the control of the lizardmages,” said Kazin. “We must try to free the others before the lizardmen find a way to control you. If they capture you as well, the entire world could be destroyed.”

Rebecca gasped. “That explains the earth quakes and poisoned water.”

Kazin nodded. “Yes.”

“Then we’re on the same side!” exclaimed the dwarf. She indicated the cyclops with her thumb but avoided looking at him this time. “But I don’t see why you chose to put up with the likes of him.”

“Hey!” snapped Vera, pausing in her healing chant. She shook her staff at the dwarf. “Cyril is a good man!”

Rebecca didn’t look convinced.

Kazin laughed. “I think we should introduce ourselves. It should ease the tension.”

Introductions were made, and when Rebecca found out who Kazin was, her eyes almost popped out of her head. “You’re Kazin? The same Kazin who helped Uncle - I mean - King Harran in the wars a decade ago?”

“Yes,” said Kazin. “Harran is a good friend of mine.”

The dwarf ran forward and embraced the mage in a bear hug. “It’s wonderful to finally meet you!” cried the dwarf. “And to think we almost killed one another!”

Kazin gently released the dwarf. “You say Harran is your uncle?”

“Not exactly,” said Rebecca. She briefly told Kazin of her uncle, Horst Hammarhold, and his interaction with King Harran.

“I see now,” laughed Kazin. “I’m sure Harran is happy to be your ‘unofficial’ uncle. He’s a fine fellow. I know him well.”

Rebecca turned to Tyris. “He’s O.K., Tyris. We can trust him.”

Tyris relaxed.

“Someone’s coming!” interrupted Alric suddenly. At the same instant, a contingent of orcs entered the cavern, catching the group unawares. Orcs could be heard coming down the other tunnels as well.

Kazin and the others sprang to life. “Rebecca, you and Alric take the far entrance! Tyris, can you block the entrance on your right?”

Tyris nodded. He sprang into the opening just as some orcs tried to get through. The elemental burst into an inferno, burning the orcs in front and causing the remaining ones to jump back.

Cyril insisted on fighting, so Vera cast a ‘slow’ spell on the orcs that had circled around Kazin to attack him from behind. This allowed Cyril to reach them before they could attack the mage. Then Vera cast a strength spell on Cyril. Swinging his club with his good arm, the cyclops literally swatted the orcs like flies, sending them flying into the walls on either side. His super human strength was amplified by his dislike of orcs.

Kazin, meanwhile, was blasting fireballs into the charging orcs. With Cyril taking the orcs in close, the mage was making headway toward the third tunnel. More orcs were trying to get into the cavern, but the mage’s fireballs were keeping them back. Kazin looked over his shoulder and saw that Rebecca and Alric were losing ground against the surging orcs. More were slipping into the cavern. “Vera!” shouted the mage, “Can you block this entrance with your shield?”

Vera cast weakness on some of Alric and Rebecca’s attackers and came running to the mage. “Ready!” she shouted.

Kazin sent a volley of fireballs into the orcs and Vera cast her shield. The orcs could not get past.

Satisfied that the way was blocked, Kazin checked Tyris’ entrance and concluded that the elemental had things under control. Not so for Alric and Rebecca. Cyril was already working his way through the orcs in the chamber to aid the dwarf and elf.

Kazin was forced to fight in hand to hand combat and his experience paid off. His staff thrust, jabbed, and clobbered the orcs senseless. He made sure none got past him to attack the vulnerable cleric, who was busy maintaining her shield.

Finally Cyril made it to the elf and dwarf, who stood back to back fighting for their lives. Alric hadn’t even had time to don his cloak, so he was a visible target. His arm had been cut and he was bleeding openly. The dwarf made her attacks count as orc after orc was singed by her dagger. Her hand axe flew just as effectively in her other hand.

Kazin eliminated the last of the orcs in the cavern and began pelting the orcs entering the last tunnel with fireballs. He had to make the fireballs smaller to avoid hurting the dwarf and elf. Cyril paralyzed and smashed his way through the orcs. The dwarf, elf, and cyclops moved in to seal off the last tunnel.

Looking around, Kazin saw that all was secure in the chamber. He noticed that Vera was straining to maintain her shield all by herself. The elemental seemed to be doing fine, but Kazin didn’t know how long Tyris could keep it up. Even elementals could tire out. The sounds of battle continued in the last tunnel, but the mage knew that at least two of those who fought were injured. It was time to withdraw while they were still in reasonable shape. He turned to the wall that contained the portal and knew that was the only way out. Concentrating, he opened the portal.

“Vera!” shouted the mage.

“Yes?” said Vera, looking back at the mage with a strained expression. She was breathing heavily.

“Can you control the shield from over here?”

“Yes,” answered the cleric, the strain in her voice evident. “But it is harder to maintain.”

“I know,” said Kazin, “but we have to retreat. I’ll help you.” He chanted his magic and boosted the cleric’s shield. Shield magic was one of only a few spells shared by both the white and black mages.

Vera slowly backed away from her tunnel toward the portal, maintaining her shield with Kazin’s help.

“Cyril, Rebecca, Alric, get ready to run through the portal on my mark!” shouted Kazin.