Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (30 page)

The mage began casting fireballs in the direction of the lizardmen but they were too far distant. The fireballs fell hopelessly short. A sudden jolt on the bridge brought their attention back to their own predicament. The fire on the bridge was now out of control. One railing had snapped, and the spot where Tyris had been was burning like kindling. The bridge was about to split apart entirely.

“Get off the bridge!” yelled Kazin. “The bridge is going to collapse!”

The cyclops, dwarf, and cleric were already running for the far side of the bridge for safety.

Kazin turned to the elf. “We’ll have to go back.”

Alric nodded and sprinted for the near side of the canyon.

“Aieee!” screamed Tyris again.

Kazin stopped and looked up. He had to try to free the elemental. It was of paramount importance that the lizardmen did not control the fourth and final elemental. If they did, it could mean the end of everything. But he had to wait until everyone else had made it to safety before doing anything.

Just as the last of the companions cleared the bridge, a loud groaning and snapping noise occurred. Kazin transformed just as the burning bridge split apart and crashed into the lower canyon walls. The mage sprouted his leathery wings and flapped hard to gain altitude. The lizardmen above were no longer visible in the cave entrance but he flew up there anyway. As he reached the opening, he blasted it with a fierce flood of his fiery breath. He was secure in the knowledge that the elemental would not get hurt in the blast, being naturally immune to fire damage, but he hoped he could destroy any unwary lizardmen nearby. Unfortunately, he was too late. The lizardmen had already gone with their prize.

The ledge was wide enough to land on, so Kazin landed and returned to his human form. He turned around and looked down to where the others were gathered on the other side of the canyon. The mountain was still rumbling, so trying to call down to them was pointless. He made hand motions indicating that he was going after Tyris and hoped they understood.

He couldn’t signal his intentions to Alric, who was on the same side of the canyon as himself, so he turned and hurried after the lizardmen. He didn’t have time to find a way to reunite the companions right now. They were on their own. Tyris was the one who needed help.

The cyclops, cleric and dwarf saw Kazin’s hand signals and realized what he was going to do.

“He can’t leave us behind!” wailed Vera. “How are we going to find our way in this place?”

“Relax,” said Rebecca calmly. “I know how to find my way in the mountains. We won’t get lost.”

“But what if we need to get through a portal?” asked Vera, “assuming we can even find one?”

“We’ll just have to do without portals,” said Rebecca coolly. “It looks like we’re in lizardman territory now, anyway.”

“What about Alric?” asked Cyril.

The trio looked across the canyon at the tunnel they had earlier vacated. One half of the bridge hung uselessly down the side of the canyon, the bottom section still on fire. The tunnel entrance was empty.

“He’ll be okay,” said Rebecca. “He can turn invisible, so he’ll be better off than we are.”

“That’s true,” said Cyril, rubbing his healed shoulder gingerly. He remembered the disembodied sword that had pierced him previously.

Vera saw Rebecca’s sore hand. “Your hand is injured! Let me heal it.”

“It’s all right,” said Rebecca modestly, but she held it out for the cleric anyway.

Vera pulled some spell components from her pouch and chanted a spell. The wound healed over almost instantly.

“Wow!” exclaimed Rebecca. “That was fast!”

“I’m a level one cleric,” said Vera proudly. “Healing wounds like these is a prerequisite to becoming a full-fledged cleric.”

“Thanks,” said Rebecca. “I’m glad you’re stuck on my side of the canyon.” She glanced at the cyclops, who looked at the floor. “Both of you.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Rebecca added, “Come on. Kazin wouldn’t want us to stand here moping around. He’d want us to do everything we can to stop the lizardmen from succeeding. Once he gets Tyris back, he’ll come looking for us. I’ll leave the odd mark for him to follow so he’ll know it was us.”

“You’re pretty confident he’ll get the elemental back,” commented Vera.

“I’ll tell you some of the stories my uncle - I mean king - told me about Kazin,” said Rebecca. “There’s a lot more to him than meets the eye.”

“I’ll vouch for that,” said the cyclops. “He met my eye without getting paralyzed.”

The women laughed.

* * * * *

Alric returned to a passageway they had ignored because it appeared to be unused and difficult to navigate. The upward slope, however, meant that it could lead up to the cave where the lizardmen had performed their summoning spell. His keen elven eyesight helped him to traverse the passageway successfully, and it opened up wider the further he went. He stopped to pick up some loose pebbles that were undoubtedly the result of the mountain’s quakes. He needed them for his magic arrow spells. Had he had some in his possession previously, he could have sent his magical arrows up to where the lizardmen had been. He was sure his arrows could have outdistanced Kazin’s fireballs. At least now, if he encountered more than one lizardman at a time, he would have long range capability.

Up, up he went, his agile form sprinting along rapidly. The tunnel almost spiraled up to where he knew the lizardmen had been. The elf’s heart pounded in excitement. He was happy to finally be getting close to the heart of the lizardmens’ realm. Though he preferred to work alone, he hoped to find Kazin. The mage was the only one who could open the lizardmens’ portals, and get him closer to the lizardmage he sought.

Before he knew it, Alric reached the cave where the lizardmen had been. The walls and floor were black and steaming, the result of fire damage. It could have been either Tyris or Kazin. There was no sign of the lizardmen or Kazin. The elf swore. Not including the cavern directly ahead, there were only two ways into the cave. He had arrived by one. That meant Kazin had probably gone the other way in pursuit of the lizardmen. Or, Kazin had found a portal the lizardmen had used to escape and gone after them the same way.

Alric swore again. If the latter were true, he had no way of finding either the lizardmen or the mage. He had to assume his former reasoning was correct. The elf sprinted into the opposite tunnel and would have disappeared if he wasn’t already invisible.

* * * * *

Kazin looked around at the empty cave. Should he go left or right? He tried a magical spell check and the right tunnel glowed. “That was easy,” he muttered. He followed the trail of magic as fast as he could. The lizardmen were not far ahead. The mage reached a wide intersection branching into three other directions. He was about to cast another spell check spell when a gust of wind blasted down the left path. Kazin grinned. The air elemental was resisting the lizardmens’ magic again. Hurrying down the left tunnel, the mage could hear sounds ahead. Soon light could be seen reflecting off the walls. He was close!

Rounding a final bend, Kazin reached a well-lit cavern. Several hissing lizardmen holding torches surrounded a giant translucent box with a clear liquid sloshing around in its walls. The light emitting from it was a brilliant orange in hue. The lizardmen were in the process of stepping through a portal in a nearby wall. Before Kazin could think of how to proceed, the last lizardman disappeared through the portal and the portal vanished. The cavern reverted to darkness once again.

Kazin lit his staff and moved forward cautiously. There were two more tunnels with access to this portal junction. He wondered vaguely what lay at the end of their depths, but knew he had no time for exploring. He had to free Tyris at all costs. He began to concentrate on the portal. It began to shimmer.

The mage suddenly heard a noise behind him but had no time to react. A ‘whoosh’ noise was followed by a sharp pain in his neck. Sudden dizziness overwhelmed him before everything went black.

A hooded figure in a red robe approached the prone mage and hissed menacingly. “So! A human mage! We can’t allow humans in our realm! Those who meddle in our affairs must suffer the consequences!” He withdrew a dagger from his cloak and took another step toward the mage.

A noise behind him made him turn abruptly. Someone was coming! He turned back to the unconscious mage and lifted his weapon to deliver a killing blow. Before he could make his move, a one word chant instigated a magical arrow. The arrow streaked across the cavern and struck the lizardman’s dagger on its downswing. The dagger was thrown from the lizardmage’s hand, and the lizardman jumped over Kazin while hissing a spell of his own. He cast a fireball spell in the direction the arrow had come from, but another arrow was already flying at him from a different direction.

The lizardman was struck in the left arm and he responded by hissing in pain and raising a magical shield to protect himself from any further arrows. Then he opened the portal and dived through, with more arrows in pursuit. Some of the arrows bounced harmlessly off his shield. The rest bounced off the bare wall as the portal closed.

Alric quickly checked the area for any further intruders. When the area was secure, he hurried over to the mage and dragged him from the cavern to a spot a short distance away down a tunnel. He was thankful he had spotted a lizardman skulking around at the four-way intersection. By following the lizardman, the elf had deduced correctly the path that Kazin had taken. Kazin would have been killed had he not come along to save him.

Alric laughed inwardly at this. He stole from this man, and had saved his life too. If he didn’t need the mage so much, he could have let him die. Alric shook his head quickly. No, that was not his way. He was a thief, not a murderer. He looked down at the unconscious figure. The peaceful expression on Kazin’s face did not indicate an evil person. Kazin appeared to be a good man. All the stories he had heard about this mage backed this up. Just over a decade ago, Kazin had saved not only the human race, but all of the races, including the elves. Many elves would mourn his death should something happen to him. Alric owed this man his allegiance. Indeed, they were allied in their present quest. Their goals were the same. Alric suddenly felt honoured to be working with Kazin. If they lived through this quest and succeeded in saving the world, Alric’s own name would be adored by his elven brothers and sisters. The elf considered his personal goal in this quest. Fame was one thing, but revenge was another. His part in unknowingly helping the lizardmen was a part he wished to correct. His reputation had been tarnished. The lizardmage who had taken advantage of him had used him to help cause the disaster that awaited them right now. It was up to him - and the others in his group - to stop this threat before it was too late. True, up to now the humans had suffered the worst of the damage. But the lizardmen wouldn’t stop there. Once the humans were defeated, the elves and dwarves were sure to follow.

A low moan brought Alric back to the present. It was time to move on.

Chapter 24

G
raf closed the portal behind him and walked quietly down the corridor, stopping in front of a wall that barred his way. Silently, he pulled his hood over his head and concealed his gloved hands within his robe. Then he spoke a word of magic and stepped through the wall as though it wasn’t even there. He entered a large room with a grey stone table in its center. A number of hooded figures were present and they turned to suspiciously watch the newcomer.

Graf spoke his secret password and the figures in the room relaxed. The lizardman approached the others and they waited for him to identify himself.

“Inferno,” said Graf in a low voice.

“Welcome,” responded a cloaked figure nearest him. “Ice Blade,” he continued, indicating himself. The others followed suit with names like Sawtooth, Cleaver, Ropeburn, Sparky, and Multibolt.

When the introductions were concluded, Graf spoke. “How are things progressing?”

Ice Blade held up a hand. “Let’s wait until Longspike gets here.”

“I’m here,” said a voice behind them.

Everyone turned to face the newcomer. Other than the fact that he was very tall, he looked like an ordinary cloaked figure like the rest of them.

They started to identify themselves but Longspike held up his hand. “I know who you are. Is everyone here?”

“Affirmative,” said Ice Blade.

“Then we should proceed,” said Longspike. He thrust his pack on the table and opened it, withdrawing a stack of marked papers. “Have we got enough information concerning the humans’ magic?”

“I think so,” said Ice Blade. “Many of the spell components are common in our realm but rarer in the humans’ world. We can reduce or block movement of those goods to restrict the use of many of their spells.”

“Good!” said Longspike.

“I’ve studied the spell inflections and hand motions of their magic,” put in Sparky. “Most of the spells can be identified soon enough to give us time to erect counter measures. Arch mages are still a threat since they can cast even complicated spells with lightning-quick speed, as well as cast numerous spells at once.”

Longspike sighed. “I wish we were able to do that. That’s why I dislike human spell casters so much. We’ll have to deal with their arch mages one at a time. Working together, we have the power to defeat them.”

Graf (Inferno) chuckled. “No problem!” he muttered under his breath. When everyone turned to look in his direction, Inferno realized he needed to change the subject quickly. He pulled a scroll from his cloak and placed it on the table. His hand swiftly returned to his pocket. “Here is a scroll that should interest you.”

Longspike took hold of it and unscrolled it. After a moment, he gasped. “A ‘pass through rock’ spell!” He turned to Inferno. “Where did you get this?”

Inferno shrugged innocently. “It was lying around in a pile of spells in my study. I figured it might come in useful.”

“Let me see!” exclaimed Sparky. She held out her hand.