Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book One (16 page)

“I know … I know … you're hungry. Again,” she
said, rolling her eyes and going over to retrieve their lunch from near the doorway.
Lusam just smiled to himself, content in the knowledge that she knew him so well.

After lunch Lusam found himself still hungry, as usual. Nothing seemed to fill him these days since he'd started doing more magic, or if it did, not for long. He spent the next hour adjusting Neala's knives using his magic, which only made him even more hungry, before returning to his book duties. Neala spent the afternoon familiarising herself with her new weapons in the large room, practising on her wooden target board. In the beginning, the constant thud … thud … thud of the knives hitting the wooden board, almost drove him to distraction. But after a couple of hours, it became an almost comforting background noise. He knew Neala was happy in there practising, and so, that made him happy too.

Later that evening, after Neala's reading lesson, Lusam returned to the large room and started practising his various new spells alone. Each day over the next few weeks followed a very similar pattern. The only difference was he got much better at casting his spells, and the size of the book mountain reduced substantially; to the point they both could see an end in sight.

Spring had definitely now arrived in Afaraon. The days were becoming warmer and longer, and the birds that
migrated there for the summer months were now often seen in the sky above.
On each Seventh-day they could now spend much more time filtering the river of its precious gold, which meant they had started to collect quite a princely sum together.

Lusam had been worried about getting the exact design of the gold coins right, just in case someone became suspicious and started to investigate the source of the strange coins. For the past two days, he had asked Neala to buy their food in the richer northern quarter of town, using their gold coins. Then, after the second day, he had collected enough silver coins together from the change, to exchange for a genuine gold coin at the bank. From that coin, he would copy the design for all his future coins; therefore, there would be no way to tell they weren't actually genuine minted coins.

Each time they spent a day by the side of the river, they usually managed to make between three and four coins, depending on how far up or down river they ventured. These gold coins, added to the silver coins they had earned from Mr Daffer, meant that they would have more than enough to last them for a long while after they had finished the job at the book shop.

From the start, Lusam and Neala had kept their gold and silver coins safe in one of the small wooden chests that were to be found in most of the sleeping cells. However,
Lusam realised that when they finally finished the job for Mr Daffer, and they left the underground chamber for good, they wouldn't be able to carry a wooden chest around with them on the streets of Helveel, for obvious reasons.
With this in mind, they had visited the local leather workers shop and bought two coin pouches, which could be concealed under their tunics out of sight. The craftsman had also suggested that he should add a metal wire inside the string of the coin pouch, making it almost impossible for a cut-purse to steal it by the usual methods, should it be spotted under their garments. Neala's coin pouch fastened easily to her thick knife belt, but Lusam's kept trying to pull down his trousers with the weight of the coins, and he was forced to return to the leather shop the following day to purchase a belt for himself; to avoid any future potentially embarrassing moments.

Lusam lay on his bed smiling contently to himself. He was absent-mindedly staring at the ceiling of his sleeping cell, day-dreaming, and thinking of his past, and possible future. Life was good at the moment for Lusam. It had been a long time since he'd felt so relaxed, and in control of his own life. He no longer had to look forward to only a hard life on the streets, without food, shelter or warmth. He could easily provide enough coin for the rest of his life. He also no longer had to worry about being attacked on the streets on
Helveel, by anyone who wanted what he had.
Lusam's mind wandered freely, and eventually he found himself thinking about Neala, and what she might want to do after leaving Mr Daffer's shop. He thought about where they might go together, and what they might do there. Suddenly, he got a knot in his stomach. He realised, that even after spending all that time together, not once, had they ever discussed what they would do when they left the book shop. For all Lusam knew, Neala might want to go her own separate way, now that she had plenty of her own money, and set up life in another part of the country. Alone. That thought hit him like a thunderbolt. He sat up from his bed, almost breathless with panic at the thought of losing Neala. He knew in that instant he loved her beyond doubt, but he had no idea if she felt the same way about him. He could not even imagine losing her, nor did he want to try.

Lusam sat on the edge of his bed, trying to think of a way to ask Neala how she felt about him, and what she planned to do in the very near future, when they were finally finished at the book shop. He couldn't believe how nervous he was just thinking about discussing the subject with Neala, just in case he didn't like what she said, but he knew he must talk with her, and soon. Very soon. Standing up from his bed, he left his room, and headed to where Neala slept.

Lusam could see the gentle light of a lantern spilling from her room into the dark corridor up ahead, and
was overtaken by a fresh wave of nervousness, as he realised she was still awake.
He knew there would be no possibility he could sleep anyway if he didn't speak to her now, so he continued down the dark corridor until he came to her door.

“Neala … are you still awake?” he said, in a soft voice from the corridor.

Neala was reading one of the books Lusam had used to teach her how to read when she heard Lusam call softly from outside her door. “Yes, come in,” she replied, through the open door.

Lusam took a deep breath to steady his nerves, before walking through the door and into the light of Neala's room.

“Is everything alright?” Neala asked, looking concerned at his late visit, and the worried look on Lusam's face.

“Yes. Yes, I hope so …” he replied, sounding a little unsure of himself.

Placing her book on the bed Neala stood up and approached Lusam. “So, are you going to tell me?” she asked, smiling at him.

Sometimes, Lusam was sure that Neala knew exactly what he was going to say, even before he said it, and only wanted to torture him, by making him say it out loud. Swallowing any pretence at bravery, he decided to just say what was on his mind.

“Well … as you know, in the next couple of days we should be finished here … ”

“Yes?” she prompted.

“Well … I was, er … wondering, if you had given any thought to what you might do after we leave here,” he said, gesturing around with his hands.

“I'm not sure I know what you mean?” she replied, still wearing that smile of hers. Lusam was sure she knew exactly what he meant, and was just taking great pleasure in making him squirm so much, as he tiptoed around the real issue.

“I was in my room just now, thinking about what we would do when we leave here, and I realised, we've never spoken about it before,” he said, looking more worried by the second.

Neala took a step closer to Lusam, and looked up into his eyes. “Not so long ago, a handsome young man told me that we were a team. I hope he hasn't changed his mind,” she half whispered to him, looking deep into his eyes. Lusam almost rocked as his mind tried to take in the full meaning of her words.

“Neala … I … I love you,” he whispered back, hoping beyond hope that he hadn't misread her words, or her body language.

“I love you too,” she replied, throwing her arms around his neck, and embracing him tightly.

Those few words were the best sounds Lusam had ever heard in his whole life. The sudden relief that washed over him, almost made him feel dizzy. She actually loved him too!

Life just couldn't get any better than this
, he thought. Feeling wet on his neck, he realised Neala was crying. Pulling away slightly to get a better look at her face, he asked, “What's the matter? Are you okay?”

Smiling at him through tears of joy, she just nodded her head, then kissed him, like he'd never been kissed before.

Chapter Seven

As they came within sight of Helveel the heavens opened, and another heavy spring downpour drenched the two men. Already wearied by their long trip from Stelgad, and wanting nothing more than to find a warm inn that served good ale and a bed for the night; the weather did little to improve their mood. Travelling the long road between Stelgad and Helveel at this time of year, was at best unpleasant, but could easily be deadly for any unwary travellers. The main road skirted the southern Elveen mountains, and at this time of year, that usually meant warm but very wet days, followed by freezing temperatures at night. With only two horses and no covered wagon to travel in, that meant their clothes were constantly wet to the skin, never having time to dry, before the cold air from the mountains tried to freeze them to death each night.

Both men had agreed many times on their journey, that whoever was responsible for them having to make this godforsaken trip, would pay dearly before they handed them over to their boss Shiva. Skelly would have liked nothing better than to simply kill whoever they had been sent to find, but his orders were clear. He had been instructed in no uncertain terms, that he must return the culprit alive, and unharmed for Shiva to deal with personally. Even Skelly dare not cross Shiva, but he was a skilled assassin, and could inflict more than enough pain without leaving any evidence behind, and he planned to do just that.

They entered Helveel via the south gate, then headed directly through the city to the northern quarter. One thing Skelly was well known for, was his love of the finer things in life, and he wasn't concerned how much they cost, as long as they met with his strict high standards. Skelly was accepted within his guild as being the unofficial second in command, with only Shiva above him in the chain of command. Being in such a position brought many advantages, including among other things, a plentiful supply of coin.

Entering the northern quarter Skelly briefly stopped his horse, and asked a well dressed man for his recommendation of an inn. He was directed two streets further north, where he was told he would find an excellent establishment called the
Golden Feather.
 

Sure enough, when they arrived they found a well cared for building, with fresh flowers in hanging baskets outside, and the irresistible smell of fine food coming from the kitchens around the back. Noticing them stop at the front of the building, a young stable boy came to greet them, and offered to take their horses for feeding and grooming. Skelly nodded his approval and flipped a silver coin to the young lad, then both men headed inside to procure rooms and refreshments.

Skelly had chosen Carter to accompany him on this trip for mainly one reason. He was the only other member of
his guild, that he knew of, who also appreciated the higher class establishments, and more importantly, knew how to act within them.
Bringing anyone else from his guild to a place like this, would have inevitably resulted in a brawl, with them both being ejected, or possibly arrested by the town guards before the end of the night. The others were far more used to sawdust and blood on the floor, than polished wood and carpets. And, although Skelly was happy to rough it with the rest, given a choice, this would always be his first preference.

Both men approached the bar, where a pretty serving girl with long dark hair and brown eyes stood drying a tankard with a clean cloth. She suspiciously watched their approach, but remained where she was.

“Can I help you gentlemen with something?” she asked, in a clear well-spoken voice.

Skelly stepped forward and cleared his throat, “Yes, I hope so Miss. My friend and I are in need of a room each. Preferably with a bath if you have one please. We were also looking to have a meal if possible?”

The young girl looked surprised at Skelly's well spoken manner, obviously expecting something quite different from the look of him and his dirty travelling clothes. It was apparent to Skelly that she didn’t really know how to answer his request, so he attempted to put her a little more at ease by saying, “I'm sorry, how rude of me. My
name is Skelly, and my associate here is Carter.
You will have to excuse our appearance, we have just arrived in Helveel from Stelgad. It's been a long and hard journey. May I ask if you have a laundry service too? As you can see, our clothes are in desperate need of cleaning after our long journey.”

Skelly was an expert at infiltrating the higher classes of society and gaining their trust, which was essential to some of the guilds larger acquisitions. Gaining the respect of this young girl was child’s play in comparison to them. Sure enough the girl visibly relaxed, as she readjusted her assessment of the two men standing before her.

“My name is Anna. Pleased to meet you both,” she replied, looking far more relaxed now. “We do have two rooms available on the second floor, if that would be suitable for your needs?”

“I'm sure they will be just fine, thank you,” replied Skelly.

“Very good sir. With regards to your other requests. We do have a bath house here on the ground floor that you may use. Just let myself or one of the others know when you wish to use it, and we will make sure you have plenty of hot water and towels available. I could have your clothes collected from your rooms for washing later this evening when you retire, and have them brought back to you by morning, if that is acceptable? With regards to the food, we
serve soup, cold meats and bread throughout the day, and evening meal is available between seven and nine o'clock.
Tonight we are serving a choice of either roast beef and vegetables, or grilled river trout and vegetables.”