Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three (10 page)

Zedd and his remaining three men landed safely halfway down the mountainside, well out of range of the young girl and her deadly arrows. At first Zedd remained silent, unwilling to give further orders until he had thought through all of his options carefully. ‘
They’re certainly very limited now
,’ he thought to himself, incredibly frustrated at what had just happened.

He had started with fourteen men, now he had only three left. Fourteen men he had taken under his command without telling anyone else. Protocol dictated that he must inform another Empire agent of his intended mission, and also the number of any men he intended to take with him, and he had not done that. With their Necromatic rings the agents were able to communicate with each other easily over relativity short distances. If Zedd had followed protocol and informed another agent of his plans, it would have meant whomever was in charge locally would have become aware of why he suddenly had fourteen men missing.

Zedd’s intention had been to capture or kill the boy-mage quickly, then return as a hero, and ultimately return home to the Empire and his family as reward. In reality with the losses he had already suffered, coupled with his disregard for protocol, he was more likely to be executed on his return, and his family forced into abject poverty. Fortunately for Zedd, no one knew he had even arrived in Stelgad, let alone taken fourteen men under his command and entered the mountains to chase down the boy-mage. ‘
And no one ever would,
’ he thought to himself smiling. Whatever the outcome, he fully intended to kill the three remaining men before he returned to Stelgad. He would secretly re-enter the Dark Forest near Stelgad, then emerge openly and announce his arrival to whomever was in command. He would report Cole’s demise within the Dark Forest due to one of the Netherworld creatures, and no one would be any the wiser.

Zedd knew he had to continue up the mountainside after the boy-mage. If he didn’t, and turned back towards Stelgad instead, there was a strong possibility he would be intercepted by his fellow agents, who would no doubt still be searching for the boy-mage themselves. They didn’t know that the boy-mage had gone into the mountains, but they did know he and his friends had entered the forest, and with so many agents in Stelgad, it wouldn’t take long for them to expand their search into the surrounding mountains.

This time he would follow the boy-mage from a safe distance and choose his time of attack carefully. Brute force hadn’t worked when he had fourteen men at his disposal, so it was painfully obvious it wouldn’t work with only three. He needed to be smarter and bide his time, then maybe an opportunity would present itself further down the road. At this point he had nothing to lose by following the boy-mage and his companions, and possibly much to gain.

“We need to find some food before we continue after the boy-mage again. I want you all to spread out and start casting tracing spells. Look for both animals and plant life, and don’t forget to search underground for edible roots and vegetables,” Zedd commanded.

“Sir, are you sure it’s wise that we confront them again with only four of us left? Wouldn’t it be safer to return to Stelgad and gather more reinforcements first?” one of the men asked.

“Are you questioning my command?” Zedd asked in a threatening tone.

“No, sir,” the man replied quickly, snapping to attention in front of Zedd and visibly paling.

“Good, then do as I command.”

“Yes—sir,” replied the man nervously, as he quickly moved away and began to search for food as instructed.

Zedd and his men spent the rest of the afternoon searching for food, and when they had done they had enough to last them several days. They created a fire and ate a hearty meal before continuing their trek up the mountainside.

Just before dark they arrived at their earlier camp where five of their fellow agents still lay dead. It was a stark reminder of how deadly the young girl and her bow was, and did little to improve the mood within the camp. There was no way to bury the bodies in the rock-hard rocky ground even if Zedd had felt the need, which he didn’t. But neither did he want to leave them here to be discovered by any other group of agents that may be following behind them. It was strictly forbidden to reanimate a fellow agent, and doing so was punishable by death. It was considered very disrespectful, and only in exceedingly rare circumstances was it ever done. Zedd had absolutely no doubt that if the five dead agents were discovered here like this, it would be classed as one of those
exceedingly rare occasions.
He also knew that if one of them were to be reanimated and questioned, he was done for, and so was his entire family back in the Empire.

Zedd sat on a rock staring at the five dead agents before him. He felt no remorse or guilt for their deaths, only concern for his own future welfare. He knew he could burn the bodies using magic, but he could also use them as a weapon against the boy-mage and his companions. Even if the reanimated agents failed to kill the boy-mage or his companions, and instead they managed to defeat them all, it still wouldn’t be a complete failure. Corpses could only be reanimated once, and that meant there would be no chance they could be questioned later should they be discovered by another party of agents.

Zedd knew that the body of the man who had plunged to his death after failing to re-establish his levitation spell would be in too bad a condition to reanimate, so he wasn’t worried about him. The three who were shot from the sky whilst levitating were burned beyond recognition by the fireballs that hit them, and therefore would also be in a condition beyond reanimation. That only left the three men who died near the cave, and those he could deal with when they arrived there. Zedd stood up with an evil grin on his face. He would not reanimate them himself. If he did and the minion was intercepted by any fellow agents in the future, it would lead them straight back to him. Instead he would command one of his men to raise all five dead agents, and as an added bonus, when he eventually killed that man, it would automatically sever the spell that bound the undead minions, releasing them all back into death and neatly tying up all the loose ends in one fell swoop.

“You,” Zedd said pointing at the man who had earlier questioned him, “reanimate those five corpses.” The man looked aghast at Zedd’s command, looking to the other two men for support, but found none.

“But, sir—it’s against our holy law to do that. I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” he said with conviction. Zedd didn’t even bother replying to the man’s refusal to carry out his orders, he simply killed him where he stood, draining all of his magic through his own Necromatic ring. The man’s death-pulse was felt by Zedd and the other two men even before he fell.

As he crumpled to the floor, Zedd smiled and said, “Very well, then you will serve me as a minion instead.” Zedd considered asking Cole to reanimate the—now six—dead agents, but wasn’t sure if he was capable of doing it, especially in his weakened state.

“Would you like to reanimate them all for me?” Zedd asked the remaining man, daring him to refuse. The man visibly paled and simply nodded mutely to his request.

Ten minutes later and there were six undead minions standing in the camp.

“Command them to remove the arrows from their chests. We don’t want to be returning any ammunition to the young lady now, do we?” Zedd said flippantly. The man gave his command to the undead minions, and as one they all removed the arrows from their chests with a sickening ripping-of-flesh sound, and dropped them on the floor by their feet.

“What would you have me command them to do, sir?” the man asked nervously.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe go kill the boy-mage and his companions,” Zedd said sarcastically.

“Yes—sir,” the man replied. He repeated the order to his new undead minions, and the three men watched silently as all six disappeared into the darkness, heading up the mountain path in the direction of the boy-mage and his companions.

Lusam managed to close the wound and control the beginnings of an infection in Renn’s leg before he was forced to stop, or run the risk of passing out again. The setting of the bones and repair of the muscle would have to wait until after he’d rested a little. Alexia had already volunteered to watch the Empire agents while Lusam got some well-needed sleep. At first Lusam kindly refused her offer, as he was concerned that Alexia wouldn’t be able to see them or their auras in the darkness, but after she had pointed out that they were simply sitting around their campfire in plain sight, he quickly changed his mind, thankful for the rare opportunity to rest. Lusam retreated back to the relative safety of the cave and fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down his head.

Neala came to sit by Alexia’s side, checking out the Empire agents’ position as she did so.

“Do you think they will attack us again tonight?” Neala asked nodding her head towards the campfire in the distance.

“I doubt it, they lost a lot of men today. From what I can see there are only a few of them left, and they don’t look like they’re in a rush to do anything at the moment,” Alexia replied without taking her eyes off the agents’ camp.

“I really hope you’re right, Alexia, we all need a break after what we’ve gone through the last couple of weeks, especially Lusam. I’ve no idea how he’s managed to make it this far without collapsing.” Alexia nodded her agreement, but said nothing.

“Alexia,” Neala said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, for what you did today. You saved all our lives. When I was hit by that sharp rock I knew I’d probably die, and that was fine—but I knew Lusam would try to save me no matter what the cost to himself, and that he too would probably die because of it,” Neala said with tears in her eyes. Alexia finally took her eyes off the agents’ camp below and turned to face Neala.

“To be honest, I thought we were all going to die on this mountain, Neala,” Alexia replied in a hushed voice. “I even prayed that your deaths would be quick and painless, and that Aysha would take care of your souls. I never really expected to live through today, but now that I have, I have so many unanswered questions. At first I thought the enchantment on my bow had allowed me to kill the Empire agents, but Lusam said he didn’t think that was possible. Nothing else I can think of makes any sense, but there they are… dead,” she said, pointing towards the three dead agents still lying in the mud. Neala thought about it for a while, but found she too had no answers as to how it was possible.

“I don’t suppose it matters how you killed them, Alexia, only that you did, and we’re all alive because of it,” Neala said, placing her hand on Alexia’s and giving it a small squeeze. Alexia smiled at Neala’s words of encouragement, and nodded her head in reply.

Six hours later it started to rain again. Light at first, but becoming increasingly heavy as the minutes ticked by. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed through the dark night sky above. Lusam woke to the sounds of thunder echoing inside the cave. At first he thought they were once more under attack from the Empire agents, but when his sleep-hazed mind started to work again, he realised it was simply a storm outside. He had no idea how long he had slept, but he felt much better than he had in days.

As Lusam made his way towards the cave entrance, he noticed Neala taking advantage of the storm outside by refilling their waterskins at a tiny waterfall. It had been created by the deluge of rain running down the rock face high above them, then it flowed into a small channel, where Neala easily collected it as it cascaded over a final rock and onto the path where she stood. Neala offered Lusam a waterskin she’d already filled, and he accepted it gladly. It had been the previous day since any of them had drunk very much, and they had all been desperate for water.

Alexia remained on the edge of the mountain path, looking towards the agents’ camp far below, never once showing any signs of being bothered by the violent storm above or the rain that was soaking her to the skin. Lusam walked over to where she sat and offered her a drink of water.

“Any movement down there?” he asked, holding out the waterskin to her.

“No, they haven’t moved all night, but I’m not sure how long their fire will last in this rain,” she said, taking the waterskin from Lusam and thanking him. Lusam slipped into his mage-sight and looked at their camp below. As he suspected they had erected a shield over their camp, protecting both themselves and their fire from the heavy rain or any magical-missiles he might decide to send their way.

“Their campfire is protected from the rain by a magical shield, as are they. I need to finish healing Renn’s leg, but after I’m done I can take over here for a bit while you get some sleep if you like?” Lusam said.

“No, I’m fine, thanks. You and Renn have been without much sleep for days acting as lookout, it’s about time I took my turn,” Alexia replied.

“Yes, me too,” Neala said from behind them. “I’ll take over from Alexia now, so she can get some rest. Once you’ve finished healing Renn’s leg, you should try to get some more sleep too, before the sun comes up. I don’t think we should stay here any longer than we really have to.”