Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Two (9 page)

Neala saw in the distance a group of the castor bean trees close to the side of the road. She waited until they approached the copse of trees before asking, “Can we stop please? I need the bathroom now, I can't hold it any longer.” Skelly turned in his saddle to look at her, and was greeted by a desperate look on Neala's face. He stopped the horses adjacent to the trees and dismounted. He untied Neala's hands from her saddle so she could dismount, and then
dragged her over to his horse.
“Take off your shoes,” Skelly said removing a coil of rope from his saddle.

“My shoes?” Neala asked confused.

“Yes, your shoes. If you're considering making a run for it I wouldn't bother. That field is freshly cut straw, trying to run across it barefoot would be like running over thousands of nails. I doubt you would make it twenty paces without shredding your feet, but just in case you're still considering it, remember what I told you before; if you try to run, I'll make sure you never run again,” he replied coldly.

Skelly tied the rope around Neala's waist and said, “While you're behind that tree keep the rope moving, if the rope stops moving, I'll drag you out of that field with my horse, pants or no pants. Is that clear?”

“Yes. Very clear,” Neala replied, fighting the urge to retort. She removed her shoes, and carefully stepped into the field of spikes. Skelly wasn't kidding when he said the uncut stalks would cut her bare feet to bits if she tried to run, they were doing a good job of it even at her tip-toe pace. More than once she cried out in pain as a hidden stalk punctured the skin on her feet. She was worried the length of rope would not be sufficient for her to reach the tree she needed, but as she disappeared behind the first bush she was relieved to see several castor bean seeds already on the
ground.
She only needed one, and quickly removed the outer prickly casing to reveal the dark nut-like bean inside. She placed the bean in her mouth to hide it, and then went about her business behind the bush. She wouldn't put it past Skelly to actually check to see if she had been up to something else, other than relieving her bladder.

Neala had been told by Lusam that the castor beans were only poisonous if broken, and could even pass through a person's gut without causing harm if they were intact. She hoped he was right about that, as it nestled under her tongue, well away from her teeth. She gingerly made her way back out of the field to where Skelly awaited her return, and thankfully retrieved her shoes. Her feet were certainly worse for the excursion, but inwardly she smiled to herself at the knowledge that Skelly would suffer far worse soon enough.

They were soon back on the road to Stelgad, plodding along at their usual steady pace. Neala had managed to spit the castor bean from her mouth into her hand, which hadn't been as easy as she'd expected, almost dropping the precious bean in the process when the horse jolted slightly on the uneven road. She used her thumb nails to peel the bean and expose the toxic inner nut-like centre. Using her thumb nails again, she began to scratch at the nut, creating a fine dust-like powder in the palm of her hand. Any coarse material she discarded as they continued to ride
for the rest of the day.
She decided to try and slip the powder into the waterskin, but she would wait until she was offered a drink rather than asking for the waterskin herself, which she felt would cause less suspicion later.

Eventually as the sun began to set, Skelly brought their horses to a halt. He tied both horses to a sturdy branch, and then untied Neala from her saddle, allowing her to dismount from her horse. He followed the same pattern as the night before, securing Neala to the tree, and removing food and water from his saddlebags, before offering Neala some dried beef and fruit. She decided to take only the fruit, claiming she didn't like the taste of the last dried beef he gave her. Her plan would work better if she didn't eat exactly the same food as Skelly. It would be easier to blame his condition on the spoiled beef, which of course it had to be, because that was the only thing he had eaten, that she had not.

Neala waited patiently until finally Skelly offered her the waterskin. She was relieved he didn't drink from it before handing it to her, as it may have been the following day before he had drunk any water with the poison in it. She took the waterskin and unstopped it, carefully making sure not to contaminate the spout. She drank deeply knowing it may be her last for quite a while, then deftly slipped the poison into the waterskin, before restoppering it and handing it back to Skelly.

Neala's heart beat furiously in her chest, like a thousand horses at full gallop. She was certain Skelly would hear it as she rested her head against the tree, feigning relaxation. If he smelt or tasted the poison she was done for, that she knew for certain. With her eyes closed she prayed to Aysha fervently that he would not notice anything strange about the water, and take whatever revenge on her for trying to poison him. To her immense relief he seemed not to notice anything, and he drank his fill before tucking in to his dried beef strips.

Neala let him almost finish his third dried beef strip before finalizing her plan. “Where did you buy that beef from?” she asked, still resting her head against the tree she was tied to.

“Why, what difference does it make to you?” he asked, still chewing a large chunk of the beef.

“To me? None. I'm not the one eating it. Yesterday when you gave me a strip I didn't think it tasted or smelt quite right. I ate it anyway because I was hungry, but earlier today when I needed to stop in that field, I'm sure I paid the price for eating it. Another full day in a hot saddle bag wouldn't have made it any better to eat, I'm sure,” Neala replied smugly. As she glanced in his direction she saw him sniffing the small piece of beef in his hand, then he casually tossed it over his shoulder into the field behind them. Good!
She thought, he's taken the bait.
Neala would have been happy at that, but he did something else she hadn't expected. He reached over and took the waterskin, rinsed out his mouth with some of the water, then drank what remained.

He noticed Neala watching him and said, “Maybe you're right, it did smell a little ripe, now that you mention it.”

“It sure did,” Neala agreed, hugely satisfied at how well her plan had worked so far. She rested her head against the tree and closed her eyes, smiling inwardly and  looking forward to seeing the fruits of her labour in a few hours' time.

Chapter Ten

Zedd watched the progress of the
Vesdari
through its own evil eyes. The creature had ignored every opportunity to feed on the few animals it had encountered, obeying Zedd's command to ignore all else, until after the boy was dead. It had stumbled across an ancient pile of dragon bones at one point, still lying in the spot where it had fallen from the sky during the great war, many centuries before. Zedd could see the huge amount of power still contained within the bones of the dragon through the eyes of the
Vesdari
. He could also sense the immense internal struggle the creature felt at having to leave the dragon remains, and pursue its intended quarry, instead of feeding on the huge amount of power right in front of it. No doubt the creature would remember the location of the dragon bones and return later to devour its power Zedd thought.

After the great war, the few remaining
Vesdari
that
had survived were pursued by his people relentlessly, to be used as powerful pets against the forces of Afaraon, but none survived for long.
It quickly became apparent that they were only able to hold a certain amount of power within themselves, before they involuntarily exploded, usually killing their potential masters along with themselves. Scholars surmised that the
Vesdari
required the rift to be open, so they could channel their stored magic through to the other side, to be used for what, or by what nobody knew. Their appetite to devour magic knew no bounds, and Zedd knew that even if the boy didn't contain enough magic to kill it, the dragon bones certainly would. Either way, after it attacked the boy he would no longer have to worry about the creature.

It was very disorientating to walk and monitor the creature's progress through its own eyes at the same time. Often Zedd would trip over a root, or rock protruding from the ground, making it difficult to maintain complete control of the
Vesdari
. He decided it would be best to stop and wait until the creature had completed its work, rather than risk losing control of it altogether. It would be easy enough to catch up with an unconscious boy, or a dead one, after the creature had found him, either way it didn't matter to Zedd. He found a large rock and settled down to watch the forthcoming confrontation unfold.

It didn't take long for the creature to pick up on the
boy's trail, and once it did, it started moving forward with much greater speed towards its prey.
Eventually it arrived at a riverbank and stopped dead. Unwilling, or unable to cross the water, it just paced up and down the riverbank, backwards and forwards, making no effort to cross. Zedd mentally insisted it cross the river, but he was met with complete rejection. The creature knew its prey, and thus its freedom could be found on the opposite bank, but it still resolutely refused to cross. Eventually Zedd convinced the creature to travel further downstream, he instilled an image of a river crossing into its mind, but he could still feel its resistance to crossing the water even that way.

Time seemed to drag as Zedd watched the
Vesdari
travel downstream looking for a natural crossing point. The river seemed to get even wider and deeper the further it travelled, never once being narrow enough to cross. This was a big problem, the further the creature travelled, the further it would need to come back to pick up the boy's trail again, and all the time the boy was getting further away. Zedd could actually feel the agitation and anger felt by the creature as its prey gained ground, and added to his own, it made him feel even worse.

Several excruciating hours passed before the creature finally managed to find a natural river crossing. Over the millennia the river had cut deep into the base of a rock formation, creating an overhang and changing the
river's natural course.
It looked like the old riverbed had been refilled with debris  through countless flood cycles, linking it up with the rock face and forming a natural bridge over the river. Whatever had created it Zedd didn't care, the important thing was that the creature had found a crossing, and the hunt could now resume unhindered.

“Finally!” Zedd said out-loud to himself. He had remained silent ever since the creature encountered the water barrier, only complaining and cursing to himself quietly during the search for the elusive river crossing. Cole had the good sense to refrain from asking questions during this stressful period, something Zedd was glad about. Although he had gained control of the creature soon after summoning it, it seemed to constantly challenge his ability to keep control of it, especially if Zedd was trying to make it do something it was not happy doing. Now that it was back on the hunt again it seemed to relinquish control to Zedd far easier. It too was also keen to encounter the boy mage it seemed, and sooner rather than later. Its speed seemed to increase considerably, and it arrived at the opposite riverbank to resume its tracking of the boy in less than half the time it had taken to find the river crossing.

Zedd could see the remains of what looked like a fresh meal of fish discarded not far from the riverbank, but he couldn't see any evidence of a camp fire, which he thought was strange, but not important enough to slow the
creature's pursuit over.
Relentlessly onwards the creature tracked the boy through the thick forest, never slowing down, even when the odd forest animal inadvertently crossed its path.

Then it happened. There, in the distance he could make out the boy running between the trees through the eyes of the creature. Zedd allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction, knowing he would soon claim his prize, and possibly be on his way home to the Empire, and his family. As the
Vesdari
moved in silently for the kill, Zedd noticed the boy wasn't alone, there was a large man with him. He wore a sword and shield strapped to his back, and moved with the speed and grace of someone much smaller, and lighter than his frame suggested. When the
Vesdari
was within a few hundred paces of its target, he noticed something even more worrisome. The man's sword started to emit a strange blue light, and as the creature drew closer the glow intensified.

“We have a problem,” Zedd said.

“What kind of problem?” Cole asked, not sure if he really wanted to know or not.

“The boy isn't alone, there's another man with him,”

“I'm sure it's nothing the
Vesdari
can't handle, if not, us,” Cole replied confidently.

“I'm sure that would be true, if it were just a man,
but this one is a Paladin of The Betrayer,”
“Oh, I see,” Cole said sounding far less confident this time.

***
 

Lusam and Renn had been running non-stop without a break since leaving the river earlier that day. There were maybe twenty minutes of daylight left before the sun would dip beyond the horizon, and plunge the forest into darkness once again. Lusam wasn't looking forward to spending yet another night within the forest. It made his skin crawl just thinking about the creatures that may be nearby while he tried to sleep. Renn had assured him that no creature from the Netherworld could ever cross Aysha's light, which was produced by his blessed sword, but it still made him uncomfortable, knowing they could at least try.