Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book One (23 page)

When the show ended the audience roared their approval, and several young men and woman circulated throughout the crowds collecting donations for the show. Lusam was lost deep in thought, when he was abruptly brought back to reality by Neala jabbing him in the ribs. She leant towards him as if she was about to kiss his cheek, and whispered in his ear, “Don't look now, but that strange man at the front just made eye contact with me, and he's now trying to make his way towards us. I think we should leave … right now.”

“Are you sure?” Lusam asked, desperately not
wanting to look in the direction of the man.
“Yes, I'm sure. But, if you want to wait here to make certain and debate it …”

“No, let’s go. Now!” Lusam replied shakily. He had no idea why this man made him feel the way he did. Suddenly he felt that strange feeling again, as if someone was trying to get inside his head. This time Lusam easily kept the probing of the man at bay, even though he could feel the man's strenuous efforts to try and break down his barriers. Lusam felt much less threatened by the man's power this time, but he still didn't want to wait around to meet him face to face.

They made their way through the main crowd towards the back of the town square, but it was slow progress. Once they had left the main mass of people behind, and entered the general flow of people coming and going to the carnival, Neala chanced a quick glance behind her to see if the man was still in pursuit, and was not surprised to see that he still was.

“Quickly, follow me, into that shop over there,” Neala said, indicating a shop with its door wide open. As they entered, Lusam saw it was a shop selling cloth of all colours and designs. Racks and racks of cloth that formed narrow walkways between them, almost like a multicoloured maze.

Neala grabbed Lusam's hand and pulled him along
behind her.
She seemed to know exactly where she was going, so Lusam just followed the best he could. A few seconds later they found themselves exiting the shop through a back entrance, and onto the street behind. Neala then led him down the cobbled street and into yet another shop, this time selling flowers and cakes. Again she led him back outside through a rear door into yet another street. They repeated this another three times, each time entering by one door and leaving by another.

Lusam had no idea where they were when they finally stopped running, and Neala pulled him inside yet another shop.

“I think we might have lost him,” Neala said, glancing out of the shop window from behind a clothes rack.

Lusam was still panting for breath, but managed to ask,“How did you know which of those shops had rear doors like that?”

“It's what I do,” was all she said in reply, still watching diligently for any sign of the man in black robes. They stayed in the shop for several minutes, before deciding it was time to leave and head back to the safety of
The Old Ink Well.

Leaving the shop and gaining their bearings, they set off down the cobbled street in the direction of home, with Lusam leading the way. At the first intersection they took a left turn down another quiet cobbled backstreet. Neala
suggested staying within the less busy back streets where possible, to avoid being spotted by the strange man again, and Lusam was more than happy to agree with her.
Turning the next corner Lusam was about to say something to Neala, when he collided with someone coming around the corner from the opposite direction. Pain exploded in Lusam's stomach, and his knees buckled under him. His hands clutched at the area where the pain had erupted, and he was shocked to feel something hard protruding from his abdomen. Looking down, he saw his shirt soaked with blood, and the handle of a dagger sticking out. Gasping through the pain, he looked up at Neala with a question on his lips, but was unable to voice anything through the incredible pain. Neala screamed his name, then suddenly became a blur in front of his eyes as her daggers intercepted the man who had injured him.

Lusam found himself sitting down, leaning against the building, still clutching at the dagger in his stomach, while watching the deadly dance of Neala and the man unfold before him. It was then he noticed a second man only a few footsteps behind. He reached into his shirt to remove a throwing knife.

“LOOK OUT!” Lusam managed to shout, just in time to warn Neala of the knife flying in her direction. He wasn't sure, but it looked like Neala had already spotted the danger and reacted in time to avoid the deadly projectile.

Lusam wanted to blast the man with magic, but he was unable to concentrate enough through the pain in his gut to manage it. He knew he had to get the knife out of his stomach, then try to heal himself, so he could help Neala. And quickly.

Neala seemed to easily defend herself against the attacks of the man, and was now beginning to press her own advantage. A few seconds later the man seemed to realise he was losing the battle too, and changed his tactics to defend more than attack. Neala easily stepped past his guard, scoring minor hits, time and again, on various parts of the man's body. During one of her attacks, Lusam noticed her remove one of her throwing knives whilst she spun, releasing it a heartbeat later in the direction of the man. The knife thudded into his chest, and his eyes suddenly went wide. He instantly dropped his own dagger onto the ground with a clatter, and grasped at the handle of the knife that was now buried to the hilt in his chest.  He just stared at Neala, with a look of complete disbelief on his face. How could he have been killed by this girl? He was dead before he hit the floor.

Lusam saw Neala's attention now turn to the second man, just as he was placing some kind of pipe to his lips. Lusam clearly heard him blow down the pipe and noticed several thin darts leave the end of it, each flying through the air in the general direction of Neala. Neala tried
to roll to the side and avoid the darts, but one found its mark.
Pulling out the dart from her leg, Neala stood up and rushed at the man with her daggers drawn. He parried her attack, then came around for an attack of his own. Lusam was no expert in knife combat, but it was obvious that he was a match for Neala's skill, and much better than the first man she'd already dispatched.

“What's your name girl?” the man asked, looking very relaxed as Neala pressed her attacks. It looked like Neala's reactions were slowing down, as the man parried her attacks more and more easily with each passing moment.

“You don't need to know my name, for me to kill you,” she hissed back at him. The man laughed at her, as he continued to defend against her ever-slowing attacks.

“If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already,” the man said, with an amused look on his face. “Unfortunately for you, Shiva wants to
talk
with you personally back in Stelgad, regarding the theft of one of his horses. I have strict instructions to bring you to him alive and unharmed, but I can assure you, when he's finished
talking
with you, you would have preferred a quick death here by my hand.”

Neala fell to one knee, desperately swinging her blade to counter any incoming attacks, but none came. Lusam realised the dart must have been poisoned, and it was rendering Neala completely defenceless. He had to do something, and fast.

Lusam closed his eyes and concentrated on blocking the pain in his stomach using his magic. Once he had blocked the pain completely, he took a hold of the dagger with both hands and prepared to remove it. He knew the blade had done a lot of damage to his abdomen, and removing it would surely do even more. He had to be ready to start repairing the damage quickly, before he lost too much blood. Feeling extremely nauseous, he took a few rapid breaths and quickly removed the dagger. Glancing up, he could see that Neala was now completely defenceless on the floor before the man, as he continued to taunt her with verbal comments.

Doubling his efforts, Lusam focused on stopping the internal bleeding, before moving outward towards the flesh wound. When he was sure all the damage had been repaired, he braced himself, before attempting to stand. Knowing the man would likely throw another knife at him as soon as he stood up, he decided to erect a force-field around himself before moving.

After encasing himself in a force-field Lusam began to stand up. The man looked fairly relaxed, and obviously didn't expect Lusam to be any threat to him after being impaled by the dagger. As expected, he calmly removed a throwing knife and launched it at Lusam's head. The knife bounced off and clattered onto the cobbled street close to the man's feet. He looked down at his knife and then back at
Lusam, before retrieving his knife and examining it more closely.
“Neat trick,” the man said, still looking a little confused.

“If you liked that, you're going to love this one,” Lusam replied, forming a fireball in his hand twice the size of a man’s head, and preparing to launch it at him. The man didn't look half as scared as he should be, and Lusam admired his nerve. As Lusam prepared to send the fireball hurtling towards the man, he suddenly sensed something behind him. Turning quickly, he came face to face with the strange man in the black robes. A heartbeat later Lusam was struck by a huge invisible force that sent him hurtling backwards into the wall behind him.

Lusam was badly winded, but he knew without question that he would have been dead without his force-field in place. As he struggled to his feet again, he was suddenly frozen in place by some kind of invisible restraint. He then started to feel the now unmistakable sensation of his mind being probed by the strange man in black robes.

Looking over to where Neala still lay on the ground, he noticed she was now no longer moving. Panicking, thinking she might be dead, he checked her aura, and was relieved to see that she was merely unconscious. The other man bent down and effortlessly lifted Neala off the ground, placing her over his right shoulder, and turned to leave. Lusam tried to shout her name, but nothing came out of his
mouth.
It seemed he had been robbed of his speech, as well as his ability to move.

Lusam felt the strange man increase the pressure on his mind, but he still was unable to break through Lusam's defences. Lusam instinctively fell into his mage-sight to take a look at the man. He could clearly see magic being used by the man, and also noticed that there were now two layers of force-fields surrounding him. The inner one being his, and the outer one created by the strange man in the black robes. He could no longer see Neala, or the man who had taken her. He knew he had to get away from this man and rescue her; before they got too far ahead of him. Lusam had overheard the man talking to Neala, telling her that someone in Stelgad called Shiva wanted to talk with her, about the horse she had stolen. It didn't take Lusam long to work out that this “
Shiva,”
must be the boss of the rival thieves' guild that had wiped out Neala's old guild. He also guessed by the word “
talk,”
he actually meant torture, or worse.

There was no way Lusam was about to let that happen. He loved Neala with all his heart, and just the thought of anyone hurting her turned him to rage. He channelled a huge pulse of power into his own force-field, expanding it so rapidly and explosively, it shattered the force-field of the other mage. He saw the look of utter bewilderment on the face of the other mage, as he hit the
floor hard with the force of the blast.
The mage quickly began to stand up again, whilst chanting something over and over to himself. Lusam noticed the strange looking object forming in the right hand of the mage, as he once again stood before him.

Strengthening his own shield against whatever was about to come, Lusam braced himself. When the magical missile hit his shield it jolted him backwards, but little more. The other mage looked completely shocked that he still remained standing in front of him. He quickly sent several more of the magical missiles towards Lusam, each one impacting harmlessly on his shield. Lusam tried to speak again, but found he still couldn't make a sound. Lusam had no idea how the mage had created the spell to silence him, and he didn't know how to counteract it either.

Lusam knew he had to go after Neala right now, or it would be too late—if it wasn't already too late. Once again the restraining force-field appeared around him, but this time it was much stronger. Lusam's anger flared at what was happening to him, and his inability to rescue the one he loved, all because of this man in front of him.

Lusam channelled so much power into his own force-field it made him dizzy with the effort. As he was about to release the spell, he noticed another man turn the corner behind the mage, carrying a shield and starting to draw his sword. Lusam had had enough. He released the huge blast
of power, shattering the force-field of the mage with so much force, it literally blasted the two men in front of him into the wall at the far end of the street.
Instantly he knew the mage was dead, as he felt the unmistakable magical force that was released whenever a mage dies.

Lusam was about to leave and start the urgent pursuit of Neala's kidnapper, when he heard the second man stirring. The mage dying had obviously released the spell on his vocal chords, as he was able to whisper a few choice words to himself, as he watched the second man stand up at the end of the street. Not wanting to waste any more time, Lusam formed a fireball in the palm of his hand and let it loose towards the man. The man saw the incoming fireball and raised his shield to intercept the missile. When the fireball hit his shield, it simply winked out of existence with a fizzle. Lusam started to create a much larger version, but was stopped in his tracks when the man shouted,