Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book One (24 page)

“Lusam. Stop! I'm here to help you.”

“Who are you? How do you know my name?” Lusam asked, still holding the roaring ball of fire in his right hand.

“My name is Renn, and I'm here to take you to the High Temple of Aysha in Lamuria,” he said, holding his shield at the ready, just in case Lusam decided to release the missile at him.

Lusam let out a crazy sounding laugh, then replied,
“I'm sorry Renn, but I'm a little busy at the moment.
My best friend was just kidnapped and I have to rescue her, before they kill her.”

“Wait! Your life is in great danger. This agent of Aamon is only the first of many sent to find and kill you. We must leave this place immediately. His fellow agents will have sensed his death, and will be on their way right now, as we speak. We must leave now!”

“You expect me to just trust what you say? For all I know you could have been sent here to kill me or Neala too. I'm leaving now. If you try to follow me … well, it won’t be good for you,” Lusam replied. Noticing Neala's throwing knife still sticking out of the first man’s chest, he let the fireball fade away and went to retrieve the only thing he had left of Neala's.

“Wait, please. Look,” Renn said, unbuttoning his tunic and removing a gold chain. On the gold chain was the unmistakable symbol that identified him as a Paladin of Aysha. Lusam's mind reeled at the thought that he'd just attacked a paladin of Aysha. That would explain why his fireball did no damage to his shield. It was common knowledge that weapons carried by paladins were imbued with the power of their God. Lusam said a silent prayer to Aysha, asking for forgiveness for attacking one of her paladins, before turning to Renn and apologising to him as well.

“We must leave now lad. I'll help you with your friend, but you must promise to return with me to the High Temple once we've rescued her.” Lusam didn't know, or care, why Renn wanted him to go with him to the High Temple. What he did care about was getting Neala back safe, and as fast as possible.

“Okay. They have taken her to Stelgad, to a thieves' guild there. They intend to torture and kill her, we must hurry.” It was just then that Lusam realised he had absolutely no idea how to get to Stelgad, or even how far it was. “Do you know the way to Stelgad?” he asked Renn, walking swiftly in the direction he'd last seen the man taking Neala.

“Yes, I know how to get to Stelgad. It's a long way though. Maybe nine or ten days by road on horseback, it depends on the weather. But we can't go by road.”

“Why not?” Lusam asked.

“The agents of Aamon will be watching all of the roads out of Helveel now that they know you're here. Their only mission is to kill you, no matter what the cost.”

“We have to get Neala before they reach Stelgad, or she's dead! I have no choice but to risk the road,” Lusam replied frantically.

“No! If you go by road, you'll both die. You're life is too important lad. We need you.”

“It's not your decision! If you don't want to come …
fine.
I'll go alone,” Lusam almost shouted at him.

“Okay, let’s think about this logically. The man who has your friend left maybe twenty minutes ago, correct?”

“Yes. And the more time we waste talking, the further away he's getting with Neala.”

“Okay, so how many horses do you have right now? Do you have supplies for a ten day journey? Then if you do manage to rescue her, what about the journey back again? Do you know your way there? If you do need me to show you the way, that would be double the amount of equipment and supplies you would need. It would take you at least a full day to acquire all the items you need. By that time the agents of Aamon would have found you easily, and your mission would have failed before it had even begun.  Even if you managed to avoid the agents and acquired all the provisions you need, by the time you got them all, you would never catch up with them in time. We need to leave Helveel now,” Renn said calmly.

“I can't just leave her to die! There must be another way. There just has to be,” Lusam almost begged.

“There is. We can cut through the forest and intercept them before they reach Stelgad. We can gather and hunt food as we go, get water from the streams, and remain well away from the roads and out of the reach of agents. It will be hard going, and the pace we must set will be swift if we are to beat them to Stelgad, but we can do if we leave
right now.”
Lusam thought about his options, or lack thereof, and decided he must trust this paladin of Aysha, with both his and Neala's life. He nodded his agreement to Renn, and they both set off quickly in the direction of the forest and Stelgad beyond.

Chapter Eleven

Skelly had no idea who the strange man in the black robes had been, or how the boy had managed to thwart his throwing knife as he did. If he didn't know better, Skelly would have sworn the boy's wound had healed itself, by the way he seemed to move without the encumbrance of pain when he stood up and moved towards him.

Too many strange and unexplained events to risk getting involved in someone else's fight,
Skelly thought. He'd also experienced a strange feeling in his mind as he looked at the man in the black robes, as if he was crawling through his head, looking for something.

Skelly wasn't often afraid of anything, least of all an unarmed boy and a strange looking man in a robe with no apparent weapons. This time however, his instincts screamed at him to get out of there, fast. If there was one thing in this life he was sure of, it was to trust his instincts. They had saved his hide more times than he cared to mention. And he wasn't about to start ignoring them now.

Carrying the unconscious girl over his shoulder, he quickly made his way back to the horses. Carter had been a good fighter, but he wouldn't be hard to replace by the guild, so he wouldn't be missed much either. One advantage of his demise was that Skelly now had a spare horse to carry the girl, instead of having to double up on one horse.
It would certainly make for a faster and more comfortable trip back to Stelgad, and that alone was worth losing Carter for,
Skelly thought, allowing himself a wry smile.
Reaching the abandoned warehouse where they had left the horses and supplies, it didn't take him long to saddle them and prepare to leave Helveel. He lay, the still unconscious girl across the saddle, and fastened her on securely with a rope so she wouldn't fall off, or try to escape when she woke up. He removed a bottle of whisky from one of the saddlebags and poured some onto the girl's face and hair, then took a swig for himself, before returning the bottle to the saddlebag. He knew the poison would probably render her unconscious for another couple of hours at least. He did have an antidote with him, but decided it would be easier to leave town with her in this condition, rather than her screaming or trying to fight him from the saddle of her horse.

When they reached the town gates two guards saw their approach and stepped out to stop them in their tracks.

“Halt!” one of the guards said loudly, holding up his hand.

Stopping several paces away, Skelly replied, “Good afternoon gentlemen. How may I be of service?”

“What's the meaning of this? What business do you have with that girl there?” the other guard asked, nodding towards the girl tied onto the saddle face down.

“Oh, don't worry about her gentlemen. She's just my wayward niece. She came to the carnival to have a good
time, but I'm afraid her and her friends had a little
too
much of a good time this afternoon.
I caught her with an almost empty bottle of whisky, slumped in the corner of the town square. I didn't want her causing you good fellows any trouble, so I decided to take her home for her father to deal with her—when she finally wakes up, that is. Although, I think her headache will be punishment enough,” Skelly replied laughing loudly.

The first guard approached the girl and lifted her head with a suspicious look on his face. He leant close to her mouth and sniffed, pulling back swiftly at the stench of alcohol radiating from her. He turned to his comrade in arms and nodded. The second guard briefly looked back at Skelly, before waving him on through the gates.

“Make sure she doesn't make a habit of it in the future,” he said, as they past through the gates.

“Oh, I can absolutely guarantee she won't give you any trouble in the future gentlemen,” Skelly replied, grinning at the guard, then looking at the girl tied to the saddle.

It was almost three hours later, when they were well out of sight of Helveel, that Neala began to stir. Her head spun, and her vision was blurry. Her ribs were on fire, and it was hard to catch her breath as she was being jolted
continuously.
When Neala could finally focus her vision, she recognised that she was looking at the ground as it continuously flashed by at a constant speed. She could see the legs of a horse. A horse she was riding. No. Not riding. Trying hard to get her mind to work, and thinking through the haze that was clouding her thoughts, she realised she was somehow tied to the horse.

Neala remained silent for several minutes, trying to make sense of her situation. She could see the man she had fought in front of her on another horse, but she wasn't sure if anyone was following behind without turning her head to see. But that would let anyone who might be there know she was awake, and that would negate her small advantage. She listened carefully for the sound of hooves behind her, but heard none. She needed to know what she was up against, so she decided to turn her head and look to be sure. As she suspected, it was just her and this one man. Returning to her original position, she closed her eyes again and tried to think of a way out of the situation she now found herself in.

It was about another hour before the horses stopped and she heard the man dismount, then start walking towards her. Still feigning unconsciousness, she lay motionless and waited.

“There's no point pretending to be asleep still. I know you're not. The poison I gave you doesn't last that
long,” he said, circling her horse and coming to stand in front of her face.
Neala remained silent and didn't move. “You have two choices: you can ignore me and stay tied to that saddle until we reach Stelgad, or you can talk to me and ride upright. Your choice. It doesn't bother me either way,” the man said, waiting for an answer. Neala knew she couldn't remain here much longer without doing some serious damage to herself, so she relented and answered the man.

“Who are you? And what do you want with me?” she spat at him. The man laughed at her, then slapped her hard across the face, making her wince, and her eyes water.

“Who I am, is the person taking you back to Stelgad to face justice for your crimes. The only thing I want from you is a little respect, and some peace and quiet during the trip back. Now … here's how this will work. If you co-operate, I'll secure you in an upright position, instead of how you are now. I'm sure it would be much more comfortable for you.

“Unfortunately, I have strict instructions to deliver you to Stelgad alive. That doesn't mean I can't cut you up plenty on the way there though. If you try to escape, I'll make sure walking is not an option for you, ever again. If you give me any other kind of trouble, I'll simply put you back to sleep until we reach Stelgad. Do you understand my terms?”

Neala already knew she couldn't stay tied to the saddle as she was now, or she would be in very bad shape before the day was done, let alone all the way back to Stelgad. Reluctantly she decided to agree with him.

“Yes, I understand,” she hissed at him. The man slapped her again, this time harder. Her ears rang with the impact, and she saw stars in her vision. She gasped at the sudden pain, but tried hard not to cry out.

“I said I required your respect. Your answer didn't sound very respectful to me. Try again,” he said calmly, standing close to her down turned face.

“Yes, I understand,” Neala replied again, trying to sound as genuine as possible this time.

“Good. Much better,” the man said, as he cut the rope that connected her hands and feet under the horse. Neala wasn't ready for her sudden release, and found herself crashing to the floor, where she sat winded trying to catch her breath. The man bent down and lifted Neala easily off the floor by her arm, and back onto her feet.

“What's your name girl?” the man asked, still holding on to her arm. Neala couldn't see any advantage in not telling him her name. She doubted he would have heard of her before anyway.

“Neala … my name's Neala. What's yours?” As soon as she asked his name, she regretted doing so, fully expecting another painful reminder not to ask questions.
The man laughed out loud at her, before replying,
“You can call me Skelly,” he replied casually. Skelly then bent down and untied the rope from around one of her ankles: so her feet were no longer tied together. Neala probably would have tried to kick him in the face and flee at that point, but the name he'd just given her, made her think twice. She'd heard the name “Skelly” many times before in Stelgad. And what she knew of that name, made her quickly reassess her situation. If this was the same Skelly as the one she'd heard of, she was in even bigger trouble than she thought. His reputation as a cold-hearted killer, unequalled with a blade did nothing to put her at ease. She had no doubt he would carry out his threats if she gave him even the slightest cause to do so.