Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Two (20 page)

He was confident he could rescue her before she entered the guild building and return to the temple
unnoticed, until, twenty minutes later two Empire agents appeared outside the front of the guild building.
They didn't seem especially interested in the building itself, more just the general area. He was very relieved to see the two men walk away after about twenty minutes, but equally dismayed to see another two take their place not ten minutes later.

The cycle of men continued for just over two hours, then Lusam recognised one of the agents as one of the first men he had seen there. Realization suddenly dawned on him at that point; these men were part of a bigger patrol. The Empire agents must now be patrolling the entire city using a circular route. That either meant they now had a lot more men in and around Stelgad, or they knew Lusam was inside the city. Either way it wasn't good news, and Lusam knew his task had just become a whole lot more difficult.

Chapter Twenty One

Stelgad was just about visible on the horizon now, or more accurately the dim glow of its multitude of street lights were against the pitch black sky. Neala had long since given up any hope of rescue, and had tried to convince herself that it must be because Lusam had been injured or killed, rather than he no longer cared for her. Any other scenario she simply just couldn't face, because she knew without doubt that she still loved him.

Skelly had remained silent all day, and although she thought it shouldn't really bother her, it did for some reason. She realised that considering his reputation he hadn't been too unkind to her, especially after what she'd done to him with the poison.

“Skelly,” she said trying to gain his attention, but he just ignored her again. “Skelly, I'm sorry about the poison,” she started to say, but was cut short when Skelly stopped his horse abruptly and turned to look at her. At any other time
she would have feared for her life, but that seemed forfeit now anyway, so she continued.
“Just for the record, I'd like you to know that I never intended to kill you with that poison. I only put enough in the water to slow you down a little, because I hoped my friend would come to rescue me. I also know you could have made this trip a lot more uncomfortable for me, and I'd like to thank you for not doing so,” Neala said, maintaining an uncomfortable eye contact with Skelly.

Neala wasn't sure what she expected him to do after she confirmed her part in his illness, but what he did do caught her by complete surprise.

“You know, there aren't many people who could have pulled that off without me noticing. And even up until you just confessed to it, I wasn't completely sure you did it. I can respect that quality in a fellow thief.

“I was also very impressed with your fighting skills back in Helveel. Carter, the man you killed there was considered one of our best with a blade, and you dispatched him with ease. It's a shame you didn't join the Hawks instead of the Crows, it seems such a waste of talent to be delivering you to Shiva like this,” Skelly said.

“You don't have to deliver me to him, you could tell him that you couldn't find me, or that I escaped,” Neala said, not for one second believing he might take her up on her
offer.
He smiled at her and replied, “You obviously don't know Shiva. He doesn't take failure well. And you're forgetting that you've already killed one of the men he sent to capture you,”

“Can't blame a girl for trying, “ she said smiling. “Skelly, do you mind if I ask you something?”

“You can ask,” he replied.

“I've heard of your fearsome reputation as Shiva's second in command, and I've fought you in Helveel, so I know how good you are. I can't believe Shiva is any better than you are with a blade, so why aren't you the leader of the Hawks' guild?” Neala said. Skelly smiled at her observations but didn't respond straight away, then after a few moments he simply said,

“He's smart enough to surround himself with
brainless
people,”

“I don't understand. How can it be smart to surround yourself with
brainless
people?” Neala asked confused.

“Because
brainless
people blindly follow orders without thinking, and his standing order is to kill anyone who threatens his life. I'd have to kill half of the guild to take control by direct measures, and as good as I am with a blade,
I don't like those odds,” he said, turning his horse back towards Stelgad.
“Skelly, I hope it's not you he chooses to torture and kill me, but if it is, I won't blame you for it... just so you know,” she said quietly. Skelly didn't turn his head or reply, he simply nodded he had heard what she had said, and continued riding.

An hour later they approached one of the two northern gates into Stelgad, and what Neala saw shocked and confused her in equal measures. Standing before the gate were two of the strange men in Black robes, and just beyond the gate another two. The town guards stationed at the gates seemed not to even notice them, allowing them to linger where nobody would normally be allowed to stand.

As they approached the gate she braced herself for the strange crawling sensation to start within her mind, but it never came. Both the men outside and inside the gate ignored them as they passed by unchallenged. Neala had been outside the city many times after dark, and every time she had tried to re-enter through a gate, she had been challenged by the guards as to what her business was. Tonight was different, either because she was with Skelly, or the guards simply hadn't seen them for some reason, she suspected the latter.

“That was strange,” she said to herself, but Skelly must have heard her because he grunted his agreement. Five minutes later they arrived at the front entrance to the Hawks' guild-house, and standing right outside were yet another two of the strange men in black robes. She had lived in Stelgad all of her life, and never once had she seen a single one of these strangely dressed men here, now she had seen six of them in five minutes; something was wrong.

Skelly dismounted his horse and untied Neala from her saddle, then walked her to the front entrance of the building. He knocked a series of knocks on the solid oak door and waited until a small hatch was opened. There was a shout from behind the door, swiftly followed by the door opening. A young boy of maybe nine or ten years old stumbled out of the door looking half asleep, and began tending their horses as they entered the building.

When they entered the guild house they were greeted by two large men in the hallway, both obviously subservient to Skelly.

“Good trip I see,” one of the men said gesturing towards Neala.

“Yes it was, but I doubt Carter would agree,” Skelly replied. As if on cue both men started laughing at Skelly's crude joke. “Is Shiva sleeping?”

“Yeah. Want me to wake him for you?” the other
man asked.
“No. Not unless you want him to cut that throat of yours for disturbing him,”

“Gottcha boss,”

“Take her to the cells until the morning,” Skelly said, handing her over to one of the big men, who grabbed her roughly by the arm. Skelly began walking away, but he stopped mid-stride and turned back to the man holding Neala.

“Shiva wants her unharmed, and so do I. If so much as a hair is out of place on her head tomorrow when I go to the cells, you'll answer to me. Do you understand?” Skelly said, giving the big man a look that left him in absolutely no doubt about his meaning.

“Yes, sir,” the big man replied, instantly relaxing his grip on her arm, just in case he left a mark that would cost him later.

Skelly vanished into one of the side rooms closing the door behind himself, and Neala was walked through the guild house and down some stairs into a dark basement. When her eyes adjusted to the darkened room she became aware of three cells lined up against the back wall. The man unhooked a bunch of keys from the wall and unlocked the middle cell, before pushing her inside and locking the cage door behind her, then he returned the keys to the hook on
the far wall and left the room.
The cell was completely bare apart from some dirty old straw on the floor, and by the smell she guessed it hadn't been cleaned in a long time. The only light in the room was from the moonlight that filtered in through a series of tiny openings up near the ceiling, casting long shadows across the room as it shone through the bars of her cell. The openings were far too small to be windows, and she guessed they were only there for ventilation, but any thoughts of the windows quickly vanished when she heard movement coming from inside one of the other cells.

“Hello... is someone in there?” she asked the darkness, hoping it wasn't just rats. Nobody answered, so she tried again. “My name's Neala, you don't have to be afraid, I won't hurt you.” There was a sudden movement towards the bars of Neala's cell and it startled her, making her step back away from the bars towards the centre of her  cell.

“Neala, is that you?” came a familiar female voice from the darkness.

“Alexia?” Neala asked, stunned to be face to face with her old friend.

“Yes, it's me Alexia,” she said breaking down and crying. Neala knelt down next to her, and hugged her the best she could through the bars that separated them both.
After several minutes Neala broke the embrace and spoke first.
“I thought everyone had been killed in the initial attack. Did any of the others survive?” Neala asked hopefully.

“Yes, a few of us survived, but Shiva has been hunting us down ever since. You remember Toby and Scatch right?”

“Of course I do, what about them?” Neala asked.

“Well, they took charge of most of us who were left after the attack. Toby said we should pledge our allegiance to the Hawks' guild and make a fresh start there with them. I told him it was a bad idea, but he wouldn't listen to me, and neither would most of the others. The four of us that remained watched from a distance as they were slaughtered by Shiva's men,” Alexia said, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Are the other three that stayed with you alive?” Neala asked hopefully. But she could see Alexia shaking her head even in the darkness. “What happened to them?”

“Betrayed.” she said through sobs. “We hid for weeks, eating when and where we could, knowing all the exits from Stelgad were being watched by Shiva's men. We asked for help from the innkeeper at the
Plucked Pheasant
and he agreed to help us, but he turned us all in to Shiva the same night.”

“That snake, I'll kill him. He only has that inn because of us. He owes the Crows' guild everything, and he still sells us out,” Neala said vehemently, forgetting her own predicament momentarily. “So where are the others now?”

“I don't know. When they came to the inn I wasn't there. I was out checking the city gates for Shiva's men, like we had done every day since the attack. When I returned to the inn I saw them being carried away by Shiva's men. I survived alone on the run for months, but two days ago they caught me trying to steal some food from the market in the east district. And here I am,” she said with a mock laugh. “What about you, what's your story?” she asked.

“Well that's a long one, but I guess we have nothing better to do,” Neala said, and began to tell Alexia all what had happened to her since she had left Stelgad that fateful night, not so long ago.

Chapter Twenty Two

Lusam watched helplessly as Neala was led to the front entrance of the guild house, unable to intervene  because of the two Empire agents standing only a few paces away from them. If he attempted to rescue her now in front of the two Empire agents he felt sure it would only be a matter of moments before dozens of them converged on his position. Even if he and Neala survived the attack, the paladins back at the temple may not, and he would not be responsible for their deaths if it could be avoided.

He tried to formulate another plan quickly, but all of them led to him having to enter the guild house. He was confident in his ability to protect himself using his shield, but he wasn't sure if his magic would be detected or not by the Empire agents outside. It only took him a few moments to come to the conclusion that he had to take the chance, he simply couldn't leave Neala here to suffer her fate at the hands of this Shiva person, he had to rescue her.

He remembered seeing a guard on top of the roof from when he and Renn were high upon the city wall, and knew if the guard could reach the roof, there had to be an entrance into the building from up there. Earlier that day he had come up with a plan to neutralize anyone that got in his way without killing them, he just hoped it would work in practice. He knew time was important, but he guessed Neala wasn't in any immediate danger of being killed outright. He reasoned that if all Shiva wanted was her dead, he would have instructed his men to kill her back in Helveel, not bring her all the way back to Stelgad unharmed. He obviously wanted to drag out her suffering as long as possible for his own perverse pleasure, and that should give Lusam the time he needed.

Lusam returned to the back of the building and found the far rear corner was out of direct sight from the tavern, which by now was much quieter than it had been earlier that night. Taking one last look around to make sure nobody could see him, especially any Empire agents, he erected a shield around himself using only enough power to stop a blade or crossbow bolt. He guessed no-one inside the building would be capable of using magic against him, and keeping his magical power output low might mean he remained hidden from the Empire agents on the streets at the front of the building.