Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (34 page)

“Were they invisible?” asked Graf.

“Quite possibly,” said Brind. “Do you think it was the elf we talked about?”

“I’m not sure,” said Graf. “It would be a most unlikely alliance, but it’s possible.” He shook his head as if clearing his mind. “It doesn’t matter. The mage has been poisoned! It is only a matter of time before he dies. You have done well, Brind!”

Brind gave a weak smile. “Shall I continue to search for the fire elemental? Once I see it, I’m sure I have the power to summon it by myself using my trident to channel the energy. It is easier to summon on this plane than the one beyond.”

“Yes,” said Graf. “But hold onto it this time. We may be able to use it in our war.”

“Of course,” said Brind, relieved. He turned and left. Brind had told his story in the wrong order, but it had worked out for the better. At least Graf was pleased about the poisoned mage.

Meanwhile, Graf entered his quarters. He cast a spell to silence everything in the room from possible listeners outside. Then he began to laugh. His hissing laugh let decades of stress go. He lifted his face to the ceiling and cried, “The dragon mage is poisoned! He is as good as dead! Next come the human clerics and mages! Then the dwarves and elves! The world will be ours at last!”

From the study doorway, three sets of eyes watched the outburst with incomprehension. Little did the hydra know what plans Graf had in store for it.

Chapter 27

A
lric wiped the dust from his clothes and rose shakily to his feet. The partial cave in that had resulted from the earthquake had filled the tunnel with dust and debris. He coughed to clear his lungs. The elf looked around in the falling dust, visibility only slightly enhanced by the light emanating from the elemental.

Tyris had survived the cave in handily, being able to ‘flow’ through the debris by conforming his body to the shapes of the falling rocks. His area was affected more than the others, judging by the size of the boulders around his feet.

Kazin had suffered the most. His weakened state had left him unable to shield himself from the falling rubble. His head was cut and bleeding. Fortunately, the amount of debris that had fallen on him from above was limited. He struggled to get to his feet and Alric helped him up. Kazin slapped the dust from his cloak. “Thank you, Alric,” he said between coughs.

The arch mage sat down wearily and attempted to catch his breath. He lifted his wineskin to his lips but it was empty. It had gotten torn by a falling rock.

Alric offered him his wineskin. “Here.”

Kazin looked at the elf. “Are you sure -?”

“Drink!” ordered Alric. “I’ve got another wineskin in my pack,” he lied.

Kazin was doubtful but drank anyway. After a few gulps he handed the wineskin back to the elf. Then he staggered to his feet. “Let’s keep moving.”

“Are you sure -?” began Alric.

“Yes,” interrupted Kazin. “The longer we delay, the weaker I’ll become.”

Alric was amazed at the mage’s determination, but said nothing. He followed the others quietly, Tyris leading the way through the dusty darkness over the cave-in rubble to the tunnel beyond.

A good hour of uneventful travel passed by before Kazin’s staff began to glow orange. The trio stopped in front of the tunnel wall and Kazin concentrated. A few moments later, a portal opened before them. Alric and Kazin exchanged determined glances and stepped through, followed by the elemental.

They stopped immediately after stepping through because they had arrived in a tunnel similar to the one they had vacated.

Tyris looked to either side of them. “Which way?”

Kazin waited for the familiar gust of wind but there was none. He grew concerned. “The wind that has been guiding us is no longer present. I hope the air elemental is O.K.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have gone through the portal,” suggested Alric. “We could be going the wrong way.”

Kazin considered. Perhaps Alric was right. “Alright. Let’s go back through the portal and check.” He turned around but stopped with a puzzled expression. He looked at the orb atop his staff.

“What is it?” asked Alric.

“Did you notice when the staff light changed to pink?”

Alric looked at the staff and was surprised to see it was a pinkish hue instead of the usual orange one. “Is that a problem?”

Kazin shook his head. “No. It’s just curious that it’s magically locked.”

“Locked?” asked Alric. He looked at Tyris. “How can that be? We just went through it a moment ago!”

Kazin shrugged. “I don’t know all of the magical workings of lizardman magic. This is new to me.”

“Could someone have locked it after we went through?” asked Alric nervously.

“That is unlikely,” said Tyris. “I would have sensed magic users in our vicinity at the time.”

“Can you open it?” asked the elf.

Kazin nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead and he had to pat his face with his cloak hood to reduce the stinging of sweat in his wound.

At last the portal opened and Alric was about to step through but Kazin held up a hand. He opened his eyes and Alric noticed a strange glow in the mage’s eyes. Kazin’s expression was one of surprise. His staff still glowed pink. Kazin closed his eyes and concentrated some more. Suddenly, the wall behind the companions glowed and undulated. There was a portal behind them!

“Well, what do you know!” exclaimed Tyris. “Who would have guessed that another portal would be located right opposite the first one?”

“A clever strategy,” commented Alric. “Anyone pursuing a lizardman into this tunnel would never guess that there was another portal so close by. I’d wager that there are traps at either end of this tunnel.”

“You could be right about that,” admitted Kazin.

Alric looked at Kazin. “Which way now?”

Kazin grinned despite being weakened by the magic. “I didn’t open the portal for nothing.” He turned and stepped through new portal with the others close on his heels.

They entered a vast cavern with many converging tunnels. Torches flickered in wall sconces all around the cavern, shedding considerable light on the scene before them. In the middle of the room, a jumble of rocks was piled in a circular fashion.

“I wonder what happened here,” muttered Alric, moving past the rubble to look for signs of lizardmen and danger. Kazin went around the other side to magically confirm that the room was secure.

Tyris approached the rock pile and placed his hand on some nearby rocks. He cried out and instinctively sprang away from the rocks. The mage and elf snapped to attention and gave Tyris a fearful stare.

“What is it?” asked Kazin, alarmed. Though weak, he moved to the elemental’s side quickly.

“These rocks!” gasped Tyris. “They were magically created by the earth elemental!”

Alric studied the rock pile curiously. “What for?”

“I - I sense other magic here,” said Tyris. “This is bad! Very bad!”

Kazin inspected the pile of rocks using magic, but other than the usual glow of magical light, he could learn nothing.

Tyris cautiously approached the rocks again and seemed to concentrate. Then his eyes widened. “No! It can’t be!”

“What is it?” asked Kazin in concern.

Tyris turned his gaze to Kazin. “This pile of rocks was used as a barrier!”

“A barrier for what?” asked Alric. He was becoming impatient.

Tyris turned his burning gaze on the elf. “A barrier to prevent the air elemental from escaping!”

Kazin was stunned. “You mean the air elemental was imprisoned here?”

Tyris nodded. “Yes.”

“The barrier is broken,” stated Alric. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

Tyris shook his sadly. “Not likely. The barrier does not appear to have been broken from the inside out. I sense no signs of a struggle. If the air elemental had escaped, there would certainly be more damage to this cavern. You underestimate the power of an elemental.”

“So you think the elemental is still under the control of the lizardmen?” asked Kazin.

“Probably,” said Tyris.

“If that’s the case,” said Kazin, “the lizardmen no longer needed to keep the air elemental trapped to control it. We’re too late to help it.” He sat down and was overcome by a fit of coughing. His breathing became more laboured and he was getting sicker and sicker. The quest was getting nowhere.

“Take a look at this,” said a voice from one of the tunnels. Kazin sighed and got to his feet. The tunnel Alric had drawn their attention to opened up into another cavern. “It looks like they were mining something here,” said the elf.

The cavern looked like it had been mined, but it was perfectly symmetrical in every dimension. “The earth elemental’s magic was at work here,” stated Tyris.

“What were they mining?” asked Alric.

Tyris shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps this is where the earth elemental obtained the rocks for the barrier.”

The cavern led nowhere, so the trio returned to the main cavern. It was then that Kazin’s staff glowed pink again.

The mage approached the nearest wall and the staff glowed brighter. Out of curiosity, Kazin started walking around the circumference of the cavern. As he expected, each time he centered himself between tunnel exits, the staff became bright pink. The portal they had arrived in, however, made the staff glow orange. The mage pondered for a few moments, and suddenly an expression of understanding dawned on him.

“Of course!” he exclaimed.

“Of course, what?” asked Alric.

“That’s why lizardmen were thought to be nearly extinct! Their magic allows them to live in a parallel plane of existence!”

Alric looked at the mage blankly.

“Each time we go through a portal - usually the ones with magical warding - we enter their realm by going into a separate plane of existence!”

“We’re in a different plane of existence?” asked Alric.

“Yes,” said Kazin. “At the moment we are.”

“I don’t sense anything different,” said Tyris.

“You probably won’t,” said Kazin. He gestured around the cavern with his arm. “This cavern is still in the mountains, but it is removed from where we were before we came in here. It is a magical place of this world but not of this world.” The mage slapped the wall beside him. “Each of these portals leads back to our plane of existence, and at least one of each of the tunnels we see is associated with each portal on the other side. This is a central location for various parts of the mountain all glued together. The lizardmen created it using their magic. They use it as a means of refuge from the other races, and as a means to travel a great distance in a short time - something like the portals connecting Marral and Warral to Sorcerer’s Island.” (The Tower of Sorcery had portals that mages used to get to the mainland east and west of Sorcerer’s Island.)

Alric shook his head. This was a bit much for him to comprehend. “So we’re in the lizardmens’ realm. What does that gain us?”

Kazin coughed and pointed to the unchecked portal nearest him. “This is the perfect opportunity to ‘jump’ to a number of other lizardman locations and try to find the source of the poison. If one portal doesn’t lead us anywhere, we’ll come back here to try another route. We found the spot where the air elemental had been held captive. They must have felt secure here. It stands to reason that the other elementals are being held in caverns similar to this one.”

“I’m all for that,” said Alric. “But if this is a central hub as you claim, wouldn’t it be more heavily travelled? Where are all the lizardmen? They should be going through here in droves. It’s too quiet.”

“I thought about that,” said Kazin. “I have no answer. Something is seriously wrong here. Where are the lizardmen? Where did they take the air elemental? Where -?” The mage broke off in another fit of coughing. His head swam and his insides ached. The world spun, and, with his strength completely sapped, Kazin passed out.

* * * * *

The downpour had reduced to a light deluge as the gates to the Tower of Hope creaked open. Muffled sounds became an audible roar as the masses gathered outside pressed in against the army in an attempt to gain access to the tower’s courtyard. The ranks of soldiers held their ground as the convoy of supplies were ushered in. About forty wagons came rumbling into the courtyard, laden with food, water, and emergency supplies. Many grey mages accompanied the convoy in order to protect it on the long journey from the Tower of the Sky.

Amidst the first two wagons rode a tall, slender grey mage. She threw down her hood and exposed her long brown hair and eyes. She had a stern expression and an old scar on her left cheek. Although no longer young, she had the bearing of someone who derived strength from hardship. The plight of the people outside the tower made her suddenly thankful that her life wasn’t so bad after all.

The grey mage surveyed the courtyard and the bustle of activity surrounding the supply wagons as they were eagerly unloaded by soldiers and clerics alike. The skink warriors sat atop the battlements watching the work below. Their presence was eerie from the grey mage’s standpoint, and by the look of her travelling party, she surmised the others felt the same way.

A cleric came bustling up to the grey mage. “Excuse me,” stammered the cleric. “Are you the leader of this expedition?”

The grey mage nodded. “Yes.”

“Please come with me,” said the cleric. His voice was muffled within the hood of his cloak, which was pulled tight over his head to keep out the rain.

The grey mage dismounted and landed in a sizeable puddle. She looked down at her muddy boots but showed no reaction. It had rained for most of her journey, so she was wet to the bone already anyhow. She followed the cleric into the shelter of the tower where she was told to wait.

While waiting, she noticed the statue of a balding, grizzly looking man nearby. Everyone who walked past seemed to be ignoring him.

“Mara!” exclaimed a heavy set, white robed cleric. His brown hair had specs of grey and his paunch jiggled as he strode toward her in haste. “I didn’t expect you to deliver the supplies personally!”