Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Two (10 page)

Even thinking about the creatures made Lusam shiver with cold. Maybe he was just imagining it, but he was sure it just got a lot colder in the last few seconds. Renn had increased his running speed about ten minutes earlier, so Lusam guessed he was looking for a safe spot to spend the
night, preferably not completely out in the open, but he still found it hard to keep pace with him this late in the day, and started to lag behind a little.
Lusam was just about to call out to Renn, and ask him to slow down a little, when he noticed the soft blue glow of Renn's sword strapped to his back. He realised too late his mistake of ignoring the cold sensation earlier, just as he was struck hard from behind. It felt like a tree trunk had just hit him, but it wasn't physical pain he felt. It was an incredibly strange sensation, as if his very life force was being rapidly drained from his body.

He instinctively raised his magical shield to protect himself, but it had the complete opposite effect. Instead of the shield protecting him, whatever was attacking him seemed to feed even more voraciously on his power reserves, by draining it directly from his shield. He forced his hands under his body and turned over to face whatever creature assailed him. What he saw turned his blood cold. A creature the size of a ten or eleven year old child, with evil black eyes, and covered in shiny black scales stared menacingly down at him. He was pinned to the ground by its two large hands, each finger ending in a wicked looking claw. He tried desperately to push the creature off him, but it seemed to weigh far more than its size suggested it should.

Lusam tried to scream for help, but he no longer
controlled his own body.
He was certain that if he didn't manage to break physical contact with this creature very soon, it would consume all of his power, and kill him for sure. He concentrated hard on summoning enough power to blast the creature away from him. Once he was sure he could control the power, and not just end up feeding it to the creature instead, he released the blast into the creature's chest. The creature howled as it flew through the air, and impacted hard against a tree with a thud. Lusam gasped as the relentless drain on his power reserves finally ceased.

The creature was stunned for only a moment, before it picked itself up and lunged once again in Lusam's direction. He knew he had to keep the creature from making physical contact with him again, or he may not be able to cast another spell before it fully drained him. He sent another blast at the creature lifting it clean off its feet, and sent it crashing into another tree. The creature howled again, but Lusam was sure it felt no pain, and it was only howling in frustration at not being able to reach him. Lusam's power reserves were almost spent: either the creature would drain him completely, or he would end up draining himself whilst trying to defend against its attacks. Either way he would die.

The creature seemed to sense Lusam's weakness, and started to slowly circle him, ready to make its final attack. First it crouched down on its haunches, preparing to
launch itself at Lusam one last time.
It flew through the air towards Lusam's throat, wicked clawed hands held out in front of it, ready to tear flesh on contact. The creature moved with blinding speed, but just before it made contact with Lusam a blue flash streaked across his vision.

“Get back! Stay behind me!” Renn shouted. The creature screamed in pain as his sword struck it in the head, and sent it hurtling away. Lusam was on the brink of passing out, his vision starting to blur around the edges. Renn noticed Lusam's unresponsiveness and grabbed him by the shoulder, while still watching the creature's every move. “Stay with me me lad!” Renn said squeezing his shoulder.

“I'm okay, I think,” Lusam replied, shaking his head, trying to remove the haze still affecting his vision. The creature circled them both slowly like a predator, no longer willing to charge in blindly for another attack. The creature was obviously not used to feeling physical pain like it had when Renn's sword struck it, and now it seemed to be biding its time, looking for an opportunity to strike past their defences.

Renn knew at once that this was a
Vesdari
standing before them, but how was that possible? It was still not quite dark, and no Netherworld creature would ever surface until full dark, not to mention,
Vesdari
were by their very nature self destructive, they would consume any magic or life-force
until they exploded.
Something was very wrong here, but he didn't have time to think about that right now. He needed a plan, and fast, before the sun fully set and this creature attracted any others in the vicinity. Renn noticed the creature's attention split between his shield, and Lusam standing behind him. His shield was the only one of its kind known to have survived from the time of the great war, but it contained a huge amount of magic, and that magic may just be enough to kill this creature, before they ran out of daylight.

“Lusam, are you strong enough to create a force-field around both of us?” Renn asked, circling with the creature, keeping himself between it and Lusam.

“I think so, but I'm not sure how long I can hold it for,” Lusam replied.

“I hope you're right, or we will both be dead if you're not,” Renn said. As he circled with the creature, he noticed several large tree roots protruding from the ground, a few of them perfect to wrap an arm through. “Do you see those big tree roots in front of me?” he asked.

“Yes, I see them,” replied Lusam, glancing over his shoulder.

“Good. When we circle back around I want you to link your arm through one of them, leave me space to do the same, and when I tell you, erect the strongest force-field you
can around us both, do you understand?”
“Okay, I'll try,” Lusam replied, unsure if he had enough power left to accomplish the task. When the roots came into range again he did as Renn asked, and hooked his arm through a sturdy looking root. Renn then did something completely unexpected by Lusam, he stepped back, and allowed the creature an unrestricted line of sight to attack Lusam. It seemed to instantly lose interest in Renn, and focus completely on Lusam, who was now defenceless on the ground, holding onto a large root. Lusam's heart raced in his chest as the creature locked its eyes on him, and lunged straight at him. As the creature grew almost level with Renn, he moved with blinding speed, and skewered the creature, pinning it to the ground with his sword through its leg. The creature howled in pain as his sword glowed incredibly brightly. Renn then unceremoniously jammed his shield between his sword and the creature, creating physical contact between the two.

Renn dived towards Lusam, taking hold of a sturdy root he shouted, “NOW!” Lusam let his power flow, and surrounded them both in the strongest force-field he could muster, only moments before a huge explosion devastated everything within a hundred paces in all direction. The power of the explosion against Lusam's force-field was incredible. It only lasted a split second, but it was enough to drain him to the point of exhaustion. The last thing Lusam
saw, was the smouldering remains of countless trees and plants, before he succumbed to the darkness.

***

Chapter Eleven

It was just before dawn when Neala was awoken by the sounds of someone desperately retching nearby. It took her a moment to understand the sound that she was hearing, but when she did, she couldn't help smiling to herself, her plan seemed to have worked perfectly, so far. She remained silent, feigning sleep, and listened to Skelly as he helplessly retched over and over. After what must have been several  uncomfortable minutes, Skelly reappeared next to her, and slumped against the tree next to hers with a groan.

“You don't sound too good,” Neala said, instantly regretting her smug tone. Fortunately Skelly didn't seem to notice, or care. Nor did he reply to her comments, but what he did do, made even Neala cringe. He picked up the waterskin, unstopped it, and drank the remaining poisoned water in one. She was sure he would taste the poison, or at least detect the bits of residue in his mouth from the bottom of the waterskin. Neala held her breath for what seemed like
an age, but Skelly didn't seem to notice anything wrong with the water, and just tossed the empty waterskin aside.
The previous day, Neala had contemplated putting enough poison in the water to kill Skelly outright, but she knew for sure he would have detected it, and most likely made her drink it as retribution. Maybe later, when the fresh poison took effect, she would get a chance to escape, and make a run for it instead. Skelly didn't move much over the next couple of hours, and by the time it was full daylight the rain started to fall, light at first, then turning heavier as the day wore on.

“Are you awake?” Neala asked.

“Yes. So if you're planning anything, think again,” Skelly replied, trying to sound more in control than he actually felt.

“I wasn't planning anything, but if you keep puking like that, you're going to need plenty of water, and seeing as it's raining, maybe now is a good time to collect it.” Neala said smugly. Skelly thought about it for a few moments before conceding to the fact she was right, he would need plenty of water. He knew the next water source was  at least a four or five-hour ride away, and the way he felt right now, it may as well have been four or five days away, because there was no way he could ride a horse in his current condition.

He removed a knife from his belt, and cut the rope that was binding her hands behind her back, but he left her torso tied to the tree, and her feet tied together, then he tossed her the empty waterskin.

“You can collect the water from where you're sitting now,” he said, indicating the numerous trickles of water now falling through the tree canopy all around her. Neala filled the waterskin to about a quarter full, during which time she also carefully, and stealthily cleaned the opening of the waterskin of any residual poison, then she swirled the water around the inside to clean it, and tipped out the possibly contaminated contents. Skelly's attention snapped to her, as she emptied the contents of the waterskin out onto the floor.

Neala noticed Skelly watching her intently, and tried to counter any of his suspicions. “What?... You don't expect me to drink out of it without washing it first, do you? You've just been throwing your guts up before drinking from it,” she said, feigning revulsion. Neala continued to refill the waterskin as if nothing was wrong, but her heart was thundering in her chest. She knew Skelly was extremely smart, he had to be, to have survived in his position for so long, any hint that she may have been responsible for his current situation, and it would not end well for her.

Once the waterskin was finally full to the top, she poured a generous amount  into her mouth to quench her
own thirst, before re-topping it back up, and handing it to Skelly.
He still had a look of uncertainty on his face as he accepted the waterskin, but never voiced any thoughts on the matter, much to Neala's relief. He refastened her hands behind her back, and retrieved something from his saddlebag, what it was she couldn't tell, as he placed it out of sight in his belt pouch before she could see clearly. She thought about asking him, but she had no inclination to start up any kind of conversation just then, in case he started asking questions about his sudden illness.

It didn't take long for Skelly to start feeling the effects of his second, much larger dose of poison, and spent the rest of the day either retching, or lying half-curled in a ball, clutching at his stomach and groaning through the pain. Several times Neala actually felt sorry for him, until she reminded herself of her own situation, as his prisoner.

Two hours later she was almost sure Skelly had passed out, and started working towards freeing her hands. If she could escape her bonds, she could take both horses and leave Skelly stranded here. It would take him days to reach Stelgad, or even return to Helveel, and that was after he had recovered enough to even consider travelling so far on foot. She worked on the ropes binding her hands, backwards and forwards she rubbed them, over the edge of a stone she had found protruding from the ground behind her. She couldn't see her progress, and knew she had rubbed the
skin off her hands and fingers in several places, by the stinging sensation of the fresh grazes when they got dirt in them.
Several times Skelly seemed to stir, each time she immediately stopped what she was doing, and listened carefully for his steady breathing to resume, before continuing her efforts. She had been working on the ropes for about an hour, and could feel the various strands already cut loose, tickling her wrists with each pass, so she knew she must be almost completely through the rope by now. Just as she started to actually believe her plan might work, her hopes were dashed, when she noticed Skelly's eyes open, watching her attempts at escape. He didn't move a muscle, and for the briefest moment she actually thought he may have died, but her hopes were once again dashed as he slowly sat upright, never taking his cold steely blue eyes off her.

“I was just....,” she started to say, when Skelly suddenly struck at her. At first she thought he had plunged his knife into her leg, as the pain exploded in her left thigh, but when he removed his hand, instead of a knife, what she saw instead, was a small group of poisoned darts sticking out from her leg, the same type he had used on her in Helveel.

“Oh!... So that's what you got out from your bag.....”
she started to say, but never got  chance to finish her sentence, as she saw Skelly collapse onto the floor next to her, only moments before she too was plunged into complete darkness, as the poison took  effect on her.