Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Two (6 page)

“See, I told you I was good at fishing,” Lusam said trying to keep a straight face. The long hard stare Renn gave him spoke a thousand words, he was sure none he would care to hear. “So, did you find a place to cross the river?” Lusam dared to ask after a few more seconds. Renn contemplated his answer for a few moments before finally just nodding up river without a word. Lusam realised at that moment he could easily cross the river by riding a force-field similar to when he had lifted Neala on the riverbank a few months before, but he didn't want to upset Renn any more than he had already by telling him that he'd just thought about it now. So still smiling to himself he quietly turned and headed upstream to find the crossing point, leaving Renn to drip-dry a little in the meantime.

Chapter Seven

Zedd and the other agent of Aamon had continued to pursue the boy mage relentlessly since entering the forest. Zedd knew that by now the agent he had sent back into Helveel would have met up with the rest of their forces there, and already be on the road to Stelgad, ready to intercept the boy mage if he managed to escape him in the forest. He had no intention of letting him get as far as Stelgad, and losing the opportunity to bring himself to the attention of Lord Zelroth and the council.

Gaining rank within the Empire was not easy, and especially so if you were not well connected to the members of the council. It had been well known for countless centuries that the ability of parents to perform magic directly affected the chances that their children would also inherit their abilities. Several centuries ago Lord Zelroth had implemented a secret breeding program to create what would later become the Darkseed Elite. The program
worked well in the early days and the newly formed Darkseed Elite became the new upper classes of the Empire.
As the decades and centuries passed, the number of citizens with magical abilities grew rapidly. The citizens of the Empire who did not possess the ability of magic quickly became second class citizens in their own land. A few localised rebellions broke out within the Empire, but they were quickly crushed by the sheer number of its new magical force at its disposal. The non-magical citizens soon became nothing more than slaves to be used by the Empire, however it saw fit. It quickly became a rarity for a non-magical child to be born, and any that were quickly met their demise.

The success of the Empire's breeding program was never in doubt, but the results bore its own problems. With so many powerful citizens now in the Empire, it was only a matter of time before a challenge came for the leadership of the entire Empire. A group of about fifty disenchanted magi banded together, some say led by a spy from Afaraon, others say he was just a parent of a non-magical child who'd been killed at birth by the authorities, and now wanted justice. Lord Zelroth had anticipated their attack and he had created the necromatic rings for his most powerful, and closest allies. The rings enabled Lord Zelroth to harvest the power of any mage who wore them within range, making him immensely powerful.

When the attackers reached the inner chambers of the palace they were met by an already powerful mage, who now wielded the power of over a hundred other magi combined. The results were devastating for the attackers. Their shields failed them almost immediately, and having to put all their power into self preservation meant that they were unable to attempt a single attack in reply. The final few begged for mercy. None was given. Their broken bodies were put on display throughout the capitol and the rest of the Empire, as a warning to any others foolish enough to attempt seizing power from him.

Later the rings were altered, the range of the rings was vastly increased, extra abilities and safeguards were also added, and many more created. Once the new rings were worn, they were impossible to remove without killing the wearer. Each new mage of the empire was classified by their ability to wield magic. The strongest among them became the elite guards of the palace. The next strongest became the commanders of his forces, and those later wore the silver chain Zedd now wore to distinguish their rank. The next level down became the mainstay of the Empire's forces. Any lesser magi were employed in the more menial day to day tasks associated with running the Empire. Each and every citizen of the Empire was made to swear an allegiance to the Empire when they came of age, then they were given a ring to wear, ensuring they kept that allegiance.

One of the new abilities added to the rings was the ability to communicate with any others nearby. By doing this it was possible to create vast networks of communication across the whole Empire. What once took days or weeks to communicate across the Empire, now only took minutes to accomplish. The results were that nothing in the Empire went unnoticed, or unchallenged by the powers that ran it. Although never proven, it was speculated that the rings even gave Lord Zelroth the ability to read everyone’s mind, even from great distances. It proved a most powerful dissuasive measure for anyone contemplating a future revolt against the Empire.

The fact the Empire categorised its subjects by the strength of their magic meant it was difficult to rise in rank or standing. Difficult, but not impossible. Zedd hated the fact he wasn't home in their warm capital with his family, but instead forced to live here in the cold, wet miserable lands of Afaraon. For over a year he had searched this land for a boy who had managed to escape their magical eradication plans. Often Zedd had wondered to himself, why one boy was so important to the Empire. The Empire secretly killed dozens of newborns every year, as it had done for generations before. Surely the land of Afaraon was almost devoid of magi now. What difference could one untrained boy make to the fate of this land?

Zedd quickly put such thoughts out of his mind. It was not for him to question his superiors, only to carry out the orders he had been given. If the rumours that Lord Zelroth could indeed read everyone's mind were true, he didn't want to be the one who proved the theory correct. Instead he committed himself fully to the task of being the one who killed the boy mage, the one who had evaded so many of the Empire's agents for so long. By doing so, he stood a good chance of being noticed by the council, or even Lord Zelroth himself. Any promotion would mean he would soon be back with his family in the capital, finally warm and dry, and rid of this cold, wet land forever.

“Stop!” Zedd commanded his subordinate. They both came to a stop, and once again Zedd checked the direction of travel his prey was heading using the dagger with the boy's blood on the blade. Several times that day he had done the same thing, and each time the dagger spun so fast it was no longer visible, before stopping dead, always pointing south. He needed something to slow the boy down, so they could catch up to him before he made it through the forest and into the waiting arms of his fellow agents.

Like all of his brethren he knew the history very well regarding this area of Afaraon. How the rift had been used by his God Aamon, to summon creatures from the Netherworld, and into this world to fight for him against the
followers of the deceiver  Goddess Aysha.
In fact, the last few centuries had been dedicated entirely to preparing Afaraon for conquest. Without any magi to resist them Lord Zelroth would re-open the rift, releasing Aamon, and allowing him to reclaim this world as his own, as it should always have been. Nobody knew exactly how Lord Zelroth intended to achieve such a feat, nor would anyone dare ask him outright. To do so would be to question his worth, and that would mean certain death for whichever fool did confront him for such details.

Being so close to the rift made summoning creatures from the Netherworld much easier than it would normally be. Normally during daylight it would take an exceptionally powerful mage to be able to force a creature of the Netherworld into this world and then bind it to their will. There was nothing the creatures hated more than daylight. It weakened them hugely, and they would never willingly be exposed to it by their own free will, always returning to the depths of the earth until nightfall. If it had been dark he could easily have summoned one of the creatures already in this world and bound it to his will. But not knowing the exact location, or the type of creatures that were already nearby made that much more difficult during daylight hours, when they hid so deep within the earth.

“We need a way to slow him down, or we'll never catch him before he makes it through this forest. We're not
gaining on him, and it's too dangerous to travel by night in this forest, even for us,” Zedd said to the other man.
“What did you have in mind?” he asked nervously.

“I plan to summon a creature from the Netherworld to assist us. I'm just not sure which one would suit our needs best. We don't want anything that would consume his body, or we would have no proof of our success,” Zedd said thoughtfully. His fellow agent looked decidedly pale at the thought of summoning anything from the Netherworld. It made Zedd dislike him even more. Suddenly it came to him, the perfect creature to summon. One that would be certain to either kill him, but not consume him. Or if he was as powerful as the Empire obviously suspected, and he managed to survive the attack, he would be so weakened by the creature they were bound to catch him.

“I will summon a
Vesdari
,” Zedd replied confidently.

“WHAT! Are you crazy! Nobody has ever controlled a
Vesdari
before,” the agent said looking completely shocked by Zedd's suggestion, and half scared to death at the prospect that he might actually go through with his plan.

Zedd's head snapped in the direction of his colleague. How dare he question his authority, or his ability. This coward of a man standing before him did not deserve the robes he wore, or even to serve the Empire as far as Zedd
was concerned.
The man visibly shrank under the glare of Zedd's intense looks of contempt.

“I'm sorry for my outburst sire. I only meant...”

“SILENCE!” Zedd spat at him with such venom the man flinched and stepped away from him slightly. “What is your name?”

“Cole, sire,” he replied nervously.

“Well Cole, I didn't ask your opinion, nor do I want it. You will assist me in summoning a
Vesdari
whether you like it or not. Is that understood?” Zedd asked, almost daring him to reply negatively.

Cole nodded and replied, “Yes sire, of course. I meant no disrespect.”

“You are correct that no one has ever  controlled a Vesdari before, but for several very good reasons. The creatures of old in the histories you have obviously read about were tied directly to the power of the Netherworld via the open rift. When that rift closed the creatures continued to feast on the magic of this world, and because the link no longer existed for them to channel all that magic into, they simply ate themselves to death.

“The
Vesdari
I intend to summon will not be anywhere near as deadly as the ones written about in the history books, because it will have no tie to its own realm,
also it is daylight, which as you know vastly weakens all creatures from the Netherworld.
It's the perfect choice, either it kills the boy, or it weakens him to such a point he can not maintain his pace, and we catch him easily. The
Vesdari
after killing him would search out any and all magic it could, and ultimately kill itself in the process,” Zedd said searching Cole's face for any signs of defiance or doubt, but found none. At least he was smart enough to keep his emotions and opinions in check for now, he thought to himself.

“We will need to find the weakest point between our two realms to even have a chance of summoning such a powerful creature from the Netherworld. That point should be the location where the rift formed originally. I have been  aware of its presence since we entered this forest, and I believe we are getting very close to its location. I doubt we will even have to make a significant detour from our current path to intersect it, maybe a mile or two at most. Let's go,” Zedd commanded, leaving no room for debate, and set off running again in a southerly direction, with Cole following close behind.

After about an hour of constant running Zedd slowed to walking pace and started chanting a spell to himself. After several seconds he announced, “We're here. This is the edge of where the rift started. I will prepare for the summoning, I suggest you do the same. And be ready,
because I will link your power to mine if I need it.”
“Of course sire,” Cole replied, bowing his head in deference. Another advantage of the rings they both wore was the ability to create a network of power between all nearby magi also wearing a ring. This meant that one powerful mage could use the magical reserves of many of his colleagues, without completely draining his own reserves. The flow of power ran only one way through the network, always to the highest ranking mage present. It was even possible for a higher ranking mage to fully drain a subordinate, and thus killing him in the process. Although rare, it had been used in the past as a disciplinary measure to kill a number of lower ranking magi for their  various transgressions. And that was something all magi of the Empire were constantly aware of in the presence of a higher ranking mage.

Both men began their meditation techniques, which were always deemed prudent before such a powerful spell could be safely attempted. Once both men had attained complete concentration, Zedd began to chant the words of summoning. Quietly at first, but gaining volume and intensity as the words were repeated over and over again. At first nothing happened, and both men began to wonder to themselves if Zedd did indeed possess enough power to bridge the two worlds during daylight hours, even here at its weakest point.