Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three by Dean Cadman Read Free Book Online

himself, when he fell from the air and landed with a sickening crunch on the rocks below, only because he had tried to erect a shield for protection and was unable to reactivate his levitation spell before he hit the ground. Zedd let out a scream of frustration and rage. Frustration that he was surrounded by weak fools, and rage because he considered the men to be his, and no one but he had the right to kill them, least of all this boy. Now he had only six men at his command.
    Zedd gathered the few men he had left and started the hunt. It only took a moment to reach the flat part of the path and regain sight of the boy-mage. What he saw enraged him beyond anything he had ever felt in his life. The boy-mage wasn’t alone, the paladin was with him. Suddenly it all made perfect sense. How could he have been so foolish? No one could have survived that amount of magic thrown at them. No one except a paladin, that is. Zedd roared an almost primeval scream of rage towards the boy-mage and paladin, then sent forth his wrath in the form of a series of magical attacks. The first missile struck the boy-mage with such force it actually lifted him clean off his feet and sent him crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust. The paladin must have heard or felt the impact, as he turned around just in time to avoid the second missile hitting him square in the back. Instead he took it cleanly in the centre of his shield and staggered backwards with the force of the impact.
    Zedd’s head felt light with the huge amount of magic he had just used against the boy-mage and paladin, but there was no way he was about to let them escape again.
    “Fire at will. I want them dead!” Zedd roared at his few remaining men. Each man started to send their own missiles towards the boy-mage and the paladin, who by this time were now back on their feet and fleeing for their lives. There was still maybe a quarter of a mile between the two groups, but they were certainly much closer than they had ever been since leaving the outskirts of Stelgad.
    The boy-mage seemed to be protecting the paladin with his magical shield as they both ran for their lives. ‘
Foolish
,’ thought Zedd, ‘
that would only expedite his exhaustion, and play right into his hands
.’ He couldn’t believe how many shots the boy-mage had taken, and yet he not only drew breath, he still had the energy to run. ‘
If he had been born in the Empire, he would surely have become a member of the Darkseed Elite
,’ Zedd thought to himself begrudgingly.
    ***
    Lusam could hardly stand, but he knew he must. He had to, or Renn would die too, and he had also promised Neala that he would return to her alive.
I must make it to the safety of the cave
, he kept telling himself. Deep down he knew the cave no longer offered any of them much protection. It was now little more than an inconvenience for the Empire agents pursuing them, now they were so close behind them. Once they had passed through the cave, they would once more be able to attack Lusam again at will, except this time he would have to protect Neala and Alexia as well—something he knew he could no longer do.
    Renn was now at Lusam’s side, attempting to run backwards whilst blocking as many incoming shots as he could with his shield. It proved quite ineffective, as he found himself stumbling backwards over the many unseen rocks littering the path.
    “How are you holding up, lad?” Renn enquired breathlessly.
    “I’ve been better,” Lusam replied, just as another two missiles struck his magical shield.
    “You’re taking far too many hits, lad, we need to make them miss more. If we don’t, you’ll never make it to the cave alive,” Renn said, almost stumbling over yet another rock.
    “I agree with you. Any ideas?” Lusam replied desperately.
    “I think so, but you’ll need to be behind me, and shielding us both. Hopefully if my plan works you should have far fewer shots to block.”
    “I’m all ears,” Lusam