Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Two by Dean Cadman Read Free Book Online Page B

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