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

thought long and hard about why Lusam would have chosen to travel through The Black Forest, instead of taking a much easier route by road. He had more than enough money back at the book shop to buy a horse, and then come after her by road. He must have somehow known about the men in black robes waiting for him on the road she concluded. If that were true, at least he would be on the look out for them when he reached Stelgad, she hoped.
    Neala had no doubt about Lusam's ability to forage food in any forest environment. He had taught her about many edible plants and berries easily found within a forest, and she felt sure he knew about many more he hadn't yet shown her. He would be taking a much more direct route south through the forest, whereas they would need to follow the much longer arc of the road as it followed the base of the Elveen mountains. Even so, the pace that Lusam would need to set on foot would be gruelling, to stand a chance at all of beating them to Stelgad on horseback. She needed to slow their pace a little, but not overtly enough so that Skelly would become suspicious of her motives, and discover the reason why. She had no doubt that if Skelly suspected something was amiss, he would extract the truth from her, one way or another. She needed a plan.
    Later that day Neala noticed a few castor bean trees growing next to the road, and dotted throughout the nearby fields. It was one of the many plants and trees Lusam had shown her that were poisonous, but this particular tree would suit her needs perfectly. Its seeds when broken caused nausea, vomiting and other intestinal problems, but the symptoms were delayed, often not coming on for hours, sometimes even longer. It would be perfect for her needs, and Skelly shouldn't even suspect she had anything to do with it, if she did it right. Although the poison wasn't deadly in small doses, it also wasn't very pleasant apparently, often putting people out of action for at least a day or more.
    Neala saw in the distance a group of the castor bean trees close to the side of the road. She waited until they approached the copse of trees before asking, “Can we stop please? I need the bathroom now, I can't hold it any longer.” Skelly turned in his saddle to look at her, and was greeted by a desperate look on Neala's face. He stopped the horses adjacent to the trees and dismounted. He untied Neala's hands from her saddle so she could dismount, and then dragged her over to his horse. “Take off your shoes,” Skelly said removing a coil of rope from his saddle.
    “My shoes?” Neala asked confused.
    “Yes, your shoes. If you're considering making a run for it I wouldn't bother. That field is freshly cut straw, trying to run across it barefoot would be like running over thousands of nails. I doubt you would make it twenty paces without shredding your feet, but just in case you're still considering it, remember what I told you before; if you try to run, I'll make sure you never run again,” he replied coldly.
    Skelly tied the rope around Neala's waist and said, “While you're behind that tree keep the rope moving, if the rope stops moving, I'll drag you out of that field with my horse, pants or no pants. Is that clear?”
    “Yes. Very clear,” Neala replied, fighting the urge to retort. She removed her shoes, and carefully stepped into the field of spikes. Skelly wasn't kidding when he said the uncut stalks would cut her bare feet to bits if she tried to run, they were doing a good job of it even at her tip-toe pace. More than once she cried out in pain as a hidden stalk punctured the skin on her feet. She was worried the length of rope would not be sufficient for her to reach the tree she needed, but as she disappeared behind the first bush she was relieved to see several castor bean seeds already on the ground. She only needed one, and quickly removed the outer prickly casing to reveal the dark nut-like bean inside. She placed the bean in her mouth to hide it, and