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

pass harmlessly over the head of the boy-mage, missing him by no more than a few inches, before disappearing over the edge of the path, then plunging to the ground far below. Zedd let out his pent-up breath with a slight sigh, disappointed the boulder hadn’t done the job for him. Seconds later his smile returned as he witnessed another large boulder strike the paladin’s leg. Even from this distance he could clearly see the paladin’s leg was broken, and the boy-mage stunned.
    “Everyone, fire!” Zedd commanded, trying to take advantage of the situation. What Zedd witnessed next shocked him to his very core. The boy-mage levitated the paladin from the ground and ran with him, zigzagging down the path to avoid the numerous incoming missiles. That in itself was impressive enough, but when the first missile struck him, instead of killing him, it merely impacted on his shield; the boy-mage had somehow managed to levitate and shield himself simultaneously.
    Zedd’s jaw hung slack at the sight. How could an untrained boy command so much power? Zedd suspected he might be able to achieve two spells simultaneously given enough time to prepare, but not under constant fire and on the run, like he had just witnessed with the boy-mage.
    No one knew for sure, but one of the prerequisites of becoming a Darkseed Elite was believed to be the ability to cast more than one spell at the same time whilst under duress. Zedd wondered why no one knew for sure, but when he thought about it, it became obvious; if you failed to hold your magical shield whilst under attack and performing another spell at the same time, you would be dead from the attack, plain and simple. That also explained the lack of failed Darkseed Elite recruits in society. It was a one-chance deal, fail and you’re dead.
    Zedd watched helplessly as the boy-mage carried the paladin towards the blockade. He was about five minutes in front of Zedd and his men when something unexpected happened. The paladin seemed to just vanish into the rock face, whilst the boy-mage stood and watched. Realisation hit Zedd moments later and he swore out loud.
    “They’ve found a cave. Everyone, fire at the boy. Now!” Zedd shouted, adding his own missile to the other six now heading directly at the boy-mage’s location. Only a split-second before impact the boy-mage managed to dive into the safety of the cave and narrowly avoided being hit by all seven missiles. Zedd screamed with rage. Both he and his men were almost exhausted, and no matter what they seemed to throw at this boy he was able to somehow thwart them at every turn.
    “Take up positions behind those boulders,” Zedd said, pointing at the remains of the rockslide he had caused only a few hundred paces from the cave. He had no intention of entering a cave he knew nothing about. He clearly saw the paladin disabled, but he also knew how powerful this boy was, and certainly wouldn’t put it beyond his abilities to heal the paladin. The last thing he wanted to do was to walk onto a paladin’s blade in the darkness of a cave, or have the roof brought down on top of him while he was inside.
    Zedd watched as the huge dust cloud began to settle, running to take his position behind the largest of the rocks. A few moments later he saw another large dust cloud blown out through the cave entrance, and detected magic being used to achieve it. ‘
Why would the boy-mage clear the cave of dust?
’ Zedd thought to himself, a little confused. The only explanation Zedd could think of was that the cave was a dead end, and didn’t have any other exits. If it did, surely they would have simply left via another route, he concluded. The grin returned to his face as he addressed his weary men.
    “They’re trapped inside that cave with nowhere to run, and no other exits but this one,” Zedd said confidently. Just then a young girl confirmed his suspicions by momentarily poking her head out of the cave. One of his men fired at her, but the shot