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

impacted on the huge pile of rocks outside the cave entrance.
    “Halt! Take up your positions here,” Zedd commanded as they reached the remains of the rockslide he had caused. Zedd thought about his next move carefully. He felt sure this would be his moment of victory, but he would take no more chances.
    “You,” Zedd said pointing at one of his men, “move towards that cave. I want a report of what you can see from the entrance.” The man looked very nervous, but obeyed nonetheless. He stepped out beyond the safety of the boulder field and headed towards the cave entrance. He didn’t get more than ten paces before the young girl they had just seen reappeared from the cave and fired an arrow directly at him. Several of Zedd’s men sent missiles of their own, but she managed to dodge them all, and sent another arrow in their direction before diving back towards the safety of the cave mouth.
    The first arrow flared bright blue as it passed cleanly through the agent’s magical shield and buried itself in his chest. The second arrow also flared blue and struck another agent standing beside Zedd. Both agents fell dead to the ground, and the death-pulse of both agents were clearly felt by the remaining men.
    “No. It can’t be!” Zedd whispered to himself, now crouching behind his large rock like a cowering animal. Rage built within him to a point where he thought he would storm the cave alone, but sense got the better of him moments later when Cole spoke to him.
    “What happened? How did she kill our two men?”
    “It seems she too is a paladin. Didn’t you see her arrows as they passed through their shields?” Zedd replied, not really believing his own words, even as he spoke them.
    “But, she can’t be, she’s a girl,” Cole said, confusion written all over his face.
    “Why don’t you go and ask her then?” Zedd replied angrily. Cole remained silent, not wanting to be the next man who
volunteered
to storm the cave. Zedd knew that Cole had a good point though. Paladins were only ever men, but here he had just seen a young girl, not even old enough to be a paladin, firing a blessed bow and killing two of his men right in front of him. Now he had only four men under his command. Just as he was coming to terms with his new number of men, he lost another one. The death-pulse felt by himself and the remaining three men.
    Zedd roared his frustration, but kept his head down. He had seen where the last man was when he was hit, and he had been showing no more than a glimpse of his body to the cave entrance. It seemed like the arrows were also charmed somehow to find their target, even if that target wasn’t completely visible. They needed to get out of there right now, but there was nowhere to run. If they tried to run back the way they had come, they would be dead before they made it ten paces. The only way to escape was down.
    “You,” Zedd said pointing to a man cowering next to the two dead men, “remove those two arrows and keep hold of them.” The man did as commanded, but made sure that he remained completely concealed behind the huge boulder. “We’re all dead if we stay here much longer, we need to jump over the edge. Forget about your shields, they’re useless against that paladin. On my command we will all fire at the cave entrance. When the first missile strikes, you better be running if you want to live.”
    “Sir, I can’t levitate,” Cole said nervously at his side. For the first time since meeting Cole, he was glad of his inability to do something. Cole’s magical shield would do nothing to protect Zedd, but Cole’s body between him and the cave would do just fine, Zedd thought to himself. Smiling inwardly, he positioned Cole to his left side, putting him in a direct line of sight to the cave entrance once they broke cover.
    “Fire!” Zedd commanded, letting one of his men break cover before he did. Fortunately there was no sign of the young girl, and no arrows came their way as they