Lusam: The Dragon Mage Wars Book Three Read Online Free Page A

care. It became increasingly apparent that this part of the mountainside was unstable, as more and more rocks littered the path the further he travelled.
    His worst fears were confirmed when a few minutes later he found the path completely blocked by a rockslide. He couldn’t see how high the blockage was in the darkness, or how far across the path it stretched. He needed to use his mage-sight to check, but he wasn’t sure if he would still remain unseen, even whilst his aura was shuttered. He made a mental note to ask Renn later if he could detect any signs of his magic, when he used his mage-sight and had his aura completely shuttered. For now he needed to err on the side of caution though, just in case he could be spotted in the darkness by the Empire agents. He needed something to block their line of sight to him, so he started to carefully feel his way around the area, looking for anything large enough to hide behind, but found nothing.
    He made his way back to the safety of the rock face and away from the edge of the dangerous drop-off, before leaning against the wall to think for a moment. He leant back against the wall, but instead of finding a solid wall behind him, he instead found himself falling. He was about to initiate his levitation spell, when his fall came to an abrupt and painful halt, as his elbows met the hard unforgiving rock-strewn floor, quickly followed by the rest of him with a solid thud.
    “Ouch!” he said, wincing at the pain in his elbows, and the lump now forming on the back of his head. Carefully, he knelt up and reached out with his hands, trying to work out where he was. He could feel a smooth wall to his right and traced it upwards, making sure there was enough room to stand up there, as he didn’t want to add another lump to his now throbbing head. When he regained his feet he followed the smooth wall to where he expected to find the path again, and was quickly rewarded with just that. Realising it must have been some kind of cave he had discovered, he returned to the entrance and gingerly stepped back inside. Knowing the Empire agents could no longer see him, he quickly slipped into his mage-sight so he could finally get a proper look at his surroundings. The cave wasn’t very deep, in fact, it wasn’t really a cave at all, it was more like a scoop of missing rock from the mountainside. It was only about five paces deep, and just about high enough to stand upright near the entrance, with the roof becoming lower the further back you went.
    When Lusam saw the extent of the rockslide his heart sank. It was at least three or four times higher than he was tall, and stretched all the way across the path to the drop-off at the far side. There was no way they would be able to safely climb over such an unstable obstacle, and certainly not while under constant fire from the Empire agents. One sudden movement, and the whole pile of rocks could easily slide over the edge taking them all with it, to their deaths far below. He also knew he could not possibly levitate everyone over the rockslide all at the same time, not in his current weakened state, and not while he was under constant bombardment from the Empire agents. Feeling totally dejected he sat down to contemplate what options still remained to him, but could only think of one: stand and fight. He knew very well how that would end, and it wouldn’t be good for any of them.
    Lusam had lost track of time as he sat there in the dark cave entrance. He knew he should return to camp soon, but he had no idea how he would tell them all of their impending doom, especially Neala. The weather seemed to be worsening too. The wind had grown gradually stronger since he had left camp earlier, and was now whistling around him in the cave entrance. It was then he realised that the whistling noise of the wind was actually coming from behind him, from within the cave itself. He followed the whistling sound to the rear of the small cave, and found what looked