Cloak & Dagger: Book II of The Dragon Mage Trilogy (52 page)

Vera quickly put up a shield, but not before Kazin let two bolts of lightning loose at the elves on the far side of the room.

The shield reflected the incoming fireballs and the companions saw two of the enemy fall to Kazin’s lightning bolts.

“Retreat!” cried Krendal.

Everyone listened even though it looked like they could have held their own.

When they were back in the safety of the hallway, Krendal explained his order to retreat. “We can’t have fighting in the library! If any of those books are destroyed, it could mean hundreds of years of knowledge being lost!”

“Then what should we do?” asked Della.

“We’ll have to go around,” said the arch mage. He and Kazin collaborated and quickly came up with a plan of attack.

“We’ll have to split into two groups,” said Kazin. “Alric, Rebecca and Della, come with me and we’ll cut across the artifact room. We have to check what lies beyond in the next room. Maybe there are allies who can help us. Vera, you and Cyril go with Krendal and take the left door.” Kazin turned to the remainder of the group. “The rest of you stay here and use your trap related spells to detain anyone who comes through that door. Use the slow spell on the entryway and you’ll have plenty of time to subdue everyone who comes back through here. Use force if necessary. Understand?”

The mages nodded grimly.

“Good.” Kazin turned to Krendal. “Good luck.”

The two groups split up and entered their respective doorways.

Kazin quickly led his group through the artifact room. Alric and Rebecca were awed by the vast array of weapons and unidentified artifacts. They were tempted to stop and look around, but their mission was too important to ignore.

At the far end of the artifact room was another doorway. Kazin led the group through and they wound up in a small room with two more exits. The room was barely big enough to hold all of them.

“Where do these doors go?” asked Alric.

“The left one goes to a room adjoining the library,” said Kazin. “The right door goes to the meditation hall. It’s full of thick mats where mages sit and work on their meditation skills.” He spoke quietly because he didn’t want to alert any would-be intruders to their presence. The doors in this part of the tower were magically enhanced to block out noises so the people in the library could study in peace, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

“I’m all for the left door then,” said Alric. He spoke with a quieter voice too.

“Let’s try the meditation room first,” said Kazin. “I don’t want to walk into a fight without knowing my escape route is safe first.”

Della nodded. “Good point.”

“Why don’t you use your invisibility cloak to check the rooms beyond, Alric?” asked Rebecca.

Alric reddened and gave Della an anxious look. He had hidden his secret so well he was beginning to think he was going to get away with it. Now the dwarf had unwittingly put him in a bad position. He couldn’t deny he had the invisibility cloak any longer. His only hope was that Della wouldn’t recognize or remember her old cloak. But in such close quarters it was unlikely she wouldn’t notice.

“I - uh - I suppose -,” began Alric.

Della was staring at the elf with a strange look on her face.

“It wouldn’t make any difference,” said Kazin suddenly. “Once I open the door, any element of surprise will be lost.”

“My sentiments exactly,” said Alric, relieved. He avoided Della’s stare.

“The only way we could spy on the rooms next to us would be to go through the door without opening it,” continued Kazin, “and that’s a spell I don’t have at my disposal.”

Alric snapped to attention. He mentioned the spell scroll he remembered seeing in the mountains that was used by some lizardmen trying to summon Tyris. They had escaped using a ‘pass through rock’ spell scroll. “I vaguely remember it,” added Alric. “But even if I did, I doubt I could cast it. It’s a spell beyond my capabilities. If I had a spell scroll, I could do it. Anyone could, even a non-spell caster.”

Kazin nodded. “It’s a complicated spell that requires earth and air magic. Few mages can cast it without a spell scroll.” Then Kazin remembered something. He turned to Alric. “I almost forgot! The air elemental wanted me to give you something.” He held out his staff and gently touched Alric’s hand with the orb.

Alric flinched when the orb made contact with him. “What did you do?” he asked, alarmed.

Kazin winked. “You’ve just received increased skill in air-based magic. It might help you remember the spell.”

Alric closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he opened his eyes wide. “Yes! I’ve got it!” He turned to the door and chanted the spell. Then he slowly moved his hand toward the door. When his fingers touched the door, they seemed to melt right through it. Alric pulled his hand back and looked at the others excitedly. “It works!” he whispered excitedly.

“Now all you need to do is put on your cloak,” said Rebecca.

Alric grimaced. He wasn’t going to get out of it this time. He reluctantly pulled the cloak from his pack.

“Hey!” exclaimed Della. “That looks like my cloak!” She grabbed it from Alric and held it up to examine it. She nodded. “It’s definitely mine! It has the same little tear in it like I remember.” She turned to Alric. “Where did you get this?”

“I - bought it from a merchant,” lied Alric.

Della narrowed her eyes. “You stole it, didn’t you? Just like you stole that ring from that elf who was injured!”

“Della -,” began Kazin.

Della turned to her husband. “He stole my cloak, Kazin! He’s a thief!”

Kazin looked between the two elves helplessly. He suspected Alric had something to hide from the moment they had met. But the elf had proven himself on more than one occasion. This was not the time to confront him with this issue. He slowly took the cloak from Della and handed it back to Alric.

“Kazin!” objected Della.

Kazin turned to his wife. When he spoke, he spoke gently and deliberately. “If it weren’t for Alric, I would have been dead several times over. He has saved my life a number of times and has earned my trust. I need him to help us right now. Then we’ll discuss the theft and get to the bottom of it.”

Della wasn’t impressed. “Fine.” She gave Alric a mean stare.

Kazin nodded at Alric. “Proceed.”

Alric nodded and donned his cloak. He was glad to make himself invisible to avoid the other elf’s gaze. Then he chanted the ‘pass through rock’ spell again. A moment later, he stepped through the door and entered the meditation room. The experience of moving through a sold object made Alric feel queasy, but it was only momentary.

He returned a moment later and spoke while still cloaked. “It’s empty. I’m going into the other room now.”

“O.K.,” said Kazin. “Just gather information. Find out how many elves there are. We need to know what we’re up against.”

“O.K.,” said Alric. He went through the next door.

The room he entered had several tables along one side. A long table sat across from them. There was a door situated behind the tables that Alric guessed led to the library. A door on the far side of the room led elsewhere. The door behind the long table was the most interesting one, because a number of dark elves were gathered around it, chanting to overcome the magical warding. Several human mages were lying on the floor in the corner. They had put up a reasonable amount of resistance judging by the broken chairs and charred walls. Three more dark elves were also dead. Their bodies were leaned up against the wall next to the dead mages.

A guard was positioned next to the doorway across the room. Movement next to Alric made him jump. A guard was next to the doorway Alric had come through as well. Altogether there were twenty-two dark elves in the room.

Alric had seen enough. He hoped his spell was still holding as he held his breath and walked back through the door.

“So, what does it look like?” asked Kazin.

“There are twenty-two dark elves in the room,” reported Alric, “not including the ones that are dead.” He added the fact that they were trying to get past the door.

“Those are difficult odds,” commented Rebecca.

“Especially if they can all cast spells,” added Della.

“We’ve faced tougher odds,” said Kazin.

Then Alric remembered what Sawtooth had said about the green ring he possessed. He decided to bring it up. Alric explained what Sawtooth had said to him regarding the ring and the elite guard.

“Let me see it,” said Kazin.

Alric removed his cloak and then passed the ring to Kazin. The arch mage examined it and passed it to Della. “Does this look familiar?”

Della took the ring and studied it. She had been in the king’s court a number of times before. After a while, she nodded. “It sure looks like the rings the king’s elite guard always wear. My guess is it’s authentic.”

“Should we take a chance that it works the way this - Sawtooth, you call her - claims it does?” asked Rebecca.

“She seemed unusually adamant it would stop the dark elves,” said Kazin. “I think we should try it.”

“We can’t do it in here,” objected Della. “It’s too cramped. Someone could get hurt.”

Kazin had an idea. “Alric, can you memorize the inscription on the back of the ring?”

“I already have. Why?”

“Because I want you to create a diversion so we can enter the room without being singled out,” said Kazin. “If you can cast the spell and rub the ring while you are invisible, the dark elves will have no time to react. By the time they see you, the elite guard will be present. Then the rest of us will jump into the fray and overwhelm them.”

“Some plan,” muttered Alric.

“You stole my cloak, so you get the honours,” said Della uncompassionately.

Alric gave Della a sour look and donned the cloak.

“You might need this,” added Della. But the ring was already gone. “Whaa -? Where -?”

Alric was already chanting the ‘pass through rock’ spell. “Give me about fifteen seconds,” he said. “And watch out for the guard on the other side of the door.” Then he was gone.

Alric moved to a spot as far from the group of dark elves as he could get before performing the magic on the ring. Then he spoke the words inscribed in the ring and rubbed its surface. Some of the elves in the room looked around at the sound of Alric’s voice but weren’t prepared for the blinding flash. In an instant, the room was swarming with a dozen of the king’s elite guard.

Most of the dark elves turned to do battle, expecting a bunch of untrained human mages. Then they discovered how ineffective their magic was against the elite guard. Ice bolts, magical arrows, and fireballs filled the room. Everything was a total mayhem when Kazin’s lightning bolt added to the party.

Alric saw Rebecca take out the guard by the door with her dagger while Della fired arrows into the dark elves. On the other side of the room, Krendal appeared, casting spells with decisiveness. Cyril did combat with the elf sentry while Vera paralyzed some of the dark elves so the elite guard could round them up.

While all this was happening, Alric saw something he could scarcely believe. Ignoring the chaos around him, one of the dark elves continued to weaken the door’s magic. Suddenly the magical ward dropped away with a shower of tiny stars. The dark elf turned to look behind him for a split second while opening the door. His face was visible in the bright flashes of magic, but it wasn’t the face of an elf. It was the face of a lizardmage. Alric’s heart leaped. At last! At long last! Alric paid no heed to his safety as he dodged through the crossfire of magic in pursuit of his nemesis. This was what he had been waiting for!

Meanwhile, Ice Blade saw that they were outmatched, so he cast a spell and escaped in a flash. Sparky followed suit. Ropeburn was not so lucky. She was slain by one of Della’s arrows. Multibolt was subdued by one of the elite guard and Cleaver would have escaped had it not been for Vera’s ‘paralyze’ spell. Longspike fought against Kazin using magic, but the arch mage dissolved any oncoming magic with his lightning bolt. With the magic removed, Kazin’s lightning bolt continued unchecked toward the leader of the Dark Magic Society, killing him instantly. Kazin had his mind on other things as he simultaneously sent fireballs, ice bolts, and magic arrows in several directions at once.

The battle was winding down quickly with the last few dark elves being rounded up, so Kazin ran for the open door behind the long table. There was no doubt in his mind that was where the sick arch mages were hidden. He burst into the room, and stopped dead in his tracks.

Standing in the corner with his back to the wall was a lizardmage dressed in the robe of a dark elf. His hood was down. He glared across the room at Frosty. The unicorn stood guard in front of a number of cots which contained the prone figures of the dying arch mages and some master mages. A handful of clerics wearing robes which indicated their higher level of training stood next to their patients. Fear was in their eyes but they did not run.

Frosty looked at Kazin disdainfully. “It’s about time you got here, Kazin.”

“Kazin?” hissed Graf in surprise. “I thought you were poisoned and dead!”

“So did I,” said Kazin. “I guess you underestimated me.”

Graf growled. “It doesn’t matter. Your people and land have been destroyed. As we speak, my minions march this way to lay waste to your villages, towns, and your precious tower.” He nodded his head toward the patients. “Your mages won’t stand a chance. They can’t even stop a small group of dark elves from penetrating the tower. The armies that are coming are much more powerful. We have elementals at our disposal -.”

“You mean had,” interrupted Kazin.

“What?”

Vera, Della, Rebecca and Cyril appeared behind Kazin and observed the proceedings while Kazin spoke.

“You had elementals, and ogres, orcs, goblins, cyclops, and lizardmen at your disposal,” said Kazin. “But they are no more. You are alone.”

“Impossible!” shrieked Graf. “You are bluffing!”

Kazin shook his head. “No. But you won’t live to find out for yourself.”

Graf growled. “Unhand me!” He struggled with an unseen force and managed to yank the cloak from Alric’s shoulders. Then Alric and Graf held each other immobile, neither willing to let the other go. They stared into each other’s faces with undisguised hatred.