Kazin's Quest: Book I of The Dragon Mage Trilogy by Carey Scheppner Page A

ago the dwarves purged this part of the mountain of lizardmen. Now they’ve returned! The king needs to be warned!”
    “First we have to free those dwarves,” said Zylor.
    “Right. Let’s find a way down first. Then we’ll make a plan.”
    Harran soon found a way down to the cavern and by accident they located a small room where the prisoners’ weapons were kept. A short distance further along the winding passageway they could hear a low murmur of voices. Approaching slowly, they peered around a bend and saw an iron door separating a room from the passageway. It was from here that the voices could be heard. There was a small grate high in the door but not too high for Zylor to reach. When he tried to look through it, there was a feeble shout from inside the room and Zylor and Harran quickly backed around the corner again.
    “What’d you see?” asked Harran.
    “Nothing. My guess is it’s the prisoners.” He wrinkled his nose. “And you said minotaurs smelled bad.”
    “We have to get them out,” said Harran, ignoring Zylor’s comment. “I have an idea. First let’s check the other passageways. There was another entrance into the cavern almost directly behind the lizardmage. If we can find it, my plan might just work.”
    It wasn’t long before they found the desired tunnel but it was guarded by two lizardman sentries.
    “Now what?” asked Zylor, peeking cautiously around the corner.
    Harran drew Zylor back. “Stay here and get ready,” he whispered. Confidently he stepped around the corner, humming softly to himself. “Oh, I say,” said Harran, feigning surprise at seeing the sentries. “I seem to have gotten lost. Could you be so kind as to point me in the direction of the dwarven realm?”
    The sentries looked at one another. With a low hiss they charged forward, drawing their swords.
    “Oh dear,” said Harran innocently, turning and running back around the corner. Moments later two well-placed blows brought the sentries down.
    “Looks like they fell for it,” said Harran, casually wiping his axe on his dead victim.
    “That was too easy,” agreed the minotaur.
    “Don’t get too confident. The hardest part is coming up.”
    A quick check confirmed the tunnel was the right one. “All right,” said Harran. “Here’s my plan….”
    “Bring me the next one,” commanded the lizardmage. Graf would be pleased at the results of this experiment, he thought. Only twelve dwarves and already the staff hummed with power. Imagine the effect a whole army would have on it! This plan was sure ingenious. He wished he’d thought of it. The lizardmage scowled. Here he was, testing out a theory and doing all the work, and if it succeeded, Graf would be the one to get all the credit for it. A loud shout pulled him from his reverie.
    Looking toward the entrance to the prison area, he didn’t notice a shadowy figure sneaking up on him until it was almost too late. Spinning around, he cast a slow spell followed by a spell intended for his zombie-dwarves. Slowly, shakily, they rose and picked up some weapons from a nearby table, turning their attention to the imposing figure approaching their master.
    Zylor felt as though his feet were made of lead. The spell had struck him squarely and his axe seemed to weigh ten times as much, causing his muscles to expand to the breaking point. He hesitated upon seeing the dwarves rise. The lizardmage, seeing this, took the opportunity to gloat. “I was hoping to try out the staff’s power. This is as good a time as any.” He waved his staff and chanted. The zombie-dwarves began shambling forward, waving their weapons threateningly. Another urgent shout from the prison area diverted the lizardmage’s attention.
    Now was Zylor’s chance. With a tremendous lunge, he threw himself at the spell caster. The lizardmage turned in surprise. Too late he realized his mistake. While casting spells on dwarves, he used less power because of their small size. When he cast the slow