Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (16 page)

They watched as the defeated man hurried from the common room, then they all burst out laughing
, except for Ignan, who still looked a bit rattled.

"What in the world do you think you were doing?" Raven asked her daughter in a disapproving tone. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Take it easy on her." Sly defended the girl. "She has a lot of her mother and father's instincts." He gave Leia an appraising look. "Perhaps it's time she starts to take up the sword. She certainly has the attitude of a warrior."

"I don't know
," Damion murmured in an uncertain tone, grabbing a tipped over chair and having a seat at a nearby table. "I never really gave the idea any thought." He glanced to his wife, who was busy assuring the frightened looking innkeeper that the conflict had passed. "What do you think? Should we have Sly start training Leia on how to wield a sword?"

"Back in
Deiria where I grew up, children were given their first bows and swords by the age of three." The young woman smiled at her daughter. "I think Leia is more than ready."

Damion glanced down at his daughter. "And what do you think?"

"I don't know," The young girl murmured thoughtfully. "Do you think I can learn how?"

"I don't see why not.
We'll just need to find a sword that's not too big or too heavy for you to wield."

Several
serving girls appeared from the back carrying trays laden with food and ale, and they all settled down around the table and dug in, famished from their long trek from Mercedia.

"What news do you have from the Deola?" Ignan asked, pouring himself a goblet of wine and draining it dry in a single gulp. "Are they going to send their tribes?"

"It took a bit of persuading, but we were finally able to convince them to join our cause." Damion nodded, noticing the look of relief that crossed the fat man's face. "They should start arriving within the next week or so with extra weapons and supplies. Once our friend Bativa arrives, he's going to take command of the army. We need to be free to travel back and forth at a moment's notice, and I can't do that if I'm concentrating on getting the men prepared."

"How many tribesmen are they sending?"
Zayan asked curiously.

"All of them."

"Oh, thank the gods!" Ignan sighed in relief. "I wasn't looking forward to trying to fight off an army of fifty thousand screaming zealots with only a couple of thousand farmers and bandits at our backs."

"Don't sound so reli
eved just yet." Damarius warned him wisely. "We're still going to be dangerously outnumbered. We're going to need more warriors if we want to have any hope of succeeding."

"The people will come." Damion replied confidently. "Once they realize it's their only chance for survival, they will have no choice but to stand up and fight."

The next morning, they arose to find a large portion of the men who had been standing around idly the day before outfitted with new armor and weapons, and they were all now busy training with the other warriors.

"It looks as though Brutus came through on his promises." Dar commented approvingly, watching as t
wo men hacked and chopped at one another in a mock battle. "Some of these men may actually survive after all."

"Several of the other outlaw gangs came forth with their extra weapons."
Zayan explained, hurrying up to join them. "Once word got around about how you handled Brutus, they didn't want to take any chances on getting on your bad side." He frowned. "I'm afraid we still don't have enough to equip everyone, though, and more men pour in every hour."

"We'll work on that as soon as we get back to Sevria." Damion assured him confidently. "We also sent a messenger to the dwarves with a request for all the weapons and armor they could spare. If I know Garth, he'll be sure to send as much as he possibly can to aid our cause."

"That's good news." Ignan replied as he waddled up to join them." Add that to what the Deola will bring with them, and we may just be able to arm everyone."

"We won't if we don't moving." Sly grunted impatiently. "It's still a long way until we reach Sevria, and we still don't have any clue on what the Etazk are doing."

After promising to return as soon as they could, they bid Ignan and Zayan farewell, and quickly set off towards the north with Snowfeather gliding high overhead on the lookout for any danger.

The
y set up camp late that evening along the edge of a narrow stream that flowed a couple of hundred yards from the trade road, and settled down to enjoy a nice stew Raven whipped up from provisions they had purchased back in Crete.

"How long do you think we have before the Etazk set out from Salastar?" Leia asked her father curiously as she settled down next to her mother to eat.

"It's hard to say." Damion told her truthfully. "Tempest managed to destroy all of their ships, but that's only going to slow them down. It'll take them at least three or four months of constant work to rebuild their fleet. They won't be able to set off until then, not to mention it'll take them a couple of months to make the journey south across the sea, that's assuming they don't stop to conquer any of the island settlements along the way." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "I would say we have six or seven months before they finally reach our shores."

"Not necessarily." Damarius disagreed with a frown. "I suspect they began confiscating every ship that sailed into Salastar after you departed. Add that to the ships that they're surely building, and they could b
e ready to sail much sooner."

"I hadn't considered that." Damion admitted with a scowl. "They could be here much sooner than I..." A strange bellowing scream suddenly echoed through the foothills, cutting him off.

"We've heard that scream before." Sly snarled, scrambling to his feet with his hand on the hilt of his sword. "It looks like you didn't hurt that beast as seriously as you thought."

"Back away from the fire." The huge warrior warned them, whipping the Dragon Sword from its sheath. "Slither, keep Leia safe. Don't let her out of your sight!"

The huge shadowspawn wordlessly scooped the frightened young girl up into his arms and retreated into the shadows.

"I don't see anything!"" Raven cried, staring up into the darkness, her bow gripped tightly in one hand.

The strange scream echoed through the foothills once more, this time, sounding much closer than before. The sound of huge leathery wings whistling through the night air reached their ears, causing them all to grip their weapons tightly in anticipation.

"I still can't see anything!"

They continued to watched the sky overhead cautiously, but the sound of the huge wings soon died away, and another strange cry pierced the night, sounding much further away.

"I think it's leaving." Dar murmured, sounding immensely relieved.

"It probably didn't want to face Damion for a second time." Sly grunted, sheathing his sword. "It already lost a paw in its first encounter with him."

"How do we know it was the same creature?"
Raven asked doubtfully. "None of us could see the beast."

"Can you think of any other reason it didn't attack?" The scruffy little man asked with a shrug.

"I don't think it ever intended to attack." Damion mumbled with a frown. "I think it wanted to observe us."

"How could you know that?" Sly demanded in confusion.

Damion didn't reply, but merely frowned and shook his head.

"Is it gone?" Leia asked as she and Slither
reappeared from the darkness.

"We think so." Dar told her, still glancing up into the night sky nervously.

"I don't know what that thing is," The young girl declared in a ringing tone. "but it gives me a
really
bad feeling. There's something about it that makes my skin crawl!"

"You're not the only one." Sly snorted, settling back down near the fire to finish his stew.

"No," Leia told him in a firm tone. "I mean it literally makes my skin crawl. It feels like I have a thousand tiny little bugs beneath my skin crawling around. It's infuriating!"

"Why would her skin start to crawl whenever that beast
is close?" Raven asked Damarius, hurrying to her daughter's side and inspecting the healthy pink flesh of her arms closely.

"I'm not sure." The old wizard told her, brushing his brow lock from his eyes. "It's probable just a coincidence."

"No, it's not a coincidence." Leia told them, shaking her head. She looked over to her father, a horrified expression on her face. "It's true, isn't it? Draco used my blood to create that creature! That's why I can feel it when it draws close! It's born of my blood!"

"I'm sure that's not it." Damion hurried over and took the young girl into his arms. "There has to be another reason that we just haven't discovered yet."

"No, I know it's true." She disagreed, her eyes haunted by the idea. "I can feel it. Draco used my blood to create that beast, and now He's set it loose to do His bidding." She buried her face into his chest and began to cry uncontrollably.

Damion wanted to comfort his daughter, but didn't know what to say to make things better. A great anger began to boil inside of the huge warrior, and he vowed that if he ever had the opportunity, he would make the Dragon God pay for what He had done to his daughter.

**********

They arrived in Sevria a week later
to find the small mountain town an absolute hive of activity. Hundreds of men were busy training in the large grassy clearing that was usually held in reserve for visiting caravans, while nearly a dozen wagons were near the only gate leading in and out of the city, waiting to depart. Dozens of the local laborers hurried to load a number of other wagons full of weapons and supplies under the supervision of several armored riders, who stood waiting nearby ready to escort the caravan of wagons to their destination.

"Lord Omensent!" One of the soldiers guarding the gates exclaimed in surprise, hurrying
up to greet the companions. "We were not expecting you back so soon."

"
We managed to convince the Deola to call in their tribes to aid us in fighting the Etazk, but a few more problems have crept up."

"Don't they always?" The soldier laughed
.

"I see Shirk and Lady Skie have been busy while we were gone." The huge warrior looked around pointedly.

"Oh yes," The soldier nodded emphatically. "They've had the entire town helping to prepare for this war ever since you departed for the grasslands. Every able bodied man, woman, and child has been either busy training or making preparations in case there is a siege. It has taken quite a bit of work, but we've managed to make sure all of the castle defenses are in perfect working order, obtain enough food and water to sustain the town during an extended siege, and we even managed to recruit a number of mercenaries who happened to be passing through."

"Mercenaries?" Damion asked skeptically. "I don't like the sound of that."

"I felt much the same way myself," The soldier admitted in a frank tone. "but Lord Shirk apparently knew these fellows and he assured us that they could be trusted."

"We'll see
."

They hurried up to the
stables in the courtyard outside of the massive Serpent's Keep and dismounted, leaving the weary mounts in the hands of the castle servants with explicit instruction that they each be given a full rub down.

"They've haven't had much chance to rest lately, and we still have a long way to go." Damion explained to the stable hands, who were all eyeing Storm warily. "I think they could use a bit of pampering before we set off again."

They quickly made their way to Damion's office, where they found Shirk and Lady Skie having a meeting with the Captain of the Guard, an older, silver haired man who had taken the place of Veren several years before when the one-eared Jaghern was murdered while trying to protect Leia from her abductors.

"I understand
that the men are tired, Captain Repheth," Shirk was saying in a weary tone. "We're
all
tired. I haven't slept more than three hours straight since Damion left to go to meet with the Deolan Council, but we're all going to just have to deal with it. My father always told me that there would be plenty of time to sleep when we're dead."

"The men won't be fit to fight any battles if they
are passing out from exhaustion at their posts!" The silver haired man protested in exasperation. "If the men aren't busy watching the wall or patrolling the roads, they're training in the yard, or aiding the locals with all the preparations. There's not enough time left for them to rest!"

"The preparations are nearly complete. Once all the city defenses are in place, the men should have a bit more time to rest. Besides, I..." The bearded thief stopped as he noticed Damion and the others enter the room. "Damion! You're back already?"

"For the moment." The huge warrior smiled as he watched Leia hurry over to Lady Skie and climb up into her lap with a happy squeal. "There's still a lot to be done before we're ready to take on the Etazk."