Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (17 page)

"Were you able to convince to Deolan Council to call in the tribes?" Lady Skie asked through the swarm of kisses the young girl continued to shower upon her.

"It took a bit of persuading," Damarius sighed wearily, dropping into a nearby chair. "but they finally agreed to help us. The tribes are being assembled as we speak, and will travel to Crete where we have the rest of our forces gathering. Once Bativa has handled his affairs, he's going to join them and take command of the army until we're ready."

"It sounds like you've been busy."
Shirk's yawned. "We've been fairly busy here ourselves, in case you hadn't noticed."

"Oh, I noticed." Damion assured him with an approving nod. "It looks as though you and Aunt Skie have things well in hand."

"This isn't the first time we've done this." Lady Skie reminded him, cradling Leia in her arms gently. "I seem to remember waking up one morning to find a horde of angry dragonspawn at our gates and several shadow dragons circling overhead, and we managed to defend ourselves just fine. Oh wait, I forgot," She murmured in a flat tone. "You weren't here for that one."

"Okay, okay!" The huge warrior laughed, throwing his hands up in defeat. "I surrender! I admit it. You know exactly what you're doing. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Why, thank you for noticing, dear one."

"We have nearly a dozen wagons full of weapons and supplies ready to move whenever you're ready for them,
" Captain Repheth reported to Damion in a respectful tone. "and the blacksmiths are working overtime to make more, but it takes time to forge a decent weapon."

"Where did they get the material to make the weapons?" Sly asked curiously. "There couldn't have been enough steel in town to forge enough weapons to fill an entire wagon."

"Or so you thought." The bearded thief grinned. "Remember all of those gnomish made weapons we confiscated a few years ago?"

"Of course I remember them, but they were useless."

"Not completely. The blacksmiths in town melted those weapons down and used them to create new ones. They've managed to produce several hundred swords and axes, and thousands of arrowheads which their apprentices are using to make arrows and crossbow bolts."

"That's good news." Dar chirped, climbing up into a chair next to Damarius. "We're desperately short on weapons and armor. We were able to convince some of the local outlaw gangs to...
donate
what supplies they had hidden away, but it wasn't nearly enough equipment to outfit an entire army."

"Donate?" Shirk looked skeptical. "I've never heard of an outlaw gang donating anything to anyone."

"Well, these outlaws were happy to part with whatever they could," Sly laughed. "especially after Damion beat one of their leaders senseless, with a little help from Leia, of course." He quickly went on to tell them about their encounter with Brutus, and how little Leia had taken offense to the outlaw insulting her mother. "You should have seen the look in his eyes when her little boot caught him square in the..."

"Sly!" Lady Skie exclaimed in a shocked tone, while everyone else laughed uncontrollably. She look down at Leia, who was giggling merrily. "You didn't really..."

"Oh yes she did!" Raven stared at her daughter proudly. "She definitely took the wind out of his sails. He wanted no part of us once she had finished with him. As a mother, I've never been more proud!"

"How many men have you managed to recruit so far?" Captain Repheth asked, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes.

"A few thousand, at best." Damion's face was still red with laughter. "But more men are arriving everyday."

"How many warriors can the Deola muster?"

"Twenty thousand, give or take a few hundred."

"The Etazk are still going to outnumber us two to one." The silver haired man frowned. "If we don't find some reinforcements soon
, we may be in trouble."

"If Bativa is able to persuade the lords in Kainpre that they need to assemble their men to aid in the war, then that should add ten or twelve more thousand men." Raven pointed out. "That should bring us a bit closer to an even fight."

"Even fight?" Damarius snorted in derision. "You seem to forget that the Etazk priests can all manipulate magic. All
we
have is Damion and myself. Even with the Dragon Sword, we're still at a severe disadvantage."

"Speaking of warriors," Damion started, looking over to Shirk curiously. "Who are these mercenaries I heard about from the guard at the gate?"

"You heard about that, did you?" The bearded bandit looked away innocently.

"I did." Damion watched his old friend
began to squirm uncomfortably. "I was told that you personally vouched for them."

"You were?" Shirk continued to squirm for another moment, then he heaved a great sigh of surrender. "Listen, I was going to tell you about it when you didn't have so much on your mind."

"Tell me about what?"

"A while back
, I got word from some old... acquaintances of mine, stating that they were looking for somewhere else to settle down and... uh... go into business."

"And naturally you invited them here." The huge warrior stated in a flat tone.

"Of course not!" Shirk objected indignantly. "I explained to them that I was no longer in that... line of business."

Sly snorted in amusement, causing the old bandit to scowl.

"As I was saying," He continued, still staring at the scruffy little man aggressively. "I explained to them that I was no longer in that line of business, and I couldn't help them, then forgot all about them, until they showed up at our gates a couple of weeks ago."

"So you
invited them in to stay a while and prey upon our locals?" Raven looked shocked.

"Of course not." Shirk objected again. "I only allowed them to enter Sevria after warning them what would happen to them if they were caught causing any problems." He noticed Damion still wore an expression of disapproval. "Look, these are a good bunch of boys.
I've known them for years. They've fought next to me in battle. I couldn't just turn them away." His expression grew shrewd. "And we can use them to help fight the Etazk."

"How many are there?" Damarius asked curiously.

"About forty of them."

"Forty men?" Sly scoffed. "Do you really think that forty men are really going to make much of a difference?"

"It depends on the forty men." Shirk smiled sadistically. "These men were known in Arleia as the Silent Shadows. Each man is an expert in stealth. They're trained to fight in the shadows, and are ideal for quick forays into enemy territory. I've seen these men pick an entire village clean of valuables without ever once being seen."

"But we're looking to kill the Etazk, not rob them."

"They're trained killers." Shirk assured the little man. "They've been known to pick up the occasional assassination job when their purses were empty."

"But can we trust them?" Captain Repheth asked plainly. "They
are
a bunch of thieves and cutthroats, after all."

"We can trust them." Shirk nodded. "I give you my word on that."

"If you say we can trust them, then they can stay and help us," Damion agreed finally. "but I think I should probably still meet these fellows, and make sure that they understand the rules."

"That would probably be prudent." The old bandit agreed with a nod. "I'll take you down to meet them a little later."

Captain Repheth quickly finished giving his report, then hurried off to return to his duties, his face still etched with worry.

Damion flagged down a passing servant and ordered him t
o bring everyone food and drink, then settled down at the enormous table that dominated his office.

"Was it difficult to convince the
Council to call in the tribes?" Shirk asked a few minutes later as the servants arrived carrying several trays of food and drink.

"It could have been worse, I guess." Damion shrugged, spearing a sausage with the tip of his dagger and shoving it into his mouth greedily. "A few of the chieftains wanted to pull the tribes back into the city and try to wait the Etazk out, but we managed to convince them that it would be a mistake." He frowned, remembering how infuriated he had become with
Krel.

"The Deola hide from a battle?" Lady Skie asked, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"The very thought is laughable!"

"The chieftain who
voiced the idea suggested it more out of his hatred for me, than for his desire to avoid a battle. He would like nothing more than to see me destroyed by the Etazk, but he soon realized that would be his people's undoing."

"I'm relieved to hear he came around." Lady Skie murmured in relief, gently placing Leia into the chair next to her so the young girl could eat.

"Krel only came around because father used his magic to persuade him." The young girl informed her as she began piling sausages onto her plate.

Both Shirk and Lady Skie looked to Damion curiously.

"I was getting a little tired of Krel's insults, so I gave him a little something to remember me by." The huge warrior murmured in an evasive tone.

"Father gave the man boils on his backside!" Leia squeal
ed with laughter.

"Damion!" Lady Skie exclaimed in a reproving tone. "I can't believe you would do something like that!" She thought about it for a moment. "Well, maybe I
can
believe it, but you still shouldn't have done it."

"He's deserved it." Sly took a long drink from his tankard, then belched thunderously. "Krel's an insufferable ass."

"Have you heard anything from Tempest?" Shirk inquired.

"Not yet." Damion frowned. "That reminds me, I need to speak with her. We
encountered something rather strange on our way to Mercedia."

"What's that?"

"I was attacked by a dragon while out hunting with Snowfeather. It appeared out of nowhere and attacked me, even though I was in the form of a panther."

"A shadow dragon out in search of a meal, perhaps?" Shirk scratched his beard thoughtfully.

"I'm afraid not. This beast was unlike anything I have ever seen before." He quickly went on to describe his battle with the strange dragon. "The strangest thing about this creature was its scales. They changed color to mimic the beast's surroundings, rendering it nearly invisible."

"And you've never heard of such a dragon
before?" Shirk asked, his eyes strangely haunted. He had been in Arleia during the battle that Damion and the scarlet dragons had with the shadow dragons, and it was something the bearded old bandit would never forget.

"No one has." Damarius murmured absently, dabbing at some gravy that had dribbled into his beard with the hem of his robe. "It seems to be an entirely new breed of serpent. A type of
veiled
dragon, as it were."

"That's what Snowfeather called it." Damion murmured thoughtfully. "It's a rather fitting name, if you think about it."

"That's just what we need," Shirk tossed his hands up in disgust. "Another race of dragons out to destroy us, and this one is invisible!"

"It's not invisible
," Damarius corrected in a scholarly tone. "It just has an amazingly efficient camouflage reflex that makes it extremely difficult to detect."

"Where could it have come from?" Lady Skie looked concerned.

"It came from me." Leia's expression was a mixture of both sadness, disgust, and towering anger. "The Dragon God used
my
blood to create it."

"How could you possibly know that, child?"

"Because I can feel it whenever the beast is close." She stared down at her plate with unseeing eyes. "My skin, it begins to crawl, like thousands of tiny bugs are crawling around, and a strange feeling seems to come over me." She turned to look at Lady Skie with serious eyes. "I know it's true. That creature was created with my blood, and now Draco has set it loose upon the world to wreak havoc." She stabbed at one of the sausages on her plate vehemently.

"Can this be true?" Lady Skie looked horrified.

"We're not really certain, but Leia believes it to be true," Damion's heart nearly broke seeing his only daughter struggle with such a horrible concept. If anyone alive could understand how she must be feeling, it was him. "and I trust Leia's instincts. If she says that she can feel when the beast is close, then I believe her."

Leia looked up from her plate, and smiled at her father sadly.

"Have you heard any news from the dwarves, or the lords of Sierra or Kainpre?" Sly asked through a mouthful of boiled potatoes.

"There's been no word from Kainpre yet
." Shirk frowned. "They are notorious for being difficult to deal with. I wouldn't be surprised if they slammed the gates shut on the city the instant they heard the news about the Etazk."

"What about Sierra?"

Shirk shook his head. "It's not good. As soon as word began to spread about the Etazk, people began to evacuate the city in droves. Most of the locals have already hopped aboard ships bound for the north or the east, and many of their own soldiers are deserting. As for the dwarves, we haven't received any word from them yet."