Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (19 page)

"That's an understatement." Damion laughed.

"
He's always been a little eccentric," The old bandit chuckled. "but he's a good man to have at your back if you're in a fight. I once saw him grab a guy and..." He was cut off as a loud roar shattered the night.

"That was a dragon." Damion frowned, staring up into the dark sky.

"One of the scarlet serpents," Shirk asked with a frown. "or is it a shadow dragon?"

Another roar shattered the night, sounding much closer.

"I don't know. It
may
be the beast that I encountered in the grasslands." Damion told him in a tense voice. "But whatever it is, it's heading straight towards Sevria."

Chapter 10

"At your stations!" Shirk roared to a group of nearby soldiers. "We don't know if this beast is friend or foe!"

The warning quickly spread thro
ughout the city guards, and a number of soldiers hurried to climb up into the siege machines that Damarius had designed a few years before to help defend the city against the shadow dragons.

"Can you tell which kind of dragon it is by its roar?" The old bandit asked Slither as they all hurried up towards the castle, their eyes still locked on the skies
above.

"
Nay." Slither hissed, craning his head around in an effort to spot the dragon. "SSSlither cannot be certain which ssserpent it may be."

They reached the courtyard in front of the Serpent's Keep just as another roar echoed through the night, this time sounding as though it came f
rom directly above their heads.

"Do you see it?" Sly appeared breathing heavily, a sign that he had ran
all of the way up to the courtyard from his cozy seat in the tavern.

"Not yet." Damion
replied in a tense voice.

"What, in the name of the gods, was that?" Juco demanded in a drunken tone as he hurried up to join them.

"A dragon." Shirk answered shortly, his voice tense.

"A dragon?" Juco repeated blankly. "I thought the Dragon Lord controlled all of the dragons."

"Not all of them." Damion's keen eyes suddenly caught sight of a dark shape circling above. "I see it! It's circling above the city!"

"
That's means it's not the beast that attacked you in the grasslands." Sly grunted in a relieved tone.

"Not necessarily." The huge warrior cautioned, his eyes locked on the dark figure above. "It might not be using its camouflage to conceal itself. It may believe that it is safely hidden in the darkness." He watched as the dark figure suddenly began to descend. "Here it comes!"

The dark shape grew larger and larger as it dropped from above, until it blotted out most of the stars in the sky. At the last instant, the enormous beast suddenly flared its wings and settled gently in the courtyard before them.

"Tempest!" Damion breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad it's you."

"Who else would it be?" The huge scarlet serpent rumbled curiously. She gazed around and noticed all of the relieved looking soldiers climbing down from the large siege machines, then turned back to Damion. "What has happened?"

"I was attack a couple of weeks ago by a dragon. We thought you may have been
the beast returning for another fight."

"Attacked by a dragon?" Tempest frowned. "One of the shadow
beasts, no doubt."

The huge warrior shook his head.
"I'm afraid not."

"You were attacked by a scarlet dragon?" The huge serpent sounded shocked. "How is that possible? Even now,
I can feel the Dragon Gem whispering its call, influencing my every move. It would be impossible for one of the scarlet dragons to attack you."

"It wasn't a scarlet dragon either." Damion quickly went on to tell her of his encounter
with the strange chameleon-like dragon. "I've never seen anything like it! Its skin could shift colors and mimic its surroundings, making it virtually impossible to see. It was pure luck that I managed to fight the beast off." He looked up at the scarlet dragon questioningly. "Have you ever heard of such a beast?"

"I'm afraid I haven't." Tempest murmured
in a troubled tone. "No such beast has ever existed, so far as I am aware."

"
Well, it exists now." Sly grunted sourly. "It nearly flayed Damion before he was finally able to drive it off."

"Damarius believes Draco created it using little Leia's blood.
" Damion informed her in a grim tone. "He thinks that's the reason the Dragon God had her abducted in the first place. He wanted her blood. He believes that's why Draco hasn't attempted to obtain her again. He has already gotten what He wanted. Leia also claims that she can feel when this new beast is close. She claims it feels like thousands of tiny bugs are crawling around beneath her skin. It has her quite upset."

"Th
is is disturbing news." Tempest clearly did not like what she was hearing. "If Draco has unleashed another brood upon the world, chaos will soon follow."

"And to make matters worse, these
new dragons are virtually invisible." Sly grunted, swaying back in forth in place slightly. "It's going to make tracking these beasts down almost impossible!"

"We have others things we have to worry about right now." Damion reminded him. "We are nowhere near being ready to face a force the size
that we saw in Salastar." He looked back up to Tempest. "What have the Etazk been doing since we destroyed their fleet?"

"That's what I'm here to speak with you about." Tempest settled down before them comfortably. "After their fleet was destroyed, the Etazk seemed to be in disarray for a time, but they soon
reorganized and began constructing new ships. That, however, wasn't working quick enough for them, so they began confiscating every ship that sailed into port and sacrificing the crews upon their foul altars."

"How many ships do they have?"

"About eighty that are sea worthy. Not nearly enough to move their entire force, and they have another hundred or so under construction, but it'll be a month before any of those will be finished. But that's not what I found troubling." Tempest murmured in a serious tone. "After a couple of weeks of watching them, I noticed that groups of Etazk would occasionally break away from the rest of the force and disappear. I didn't think much about it at the time, but after a month or so of watching these men continue to disappear, I began to grow curious, and decided to follow one of these groups."

"Let me guess, deserters
, right?" Shirk nodded confidently. "Every army has to deal with their share of soldiers who defect from their ranks."

"I'm sorry to say
that these were not deserters." The huge scarlet serpent sighed. "These men traveled day and night for almost a week until they finally reached another port city built next to a narrow inlet that leads out to the sea. They met up with another large group of warriors, and then boarded a ship, which immediately set sail."

"That's not good." Damion frowned. "How many men
were on board?"

"A few hundred. I didn't th
ink much about it when I first noticed them breaking away from the rest of the forces, but after a month or so, a significant piece of their army had broken away and disappeared. That's when I began to get a bit concerned, and decided to follow them. Once I realized what they had been doing, I knew I had to get here to warn you immediately."

"Are you saying there is an army of Etazk running around loose out there somewhere, and we don't have any idea
of where they are?" Sly looked as though he may be sick. "How many men do you estimate broke away from the others?"

"A
ll together, I'd estimate around ten thousand." Tempest sighed. "I failed in my task. I should have realized what they were doing sooner."

"It isn't your fault." Damion told her, his mind working quickly. "D
id you happen to notice what course they chose?"

"They were heading southeast towards Sierra when I last saw them. I suppose they could have changed course since then."

"No, they're heading here." Damion murmured confidently. "We are the biggest threat to the Etazk, so they'll attempt to remove us first before moving on to other kingdoms."

"What would you have me do now?" Tempest asked, clearly hoping to redeem herself.

Damion thought about it for a moment. "See if you can locate where these breakaway groups have been going. If I had to guess, I would say they are gathering somewhere along the coastline in an effort to remain hidden. If you're not able to locate them, return to Salastar and keep an eye on the rest of the Etazk army. We definitely don't want to lose track of them too."

"And the serpent
that you encountered in the grasslands?"

Damion shook his head. "I'm afraid
it's going to have to wait. We don't have the time to try to track it down. The Etazk require our full attention right now."

"As you wish." Tempest rose to her feet and stretched her wings. "I'll alert you the instant
anything happens." She launched herself into the air and disappeared into the night.

"You really
are
the Dragon Lord, aren't you?" Juco had watched the conversation with the great serpent in stunned disbelief, and now stared at Damion with a newfound respect.

"I told you he was." Shirk shook his head
in exasperation. "Didn't you believe me?"

"Not really. I never
actually believed there was a
real
Dragon Lord. I thought you had just found some talented fellow to pose as some made-up hero, and passed a bunch of wild stories around about him to fool the simpletons of the world."

"
Well, now you know better."

"What's the plan now?" Sly asked
in a worried tone. "There are ten thousand Etazk out there running around somewhere, and we don't even know where to begin looking for them."

"Looking for them would just be a waste of time." Juco pointed out in a shrewd tone. "It would be best to
just wait for them to show themselves, and then take care of them. It doesn't make sense to waste the time and energy it would take to track them down. Better to save your energy until they slip up and reveal themselves. A force that size cannot remain hidden forever."

"
I guess that's all we really
can
do." Damion agreed. "We'll just have to wait until they resurface and deal with them then." He frowned. "I just can't help but feel we're going to regret losing track of those warriors."

The
y gathered the next morning in the dining hall for breakfast, where Damion quickly brought everyone up to date with the Etazk.

"Ten thousand men?" Damarius asked once the huge warrior had finished
explaining their situation. "A force that size could wreak some serious havoc."

"And we don't have any idea where they may be." Sly grumbled in a rusty voice.
"They could be anywhere!"

"
What did Tempest have to say about the dragon we encountered in the grasslands?" Raven asked, glancing to her daughter, who seemed a bit subdued that morning.

"She had never heard of anything like it." Damion sighed heavily. "
She says there has never been a beast such as I described."

"
Which leaves us with father's theory as the best explanation for its appearance." Lady Skie frowned, glancing to Damarius, who looked rather pleased with himself.

"I told you." Leia whispered, staring down at her plate of uneaten eggs. "I told you
that the Dragon God used my blood to create that beast. And it's not the only one." She told them grimly. "There are more of those things. A lot more."

"How can you be certain, young one?"
Lady Skie asked the young girl gently.

"I
can sense them." She ran her hands over the skin on her arms absently. "I can sense them as they move through the world. I can feel in my very essence."

They all just stared at the young girl
, who continued to gaze at her plate with unseeing eyes.

"They
're searching for something." She continued in a strained tone. "They need to do something, acquire something. They searching everywhere for it, and they will not stop until it is theirs."

"What are they searching for?" Damion watched his only daughter closely.

"I'm not sure," Leia frowned, looking to her father. "but whatever it is, it has something to do with you, and they cannot continue without it."

"That could only mean the Dragon Sword." Damarius murmured, brushing his brow lock from his eyes absently. "If the
Dragon God
did
use little Leia's blood to create another race of dragons in an effort to destroy mankind, then the first task He would give to them is to track down and obtain the Dragon Sword. If He wants His plans to succeed, He is going to need
all
of His children, and the only way He can regain control of the scarlet dragons is by destroying Damion and taking the sword."

"Which means we haven't seen the last of
these new beasts." Shirk grumbled sourly. "We're going to have to keep a look out over our shoulders from now on."

"It wouldn't do any us any good." Sly
chuckled humorlessly. "We wouldn't be able to see coming them anyway."

"We'll just have to worry about the veiled dragons later." Damion decided reluctantly, glancing at his daughter, who had went back to staring
blankly at her eggs. "Our first priority is making sure Sierra is secured."

"
Veiled
dragons?" Shirk stared at Damion curiously. "Where did you come up with that?"