Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (23 page)

"And where is the dragon man now?"

"He has retreated to his keep in the mountains. One of the scarlet serpents appeared not long after he arrived, and they spoke for a short time, and then it flew off towards the west. It appears that other humans are gathering in another land for war, and the dragon man is responding by gathering a force of his own."

"Stupid humans." The huge dragon rumbled in a scathing tone. "They are constantly waging their meaningless wars, hoping to force the rest of mankind into glorifying one pathetic god above the rest."

"The humans gathering in the west have a god walking among them." The guttural voice growled worriedly.

"That would be Etaz." Draco snarled, His lips curling back in distaste. "He has always desired the world be brought under His
rule. He has been waiting for thousands of years for His chance to renew His war, and I inadvertently gave it to Him when I took action against the Dragon Lord."

"Why haven't you just eli
minated the dragon man yourself?" The odd shimmering hissed in confusion.

"Because Estheryal will not allow it." The iridescent dragon growled, casting his gaze towards a small cluster of stars which were twinkling brightly in the night sky. "The Serpent Mother has disapproved of my plans since the very beginning, and will not tolerate any further direct actions against the mortal." His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I believe She has taken a special interest in the Dragon Lord, and seeks to protect him. I will not risk angering Her by defying Her wishes."

"Surely you do not fear Her?"

Draco snorted in amusement, sending twin curls of smoke drifting up from his nostrils. "I do not fear the
Serpent Mother, but I
do
realize it will be much easier to carry out my plans
without
Her disrupting me at every turn. If I were to ignore Her wishes, She would undoubtedly turn all Her attention to countering my every move. As long as I do not take direct action against the Dragon Lord, She will not even notice what I am doing until it's already too late." He turned His gaze back to the odd shimmering. "That's why I created you and your brethren. You
must
destroy the Dragon Lord and retrieve the Dragon Sword before I can move forward with the next step in my plans. I don't care what it takes! Destroy anything that gets in your way! Just bring me that sword!"

"What about Etaz and His armies?"

"Allow His armies to go unscathed, for now." Draco murmured after a moment's thought. "You can use them as a distraction. If the Dragon Lord has all his attention focused on Etaz and His followers, you may be able to strike him when he least suspects it. But do
not
underestimate him. He is one of the most powerful humans in the world. I doubt even
he
realizes just how much power resides within him. Just eliminate him, and bring me that sword. I do not care what the cost."

"It will be as you say, Father."

The shimmering quickly disappeared into the night, leaving the iridescent dragon to stare down at the twinkling lights below, His eyes already lost in thought.

Chapter 1
1

"We have finished with all of the preparations." Captain Repheth
reported in a tired voice, running a weary hand across his brow. "I think we're as prepared for the Etazk as we can get."

"That's good," Shirk yawned. "How many men do we have ready to defend the city?"

"Five hundred or so, not counting the locals. Many of them wish to help defend the city like they did when the dragonspawn laid siege to Sevria."

"That doesn't surprise me one bit."
Lady Skie told them, a note of pride in her voice. "They have been forced to rebuild their city twice now, and they'll lay down their lives to defend it from being destroyed again."

"How much food do we have in store?" Shirk asked, a slightly worried note in his voice.

"Enough to last at least six months, not including the livestock."

"I hope that will be enough." The old bandit frowned. "I think I would feel better if we doubled that amount."

"I'll see what can be done." Captain Repheth promised. "Now that all of the preparations are complete, it shouldn't be too great a task to collect more provisions."

"Send some warriors out hunting." Lady Skie suggested
. "These mountains are absolutely teeming with wildlife. There are plenty of deer, rabbit, and wild boar in the area."

"And pheasant." Shirk added with an eager tone. "Make sure they bring back pheasant." He glanced over to
Dar, who had an amused look on his face. "What? I love pheasant."

"I'll see what can be done." Captain
Repheth chuckled, then hurried from the room.

"
Do you think all of the city defenses will be enough to keep the Etazk at bay?" Lady Skie asked, a worried frown suddenly crossing her face.

"Of course." The old bandit snorted in amusement. "
Your father designed the city's defenses himself, and he is, by far, the wisest man I have ever known." He frowned. "Even if he
is
completely mad."

"I remember the stories my father used to tell me
when was young about the Etazk, and the war that nearly consumed the entire world. The atrocities committed by Etazk were indescribable. The horrors unleashed upon mankind by their priests drove hardened warriors insane with fear. Millions were killed and sacrificed to their dread god, Etaz, before they were finally driven back to the west."

"T
hey didn't have Damion to contend with." Dar pointed out reasonably. "That young man is a walking natural disaster. I've had the misfortune of witnessing him when he was angry." He shuddered. "The Etazk don't stand a chance against him."

"Damion
is
a bit... overzealous, at times." Lady Skie smiled fondly. "He has always been that way. Once, when he was a child, he was sleeping in his bed when a servant girl accidentally dropped a tray of food. The crash scared Damion awake, and caused him release a blast of magic that blew the door from its hinges, shaking the entire castle like a leaf! That was when we knew it was time for him to begin learning how to control his powers, before he mistakenly killed someone."

"That sounds like Damion." Shirk chuckled. "Subtlety has never been one of his traits."

They both looked
towards the office door as Axel hurried into the room with a massive snow owl perched on one of his shoulders, its gleaming white feathers fluffed in agitation.

"What's Snowfeather doing here?" Lady Skie asked in confusion. "I thought he left with Damion and the others."

"He showed up a few minutes ago." The young man flinched as the huge owl launched itself across the room, where it settled on the table before Shirk and Lady Skie. "He was circling outside the main door to the keep when I returned from the village. As soon as he saw me, he landed on my shoulder and began pecking me on top of my head until I finally brought him inside." He rubbed his head gingerly. "I figured he wanted to see you. I think he's brought a message."

They looked down and saw the snow
owl had a piece of rolled up parchment clutched in its talons, which it immediately relinquished to Lady Skie.

"It's from Damion." She murmured as she unrolled the parchment and quickly read the note. "They encountered a group of Etazk on the trade road who were posing as travelers. Apparently, they were on their way
here to Sevria to spy on our defensive capabilities."

"That's not good." Shirk scowled. "
If they encountered Etazk on the trade road, then there's no telling how many may already be in the city."

"There
have
been several of groups of travelers show up in the city as of late." Axel told them, his eyes narrowed in thought. "Most of them are merchants, but a few of them claimed to just be passing through. I wouldn't have thought anything unusual about it, except they were asking all sorts of questions."

"What kind of questions?" The old bandit's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Well," The young man scratched his head. "I was down at the tavern having a drink when several men came in and started ordering drinks for everyone. After a time, they began to circulate among the crowd asking questions about the usual things, like were the dragon skulls mounted on the outer fortifications real, and did dragons really carve the Serpent's Keep from the very mountain itself." He frowned. "Then they started asking questions about the siege machines, and what kind of defenses had been built into the fortifications. Luckily, most of the locals know better than to give away the city's secrets."

"We need to locate these men
immediately." Dar murmured in a worried tone. "They cannot be allowed to report back to their superiors."

"Would you be able to identify these men
again if you saw them?" Shirk asked Axel, jumping up from his seat.

"I believe so, yes." The young man nodded.

"Then let's go find Captain Repheth. Once he's been informed, we'll have him gather a detachment of soldiers, and we'll sweep the city. We have to make sure we don't miss any of them. Even a single Etazk within our walls during a siege could cause all sorts of trouble for us."

They started to leave the room, but stopped as Snowfeather suddenly let out a
loud hoot, then leapt into the air and sailed over to land on Axel's shoulder once more.

"I think he's ready to leave." Lady Skie commented, watching the young man wince as the huge owl buried its talons deep into his shoulder. "He wants you to take him back outside."

"Sure," Axel gasped, his face pale with pain. "I'd be happy to." He turned and hurried from the room with Shirk following close behind.

They
quickly made their way down the huge sweeping staircase to the main floor of the castle, and out the main doors that led to the outer courtyard. The instant they stepped outside, Snowfeather leapt into the air, and with a final hoot of thanks, the huge owl disappeared into the night on silent wings.

"Thank the gods!" Axel sighed in relief, rubbing the place the huge owl's talons had dug into his flesh.

"Let's go find Captain Repheth." Shirk grumbled, leading the way towards the village. "He needs to be alerted about the Etazk immediately."

They quickly made their way through town and found the silver haired captain talking with a group of riders who had just returned from patrol.

"What is it?" The older man asked, noticing the grim look on Shirk's face. "What has happened?"

The bandit quickly told him about Damion's encounter with the Etazk. "They were posing as travelers, and were on their way here to try and spy on our defensive capabilities."

"But Damion disposed of them, right?"

"Of course, but there is an entire army of those zealots running around loose somewhere, and they have surely sent a number of groups out to infiltrate Sevria."

"Well," Captain Repheth drew himself up proudly. "Those savages are going to have to make it passed me and my men first."

"They may
already have." The old bandit sighed. "Axel thinks there may already be some Etazk already here in the city."

The silver haired old soldier looked to Axel curiously.

"When Lord Shirk mentioned that the Etazk that Lord Omensent encountered were disguised as simple travelers, it reminded me of some travelers who had appeared a few days ago. They seemed normal enough at first, but they soon began to ask a lot of questions."

"What type of questions?" Captain Repheth
asked suspiciously.

"How many men we have, and how the siege machine
s Damarius designed operated. They were also trying to find out what other types of defenses we have in place."

"
We need to round every one of these spies up before they are able to pass on any information." Shirk said in a firm tone. "We can not let even a single Etazk slip through our fingers."

"I can guarantee they won't slip away once my men have searched the city."

"That may not be the wisest course." Shirk advised, his eyes narrowed in thought. "If your men start tearing the city apart, the Etazk will surely notice and try to flee."

"They won't be going anywhere." The old soldier promised, turning to look at several of his men who were busy guarding the gate leading in and out of the city battlements. "Seal the gates immediately, and have the men form up!" He barked in a commanding tone. "We h
ave some uninvited guests, and we're going to root them out and make them sorry for showing their faces in our city!"

The soldiers reacted instantly, and the three heavy steel gates
that protected the only entrance into Sevria were quickly lowered into place, sealing off the city from the rest of the world.

The castle soldiers on duty quickly formed ranks
, and then set about searching the city, building by building.

"There!" Axel hissed, gesturing to a pair of men who were busy talking with one of the local blacksmiths.
They were dressed in plain nondescript clothing, and had swords belted firmly to their waists. "Those two men were with the group of travelers who were asking all of the questions."

"How do you want to handle this?"
Captain Repheth asked, gritting his teeth angrily.

"Tell your men to hang back." The old bandit told him after a moment's thought. "Let's see if I can goad them into revealing themselves."

The silver haired old man quickly gave the order to his men to hold back, then he and Axel followed Shirk, who strolled right up to the men fearlessly.

"Did you just make it into town?" He ask
ed the pair casually, a friendly smile plastered across his bearded face.

The pair turned to face them with strained smiles.

"A few days ago, yes." One of the men answered him in a thickly accented voice. "We were passing through and found this city to be quite interesting."

"Interesting, yes." Shirk nodded in agreement. "What brings you south?"

"We're travelers." The other man said evasively, his voice as thickly accented as the first. "There is much in the world we wish to witness with our own eyes."

"You're awful
ly brave to be traveling with the world in the state that it's in." The old bandit told them in an impressed tone. "With the Etazk preparing for war, no one is safe."

The pair exchanged glances.

"The
Etazk
?" The first man asked, trying hard to sound as though he had never heard the word before. "Who are the Etazk?"

"Oh, you haven't heard about them?" The old bandit feigned surprise. "They're a blood thirsty race of religious crazies who live on the western continent. They worship Etaz, the
God of the Underworld. He's one of the foulest, most retched deities ever to curse mankind with His presence."

The men frowned, and their eyes grew hard, but otherwise, they didn't react.

"I've heard some disturbing rumors about them too." The bearded old thief continued relentlessly. "I heard that their women are all as ugly as trolls, but twice as hairy, which doesn't really matter since all of their men have had their manhoods removed so they are not distracted from their religious duties."

"That's not true." One of the men growled,
his hand straying towards the hilt of his sword.

T
he other man quickly stepped in. "He means that can't be true. If their men couldn't breed, then they would have died out centuries ago."

"I heard that their priests use magic to impregnate pigs
, which have entire litters of Etazk. That's how they are able to reproduce, and why there are so many of them."

The men were
both beginning to grow visibly angry, but they still somehow managed to keep themselves under control.

"And that's not all." Shirk continued relentlessly. "I also heard they feast on the flesh of their sacrifices, and bath in the blood." He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "
It's not such a hard thing to believe, the Etazk being a bunch of eunuchs born from swine and all."