Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (27 page)

"Let's go find them." Damion decided, handing Storm's reins over to a nearby Deolan warrior, who gulped apprehensively as the massive warhorse turned to glare at him aggressively. "We've discovered some very troubling news that everyone needs to be made aware of immediately."

They quickly made their way through the bustling encampment to the center of town, where they found Ignan and Zayan carefully pouring over a long list of supplies at the local tavern.

"Lord Omensent!" Ignan exclaimed in surprise, rushing over to greet them.

"Ignan." The huge warrior greeted the fat man with a nod. "It looks as though you've been keeping yourself busy."

"Oh yes," Ignan agreed with a weak laugh. "I haven't slept for
more than two hours at a time since all of this started." He gave them an uneasy look. "Is there any news?"

"Maybe we should have a drink." Raven decided suddenly, disappearing into the crowd in search of a serving girl.

Ignan and Zayan exchanged glances.

"This can't be good." The fat man whimpered, his face slowly growing pale.

Raven soon returned with a serving girl bearing a tray full of food and drink, and they settled down around a secluded table which Bativa confiscated from a number of sullen looking tribesmen.

"So what's this disturbing news you mentioned?" Bativa asked,
accepting a tankard from the serving girl and taking a long drink.

"It appears we may have another Etazk army running around somewhere that we didn't know about." Damion told them with a frown. "Tempest has been keeping an eye on the Etazk for us, and she noticed that occasionally men would
break away from the main force and disappear."

"
Deserters?" Zayan asked, though his tone gave away the fact that he knew it wasn't true.

"I'm afraid not." The huge warrior sighed regretfully. "Tempest grew curious and decided to follow
one of the groups and found that they were heading to another port city that accesses the sea through a narrow inlet."

"What were
they doing?" Ignan asked in confusion.

"The men she followed met up with another group of warriors, then boarded a ship, which immediately set off to the south."

"How many men in total disappeared before Tempest went to investigate?" Bativa asked in a grim tone.

"She estimated around ten thousand."

"Ten thousand?" Ignan gasped. The overweight merchant looked as though he might faint.

"
Where are they now?" Zayan asked worriedly.

Damion shrugged helplessly. "We don't know. As soon as she realized what had been happening, Tempest returned to warn us. They could be anywhere by now."

"This isn't good. A force that size could cause some serious problems." Bativa's eyes were narrowed in thought. "We'll need to start watching the western coastline now. A force of fifty thousand men wouldn't be able to land its troops effectively along the coast, but a force of ten thousand..." He held up his hands. "It would be very difficult, but possible. They would have to ferry all of their men to shore on small boats, and that would take quite a bit of time."

"We know that
there are already groups of Etazk here in the south." Raven informed them. "We encountered some of them when we were making our way here."

"Were there any survivors?
" Bativa looked to Damion.

The huge warrior shook his head.
"They're dead. Their presence was very troubling, though. I managed to overhear part of their conversation, and it appears they had orders to infiltrate Sevria to spy on our defensive capabilities."

"This is troubling indeed." Bativa grumbling, his tattooed face full of concern. "We could have spies in our midst at this very moment." He sighed. "It's a shame the Etazk you encountered are all dead. A
few minutes with a survivor could have provided us with a lot of valuable information."

"I doubt you would have been able to get anything out of them, I'm afraid." Damion disagreed. "I tried questioning one of them after the others had been dealt with, but he whipped out a dagger and slit his own throat to avoid answering my questions."

Zayan let out a low whistle.

"He killed himself just avoid being questioned?" Ignan exclaimed in disbelief.
"What kind of people are these Etazk?"

"They're
a people completely devoted to their god." The huge warrior sighed in resignation. "The man would rather kill himself than risk Etaz's displeasure. He seemed to think by avoiding answering my questions, he would be welcomed into Etaz's embrace in the afterlife." He gave them all a grim look. "The Etazk are unlike any other race I have encountered. They live only to serve Etaz, and to carry out His commands without question."

"This is sounding worse and worse by the second."
Zayan murmured worriedly.

They all sat in silence for several moments as the seriousness of their situation began to dawn on everyone.

"Well," Bativa sighed, pushing away from the table and rising to his feet. "We had better start with trying to locate any Etazk spies that may be in our midst." He scowled. "That may be rather difficult given that a significant number of our forces are made up of mercenaries and bandits that have migrated here from all over the world."

"We'll just have to do our best," Damion told him,
also rising to his feet. "and we need to do it quickly. We received word from Sierra that the locals and merchant's were all evacuating the city, and a large portion of the city guard had deserted. We need to get reinforcements to them as quickly as we can."

"If you wish to locate the Etazk that may be in our midst," Ignan told them with a shrewd expression. "I would suggest that you start with gathering the leaders of the different outlaw gangs. They'll be able to tell you if they have had any new recruits join their ranks recently. They'll also be able to
have their men spread out amongst the rest of the forces and ferret out anyone that may be acting suspiciously."

"That's a good plan." Bativa agreed, giving the overweight
man an approving nod. "I'll send out men to bring the gang leaders to my wagon, and we'll inform them of what has been discovered. They may also have a few other ideas on how to locate any spies that may have infiltrated our forces."

They gathered an hour or so later in Bativa's lavish rolling quarters
, and settled down around the huge table with the various outlaw leaders to discuss what had been discovered. Damion quickly brought them up to date with the discovery of the second Etazk army, then informed them of the spies that they suspected of being within their ranks.

"So what we need
to know from you," Bativa looked at the various outlaws. "is to know if any of you gentlemen have accepted any new members into your ranks in the last few months."

"Of course we have." A rough looking fellow with a long scar crossing his face growled, scratching his unshaven skin.
"We're always recruiting. The life of an outlaw is a nervous one, and most bandits rarely remain in any given place for long. That's how a man ends up getting hanged. We're always looking for new men to fill the vacancies."

"Have any of the men been behaving oddly?" Damion asked intently.

"Odd how?" Brutus grumbled suddenly, glancing over at Leia nervously, who stared back at the bandit with hate filled eyes.

"
Secretive behavior, asking questions about our forces, or about myself and the dragons."

"Especially
questions about Sevria or Sierra and their defensive capabilities." Raven added with a frown. "We've already eliminated one group who were attempting to infiltrate the Sevria. We're pretty certain there are others."

"Now that you mention it," Another outlaw started, his eyes narrowed in thought. "My gang took in a half a dozen new bandits a few weeks ago. Ever since they joined us, all they have done is ask questions.
"

"What type of questions?" Damion asked quickly.

"I'm not entirely certain," The bandit leader shrugged. "but every time I see one of these new recruits they seem to be interrogating someone. I didn't think it was all that unusual until now."

"I've had a few men
who meet those descriptions join my ranks." Another man confirmed.

"The gods be damned." Brutus groaned, his face going pale. "I've recruited nearly half of my numbers in the last few weeks." He gave Damion a weak smile. "After our little... disagreement," He glanced over a Leia once again. "a large number of my men no longer wanted any part of our gang
, and deserted, fearing you would take retaliation upon them. I started looking for some new recruits in the usual places, and came upon a group of men who claimed they were from the east. They seemed normal enough, for bandits anyways, and I took them on to help replace some of the men who deserted. Ever since then, they've spent their time questioning every person who would stop and talk with them."

"How many men were there in total?
"

"Thirty five or forty."
The large bearded man sighed. "And I made sure they were equipped with the best gear I could get my hands on as a way of enticing them to stay on."

"
Oh, great idea, you dimwit!" Leia snarled him. "You've armed a group of our enemies and set them loose amongst our army!"

Slither, who was hovering behind the young girl protectively, gently placed a restraining hand on her shoulder to keep her from jumping up from her seat and attacking the bearded man once again.

"I didn't know they were Etazk!" Brutus protested, edging away from young girl. "How could I have known they would turn out to be spies?"

"Where are these
men now?" Damion demanded, his expression concerned.

"With the rest of my men on the east side of the encampment."

"How do you suggest we proceed?" Bativa asked the huge warrior.

Damion thought about it for a long moment. "Gather your men on the north side of the camp and tell them to prepare to set off for Sevria. We'll have a few hundred Deola spread out amongst them to set them at ease. Once all of the suspected spies
are present, we'll surround and subdue them. We'll decide their fates once they've been captured."

"How can we be sure we've located them all?" One of the outlaws asked in a worried tone. "We don't need any of their comrades slipping through the cracks."

"They should be fairly easy to identify." The huge warrior told them in a placating tone. "They have dark eyes, pale skin, and thick accents. They may speak to one another in a harsh language that sounding a little like someone cursing incoherently."

"That should help." Bativa agreed with a nod. "I'll alert my tribesmen and
send out riders to patrol the area for any Etazk that may try to slip away, then have them spread out amongst the army and weed out anyone who may fit the description. We can sort out the spies from the rest of the men later."

They stood staring at one another for several long moment.

"Well," Leia snapped, causing the outlaws to jump nervously. "Get moving! We don't want those religious zealots reporting back to their priests, do we?"

The rough looking bandits hurried
off to gather their men.

Leia was extremely put out when she learned she was to be left behind at Bativa
's quarters with Slither and several tribesmen for protection while they dealt with the Etazk spies. "You can't leave me behind!" She protested, hurrying up to her father with a cross look on her tiny face. "What if one of the veiled dragons decides to show up? You'll need me there to force them to leave!"

"You're
not
going with us, young lady." Raven told her firmly. "We're not going to place you in danger on the offhand chance one of those beasts appears. There's no way to predict what may happen once we start rounding up these spies, and we're not going to let you get killed just because you don't want to be left behind."

"But..."

"No buts," Damion told her in a tone that told her there would be no more discussion on the subject. "You'll wait here until we are finished dealing with these Etazk." He looked to Slither. "Stay at her side. Make sure you do not let her out of your sight. Don't take your eyes off of her. I don't want her slipping off when you're not looking."

"SSSlither will keep little Leia sssafe." The huge shadowspawn
assured him in a solemn tone. "SSShe will not leave my sssight."

Leia tossed the hulking beast a disgusted look, then stomped over and threw herself into a pile of pillows to sulk.

After smothering their sulking daughter with kisses, Damion and Raven followed Bativa outside to alert the tribesmen of their plans.

"What's going on?"
Snowfeather asked, dropping down from his perch atop Bativa's rolling domicile and landing on Damion's broad shoulder.

"We're going to try and weed out all of the Etazk spies that have managed to infiltrate our ranks."
Damion informed his familiar silently.
"Once we have started, I'll need you to keep an eye on things from overhead for anyone who may try and slip away. We do not want any of these men reporting back to their superiors."