Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (36 page)

"What do these do?" Juco asked curiously, gesturing to a number of levers built into the floor of the balcony.

"They set off the defenses." Garth gestured to a long steel tube which stretched the entire length of the harbor's opening to the opposite tower. "Damarius has created a special liquid that he has placed inside of huge brass vats." He led them to the next floor and showed them a large vat which had been carefully built into the floor. "All you have to do is throw the lever and release the liquid. It will pour through the tube and rain the liquid down onto any ship that attempts to cross into the harbor."

"What's that going to do?"

"The liquid is highly flammable." The old wizard explained. "A single spark will turn any ship that has been covered with the liquid into an instant ball of fire."

"Clever." The muscle bound mercenary looked impressed.

"I'm glad you like it." Damarius smiled happily. "There are a number of other defenses that we've designed which are as equally impressive. It's safe to say the Etazk are going to find it quite difficult to enter the harbor, and they're not going to enjoy what they discover if they
do
make it through."

"Were you and that blacksmith able to construct enough of your barrel traps to make them useful?" Sly asked curiously.

"At first I was afraid that we wouldn't have enough barrels," The old wizard told him, examining the vat closely. "but then we discovered all of the ale casks that you have emptied since arriving in the city, so we now have plenty of them to spread about inside of the harbor."

"Glad I could be of service." The little man gave the old wizard a mocking bow.

They followed Garth up to the very top floor, which was surrounded by a waist high wall, providing an unobstructed view of both the approach to the harbor entrance, and the harbor itself.

"This should provide us with plenty of space to construct a fair sized catapult." Damarius said approvingly
. "We'll begin construction immediately."

They followed the old wizard back down the stairs, then watched him hurry off towards the blacksmith shop to speak with
Stephan.

Now that the harbor walls had finally been completed, Sly
quickly decided that they should have the dwarves begin construction of a huge wall which would stretch the entire length of the docks, separating the city from the wharf. He broached the idea to the others later as they all relaxed in their makeshift headquarters along the waterfront.

"It's not a bad idea." Damarius murmured thoughtfully, looking over the little man's rather crude sketches.

"This design isn't going to work." Garth had disagreed with a frown. "You've only included a single gate."

"So?" Sly shrugged unconcernedly. "
We don't want to have to defend a dozen different entrances from attack."

"What happens once this war is finally over? Don't you think having a single gate might make things a bit difficult for those sailing into the city?
It would make moving merchandise from the docks almost impossible!"

"I'm not really concerned with what happens here
after
the war," Sly told him with a scowl. "I'm more concerned with
surviving
the war. If need be, we can just tear the wall down later."

"That reflects poor planning on your part." The fiery haired dwarf told him disapprovingly.

"I have a few designs that would help defend the gates, if that's what you're worried about." Damarius told the little man in a reasonable tone. "We already know how effective they can be against an attacking army."

They continued arguing for several hours before
they finally settled on three gates spaced evenly along the waterfront. Once that was finally settled, the dwarves were able to get to work constructing the massive wall, while the rest of the forces were put to work carrying stone and helping to bring supplies to the two towers.

The construction on the wall came along quickly thanks to the army of dwarves, who seemed to be able to labor for days on end without a moment of rest. The companions would wake each morning to find themselves astonished by the amount of work the sturdy little dwarves had been able to accomplish while they slept. The work would have gone even faster, but they quickly exhausted the supplies of granite
nearest to the city, and it took their men quite some time to locate another nearby source of the heavy stone.

It was late evening when Sly, Damarius, and Garth decided to take a stroll along the top of a finished section of the newly constructed wall.

"Things are coming along well." The fiery haired monarch reported to them, gesturing to the steady line of workers pushing wheelbarrows full of heavy granite blocks. "We were slowed down a bit when we were forced to locate a new supply of granite, but everything is back on track now."

"What's going on there?" Sly asked curiously, gesturing to a group of stone masons.

"We decided to build guardhouses above each gate to house the controls for its defenses." Garth explained. "It will be set up with defenses similar to the towers on the harbor walls."

One of Juco's Silent Shadows suddenly came hurrying up the road next to the newly constructed wall, his eyes carefully scanning the top of the wall. "Lord Quickhand!" He yelled in a bellowing voice, spotting Sly, Damarius, and Garth as they stood inspecting the dwarves handy work. "Lord Quickhand!"

"Was is it?" The scruffy little man bellowed back in an impatient tone.

"A ship has appeared on the horizon to the west." The mercenary reported, his voice echoing through the city.
"It appears to be heading for the harbor!"

"Just one ship?" Damarius asked, his face concerned.

"It could be a merchant ship that hasn't heard the news about the upcoming war," Garth grumbled with a frown. "or it could be an Etazk ship sent ahead to scout the harbor and see if they should expect any serious resistance."

They hurried to one of the newly constructed
towers atop the harbor walls, then quickly made their way up to the top floor so they had an unobstructed view of the approach to the harbor.

"There it is," Sly grunted, pointing
to a dark smudge at the edge of horizon. "and it's definitely heading this way."

They watched in silence as the ship slowly drew closer.

"Wait a second," The scruffy little man suddenly shielded his eyes against the sun. "That's Captain Harper's ship, the Fearless Lady!"

They watched as the ship slowly approached the mouth of the harbor, then they hurried down to the balcony
two floors down, which overlooked the mouth itself.

"Captain Harper! You crazy old pirate!" Sly roared down at the extravagant
old sea captain, who was skillfully guiding his ship through the harbor's opening. "What are you doing here? Don't you know the Etazk will be here soon?"

"Aye, I know
," Captain Harper bellowed up at the scruffy little man with a serious expression. "I saw their fleet from a distance yesterday. I just thought that I had better swing by to let you know that they're less than twenty four hours away from reaching Sierra!"

***********

Damion listened to the Deola as they continued to celebrate their victory, still bothered by all of the destruction he had witnessed during the struggle to free Kainpre from its captors. He had known that many would die when they attempted to retake the city, but he hadn't been prepared for the destruction to be on such a grand scale, and that bothered him greatly. Entire groups of Deola had been blasted to pieces by the Etazk priests, who had rained death down upon countless men before they were finally killed, while the unearthly beasts they had conjured had inflicted dreadful tolls upon the tribesmen, ripping into them with a feral viciousness that few of them had ever witnessed before.

H
e continued to slowly make his way out of the city, skillfully guiding Storm through the corpse littered streets, when the rustle of feathers drew his attention to Snowfeather, who swooped down from the darkness to glide directly over his head.
"There was just a huge explosion outside of the city, not far from where Leia and Raven were waiting!"
The huge owl hooted in panic.
"You had better get back to them as quickly as you can!"

"Oh god, no!" Damion's heart suddenly dropped into his stomach, and a wave of fear struck him. He drove his heels into Storm's flanks and galloped off into the night in search of his wife and daughter.

They emerged from the city, and charged out into the grasslands beyond without slowing as Damion coaxed the massive warhorse to hurry on, his heart pounding in fear as he searched for his wife and child.

"They
were just ahead!"
Snowfeather hooted to Damion, swooping low to lead huge warrior through the darkness.

Damion spurred Storm ahead, following his familiar as quickly as he could through the dark grasslands that surrounded Kainpre.

They finally emerged into a clearing where all of the grass and shrubs had been burned away in some sort of massive explosion.

"Raven! Leia!" He vaulted from his saddle and began searching the clearing for any sign of his wife and daughter. He quickly came upon the corpses of the tribesmen that had been left behind as
their bodyguards, then he found the enormous carcass of one of the strange wolf-like beasts that had been accompanying the Etazk army. "Raven!" He screamed in panic, dashing over to another pair of bodies, both of which belong to Etazk warriors. "Leia!"

"We're here." A woman's voice emanated from the darkness nearby.

Damion spun around as Raven stepped the darkness carrying Leia tightly in her arms, then he dashed over to scoop them both up in a fierce embrace. "I thought something had happened to you!" His heart was pounding wildly as clung to his wife and daughter.

"We're okay,
" Raven assured him with a sigh of relief. "Thanks to Slither and Leia."

"Where
is Slither?" He asked, looking around the devastated area.

"SSSlither isss here."
The huge shadowspawn limped out of the darkness.

Damion stared at the injured shadowspawn for a long moment, then turned back to his wife.
"What happened here?"

"Let's
get away from here first," Leia suggested, giving the carcass of the strange beast a look of disgust. "I don't think I can handle the smell of that thing any longer."

Damion gently placed
them both back onto their feet, then quickly led them away from the area, his heart still pounding wildly from fright. They soon located a large gathering of tribesmen who were busy tending to their brethren that had been injured during the battle.

"Damion!" Bativa called to the big warrior, limping forward to greet them
, his leg heavily bandaged.

"You've been hurt!" Leia cried, rushing over to the
Deolan chieftain, who easily lifted her into his arms.

"Don't worry," The tattooed tribesman laughed.
"It's just a scratch."

"What
happened?" Damion asked curiously.

"One of those damned hounds the Etazk had roaming the town tried to take a bite out of my leg." Bativa scowled. "I drove my dagger into its skull before it could do any real damage."

"Speaking of those beasts," The huge warrior turned to his wife. "Are you ready to tell me just what exactly happened back there?"

"We were waiting for you to return
when three Etazk appeared on horseback accompanied by one of those beasts." Raven explained with a half shrug. "I managed to kill two of them, while Slither tackled the third, horse and all, killing the Etazk in the process."

Damion gave Slither a questioning look.

"It wasss the only thing SSSlither could do to ssstop him from usssing hisss magic." The shadowy beast hissed with a shrug.

"Bativa's tribesmen tried to fight off the beast," The young woman continued. "but it killed them,
and then turned on us."

"How did you manage to kill it?" Bativa asked in disbelief.

"Leia killed it." Raven told them, staring at her daughter with pride.

"Leia?" Damion turned to his daughter.

"I guess you and Damarius aren't the only magic users in the family." The young girl told him with a smug expression on her tiny face.

"What?" The huge warrior stared
at his daughter uncomprehendingly for several moments, then he suddenly blinked. "You mean you..." He looked to Raven, who burst out laughing at the dumbfounded expression on his face. He turned back to his daughter. "You can use magic?"

"I guess so
." Leia held out her hands helplessly.

"She reduced the beast to a smoking husk without even batting an eye." Raven
said proudly. "The blast knocked us both on our backsides!

Damion looked back and forth from his wife to his daughter several times, then with a great
whoop of joy, he took Leia into his arms and engulfed her in a fierce hug.