Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) (9 page)

"Of course."
Snowfeather replied almost immediately.
"You'd probably go hungry if I didn't come along."

"I'm going to go hunt us up some dinner." Damion told the others. "I should be back before too long." He looked to Slither, who was lurking in the shadows cast by their campfire. "Make sure you stick close to Leia and Raven. I don't want anything to happen to them while I'm away."

"Of courssse." The huge shadowspawn assured him with a nod.

"We'll be fine." Leia told him with a dismi
ssive wave. "Nothing is going to happen. Sometimes you're just like a mother hen."

He gave the young girl a kiss on her forehead, then moved off into the darkness with Snowfeather ghosting silently overhead.

Once he was away from the camp, Damion drew in his magic and shifted into the form of a panther. He paused for a moment, allowing his heightened senses to take in the night, then slipped off through the tall grass in search of prey.

"There's a fairly la
rge group of wild pigs not far from here
." Snowfeather informed him a few minutes later, swooping down from the darkness.

"Lead the way."
He quickly followed the huge owl until he caught the scent of the wild pigs, then instantly slowed his pace so he wouldn't accidentally spook them.

"They're just ahead."
Snowfeather hooted, circling over the wild pigs on silent wings.

Damion slowly crept through the tall grass until he spotted several fat boars rooting throug
h the dirt for something edible, then prepared himself for the kill.

Moving
faster than the eye could follow, he shot forward, his eyes locked on the largest sow, confident that the meat it would provide would be more than sufficient for their needs. The instant before his outstretched claws sank into the unwary pig, however, there was a unexpected flash, and Damion suddenly found himself hurtling backwards through the air as a massive ball of searing flames completely engulfed him.

He
crashed back down to the soft soil, then quickly scrambled back to his feet, shaking his head in a effort to clear the cobwebs. He looked around in confusion. The entire area for fifty feet in every direction was in ruins. The once tall grass was now nothing more than smoldering ash, and smoke boiled up into the night's sky, blocking out the stars above.

"Damion?"
Snowfeather called out to him in a panicked tone. "
Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."
Damion assured him, shifting back into his own form and surveying the area in confusion.

"What happened?"

"I have no idea."
He stopped to look at the charred corpse of one of the wild pigs.
"It's almost like..."

An earsplitting roar suddenly ripped through the night
, causing Damion to jump in surprise.

"What was that?"
Snowfeather squawked, swooping low over Damion's head.

Damion didn't re
ply. Keeping his eyes locked on the sky, he slowly drew the Dragon Sword from its sheath and dropped into a crouch, prepared to react to anything.

A loud snarl echoed through the darkness, followed by the unmistakable sound of
wings whistling through the night's air.

"Damion,"
Snowfeather hooted in a uneasy tone.
"I think there's something up here with me!"

"What is it?

"I'm not sure. I can hear it, but I don't see anything."

The huge warrior frowned,
then continued to peer out into the darkness.

Another roar broke the silence, and Damion was suddenly engulfed in another blast of searing flames, but this time he was prepared. He calmly
allowed the fire to sizzle around him, knowing the dragon's blood in his veins would keep him protected, and concentrated on following the flames back to their source.

"Damion!"

"I'm okay,"
The huge warrior assured his familiar again.
"Can you see the source of the flames?"

"I can't see anything! I don't know where its coming from!"

The flames suddenly subsided, and Damion quickly began to look around the devastated clearing for any signs of his attacker.

A
guttural snarl drew his attention to the center of the clearing, where he noticed an odd shimmer that was scarcely visible in light cast by the smoldering foliage.

"Wha..."
Damion was suddenly struck in the chest by a tremendous force that sent him hurtling through the air once more. He crashed back to the ground, and scrambled back to his feet, the Dragon Sword held at the ready.

The strange shimmering appeared once more across the charred clearing, and another growl resounded through the night, sending chills down
the huge warrior's spine. He locked his gaze upon the strange shimmering in the air, then drew in his will and focused it upon the charred and smoldering ground, which suddenly exploded upward, engulfing the odd shimmering in soot and embers.

A roar of outrage erupted from the cloud, and a column of flames blasted out, bathing the clearing in fire once more.

Damion ignored the flames, and charged forward, but was forced back as a set of soot covered talons suddenly struck out from the cloud. He managed to avoid the worst of the strike, but one razor sharp talon caught him in his arm as he twisted away, leaving a long ragged gash that reached from his shoulder to his elbow.

He fell back clutching his arm, instinctively drawing in his magic as he fell,
and released a shockwave of energy that blasted away the cloud, revealing a huge soot covered beast beneath.

"What is that thing?"
Snowfeather squawked from overhead.

"I haven't the slightest clue."
The huge warrior replied as he rolled to his feet, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his arm and shoulder.

The beast that emerged fr
om the cloud closely resembled a dragon, though there were a few noticeable differences from the other serpents Damion had encountered. It was huge, almost as big as a scarlet dragon, with a heavily muscled body that was covered in thick scales. Two massive bat-like wings sprouted from its armored back, which was bristling with vicious looking spikes. The creature had the great spiraling horns which the scarlet dragons and the shadow beasts both possessed, but what little of its body that was
not
covered in soot, continued to shimmer strangely, taking on the look of its surroundings.

It snarled viciously as it continued to try to shake the soot from its body, then turned back to stare at Damion with great glowing eyes that gleamed with the same keen intelligence Damion had witnessed among the other great serpents.

"What, in Draco's name, are you?" Damion asked as he prepared himself for another attack.

The beast merely snarled at him, revealing r
ow after row of serrated teeth. It watched him as he slowly began to circle to one side, forcing it to spin its enormous bulk around to face him, then it suddenly drew a deep breath and began to bathe the warrior in flames once again.

Damion ignored the flames and charged forward with the Dragon Sword poised to strike, narrowly avoiding the raking talons that suddenly slashed through the billowing flames. He had expected this, however, having encountered this tactic when facing other dragons, and he reacted instantly, lashing out with the Dragon Sword. The legendary blade sliced into the beast's heavily armored wrist and passed cleanly through, severing one of the beast's forepaws cleanly from its body.

The strange dragon screamed in agony
, and stumbled back from the huge warrior, its eyes wide with shock. It spun away with amazing speed, then launched itself into the air, blood pumping profusely from its wound.

Damion cursed vehemently
and started after it, but he quickly realized it was useless as the beast vanished into the night.

"What was that thing?"
Snowfeather asked, swooping low to circle overhead.
"I couldn't seem to get a good look at it."

"It was some kind
of dragon,"
Damion told him, listening as the beast let out another scream of agony while it continued to flee.
"but I've never seen one quite like that beast."

The huge snow owl landed lightly on one of the huge warrior's broad shoulders, then fluffed its feathers in surprise as it noticed the blood flowing freely from the gaping wound on his arm.
"You've been injured!"

Damion glanced down at the ragged wound and shrugged.
"It's just a scratch."

"That's a lot more than a scratch
!"
Snowfeather hooted worriedly.
"You should hurry back to the camp so that crazy old wizard can tend to it."

"I'll be fine. I still need to hunt us up some dinner so we don't starve."

"That wound needs to be tended to immediately."
The huge owl told him, leaning in to examine the gash closely.
"You'll bleed to death if something isn't done to quell the bleeding."

"What about dinner?"

"Send Slither out to find something. I've watched him on numerous occasions, and he's quite the skilled hunter."

Damion sighed heavily.
"Very well."
He swayed on his feet slightly.
"I guess I
am
getting a little light headed. Let's head back and have Damarius take a look at this gash. He should be able to fix it up in no time."
He glanced down at the severed paw
. "I'm going to take that with me, though. Perhaps it could help reveal the creature's origins."

They arrived back a
t the camp a half an hour later and emerged into the firelight to the collective sigh of relief from the others, who had been impatiently awaiting his return.

"Where have you been?" Raven asked worriedly, rushing forward with a worried expression. "We heard that strange roar again, and something massive flew over the camp!"

"And what ever it was, it was injured." Sly added. "It rained blood down onto the camp as it passed overhead."

"It was some sort of dragon. It attacked me as I was attempting to take down a
wild pig."

"One of the shadow dragons?" Dar asked curiously.

"I'm afraid not." Damion frowned. "This beast was unlike anything I've ever seen before." He tossed the huge severed paw on the ground before them, then looked to Slither, who was hovering near Leia protectively. "Have you ever heard an invisible dragon?"

"Nay." The shadowspawn shook its head firmly. "The ssspawn have no talesss of invisssible dragonsss. Only of the ssscarlet dragonsss, and the
ssshadow beassstsss."

"An invisible dragon, you say?" Damarius asked with interest, hurrying over to examine Damion's trophy. "Incredible." He murmured after several moments
. "The scales seem to be remarkably similar to the skin of a chameleon. It takes on the color of its surroundings, camouflaging it, and rendering it invisible to the observer."

"It doesn't look exactly like a normal dragon either." The huge warrior told them with a wea
ry sigh. "Its more heavily armored, with dozens of sharp spikes protruding from its back, and it was far more agile than the other dragons."

It was then that Raven noticed the blood flowing freely down his arm. "You've been injured!" She rushed over to examine his wound.

"The beast managed to catch me with a lucky swipe." The huge warrior grumbled dismissively, noticing Leia was watching and not wanting to frighten her any further. "I wanted to continue hunting after I drove the beast off, but Snowfeather insisted that I return to have it tended to."

"It's a good thing you did." Damarius murmured, wandering over to examine the wound. "It needs to be washed and treated before it becomes infected."

Damion sighed heavily, then walked over and took a seat near the fire while Raven and Damarius began to gather the items they needed to treat his wound.

"Are you okay?" Leia asked in a timid tone, her eyes full of unshed tears.

"Of course I am." He assured her with a smile. "This is nothing more than a scratch."

Her tiny face hardened.
"If it's nothing more than a scratch, then where is our dinner?"

"Not this again." Damion laughed. He looked up at Slither, who continued to hover near Leia protectively. "Do you think I can convince you to go hunt us up some dinner before our little Leia starts declaring that she's going to die from hunger?"

"Of courssse." The huge shadowspawn agreed immediately. "SSSlither will return sssoon." He turned and quickly disappeared into the night.

Damion looked back to his daughter and noticed she was staring at her arm with a odd expression. "What's wrong?"

"My arm suddenly began to hurt while you were gone," The young girl frowned, examining her hand closely. "It went away as quickly as it appeared, but it was still very unpleasant."