Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons (36 page)

The dwarf laughed. "Of course there is, my lovely young lass! It leads to a gulley a few miles outside of town
. You can follow it to back towards the road. You should be safe enough then."

They reached the top of the stairs and rounded a corner to find themselves in the stables. They found their horses
saddled and ready, and their pack horses laden down with fresh supplies.

"I took the liberty of adding some necessities." The dwarf  told them, gesturing to the packhorse
s. "I'm sure that you'll find they'll come in handy. It's three weeks until you reach the border of Arleia, and there are only a few water sources along the way."

They followed the dwarf to a large stall at the back of the stable
, then paused while the dwarf moved several empty crates aside. "Slide that horseshoe to left." He grunted to Veren.

The one eared man slid the the horseshoe to the left, and they heard a loud click. The entire wall suddenly swung free, revealing a large corridor that had obviously been carved centuries before.

"My family is nothing if not prepared." Muddy smiled proudly. "It took my grandfather and great grandfather twelve years to carve this passage." His face grew momentarily troubled. "I think this is actually the first time it's ever actually been used, other then when my father took me down the passage to admire his father and grandfather's handiwork." He turned to look up at Damion. "This is as far as I go. I have an establishment to look after. I wish you the best on whatever it is that you are doing, Dragon Lord."

Damion smiled, then tossed the dwarf a heavy pouch of coins. "Thank you for everything that you have done, my friend.
I'll be sure to return someday."

Muddy caught the heavy pouch with a smile. "Anytime, milord
! Anytime at all!"

They quickly led the horses into the hidden
tunnel, then paused as the dwarf closed and latched the hidden doorway behind them, enclosing them in total darkness.

"A little help?"
Veren murmured in a quiet voice.

A pinpoint of light suddenly appeared a few
feet away, slowly growing larger in size and intensity as Damion focused his magic on the small floating orb.

"Very impressive!" Raven complimented him, staring a the orb in wonder.

Damion shrugged. "I've used it before. It does a fair job of lighting the way. I like to break it out every now and then and use it so it doesn't get dusty." He gave her an impish grin.

"Let's get moving."
Veren grunted, starting down the corridor.

They followed the corridor for a couple of hours until they reached a dead end, then the
y paused to search for the exit leading out.

"Muddy failed to
tell us the way out was blocked!" Veren said sourly.

Damion quickly scanned the area
, and noticed a horseshoe attached to the stone wall. "There." He pointed it out to the one eared man, who quickly examined it, then grasped it and slid it over to the left.

There was a loud click, and the sound of stone grinding on stone, then a large section of the stone wall suddenly swung free, revealing the gulley that Muddy had told them about.

"I guess the dwarf was true to his word after all!" Veren conceded with a grunt.

They led the horses out of the tunnel, then paused to manipulate the outer latch to close the hidden entrance.

"Let's get as many miles from here as we can before the sun comes up." Damion said, climbing atop Storm. "I'd rather not have any of those tribesmen breathing down our necks for the rest of the trip."

***********

"Finally!" Veren sighed in relief, urging his horse towards the shade of the oasis ahead. They had been on the road for two days since escaping the tribesmen, and been unable to find any suitable shelter as dawn broke, so they had chose to push on towards the small natural spring marked on their map several miles away. "I don't think I could have lasted much longer!"

They led the horses
into the welcome shade of some trees that grew near the edge of the crystal clear pond, then unloaded them and led them to drink.

Veren
and Raven both waded out into the water and immersed themselves while Damion watched in amusement.

"What are you laughing about?"
Veren asked in a surly tone. "Not all of us are immune to the heat, you know?"

T
hey set up their camp for the day and settled in to try to get some rest, completely exhausted from their trek. They awoke late that evening, just as the sun began to set.

"I'm fairly certain that we're not being followed any longer." Damion told them confidently.
"I think we'll remain here for another day or two to allow the horses to rest. Storm was sweating pretty hard the last mile or so on the road. It might be a good idea to give the horses time to recover."

"That may be a good idea."
Raven agreed. "We've been pushing them pretty hard."

"In that case,"
Veren grunted, rising to his feet. "I'll start gathering firewood, while you two feed the horses and get ready to prepare breakfast."

They were soon gathered around the fire enjoying thick ham steaks
smothered in onions, cut from an entire butchered pig that the dwarf Muddy had provided, along with a number of other staples when he had stocked their provisions.

"We'll have to remember to thank Muddy
, if we ever see him again." Damion commented, taking another bite of his steak. "His timely intervention helped us avoid what could have been an ugly situation!"

"He was a rare sort, was he not?" Raven agreed. "It isn't often you'll run across a dwarf willing to lift his finger to help most humans, even for coin
!"

"Dwarves
really aren't so bad." He disagreed, shoveling down another bite. "Once you get to know them, you'll realize they are not much different from us, and they also make fiercely loyal and trustworthy friends!"

"Well, he's alright in my book!"
Veren declared, sipping on some ale that Muddy had thoughtfully included with their supplies. "I've always thought that a fight avoided is usually the wisest course."

"
Well, thanks to him, we were able to outdistance anyone that may have been following us." Damion finished off his steak, and rose to his feet. "We were moving pretty quickly, and had a fair head start, so I'm pretty sure we have outdistanced any that may have tried to pursue us. But they didn't seem eager to venture away from their village anyway, so I doubt we'll have to worry about any visitors." His face grew cautious. "But just to be on to safe side, we'll take turns standing watch."

It was nearly midnight,
and Damion had led Storm down to the spring to drink while he patiently brushed out the great warhorse's shaggy coat, when Snowfeather ghosted out of the darkness on silent wings.

"Something wrong?"
Damion asked as the large owl landed on a nearby stone.

"There's something moving around out there. It's heading thing way."

"How many?"
Damion asked, his hand on the hilt of the Dragon Sword.

"As far as I can tell, there's only one."

A moment later, the creature Snowfeather had seen heading towards their camp materialized from the darkness. "Massster!" The one armed beast immediately dropped to its knees.

"Wha..."
Veren started, jumping up from his seat and drawing his sword.

"Shadowspawn!"
Raven cried, scrambling for her bow.

"It's okay." Damion assured them. "This the messenger I sent to the
brood mother." He turned to look at the creature that was still trembling at his feet. "Rise and report." He told it in a firm tone. "Did you take my message?"

"Yesss, Massster." The shadowspawn answered, rising to its feet. "The Mother heard you
r messsage. Mother wasss angry. Mother refusssed." It swayed unsteadily on its feet.

Damion looked at the beast a bit closer and noticed that it appeared to be much thinner, almost
emaciated. "Are you ill?" He asked, more in surprise than concern.

"No food." It hissed,
its voice on the edge of exhaustion. "No water." It glanced over at the clear pond longingly, but made no move to quench its thirst.

"How long has it been since you last had something to eat or drink?"

The shadowspawn sighed heavily. "Before you became my Massster."

"Go drink." Damion ordered, slightly alarmed.

The creature slowly made its way over to the spring, and dropped to its knees and began to drink.

"What are you thinking?"
Veren asked, his face worried. "That thing is dangerous! You should have killed it!"

Damion shook his head. "It pledged its life to me when I spared it." He gave the one eared man a pointed look.

The Jaghern's face fell. "Well," He conceded suddenly. "Maybe it
would
be wise to keep it around for a while."

Raven giggled suddenly. "I'm guessing there is a story behind that?"

Veren grimaced. "When I first met Damion, I...." He glanced at Damion, who was grinning in amusement, clearly enjoying watching him squirm. "I kind of tried to kill him."

The young woman burst out la
ughing. "You tried to kill him? Are you mad?" She stared at the one eared man in disbelief.

"I wasn't in my right mind." He muttered defensively.

Damion glanced over at the shadowspawn, which had continued to drink throughout their discussion. He looked over to Raven, who was still laughing at Veren. "Could you grab several cuts of meat from our supplies?"

She smiled, then went over to rummage through their packs.

The shadowspawn submerged its body in the cool water for a long moment, then rose to its feet, seeming to have regained some of its strength. It slowly made its way back to Damion and stood awaiting his command.

"Why haven't you tried to find food or water since we last met?" Damion asked curiously. "Surely you could have fed yourself?"

The creature stared at him for a long moment. "Massster gave me a tasssk." It answered simply.

"Now
that
is devotion to a task!" Veren whistled in amazement.

Raven approached Damion with several thick cuts of pork that they had prepared earlier that evening, her eyes still wary as she watched the beast for any sign of aggression.

The shadowspawn watched her calmly, its black eyes following her with only curious interest.

"Next time you do something for me,"
Damion said, handing the beast the pork. "Make sure you take the time to eat and drink. You are no good to me dead."

The one armed creature took the meat, a grateful look on his
reptilian face. It quickly devoured the food, starved from its time since their last encounter.

They watched patiently as it ate its fill, then once it had finished, it sighed in relief
and contentment.

"Feeling better?" Damion asked
. "Have you had enough?"

"Yesss, Massster." The shadowspawn growled, a grateful note in its voice.

"Why did you return to me?" He asked, still slightly suspicious of the beast.

"To warn you, Massster." It told him in a quiet hiss. "The Mother plansss to confront you when you enter the landsss of the ssserpent
sss."