Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons (39 page)

One by one,
the young Deirian woman unchained the sick and tired slaves. There were six young girls and two elderly women, all dressed in soiled smocks and looking as though they hadn't been fed in days. They each had a strange star shaped tattoo next to their left eyes, indicating their status as a slave. They emerged from their cage hesitantly, looking around in fear at their dead captors. Raven quickly led them into the cool shade of the outcropping, while Veren and Damion lingered to plunder the other two wagons, which were packed full of the slaver's supplies.

"There's an entire wagon full
of casks of water, and plenty of fodder for the horses and stock, but only a small amount of food." Veren reported to Damion a few minutes later. He held up a large pouch. "But I
did
find this!" He smiled happily.

"You can't eat gold." Damion told him. "There isn't a
lot of food here, and our own supplies are nearly tapped out!"

"Well, we need to figure out something."
Veren told him, glancing over at the children. "There are a whole lot of mouths to feed over there."

"I have an idea."
Damion said suddenly, his eye falling upon the oxen that were still harnessed to the rolling cage.

The one eared man followed his gaze to the oxen, then smiled happily. "I'll see to it, milord. Let me just lead t
he other teams into the shade, then I'll set about butchering one of those beasts."

"Better make that two." Damion told him
. "We can use the leftovers to help bolster our supplies." He grabbed two casks of water, then took them over to Raven, who was still busy looking to the children's wounds.

The children cried out in terror as they caught sight of him approaching, and he suddenly stopped, not wishing to cause them any more fear. He sat down the casks of water, then
quickly retreated from their view, and went to help Veren.

Once they had seen to the wagon teams, and rounded up all of the
horses that had belonged to the dead slavers, they led a couple of oxen out of the children's view and set about the grim tasks of butchering the creatures.

Since there was little fuel for a fire, Damion built a large
fire pit well away from camp, and lined it with dozens of fist sized stones. He drew in his magic and focused it for a moment on the stones, setting them aflame. The slaves were soon gorging themselves on steaming slabs of beef, and drinking their fill of clean water.

Raven went to each child one by one and gently cleaned the filth from their hair and bodies, while
Veren scavenged up suitable clothing to replace the rags the girls currently wore. Once their bodies were clean and their bellies full, the children were put to bed to help them recover from their imprisonment.

The young woman
made sure that every child was comfortable, then turned her attention to the two elderly woman. "What are your names?" She asked them in a gentle voice.

"I am Uuna." One of the women answered in a rusty voice. "This is my little sister, Eena."

"How is it you came to be slaves?"

"We were taken from our homes long ago." The old woman cradled her sister's head. "I remember fighting with them at first
, and Eena kept screaming and screaming, until they cut out her tongue. We were sent to work in the salt mines for many years until we finally grew too old to be of any use, then we were sold from merchant to merchant as cooks, or caregivers for our master's children." She sighed wearily. "Most recently, we were purchased along with these children to be taken to the escarpment. Our new owner is a man in the lower village." Her wrinkled face soured with distaste. "He is apparently very fond of young girls. He purchased my sister and I to care for them when his isn't..." She paused. "Amusing himself with them."

Raven smiled grimly. "You'll no longer have to worry about that, grandmother. The lower village was destroyed, and most of the people
slaughtered."

The old woman didn't react to that news. "It
matters not." She sighed in resignation. "We haven't any where to go. We will return to being slaves, or we will die."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" The young woman said hotly. She left the old women to rest, then quietly drifted over to the fire
pit at the edge of camp.

"Is everything okay?" Damion asked worriedly.

"These women and children have been treated horribly!" Her voice was outraged, and tears filled her eyes. "What are we going to do with them? Where are these children going to go? We can't just send them off to find their own way! The women already believe they will perish unless they return to being slaves! We have to help them!"

"And what would you have us do?"
Veren asked in exasperation. "Do you really want to take those children into battle with us when we find the shadow dragons?"

"Of course not!" Raven rolled her eyes. "But there must be something that we can do!
We can't let them just end back up as slaves again!"

"We can send them to Muddy's." Damion suggested in a quiet voice. "Once they have had
some time to recover, not to mention some food in their stomachs, the women should be up to the task of leading the children back to the escarpment. We'll give them that gold that Veren found on the slavers and a map showing them where to camp, then they can take refuge with the dwarf until we return."

"That's brilliant!" She exclaimed, grasping Damion in a impulsive embrace.

"Hey! That's
my
gold!" Veren whined.

Both Damion an
d Raven turned to glare at him with flat expressions.

"But I would be happy to donate it to their cause
!" He amended quickly, a slight note of wistfulness in his voice.

"You are
so
generous." Raven murmured, rolling her eyes again.

It wasn't until the sun had set that the children finally awoke,
still slightly frightened from their whole ordeal. Raven, Veren, and the old women were there to calm and reassure them, while Damion and Snowfeather remained by the fire pit, continuing to monitor the cooking oxen.

After she had seen that the young girls were fed,
Raven quietly drifted over to Damion, her face concerned. "The temperature is dropping pretty quickly tonight. Several of the girls say they are cold. Can you help?"

Damion grimaced. "I don't want to scare the children. They have been through enough already."

"Don't worry," She promised him in a gentle voice. "I'll reassure the girls that you will not harm them."

"Very well. I'll see what I can do."
He watched as she disappeared into the darkness, then sighed heavily and rose to his feet.
"Why don't you go hunting while I go help these children."
He suggested to Snowfeather.
"The marshes of Arleia are not far. I'm sure there is plenty to eat there."

"That's not a bad idea
!"
The huge bird agreed, stretching his huge wings and launching himself into the air.
"Good luck in dealing with the young!"

Raven
returned to the children, who were huddled together in an effort to stay warm, and explained that Damion was going to join them and not to be afraid. He soon appeared from the darkness carrying a heavy sack in one hand. Several of the girls gasped fearfully, but the old women was able to calm them as he knelt and emptied twenty or so fist sized stones into a small pile.

"
What are you planning on doing?" One of the children, a dark haired girl of about six years, asked bravely. She had pale skin and large dark eyes that were alight with curiosity.

"I'm going to start a fire." He answered in a quiet voice.

"How?"

"I'm going to set these stones on fire."

"You can't set a stone on fire!" She scoffed, crossing her arms. She was silent for another moment and her expression suddenly grew uncertain. "Can you?"

Damion smiled, then waved one hand over the pile of stones
.

At first, nothing see
med to happen, then the stones slowly started to glow a deep red and began to smoke. They could all feel the heat that the glowing stones were producing as they continued to grow brighter and brighter, lighting the dark overhang with a pleasant radiance.

"But they're not on fire!" The girl protested. "You said you could set them on fire!"

All of the girls giggled, and Raven and the old women laughed.

Damion smiled again, then snapped his fingers
.

Flames suddenly leapt
up from the glowing stones, roaring toward the ceiling of the overhang, then dropping back down to a merry fire.

The children all gasped in astonishment, and several of them began to clap happily.

"How did you do that?" The dark haired girl demanded, seeming unimpressed.

"Magic." He replied, surprised by the girl's fearlessness.

"You can do magic?" She put her hands on her hips. "Show me."

Veren
laughed. "She's a little bossy one, isn't she?"

Damion
chuckled. "What would you like me to do?"

"I d
on't know." She said with a note of exasperation in her young voice. "You're the magic user! Do some magic!"

They all laughed
this time. The other girls had all grown a bit more relaxed, and slowly began to inch closer to the fire to warm themselves, but their eyes were all locked on him expectantly.

Damion thought for a moment, then drew in
his magic and held out one hand palm up.

The girls all gasped in wonder as a tiny spark of light appeared in the palm of his hand. It pulsed rhythmically, growing larger and larger
, until the light was the size of a large melon. It began to pulse faster and started to morph and stretch into different shapes. It suddenly flashed brightly, forcing them to shield their eyes, and when they looked back, the ball of light had formed itself into the shape of a mouse, which leapt from his hand and began to scamper around the campsite. It scurried in between the girl's legs, then disappeared into a crack in the stone, leaving a twinkling trail which lingered for several moments after it was gone.

The children all clapped in amazement, except for the dark haired girl, who still looked unimpressed.
"Wow." The girl yawned. "Impressive."

He gave her a bit of a disappointed look, then glanced around the campsite and spotted the rolling cage that the girls arrived in. "How about this?" He raised his hand
and the caged wagon rose into the air to hover ten feet or so off of the ground. She still didn't look impressed, so he closed his hand into a fist, crushing the cage like it was a piece of parchment, then released his magic and let it crash back to the ground.

"I guess that's okay." The girl shrugged. "It's more than others that I've seen that claimed to know magic." She snickered. "My last master
claimed that he was a sorcerer, but he couldn't conjure up a breeze on a windy day."

"What is your name?" Raven asked the girl, who continue
d to watch Damion curiously.

"My parents called me Susa, before I was
taken away and sold to my first master." She answered emotionlessly. "I've had many names since then." She turned her attention back to Damion. "Are you a giant?"

Damion shook his head. "No. Giants are much bigger, much meaner than I."

There was a flutter of wings as Snowfeather returned from his hunt with a lizard clamped tightly in his beak.
"How's it going with the younglings?"