Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons (48 page)

"I don't want Susa to be injured in the melee, or worse yet, by Tara herself
! She obviously has some plans involving the young girl, other than selling her for a sacrifice, though I'm not sure what it could be."
He raced down the dark road in search of the others.

Thanks to
Snowfeather's keen eyes, they quickly found Raven and Veren eagerly awaiting for his return a few miles away, hidden behind a group of trees a couple of hundred yards from the trade road.

He returned to his normal form so he wouldn't startle the horses, then stepped out from the shadows, causing his companions to jump nervously.

"I hate it when you do that!" Veren complained sourly, slipping his sword back into its sheath. "Can't you cough or something before jumping out of the darkness like that?"

"Did you find Tara?" Raven asked, ignoring the one eared man. "Was she at this Blind
Man's Cave like those men said?"

"Aye, she's there
," He told her with a grim look. "along with several dozen men. They're getting prepared to come in search of us, thanks mostly to a number of threats she leveled at their leader. She apparently feels the men that she has sent to stop us before have failed, although I don't think she realizes just how close we actually are."

"Did you see Susa?"

Damion shook his head. "I didn't want to risk getting noticed while searching for her. I felt the best course was to return so we can plot our next step together."

They quickly set off through the darkness, hoping to
return to the cave before their prey had the chance to escape. It was still a couple of hours before dawn when they reached the trail leading towards the cave hidden in the rocky outcropping. They stashed their horses behind a large group of boulders, then slowly crept forward, hoping that Tara hadn't yet departed.

"I know it's a hassle, E
ek," A man with a bushy beard and rough leather armor was saying to a mousey looking fellow dressed in a filthy peasant's smock as they stepped outside of the cave's entrance, mere feet from where they lay hidden in the shadows. "but I had to agree to it, otherwise the rest of those fanatics in Daconia would hunt us down and feed us to those serpents of theirs!"

"But
that woman and her whelp are gone now!" The little man whined. "Surely you don't plan to carry out her plans anyway?"

"Aye, w
e're going to follow her orders," The bearded man said reluctantly. "to keep those crazy zealots off of our backs. They have tolerated our presence only because we keep to ourselves, and in return they don't feed us to their pet dragons! If they request this from us, then think we should accommodate them, to help keep the peace between us, if nothing else."

"It's
sounds as if we're too late." Veren whispered as they watched the men disappeared back into the cave. "It appears Tara has taken Susa and moved on to Daconia."

"That's okay." Raven said reassuringly. "
She can't have gotten far. If we hurry, we should be able to catch up with her."

"But what
about these men? We can't leave them to sneak up behind us!"

"I need to know
what that bearded man knows before we go any further." Damion growled, his anger over losing the chance of catching the scar faced woman at a boiling point.

"What are you planning?"
Veren asked suspiciously.

"I have to insure that man doesn't get killed." Damion said, drawing the Dragon Sword from its sheath. "I'm going to try to knock him out before taking out the others.
Feel free to take out any that try to escape, but stay out of the main fight. I don't want to accidently injure either of you. Take out anyone who tries to escape, but remain clear of the entrance. Sometimes I get a little overzealous."

"Please stay safe!" Raven whispered, grasping his hand tightly.

He lingered for a moment, still holding her hand tightly, then stood and walked boldly out into the light of the fire. Someone noticed his sudden entrance almost immediately and let out a cry of alarm.

Most of the men who had been lounging earlier were now on their feet, preparing to head out in search of Damion and the others, while others were still lounging about, unwilling or unable to rouse themselves awake. Those who could quickly drew their weapons and turned to confront him as he strolled boldly into their mist.

He stopped in the center of the cave, his keen eyes quickly scanning the cavern to verify Tara's departure. He felt a fresh surge of disappointment as he confirmed his fear, and his eyes quickly scanned the crowd of armed men for the bearded man. "You." He pointed to the bearded man, who stared at him in open astonishment. "Come here."

"It's not my nature to follow orders of a
...
freak
," The bearded man stumped up to Damion fearlessly. "but I'll make an exception for you." The huge warrior towered over the man by three feet, but the bearded man seemed to think the men at his back was more than enough to handle one man.

Damion grit his teeth. "It is
not
wise to continue to insult me." He growled at the little man in a deadly voice.

The bearded man gestured to his men, who had slowly closed in their ranks behind their leader. "I don't think I have much to worry about." His face grew hard. "What's your reason for being here?"

"I need you to tell me everything that you know about Tara, the scar faced woman with the child that was here a few hours ago." He hoped to surprise him into providing some new information before the inevitable ugliness began.

"Tara?"
The man asked with a laugh. "Is that what she calls herself? You should be careful in your dealings with that scar faced hag. There is far more to those dragon cultists that she serves than what appears on the surface!"

"She serves the dragon cultists?" He asked, unable to hide his shock.

"Of course! She claims she a slave chaser, but she serves those zealots to the southeast, there's no doubt about it." The man's face grew suspicious. "Just who are..." His eyes suddenly grew wide in recognition. "You're one of the ones we're supposed kill. You're the one that released the dragons!"

"Where did she go?" Damion asked, ignoring the man's revelation. "Was Susa alive?"

"I assume you mean the child slave? " The bearded man asked, seeming almost baffled into answering by Damion's calm demeanor. "She seemed fine. As for where they were headed, that would be Daconia, of course." His face suddenly grew regretful. "But you'll never make it that far, I'm afraid. She gave us the task of eliminating you and your friends, and that's exactly what we plan to do." He grinned an evil grin. "It was just our lucky day that you happened to wander in here for us to kill. No one will really notice that there's one less
freak
in the world!"

The sto
ut little man never saw the fist that connected firmly with the point of his chin. His men stared in shock as their leader fell, many having completely missed the blow that knocked their leader unconscious.

"I
really
don't like being called a freak." He told no one in particular. He looked around at the others, who were still staring at their fallen leader in incomprehension. "Those who wish to die quickly, step right up, otherwise, you can just wait until I get around to you!"

Several of t
he rough looking men laughed, but none of them retreated.

The huge warrior
shrugged. "Have it your way. Let's get this started then!" The seemingly innocuous looking sword in his hand suddenly burst into flame, and he began to slowly advance on the crowd of men.

Many of the men cried out fearfully, and began to back away from the death promised by the giant advancing down on them, until one of the men suddenly gathered his courage. "Let's take him down, boys." He let out a sudden roar, and brandished his rusty club.
Nearly half of the other men roared in approval, while the others fell back in fear.

The first man that charged forward to meet him had his head removed
as Damion ducked under a clumsy blow and struck out with the flaming blade. The next three fell just as quickly as Damion began to lay about with the fabled sword. After that, chaos erupted. Men began to surge in all directions, some attacking, some desperately trying to flee his wrath. Some few made it passed him and through the cave's entrance, but were quickly felled by the Raven and Veren, if he correctly guessed the screams that suddenly erupted outside.

Fully half of the men now lay dead, but many still they fought on like prey cornered by a predator. They began to charge at him in groups
, obviously hoping to overwhelm him, but Damion's expertise easily overwhelmed them. There were still a dozen men left, the rest having managed to escape through the entrance, when he finally began to tire. He took a step back to take a breath, but four more men chose that moment to attack, forcing him to defend himself.

A dagger suddenly flickered through the air and grazed Damion's face, opening a long ragged cut
down one cheek. He roared in sudden fury, drawing in his magic and releasing it on the remaining men, blasting the closest three to bits and hurling the rest to the cold stone floor. The shockwave from the blast shook the entire stone formation, causing the rear section of the cave to collapse in on itself, crushing the last few men still alive.

Damion quickly turned and scooped up the bearded man's
unconscious body, then sprinted towards the entrance as the remainder of the ceiling gave way, collapsing into the cave with a great rumble. He tossed the man's limp form through the mouth of the cave, then dove clear an instant before a dense cloud of dust and pebbles erupted, spewing out into the stagnant air of the swamp. When it finally cleared, the cave was gone, as was a large portion of the stone outcropping.

Veren
and Raven came running up to him anxiously, their faces concerned.

"Are you hurt?" The young woman helped him to his feet, then began to brush away all of the dust and debris, examining him closely in the process for injuries. She cried out in horror when she saw the ragged gash that marred one side of his face
.

"Don't worry." He assured her soothingly. "It looks worse than it actually is." He shook the dust from his hair as she rushed off to dig through their supplies for something to cleanse and dress his wound.

"I see you brought a friend with you." Veren walked over and nudged the man with one toe, then knelt down and grasped a handful of greasy hair, lifting the man's face from the dirt so they could get a better view. "The bearded one!" He said with a smile. "He should be able to give us some answers!"

"He already has." Damion replied as Raven forced him to take a seat
so she could tend his wound. "From what he says, Tara is far more involved with this dragon cult than it first appeared. He claims she poses as a slave chaser, but he swears she is actually a cultist."

The one eared man frowned,
then rolled the stout little man onto his back, and peeled open one of his eyelids. "What did you hit him with?"

"My fist." He replied, wincing as Raven began to scrub the wound clean.

"Next time you may want to hit him with a club. You nearly killed him!" He stood up. "It's going to be a few minutes before he wakes up. I'll go get the horses, while you keep an eye on him." He disappeared into the darkness, but soon returned with their horses in tow.

The bearded man finally began to stir just as Raven finished bandaging Damion's face.
They gathered around him as he groaned loudly and pushed himself up into a sitting position, rubbing his jaw gingerly with one hand.

"Good morning, friend." Damion greeted him gravely. "Remember me?"

The man stared up at him for a long moment, then looked around in confusion. "What happened? Where are my men? Where's Blind Man's cave?"

Veren
gestured at the pile of crushed stone that replaced the cave. "The answers to your questions lie under that pile of rubble, along with most of your men."