Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (16 page)

Damion noticed the bearded thief's face had turned a flaming red when he looked
at Lady Skie, but decided not to mention it. "Very well. Raven, Sly, Damarius, and I will follow these abductors, while Shirk, Dar, and Lady Skie assume the responsibilities of the running the castle."

"Does that mean I'll have the keys to the vault?" Shirk couldn't keep his eagerness from coming out in his voice.

Damion nearly laughed in his face. "I think I'll leave those with Aunt Skie, if you don't mind. I would like to home this time and actually find something left in the coffers."

"Hey!" Sly exclaimed defensively. "It wasn't my fault! You're the one that told us to do whatever
necessary to protect the city. That's exactly what I did!"

Raven sighed impatiently. "Can we
worry about that later? Let's get moving!"

Damion nodded
. "You're right. Why don't you and Damarius go ahead and gather whatever you think you may need, and meet us in the stables."

"What are you planning to do?"

Damion sighed heavily. "I'm going to go say goodbye to Veren."

Everyone fell silent.

"In all of the mayhem, we
have
kind of overlooked him." Dar admitted sadly.

"He gave his life
trying protect my daughter." Damion said simply.

"
I'll make sure he is given a proper burial." Lady Skie assured him in a quiet voice. "It's the least I can do. He saved my life."

Damion shook his head. "Send word to his sister
, Queen Ann of Jaghera. They will want to make arrangements to have his body shipped back to be buried with his wife and children."

"As you wish, dear one."

Damion, Damarius, and Sly hurried down to the lower levels of the castle while the others went to make their preparations.

"We placed his body in one of the rooms down
in the Vaults." Sly told Damion as he led the way down. "I wasn't exactly sure if we would be laying him to rest here in Sevria, or returning him to his homeland."

Damion frowned. "I think he would wish to be laid to rest with his family.
"

The little man led him to one of the small storage rooms in the
Vaults, the lowest level of the massive keep, named for the huge vaulted ceilings that helped to support the castle.

Veren had been laid out on a simple wooden table
, and covered with a white sheet.

Damion's heart filled with sorrow when he pulled back the sheet and saw the strange foreign man that had so abruptly came into his life.

It had only been two years since the fateful night that the one eared Jaghern stepped from the shadows outside of the castle and attempted to assassinate him, thinking that Damion had been responsible for the deaths of his family. Once it was discovered that his family had been killed by a shadow dragon, he had immediately pledged his life to Damion, who had spared his life. Since that day, Veren had proven himself time and time again to be a true and loyal friend.

The one eared Jaghern's
body was very pale, but looked otherwise unharmed. His expression was one of contentment, something which Damion had never seen on his friend's face before. With his death, it seemed Veren had finally found the peace he had long been searching for.

Damion
sighed heavily, then drew in his magic, and placed one hand upon his friend's arm. He placed his other hand upon the Dragon Sword, then released his will, allowing the enchantment to flow into the Jaghern's corpse.

"What d
id you do?" Sly asked in a subdued voice.

"I simply wanted to insure that his body would remain untouched
by decay for the journey back to his homeland." Damion replied in a quiet voice, turning away from Veren's body. "I owe him that much. He gave his life for my daughter, and I will never forget that."

T
hey returned to the main room of the Vaults, where they found Damarius hurrying about the laboratory he had constructed when he had left his secluded valley to join them in Sevria. "I'm almost ready!" He promised them, rummaging through one of the over sized trunks where he usually kept the various ingredients he used in creating his potions. "I just want to grab a few things that may be of use to us on our search."

They quickly helped to gather everything the old wizard
needed, then hurried back up to the stables, where they found the others anxiously awaiting their arrival.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"
Lady Skie asked her father as he pulled himself up into his saddle. "You're not as young as you used to be, Father."

The old wizard scowled down at his daughter. "
I'm not as much a doddering old man as you may think!" He declared, ignoring his brow lock, which had fallen into his eyes. "There's still some life left in me yet!"

"Don't worry," Damion assured her. "
we'll look after him. Besides," He smiled at his old mentor. "his wisdom and extensive knowledge of the world could prove quite useful."

"Lady Skie, Dar, and I will look after the castle affairs
." Shirk told him, grasping one of Damion's hands in a farewell. "Go bring our little one home."

"Azel will be able to help you keep the castle running smoothly." Sly grunted, nodding to the young boy who had arrived to see them off. "He has been assisting me for months now."

"Make sure that you send us word from time to time," Dar told his friends, his tiny face sad. "and we'll continue to work on our end to discover what we can."

"Are we ready?" Raven asked impatiently, obviously ready to get moving.

Damion frowned. "I just have one last thing that I need to do first."

He walked out into the center of the
huge courtyard, then placed one hand on the hilt of the Dragon Sword. "Tempest, I need you." He had never used the powers of the mythical sword to call upon any of the scarlet dragons, but this situation had forced his hand.

A monstrous form
soon appeared overhead, blocking out much of the night's sky. The massive dragon suddenly tucked her wings and dropped down to land in the courtyard before him.

"What has happened, Dragonkin?" Tempest asked immediately, knowing he would have never called upon her unless it was serious.

"Someone has taken my daughter, Leia." He told her quickly. "We're going after them."

"What?" The huge scarlet serpent was shocked.
"How could this happen? Who is responsible?"

Damion shook his head. "We're not sure. A man and a woman
somehow made their way into the castle while Raven and I were busy tracking down one of the local bandit leaders who was responsible for smuggling weapons into the region to start a war with one of the Deolan tribes. The man and woman killed Veren, then snatched Leia from her bed. Damarius tried to stop them, but the woman used magic to blast him aside, and they escaped. Slither happened to catch sight of them, though, and followed them to a secluded cove on the northern shores." His expression was one of fury, but he somehow managed to keep his voice level. "It's pretty obvious now that the whole affair with the bandits was a set up. The man and woman were behind the bandit leader's actions the entire time. They hired him to start some kind of conflict, knowing I would go to investigate. They waited until I was gone, then struck."

"What can I do to help?" The great beast offered immediately.

"Alert the other scarlet dragons to what has occurred, then return here." He frowned. "I'm not sure how long we'll be gone, and I'll feel much better knowing you are here watching over everyone."

"Of course." She agreed
instantly, her expression worried. "I'll alert my brethren to what has happened, then I will return to protect the city. I can promise you that no harm shall befall Sevria while I'm here."

"Thank you, my friend." Damion smiled up at her gratefully. "I knew I could count on you."

Tempest launched herself into the air with a single thrust of her powerful wings, then flew off to alert the other scarlet dragons to what had occurred.

Damion returned to the others
and pulled himself up into Storm's saddle. "Tempest will return soon to help watch over the city. She went to inform her brethren of what has transpired, then she will return to insure that everyone here remains safe."

"Is that really necessary?" Shirk asked, glancing up at the night sky nervously
. "There isn't any reason to believe the city is in danger."

"And I want it to stay that way!" Damion barked at the
bearded man, who flinched. "I don't want to come home to find out it has been destroyed!" He sighed heavily. "With her here standing watch over the city, I can be confident that nothing will happen."

"Damion!" Raven cried, her becoming
desperate.

The huge warrior
glanced to his wife, then nodded in agreement. "I'll send word from time to time to let you know where we are, and what we have discovered."

They all looked at one another for
a long moment, then with a regretful sigh, Damion nudged Storm with his heels and led the way out of town.

"Snowfeather!"
Damion silently called to his familiar.
"We've picked up the kidnappers' trail, and are heading out!"

"Let's go get them, then!"
The huge snow owl hooted, swooping down from the darkness above to settle gently on Damion's shoulder.

Chapter
8

They
hurried through the only gate in the huge stone battlements that surrounded the city, then carefully made their way out into the dark field beyond the trade road.

"Slither!" Damion called, eager to see
the encampment the kidnappers had fled to before boarding their ship. "Slither! We're ready to move!"

"SSSlither isss here, Massster." A nearby shadow suddenly spoke, causing everyone to jump
in surprise. "SSSlither is ready, Massster."

"It's going to be rather difficult to follow him when we can't even see him." Sly
pointed out with a snort. "Isn't there anything you can do about that?"

Damion thought about it for a moment. "I have an idea.
" He looked to the one armed beast. "Come here for a moment."

The crippled shadowspawn
silently drifted over to stand next to Storm, who snorted in displeasure.