Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God Read online

  A huge bed, elaborately designed to look like a dragon resting on its back, had been placed against the far wall of the room, and small fire burned in a fireplace, helping to ward off some of the dampness from the drizzling rain.

  He tiptoed through the darkness towards the bed, then paused for a moment to gaze upon the beautiful young woman and child who were sleeping together peacefully beneath the soft blankets.

  "You should know by now that you can't sneak up on me." The young woman murmured in a quiet voice, a playful smile hovering about her perfect lips. She opened her eyes and gazed at the huge warrior. "I could smell you as soon as you entered."

  Damion chuckled quietly. "It's the armor." He opened his cloak to reveal a suit of armor made up of overlapping steel scales. "It definitely has its own fragrance. Besides," He gestured to the sleeping child. "I didn't want to wake Leia."

  Raven smiled. "She just fell asleep an hour or so ago. She's becoming quite a handful. She had Lady Skie and I running around the fortress after her all night long. She's growing quite skilled at escaping her playpen."

  Damion laughed again. "I was exactly the same when I was her age. My father tried everything short of padlocking me inside of a cage to stop my wandering. Don't worry," He assured her. "once she has roamed around a bit and seen all there is to see of the fortress, she'll settle down. She's merely curious about her surroundings."

  "She's so much like her father." Raven smiled lovingly at their tiny daughter.

  "And as beautiful as her mother."

  The dark haired woman blushed at the compliment. "I thought you were not returning from Sierra until morning?"

  "I wanted to make sure that I was here in time to celebrate Leia's first birthday." He quietly crept over to the bedside and gently kissed his wife.

  Raven wrinkled her nose. "Why don't you hurry up and get out of that armor, then go visit the bathhouse. On the way back you can grab a bottle of wine, and we can have a drink before our little one wakes up and sees her father has returned."

  Damion frowned. "I have something to do first." He went on to explain the sightings of a one armed shadowspawn near the edge of the forest. "It appears Slither needs to speak with me."

  The young woman's face fell. "It must be something important if he's trying to get in touch with you."

  "I just wanted to look in on my girls before I went to find out what he wanted."

  Raven smiled sweetly. "Well, now that you've seen for yourself that we are fine, why don't you hurry and find out what Slither needs, then make that visit to the bathhouse, and hurry back here. I'll slip Leia into her own bed, and wait here for you to return." She gave him a suggestive smile.

  Damion grinned boyishly, and began to blush a bright red. "Why don't I hurry right along then?"

  Chapter 2

  Damion decided to leave Storm in the stables to rest, and started off through town on foot, moving quickly down the dark streets towards the gates. He had only taken a few steps when the sudden rustle of feathers drew his attention to a large snowy white owl that suddenly appeared from the darkness above.

  "And where are you going?" Snowfeather asked silently, landing gently on one of Damion's broad shoulders. "We just got back!"

  "Slither has been spotted lurking around recently." He told his familiar. "I figure it must be important if he's trying to get my attention."

  Snowfeather was his oldest and most trusted friend. As a child, Damion had fallen into a deep depression from the loneliness he felt from being isolated from the rest of the world in a tiny little secluded valley. When it finally became too much for him to bear, he gathered his magic, then released it in a silent cry, pouring all of his pain and loneliness into the plea for all of the universe to hear. The huge snow owl heard his cry and answered his silent plea, creating a link between it and Damion, bonding them together for life, allowing them to share one another's thoughts and feelings.

  "I still don't trust that shadowspawn." Snowfeather chirped worriedly. "It keeps looking at me like I'm something to eat!"

  "He's not so bad. At least he's been able to keep the rest of the dragonspawn from attacking the merchants travelling the trade road."

  "Well, I'm not going to get anywhere close to that thing." The huge owl launched itself back into the air. "I'll look in on you in the morning."

  After briefly informing the same gate guards he had encountered earlier of his intentions, he slipped off across the trade road that ran past Sevria, and into the open field that separated the edge of the forest from the city.

  He had nearly reached the forest, when a dark shape suddenly emerged from the shadows and quickly made its way towards him. "Massster!"

  The huge creature that emerged from the darkness closely resembled a wingless dragon. It stood over eight foot in height, with a heavily muscled body, and a long whip-like tail. When it opened its mouth to speak, it revealed hundreds of razor sharp teeth, and two large spiraling horns sprouted from the back of its scaled head, lending greatly to its dragon-like appearance. Its scales were as black as the darkness around them, seeming to almost absorb the surrounding shadows, making it nearly impossible to see the beast with the naked eye. One of its arms had been severed at the elbow two years previous when it had attempted to attack Damion, who crippled the creature, but spared its life when it asked for mercy. Ever since, the shadowspawn had served Damion faithfully, taking steps to insure that the trade road leading from Sierra to Sevria remained safe from attack.

  "Massster!" The beast dropped to one knee before him. "SSSlither mussst ssspeak with you!"

  "What is it, Slither?" Damion gestured for the creature to rise. "What's got you so bothered?"

  The crippled shadowspawn slowly rose to its feet. "Massster. There are rumorsss passsing among the ssspawn that the dragon god, Draco, hasss returned to thisss world." It gestured to the empty patch of sky, which up until the previous year, held the constellation of the serpent god. "There are whissspersss that He hasss returned to reclaim thisss world asss Hisss own."

  Damion thought back to the night Leia was born, the same night that the constellation had vanished from the heavens above. "I have heard the same rumors, although I have seen no evidence of His return, other than His absence from night's sky."

  "He isss making preparationsss to carry out Hisss plansss." The shadowspawn hissed in warning. "The whissspersss sssay that He isss coming for you, Massster."

  Damion was startled by this statement. "And does the whispers say why He is coming for me?"

  "It isss through you that He plansss to reclaim the world." Slither seemed genuinely concerned for his master's safety. "Beware, Massster! Beware the ssserpent god! He isss coming, and He will not ssstop until He getsss what He desssiresss!"

  Damion frowned. "Thank you for your warning, Slither. I will be sure to be on my guard."

  The large beast bobbed its head once, then turned and disappeared back into the darkness of the forest.

  He thought about the shadowspawn's warning as he slowly made his way back to the castle. The serpent god had returned to reclaim the world as His own. Damion remembered the tales that Tempest, the largest and most powerful of the scarlet dragons, regaled him with of ancient times, long before the humans had emerged from their caves and infested the world with their cities and farms, back during a time when the dragons ruled the entire world.

  If Draco had returned, then it was in response to what had happened to the shadow dragons, when he and the scarlet dragons destroyed most of the brood, and scattered the remaining dark serpents to the winds. The loss of so many worshippers at one time may have infuriated the god to the point that He felt compelled to return to the world He had been watching over for so many eons.

  Damion shook his head. There was no evidence that the serpent god had returned to the world, other than the sudden disappearance of the constellation, and the whispers of a few superstitious dragonspawn. There wasn't any real reason for him to be concerned. He decided to put it from his
mind, and hurried up to the castle to visit the bathhouse.

  ************

  He awoke early the next morning to a squeal of laughter as Leia burst into the room and ran across the chamber floor, with Raven following along behind looking slightly out of breath. The tiny little girl was a mirror image of her mother, with flowing dark hair, and huge luminous hazel eyes. She wore a beautiful white dress of satin and lace, decorated with a silver broach crafted into the shape of a dragon in flight.

  The young child scampered around the edge of the huge bed still laughing with glee, then took a firm hold on Damion's soft blankets and yanked them away, leaving him to shiver in the cool morning air.

  "I believe your daughter wants you to wake up." Raven snickered, watching with amusement as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

  "I've noticed." He answered wryly, scooping his giggling daughter into his arms.

  "I forgot to ask you last night what Slither had to say?" The young woman asked, sitting down on the edge on the bed.

  Damion frowned. "He wanted to give me a warning. Apparently, there have been a number of rumors being passed through the spawn claiming that the dragon god, Draco, has returned to the world."

  "Why would he want to warn you about that?"

  "The rumors say that He has returned to this world to reclaim it as His own, and that I was the one through which He would achieve His plans."

  Raven frowned. "Why would a god need a mortal to carry out its plans? Couldn't it just use its own power to achieve its goals?"

  Damion shrugged. "I haven't a clue. Dealing with gods is not my forte. I guess we could ask Damarius. If anyone would know, it would be him."

  "That's one of the reasons Leia and I came to wake you. Everyone will be gathering in the dining hall to enjoy breakfast together. We can ask him about it then."

  Damion yawned hugely, then sat his giggling daughter down on the floor, and rose to his feet. "Breakfast, you say?" His stomach suddenly gave a loud growl.

  Raven laughed. "I figured that would wake you up."

  "It's been a few days since I had anything other than traveling rations." He quickly got dressed, then scooped Leia up into his arms, and followed Raven to the dining hall.

  They found Lady Skie and her father, Damarius, waiting for them when they arrived.

  "We were wondering if you were planning on joining us." Lady Skie observed, taking a delicate sip from her tea.

  Raven smiled apologetically. "Damion got in late last evening. It took a little while for Leia and I to drag him out of bed."

  "Decided to leave Sierra a little early, did you?" Damarius asked, stroking the tangles from his long flowing beard. "Were you able to get everything settled with the Merchant's Guild?"

  Damion shrugged, dropping heavily into one of the comfortable chairs that lined the main dining table. "Their main complaint was with the taxes that they pay to do business in Sevria. They don't think that they should help pay for the upkeep of the trade road through the mountains." He gently lifted Leia into his lap. "They claim that it should remain our responsibility. They say they shouldn't be forced to pay anything at all."

  "That doesn't surprise me a bit." Lady Skie laughed. "If they had their way, we would have to pay them!"

  "So how did you leave it with them?" Damarius asked, brushing his brow lock from his eyes absently.

  "I told them that they were more than welcome to find another route leading through the mountains if they were unhappy with the taxes."

  Raven frowned. "I hope you didn't go out of your way to offend them, like you did last time."

  Damion snorted. "I'm fairly sure they were not very happy when I left, but I didn't threaten to turn anyone into a toad, if that's what you mean."

  Several castle servants appeared bearing a number of trays of food for Leia's breakfast feast. There was platters stacked high with links of sausages still sizzling from the pan, and plates piled with fresh eggs. There was a dozen loaves of fresh bread, still warm from the ovens, and tubs of jam and freshly churned honey butter. There was fresh fruit and nuts, and freshly squeezed juice to wash everything down.

  "You're not planning on starting the feast without us, were you?" A child's voice suddenly questioned in a playful tone.

  Everyone turned to see a small freckle faced boy with shockingly red hair standing between Sly and Veren, who both looked as though they had been raised from the grave.

  "Dar!" Damion exclaimed happily. "We wasn't sure you'd make it!"

  Although Dar looked remarkably like a human child, he was, in fact, an Alena. The Alena were a race of childlike sprites whose life spans stretched for thousands of years.

  "I found him when I was on my way to wake Veren." Sly grumbled in a rusty sounding voice. "I waylaid him into helping me haul this lightweight out of bed." He gestured to Veren, who was an unhealthy shade of grey.

  "You had better take a seat." Raven told the hung over man. "You look like walking death!"

  The one eared man grunted, not trusting himself to speak in fear of losing the contents of his stomach, then stumbled unsteadily to one of the chairs, and collapsed into it with a groan.

  The one eared man looked slightly out of place in their tiny little group. His swarthy skin and strangely slanted eyes marked him as being from Jaghera, a country hundreds of leagues to the north, across the sea. After losing his family to an attack by a shadow dragon, he had journeyed to the southern continent to assassinate Damion, believing that he had been responsible for the beast's actions. He had since proven to be a true friend, and had been instrumental in tracking down the shadow dragons.

  "You took him out drinking with you again, didn't you?" Lady Skie accused Sly, who was watching the one eared man in amusement.

  "He said he could handle a couple of drinks." The little man said defensively. "It's not my fault if he can't handle his ale."

  "I can handle the ale just fine." Veren growled, not bothering to lift his face from his hands. "It was when we decided to try some of that gnomish fire water that I realized I was in trouble."

  "Then why did you try it?" Raven asked curiously.

  The one eared man shrugged. "It seemed like the thing to do at the time."

  Everyone laughed at that.

  "How was your visit home?" Damarius asked Dar curiously.

  The childlike sprite smiled. "It went well. The scars left behind by Kaviel and his minions are slowly beginning to fade, and the centaurs welcomed nearly a dozen new foals to their herd. That's a promising start in replenishing their numbers." He walked around the table and produced a small package wrapped in brightly colored cloth. "This is for the birthday girl!" He presented the gift to Leia with a flourish.

  "You didn't have to get Leia a gift." Raven told him.

  "I know, but I found this and couldn't resist."

  Damion helped his daughter unwrap the package to reveal a delicate silver necklace adorned with a small polished green stone that was bisected by a sliver of black.

  "It's called a Dragon's Eye." The boy explained. "The stones are exceedingly rare. I discovered this one by accident along the banks of a small stream a few weeks ago. I had a jeweler in Kainpre polish it, and fashion a chain and setting for it. I thought it would make the perfect gift for our little birthday girl."

  Damion carefully draped it around his daughter's neck.

  "It's exquisite!" Raven exclaimed, moving closer to get a better look at the strangely colored stone. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

  "There are only a few of them that have ever been found." Damarius told them, squinting to get a closer look at the young child's new necklace. "I've only seen one other in all of my years, and it belonged to a merchant prince from the east."

  "It must be worth a fortune!" Sly marveled. He turned to Dar. "Where did you say you found it?"

  The fiery haired sprite shrugged. "Along the banks of some random stream. I think I was in the grasslands, or perhaps it was somewhere near the mud
pits at the edge of the Cursed Forest."

  "You don't remember?" The little man asked in an outraged tone. "If you knew it was worth so much, why didn't you mark the spot so you can return later to search for more? You could get rich!"

  Dar shrugged. "I haven't any real need for gold. It's never really been more than a pretty metal to me. Besides, if we did find more of them, the others wouldn't be nearly as valuable."

  Sly gave him a disgusted look, then turned back to the feast, grumbling sourly under his breath.