Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) Page 22

  "Watch your tongue, Langsten," Fedrio warned the soldier in a dangerous tone. "You're speaking to Damarius the Sorcerer, advisor to the Dragon Lord."

  "This is who the Dragon Lord sends us? A drunkard, a few mercenaries, and an old crackpot who thinks he can use magic?" Langsten stared at Damarius and Sly with disbelief. "The Dragon Lord thinks they are going to be able to hold the city against an entire army of blood crazed religious zealots?"

  "I suggest you calm yourself down before something permanent happens to you." Sly growled, his hand casually straying towards the hilt of his sword. "Reinforcements are on their way from Crete, where the rest of our forces are gathering. They should be here soon enough."

  "I told you the Dragon Lord would not stand by and leave us all defenseless." Fedrio told Langsten, clearly relieved at hearing the news that reinforcements were on the way.

  The news had a visible effect in raising the rest of the men's spirits. Many of them had been on the verge of fleeing, knowing there was no hope in saving the city.

  "That is the best news we've heard in weeks." Langsten breathed a sigh of relief. "I honestly believed the Dragon Lord had forgotten us."

  "Don't be ridiculous." Damarius scoffed dismissively. "Damion has been busy warning everyone and trying to gather enough forces to face the Etazk. He hasn't had the time to visit Sierra."

  "How many men are left here in the city?" Sly asked, his tone suddenly businesslike.

  "We have forty five men left from the city guard, and another handful of locals who refuse to abandon their homes." Langsten replied with a frown. "Not counting Fedrio and the other merchants, of course." He shook his head despairingly. "Everyone else has already fled. Even the Lords of Sierra have abandoned the city to its fate."

  "Fear not, my brave friends," Damarius told them in a grand tone. "The gods have not abandoned you. We are here now, and together, we shall prevail. I know things may seem grim, but with a little hard work, a little ingenuity, and a lot of luck, we'll show these savages that we are not going to bow down to their dread god!"

  The men let out a great cheer, and thrust their swords into the air in defiance.

  "You're getting rather good at these speeches." Sly complimented the old man, who was doing his best imitation of an all powerful, all knowing wizard.

  "Not too bad for spur of the moment." Damarius agreed. "I think we should start by inspecting the docks to see exactly what we'll be dealing with, then we'll move on from there."

  They left their horses with a couple of the soldiers, then Damarius, Sly, Juco, Fedrio, and Langsten made their way through the abandoned city to the waterfront, which appeared to be just as deserted as the rest of the city.

  "This is going to be an issue." Sly grumbled as they looked down the dock. "There is an awful lot of space for the Etazk to land."

  Damarius shaded his eyes against the setting sun with one hand and stared out at the enclosed harbor. "How large is the opening through the breakwater?"

  "About a hundred yards." Fedrio replied. "Large enough to allow two full sized merchant ships to safely pass one another while still avoiding the shoals."

  "What are you thinking?" Sly asked the old man.

  "I'm thinking it's going to take a lot of work to get this city prepared for a siege." The old wizard frowned. "There are far too many slots open along the docks to make it defensible."

  "What do you suggest?" Fedrio asked respectfully.

  "We're going to have to fill in as many as we can with debris, the more jagged the better."

  "Where are we going to get all of the material?" Langsten asked with a worried expression.

  Damarius looked around at the numerous buildings pointedly.

  "You want to tear down the buildings?" Fedrio gasped, his gaunt face growing pale.

  "Not all of them, of course," Damarius assured him, staring at the numerous stone buildings appraisingly. "but removing a number of these buildings along the waterfront should provide suitable material, and since the Lords of Sierra were kind enough to flee, we can start with their palaces."

  "Now that sounds like a good plan." Langsten laughed approvingly.

  "Don't look so happy." Sly grunted, watching the soldier with amusement. "You forget that it's going to be you and your men who will have to disassemble the buildings and haul all of the debris."

  Langsten's face suddenly fell. "I hadn't considered that." He admitted, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

  The scruffy little man turned to Juco, who was snickering in amusement. "What are you laughing at?" He asked the thickly muscled mercenary. "You and your men are going to help them. It's time that you put those muscles that you're so proud of to good use."

  Juco scowled at the little man, then sighed in resignation.

  "What else can we do?" Sly asked the old sorcerer curiously. "Just making it difficult to make it to shore is not going to be enough to convince the Etazk to retreat."

  "I have a few other ideas we can put into action." The old wizard assured him. He turned to Fedrio. "Are there any blacksmiths left in the city?"

  "I think there is one left over on the east side of the city." Langsten volunteered. "His name is Stephan, if I remember correctly."

  "Oh yes, Stephan," Fedrio chuckled. "I'm not surprised to hear he's still here. I don't think he's ever been more than a mile outside of the city his entire life. He's not going to leave just because there's an army heading this way."

  "I'll need to speak with him." Damarius told them. "I have a few designs that should be quite useful on defending the city, but I'll need his help."

  "I'll take you to see him as soon as I've shown you to suitable quarters." Fedrio promised, leading them away from the docks.

  "Are any of the inns or taverns still open?" Sly asked with a hopeful note in his voice.

  "I'm afraid not." Langsten shook his head mournfully. "Once everyone decided to evacuate the city, there wasn't much reason for them to stay." He sighed heavily, then shrugged. "At least they left a dozen or so barrels of ale behind."

  Damarius laughed at the sudden expression of happiness that crossed Sly's face.

  "I hope my own humble estate will provide you with adequate accommodations during this crisis." Fedrio told them, gesturing to a sprawling palace at the end of the deserted street.

  "Impressive place." Damarius complimented the old merchant, who gave the enormous manor a dismissive wave.

  "It's nothing more than an eyesore, but being a member of the Merchant's Guild, it's expected of me to own such a ridiculously grand estate. I guess it's supposed to prove to everyone that we are better than they are, or some such nonsense."

  "We would be honored to accept your kind invitation, Fedrio." Damarius told the gaunt faced merchant respectfully.

  "Go on ahead." Sly told them, his face alight with anticipation. "I'll catch up with you a little later."

  "Where are you going?" Fedrio asked in confusion.

  "He's going to find that ale Langsten mentioned." Damarius informed him, rolling his eyes. He fixed the little man with a stern gaze. "Don't overdo it. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, and don't have the time to wait for you to sober up."

  "Relax." Sly told him with a dismissive wave. "I'm just going to go have a few drinks. It's been a long ride."

  "That's the problem." The old wizard told him. "You never stop at just a few drinks. A few barrels, maybe."

  "Just try to leave a little for me and my men." Juco snorted, trying desperately not to laugh at the scruffy little man. "Langsten said there were only a dozen or so barrels left."

  Sly stared at the mercenary for several long moments with a flat expression. "Don't you and you men have some work to do?"

  Juco's face suddenly fell. He cast the little man a sour look, then with a heavy sigh, he and Langsten hurried off to gather their men.

  **********

  "Damion!" Bativa roared happily, hurrying forward to greet them as they carefully made their way through the busy city. "I
t's about time you arrived!"

  "It took me a while to locate the city amidst all of this chaos." Damion laughed, gesturing to the makeshift camp that had been constructed outside of the city.

  They had been amazed by what they found when they finally reached Crete. The encampment outside of the city had swelled to colossal proportions, and thousands of tents and makeshift shelters had been erected to house the growing army. A massive corral had been constructed on one side of the encampment to enclose the horses brought by the Deola, and thousands of the domed wagons which the tribesmen used for mobile shelters had been arranged in neat rows around the corral, providing the comforts of home to the savage warriors.

  "Twenty thousand men take up a lot of room." The huge chieftain shrugged. "Not to mention the room needed to corral all of the horses." He gave them a curious look. "What news is there on the Etazk?"

  Damion's face fell. "It's doesn't look good, I'm afraid." He looked around the busy camp. "Where is Ignan and Zayan? They should probably hear this too."

  "I think I saw them near the center of town taking inventory of the supplies. You know," Bativa scratched his cheek thoughtfully. "I've never been very fond of merchants, but this Ignan fellow is different. He has an amazing talent for calculating what it will take to feed our men."

  "Did you expect a man his size not to be concerned with his stomach?" Leia asked, causing them all to chuckle.

  "Let's go find them." Damion decided, handing Storm's reins over to a nearby Deolan warrior, who gulped apprehensively as the massive warhorse turned to glare at him aggressively. "We've discovered some very troubling news that everyone needs to be made aware of immediately."

  They quickly made their way through the bustling encampment to the center of town, where they found Ignan and Zayan carefully pouring over a long list of supplies at the local tavern.

  "Lord Omensent!" Ignan exclaimed in surprise, rushing over to greet them.

  "Ignan." The huge warrior greeted the fat man with a nod. "It looks as though you've been keeping yourself busy."

  "Oh yes," Ignan agreed with a weak laugh. "I haven't slept for more than two hours at a time since all of this started." He gave them an uneasy look. "Is there any news?"

  "Maybe we should have a drink." Raven decided suddenly, disappearing into the crowd in search of a serving girl.

  Ignan and Zayan exchanged glances.

  "This can't be good." The fat man whimpered, his face slowly growing pale.

  Raven soon returned with a serving girl bearing a tray full of food and drink, and they settled down around a secluded table which Bativa confiscated from a number of sullen looking tribesmen.

  "So what's this disturbing news you mentioned?" Bativa asked, accepting a tankard from the serving girl and taking a long drink.

  "It appears we may have another Etazk army running around somewhere that we didn't know about." Damion told them with a frown. "Tempest has been keeping an eye on the Etazk for us, and she noticed that occasionally men would break away from the main force and disappear."

  "Deserters?" Zayan asked, though his tone gave away the fact that he knew it wasn't true.

  "I'm afraid not." The huge warrior sighed regretfully. "Tempest grew curious and decided to follow one of the groups and found that they were heading to another port city that accesses the sea through a narrow inlet."

  "What were they doing?" Ignan asked in confusion.

  "The men she followed met up with another group of warriors, then boarded a ship, which immediately set off to the south."

  "How many men in total disappeared before Tempest went to investigate?" Bativa asked in a grim tone.

  "She estimated around ten thousand."

  "Ten thousand?" Ignan gasped. The overweight merchant looked as though he might faint.

  "Where are they now?" Zayan asked worriedly.

  Damion shrugged helplessly. "We don't know. As soon as she realized what had been happening, Tempest returned to warn us. They could be anywhere by now."

  "This isn't good. A force that size could cause some serious problems." Bativa's eyes were narrowed in thought. "We'll need to start watching the western coastline now. A force of fifty thousand men wouldn't be able to land its troops effectively along the coast, but a force of ten thousand..." He held up his hands. "It would be very difficult, but possible. They would have to ferry all of their men to shore on small boats, and that would take quite a bit of time."

  "We know that there are already groups of Etazk here in the south." Raven informed them. "We encountered some of them when we were making our way here."

  "Were there any survivors?" Bativa looked to Damion.

  The huge warrior shook his head. "They're dead. Their presence was very troubling, though. I managed to overhear part of their conversation, and it appears they had orders to infiltrate Sevria to spy on our defensive capabilities."

  "This is troubling indeed." Bativa grumbling, his tattooed face full of concern. "We could have spies in our midst at this very moment." He sighed. "It's a shame the Etazk you encountered are all dead. A few minutes with a survivor could have provided us with a lot of valuable information."

  "I doubt you would have been able to get anything out of them, I'm afraid." Damion disagreed. "I tried questioning one of them after the others had been dealt with, but he whipped out a dagger and slit his own throat to avoid answering my questions."

  Zayan let out a low whistle.

  "He killed himself just avoid being questioned?" Ignan exclaimed in disbelief. "What kind of people are these Etazk?"

  "They're a people completely devoted to their god." The huge warrior sighed in resignation. "The man would rather kill himself than risk Etaz's displeasure. He seemed to think by avoiding answering my questions, he would be welcomed into Etaz's embrace in the afterlife." He gave them all a grim look. "The Etazk are unlike any other race I have encountered. They live only to serve Etaz, and to carry out His commands without question."

  "This is sounding worse and worse by the second." Zayan murmured worriedly.

  They all sat in silence for several moments as the seriousness of their situation began to dawn on everyone.

  "Well," Bativa sighed, pushing away from the table and rising to his feet. "We had better start with trying to locate any Etazk spies that may be in our midst." He scowled. "That may be rather difficult given that a significant number of our forces are made up of mercenaries and bandits that have migrated here from all over the world."

  "We'll just have to do our best," Damion told him, also rising to his feet. "and we need to do it quickly. We received word from Sierra that the locals and merchant's were all evacuating the city, and a large portion of the city guard had deserted. We need to get reinforcements to them as quickly as we can."

  "If you wish to locate the Etazk that may be in our midst," Ignan told them with a shrewd expression. "I would suggest that you start with gathering the leaders of the different outlaw gangs. They'll be able to tell you if they have had any new recruits join their ranks recently. They'll also be able to have their men spread out amongst the rest of the forces and ferret out anyone that may be acting suspiciously."

  "That's a good plan." Bativa agreed, giving the overweight man an approving nod. "I'll send out men to bring the gang leaders to my wagon, and we'll inform them of what has been discovered. They may also have a few other ideas on how to locate any spies that may have infiltrated our forces."

  They gathered an hour or so later in Bativa's lavish rolling quarters, and settled down around the huge table with the various outlaw leaders to discuss what had been discovered. Damion quickly brought them up to date with the discovery of the second Etazk army, then informed them of the spies that they suspected of being within their ranks.

  "So what we need to know from you," Bativa looked at the various outlaws. "is to know if any of you gentlemen have accepted any new members into your ranks in the last few months."

  "Of course we have." A rough looking fellow wit
h a long scar crossing his face growled, scratching his unshaven skin. "We're always recruiting. The life of an outlaw is a nervous one, and most bandits rarely remain in any given place for long. That's how a man ends up getting hanged. We're always looking for new men to fill the vacancies."

  "Have any of the men been behaving oddly?" Damion asked intently.

  "Odd how?" Brutus grumbled suddenly, glancing over at Leia nervously, who stared back at the bandit with hate filled eyes.

  "Secretive behavior, asking questions about our forces, or about myself and the dragons."

  "Especially questions about Sevria or Sierra and their defensive capabilities." Raven added with a frown. "We've already eliminated one group who were attempting to infiltrate the Sevria. We're pretty certain there are others."

  "Now that you mention it," Another outlaw started, his eyes narrowed in thought. "My gang took in a half a dozen new bandits a few weeks ago. Ever since they joined us, all they have done is ask questions."

  "What type of questions?" Damion asked quickly.

  "I'm not entirely certain," The bandit leader shrugged. "but every time I see one of these new recruits they seem to be interrogating someone. I didn't think it was all that unusual until now."

  "I've had a few men who meet those descriptions join my ranks." Another man confirmed.

  "The gods be damned." Brutus groaned, his face going pale. "I've recruited nearly half of my numbers in the last few weeks." He gave Damion a weak smile. "After our little... disagreement," He glanced over a Leia once again. "a large number of my men no longer wanted any part of our gang, and deserted, fearing you would take retaliation upon them. I started looking for some new recruits in the usual places, and came upon a group of men who claimed they were from the east. They seemed normal enough, for bandits anyways, and I took them on to help replace some of the men who deserted. Ever since then, they've spent their time questioning every person who would stop and talk with them."

  "How many men were there in total?"

  "Thirty five or forty." The large bearded man sighed. "And I made sure they were equipped with the best gear I could get my hands on as a way of enticing them to stay on."