Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) Read online

  "Oh, great idea, you dimwit!" Leia snarled him. "You've armed a group of our enemies and set them loose amongst our army!"

  Slither, who was hovering behind the young girl protectively, gently placed a restraining hand on her shoulder to keep her from jumping up from her seat and attacking the bearded man once again.

  "I didn't know they were Etazk!" Brutus protested, edging away from young girl. "How could I have known they would turn out to be spies?"

  "Where are these men now?" Damion demanded, his expression concerned.

  "With the rest of my men on the east side of the encampment."

  "How do you suggest we proceed?" Bativa asked the huge warrior.

  Damion thought about it for a long moment. "Gather your men on the north side of the camp and tell them to prepare to set off for Sevria. We'll have a few hundred Deola spread out amongst them to set them at ease. Once all of the suspected spies are present, we'll surround and subdue them. We'll decide their fates once they've been captured."

  "How can we be sure we've located them all?" One of the outlaws asked in a worried tone. "We don't need any of their comrades slipping through the cracks."

  "They should be fairly easy to identify." The huge warrior told them in a placating tone. "They have dark eyes, pale skin, and thick accents. They may speak to one another in a harsh language that sounding a little like someone cursing incoherently."

  "That should help." Bativa agreed with a nod. "I'll alert my tribesmen and send out riders to patrol the area for any Etazk that may try to slip away, then have them spread out amongst the army and weed out anyone who may fit the description. We can sort out the spies from the rest of the men later."

  They stood staring at one another for several long moment.

  "Well," Leia snapped, causing the outlaws to jump nervously. "Get moving! We don't want those religious zealots reporting back to their priests, do we?"

  The rough looking bandits hurried off to gather their men.

  Leia was extremely put out when she learned she was to be left behind at Bativa's quarters with Slither and several tribesmen for protection while they dealt with the Etazk spies. "You can't leave me behind!" She protested, hurrying up to her father with a cross look on her tiny face. "What if one of the veiled dragons decides to show up? You'll need me there to force them to leave!"

  "You're not going with us, young lady." Raven told her firmly. "We're not going to place you in danger on the offhand chance one of those beasts appears. There's no way to predict what may happen once we start rounding up these spies, and we're not going to let you get killed just because you don't want to be left behind."

  "But..."

  "No buts," Damion told her in a tone that told her there would be no more discussion on the subject. "You'll wait here until we are finished dealing with these Etazk." He looked to Slither. "Stay at her side. Make sure you do not let her out of your sight. Don't take your eyes off of her. I don't want her slipping off when you're not looking."

  "SSSlither will keep little Leia sssafe." The huge shadowspawn assured him in a solemn tone. "SSShe will not leave my sssight."

  Leia tossed the hulking beast a disgusted look, then stomped over and threw herself into a pile of pillows to sulk.

  After smothering their sulking daughter with kisses, Damion and Raven followed Bativa outside to alert the tribesmen of their plans.

  "What's going on?" Snowfeather asked, dropping down from his perch atop Bativa's rolling domicile and landing on Damion's broad shoulder.

  "We're going to try and weed out all of the Etazk spies that have managed to infiltrate our ranks." Damion informed his familiar silently. "Once we have started, I'll need you to keep an eye on things from overhead for anyone who may try and slip away. We do not want any of these men reporting back to their superiors."

  "Of course." The huge snow owl agreed immediately. "I'll see to it that no one slips passed our men."

  They quickly made their way to the northern side of the encampment where the outlaws had gathered their gangs together with a large number of Bativa's tribesmen.

  Damion scanned the group carefully as they approached, noting that there were over a hundred men mixed in with the Deolan tribesmen.

  "Is everything prepared?" The huge warrior asked the leaders of the outlaw gangs, who had gathered together at the front of the group to await the huge warrior's arrival.

  "Everything is as you requested, milord." Brutus confirmed with a brusque nod.

  "Very good." The huge warrior glanced up and saw Snowfeather drifting high overhead, keeping a watch for any men who may try to escape. "Are the rest of the tribesmen in place?"

  "The last group just got into place. I think everything is as ready as it's going to be."

  "Make sure you alert me to any men who try to flee, even if they're not part of this group. We may have missed a few Etazk in our roundup, and we can't risk any of them escaping and reporting back to their superiors." He turned to Raven and Bativa. "It's looks as though we're all set."

  "Then let's get on with this." The huge tattooed tribesman growled. "I don't like the idea of spies running around loose in our encampment. The quicker we neutralize these men, the better."

  Damion glanced over to the gang leaders and gave them a curt nod, then stepped up and looked out over the gathering. "You men have been gathered for a specific purpose. Something has come to our attention that needs to be dealt with immediately."

  "Brutus told us we were going to Sevria." One of the men, a pale skinned man wearing heavy plate armor, stated in a thickly accented voice. "Is this true?"

  "Have the Etazk finally set out from Salastar?" Another man asked in the same thick accent, his eyes dancing with excitement.

  "I'm afraid Brutus lied to you." The huge warrior told the men in a flat tone, noticing as the tribesmen that had been mingling among the men casually began falling back, leaving the suspected spies on their own. "You men have been gathered for a very different reason."

  "What is it?" Another man asked, his face clouded in concern.

  "We have learned that a fairly large number of Etazk spies have managed to infiltrate our forces." Damion looked out over the crowd, carefully watching as many of the men's expressions turned from eagerness to fearful panic. "You gentlemen have the honor of being our suspects. Any more questions?"

  "What are you talking about?" An older man pushed his way through the crowd to stare at Damion with hard eyes. "I've lived in Crete my entire life! I'm as much an Etazk as you are a butterfly!" He gave Damion a stern look. "You really should be ca..." He was cut off as several men suddenly tore their weapons from their sheaths and turned to face the others.

  One of the men grabbed the old man from behind by his hair and drove a dagger into his deep into his back, his eyes alight with bloodlust. The old man's flew open in pain and surprise, then suddenly narrowed in raged. With surprising speed, the old man whipped around to face his attacker, and drove his own dagger deep into his attacker's eye socket with a meaty crunch. He ripped the dagger free, then fell back, the Etazk's dagger still lodged deep in his back.

  "Help him out!" The huge warrior roared to Raven as he and Bativa raced into the battle, their sword flashing.

  Raven hurried forward and caught the old man as he fell, then dragged him to safety as more tribesmen rushed forward to cover their back.

  The rest of Bativa's tribesmen quickly appeared and encircled the Etazk, who butchered the few innocent men among them that had been unlucky enough to be rounded up in the sweep and turned to face the savage warriors defiantly.

  "Throw down your weapons!" Damion roared at them in a commanding voice. "Surrender, and you will be spared."

  "Etazk do not surrender!" The outlaw in plate armor bellowed, chopping a tattooed tribesman down with a powerful blow of his two handed sword. He spit on the tribesman's corpse, then turned and charged at Damion with a howl of rage.

  Damion side stepped a powerful swing of the Etazk's massive blade,
then dropped into a crouch, carefully circling the crazed man, his eyes scanning for an opening to strike. He avoided another powerful swing, then shot forward, striking at the man's armored mid-section, shearing off a large chuck of the steel plate.

  The man fell back clutching the bleeding gash left behind by the mythical blade, then charged forward once more, his eyes burning in rage. He swung another violent blow aimed at Damion knees, hoping to cut the huge warrior's tree trunk-like legs out from beneath him, but Damion nimbly leaped over the whistling blade, and lashed once more, shearing off another piece of heavy plate, and leaving a ragged gash in the pale flesh beneath.

  Chaos had erupted around them as the two warriors continued to hack and slash at one another, each trying to gain the advantage over the other. Bativa's tribesmen converged from all sides on the trapped Etazk spies, surrounding and trapping them, preventing any of them from escaping.

  Damion ducked another wild swipe from the enraged outlaw, who was beginning to breathe heavily from the exertion of swinging the heavy blade, then he saw his opening and launched himself forward, the Dragon Sword poised for a killing blow.

  The Etazk's eyes widened in pain and surprise as the legendary blade drove clean through his heavy plate armor and slipped between his ribs just below his armpit, plunging deep into his chest. His two handed sword slipped from his hands as he attempted to grab the Dragon Sword by the blade, but Damion tore it free. A great fountain of blood erupted from the man's mouth and his eyes glazed over, then he collapsed to the ground twitching at Damion's feet.

  The chaos continued to rage on unchecked as the Etazk spies fought like savages, knowing they had no chance of surviving to complete their missions. Bativa repeatedly called for the men to throw down their weapons and surrender, but it was only met with defiant roars. They finally had no other choice but to slaughter them all.

  When the sounds of battle finally died away, all of the Etazk spies lay dead, along with twenty of Bativa's tribesmen. Another forty or so Deola had been wounded and required attention, but their fellow tribesmen were quick to gather them up and rush them to the camp clerics where they were immediately tended to.

  "Well, that takes care of that." Bativa grunted, walking up to Damion and stopping to survey the carnage.

  "Not quite." Damion murmured, glancing up at the sky above, where Snowfeather continued to circle. "It looks like we've finished with these men. Have you noticed anyone that has seems overly interested in what just happened, or anyone attempting to flee?"

  "No one is attempting to flee, but the disturbance has gotten everyone's attention. Quite a few curious warriors are heading this way to see what has occurred. We have also had another small army of men reach camp."

  "It's probably the men we've been expecting from Kainpre. Just continue to keep an eye out for anyone acting unusual. We're not sure if we've weeded out all of the spies or not. Once we're finished cleaning up here, we'll go inspect their ranks to make certain there are no Etazk among them."

  They set about supervising the clean up of all of the dead, respectfully laying their fallen comrades' bodies aside, then piling the Etazk corpses in large piles well away from the encampment to be burned.

  "Do you think we got them all?" Raven asked, hurrying up to join Bativa and her husband.

  "I don't know," Damion answered honestly. "but once word has gotten around about what has happened, the men will know what to look out for. Anyone resembling an Etazk or asking too many questions will come under immediate suspicion."

  "My men will make sure the Etazk are not able to infiltrate or ranks again." Bativa told them confidently. "We know what to look out for now."

  "What ever happened to that old man?" Damion asked his wife suddenly, his expression became curious. "Will he survive?"

  "The clerics say he should pull through." Raven suddenly smiled. "His name is Edwer, and he's a cooper by trade. He's a tough old codger. We had to hold him down so we could remove the dagger. He wanted to help you finish off the rest of those spies. He's still being looked after as we speak." She gestured to a small tent which had been erected nearby.

  They made their way over to the tent and stepped inside, where they found Edwer busy cursing at one of the clerics with a pained expression.

  "How are you feeling, Edwer?" Raven asked politely.

  "Like I was just stabbed in the back by a lunatic." The old man growled sourly. He winced as the cleric began to dab a foul smelling salve onto the open wound. "Can you be a little more gentle back there?"

  The cleric pretended as though he didn't hear, and continued to dab away unconcernedly.

  "I'm glad to hear you're going to be okay." Damion told him with a guilty frown. "I'm sorry that you ended up in the middle of all that mess."

  "Ah," Edwer waved off his apology. "You did what needed to be done. We certainly can't expect to win a war if we have the enemy in our midst. You did get them all, right?"

  "We think so," Bativa assured him with a nod. "and if we did miss any, they won't be able to hide much longer. The rest of the army will make certain of that."

  "Then there's no apology needed. I just hope I'm healed up enough to face those Etazk when they finally arrive. I want to see how tough they are when their enemy is actually facing them."

  "You're right," Damion told Raven a few minutes later as they slowly made their way through the crowded encampment. "Edwer really is a tough old codger!"

  "He is, isn't he?" The young woman chuckled. "It took myself and three tribesmen to hold him back from rejoining the fight."

  "That's good." Bativa nodded approvingly. "We're going to need men like him if we hope to win this war."

  They were nearly halfway to Bativa's rolling hut when Damion suddenly remembered the men Snowfeather had noticed arriving at the encampment.

  "Snowfeather mentioned a fairly large force had reached the encampment." Damion informed Bativa. "I'm guessing it's the men we have been expecting from Kainpre. We should probably go inspect their forces for any Etazk spies."

  "We're not expecting any men from Kainpre." Bativa told him with a frown. "We still haven't received word from their lords, or even heard back from our messengers."

  Damion opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Snowfeather, who had suddenly dropped from above with a panicked squawk. "Damion! Watch out!"

  Damion turned to see a pale skinned warrior dressed in a dark robe stepping out from the nearby shadows, his dagger poised to strike.

  Before he could react, a whirling axe flashed by the huge warrior, missing him by mere inches, and continued passed, burying itself deep into the robed man's face with a meaty crunch.

  "Bull's eye!" A gruff voice exclaimed with a harsh laugh.

  They spun around and watched in astonishment as a group of heavily armored, and heavily bearded, dwarves came marching towards them.

  "Can't you go anywhere without someone trying to kill you?" Their leader asked, stumping over to the twitching corpse. This dwarf was considerably taller than his brethren, standing nearly five feet in height. He had long fiery red hair which hung in elaborate braids down his broad back, and a thick beard that had been meticulously groomed to perfection.

  "Garth?" Damion blurted in surprise.

  "Of course! Who else would it be?" The dwarf laughed at the look of astonishment on the huge warrior's face.

  "What are you doing here?"

  "I received your warning about the Etazk. Once we gathered up as many extra supplies as we could carry, we set off to join your forces." He noticed they were still watching him with disbelief. "What? You didn't think I was going to let you have all of the fun, did you?" He grasped the handle of his axe and wrenched it free from the dead man's face. "I'm guessing this man wasn't just a disgruntled underling."

  "He was an Etazk spy." Damion told his old friend, still shocked to see the newly crowned dwarven king. "It seems a number of them have managed to infiltrate our ranks. We've been attempting to weed them out."

&n
bsp; "You need to try harder."

  "I thought you dwarves didn't like to leave your caverns." Bativa commented casually.

  "We usually don't," Garth confirmed, stumping over to join them. "but when I informed my brethren that the Etazk were attempting to wage war against the rest of the world again, it was immediately decided that the dwarves should do their part to drive those savages back where they belong."

  "That's great news." Damion smiled in relief, knowing the stocky little dwarves to be fearsome warriors. "How many dwarves did you bring with you?"

  "Around five thousand. If my brethren had their way, they all would have come, but I wasn't going to allow that to happen."

  "Who is looking after things while you are gone?" Raven asked curiously.

  "Gretta is looking after things in my absence." The fiery haired dwarf smiled gently. "My wife has proven herself more than capable of running a kingdom. I think all of the years she spent as a merchant molded her into the perfect queen. Not only is she talented at solving the random disputes and disagreements that creep up between the various families, she also has a great mind for dealing with all of the minor details that drive me insane."

  "That's because she's a woman." Raven laughed. "You men don't have the patience it takes to deal with petty details." She gave Damion a meaningful look.

  "That's the truth." Garth agreed with a gruff laugh. He turned to look up at Bativa. "How's life on the plains, Chieftain Bativa?"

  "A bit more exciting than usual, your majesty." The huge tribesman replied respectfully. His face suddenly fell. "I was sorry to hear about your father's passing. He was a great dwarf. He will be missed by many."

  "That's kind of you to say." Garth told him with a sad smile. "My father was a great king. He loved his people, and was loved by his people. His name will be remember for thousands of years to come."

  "Well," Damion scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure we're safe in assuming that there isn't any Etazk spies among your ranks. Let's go check in on Leia. I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you." He frowned. "I should warn you that she was a little angry with us for leaving her behind while we dealt with the spies. It's hard to say what we'll find once we get there."