Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) Page 4

  "I'll have the servants begin warming the water immediately." The bearded bandit assured him, hurrying to the doorway to stop a passing servant. "If you need anything, all you have to do is ask."

  Damion and Raven watched as Shirk led their elven visitors to suitable chambers.

  "I wonder what could be so serious that it would drive the elves to look for outside help to solve their problem." Damion pondered with a frown.

  "I don't know, but they must be desperate." Raven murmured with a troubled expression. "I've heard stories about the elves, and most would rather die than associate with humans."

  "Leia certainly didn't seem to like them very much." The huge warrior noted. "I've never seen her act like that before. She's usually quite good when it comes to dealing with visiting dignitaries."

  "Do you really blame her after the way that Etha Brody was sneering at her?" Raven defended her daughter. "He didn't even attempt to hide his disdain for her!"

  "Leia can take care of herself." The huge warrior assured her with a knowing grin. "She's more than capable of dealing with him."

  "It's not Leia that I'm worried about." Raven told him pointedly. "You know how Leia can get when she's angry. If Etha Brody continues to treat her with such contempt, he's going to find himself dangling by his pointy ears a hundred feet above the city!"

  "I don't think she'll go that far." Damion disagreed with a chuckle. "She knows better than to do something like that. She has other ways of getting her point across to people. Give it a day, maybe two, and I guarantee that she will take steps to put him in his place."

  "Let's hope so." Raven told him in a doubtful tone. "I'd hate to go to war with the elves because Leia decided to turn their ambassador into a toad."

  Chapter 3

  "I know what you're going to say," Leia started when her parents appeared to tuck her in for the night. "I shouldn't have let that condescending blowhard get under my skin." Her face was still blazing red with anger. "But did you see the way he was looking at me?"

  "We noticed." Damion assured her. "I thought you handled yourself well, considering the circumstances."

  "He was lucky that Aunt Skie stepped in when she did." The young girl muttered, gesturing to Lady Skie, who was sitting calmly in a nearby chair. "One more sneer and he would have found himself hanging upside down by his toenails."

  "I've been trying to explain to her that she can't allow such people to get to her so easily." Lady Skie said with a weary sigh. "She will be forced to deal with such folk often when she gets older and takes over the responsibility of protector of Sevria, but, unfortunately, she has her father's temper."

  "Told you." Raven snickered to her husband.

  "These people have come from another land with different traditions than you are accustomed." Damion reached down and lifted the young girl up into his arms. "I need you to be on your best behavior when around them. They have come to us seeking our help, and it would be wrong of us to turn them away in their time of need."

  "You expect me to just sit there and smile while he insults me right to my face?" Leia asked incredulously.

  "Of course not, but there are ways of getting your point across that doesn't involve dangling people by their toenails."

  "Says the man who once sealed another man in stone alive." Lady Skie commented innocently.

  "Just try your best to put up with him while he's here." Damion murmured, ignoring Lady Skie's comment, and kissing his daughter gently on her forehead. "Don't allow him the satisfaction of seeing that he got to you."

  "That's easy for you to say." Leia muttered sourly. "He isn't throwing all of the veiled insults in your direction."

  Damion walked over and gently placed her onto her bed.

  "What are they doing here anyway?" The young girl asked, scrambling beneath her blankets. "He said it himself. The elves don't associate with the lesser races." She said this in her best imitation of the elf. "Why would they need our help?"

  "We were wondering that ourselves. I guess we'll find out eventually." He gave her another kiss on her forehead. "Get some sleep. You have to get up bright and early for your lessons."

  "But it's my birthday!" She whined, staring at her father in disbelief. "You can't make me train on my birthday!

  "You know the rules." Damion told her firmly. "We train everyday until I am satisfied that you can control your magic. No exceptions."

  The young girl sighed in exasperation, then gave both of her parents a kiss goodnight, and burrowed deeper into her blankets.

  Damion, Raven, and Lady Skie started to leave, but Damion suddenly paused, a suspicious expression crossing his face. "No sneaking out. Snowfeather will be keeping an eye on you to make sure that you don't decide to go for another midnight ride."

  A muffled swear came from beneath the blankets, and Leia's face suddenly reappeared to scowl at her father.

  "Goodnight, little one." Damion smiled back at her, knowing that she had planned to sneak away as soon as their backs were turned.

  They gathered in the huge dining hall early the next morning for Leia's birthday breakfast.

  "Good morning, my friends." Damion greeted their elven guests as Shirk led them into the hall. "I trust you slept well?"

  "Quite well, thank you." Ava Delilah replied as she took a seat across the table from Damion and Raven. The elven woman looked much more relaxed now that she had washed and changed from her traveling clothes. She now wore an elaborate emerald green dress that was accented with white fur, and knee high boots made of a soft supple leather. She had removed the braid from her long blond tresses, allowing her golden hair to cascade down around her shoulders, softening her rather sharp features. "It was nice to sleep in a proper bed after spending a month on the road. I did not find sleeping aboard a cramped ship on a swinging cot very pleasant."

  "I found the beds to be a bit too hard for my taste." Etha Brody commented, taking a seat across the table from Leia, who glared at him momentarily before returning to her bacon. "We elves make our beds from the juafa plant, which produces a fiber that is even softer than silk. It's almost like sleeping on a cloud." The elven man had also discarded his traveling robes and was now wearing a tight fitted brown shirt and vest, dark green leggings, and calf high boots similar to those of his companion.

  "What is the weather like on the Elven Island this time of year?" Lady Skie asked them curiously, taking a sip of her tea.

  "Much as it is the rest of the year," The elven man shrugged. "Sunny and mild. Aside from the occasional tropical storm or hurricane, the weather rarely changes on the island. As I have said, it is as close to paradise as one could hope to find."

  "The weather here in the mountains isn't quite so pleasant." Shirk commented, taking a seat next to Lady Skie. "It's not uncommon for it to snow in the summertime. Sometimes I..."

  He was cut off as Sly and Damarius suddenly came stumping into the dining hall, followed closely by Axel, who had an amused expression on his face.

  "I don't care if you've found enough mercenaries," Damarius was telling Sly in an irritated tone. "I'm not going hunting for a shadow dragon just so you can harvest the scales for armor."

  "I'm not just interested in the scales." Sly objected with a scowl. "Axel needs the bones for his carvings, and we even have buyers lined up for the meat."

  "The answer is no." The old wizard shook his head firmly. "There are only a handful of shadow dragons left in the world. I'm not going to spend the few years that I have remaining trying to track one down. Besides, locating one would be nearly impossible."

  "I have a few ideas on where we may find one," The scruffy man told him quickly. "but need to move fast if we want to have any chance of catching it."

  "You must be daft." Damarius muttered, shaking his head and causing his long brow lock to fall into his eyes. "Even using mercenaries, you don't have a chance of bringing down a shadow dragon. It would be suicide." He brushed the brow lock from his eyes absently. "Have you even bothered to run your p
lan past Damion?"

  "Not yet." Sly admitted with a frown. "I wanted to get everything together before I told him."

  "No." Damion said in a flat tone, not bothering to look up from his plate. "You're not going hunting for a shadow dragon. They're all in hiding right now, and I don't want you doing anything to drive them all back out into the open where they can begin wreaking havoc again."

  "I was just thinking that it was time that we finished what we started." Sly said innocently. "We don't want another brood mother to rise and start the chaos all over again, now do we?"

  "Nice try, but the answer is still no."

  "What happened to you?" Sly complained sourly, dropping into a chair near the far end of the table. "There was a time when you would have jumped at the chance to go hunt down a shadow dragon."

  "You just want Damarius to build you another suit of armor out of shadow dragon scales." Raven laughed in amusement at the look of disappointment on the scruffy man's face.

  "That's not true." Sly grumbled. "Axel also needs the bones for his carvings."

  "Finally used up the last of your supplies?" Damion asked the young man, who had taken a seat between Damarius and Sly, who were still casting one another dark looks.

  "For the most part." Axel nodded. "I still have a bit of scrap that I use to accentuate certain pieces, but even that is running thin. On the plus side, it makes the few remaining pieces I have worth even more now that the supply is gone."

  "What are you using for your carvings now that you have run out of dragon bone?"

  "I stumbled across a rare wood that grows in the north that makes a wonderful material for my carvings." Axel smiled. "And using some of the skills that I developed while visiting the dwarves, I've been able to produce some of my best pieces."

  "Dwarves." Etha Brody snorted in disgust. "Wretched creatures, the entire lot. Any respectable elf wouldn't even be seen in the same room with dwarf."

  "Who are our guests?" Damarius asked in surprise, noticing the pair of elves for the first time.

  "Allow me to introduce Ava Delilah, High Priestess of the Elven Island," Raven gestured to the elven woman, who nodded her head in greeting. "and Etha Brody, Head Ambassador for the Elven Queen." She gestured to the elven man, who nodded to them stiffly, a faint sneer on his face. "This," The young woman continued, gesturing to the new arrivals. "is Lady Skie's father, Damarius the Wizard, Gabriel Quickhand, master swordsman, and our local artisan, Axel of Sevria."

  "You may just call me Delilah." The elven woman smiled, nodding to them each in turn. "Ava is the title I use among our people, as is the Etha before my companion's name. It refers to my station as high priestess."

  "So your name is actually just Brody?" Leia asked the elven man, who frowned.

  "At one time I was known merely as Brody, Elder of the House of Maple," He informed her stiffly. "but I have since risen among my people to become Etha Brody, Head Ambassador to the Queen of the Elves." He gave her a rather stern look. "I prefer to be addressed as such."

  "Whatever you say, Brody." The young girl rolled her eyes, then stuffed another strip of bacon into her mouth.

  "What are the High Priestess and Head Ambassador to the Elven Queen doing so far from the Elven island?" Sly asked bluntly, filling a goblet full of spiced wine. "I was under the impression that your people never left their homeland."

  "We have traveled to Sevria upon the advice of someone with whom you reportedly have the utmost trust and respect." Delilah informed them, appearing to choose her words carefully so not to reveal too much. "A cousin, and trusted friend to the elves, Dar of the Alena, has advised our beloved queen to seek you out."

  "Dar?" Damion asked in surprise. "He advised your queen to seek us out?"

  "He did." Etha Brody confirmed with a disapproving expression. "He managed to convince our queen that the threat to our people is so great that we needed to seek outside assistance."

  "And you disagree?"

  "I believe it is... premature, to go seeking the aid of outsiders." He told the huge warrior. "I'm not sure if I believe that the situation is as bleak as Dar seems to believe it is, but he has convinced our queen to seek you out to request your aid. He has assured us that the Dragon Lord would be the only person who would be able to aid us."

  "If Dar thinks that you need our help, then I'm inclined to believe him." Damion said, glancing to his wife with a troubled look. "I've never known him to exaggerate."

  "I have less confidence in him." Brody stated bluntly. "I have never trusted his motives. He has tried multiple times in the past to convince our queen to open ourselves up to the outside world and embrace the lesser races, ignoring the fact that it would surely spell the end of elven society as we know it."

  "Dar is one of the most wise and honorable people that anyone could hope to meet." Leia defended the tiny Alena, staring at the elf challengingly.

  "I'm sure that your many years of life have gifted you with the ability to read a person's true character," Brody murmured to her condescendingly. "but I still have doubts about his advice. We have never looked to an outsider for help in the past, and I do not believe that should change."

  "What is this problem that you keep alluding to?" Damarius asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

  The two elves exchanged a long look.

  "The time has not yet come to speak of such things." Delilah said after a long moment. "We still need to confirm that the Dragon Lord truly is the person that friend Dar has described to our queen before we reveal the purpose of our visit." She looked to Damion, her green eyes speculative.

  "You're welcome to stay as long as you wish." Damion told them after exchanging another look with his wife. "I'll be at your disposal whenever you are ready to discuss this problem of yours. Until then, feel free to enjoy our fair city."

  "That's very gracious of you, Dragon Lord." The elven woman nodded in thanks.

  "Please," The huge warrior held up his hand. "just call me Damion. Dragon Lord is a name that others gave to me. It wasn't really my idea."

  "Has anyone seen Slither this morning?" Leia suddenly asked, her expression curious. "He is supposed to start training me on how to move about in the darkness without being detected."

  "During the daytime?" Sly asked skeptically. "Isn't that something that you should train for at night?"

  "Slither says that if I can learn to remain unseen during the daytime using only the shadows around me, remaining undetected at night would be easy. Now that I have my new armor, I thought it may be a handy skill to have."

  "That's my girl." Damion nodded approvingly. "Any skill that could help you survive is invaluable. But don't you have your lessons with Sly this morning?"

  "Not since she stabbed me in my backside a few weeks ago." The scruffy little man gave Leia a hard look. "She's a dirty fighter, like her father."

  "You should have parried instead of lunged." The young girl shrugged unapologetically. "You presented me with a huge target."

  "She is almost as good as you were at her age." Sly informed Damion, who smiled proudly. "The sword that she uses is quite a bit lighter, so her style is a bit different than yours, but I doubt she would have much problem defending herself in a pinch."

  "So has anyone seen Slither?" Leia asked again impatiently.

  "SSSlither isss here." The huge shadowspawn appeared in the doorway leading to the dining hall.

  "Dragonspawn!" Brody suddenly yelled in a frightened tone, knocking over his chair as he scrambled to his feet in panic.

  Delilah looked equally as frightened, but somehow managed to resist jumping up from her seat in terror.

  "Calm yourselves, friends," Damion told them with an amused expression. "That's just Slither. He is another member of our odd little family."

  "You allow this savage to run freely through your halls?" Brody demanded incredulously. "Are you completely mad?"

  "Watch who you call a sssavage, pointy earsss." The huge shadowspawn hissed, calmly walking around the t
able to take a seat next to Leia, who snickered in amusement at the look of fear on the elf's face.

  "It can talk?" Delilah asked in astonishment. "Remarkable!"

  "Slither is a shadowspawn." Damion explained as he piled more fried potatoes onto his plate. "They are larger and more intelligent than regular dragonspawn."

  "Did you tame it and teach it to talk?" The elven man asked, slowly returning to his seat, though his eyes remained locked on Slither.

  "Of course not." The huge warrior laughed. "The shadowspawn are the servants of the shadow dragons, who reemerged into the world a decade or so ago and began wreaking havoc throughout the northern kingdoms. Slither was with a group of dragonspawn who had been ordered to find and kill us, but we managed to kill them instead. Slither was the only one that survived. In return for his life, he pledged his loyalty to me." He nodded to the shadowspawn approvingly. "He has since proven to be a true and loyal friend."

  "Slither is one of my closest companions." Leia told them proudly. "We go everywhere together. He knows more about these mountains than all of the local hunters and trackers combined."

  "And you're not afraid that he may turn on you someday?" Brody asked, still staring at the huge shadowspawn with distrust. "He is still one of the spawn."

  "SSSlither is no longer one of the ssspawn," Slither growled in irritation. "SSSlither isss of SSSevria now."

  "As I said," Damion shrugged. "He's part of our family. He has proven himself time and time again. We would all trust him with our lives."

  "Slither keeps the dragonspawn here in the mountains in check, and makes certain that they avoid the caravans traveling on the trade road." Raven explained, giving the massive beast a fond look. "He has also gathered forces and helped the people of Sevria to defend the city while it was under siege, a move that secured his place in the hearts of the people. He even escorts Leia wherever she goes. In fact, if it wasn't for him, we may have never been able to rescue Leia from her abductors. He was the one that discovered their trail, and he was able to lead us to where the abductors boarded their ship."