Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God Read online

  Damion sent Snowfeather ahead to scout the area, then they all waited for him to report back. It wasn't long before the huge owl returned, ghosting in from the darkness on silent wings. "They don't have any idea of what's about to happen." He hooted, settling gently on Damion's shoulder. "The men have mostly settled in for the evening."

  "How many are there?" Damion asked silently.

  "More than I could count." Snowfeather chirped, preening his feathers absently. "Several hundred, at least."

  "Where are the horses located?"

  "On the east side of the plantation. There is a large wooden fence around the corral. You'll have to do something about that if you wish to frighten off their horses."

  "What's Snowfeather have to say?" Raven asked curiously. She had her bow and several quivers of arrows at the ready.

  "They're not expecting us." Damion smiled, slipping down from Storm's broad back.

  "How many are there?" Dar asked, his face anxious.

  "More than he could count." He handed one of Bativa's warriors the great warhorse's reins, then turned to leave.

  "Where are you going?" Bativa asked in bafflement.

  Damion stopped. "I'm going to take care of their horses. I'll be back in a moment." He quickly shifted into the form of a panther, then slipped off into the darkness.

  "By the gods!" Bativa exclaimed, staring out into the darkness after him. He turned to look at Raven, his eyes slightly wild. "Does he always do things like that?"

  Raven nodded with a laugh. "You get used to it after a while."

  They all turned to stare out into the night, impatiently awaiting Damion's return.

  ************

  Damion quickly made his way through the night towards the dark plantation. He easily located the extensive corral, which was filled mostly with ponies and weary old plow horses, and quickly made his way towards the fence forming the large enclosure.

  He froze suddenly as a pair of Faldor's men, who were patrolling the area with torches, appeared from behind an outbuilding and started in his direction. He slowly retreated back into the shadows and waited for them to pass, then once they were out of sight, he crept forward on silent paws until he reached the corral.

  He sat down for a moment while he considered his options. The fence surrounding the corral had been constructed from heavy timber harvested from the hardwood forests that dotted the valleys throughout the neighboring mountains, and completely encircled the horses. The only gate leading in and out was located on the far side of the pen, directly next to the area a number of the mercenaries had decided to set up camp.

  After thinking it over for several moments, he finally shifted back into his normal form, and laid one hand upon the fence. Drawing in his magic, he focused it heavy wooden beams, which instantly began to crumble into dust.

  He turned, shifting into the form of a panther once again, then quickly made his way back through the darkness to others.

  Bativa let out a muffled yelp of surprise as he suddenly materialized from the night and resumed his normal form. "Good gods, man! Can't you warn us before you do things like that?"

  Damion chuckled as he climbed back into his saddle.

  "What's happening with the horses?" Raven asked quietly. "Why didn't you frighten them off?"

  "There was a heavy fence around the corral that I had to remove before I could deal with horses." He nudged Storm into a walk, leading everyone slowly forward until the edge of the corral was in view.

  "The fence is still standing!" Bativa exclaimed in surprise. He turned to look at Damion. "I thought you said that you had taken care of it."

  "Don't worry." He assured the clan chief. "You may want to tell your men to keep a tight rein on their horses, though."

  The huge tribesman stared at him suspiciously. "You're about to do something... unnatural, aren't you?" He asked in an accusing tone.

  "Aye, you can say that." He replied with a mischievous smile.

  The huge Deolan shook his head helplessly, then sent an order through the ranks for everyone to keep tight control of their horses.

  Once he was confident that everyone was prepared, Damion looked at Raven. "Do you think you can hit that fence from here, my love?"

  "Of course." She pulled an arrow from one of her quivers, then notched, drew, and fired it in a single fluid motion. The arrow traveled in a flawless arc, and struck one of the fence posts. The entire fence suddenly disintegrated into a cloud of choking dust, causing the mercenaries nearby to leap up from their bedrolls in surprise.

  "Here we go!" Damion drew in his magic, then placed two fingers to his mouth and blew an ear shattering whistle that could be heard for miles.

  The horses and ponies in the corral suddenly began to rear and buck in fright, trampling several of the mercenaries that had rushed forward to try to keep them from escaping, then, still in a panic, they disappeared off into the darkness.

  The tribesmen hesitated for a moment, stunned by what they just witnessed, then the first wave of tribesmen charged in from the darkness, their swords flashing.

  The fight was short and ugly. Once the first wave of warriors struck the unsuspecting mercenaries, chaos erupted throughout the plantation. Shouts of pain and fear echoed through the night, and several fires erupted as a number of Bativa's horsemen began to set the dilapidated buildings aflame. The second and third wave of horsemen appeared from the night to join in the fray, slaughtering many of the men in Faldor's army before they could raise any resistance.

  "Shall we go join the party?" Bativa suggested, an eager glint in his eyes.

  "It sounds like fun!" Damion laughed, spurring Storm forward.

  There were only a few pockets of resistance left, mostly battle hardened mercenaries that had been near their weapons when the first wave of warriors struck, but they were quickly cut down, or simply ridden into the ground by churning hooves.

  "Damion! Look!" Raven pointed to an overweight man dressed in garish clothing mercilessly flogging his horse in a desperate attempt to escape the carnage.

  "That's Faldor!" Shirk exclaimed, crushing the side of mercenary's head with his mace. "He's trying to make a break for it!"

  "I'll take care of him!" Damion spurred Storm through the carnage, trampling several mortally injured mercenaries as they gave chase.

  "Don't kill him!" Dar called after him. "We need him to answer some questions first!"

  Damion charged on, not giving any indication that he had heard the childlike sprite's words.

  The garishly dressed man was squealing in fright as he continued to whip his horse forward, until the poor beast suddenly stumbled, throwing the man from his saddle. The terrified horse scrambled to its feet and ran off into the darkness.

  The gang leader was wailing in panic as Damion approached, and was struggling franticly trying to get to his feet. "You must be Faldor." The huge warrior said in a offhand tone."We've been looking for you."

  "Please, don't kill me!" Faldor squealed in terror as he caught sight of the enormous warrior bearing down on him. "I yield! Show me mercy!"

  "Good lord, man!" Damion stared at the pathetic man in disgust. "Grow a pair, will you?" He leaned back in his saddle and kicked the cringing man square in the face. The man's eyes rolled up into the back of his head as he dropped into an unconscious pile at Storm's hooves.

  Damion bound the man's hands and feet firmly together, then returned to the ruined plantation, dragging the unconscious gang leader behind Storm the entire way. He found the others impatiently awaiting his return.

  "Faldor's army has been completely wiped out." Bativa said in satisfaction. "We won't have to worry about them anymore."

  "Here is the source of all your problems right here." Damion jerked a thumb at the unconscious man that he had bound and dragged back to the others.

  "Oh, ho! It seems our tormentor is now at our mercy!" The clan chief exclaimed in delight.

  "Slow down, Bativa," Dar told the huge tribesman, walking over to the unco
nscious man and peeling back one of his eyelids. "We need him to answer a few questions first, then you can have him."

  They gathered around the unconscious man, and waited for Dar to rouse him back to consciousness.

  The childlike Alena continued to examine the man for several moments, then finally leaned down and slapped him firmly across the face.

  Faldor opened his eyes and groaned, then, realizing that he was bound up tightly and unable to move, he began to look around desperately.

  "It seems you're in a bit of trouble, Faldor." Bativa told the trembling man in a fierce voice.

  "M-Mercy!" The gaudily dressed man started squealing pitifully. "S-Show mercy!"

  "You need to answer some questions first." Shirk told him, grasping the trembling man by the front of his colorful shirt, and pulling him into a sitting position. "And the quicker you answer, the better off you will be." He took out his dagger and began testing the edge with his thumb.

  "I-I'll tell you anything y-you want!" Faldor whimpered, staring at the bearded thief in terror.

  "Very good. Start with where you were getting the gold that you were using to buy all of those weapons?"

  "Two men appeared one evening and offered it to me." The gaudily dressed man answered quickly, his eyes still on Shirk's dagger.

  "And who were these men?"

  "I don't know who they were, I swear to you, I don't!" The gang leader cried fearfully. "They appeared at my plantation several months ago, and offered me a fortune if I was to cause some kind of major disruption in the area."

  "For what purpose?"

  The bound man shook his head. "They gave me no reason. I was just told to gather as many men as I could, have some weapons shipped in to arm them, and start as much mayhem as possible. So, I started hiring as many mercenaries as I could, paid Ickor, a merchant in Sierra, to have some gnomish weapons shipped in from the east, and planned on starting a war with one of the Deolan clans. I figured I couldn't cause much more mayhem than that."

  "What did these men look like?" Raven asked with a frown.

  "The man that spoke for the pair was a large brute of a man who was completely bald, and smelled like an open cesspool. He wore bull hide armor, and spoke with a heavy accent that I didn't recognize."

  "And the other?"

  The gang leader shook his head desperately. "I couldn't see his face. He wore a grey hooded cloak, and always kept to the shadows. He was a small man, though. He wasn't much bigger than that young lady there," He nodded towards Raven. "and he never said a word. He just let the big brute speak for them."

  "All these mysterious men wanted was for you to start some sort of disruption?" Shirk asked skeptically.

  "Aye, I swear!" The gaudily dressed man nodded emphatically. "They only wanted me to arm some mercenaries, and start some trouble throughout the area," He made a face. "though they did want me to ambush a few of our own weapon shipments before they reached Crete."

  "They what?" Shirk asked in surprise. "They ordered you to ambush your own wagons?"

  Faldor nodded emphatically. "I was to make sure several of the caravans were ambushed somewhere in the mountains. I tried to explain to them that we didn't want to operate too close to Sevria or we would run the risk of alerting the Dragon Lord to our activities, but they insisted that the caravans had to be ambushed in the mountains. They didn't seem to worry about the Dragon Lord finding out what we were up to." He suddenly turned pale, then turned to stare up at Damion in pure terror. "Oh gods, help me!" He pleaded in a faint voice as he realized at whom he was staring.

  "That raises more questions than it answers." Dar murmured quietly. "Whoever these two mystery men are, they have gone through a lot of trouble to set this all up. But for what reason?"

  "Is there anything else that you can think of that you may have left out?" Shirk asked Faldor, slapping him in the side of the head to get his attention away from Damion.

  "I-I don't think so, milord." He stammered fearfully. "We never got the chance to put our plans into action. These howling savages made sure of that!"

  "I think he has told us everything that he knows." Damion told Bativa. "Since it was your people his plans were aimed at, I think it's only fair that you should decide his fate."

  The huge clan chief smiled. "I couldn't say it better myself." He gave the gang leader an evil smile.

  "Show me mercy, milord!" The man cried, falling over to beg at Bativa's feet. "Please! I beg of you!"

  "What are you going to do with him?" Raven asked the tribesman curiously.

  "Kill him, of course." Bativa smiled, winking at them slyly.

  Faldor started squealing in terror, struggling desperately to free himself.

  "Actually," The huge man's voice dropped to a whisper. "I thought we would have a little fun with him. We'll drag him back to camp and let the children pelt him with rotten vegetables, then we'll put him to work shoveling manure for the next few years. Once I think he has paid his debt to my people, we'll set him free."

  Damion and Raven began to laugh uproariously.

  "Will you return with us to our camp?"

  Damion shook his head. "I think not. We still have many responsibilities waiting for us back in Sevria, not to mention our daughter."

  Bativa sighed heavily. "At least you were kind enough to invite us to this wonderful little get together."

  Everyone laughed, then Damion, Raven, Dar, and Shirk watched as the Deolan tribesmen disappeared into the darkness, dragging their squealing prisoner behind one of their horses.

  "Well, that was entertaining!" Shirk laughed as they started off towards Crete.

  "And enlightening." Dar commented, his eyes lost in thought. "These two mysterious men seem to have gone through a lot of trouble for nothing."

  "What possible reason could these men have had to want the lowlands in chaos?" Raven pondered, her expression dumbfounded.

  Damion shook his head. "It's hard to say without knowing who these men are. Once we get back to Sevria, I'll have Sly and Veren look into it. They have a number of contacts throughout the area. They may be able to identify who these men are for us."

  Once they reached Crete, they found rooms in a small inn near the edge of town, and settled in for the night. They set off for Sevria the following morning at a brisk, mile eating trot, eager to make their way home.

  They spent the next two days making their way through the mountains, passing the occasional caravan of wagons as they steadily made their way north.

  It was their third day into the mountains, and the sun was just setting, when Snowfeather suddenly dropped from the sky to land lightly on Damion's shoulder. "There's a group of riders coming this way." He hooted, fluffing his feathers absently. "They seem to be pushing their horses rather hard."

  The companions pulled their horses off to the side of the road to await their arrival. They could soon hear the sounds of horses galloping in the distance. After a few more moments, the riders appeared, moving along the trade road as quickly as their horses could carry them.

  "That looks like Axel at the head of the group!" Raven exclaimed as the riders drew closer.

  "The page that Sly likes to pawn his work off on?" Shirk asked in surprise. "What's he doing out here at the head of a patrol?"

  They pulled their horses back out into the road to block the path.

  "Lord Omensent!" Axel cried out in relief, bringing his tired mount to a stop before them. "Thank the gods I've found you!"

  The patrol also reined in their mounts, but remained several dozen paces from the companions, their faces pale, and their expressions fearful.

  "What is it, Axel?" Damion asked him, a shiver of worry suddenly running up his spine. "What has happened?"

  "Something terrible has happened!" The boy was in a near panic. "Lord Veren has been murdered!"

  "What?" Damion asked in shock. "Someone has murdered Veren?"

  "That's not all, milord!" The young man rushed on desperately. "It's your daughter!"


  "Leia?" Raven cried out fearfully. "What's happened to my Leia?"

  Axel's face was deathly pale as he turned to the young woman. "She's been abducted!"

  Chapter 7

  "Thank the gods you've finally returned!" Lady Skie cried in relief as they burst through the door of Damion's office two nights later. "We didn't have any idea where we might find you!"

  "We were already on our way back to Sevria when Axel found us." Damion told her, trying to keep his panic at bay. "He told us that someone had murdered Veren and abducted Leia, so we rushed back as quick as we could."