Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God Read online

  Lady Skie burst into tears, then ran to him and threw herself into his arms. "I'm so sorry, Damion! It's all my fault!"

  "Nonsense." Sly growled. His face was grey with exhaustion. "It's that pair of maniacs that are to blame."

  "What maniacs?" Raven, unlike Damion, was nearly in a panic. "What has happened to my Leia?"

  "It happened four days after you left to follow Ickor's wagons." Lady Skie sobbed, still clinging to Damion in despair. "I had just put Leia to bed when two people burst into the room and went straight for her crib. I tried to stop them, but one of the men hit me across the face." She gestured to an ugly bruise beneath one eye. "Veren rushed in to keep him from killing me, but the other man attacked him from behind and stabbed him in his back!" She began to sob again. "They killed him! They killed Veren, and took Leia!"

  Damion led the weeping woman over to one of the chairs near the meeting table, then returned to guide his distraught wife into another, noticing that she seemed on the verge of fainting.

  "That's when Damarius appeared and tried to block their path." Sly continued for Lady Skie, who was still weeping uncontrollably. "Before he could do anything, one of the men apparently used magic to blast him across the room."

  "Is he okay?"

  The little man nodded wearily. "He was just knocked senseless. He may be old, but he's tough as nails. He's downstairs in his chambers resting right now." He glanced at Axel, who had been standing in the doorway. "Have some servants bring us something strong to drink," He looked at the exhausted young man a little closer. "and then take yourself to bed. You look dead on your feet." He watched as the boy hurried off, then continued. "After they snatched up Leia and knocked Damarius senseless, they somehow managed to make their way through the castle unseen until they reached the main doors. They killed the soldiers standing watch, then slipped out of the castle and disappeared. I had the city sealed immediately, and the men watching the gates swear that no one had left the city since that morning, but we searched the city and castle from top to bottom three times, and..." He shrugged and shook his head.

  "What did these men look like?" Damion asked in a calm voice, but inside he seething with a terrible anger, tinged with fear for his daughter's safety.

  "The man that hit me was huge, almost as big as you." Lady Skie answered, trying to regain her composure. "He was bald, and he wore a thick leather armor. I didn't get a good look at the other man. He wore a long grey hooded robe that covered his face."

  "That's the description Faldor gave us of the men who hired him!" Dar exclaimed in surprise and shock.

  "Now we know why they wanted him to cause as much mayhem as he could." Shirk said shrewdly. "It was all just a diversion to draw us away from Sevria. They wanted Damion gone so they could snatch Leia."

  "Why would they want to take my baby?" The tears had finally began to break through Raven's shock. "What possible reason could someone have to take our child?"

  "Maybe they believe they can extort a ransom from us for her safe return." Shirk suggested, scratching his beard thoughtfully.

  "Who in their right mind would try something so insane?" Dar asked, his face baffled. "Everybody has heard the stories about the Dragon Lord. They must know that Damion will tear this world apart looking for them!"

  "I doubt the stories of Damion's prowess bothered these people much." A rusty voice came from the doorway.

  Everyone turned to see Damarius standing in the door.

  "Father!" Lady Skie cried, leaping from her chair and rushing to his side. "You should be resting!"

  "Ah, I'm fine." The old wizard told her, waving her off irritably, though he did make use of a cane as he made his way towards the long meeting table. "A man can only lay around for so long before he starts going mad." He slowly sank into a chair, obviously still in pain from his experience. He sighed heavily, then looked to Damion. "Those were not normal people, by any means. The one who wore the hooded robe was a very powerful magic user. I didn't even have a chance to act before he hit me with that blast. You are the only person that I've ever encountered with such power."

  "Are you sure that they're not still here in Sevria?" Damion asked, his mind racing. "You have searched everywhere?" He felt the overwhelming urge to race off in a blind search for his daughter, but he knew that would just be a waste of time. If he wanted to have any chance of rescuing Leia, he had to keep his wits together.

  "We've searched every inch of this city." Sly assured him. "They are not here. I still haven't figured out how they managed to escape."

  "They probably used magic to slip past the gate guards before the city was sealed." Damarius commented, brushing his brow lock from his eyes absently. "It would have been an easy thing for that hooded man to accomplish if he is half as powerful as I suspect."

  A pair of servants appeared carrying trays of food and drink, which they placed on the meeting table and hastily left, obviously fearing Damion's displeasure

  None of them had much of an appetite, but they each took a drink to help calm their nerves.

  "Did you send out any riders to the north in search of them?" Damion asked Sly, his mind still whirling.

  The little man nodded. "As soon as we realized they had slipped our grasp, we sent out riders, but they haven't found any sign of the pair so far. We still have people scouring the various remote valleys nearby, and we've sent word to Fedrio and alerted him to the abduction. He has all of his people out searching the docks to make sure that these people don't try to flee with Leia across the sea to avoid being caught."

  "We can be fairly certain they didn't head south." Shirk pointed out shrewdly. "We passed the occasional caravan along the way, but none of the men we saw fit the description of the two mystery men."

  "They wouldn't have went south." Damarius told them knowingly. "If the caravans full of weapons were meant to draw Damion away long enough for them to snatch Leia, they wouldn't have fled right towards him when they tried to escape. They probably went north towards Sierra, or ventured deeper into the mountains."

  "We have to do something!" Raven cried, jumping up from her chair with wild eyes. "We have to find my Leia!"

  "We will find her," Damion assured his young wife, hurrying to her side and gently placing a restraining arm around her to prevent her from sprinting off in a panic. "but we have to try and stay calm. It won't do Leia any good for us to go rushing off blindly. We need to figure out where those two men fled."

  A soldier suddenly appeared at the office door, his expression apprehensive. "That one armed shadowspawn has returned, milord." He told Damion, clearly ready to bolt at the first sign of the huge warrior's displeasure. "It seems quite agitated. It's never tried approaching the city gates before, but it suddenly appeared a few moments ago and told the soldiers guarding the gate that it needed to speak with you." He shook his head in amazement. "I never even knew that those creatures could talk!"

  Damion gently guided Raven back into her chair, then glanced at Dar and Shirk. "Keep her here until I return." He looked to Sly. "Let's go find out what Slither has to tell us. He may have seen something that could be useful in finding Leia."

  Sly made a face. "I hope it's not just another warning about the dragon god. We have enough worry about right now."

  They quickly made their way through the city and found Slither, surrounded by a dozen armed soldiers, impatiently awaiting Damion's arrival.

  "Massster!" The shadowspawn hissed, dropping to its knees. "Massster, I must ssspeak with you!"

  Damion waved the soldiers away irritably. "We are having a crisis right now, Slither. Please make it quick."

  The huge crippled beast rose to its feet. "It isss about thisss that we need to ssspeak."

  "You saw the two men responsible for abducting my daughter?" He asked, sudden spark of hope igniting.

  Slither nodded once. "SSSlither heard the sssoundsss of ssscreaming coming from the keep, and moved clossser to invessstigate." Though the shadowspawn were known for be especially
vicious, the beast spoke with an earnest concern in its voice. "Two humansss appeared in a flasssh of light in the clearing outssside of the city, mere feet from where SSSlither ssstood. One of the humansss carried a sssmall bundle, which SSSlither realized wasss a child when it cried out. SSSlither retreated, knowing you wissshed the ssspawn to avoid humansss, and they hurried off to the north, following the game trailsss through the foressst."

  "What did these two humans look like?" He asked quickly, although he already knew the answer.

  "The male wasss asss big asss SSSlither. He was hairlesss, and wore leather ssskin. The human female wasss sssmaller, about the sssize of thisss one." The scaly beast gestured to Sly.

  "Female?" The little man exclaimed in surprise. "You're saying the smaller of the two was a woman?"

  Slithered nodded once again. "SSShe wore a hooded robe that hid her featuresss, but it could not conceal her ssscent. It wasss ssshe who carried the child."

  "That was my daughter!" Damion nearly shouted, suppressing the urge to charge off in search of Leia.

  Slither nodded once again. "SSSlither noticed the commotion later when they sssealed the gatesss. That isss when SSSlither heard the humansss ssshouting about Massster'sss child being misssing. SSSlither immediately ssset off after the two humansss, knowing it must have been Massster'sss child they carried. The ssspawn caught up to the humansss that night when they pausssed to ressst, and tried to ssstop them, and recover Massster'sss child, but the human female usssed magic to dessstroy them."

  "What happened then?"

  "SSSlither did not wisssh to endanger Massster'sss child any further, ssso SSSlither merely followed. The humansss continued north until they reached a sssmall encampment built near a hidden cove, not far from the large city at the edge of the sssea." The crippled beast looked at Damion pleadingly. "The humansss immediately boarded a ssship which ssset off into the night. SSSlither could not stop them!" He dropped to his knees again. "SSSlither hasss failed, Massster."

  "No," Damion told the beast, his mind working quickly. "You did well! Now we have a bit more of an idea of what we're up against!" He grasped the trembling shadowspawn by its one good arm and hauled it to its feet. "Tell me, Slither," He asked almost desperately. "Did you see which direction the ship sailed off?"

  The scaly beast thought for a moment, then shook its head. "The ssship vanissshed into the fog. SSSlither could not sssee which direction it wasss heading."

  "They jumped on a ship?" Sly scratched his head thoughtfully. "That's going to make figuring out where they took Leia a bit more difficult, wouldn't you say?"

  "You have done well, Slither." Damion told the shadowspawn gratefully. "Once we have gathered everything we'll need, you'll take us to where you last saw this ship."

  "Asss you wisssh, Massster." The shadowy beast retreated into the shadows, obviously relieved that Damion had not been displeased with its actions.

  "What are we going to do now?" Sly asked, hurrying to keep up with Damion as he quickly made his way back to the castle.

  "We'll go and let the others know of what we discovered," His expression was calm, but his eyes burned red with anger. "then we're going to find my daughter."

  ************

  "What did Slither have to say?" Raven demanded the instant Damion and Sly returned.

  "He saw the abductors as they fled the city." Damion told her, unable to contain his excitement. "He followed them until they reached an encampment near a secluded cove, not far from Sierra. They boarded a ship that immediately sailed off."

  "Why didn't he try to stop them?" The young woman asked angrily. "Why didn't he try to get Leia away from those monsters?"

  "He did. He sent a group of dragonspawn in to try and eliminate them, and liberate Leia, but the woman used magic to obliterate them. When he realized he would just be placing Leia in danger if he were to send in more dragonspawn, he decided to follow them instead. Once they boarded the ship, he hurried straight here to alert us. We only came back so we can fill everyone in and gather a few things, then we're going to follow Slither to the secluded cove. From there we'll move on to Sierra. With a little luck, we'll find a ship captain willing to help us take up the search."

  "Woman?" Dar asked in confusion. "What woman?"

  "Slither told us that the person hidden beneath those grey robes was a female." Sly told them, pouring himself a goblet of wine. "He seemed quite sure of himself. He said that she could conceal her features, but she couldn't conceal her scent."

  "A woman, huh?" Damarius did not seem to take this information well. His face turned pale, then became bright red as he started to become angry. "We'll see about that!"

  "Who will be accompanying you in your search?" Lady Skie asked, her expression still grief stricken.

  "I'll take Shirk, Dar, and Raven, of course. She wouldn't stay behind anyway." Damion glanced at the fiery young woman, who gave him a firm nod.

  "I'll not be left behind this time!" Sly suddenly roared, his expression outraged. "You left me here to take care of your chores last time, I'll not do it again! I'm going with you!"

  "And I as well!" Damarius declared, brushing his brow lock from his eyes.

  "What are you saying, father?" Lady Skie asked in confusion. "You're not thinking of running off with Damion, are you?"

  "You bet I am!" None of them had ever seen the old wizard so angry. "I'm not too old for one last adventure! I'll help Damion track down these scoundrels, and I'll show this... woman, she should have never messed with us!"

  "I can't take everyone with me." Damion said, shaking his head. "Some of you will have to remain behind to look after the affairs of the castle."

  "I'll remain here with Lady Skie." Dar volunteered. "I don't think I would be much help anyway."

  "I'll stay." Shirk grunted, glancing at Lady Skie and blushing beneath his scruffy beard. "I'll not see Lady Skie left unguarded. It's obvious that there are still some out there that are insane enough to try and face the Dragon Lord. I'll remain here and deal with any that decide to pay a visit during your absence."

  Damion noticed the bearded thief's face had turned a flaming red when he looked at Lady Skie, but decided not to mention it. "Very well. Raven, Sly, Damarius, and I will follow these abductors, while Shirk, Dar, and Lady Skie assume the responsibilities of the running the castle."

  "Does that mean I'll have the keys to the vault?" Shirk couldn't keep his eagerness from coming out in his voice.

  Damion nearly laughed in his face. "I think I'll leave those with Aunt Skie, if you don't mind. I would like to home this time and actually find something left in the coffers."

  "Hey!" Sly exclaimed defensively. "It wasn't my fault! You're the one that told us to do whatever necessary to protect the city. That's exactly what I did!"

  Raven sighed impatiently. "Can we worry about that later? Let's get moving!"

  Damion nodded. "You're right. Why don't you and Damarius go ahead and gather whatever you think you may need, and meet us in the stables."

  "What are you planning to do?"

  Damion sighed heavily. "I'm going to go say goodbye to Veren."

  Everyone fell silent.

  "In all of the mayhem, we have kind of overlooked him." Dar admitted sadly.

  "He gave his life trying protect my daughter." Damion said simply.

  "I'll make sure he is given a proper burial." Lady Skie assured him in a quiet voice. "It's the least I can do. He saved my life."

  Damion shook his head. "Send word to his sister, Queen Ann of Jaghera. They will want to make arrangements to have his body shipped back to be buried with his wife and children."

  "As you wish, dear one."

  Damion, Damarius, and Sly hurried down to the lower levels of the castle while the others went to make their preparations.

  "We placed his body in one of the rooms down in the Vaults." Sly told Damion as he led the way down. "I wasn't exactly sure if we would be laying him to rest here in Sevria, or returning him to his homeland
."

  Damion frowned. "I think he would wish to be laid to rest with his family."

  The little man led him to one of the small storage rooms in the Vaults, the lowest level of the massive keep, named for the huge vaulted ceilings that helped to support the castle.

  Veren had been laid out on a simple wooden table, and covered with a white sheet.

  Damion's heart filled with sorrow when he pulled back the sheet and saw the strange foreign man that had so abruptly came into his life.

  It had only been two years since the fateful night that the one eared Jaghern stepped from the shadows outside of the castle and attempted to assassinate him, thinking that Damion had been responsible for the deaths of his family. Once it was discovered that his family had been killed by a shadow dragon, he had immediately pledged his life to Damion, who had spared his life. Since that day, Veren had proven himself time and time again to be a true and loyal friend.