Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons (21 page)

He
returned the Dragon Sword back to its sheath, then turned away, wondering if he could catch up with Veren before the Jaghern travelled far.

"Damion!" A woman's shout rang through the smoke and haze. "Damion! Wait!"

He turned to see Raven, who emerged from the smoke, choking and coughing. She started towards him, but a burning house suddenly collapsed into the street, blocking her from advancing any further.

They stared at one another for several long moments through the flames, then Damion turned away.

"Damion! Please!"

He ignored her
as he drew in his magic, and shifted himself into the form of a panther. He disappeared into the shadows of the forest to search for Veren, leaving the Deirians to try and salvage what remained of their settlement.

After a few moments, there was a sudden flutter of feathers as Snowfeather swooped down from the darkness.
"Are you okay?"
He hooted worriedly.
"That thing materialized out of nowhere!"

"I'm fine."
Damion replied, silently making his way through the forest.
"I was wondering how it managed to get passed you with you giving me some sort of warning, though."

"I never even saw it, until after it struck!"
The huge owl chirped helplessly.
"I don't know how it was able to avoid my detecting it, but it somehow slipped passed without me even noticing!"

"Don't beat yourself up over it."
He told his friend.
"I'm sure you won't let the next one get passed you."

Damion continued to move
through the shadows, his keen eyes alert for any signs of danger, and it wasn't long before he found the one eared man impatiently awaiting his arrival on the trade road. He slipped back into his own form, then stepped from the darkness.

"
Wahh!" Veren yelped in surprise, leaping so violently that he nearly fell from his saddle. "Dammit, Damion!" He scrambled to straighten himself. "I wish you would give me a little warning before popping out of the shadows like that!" He shook his head in exasperation. "So is it dead? Were you able to kill the shadow dragon?"

Damion nodded, vaulting into his saddle
. "Why so jumpy?"

The one eared man pointed out into the surrounding forest. "I don't
think we're alone out here. There's something moving through the forest, but I haven't been able to see what it is."

At that moment, Snowfeather appeared from the darkness.
"The fun isn't over yet!"
He hooted, landing on Damion's shoulder.
"There are a handful of shadowspawn lurking nearby in the forest."

"Does it look as though they plan to attack?"

"Nay. I got the impression they were just scouts. Several of them were apparently watching the battle from the darkness and immediately disappeared when you killed the dragon, but a number of others remained behind, apparently to observe you."

"That's odd." Damion murmured aloud.

"What is it?" Veren asked worriedly, looking out into the dark forest nervously.

"Snowfeather says there are a few shadowspawn hiding in the forest." He replied.

"What's so odd about that?"

"They seem to be more interested in
watching
us than attacking us. Several of the beasts were apparently watching the battle. They disappeared once I killed the shadow dragon, but several others remained behind to apparently keep an eye on us."

"What should we do about them?" The one eared
Jaghern was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of being watched.

"What can we do?" He asked
, shrugging. "Let them follow. Eventually they'll slip up and reveal themselves and we'll be able to rid ourselves of them then."

Veren
looked back up the dark road to the orange glow of the burning city, then turned back to Damion, his face curious. "Do you think that the attacks will cease now that the beast is dead?"

Damion shook his head. "I doubt it, very much. That was
not the same shadow dragon that we encountered a few days ago! I seriously wounded the other one we encountered, but this beast was unmarked!"

The bald headed
Jaghern sighed heavily. "Then we will never know which beast was actually the one that killed my family." His voice was sad.

"I'm sorry, my friend." Damion murmured quietly.

Veren drew a deep breath, then exhaled. "It's time we moved." He said decisively, nudging his horse with his heels. "The Deirians will eventually send out riders to try and track us down. I would rather not make easy for them by remaining right here for them to discover!"

************

They gathered in Damion's office around the long table, eagerly awaiting Sly to read the message that had arrived that morning in the company of a number of strange barrels of liquid bearing foreign markings. The letter bore a mark in the shape of a dragon pressed deep into the wax seal, which was Damion's insignia, presented to him by the people of Sevria for saving their lives.

"It's
definitely from Damion." The little man commented as they gathered around him in curiosity. "That is the seal from his ring!" He broke open the seal and quickly read the message.

"Well?" Lady Skie demanded impatiently.
"What does it say?"

"He says
that they have discovered that the attacks seem to have originated in Arleia, and that they are traveling there to try to locate where the disturbances first began." He read to them aloud.

"Arleia?" Damarius shuddered
unconsciously. "The land of the serpent people? I don't envy him the journey!"

"What do you mean?"
Lady Skie asked, her expression worried.

Damarius pushed his scalp lock from his eyes absently. "To reach Arleia, they must cross though three other countries. First
Jaghera, Veren's homeland, then their neighbor across the border, Deiria. They are always hovering on the brink of open warfare, but somehow a tenuous peace exists between them, at least there was the last time I heard any news from the northern lands."

"This letter is from the border town between
Jaghera and Deiria." Sly informed him, continuing to read. "He says that they were about to attempt to cross into Deiria."

"Is there any other news of attacks by the shadow dragons?"
Dar asked, his freckled face worried.

"He's says the
northern lands are being ravaged, but few seem to know what is really behind it."

"What land lies beyond Deiria?" Lady Skie inquired, looking to her father, who still wore a grim expression.

"Veiria. It is a desert land inhabited by pagans who worship their dead ancestors. Temperatures can become unbearably hot during the day there, and the night's so cold that they can cause a man to freeze to death. Even if they make it through Veiria and reach Arleia, I fear there is little chance that they will allow Damion and Veren to enter their land. They never allow outsiders to enter their lands, except for one small town just inside of the borders where they conduct all of their trading."

"What do they trade in?" Sly asked curiously. "Perhaps we can eventually establish a trade treaty."

Damarius snorted. "I doubt it. They are strange folk, heavily involved in the slave trade. They don't really produce much from their swamps other than alligator and snake skin. They also grow a few rare herbs there which are highly treasured by those who dabble in alchemy, but otherwise, they really don't produce anything that we would be interested in."

Sly shook his head disapprovingly, then returned to the letter. "Damion sends his love, and promises to send more word as soon as possible."

"What about the casks of liquid?" Lady Skie asked, gesturing to the large barrels near the door. "Why did he send them?"

Sly reread the letter quickly, then turned the parchment over. "There's a message on the back." He quickly read the
message and a grin slowly spread across his face. He jumped from his seat and dashed over to the barrels, his eyes dancing with anticipation.

"What is it?" Dar asked Lady Skie, who had retrieved the letter and was reading the note scribbled on the back. "What does it say?"

"Have a drink on me!" Lady Skie was shaking her head in disbelief.

"It must be good
ale if he took the time to send it a thousand miles across the sea to give us a taste!" Sly told them, grabbing several empty goblets and filling them to the brim. He handed one to each of them, then raised his own tankard high, his eyes alight with excitement. "To Damion! May he remain safe, and return home to us soon!"

Everyone raised their tankards
, then took a long drink.

"Oh my!" Lady Skie exclaimed in surprise. "That is quite good!"

Dar, Sly, and Damarius said nothing as they each drained their tankards, then quickly reached for seconds.

"That boy has good taste!"
Damarius commented, smacking his lips. He took another long drink, then burped thunderously. "I hope he doesn't expect to find any left when he returns!"

They all laughed.

"Is there any chance that this plan of his will succeed?" Lady Skie asked in a worried voice.

Damarius shrugged. "I'm not sure. We are far out of my depth. There is only one person that I trust when it comes to
dealing with dragons, and I'm afraid he isn't available right now."

Dar snorted in amusement. "
We'll just have to trust that Damion knows he's doing."

A man dressed in heavy chain mail armor appeared at the door. "We have news from Sierria, milord." The man informed Sly, who hovered in front of the barrel of ale
protectively. "The merchants are no longer willing to risk their caravans with all of the attacks. They will no longer be traveling through the mountains until the problem has been solved."

Sly cursed venomously. "I had hoped that the
escorts would help."

The armored soldier shook his head. "
The dragonspawn have overwhelmed the road through the mountains. The merchants won't risk sending their goods through these mountains until the problem has been brought under control."

The man finished his report, then left the office.

"We need to figure out away to put an end to these attacks!" Damarius grumbled seriously. "They cannot be allowed to continue to disrupt trade!"

Sly raised his hands helplessly. "I'm open to suggestions. We have put every available soldier into groups that patrol the roads, but the dragonspawn just vanish until the patrol ha
s passed. Those creatures know the mountains far better than we do, so they have little problems avoiding our scouts. I have run out of ideas!"

"There isn't really much
more we
can
do." Dar pointed out. "Those creatures have made it obvious that they will continue to harass us until they get what they want. There will not be any further caravans moving this way anytime soon, so why don't we just pull back inside the walls and wait for Damion to return?"

"What?" Sly asked in confusion. "You just want to do nothing?"

The freckle faced sprite shrugged. "Why not? It's better than wearing out our soldiers by forcing them to chase around shadows! Let's bring back those patrols, and use the men to garrison the wall. Why waste the manpower to protect a road that no one will use?"