Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons (28 page)

Tempest rolled onto her side and plucked a scale from her belly, then placed it before the old man.

Damarius looked at the scale for several moments, then his eyes suddenly widened as he noticed the startling difference between the armored scale and the much softer belly scale.

T
hey returned to the machine, the belly scale now in place of the armored scale. There was no argument this time as Lady Skie swept regally past the others and climbed up into the machine. She pulled the trigger mechanism and released another oversized steel tipped bolt with a heavy twang. Her aim was true once again, but this time the bolt the struck the scale and continued on through, striking the thick log behind the target. The force of the old wizard's machine drove bolt so deep into the log that nearly three feet was sticking out of the other side.

"And there is the secret
." Tempest murmured in a grave voice. "The scales on a dragon's belly are much softer, and therefore vulnerable to attack." She rose from her place in the courtyard, and stretched her wings wide. "Use this knowledge carefully, and remember, the scarlet dragons shall always watch over Sevria."

"What are you planning to do now?" Sly asked the enormous serpent curiously.

"I'm going to investigate those rumors to the north." She replied in a rumbling voice. "With a little luck, I may be able to locate Damion. Perhaps he has discovered something that could prove useful to the search." She launched herself into the air, and quickly disappeared from view.

"Do you think she'll be ab
le to find Damion?" Sly asked Dar as they watched Damarius wander down to take a closer look at the impaled dragon scale.

Dar shrugged. "Possibly. Damion tends to be rather evasive, until he decides not to be." He laughed. "Then the whole region know
s where he is!"

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

"The impudence!" The brood mother screamed in fury, her tail lashing out to reduce a boulder into dust. "This mortal dares to kill one of my own brood, and then threatens to hunt others?"

"Yes, Mother."
Tar whimpered, cringing away from the crippled beast. "His message was for us to return to our banishment, or he would hunt us down and destroy the brood." The smaller dragon trembled as she stared up at the much larger beast. "He has already injured one of us, and killed another, and he has killed many of the spawn. They are terrified of him! They believe that Draco has sent this dragon man to destroy those that have displeased Him!"

The
brood mother screamed again, belching flames high into the air. She turned to look down over the edge of the escarpment, which towered over a thousand feet to look out over the Veirian desert. "This dragon man must pay for his insolence!" She whirled to face Tar. "Send the spawn to deal with this man once and for all! I want his head brought to me, along with his sword! No mortal shall threaten the brood without suffering the consequences!"

"T
he spawn have been unable to stop him so far and the shadowspawn are having a difficult time keeping them in line!" Tar reminded her. "They fear this man because he has destroyed so many of their kind!"

"Then send more!" She roared, belching flames once more. "I want this
human destroyed! I do not care if it takes every spawn to do it! He will not stand between the brood and our destiny!"

"T
he spawn have lost his trail, but they believe that he is moving in this direction. It may take a little time to locate him once again."

"Then turn the spawn loose on the rest of the
humans! It is time for the brood to take their rightful place as rulers of this world!" Her eyes gleamed evilly. "He will eventually be forced to reveal himself again, and then the spawn can deal with him once and for all!"

"It shall be as you say, Mother.
" The smaller dragon launched herself into the air, and disappeared into the night.

"And once this
dragon man is dead, and I possess the sword that controls my enemies, our vengeance with finally be complete!" She growled to herself, staring out over the desert, her glowing eyes lost in thought.

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

"By the gods, it's hot out there!" Veren complained as he retreated back into the cool cavern. "It's unbearable!"

"It's nearly evening." Raven told him as she gnawed on a piece of salted
pork. "The temperature will drop quickly once the sun has set."

The young woman had warned them
that the high temperatures during the day time would be oppressing, but that had not prepared them for the lethal heat that seemed to beat down from the skies like a hammer, sapping their strength and making it difficult to breathe. They had been able to find suitable shelter the first two days of their journey into the barren wasteland that was the country of Veiria, but on their third day they were unable to find anything that even remotely provided any sort of cover, forcing them to improvise a make shift shelter pieced together from large sheets of canvas.

After
cramming the horses into the shade, there was very little room left for themselves. They spent an uncomfortably day crowded together, desperate for relief from the unrelenting heat.

Unable to endure Veren's complaints any longer,
Damion finally stepped in and used his magic to create a dome of ice that encompassed the entire camp. It quickly melted away under the unrelenting sun, but it provided enough relief to get them through until nightfall.

The next
evening they happened upon the cavern in which they were now camped. The entrance appeared to be nothing more than a large crack in the face of one of the many rock formations jutting up from the sand, but upon closer inspection they found that it led down into an immense cavern with a large crystal clear pool fed by a small trickle of water that flowed from one rocky wall. They spent the next several days trying to recover from their single day in the open, taking advantage of the ample supply of water while they had the opportunity.

"So are we
going to move on," The one eared man asked Damion, who was lounging on his bedroll with Snowfeather perched on one knee, his eyes lost in thought. "or are we going to spend another evening here?"

"
We'll leave as soon as the sun sets." Damion yawned in a lazy voice. "We still have a long way to go before we can escape this dusty hell." He glanced to Raven, who was carefully examining a map she had produced from her packs. "What is the terrain like to the east?"

"Pretty much the same as we've encountered
so far." She shrugged. "At least until we reach the escarpment."

"Escarpment?"

The young woman brought the map over to Damion and pointed at a peculiar landmark prominently marked on the map. "It's a sheer cliff that rises over a thousand feet into the air and runs for hundreds of leagues in either direction."

"Is there any way up?"
Veren asked as he began to splash water on his head and neck.

"Of course. There are a series of ramps leading to platforms built along the cliff side.
They eventually reach the top." She made a face. "Unfortunately, there are a couple small villages at the top and bottom of the escarpment that are usually controlled by one of the tribes in of the region."

"I thought that you said that there weren't any
villages in Veiria?" Damion said in surprise.

"They're not really villages.
The various tribes living here in the desert usually have a couple of shanty towns built at the top and bottom of the escarpment. That's where we may run into a bit of a problem."

"Of course."
Veren grunted sourly. "Nothing about this journey can be easy, can it?"

Raven laughed. "Depending on what tribe is controlling the villages, it can sometimes be difficult
to gain passage. The tribes are continually at war so the villages occasionally change hands. Sometimes one tribe controls the top, while another controls the bottom."

"How far is this escarpment?"

"Another week or so of hard riding. At least there are a number of shelters marked along the way." She indicated several marks on the map.

"That's good."
Veren said with a sigh of relief. "I was dreading having to spend another day in that sun!"

"We should be able to take refuge each morning before the heat becomes too uncomfortable."
She assured him. "This is a fairly detailed map that I confiscated from a slaver many years ago. I have never used it because it's in the slaver language. I just happened across it a couple of hours ago when rummaging though my packs and decided to take a look. Once I traced our position to this small symbol, I followed our intended path and located a number of others that should also turn out to be other safe havens."

"Very clever." Damion commented, looking at the symbols she indicated. H
e looked at the strange alien script written along side many of the odd symbols marked on the map. "What is this slaver language?"

"It's the secret language used by the slavers." Raven's face grew somber. "Most people do not realize that the slaver's are actually a pe
ople apart from others. There are many countries that utilize the abhorant practice of buying and selling slaves, but the slavers themselves belong to no one. It isn't really known where they come from, but they appear to be a mix of all races. I've seen slavers from almost every land pass through my homeland, but they all knew the secret language."

"Why do countries use such horrible practices?" Damion asked, his face stern.

Raven shrugged. "It's always been that way."

"Sometimes it's a
convenient way for a country to sell off some of the criminals in their prisons to make space for others." Veren informed him. "They're put to work in some mine or quarry to work off their crimes, or die."

Damion frowned. "So
no one but slavers understand this language?"

"As far as I am aware
. I've never met anyone else that knows how to read it."

They made their way out of the cavern as the sun was just disappearing over the western
horizon and noticed that there was already a chill on the evening wind. They started off at a brisk trot, eager to put as much distance behind them as possible before the sun made its inevitable appearance, making their lives unbearable once again.

They traveled for
six more nights before they suddenly ran into another problem. They had just rounded a curve in the trade road when there was a sudden buzzing sound and an arrow flashed past Damion's face, narrowly missing him. A dozen howling men dressed in filthy rags charged out from behind a formation of rocks brandishing a numbering of crudely made weapons.

Before Damion c
ould even react, three of the men suddenly fell to the ground with arrows in their throats, as Raven, her hands flashing faster than the eye could follow, notched an arrow, drew, and released her bow in one fluid motion, her aim nearly flawless.

Storm charged forward
trampling one dirt covered man down, while Damion swung the Dragon Sword in a vast overhand blow that split another's head open. Another arrow whizzed by his face, and this time he managed to trace its source. One of their attackers had held back, and was taking careful aim with a crudely crafted bow.

"Raven!" He gestured to the
archer even as he cut down another man.

The
archer suddenly dropped his bow, clutching feebly at the arrow that had appeared dead center of his chest.

Veren
chopped down two more of the men before the last few finally broke and ran, disappearing into the distance, leaving their fallen behind.

"That was a bit close for comfort."
Veren murmured, sliding down from his horse and finishing off the injured man that Storm had trampled. He cleaned off his sword on one of the dead man's rags. "Another inch or two and you'd no longer be here with us!"