Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (3 page)

"I wanted to make sure that I was here in time to celebrate Leia's first birthday." He quietly crept over to the bedside and gently kissed his wife.

Raven wrinkled her nose. "Why don't you hurry up and get out of that armor, then go visit the bathhouse.
On the way back you can grab a bottle of wine, and we can have a drink before our little one wakes up and sees her father has returned."

Damion frowned. "I have something to do first." He went on to explain the sightings of
a one armed shadowspawn near the edge of the forest. "It appears Slither needs to speak with me."

The young woman's face fell. "
It must be something important if he's trying to get in touch with you."

"I just wanted to look in on my girls before I went to find out what he wanted."

Raven smiled sweetly. "Well, now that you've seen for yourself that we are fine, why don't you hurry and find out what Slither needs, then make that visit to the bathhouse, and hurry back here. I'll slip Leia into her own bed, and wait here for you to return." She gave him a suggestive smile.

Damion grinned boyishly, and began to blush a bright red. "Why don't I hurry
right along then?"

Chapter 2

Damion decided to leave Storm in the stables to rest, and started off through town on foot, moving quickly down the dark streets towards the gates. He had only taken a few steps when the sudden rustle of feathers drew his attention to a large snowy white owl that suddenly appeared from the darkness above.

"And where are you going?"
Snowfeather asked silently, landing gently on one of Damion's broad shoulders.
"We just got back!"

"Slither has been spotted lurking around recently."
He told his familiar.
"I figure it must be important if he's trying to get my attention."

Snowfeather was his oldest and most trusted friend. As a child, Damion had fallen into a deep depression
from the loneliness he felt from being isolated from the rest of the world in a tiny little secluded valley. When it finally became too much for him to bear, he gathered his magic, then released it in a silent cry, pouring all of his pain and loneliness into the plea for all of the universe to hear. The huge snow owl heard his cry and answered his silent plea, creating a link between it and Damion, bonding them together for life, allowing them to share one another's thoughts and feelings.

"I still don't trust that shadowspawn."
Snowfeather chirped worriedly.
"It keeps looking at me like I'm something to eat!"

"He's not so bad. At least he's been able to keep the rest of the dragonspawn from attacking the merchants travelling the trade road."

"Well, I'm not going to get anywhere close to that thing."
The huge owl launched itself back into the air.
"I'll look in on you in the morning."

After briefly informing the same gate guards he had encountered earlier of his intentions, he slipped off across the trade road that ran past Sevria, and into the open field that
separated the edge of the forest from the city.

He had nearly reached the forest, when a dark shape suddenly emerged from the shadows and quickly made its way towards him.
"Massster!"

The huge creature that emerged from the darkness
closely resembled a wingless dragon. It stood over eight foot in height, with a heavily muscled body, and a long whip-like tail. When it opened its mouth to speak, it revealed hundreds of razor sharp teeth, and two large spiraling horns sprouted from the back of its scaled head, lending greatly to its dragon-like appearance. Its scales were as black as the darkness around them, seeming to almost absorb the surrounding shadows, making it nearly impossible to see the beast with the naked eye. One of its arms had been severed at the elbow two years previous when it had attempted to attack Damion, who crippled the creature, but spared its life when it asked for mercy. Ever since, the shadowspawn had served Damion faithfully, taking steps to insure that the trade road leading from Sierra to Sevria remained safe from attack.

"Massster!" The beast dropped to one knee before him. "
SSSlither mussst ssspeak with you!"

"What is it, Slither?" Damion gestured for the creature to rise. "What's got you so bothered?"

The crippled shadowspawn slowly rose to its feet. "Massster. There are rumorsss passsing among the ssspawn that the dragon god, Draco, hasss returned to thisss world." It gestured to the empty patch of sky, which up until the previous year, held the constellation of the serpent god. "There are whissspersss that He hasss returned to reclaim thisss world asss Hisss own."

Damion thought back to the night Leia was born, the same night that the constellation had vanished from the
heavens above. "I have heard the same rumors, although I have seen no evidence of His return, other than His absence from night's sky."

"He isss making
preparationsss to carry out Hisss plansss." The shadowspawn hissed in warning. "The whissspersss sssay that He isss coming for you, Massster."

Damion was
startled by this statement. "And does the whispers say
why
He is coming for me?"

"It isss through you that He plansss to reclaim the world." Slither seemed genuinely concerned for his master's safety. "Beware, Massster! Beware the ssserpent god! He isss coming, and
He will not ssstop until He getsss what He desssiresss!"

Damion frowned. "Thank you for your warning, Slither. I wi
ll be sure to be on my guard."

The large beast bobbed its head once, then turned and disappeared back into the darkness of the forest.

He thought about the shadowspawn's warning as he slowly made his way back to the castle. The serpent god had returned to reclaim the world as His own. Damion remembered the tales that Tempest, the largest and most powerful of the scarlet dragons, regaled him with of ancient times, long before the humans had emerged from their caves and infested the world with their cities and farms, back during a time when the dragons ruled the entire world.

If Draco
had
returned, then it was in response to what had happened to the shadow dragons, when he and the scarlet dragons destroyed most of the brood, and scattered the remaining dark serpents to the winds. The loss of so many worshippers at one time may have infuriated the god to the point that He felt compelled to return to the world He had been watching over for so many eons.

Damion shook his head. There was no evidence that the serpent god had returned to the world, other than the sudden disappearance of the constellation, and the whispers of a few superstitious dragonspawn.
There wasn't any real reason for him to be concerned. He decided to put it from his mind, and hurried up to the castle to visit the bathhouse.

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

He awoke early the next morning to a squeal of laughter as Leia burst into the room and ran across the chamber floor, with Raven following along behind looking slightly out of breath. The tiny little girl was a mirror image of her mother, with flowing dark hair, and huge luminous hazel eyes. She wore a beautiful white dress of satin and lace, decorated with a silver broach crafted into the shape of a dragon in flight.

The young child scampered around the edge of the huge bed still laughing with glee, then took a firm hold on Damion
's soft blankets and yanked them away, leaving him to shiver in the cool morning air.

"I believe your daughter wants you to wake up." Raven snickered, watching with amusement as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.

"I've noticed." He answered wryly, scooping his giggling daughter into his arms.

"
I forgot to ask you last night what Slither had to say?" The young woman asked, sitting down on the edge on the bed.

Damion frowned. "He wanted to give me a warning. Apparently
, there have been a number of rumors being passed through the spawn claiming that the dragon god, Draco, has returned to the world."

"Why would he want to warn you about that?"

"The rumors say that He has returned to this world to reclaim it as His own, and that
I
was the one through which He would achieve His plans."

Raven frowned. "Why would a god need a mortal to carry out its plans? Couldn't it just use its own power to achieve its goals?"

Damion shrugged. "I haven't a clue. Dealing with gods is not my forte. I guess we could ask Damarius. If anyone would know, it would be him."

"That's one of the reasons Leia and I came to wake you. Everyone will be gathering in the dining hall to enjoy breakfast together. We can ask him about it then."

Damion yawned hugely, then sat his giggling daughter down on the floor, and rose to his feet. "Breakfast, you say?" His stomach suddenly gave a loud growl.

Raven laughed. "I figured that would wake you up."

"It's been a few days since I had anything other than traveling rations." He quickly got dressed, then scooped Leia up into his arms, and followed Raven to the dining hall.

They found Lady Skie and her father, Damarius, waiting for them when they arrived.

"We were wondering if you were planning on joining us." Lady Skie observed, taking a delicate sip from her tea.

Raven smiled apologetically. "Damion got in late last evening. It took a little while for Leia and I to drag him out of bed."

"Decided to leave Sierra a little early, did you?" Damarius asked, stroking the tangles from his long flowing beard. "Were you able to get everything settled with the Merchant's Guild?"

Damion shrugged, dropping heavily into one of the comfortable chairs that lined the main dining table. "Their main complaint was with the taxes that they pay to do business in Sevria. They don't think that they should
help pay for the upkeep of the trade road through the mountains." He gently lifted Leia into his lap. "They claim that it should remain our responsibility. They say they shouldn't be forced to pay anything at all."

"
That doesn't surprise me a bit." Lady Skie laughed. "If they had their way,
we
would have to pay
them
!"

"So how did you leave it with them?" Damarius asked, brushing his brow lock from his eyes
absently.

"I told them that they were more than welcome to find another route leading through the mountains if they were unhappy with the taxes."