The one eared Jaghern's body was very pale, but looked otherwise unharmed. His expression was one of contentment, something which Damion had never seen on his friend's face before. With his death, it seemed Veren had finally found the peace he had long been searching for.
Damion sighed heavily, then drew in his magic, and placed one hand upon his friend's arm. He placed his other hand upon the Dragon Sword, then released his will, allowing the enchantment to flow into the Jaghern's corpse.
"What did you do?" Sly asked in a subdued voice.
"I simply wanted to insure that his body would remain untouched by decay for the journey back to his homeland." Damion replied in a quiet voice, turning away from Veren's body. "I owe him that much. He gave his life for my daughter, and I will never forget that."
They returned to the main room of the Vaults, where they found Damarius hurrying about the laboratory he had constructed when he had left his secluded valley to join them in Sevria. "I'm almost ready!" He promised them, rummaging through one of the over sized trunks where he usually kept the various ingredients he used in creating his potions. "I just want to grab a few things that may be of use to us on our search."
They quickly helped to gather everything the old wizard needed, then hurried back up to the stables, where they found the others anxiously awaiting their arrival.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lady Skie asked her father as he pulled himself up into his saddle. "You're not as young as you used to be, Father."
The old wizard scowled down at his daughter. "I'm not as much a doddering old man as you may think!" He declared, ignoring his brow lock, which had fallen into his eyes. "There's still some life left in me yet!"
"Don't worry," Damion assured her. "we'll look after him. Besides," He smiled at his old mentor. "his wisdom and extensive knowledge of the world could prove quite useful."
"Lady Skie, Dar, and I will look after the castle affairs." Shirk told him, grasping one of Damion's hands in a farewell. "Go bring our little one home."
"Azel will be able to help you keep the castle running smoothly." Sly grunted, nodding to the young boy who had arrived to see them off. "He has been assisting me for months now."
"Make sure that you send us word from time to time," Dar told his friends, his tiny face sad. "and we'll continue to work on our end to discover what we can."
"Are we ready?" Raven asked impatiently, obviously ready to get moving.
Damion frowned. "I just have one last thing that I need to do first."
He walked out into the center of the huge courtyard, then placed one hand on the hilt of the Dragon Sword. "Tempest, I need you." He had never used the powers of the mythical sword to call upon any of the scarlet dragons, but this situation had forced his hand.
A monstrous form soon appeared overhead, blocking out much of the night's sky. The massive dragon suddenly tucked her wings and dropped down to land in the courtyard before him.
"What has happened, Dragonkin?" Tempest asked immediately, knowing he would have never called upon her unless it was serious.
"Someone has taken my daughter, Leia." He told her quickly. "We're going after them."
"What?" The huge scarlet serpent was shocked. "How could this happen? Who is responsible?"
Damion shook his head. "We're not sure. A man and a woman somehow made their way into the castle while Raven and I were busy tracking down one of the local bandit leaders who was responsible for smuggling weapons into the region to start a war with one of the Deolan tribes. The man and woman killed Veren, then snatched Leia from her bed. Damarius tried to stop them, but the woman used magic to blast him aside, and they escaped. Slither happened to catch sight of them, though, and followed them to a secluded cove on the northern shores." His expression was one of fury, but he somehow managed to keep his voice level. "It's pretty obvious now that the whole affair with the bandits was a set up. The man and woman were behind the bandit leader's actions the entire time. They hired him to start some kind of conflict, knowing I would go to investigate. They waited until I was gone, then struck."
"What can I do to help?" The great beast offered immediately.
"Alert the other scarlet dragons to what has occurred, then return here." He frowned. "I'm not sure how long we'll be gone, and I'll feel much better knowing you are here watching over everyone."
"Of course." She agreed instantly, her expression worried. "I'll alert my brethren to what has happened, then I will return to protect the city. I can promise you that no harm shall befall Sevria while I'm here."
"Thank you, my friend." Damion smiled up at her gratefully. "I knew I could count on you."
Tempest launched herself into the air with a single thrust of her powerful wings, then flew off to alert the other scarlet dragons to what had occurred.
Damion returned to the others and pulled himself up into Storm's saddle. "Tempest will return soon to help watch over the city. She went to inform her brethren of what has transpired, then she will return to insure that everyone here remains safe."
"Is that really necessary?" Shirk asked, glancing up at the night sky nervously. "There isn't any reason to believe the city is in danger."
"And I want it to stay that way!" Damion barked at the bearded man, who flinched. "I don't want to come home to find out it has been destroyed!" He sighed heavily. "With her here standing watch over the city, I can be confident that nothing will happen."
"Damion!" Raven cried, her becoming desperate.
The huge warrior glanced to his wife, then nodded in agreement. "I'll send word from time to time to let you know where we are, and what we have discovered."
They all looked at one another for a long moment, then with a regretful sigh, Damion nudged Storm with his heels and led the way out of town.
"Snowfeather!" Damion silently called to his familiar. "We've picked up the kidnappers' trail, and are heading out!"
"Let's go get them, then!" The huge snow owl hooted, swooping down from the darkness above to settle gently on Damion's shoulder.
Chapter 8
They hurried through the only gate in the huge stone battlements that surrounded the city, then carefully made their way out into the dark field beyond the trade road.
"Slither!" Damion called, eager to see the encampment the kidnappers had fled to before boarding their ship. "Slither! We're ready to move!"
"SSSlither isss here, Massster." A nearby shadow suddenly spoke, causing everyone to jump in surprise. "SSSlither is ready, Massster."
"It's going to be rather difficult to follow him when we can't even see him." Sly pointed out with a snort. "Isn't there anything you can do about that?"
Damion thought about it for a moment. "I have an idea." He looked to the one armed beast. "Come here for a moment."
The crippled shadowspawn silently drifted over to stand next to Storm, who snorted in displeasure.
"What are you planning on doing to him?" The little man asked curiously. "Are you going to make him glow in the dark?"
Damion laughed. "Of course not. Just watch." He drew in his magic, allowing the power to course through his body, then gently placed a hand upon the shadowspawn's head. When he removed his hand, then shadowspawn appeared unchanged.
"Well, that was a bit disappointing." Sly commented, his expression crestfallen.
Damion laughed. "Lead the way." He told the confused looking shadowspawn. "We'll be able to follow."
Slither turned and started off into the darkness, but stopped and looked back as the others suddenly gasped in wonder. Its eyes widened in surprise as it saw a trail of glowing footprints leading up to where it stood. "Massster?"
"It's only so we can follow you in the darkness." He noticed the look of horror that suddenly crossed the beast's face. "Don't worry," He assured Slither quickly. "I'll remove the enchantment once we reach the encampment."
Seeming satisfied, the huge beast quickly started off, leaving a trail of glowing foot prints that were easily seen in the darkness.
They traveled through the remainder of the night until early the next morning, when Damion finally called for them to halt next to a stream that carved its way through a secluded valley.
"Why are we stopping?" Raven demanded, her eyes wild. "We need to keep moving!"
"It won't do us any good if we kill the horses." Damion told her, leading Storm over to the stream to drink. "We mustn't let ourselves lose control of our senses if we want to have any chance of getting Leia back. We need to stay calm."
The young woman's face grew bright red with anger, and she seemed to be on the verge of exploding, but then her expression suddenly faltered, and her eyes filled with tears. "I want my Leia back!" She wailed, running over to bury her face in his arms.
"Don't worry," He murmured reassuringly. "We won't stop searching for her until we get her back."
"Are we going to set up camp?" Sly asked a few minutes later, after they had finished tending to the horses.
Damion glanced at Raven, who stared at him pleadingly, then shook his head. "We'll let the horses rest for another hour or so, then we'll get moving again. It's still three days until we reach the coast."
"Not ssso far, Massster." Slither disagreed. "SSSlither isss taking you on a different path, which isss much fassster than following the trade road. We ssshould reach the coassst in two nightsss, if we ssstop once more to ressst."
"That's good." Damion said approvingly. "We need to reach the coast as quickly as possible."
Sly rummaged through their packs for a moment and produced a three roasted chickens, and a large flask of wine. "We can at least grab a bite to eat before we set back off." He deftly cut one of the chickens in half with his dagger, and handed them to Damion and Raven. He quickly sliced the second bird in two and tossed half to Damarius, then paused for a moment to stare at the shadowspawn warily. "Are you hungry?" He asked the hulking beast finally, holding out the last bird in offering.
Slither tentatively took the chicken and sniffed it several times. "It hasss been burned."
"It has been cooked, not burned." Sly snorted. "Give it a taste."
The shadowspawn tore a large chunk from the chicken with its teeth, and began to chew the flesh, bones and all. Its eyes widened in surprise and pleasure, then it nodded to the little man in thanks.
They finished their meal, then set back off down the path, following along behind the swift moving shadowspawn as it hurried through the rough countryside. They arrived at the small encampment two nights later, just as Slither had promised.
"The encampment isss jussst ahead, Massster." The huge shadowspawn hissed to Damion quietly after waving for everyone to halt. "Massster ssshould leave the horsssesss, and continue on foot."
"Good idea." Damion slid down from his saddle and handed Storm's reins over to Raven. "Wait here while Slither and I check things out."
"Not going to happen." The dark haired woman stated in a flat tone, sliding down from her horse and handing over the reins to Sly. "I'm going with you."
"Very well." The huge warrior knew his young wife well enough to know better than to try and convince her to stay behind.
The huge shadowspawn silently led them forward through the darkness, its footprints still glowing faintly, leaving trail for them to follow. It slowed to a stop next to a thick grove of bushes, and carefully pulled them aside.
The encampment proved to be little more than a crude shack, and a rickety old dock, built around a well concealed cove which eventually led out to the open sea. On first glance, the place looked abandoned, but on closer inspection, Damion noticed that there was smoke pouring up from the crude chimney.
"You have done a great job, Slither." Damion assured the crippled shadowspawn in a whisper, his eyes still scanning the camp. "I cannot thank you enough."
"Massster?" The scaled beast glanced back at his glowing footprints meaningfully.
"Oh, of course." He quickly drew in his magic, then placed his hand upon Slither's broad shoulder and released it. "I shall find some way to repay you for your help."
"What doesss Massster wisssh of SSSlither now?
"Return to Sly and Damarius and wait for us to signal that it's safe. Raven and I will go find out who's in there, and what they know about the kidnappers."
"Asss you wisssh, Massster."
Damion watched as the shadowspawn disappeared into the night, then turned to Raven. "Are you ready?"
Without giving him an answer, she shot off through the grove of bushes and made straight for the shack. A well placed boot easily buckled the crudely made door, and the dark haired woman jumped inside, an arrow notched and at the ready.
Inside the rickety shack they found a single occupant. An old man, half starved, and dressed in filthy rags, sat next to a small fire, a hopeless expression on his face.
Damion stepped into the shack behind his young wife and gazed around the room, which was littered with piles of refuse. It was obvious that the old man had been there for some time, though he had done little to clean up after himself.
"Who's that?" The old man croaked, his head whipping back and forth fearfully. "Who's there? Can't you just leave an old man alone to die?"
Damion peered a little closer at the ragged old man, and realized that his eyes were covered with a thick white film, rendering him completely blind.
Raven looked startled to find the old blind man huddled up inside helplessly. Her fierce expression suddenly crumbled, and she lowered her bow. "What are you doing here, Grandfather?" She asked him in a broken voice. "Why are you out here all by yourself?"
"I'm here," The old man sighed in a weary voice. "because that witch and her pet ogre left me here to die."
"Witch?" The young woman asked in confusion. "What witch?"
The old man sighed again. "My name is Garret. I was a sailor aboard a cargo ship out of Naquia; that's on the eastern continent. Our ship was hired several months ago to bring a woman and her man servant here, then return them to the eastern continent."
"What did these people look like?"
"The man was huge, probably one of the largest man I have ever seen. He was completely hairless, and wore some type of strange looking bull hide armor. He smelled worse than any man I have ever met."
Damion and Raven exchanged glances. "And the woman?"
The blind man started to laugh a dry, coughing laugh that slowly turned into sobs. "The witch tried to conceal her features beneath a hooded robe, but just after we made landfall, I happened to get a clear view of her face, and for that, she took my sight!" He began to cry once more.
"What did she look like?" Raven asked desperately, rushing over to the poor man's side. "Please! You must tell me what she looked like!"
The old man merely continued to sob uncontrollably.
"Damion!" She cried frantically. "Can't you do anything to help him? We need to know what he knows!"
Damion considered it for a moment, then quickly walked to the door of the shack and stepped outside. Placing two fingers to his lips, he blew a shrill whistle that echoed through the quiet mountains. He waited for several moments until Sly, Damarius, and Slither appeared through the grove of bushes with the horses in tow. "Get in here." He growled at Damarius, then hurried back into the shack.
The old wizard stared after him for a moment in surprised bafflement, then he quickly hurried to follow.
"Can you help him?" Raven asked Damarius as he rushed into the shack after Damion. "He has information that we need!"
The old wizard took one look at the weeping man, then rummaged through the pouches on his belt and withdrew a small brown vial. He hurried to the sobbing man, and gently, but firmly, tilted his head back and poured a single drop of the vial's thick syrupy contents into his gaping maw.
"What did you give him?" Raven asked, watching as the man's tears slowly subsided.
"Quitha juice." The old man grunted absently, placing a hand on the man's forehead. "This man has been cursed!" He exclaimed in shock. He looked carefully i
nto the man's clouded eyes. The old man merely stared back blankly, unable to see the old wizard.
"Can you help him?"
Damarius shook his head. "I can't, but Damion can if he uses the Dragon Gem. It would be the only thing powerful enough to remove such an enchantment."
Raven turned to stare at Damion with pleading eyes.
The huge warrior immediately drew the Dragon Sword and went to the blind man's side. As soon as he laid his hand upon the poor man, he could feel the alien foulness of the curse which was the source of the milky white film that was causing the man's loss of vision. He drew in his own magic, then focused it onto the sparkling gem at the end of the Dragon Sword.
Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God Page 10
