"Fifty?" Raven exclaimed with a confused expression. "I thought Captain Harper said that there were only twenty thousand?"
"I guess more arrived while he was trying to get word to us." Damion shrugged. He looked around curiously. "Where is Captain Harper anyway?"
"He and Slither wandered down to the tavern to have a couple of drinks." Sly told him with a laugh. "The old sea dog is fascinated with our scaly friend. They've been inseparable since you left."
"Really?" The huge warrior asked in surprise. "That's rather surprising."
"Slither has that effect on people." Tempest rumbled. "I was not very fond of him when I first met him, but he even managed to win me over."
"What do we do now that the Etazk army has been stopped?" Raven asked curiously, scooping her giggling daughter into her arms.
"We get word to our friends and alert them to the danger." Damion shrugged. "We've only succeeded in delaying the Etazk. We haven't stopped them. They'll start their war just as soon as they are able to rebuild their fleet, but we've at least bought ourselves some time so we can warn our friends and prepare for what's to come."
"I'll send out messengers to warn everyone to begin assembling their men." Sly sighed. "Once the Deola, the dwarves, and the people of Kainpre are warned, we can start alerting the smaller settlements. We're going to need every able bodied man we can find if we hope to stand a chance against an army of that size."
"We need to keep an eye on their movements." Damarius frowned. "We need to know when they sail out of Salastar, and where they are going to head first."
"I'll go keep an eye on them." Tempest volunteered. "As soon as they prepare to depart, I'll come warn you, then return to follow them so you know where they are planning to strike."
"Thank you, Tempest." Damion told her gratefully. "I truly appreciate your help."
"It's my pleasure, Dragonkin." Though the great serpent was still under the control of the Dragon Sword, the huge warrior refused to use its power to force the scarlet dragons to obey him. Everything the great serpents did for him, including helping him locate Leia when she had been abducted, they did out of respect for him having released them from the confines of the Dragon Gem.
"Wait!" Leia objected, her tiny face determined.
"What's wrong, little one?" Tempest asked, staring down at the little girl in concern.
"My father promised me that you would take me on a flight through mountains when he returned from investigating the Etazk!" She crossed her arms and turned to stare at her father expectantly.
"I had forgotten about that." He admitted with a rueful grin. He glanced up at the massive scarlet dragon. "Do you mind?"
"Of course not." Tempest lowered herself down to allow Damion and Leia to climb aboard, then launched herself into the air.
After taking them on a quick flight through several narrow gullies and over numerous mountain peaks, they returned to Sevria and touched down in the courtyard once again, much to Raven's obvious relief.
"How was that?" Damion asked his daughter once the had dismounted..
"It was wonderful!" Leia's face was full of wonder. "It was everything that I dreamed it would be!" She looked up at Tempest. "Thank you, Tempest. It was something that I'll never forget!"
"I am happy that you enjoyed it. Once this is all over, we can go again, if you would like." She turned her gaze to Damion. "I'll return as soon as I have news." The huge scarlet serpent launched herself back into the air with a single thrust of her wings, and quickly sailed off towards the west.
They watched as Tempest disappeared into the distance, then Damion looked to the others. "I guess we had better begin our own preparations."
"I'll go see to the messengers." Sly told him, starting off for the castle.
"I'll go dig up everything I can on Etaz and His followers." Damarius told them. "We'll want to know all we can about them."
"I guess I'll go speak with the Captain of the Guard." Shirk told them. "We'll need to begin preparing the city in case of a siege." He hurried toward the battlements with a worried expression buried beneath his thick beard.
"Lady Skie and I will go see to little Leia's dinner." Raven smiled, taking her daughter by one hand.
"I'm going to go find Captain Harper and fill him in on everything we've discovered. I'm sure we can count on him to deliver a message to our friends in Jaghera." Damion knelt down and kissed Leia noisily on the forehead. "I'll return soon." He watched as Raven and Lady Skie led Leia up to the massive keep, then slowly began to make his way towards the town below.
He found Captain Harper and Slither in one of the local taverns enjoying a tankard of ale together while the locals watched on in amusement. For them, the novelty of having a shadowspawn living amongst them had lost its shine, but it never failed to amuse them when a traveler met the huge shadowy beast for the very first time.
"Damion!" Captain Harper roared in greeting. "I thought you had left for Salastar!" He waved to the bar maid and motioned for her to bring more drinks.
"I did," Damion told the old sea captain, joining him and Slither at their table. "and you were right. The Etazk are indeed preparing for war." He went on to tell them of what he had discovered. "Apparently, Etaz has returned to lead His people in a war to bring all the people of the world under His dominion."
"What can be done to ssstop them?" Slither asked, draining his tankard, then running his serpentine tongue across his scaly lips in satisfaction.
"Tempest already destroyed their fleet. That should slow them down quite a bit, or at least long enough for us to get word to everyone so they can begin making preparations to face them."
"Couldn't you just have a couple of your dragons go and destroy their army for us?" Captain Harper asked with a puzzled expression.
Damion frowned, then shook his head. "I will not do that." He declared in a firm tone. "I will not force the dragons to slaughter thousands of men, even if it would prevent a war."
"I was afraid you might say that." The old sea captain scowled. "Sometimes you're too honorable for your own good."
"We've all thought that about Damion from time to time." A new voice chirped in a youthful tone.
They all turned to see a small boy with fiery red hair and freckles standing a few feet away with an enormous smile plastered across his face.
"Dar!" Damion laughed in genuine delight as he jumped up from his seat and scooped the tiny boy up into a crushing hug. "How have you been? We haven't seen you in months!"
Though he looked like a child, they all new the boy to be actually be one of the Alena, a race of childlike sprites that lived for thousands of years. He was one of Damion's closest friends, and had been vital in retrieving the Dragon Gem and helping to release the scarlet dragons back into the world once more.
"I went home to spend some time among my people." Dar groaned, his ribs creaking. "It had been a while since I looked in on things back in the Cursed Forest."
"And how are things back home?" The huge warrior asked, sitting the childlike sprite down with a laugh, and motioning to an empty chair.
"Blissfully peaceful." The boy sighed with a dreamy smile. "The scars left over from Kaviel are healing, and those who call the forest home have been flourishing since your last visit. Ket Matoc, Layi, and K'thar all send their regards, along with greetings from the rest of the herd."
"Herd?" Captain Harper asked curiously.
"They are centaurs." Damion explained with a laugh. "Half man, half horse. They dwell in the Cursed forest, far to the south of the Godstear Mountains."
The old sea captain stared at them skeptically. "You're joking, right?"
"The horssse-men are real." Slither assured him with a hiss. "The ssspawn will not enter the foressstsss to the sssouth out of fear of them."
"They have welcomed over a dozen new foals into the herd since my last visit." The childlike sprite continued, climbing up into the chair. "It's encouraging to see their numbers multiply. They were on the very brink of
extinction." He turned to look at Damion. "I picked up a bit of interesting news when I made my way through Crete. It appears the Dark Forger has finally gone to meet his gods."
"The mad old dwarf?" Damion asked in surprise. "He's dead?"
"Aye." Dar confirmed with a nod. "I overheard some of the locals when they were discussing his passing. Apparently, he had been dead for quite some time before anyone found him."
"Who is this Dark Forger?" Captain Harper asked curiously.
"He isss the mad dwarf who forged the Dragon SSSword for the sssorcerer who created the Dragon Gem." Slither hissed in a dark tone. "The Dark Forger forged the Dragon SSSword to be the key that unlocked the Dragon Gem'sss full power."
Everyone stared at the shadowspawn in astonishment.
"All ssspawn know the ssstory of the sssorcerer and the Dark Forger." Slither explained with a shrug.
"Well, you certainly chose an opportune time to return." Damion told Dar, taking a long drink from his foaming tankard. "It appears as though the Etazk are assembling in the west."
"The Etazk, you say?" Dar frowned. "Being pushed to renew their war against the rest of the world by the return of Etaz, no doubt."
"It seems He was just waiting for an opportunity to return. He has gathered an army fifty thousand strong in Salastar to restart His war."
"Fifty?" Captain Harper choked as he tried to take a sip of his ale, and began to cough uncontrollably. Slither pounded the old sailor on his back several times, and he soon regained his composure. "There were no more than twenty thousand when we sailed out of Salastar!"
"Etaz must have brought in more men after you sailed off." Damion shrugged. "There were enough ships to carry them all too, before Tempest destroyed them all."
"This is not the first time Etaz has attempted to bring the world under His rule." Dar informed them in a worried tone. "I've heard stories dating back from before the gods left this world, when Etaz first attempted to conquer all of the races. The entire world was in chaos. All of the various races of the world fought one another in a battle that nearly destroyed them all, and the Etazk were the worst. They overwhelmed several races and forced them to convert to the worship of Etaz, sacrificing all those who refused to forsake their gods. In less than a hundred years, the Etazk conquered the entire western continent, and brought it under Etaz's control."
"How were they finally stopped?"
"The other gods agreed to set aside their various disagreements and commanded their followers to band together to drive the Etazk back to the west." The childlike Alena's voice was grave. "There was a tremendous battle in which all of their combined armies met the Etazk in a last stand against the God of the Underworld. Elves, dwarves, and men joined together to repel His people, while sorcerers, imbued with powers bestowed upon them by their gods, released horrors upon the Etazk army. Hundreds of thousands were killed, but in the end, the Etazk were finally driven back to the western continent. It was then that the gods decided that if they allowed things to continue, the entire world would surely be destroyed."
"Is that when the gods made their pact?" Captain Harper asked curiously.
"It was." Dar confirmed with a nod. "Several of the gods were opposed to the pact, though none more than Etaz himself. He wished to renew His war with the rest of the world, but the other gods forced Him to accept the pact and retreat to the heavens so the world would not be destroyed."
"How doesss one force a god to do anything?" Slither asked the childlike sprite, accepting a fresh tankard of foaming ale from the serving girl and taking a long drink.
"The other gods threatened to invade the western continent and destroy every single Etazk. A god that doesn't have any worshippers is powerless. The Etazk were weak after being defeated, and Etaz knew they wouldn't be able to face the combined forces of the other gods, so he finally agreed to the pact, knowing His people would eventually recover and, once again, renew their war against the rest of mankind."
"So Etaz has just been waiting for His chance to return to the world once again," Damion sighed in resignation. "and when I forced Draco to break the pact, it provided Him with the opportunity that He had been waiting for."
"How do you plan on stopping them if you won't have your pet dragons destroy them?" Captain Harper asked in an anxious tone. "I don't fancy bowing down to a heathen god."
"I'm not sure," The huge warrior admitted in a plaintive tone. "but Tempest destroyed their fleet, so we should have some time to devise a battle plan." He looked to the old sea captain. "Could you take word to King Atorius and Queen Ann in Jaghera for us? They will be able to spread the word to the Deirians, Veirians, and Arleians. We don't want any of them to be caught unaware."
"We should probably send word to Naquia while we're at it." Dar advised him, his tiny face worried. "If all else fails, we may need to gather all the races together once again to repel the Etazk, as the gods were forced to do during the last war."
"I'll locate a merchant ship heading towards the east when I return to Sierra." Captain Harper assured them. "I'll make sure they get word to the authorities in Naquia. The word should spread like wildfire from there."
"SSShouldn't we make plansss to attack the Etazk before they are ready?" Slither hissed in curiosity. "We may be able to ssstop their war before it even beginsss."
"Perhaps if we had more time," Damion told him with a sigh. "but it would take us far too long to gather a large enough force and enough ships to strike them." He was struck with a sudden idea. "Are there any dragonspawn on the western continent?"
"Of courssse." Slither's hiss ended with a snort of amusement. "The ssspawn are everywhere."
"Do you think they would be willing to aid us against the Etazk?"
"SSSome, perhapsss," The shadowspawn replied after a moment's thought. "Mossst of the ssspawn went into hiding after Draco returned to Hisss place among the heavensss. It isss doubtful that they would emerge to aid usss."
Damion frowned. "That's too bad. Their help could prove invaluable if things start to go bad."
"SSSlither will attempt to get word to the ssspawn, here in the mountainsss, asss well asss thossse in the wessst. Perhapsss when thossse in hiding hear that the Dragon Lord isss requesssting their aid, they may emerge to come to your defenssse."
"That would be a nice change." Dar snorted sardonically. "We're usually trying to fight the savages off." He glanced up at huge shadowspawn. "No offense intended, Slither."
"None taken." Slither smiled a toothy smile. "SSSlither isss no longer one of the ssspawn. SSSlither isss of SSSevria now."
"And we're all proud to have you as one of us." Damion told him sincerely.
They lingered over their tankards for a few more minutes, then bid the captain good night and adjourned to the keep, where they found Raven, Lady Skie, and Leia finishing their evening meal in Damion's office.
"Dar!" The young girl squealed in delight. She jumped from her chair and hurried over to engulf the red haired sprite in a giggling hug.
"Look at you!" Dar laughed as she began to smother him in kisses. "You've grown at least six inches since my last visit!"
"I'm taller than you are now!" She laughed happily.
"We haven't seen you for a while." Raven commented, an amused expression on her face as she watched her daughter fawn over the childlike sprite. "I was beginning to wonder what had happened to you."
"I went home." Dar sighed happily. "Every now and then I like to return to the Cursed Forest to rest and relax, not to mention look in on my people."
"How many Alena are there?" Leia asked curiously, wandering over to Slither and nimbly scampering up his back to perch on one of his broad shoulders. "Are there a lot of them?"
"There are but a few hundred of us left, I'm afraid." Dar frowned sadly. "We once dwelt in every part of the land, but now, the few of us that remain dwell in the forest. It is one of the few places left in the world that is safe enough for us to live in peace, without the interference of dwarves, elves, or m
en."
"It sounds like a lovely place." Raven sighed longingly. She had grown up in Deiria, a heavily forested land that was wild and untamed, but had followed Damion to Sevria after aiding him in destroying the brood mother of the shadow dragons, where they were joined in marriage soon after.
"It is." Dar assured her. "It is one of the last places left in the world that is relatively untouched by the outside world."
"Will you take me there someday?" Leia asked him in her most wheedling tone, batting her eyes prettily.
They all laughed.
"We'll all go for a visit someday," Damion promised his daughter. "but for now, you need to head to bed. It's already well past your bedtime." He looked to Slither, who seemed completely content with the young girl sitting on his shoulder. "Do you mind seeing her to her room? We'll be along in a little bit to look in on her."
"Of courssse." The huge shadowspawn looked up to Leia, who had a slightly sulky look on her face. "Are you ready, little one?"
"I never get to do anything fun." She pouted, thrusting out her lower lip unhappily.
Damion watched in amusement as Slither and his daughter disappeared towards their sleeping quarters, then he gestured for the others to sit while he flagged down a passing servant and asked them to bring food and drink for everyone. "Where's Sly?" He asked his wife curiously.
"The last time I saw him, he and Axel were busy rounding up messengers to send to the south." She told him with a shrug. "They're probably down at the stables getting them ready to ride."
"That's good." He nodded approvingly. "The faster we get news to everyone, the faster they can begin to get themselves prepared." He scratched his head thoughtfully. "I think once everyone has been notified, we should probably gather their representatives, and have a meeting to decide how we should handle things. The most intelligent thing to do would be gather into one force, but that doesn't mean everyone will agree to join forces."
"You don't think they'll refuse to join with us when they realize the danger that the Etazk pose, do you?" Lady Skie asked worriedly.
Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) Page 5
