"Just keep a tight rein on you horses." He warned them with a smile. He drew in his magic and focused it carefully, then released the power through the Dragon Sword.
The resulting explosion shook the earth, and leveled the forest surrounding the trade road. The barricade disintegrated into millions of tiny splinters which sliced through everything on the far side for two hundred feet. The shrapnel ripped apart the dragonspawn and their leaders, shredding the scaled creatures as they hid waiting to spring their ambush.
Raven's jaw dropped open in stunned surprise. "By the gods!" She turned to stare at Damion, who was carefully watching the surrounding forest for the first sign of an attack.
"I bet they felt that back in Jaghera!" Veren laughed, though his face was just as stunned as Raven's.
"What are they doing now?" Damion silently asked Snowfeather, who had reappeared overhead.
"They're fleeing!" The owl replied in surprise. "They're breaking off into groups and disappearing deeper into the forest! I think you scared them off!"
"The dragonspawn are clearing out." Damion told them, sliding the Dragon Sword back into its sheath.
"I guess that they didn't want to play with you anymore." Veren laughed again. "They must have realized that you don't play well with others!"
"I don't know where they would get that idea." Raven said sarcastically.
They continued down the trade road at a trot with Snowfeather still gliding overhead to keep watch. It began to rain heavily enough to drizzle through the thick forest canopy overhead, but they ignored it and continued to slog through the mud towards the east.
That evening they set up camp in a large hollow in the roots beneath an ancient grove of trees. The hollow was large enough to comfortably house the companions and their horses, and showed some evidence of being used as a shelter many times before. The entrance was obscured by a curtain of hanging moss that grew in long florescent green strands, and had a strange spicy scent that was quite pleasant to breathe.
They dined that evening on a stew Raven whipped up using the last of the deer meat and a number of strange roots and vegetables she gathered in the forest.
"We may want to take a few days to rest here before we enter Veiria." The dark haired woman advised them as she slowly stirred the stew with a long wooden spoon. "The only town between here and the border was Mapleton and it was destroyed months ago, so we should take some time to prepare before we enter that desolate land. We can find most of what we need here in the forest to replenish our supplies."
"What about water?" Veren asked. "We'll need plenty of water for ourselves and the horses once we enter the desert."
"There are a number of springs along the trade route. They're not hard to miss in the sea of rock and sand because it's the only places where trees grow."
They both looked to Damion, who shrugged. "I don't see the harm in resting up a bit before entering Veiria. We've been pushing our horses pretty hard for the last several weeks. It probably wouldn't hurt to give them a day or two of rest."
Storm, who was corralled with the other horses, neighed loudly in agreement, causing them all to laugh.
"I guess it's unanimous then." Veren nodded agreement. "We'll spend the next day or two resting and foraging for supplies, then we can leave rested and refreshed and make our way across the border."
They finished their dinner, then laid back on their bedrolls wearily.
"We may give some thought about travelling at night once we cross into Veiria." Raven suggested in a tired voice. "The heat during the day can become unbearable on a good day, and deadly on a bad day. Its much cooler during the night, sometimes cold enough to freeze your water supply solid."
"Have you ever traveled through Veiria?" Damion asked curiously.
The dark haired girl nodded. "Once. We were following a thief who had murdered one of my cousins. We made it halfway across the cursed land before we found the man already dead. He had apparently froze to death during the night." Her voice was somber. "We barely made it back to Deiria alive."
"I guess we will listen to the voice of experience then."
Raven smiled, then jumped nervously as Snowfeather appeared through the curtain of hanging moss.
"I think the shadowspawn are back." The huge owl chirped in agitation. "I haven't actually seen them, but there is something definitely moving around out in the forest that is very skilled at remaining hidden."
"Damn creatures!" Damion cursed aloud. "I'm getting a little tired of them dogging our steps!"
"What is it?" Veren asked, leaping to his feet.
"Snowfeather says there is something moving around out in the forest, but he can't seem to locate it." He growled, climbing to his feet. "I think I'm going to go find out what it is and make sure it will not follow us any further."
"I'll come with you." Raven volunteered.
Damion shook his head firmly. "I need you to stay here with Veren and guard the camp and the horses. I'll take care of this alone."
"I know these forests better than anyone!" She objected with anger. "You need me!"
"You wouldn't be able to follow me." He told her, smiling mischievously. "You would just slow me down." Before she could reply, he drew in his magic and slipped into the form of a panther. He disappeared into the night, leaving her with an astonished look on her face.
"Don't worry." Veren assured her. "I'm sure he knows what he's doing."
Raven continued to stare at the hollow's entrance with a look of disbelief. She finally turned to look at the one eared man. "Does he always go around blowing thing up, and transforming people into trees, and changing his forms, and such?" She asked in a weak voice.
Veren considered the question for a moment, then nodded. "Aye. I've only followed him for the last six or eight months, but I have heard many stories from his closest friends." He laughed. "Apparently, this a fairly common occurrence when you associate with Damion!"
She shook her head in disbelief, then sat back with her bow in her lap to await the unusual warrior's return, wondering what she had managed to get herself into.
**************
Damion relaxed as the sounds and smells of the forest engulfed his senses. He slipped into the shadows with Snowfeather ghosting silently through the tree tops overhead, his keen eyes alert for movement. It wasn't long before Damion located a strange reptilian scent in the air, and quickly tracked it to a pair of shadowspawn who were drifting silently through the forest, obviously in search for where he and the others were camped.
He drifted up behind the unsuspecting creatures on silent paws, then paused as he slipped back into his own form. He struck quickly, knowing that the creatures were ferocious in battle, and within a few moments, the shadowspawn lay dead at his feet. He slipped back into the form of a panther and slipped back into the darkness, determined to be rid of every creature that continued to follow them.
He located the next group of four shadowspawn less than five hundred feet from their hidden campsite, and fell upon the creatures from the darkness, lopping off two of the beast's heads before they could react. He charged at a third shadowspawn, the Dragon Sword whistling through the air. The shadowspawn tried to dodge clear, but the sword bit deep into the beast's waist, shearing through scale, meat, and bone with ease. The shadowspawn fell twitching to the forest floor, its scaled body sliced cleanly in half.
The fourth shadowspawn tried desperately to flee, blindly crashing through the thick underbrush in an frantic attempt to escape, but Damion easily caught up to the terrified creature and cut it down with a massive overhand blow that dropped the beast in its tracks.
He searched for another hour in the forest surrounding their campsite for any other creatures, but only located one last shadowspawn slowly making its way through the forest, presumably in search of its companions. Damion slowly circled the creature until he was directly in its path, then returned to his own form and awaited his prey.
The shadowspawn stopped when it saw him sta
nding less than a dozen feet away, a murderous glint in his eyes. Its eyes widened in alarm as he started forward, then it suddenly dropped to its knees, and threw its arms up in submission.
He noticed with some surprise that it was missing half of one of its arms and realized that this was the same shadowspawn that he had encountered several weeks before. He was even more surprised when the beast spoke in a common tongue.
"Mercccy, Dragon Man!" It hissed in a harsh voice. "SSStay your hand!"
Damion did not strike, but his arm remained coiled and ready to strike. "So shadowspawn can speak."
"We can." The crippled beast snarled, still on its knees groveling.
"I have faced you before, have I not?"
"You have." It raised its half arm, which had healed considerably in the weeks since their last encounter.
"Why do you continue to trouble me?" He growled at the shadowspawn. "Why do you insist on bothering us?"
The shadowspawn hissed fearfully. "The Mother ordersss, the ssspawn followsss."
"The Mother? Who is the Mother?"
"The Mother issss." The beast stated simply. The Mother returned to thisss world, and her brood followsss."
"Why does the Mother order you to attack us?" Damion snarled, advancing forward a step angrily.
"The Mother wissshesss usss to tessst you." It whimpered.
"Where is the Mother now?" He stared down at the trembling creature, his mind working quickly.
The shadowspawn shook its head. "Mother'sss not here. Mother'sss resssting beneath the fiery mountainsss."
"Where are these fiery mountains?"
"Not here." It was obvious that the beast did not know. "But the Mother knowsss you killed one of the brood." It continued. "The Mother ordersss the ssspawn to find the Dragon Man, tessst him, and..." It stopped, its eyes falling upon the Dragon Sword.
Damion noticed its sudden interest on the sword. "Why should I let you live?" He asked harshly. "If I do, you'll just return with more spawn!"
"Nay!" The beast hissed desperately. "The ssspawn may return, but ssstay your hand and I ssshall never come againssst you again! My life will be yoursss, Massster!"
He stared at the beast for a moment, then had a sudden thought. "You will take a message to the Mother." He told the prostrated creature. "Tell her to take her brood and leave this world, or I will hunt each and every one of them down and wipe them from this fair world!"
"I will take your wordsss to the Mother, Massster." The crippled shadowspawn promised, slowly rising to its feet.
Damion glared at the beast for another moment. "Go then." He watched as the crippled beast disappeared into the darkness, then slipped back into the form of a panther and slowly made his way back towards the camp.
"That was certainly interesting." Snowfeather hooted, appearing from the canopy above.
"And enlightening! It seems that I have drawn this brood mother's attention!"
"And if you hadn't before, sending that message certainly will!"
He paused as the snowy owl landed on a tree branch nearby. "Is there any sign of other shadowspawn nearby?"
"There is nothing else moving except for a pack of feral hogs that are ripping up the forest floor nearby in search of food."
"Hogs, you say? Are they close?"
"Not too far." Snowfeather chirped, fluffing his feathers. "I take it you haven't yet had your fill of blood?"
"We still need supplies." He explained absently, his mind still on the strange encounter with the shadowspawn. "Let's go take down a couple of hogs to bring back with us."
"These hogs are a bit large for me." Snowfeather hooted doubtfully. "But their are hundreds of quail and rabbits around. I can grab a couple of them if you would like."
When Damion and Snowfeather finally returned to their hidden campsite, they found Veren sleeping comfortably near the fire while Raven stood watch near the entrance.
"Damion!" She exclaimed in surprise and relief as he appeared through the luminous curtain of moss carrying two large hogs and several large rabbits which he had dangling from his belt. She sat her bow aside and jumped to her feet. "I had begun to worry!"
"There was no reason to worry." He assured her, dropping the two hogs next to the fire. "I came across these while I dealing with a number of shadowspawn who were lurking nearby."
Veren came awake with a snort. He lifted his head and looked at Damion, then to the two large hogs laying near his feet. "I'm guessing it's bacon for breakfast, right?"
"Either that or rabbit." He smiled, holding up Snowfeather's catch. "Get up. I've learned a few things while I was gone."
Veren rose from his bedroll and joined them near the fire. "Did you locate any shadowspawn?"
Damion nodded. "I found a number of them lurking nearby scouring the forest for us." He went on to describe his encounter with the crippled shadowspawn. "It seems this 'Mother' has taken a great interest in me."
"I'm still having a hard time swallowing the fact that these creatures can speak." Veren told him, shaking his head.
"Believe me, it can speak. It told me that the Mother wanted the shadowspawn to test me. I believe that's what the barricade was, one of those tests."
"I wonder if she has learned what she wished to learn." The one eared man pondered in a quiet voice. "Or if we should expect more of these tests."
"The one armed shadowspawn said that others will return. I'm sure this is far from over."
"You don't think that this 'Mother' will take her brood and return to where they came from?" Raven asked, a hopeful look on her face. "You already killed one of her children. Don't you think she will try to protect the rest?"
Damion shook his head. "I don't believe she will leave. I think her and her brood will continue to create as much mayhem as they can." He looked at Veren, who had started to look over the hogs. "Do you know of any fiery mountains? It said that the Mother was resting beneath the fiery mountains."
"I have heard stories of a volcanic mountain far to the east on an island off the coast of Arleia." Raven told him suddenly, her face excited. "That might be the fiery mountain that it was speaking of!"
"The disturbances began in the east." Veren reminded them as he began to drag one of the hogs to the side to be butchered. "It would seem reasonable to assume that the island volcano may be the brood's lair."
"We'll continue to make our way east." Damion decided, drawing his dagger to aid Veren with the hogs. "Hopefully we can figure a way through Arleia to the coast and find a ship. We'll pick up what information we can along the way, but so far, this is probably our best lead to finding where these creatures nest."
"And what will we do if we do find them?" Raven asked curiously. "What will happen then?"
"I will alert the scarlet dragons of what we have learned." He told her grimly. "That is when the real battle will begin."
They spent the next two days hunting and gathering supplies, allowing the horses to rest up for the journey ahead. Between Damion's nightly prowls, and Raven's impressive hunting skills, they soon had plenty of meat to last them for weeks.
Raven disappeared several times during those two days, returning each time with a number of fruits and vegetables that she gathered in large numbers. "Try this." She tossed Damion a large melon when she returned from one of these ventures, a mischievous smile on her face. "We make our wine from this fruit."
Damion used his dagger to slice a large piece of melon, then took a bite of the pale pulp. It was sweet, with deep purple juice that reminded Damion of the wine he had tasted back at River Pass.
"Careful." She warned, taking a slice for herself. "Eating too much can have an intoxicating effect."
"Really?" Veren asked, a grin on his face. He took an entire melon from the pile Raven brought with her.
Damion laughed. "You and Sly could be brothers!"
"I think you've said that before." The one eared man grunted, slicing into the melon eagerly.
Raven smiled, then looked to Damion. "
I think we should probably wait until tomorrow evening before we depart." She advised. "It will be unbearably hot in Veiria during the day, and the horses would fair much better in the cold at night."
"How cold will it get at night?" Veren asked through a mouthful of melon.
"Cold enough to freeze our water bags solid." She said, taking another bite of melon.
"So it's either sweat to death or freeze to death?" The one eared man asked, wiping the purple juices from his lips.
Damion shook his head. "It shouldn't be that bad. As long as we stay out of the sun during the day and keep moving at night, we'll be just fine."
"Says the man that's fireproof." Veren snorted, taking another bite of melon. His face was growing increasingly redder as he ate, and his eyes were beginning to glaze over. "The heat won't bother you!"
"There are a number of caves that are commonly used by travelers to escape the heat." Raven assured him. "The shifting sands carve deep caverns into the cliff sides which are used by the caravans traveling along the trade route. It is much cooler in these caves. One of them is said to even have a natural spring inside."
"Then we'll leave tomorrow evening, a few hours before dusk." Damion decided. "By the time we reach the border, it should be nearly midnight. Perhaps the darkness will help conceal our crossing from prying eyes."
"Finally!" Snowfeather hooted in exasperation. The huge owl perched on one of the packs preening his feathers. "It's about time that we start traveling at a decent hour!"
They dined that evening on several pheasants that Raven provided while showing off her skills with a longbow, and freshly roasted nuts that they gathered from a nearby tree, then spent the rest of the evening relaxing near the fire while Snowfeather patrolled the area as he hunted.
They slept in late the following morning, then spent most of the afternoon preparing the horses, who seemed eager to be on their way. Damion was as nearly as impatient as the horses and finally decided to set off, even though it was still several hours until dusk.
Raven led them back to the the trade road and they continued towards the border of Deiria and Veiria, rested and refreshed from their extended stay. After they had traveled five or six miles, the forest abruptly fell away to open grassland. They pressed on as the sun set, moving at a mile eating trot.
Omensent: Rise of the Shadow Dragons Page 15
