Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (17 page)

"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 travel
ed 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 worr
y," 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, Ma
ssster." 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 litt
le 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."

"Wh
at 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?" Rave
n 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 into 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.

Th
e 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.

Using every ounce of concentration to control the staggering force produced by the enchanted stone, he carefully reversed the blade,
and gently placed it against the blind man's forehead. He released his magic through the stone, and the old man suddenly let out a startled yelp, his eyes going wide with shock.