Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (21 page)

"Not just yet. I need to make contact with the elder
spirits first. I'll need to feed afterwards though, so make sure you have a sacrifice prepared."

"As you wish, Mistress."

After fleeing Sevria with the Dragon Lord's only child, she and Boris returned to the ship that brought them to the south and immediately cast off, knowing it was only a matter of time until he picked up their trail, and came in search of his daughter. They forced the captain and the only remaining crew members to sail them to Sierra, where they paused long enough to take on a few supplies, and a dozen new deckhands who had been eager to find work.

With Boris acting as the ship's captain
and the old captain acting as his first mate, they set off for the eastern shores, leaving the Dragon Lord far behind.

It had been nearly two weeks since they had set off from Sierra, and the child had made sure that every moment was completely unbearable.
It shrieked and cried nearly every second that it was awake, and it never slept for more than a few minutes at a time, seeming to almost fight off sleep so it could continue to torture her with its piercing wails.

Normally, she would feed on the obnoxious little
beast, silencing its incessant cries once and for all, but she knew to do so would be her undoing. The spirits who guided her steps were clear that this child was destined to be taken before a god.
Which
god did not matter, only the demands of the elder spirits mattered to her.
They
were the source of her powers, so
they
were whom she obeyed. But, as long as the child continued to wail, she couldn't make contact with them to decide their next step.

"How much farther is it until we reach the eastern shores?"

"At least three weeks, Mistress." The huge man grunted, attempting to persuade the girl to accept a spoonful of watery gruel. "And that's only if the wind continues to be favorable."

She frowned. The trip was taking longer than she would have liked. She had never ventured from her place in the highlands
, until the elder spirits came to her, demanding a child be brought to the highland temples to be given over to a god. But not just
any
child. It needed to be the daughter born of the one who had the blood of dragons in his veins. She had known better than to question the demands of the elder spirits, and immediately set about planning the girl's abduction.

She, like most others in the world, had heard the stories that had been circulating about the Dragon Lord
. The man who had the blood of dragons flowing in his veins. The man who had reunited the mythical Dragon Gem with its mate, the Dragon Sword, releasing the scarlet dragons into the world once more. She had thought them just to be stories, until the visit by the elder spirits revealed otherwise.

She had immediately set about devising a plan
to abduct the young child, using the details about the Dragon Lord that she discovered while consulting with the spirits. She soon realized that this man seemed to have an enormous sense of responsibility when it came to the health and safety of those under his protection.

Using that knowledge
, a plan was quickly devised to lure the Dragon Lord away from his home, leaving the child an easy target.

She immediately set off to carry out the plans
devised by her and the elder spirits, journeying halfway around the world with her khalkan, Boris, at her side to act as her voice among the common folk.

For the first time in her four centuries of life, she left the safety of the highland temples, and journeyed out into the world, determined to carry out the tasks laid out for her by the spirits
.

Her journey was not one without its dangers. Just the act of leaving the
highlands was a danger in itself. The stories of the dark rituals and vile acts preformed by her coven were well known throughout her homeland, and therefore most would flee from her presence. Only the most foolhardy of warriors would attempt to bar her passage, but it would still occasionally happen. During those occasions, Boris stepped in.

She glanced at the enormous warrior, who looked ridiculously out of place attempting to tend to the petulant child. Boris had been the fiercest warrior among the
primitive Oroni. He had been the leader of a clan who attacked her coven, seeking to wipe the abomination that was the highland witches. He had actually managed to kill three of her sisters before she was finally able to subdue him using magic.

Seeing his potential,
instead of feeding upon him, she chose to ensnare his soul and use him as her khalkan. Ever since that day, he had served as her bodyguard, and her voice among the commoners who ventured to the highlands to make a plea with the elder spirits.

She smiled to herself. It was a fitting
punishment for the murder of her sisters. He would serve her until the end of his days, or until she grew tired of him, then she would feast upon him, as she had countless others before him.

Using the immense warrior to bully her way across the continent,
they set off on their quest, taking what they needed from those unfortunate enough to cross their path.

After
acquiring a ship, she undertook her very first sea voyage, which she found distinctly unsettling. The constant rocking of the ship as it crested each wave soon had her feeling violently ill, and she had spent a great deal of her time trying valiantly not to vomit.

When they finally reached the shores of the southern contin
ent, they spent several months learning as much as they could about the man who had become a legend. What they learned astonished her, forcing her to take immediate counsel with the elder spirits. Though she trusted in them to guide her footsteps, she found the stories of the Dragon Lord's nearly limitless power and invincible magic unsettling. If only
half
of the stories of his power were true, he would rip the entire world apart in search of his daughter. Even the powers given to her by the elder spirits might not be enough to weather his fury.

She was shrewd enough to
use this fact to her advantage, convincing the elder spirits to grant her additional power, enabling her to extend the reach of her magic into the world of the spirits, though her new found abilities had come with a price. She now had to feed more often to fuel her power, requiring many more sacrifices than before. Even the once simple task of communing with the spirits required enormous effort since she now delved into
their
realm, instead of the spirits coming into the physical world to communicate their demands. But she had gladly paid that price to possess the powers that were now at her disposal.

She settled down once again and tried to clear her mind.
After what seemed like an eternity, Boris somehow managed to get the child to settle down to sleep, and she was finally able to slip off into the netherworld where the elder spirits dwelt. Once she had taken counsel with the spirits, she could decide their next course of action.

Boris watched in silence as his
mistress fell into a trance, his mind completely void of emotion or desire. His only purpose in life was to watch over the one who possessed his soul, until the day she freed him, or fed upon his very essence.

A young deckhand stumbled into the room, his eyes wide with apprehension. "Y-You sent for me, Captain?"

He slowly turned and looked the boy up and down. He was a bit young, but he should be adequate for his mistress's needs, and he
was
the most expendable of the rapidly dwindling crew. "You will see to the child while I go oversee the crew. Make sure you do not interrupt the lady while she is... asking the gods to hear her prayers."

"Aye, Captain." The young man hurried over to the sleeping child's side.

Boris immediately turned to leave, securing the door firmly behind him as he went, leaving the unsuspecting boy to his fate.

When his
mistress called him to her quarters later that evening, there was no longer any trace of the young deckhand he had left to watch over the child. "Our plans have changed." Her expression was one of concern. "The spirits have revealed that the Dragon Lord has discovered our trail, and is already in pursuit."

"That was to be expected, was it not?" The huge man asked in an emotionless voice.

"He is much closer than I would like." The robed woman stalked over to stare at the sleeping child with a speculative expression. "I had never expected him to discover our trail so quickly. The elder spirits and I both underestimated him, and that in itself troubles me. The spirits are having difficulty foreseeing his next move, making him far more dangerous than I had realized."

"What are your orders
, Mistress?"

She was quiet for several long moments while she continued to
gaze down at the slumbering young girl. "Continue east until sundown, then cast anchor and clear the deck." She whispered to him finally, turning her burning eyes upon her khalkan. "It's time to test this Dragon Lord, and find out if he is truly as powerful as the legends say he is."

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

"It's been a beautiful day." Damion remarked to Raven as they strolled about the deck, trying to draw the young woman into a conversation. After two weeks at sea, and the fate of her only child still undetermined, she had grown increasingly impatient as they bobbed along the surface of the seemingly endless expanse of water.

S
he had spent the first several days raging about the ship impatiently, then she had slowly slipped from a hysterical anger, into a soul crushing guilt that she had not remained behind to watch after her daughter. Damion had spent the entire time at her side, trying to keep her from completely shutting herself off from the world.

Raven did not reply
to his comment, but instead, slowly made her way towards the bow of the ship, her keen eyes scanning the horizon. "How much farther is it until we reach Naquia?" She asked him several minutes later, finally breaking her silence.

"
About ten days." Captain Harper answered her question, stumping forward to join them as they stared out at the setting sun. "The Fearless Lady is the fastest ship afloat, milady, and we're making good time. The winds have been with us ever since we emerged from that little rainstorm." He assured her, ignoring the fact that the little rainstorm he referred to had been a full blown hurricane.

"H
ave you made this trip many times?" Sly asked the captain as he lounged against a nearby rail with a tankard of ale in one hand, and a fishing pole in the other.

"The Fearless Lady has been to the eastern shore a few times, yes." The extravagantly dressed man nodded, squint
ing out over open expanse of sea surrounding them. "They're a strange lot, easterners, and the people of Naquia are no exception. Travelers from all over the world journey there to make deals with those strange little gnomes. You have an intermingling of races there that you'll find no where else in the known world."