Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (24 page)

"Where is this inn?" Damion asked, his voice filled with tightly controlled anger. "I want to speak with the innkeeper myself. He may have overheard something that may prove useful in our search."

He and Raven quickly
followed the sailor down the wharf to a rather dingy looking building that had a pair of smoky torches burning out front, and made their way inside. It was dark inside of the small inn, which was little more than a common room with several small chambers on the upper floor. The walls and floors were covered in a thick layer of filth, and looked as though they hadn't been cleaned in centuries. There was a nearly overpowering smell of vomit and stale beer, and most of the furniture decorating the common room was falling apart, and completely unusable.

The innkeeper, a greasy looking fellow with an unhealthy looking rash that covered half of his neck, stood behind a filthy bar absently wiping out a tankard with a dirt encrusted rag. "What do you want?" The man grunted at them in an annoyed tone.

"We heard that a couple of people we're looking for may have stayed here a few nights ago." Raven's expression was anxious. "They had a young child with them."

"Oh, those two. They were here four or five nights ago. They paid for an entire night, but left after only a few hours. That child
they had with them cried the entire time they were here."

"
Did they say anything to you while they were here?"

The man shook his head. "I only spoke with the man for a moment when I rented them the room, and then once more as they were leaving. The man asked me if I knew of anywhere he could purchase some horses. I sent them to the livery a couple of lots down."

"Is there anything else you may remember about them?" Damion pressed the man desperately. "Anything at all?"

The man started scratching the rash on his neck absently. "Nothing that I can think of, although I do remember thinking to myself that the child sounded down right outraged to be stuck
with those two. The poor thing screamed at the top of its lungs the entire time it was here." He shook his head. "That's really all that I remember. I wouldn't have remembered that much if it wasn't for the fact that three of my regular tenants disappeared that same evening. Their belongings were still in their rooms, but there hasn't been any sign of them for days."

Damion and Raven exchanged glances.

"Thank you, friend." Damion handed the man several silver pieces. "You have been an enormous help."

They hurried outside, then quickly made their way down to the livery the innkeeper had directed them toward.

A strange looking man with bulging eyes and enormous eyebrows emerged from the stables, a curious expression on his pale face. He was dressed in a robe made up of a riot of clashing colors, and his long black hair had been carefully braided in hundreds of tiny braids. "
Alaestye
." He greeted them as they approached, sprinkling salt at their feet in some type of ritual greeting. "Welcome to my humble establishment." His voice was surprisingly lyrical. He didn't speak the words, but more sang them in a soothing baritone that seemed to cut through the tension like a knife. "We have some of the finest horses that you could hope to find, and you'll never find someone who can make you a better deal."

"We're actually not interested in purchasing a horse." Damion told him, cutting to the reason for this visit. "We were told that a pair
of travelers that we are searching for may have purchased horses here several nights ago."

"Possibly." He stared at Damion with a speculative expression. "What did they look like?"

The huge warrior quickly described the hooded woman and her huge man servant. "They had a young child with them." He finished, noticing that the man's eyes had suddenly widened in recognition.

"Aye.
I remember them." The man sang, still staring at Damion wide eyes. "They purchased a pair of horses from me, then lit out of here like they had a demon on their tail!" He grinned hesitantly. "Now that I see you, I realize they did!"

Damion chuckled. "Did you happen to catch where they may be heading next?"

The strange looking man shook his head regretfully. "I'm afraid not, milord. As soon as they paid for the horses, they mounted up and took off towards the east at a gallop."

"What lies to the east?"

"Sherish. It stretches for several leagues in every direction."

Damion frowned. "That could make it difficult to pick up their trail. If Sherish
is that big, they could simply disappear into the city."

"That's doubtful." The man disagreed. "There are only a few humans who choose to live in Sherish
. Most people find the gnomes annoying, and living in the same city with them can be quite dangerous. Not a day goes by without some gnome managing to somehow blow himself up, usually killing anyone that happens to be in the general vicinity. That tends to discourage most sensible folk from living amongst the little people. If the people you're looking for are still in Sherish, they shouldn't be too difficult to locate."

Damion gave the man several silver pieces for his assistance, then they hurried back to inform the others
of what they had discovered.

"So, I guess that means we're heading to Sherish?" Sly asked once the huge warrior had finished telling them what they had discovered. He looked down at his full tankard, then sighed sadly.

"We'll set
off first thing in the morning." Damion told the little man placatingly. "It's already too late to start our search tonight. Let's take the evening to rest up a bit, then set off at first light. We may be running short on sleep for a while, so we had better enjoy it while we can."

They gathered in the inn's common room early the next morning to bid Captain Harper farewell
.

"Don't you worry about anything." The eccentric sea captain assured them with a broad smile. "The Fearless Lady will
be repaired and waiting for you when you return. Go get your daughter back, my friend."

"Thank you, Captain." Damion said sincerely. "
We could have never of gotten this far without you."

"
Not without a lot of swimming, anyway." Sly snorted, rubbing his bloodshot eyes with both hands.

Raven
hurried forward to give the captain a fierce embrace. "We will be forever in your debt."

"Don't be
ridiculous." Captain Harper laughed. "It won't be forever. It'll only be until we finally return to the south where your husband can pay me!"

They finished saying their goodbye
s, then hurried to retrieve the horses, eager to be on their way.

They set off through the cit
y at a trot with Damion and Storm at the lead, and Snowfeather gliding high overhead, his keen eyes alert for anything out of the ordinary.

The streets of
Naquia were already growing crowded with merchants and travelers who had journeyed from all over the world to purchase the cheap wares produced by the gnomes. Several long caravans traveling towards Sherish soon blocked their progress, slowing them to a walk for a half mile or so, until the narrow road through the city finally widened enough to allow them to pass the lumbering wagons.

Raven let out a strings of vile insults when she passed each teamster, clearly irritated by the delay. Thankfully, the teamsters chose to remain silent, obviously understanding that the young woman was
not
someone to be trifled with.

They stopped
around midday when they reached the markets, and led the horses over to a large fountain to drink while Sly quickly replenished their supplies, then they set back off towards the edge of town, using Storm's sheer size to part the crowd and make a path for the others.

When they
finally reached the edge of town, Damion called for everyone to halt, then slid down from his saddle and approached a pair of armed men who had set up camp near the edge of the road. 

The
pair of warriors, who were both dressed in heavy ring mail armor, strode forward to meet him, their eyes wary, and their hands on their weapons. Both had dark skin, and tightly braided hair which trailed down their armored backs, and they each carried a pair of short swords, which they had belted securely to their waists.

"Hail, friend." One of the men greeted him in a thickly accented voice
, looking Damion up and down with assessing eyes.

"How may we be
of assistance?" The other man asked in the exact same tone, also examining the huge warrior closely.

Damion look
ed a little closer and noticed the men's features were completely identical in every way. "We were hoping you may be able to answer a few questions for us."

"Of course." One of the
men answered with a friendly smile.

"We'd be happy to help." The other added with the exact same smile.

"We're looking for some travelers who passed this way several nights ago. We were hoping you may have seen them."

"There have been hundreds of people that have passed this way since we arrived." One of the twin
s told him, shaking his head doubtfully.

"It's unlikely we'd have noticed the
m." Replied the other, shaking his head in unison.

"It was a man and a woman on horseback." Damion persisted. "The man was large, almost as big as myself. The woman was dressed in a long hooded robe, and was carrying an infant."

"You mean the witch and her khalkan?" Both of the twins asked in surprise.

"You saw them?" Damion asked,
suppressing the urge to shout in triumph.

The two men exchanged a long look.

"Perhaps you should join us." One of the men stated finally.

"Please, tell your friends that they are also welcome
." The other man told him. "We have much to discuss."

Damion waved the other
s over, then they followed the strange pair to their campfire, where the fierce looking warriors had been lounging about lazily.

"Why are you following that witch?" One of the t
wins asked, gesturing for them to take a seat near the fire.

"Most sane people run the
opposite way from the highland witches." Added the other, taking a seat next to his brother on the opposite side of the fire pit.

"The child
that the witch was carrying was our daughter, Leia." Raven told them, taking a seat on the bench. "She was abducted from her crib by that fiend and her puppet. We're trying to catch up with them to save her."

Damion quickly told them their story, though he avoided revealing his true identity. "We've followed
them this far," He finished their tale with a shrug. "We were going to head to Sherish to try and pick up their trail."