Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God (26 page)

"I thought knights were bound by oath to defend the weak and helpless," Raven asked in confusion. "
yet you charge people for your services. How is that knightly?"

The twins both burst out laughing.

"We are bound by oath, true enough," One of the men chuckled. "but that oath is to get payment, up front."

"The Knights of the Sarath are not the knights you may have read about in
children's bedtime stories." The other man snickered. "Our order is known for being the finest warriors for hire on the eastern continent."

"So you're mercenaries?"

Both men frowned.

"We are not mercenaries." Jacom disagreed.

"We are Knights of Sarath." Jarom told her, raising his chin proudly.

"Pardon me for saying this," Sly told them, shaking his head. "but I fail to see the distinction."

"A mercenary will hire his sword out to anyone, at any time."

"
The Knights of Sarath will only work for those they deem worthy of their skill."

"And you de
cided that our cause was worthy?" Damarius had leaned back on his bedroll wearily.

"
Your child was abducted," Jacom's face had grown grim. "by a witch, no less. That foul act should not go unpunished."

"We have had
some experience with the highland witches in the past." Jarom's grim expression mirrored his brother's. "Several of our brothers have been lost to them over the years. They had their souls stolen, and were forced to act as their khalkans."

"Is it true they feast on human flesh?" Raven asked in revulsion.

"In a sense. They use magic to drain their victim's very essence."

"Afterward, all that is left is a bit of dust."

There was a sudden rustle of feathers as Snowfeather drifted in from the darkness and settled onto Damion's broad shoulder.
"Am I seeing double?"
He hooted, staring at the twins, who had jumped to their feet in surprise.

"These are our new friends, Jacom and Jarom." He told the huge owl out loud. He looked at the
brothers, who had matching expressions of amazement. "This is Snowfeather, my familiar, and one of my oldest friends."

"Your familiar?" They
both asked quizzically.

"He and I have a bond that allows us hear one another's thoughts
, and feel what one another feels."

"I hate to put a stop to your introductions, but there are a
dozen or so armed men closing in on the camp!"
Snowfeather fluffed his feathers with urgency.
"They're less than a hundred yards from here, and have split off into small groups to surround you!"

Damion cursed vi
ciously, then leapt to his feet as Snowfeather launched himself back into the air. "We have company!" He growled to the others, tearing the Dragon Sword from its sheath. "Snowfeather says there are a number of armed men heading this way!"

Sly, Raven, and Damarius reacted instantly, rolling to the
ir feet and producing their weapons.

The twins hesitated only a
moment, then drew their swords and turned to stare out into the darkness. "How many?" They asked in unison, their voices mere whispers.

"
Snowfeather said there are about a dozen of them." Damion growled back. "They've split into groups to surround us."

"Someone douse the fire!" Sly hissed, his keen eyes searching for any sign of
attack.

"How will we be able to see them then?" Raven asked nervously.

"Leave that to me." Damarius declared firmly, helping Damion pile dirt onto the fire to douse the flames.

They
spread out to give themselves plenty of room, then waited for the ambushers to appear.

"They're about twenty feet from camp!"
Snowfeather reported, circling over head, his keen eyes easily locating their would-be attackers.

"Here they come!" Damion hissed to the others
.

The hair on the back of Damion's neck stood on end as
Damarius drew in his magic, and a tiny sphere of light, approximately the size of a marble, suddenly appeared a few feet away. "Let's get started then!" The old wizard exclaimed in an excited voice. With an almost negligent gesture, he sent the tiny orb shooting high into the air above them.

"I don't think that
's really going to help much." Sly snorted sarcastically.

An instant later, the tiny orb exploded
, lighting the entire sky for miles. Millions of brightly glowing sparks slowly drifted down, revealing a dozen roughly dressed men with rusty swords, all of whom had frozen in mid-step, expressions of surprise and fear on their faces.

"For the glory of Sarath!" The twin knights roared, charging at the closest group of men, their sword flashing.

Several of the stunned ambushers suddenly dropped twitching to the ground with Raven's arrows protruding from their throats, as the young woman unleashed a barrage upon the frozen men.

Sly waded into a group of four men, his sword dancing in the sparkling light as he
slashed and chopped at the men, leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

Damion stepped out from behind a grove of bushes
and used the Dragon Sword to remove one man's head, sending it bouncing off into the brush, then drove the point of the fabled blade directly through another's eye socket, deep into his brain. The ambusher's entire body suddenly stiffened, then collapsed in a twitching heap when the huge warrior ripped the sword free to search for another victim.

Within seconds, only two men remained standing. They both
dropped their weapons and turned to flee, but one of Raven's arrows suddenly thudded into the center of one man's back, dropping him mid-step.

"Take the last one alive!" Damion roared to the others before anyone could kill him.

"I'll get him." Raven told them, drawing an arrow with a heavy lead ball fixed firmly to the tip. With practiced ease, she notched, aimed, and fired the strange projectile in a single fluid motion. Her aim was flawless, and the blunt arrow struck the fleeing ambusher solidly in the back of his head, sending him tumbling to the ground in an unconscious heap.

"Nice shot!" Damion complimented his wife.

The twins hurried to the unconscious man and quickly bound his hands and feet to prevent his escape, then dragged him back to their campsite.

Damarius examined the comatose man for several moments, then glanced up at the sparks overhead, which had slowly began to fade, allowing the darkness to overtake them once again. "Could someone build the fire
back up so I can examine our visitor a bit more closely?"

Sly quickly rebuilt their fire, then they all gathered around their unconscious prisoner.

The unconscious man had a shortly cropped beard, and long hair which was tangled and matted with filth. He was dressed in rough armor made from horse hide, and a number of scars crisscrossed one side of his face, evidence that the man had been living a harsh existence.

"He's just a common mercenary." Jarom sniffed disdainfully, nudg
ing the man with one foot.

"They're as numerous as flies on manure." Jacom added, his voice dripping with contempt.

Damarius continued to examine their prisoner for several more moments, then grunted and withdrew a small brown bottle from one of the many pouches that hung from his belt. He removed the cork that sealed the bottle shut, then waved the bottle several times beneath the man's nose.

The man awoke with a start, then began coughing and retching uncontrollably.

"What is that stuff?" Raven asked the old wizard, who replaced the cork on the tiny bottle and returned it to its pouch.

"It's an
unusually fragrant substance harvested from the intestines of whales. It's called Ambergris. Perfume makers distill it and use it as the base substance in the most expensive perfumes. Mixed with smelling salts, however, it's foul enough to raise the dead!"

The bound man continued to choke and gag for several long minutes, then seemed to slow
ly pull himself together. "I see I have been taken prisoner." He grumbled finally, shaking his head in an effort to clear the cobwebs. "I guess our little ambush didn't quite work out as we planned."

"No, I'm afraid not." Damion told him in a conversational tone.

The man sighed heavily. "I told the others that I had a bad feeling about taking this job." He shook his head in resignation.

"Who put you up to attacking us?" Th
e huge warrior asked, though they all already knew the answer.

"A huge man approached us
a few nights ago while we were having a few drinks at a tavern in Sherish. He wanted us to keep an eye on the road leading into the city for anyone resembling your description, and to make sure that you didn't make it any further. I warned the others that we should pass this job up, but the man offered us a fair sum of gold, and the pickings have been rather slim as of late." He shrugged helplessly. "We agreed, and have been watching the road ever since."

"Was th
is man alone?" Raven asked, her voice tense.

"I thought so at first," The man muttered dejectedly. "but then I noticed a hooded woman with a young child nearby. I had the distinct feeling the they were together,
but I can't be sure."

"Where is the man now?" A slight note of desperation had crept into the young woman's voice.

"He was at the tavern where he found us on the east side of Sherish. A place called the Silver Gull. It's not hard to find. It's the only place in the world that you can purchase dragon's milk. But that was nearly a week ago. He could be anywhere by now."

"Dragon's
milk?" Sly sounded curious.

"It's an unusually powerful concoction brewed by the gnomes." Jarom told him with a frown.

"It's ten times as powerful as a good strong ale." Jacom informed him, his expression disapproving.

"Ten times, you say?" The little man's expression was one of longing.

"What should we do with him?" The twins asked Damion in unison, roughly dragging the man to his feet.

"Let him go
. He's told us all he knows, and we're not cold blooded murderers." He gave the man a hard look. "I would suggest that you don't try and return with more friends. Next time, we won't be so merciful."