Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) (2 page)

The young girl nodded. "They're happening almost every night now."

"Do you remember what the dream is about?"

"It's the same dream every night." Leia nodded again. "It starts out with me staring out of my bedroom window at the city below, then there's an explosion in the distance that shakes the entire castle to its foundations, and knocks me from my feet. When I reach the window again, Sevria is in ruins. There are bodies scattered everywhere, and everything is on fire. That's when the dragons begin dropping lifelessly from the sky." She shuddered. "It's quite disturbing."

"How long have you been having these nightmares?" The huge warrior asked, his expression growing concerned.

"They started a couple of weeks after the battle in Sierra," She told him. "but they've been happening more often in the last few months."

The Battle of Sierra had taken place six years earlier, when Etaz, the God of the Underworld, gathered His people to renew His quest to bring the world beneath His dominion. Nearly every able bodied man on the southern continent had gathered in the huge seaport city of Sierra to repel the dread god's army. The Etazk vastly outnumbered the defenders, but the people of the southern continent, led by Leia's father, the Dragon Lord, Damion Omensent, managed to repel and defeat the invading army, though not without taking dreadful losses.

"I'm not surprised that you're having nightmares after everything that you have been through in the last few years." Sly commented, taking a long drink from his tankard. "You've been abducted, dragged across the world to be handed over to the Dragon God, rescued, and then discovered that an entirely new species of dragon had been created from your essence. That would be enough to give anyone nightmares!"

It had been over ten years since Leia had been abducted from her crib by a Highland witch, who took had taken across the sea to the eastern continent to be surrendered to the Dragon God, Draco. It was only after her father, who had followed her abductor's trail to the other side of the world, confronted the Dragon God that she was finally returned to her parents, but a terrible price was paid. The Dragon God, angered beyond all reason, took a direct hand against her father, violating the Pact of the Gods, which allowed all of the gods that once walked the lands to return once again, and renew the wars that once threatened to destroy the world.

"I've gotten rather used to the idea that the veiled dragons were created from my blood." The young girl commented thoughtfully. "They're quite affectionate, and would do anything I asked of them. The link that we share causes them to look upon me as their mother, which is kind of true, in an odd sort of way."

"Which reminds me," Damion frowned. "I would appreciate it if you would remind Xaxis not to leave his leftovers in the courtyard. The castle servants are refusing to clean up after him anymore."

"I'll remind him." Leia promised. "He forgets sometimes. He can be a little flighty now and then."

"He's still young. He's only around ten years old. Considering the fact that dragons live for thousands of years, he's really not much more than a hatchling."

"That one big hatchling." Sly snorted sarcastically. "He left a pile of dung the size of a wagon in the center of town yesterday. It took four men over an hour to haul it all away."

"I've asked him not to do that." Leia sighed wearily. "At least it didn't land on anyone this time."

"Captain Repheth didn't know what hit him!" The scruffy little man pounded his knee in glee. "You should have seen the look on his face when he realized what just landed on him! I thought he was going to skin Xaxis alive!"

"He didn't have to yell at Xaxis like that, though." The young girl said, jumping to the huge serpent's defense. "It's not like he meant for it to happen."

"Nevertheless," Damion chuckled. "He can't continue living in the castle courtyard. It's time that he found himself a nice cavern in which to settle."

"I can't make him leave!" Leia objected. "He'd be crushed! He loves it here! Besides, the people love him! They all come up to the courtyard to see him, and he adores all of the attention! I can't take that away from him!"

"There's really no other choice, Leia." Damion held his hands out helplessly. "He doesn't belong in the city. He belongs in the wild with the rest of the dragons, free to go wherever he pleases. He can't do that as long as you continue to coddle him."

But I don't want him to go!" Leia whined, her lower lip protruding slightly. "He's my best friend!"

"You just like having him around so you can sneak off for your nightly flights through the mountains." The huge warrior murmured with a knowing grin.

Leia's jaw dropped open in surprise. "How did you know about that?"

"You're joking, right?" Sly laughed again. "Your mother makes your father and Snowfeather follow you every night."

"What?" The young girl turned and stared at her father in disbelief. "You follow me
every
night?"

"Of course." Damion laughed at the look of outrage on his daughter's face. "Your mother had a fit when she found out that you were sneaking off, and it was the only way that I could convince her to let you have your fun."

"Really?" Leia asked in surprise. "You convinced her to let me go flying with Xaxis?"

Damion nodded. "I knew that he would keep you safe, but your mother wouldn't even consider letting you go off on your own. It took quite a bit of convincing before she finally agreed to let you enjoy your flights, and that was only if I followed along to make certain that nothing happened."

"I can't believe you've been following me all of this time!" Leia sounded outraged.

"You should have known that you wouldn't be able to sneak off without your father finding out." Sly told her with an amused expression. "Damion has eyes everywhere."

"How were you able to follow me without me seeing you?" Leia asked in confusion.

"It wasn't really that difficult." The huge warrior explained with a shrug. "I always shift into the form of an owl, and make sure to keep my distance. You're always too engrossed in your flights to even notice me."

"And here I thought that I was actually getting away with something." The young girl muttered dispiritedly.

A huge reptilian creature, with dull black scales that seemed to absorb the surrounding shadows, entered the antechamber deep beneath the Serpent's Keep, where Leia and her father commonly gathered when Leia practiced her magic.

"Did you know that my father follows me and Xaxis every evening when we go for our nightly flights?" The young girl demanded of the huge beast, her expression still outraged.

"Of courssse," The shadowy creature hissed. "It wasss the only way that your mother would allow you to go."

"You
knew
, and you didn't tell me?" Leia looked even more outraged.

"Your mother sssaid that ssshe would tie SSSlither'sss tail to SSSlither'sss head, and dangle SSSlither from the battlementsss if SSSlither uttered a sssingle word." The beast shrugged helplessly. "SSSlither wasssn't sssure if ssshe wasss ssseriousss or not, but decided not to take any chancesss."

"Prudent decision." Sly nodded to the shadowspawn. "Raven isn't someone that you'd want to cross, especially when it comes to Leia."

"Did you need something, Slither?" Damion asked curiously.

"Damariusss hasss asssked that you meet him in the courtyard outssside of the cassstle. SSSlither thinksss that he hasss ssset up another one of hisss ssstrange contraptionsss, and wissshesss to ssshow it off." The shadowspawn shook its head. "Hopefully thisss one won't explode."

"Didn't you tell that crazy old wizard that he had to stop building those infernal machines?" Sly asked Damion with a scowl. "He nearly destroyed the stables with the last one!"

"He promised that he'd keep all of his future inventions non-lethal." The huge warrior assured him. "I couldn't force him to give up his tinkering altogether. Aunt Skie already forbid him from creating anymore of his potion formulas after the last batch blew up and caught that stone statue on fire. Who knows what he would get into if he wasn't allowed to tinker with his contraptions?"

"I guess we'd better go and see what he's been up to." The scruffy little man sighed in submission. "I just hope I still have all my fingers and toes after he's done."

"Finally!" Leia flopped back into her chair in mock exhaustion. "I was getting
really
tired of playing with apples."

"Don't think that you're done practicing, young lady." Damion told his daughter. "You're still not concentrating hard enough. If you allow your focus to wander at the wrong moment, it could have catastrophic consequences." He gave her a stern look. "We'll pick this up again a little later, and I will expect you to be more focused. Otherwise, we may need to increase the amount of time that you're spending on your training."

Leia groaned wearily, then scowled as Sly began to chuckle again. Her eyes suddenly narrowed, and the apple that she had been using during her practice suddenly floated up into the air and shot across the chamber, where it stuck the scruffy little man firmly in the side of his head.

"Hey!" Sly exclaimed, wiping the juicy pulp away with one hand. "That wasn't very nice!"

"It wasn't meant to be." The young girl told him in a hard tone.

They quickly made their way up to the courtyard outside of the Serpent's Keep, and found Lady Skie and Shirk already waiting with Damarius, who was busy fiddling with an object which he had hidden beneath a large tarp.

"It's about time you got here!" The old wizard exclaimed, his face alight with excitement. "I wanted to show everyone my newest creation!"

"It's not going to explode or anything, right?" Sly asked suspiciously, keeping a safe distance between himself and the old wizard. "I remember the last time you wanted to show off one of your new creations. It took two weeks to repair all of the damage to the stables."

"Of course it won't explode." Damarius responded in an offended tone. "It is completely harmless."

"What is it?" Damion asked curiously. "You've been hidden away in the Vaults for weeks now, and wouldn't even give us a hint on what you were working on."

"I was working on this!" The old wizard said extravagantly, pulling back the tarp to reveal an elaborate suit of armor, complete with helmet and veil, all created from hundreds of overlapping black scales that seemed to absorb the surrounding shadows.

"Is that what I think it is?" Shirk asked in surprise.

"Indeed it is." Damarius smiled proudly. "I used the last few shadow dragon scales that I possessed to construct a suit of armor. The scales are as light as a feather, yet incredibly tough, making it the perfect material for protecting someone in battle. They're also fire resistant. You could toss the armor into the fire and leave it for a week, and it would survive without a scratch. The scales also retain their ability to absorb the shadows, allowing the wearer to move undetected through the darkness."

"Now
this
is more like it!" Sly started, moving closer to examine the armor. He suddenly frowned in disappointment. "You made it too small. It'll never fit a full grown man."

"That's because it wasn't meant for a man." Damarius winked at Leia slyly.

"Is that for me?" The young girl suddenly broke into a grin.

Damarius nodded, his eyes dancing in delight. "I heard you complaining that your armor no longer fit correctly, so I set about designing some new armor for you. Do you like it?"

"I love it!" She hurried over and threw her arms around the old wizard.

"Very nice." Damion complimented Damarius, who smiled happily as he watched Leia hurry over to examine her new armor. "It was kind of you to sacrifice your last few shadow dragon scales to create new armor for Leia."

"Well, I knew that she needed new armor, and her twelfth birthday
is
tomorrow, so..." The old wizard shrugged. "I always knew that the scales would make wonderful armor, if I could only figure out a way of shaping them into more manageable pieces." He shook his head wearily. "They were almost impossible to cut."

"How did you finally manage to cut them?"

"I used a diamond. Nothing else would even leave a scratch. Even using a diamond, it took weeks to slice them into smaller pieces, but, in the end, it was worth it. It came out even better than I had hoped!"

A sudden whooshing sound caused everyone to look around in surprise and confusion.

"Look there." Sly grunted, pointing to a dark, bulky shape which was sailing jerkily through the air towards them.

"What is that?" Shirk asked in a baffled tone, squinting to get a better look at the approaching figure.

"It's just Xaxis returning with his dinner." Leia told them after a single glance.

The strange bulky object suddenly dropped lifelessly to the courtyard below, revealing itself to be a large buck whose neck had been snapped clean in two. A huge plume of dust momentarily obscured the buck's body as a shimmering mass dropped from the evening sky to settle before them.

"Really?" Sly asked sarcastically, waving the dust away with one hand.

"Sorry about that." A deep rumbling voice grumbled out of the shimmering mass, which slowly began to fade away to reveal a massive dragon who was staring down at them with a apologetic expression. The beast was enormous, with a heavily muscled body that was covered in thick dull grey scales which had the amazing ability to instantly shift colors to mimic their surroundings. Two massive bat-like wings sprouted from its armored back, which was bristling with vicious looking spikes, and two great spiraling horns sprouted from the back of its massive armor plated head.

"How was your hunt?" Damion asked the great serpent politely.

"Productive." Xaxis gestured to the dead buck with one razor sharp claw. "These mountains are absolutely teeming with deer. It only took me a few minutes to take this one down." He bit the head off of the carcass with a horrid crunch.

"Agh!" Lady Skie looked faintly nauseated. "I think I've seen enough. Was there anything else, father?"