Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) (3 page)

"No, no," The old wizard waved her off absently. "Go on ahead." He hurried over to assist Leia into her new armor.

"We'll see you all inside then." Lady Skie and Shirk quickly disappeared back into the castle.

"What do you have there, little mother?" The huge veiled dragon asked Leia in a respectful tone after he had finished gulping down his mouthful of deer.

"Damarius has made me some new armor." The young girl quickly finished slipping into the strange suit of armor. "What do you think?"

"What is it made of?" The huge beast leaned in close, his expression suspicious.

"It's made from the scales of a shadow dragon." Damarius informed him absently, standing back to admire his handy work.

"Dragon scales?" Xaxis recoiled in revulsion. "That's disgusting!" He glanced down at the remainder of his meal, then brushed it aside with a nauseated expression.

"I thought it was rather brilliant." Sly growled, staring up at the dragon with dislike.

"You would." Xaxis retorted, sticking his long forked tongue out at the scruffy little man childishly.

"Knock it off, you two." Leia snapped suddenly, causing them both Sly and Xaxis to jump nervously.

"Sorry, little mother." The huge dragon murmured in a slightly sulky tone.

"Yeah, sorry, little mother." Sly repeated in the same sulky tone, though he had a playful grin dancing about his scruffy face.

"Shut up, Sly!" The young girl snarled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Now, now, Leia," A new voice said reproachfully. "Is that any way for a young lady to behave?"

Everyone turned to see a ravishingly beautiful young woman with long flowing black hair hurrying towards them with an amused expression.

"Hello, my love." Damion greeted his young wife, who smiled and winked at him, a mischievous look on her face.

"Hi, mom." Leia greeted her mother with a sigh, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation.

"What did I tell you about yelling at Sly like that?"

"You said that it's not ladylike." The young girl sighed again. "You said instead of yelling at Sly, I should just turn him into a garden slug."

"Hey!" Sly exclaimed, turning to stare at Raven angrily. "Don't tell her things like that! She may take you seriously!"

"So how does your new armor feel?" Damarius asked expectantly.

"It's perfect!" Leia told him in genuine delight. "It's so light that I can hardly tell I'm wearing it!"

"And there isn't a weapon on this planet that can penetrate the scales," The old wizard smiled proudly. "other than the Dragon Sword, of course."

"Look what it can do, Slither!" Leia said excitedly, stepping into some nearby shadows, where she seemingly vanished. "I can hide in the shadows, just like a shadowspawn!"

"Not bad," Slither hissed in an appraising tone. "but there isss much more to being a ssshadowssspawn than jussst hiding in the ssshadowsss."

"Like what?" Leia stepped out from the shadows with a curious expression.

"Like being able to move in complete sssilence, no matter your sssuroundingsss, and being able to sssneak up on your victimsss without them ever being aware of your presssence. It isss far more difficult than you may believe it to be."

"Can you teach me?"

"SSSlither can try," The huge shadowspawn held out its hands. "but it will take practice. Lotsss of practice."

"Speaking of practice," Damion gave his daughter a pointed look.

"But
dad
," Leia whined in her most wheedling tone. "Can't we just pick it up again tomorrow? It's almost dark, and I still want to take my evening flight with Xaxis."

"I guess it can wait until tomorrow," The huge warrior agreed with a chuckle. "but we're going to pick it up again right where we left off."

"Thank you, daddy!" She exclaimed happily, hurrying over to the massive dragon and scampering up onto his shoulders.

"Thank you, grandfather!" Xaxis rumbled to Damion playfully, waiting for Leia to settle herself down, and then launching himself into the air with a single beat of his powerful wings.

"Do you think that she likes her new armor?" Damarius asked with a note of uncertainty in his voice.

"Are you kidding?" Sly asked, his expression sulky. "She loved it!" His expression suddenly brightened. "If I can locate a few more shadow dragon scales, can you make another suit for me?" He asked the old wizard eagerly.

"There aren't any more shadow dragon scales, remember?" Damarius reminded him. "I used the last few collected in Arleia to create Leia's armor."

"That's right," The scruffy little man frowned again. "and the rest I sold off to various merchants to cover the cost of shipping all of the dragon bone to Sevria to be used in Axel's carvings."

"Is Axel still using dragon bone in his carvings?" Damion asked in surprise. "I would have thought that his supply had run out long ago."

"Axel used up all of the large pieces years ago," Sly admitted with a frown. "but he still had quite a bit of scrap pieces left over that he has been using as an inlay. Some of his newest creations are quite elaborate. You should stop by his chambers and see for yourself." The little man's eyes suddenly narrowed shrewdly. "You know, we can make ourselves quite a bit of gold if we were to hunt down one of the shadow dragons that survived the massacre in Arleia. Axel can use the bones for his carvings, Damarius could use the scales to make more armor, and I even have buyers lined up that would buy the meat."

"Dragon meat?" Slither asked in disgust. "Humansss would eat actually feassst upon the flesssh of a dragon?"

"Oh yes." Sly nodded emphatically. "We were forced to butcher the shadow dragons that were killed attacking Sevria to remove their bodies, and a number of daring fellows decided to test out the meat's flavor. There has been a huge demand for it ever since."

"Forget it, Sly," Raven started, turning to stare up at Damion with an expectant expression. "Damion doesn't have the time to hunt down any shadow dragons. He already has something important that he needs to do."

"I do?" Damion asked blankly, staring down at his young wife in confusion.

"You have a daughter out flying around on a dragon that you are supposed to be following." The young woman reminded him in a pointed tone. "Or would you rather something happen to her again?"

"Oh, of course." The huge warrior nodded, pretending to scratch his upper lip to conceal his smile. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You know that you're eventually going to have to let Leia go off on her own, right?" Sly asked, wandering over to examine the remains of the buck that Xaxis had brought back for his evening meal.

"Says who?" Raven asked challengingly, her dark eyes flashing.

"She's going to grow up eventually, you know?" The little man shrugged, not noticing the dangerous expression on the young woman's face. "Someday you're just going to have to let her go off on her own, and trust in the fact that you did everything that you could to prepare her for what she may face."

"What do you know?" Raven asked in an irritated tone. "You don't even have any children."

"I
did
help raise Damion, though," Sly pointed out reasonably. "and he turned out reasonably well, for the most part." He gave Damion an impish grin.

"The time may come that we have to let Leia go off on her own, and trust that she will remember everything that we have taught her," Raven conceded, her expression still dangerous. "but that day is
not
today." She whirled around to face her husband. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go find our daughter!"

Chapter 2

"Hey, Snowfeather,"
Damion silently cast his thought out into the evening sky.
"I'm going to go and try to find Leia and Xaxis. Do you want to come along?"

"Of course."
Came the silent reply.
"I always enjoy our nightly flights."
A huge white owl suddenly appeared from the upper battlements of the castle, and quickly dropped down to land on the huge warrior's shoulder.
"Have they already departed?"

"About five minutes ago."
Damion informed his familiar absently, watching as Slither, Sly, and Raven disappeared into the castle.
"I thought I would give them a bit of a head start so they could attempt to hide. Leia found out that we have been following her and Xaxis on their nightly outings, and was a little angry. I thought giving her a chance to avoid us might make up for her feeling so violated."

"How did she find out?"

"It kind of slipped out while we were talking."
Damion shrugged
. "This will make their nightly flights a little more exciting for them as they try to avoid being located. Now that she knows that she's being followed, she's certain to try and avoid being found."

"How do you know that they will try and hide?"

The huge warrior shrugged again.
"It's what I would do if I were her."

"We'd better get moving then."
The huge owl hooted, launching itself back into the air.

Damion drew in his magic, using all of his concentration to control the energy that was building around him, then focused the energy inward on himself, allowing his massive frame to slip into the much smaller form of an owl.

"Are you coming or not?"
Snowfeather squawked impatiently from overhead.

"I'm just making sure that everything is in its proper place."
The huge warrior told his familiar, stretching out his wings and examining them critically.

"You look fine. Let's get moving. They already have a considerable head start."

"You're not worried about her, are you?"
Damion asked, launching himself into the air.
"You're starting to sound a little like Raven."

"Of course I worry about her. I've spent the last twelve years watching over her. She's just as unpredictable as you were at that age! Who knows what she is capable of getting herself into?"

"Xaxis will not let her get herself into too much trouble."
Damion replied confidently.
"He's fiercely protective of her. He will make sure that she's safe."

"Xaxis is little more than a child himself."
Snowfeather reminded him as they sailed higher and higher on the cool mountain breeze.
"He's just as apt to get into trouble as Leia is. Put them together and they're a catastrophe just waiting to happen!"

They spent the next hour gliding high above the peaks and valleys that made up the Godstear Mountains before finally spotting Leia and Xaxis flying along in the distance.

"There they are."
Snowfeather said with some relief, tilting one wing to start after them.

"Don't get too close."
Damion warned.
"We don't want them to see us."

Leia's head suddenly whipped around, and her eyes narrowed as she spotted the two owls sailing silently along behind her and Xaxis.

"Too late!"
Snowfeather hooted as they watched the young girl suddenly lean forward and say something to the massive serpent.

Xaxis suddenly tucked his wings close to his body and dove, forcing Damion and Snowfeather to follow suit or risk losing them in the darkness. The enormous serpent began to rocket through a gulley that was so narrow that its wingtips nearly brushed the sides, then it suddenly launched itself up towards the dark sky above, leaving its pursuers far behind.

"He's quick!"
Snowfeather puffed, struggling to keep up with the dragon.

"I noticed."
Damion replied, straining to catch up with the massive serpent.
"Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to reveal the fact that we've been following them every night."

They slowly began to catch up with the elusive dragon, who had slowed to a glide, allowing them to draw a bit closer, then the massive beast suddenly shot off into the darkness once more, leaving them struggling to catch up.

Damion could clearly hear Leia's giggles of delight echoing behind her as she continued to instruct the massive veiled dragon to bank and dive in an attempt to elude her father and Snowfeather, who continued to follow their every move throughout the mountains.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep this up!"
Snowfeather hooted after nearly an hour of chasing the serpent through the darkness.
"My wings feel like they're on fire!"

"Mine too."
Damion admitted, squinting in an effort to see his daughter, whose new shadow dragon scale armor allowed her to practically vanish in the darkness.
"Hopefully they'll tire themselves out soon."

They continued to follow the young girl and the veiled dragon through the mountains for several more minutes, then the scales of the huge serpent suddenly shimmered strangely, and the massive beast vanished from sight.

"Where did they go?"
Snowfeather squawked in surprise.

"Xaxis used his camouflage to disappear."
Damion told him in amusement.

"But where did Leia go? We should still see her, unless she's using her magic to conceal herself!"

"Her new armor is hiding her in the darkness. Damarius used the scales of a shadow dragon to create some new armor for her. They still have the ability to absorb the surrounding darkness."

"What do we do now?"

"We head back to Sevria."
Damion hooted, tipping his wing and slowly gliding back towards the secluded valley where the tiny mountain town was nestled.
"They'll return when they're finished having their fun."

They arrived in Sevria a few minutes later and found Leia and Xaxis in the courtyard calmly awaiting their return.

"What took you so long?" The young girl asked innocently as her father shifted back into his normal form.

"Very funny, young lady." Damion murmured. "Your mother would have tanned your backside if she saw you pull something like that. You know that, right?"