Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) (7 page)

"That brute is a menace." Sly grumbled to Damion sourly. "I think he sits around all day planning his next terror spree. It's getting to the point that we can't find stable hands willing to work for fear of Storm targeting them!"

"What kind of horrid beast are they talking about?" Brody asked nervously, glancing first to Slither, then to the open stable door.

"You'll see." Damarius replied with a mysterious grin.

The crowd around the stable watched with bated breaths as Damion placed two fingers to his lips and blew a shrill whistle. Almost immediately, an enormous smoky grey stallion emerged from the stable and trotted up to the big warrior.

"That is, by far, the largest horse I have ever laid eyes on!" The elven man said in astonishment. "It's huge!"

"That's Storm." Leia informed him, hurrying forward to allow the massive warhorse to nuzzle her hand. "He's a Deolan warhorse. They're some of the largest horses on the planet." She nimbly scampered up onto the stallion's broad back. "They're bred to be vicious, and are unbeatable on the battlefield. Each one is worth a king's fortune, but the Deola rarely part with them. Only their finest warriors are allowed to ride them."

"How did you get one?" Brody asked the huge warrior enviously.

"I saved one of their chieftains' lives." Damion shrugged. "He gave me Storm as a way of showing his thanks." He turned his attention to the huge stallion, who was staring at the stable hand with aggressive eyes. "I hear that you're down here causing problems again." He murmured in a disapproving tone. "Haven't we talked about this?"

The huge stallion looked away innocently.

"I've also heard that you have a new love interest who you are refusing to let anyone go near."

Storm threw his head back and nickered excitedly, then turned towards the stable doors and watched as a white horse suddenly appeared in the doorway and whinnied in response.

"You old dog!" Damion laughed. "I'm happy you've found yourself a new girlfriend, but you need to allow the stable hands to do their jobs. You can't keep slamming them into walls every time you get annoyed."

The massive stallion gave the injured stable hand an indifferent flick of his tail.

"I'm serious." Damion told him firmly. "No more tormenting the stable hands. One more incident and I'll have them move your girlfriend to another stable."

Storm stared at the huge warrior for a long moment defiantly, then the huge stallion sighed in defeat and stepped aside, allowing the stable hands to pass.

"We'd better get ssstarted." Slither hissed to Leia, glancing up at the rising sun pointedly.

"I'll see you later, father," She wrapped arms around the massive horse's neck in a quick hug, then scampered back to the ground.

"Have a good birthday." Damion called after her as she hurried off with Slither in tow. "Try and stay out of trouble."

"What should we do about Storm, milord?" The stable hand asked as he led Lady Skie's mare out into the courtyard to be groomed.

"Why don't you start grooming both Storm and Aunt Skie's mare together from now on." Damion suggested as Storm trotted over to stand next to the mare. "And move her to the stall next to his so that they'll be close. That should calm him down a bit." He glanced at Storm. "Would that make you happy?"

Storm nickered happily, and pawed at the cobblestones, sending sparks flying out from his steel shoes.

With the crisis at the stables averted, they spent the next several hours touring the city and battlements, then they slowly started to make their way back up to the keep.

"This is my stop." Sly told them as they reached one of the local taverns.

"Isn't it a bit early to start drinking?" Damarius asked the scruffy little man in disgust.

"For your information, the tavern owner and I are developing a new ale from a recipe that I obtained from a dwarf some years back. If we can perfect it, it could make us very rich men."

"Ale is a drink for lesser races." Brody sniffed with a faintly disapproving expression. "Everyone knows that wine is the drink of the superior mind."

"Is that so?" Sly's face darkened as he considered the fussy elf. "Well,
I
think..."

"It's getting close to lunchtime," Damarius quickly cut him off. "I think that the cooks are preparing pheasant today."

"Pheasant, you say?" The elven man asked with an interested expression, following the old wizard as he started off towards the castle, leaving Sly to stare after them with an irritated expression.

When they reached the courtyard outside of the castle once again, they found Leia awaiting their return on the steps leading up to the towering keep.

"Where's Slither?" Damion asked as they approached.

"He wanted to go have a look at those goblins that Shirk mentioned." The young girl shrugged. "He said that he'll be back in a few hours."

"How did your lesson go?"

"Not as well as I would have liked." She admitted with a frown. "It's a lot more difficult to move silently through the shadows than I thought. I kept making so much noise that even a deaf man would have heard me."

"You'll get better with practice." The huge warrior assured her. "It takes time to become proficient at such a thing."

"How did the armor perform?" Damarius asked eagerly.

"Perfectly." Leia smiled. "I can hardly even notice that I'm wearing it. I just can't seem to move through the underbrush without making a bunch of noise. Slither makes it looks so easy!"

"Perhaps you do not have the aptitude to develop such skills." Brody suggested to the young girl in a dismissive tone. "You should stick to activities more suited for a child of your age."

"Such as?" Leia asked, a dangerous gleam in her eye.

"Most elven children spend their days perfecting their archery skills. There are no better archers in the world than the elven people, and I hold the honor of being among their very best."

"Is that right?" The young girl murmured in a bland tone.

"Would you care for a demonstration?"

"I would, actually." Leia nodded.

"Do we really have time for this?" Damarius complained sourly. "The pheasant is going to get cold."

"Let them have their fun." Damion murmured to the old wizard quietly. "Besides, I think that Leia is planning on using this demonstration as an opportunity to put Etha Brody in his place. You wouldn't want to miss that, now would you?"

"Well," Damarius conceded reluctantly. "since you put it that way, I think lunch can wait."

It took a few minutes for the necessary equipment to be gathered, and for a pair of servants to erect a small target on a post at the far end of the courtyard, then Leia and Brody both stepped forward with bows in hand.

"What do you think you're doing?" The elven man asked in bewilderment.

"I thought we might have a bit of a contest." The young girl said innocently.

"Really?" Brody couldn't keep the amusement from his voice. "What makes you think that you can hope to best me in an archery contest?"

Leia merely shrugged, a small smile playing about her mouth.

"Very well." The elf agreed. "I will be happy to give you a lesson in humility." He glanced at the target at the far end of the courtyard. "First to hit the target dead center wins. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Leia nodded. "Would you care to put your money where your mouth is?"

"Leia," Damion started in a disapproving tone, but stopped as the elven man held up one hand.

"What would you care to wager?" Brody asked in an amusement.

"How about this?" The young girl asked, gesturing to the pendant which dangled from her pale neck. "It's a Dragon's Eye, one of the rarest stones in the world. It's worth a king's fortune."

"Against?"

"If I win, I want your bow." The young girl said immediately, gesturing to the beautifully crafted weapon that the elf was holding.

The elf's amused look crumbled. "This was my great grandfather's bow. He crafted it out of elder wood, a type of tree that hasn't existed for over two thousand years."

"You can wager something else if you'd like." Leia murmured. "I'll understand if you're too afraid of losing it." Though she said this in a friendly tone, the taunt was obvious to everyone gathered.

"Very well," Brody's agreed through clenched teeth. "Winner takes all."

The young girl smiled broadly. "Consider it a wager."

"Are you certain you want to do that?" Damion asked doubtfully.

"Your daughter has reached the age that she must learn her lessons for herself." Brody told him in a lofty tone. "The loss of her pendant should help drive that point home."

"I wasn't talking to her." Damion informed him in amusement. "I think you may regret this wager."

"We shall see." The elf turned to Leia. "Shall I go first?"

"Be my guest." The young girl smiled, then stepped back to allow him room to shoot.

Brody stepped forward, his chin held high as he stared at the target at the far end of the courtyard. He wet one finger to test the wind, then slowly withdrew an arrow from his quiver and notched it to the string. He stared at the target for another long moment, then slowly drew back on the bow and let the arrow fly.

The instant that he released his shot, Leia stepped forward with a look of determination on her face. In one fluid motion, she notched an arrow, drew back on her bow, and released her shot. Her arrow quickly overtook the arrow fired by the elf, splitting it clean in two before it had even traveled halfway across the courtyard, then continued on to bury itself deep in the center of the target.

Brody stared in disbelief at his arrow, which lay in two separate pieces in the center of the courtyard, then he whirled to face Leia. "How did you do that?" He demanded, his face pale with fury.

"My mother is from Deiria." Leia informed him with a shrug. "
They're
the best archers in the world." She smiled smugly. "I believe you have something for me?"

The elven man stared at her for several long seconds, then slowly extended his bow. "It seems that you have made me look the fool, little one." He admitted reluctantly. "Your skills with a bow are quite impressive." He glanced down at his bow sadly. "You'll take good care of it, won't you?"

Leia stared at the bow for a moment, then glanced over to her father, who frowned slightly. "Why don't you just go ahead and hold onto it for now." She murmured with a shake of her head. "To be honest, I'm rather partial to my own bow."

Brody stared at her for another moment, then wordlessly bowed to her in respect.

"Now that little Leia is finished showing off," Damarius chuckled, giving the young girl a fond look. "shall we..."

A sudden whooshing sound drowned out the old wizard's next words, and a large cloud of dust rose up from the courtyard, momentarily obscuring everyone's vision.

"What was that?" The elven man asked in confusion, brushing the dust from his clothing fussily.

"It was just Xaxis." Leia told him in a deliberately offhand manner, giving her father a surreptitious wink.

"Xaxis?" Brody asked blankly. "Who is Xaxis?"

"Xaxis," Leia called out, her clear voice echoing in the seemingly empty courtyard.

"Yes?" A deep rumbling voice replied almost immediately. "What can I do for you, little mother?"

The air shimmered strangely for a moment, then the enormous veiled dragon materialized before them with an expectant expression.

"Good gods!" Brody exclaimed, scrambling back from Xaxis with a terrified expression.

"Is this elf annoying you, little mother?" The huge dragon asked, lowering his head down to glare at the cowering elf with one huge eye.

"A little," Leia nodded. "but that's not why I called you. I just wanted you to meet Brody."

The huge dragon continued to hover over the elf menacingly for another moment, then slowly stepped back and settled down next to Leia. "Greetings, Brody," He grumbled finally.

"G-Greetings, X-Xaxis." The elf stammered in reply, his eyes wide with fear.

"Are you finished?" Damarius asked Leia in exasperation. "It's almost lunchtime."

"I think so." The young girl nodded, glancing over at the elf, whose face was deathly pale. "I'm pretty sure that he has gotten my point."

"Great!" The old wizard sighed, then turned and started up the castle steps. "That means we can finally eat!"

Chapter 4

After a sumptuous meal of roasted pheasant and rice, Damion and the others led their elven guests back to Damion's office to discuss the reason for their visit.

"I think that it is finally time to reveal our reasons for coming to Sevria and seeking you out." Delilah started, appearing to choose her words carefully. "A great danger has reemerged from the darkness to threaten our people, and our beloved Queen Serena, ruler of the Elven Island, fears that without your aid, our people will fall."

"Exactly what kind of danger are you speaking of?" Shirk asked with a frown.

The two elves exchanged a long look.

"Tell us," Brody looked back to Damion and the others, his expression grim. "What do you know about the elves that live on the Elven Island?"

"Not much really." Damion admitted. "Dar has mentioned them a few times over the years, but he's never really gone into too much detail. I do remember him saying that your people rarely associate with the other races, though."

"We elves are a very reclusive people." Brody murmured with a nod. "That is because nearly a thousand years ago, our beloved queen's mother, the late Queen Esoria, decided that there was far too much corruption in the world around us, and the various wars that were being waged by the lesser races were threatening to engulf our people." The elf explained in a grim voice. "To prevent this from happening, she decided that our people needed to be separated from the rest of the world, so we might guarantee our survival. So we sealed our ports, and began turning away all those who attempted to visit our isle."

"Did that work?" Leia asked curiously.

"For a time." He nodded, though his expression was still grim. "For many centuries we lived in blissful contentment. The petty wars of the lesser races were no longer a concern, and our people were able to flourish, content in the knowledge that we were safe from outside corruption." He sighed. "Then
they
began to appear."