Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series) by Barry Gibbons

weapons held at the ready.
    “Greetings, warriors of the Deola." Damion welcomed the fierce looking tribesmen in a calm tone. "We are honored by your visit.”
    "Lord Omensent?" One of the warriors suddenly broke into a wide grin . "What in the world are you doing here?"
    As the man moved a bit closer, Damion recognized the tattoos that marked him as being one of Bativa's northern Avonte tribe. "We're looking for your tribe. We need to speak with your chieftain immediately."
    "Bativa? I'm afraid he's not with the rest of the tribe at the moment."
    "Where is he? It's of the greatest importance that I speak with him immediately."
    "He is in Mercedia meeting with the rest of the chieftains for the Spring Council. It's a custom for the chieftains to gather every spring to decide what lands each clan shall use that year for their herds." He gave the big warrior a conspiratorial smile, and dropped his voice to a murmur. "To be honest, every tribe has always had their own lands that they traditionally drive their herds to every year, but the Spring Council gives the chieftains an excuse to get together and eat and drink themselves into..." He suddenly stopped as he spotted Slither, who was standing a few feet away. "Dragonspawn!"
    The warrior started to spur his warhorse forward, reaching for his weapon with panicked expression, but Damion quickly moved to block him. "Whoa!" He grabbed the warhorse the Deolan was riding by its bridle and jerked back, bringing the massive beast to a skidding stop, and sending the warrior flying forward out of his saddle. He landed with an audible thud in the soft grass, and laid there for several long seconds gasping for air. "Calm yourself! Slither is our friend. He's not like the other spawn that you have encountered."
    "Cou ldn't you have told me that before you sent me flying from my saddle?" The warrior groaned, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He turned to look at the huge shadowspawn, who merely watched him with curiosity. "He's bigger than most of the other spawn that I've seen. A lot uglier too."
    "You're not ssso pretty yourssself." Slither hissed back, causing the man to jump in surprise.
    "It can talk?" The tribesman scrambled to his feet, his eyes still locked on the enormous beast. "I didn't know any of the spawn could talk."
    "You have much to learn then." The shadowy beast murmured.
    The Deolan stared at him for a moment. "Forgive me..." He looked to the others questioningly.
    "Slither." Leia told him helpfully.
    "Forgive me, Slither. I  have never encountered a friendly dragonspawn before."
    "SSSlither wasss ssshadowssspawn, not dragonssspawn." The huge beast corrected him.
    "Was?" The warrior asked in confusion.
    "SSSlither isss of SSSevria now." The huge beast puffed his scaly chest out proudly.
    "Come warm yourselves by our fire." Damion inv ited him and the other warriors. "We were preparing our evening meal. Please, join us."
    The tattooed warrior nodded to his fellow tribesmen, who had watched his fall with scarcel y veiled amusement, and they all quickly dismounted and gathered with the others around the bonfire.
    "Tell me," Damion asked curiously, accepting one of the roasted chickens Raven had prepared while they were waiting for the Deola to appear. "Have you or your fellow tribesmen encountered anything... unusual lately?"
    "Actually we have, now that you mention it. " The warrior replied, leaning in close to the roaring flames to warm his hands. "For the last month or so, something has been making off with our cattle. At first, we thought it was just a normal predator, but then they began to vanish out from beneath our very noses."
    "Were you able to locate any of them?" Damarius asked curiously.
    "Only few bones and a bit of hide. The men watching the herds all swear that the cattle would be there one moment and gone the next. They never saw a thing, but several of them did report hearing an enormous roar around the same time that the cattle