Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God by Barry Gibbons

happened!" The boy was in a near panic. "Lord Veren has been murdered!"
"What?" Damion asked in shock. "Someone has murdered Veren?"
"That's not all, milord!" The young man rushed on desperately. " It's your daughter!"
"Leia?" Raven cried out fearfully. "What's happened to my Leia?"
Axel's face was deathly pale as he turned to the young woman. "She's been abducted!"

Chapter 7
 
 
"Thank the gods you've finally returned!" Lady Skie cried in relief as they burst through the door of Damion's office two nights later. "We didn't have any idea where we might find you!"
"We were already on our way back to Sevria when Axel found us." Damion told her, trying to keep his panic at bay. "He told us that someone had murdered Veren and abducted Leia, so we rushed back as quick as we could."
Lady Skie burst into tears, then ran to him and threw herself into his arms. "I'm so sorry, Damion! It's all my fault!"
"Nonsense." Sly growled. His face was grey with exhaustion. "It's that pair of maniacs that are to blame."
"What maniacs?" Raven, unlike Damion, was nearly in a panic. "What has happened to my Leia?"
"It happened four days after you left to follow Ickor's wagons." Lady Skie sobbed, still clinging to Damion in despair. "I had just put Leia to bed when two people burst into the room and went straight for her crib. I tried to stop them, but one of the men hit me across the face." She gestured to an ugly bruise beneath one eye. "Veren rushed in to keep him from killing me, but the other man attacked him from behind and stabbed him in his back!" She began to sob again. "They killed him! They killed Veren, and took Leia!"
Damion led the weeping woman over to one of the chairs near the meeting table, then returned to guide his distraught wife into another, noticing that she seemed on the verge of fainting.
"That's when Damarius appeared and tried to block their path." Sly continued for Lady Skie, who was still weeping uncontrollably. "Before he could do anything, one of the men apparently used magic to blast him across the room."
"Is he okay?"
The little man nodded wearily. "He was just knocked senseless. He may be old, but he's tough as nails. He's downstairs in his chambers resting right now." He glanced at Axel, who had been standing in the doorway. "Have some servants bring us something strong to drink," He looked at the exhausted young man a little closer. "and then take yourself to bed. You look dead on your feet." He watched as the boy hurried off, then continued. "After they snatched up Leia and knocked Damarius senseless, they somehow managed to make their way through the castle unseen until they reached the main doors. They killed the soldiers standing watch, then slipped out of the castle and disappeared. I had the city sealed immediately, and the men watching the gates swear that no one had left the city since that morning, but we searched the city and castle from top to bottom three times, and..." He shrugged and shook his head.
"What did these men look like?" Damion asked in a calm voice, but inside he seething with a terrible anger, tinged with fear for his daughter's safety.
"The man that hit me was huge, almost as big as you." Lady Skie answered, trying to regain her composure. "He was bald, and he wore a thick leather armor. I didn't get a good look at the other man. He wore a long grey hooded robe that covered his face."
"That's the description Faldor gave us of the men who hired him !" Dar exclaimed in surprise and shock.
"Now we know why they wanted him to cause as much mayhem as he could." Shirk said shrewdly. "It was all just a diversion to draw us away from Sevria. They wanted Damion gone so they could snatch Leia."
" Why would they want to take my baby?" The tears had finally began to break through Raven's shock. "What possible reason could someone have to take our child?"
"Maybe they believe they can extort a ransom from us for her safe return." Shirk suggested, scratching his beard thoughtfully.
"Who in their