Omensent: Wrath of a Dragon God by Barry Gibbons Page B

guided Raven back into her chair, then glanced at Dar and Shirk. "Keep her here until I return." He looked to Sly. "Let's go find out what Slither has to tell us. He may have seen something that could be useful in finding Leia."
Sly made a face. "I hope it's not just another warning about the dragon god. We have enough worry about right now."
They quickly made their way through the city and found Slither, surrounded by a dozen armed soldiers, impatiently awaiting Damion's arrival.
"Mas sster!" The shadowspawn hissed, dropping to its knees. "Massster, I must ssspeak with you!"
Damion waved the so ldiers away irritably. "We are having a crisis right now, Slither. Please make it quick."
The huge crippled beast rose to its feet. "It is ss about thisss that we need to ssspeak."
"You saw the two men responsible for abducting my daughter?" He asked, sudden spark of hope igniting.
Slither nodded once. "SSSlither heard the sssoundsss of ssscreaming coming from the keep, and moved clossser to invessstigate." Though the shadowspawn were known for be especially vicious, the beast spoke with an earnest concern in its voice. "Two humansss appeared in a flasssh of light in the clearing outssside of the city, mere feet from where SSSlither ssstood. One of the humansss carried a sssmall bundle, which SSSlither realized wasss a child when it cried out. SSSlither retreated, knowing you wissshed the ssspawn to avoid humansss, and they hurried off to the north, following the game trailsss through the foressst."
"What did these two humans look like?" He asked quickly, although he already knew the answer.
"The male wasss asss big asss SSSlither. He was hairlesss, and wore leather ssskin. The human female wasss sssmaller, about the sssize of thisss one." The scaly beast gestured to Sly.
"Female?" The little man exclaimed in surprise. "You're saying the smaller of the two was a woman?"
Slithered nodded once again. "SSShe wore a hooded robe that hid her featuresss, but it could not conceal her ssscent. It wasss ssshe who carried the child."
"That was my daughter!" Damion nearly shouted, suppressing the urge to charge off in search of Leia.
Slither nodded once again. "SSSlither noticed the commotion later when they sssealed the gatesss. That isss when SSSlither heard the humansss ssshouting about Massster'sss child being misssing. SSSlither immediately ssset off after the two humansss, knowing it must have been Massster'sss child they carried. The ssspawn caught up to the humansss that night when they pausssed to ressst, and tried to ssstop them, and recover Massster'sss child, but the human female usssed magic to dessstroy them."
"What happened then?"
"SSSlither did not wisssh to endanger Massster'sss child any further, ssso SSSlither merely followed. The humansss continued north until they reached a sssmall encampment built near a hidden cove, not far from the large city at the edge of the sssea." The crippled beast looked at Damion pleadingly. "The humansss immediately boarded a ssship which ssset off into the night. SSSlither could not stop them!" He dropped to his knees again. "SSSlither hasss failed, Massster."
"No," Damion told the beast, his mind work ing quickly. "You did well! Now we have a bit more of an idea of what we're up against!" He grasped the trembling shadowspawn by its one good arm and hauled it to its feet. "Tell me, Slither," He asked almost desperately. "Did you see which direction the ship sailed off?"
The scaly b east thought for a moment, then shook its head. "The ssship vanissshed into the fog. SSSlither could not sssee which direction it wasss heading."
"They jumped on a ship ?" Sly scratched his head thoughtfully. "That's going to make figuring out where they took Leia a bit more difficult, wouldn't you say?"
"You have done well, Slither." Damion told the shadowspawn gratefully. "Once we have gathered everything we'll need, you'll take us to where you last saw this ship."
"Asss you wisssh, Massster." The shadowy beast