"I glad you approve." She smiled. "I think I'm starting to get the hang of running things. It's a lot more fun than father lets on."
"You jussst like to bully people." Slither snorted in amusement.
"Is there anything else that requires my attention?" Leia asked, ignoring the snickering shadowspawn.
Captain Repheth shook his head. "I think we have everything under control here."
"Very well." The young girl looked slightly disappointed. "Slither and I are going hunting. We should be back before dusk."
"Be very cautious, milady." The old man warned, his expression worried. "There are goblins still lurking somewhere nearby."
"I'm not worried." She told him confidently. "I can take care of myself if need be. Besides," She smile up at the huge shadowspawn. "I have Slither with me. He can handle just about anything that comes along."
They hurried through the massive battlements and across the trade road, then Slither took the lead and led her along several scarcely visible game trails, until they came upon a small open meadow where they spotted a large group of deer grazing on the soft green blades of grass.
Leia and Slither both instantly dropped back into the shadows to avoid startling the timid creatures, then watched as the they slowly began to meander closer.
"I think I can take down three of them before they scatter." Leia whispered, reaching for her bow. "It'll be a good start to replenishing the supplies." She notched an arrow and took careful aim, but before she was able to release her shot, a half a dozen goblins burst from concealment on the far side of the clearing and charged the deer, sending the fleet footed creatures scattering. Four more goblins appeared from the underbrush at the opposite side of the clearing, each wielding a crude spear, which they hurled at the deer with deadly accuracy.
"Where did they come from?" Leia asked in surprise, watching as the goblins quickly slaughtered the entire herd of deer.
"SSSlither isss not sssure," The huge shadowspawn growled, his eyes narrowed in dislike. "but we cannot allow them to essscape. We need to eliminate them before they begin attacking the caravansss traveling on the trade road."
"That should be easy enough." She notched an arrow to her bow once more, then drew back, aimed, and let it fly, striking one of the goblins in its throat.
Four more fell dead before any of the other creatures realized that they were under attack, and even then, they had little chance as Leia continued to rain arrows down upon them with deadly accuracy.
"One isss getting away." Slither pointed to one of the pig faced beasts who was scrambling for the underbrush.
"I see it." She withdrew her last arrow from her quiver, notched it, then drew back on her bow and fired in a single fluid motion. The arrow flashed across the open clearing in the blink of an eye, striking the fleeing goblin in the back of its head, sending it tumbling end over end into the underbrush.
"Good ssshot." The huge shadowspawn hissed in admiration. He hurried out into the clearing and made sure that the beasts were all dead. "It isss odd that they would be out hunting during the daytime. Goblinsss usually prefer to hunt at night."
"It doesn't really matter now." Leia shrugged, nudging one of the dead goblins with her foot. "They won't be hunting anything anymore."
"There are sssurely more of the beastsss lurking sssomewhere nearby." Slither hissed darkly. "Many more. Goblinsss breed fassster than rabbitsss."
"If we encounter more of them, then we'll deal with them like we dealt with these." She reached down and yanked her arrow free from the goblin's body, then gave it a delicate sniff. "Yuck!" She tossed the arrow aside in disgust. "It looks like I'm going to need some new arrows."
"What do you want to do with thessse?" Slither asked, gesturing to the deer that the goblins had slaughtered.
"We'll take them with us." The young girl shrugged. "They'll be a good start at replacing the provisions that we used over the winter." She frowned as she counted ten deer in all. "It may take us a couple of trips though."
"Not if we butcher them here." Slither growled, using a razor sharp claw to slice open one of the deer's bellies, spilling its innards onto the ground.
"I was hoping you wouldn't suggest that." She murmured, her face turning a pale shade of green. She drew a deep steadying breath, then exhaled heavily and drew her dagger. "I guess we had better get this over with."
Chapter 7
"Gods, how I hate this!" Shirk moaned after vomiting up his breakfast. "We're less than a day at sea and I'm already sick." He gave Damion a sour look. "Thanks again for inviting me along."
"How can he be sick already?" Captain Harper asked in bewilderment, watching as the old bandit began vomiting over the rail once again. "The sea is calm, and the Fearless Lady is running as smoothly as ever!"
"Shirk has never liked the open sea." Damion told him with a chuckle. "I think the motion of the waves gets to him."
"That's funny," The old sailor laughed. "I get a bit land sick if I don't feel the waves. I guess spending your entire life at sea does that to a man." He looked around the deck. "Where are your elven friends?"
"They went below deck with Raven and Damarius. They seem to prefer distancing themselves from other people."
"I have to tell you," Captain Harper told him in a serious tone. "I really don't trust those two. There is something about them that just doesn't sit right with me."
Damion frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I can't put my finger on it, but something about them makes me very nervous. You need to be cautious once we finally make port. I have the feeling that the blood elves aren't the only danger on the Elven Island."
"You're not the only person that's given me that same warning." Damion frowned. "But Dar convinced them to send for my aid, and I trust him. If he believes that the elves truly need my aid, then I'll do everything in my power to help."
"That honorable streak of yours is eventually going to get you killed." Captain Harper told him bluntly. "One day you're..." He scowled as a pair of deckhands, wearing matching red rags around their heads, hurried forward. "What is it? Why are you men not at your posts?"
Neither sailor answered, but instead, both drew daggers and charged forward, their eyes alight with bloodlust.
Damion reacted instinctively, lashing out with a powerful kick that caught one of the men square in his chest, sending him sailing backwards, where he crashed to the deck in an unconscious heap. The other man lunged towards Captain Harper, thrusting his dagger straight at the old sailor's heart, but, with surprising speed, Captain Harper sidestepped the thrust and whipped out his own heavy dagger, which he drove directly into the top of his attacker's head with a meaty crunch. The man stiffened horribly, then fell limp as Captain Harper wrenched the dagger free with a snarl.
"What, in the name of the gods, was that about?" Damion demanded in confusion.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Captain Harper nudged the dead man onto his back. "Wait a second!" He snatched the rag from the corpse's head, revealing a pair of pointy ears." This isn't one of my men! It's an elf!"
"How did an elf sneak aboard without being noticed?"
"That's a good question." Captain Harper looked over to the other attacker, who was still laying in an unconscious heap. "Grab that man and bind him before he wakes!" He bellowed at a group of sailors who had rushed over to investigate the commotion, then he glanced down at the corpse. "And somebody toss this mangy cur overboard before he starts to stink!"
Raven and Damarius suddenly appeared from below deck, followed closely by Brody and Delilah.
"What is going on up here?" Damarius asked, watching as several sailors bound the unconscious man's hands and feet.
"It appears we have some stowaways on board." Captain Harper scowled angrily. "All hands!" He bellowed, causing his men to freeze mid-step. "I want this entire ship searched from hull to crow's nest! If there are any more stowaways on my ship, I want them found!"
The sailors immediately jumped into acti
on and began searching the ship for any other stowaways.
"How did they get on board?" Raven asked with a puzzled expression.
"I don't know," Damion murmured, kneeling down and removing the red rag from the unconscious man's head, revealing a pair of pointy ears. "but I have the feeling they have something to do with what's happening on the island."
Delilah gasped as her eyes fell upon their prisoner. "He's elven!"
"If I had to guess, I would say that this would be one of the elves that your captain friend found drifting at sea." Damarius murmured to Captain Harper. "But where is the other one?"
"He didn't survive." The old sailor growled, gesturing to the nearby corpse.
"Do you know this elf?" Damion asked Brody, who was staring at the dead elf with an unsettled expression.
"I do." The elven man nodded uncomfortably. "His name is Relvin. He is the son of one of the queen's advisors."
"Do you think that they are blood elves?" Raven asked as Damion propped the unconscious man up against the ship's mast.
"It is almost a certainty." Delilah murmured worriedly. "They must have found out about our mission, and were trying to stop us."
"Do you have anything that'll wake him?" Damion asked Damarius. "I'd like to ask him a few questions."
"I have just the thing." The old wizard rummaged through the pouches on his belt for several moments, then withdrew a tiny glass vial. He carefully removed the vial's stopper, then waved it under the unconscious elf's nose.
The elf's eyes suddenly flew open, and he made a violent retching sound, then he groaned and fell over onto his side gasping for air. "My ribs!" He wheezed in agony, desperately trying to draw a breath.
"Yes," Damarius carefully probed the bound elf's ribcage. "You have several broken ribs. Here," He rummaged through his pouches again and withdrew an amber vial. "this should help with the pain." He dropped several drops of a clear liquid into the elf's open mouth, then stepped back. "It will take a few moments to take affect."
"What did you give him?" Captain Harper asked curiously.
"Just a little something that I cooked up a few decades ago." The old wizard shrugged. "It's a powerful painkiller that has a few interesting side effects."
"Such as?"
Damarius grinned. "The user cannot help but speak the truth when under its effects."
"A truth serum?" Shirk blurted in surprise. "Does it really work?"
"Oh yes." The old wizard nodded. "It almost works too well. Once you ask them a question, they will not stop talking until the effects finally wear off."
"I think it's beginning to work." Raven pointed to the elf, whose breathing had become far less labored.
"Feeling better?" Damion asked in an almost pleasant tone.
"Much better, thank you." The elf sighed, drawing in a deep breath. "I don't think I have ever been in so much pain in my entire life. That kick nearly crushed my chest! One second I'm attempting to kill you, and the next I'm flying backwards through the air, and..."
"Yes, yes," The huge warrior interrupted the elf to keep him from rambling on. "Tell me, how did you and your friend make it aboard this ship?"
"Oh, that wasn't very difficult at all." The elf informed him with a shrug. "We just bartered some sailors' garbs, hid our ears beneath some rags, and walked aboard. We knew that the sailors would think that we were nothing more than a couple of new deckhands. No one even noticed us, which, of course, was our plan all along. Once we were aboard, we hid among the cargo until we were well under way, then we made our way up to the upper deck where we attacked you and you kicked me in my chest." He gave Damion a reproving look. "That really hurt, you know."
"I know." Damion nodded again. "How many of you were there altogether?"
"It was just Relvin and myself, which was okay by me. Relvin and I have been friends ever since we were children. He's more like a brother, really. I even lived with his family for a time after my parents died." He looked around with a frown. "Where is Relvin, anyway?"
"He didn't survive the attack." Captain Harper growled in a hard tone, gesturing to a pair of deckhands as they heaved the elf's corpse overboard.
"Oh," Eldrin sighed sadly. "That's a shame. He was a good friend." He looked at Damion. "Did I mention that we grew up together? He was more like a bro..."
"How did you and your friend reach Sierra?" Damion asked, cutting through the elf's rambling.
"We stole a small dingy, then paddled our way out into one of the shipping routes that pass our island." The young elf shrugged. "We crossed paths with a merchant vessel heading south, and pretended to be nothing more than refugees lost at sea. Once we finally reached Sierra, we asked around until we found the ship the Ava Delilah and Etha Brody had traveled on, and discovered that they had already departed for Sevria."
"You were following us?" Delilah asked in alarm.
The injured elf nodded. "We knew that you and Etha Brody were attempting to locate the Dragon Lord in the hopes he would come to our island. We were watching the trade road when you finally returned with him. We didn't have an opportunity to strike before you boarded this ship, so we decided to sneak aboard and..."
"That stuff really works, doesn't it?" Shirk muttered to Damarius while the elf continued to rattle on.
"Yes, it does." The old wizard turned to gaze at the bearded bandit. "Perhaps I should slip a few drops into your ale later and see what kind of things you have to say."
Shirk gulped, then began to shuffle in place uncomfortably.
"Who sent you to stop us?" Brody demanded angrily. "Was it your high priest? How did Yrinn know that we were going to seek out the Dragon Lord for help?"
"Yrinn?" The elf suddenly looked confused. "Who..."
"We know that Yrinn has returned to our island to seek followers for the dark god, Hetris!" Brody snarled, his eyes blazing with hate. "Where is he hiding?"
"I-I have no idea where Yrinn is hiding." The injured elf told him, an odd expression on his face. "We've never even met him. Our orders came from someone else. We were ordered to kill the Dragon Lord and his companions, and..."
"You're lying!" Brody snarled in fury. "Yrinn discovered that we planned on seeking out the Dragon Lord for aid, and decided that we had to be stopped! That's why you were ordered to kill him, wasn't it?"
"He can't lie." Raven reminded the elven ambassador. "The potion Damarius gave him won't allow him to lie, remember?"
The injured elf acted as though he hadn't heard Brody's accusations. "You know," He looked to Damarius, the color slowly draining from his face. "I really don't feel very well." An enormous fountain of blood suddenly erupted from the elf's mouth, spraying across the deck of the ship, and causing Brody to leap backward in surprised confusion.
"Ah, damn!" Damarius growled, watching as the elf slumped over onto his side with a gurgling sigh. He rushed over to check for a pulse. "He's dead. One of his broken ribs must have pierced a lung."
Brody let out a string of curses, then turned away from the dead elf, and stomped over to the ship's railing, his expression a mingling of fury, frustration, and disgust.
"That's unfortunate." Shirk frowned in disappointment. "There were still a lot of questions that he could have answered for us."
"Well, that's not going to happen now." Captain Harper grunted, nudging the dead elf with one toe. "His days of answering questions are over." He placed his hand on his dagger cautiously as one of his deckhands approached. "What is it?"
"We've searched the ship from stem to stern, Captain, and didn't find any other stowaways."
"Good," The old captain grunted. "It appears that he really was telling the truth." He looked back to the deckhand. "Toss this pile of meat overboard, then grab a mop and clean this mess up before the blood stains my deck."
"It appears that our plans have been compromised." Delilah murmured to the others with a frown. "We had hoped to keep the Dragon Lord's involvement a secret until we arrived so the blood elves wouldn't have time to devise
a counter plan. Now we've lost that advantage."
"Dealing with these blood elves may prove trickier than we first thought." Shirk said, watching as a pair of sailors heaved the dead elf overboard. "There's no way of distinguishing between them and other elves. We're going to have to be suspicious of everyone."
"There are a few that we know that we can trust." Brody assured him. "We can depend on them to help us. They have proven their loyalty to Petra time and time again."
"Not to us, they haven't." The old bandit disagreed. "We're not going to risk our lives by trusting some elves whom we've never even met."
"I agree with Shirk." Damion murmured with a frown. "We cannot risk putting our trust into someone whom we do not know. But," He held up one hand as Brody started to object. "we also can't turn down any assistance offered to us. It may prove to be the difference between failure and success."
"Who is this high priest?" Raven asked Delilah curiously. "Yrinn, I think Brody said his name was."
"Yrinn is an outcast." The elven woman said the name like it left a foul taste in her mouth. "He was banished from our island over a century ago for plotting to overthrow the queen."
"We should have killed him." Brody growled angrily, still staring out over the railing at the open sea. "Many of us thought that his crimes deserved nothing less than death, but the queen felt that since he was last of one of the noble houses, killing him would be too excessive." He sighed, then shook his head. "If we had known then what we know now, perhaps many of our people would still be alive."
"We believe that he has returned to the island, and has been discreetly gathering followers for Hetris." Delilah continued, her face grim. "Many of us have suspected that he was the one behind this attempt to destroy Petra's faithful, but there has never been any proof that he had returned. Only rumors."
"And rumors are still all we have." Damarius murmured. "If these elves worked for this Yrinn fellow, it doesn't appear that they knew it. There's no way that the elf could have lied to us while under the influence of my truth serum."
Omensent: Princess Of Dragons (Book 5) Page 12