Omensent: Revealing the Dragon (The Dragon Lord Series)

by Barry Gibbons

  "That could be a problem." Fedrio murmured with a frown. "It could take weeks to locate enough stone masons to help us reinforce the break walls."

  "We don't have that kind of time." Damarius shook his head, causing his brow lock to fall into his eyes. The men are just going to have to do the best they can. We really don't have any other choice."

  One of Juco's Silent Shadows suddenly burst through the door of the tavern breathing heavily, then he quickly rushed over to their table, his eyes slightly wild. "There is a large force making their way up the trade road towards the city." He reported in a strained voice.

  "Finally!" Sly sighed in relief. "The reinforcements that Damion promised to send have arrived!"

  "I'm not so sure," The mercenary frowned. "Maybe you had better come take a look at this for yourselves."

  Sly and Damarius exchanged a troubled look, then hurried outside with the others and quickly made their way to the edge of town.

  "They should be here anytime now." The mercenary murmured as they came to a stop at the edge of town and stood staring up the road expectantly.

  "What's so unusual about these men that I had to trudge all the way here to see them arrive?" Sly asked in a sour voice. "If you've seen one army, you've seen them all."

  "I'm fairly sure that you've never seen any army quite like this." The mercenary snorted. "See for yourself." He gestured towards the large force that had appeared in the distance.

  They all turned and watched as the army slowly trudged up the trade road towards Sierra.

  "Are those dwarves?" Fedrio asked, holding up one hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

  Sly watched as the army drew a little closer, then the little man suddenly burst out laughing.

  "What's so funny?" Damarius asked, brushing his brow lock from his eyes so he could get a better look at the approaching army.

  "That's Garth at the head of that army!" The little man guffawed in amusement.

  "The dwarven king?" The old wizard looked astonished. "What is he doing with the reinforcements?"

  "He must have decided that he and his kinsmen weren't going to be left out of the battle."

  "What good are dwarves going to be in a battle?" Langsten asked in confusion.

  "Don't let their small stature fool you." Damarius cautioned with a smile. "The dwarves are remarkably strong, and are ferocious warriors."

  "Sly, you mangy old dog!" A fiery haired dwarf at the head of the army roared. "Have you finished drinking all of the ale left in the city yet?"

  "Almost," The little man roared back with a harsh laugh. "but I saved a couple of casks just in case you decided to emerge from your cave to come out and play with the rest of us." He hurried forward to greet the stocky little dwarf. "What are you doing here? You're the last person I would have thought to find at the head of an army!"

  "My kinsmen and I weren't going to sit around and let you have all of the fun." Garth laughed goodheartedly. "After a bit of discussion, my kinsmen and I decided we would gather a few of our best warriors and come crash your little get together."

  "Shouldn't you be back in your caverns watching over your people?"

  "Gretta is minding the kingdom while I'm gone. She's more than capable of taking care of everything in my absence."

  "How many dwarves did you bring with you?" Juco asked as they watched the long line of men and dwarves trudge passed.

  "Around five thousand, plus another ten thousand men from Crete. Damion and Bativa took the Deola with them to Kainpre."

  "Why would they go to Kainpre?" Damarius asked in bafflement.

  "A group of Etazk somehow snuck into the city and slaughtered the guards, then raised the gate and let in a large force that destroyed the city."

  "That must be the second force Tempest had warned us about." Sly growled unhappily. "They must have found a hidden cove somewhere far to the south to offload and wait while others arrived. Once they had a large enough force, they must have marched on Kainpre."

  A hard faced warrior came hurrying up, followed closely by an overweight man in mud splattered traveling clothes.

  "Ignan?" Fedrio exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here in the middle of an army?"

  "I've been helping the Dragon Lord gather men and coordinate his forces, milord." The fat man explained, shaking the gaunt faced man's hand warmly. "It takes quite a bit of planning when it comes to moving an army of this size."

  "Where should we have the men set up camp, your Majesty?" The hard faced warrior asked Garth in a respectful tone.

  Garth turned to look at Sly questioningly.

  "A large section of the east side of the city has been cleared of most of its structures." Langsten interjected helpfully.

  "Have the men start setting up camp on the east side of the city then, Zayan." Garth told him, nodding to Langsten in thanks.

  "Most of the buildings that remain standing are still habitable." Juco added. "Some of the men can set up in those buildings, although we may need to tear some more of them down to use as material for reinforcing the harbor."

  A smile suddenly appeared on Sly's scruffy face. "Tell me, my dwarven friend," He started in a sly tone. "Do any of your men have any experience as stone masons?"

  "Only all of them." Garth snorted and rolled his eyes. "We are dwarves, after all."

  "Let's have them set up camp, then get them down to the harbor immediately." The little man decided quickly. "We need help reinforcing the harbor walls for when the Etazk arrive."

  "Let's go have a look at this harbor." The dwarven king smiled. "I'm sure my kinsmen can have it in shape and ready to greet the Etazk in no time."

  They left Juco, Langsten, Zayan, and Ignan to oversee the seemingly endless stream of men and dwarves who continued to make their way down into the harbor city, and began to make their way down towards the waterfront.

  "How many men did Damion take with him to Kainpre?" Damarius asked curiously as they made their way through town.

  "Around twenty thousand or so." Garth replied, stroking his beard absently. "Mostly Deolan tribesmen. They're able to move through the grasslands faster normal soldiers thanks to those swift-footed horses of theirs, and they needed to deal with the Etazk in Kainpre in a hurry so they could make it back here in time to help defend the harbor."

  "It's a relief to know we've managed to gather enough men to nearly match their forces." Sly murmured, sighing in relief. "I had been a little worried we would be grossly outnumbered."

  "You haven't heard?" Garth asked, staring at the little man in disbelief. "The Etazk sailed out of Salastar a couple of weeks ago on course for Sierra with a force of over a hundred thousand men! We have less than two months before they reach the city!"

  "A hundred thousand?" Sly gasped, his scruffy face going pale. "Where did they get enough ships to carry them all?"

  "I guess they had a large number of them held in reserve elsewhere." The dwarven monarch shrugged. "The rest they either confiscated or built from scratch."

  "And you say that we have less than two months before they arrive?" Damarius asked grimly, his face nearly as pale as Sly's.

  "I'm afraid so." Garth sighed. "Tempest showed up while we were in Crete and alerted us that they had finally set out. The last time she saw them they had set course directly towards Sierra."

  They finally arrived at the massive wharf and stopped, taking in the immense sprawling harbor.

  "This changes things." The scruffy little man growled, looking around with a dejected scowl. "We may have to forget about reinforcing the harbor and focus on the city. I don't think we'll have time to reinforce both before the Etazk arrive."

  "What are you talking about?" Garth asked in a contradictory tone. "We have plenty of time. Five hundred of my kinsmen can have those harbor walls built up and reinforced in less than two weeks time, and we have five thousand dwarves in our army!"

  "Do you think we can build a couple of watch towers atop the walls on either side of the opening to the ha
rbor?" Damarius asked, his expression suddenly thoughtful.

  "Aye, we could build a pair of towers atop the walls if you would like."

  "Let's talk about that." The old wizard smiled, leading them all towards the tavern Sly used as a headquarters.

  The next several weeks were an absolute whirlwind of activity as the industrious little dwarves worked to build up the harbor walls. The huge piles of granite blocks that Juco and his men had managed to gather by deconstructing the few granite structures in the city were quickly utilized, and they were soon forced to send several scouting parties into the nearby mountains to locate a suitable supply of stone to finish their work.

  After two furious weeks of construction, they finally finished the harbor walls and towers, and Garth led the others on a tour to proudly show off his kinsmen's handy work.

  "See?" The dwarven monarch asked Sly as they strolled along the broad path that had been constructed along the top of the harbor walls, which were thirty feet thicker and forty feet taller than before. "Did I not say my kinsmen would be able to handle the job?"

  "That you did, my friend." The scruffy little man conceded as he closely inspected the dwarves' handy work. He knelt and examined the nearly invisible seams between the granite blocks. "How did they manage to get the blocks to fit so closely together? What kind of mortar did they use?"

  "Mortar?" Garth snorted in amusement. "There isn't a drop of mortar in this entire structure. The blocks are so perfectly fitted that they don't need it."

  "Aren't you afraid that it may all collapse?" Fedrio asked with a concerned expression.

  "You could hit these walls with a mountain and you'd hardly feel it." The stocky little dwarf promised. "My many of my kinsmen are master stone masons, as were their fathers, and their father's fathers. These walls will stand for centuries without succumbing to the abuse of time or nature. You can believe me when I say that these walls could withstand almost anything the Etazk could throw at them."

  They continued along the wall until they reach a surprisingly spacious tower, which loomed high over the harbor's entrance.

  "We decided to line both sides of the tower walls with windows for archers," The dwarven monarch pointed out several tall narrow windows as they entered the intimidating structure. "We figured the more arrows we can rain down upon the Etazk, the fewer will make it to shore."

  "Makes sense to me." Juco shrugged, strolling over to look out the window at the crashing waves below.

  "I haven't seen anyplace for us to set up any siege machines." Damarius frowned with disapproval. "I thought we had discussed placing a catapult atop each tower to rain pots full of flaming pitch and naphtha down onto their ships."

  "That's going to be on the very top floor." Garth assured him with a smile. "We built five levels into each tower to be able to place as many archers inside as possible."

  He led them up a staircase to the second level, which was identical to the first. "I figured we could have the men start bringing in a suitable supply of arrows and store them on the first and second floor." He moved up the staircase to the third floor, which was quite different from the first two. In addition to a large number of windows, there was also a large opening in the wall leading out to a balcony that overlooked the harbor's entrance. "This is the control room. One of them anyways." He led the way out onto the balcony. "The tower on the other side has a similar control room. The harbor defenses can be triggered by the controls in either room."

  "What do these do?" Juco asked curiously, gesturing to a number of levers built into the floor of the balcony.

  "They set off the defenses." Garth gestured to a long steel tube which stretched the entire length of the harbor's opening to the opposite tower. "Damarius has created a special liquid that he has placed inside of huge brass vats." He led them to the next floor and showed them a large vat which had been carefully built into the floor. "All you have to do is throw the lever and release the liquid. It will pour through the tube and rain the liquid down onto any ship that attempts to cross into the harbor."

  "What's that going to do?"

  "The liquid is highly flammable." The old wizard explained. "A single spark will turn any ship that has been covered with the liquid into an instant ball of fire."

  "Clever." The muscle bound mercenary looked impressed.

  "I'm glad you like it." Damarius smiled happily. "There are a number of other defenses that we've designed which are as equally impressive. It's safe to say the Etazk are going to find it quite difficult to enter the harbor, and they're not going to enjoy what they discover if they do make it through."

  "Were you and that blacksmith able to construct enough of your barrel traps to make them useful?" Sly asked curiously.

  "At first I was afraid that we wouldn't have enough barrels," The old wizard told him, examining the vat closely. "but then we discovered all of the ale casks that you have emptied since arriving in the city, so we now have plenty of them to spread about inside of the harbor."

  "Glad I could be of service." The little man gave the old wizard a mocking bow.

  They followed Garth up to the very top floor, which was surrounded by a waist high wall, providing an unobstructed view of both the approach to the harbor entrance, and the harbor itself.

  "This should provide us with plenty of space to construct a fair sized catapult." Damarius said approvingly. "We'll begin construction immediately."

  They followed the old wizard back down the stairs, then watched him hurry off towards the blacksmith shop to speak with Stephan.

  Now that the harbor walls had finally been completed, Sly quickly decided that they should have the dwarves begin construction of a huge wall which would stretch the entire length of the docks, separating the city from the wharf. He broached the idea to the others later as they all relaxed in their makeshift headquarters along the waterfront.

  "It's not a bad idea." Damarius murmured thoughtfully, looking over the little man's rather crude sketches.

  "This design isn't going to work." Garth had disagreed with a frown. "You've only included a single gate."

  "So?" Sly shrugged unconcernedly. "We don't want to have to defend a dozen different entrances from attack."

  "What happens once this war is finally over? Don't you think having a single gate might make things a bit difficult for those sailing into the city? It would make moving merchandise from the docks almost impossible!"

  "I'm not really concerned with what happens here after the war," Sly told him with a scowl. "I'm more concerned with surviving the war. If need be, we can just tear the wall down later."

  "That reflects poor planning on your part." The fiery haired dwarf told him disapprovingly.

  "I have a few designs that would help defend the gates, if that's what you're worried about." Damarius told the little man in a reasonable tone. "We already know how effective they can be against an attacking army."

  They continued arguing for several hours before they finally settled on three gates spaced evenly along the waterfront. Once that was finally settled, the dwarves were able to get to work constructing the massive wall, while the rest of the forces were put to work carrying stone and helping to bring supplies to the two towers.

  The construction on the wall came along quickly thanks to the army of dwarves, who seemed to be able to labor for days on end without a moment of rest. The companions would wake each morning to find themselves astonished by the amount of work the sturdy little dwarves had been able to accomplish while they slept. The work would have gone even faster, but they quickly exhausted the supplies of granite nearest to the city, and it took their men quite some time to locate another nearby source of the heavy stone.

  It was late evening when Sly, Damarius, and Garth decided to take a stroll along the top of a finished section of the newly constructed wall.

  "Things are coming along well." The fiery haired monarch reported to them, gesturing to the steady line of workers pushing wheelbarrows full of heavy granite blocks.
"We were slowed down a bit when we were forced to locate a new supply of granite, but everything is back on track now."

  "What's going on there?" Sly asked curiously, gesturing to a group of stone masons.

  "We decided to build guardhouses above each gate to house the controls for its defenses." Garth explained. "It will be set up with defenses similar to the towers on the harbor walls."

  One of Juco's Silent Shadows suddenly came hurrying up the road next to the newly constructed wall, his eyes carefully scanning the top of the wall. "Lord Quickhand!" He yelled in a bellowing voice, spotting Sly, Damarius, and Garth as they stood inspecting the dwarves handy work. "Lord Quickhand!"

  "Was is it?" The scruffy little man bellowed back in an impatient tone.

  "A ship has appeared on the horizon to the west." The mercenary reported, his voice echoing through the city. "It appears to be heading for the harbor!"

  "Just one ship?" Damarius asked, his face concerned.

  "It could be a merchant ship that hasn't heard the news about the upcoming war," Garth grumbled with a frown. "or it could be an Etazk ship sent ahead to scout the harbor and see if they should expect any serious resistance."

  They hurried to one of the newly constructed towers atop the harbor walls, then quickly made their way up to the top floor so they had an unobstructed view of the approach to the harbor.

  "There it is," Sly grunted, pointing to a dark smudge at the edge of horizon. "and it's definitely heading this way."

  They watched in silence as the ship slowly drew closer.

  "Wait a second," The scruffy little man suddenly shielded his eyes against the sun. "That's Captain Harper's ship, the Fearless Lady!"

  They watched as the ship slowly approached the mouth of the harbor, then they hurried down to the balcony two floors down, which overlooked the mouth itself.

  "Captain Harper! You crazy old pirate!" Sly roared down at the extravagant old sea captain, who was skillfully guiding his ship through the harbor's opening. "What are you doing here? Don't you know the Etazk will be here soon?"