The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

courtyard. Twelve lords, their magician advisers, and their retainers aimed for the desolate prince. Darville picked up the cat and cradled her in his arms. He stroked her fur in rhythm with her calming purr.
    “Your Grace.” Lord Jonnias puffed out his round belly to emphasize his importance. “We will not countenance Lord Krej’s arrest for treason without further proof of his misdeed.”
    “Further proof? He transformed me into a wolf with illegal rogue magic and left me for dead. Is that not enough?” Darville’s upper lip lifted in a growling sneer.
    “By your own testimony, you did not see your cousin, Darville. You said Lord Krej had fallen behind in the hunt. The foreign rogue who actually threw the spell was disguised as a naked man with the head of a spotted saber cat.”
    “A red-haired spotted saber cat,” Baamin clarified. He’d seen the beast-headed man a few times himself. “Hair as red as Lord Krej’s.”
    “I was never on that hunt, Prince Darville,” Krej sneered the title. “I don’t know who was masquerading with my face, but I was with my wife, attending the birth of my youngest daughter. No one, not even a rogue magician can be in two places at once.”
    “Jaylor saw Krej and his minions transporting Shayla, our beloved dragon, here. Our last dragon. We watched Krej ensorcell her into a glass sculpture.” Darville ignored his cousin and advanced on the strutting Jonnias. The pompous little man withdrew two steps for every one his prince advanced.
    “Excuse me, Your Grace, but we cannot accept as evidence what your friend saw while in a magic trance, nor what you saw while still ensorcelled yourself.” Lord Andrall cleared his throat and looked at the paving stones rather than face his prince.
    “Then why did we find that same glass sculpture here, in Krej’s Great Hall?” Darville growled menacingly, teeth bared. In the uncertain light his nose seemed longer, his untrimmed beard took on the aspect of whiskers. And that mane of hair! Did any wolf in the wild with its ruff bristled look more dangerous than Darville at this moment?
    The cat leaped from his arms and circled warily, clinging to the shadows.
    “I’m sure there is a benign explanation.” Jonnias couldn’t resist inserting one more comment. “Lord Krej is renowned for his art collection and his generosity.”
    “Every last piece of sculpture in that collection was a living animal captured in stone or metal by magic,” Baamin reminded them all. “How did you come by such unique pieces of art, Lord Krej?”
    “At a great deal of expense, Master Baamin. Expense lost to a careless spell that released all of the animals, not just the dragon. And now my home has been extensively damaged in the bargain.” He turned a malicious eye on the Senior Magician. “You really should train your journeymen better.”
    “You won’t gain my sympathy with your sad tale, Krej,” Darville growled at his cousin. “We lost the dragons because of you. Without the dragons we can’t maintain the magic border. Rovers have already infiltrated. Our enemies are invading from the west, and you complain about some stones and mortar!”
    All eyes turned toward the charred hole in the western wall of the keep. Awe struck them silent a moment as they recalled the vision of Shayla breaking free of her sculptured glass prison. ’Twas her fiery green breath that had blasted the great hole in the otherwise impregnable wall. ’Twas the all color/no color spines of her wings that had widened the opening for her to fly away from Coronnan forever.
    “Without the dragons we don’t have traditional magic. We don’t have any defenses, and we don’t have our king. When you ensorcelled Shayla, you killed my father!” Darville howled and launched his body across the space that separated him from the assembled lords. His hands encircled Krej’s neck.
    A torch fell and sputtered on the damp stones. Shadows rose and wavered. Colors and forms lost definition.
    Feral snarls erupted from the prince’s throat. He rolled on the ground with his victim, not releasing his strangle-hold. Krej choked; his face grew red and mottled as his feet scrabbled on the wet ground for purchase.
    Magical golden light haloed the combatants. Light that shone on the yellow fur of a huge wolf. Men screamed in primal fear.
    Was Darville a man or a wolf? Baamin couldn’t tell anymore.
    “Release him, Darville,” Baamin ordered, trying desperately to break through