The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

wore. “A pretty trinket, Prince of Wolves.”
    “Keep your thieving hands to yourself, Rover.” Darville ground out the words painfully, as if his jaw were paralyzed.
    “I can’t allow old Baamin to trace you just yet.” Zolltarn closed his hand around the miniature dragon.
    “And I can’t afford to separate myself from his protection.” The prince forced his left hand onto the long dagger at his hip.
    Strange hands reached from behind Darville, preventing him from drawing his weapon. Brevelan opened her mouth in warning as she took one step forward. Erda blocked her path.
    “We have magic that is older than time. Learn now not to defy us.” Zolltarn yanked on Darville’s earring. Blood dripped from the hole torn in his ear. Empathic pain ripped through Brevelan, blocking her vision and will.
     
    Gone! The princess is gone. I knew I should have compelled her to obedience. But she grows resistant to the spell. The more I use it, the more I have to use it. Especially now.
    Dragons only know what will happen if she comes into season while she is away from the palace and out of my control. That time is rapidly approaching.
    I must find her. I will resort to the Tambootie. The leaves of the tree of magic will enhance my vision and calm me so that I may concentrate on my spells.

Chapter 21
     
    “J aylor is the only person I know who can eat more than you do.” Darville watched Yaakke gnaw the last taste of meat off a flusterhen bone. His third flusterhen, not to mention several helpings of tubers and squash.
    The Rovers had willingly supplied the boy with whatever he wanted to regain his strength. Zolltarn’s people had a magical task for him. But they hadn’t specified that task, as yet.
    Darville didn’t intend to wait around long enough to find out. He continued his minute examination of the tent he and the boy occupied, seeking a hidden exit, a makeshift weapon, anything that would aid an escape.
    He and the boy were in a large, family-sized tent, possibly Zolltarn’s own. The interior was as exotically furnished as the exterior colors promised. Bright fabrics and rugs lined the walls and floors. Ropes of colored beads and bizarre statuary littered tables that could be folded and stored flat while traveling. The camp stools were covered in thick tapestry to rival the best furniture in the palace. And everywhere hung braids of garlic. The smell permeated the air and all of the furnishings. Was the herb hung so prominently for convenience, or as a ward?
    A fire glowed in the center, giving off light and warmth. Smoke ventilated through an opening in the fabric ceiling. Evening was falling and so was the first rain of the autumn.
    “Did Jaylor really eat this much before . . . ?” Even Yaakke, it seemed, was reluctant to speak of Jaylor’s ordeal after freeing Shayla from her glass prison.
    “He ate more; much more. He was bigger than you at your age.” Maybe the boy could slip under the outside edge of the tent. This back wall showed the promise of a looseness in the guy strings.
    “I imagine the Council will be searching for me by now,” Darville mused. “Zolltarn doesn’t have much time for whatever task he plans for you, Yaakke.” He played with the tent fabric to see if any guard was alerted by the activity.
    He heard a shuffle of feet just beyond the tent. Then a hand smoothed the wall from the outside.
    So much for that idea. The entire circumference seemed to be heavily guarded.
    Now what? He had to get out of here and rescue the others.
    Brevelan and Rosie had been led to one of the smaller shelters by the Rover women. Jaylor, hollow-eyed with strain, but whole and strong otherwise, was heavily guarded in another. Dragons only knew where Mica had gone. Darville hadn’t seen the cat at all on the trek to the Rover camp, here on the mainland, northwest of the capital.
    And what about square-beard? Like the leader of the band of raiders Darville had encountered in the field, the man was likely an agent of King Simeon of SeLenicca. No one from that kingdom had legitimate business in Coronnan. Darville would give his eyeteeth to know why his rival monarch was so bent on kidnapping the princess. But did he dare take the time to liberate the man from the Rovers? Presuming that he got out himself.
    “Zolltarn’s going to ask me to summon Baamin here.” Yaakke quaffed a full tankard of ale. “Did you get the sense we were sorta being herded to Last Isle, like so many sheep?” Yaakke