The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

his magic,” the Rover offered.
    Baamin bit his lip in indecision. Darville paced a figure eight around the fire, looping around his companions. Yaakke continued to eat.
    “You offer a great deal,” Baamin stalled.
    He ran his hands up and down his staff, caressing the texture.
    “He offers you nothing,” Darville spat. “He knows he can’t hold me long, with the Council guards waiting just beyond the camp. How do we know he can cure Jaylor anyway?” he challenged.
    “I have access to powers you have yet to dream of, Baamin. Elemental powers. Very old powers. My people threw magic long before the Stargods left behind their gifts within the blood of their heirs.” Zolltarn leaned forward in his enthusiasm. “I will release the princess unharmed. If you force the issue, I will make certain that I am the one to mate with her when she comes into season.”
    Darville exchanged a worried look with Baamin.
    Mikka had feared this outcome. Any child she bore was destined to become a pawn in a diabolical plot to control the three kingdoms—magically and temporally.
    “How will you cure Jaylor?” Darville decided to avoid the issue of mates and births and inheritance.
    “A binding spell,” Zolltarn addressed Baamin.
    Darville glared at the Rover. Zolltarn was ignoring him, just as the Council had time and time again. They saw him as ineffectual. The real power in Coronnan lay not in the hands of the monarch, but in the Council and Commune.
    “Binding is only temporary. The spell needs things I couldn’t translate to complete.” A new voice joined the conversation.
    Darville turned to face the man in the doorway, hand automatically reaching for his missing dagger.
    “Jaylor,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “Brevelan.” Darville nodded to the slight woman who appeared at her husband’s elbow. Behind her, like a shadow hiding behind a pillar of strength, stood Rosie.
    “How did you get here?” Zolltarn stood so quickly his camp stool collapsed.
    Jaylor stalked up to the rover chief. “I escaped. I am no longer your pawn, and neither are my wife and the princess,” he hissed at Zolltarn. Two tall and powerful men, itching to strangle each other, stood eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose, strong will to stubbornness.
    “Your magic is broken. You couldn’t escape,” Zolltarn protested.
    “There are powers other than magic in this world.” Jaylor lifted his clenched left fist and rubbed the raw knuckles with his right. “You set a magician to guard a magician. The poor boy outside my tent had defenses only against magic, not against brute force.”
    “He’ll reinforce the binding spell with a ritual.” Yaakke joined the conversation. There was no food left to divert his attention. The others stared at him in amazement. The boy just chuckled. “You’ll be the focus of an eight-pointed star, Jaylor.”
    “How do you know this?” Zolltarn didn’t remove his gaze from Jaylor for a single moment.
    “You dropped your armor,” the boy replied, searching the area around him. “I haven’t had enough vegetables. Have you any more fresh greens?”
    “Will the spell work, Zolltarn? Can you cure Jaylor?” Baamin forced his shorter body between the glaring men.
    “It will work,” the Rover confirmed.
    “Then I agree to the exchange. Cure Jaylor and release your prisoners for a seat on the Commune.”
    “No!” Darville and Jaylor protested in unison.
    “It’s not worth the chance, Baamin. We know what kind of thieving scoundrel this Rover is.” Jaylor gritted his teeth. “The last time we met he was employed by Krej to steal or shatter my staff so I would have no focus for the spell to free Shayla. He is desperate to rebuild his clan. Krej could have offered him a monstrous bribe to undercut Darville’s authority. We can’t trust either of them.”
    “Perhaps we would benefit from having him close at hand, where he can be watched,” Brevelan offered. “Think, Jaylor, you could have your magic back, in full. Certainly you and Baamin and Yaakke could counter any wrongdoing.”
    “Ah, Yaakke!” Zolltarn sighed. “I will add half my wealth to this bargain for the boy.”
    “I’m not ‘Boy,’ anymore, Zolltarn. I’m an apprentice at the University. I make my own decisions.” Yaakke stood to face the Rover.
    “A child was stolen from us many years ago. You could assume his place at my side, as my apprentice and heir. But the price of that knowledge is to join my clan.” Zolltarn’s voice took