The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

Ready.
    Brevelan needed him. She needed shelter and a midwife more.
    Where? Where would she find those things among strangers in a Rover camp?
    Seaninn gave him a thought and a spell. So simple. The answers were all so simple up here on dragonback. The dragons showed him how to lift his wife, cradling her vulnerable body, to the suite in the University. Darville and Rosie went with her. He might as well send Baamin and Yaakke to safety, too.
    But they were bound up in the ritual star. A moment’s more concentration and they were all deposited in the courtyard of the University. At the last moment he scooped Erda, the old healer into his massive spell.
    His dragon swooped low and he slid back down the ropes of magic into the center of the intact star. He left a pathway for Mica to follow.

Chapter 23
     
    Y aakke blinked his eyes. The courtyard stopped spinning around him. What had happened?
    Chaotic thoughts buzzed through his head with blinding speed and disorientation. He blinked again, trying to sort through the assault of unarmored minds to find his own among them.
    The massive stones of the University buildings came into focus. Yaakke stared at the cornerstone of the dormitory wing, forcing himself to read the ancient inscription. Only then could he center himself and armor his mind against the invasive minds of the other men.
    A moment ago he had been walking his way through the ritual star in a clearing on the mainland. Now he was back at the University.
    He knew he hadn’t lifted up the entire star and transported them. Baamin didn’t know how, and Zolltarn, even if he knew the trick of the spell, wouldn’t bring them all here, to the middle of the capital. So Jaylor must have his magic back intact.
    Jaylor? Where did he get to?
    Yaakke searched the faces of the dazed men around him. Zolltarn and his five Rover magicians were in place, stumbling, mumbling, making the archaic flapping gesture against evil. Old Baamin was in place, just standing there, rigid and bewildered. But no Jaylor. That heap of damp clothing in the center couldn’t be Jaylor! Could it?
    The heap stirred and moaned, then lifted its head. Yes, that was Jaylor, and by the looks of him, he was exhausted, but triumphant. The spell must have worked.
    Yaakee’s eyes darted back to Baamin. The old man didn’t look well. Worse than Jaylor had looked last spring. Face waxy and pale. A peculiar gray color, peculiar even in this uncertain light.
    Yaakke broke free of the magic that chained him to a specific position within the star and darted across the lines of colored sand to the side of his mentor, heedlessly scuffing the design.
    “Master Baamin? Be you all right?” He slipped into the peasant syntax of his childhood as he slid a strong shoulder beneath the old magician’s arm. Baamin’s full weight landed on Yaakke. “Master!”
    “My heart . . .” Baamin clutched at his chest with a spasming fist.
     
    Rossemikka awoke in gradual stages. First she was aware of her feet, shod in uncomfortable shoes, resting on a cold stone floor. The rest of her body appeared to be seated in a stiff chair. Her feet and hands were damp and chilled. She needed to be petted within a warm lap.
    The flicker of firelight caught her attention. In slow, wrenching jerks, she twisted her rigid neck to her right. She saw the outline of a large fireplace and mantle. A man stooped to feed the fire.
    Something about the length of his back and the breadth of his shoulders stirred a memory. Her own back ached in sympathy with the curve in the man’s spine. Every muscle and bone in her body ached as well, for different reasons. The movements of her neck sent tingles of dizziness whirling around her head. Her hands felt clammy.
    Instinctively, she raised them to her mouth to lave them with a raspy tongue. A jolt of reality stopped her movement as her hand came into view.
    No fur covered the five fingers.
    This body was human. She was free of the curse. But for how long?
    “Darville?” Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she were coming down with a cold, or she hadn’t used it in a long time. She looked once more to the man at the fire.
    “So you’re awake.” His tone was cold, matter-of-fact.
    “Where are we?” She was hurt and puzzled by the distance of his reception. The last time they had been together they had shared the deepest intimacy. What had happened since then? Her memories were distorted and incomplete.
    “The University. Jaylor’s and