The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

Darville fought the outrage that nearly blinded him. Abandon Mikka for politics? Never.
    And yet . . .
    “Which of you wishes to explain to those ten thousand battle-hardened soldiers that we are abandoning their beloved princess, my wife, to the evil manipulations of a coven?” He half stood, the Coraurlia in its protective satchel banging against the table.
    “Who says we have to tell them anything?” Wendray looked up with hope. “If we send them immediately to rescue my city, by the time they find out about the queen, we won’t need them anymore.”
    “By that time, they’ll be in the heart of Coronnan ready to turn on us. Do you want to try ousting ten thousand entrenched mercenaries?” Darville’s voice and body shook with the myriad emotions he fought to control. How could they suggest such a thing? Shortsighted. Lumbird dumb. Murderous, self-serving. . . . The litany of curses continued on and on in his troubled mind.
    He had to think. But images of Mikka danced through his head. He couldn’t concentrate. Wearily he sank back into a chair, any chair that would take the strain from his trembling knees.
    Mikka!
    “I don’t think we should allow those troops to set foot on our soil.” Marnak stood firm. “If we treat with King Simeon now, we won’t need those mercenaries.”
    “If we treat with King Simeon at all, we reveal our vulnerability. He’ll know we are desperate and cheat us of everything we hold dear,” Jaylor interrupted.
    “And I say we must. If the king and Council won’t initiate negotiations, then I will.” Jonnias stepped back from the table. “Who is with me?”
    Three others, including Marnak the Elder, joined him. Marnak the Younger was still missing, along with the rest of Krej’s household.
    “Wendray?” Jonnias quirked an eyebrow toward the lord of the merchant city that straddled the main trade road out of Coronnan.
    “I can’t. If we treat, I’ll lose my city, everything. Simeon wants control of the trade road. Sambol gives him that. I have to fight, though that is likely to destroy me and mine as well.”
    “My lords,” Darville found his voice, weak as it was. “Please reconsider. If we divide now, we are likely to lose everything.” Somehow he had to convince the Council that Coronnan must remain united. The carefully built network of trade, alliance, and protection was shattering before their eyes. They couldn’t continue at half-strength. Half-wealth. Half-everything.
    “Then join us, or be damned.” Jonnias led his contingent out the door.
    Silence lay heavily in the room, like a thick, sour-tasting sea fog.
    “Magicians got us into this,” someone mumbled loud enough for all to hear, but not so loud as to be identified.
    “Perhaps we need to take corrective measures now, before the magicians get us into more trouble.” Lord Andrall straightened his shoulders, as if shaking off the weight of indecision.
    “What do you mean by that?” Darville lifted his face from his hands and glared at his most loyal supporters. Behind him, he sensed, the remaining magicians had focused their attention on Lord Andrall.
    “Your Grace.” Lord Andrall stood to be recognized by the reduced assembly. “King Darville, we of the Council have seen that the individual members of the Commune are vulnerable to uncontrollable greed and a lust for power they could not achieve in the old days, when dragons were the source of magic. We have seen trusted friends dissolve into monsters we can never know or understand.” He looked pointedly at Jaylor. “We have seen the entire country divided and threatened by the question of the magicians. I recommend that henceforth, magicians be banned from Council. Furthermore, no lord may be a magician and no magician may be a lord.”
    “What?” Darville stared at his longtime supporter. “You can’t eliminate the best educated men from their advisory positions. You’ve just voted to end three hundred years of proven working relationship.” He leaned forward, hands flat on the table. Surprise and anger clouded his vision briefly. Then it cleared. Details focused with the sharpness of a knife edge.
    “We can’t take the chance that anyone in a position of authority will be manipulated by an unscrupulous rogue,” Lord Andrall explained.
    Like Krej.
    “I agree,” Wendray stood and moved beside Andrall. The remaining lords joined them in unanimous agreement.
    “Until the Commune finds a way to prove the loyalty of every