The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

the dragon for your sake, sir,” he whispered to the memory of an old man who had cared for him when he was nothing.
    (Do it for your own sake, or you won’t find the lair.)

Chapter 3
     
    K atrina Kaantille halted her quest for a cup of milk or a cracker to stop her stomach growling. The door to the family kitchen was firmly closed. Raised voices beyond the door made her uncertain she wanted to overhear yet another fight between her parents.
    Cold seeped from the floorboards into her feet. Winter had come early to Queen’s City—to all of SeLenicca according to market gossip. Just a moon past the equinox and frost made the front steps slippery every morning. She should have stopped to slip clogs over her velvet house slippers. But she’d put down her study of geometric grids for only a moment. A sudden growth spurt had made her stomach clamor for food all the time lately. Often she couldn’t concentrate for the discomfort.
    “What do you mean there isn’t enough money to buy Katrina’s apprenticeship!” Katrina’s mother, Tattia, hissed.
    Katrina pressed her ear against the kitchen door to listen more closely. Her entire body shivered with apprehension.
    Money was hard to come by all over SeLenicca these days. Yesterday the price of milk was twice what it had been last week. P’pa had dismissed the scullery maid, valet, and governess last week because he couldn’t pay them. Cook would go next week.
    But Katrina’s father, Fraanken Kaantille, was a wealthy merchant. M’ma worked as the queen’s Lace Mistress. Exporters and lace factory owners valued M’ma’s new designs. Surely her father could find enough money for her apprenticeship somewhere.
    Katrina loved the fine thread work that had become SeLenicca’s primary export. She’d reached her thirteenth birthday last moon, the age of apprenticeship. Only a few weeks’ more work and she would complete the entry requirements. That future now seemed in jeopardy.
    “There will be enough money. Just not right now. Upon King Simeon’s request, I’ve invested all our money in a ship,” P’pa explained.
    Katrina could almost see her father place a soothing hand on M’ma’s shoulder before her volatile temper exploded.
    “And just what cargo do you expect to put in the hold of that ship? The mines are played out and the timberlands are nearly barren. Lace is the only thing left to export and the queen controls every shipment,” M’ma argued. Her voice was growing louder rather than softer.
    Katrina nearly winced at the acid in her mother’s tone. Talented and highly respected artist that she was, Tattia Kaantille had never learned moderation in her emotional reactions. Lesser beings were expected to jump to her commands and bow to her superior knowledge.
    “But what do you make your lace with, my dear?” P’pa’s wide and generous smile shone through his voice. That endearing grin usually soothed M’ma.
    “Inferior cotton and short-spun linen. Since the war with Coronnan, we can’t get any decent Tambrin. Our own Tambootie trees are too small, too tough and irregular in their fibers. And there’s barely enough of them in a few isolated spots to bother seeking.”
    Katrina breathed a little easier. M’ma’s angry tones continued, but now her temper was directed toward the enemy of SeLenicca and not her husband of fourteen years.
    “How much would one ship filled with Tambootie seedlings from Coronnan be worth, cherbein Tattia?” P’pa used an intimate endearment meant to soothe and flatter. His voice lifted with pride and greed. “Seedlings that will grow into thread-producing trees in a few years.”
    Katrina gasped. The long, silky fibers of six-year-old Tambootie trees made the best lace in the world. One tree supplied enough Tambrin to make a hundred arm-lengths of finger lace, symmetrical insertions as wide as the queen’s ring finger was long. Of course, some of the trees would have to be saved to produce seeds for the next crop. Even so, a shipload of seedlings, once grown to proper size, but before they were mature enough to sprout flowers and seeds, could save SeLenicca and make Katrina’s family as wealthy as the queen.
    But trade with Coronnan was forbidden. Military ships inspected every cargo. What if P’pa’s ship was stopped? The entire family would be in deep trouble. He’d invested all of his money in that ship. All of it?
    Too excited and frightened to be hungry anymore, Katrina returned to the workroom on