The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

perfecting it.”
    Baamin stared at his glass again. He dismissed the garrulous child quickly.
    “More likely Jaylor knows more than you’ll admit,” Boy grumbled as he closed the door.
    That was a possibility. And if Jaylor was transporting food and wine to some remote corner of the kingdom, was it because he was in trouble? Not if he was taking time to bathe.
    What did it all mean? Those feats required more strength than Baamin had used in years.
    “Tonight when the moon is full and can mask my spell, I’ll call him.” Baamin picked up the glass, fingering its lovely clearness. Its natural coolness calmed him “I’ve got to know what is happening out there. I’m not supposed to help on quest. Summoning isn’t help. I’ll just be monitoring his progress.”
     
    Meat! Brevelan could smell it. The contents of her stomach protested the odors. Her instincts for cleanliness forced her to hold it all back. She stumbled to the doorway. Where did that awful smell come from?
    All the villagers knew she would not tolerate meat. They were wary enough of her not to violate this one rule of hers. Who would dare bring meat, cooked meat, to her clearing?
    Darville emerged from the ferny undergrowth licking his chops with obvious relish. His golden fur glowed in the afternoon light.
    Brevelan understood that the animal needed meat. It was part of his nature. But he couldn’t cook it. Didn’t need to.
    Then her eyes caught sight of the broad back of the man. The magician. He was wiping his face with his sleeve.
    “We don’t need to tell her about the roast, Wolf. What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. But a man needs a man’s meal. All that mush and roots just can’t fill an empty belly.”
    “They would fill your belly amply if you’d let them,” Brevelan called to him across the clearing. “And what makes you think I wouldn’t know about it? I feel the lives of every creature within the clearing, including yours.” Sometimes. Many times she couldn’t sense his presence, his emotions, nothing.
    That man! He’d been here days and days, sleeping mostly, and eating up more of her supplies than she could consume in a moon or more. He claimed he needed shelter while he recouped his strength and power. In all that time she hadn’t rested easily.
    How could she, knowing he was so dangerously close? Most nights she lay awake waiting, wondering when he would demand what all men demanded.
    When the darkness was so still she could hear her own heart beating, her bed yawned huge and empty. Lonely. She wasn’t certain then that she really wanted to resist him.
    She banished the image of the magician’s long body stretched out, spilling over the ends of the double cot with his arm draped around her own slight form.
    Puppy limped over to her side. He sat, as he always sat, leaning against her leg in affection, easing his weight off his injured leg. He looked up at her in a mute plea for attention. Her hand found his ears, scratched and tugged, automatically. He grasped her wrist in his teeth, then freed her hand so she could resume scratching.
    “Your wolf needed food. I fed him. We didn’t kill it either. It was already dead and cooked in the University kitchens,” Jaylor defended himself. His stance was proud, unrepentant.
    “A wolf might need meat. But you didn’t have to indulge.”
    “No more work providing for two than one. That’s one less meal you have to feed me from your stores.”
    “You could work at rebuilding my supply instead of sleeping so much.”
    “Now that I’ve had a decent meal, I might not need to sleep so much.” He made to move into the cottage.
    Brevelan blocked his way. “When you’ve cleaned the reek of dead flesh from your body and clothes, you can start turning the earth in my garden.”
    “Reek of dead flesh?” He stopped and looked at her as if he didn’t comprehend her orders.
    “Yes. Your body stinks of the meat. It will for a day or more. Perhaps it would be best if you made your bed outside.” That way she wouldn’t dream of him sharing hers. “The weather will be fair for a while.”
    “It’s still glass cold at night.”
    “You’ve slept out when it was deep bay cold, as well as wet. You admitted as much just the other day.”
    “Yes, but then my body was strong, full of meat, not depleted by magic and a diet of gruel. I could tolerate the cold better then.” He changed his expression to one of pleading innocence. His eyes opened wide. Their brown