The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

the depths of the cave through Yaakke’s physical and mental ears. He stopped short before passing through the black entrance into the heart of the mountain.
    “Ye’r late, late, late.” Above him, the attendant jackdaw circled and echoed the dragon’s proclamation.
    Late? Yaakke knew he’d lost time in the void. How much time? Certainly not two weeks. Autumn weather hadn’t deepened by more than a day or two at most. The sun had warmed his back quite nicely on his long walk from the clearing. When he’d discovered the barriers around the clearing were down, probably because Brevelan wasn’t there, he’d started the trek uphill rather than wait to recover his strength for a shape-change. The single night he’d spent sleeping rough had been cold, but not intolerable as long as his campfire glowed within a bubble of armor.
    “I . . . got lost in the void,” Yaakke stammered his explanation.
    (I told you not to use that spell.) Light shifted and distorted within the cave entrance. Star bursts of light exploded before Yaakke’s eyes.
    He blinked and refocused and blinked again. The brightness settled into sunbeams refracted off the faceted points of a huge oval jewel. He forgot the journey dust that clogged his throat.
    Tremors traveled beneath the ground, telling of something heavy moving across the stony plateau in front of the cave. The jewel took on a more definite shape. A fold of a nearly transparent membrance closed over an all color/ no color kaleidoscope.
    A dragon’s eye! Yaakke sighed in relief. The blue-tipped dragon had waited. But how long? Now for the first time, Yaakke wished he’d learned to center his magic so that it tracked time accurately.
    Gradually the rest of the dragon emerged from the depths of the lair. Hazy, autumnal sunshine slanted off his crystalline fur, pulling Yaakke’s sight around the dragon rather than directly toward him. He blinked and forced his mind to concentrate on the outline of the huge creature before his eyes tricked his mind into believing the dragon invisible.
    Larger than Shayla, the dragon rested back on his haunches. Blue veins outlined the shape of wings folded against his back. More blue marched across his head and down his back in a showy display of horns. On his shortened forelegs, blue claws flexed, much like human fingers.
    Yaakke waited, expecting the dragon to offer his name according to dragon protocol.
    The dragon remained silent while surveying Yaakke with those penetrating eyes.
    Yaakke squirmed in guilty self-consciousness. “I’m sorry.” Finally he offered the apology he knew he owed the dragon.
    (You have become arrogant with your power.) The dragon words came into Yaakke’s head unbidden.
    “I’m sorry,” Yaakke’s murmured again. “I should have guessed you have more knowledge of the void than I.” He hung his head a little, peeping up at the dragon through lowered lashes.
    (I hope your trip through the realm of the dragons taught you something useful.)
    “I don’t know . . . um . . . sir. What do I call you anyway?”
    (Sir will do.)
    “Anyway, sir, the images came so fast I didn’t recognize half of what I saw.” A memory of moon-bright hair and tears on a girl’s pale face flashed through his mind. “Who is she?”
    (You will learn that when your time reference catches up with what you observed. Time has no meaning in the void. Past, present, and future are all the same. Dragons observe it all and learn.)
    “Why did you call me here?”
    (Shayla needs assistance from the magicians.)
    “Shayla!” Yaakke breathed through his teeth. His quest was almost over. He’d be the youngest Master Magician ever. Without ever having been a journeyman!
    (Your journey is long, apprentice. Long in distance and long in maturity.) The dragon speared Yaakke with a compelling gaze. (There are things you must know before you face the dangers ahead of you.)
    The ominous tone of the words in the back of Yaakke’s mind was so like Old Baamin, the boy automatically keyed all of his attention to the huge beast.
    (Drink, Boy. Then we will discuss your future and perhaps your past.) The dragon gestured with his muzzle toward a crystal cold stream trickling down the mountain face beside the cave entrance.
    “You promised to tell me about my parents, sir,” Yaakke reminded the dragon.
    (I know of your sire and your dam. The knowledge will be given to you at the appropriate time.)
    “When will that be?”
    (At the appropriate time. Drink