The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

to think of anything but the night to come. The nights to come. For as long as Brunix desired her, she would have no peace.
    “Think he’ll let us have a go at her when he gets tired?” The two men with the trunk giggled and nudged each other.
    Katrina felt all heat and sensation drain from her head to form a knot in her stomach. Brunix had promised her pain in order to force a response from her. Would he add the degradation of being mauled by these thugs as well?
    The third man lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “What can I do?” he mouthed. His eyes pleaded for forgiveness from Katrina.
    She didn’t know how to reply to the man. Any attempt to help her escape Brunix tonight, or any other night, would result in his own dismissal from a job he sorely needed.
    “Get Jack,” she whispered. A ray of hope opened before her as soon as she whispered his name. Jack who persisted in his quest despite the dangers. Jack who held her tenderly and granted her the unique privilege of reading his mind as readily as he read hers.
    If he had any secrets left, after that special rapport they had shared while eavesdropping on Brunix and the palace guard, those secrets were no danger to her.
    “Gone, all day.” The man ventured one step closer to her, casting about to ensure the other two weren’t watching.
    “Send his pet bird!”
    “I’ll try.”
    The three men filed out without a backward glance to Katrina. A loud click proclaimed they had followed orders and locked her in once more.
    “Come quickly, Jack. I need you.”

Chapter 32
     
    “D amned birds!” Rejiia cursed the flock of black birds that circled away from her window.
    The aerial display of the flock separated and settled into individual birds. For the fifth time this morning, Rejiia concentrated her mind probe on a bird. Slowly she merged her consciousness with the creature. Her vision tilted, shifted colors to reflect heat patterns, and distorted to the perspective of one high above the city.
    A moment of euphoric flight filled her. Contact with her body diminished. “Almost. Almost total blending.” A thin silver tendril of magic tethered her to the person in the window. She absorbed more of the bird.
    Eebon, the bird announced his name.
    Mistress, Rejiia said. You will call me Mistress.
    He was ready. Another moment and the crow would be her winged familiar, bound to her for life.
    She tugged on the tether. The bird banked and circled back. Another tug and he flew faster toward her.
    Rejiia regained enough of her own body to stretch out her arm as a perch for her new pet. Eebon extended his talons to encircle her padded wrist.
    “Newak!” a second bird screamed. The menacing jackdaw with white tufts over his eyes dove between Rejiia and Eebon.
    The slender silver tether shredded from the force of the bird’s descent. Eebon jerked away from the villa window squawking his confusion.
    Together the two black birds turned and flapped until they caught an air current that took them away from Rejiia.
    “Simurgh curse you, bird,” she screamed in frustration. Every time she made contact with a bird, the interloper shattered the spell. Who controlled the jackdaw? Only another magician could direct a wild creature to do such a thing. Who?
    That boy! Yaakke had to be the jackdaw’s master. “He’s the only magician strong enough to thwart me. I’ll have that bird. I’ll torture it to death and enjoy every moment.”
     
    Jack wound his way among the alcoves as if seeking an unoccupied corner for private prayer. As he paused by each small altar, he examined all of the decoration for signs of the distinctive lines and slashes chiseled into the stone.
    The sight of a pair of large boots sticking out from beneath a familiar robe halted his progress. A tall man knelt in the next alcove. Owner Neeles Brunix had worn a similar sleeveless green robe over his black tunic and trews when he descended to the warehouse in dignified silence this morning. His orders had been brief, almost as if his words were gold and he a miser.
    Jack had seen the owner’s aura flare with the red of suppressed, violent emotion as he viewed the scene of last night’s intrusion. His reaction to Jack’s presence had generated near flames in his spiking aura, but his face and tone had not changed. When the owner retreated to his office, he’d closed the door with precise control. Jack suspected Brunix might rip the painted planks from their hinges if he vented his true