The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

down on one knee. Puppy twisted free and ran up the path toward the unknown.
    Beneath the roar of the rockfall came the hideous, maniac laughter of a man she knew. Not Old Thorm, or a foreign rogue magician. But her father—Lord Krej.

Chapter 16
     
    “J aylor!” Brevelan ducked beneath the barrage of cascading rock. Above her, the distinctive roar of a rockfall grew louder, closer.
    Another rock struck Jaylor on the back. His eyes glazed in a disorientation. Stunned and bewildered by the blow, he seemed incapable of making the lifesaving decision to move.
    All thoughts of Darville and his true nature fled from Brevelan. The man she loved was in danger.
    Brevelan grabbed Jaylor’s arm and heaved him upright by shear force of will. He stumbled and lurched along beside her, too dazed to choose a direction.
    “Come on,” she ordered through gritted teeth. “You have to move. Now.”
    The roar grew louder yet. She had to get him out of there quickly. Upward she propelled him, in the wake of the howling wolf.
    Jaylor wiped blood that dripped into his eyes from a cut on his forehead and stared around him. A rock as large as Brevelan’s clenched fist bounced off his boot. The new pain seemed to jolt him back to reality.
    “ S’murgh it.” He stopped and looked around. “This isn’t a natural avalanche. We’ve got to catch up to the wolf before One-eye finds him!” He reached his hands backward and his staff sprang to him. A single wave of his tool and a dome of shimmering blue and red light protected them from the increasing flow of soil and debris from the hillside.
    Together they dashed along what was left of the path.
    “Mica? Where is Mica?” Brevelan turned back to search for the cat. In all this dust and turmoil Mica’s coloring would be impossible to discern.
    “Forget the cat. We have to protect Darville.” Jaylor spun her back toward their path.
    “I can’t. She’s my friend,” she shouted over the roar of the collapsing scree. Half the mountain seemed to be raining down on them. Her heart lurched to think of Mica buried underneath all that weight. Desperate to find her pet, Brevelan yanked her arm free of Jaylor’s grasp and dashed back toward the spot where they had stopped with Darville.
    “Look with your heart, not your eyes,” Jaylor commanded right behind her. “You’ve got about five heartbeats before the whole hillside goes.”
    “There!” A flutter of her heart directed her gaze toward glistening movement in the dust. Brevelan dove toward the spot. Dust filled her eyes and choked her. “Mica,” she squeaked. “Come, Mica.”
    Jaylor’s arms locked around her waist. Her body flew backward, not forward.
    “Mrew,” Mica pleaded for release.
    “You can’t save her, Brevelan,” Jaylor pulled her backward. “I can’t hold back the rockfall with magic anymore.”
    “I can’t not save her. Please, let me go to her,” she wept, still reaching.
    “I can’t let you hurt yourself to save a cat.”
    Brevelan went limp in his arms. His grip slackened. She lunged out of his grasp toward the tiny bit of overhang that still protected Mica from the rocks.
    A tree crashed beside her, not three arm’s lengths away. The mighty trunk bounced and rolled, caught a moment on the lip of the path then careened on down the steep slope.
    Brevelan’s fingers closed on a handful of dirty fur just as Jaylor hauled her backward once more.
     
    Again the wolf has escaped me. We are too near the dragon. Shayla’s aura grants him luck. Not much longer.
    The magician must die. Torture? Drowning? Something deliciously hideous will occur to me. Perhaps he will become an ivory statue in my collection. I’ve never had a human before.
    Yes. Yes. New statues. The wolf is already gold. He only needs gilding. I shall make the girl watch and know the horror of their undeath. Then it will be her turn to die. Her death will infuse me with power.
    The cat can escape. She is useless.
     
    “Stupid, fool woman. You could have been killed.” Jaylor shook Brevelan, forcing his fear into her. Without thinking, he clutched her tightly against his chest. His arms enfolded her and the filthy cat in a cocoon of safety and love.
    “ Stargods, Brevelan, what would I do without you?” he whispered, awestruck at the implication.
    Her eyes lost their sparkle. Something haunted her expressionless face, but no empathic emotions radiated from her. Jaylor looked more closely at Brevelan.
    He felt as empty as she