The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume I: Volume I

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Chapter 20
     
    F atigue pulled Jaylor’s eyes closed. The campfire Brevelan had built at the rear of the cave gave him enough warmth to still his trembling muscles. His stomach was pleasantly filled with one of her rooty stews. Already the nutrition had begun to replenish his body. An herbal tea soothed his body’s aches. Mica purred gently in his lap. He should be able to sleep.
    Yet the image of Lord Krej’s face slipping through the mask of the beast-headed monster disturbed him almost as much as his own exhaustion. He had to put a stop to the man’s treachery. But who would believe him? To accuse a member of the Council of Provinces, without physical evidence, invited trouble. The evidence of his eyes and ears while ensorcelled by a rogue magician was no proof a mundane man could accept.
    His mind tumbled and spun with the day’s events and the conversation on the other side of the fire.
    “I feel as if I know you.” Darville nursed a cup of the same herbal tea.
    “You do,” Brevelan’s soft lilting voice replied in even tones. Yet Jaylor could hear the tension behind her words.
    “No. I’d remember you if I did. You’re too beautiful to forget.” The prince’s voice became lilting in flirtation.
    Jaylor knew how the patterns of Darville’s speech changed when he spoke to women—whether he wanted the woman or not. It was his nature to flirt with all of them, old or young, beautiful or plain.
    Jealousy gnawed at Jaylor’s innards like a hunger.
    “Why were you in the wild mountains with Krej last winter?” Jaylor found himself interrupting their quiet conversation.
    “He wanted to hunt a spotted saber cat.” Darville replied. “I needed to get away. It seemed like the ideal recreation.” His eyes never left Brevelan. He reached to touch a tiny curl at her temple but stopped short of touching her.
    Mica ceased purring. Her head lifted, ears back, eyes narrowing suspiciously. She watched the prince through rounded pupils. She knew what was happening, even if Brevelan did not. Jaylor willed the cat to distract her mistress.
    “We encountered a saber on our journey here,” Brevelan said. Subtly she shifted away from Darville.
    Jaylor breathed a little easier. As much as he liked his royal friend, enjoyed his company, he didn’t trust him around women. Their teenage escapades were more legend than truth. Still, Darville had never been forced to curb his natural curiosity and hunger for women as Jaylor had.
    “Perhaps it was the same saber cat. Krej said it had escaped from his nets and he’d tracked it this far.” Darville gave up watching Brevelan.
    “The only saber reported within the kingdom in the last generation was the sculpted one in Krej’s hall.”
    Darville looked from Jaylor to Brevelan and back again in obvious question.
    Brevelan turned her gaze away from both of them. “Krej, or his magician, captures rare animals and changes them into precious metals. Didn’t you hear him say his spotted saber cat was bronze, but he had to let it go?” Now her eyes sought Jaylor’s, seeking confirmation.
    “I wasn’t paying much attention. I was too busy fighting his magic.” But he had heard other, more disturbing things.
    “That makes sense,” Darville mused. “I saw the saber cat. We were tracking it. Then Krej disappeared and that monster attacked me with magic.” His voice rose in anger.
    “Krej led you into a trap,” Jaylor asserted. “You are all that stands between him and the throne.”
    “My father . . . ?”
    “Your father is ailing. He has never been strong. Your disappearance and supposed death could very well kill him. He may be dead already.”
    “And this traitor of a cousin,” Darville spat the word, “has been hiding his pet rogue for years. That is the only way he could hope to defeat me. A conventional attack by a warrior would not have succeeded.” He stood up and began to pace.
    His borrowed trews were too short and too loose. He looked less than majestic as he prowled the perimeter of their camp. “What will happen to the kingdom now that Shayla has been enchanted?” He whirled to face Jaylor directly.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Can the Commune of Magicians maintain the border without the dragons?”
    “Doubtful. It was breaking down weeks ago when I passed through it.”
    The prince paced again. “We have neighbors who envy our peace and need our resources. As soon as they discover the open border, we are vulnerable