The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

broad alpine meadow opened before them. Off to the right, the landscape opened up to reveal peak after snowy peak jutting into the stunningly blue sky. The urge to fly swamped Myri’s senses, demanding she let go and soar upward.
    Amaranth screeched as he glided past her and pounced on something in the lush grasses. He emerged from the greenery, wings half-furled, shaking his empty paws clean of damp soil. With all of his cat dignity and arrogance, he perched on a rock for a much needed bath. Bright sunlight gave his black fur and feathers a dark purple sheen—a darker shade of the same color of wildflowers that hovered like a mist above the greenery.
    He paused in his ablutions, head cocked as if listening. His head reared up, ears flat. He chittered in excitement.
    “What is it, my friend?” Myri gathered him into her arms, scratching his ears affectionately.
    He nuzzled her chin once and squirmed to face forward, paws resting on her arms in preparation for launch.
    “Something awaits us,” Myri said.
    “Did Amaranth tell you that?” Nimbulan turned a full circle, scanning the meadow with eyes and magic senses. He suddenly stilled. “Something is waiting and watching. In that tumble of boulders and fallen trees.” He pointed to the wall of cliffs that enclosed three sides of the meadow. A stream cascaded down over a tumble of boulders at the base of the cliff into a brook that meandered through the grasses. At the edge of the meadow, the stream plunged over the precipice in a wide waterfall.
    Amaranth burst upward in a thunderous flap of wings. “Merawk!” he cried over and over. He dove and looped, flipped and soared in a wondrous display of acrobatics. As he swooped down for the third time, claws extended, he grabbed Myri by the hair, tugging upward in an invitation to flight.
    “Let go, you silly flywacket. I can’t fly,” she protested as she laughingly disconnected his talons from her fair hair.
    (Can, too!) Amaranth squealed and flew off again.
    Dreams of flight. More than dreams, memories lashed through all her senses. She lifted her arms as if they were wings. The wind caught her sleeves. She closed her eyes and relived the sensation of soaring. Had Amaranth’s dreams invaded her mind?
    Suddenly, the puffy white clouds shifted. A ray of sunlight struck the jumble of rocks. Light arced out and up, filling the meadow with rainbows.
    The children squealed in delight and danced about, trying to catch the pretty colors.
    “Our oldest legends, before the days of the Stargods, tell us that rainbows are symbols of peace and goodwill,” Nimbulan said in wonder. He turned a slow circle, eyes wide with amazement. “This isn’t possible. Light doesn’t refract through air this way. It needs a prism source. That waterfall isn’t big enough to provide enough water for a rainbow. There must be crystal all about his meadow. Only a massive amount of crystal would make this happen.”
    “Look!” Powwell gasped and pointed above the little waterfall and the jumble of rocks.
    Myri looked and saw only water and boulders and a few common plants.
    “Dragons!” Kalen whispered. “A full nimbus of crystal dragons.”
    “I can’t see anything but the rainbows,” Nimbulan said.
    “Who told you there are dragons here?” Myri stared at the little girl rather than the wonder of the rainbows. Memories pushed at her, demanding attention. Memories of . . . The familiarity vanished. “And how did you know to call it a nimbus and not a herd?” She knew a mating group of dragons was called a Nimbus. The dragons invented the word.
    How did she know that?
    “They told me,” Kalen said, eyes open with genuine awe this time.
    “Who told you?” Something akin to panic swelled within Myri’s chest. She wasn’t sure if she let it burst, it would free her of her forgetfulness or push it down again and find solace in not knowing.
    “They told me.” Kalen pointed to the sky above the waterfall. “The dragons told me, just like they told you.”
    “How long have the dragons spoken to you?” Myri didn’t dare breathe. If she gave in to the longing to join the dragons, she’d have to remember everything, and challenge everything she knew about herself, including her new-found love for Nimbulan and the children.
    “They spoke to me right after I discovered Nimbulan wasn’t in the crypt. They led me to you and the clearing and your house. The clearing is going to be my home, too. We’re all going to live