The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

guards. Would they have to go through the same search again? Nimbulan sighed wearily, preparing to ignore the horrible ringing noise and the humiliating search one more time.
    The next guard nodded briefly to Aander as he flashed his wand across the proffered knives. Then he opened the second gate. Apparently the Kaalipha trusted her guards enough to forgo a second test.
    At last he stepped out of the tunnel, into the city proper.
    “No weapons inside the palace or the tunnel. The wands remember the people and weapons, so don’t try sneaking anybody out. You have two days to find a sponsor or get out—the two of you together and no one else with you. Without any other weapons. Other than that there aren’t a whole lot of rules in Hanassa. There’s lots of hiring of mercenaries right now. You’ll find a sponsor easy, if you really want to stay.” Aander handed the knives back to Nimbulan and Rollett. Now to find Myri and get her past these vigilant guards and their magical wands.

Chapter 19
     
    “D o something, Kalen. Oh, please help me get this chain off my neck!” Myri begged her daughter when the girl finally returned to their quarters. She couldn’t take a chance that the next time the bizarre whistle stabbed her brain the weakness left over from her infancy might rupture.
    Then sun was nearly down and the air stifling. Even sight of the dark blue sky above the crater rim didn’t ease her near panic.
    Breathe deeply. In three counts, hold three, out three. She remembered Nimbulan’s patient coaching from their first days together. He’d been teaching her to trigger a trance. She had to be relaxed before the trance would work.
    She inhaled deeply on three counts, trying desperately to still her racing mind and scattered thoughts.
    “Don’t you want to hear my news first?” Kalen stuck out her lower lip in a good imitation of a pout. Her eyes opened wide and filled with moisture. She hadn’t resorted to that expression in Myri’s presence for nearly a year.
    “News?” Memory of Kalen’s errand to discover Powwell’s whereabouts broke through her anxiety about the necklace. Hard on the heels of her elation about news of Powwell’s whereabouts came awareness that Yaassima listened to every word she said through the dragon pendant.
    “I . . . I can’t listen now, Kalen. Can you do anything about this necklace?” Yaassima would expect her to try to break the necklace. Myri didn’t feel safe telling Kalen about the Kaalipha’s eavesdropping. She did look pointedly at the two guards who stood so stiffly by the door, also listening.
    Kalen’s expression closed. She dropped her gaze with all the innocence and shyness of a normal little girl. “I don’t know how to do it.” She waved at the offensive necklace biting her lip. “You’ll have to free yourself.”
    Kalen never looked directly at someone when she told the truth. She used her wide-eyed innocence act to cover deceit.
    And yet, Myri’s magical senses picked up defiance. What was happening inside Kalen’s complex thoughts?
    She had to trust the girl. They’d been close for a long time. Kalen had learned to trust Myri, though Powwell was the only male she would allow past her defensive barriers. Kalen wouldn’t betray Myri, her foster mother.
    “I can’t break the magical hold the necklace has on me, Kalen. I’ve tried. It chains me to Yaassima and this place. I have to get it off!” Myri intended to tell the listening woman precisely what she expected to hear and nothing more.
    Kalen shrugged and moved toward Amaranth’s cradle near the window, rocking it idly with her toe. The baby cooed and gurgled in response. Kalen sneered and turned her head away from the baby.
    Myri caught jealousy and resentment from the girl’s unbridled emotions. How could she resent an innocent baby?
    Because little Amaranth devoured all of Myri’s attention. She had little left to give Kalen. “Babies require a lot of attention,” Myri said to her older daughter. “But just because my attention is on the baby doesn’t mean I love you any less.”
    Kalen sniffed and refused to look at anything but the blank wall.
    Myri reached out to touch the girl, fearful of losing all of the emotional stability they had built together.
    Suddenly Kalen looked up, eyes alert, shoulders back and spine stiff. A trance of some sort. Myri had seen the posture often enough in her husband. But she’d never seen Kalen bother with the altered mind state that made