The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

say that the legendary country of Terrania even exists? She’s a demon, and we cannot allow this marriage!”
    “I will marry Princess Maarie Kaathliin tomorrow,” Quinnault said through gritted teeth. “The choice is mine and I have made it.”
    “We will not crown her queen until she proves she is not a demon!” Konnaught stood up so fast he knocked over his chair. “Moncriith predicted this would happen. He was my father’s Battlemage. He warned us all about demons—including the king’s exiled sister.”
    “Moncriith would have been exiled or executed, had he lived, because he refused to gather dragon magic. Moncriith drew his power from blood and pain. We don’t know how long he would have contented himself with his own blood and the death of small animals. His next victim would have been human, probably one of us,” Quinnault reminded them.
    “This unknown, possibly false princess, can’t gather dragon magic—no woman can. But she might be a magician working in secret to undermine our peace and stability.” Hanic sat down, seemingly calm. “She must prove that she is indeed a princess of Terrania and not a rogue witch.”
    “How?” Cold sweat broke out on Quinnault’s brow. The magicians couldn’t access the void with dragon magic to test her talent. All of the usual witchsniffers who sensed magic in others but had no other talent of their own had been exiled with the other rogues. Only magicians could survive the other tests for magical talent—fire and water. The only way Katie could prove herself innocent of Hanic’s accusation was to die.
    He wouldn’t abuse her trust or the wonderful gifts from her people by allowing these men to murder her in the name of protecting Coronnan from rogue magic.
    “The dragons will tell us if she is the right queen for the king they blessed,” Lyman said quietly from his corner.
    All eyes turned to the Coraurlia in the center of the table. The glass crown shaped like a dragon head and embedded with costly jewels had been a gift from the dragons as a symbol of their tie to the wearer of the crown.
    Quinnault relaxed. The dragons approved of Katie. He knew that in his heart.
    An evil smile crossed Hanic’s face. “Yes, the dragons. She must face a dragon at dawn. Shayla will eat her alive.”
    “Dragons don’t exist. How can they test me?” Katie whispered. Bewilderment erased the smile from her eyes.
    “A demon will become hysterical and flee in its true form when faced by a dragon.” Hanic’s smile spread with confidence. “If this so-called princess of Terrania can remain in human form in the presence of a dragon, we will accept her as your bride, Your Grace.”
    But no one had seen a dragon in almost a moon. Shayla had announced to one and all that the Covenant was broken. The amount of magic in the air had dwindled. Would she come in answer to this summons?
    If she didn’t, would Katie survive another test dreamed up by these superstitious lords?

Chapter 21
     
    “T hose, ‘wires,’ as you call them, barely fit through that conduit. How do you expect me to crawl in there and find the broken one?” Powwell asked Yaala. He eyed the narrow tunnel skeptically. He’d just begun to get used to the miles of Kardia above his head and breathe almost naturally within this extensive cave system. The bottom of the conduit rose man height above the cavern where he stood. It couldn’t contain enough air for both him and the bundle of wires.
    An eerie sensation crawled over his skin; it felt as if he were being watched. He looked hastily in all directions. A flicker of white moved beyond his peripheral vision as fast as he turned his head.
    More hallucinations. Or so Yaala said. But she said that Televarn’s portal was imaginary, too.
    “The conduit is wide enough. I’ve crawled through it a number of times,” Yaala said as she cupped her hands to boost Powwell up.
    “You’re thinner than I am. And some of the others are narrower in the shoulders than I. Why me?” Powwell kept both feet firmly on the ground, lungs laboring mightily at the thought of entering that tiny tunnel. He’d already discovered that, in the pit, Yaala gave orders and everyone obeyed her without question—except the new man, Piedro, and he’d learn soon enough. Yaala was the Kaalipha of the pit, just as Yaassima was Kaalipha of the city above them.
    “You haven’t lost your intelligence, so you will recognize the broken wire when you find it,” she said,