The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

the staff, not his body.
    Slowly he stood up, using the staff to brace his painful knee.
    “I’m getting too old for this kind of adventure,” he muttered as his back resisted straightening and his shoulder revealed another wrenching injury.
    He limped in the direction Scarface had taken. He needed help finding Myri and getting out of here. The magician mercenaries seemed his only chance.
    “There, grab that man! He was with the magician we seek,” Moncriith commanded ahead of Nimbulan and to the left.
    Nimbulan swallowed back his instinct to run in the opposite direction. He couldn’t. He needed Scarface. The man had befriended him with cooperation and an important lesson in magic. Battlemages weren’t known for sharing anything magic. If Scarface could gather dragon magic, he’d make a valuable contribution to the Commune.
    If they could escape the city. If they found Myri.
    He limped forward as quietly as he could. One hundred paces from his hiding place, he encountered the backs of the men from the wineshop. They stood in a half ring around Moncriith. Rollett stood in the exact center of the lineup. Backed up against the wall of a small building, Scarface and one of his compatriots defended themselves with their staffs. They batted off the fireballs and truth spells Moncriith flung at them.
    Nimbulan ducked one of the repelled balls. He almost smiled at the image of turning this bloodsport into a game. He presumed the magicians had also embedded their talents into their staffs. How else could their tools combat Moncriith’s magic so accurately?
    A crowd of noisy gawpers drifted closer. Nimbulan needed to get his new friends and Rollett free before the locals realized the reward attached to his capture. He had no doubts any of them would gladly sell him, alive or dead, to the Kaalipha.
    Nimbulan tapped Rollett on the shoulder. He took one step to his left. Nimbulan slipped into place beside him, directly behind Moncriith. The Bloodmage didn’t take his attention off Scarface and his comrade.
    From this new vantage point, Nimbulan surveyed the faces of the mercenaries standing shoulder to shoulder in a near perfect half circle. Their faces remained blank and unresponsive. A few revealed muscle twitches of resistance in their shoulders and fingers. Nimbulan didn’t need his talent to recognize their reluctance to remain in thrall to Moncriith any longer than necessary.
    Despite the danger, Nimbulan felt a small smile flicker across his cheeks. Without bothering to weigh the consequences, he hefted his staff in both hands and swung with all his strength at the back of Moncriith’s head.
    The Bloodmage crumpled to the dirt. The mercenaries raised their swords over their heads as one.
    Rollett’s blade pressed sharply into Nimbulan’s spine.

Chapter 24
     
    “S wear loyalty to our new captain!” Scarface shouted to the assembled mercenaries as he lifted his sword to join the others in salute to Nimbulan.
    “What?” Nimbulan looked right and left in amazement. He’d been prepared to flee or defend himself against the trained warriors. Instead they looked to him for leadership.
    “Moncriith defeated our old captain. You defeated Moncriith and broke his spell over the men. Therefore you are our new captain,” Scarface said with a wide grin. He prodded the Bloodmage with his toe.
    Moncriith groaned and tried to raise his head, but he collapsed onto the ground again with a sickening splat that meant a broken nose. Blood gushed over his face.
    All traces of blank enthrallment had left the men’s faces, including Rollett’s. The dark-haired young man grinned.
    “Before you wake that piece of bloody garbage,” Rollett said, holding Scarface back from kicking Moncriith again. “We need a plan. He can get us into the palace. He has the ear of the Kaalipha. He can get us all past the guards and their wands without a search.”
    “He’ll have to think he’s taking Nimbulan to Yaassima for justice,” Scarface added. “You willing to risk that, Captain?” He looked at Nimbulan, eyes wide with speculation.
    “I’ll have to. I have to rescue my wife and the children. I presume Powwell and Kalen are with her. She wouldn’t willingly separate from them.”
    “After that, these men and I will decide what to do with our lives. There’s always the invasion of Coronnan. You can take on our sponsorship, Nimbulan, and collect the money from SeLenicca’s recruiting agents. They leave at dawn and plan to