The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

If you think of it, you can feed him in the interim. That will give me time to import a professional torturer from Maffisto.” Quinnault stared at the wall, fighting his urge to become as vengeful and violent as Kammeryl d’Astrismos had been. He would not succumb to his base urges and destroy the peace and harmony of Coronnan with his own bad example.
    Piedro put up a little resistance as three burly guards wrestled him through the doorway. He dug in his heels. “There isn’t a dungeon made that can hold me, Your Supreme Loftiness. I am a Rover.”
    “Make sure three magicians seal the dungeons. And don’t leave him alone until they do,” Quinnault returned. “Tell them it needs to be a spell that even Nimbulan couldn’t break.”
    “You’d best look to your own house before you start throwing accusations far afield, and trusting every magician, lord, and peasant in the land,” Piedro called over his shoulder.
    “What does that mean?” Quinnault grabbed a handful of Piedro’s thick black hair and yanked backward.
    Piedro laughed. “All of your tortures are nothing compared to what my chieftain doles out every day. I have no reason to blab.”
     
    The tunnels within Yaassima’s palace wove an intricate pattern through the ancient mountain. Nimbulan could never be sure how many times they doubled back on themselves. All of the passageways seemed to lead back to the large hall that had once been a temple to Simurgh. He shuddered with residual pain and terror every time they neared the place.
    Finding Myri was proving more difficult than expected. His heart cord pulsed strong and true but gave no indication of which direction led to his wife.
    Few guards patrolled the corridors. The first one they encountered, a dark man in an ill-fitting uniform, turned Nimbulan around and pointed back the way they had come, without being asked for directions. “The Justice Hall is along that tunnel, take the first left then the second right.” He moved on his rounds without checking to see if they complied. Obviously, if they had gotten into the palace they weren’t considered dangerous.
    The next guard, also Rover-dark and uncomfortable in his clothes, gave them the same directions.
    “Some transgressor must have been caught. There will be a trial and execution shortly,” Scarface whispered.
    “We have to find Myri and the children, my children, fast.” Nimbulan paused at the first turning. He savored the taste of those words, my children . Firmly he pushed aside his need to stop and wonder at the beauty of such a simple phrase. Since his brief mental contact with Myri he’d finally come to believe in those words. “My children.”
    “I don’t know where the Kaalipha’s apartments are,” Scarface admitted.
    “We need to split up. But we’ll keep a light telepathic contact all around.” He directed the gathering of mercenary magicians to follow three different tunnels. “Rollett, I need you to dismantle the slapping rock at the main gate.”
    “Easy.” Rollett grinned. “I can disrupt the magnetic fields with mundane tools and no magic.”
    The observant young man had sensed more about the slapping rock than Nimbulan had.
    “I trust you, Rollett, to be thorough and remain unobserved.”
    “With pleasure, sir. I’ll have an exit ready for you.” The young man’s white teeth flashed through the accumulated dirt on his face. He stepped backward and faded into the shadows, a trick Nimbulan had taught him.
    Nimbulan and Scarface took a fourth tunnel that he could have sworn they had not tried before. Within two dozen long strides they found themselves back at the still empty Justice Hall.
    “How long a march to the staging area in SeLenicca?” Nimbulan asked to keep his mind off the memories embedded into the rock walls of the Justice Hall. Myri’s empathic talent would center on this horrid room and trap her in a useless whirl.
    “A week at the most. We’re scheduled to march through an obscure pass in the Southwest while King Lorriin advances through the pass at Sambol at the same time. Rossemeyer will try a new invasion of the Bay.” Scarface gestured them forward along a major passageway.
    “Rossemeyer tried the Bay a few days ago and lost the battle. I don’t think they have enough ships left to try again.”
    “That was last week. The summons spells have been flying fast and furious for two full days. Rossemeyer is itching to avenge their reputation as the fiercest fighters in all