The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

to come back for Rollett. It wouldn’t be easy, but he couldn’t leave his journeyman. He’d lost too many friends, students, and colleagues.
    But he had his wife and children back. His quest was partially complete.
    “I’m sorry to deprive you of your staff, but I need it. And yours, too.” Powwell turned to Scarface, holding out his hand for the tool.
    “No, Powwell,” Yaala screamed. “I can’t let you destroy them!” She launched herself at the young man’s back, fingers flexed as if trying to claw him.
    “You can’t stop him!” Kalen stepped between Yaala and Powwell. “We have to get out of here. The only way to do that is to destroy the Kaalipha’s power.” She clenched her fist and slammed it into the woman’s jaw.
    Yaala teetered in her tracks, disoriented and confused. Scarface rushed to catch her.
    Sounds of a scuffle broke out in the cavern behind them. Shouts of triumph and pain rang out louder, then the clash of iron weapons against stone. Screams of terror echoed through the cavern system. Underneath the sounds of battle, the rhythm of the machines beat discordantly.
    Flickers of movement, a wisp of white, caught Nimbulan’s attention. He looked right and left and saw nothing. The guards wore black, not white. The prisoners’ clothing was mired in gray filth. Who watched them?
    “This way,” Powwell called to them as he retreated deeper into the cave. He looked over his shoulder, shuddered slightly, then crossed his wrists and flapped his hands—an ancient ward against evil. What did he fear?
    “We don’t have to destroy all the machines, only Old Bertha,” Powwell said. Determination hardened his jaw. “She is the key to all the little ones that feed power into the palace network of wires.”
    “No, not Old Bertha. If you shut her down, we’ll never get her started again,” Yaala protested weakly. “Bertha is sick. I have to take care of her.” She rolled her head against Scarface’s shoulder, then her eyes closed and she went limp.
    “I’ll carry her,” Scarface said. “I want out of Hanassa as badly as you do. I’ve had enough of thieves and cutthroats and rule by terror.” He gestured with his chin for Nimbulan and the women to follow Powwell.
    They passed through four more caverns, each containing a machine identical to the first one they had encountered. The sounds of fighting behind them faded. Nimbulan breathed easier. Powwell stopped looking over his shoulder.
    Nimbulan wished he had time to stop and examine the exotic machines. Powwell pressed on through an empty cavern and then into the largest chamber they had yet encountered. Here resided a monstrous machine, easily four times the size of any one of the others. Arrhythmic coughs and wheezes accompanied the regular chugging he had almost become used to. Clearly, this machine was sick. Possibly dying.
    “Well, Old Bertha, time to put you out of your misery,” Powwell addressed the black monster. “You’ve served the dragon lords of Hanassa and that white wraith well. Now it’s time to rest.” Grimly he took Nimbulan’s staff and thrust it deeply into the machine’s belly, through an open panel.
    Old Bertha whirred and clanged. Bright green sparks shot out from the open panel. The lights around the cavern flickered and dimmed.
    A curious emptiness tingled in Nimbulan’s right palm where he usually carried the now dead staff.
    Powwell thrust Scarface’s staff into a second opening. More sparks, louder whirring and bright flashes of fire belched from the dying machine.
    “This way,” Powwell called, indicating a narrow tunnel. “She’ll explode in about five minutes, just about the time the guards arrive to kill us.”
    Nimbulan hurried behind Powwell. He herded Myri and Maia before him. He had no need to direct Kalen, she stuck closely to Powwell’s heels, making certain Myri and the baby never came in contact with the boy. Scarface flung the unconscious Yaala over his shoulder and brought up the rear.
    At the end of the short passage, Nimbulan saw the roiling mass of fiery lava and no other exit.

Chapter 29
     
    “L et me get this straight. I have to face a dragon, and if I don’t freak out or transform into a demon, then your Council will consider me human?” Katie asked Quinnault. She turned her big fire-green eyes on him.
    Residual fear lay behind her innate humor and optimism. And her mind remained firmly closed to him.
    Quinnault searched for signs of bruises on her lovely