The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

kidnap Amaranth. You don’t know how to love for real.” She reached higher, found a handhold, and pulled herself up.
    “I love you, Myri. I won’t ever let you go. Never. You belong to me now. Me and only me.” Televarn grunted as he pulled himself up the rock face. He seemed to be an adept climber, following her rapidly.
    Behind her and to the right she heard other feet scrambling on the staircase. She angled her climb to the next rock outcropping. She’d come out above the plateau, above the Rovers and their treachery.
    “Myri, help me. I can’t hold on!” Televarn’s words trailed off to end on a scream.
    Briefly she looked below her. A dark form lay sprawled on his back at the edge of the waves. Frothy water lapped at his feet, rose and covered him.
    Her empathy reached out to him, needing to drag him to safety, needing to heal him.
    She fought the powers within her. A compulsion stronger than the Rovers’ ritual pulled her back to the cove. Pulled her back to betrayal and danger.
    “No,” she told herself. “I can’t risk Amaranth to heal a lying, cheating, thieving Rover.” She climbed on, easily outdistancing the men who climbed the staircase.
    “Will I ever be allowed to stop running from those I want to love?” Tears fell freely from her face. A home and family seemed further away than ever.
    Only the wind answered her with a lonely howl.

Chapter 17
     
    A ckerly stared at the assembly in the kitchen. The five older apprentices stood, chairs overturned behind them, jaws hanging open and expressions of sheer amazement on their faces. The three younger boys, stared at each other in puzzlement, their mugs of cider hanging idle in their hands. They looked as if they hadn’t the strength of will or steadiness in their legs to stand.
    Nimbulan leaped from his comfortable armchair, splashing cider down the front of his robe. Another stain for Ackerly to sponge out.
    “You did it, boys! You opened the door with magic.” The Senior Magician patted each of them on the back so enthusiastically the apprentices stumbled out of their chairs.
    Ackerly paused, assessing the room before entering. Opening a door and latch with magic shouldn’t have elicited so much excitement. A matter of a series of simple levitations opened any lock. Ackerly could do it, with effort. So why all the fuss over the apprentices? And why all three of them instead of one?
    “Come in, Ackerly. Don’t just stand there. We have cause for celebration. Did you bring the Tambootie? Of course you did. Which pack is it in? We’ve got to try a new experiment.” Nimbulan searched all the bags before the boatman could set them on the floor. “This is amazing. I wonder if it was the combination of Tambootie and cider or something special about the friendship among the boys. They did all come from the same region.”
    Unerringly, Nimbulan found the parcel wrapped in Ackerly’s dirty shirts. Ackerly wondered briefly how his master knew where to find the pottery jug of dried Tambootie leaves.
    “Maybe it was the age of the Tambootie. All of the essential oils permeated the pouch and seeped back into the leaves, giving the dose unusual potency,” Nimbulan rattled on, heedless of the nonsense of his words.
    “What happened, Nimbulan? What makes you so excited?” Ackerly placed a soothing hand on his friend’s shoulder. He’d never seen him like this, even when they were boys in training. Even when they sold their first viable fertility spell to a middle-aged couple who had lost their only child and despaired of having another. Nimbulan had been so jubilant when he heard the spell worked he hadn’t paid attention to the coins Ackerly had collected and pocketed.
    Ackerly prayed Nimbulan would be equally forgetful of the gold left over from buying the Tambootie. The gold was the only triumph left to Ackerly. Nimbulan had all the magic. Why shouldn’t his miserable assistant get to keep the gold?
    “They did it. The three of them combined their magic to open the door. I saw it in their auras. Is this all the Tambootie you bought for five gold pieces? I had no idea the weed had become so dear.” Nimbulan held up the now unwrapped crock.
    How had Nimbulan known the exact price of the Tambootie?
    Nimbulan had been the magician spying on him in Sambol. Nimbulan had somehow watched him pay over the five gold pieces. They both knew how many were left and should be returned.
    A pain stabbed Ackerly in the gut. He wouldn’t give up