The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

guide him anymore, but he’s still a bloodthirsty tyrant. My men deserve better.”
    “The people of Hanassa are outlaws—assassins, highwaymen, and murderers,” Yaala argued. “They deserve what they allow to happen here.” For the first time, she saw the truth surrounding the city she should have inherited from her mother. A new sense of lightness invaded her being. Her spirit had freed itself of Hanassa, even if she physically remained here.
    “Not all of the residents are criminals.” Rollett shook off her supporting arm and walked weakly to the creek on his own. He drank deeply of the sulfur-laden water, then continued. “Some of them are political fugitives, some merely mercenaries for hire. Some even still hold a tiny glimmer of honor. They deserve better than Piedro’s lust for power without the sense to wield it justly.”
    “Without the dragongate, Piedro is confined to this city. The city will take care of him. Why should we care as long as we get out?” Lyman asked. Craftiness replaced the grief on his face.
    “Because the city will starve before they can oust Piedro. He’ll deliberately starve my men, my friends, before he allows them to escape.” Rollett’s knees wobbled as he returned to the food supplies.
    Lyman and Powwell looked ashen in the fading glow of witchlight as they struggled once more to their feet, exhausted and burdened by grief. Their skin seemed grayer than just the dust would account for. “All three of you have got to rest a little longer. Drink deeply and eat as much as you can.” She seemed to be the only one strong enough to make a decision. But her head ached terribly with every thought and movement. She followed her own advice.
    “No time,” Powwell ground out between gritted teeth.
    She ached to see the bleak expression in his eyes. Thorny seemed strangely quiet within his pocket. They both suffered from the loss of Kalen and the drain of blood magic.
    “Piedro is mine. I claim the right to remove his head.” Powwell’s words filled the suddenly quiet cavern with dread.
    “Not if I get to him first,” Rollett replied. He kept moving upward toward the iron gate.
    The ground shook again, precursor to another larger quake. As one, they hurried up the slope, eating as they walked.
    “I claim blood right for revenge.” Powwell stopped moving. His stance challenged them all to contradict him. “Kalen was my sister. Her death is a direct result of Rover manipulation. All Kalen wanted out of life was control of her own life. Piedro is only the latest in a long line of people who used her for their own greedy ends. His head is mine.”
    “Piedro was as much Hanassa’s victim as Kalen was,” Yaala insisted. “Let’s just concentrate on getting out of here alive. All of us, together.” She reached out both hands to include all of them.
    “Are we certain that Hanassa died?” Rollett asked.
    “Yes,” Lyman said sadly. “Through all of these centuries of separation I have been aware of his presence in this existence. Always, no matter what form I took, dragon, human, or ghostly guardian of the beginning place, I knew he waited and brooded and plotted escape. And I hoped. . . . Now there is nothing, only an echo of him in the blood of his descendants, those capable of hosting his spirit within their bodies.”
    “Kalen, my sister, was descended from Hanassa?” Powwell jerked away from the older man. He stepped backward, as if needing to flee into the lower caverns—flee into the death and destruction that hovered there.
    “Through her mother, I believe. Not through your common father,” Lyman said. He stared directly at Powwell.
    “As long as any of his descendants live, then Hanassa has a body to flee to.” Rollett searched the shaky cavern with his eyes. His gaze slid over and away from Yaala. “Do we have to hunt them all down and kill them to prevent Hanassa from wreaking havoc all over Kardia Hodos?”
    “Possibly.” Lyman hung his head sadly. “Hanassa’s exile only included himself. His descendants have been able to leave this city and spread their seed far and wide for seven centuries.”
    “I am directly descended from the renegade dragon, Lyman,” Yaala said, her voice as shaky as the kardia beneath her feet. “Will you kill me for no reason other than that?”

Chapter 39
     
    Kaaliph’s palace, city of Hanassa
     
    “N o, Yaala, that is not what we mean.” Powwell stood up a little straighter, shocked out of his lethargy.