The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III
his fellows.
The magicians continued staring straight ahead as they rapidly marched toward the nearest bridge.
“Scarface calls them. They obey a compulsion,” Myri said. She looked as if she might also follow the magicians. Then she forced her gaze back to her husband. She sank back onto her heels and lifted his limp hand.
“Compulsion spells are illegal, forbidden by the Commune. Scarface himself wrote that law.” Quinnault reached for his short sword. He eased it out of his sheath a few finger-lengths, then rammed it back home. Weapons wouldn’t solve this problem.
Katie rushed to kneel beside Myri. “What must we do? We can’t leave him like this.”
“He breathes on his own. They managed to repair some of the damage to his heart,” Myri said listlessly. Her pale blond hair hung limply about her shoulders. She plucked at Nimbulan’s hand with anxious fingers. Lavender circles of exhaustion ringed her eyes.
“You must rest, Myri.” Katie wrapped her arms around her friend and helped her stand once more. “You must take care of the new baby. Your neighbors will be bringing Amaranth back here soon.” Katie chanced a quick glance to Kaariin, sitting in the corner with Marilell. “Think about your daughter, Myri. Bad enough she see her father so ill, but not you, too.”
“I can’t. I have to stay with him.”
“We will stay for now,” Quinnault said. He joined his wife in wrapping his arms around his sister. “Go upstairs and rest. I’ll send some of my men to find out what is going on at the Commune. I hope I’m not sorry I relied upon Scarface’s honor to step down as Senior Magician.” He hugged Myri tightly, released her, and stepped to the front door to address the armed men who still stood guard there.
“Bessel is in the kitchen preparing a drug to help Nimbulan’s heart beat regularly,” Katie offered. A slight grin tugged at her mouth. “I don’t think Bessel will obey Scarface’s summons. The boy seems to be immune to outside interference.”
“My apprentice has never been disobedient,” Nimbulan whispered. He breathed shallowly but regularly. A bit of color had returned to his face and the blue tinge to his nostrils and fingernails had given way to a very pale pink.
Myrilandel pressed her fingertips to his neck pulse. “Too rapid,” she said after a few moments. “But strong enough as long as you do not exert yourself.”
Katie wondered how she did that without a timepiece to measure the pulse against.
“I fully intend to remain alive long enough to see our son born, beloved.” Nimbulan captured Myri’s hand with his own and pressed his lips to her palm.
“I do not wish to raise a fatherless child, Lan. You will live a long while yet, and father many more children. Shayla has told me so. Dragons do not lie. But you frightened me for a time.” Myri pressed Nimbulan’s hand to her cheek and held it there a long moment.
Katie’s heart swelled with joy at the evidence of the love between her two friends.
Quinnault came up behind Katie, pulling her tight against his chest. He kissed the top of her head. They cherished the moment of togetherness for as long as they could.
A flurry of movement in the back of the house brought Myri’s and Quinnault’s heads up in an intense listening posture.
“Nimbulan, Your Grace, we have to stop them. Scarface is going to burn the library!” Bessel skidded to a halt on the slick flagstones just short of colliding with his king.
“Is that why he summoned the entire Commune to attend him?” Quinnault held the breathless boy by the shoulders. The whiteness of his knuckles showed his effort to keep from shaking information out of him.
“Yes.” Bessel gulped a huge mouthful of air as he nodded his head. “We have to stop him.”
“Why does he take such dire action?” Myri asked the question on all of their minds.
“Because knowledge is power,” Katie answered.
“So no one else will know that the Tambootie will cure the plague,” Bessel added. “Magicians are immune because the Tambootie remains in their bodies from the trial by smoke when they become journeymen. There isn’t enough of the tree of magic to cure all of the people of Coronnan as well as feed the dragons. He’s more concerned with his supply of magic than with the people.”
“He can’t do this. We have to make a cure available to anyone who needs it.” Myri stood up in protest. “So many suffer.” She clutched her belly
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