The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

sniffers smelled him and not his queen who did have magic in her blood even before the cat had joined her in that body.
    “Why don’t you just dismiss those men?” Jack mused, not realizing he had spoken until he heard his words.
    “Because the Gnuls control my council. Any retaliation against them brings worse reprisals against innocents. I am only the first among equals, not a tyrant. I must defer to the wishes of the lords who help me govern,” the king said sadly. “I thought I had pounded some sense into them, but apparently not.”
    “What will we do, Darville?” Rossemikka turned wide, frightened eyes up to her husband. Her fingers curled again. The cat wanted dominance.
    “What we always do. Dissemble, divert, claim they persecute us with unfounded accusations merely to overthrow me and claim the throne for themselves.”
    “They can’t depose you, Your Grace. Your coronation was dragon-blessed. Thousands witnessed B—” he couldn’t say the true name of the blue-tipped dragon out loud. The secret of Baamin’s origins must remain secret a while longer. “They all saw the same thing I saw. The dragons blessed your crown and your queen.”
    “But no one has seen a dragon since. Before and after my coronation, the dragon nimbus remained in exile. Baamin returned only long enough to show himself at the coronation.” The king grinned widely, letting Jack know that not much remained secret from him.
    “Our enemies have grown in strength while the dragons remained in SeLenicca. They now discount the reality of the dragons you returned to Coronnan. The Gnuls will try to kill any dragons who show themselves, claiming them the spawn of Simurgh.”
    “But what do you want me to do about the influx of witch-sniffers?”
    “Can you whip up a storm that will strand them in the port for a time?”
    “I don’t dare with those two watching everything in the palace so closely.”
    “Then we must invent a disease that will close the port to all people, but not goods.”
    “That I can do, Your Grace. I have a friend who will gladly dispense a convincing rumor.” Jack eased backward through the clump of bushes until he stood on a path well hidden from the view of the guards. Within moments he was running back to Aquilla, just like when he was nothing more than a scullery lad and wharf rat needing protection from bullies. Gnuls, bullies, what was the difference?

Chapter 10
     
    L anciar tried hard to think in convoluted circles like a Rover. The more he drank, the straighter the path his mind followed. In the end, logic prevailed. Lanciar left Hanassa by the same dizzyingly steep path he had entered the haven for outlaws—on foot.
    Zolltarn could not have transported his entire clan and all of their goods far. That much magic was unprecedented, even if the entire Rover clan joined the spell. Logic also told Lanciar that the Rovers must head for Coronnan and the Commune of Magicians. No one else would value the statue of Lord Krej. And no Rover would steal something unless it held value to someone. Besides, Zolltarn had deserted the coven for the Commune three years ago.
    Was the entire adventure merely a ploy to lead Rejiia to the Commune? If so, then he had a better chance of claiming his son by following the Rovers into Coronnan than treading in Rejiia’s footsteps.
    Rumors claimed the dragons had returned to the Commune. Neither Rejiia, nor the entire coven—especially with its depleted numbers—could stand against a Commune united by dragon magic. Dragon magic had its limits when wielded by a single magician. But unlike the coven’s blood rituals that enhanced power, or the Rovers’ secret ceremonies, dragon magic allowed talented men to join their talents, augmenting the strength of every spell by orders of magnitude. With this united power they could impose laws, ethics, and honor upon their members, and overcome all those who opposed them.
    Fortunately for the Rovers, the coven, and solitary magicians, their honor and ethics kept them from going to war against their own people to wrest political power from the Gnostic Utilitarian cult.
    Once more he wondered if his old adversary Jack had managed to return the dragons to Coronnan or if he had died beneath the rubble of Queen’s City. “We’ll have to see if Jack awakened the ability to gather dragon magic as well as my other magical powers,” Lanciar mused.
    If it would help regain his son, Lanciar would join the Commune and submit to the