The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

Katrina.
    “Let’s get started.” Jack squared his shoulders with new resolve. The sooner he completed this duty, the sooner he’d be on the road, following his love. No matter that departing abruptly, without explicit permission would look like a repeat of his youthful misdeeds that had led him to SeLenicca and Katrina the first time.
    Jaylor could not hold him. Only Katrina could do that.
    “Amaranth, into the center with Queen Mikka.” Jack pushed the dragonet from behind.
    Amaranth hung his head and dragged his tail. He knew something strange was about to occur and feared it. Jack was afraid, too. Afraid of failing yet again, afraid of losing Katrina forever. Afraid of hurting his friend, the baby dragon, and the queen.
    He couldn’t let his fears govern his actions. He had to impart some measure of reassurance and love to Amaranth.
    “I need you to help the queen, Amaranth. Only you can do that.” The dragonet’s head came up, and he emitted a bit of pride. “Remember, when this is over, you get to stay with me forever, as my cat.”
    (Be your familiar?) The baby dragon looked at him with hope and adoration.
    “My familiar?” A peculiar warmth untied itself from his inner knot of loneliness. “Yes, if you like.” He half smiled. Something good might come of this night’s work after all. He’d have Amaranth’s help while he tracked Katrina. He’d have another to share his hopes and fears, to plot and plan, to dream with.
    Reluctantly, tail and muzzle drooping, Amaranth trudged to the center of the circle. He paused to look back at Jack three times before he settled on his haunches at the queen’s side.
    “Touch the dragonet, Your Grace. You need a conduit for the cat to follow out of your body.”
    She rested her left hand on Amaranth’s head, behind the stubby horn, and gently scratched his ears. He began to hum, just like a cat purring.
    “Iianthe, here, beside me.”
    The other purple-tipped dragon slunk behind his mother.
    “Shayla.” Jack looked toward the mother dragon. Exhaustion seemed to feed upon every little setback in this procedure. He needed to be gone, in search of Katrina. He took a deep breath and continued addressing Shayla. “If Amaranth is to become the flywacket, I won’t be able to gather magic from him. I can only gather magic from a purple-tipped dragon, unlike my companions. I need Iianthe to complete this spell. We need the augmented power of dragon magic to make this work. Solitary magic isn’t enough.”
    The other master magicians looked at Jack with small frowns of disapproval.
    By the laws of Coronnan and the Commune, he must be able to gather dragon magic or go into exile. But the situation had changed and Jack’s solitary magic had saved the Commune more than once.
    He frowned back at them. All but elder Librarian Lyman looked away in embarrassment. That old man made his own rules and set his own standards of acceptability. He slammed his staff into the dirt as a prompt to get the spell moving.
    Iianthe retreated farther behind his mother. Amaranth began to shift his weight uneasily beside Mikka.
    All of the magicians looked at each other blankly.
    “I’ll get him,” Jaylor heaved a sigh. He might be Senior Magician, but except for Jack, he was the youngest and strongest among them.
    Shayla nudged Iianthe forward with her muzzle. A touch of her long spiral forehead horn applied judiciously to his rump brought him abruptly to Jack’s side.
    “Everyone get ready. We may not have a lot of time once I start,” Jack warned.
    “Perhaps one of us should take over the managing of this spell,” Slippy said. He’d taken his name from the eels that nestled near the shore of the Great Bay. Cooked properly, they had a sweet nutritious meat. Handled incorrectly, they poisoned all they touched.
    “None of you were there during the original spell. None of you have the feel of what happened,” Jack asserted.
    “Jaylor was there,” Slippy corrected him.
    “Jaylor was the object of the spell. As such, he was a passive participant.”
    Silence greeted his assertion.
    “Look, nothing would please me more than turning over the entire procedure to one or all of you. I have business elsewhere. Pressing business. But you chose me for this spell. Me. The rogue who was too stupid to have a name, and too irresponsible to follow orders. Me. I developed the transport spell. I saved the entire Commune from Rejiia. I found the dragons and brought them home. You chose