The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

Katrina gathered Amaranth into her lap. “Such a big cat. Did you truly fly here or did you just jump from the rocks above us?” She petted him with enthusiasm.
    “He’s with me,” Jack said quietly as he scrambled down the last of the rocks. He had to work hard to retain his balance, never quite certain which image was real and which a ghost.
    Margit jumped again, startled. “You’re supposed to let your armor down when approaching the camp of a magician. I could have blasted you with . . . with . . .”
    “With what, Margit? What spell could you devise that would catch me off guard?” Jack smiled, trying hard to keep any sense of triumph out of his voice. From what he’d seen, Margit would make a competent journeywoman someday. Master status would elude her talents.
    “I—I’d have thought of some—something.” Margit worked her nose and mouth in peculiar gyrations.
    “Jack,” Katrina said quietly, still stroking Amaranth.
    “Ahhhchooo!” Margit sneezed strongly enough to nearly extinguish the fire. “Get that cat away from me.”
    “Katrina,” Jack acknowledged the woman he loved, ignoring Margit completely.
    “I suppose you’ve come to take me back,” Katrina said quietly, burying her face in Amaranth’s blacker than black fur.
    Did she sound accepting or defiant? Jack couldn’t tell while Margit continued to sneeze her head off right next to him.
    “No, Katrina, I’ve come to join you, keep you safe on this journey you’ve chosen.”
    “I thought that was Margit’s job.”
    The apprentice magician sneezed again, three times in quick succession.
    Katrina shifted to a rock on the far side of the fire, taking Amaranth with her. She looked up at Jack with hopeful eyes.
    Margit continued to sneeze.
    “I hope you will welcome my company,” Jack said tersely.
    Katrina looked up at him without answering, eyes huge in the firelight.
    “Something is different about you, Jack. You are . . . almost vulnerable. Like you were when I first met you.”
    “Lonely. Missing you as I would miss my breath or the beat of my heart.”
    Her chin quivered slightly. She bit her lip.
    Jack waited a moment, hoping she’d say something, anything to reassure him. “I’ll not press you to marry me, Katrina. I know you fear it. But I need to know you are safe. I need to be close to you, look at you, touch you.” He stroked her long, silky plaits.
    Margit might not have been there except for her sneezes. Which tapered off as Jack moved away from her.
    The funny feeling churned in his gut again, and his tail-bone needed to twitch. He knew a sudden compulsion to wash his hands and face—especially behind his ears—in the nearby creek.
    “And who is this new companion of yours, Jack? I know you miss Corby, but I never thought I’d see you with a cat,” Katrina continued, as if their future together did not lie between them like an open wound.
    “That is Amaranth.” Silently, Jack sent the flywacket an image of rubbing his black fur against Margit’s trews.
    “Amaranth?” Katrina looked up at him, love and trust shining in her eyes. Could this be just another ordinary conversation catching up on the news?
    “The redundant purple dragon has taken a new form. He’s truly my familiar now.” Jack perched on a rock next to Katrina; close enough to reach out and hold her hand, but not so close as to threaten her.
    “It’s as if he now absorbs all of the light he used to reflect.” She tried to stop the black cat from hopping off her lap, but he wriggled free of her grasp and slunk over to Margit. She had her back to the fire and for a moment her sneezes had abated.
    “Amaranth,” Katrina called him back.
    Under Jack’s prodding the flywacket circled Margit three times, each circuit bringing him closer to her until he rubbed his face against her boots and then her knees.
    “Get away, you awful creature.” Margit hopped and jumped farther away from the fire. But she did not sneeze.
    Jack sent Amaranth another mental command to return to Katrina and stay with her. Amaranth arched his back and stretched, leaning first backward, tail up, front legs extended. Then he leaned forward, stretching his back legs one at a time. At last he shook himself and leaped over the fire, extending only the tips of his wings for balance. He landed next to Katrina and sat. He accepted a few ear scratches, then began to lave his front paws.
    Jack wanted to fish the soap out of his pack and join his familiar in the