The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

sincerely hoped the alien presence in his body hadn’t interfered with his magic.
    The cat—Rosie, as it thought of itself—purred in accompaniment to Katrina’s caress.
    At least Rosie liked Katrina. He remembered a time when Rosie was still within Queen Mikka that the cat took a sudden and unexplained dislike to her husband. Darville had worn scratch marks repeatedly.
    The pack steed sidled and shifted closer to Jack. He jumped back hastily.
    Margit laughed again.
    “You didn’t sneeze when Amaranth touched you because he isn’t a true cat,” he grumbled at the apprentice magician. “But you sneeze every time I think about coming near you.”
    “My instincts are true, Jack. I have the purrrrfect defense against you.” With another chuckle she dug her heels into her steed. “Now, let’s go find Marcus. We can’t delay any longer.” Her beast lunged forward at a rapid clip.
    “I’ll walk.” Jack decided, handling the reins of the extra steed to Katrina.
    “She’s right, Jack. We have a long way to go to Queen’s City.”
    “A long time for me to figure out what to do with this troublesome cat. At least the queen is free of it. My spell didn’t completely fail.” He smiled up at her as he trudged up onto the road from their campsite. He’d spent quite a bit of time obscuring all traces of their presence. Most of that time he’d been merely stalling.
    “Why didn’t the cat go to Amaranth as you directed? I would think it would want to return to a cat’s body after all this time.” Katrina kept her mount walking at Jack’s pace. Margit trotted ahead of them.
    “I’m guessing that Rosie has gotten used to the superior intelligence of humans. She—it—recognizes the difference between being a pet and controlling a human.” Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep from licking them and laving his ears.
    “I’m sorry, Katrina, but I think we’ll have to postpone our wedding again until I solve this problem.”
    Katrina half-frowned but didn’t say anything.
    “I do still want to marry you, when you are ready,” he reassured her.
    “I know, Jack. Strange, now that you want to postpone the wedding, I want it more than anything.”
    They both chuckled.
    “We’ll work it out, love. By the time we get to SeLenicca, we’ll work it out.”
    Amaranth flew past them, nearly brushing Jack’s head with his extended talons. He dropped onto the pack saddle of the steed Jack should be riding and set about preening his wings.
    “I take it you like the body you inherited,” Jack said to his familiar. He wanted to caress the soft black fur of his friend, but Rosie prevented him from coming any closer to the steed. How had the queen managed to ride so fearlessly these last three years?
    Amaranth purred his contentment while continuing his bath. As he lifted his hind leg to wash the fur along that quarter, his talonlike claws embedded into the pack saddle for better balance. But he missed the saddle and clutched the steed’s mane. The steed spooked and reared, rolling its eyes and screaming its outrage.
    Amaranth shrieked and flopped around, trying desperately to disengage his claws.
    With a long and frightened neigh the steed bolted. Katrina tried to hang onto the leading rein. It whipped through her fingers, cutting deeply as it burned free of her grasp. Her steed pranced wild-eyed and nervous at the strange noises and the smell of blood. It gathered its legs under it, ready to bolt after its companion.

    Lanciar watched as one by one the Rovers winked out of sight, including the children—including his son. His jaw dropped. A fly buzzed around him. He knew he should close his mouth and yet. . . .
    “I wish I hadn’t drunk so much.” He had trouble thinking clearly. His head buzzed and his eyes ached.
    Beside him, the unknown blonde woman sobbed as she dropped his arm and buried her face in her hands.
    “Oh, no,” she moaned, rocking from foot to foot. “Not more ghosts. More ghosts for my people to feed. They’ll surely forsake the Stargods now and let us all starve.”
    The air smelled strange, slightly acidic, slightly rancid sweet, like a spell gone wrong. The wind rushed into this bizarre building, filling the vacuum left by the disappearing people. But not enough wind to account for the loss of all these people.
    He remembered the fierce gusts that rushed through Hanassa when the Rovers had transported out. Then the Rovers had disappeared all at once from one heartbeat to