The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

I’m getting out.” Deliberately, he sank his hand into his pocket and retrieved the three coins.
    He held them up to the sunlight. They glinted enticingly, begging him to hold them, caress them, keep them forever.
    He closed his eyes and gathered his strength. With a mighty effort he threw them at Ackerly. “Take these back, you cursed ghost. I have no more use for your hoard. I want to live poor rather than remain trapped here with your riches.”
    Ackerly snatched the gold out of the air as he circled the compound once more. He juggled his bloody knife while he fumbled to hold onto this returned wealth. For a moment he looked as if he might drop them both. Then he sighed and disappeared into his library.
    Light flashed blue and white and red. The world tilted. Up and down exchanged places three or four times. And then Marcus found his feet firmly planted on the ground. The misty haze that had covered his vision for so long lifted and he could see Vareena and Margit quite clearly along with Queen Miranda and her party. Robb, the Rovers, Rejiia, and the pregnant woman and her party remained insubstantial forms.
    But the heavy fog remained across the top of the courtyard.
    A moment later Robb emerged from his haze to stand before him with a big silly grin on his face. “I was waiting for you to figure it out.”
    Marcus hugged him tight and slapped his back.
    Robb returned the comradely embrace.
    “Now what do we do?” Marcus asked them all.

Chapter 36
     
    “I t seems to me that part of completing a quest is cleaning up the messes along the way,” Jack said quietly. Guilt immediately heated his face. He’d left a terrible mess in SeLenicca.
    But he was going back there, with Katrina, to do what he could. And the gold seemed to be one of the answers to that country’s many problems. If they could convince Ackerly to give it up and remove the curse.
    At least he’d temporarily stunned Lanciar enough to keep him from interfering.
    “Our quest is a bit redundant,” Robb replied. “We were sent to bring the dragons home and possibly find you. You seem to have completed both of those tasks quite handily. Our duty to the Commune is to return to the University for a new assignment.” His face fell, as if that were the last thing he wanted to do. His eyes strayed to Margit and Vareena.
    “Marcus and Robb, do you intend to leave this situation unsettled?” Jack asked. “These Rovers and the others trapped between the void and reality, with a ghost to haunt them, need a solution. So does the village that will impoverish itself trying to feed them.” Jack needed to prod them into making their own decisions. He couldn’t do it for them. They’d never become master magicians if they relied on others to make their decisions.
    That had been a hard lesson to learn and one the cat within him truly resented. Rosie was more interested in watching than leading. He had to get rid of this cat and soon. He had enough problems without Rosie complicating things.
    “I’ve never known a Rover to willingly give up anything they possessed. Why did Zolltarn offer a fortune in gold to a foreign queen?” Marcus interjected.
    “Why give away the gold, Zolltarn?” Jack raised his voice over the sounds of many people arguing. Even the lords and their ladies fought over who could bow the lowest to the improbable queen in their midst even though the queen remained substantial and the nobles had become ghosts.
    The Rover chieftain opened his mouth in a toothy grin. Jack continued to look at him questioningly rather than succumb to the seduction within that smile. He knew his grandfather too well.
    “With a Rover sitting beside the queen of SeLenicca.” He nodded to their kinsman holding Miranda’s hand and guarding the pack beast and its treasure trove of expensive lace from the light fingers of a number of the combatants. “And Rover gold to rebuild the country, my clan will have a homeland. We will have the freedom to roam there forever.”
    “You won’t end a thousand years and more of prejudice against dark-eyed outlanders with a little bit of gold,” Jack reminded him.
    “And the people of SeLenicca may not allow their queen to marry another outlander. Look what the last one did to us,” Katrina added. “With the help of that black-haired bitch.” She almost snarled as she jerked her head toward Rejiia.
    The coven witch had returned her attention to Zolltarn and the tin statue.
    “Katrina?” Jack had never