The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

before. I’m too tired.” Yet he heaved himself to his knees.
    Marcus offered him an arm for support. Surprisingly the old man leaned heavily upon him. Lyman had always asserted his ability to get around in fierce defiance of his age. “Brevelan’s child is nearly ready to give up the fight. I must be there when she does. Take me to the Clearing, boy.”
    “Shouldn’t you rest, sir? Here, where you are at home, between your books and the dragons?”
    “Ah, to be a dragon again,” Lyman sighed. For a moment his face took on a vacant expression as he looked far into his past. “I had hoped to tell my story to Jack. He’s the one who deserves to know this, but there isn’t time. Be sure to repeat this to him word for word.”
    “Save your words, Master Lyman. You are too weak to walk and talk.” Marcus didn’t know how to handle the stubborn old man. Surely, if he were indeed dying, he’d want to conserve his strength and remain in this existence as long as possible.
    Unless he looked forward to his next existence.
    “Let me call for some help. We’ll carry you, Master.”
    “Nonsense. I’ll not have my story repeated among the apprentices like some ancient legend that grows with each telling. This is for you and for Jack. Jack earned the right to hear the truth. You, my boy, are merely the messenger.” Lyman fixed him with a fierce gaze. For an instant, his watery old eyes blazed forth in silver-and-purple lights, whirling in a hypnotic stare.
    The world faded from Marcus’ perceptions. All that existed was the elderly librarian’s voice.
    “Listen and learn, young Marcus. Learn that many aeons ago, before weak and insignificant humans learned to harness the power of dragons, or cared to, when the Stargods were but pups dreaming of their first outrageous adventures, I was born Iianthe, twin purple-tipped dragon to Hanassa.”
    “But only one purple-tip can live at any one time,” Marcus heard himself protest the old man’s litany. Somehow, in the process of speaking, they had descended three staircases to the ground level.
    “ ’Twas the destiny of my twin Hanassa to choose another life form or to die. In choosing, he must find a new life path that would benefit all of Kardia Hodos. He chose to become human. But he was weak and envied the power of the Stargods. He wanted to control all that he touched. And so he sought to mimic the gods and awakened many dark powers. Plagues followed in his wake and eventually the humans, with the power of the Stargods to back them, exiled my twin to the land we now know as Hanassa. There he ruled for many generations, choosing to inhabit the body of one of his descendants as each body wore out.”
    “Hanassa, the home of outlaws and rebels and rogue magicians.” Marcus nearly whistled on his exhalation. “How did he take new bodies?”
    Lyman waved away the question. “Hanassa became the home of the outcasts and misfits of society. That city of outlaws was, and is, a bloodthirsty place and saw many terrible tortures before Hanassa finally died. But seven hundred years passed before he gave up his last body. That is a tale you will find in the journals of a magician named Powwell. It is hidden in my room, beneath a loose board in the flooring. Only Jack should read it, but you will have to take it to him. I know you will read it. You were always a curious one. If you or Jack chooses to share the tale, think long and hard about who can safely carry the knowledge.” The old man’s voice cracked with dryness and he ceased walking while his knees sagged. “Powwell was Ackerly’s son. His journal may help you lay the ghost to rest.”
    They had made it as far as the path to the Clearing.
    “Rest, Master. I’ll take the journal to Jack.”
    “No time to rest. Jaylor’s daughter is eager for her next existence. She is tired of fighting to retain possession of her body.” Lyman took a deep breath and continued his tale and his final journey.
    “When Shayla birthed a new pair of purple-tipped dragons, my existence as Iianthe had to come to an end. I should have passed into the void and gone on without memory of my past. But Hanassa had not completed his destiny. I had to live out the life he had forsaken. So I chose the body of an old man and joined Nimbulan in his search for a way to control magic and make it ethical.”
    “But that was three hundred years ago!”
    “Haven’t you been listening, boy? I already said I had lived over seven hundred