The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

magic.
    Other rumors spoke of foreign armies. Still others whispered that the dragons stole the food. The latter stories were always accompanied by the strange flapping gesture to ward against evil and a few crosses of the Stargods.
    “None of those rumors can be true,” Katie said to the air, pounding her fist against the window casement. “A magical border protects all of Coronnan from foreign troops and Rovers. And the dragons have no need for grain and fruit and pickled meat. Do you, Shayla?” She sent the last question telepathically as well as verbally.
    But the dragons remained silent. For many weeks they’d been too busy to respond to Katie or Quinnault. She’d heard magicians complain about a lack of dragon magic to gather. Without dragon magic to impose ethics and honor upon magicians, Coronnan might very well dissolve into disastrous civil war once more. What transpired?
    Katie moved to stand over her daughter’s crib. “I miss the informal clutter of my family.” She sighed heavily. Three times this past winter each of her brothers had visited her clandestinely. Each time she had hugged her sibling close, unwilling to let him go, though she knew she must. They had responsibilities back home.
    She had not seen them for two moons. Perhaps they had gone home—taking their father with them. But it was unlike Liam Francis not to risk one final good-bye.
    She had chosen her life with Quinnault—her beloved Scarecrow—on this rural planet with clean air and fresh food in exchange for the precious Tambootie to cure a plague. But she still missed her boisterous brothers and their adventures together. She’d never needed friends and lovers until she came here. Her family had filled every emotional need she had.
    She must never see them again and must never communicate with them either. The family covenant forbade it. Kardia Hodos must remain free of the taint of technology and the plague.
    Still, her brothers bent the covenant to check on her. The bonds of family went deeper than duty.
    She gazed lovingly at her daughter, a true miracle of life. This eight-month-old bundle of hungry demands represented the future of this country and her family.
    For a few moments, at least, Princess Marilell slept quietly, sucking her fist. Hungry even in sleep.
    “Maybe you’ll have a baby brother soon,” Katie whispered to her daughter. She placed her hand protectively across her belly, hoping. . . .
    She shot another question to the dragons. Still no answer. On the night Marilell had been conceived, the dragons had flown a nuptial flight as well. Shayla had told Katie the next morning that both matings had been successful.
    Shayla wasn’t due to mate again for at least another year. Katie hoped she didn’t have to wait until then to become pregnant again.
    “Maybe not having enough milk to nurse you, Marilell, is a blessing. Maybe I’ll conceive again quickly. Perhaps I already have. No one back home will consider taking the time to nurse their own babies, so they have to resort to drugs and devices to keep from having too many children too soon. But here, children are a blessing rather than an inconvenience necessary for the continuation of the human race.”
    Or a frightening experience depending on the mother’s exposure to the plague. The old, the very young, and pregnant women always contracted the plague first.
    No one knew for certain what breakdown in their immune systems triggered a plague spore back into life. The genetically engineered microbes were supposed to eat only toxic waste until they ran out of food, then they should turn cannibalistic until only one remained and it starved to death. But the microbes mutated, turning into dormant spores until more pollution fed them, or they found bacteria and buildups of toxins within the human body a culinary delight.
    The reports of illness devastating Lord Balthazaan’s province, beginning at the coal mines with their heavy concentrations of mineral dust, had spread to include other regions—city and rural alike. If the problems resulted from privation, the caravan of supplies Quinnault led would help. They needed firsthand reports from the trusted officers with the caravan rather than reliance upon rumor.
    Katie read every written report and listened closely to every rumor for similarities between the current illness and the Terran plague. She hoped the symptoms differed enough to rule out the plague. The people of Coronnan succumbed to a choking