The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume III: Volume III

dangerous. If your escort even glimpses the nature of his vessel, everything will change . . . for the worse.”
    He turned to mount Buan in one swift movement, ignoring her comments. Then he reached down to take Marilell from the maid. When the baby sat before him in the saddle, happily cooing, he spoke. “I changed my mind. I’m going with you. We’ll leave the baby with Amaranth and her nanny for the day. Safer, I think, than the palace today. You think your father left his conveyance to the south of here?”
    “Scarecrow, stay here, please!”
    His stubborn face became more intense.
    Katie heaved a sigh of resignation. “The land is more wooded and hilly. He’ll want to keep his ship hidden. The land north and east of the city is open fields. To the west is open river plains.” Shuttle design hadn’t changed enough in the last seven hundred years to make the vessel substantially different from the paintings and tapestries depicting the Stargods descending from the heavens in a cloud of silver flame.
    If anyone ever associated Kinnsell and his miracle machines with the beloved Stargods, no one would reject Kinnsell’s bid for political and economic power through mechanization. And with mechanization would come colonists from the Terran Empire.
    The plague would follow in short order. If it hadn’t come already. Most of the plague reports originated in mining villages. Were coal dust and iron filings enough pollution to give the microbe a breeding ground?
    She wished she could do this alone. But the medieval culture that didn’t depend upon technology and therefore didn’t develop a plague breeding ground, demanded that neither she nor Quinnault step beyond the privacy of their bedchamber without an escort.
    “Ship? Wouldn’t he be on the Bay?” Quinnault asked.
    “A different kind of ship than you’ve ever seen before, Quinnault. It sails through air, not water. And it contains many wonders that mimic magic and go beyond. I’ll use those wonders to send a summons spell of sorts to my brothers. They are the only ones who might persuade Kinnsell to leave here before he changes our lives and our culture irrevocably.” Hopefully, Jamie Patrick was either aboard or carried communications to the crew of the mother ship. With any luck at all, her two younger brothers might have returned from Terra as well.
    Katie dug her heels decisively into the steed’s flanks. It fairly leaped forward, speeding through the palace gates.
    Quinnault followed close on her heels.
    No route through Coronnan City was direct. For reasons of defense, the bridges rarely lined up and never connected three islands directly. Crowded streets on market day presented numerous delays to foot and mounted traffic alike.
    “What is that?” Kate pointed to the smoke-blackened remains of a shop that had once had a dwelling above it. Both halves had been gutted. People stood before it, looking lost and bewildered, including a family of five draped in blankets. The father had lost his eyebrows in the fire. The three children sniveled quietly, noses running, eyes blinking rapidly, too cowed by disaster to cry out loud. The mother huddled beneath her blanket, staring blankly, heedless of her husband and children.
    “Fire. Happens too often in the city. Wooden buildings, dry thatch, all crowded too close. We’re lucky it didn’t spread and take out the entire island,” Quinnault replied.
    Katie bit her lip, needing to stop and comfort the victims. But she didn’t have time. Neighbors seemed to have the matter in hand.
    “Remind me to send a basket of food and clothing when we return.” She looked anxiously at Quinnault.
    He nodded abruptly, eyes fixed on something in the burned-out ruins.
    “What is it, Quinnault?” Then she saw it. A sigil of warning painted in blood red on the side wall of the building. Soot couldn’t obliterate it.
    With a gesture, Quinnault sent one of the guards to investigate. “I want a full report when we return. I expect answers and the name of a suspect. This has happened too often,” he commanded. “And send the family food, blankets, clothing, whatever they need to get them through until they rebuild.” Then he turned his attention back to Katie and his daughter. “Not much farther, love. Nimbulan and Myri live only two isles away.”
    “Who is sabotaging our city, Quinnault?” But Katie did not need an answer. Only Kinnsell could be so devious. He wanted control of Coronnan even if it meant