The Silent Dragon: Children of The Dragon Nimbus #1 (24 page)

“The acid splashed me because I knocked the cup from the king’s hand before he could drink from it. Imagine what would have happened had I not interfered. I am needed here now, more than ever. My father requests you come. Quickly. We need you. Now.”

The image dissolved in a ripple of water lapping over the glass. The constant thrum of the spell fell silent.

Desperate to maintain contact and know that Glenndon remained alive and unhurt, Jaylor reached a hand to the scrying bowl, trying to hang on to the spell and . . . his son.

His shoulders slumped in defeat and his blood pounded in his ears once more.

“S’murghit! I can’t go now. I’m needed here, to rebuild the circle.”

CHAPTER 35

“H
URRY, LINDA,” Glenndon hissed at her.

She hopped and stumbled trying to pull on her boots. Her boy’s clothing made the process easier than working around long skirts, but she felt stupid with sleep and her tummy still growled with hunger. “Do we have to go now?” she whispered, afraid of waking the family.

“Yes, now. While our guards doze,” Glenndon insisted. “You want to learn more about magic and how it works. This is the only time we have free to find the things I need to teach you.”

For half a heartbeat Linda wished for a return of the silent Glenndon who spoke only a word or two when he absolutely had to.

“Lucjemm will want to come too. He’s always interested in exploring . . .”

“He’s mind-blind. Anything we discover will mean nothing to him.”

“But I like having him around. He makes me laugh.” She would not tell her brother how special Lucjemm made her feel, especially when he kissed her. All warm and tingly.

“Not tonight.” Glenndon leaned on the wall of her room at the inside corner. The stones groaned as they scraped against each other. “No one has used this entrance in a long while,” he said, leaning harder against the reluctant opening. “We may need to rub some Amazon oil on the joints and pivots.”

“Is there an entrance to the tunnels from every room?” Linda asked, coming up behind him. She had the boots on, but it felt as if her stocking had twisted around the toes. If she had to walk a great distance she’d have a blister and not be able to wear proper shoes tomorrow.

“Mostly in the royal apartments. Escape routes in case of trouble.” The wall had shifted enough to allow them to squeeze through. Glenndon grabbed her hand and pulled her beyond the comfortable security of her own room. Good thing M’ma had told Miri and Chastet to sleep elsewhere tonight. Her two friends had already protested how much more time she spent with Glenndon and Lucjemm than with them.

At the top of the stairs, Glenndon stopped short. Linda ran into his back, having expected him to continue on. “What?” she demanded.

“Close your eyes and count to three.”

“Then what.” She wasn’t about to close her eyes on the fat spider that repaired a web across the doorway. They’d split it in two when they opened the stone portal. It sped back and forth from lintel to lintel. Linda swore the beast shot them poisonous stares. “Are you going to light a torch?” A thick mat of spiderweb covered the one with a tinder kit she’d come to expect beside the door, ready for use. She didn’t think the spider would welcome further disruption of its home.

“I need you to look carefully at the pathway. It will light our way. I have to know what you see. But you can’t see it until you center yourself and ground your awareness in the land.”

Where did all those words come from? Glenndon rattled them off as easily as Linda did. Maybe a lifetime of silence had bottled them up and they needed to come out all at once before he settled down to . . . to whatever was natural for him.

“Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Think about the land beneath your feet.”

“I’m standing on twenty feet of dressed stone.”

“Where did the stone come from? It was once deeply embedded in the Kardia, part of a mountain, pieces of the whole planet.” He droned on and on about how every stone was connected to every grain of dirt, to every worm and mole and tree root and . . .

Linda closed her eyes, shutting out the actual words, listening more to the soothing rhythm, thinking about his hand cupped around hers, how she was connected to him and he to the Kardia and together they had magic.

Her eyes fluttered open when his words wound down to a whisper and then silence. Deep abiding silence. Not a lack of words, just no need to speak.

A dim path opened before her, leading downward into the dark. “Blue,” she gasped. “Silvery blue. A path of sorts,” she said quietly, awestruck, afraid of disturbing the wonderful vision of a magical path dancing ahead of her, sometimes on the floor, sometimes along the walls or the ceiling, but always ahead of her.

“That is a ley line,” Glenndon said with reverence. “They crisscross all the land.”

“What do they do?”

“They are energy. Power. A source of magic.”

“But I thought the dragons . . .”

“An alternative. Not always available. This is older, more primitive. Not everyone can gather dragon magic. Not everyone can tap a ley line. Few can do both.”

“Can you do both?” She wanted to look into his eyes and watch the truth of his words. But she dared not take her gaze away from the wondrous path of silvery blue light.

“Yes, I can. And so can my Da. Women can’t gather dragon magic. If they have any talent at all, they can use the energy in a ley line to fuel their spells.”

“Why can’t women gather dragon magic?” She thought about Shayla and how her big body shimmered in the sunlight, not always truly visible but still
there.
Very much there and tuned to royal blood. If any woman could gather dragon magic, Linda thought she should be able to do it.

Except that members of the royal family were forbidden magic. Except that they all had some magic or the dragons and the Coraurlia couldn’t protect them. Except that the Council, all the Councils going back to the first one, needed to separate magicians from nobles and kings. Except that . . .

“This is confusing.”

“Only because you are overthinking it,” Glenndon said gently.

“That’s part of my role in life as P’pa’s heir. I need to look at an issue from all sides before acting.”

“For now we have to trace this line back to its source. We need to know the source of this magic. There is a Well of Power. I can feel it singing in my blood and my brain. But I can also feel the numbness, the darkness drawing closer. Something is wrong with the Source.”

Indigo appeared at her side. He half-purred, half-meowed an agreement as he rubbed his face on her leg. His eyes never left the fat spider with the broken web.

“The Well of Life no longer feeds the Tambootie trees properly,” Glenndon continued, bending slightly to scratch Indigo between the ears. “Indigo says that without a proper Tambootie crop the dragons do not thrive. Shayla cannot breed again until the balance is restored. Dragon numbers decrease. I have to find answers. Will you help me, sister? Linda, my friend.”

“Yes.” She couldn’t say or do anything else. She’d follow him anywhere. Do anything for him. After the binding during the spell to heal his hand, she knew they were more closely allied by blood than she’d thought.

“Linda? Where are you?” M’ma called from the other side of the door. “Linda!” Her voice rose in panic. “Stargods help us. Darville! Darville, come quickly. They have kidnapped our daughter.”

Her mother’s pain stabbed Linda in the middle. Reluctantly she dropped Glenndon’s hand and turned back to reality. “Here, M’ma. I’m here. I . . . I needed to explore this entrance to the tunnels in case I ever need to escape.”

Glenndon slipped away without her, leaving her alone, incomplete, and nearly blind without his magical vision to open her inner eye and guide her.

I have followed Glenndon through the tunnels often enough to know how to eavesdrop without him seeing or sensing me. My lovely tells me how to mask my presence behind stone, and still listen.

But these tunnels are too damp for her. I must walk them alone, make my own judgments, and report back to her. I learn more without her thoughts clouding my own.

I know that Glenndon is my enemy, but . . . he has become a friend.

My lovely yanks my thoughts back to her purpose. I did not know she could do that from such a distance.

What is this Well of Power? I have found nothing about it in the archives. Curse the magicians. They have stolen every book about magic and taken them away. Knowledge is power. Without knowledge of this well, this source of power, it will remain intact, a way for the magicians to always work magic even after I destroy the dragons.

My lovely insists that the dragons are the true curse to this land and must be eliminated first. Who knew such a cute little creature could be so wise. Its voracious appetite bodes well for good growth into a formidable weapon. I will need it when we face down the dragons.

First things first. Bring the dragons down, and that will force the magicians to seek the Well to continue their cruel domination of normal humans. I shall follow them and that will be their undoing. A well is easily poisoned. Easier than poisoning the king. That did not go as planned. The well is secret and therefore unguarded. All I have to do is watch and wait.

After I take my army to the dragon trap. What to use as bait? Rather, who to use as bait?

My lovely tells me that we must sacrifice someone important. I do not like . . . My lovely will not be denied.

Jaylor bent over the double cot where Valeria and Lillian slept. Gently he kissed Val’s brow. “Time to get up, little one.”

“Why? It’s still dark.” Valeria rolled over and draped an arm around her twin without opening her eyes.

“I need you both to come with me as my extra eyes.”

“Call Indigo. And you have Glenndon in the city already. Someone has to stay here and take care of Mama and watch the masters,” Lillian finished the thought.

“Marcus and Robb will take care of the University. They are better able to mend breaches with those who waver in their loyalty. Lukan can take care of Mama and the little ones. He thirsts for responsibility. Let him prove himself now and earn his staff when I return. Now hurry, we haven’t much time.” He prodded both girls with a shake of the shoulders and a stab into their minds.

“I don’t want to go,” Valeria shook off his heavy hand and absorbed his mental probe like a knife through butter, in one side and out the other. He blocked it from returning to him, not willing to endure another headache.

“Think about it while you eat.” Jaylor prodded them both again, more vigorously.

What if I stay here until after Da leaves?
Valeria asked her sister. She was so sleepy she didn’t bother guarding her thoughts from her father.

“You have to be ready to transport when he’s ready or he’ll leave us behind.” Lillian grabbed Val’s arm and dragged her out of the bed. She continued to hold onto her twin as she turned her around to face the pitcher and ewer beside the clothes press.

“That’s what I thought I said. I want to get left behind,” Val protested.

“Val, this is important,” Jaylor said firmly.

“If Da wants us to go to the city with him, then we have to go,” Lillian insisted. “Think how exciting it will be to actually see the city, stone buildings, bridges, ordinary people. Markets!”

“If you are so excited about going, then go. I want to stay here. I never want to leave this mountain. There are no dragons in the city.” She turned back toward the bed.

“We’ll get to see Glenndon again,” Jaylor reminded them. Sometimes he had to work around his daughter’s stubbornness (so like his own) like water seeking a leak in the roof, entering one place, wiggling around and appearing elsewhere.

That made Valeria pause. “I truly and surely miss Glenndon.”

“If you won’t go, then I
can’t
go.” Lillian pouted. She tossed her sunlit blonde and red braid over her shoulder and turned her back on her twin.

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

Jaylor raised his eyebrows in question. Both girls clamped their mouths and minds shut, barring him from entrance.

Perhaps Brevelan understood the secrets of teenage girls better than he did.

An hour later, having made sure the girls ate as much honey-laced porridge as they could swallow, Jaylor led them to the center of the clearing, where Brevelan awaited them.

Brevelan. He hated leaving her. Hated it every time he flew off on Baamin’s back to battle more Krakatrices. Though there hadn’t been another sighting for several weeks now. His heart ached worse than usual. He pulled his wife into his arms, burying his face in her hair, drinking in her unique scent.

“If I ever get lost, I need only think of bread baking, flowers growing, and your sparkling blue eyes to pull me home,” he said, then kissed her soundly.