The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) by Dan Michaelson (good summer reads .txt) 📗

loop around him and started to create another barrier surrounding him, looping it over the top of the pit. When he was done, the Vard was sealed inside once again.

“You understand now?” he asked. “You’ve questioned why the king has taken such extreme measures when it comes to the Vard. You might have even questioned why the Djarn have been so willing to work with us.”

I hadn’t said it, but the questions had been there. How could they not be?

There was another threat, not just the Vard. I didn’t want the king to neglect that threat. But this was an equal one. Now I saw that.

“The Djarn recognize the danger. The king has made certain they are informed, and they know just what we face. They recognize that the kingdom is the only way to prevent the Vard from spreading their flames across the land.”

“It’s . . . unsettling,” I said.

“It should be. The very first time I came across the Vard, it unsettled me, as well. I recognize they are a danger to us, but more than that, they are a danger to the world. Whatever this one claims, they are something like priests to their people. They lead them, but they also advise them. What the other Vard do is on behalf of them.”

I felt a strange pulling again, the heat that fluttered, fluctuating against the darkness.

“I still feel something,” I said.

I turned over to the dragons, looking at them, focusing on the heat and flames, the energy I could detect. I started to cycle that power through the dragons, testing whether it might help me determine what else might be out there, but even as I focused on it, I didn’t know if what I detected was anything to be concerned about, or if it was simply a connection to the dragons.

If it was only a connection to the dragons, then there would be no reason for alarm, but I felt something that made me question whether it was the dragons.

If not the dragons, then it meant that . . .

“I think we need to get going,” I said to Thomas.

“We are far enough beyond the Vard lands.”

“This is still Vard controlled though, isn’t it?”

Thomas shrugged. “Controlled, but we are beyond where the Vard congregate. Most of their cities are near Affellah. The rest is harsh. Practically desolate and unlivable.”

It fit with what I had seen on the flight here, but I couldn’t shake what I felt now. “I don’t know what to say about that, but I can tell you what I feel, Thomas. There’s something moving toward us.”

“Moving?”

“Heat. Energy. Something powerful.”

Thomas pressed his lips together in a tight frown. “I see.”

“We need to move,” I said. I looked over, shaking my head. “Now.”

I could feel the power continue to build, but I didn’t know why or what it meant. From within the pit, the Vard started to laugh.

Thomas glanced down, and he wrapped a hint of flame across the top of the pit, sealing it off. I turned to him, thinking about power, thinking about what I had detected, thinking about whether there was anything we could do, but decided to run toward the dragon.

When I reached the green dragon, I saw a glowing light in the distance. It moved toward us, coming quickly. It was streaming across the ground, leaving a trail in its wake.

“What is that?” I asked, my voice a whisper.

“Vard,” he said.

“Vard? As in soldiers, or like him?” I asked, nodding to the pit.

Thomas shook his head. “Like him, I’m afraid. I have only seen it a few other times. When I have, it did not go well.”

“Then we should move quickly.”

Thomas continued to stare into the distance, and though he connected to the dragon, I couldn’t tell whether there was anything he did that would make a difference. I could only tell that he continued to cycle power from the dragons, as if he were reaching for it in a way that would change something, though I didn’t see how that would even be possible.

“If they find this place, I lose my opportunity to question him,” he said, looking over to the pit.

“That’s your concern?”

“This is an opportunity we have not had,” he said. “I have worked for a long time to ensure the stability of this place, and to make certain that we don’t lose out on the chance to question him. If he’s lost, and if the Vard free him, then every opportunity we had before will be lost with him. I can’t bring him to the kingdom until we have a place to secure him.”

I could see the growing fires in the distance, could see the heat as it streaked toward us, and knew that we didn’t have much time.

“What do you suggest then?” I asked.

“We need to draw them off.”

“They are going to know we were here anyway,” I said.

He looked over to the pit. “It’s possible I could mask it, but I’d need to remain here in order to do so.”

I frowned at him. “You want me to lead the Vard away?”

“With the dragon, it shouldn’t be difficult.”

I looked over to the green dragon, who looked back at me from his curled-up position, and it seemed there was a question burning in his eyes. A surge of heat and energy came off of him, suggesting that he didn’t quite know if this were even possible.

It worried the dragon.

And, for that matter, it worried me.

“Let’s say we do this,” I said, “and I attempt to pull the dragon away. What happens if I fail?”

“If you fail, then you fail,” he said, then continued. “You are nearly as skilled as any dragon mage I’ve worked with, Ashan. Eventually, you will be offered testing. Probably sooner than you even realize. You may not know what that involves now, but you will be asked to demonstrate the skills you’ve learned during your time at the Academy. You don’t have to fear failure. I can already see within you that