The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) by Dan Michaelson (list of e readers .TXT) 📗

Thomas nodded. “Control is the first thing you must master, but once you master that, then you can find other ways of using that power. Such as this.”

He held his hands up, and flames began to trickle out from his fingertips, spiraling around his forearms and up to his shoulders before fading once more. When the power dissipated altogether, it did so with a slight burst. I noticed how he shifted to a different dragon, as if doing so would grant him a different sort of power.

“Do you see what I did?”

“You forced it along yourself, expanding the connection you have.”

“Very good. Everything is a cycle of power when it comes to the dragons. In your case, what I need for you to do is to figure out how to change that cycle. Right now, you are cycling it through you, whether or not you’re turning it into flames, and then back to the dragon. The more that you shift that cycle, the more control you have over that power. You can increase your connection to the dragon as you do.”

I tried to do what he said, changing how that power cycled through me, sending a coursing up my arms, but I had a difficult time doing so. I needed to have fine control over it. Not all the blast of power that I had almost released yesterday. This was going to involve something much different.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself, holding on to that power and letting it flow out from me. In doing so, I could feel it working down my arms, stretching away, and then shifting as it jumped from one arm onto the next.

“Better,” Thomas said.

I looked over to him. “What can I use this for?”

“You aren’t to the point where you need to worry about how you use it. At this point, it’s still a matter of trying to gain control over it. The more you master that control, the more you will find that you can use it.”

He turned his attention to the dragon pen, approaching the bars and grabbing them. Flames crackled along his fingers, heading up one bar and down another. I understood the purpose behind it now. I could see how that energy was flowing, the way the fire crackled from one side to the next. In doing so, it maintained a cycle. That seemed to be the key when working with the dragon power.

Would it always be necessary?

He breathed out. “I suppose given how quickly you have progressed, I can show you something more,” he said.

“What would you show me?”

“Come with me.”

He released the bars and headed along the dragon pen, making his way to its backside. I followed, and he stopped at a point near the midsection of the dragon pen where the bars were worked into a small doorway. I had seen the doorway several times before, but I had never gone through it. He pulled open the door, barely hesitating as he did, and stepped inside. The connection that he’d been holding dissipated, leaving him standing there disconnected to power. I watched him, debating what I was going to do before I followed him. Thomas had taught me. Regardless of anything else, he was the first person who had helped me connect to this power in a real and meaningful way.

“What are we doing in here?” I asked.

“We are going to have a different connection to the dragons,” he said, grinning at me. “I think it would be beneficial for you to have the experience you wanted.”

“Which is?”

He smiled. “Didn’t you say you wanted to know what it was like to ride on one of the dragons?”

He rested his hand on a nearby dragon. Heat glowed from Thomas, leaving him radiating a faint warmth.

“I did, but . . .”

He chuckled. “We won’t be going far. I’m not so sure we should, considering the circumstances.”

“You mean the missing dragons,” I said. There was more than just the missing dragons. I worried about the Djarn, as well, though I didn’t want to tell Thomas that.

He nodded slowly. “I suppose they have spoken about that within the Academy.”

“Not much. I’ve overheard conversations, so I know something’s going on, though I have a feeling the instructors don’t want to talk about it. One of the other students said something to Donathar about it.”

“I doubt he’s going to do much unless it serves his own purposes.”

I glanced over to Thomas, frowning. “You don’t care for him?”

“He is a skilled dragon mage.” He said that as if it were all that mattered. “Don’t concern yourself with the missing dragons. The more one knows about them, the easier it is to be accused of having a hand in their absence.”

He mounted the dragon’s back. I marveled at the fact that the dragon seemed to simply allow it, leaving his head down, letting Thomas climb onto him.

“Come along,” Thomas said. “This is not my usual dragon, but this one has no difficulty carrying two riders.”

I approached slowly, carefully, and stepped up to the dragon. There didn’t seem to be any easy way to climb onto his back. He had scales along the side, and two massive spikes protruding from his enormous head. Thomas sat positioned in a way that allowed him to reach for those spikes. What would I hold on to when I climbed on?

Thomas waited for me.

I climbed up onto the dragon’s back. Heat radiated from the dragon’s scaled sides, and I could feel the energy coursing out of him. I plopped down behind Thomas, and had barely begun to get settled when the dragon launched himself into the sky.

It was violent. Abrupt. The air whipped at me, threatening to toss me off if the dragon didn’t do it first.

We took to the air, massive wings spreading and catching the wind. I grabbed for the dragon and found myself gripping two of his scales as I attempted to hold on, clinging to him with everything that I