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

“I have no reason to disapprove of the Academy. Your Academy has trained dragon mages for a long time.”

“They have.”

“And your Academy has permitted the kingdom to thrive.”

“I see.”

She looked over to me. “Not like that,” she said.

“I wasn’t saying it was.”

She just shook her head again. “I can tell from your response that you don’t believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” I said. “I was agreeing with you.”

She didn’t get the chance to say anything more. We neared the border of what I detected, the power I had felt down below, and the dragons started to circle, seeming to know right where to go. I focused on the pull on the dragon through the cycle, but it had diminished. Whatever I had done to shunt power from the cycle to that dragon—and I wasn’t even sure which dragon it was—had released him from the hold the Vard had on him.

“What would they do to the dragon?”

“They view fire as theirs, and feel as if the dragons have stolen it from Affellah.”

When I frowned at her, she shrugged.

“That’s the same thing Thomas said, but why do they feel that way?”

She watched me, a hint of a question in her eyes, though I wasn’t entirely sure what she intended to ask. “What exactly did you see when you came across this Servant?”

“I told you what I saw. I saw him glowing with power,” I answered.

That said nothing about the other Vard chasing me out of their lands. I still wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, or how powerful they were, or whether they knew we were responsible for having captured one of their Servants.

But if they learned . . .

“But they haven’t attacked in a while, you said,” she said.

“They have not.”

I couldn’t see anything moving down below, though now that we were circling, I could feel a pull upon my cycle, the connection of the dragon energy, and all of it seemed to be dragging upon me, as if it were trying to tear the energy free, pull it off of me, attempt to weaken me.

I continued to feel the pull, but connected to as many dragons as I was, I found I could fight. I could withstand it far more easily than I could’ve otherwise.

I breathed out, looking over to Natalie. “How are you doing? I can feel the Vard pulling on me, so I suspect they are doing something similar to you.”

She had her jaw clenched, and her face twisted in a tight frown. She struggled, and I could tell she didn’t want to admit that.

“We can go back,” I said. “We came to see where they were, to see if they were causing any danger. We don’t need to stay here, especially if it’s causing trouble for you.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said.

“You don’t look like you will be,” I said.

She frowned, shaking her head. “I will be fine,” she said again.

I leaned forward, focusing on the cycle—that was how I felt the energy flowing from down below. I thought I could draw even more power from within that cycle; I could feel the energy surging and thought I could use it.

We had to get lower.

In order for us to see what the Vard were doing, we needed to get closer to them, but doing so would be potentially dangerous. Going down toward the forest floor meant we were getting close enough that the Vard might be able to exert some sort of influence over the dragons, and over the cycle. I had already felt that influence upon me, and it left me wondering if they were here because they had chased me.

If they felt that dragon mages had stolen power from Affellah, then they might think the same of me. That might be reason enough for the Vard to have decided to attack—that and the fact Thomas had captured one of the Servants.

I looked over to her. “I need to go lower.”

“Be careful,” she told me. “I’ll stay up here.”

That was for the best. If she tried to descend, she might increase the likelihood of the Vard drawing upon the dragons. I knew she didn’t want that, and I knew she wanted to be careful letting that energy flow, the heat and power surging. As it did, I could feel something shifting.

The lower we went, the more I became aware of some drawing upon me, some aspect of whatever was down there trying to pull on me. It was the power of the Vard, and it seemed to latch on to my cycle, as if it were going to try to separate me from it.

Not that I thought the Vard should be able to do that, but I could feel the heightened level of their power, and it left me concerned.

The ongoing draw of power away from me persisted.

I focused on it, using that to guide me as we descended, getting closer and closer to the ground, and I searched for anything. The closer we got to the top of the canopy, the harder it was for me to tell if there was anything visible. I could feel that pull upon me, but I couldn’t see anything. The trees were far too dense.

I wasn’t willing to descend all the way to the ground without having help, and without knowing exactly what we might be dealing with. Instead, I needed to continue my careful approach.

I circled. The pull upon me intensified. There seemed to be a focus to it, as if the Vard were aware of me, though I wasn’t aware of their whereabouts. Could I call upon anything within that pull to help me detect where they were and how I could find them?

As I focused, I continued trying to draw on that power, trying to cycle through it, to feel its influence and to try to resist it.

There was a hint of something out there that had a hold on me, some aspect of the power that suggested it was close, even