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

was important, yet I knew we didn’t have too much time to stand here and discuss it. With the lava flowing, making its way toward the city, we had to be quick or everything would be destroyed.

“Look at it this way,” I said to Thomas. “If it is the Vard, then we still have to stop it.” I took a deep breath. “And if it’s not the Vard, the only one who can stop it is going to be one of the Servants and their connection to Affellah. We don’t have the necessary power.”

“The Vard don’t work like that,” Thomas said.

“They might not, but we have to force them to.”

“How do you propose we do it?” Thomas asked.

“I don’t know. We have to get the Servant here, then we can figure that part out.”

I looked over to Natalie, hoping that we would have some answers in the time it took Thomas to get the Servant and return, but I didn’t know if that would be the case.

“I won’t be able to free him and bring him here,” Thomas said.

“Why not?”

“Because I have no connection to the dragon.”

“I might be able to help with that,” I said.

18

We circled above the ground for a moment, looking at those dark pits, when I noticed a solitary figure. They didn’t look like one of the Servants. They were standing next to the pit, looking down at the lava bubbling up, and doing something with dragon magic. I could feel it pulling on me.

I pointed, and Natalie nodded. Both of us knew that if we didn’t try to do something, the attack wouldn’t stop, and we would continue to face more and more destruction.

The dragon dove.

The figure seemed to notice us and turned his attention to us. Dragon power surged—a considerable amount of it.

More than I would’ve expected from one person.

Had they learned to cycle dragons?

I ignored it. I laced a pattern, borrowing what I learned from Eleanor, and sent it lancing outward, striking the man, throwing him into the pit of lava.

That was powerful. I don’t think Eleanor intended me to use the power that way, but at the same time, it had been useful.

“We need to keep trying,” Natalie said.

We circled and came across another pit, and this time, there were three people there. Natalie and I pushed all of them into the pit. I tried not to think about how I was forcing men and women to their deaths. While I had a hard time shaking that feeling, I knew that if we didn’t act, it would lead to the deaths of so many more.

We swept along the line of these strange pits, each of them marked with symbols, and destroyed them. It was simple.

Almost too simple.

The lava didn’t stop, but rather continued to flow from each of the pits toward the capital.

Natalie and I circled above the ground, staring down at the growing lava spout, watching as the lava poured across the ground, heading through the forest; there, it touched trees, igniting them immediately, causing them to burst into flames. The heat was incredible. It left me marveling at its power, and I didn’t feel I could do anything about it other than sit atop the dragon and wait.

We needed to take action, but I didn’t know what it would require.

“How long do you think he’ll be gone?” Natalie asked.

Strangely, now that Thomas and the dragon were connected to the cycle, I figured we both knew the answer. I could feel it, and I suspected she could, as well.

“Not long, unless the Servant gives him a challenge.”

“We need to find my father.”

“I know we do, and I keep thinking he should have been able to free himself, but . . .”

And he should have been able to free himself. We’d been able to free ourselves, along with the dragons attacked by the Vard. Given what the Sharath had said about his connection to the Djarn, and the cycles he was a part of, he should have been freed as well.

“Could he have disappeared?” I asked.

“He would not have gone,” she said.

“Where would he have—”

A stirring on the ground caught my attention, and I focused, pulling upon the energy of the cycle.

I could feel dragon energy. But I could feel something else. I could feel power that wasn’t part of my dragons.

“There are other dragons out there,” I whispered.

“He brought them?”

I didn’t know what to make of it. Maybe her father had been convinced to let the Vard attack, or make it look like the Vard had attacked.

Or maybe he simply didn’t care.

I didn’t know him, and I didn’t know how much he despised the Vard if he even did. There were too many of them who did.

“My father and his dragons won’t be able to do anything,” Natalie said. “They will try, but they won’t be strong enough to stop this.”

“There’s only one thing we can do to stop it.” I frowned as I started to turn. “They are a part of the cycle, aren’t they?”

Natalie nodded.

“What can you share about the cycle of the people?”

“The circle is a secret guarded by the people. We hold it tight to ourselves, and only those who are granted access to it gain an understanding of it.”

“How many dragons are part of it?”

“Many dragons,” she said, her voice soft and filled with a longing. “There are layer. Circles of people in their own cities, and then there are circles of those who lead.”

“So you could leave mine.”

“No,” she said. “Once you’re part of a circle, you’re a part of it indefinitely. You could join another, though.”

“How many is your father connected to?”

“Many,” she said.

“That should make him powerful enough to withstand the Vard attack.”

“I would have thought so.”

Which was why his coming and bringing the power to the people out here made sense. He should have been able to summon that energy, and he should have been able to protect them.

We flew quickly, staying just above the surface of the forest, and traveled