The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3), Dan Michaelson [books to read now TXT] 📗

in, both of them students at the Academy whom I didn’t know well.

Brandel took one look at me and sneered. “What are you doing here, Ashan?”

“Can’t you see what I’m doing?”

He approached, though he did so slowly. I’d already confronted Brandel once after he attempted to use power he wasn’t supposed to have. I figured he knew who was responsible for revealing what the attackers were doing, but so far, he had not taken it out on me.

“It is a pretty bit of power, but useless,” Brandel said.

“Useless?”

He shrugged. “What do you think this will do for you?”

Before I had a chance to react, he looped a band of power and slammed it into the cage I held.

I braced myself, unable to help it, and could feel the effect of his action. When I’d attacked Walter, nothing happened. I’d summoned considerable power, drawing upon not just one strand, but multiple strands woven together, and had even called upon more than one dragon in order to test whether or not it made a difference. Walter had withstood that attack.

Brandel’s single-stranded attack crashed into my cage and exploded it. I was thrown back.

Brandel lunged toward me. “Did you think I’d forget?”

“You’ll regret it,” I said.

“Who’s going to see you down here anyway?” He started to chuckle, a dangerous sound. “Training accidents happen in the Academy all the time. Or don’t you know that? I suppose you wouldn’t, seeing as how you aren’t one of us.”

“I’m as much a part of the Academy as you are.”

“No. You want to be as much a part of the Academy as I am, but you aren’t.”

He looped power again, and this time it swirled out from him and toward me.

I reacted.

I knew better than to attack him with my connection to the dragons. It was too potent, but I wasn’t even sure if it would work. It would only incite Brandel and the others to come at me. It would be better to try something else.

I lunged forward, slamming my shoulder into him.

Brandel wasn’t terribly large, though he was incredibly arrogant. He was well connected within the city, though I wasn’t entirely sure why, not that it mattered. He grunted when I connected to his belly, and I drove myself toward him, landing on him and sitting. He lost control over his connection to the dragons.

I held one hand down on his chest, glancing over my shoulder to see Jameth and the other two approaching.

I shook my head. “Stay back.”

“Get off me,” Brandel said dangerously.

“Or what?”

“Get off me,” he said again.

“We can work together, or we can work against each other,” I said. “We’re on the same side.”

He shook his head. “We aren’t.”

I’d suspected his involvement in the attacks on the city given his connection to Elaine, but I wouldn’t actually believe it. It was possible, though unlikely for him as a student.

Maybe I should dig into what role he had though.

“What do you think we are, then?” I asked.

He struggled, but I had plenty of experience dealing with wild livestock and trying to get them controlled when I was growing up on the farm, and simply sat on him, holding him down.

“I can stay here all day,” I said. “I’ll treat you like I treat any other misbehaving pig.”

That got the desired reaction, and he started to buck, trying to throw me off. I chuckled, and pushed my hand down onto his chest before I got to my feet. The delay had given me the chance to gather myself again, to take the time I needed to call upon the power of the dragons again and let it flow out through me.

I held my hands apart, power sizzling within them. “Back away,” I said to Brandel.

“We aren’t done with this,” he said to me.

I cocked my head to the left, frowning at him. “I thought we were on the same side, but maybe we aren’t. Do you still serve Elaine?”

He glowered at me. “You need to be careful with what you say.”

“Me? I’m not the one who was caught with the artifact.”

“No one cares if I have a Djarn artifact.”

I hadn’t been sure he knew. His knowledge actually made it both better and worse. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be criticized for having it. The Djarn and the kingdom were allies, so having an artifact of the Djarn, regardless of what it did and how it stored power, did not immediately put him at odds with the kingdom, regardless of what he might use that power for.

He watched me, saying nothing.

He didn’t need to say anything, either. He knew I couldn’t do anything.

“I know what you did,” I said. More than that, I had to wonder if the reason he managed to shatter the cage I’d been holding was because he had drawn upon one of those artifacts again. I wouldn’t put it past him. If he thought it was going to benefit him in some way, he would do it.

I took a deep breath, calling upon power from more than just one dragon, from as many as I could, letting that power fill me. I wove the strands of power between my hands, letting it sizzle. I stretched it out, then created a loop of power around me, pushing it toward Brandel.

He jumped up, avoiding the connection and glaring at me.

“I serve the kingdom.” I said.

He grunted. “You’re from the Wilds. You can’t serve anything.”

I looked over to the others, and they’d moved closer to Brandel. There was no point in continuing to argue with him. There was no point in me doing anything other than walking away. This wasn’t a fight I wanted, even though I suspected I could win. I needed to take the high road, to be better.

I started toward the door, moving past Jameth and the other two students. “You can have the room. I’m finished with it anyway.”

When I reached the doorway, Brandel spoke loudly enough for me to hear: “And he claims we serve the Vard. Did you see what