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

and it seemed to me that something shined within his eyes, some reassurance, as if he wanted to tell me he approved of adding these dragons to the cycle.

I hadn’t done so in a while. The last time I’d done it had been in a time of need, when the dragons had demanded it of me, only because they were suffering, and now . . .

Now I felt as if I were doing it because the dragons asked it of me.

I focused on the nearest dragon, a pale-blue-scaled one, the color of the afternoon sky. Power radiated from him, though it wasn’t nearly as powerful as some. I could feel its energy. Because I was connected to the cycle of dragons, it took barely more than a moment for me to join the pale blue dragon to the rest of the cycle. As soon as I did, I could feel his power as a part of the others.

That energy flowed from dragon to me and then back again, and it seemed as if the other dragons welcomed this dragon. They called him to them, and I could feel how their power filled the dragon. Not only did he receive the energy of the other dragons, but the other dragons gained something from him.

The other two stood, watching me, waiting. Pressure built against me, suggesting that even more dragons wanted be a part of this as well. I turned to the next one, a yellow-scaled dragon who reflected the sunlight, leaving it practically glowing.

There was a familiar power from this dragon, and I latched on to it, sending my energy cycling out and into him, adding this one to the others. It happened quickly, and this dragon grabbed on, joining the cycle—a bond of dragons.

That left only one more.

As I focused, I pulled on that power, and I pushed out, letting it fill the gray dragon. The color of steel. There was a power to this dragon as well, and I added what effort I could to join the dragon to the cycle.

Afterward, I looked over, once more studying the green dragon at the center of the dragon pen. He settled to the ground, seemingly satisfied by what I had done.

The power within me was now more than it had been before, though that wasn’t terribly surprising. Adding three more dragons to the cycle would augment my power. I could tease apart the energy, peeling away the power from each individual dragon, and could feel their influence on the cycle. Each dragon added something to it.

Strangely, I was reminded of something Manuel had said, about the individuals in each location adding to the character of the city. It was like the trees in the forest.

Were the dragons my trees?

Better yet, maybe I was just one more tree in the forest. We were all part of it.

That was peculiar to think of, but it felt right, nonetheless.

I turned my attention away. My stomach rumbled. Working with the dragons, pulling upon even more power, had done nothing but make me hungrier. Still, I couldn’t help but feel as if what I had done was necessary and right.

As I headed away, there was more pressure, this time coming from the green dragon, pulsing against me. He wanted to make sure I was aware of his presence and his approval of my actions.

A strange sensation came from the forest, and I turned my attention to it. For a moment, it seemed almost as if there were something trying to pull upon my connection to the dragons, though it faded quickly. It reminded me of how the attack had pulled upon me as well. It was the same sort of power that had attempted to twist me and draw that energy down into the vase that was used to store the dragon magic.

Had we missed something?

In my search for evidence of another possible attack, I hadn’t come up with anything. There had been no sign of others, nothing more than my own concern.

From what I had gathered from those in the know, I was alone in believing that there was some other real threat. Everybody else believed the Vard were responsible, and while they might pose a danger to the kingdom, they weren’t the most recent threat.

I headed to the edge of the forest. I reached out, circling power through the dragon cycle, feeling for the different dragons that were a part of it. There was nothing to guide me.

Nothing other than a tinge of power that continued to pull upon me.

Whatever it was happened to be distant enough that I couldn’t quite feel it. I had no way of identifying where it came from, or if it was anything I even needed to be concerned with.

It certainly wasn’t near enough to cause a problem.

I tore my attention away, looking back at the Academy.

I had expanded my cycle.

Perhaps that was what I need to do.

Make my preparations. Continue to add to my cycle. And be ready for the next attack.

6

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Brandel’s father had gone out into the trees, even if I’d seen no sign of him. And if he were somehow tied into whatever Jerith, Donathar, and Elaine had been doing—if he were able to access that kind of dark magic—then I wanted to figure out what he was doing, where he had gone, and whether there was anything I might be able to do to prevent him from leading another attack on the city.

It was foolish.

I knew that it was foolish.

I had seen no evidence of him.

There was only the rumor Manuel had mentioned about activity he had been tracking.

Maybe what I really needed to do was tell Manuel about my concerns.

I found myself near the cave entrance where I had brought the dragon out from underground.

I had been here before, trying to explore, trying to understand the cave itself, and trying to know whether there was anything more to that cave than what I had seen before, but