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

in the darkness of night. “Given your connection to the dragons, I doubt you needed to come out here to study anything.” He turned his attention back to me, arching a brow. “You wouldn’t have come out here for a different reason, would you?”

“What reason is that?”

I debated how much I wanted to tell Thomas at this point.

I felt as if I were the only one looking around the capital for additional threats. No one else had been, not that I could ascertain. The Academy had been infiltrated twice. Or perhaps once, but by more than one person. First with Elaine, and then with Jerith and Donathar. How many others were like them?

It was part of the reason I was unsure of whom I could trust.

Surely Thomas had to understand.

“Because you think you need to go see whether Berestal is safe.”

“Is it?”

“I don’t know,” Thomas said.

“But you’re out of the city, chasing rumors of the Vard.”

“I was. I was chasing rumors of the Vard out of the south.”

The hammering in my chest began to slow, if only a little bit. “Out of the south?”

Thomas took another step toward me, and I recognized the power glowing within him. It was faint and steady; he was prepared for something.

Could it be me?

I didn’t want to get into a fight with Thomas. It was certainly not one I could win. He had far more experience with power than I had. I’d seen how he had the ability to cycle power through multiple dragons within the dragon pen, and though I didn’t know if he had connected them in the same way I had, or whether he even understood what I had done, it didn’t mean he didn’t have enough power to utilize, were it necessary to do so.

“That is where the Vard have been the most active. I know you fear them attacking your homeland, but the king has prioritized Berestal. He has agents working there to ensure the Vard don’t take hold within the city.”

I breathed out, looking around the dragon pen and cursing myself briefly for my foolishness. Here I was thinking that I was going to have to sneak out and take one of the dragons, hoping it would carry me to Berestal. Even if it did, what would I do then? I didn’t know enough about controlling the dragon to fly well with it.

Perhaps that was my next step. If I took the time to learn to ride the dragon, then maybe I’d have a way of getting out of the city if it came down to that. I didn’t want to be stuck here any longer than necessary, especially if there came a time when I’d need to go.

“Why wouldn’t you have told me that before?”

“Did I need to?”

“I just thought you could offer me more than what you did. I know you don’t believe me that this is more than just the Vard, but I know what I felt,” I said to him. “I know what Donathar and Elaine said.”

He watched me, and finally shook his head. “You have been stubborn ever since I first met you. That has been useful at times, but this time, I’m not so sure.”

“Thomas—”

He shook his head again. “If you intend to investigate, then do it with me. I will show you what we’re dealing with.”

He climbed onto the back of the dragon, and with a powerful whoosh of air, his black-scaled dragon took to the sky, circling for a moment before heading toward the forest.

Thomas wanted me to come with him.

I’d traveled by dragon only once before, and that had been somewhat terrifying. It wasn’t so much the idea of riding atop a creature like that—having been around animals my entire life, that wasn’t going to scare me. It was more the fear of falling that had stayed with me.

I headed toward the green dragon, resting my hand on his scaled side, feeling the heat radiating from him. “What do you think?” I whispered.

The dragon looked up, locking eyes with me; there came a pulse of power from him.

Was that agreement?

It seemed to me I needed to better understand the way the dragon communicated with me. He was trying to tell me something; I could feel that coming from him, but I couldn’t use what I felt in any meaningful way. If I could . . .

I tried to climb onto the dragon’s back, worried that he might be upset with me. As far as I knew, the small dragon hadn’t carried anybody before, and I didn’t know if he were strong enough to do so. After I mounted his back, I sat there for a moment, waiting.

The dragon got to his feet. I clung to him, wrapping my arms around his neck as best as I could, feeling heat radiating from him. That heat continued to build, rising within him, and then he leapt into the sky.

The suddenness of it jarred me, startling me, and I had no idea whether the dragon was strong enough or powerful enough to keep up with the other dragon, but as I held on to him, I felt something: the cycle of power coming through me. I knew better than to interrupt it. As it cycled, I could somehow feel its flow, and I could feel the way it seemed as if it came from the other dragons, lending the small green dragon enough power to fly even more effectively. As it soared into the sky, going higher and higher, I could feel the cycle giving the dragon strength and speed.

It didn’t take long before we caught up to Thomas and his dragon.

He looked over. “You made it. I wasn’t sure. Most don’t manage to succeed the first time.”

“I didn’t know if I were going to be able to do it or not,” I said.

Thomas looked over at the dragon. “He’s small, at least for a rider, but powerful, it seems.”

For a moment, I felt Thomas attempting to connect to the dragon, as