The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2), Dan Michaelson [best books to read all time .txt] 📗

still feel the dragons back in their pen, and they offered me a hint of guidance, showing me where to return. At least I didn’t have to fear getting lost in the forest, as I would have otherwise.

I drifted farther along, moving carefully, until I heard the mesahn howl again. There was no further shout. This time the mesahn was softer and fainter, though it seemed to be deeper into the forest.

Could the mesahn have uncovered one of the missing dragons?

I closed my eyes. There was something out there. It was faint, much like the mesahn, which left me wondering if perhaps the mesahn really was chasing after a dragon.

That was where I needed to go.

Distantly, I focused on the energy and power of the dragon. I wandered as quickly as I could, moving through the forest, picking my way across fallen logs, trying to avoid vines that grabbed at my legs, and suddenly found a pathway through the trees.

It was one of the Djarn paths. Surprisingly close to the edge of the city.

Not that it was easy to find. I’d come across it more by chance than anything, but it was definitely one of the Djarn paths—and more than that, the draw of the dragon seemed to pull me along it.

Could I have heard one of the Djarn shouting? If so, maybe I could find answers.

I moved quickly, still focusing on the dragon, and now that I was on the Djarn path, it was easier for me to see where I was going. I drew upon the green dragon, cycling some of that power through me, using it to create a band of glowing flames along my arms. At least I could use that to illuminate the path so I could navigate a little bit easier.

The calling of the power was far easier than I thought. It was almost as if I were using it instinctively. Had something changed for me? Maybe the connection to the dragon had opened something up for me.

The howl of the mesahn came again.

This time it was closer.

The air sizzled with a strange energy. I called upon more power. Strangely, there was a soft tension deep within me as I cycled that power, drawing upon me.

The mesahn howled yet again.

I jogged forward, hurrying through the forest, and saw a flash of fur. The mesahn didn’t turn toward me—if that was indeed what it was. The mesahn would know I was there, which meant that if nothing else, he either ignored me or somehow didn’t detect me.

Another shout came.

This time it was close.

The mesahn suddenly growled.

There came a surge of energy. The dragon.

I raced forward.

I could feel the dragon in the distance, and yet I could feel something else building. It was some strange pressure, almost as if it were trying to work against me.

Light bloomed in the distance. When I neared, I realized what it came from.

The dragon.

It was a large, golden-scaled dragon. He was situated in a small clearing, and heat radiated off of him, heat that exploded outward, surging toward me, but also surging toward something approaching the dragon.

The mesahn.

Strange. Why would the mesahn be approaching the dragon like that?

A Hunter.

They would be here, somewhere. Likely searching for the missing dragons.

Who had been shouting?

I looked, but I didn’t see any sign of them.

“Easy,” I said to the dragon.

The dragon turned toward me and started to rumble, the deep-throated sound I knew would precede a streamer of shooting flames.

I had to connect to this dragon.

Doing so meant I was going to have to ignore my connection to the green dragon, but if I did, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to regain that connection if I needed to. It was a risk I would have to take.

I released my hold on the green dragon, then I turned to the golden-scaled one, focusing. I went back to the earliest lessons, the first ones I’d learned, and I started to think about what it would take, and how that power might come to me. All I wanted was to find some way to summon enough energy to connect to the dragon.

I breathed in and out, focused on the heat within myself, and then relaxed.

There came a fluttering deep within me, the same place where I felt heat when I trapped the other dragon’s power as it cycled through me.

Heat surged from the dragon. I stretched out my hand again, trying to connect.

Each time I stepped closer to the dragon, I could feel the heat radiating off of him.

As the heat surged, I realized that it was more about pulling some of that heat and power inside of me—the same way I had when I held on to the green dragon’s energy as it cycled—and less about trying to connect to the dragon in the same way.

The energy was radiating, building around me; the heat and power coming off of the dragon flared in my belly. It burned, and I could feel the burning and radiating, almost as if the dragon were trying to demonstrate something to me.

“What’s wrong?” I whispered to the dragon. “I’m not here to harm you. I just want to help.” The dragon rumbled, though it was a faint sound, one that came slowly. “I can help,” I said. The dragon rumbled again. “Is it the mesahn?”

I focused on the energy of the mesahn that I detected out in the distance. I could feel power and wondered if perhaps that was it—or not. Every so often, the dragon would start to push pressure through me, and I pulled on its heat. Some of that pressure started to ease, the dragon growing calmer.

A howl echoed in the distance.

The mesahn.

Suddenly, heat flared within the dragon again, a burst of energy that radiated outward.

The mesahn must have been out hunting for dragons, and its howl clearly irritated this one.

Strangely, it was almost as if the energy of the dragon itself was locked, unable to move. I feel it as an interruption in the