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

the emotions and feelings within that link were similar to mine. I pushed, taking power from the cycle of dragons and funneling it into Natalie.

She gasped, then she took control. She had far more skill with holding on to that power than I did. It was incredible.

She looked at me, her eyes tight. “Thank you.”

“Now we have to go help your father,” I said.

I looked down, but there was no sign of the white dragon. I only saw the glowing lights in the distance, the power that told me the Vard were down there.

We headed toward them.

Neither of us needed to speak; it was as if we knew where the other wanted to go. Now that we were connected through the cycle of power, it was incredible. A significant energy built between us. She continued to hold control of it. Then we were upon the glowing lights. Fire erupted from the ground.

“Is that—”

“Lava,” I said.

There shouldn’t be any lava here. We hadn’t even reached the Vard lands yet. We hadn’t even passed over the Southern Reach. How could there be lava here?

The Servants of Affellah had to be somewhere nearby.

Neither of us had any idea where her father had gone, but I could feel the energy of dragons somewhere near us. It was close. We veered off, heading slightly to the west, and when we did, I saw dark shapes on the ground.

Dragons.

Many of them.

They weren’t in Berestal, so that eased my concern. At least, for now.

Something was wrong with them though. I could feel the dragons, could feel that some aspect of them had been modified, though I could not quite tell what it was. They were weaker than they had been before, and as I probed through the cycle, I recognized that something was off with them. Perhaps it was the connection to their power, or perhaps it was simply that they were tired.

It was similar to what I had seen in the city before, similar to the way the vases had been used on the dragons. At the time, Donathar had mentioned something bigger.

Could this be it?

“They recreated it. It’s even more powerful than before.” I looked over to Natalie. “It’s the same Djarn power used before. This time, it is so much more.” And I thought about the dragon mages that had left the city under the king’s command.

They would all be targets.

They weren’t part of the cycle the way I was. They wouldn’t be able to withstand it the way I could, or the way these other dragons could.

They would be devoured.

“This is something else,” I said softly.

I attempted to connect to the dragons when there came a strange pulsing from the green dragon. It was a warning.

I looked over to Natalie. “Can you understand your dragon? There is something in the connection that I feel I should be able to understand. I can tell something from the pulsation, but it’s not clear enough to detect just what the dragon is doing.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think the dragons can communicate with us. We believe they have a way of communicating with each other, but we haven’t figured out a way to reach them. They seem to understand us though.

That had been my experience, as well. The dragons certainly did seem to understand me, but getting them to speak back was the challenge. I could pulse energy at them, but could they response?

“Whatever it is, the dragon seems to want me to hold off,” I said.

“Maybe it would be dangerous.”

I frowned, focusing on the dragons down below. I could see them, and I could feel something coming from them, but I couldn’t tell what it was. This attack would use the dragons, somehow.

And if they used them, they might have enough power collectively to overwhelm my cycle.

“We have to be careful,” I said.

“What do you feel?”

“Dragons, but dragons under the control of something and someone else. It’s the same sort of attack as we faced in the city before. It might even be the same people.”

Donathar was gone, but there were others. Who else might have betrayed us?

Natalie looked over to me. “Are they here?”

“I can’t see them, but they must be.”

They had to be doing something to the dragons. That had to be the reason the dragons were acting the way they were. If I could somehow get to them, I might be able to help.

I looked over to Natalie. “We have to figure out what they’re after. And it has to be tied to the lava in some way. We need to draw them out.”

“I thought we would do that just by being here.”

“I thought so, too, but I think we need to draw them out another way. I don’t know if our presence is going to be enough.”

More than that, I had to wonder if perhaps they were using her father’s dragon against us as well. And I wondered if maybe I might be able to detect something about that dragon since it was down there. If I could connect to it, maybe I could find it.

I had to focus on that dragon.

As far as I knew, her father’s dragon was part of a massive cycle of dragons, one that connected him to not only his dragon, but others from the Djarn people.

“What do you detect when you try to reach for your father?” I asked. We continued circling, staying high above the ground, and I couldn’t help but feel as if there were something down there I needed to find, but I couldn’t detect what it was. I didn’t understand what we were seeing and feeling, only that there had to be something down there.

“I don’t feel anything,” she said. “I’ve tried, but I can’t.” She looked over at me then stared at her dragon a moment. “I shouldn’t be a part of this circle.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know how else to help you.”

“I don’t blame you. I think you were right. I think I needed to be a part