“You seem distracted,” Natalie said.
I glanced over to her. “I might be a little bit,” I admitted. “I’ve been working with Thomas lately and . . .”
“And now you’ve heard the report that he’s been accused of betraying the king?”
I frowned. “You know?”
She laughed softly. In the emptiness of the night, as we passed by darkened storefronts and large homes, the sound didn’t carry very far; it was as if the night swallowed her laughter. “I think most people in the city have heard about Thomas. It is a bit of a surprise.”
I took a deep breath. “I honestly don’t know what to think about it. I don’t know Thomas well enough, but when I visited the king, I saw the dynamic between Thomas and the Sharath. Neither man cares for the other.”
Natalie started to smile. “You went to the king?”
“I got dragged along with Thomas. He seems to think there’s something more to what the Djarn are after.”
She frowned but said nothing.
We walked for little while longer, neither of us speaking. The night was cool, quiet, and calm, and I could feel the dragons from the city. Every so often, I tried to see if I could feel anything beyond the city, dragons that might be elsewhere, but I detected nothing. They were out there. I was certain of it. I had no idea where they had gone missing, but the occasional flare of dragon power told me that they were still here.
“What do you know about Thomas?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Not much, other than that he’s the king’s chief dragon mage.”
She nodded. “He was almost single-handedly responsible for helping the king expand the eastern territories, pushing back the Vard. That’s supposedly what gained him the king’s notice. The king has wanted to destroy the Vard since ascending to the throne.”
“Destroying them seems harsh, given my experience with them,” I said.
“And what’s that?”
I forced a smile, realizing that I’d said too much. I didn’t need to get into another debate about the Vard with someone from the kingdom. Just because we didn’t struggle with them nearly as much in Berestal didn’t mean the Vard didn’t pose a real danger to others.
“It’s nothing.”
She cocked her head, watching me. “There are stories about him. I don’t know how many are real.” She shrugged. “Supposedly, Thomas used only a trio of dragons and overwhelmed the resistance from the Erlash. They were their own kingdom up until they were claimed by the king.”
I knew little about the Erlash, other than that they were a kingdom to the far north and east. “The plains were on their own, as well. Not a kingdom, not really, but independent. We dealt with the risk of the Vard over the years, and we were always concerned that somebody would attack, either the king or the Vard.” I smiled.
“The Vard are too far south to want the plains,” she said.
I chuckled. “You know the mindset of the Vard?”
“I’ve traveled quite a bit,” she said.
“I don’t know if it’s so much that the Vard want the plains as it’s that they want access to the Wilds. They need the trading route. It’s the same reason the king claimed Berestal and the surrounding lands. He wanted the same trading route, wanting access to the resources of the Wilds.”
“It’s not just the resources of the Wilds he wanted,” Natalie said.
“What else would he want?”
We reached an intersection and she pulled on my arm, dragging me in a different direction.
“I thought you said your home was over by the temple,” I said.
She grinned. “It is, but it’s such a nice night. I thought we could wander a little bit more.”
I looked back toward the Academy. Every so often, I could feel the pressure of the dragon energy as it cycled through me. It came slowly, building steadily as it rolled up into me, though with just a hint of power that exploded outward. The effect was considerable, almost as if somebody were there working with the dragons, though I didn’t think that anybody in the Academy was still up and doing so.
“You keep looking back there,” Natalie said.
“I feel something,” I said.
“What do you feel?”
I shook my head. “I don’t really know. It’s something. A pull on the dragons.”
An irritant.
That was all I could call it, but I didn’t know why.
The longer I walked, the more I felt it.
“You can feel that?”
“I can tell when there is a change in the energy. I don’t always know what it means.”
“How many dragons can you detect?”
“Most of the dragons in the city, but connecting to them and using that power is a different matter.”
“I thought a dragon mage could use the power from all of the dragons.”
“Maybe somebody who has more experience than me could, but unfortunately, I can’t do that yet.” I had tried, and other than the golden-scale dragon that I had connected to in the forest, I hadn’t managed to succeed in reaching any others besides the green dragon. “In time, I suspect I might be able to find a connection to more of the dragons, but for now, that connection is difficult for me to reach.”
“Interesting.”
“Why is it interesting?”
She shrugged. “I’ve been trying to better understand the dragons. For most of us, they are these mysterious creatures, powerful beasts that have incredible magic. Some people are gifted with the ability to learn to ride them, whereas others are gifted with the opportunity to connect to them and command the magic within them.”
“It’s not so much a matter of commanding that power. It’s a connection to the dragons. Not anything more than that.” I turned to her. “When I feel the power of the dragons, it’s like a flow through me.” I shook my head. “I don’t really even know how to describe it as anything else. The energy works through me, connecting me to the dragon, but it never really leaves the dragon. I don’t know if that makes sense. It seems like the dragon allows me to access its power and cycles it through me before claiming it back again—at least, whatever power I didn’t use.”
“Do all dragon mages use the same power connection?” She shrugged. “I don’t know that I’ve heard anyone else talking about reaching for power in the same way.”
I smiled. “I don’t know how others reach it. My instructors have attempted to show me how to open myself up to the dragons, and that has worked well enough, but I haven’t managed to connect to the dragons until I worked with Thomas.”
“That’s why you trust him.”
“Trust is a bit of a stretch. I think he’s been telling me the truth as he sees it.”
“Do you think he’s guilty?”
“Of what happened?” I shrugged. “It seems to me that he is just as interested in finding the missing dragons as the king is. I don’t have a sense that he is responsible for it.”
“Has he pulled you into his search? I saw you going off with him one day.”
“He pulled me in, but it wasn’t so much to find the dragons. At least, I didn’t think that it was. To be honest, I’m not at all sure what he intended.”
“It sounds like he intends to find the dragons with you. That should be reassuring.”
She pulled on my arm, and we continued to wander through the city. Every so often, she would stop, occasionally at a small garden, then at a square, and even once outside of the tavern where she leaned close to the building, listening to the music that drifted outside. When I suggested heading into the tavern, she shook her head.
We wandered for much of the night, talking, sharing stories about our childhood. I spent that time trying to feel for a connection to the missing dragons, and while I felt something, there was no other sign of them. In the time we’d been walking, I felt something that I had never known before.
By the time we had practically circled around the entirety of the city, and had still not come upon her home,
she grinned at me. “I think you should return to the Academy.”
“You didn’t let me walk you home.”
“I told you that I can walk myself home,” she said.
I laughed softly. “You don’t have to do that,” I said.
“I know. And you don’t have to walk me home. I am a big girl, after all.” She flashed a smile. “I will see you around, Ashan.”
She started off, heading toward the center of the city before taking a side street and disappearing.
I needed rest. In the morning, I had to decide what to do about Thomas, and would have to see what I could find out from others within the Academy about why a dragon would attack one of the mesahn. I would have to approach it carefully, much like everything these days. And I would have to figure out the strange irritation I detected coming off of the dragons—and why it bothered me as much as it did.
19
I woke to power that filled the inside of the Academy, connecting to a dragon somewhere nearby, though not one I recognized. The irritant persisted, like a sore tooth or a mild headache.
Dragon power called me through the Academy, and a sense of energy pressed through me, but I hadn’t been able to find it. There had to be something here.
What was it though?
It was far more intense than what I had felt before. This time, what I felt was distinct and powerful, practically overwhelming.
All the time I’d spent searching for dragons had led me to this point.
I could feel the other dragons. That was what Thomas wanted from me, though his reasoning was more about proving the Djarn responsible.
What I felt now . . .
This was close.
I dressed quickly and followed the sense of power flooding into the Academy, curious about its source. As I hurried through the halls, passing lanterns that seemed to surge every time there came a pulsing of power, I couldn’t help but wonder who might be using that much of the dragon magic.
It was early. Darkness still covered the windows, though a hint of early morning sunlight began to creep up. Despite staying out late with Natalie, I had gotten up at my usual time. Thankfully, I hadn’t overslept, but maybe I should have. It might have helped me feel better. Otherwise, I was exhausted, and thankful that I hadn’t consumed any ale the night before. That would’ve made everything much worse.
The power guided me through the halls, and I came upon a staircase leading down into the depths of the Academy. This was a section I rarely went to, not having any need to spend any time there. The basement consisted of old storage rooms, as far as I knew.
Still, I could feel the energy flowing from here, and surprisingly, it seemed as if the connection to the dragon came from here as well.
Missing dragons. The strange irritation. The mesahn that had targeted the dragon in the forest.
Those thoughts stayed with me.
And this dragon wasn’t one I’d felt before.
I hurried down the stairs, but paused when I reached the landing. There were no lights here. Though I felt the connection to the dragon, I had no idea where the power flowing around me was, nor any idea who was summoning it. The only thing I could tell was that it came from farther along this hallway.
I started along the hall, moving carefully, and paused when I reached an even darker section of the hall. I focused on the connection I shared with the green dragon, and started to pull that power through me, tamping it down into the heat of my belly, until I could draw upon that energy, creating a faint finger of flame that I stretched between my hands. Nothing more than that. The hallway was illuminated.
It was plain. Stone walls without any decoration. My boots thudded on the stone floor. The air had that musty odor of darkness and dampness. There were no lanterns like there were in the upper levels. Doors interrupted the wall every so often, most of them stout oak, though the light from my hands reflected off of metal in the distance. I headed toward that, feeling for the energy there, focusing on the power that I could, and came upon a sense from dragon magic.
It was near enough that I thought this is what I had detected. This had to be the source of it, but what exactly was it?
I paused in front of the door. This one was different than the others. It was oak, much like most of the doors had been, but there were bands of metal lining it, working across the surface, as if they were holding the door together. A symbol was etched into the oak, similar to what was on Jerith’s door. I traced my finger over it, feeling the way that the dragon had been carved into the door, feeling for the energy that was there, and recognizing that there was a hint of power that still sat beyond the door. The strange energy that I detected was behind it.
The dragon energy.
There should be no reason for a dragon to be there, inside the Academy itself, especially with the pens just outside. We could access the energy of the dragons easily enough, especially once we learned how to connect to them.
I tested the handle.
Maybe I should knock, but I was curious and just wanted to take a look. As I focused on the power, another surge of energy stirred up from the other side of the door, pressing into me.
That was strange. It was different than what I normally detected when I could feel the dragons. This one had an interrupted flow, as if some aspect of the power had been injured in a way. I focused on it, straining to find a connection to it, and struggling with what I did detect.
There had to be something here. Why else would there be power flowing on the other side of the door? What might it mean?
I pushed the door open just a crack, and quickly realized I needed to release my hold on the dragon—not entirely though. I let the power flow through me, and rather than tamping it down, I let the energy continue to flow, leaving me connected to the dragon—and connected to finding some access to that power, if it were necessary.
The room on the other side of the door was mostly dark. A faint light glowed in the distance.
I waited, searching for anybody else in the room, but I didn’t see anybody, and I certainly didn’t hear anybody. I stepped into the room, pushing the door mostly closed behind me. The glowing in the distance called to me, but it was more than just glowing. There was something there. I could feel it.
It had to be a dragon. I didn’t know why there would be one inside the room, down in the belly of the Academy, but I was certain that was what I detected.
I hesitated.
What if this was how the Academy planned to protect the dragons?
They could hide them here, inside the building.
Power pulled on me, as if calling me forward. That drawing sensation, that strange energy that summoned me, came from the dragon in front of me, along with the aching irritation.
Somehow, the dragon pulled upon me.
Strangely, I could feel the energy cycling from me through this other dragon—and through the green dragon. Distantly, I was aware of the other dragon I had found in the forest as well. It was still out there, though not close. Somehow, the power cycled through him, as well. I could see a flash of scales nearby, nothing more than that, enough for me to tell that it was a dragon, but which one?
I approached him. I had a sense of his size and scale, one that suggested power coming—something screamed to me that the dragon was enormous. In my mind, I had built it up to be this massive, black-scaled dragon, much like the one that Thomas had ridden away from the city, but as I neared, I discovered that wasn’t the case at all.
The dragon was small.
Of course it would be small. Why would I have thought otherwise? In order for a dragon to fit in the lower level of the Academy, it would have to be small.
“What happened?” I asked, and immediately began to feel foolish. Why or how would the dragon answer me, and how would he understand? Still, I had the same feeling about him as I did with every dragon.
They were intelligent. Maybe nearly as intelligent as people, though without any way of speaking to us—but maybe they did have a
way and I just hadn’t found it yet.
The dragon continued to push power through me, though it was more than that: it was a way for the dragon to connect to and borrow from the green dragon, and surprisingly from the other dragon I detected distantly, as well. It was almost as if he needed a bit more power than what he had access to otherwise.
“I can help—”
I heard a soft scraping as the door began to open, and a whisper of wind fluttered in.
I glanced over to the door before scurrying around the back of the dragon, hiding behind him. I had no interest in getting caught someplace I wasn’t supposed to be. Most places within the Academy weren’t off-limits, but there was a dragon out here, and there had to be a secret reason for it. I held my hand out, touching the dragon’s back, pushing up behind him as I approached.
“I can smell it,” a voice said from somewhere near the door. It wasn’t familiar to me. “How do you have it down here?”
“There are tunnels that lead from here into the forest. There aren’t too many who know about them.”
“Tunnels to the forest? Who would’ve made them?”
“Those who know better,” the second person said. I moved, trying to get low enough so that I could hear what this person was saying, and trying to keep myself positioned in such a way so that I wouldn’t reveal my presence, but I needed to stay hidden behind the dragon. “Those who have learned about the tunnels have never discovered where they lead.”
I could feel somebody coming closer, could feel their heat and energy, though I didn’t know if they were aware of me yet. Suddenly, the dragon borrowed power from me, as if it were aware of my thoughts.
The other two dragons seemed to know what to do, pushing their energy through me and to this dragon. He surged with power and began to glow with a pale yellow light.
“What happened?” one of the men said.
“I don’t know. He keeps doing that,” the other said. “It seems to be his way of trying to get help.”
“Will the other dragons reach him?”
The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) Page 21
