“We don’t fear you,” Thomas told him.
I wasn’t so sure. The fact that Thomas kept him this far out here, so far removed from anything else, and certainly far enough away from the rest of the kingdom suggested he did fear him.
I certainly did.
The Vard continued to watch, but he seemed to be watching me. I wanted nothing more than to turn away and ignore him, but I also knew we needed to understand. This was the reason Thomas had brought me here. He wanted me to understand the Vard and what they were capable of doing.
“How many Servants are there?” I asked.
The Vard laughed again. Heat built from him, the same way it did before. “More than you can ever know.”
“As far as we can tell, there are a dozen like this,” Thomas said.
“Only a dozen?” I asked.
“Only? Look at him. Think about what would happen if there were more than that. What might we have to do if there were?”
I understood his concern, but at the same time, the fact that there were only a dozen meant they would be fully aware that this one was missing.
“What do you think they’re doing about his absence?”
“Probably nothing,” Thomas said. “They’ll look for him but won’t find him here. And it’s about time we hold one of them. They think they can intimidate us. There have been enough dragon mages who have come through here to know the true dangers of the Vard.”
The Vard laughed again. “Because you fear us.” Heat built from him again, as sudden as it had before. Each time the heat built, it left me worried. Somehow, I had a feeling that the heat would summon the other Vard. If they knew about this priest, and knew that we had him trapped, then what might they do?
Come for him.
I focused on the dragon, on the cycling of power through me, and I thought there had to be some way to try to use that cycle, but I hadn’t any idea whether it would be effective.
“This was what I wanted you to see. I wanted you to know about the dangers. I wanted you to recognize there is more to the Vard than you have known. This is why we fight, Ashan.”
He pushed on the Vard, and he fell toward the pit.
The Vard dropped down into the darkness, then it started to glow again with the strange light that came off of him. I couldn’t help myself, but I felt a bit of sadness. He stood there, deep in the bottom of the pit, looking up at us.
Thomas released the loop around him and started to create another barrier surrounding him, looping it over the top of the pit. When he was done, the Vard was sealed inside once again.
“You understand now?” he asked. “You’ve questioned why the king has taken such extreme measures when it comes to the Vard. You might have even questioned why the Djarn have been so willing to work with us.”
I hadn’t said it, but the questions had been there. How could they not be?
There was another threat, not just the Vard. I didn’t want the king to neglect that threat. But this was an equal one. Now I saw that.
“The Djarn recognize the danger. The king has made certain they are informed, and they know just what we face. They recognize that the kingdom is the only way to prevent the Vard from spreading their flames across the land.”
“It’s . . . unsettling,” I said.
“It should be. The very first time I came across the Vard, it unsettled me, as well. I recognize they are a danger to us, but more than that, they are a danger to the world. Whatever this one claims, they are something like priests to their people. They lead them, but they also advise them. What the other Vard do is on behalf of them.”
I felt a strange pulling again, the heat that fluttered, fluctuating against the darkness.
“I still feel something,” I said.
I turned over to the dragons, looking at them, focusing on the heat and flames, the energy I could detect. I started to cycle that power through the dragons, testing whether it might help me determine what else might be out there, but even as I focused on it, I didn’t know if what I detected was anything to be concerned about, or if it was simply a connection to the dragons.
If it was only a connection to the dragons, then there would be no reason for alarm, but I felt something that made me question whether it was the dragons.
If not the dragons, then it meant that . . .
“I think we need to get going,” I said to Thomas.
“We are far enough beyond the Vard lands.”
“This is still Vard controlled though, isn’t it?”
Thomas shrugged. “Controlled, but we are beyond where the Vard congregate. Most of their cities are near Affellah. The rest is harsh. Practically desolate and unlivable.”
It fit with what I had seen on the flight here, but I couldn’t shake what I felt now. “I don’t know what to say about that, but I can tell you what I feel, Thomas. There’s something moving toward us.”
“Moving?”
“Heat. Energy. Something powerful.”
Thomas pressed his lips together in a tight frown. “I see.”
“We need to move,” I said. I looked over, shaking my head. “Now.”
I could feel the power continue to build, but I didn’t know why or what it meant. From within the pit, the Vard started to laugh.
Thomas glanced down, and he wrapped a hint of flame across the top of the pit, sealing it off. I turned to him, thinking about power, thinking about what I had detected, thinking about whether there was anything we could do, but decided to run toward the dragon.
When I reached the green dragon, I saw a glowing light in the distance. It moved toward us, coming quickly. It was streaming across the ground, leaving a trail in its wake.
“What is that?” I asked, my voice a whisper.
“Vard,” he said.
“Vard? As in soldiers, or like him?” I asked, nodding to the pit.
Thomas shook his head. “Like him, I’m afraid. I have only seen it a few other times. When I have, it did not go well.”
“Then we should move quickly.”
Thomas continued to stare into the distance, and though he connected to the dragon, I couldn’t tell whether there was anything he did that would make a difference. I could only tell that he continued to cycle power from the dragons, as if he were reaching for it in a way that would change something, though I didn’t see how that would even be possible.
“If they find this place, I lose my opportunity to question him,” he said, looking over to the pit.
“That’s your concern?”
“This is an opportunity we have not had,” he said. “I have worked for a long time to ensure the stability of this place, and to make certain that we don’t lose out on the chance to question him. If he’s lost, and if the Vard free him, then every opportunity we had before will be lost with him. I can’t bring him to the kingdom until we have a place to secure him.”
I could see the growing fires in the distance, could see the heat as it streaked toward us, and knew that we didn’t have much time.
“What do you suggest then?” I asked.
“We need to draw them off.”
“They are going to know we were here anyway,” I said.
He looked over to the pit. “It’s possible I could mask it, but I’d need to remain here in order to do so.”
I frowned at him. “You want me to lead the Vard away?”
“With the dragon, it shouldn’t be difficult.”
I looked over to the green dragon, who looked back at me from his curled-up position, and it seemed there was a question burning in his eyes. A surge of heat and energy came off of him, suggesting that he didn’t quite know if this were even possible.
It worried the dragon.
And, for that matter, it worried me.
“Let’s say we do this,” I said, “and I attempt to pull the dragon away. What happens if I fail?”
“If you fail, then you fail,” he said, then continued. “You are nearly as skilled as any dragon mage I’ve worked w
ith, Ashan. Eventually, you will be offered testing. Probably sooner than you even realize. You may not know what that involves now, but you will be asked to demonstrate the skills you’ve learned during your time at the Academy. You don’t have to fear failure. I can already see within you that you will succeed. For now, I need you to do this for me. I need you to help me.”
I licked my lips, swallowing.
Here he thought my concern was passing and becoming a dragon mage. Perhaps that was part of it. I did want to know what it would take for me to be a dragon mage, but I wasn’t particularly concerned I would fail.
I had already accomplished more than I had ever imagined I could. Now, I believed that regardless of what else happened, I would always have my connection to the dragons. The cycle had formed, and made me more than what I had been.
For now, I needed to help Thomas.
I shook my head. “I don’t like it.”
“There is nothing to like.”
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. We didn’t have much time. “Is he that valuable?”
“We have never captured one of the Vard before,” he said.
Which meant he was. I had to do my part.
I served the king, didn’t I?
And I wanted to be a dragon mage.
I didn’t want the Vard to succeed in dragging any more of our people away. I didn’t want them to succeed in infiltrating our kingdom any longer. And I didn’t want the Vard planning any future attacks.
The only way to ensure that would be to take action—and the only action I could take would be to do something now. I needed to pull off the approaching Vard.
“When this is done, you’re going to have to show me what you did, so I know how to conceal dragon magic myself.”
Thomas looked at me and nodded. “I will show you what I can.”
“You will have to make sure that Berestal is protected.”
“Why is that necessary?”
“Because my family is there,” I said.
Thomas nodded again.
I hurried over to the dragon, hopped up onto his back, and shook my head. What I was thinking of doing was foolish—possibly even worse than foolish. I could be in danger. I had no idea whether they would do what we needed, or if they would follow, but I had to try.
“We’re going to have to work quickly,” I said. “I don’t know if you know what I’m saying, but we have to draw the Vard off.”
The dragon looked over at me. In that moment, I had a feeling from him, a sense that he did understand. If he did, then hopefully he would know what we needed to do in order for us to succeed—for us to survive.
The dragon took to the air.
As soon as he did, he circled, continuing to do so for another moment, nothing more than that. We continued circling, spinning in place, and finally I focused on the Vard. It looked like a smear of fire across the ground, similar to the way the lava had flowed; it was terrifying, but I thought I could do something with that.
Once we moved away, I could try to draw the Vard away, but I had to do it in a way that made it seem as if we were not here.
How was I going to do that?
I thought about my options, and how they might work, and decided the best way would be to come from behind them. We circled higher and higher, getting into the thin air once again, and from there, we went even higher. The dragon handled the altitude without any difficulty. Wind whipped past me, cold and biting, and I had to ignore it, focusing only on the Vard far below me.
Once we were high enough, I tapped on the dragon’s side. I pushed a pulse of power through me and through the dragon, cycling it through so he would be aware of what I wanted. I had no idea whether or not he could understand me, but I was determined to try.
The dragon roared. Heat suddenly poured from his mouth, flames shooting across the night sky. The suddenness of it was almost alarming, but as I looked down, the stream of fire stopped heading toward the distant pit.
Instead, it targeted us.
Strangely, I could feel a drawing, a pulling of power.
“Can you feel that?” I asked the dragon. There came another pulse of power that flowed out from him, through me, as if he were trying to respond. It suggested to me the dragon did feel it, and he knew. “We have to fight it.”
The dragon roared again.
The pull upon us intensified, the vibrancy of it becoming hotter, more painful, and it seemed like the dragon were summoning some source of energy I couldn’t quite place.
As it did, I held on to the cycle a little bit longer within myself. I needed to, as I was afraid that if I did not, the cycle would resist me in some way.
I could feel the dragon opposing me. There was some part of power that seemed to pull away from me. It was as if the heat were drawn off, and the others tore it away from me, the energy coming from the Vard trying to make it so I wouldn’t be able to maintain my hold.
Gradually, we started to descend.
The dragon struggled.
We were pulled, drawn by whatever was happening, by the Vard, and some sort of attention the Vard used against us.
I forced power into the dragon, cycling it out of myself, and even had to add the touch of other dragons within it.
The connection solidified; the dragon circled higher again.
For a moment, it seemed like I felt a flicker of relief coming from the dragon, but then the pull upon us came again.
The dragon roared.
Flames streaked from his mouth, illuminating the night sky. They came brighter and brighter, a painful light.
I wrapped flames through me as well, drawing them like a weapon, calling them up through me in order to continue to summon that power, holding on to as much as I could to prepare for the possibility that I would have to resist the Vard.
It surged again.
Power flowed through me. Within me.
Within that power, I felt the other dragons of the cycle, all of them adding to what we were doing, all of them augmenting the connection. It was that augmentation, that connection, that told me we were doing what was necessary.
I continued to send power through me, letting the cycle flow, filling not only myself, but the other dragons.
The dragon took to the air, circling higher and higher, and as he did, I could feel some energy coming off of him.
“I think it’s time we turn from here,” I said.
The dragon roared again, and we veered off. The two of us started north. We had no choice but to do so. It felt as if we had to keep moving, heading away from here, and if we did not, we might be caught by the Vard. If that were to happen . . .
I didn’t want to think about it—what the Vard might do to us, the way they might suck the power off the dragon.
Not just off this one dragon, but the others. Possibly many others. The Vard were powerful, and if they did truly worship fire in some way, if they did try to siphon that energy, we would be in greater danger. I might lose the dragon.
I let out a deep sigh, focusing instead on helping to add power to the dragon, using that so we could streak as quickly as possible across the land toward the distant dragons.
We stayed high in the air, and as I looked down, I could make out the brightness of the cities below us in the distance; I could also see Affellah, though not nearly as well as I had been able to before. The altitude made it more difficult to see, but so did our speed and the smoke drifting up from the ground, obscuring everything.
There was a pulling upon me, as if it were trying to latch on to the cycle that connected me to the other dragons. I could feel the way that energy began to drift out and away—just enough for me to recognize it.
And I recognized how dangerous it was.
The power was becoming too much for me.
I focused, sending more energy through me, more power through the cycle.
Gradually, the dragons help me assert control.
That draw on me had to have been Affellah.
The pulling upon me lessened, the heat no longer drawing off of me the way it had when we first started. I could only hope we’d gotten far enough and were fast enough so I didn’t have to worry about the Vard chasing us, but I still feared what might happen.
When we crossed over the Southern Reach, I knew I was finally getting closer to safety. The strange pulling continued to lessen, but it was still there. I looked down and saw that we had finally crossed over into the forest, a place we would be safe.
Surprisingly, there came another blast of power, a surge of energy that tried to pull upon me. As I fought it, I looked to see where it came from, but didn’t find anything.
Then it faded.
The dragon and I circled a little longer until I grew confident that the feeling wouldn’t return. We flew toward the capital, over the edge of the forest, the Southern Reach just in view.
I waited.
Thomas would have to follow.
So far, he had not.
We continued to circle, to wait.
The dragon remained above the Southern Reach.
As we flew, a troubled thought began to come to me, one I had no answer for. Had something happened to Thomas?
If so, who would go after him?
9
The journey took me up and over the forest, and from there, we circled for another moment. I lingered, looking down at the ground below me, trying to see if there were anything that would give me any additional information. I wanted to wait long enough for Thomas to catch back up to me, but I didn’t know how long that was going to take. I didn’t think he would remain behind too long, figuring he would come after me as soon as possible, leaving the Servant of Affellah behind.
But there was no sign of him.
The green dragon and I continued to circle, staying along the border just north of the Southern Reach. We flew slowly and steadily, and gradually the darkness began to fade, a faint streamer of light coming over the horizon.
It was late or really early, and I figured I needed to return, but I didn’t want to do so without Thomas. I didn’t want to return until I knew what else he might tell me.
I continued guiding the dragon, and held on to the cycle of power, every so often pulsing energy through it so that I could feel the dragon’s energy. The dragon seemed to recognize my irritation and agitation, and we didn’t shift our course at all.
The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) Page 11
