“They have not.”
I couldn’t see anything moving down below, though now that we were circling, I could feel a pull upon my cycle, the connection of the dragon energy, and all of it seemed to be dragging upon me, as if it were trying to tear the energy free, pull it off of me, attempt to weaken me.
I continued to feel the pull, but connected to as many dragons as I was, I found I could fight. I could withstand it far more easily than I could’ve otherwise.
I breathed out, looking over to Natalie. “How are you doing? I can feel the Vard pulling on me, so I suspect they are doing something similar to you.”
She had her jaw clenched, and her face twisted in a tight frown. She struggled, and I could tell she didn’t want to admit that.
“We can go back,” I said. “We came to see where they were, to see if they were causing any danger. We don’t need to stay here, especially if it’s causing trouble for you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said.
“You don’t look like you will be,” I said.
She frowned, shaking her head. “I will be fine,” she said again.
I leaned forward, focusing on the cycle—that was how I felt the energy flowing from down below. I thought I could draw even more power from within that cycle; I could feel the energy surging and thought I could use it.
We had to get lower.
In order for us to see what the Vard were doing, we needed to get closer to them, but doing so would be potentially dangerous. Going down toward the forest floor meant we were getting close enough that the Vard might be able to exert some sort of influence over the dragons, and over the cycle. I had already felt that influence upon me, and it left me wondering if they were here because they had chased me.
If they felt that dragon mages had stolen power from Affellah, then they might think the same of me. That might be reason enough for the Vard to have decided to attack—that and the fact Thomas had captured one of the Servants.
I looked over to her. “I need to go lower.”
“Be careful,” she told me. “I’ll stay up here.”
That was for the best. If she tried to descend, she might increase the likelihood of the Vard drawing upon the dragons. I knew she didn’t want that, and I knew she wanted to be careful letting that energy flow, the heat and power surging. As it did, I could feel something shifting.
The lower we went, the more I became aware of some drawing upon me, some aspect of whatever was down there trying to pull on me. It was the power of the Vard, and it seemed to latch on to my cycle, as if it were going to try to separate me from it.
Not that I thought the Vard should be able to do that, but I could feel the heightened level of their power, and it left me concerned.
The ongoing draw of power away from me persisted.
I focused on it, using that to guide me as we descended, getting closer and closer to the ground, and I searched for anything. The closer we got to the top of the canopy, the harder it was for me to tell if there was anything visible. I could feel that pull upon me, but I couldn’t see anything. The trees were far too dense.
I wasn’t willing to descend all the way to the ground without having help, and without knowing exactly what we might be dealing with. Instead, I needed to continue my careful approach.
I circled. The pull upon me intensified. There seemed to be a focus to it, as if the Vard were aware of me, though I wasn’t aware of their whereabouts. Could I call upon anything within that pull to help me detect where they were and how I could find them?
As I focused, I continued trying to draw on that power, trying to cycle through it, to feel its influence and to try to resist it.
There was a hint of something out there that had a hold on me, some aspect of the power that suggested it was close, even though I couldn’t feel anything more. I strained against the energy I detected, against the pulling. It was almost as if . . .
Almost as if they wanted to try to join the cycle.
As I realized that, I wondered if such a thing were even possible.
Could the Vard overwhelm my connection to the dragons? I hadn’t thought so, but it was possible. If so, they may be able to tear that connection away from me, prevent me from using what I needed.
I had to resist, and I had to delay any further influence from the Vard.
The attackers focused their attention on me.
I could feel them doing so, the way they were using that linkage in order to join the cycle. If I weren’t careful, they would force their way in. If that were to happen . . .
I had no idea. Could they do anything that would harm me or the dragons? They might be able to withdraw power and use that against us.
I had to fight.
But I couldn’t stay.
I recognized the danger in remaining here. I motioned to the dragon, and we started to turn, but something held on to me, restraining me. I struggled again, trying to fight, forcing myself back, trying to overpower the energy coming toward me, but it was almost too much. I pulled through the cycle, funneling power to me and the dragon, and as I did, I could feel the dragon growing stronger. But at the same time, the Vard pulled upon us with more force, dragging out more energy, attempting to steal even more from us.
I cried out.
It wasn’t going to be enough.
The dragon roared, flames streaking from his mouth.
We needed energy.
We needed to cycle even more power to the dragon. I forced more and more energy through the cycle, gifting it to the green dragon. He roared again.
This was no longer about trying to conceal our presence. There was no point in attempting to do so, as the Vard were probably already fully aware of us. Now it was all about escaping. It was all about finding some way to break free of what they were doing. It was all about trying to separate.
I called upon as much energy as I could, pulling it to me, letting that cycle flow.
Even more power continued to build.
I held on to it, sending as much as I could into the dragon, letting the power build and surge through him.
There was a resistance, but not so much I couldn’t overpower it.
Now I forced even more. I drew from all of the dragons I could feel, all of them gifting the dragon power. They all granted us the understanding and energy, and all of them let me pull their power to me.
The dragon roared again, and we streaked into the air, heading straight toward Natalie. I noticed her as a darkened shadow above, circling. I slowed as soon as we neared and the dragon roared again.
I had been trying to convince myself that the Vard were not dangerous, despite what Thomas had demonstrated by showing me one of the Servants. I had tried to allow myself to believe that Joran and his family didn’t serve something horrifying like that, but how could I feel that way when I had seen it myself?
The truth had been there before me.
The Vard were every bit as dangerous as I had believed.
They were terrifying. And they wanted to destroy us.
“What happened?”
“They were too powerful,” I said.
“What did you try to do?”
“Nothing other than detect them. Unfortunately, they were powerful enough that they nearly pulled me from my cycle. We need to get back. We need to let your father know the Vard are moving.”
She watched me for a moment, a hint of concern burning in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything more, just nodded.
We veered away, making our way back toward the capital. As we did, I could still feel the pull upon me, the energy of the Vard as they attempted to drag power off of us.
I resisted, straining and struggling to ignore their energy, but I was worried I wouldn’t be strong enough. I was concerned they might find some way of penetrating the cycle. If they did, I had no idea whether we would be able to withstand it or if they would gain control over it.
There was a different danger in addition to the Vard. They were enough of a t
hreat alone, but if they had decided to work with this other threat to the kingdom, then we were in far more danger than I had believed. Probably more than even Thomas had believed.
This was the first time I had ever felt terrified of them, and I worried about just how much they could do—how much power they might take.
How could we stop them if they could draw the power of dragons away?
15
We reached the capital as dawn began to break. I had no idea what time we had set off, but we had flown quickly and searched for the Vard for a short time. I had slept a fair amount before the sense of the Vard began to pull upon me, so we hadn’t spent the whole night searching.
We landed near the palace. As we did, a pair of dragon mages looked over to the dragons and frowned.
“We need to see the Sharath,” I said.
The mages looked at me. I recognized them from when I had been to the palace before, but they shook their heads at me.
Natalie strode forward. “I will see my father,” she said.
The nearest dragon mage nodded quickly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were with him,” the man said. He had short dark hair and wore heavy chain mail. I could feel the way power flowed from the dragons to him, though it was distant, not at all like it had been when I had first come to the palace. Now their connection to the dragons was a little bit different, and more traditional.
We hurried forward, leaving the dragons in place.
“Should we have them go back to the dragon pens?” I asked.
“Possibly,” she said. “But we might need them still.”
I took a deep breath, focusing on the power within me, and I let it out slowly, connecting to the dragons, the cycle still flowing within me. At least I no longer felt the same attempt at a connection from the Vard that I had earlier. There was a bit of their energy still flowing from the dragons, though not nearly as much as before. It was there, faint and faded, enough that I was aware that the Vard were out there, but not so much that I feared they might come toward us. And it wasn’t so much that I feared they might latch on to my connection to the dragons. That, more than anything else, reassured me.
I let out a sigh as we hurried toward the palace itself. In the growing morning light, the sun gleamed off the garden path, illuminating the flowers and shrubs that lined it. Later in the morning, there would be gardeners here, but there was calm and quiet for now.
There was nothing else.
We reached the main entrance of the palace, and Natalie looked over to me before pushing open the door. She was far more comfortable here than I was, and she hurried inside, sweeping back to the side hall. The interior of the palace was all white marble that gleamed with lantern light. A mural of a dragon painted overhead seemed to look down upon us, and there was a rider on the dragon’s back, some ancient dragon mage, or possibly some old king, somebody of power who had once known this palace as their home. Natalie ignored all of it. She ignored the soldiers standing guard and everything else inside, motioning for me to follow her.
I had no choice but to do so. I didn’t want to linger. My experiences within the palace had been mixed, enough that I didn’t feel nearly as comfortable as she did. We reached a small door off of the main hallway. It was simple, darkly stained, and had a large iron knocker on it.
“This is your father’s office?”
“His office. His room. He has to be close enough to the king so he can respond if he needs him.” She shook her head. “The king likes to have my father as close by as possible. It’s like he wants to make sure he has his servant available if anything were to happen.”
“That makes a little bit of sense,” I said.
She arched a brow at me. “My father couldn’t do anything anyway.” She kept her voice low, barely more than a whisper so it didn’t reverberate off the palace’s walls.
“I’m sure that’s not quite true.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Considering your connection to the dragons, your father must have something similar.” I shrugged. “When I was younger, I never thought the Djarn had a connection to dragons, but then again, I didn’t know much about the Djarn then. I knew they were able to move through the forest unseen. They had pathways that allowed them to navigate quietly and quickly, and I believed they had magic.” Even that was hard for me to know for sure. It might be something of power, but I didn’t really know exactly what it was, or whether it was anything that would make much of a difference. “I guess I never really considered the idea that the Djarn had a connection to dragons.”
“Many do, but not all,” she said. She grabbed the knocker and smacked it hard.
The sound was a loud crack in the hallway, and at the end of the marble hall, a pair of soldiers started toward us before they seemed to recognize Natalie and turned away.
She glanced in their direction before slamming the knocker down on the door again.
“Maybe he’s sleeping,” I said.
“Of course he’s sleeping.”
“Do you think we should—”
I didn’t get the chance to ask her what I thought we should do. A voice behind us caught our attention.
“I’m not in there,” the deep voice said.
I spun and saw Natalie’s father standing there. The Sharath was an older man, with a balding head and a serious expression on his face. He had always struck me as powerful, even before I knew he was one of the Djarn. He was dressed in a gray robe, with the embroidery on his chest marking him as a servant of the king—as if the robe itself, or the long staff he carried, could mean anything else.
“Father,” Natalie said. “I’m glad to find you here.”
“Where else would I be?”
“We need to tell you something.”
The Sharath looked along the hall before turning his attention back to Natalie. “I imagine so; otherwise, you wouldn’t have come at such an early time.”
“The Vard are moving,” she said softly.
He stared at her for a long moment, and I couldn’t really read his expression. I could only see the seriousness in his eyes, as if he were irritated, angry, or perhaps disappointed. Maybe all of them.
“Moving?”
She nodded. “I felt something last night, Father. When I went to look—”
“What were you doing going to look?” he asked.
“I needed to know if I was feeling anything, or whether it was only my imagination,” she said.
“And what did you find?” he demanded.
“I found what I feared,” she said. “The Vard are moving. We found them.”
“We?”
She motioned to me. “Ashan came with me. I was going to go alone, but he detected them as well.”
Her father frowned. “He has been quite troublesome for the king.” He looked at me, and I tried again to read the expression in his eyes, but I couldn’t tell what was marked there. Was it irritation or merely concern? They were different, and given his role in serving the king, I wasn’t entirely sure which of them would win out. “We know you have been involved, and you should not be.” He frowned more deeply. “Wait. What do you mean ‘he detected them’?”
“He joined me in the dragon pen as we were getting ready to go, aware of the Vard.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before stepping past Natalie and me and opening his door. “Come,” he said.
She followed her father in, and I hesitated a moment before trailing after her. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into the office of the Sharath, but what other choice did I have?
The office was large—the walls were lined with rows of shelves, along with wood paneling, which also covered the ceiling. Dragon-shaped lanterns hung around the room, reminding me of those within the Academy. None of them were lit, though the Sharath swept his hand around in a tight spiral as soon as he entered the room, and the lanterns burst into flame.
I snorted.
Natalie looked over to me. “Wha
t is it?”
“It’s your father. He’s a dragon mage.”
“I’m not a dragon mage,” the Sharath said. “I’m one of the Djarn, and my connection is different from that of your dragon mages.”
I chuckled again. “If you say so, but it seems to me that it’s the same as the dragon mages.”
The way he’d pulled on power and the connection he’d drawn was nearly identical. I even recognized how he had pulled on that power and the way energy flowed from him. I thought I could even repeat the pattern, though it wasn’t one I had seen before. It was a tight pattern, and he had flicked flames from his fingers as he spun it, angling them toward each of the lanterns to illuminate them. There was a level of control he had that reminded me of some of the more powerful dragon mages.
“Have a seat,” he said.
He took a seat on a chair behind a massive oak table and leaned forward, looking across it at Natalie and me. Two ornately decorated wooden chairs rested on the other side of the table, and I sat down on one high-backed chair, trying to get comfortable, but the chair itself seemed as if it were meant to keep me uncomfortable. Natalie sat, as well.
“Now tell me what you encountered,” he said.
Natalie shook her head. “I don’t even know what we encountered, Father. I felt something, and we left to go and investigate.”
“In the middle of the night. Without telling anyone.”
I smiled to myself. It was the kind of thing I could have imagined my parents once having told me. That would’ve been a long time ago, before my brother had been injured, before my father had been injured. It would have been during a time when I was still a child, at least in my parents’ eyes. As soon as my brother and father had injured themselves, I had grown up. I had no choice but to do so.
“I did what I thought was needed,” she said.
“It could have been dangerous,” the Sharath said.
“I realize that. Which is why I didn’t go alone.”
The Sharath turned his attention to me. He had a flat stare and steely-gray eyes. Then he looked back to Natalie. “You told me you were going to investigate.”
“Well, I was going to investigate, but I did so after I was certain I had detected something,” she said.
The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) Page 20
