“I see,” the Sharath said.
“Don’t you even want to know what we uncovered?” she asked.
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me the Vard have been moving along the southern border of the forest.”
Natalie frowned. “You knew.”
“We received word overnight.” The Sharath turned his attention to me, and he glowered at me for a moment. “The king has many resources, as I’m sure you’re aware. The Vard aren’t a new threat to us.”
“This is different,” I said.
“And you’re so certain of that?”
I nodded. “I’m certain what I felt.”
“I’m sure you are. A student, new to the Academy, who has been involved in other instances where the Vard has attacked. Somebody who would have no reason to think the Vard are involved more than they were.”
“This isn’t like that,” I told him again. I considered for a moment, debating how much more I was going to say to him. He should know the other attacks were not the Vard. He had been there, and he had seen what Donathar had done—the way he had attempted to make it look as if the Djarn were responsible. That wasn’t the work of the Vard.
But as I watched him, I couldn’t tell whether he would believe me now.
And I couldn’t tell if he worried about the threat of the Vard in the same way as Thomas and others within the kingdom did.
“I had detected something else in those instances. In this case, I detected power.”
He arched a brow. “Power?”
“It pulled upon my senses.”
“He called it a cycle,” Natalie said, looking over to me.
Her father frowned. “What was that?”
“He said it pulled on his cycle. He knew there was a dragon in danger. And he helped the dragon.”
Her father turned his attention to me and frowned. “Who taught you that?”
“Who taught me what?”
There came a sudden surge of power. The suddenness of it took me off guard, and I barely had time to react. When I did, I tried to latch on to the other dragons, trying to cycle through that power, wanting to use it so I could protect myself, but even as I attempted to do so, I didn’t think I was going to be fast enough. I could feel the energy he thrust upon me, the way he was trying to spin it at me, and within that, I struggled. I strained to resist him, trying to withstand what he did, but heat looped around me.
It was similar to the way Thomas used heat, but was also unique. The way it looped was powerful, a pattern that pressed inward from all around, swirling from the outside of the walls, squeezing inward, as if to compress me. I had to resist. I had to fight. I felt as if I needed to react and throw him off, but I didn’t even know if I could.
“What are you doing to me?” I asked.
The Sharath continued watching me, saying nothing.
That power squeezed, pressing in upon me, and I continued to struggle against it, wanting nothing more than to withstand what he was doing.
This wasn’t the power of a single dragon.
I wasn’t sure how many dragons he had connected to, but maybe I could figure out more about what he was doing and how he was doing it.
Rather than resisting, I let him squeeze. It was unpleasant, but it wasn’t painful.
There was something about the way he did it that suggested I could track the energy he used. I followed the flow of power. There was a pattern within the room that was invisible to me. He hadn’t even needed to create a band of power the way I did when using the dragon mage magic; despite that, he still had managed to squeeze me with it. That was a unique technique. Perhaps he wasn’t just a dragon mage.
Did the Djarn have more control over the dragons than the dragon mages?
I glanced over at Natalie, but she didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me. She made a point of looking at her father. The energy swirling around me had a distinct pattern to it. As I focused on how he pulled that energy, I could see the pattern, even if I couldn’t do anything to withstand it. It was an interlocking weave that reminded me of a combination of what Walter and Eleanor had shown me. It was delicate, and the speed with which he had used it surprised me. It suggested he was incredibly powerful.
I had no idea whether I could do anything to protect myself, but I needed to somehow. I also had no idea if the type of weave Walter had demonstrated would even be effective, but perhaps I could try it now.
I focused. If I could use it, and if I could make it similarly invisible, then perhaps I could resist what he attempted. The invisibility piece was the most difficult, but I saw how he used it and how he made it invisible, and I thought I could do something similar.
I pushed energy up through my shoulders, splitting the weave, hiding it within myself. I wrapped the barrier the way Walter had demonstrated, not needing speed, only needing strength. Thankfully, somehow I had succeeded in keeping the bands of power invisible, and as I wrapped them around me, creating the cage, they solidified. The pressure upon me suddenly faded.
“Who taught you that?” the Sharath asked.
“Who taught me what? How to withstand one of the Djarn dragon mages or how to create a protection against your use of magic?”
He studied me. Finally, he turned and looked over to Natalie. “Did you know he could do this?”
“I know he has shown potential,” she said. “Especially considering what he did with the vessels.”
“I see.”
Even though the pressure squeezing down upon me had faded, I didn’t release my hold on the cage around me. I didn’t want to do so until I was certain it wouldn’t be needed anymore. I didn’t want to have the Sharath continuing his assault upon me.
He watched me. “That will be unnecessary,” he told me, as if reading my thoughts.
“Are you going to use your magic on me again?”
“I don’t think there’s a need to do so any longer.”
“Why did you do it in the first place?”
“It was a test. Nothing more than that.”
I grunted. “It’s more than just a test,” I said.
He smiled. “Perhaps you think so, but it is a test, nonetheless.”
I released the cage around me, pulling it back inside, cycling it out to the other dragons. When I did, there was a faint fluttering of power out there, enough that I could still feel the influence of the Vard. Wherever they were, they still approached, making their way toward us—and they still intended to attack.
I glanced over to Natalie before releasing my hold over the power, and when I did, it dissipated quickly. I breathed out and looked to see what her father was doing, and found him regarding me.
“How is it you learned to connect to the dragons that way?”
“I don’t really know,” I said. “It happened by accident. When I was trying to help one of the dragons whose power was stolen, I found I could press it into another.”
“You discovered this by accident? No one demonstrated it for you?”
“No. Most of the instructors I worked with at the Academy tried to connect power in a different way.”
The only person I had seen cycling through the dragons had been Thomas. Even when he had, I hadn’t noticed him connecting directly in the same way. The way in which I had connected to the cycle was quite different from how Thomas had. I suspected that mattered in some way, and given the way Natalie’s father reacted, it seemed important, though I wasn’t sure how or why.
He looked over to Natalie before turning his attention back to me. “What you have done is similar to a technique of the Djarn. Those who can connect to the dragons join in a circle. That is what we call it. I suppose ‘cycle’ makes a certain sort of sense, as well. Given what you have described, I imagine that power cycles from one to another, working from one dragon to the next.”
I nodded. “It does.”
“Interesting. And you’re the only dragon mage who is a part of this cycle?”
“As far as I know. Why . . .”<
br />
I realized why he asked. The Djarn linked people within the cycle almost as much as they linked dragons. That had to be his reason for asking.
“How many of the Djarn are in your circle?”
“It depends upon a number of dragons,” he said. “Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly as many dragons within our lands as there once were.” His gaze went over to the door, and I imagined his frustration was tied to the fact that the kingdom had taken many of the dragons. “We use what we can, connecting to them as we can, and it permits us the ability to use that power.”
“And you?”
“My role is a bit unique,” he said.
“How so?”
“I am the Sharath,” he said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“I told you we traveled when I was young,” Natalie said. “Our people are fragmented. Our lands have been divided. The kingdom claims land all around and has granted us small pockets. It is within those markets that we have been able to maintain some space of our own, though not nearly as much as we once had.”
“You are part of multiple cycles,” I said. That would explain why he had been so powerful and had so much energy.
The Sharath nodded. “I serve as a linkage between the Djarn people and the kingdom.”
“Are there other cycles within the kingdom?”
The Sharath watched me. “You would be the first.”
The words hung in the air. They felt dangerous, as if I had done something I should not have. “I wasn’t trying to do anything to harm the dragons.”
The Sharath cocked a brow. “Did you get the impression I was disappointed?”
“No, I just—”
“Just because something hasn’t been done in the kingdom before doesn’t mean it should not have been done. Having the dragons as a part of something like that gives them the ability to be more powerful than they would be otherwise. It allows them to heal and recover. As you have no doubt detected, the energy flows from one dragon to the next, and within that flow is a connection that binds them, bridging them together.”
“I have felt that,” I admitted.
“And you have no doubt learned that by doing so, you can heal the dragons, and you find that your own power is not nearly as diminished as it would be otherwise.”
It fit with my experience. I had seen my energy increase by connecting to many dragons.
“Why hasn’t the king done it before?”
“Dragon mages are interesting,” he said. “They have potential, and there is no doubt that they have the ability to understand the power that the dragons possess, but many dragon mages have been unwilling to share.”
“What do you mean?”
“You are a part of the cycle. What do you think I mean?”
I frowned, thinking.
“They have to share something of themselves,” I said.
“They do,” the Sharath said. “The cycle is such that it pulls from all who are a part of it. The people recognize that, and recognize the value in bonding them together. When you’re connected long enough, you can begin to understand that connection, and you can begin to glean valuable insight from it. It makes it easier.”
“Easier?”
“Indeed,” he said. “You can communicate.”
“With the dragons?”
He held my gaze for a moment. “You can communicate with others.”
I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I see.”
“Do you?”
“I think so. What you’re saying is that by connecting, we are able to visit with those we could not reach otherwise.”
“Very good. Now, you will also find you can use that. That power grants you an understanding of the others who are a part of your circle—or cycle, as it were. Much like they can have an understanding of you.”
I looked over to Natalie. “How many cycles are you a part of?”
“None.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t serve the people like that,” she said softly.
Her father watched her, regarding her for a moment. “Do not be disappointed in this,” he said. “You serve, only you serve in your own way.”
“I would like to serve in a way that helps the people,” she muttered.
“And you do.”
“I don’t feel as if I do.”
He chuckled. “Ah, but time will change things. That is, if we have the opportunity for it to change things.” He turned his attention to me. “I suppose you don’t fully understand all of this.”
“I don’t,” I agreed. “All I know is that something has been taking place, and I have been doing my best to try to understand it.”
“I know.”
“Which is why I’m afraid of what I told you,” Natalie said. “With the Vard moving, I’m worried about what it means.”
“It means nothing,” he said. “We have sent riders to intervene.”
“How many?”
The Sharath chuckled, leaning back in his chair, watching. “I’m not sure you need to be involved in this, Natalie.”
“At least tell me how many you sent. I think I deserve to know that.”
“We have sent a dozen. Three dragon mages went with them.”
I frowned, thinking about what I had detected when we were out there. The pull upon us was potent, and it was enough that I had barely managed to escape.
But then I thought of how the king had neutralized the Vard before.
He thought they were attacking from the south.
And moving on Berestal.
“That can’t destroy Berestal,” I said.
I had to go. As I got to my feet, I felt the Sharath’s power push me back.
“They will not destroy anything,” he said.
I looked at him, searching for confirmation. I didn’t know if he could be trusted. I didn’t know if the king could be trusted.
That bothered me.
I had to try a different approach.
“The dragon mages won’t be able to withstand that kind of an attack,” I said.
“Why do you say that?” the Sharath asked.
“Because I know what I felt,” I said, looking to Natalie. I wanted to be done with this. I wanted to find the green dragon, make my way to Berestal, and stop the other attackers.
By using my cycle—or by adding more to it—I thought I could.
“I know what was out there. I know there was something more than you believe. We know the Vard have been a threat to the kingdom.” I had to acknowledge that. Given everything I’d heard from others, including Natalie, I believed the Vard truly did pose a threat to the kingdom, and if they were left unchecked, they would continue to be a threat. “But they aren’t the only factor. They might not even be the only ones who want to target the kingdom.”
“You know what you think you felt,” he said. “Thankfully, there has been no sign of anything more.”
“Listen,” I said, leaning forward. The dragons connected to me gave me a bit more agitation, and I recognized they were troubled by all of this as well. I needed to be done talking. It was time to act. “I felt the connection. I felt what they were trying to do. The Vard were attempting to connect to the cycle. If they managed to do that . . .”
“The Vard wouldn’t connect to a cycle,” he said. “They would have no ability to do so.”
“From what Natalie told me—”
“And what has Natalie told you?” the Sharath asked. “She has seen very little of the world.”
I hesitated. Did I have time for conversation? “She moved around with you,” I said.
“She has, but that doesn’t mean she understands.”
I looked over to her, and saw Natalie frowning. She was irritated at her father.
“Let me tell you what happened to me,” I said. “When I went to investigate, I could feel the Vard pulling upon me. I could feel their energy as it cycled. I could feel the way they tried to connect to my cycle. Had I not drawn as
much energy as I had from the dragons, I might not have been able to withstand it. As it was, I barely managed to.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could feel the energy they were trying to pull off of me. When I went with Thomas into the Vard lands, I felt something there, as well.”
“You felt something in the Vard lands?” He watched me. “When was this?”
“A few days ago. Thomas thought I needed to know about the Vard lands so I could better understand what we’re dealing with. I think he wanted to ensure I understood it mostly because I kept pushing him, trying to get him to protect my homeland.”
“What exactly did you detect?”
“I detected the pull of the Vard—their attempt to latch on to the dragons and to link to the cycle. I detected . . .”
It was powerful, and even as I focused on it now, I could still feel that energy. It flowed, coming off of the dragons, coming to me. It came slowly, but still it came.
I had to continue cycling power through me and giving it to the dragons. I didn’t know if there were anything more taking place, but I felt there had to be.
Maybe I could use my existing cycle to add other dragons to it. If I could deflect their attack . . .
“The Vard should not have been able to pull upon the cycle. It would be too powerful for them.”
“I understand that, but I’m telling you what I detected from them. It was more than what I expected,” I said.
He frowned at me. “I see.”
“Do you? Because what I’m telling you is that—”
“What you’re telling me is that you fear the Vard, but let me tell you that there are no Vard that would need to be feared for something like that.”
“Even if they were Servants of Affellah?” I asked.
He frowned at me. “The servants have not been seen outside of Vard lands in a long time.”
“They would be if they were missing one of their own,” Natalie said. “Thomas captured one of the Servants.”
His eyes widened. “He has not reported that.”
“Should he have?” I asked.
“The king would’ve wanted to know.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Natalie said. “But there might be a reason Thomas would have withheld that information.”
The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) Page 21
