“I am a Servant of Affellah,” the Servant said, his voice terrifying, but he tipped his head, and I felt something tingle, almost as if there was a surge of magic upon me.
“You’re making a mistake,” Thomas said.
“They will destroy the capital. They will destroy all of these people.”
Thomas shook his head. “That won’t be possible.”
“You might not think so, but I’ve seen the way the lava is flowing. The Sharath is holding them off, at least for now, but I don’t know how much longer he can withstand what is taking place.”
“Ashan . . . this is our chance. We have an opportunity to use this to understand the Vard in a way we have not been able to.”
“Not this way,” I said.
Through the connection I now shared with Natalie, and the cycle that she had joined, I could feel something else: the way the Sharath struggled. Though he pulled on power, attempting to resist, it was almost too much. Eventually, he would be overwhelmed by the power that was out there, and the capital would fall.
“We can’t release him. We can learn so much.”
“Not this way,” I said again.
If we failed here, the capital would fall. Given what I’d seen from the king, I didn’t even know if I cared, but there were innocent people within the capital. Too much would be lost. Worse, I couldn’t help but feel as if the king wanted to fight the Vard. This was not something I wanted.
I had never wanted to fight.
Maybe that was from my upbringing on the edge of the kingdom, situated so close to the Wilds as I was. Maybe I really didn’t serve the king or the kingdom.
I didn’t want war, though. It didn’t help anyone. It certainly didn’t help the people of the capital. And it didn’t help the Vard.
Even if Thomas didn’t believe me, I had to get through to him, somehow.
Thomas was a part of the cycle, and now that Natalie had been connected to the cycle of the Djarn, he might have some way of seeing something else—a shared vision, what I could make out through that connection.
I pushed through, cycling power from myself to Natalie, and she nodded.
It went into Thomas.
Thomas sucked in a sharp breath, and his eyes widened slightly. He blinked, trembling, and as I pushed on him, I felt a hint of resistance, something I hadn’t been aware of before. There was a hiccup as I tried to send the cycle through him, one that reminded me of what I had felt when the dragons had been targeted.
Why would I feel that within Thomas?
“No,” Thomas whispered, drawing my attention away from trying to probe along the cycle and trying to understand him.
“You see it?” I asked. Through the cycle, I had tried to reveal to him what Natalie and I had seen along the border of the Southern Reach. We had seen the danger, and we had seen just how much violence was there, but more than that, we had seen what we needed to do to stop it.
Even the Djarn had seen it. They had done what was necessary.
And now we would have to.
“The Sharath is trying to reach the king, but I’m not sure he will be able to. You need to talk with him. You need to make him understand that there was no other way.”
Thomas licked his lips. I felt a surge of power as he pushed through the cycle, but then it loosened. At that point, I realized he had some protection looped around the Servant, which he relaxed.
“Go,” Thomas said.
The Servant regarded him. “You will stop your attack?”
“You attacked us,” Thomas said.
I wasn’t about to get into an argument with either of them at this point, but I had a feeling they were both wrong. The Vard hadn’t attacked, and neither had the kingdom.
I had a feeling both sides were used.
The problem was that I didn’t understand who was using them.
“Go,” Thomas said again.
The Servant stared at him. “You learn nothing by destroying.”
I frowned at the Servant. “Is that how you really feel? We could have peace between our people. We could have understanding.” I glanced from the Servant to Thomas. If one of them would relent, we might have a breakthrough—only, I didn’t think either side would be willing to do so.
“You would seek the understanding of Affellah?” the Servant asked.
There was more to the question than just what he asked.
And I understood. Our people needed to find peace. They needed to find understanding. How could we do that if we continued to fight?
I was not of the kingdom. At least, I didn’t feel that way. I was not of the Vard, either.
What if I could learn from both?
If I did this, I ran the risk of never being a dragon mage.
Not the way I wanted to be, at least.
“I would learn about Affellah,” I said.
The Servant regarded me. “None of the kingdom have ever wanted to learn of Affellah.”
I glanced to Thomas, then Natalie, and finally back to the Servant. If we could stop the fighting, put an end to it, we could find peace.
And it would have to start somewhere.
Why not with me? Why not with a student, an outcast within the Academy?
“I would,” I said.
“Ashan—”
I shook my head. “If it will bring an end to the fighting, I will go with you. I will learn of Affellah. But if you attempt to attack me, I will resist.” I frowned at him. “As I’m sure you’re aware from your attempt to draw upon my power, I can resist.”
I had no idea whether I’d have the ability to do that within their lands, but at this point, I felt we needed answers, understanding, and peace.
It wasn’t going to come any other way.
“The terms are acceptable.”
I nodded. With that, I felt a surge I could no longer resist. It came from the Servant, and it latched on to me, binding me. It was too fast and sudden for me to prevent, but there was no pain, no danger, only a flash of heat and fire that flowed through me.
I wondered whether I had made a mistake.
19
I rode atop the green dragon, far more stiffly than usual. Power cycled out of the dragon, into me, and flowed through the cycle, connecting me to Natalie and Thomas, giving me at least a feeling of their presence. They were out there, even though they were not with me. I no longer knew when I’d see them again.
Wind whipped around, swirling past me. I could feel the energy of the wind, could feel its power as it flowed around us, and it left me uncomfortable.
Some of that discomfort came from the fact that the Servant sat in front of me.
He rode atop the dragon too, seemingly far more comfortable than me. He sat with his hand resting on the dragon, but made no effort to hold on tightly. His body, his entire posture, gave off a relaxed feeling.
And it worried me.
He shouldn’t be comfortable. The Servant didn’t care for dragons, but he really shouldn’t want to bring someone connected to the dragons the way I was into his lands, someone who was a part of the Academy. A dragon mage.
Only I was uncomfortable.
I felt almost as much discomfort as I had when traveling into the Vard lands. As we neared the edge of the Southern Reach, where I could see movement down below, the ground started to shift, becoming darker, angrier. I wasn’t entirely sure what it was, only that as I stared, I could see some aspect of it changing. It was rippling, as if the power that existed down below was trying to course through everything. I needed to do something here, but I didn’t know what.
“You must travel above them if you want Affellah to calm,” the Servant said.
We traveled from Berestal, along the border, and passed over the first of the pits. As we did, there came a powerful surge of heat radiating off of the Servant. That power slammed into the pit, and the lava flow suddenly abated. The dragon on the ground next to it lurched. I felt a pulse of power through the cycle, and I understood. The dragon wanted me to
link him to our cycle. I pushed power outward, looping that dragon in, and fed it power from the cycle.
The Servant looked back at me. “What was that?”
“I was trying to make sure the dragon was unharmed,” I said.
Could he tell what I was doing?
Already I worried about what connection had formed between me and the Servant. I could feel something from him, could feel the way he had touched upon me, using his strange power. I had to be careful with it, and because I could feel it, I knew he could probably feel something from me, too.
We made our way to the next pit. Like the last one, the Servant used some strange power, and the lava stopped pouring from it. I helped the dragon, joining it to the cycle, and the Servant looked back at me, seemingly aware of how I touched upon the power of the dragon.
I didn’t explain anything this time.
We traveled along the border, and I realized there were eleven separate pits—all of them ceased flowing as we passed over them.
“What about the one in the capital?” I asked.
“What about it?”
“You need to stop that, as well.”
“There is no attack on your capital,” he said. “I have told you who was responsible.”
“You said nothing other than—”
“Murtar.” He fell silent as we flew. “I will show you the real danger. Then you will understand.”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about it, though I’d long suspected there was another faction responsible. I didn’t know who the Murtar were, but I would learn. Then I would bring that knowledge back to the kingdom. And we could use it to keep our people safe.
For now, I wanted to ensure the capital was safe.
I focused on the cycle. Adding these eleven dragons had increased the cycle, and over time, I had to hope that power would grow.
It might diminish the possibility that others within the kingdom could join the cycle, at least until Thomas understood it well enough to add dragon mages. Perhaps the Sharath would share with him, and give him enough information to know how to add power to it.
Within that cycle, I found Natalie. There was a hint of worry—a concern for me and what I might face. Strangely, I was far more aware of it than I had been before. I focused on what she might be seeing, and strained, wanting to know whether the capital had cooled.
It took a while, but a vision slowly began to drift into my mind.
I could see it.
The tunnels that had started to fill with flame had cooled.
I had no idea how long they would remain cool, or whether there was anything else that would change, but for now, it seemed as if the Servant had calmed the attack on the kingdom.
“Are you satisfied?” the Servant asked, looking at me.
“As much as I can be.”
“Now you must live up to your bargain.”
As he said it, I felt a burst of pressure within me. There was something he did, some aspect of power he pushed upon, that I could feel within me when he spoke. There was an energy to him.
I breathed out slowly before focusing on the dragon, and we began to fly to the south. As we crossed over the Southern Reach, I studied the plains, watching the ground flow past. And then we flew beyond.
Everything shifted. The landscape was bleak—all black rock, cooled lava. I knew it wasn’t like this indefinitely from when we had gone deeper into the Vard lands, but this aspect of it was strange and foreign, even more so than it had been when I had gone from Berestal to the capital.
I had no idea how long I’d have to stay, no idea what my commitment might be. I could feel the power coming off of the Servant, even if I didn’t know what it meant. That power seemed to grow the farther we traveled, and it left me with an increasing anxiety.
Distantly, I was fully aware of something else.
The air grew warmer. It had a strange sulfuric stench to it. Something rumbled, reminding me of thunder. We passed through a thick cloud of smoke, then I saw Affellah in the distance.
I could feel something surge within the connection that I suddenly understood had been formed between me and the Servant. I didn’t know what it meant, only that there was power within it. The farther we went, the closer we got to Affellah, the more I felt it. Strangely, it seemed to draw off of the volcano. It was filled with heat, power, and fire.
The Servant looked back at me, and something flared deep within me. The connection he had forced. I knew I had overestimated my ability—and underestimated the power of the Servants.
Affellah suddenly surged with flame, and lava spewed out, as if to signal its agreement.
Read on for how to grab the next Cycle of Dragons book, but I hope you’ll also check out book 1 in an exciting new series: Alchemist Apprentice.
A mistake will change Sam’s life and show him the truth of magic he never imagined.
When the mysterious Alchemist Havash comes to his small village on the edge of the kingdom to test Sam’s sister, a terrible mistake puts Sam at his mercy. Taken from his position learning minor alchemy from his stepfather, he’s brought to the Academy of Arcane Arts where he’s forced to serve Havash in a brutal penance.
Friendless and alone, Sam struggles to survive his punishment. But when he discovers evidence of a dangerous plot to destroy the powerful Alchemy known by only a few in the Academy, Sam is tested in a way he’d never imagined. He must use mind and wits dulled during his service to Havash.
The only thing that can help him in his desperate race to stop the attack is a stolen artifact of true Alchemy, but it’s a magic he barely understands—and shouldn’t even be able to use.
The next book in The Cycle of Dragons is: The Summoned Dragon.
Separated from the cycle of dragons, Ashan must find himself in a dangerous land.
The kingdom has warred with the Vard long enough. Having gone with the Servant of the Vard, Ashan hopes to end that violence. First he must find himself—even if it means coming to understand the strange Vard magic.
When he uncovers an ancient and dangerous threat unlike anything he’s ever encountered that once spread throughout the Vard lands, he begins to understand his enemy. As Ashan discovers the threat might still be active, he learns the truth behind the Vard actions and their hatred of dragons.
He came to the Vard to understand them, but what can he do if the threat has already spread to his people?
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading The Lost Dragon. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful. Review link HERE.
Want to send me a message?
[email protected].
Join my reader group! Dan Michaelson Newsletter
Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook as well!
All our best,
Dan Michaelson
D.K. Holmberg
For more information:
www.dkholmberg.com
Series by Dan Michaelson
Cycle of Dragons
The Alchemist
Similar Series by D.K. Holmberg
The Dragonwalkers Series
The Dragonwalker
The Dragon Misfits
The Dragon Thief
Cycle of Dragons
Copyright © 2021 by ASH Publishing
Cover art by Damonza
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
lter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
The Lost Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 3) Page 26
