The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) by Dan Michaelson (best free ereader TXT) 📕

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