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

was oak, much like most of the doors had been, but there were bands of metal lining it, working across the surface, as if they were holding the door together. A symbol was etched into the oak, similar to what was on Jerith’s door. I traced my finger over it, feeling the way that the dragon had been carved into the door, feeling for the energy that was there, and recognizing that there was a hint of power that still sat beyond the door. The strange energy that I detected was behind it.

The dragon energy.

There should be no reason for a dragon to be there, inside the Academy itself, especially with the pens just outside. We could access the energy of the dragons easily enough, especially once we learned how to connect to them.

I tested the handle.

Maybe I should knock, but I was curious and just wanted to take a look. As I focused on the power, another surge of energy stirred up from the other side of the door, pressing into me.

That was strange. It was different than what I normally detected when I could feel the dragons. This one had an interrupted flow, as if some aspect of the power had been injured in a way. I focused on it, straining to find a connection to it, and struggling with what I did detect.

There had to be something here. Why else would there be power flowing on the other side of the door? What might it mean?

I pushed the door open just a crack, and quickly realized I needed to release my hold on the dragon—not entirely though. I let the power flow through me, and rather than tamping it down, I let the energy continue to flow, leaving me connected to the dragon—and connected to finding some access to that power, if it were necessary.

The room on the other side of the door was mostly dark. A faint light glowed in the distance.

I waited, searching for anybody else in the room, but I didn’t see anybody, and I certainly didn’t hear anybody. I stepped into the room, pushing the door mostly closed behind me. The glowing in the distance called to me, but it was more than just glowing. There was something there. I could feel it.

It had to be a dragon. I didn’t know why there would be one inside the room, down in the belly of the Academy, but I was certain that was what I detected.

I hesitated.

What if this was how the Academy planned to protect the dragons?

They could hide them here, inside the building.

Power pulled on me, as if calling me forward. That drawing sensation, that strange energy that summoned me, came from the dragon in front of me, along with the aching irritation.

Somehow, the dragon pulled upon me.

Strangely, I could feel the energy cycling from me through this other dragon—and through the green dragon. Distantly, I was aware of the other dragon I had found in the forest as well. It was still out there, though not close. Somehow, the power cycled through him, as well. I could see a flash of scales nearby, nothing more than that, enough for me to tell that it was a dragon, but which one?

I approached him. I had a sense of his size and scale, one that suggested power coming—something screamed to me that the dragon was enormous. In my mind, I had built it up to be this massive, black-scaled dragon, much like the one that Thomas had ridden away from the city, but as I neared, I discovered that wasn’t the case at all.

The dragon was small.

Of course it would be small. Why would I have thought otherwise? In order for a dragon to fit in the lower level of the Academy, it would have to be small.

“What happened?” I asked, and immediately began to feel foolish. Why or how would the dragon answer me, and how would he understand? Still, I had the same feeling about him as I did with every dragon.

They were intelligent. Maybe nearly as intelligent as people, though without any way of speaking to us—but maybe they did have a way and I just hadn’t found it yet.

The dragon continued to push power through me, though it was more than that: it was a way for the dragon to connect to and borrow from the green dragon, and surprisingly from the other dragon I detected distantly, as well. It was almost as if he needed a bit more power than what he had access to otherwise.

“I can help—”

I heard a soft scraping as the door began to open, and a whisper of wind fluttered in.

I glanced over to the door before scurrying around the back of the dragon, hiding behind him. I had no interest in getting caught someplace I wasn’t supposed to be. Most places within the Academy weren’t off-limits, but there was a dragon out here, and there had to be a secret reason for it. I held my hand out, touching the dragon’s back, pushing up behind him as I approached.

“I can smell it,” a voice said from somewhere near the door. It wasn’t familiar to me. “How do you have it down here?”

“There are tunnels that lead from here into the forest. There aren’t too many who know about them.”

“Tunnels to the forest? Who would’ve made them?”

“Those who know better,” the second person said. I moved, trying to get low enough so that I could hear what this person was saying, and trying to keep myself positioned in such a way so that I wouldn’t reveal my presence, but I needed to stay hidden behind the dragon. “Those who have learned about the tunnels have never discovered where they lead.”

I could feel somebody coming closer, could feel their heat and energy, though I didn’t know if they were aware of me yet. Suddenly, the dragon borrowed power from me, as if it were aware of my thoughts.

The other two dragons seemed to know what