The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) Read online

  If it had been the Vard, they’d proven they could infiltrate the kingdom.

  If it were something else . . .

  Then we still didn’t know who or what it was.

  Only that we might still be in danger.

  Elaine might be dead—impaled by the dragon—but Barton had escaped.

  I wondered if I would be asked to try to help. I had helped once before. Maybe Manuel would request me to help again.

  Or maybe not.

  I was only a student, after all, and one who struggled with having any connection to the dragons—at least, any meaningful connection. Maybe I had a connection, but so far, it had not proven to be the most effective for doing anything.

  Manuel nodded to me. "Keep working," he said.

  “Did you deliver the letter to me?”

  Manuel frowned. “Letter?”

  “From my friend Joran. He and his father are coming to visit. I thought . . .”

  Maybe it hadn’t been Manuel.

  There were other caravans that came from Berestal. I don’t know why I would’ve expected it to have been Manuel.

  “You keep working. I need to get back to my search. Keep your eyes open.” He glanced over to the Academy. “You know better than most the dangers of the Vard.”

  I wanted to say something to him about how I wasn’t convinced the Vard had attacked, but decided against it. Instead, I nodded. Manuel glanced to the sky, as if searching for the missing dragons, before whistling and jogging toward the trees, the mesahn loping after him.

  I couldn’t help feeling as if something were taking place that I needed to know more about, but I knew that there wasn’t anything I could do. It was better that I focus on my studies and see if I could master some measure of control over the dragons—if I ever could.

  9

  I fingered the letter that my sister had sent and skimmed through it, working through the timing. I had no idea when Joran would arrive, but considering how long it would’ve taken Alison to have gotten word to me, I suspected that it would still be another week, maybe more.

  I found myself wandering in the early morning. I was supposed to have met Thomas again, but he wasn’t there. Maybe I was early. I had been eager to meet up with him to learn more about how to control the power, which he had been trying to demonstrate, but it was more than just eagerness—it was a need.

  I walked along the edge of the forest, looking back at the city. It looked like a massive clearing in the forest, as if the trees had granted permission to the city to grow within it. It left the impression that the forest tried to press inward, like it wanted to reclaim its space, but was blocked because of the city and its inhabitants.

  Perhaps it was more about the dragons here and the power they possessed.

  I reached a narrow road.

  This was where I had come to the city in the first place. In the distance, I saw figures moving along the road. They were pushing a wagon out of the forest.

  There weren’t many people who came out of the forest. Could it be the Djarn? They had been moving. I’d seen it. What I didn’t know was why.

  They wouldn’t have a wagon—and they wouldn’t have revealed themselves coming out of the forest.

  Which meant that it was somebody else. I doubted it was one of the Hunters. They traveled with the mesahn, and not with wagons like this.

  Maybe it was Joran and his father. His father knew the Djarn, and might have been permitted to travel along the Djarn path. It would be strange to encounter them like this, but I remained hopeful.

  I headed into the trees, ducking off to the side of the road, and watched. Waiting. It took a while, but the travelers made their way toward me, and as they did, my hope faded.

  It wasn’t Joran or his father.

  It was a couple, both of them a little older, the woman with some gray streaks in her brown hair and the man with close-cropped silver hair. Both of them had deep brown eyes, and I regarded them for a long moment, trying to decide if they looked like the Djarn, or if they were just people of the kingdom.

  I backed into the trees, hiding near one of the trunks, and waited.

  They moved past me, pushing the wagon as I stared at it. It was a simple wooden wagon, large enough to carry goods, but not much more than that, though I suspected they had been trading with the Djarn.

  Interesting.

  Out on the plains, only Joran’s father traded with the Djarn, though that was mostly because they were comfortable with him, and I wondered if others would have been granted the same ability if they had had a chance to meet. Very few people wanted that opportunity though. Most feared what the Djarn might do, believing that they might use their strange magic—and everybody believed they had magic—against them.

  When they were past, I stepped out of the trees and started making my way back toward the Academy. It was still early enough that I could try to catch Thomas, though with the sun rising in the horizon, I suspected I might miss him.

  I’d have to wait and hope he’d come the next day. I still had my regular classes at the Academy to attend, so staying here was not going to accomplish anything other than drawing attention to my absence.

  By the time I reached the part of the city where the Academy stretched into view, I was tired, hungry, and thirsty from the walk. As I headed toward the building, a single figure made its way along the road away from the Academy.

  I recognized the dark hair, the loping gait, and the solid form.

  “Joran?”

  The figure pulled to a stop. I hadn’t been sure, but knowing that he had been heading to the capital had given me hope that it might be him.

  “Ashan. Damn, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find you. I went to the Academy, and some sour-faced woman—well, girl, I think—answered the door and said you weren’t there. She muttered something about you not staying for long, anyway, before she sent me away.”

  I snorted. It was probably one of the other students—though which one? At this point, so many of them were annoyed by my presence that it wouldn’t surprise me that they would have told him that I had already been kicked out of the Academy. Not yet, thankfully, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened soon.

  “Can you describe her?”

  “Short blonde hair. Pretty, though she looked like she just chewed on a sour berry.”

  I chuckled. “That would be Cara.” He arched a brow at me, started to grin, and I shook my head. “No.”

  “No? I would think that out here, in the city, surrounded by all of this beauty, you would have finally found someone. It’s certainly taken you long enough.”

  “I didn’t have time before. I don’t have time now, either.”

  Joran laughed and strode across the distance, then wrapped his arms around me in a quick hug.

  I stepped back from him. “You stink.”

  “Well, I have been on the road for the better part of a week. It takes a while to get some of that stink off of you. I’d say the same about you, but you still smell how you did when you were on the farm.” He laughed and glanced over at the Academy. “So are you really able to use magic?”

  There was a hopeful expectation in his voice, and I didn’t want to do anything to disappoint him, but at the same time, I didn’t feel as if what I could do constituted magic.

  “I haven’t been here that long,” I said.

  “You mean you can’t learn to become a powerful dragon mage in a little more than a few months?”

  I laughed. “It’s good to see you.”

  I turned my gaze toward the Academy before realizing that Joran had his focus on the dragon pens.

  “You know, I have seen dragons flying, and then that time when they got to the city during the testing . . .” He tore his gaze away and looked over to me. “But this is nothing like I would’ve expected.”

  There were only three dragons in the pen at this time. Usually there were more, though I didn’t often spend too much time with them during the daytime, so it wa
s possible that the dragons that were typically here had been moved away for the day. Dragon mages worked with them constantly, heading off and taking journeys on behalf of the king, or taking them out into the forest, working with them so that they could continue to strengthen their ability.

  “They are impressive,” I said.

  “Impressive doesn’t do it justice,” he breathed out. “I mean, these are dragons. And they’re just sitting there in these cages.”

  “It’s called a dragon pen, and it really doesn’t do anything to hold them—it just keeps you from going in and getting eaten.”

  Joran’s eyes widened, and he shot me a look. “They wouldn’t really eat me, would they?”

  I shrugged. “It depends on what you do to them.”

  “As if I could do anything to a dragon,” he said. “Well, other than try to ride it. Have you done that yet?”

  I shook my head. “Supposedly if I don’t learn to be a dragon mage, I can become a dragon rider.”

  Or maybe not. I felt like I wanted to impress him.

  “Do you think you will?” he asked.

  “I’ve been trying to work with dragon magic. I can feel it, but doing anything more with it is incredibly difficult for me.”

  He shook his head, breathing out slowly. “Gods, Ashan. I can’t even imagine what it might be like for you to be able to feel that power. How is it even possible that you can do that?”

  “It is not easy.”

  “You’re talking about dragon magic! It’s not supposed to be easy.” He looked over at the Academy. “I’m sure you have training you’re supposed to be doing.”

  I did—at least, I should—but having him here, and having an opportunity to visit with my oldest friend and the one who had been with me when I had first begun to realize I had some connection to the dragons, made me think better of rushing back to the Academy. Besides, if Thomas were willing to work with me, and if I could learn from him, then it seemed almost more valuable to do that.

  “I have time.”

  “You can just leave?”

  “I’m not a prisoner here,” I said.

  “I’m not saying that you’re a prisoner. But could you imagine if you were? What prisoner is getting away from a dragon?”

  “Somebody who could control the dragons,” I said.

  “Right, but other than dragon mages, who else do you think can do that? Wait a minute,” Joran said, frowning as he looked over to me. “You didn’t seem surprised to see me.”

  “Why should I have been surprised?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe because your friend from near Berestal just made the journey to the capital and hasn’t seen you in the better part of several months.”

  I chuckled. “My sister sent me a letter.”

  “But she wouldn’t have known until after we had left,” he said, frowning and glancing to the forest.

  “Which way did you take?”

  Joran glanced to the trees. “Apparently, the roundabout one.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t realize we’d been taking that long, but it had to have been long enough for Alison to get word here ahead of us.”

  I chuckled. “Well, you are traveling with your father. Doesn’t he always prefer the longer road?”

  “Too often,” he muttered.

  “Why are you here, anyway?”

  He sighed before shaking his head. “I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much, but my father wasn’t eager for me to share the reason for our visit with anybody because of my mother and sister,” he said, shaking his head again. “Well, I told him about that Djarn city we visited, and do you know what that old trickster did? He snuck off one night, heading into the forest, and went to visit on his own. The only man I know—other than you—who discovered one of the Djarn paths and managed to navigate it. Somewhere along the line, he got caught up in what they were doing, and they asked him to take a journey for them.”

  “What do you mean ‘they asked him to take a journey for them’?”

  “They asked him to deliver something to another one of the Djarn settlements.”

  “Why couldn’t they have done it?” I thought about the Djarn that I had encountered in the forest when I was working with the dragon, feeling the heat and energy radiating off of the creature, but there had been no sense from them that they wouldn’t have been able to maneuver easily.

  “I don’t really know,” he said, shaking his head. “He just agreed to do it. I think it’s giving him freer access to their trade, and you know how my father is when it comes to the Djarn. Especially when it comes to trading with them. If he thinks it’s going to give him something more than what he had before, he’s going to take it.” He clenched his fists, but smiled as he did. “The stupid fool. It forced us through the forest. I think we were lucky to stumble across one of the Djarn paths. Of course, to hear him tell it, he knew where he was going the whole time. I don’t think we even took the path intentionally,” Joran said, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. “And I don’t even know what he brought.”

  “Where did you bring it?”

  “To another settlement—it’s not terribly far from here—and then we had to bring something else here. I don’t even know.” He chuckled again and glanced toward the forest. “At least I convinced him to take the King’s Road back. I don’t want to wander through the forest on our way back home if I don’t have to. It’s so dark in there, but he doesn’t seem to mind that, as if he’s the only one who’s risking himself traveling through there.”

  I frowned and turned my attention to the forest. First, the Djarn surrounded me when I had the dragon, and now this? What were they doing by moving things? It felt strange, but maybe that was only my imagination. Besides, I had no real reason to get involved in any of this. I was just a student, curious but untalented.

  “What is it?” he asked, looking over at me. “You look like you’re thinking hard. Either that, or you look like you’re trying to do a puzzle and failing.”

  I snorted. “The only puzzle that I can’t solve is the one that tells me why you and your father were foolish enough to risk yourselves on behalf of the Djarn.”

  His face turned serious. “You know how my father can be. And when it comes to the Djarn, and him feeling like he has to offer them . . . whatever he feels like he has to offer them . . . I just go along with it. Now I’ve got my mother and sister all tied up in the Vard, sympathizing with them, despite what happened—and they claim not to have known anything about Elaine and her intentions. Can you believe that?”

  “I have a feeling they weren’t really with the Vard,” I said.

  We fell silent and I sighed. It might be better not to think about all of that.

  “I don’t suppose you saw any other dragons on your way to the city.”

  Joran frowned. “You mean through the incredibly dense forest with a canopy that barely lets any light in?” He started to laugh. “No. We didn’t see any dragons.”

  I breathed out. That would be too easy.

  Joran gave me a soft shove. “Why don’t we wander through the city, if you can. Then you can tell me what’s on your mind, and I can tell you how ridiculous it is, the way that we used to.”

  I looked over to Joran, smiling and nodding. “I’d like that.”

  “Good. Because you won’t believe the place that my father has put us up in. It’s terrible. The room is little more than a closet, the bedding doesn’t look like it’s been washed for the better part of a week, and the food is terrible. You know how much I enjoy food. My mother is one of the best cooks on the plains.”

  “There aren’t that many people out on the plains,” I said, shooting him a look.

  “Just because there aren’t many people in the plains doesn’t diminish the quality of her skill.”

  I smiled. “I think I can help you find food.”

  “I don’t suppose you have money, do you?”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “Now you need me t
o buy your food, too?”

  “Well . . .”

  “They do provide a stipend, so this time I will, but let’s not make it a habit.”

  He grinned and we started off.

  For some reason, even as we headed away, I felt my attention drawn back to the forest, back toward the trees, and felt my mind drawn back to the Djarn. I had no idea if there was anything there that I should be concerned about, other than the fact that they had shown themselves to me during my testing. But now with Joran and his father having come to the city, on whatever mission that the Djarn had asked of them, I was left with a worried knot in the pit of my stomach.

  There was something at play here.

  There was Thomas’s sudden appearance in the city, Manuel and his mesahn, and then there was what Manuel had said to me about missing dragons.

  What if all of this was tied to the Djarn?

  Joran looked over at me, frowning again, and I forced a smile. I wasn’t going to let him think that I wasn’t thrilled to see him. I was. I had been waiting to see him ever since getting that letter from my sister, and I wasn’t going to let any strange questions that I might have spoil our time together.

  We headed away, into the city, and I forced myself to ignore everything else. I forced myself to push away the thoughts that had started to plague me, as there was no point in them, no point in trying to think about what might be; instead, I chose to focus on what was.

  10

  My spirit remained buoyed from my days spent with Joran. We had taken the entirety of the day to wander through the city. I had shown him as many of its sights as I could, including the palace itself, getting close to the gleaming white stone that towered over much of the rest of the city, giving off an aura that I could practically feel throughout the whole city, as if it were a dragon that radiated some massive, powerful energy. Throughout it all, there was a sense of something different that I couldn’t quite shake. It was the reassurance that I was spending time with a friend, but it was more than that—it was a feeling of normalcy, even if we were in a different city.