Which meant I could influence that.
There. I could feel him. I began to focus on his connection to the cycle, and the way he was bound within it, and started to shift his flow of power.
I did it subtly. It wasn’t something I even fully understood. All I knew was that I was using a bit of power that seemed familiar to me, power that came from the dragons, and guidance that came from them as well.
All along, I’d wondered whether the dragons had some way of communicating. Perhaps they couldn’t speak—though I wasn’t at all convinced they couldn’t—but they could communicate with me through their connection to power. I just had to be open to it and acknowledge that power. As the energy flowed, I recognized what the dragons were doing and how they guided me. They showed me what needed to happen, sending power sweeping into the vase.
That power was what I needed to control, what I needed to hold on to—and what I could use.
I started to push it into the vase.
At first, Donathar didn’t seem to know what I was doing. He grinned at me, and I realized he had still been talking. I had been so focused on trying to connect to the dragon energy that I had ignored what he said.
“Thomas is coming,” I said.
I needed to delay him. I didn’t know what else I might say to him in order to do so.
“Thomas has gone in search of the Djarn. He’s been convinced that they intend to attack.”
“Because of you.”
He shrugged. “I can’t deny that. It’s been far too useful for me to convince him of that. Much like convincing the king to chase the Vard has served our purposes.”
“Thomas is on his way back to the capital. It won’t be long before he returns.”
Power flowed out of him. Before long, he would overwhelm me with it.
“You have some potential. I can understand why he wanted to work with you. Had you some more time to experience your connection, perhaps you might have understood what needed to be done, but unfortunately . . .”
He continued calling power, and it continued to flow out from him, drawing off of me as well. Here I thought I could use what I knew about the dragons and the connection between them—that I could summon that power so I could prevent him from surging energy—but he was far too skilled.
What had Thomas said about that though?
The Academy believed skill mattered more than strength.
There was an element of skill that was important. I didn’t know nearly what I needed to about the power of the dragons, and perhaps I might not learn it quickly enough.
What I had was strength.
I could feel it burning within me. That strength was what had drawn Thomas to me, what had drawn the green dragon to me, and what allowed me as an older student to have success in the Academy, where I was not meant to thrive.
That was what I needed to draw upon.
I could use that. I had the strength necessary to do what needed to be done. I had the necessary power. All I had to do now was open myself to it, feel that energy, and let it flow into me.
And I had to stop him.
It wasn’t so much a matter of knowing more than him. He had knowledge. What I had was a connection to the dragons, which granted me strength. I had formed this cycle. There was ownership to it, and that ownership mattered.
I focused on the green dragon. He was the first one I added to the cycle. I moved on to the golden-scaled dragon, and then with each dragon I focused upon, the cycle formed within me more solidly. Finally, I worked through the captured dragons that I had added to the cycle, and then to Donathar—the last part of the cycle.
Then I forced his energy through the vase. I made sure his power went in and what was in the vase came out and to me. That was how the cycle formed, and that was how I could command it.
He gasped, his eyes going wide.
I dropped the other vases I held and darted toward him, but he reacted. He started to call upon power, though even as he did, I forced more of it into the vase, confining his own energy.
“You’re a part of this as well,” I said.
He glared at me. “Do you think you can hold me?”
I grunted. “No.”
I could still feel something though. There was a new sense of energy nearby.
It seemed to hurry down the stairs, and suddenly Donathar turned toward it.
He tried to grasp for the power of the dragons, attempting to wrest control over the cycle from me, but he could not. I had that control. I maintained it. And I made certain to hold onto it, ensuring I trapped that energy here.
I could feel something moving, energy flowing, and I raised my head slightly, turning in the direction of the staircase.
When I did, my heart skipped.
I didn't know if I was saved—or doomed.
Thomas arrived, the king one step behind him, dressed in a flowing gray gown. The Sharath was with him and his gaze lingered on me before turning to Donathar.
“What is this?” the king demanded.
“It’s this student,” Donathar said quickly. “I caught him down here. He’s been working with Thomas, as you suspected, and has attempted to use the power of the dragons to overthrow you.”
The king turned his attention to me. “Is that true?” He glanced past me, looking to the three vases now resting at my feet.
It looked bad. I knew it did.
“I caught him here,” I said. “I felt dragons throughout the city. Dragons that were injured.
