Only, those who could speak the truth were dead.
“Why is it that our friendship would make this easier?” I asked.
“Because it involves something you must have felt with all of this. There is a certain connection required.”
“The cycle.”
She frowned. “Perhaps. Others might call it something different. It is the connection that formed from the dragons to these vessels.”
“I tried to separate the dragons from them, but it didn’t work.”
She shook her head. “It probably wouldn’t. You have to know the key.” She traced her finger over the writing on one of the vases and turned to look at me. “I need you to hold on to the energy that you control from the dragons. Focus on holding it within you. It’s going to be painful, Ashan. I wish there were another way, but for us to separate the dragons from the vessel, the power flowing into it needs to be stored somewhere else.”
“You want to store it within me.”
“You need to break the connection. Do you think you can do it?”
I nodded. I didn’t know what choice I had, anyway. I had to somehow figure out how to hold that power inside. As I thought about it and what it would require, I didn’t know if I had the necessary strength to do so. I had to try though. For the dragons, and for all of them that had suffered, I had to try.
“Just let me know when you’re ready,” she said.
“I think I am.”
“Good. Now, you should be able to feel the power within this vessel. When you do, I want you to pull it to you, but don’t draw more through it. Does that make any sense?”
I nodded. “I think I can do that.”
She smiled at me. “Good. Now go ahead.”
As I stared at the vase, I frowned. I thought about everything I had seen with Natalie and the dragons, and the way that she had been watching.
Observing closely. Carefully.
Almost too carefully.
She had a connection to the dragons. She had to.
But even as I watched her, I didn't see anything from her that suggested she did, certainly nothing on her face that would reveal that to me.
“If you understand it, and if you have a connection to the dragons, you can do it too.”
“Unfortunately, it would only complicate things.” She looked up at me, smiling. “Anyway. I think you can do this.”
I started pulling the power from the vase to me. Rather than letting that power cycle through to the other dragons, I held on to it. As I did, I thought about what Donathar had done.
I glanced over to the dragon, still resting. I chuckled.
“What is it?” Natalie asked.
“Just what happened to Donathar.”
She looked over to the dragon, frowning. “I understand the dragon ate him.”
I nodded.
“That is troubling.”
Other than losing his testimony about the truth of the attack, Donathar’s death didn’t bother me. “He was trying to use power he shouldn’t have been using. The dragon was only protecting himself.”
“I don’t know if it was necessary though,” she said, watching the dragon.
I didn’t know if I agreed. At this point, having Donathar gone was probably the best outcome. I turned my attention back to the vase, pulling power through it. Energy filled me and I held on to it. While this was happening, Natalie did something. She traced her fingers along the vase. As I stored that energy within me, I felt it solidify. It lingered.
“Hold it,” she said.
She continued to trace her fingers along the vase. I held on to the power as best as I could as the vase emptied. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on to it,” I said.
She flicked her gaze up. “It’s almost done.”
She did something I couldn’t see. My focus was on the power within the vase, trapping it inside of me. I kept it stored deep within me until there came a burst. Then I could feel how I was separated from the vase. It was no longer a part of the cycle.
I released the power and it cycled back to the other dragons.
“Did you feel that change?” she asked, looking up at me.
“I did. It was . . . interesting.”
“Interesting and not painful?”
I shrugged. “It didn’t feel painful.”
She flashed a smile. “Good. We have a few more to do.”
We went one at a time. With each vase that we released, the power returning to the dragons, something shifted within the cycle. All of the dragons started to feel stronger. I started to feel stronger. It became easier for me to hold on to power.
When it was all done, she glanced over to the large black dragon. “Only one more.”
“I never saw that one.”
“Few people have,” she said softly.
She stood, going off to the dragon, and whispered something. The dragon got up and moved to the side of the room, the shadows shifting as he did. When he was gone, I saw a circular, opaque item set into the floor. It reflected some of the light around us, but I couldn’t make much else out about it.
“What is that?”
“That is the last one you have to release the dragons from. It’s an old vessel. One of the oldest. It has long been used to keep this place safe. I don’t know how Donathar learned it was here. He should not have known about it. More than that, he should not have been able to access it.”
I crouched down next to it. It was strangely milky looking and seemed to shift colors a bit. I could feel power within it—dragon power cycling through, which I now had a connection to. All of that seemed important, only I wasn’t sure why.
“Why does the king have it here?”
She looked over to me, holding my gaze for a moment.
I frowned and glanced down, looking at the other vessels. What had we believed about them? That they were from
