He shook his head slightly. “Perhaps she should return.”
“Father,” Natalie said. “I can be of use.”
The Vard were traveling fast, moving ever farther south, and the farther and faster they went, the more I knew we were going to start feeling the effect of the Vard, and the connection that came from it. As I focused on that energy and power, I recognized that we had only a limited time before we ran out of chances to turn back.
“You can be of use, but I fear what might happen if we linger here too long.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said.
“You aren’t part of the circle.”
“I could be, if you would let me.”
“It is not for me to decide,” he said.
“Father—”
He turned, looking as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t have a chance.
His white dragon suddenly descended, streaking downward, as if he had been struck.
“What happened?” I called after him.
Even as I said it, I could feel the effect, and I could tell that something had shifted and changed. I didn’t know what it was, only that something had changed for the dragon, and that there was some effort put forth that had shifted and had targeted him.
The dragon was suffering.
I focused on the green dragon, borrowing the power from within him, and used that to try to figure out whether there was a way for me to help. The Sharath’s dragon wasn’t a part of my cycle though. Considering that, I didn’t know if I could do anything to help him.
“Father?” Natalie called. There was panic in her voice, and she shouted after him, but he continued to descend, dropping ever farther to the ground.
And I had to help.
I pushed on a pulse of power through the connection I shared with the green dragon, and we suddenly dropped as we chased the white dragon.
“Turn around,” the Sharath said.
“I’m not leaving you alone like this,” I said.
“You can do nothing.”
“I can help.”
“If they have enough power to overwhelm me, they would certainly have enough power to overwhelm you.”
I frowned. Why hadn’t they targeted me?
Unless they were, and I wasn’t paying attention to it.
I focused on what I could feel from the Sharath’s dragon. I didn’t feel any effort beneath me from the Vard. There was nothing other than the slight touch of power. Why was the Sharath targeted the way he was?
Because he was the most powerful of us. The attackers must have focused on him because it was easier. Or harder. Focus on the one they needed to get rid of first, then they could focus on me.
Which meant I had some time.
I had to act quickly. I didn’t know how long the Sharath had to live, but if he was targeted by the Vard, it couldn’t be long.
In the distance, I noticed a flickering light. It was glowing, despite the brightness of the day. It had to be the Vard.
Not just the Vard, but the Servants of the Vard.
I looked back. In the distance, I saw Natalie.
She started thrashing, the dragon struggling.
She was under attack.
I tapped on the dragon’s side, and we turned, shifting direction, heading back to Natalie.
“I can’t control it,” she said. “There’s something wrong here. The dragon is struggling.”
The Vard were pulling on her.
Natalie gasped. She continued to thrash and struggle, barely holding on to the dragon.
“Ashan?” Her voice was strained. Pained. “I feel . . .”
She never finished as she collapsed onto the dragon.
I looked up at the dragon, then to Natalie, and there was only one thing that came to mind. She was susceptible to the Vard because she wasn’t part of the cycle.
I hoped she would forgive me.
I pressed out from the dragon cycle, focusing on her dragon first. If I got control of that dragon, I could bridge it to my cycle and help her. I forced the dragon into the cycle.
There came a surge of power, and I suddenly felt the effect the Vard were having on the dragon. More than that, I knew exactly what I needed to do to help the dragon. I could add power to it from the cycle, and we could resist the Vard together.
The dragon roared, flames shooting from his mouth.
The dragon was freed. Natalie hadn’t gotten up yet. I had to help her. I had saved dragons before, but this was something different. This was somehow adding a person to the cycle.
Did it mean that we would be forever linked?
I had no idea, but I figured that would be something to question later. For now, I had to focus on what I could do to help her.
I pulled up alongside her and looked over to her. “Natalie. I need you to join my cycle.”
She looked over at me. Her eyes were wide, panicked. “I don’t know if I can.”
“I need you to try. I don’t know how to do it.”
“Ashan?”
“You need to reach for the cycle. Focus on the energy.”
“I don’t know what it’s going to take,” she said.
“I can push the power outward, but you’re going to have to add to it.”
I started to cycle the power, and I pushed it toward her. Suddenly I could feel Natalie trying to latch on to the cycle.
I could understand why it was so difficult for others to grab on to the power within a cycle if they didn’t have a connection to the dragons. I could feel her influence, and I could feel the way she tried reaching for the connection, but I could also feel how I could impact and diminish it.
There had to be a way to add even more power.
I surged again, sending heat outward and letting it flow into Natalie. It exploded outward and she was there. I could feel her connection, and I could feel the cycle between us form.
It was strange being so aware of somebody else.
It was similar to what I felt with the dragons, how I could detect that pulsing of power, but this was different in that
