Ice Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

  He took a deep breath, glancing down at the dragon pearl before looking back up and meeting the dragon’s silver eyes. “I’m here because there are others who intend to hurt you.”

  How much of this would the dragon understand? If this was a young dragon, then it was possible it wouldn’t understand much of anything.

  “Why are you here?”

  Jason frowned, cocking his head to the side and trying to look past the dragon to see if there was any movement at the entrance to the cave, but there was none.

  “I’m here so that…”

  Why was he here?

  That seemed to be the real question, and strangely, it was one the dragon seemed to recognize.

  At first, he had come because he had wanted to ensure the safety of his people. Then he had come because he thought it was necessary. But now that he was here, now that he had seen the dragon, and more than that, now that he had spoken to it, why was he here?

  For so long, he’d blamed the dragons, and he’d attributed his father’s loss to them. Yet having seen the Dragon Souls, and having met Therin and knowing the kind of person he was, he didn’t know if he could continue to blame the creatures the way that he had.

  He needed to let that go.

  His father would’ve wanted him to let that go.

  He took a deep breath.

  “I don’t know. I thought I knew. But now I don’t.” All that sounded foolish, and he didn’t know if he was wasting the dragon’s time, but at the same time, if he didn’t do something now, he worried he wouldn’t have enough time. “There is another who’s powerful. He’s going to come, and he intends to harm the dragons. He wants to control you. To train you. He wants to use you for…” Jason realized that he didn’t know exactly what it was going to be, but perhaps it didn’t matter. The Dragon Souls wanted to use and control the dragons for their own purposes.

  The dragon rumbled, and Jason waited for the creature to ask him why he was here again. Once again, he wasn’t sure that he had a good answer.

  “What do you need from me?”

  He lowered his hand but continued to hold the dragon pearl, and strangely, the light radiating from it no longer took his conscious thought in order to persist. He was thankful for that and wondered how much of it came from him, and how much of it was from the dragon itself.

  “I need to find some way to keep you safe. I don’t know how to do it.”

  “He cannot harm me.”

  “I don’t know if he can or not, but I worry he has some way of—”

  Heat built, and Jason cut off as he looked toward the entrance of the cave.

  “He’s here,” he whispered.

  He started forward, and he wasn’t sure what the dragon might do or whether the creature might try to stop him, but the dragon merely turned.

  Jason glanced over his shoulder. “You need to hide.”

  He thought the dragon might argue, but instead, the dragon sank back down into the water. When he was gone, there was no evidence he’d ever been there.

  It amazed him that the dragon would be able to tolerate the water like that.

  It was as Henry had said. The dragons adapted to their environment.

  Surprisingly, this dragon had adapted to the cold, and yet, it still left him marveling at the idea that there was so much power here.

  He started forward, squeezing the dragon pearl, holding on to that connection. It was cold, but it wasn’t nearly as cold as when his hand was exposed like this. The reverberation echoed through him, and for the first time, he thought he understood it.

  He had dragon sight.

  Whatever that meant, whatever connection that gave him to the dragons, was real.

  And it was one he thought he had to better understand.

  He reached the part of the cave where the ground narrowed again.

  “I can see you in there,” Therin said.

  “If you can see me, then come get me. If you dare.”

  “You won’t be able to hide in a cave. I’m going to take you, use you to find the dragon, and then the two of us will return to Lorach.”

  “Not to Dragon Haven?”

  “I think you have been far too troublesome. I will find Dragon Haven on my own.”

  The hatred in Therin’s voice was so different than the man he’d met when he’d first seen him in the village. How could they even be the same person?

  “Why did you kill my father?”

  “What?”

  Jason needed to buy some time, and he thought that pressing Therin on that matter might be the best way. In doing so, it added the benefit of getting some answers. Yet he wasn’t convinced Therin would have those answers, and even if he did, he wasn’t sure the other man would tell him.

  “Why did you kill my father?”

  Therin stepped forward, and strangely, he was illuminated by the white light, but it was almost as if Therin weren’t aware of that.

  It took Jason a moment to realize why that would be.

  Therin held a dragon pearl in his hand, and his own orange light glowed off him, radiating away from him, and because of that, he probably didn’t know that Jason held his own pearl.

  “Do you know how long I’ve been coming to these lands?”

  “No.”

  “Each year, I bring a few eggs to different places. Never more than that, as they are precious. I’m convinced that in the right location, we can bring about an ice dragon. Or one of earth. Or steam. Or fog. Or—"

  “Why?” Jason asked.

  “Because they’ve existed before.”

  Jason’s heart hammered.

  “Do you think I would waste eggs in a place like this if I didn’t believe such a thing was possible? We’ve found evidence of them, and yet, there have been no ice dragons. I took it upon myself to change that.”

  “Why here?”

  “It’s not only here. I place them in other places.”

  “And my father?”

  “Your father got in the way.” Therin took a step toward him, and the light made his features clear, though shadows lined his face. “Oh, yes. I remember him. He came down the backside of the mountain, looking for trade. Came across some foolish girl who had one of my eggs.”

  Tessa.

  Therin had been there.

  Therin shrugged. “I can only guess she found it. It was a mistake. He got between her and me and paid for it with his life.”

  Tessa had found the egg. His father had saved her.

  His heart hammered. His mind started to race.

  Keep your wits about you…

  Jason took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus.

  “She got away from me then. It took me a while to find where she’d gone off to. How could I ever have expected her to go up?”

  “You were looking for her,” Jason said. “When you came to the festival. That’s what you were looking for.” He took a step back, almost involuntarily, and he felt the edge of the water. His foot slipped and he caught himself, barely managing to hold on.

  “As I said, it was a mistake. Had she not had the egg, I probably would’ve left her alone, but when he got in the way of me going after her…”

  “You were looking for the egg when you came to the village.” It made sense to Jason now. Tessa might not even have known what she’d had.

  Therin shrugged. “I came to the village for several reasons. Mostly, I wondered if perhaps she’d brought the egg back to her home village, but something like that would draw attention. And then I thought that if she would have been successful in placing the egg, your festival would have drawn a dragon.”

  “You killed him for no reason. He was just protecting her!”

  “That child made the mistake of getting in the way. Do you know how hard it is to coax the few female dragons we have to lay an egg? It happens infrequently, and each egg is incredibly valuable, especially in Lorach.”

  “Because you bind the dragons in captivity,” he said.

  “You know not
hing. When you come to Lorach, I will ensure that you have the necessary education, but until then…”

  “I’m not going with you.”

  “You say that as if you have a choice. That opportunity left you long ago. Now. You will guide me to my dragon.”

  “There isn’t a dragon. You’ve made a mistake.”

  Therin grinned at him. “I don’t think so. You’ve seen too much. And everything you’ve seen suggests to me that you have seen a dragon.”

  “Why do you believe that?”

  “Why?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. He held it for a moment, long enough that Jason could recognize a dragon pearl.

  He slipped it back into a pouch—a dragonskin-lined pouch.

  “You found a pearl. You see, I wasn’t sure a dragon would be able to be born out in the wild like this, at least not without a handler to ensure its safekeeping, but when you came across the pearl, I realized one had successfully survived. No pearl could come without a dragon.”

  Jason squeezed the dragon pearl in his hand, worried that Therin might suddenly realize he had another one, but the other man continued to push him back, and yet, so far, the dragon had remained in the stream.

  “Where is it?”

  “I don’t know where I found the dragon pearl,” he said.

  “You don’t know, or you won’t share?”

  Jason glared at him.

  “I think it’s time for your people to know the power of Lorach.”

  Therin lunged toward him and Jason tried to fight, but the other man grabbed him. He held on to him, and heat radiated from him.

  Jason stiffened, squeezing his dragon pearl. If he was going to do something, he would need to work quickly, and he didn’t know how much time he had in order to act.

  It would have to be perfectly timed.

  If he could somehow push Therin into the stream, he might be able to buy himself some time. “What are you going to do to it?”

  “I think you’d better be concerned about what I’m going to do with you.”

  “Just take me. Don’t do anything to my people.”

  “We are well past that point.”

  “We aren’t. You don’t have to do anything to my people. You can—”

  Jason spun and pushed Therin.

  The other man scrambled for a moment, grabbing at air, and then he flailed more, falling into the stream.

  As he went, he swept Jason’s leg out from under him.

  He slipped, falling off the ledge, and went plunging into the stream too.

  Cold ripped through him, and it took everything in his being to try to withstand it. It was overwhelming, almost more than he could tolerate. As he splashed, trying to find a way free, he couldn’t. The cold tore at him, and Jason cried out.

  Somewhere near him, water began to steam.

  Was Therin trying to burn it off with his dragon pearl?

  The dragon pearl.

  Jason had one, too.

  He squeezed it, using his connection to the dragon pearl, that link to the power within it, and wondered if the dragon would respond.

  I need your help.

  He continued to splash but the current was pulling him downstream, moving quickly. As he went, he tried to scramble for the edge, knowing that if he were trapped underwater, the cold would be far more than he could withstand for very long.

  Already he could feel himself getting overwhelmed by the cold and the current.

  Something fluttered near him.

  Was it Therin?

  Jason tried to kick, but his hands didn’t work the way they should. One hand was missing its glove, and he didn’t know if that was a problem or not.

  At least he still held the dragon pearl, but for how much longer? He didn’t know if it would make any difference to his survival, anyway.

  The water made him numb.

  Something fluttered near him again. This time, he didn’t have the strength to kick.

  And then he felt it.

  Something enormous. It moved beneath him and undulated, and then Jason was thrown free.

  He was outside, beyond the mouth of the cave, and carried out of the water, away from the stream, and it took a moment for his cold and tired mind to realize that it was the dragon.

  The creature shook, and the water went flying from Jason.

  Surprisingly, with the cold radiating off the dragon, he wasn’t any colder than he’d been. He was drenched, though.

  Heat exploded.

  Therin cackled with laughter, stalking toward him.

  “You found it. And look at it. It’s glorious.”

  Jason couldn’t move. The dragon turned in place, and with it, he could feel the power radiating off Therin. The ice dragon didn’t appear to be doing anything to resist.

  “You have to fight,” Jason said.

  He could barely get the words out. His lips were numb. The cold was biting him, and there didn’t seem to be anything he could do.

  The dragon rumbled.

  “I can’t fight. I’m too… too… cold.”

  He shivered, trying to fight the overwhelming cold, but there was nothing in him that allowed him to struggle any longer.

  The dragon rumbled. There seemed to be some words within it, but Jason wasn’t able to make them out. Everything within him seemed frozen, even his hearing.

  The only thing he felt was a piercing cold in his hand.

  That cold began to work through him, racing up his arm, into his chest, and throughout him.

  He took a gasping breath.

  The cold persisted, but it was no longer intolerable.

  It was almost as if the dragon had given him some sort of resistance to it.

  He sat up, looking out across the landscape. Everything seemed awash in bright white light. It took him a moment to realize it radiated off the dragon, and the dragon itself was pulsing with the crystalline light, reflecting off the snow, the snowflakes, and everything all around them.

  Therin stood across from him, holding his dragon pearl out. A dark smile crossed his face. “You knew about this,” Therin said.

  Jason sat there. The dragon was large, but not large enough to pose much of a threat to Therin. And considering the other man had experience dealing with dragons, and likely fighting them, Jason wasn’t sure the ice dragon would be much of a challenge for him.

  Heat continued to build, and he thought he understood what Therin was doing.

  “He’s calling to another dragon,” Jason said.

  The ice dragon rumbled, and yet, as it did, he wasn’t sure it mattered.

  With the power building, he didn’t know if there was anything they would be able to do. If Therin was calling to a dragon, they might not be able to stop it.

  Jason scrambled off the dragon’s back. His boots crunched along the snow and he glanced down, realizing he wasn’t sinking in.

  He held his hand out, holding on to the dragon pearl.

  “Leave us alone,” Jason said.

  “I don’t think so. This is exactly what I wanted. Soon enough, I will control this dragon, and then I will train it, and—”

  Jason pushed his hand out and a burst of white light streaked away, slamming into Therin.

  Unlike when he had done the same with the Dragon Soul, this attack did nothing. It sent Therin staggering back, but only a step. It was barely enough to unsettle him.

  His eyes narrowed and he leaned toward Jason. “You will regret that.”

  Therin exploded heat, and it struck Jason.

  It bounced off Jason’s chest.

  He looked down, realizing his clothing had all been turned to ice.

  Strangely, it wasn’t unbearably cold. It was frozen, and he knew he shouldn’t even be alive. With as much ice as now covered him, he should have died.

  Therin slammed another burst of heat at him, and then another. Each one bounced off him, striking the ice and reverberating away.

  Jason tried again, thrusting his hand out, and pow
er exploded from him.

  It slammed into Therin, but much like when Therin’s power bounced off Jason, Jason’s power bounced off Therin.

  “You could be useful,” Therin said. “Perhaps more useful than I had expected. Convince the dragon to work with us.”

  Jason hazarded a glance back. The dragon sat there, resting on the snow.

  Why wasn’t it taking to the air?

  Unless it couldn’t.

  Maybe an ice dragon didn’t have the ability to fly, or there was the possibility it was too small to fly. He thought about what Sarah had said about the young dragons and the time it took for them to fully develop, and he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps this dragon was too small for that yet.

  “You’re going to have to help,” he said to it.

  The dragon swiveled its head toward him and met his eyes with his deep silvery ones.

  The dragon stretched its wings and Therin laughed.

  “Does it think it can fly? Not yet, little one.”

  Heat continued to build, and it seemed as if it pressed down from above.

  The dragon stretched itself out and glided forward, sliding along the surface of the snow. As it did, it shook.

  The shaking was an enormous trembling, and it rumbled, reminding Jason of an avalanche. He couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the dragon had been responsible for some of the avalanches before.

  As the dragon shook, as those wings fluttered, catching the snow and the wind, thousands of sharp icicles streaked out from the dragon.

  None of them struck Jason.

  It seemed impossible, but then, the dragon was slightly off to his side, and angled in such a way that he wouldn’t be targeting him.

  Therin held his hands out, a dragon pearl gripped in each one, forcing his hands to glow, and the heat continued to build, radiating off him, creating a bubble around him. The icicles slammed into him one after another, and yet, none of them damaged him.

  The dragon continued to shake, but nothing it did caused Therin any harm.

  The dragon rumbled again.

  Jason glanced over, noticing how the dragon was growing slower.

  It was getting tired.

  It was still a young dragon, so any ability it had to defend itself was limited. It was going to have to be up to Jason, but he wasn’t sure how he would succeed. Therin held his hands up and grinned at Jason.