Iron Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Even now, he wasn’t entirely sure. It was possible this Dragon Soul was misleading him. He had to be careful of what he told him, and had to expect the Dragon Soul would lie to him. He had no reason to believe the man would speak the truth, but he could be cautious. He could anticipate that David would try to lie to him, to betray him, and he could be ready to respond.

  The only problem was that he wasn’t entirely sure what he would need to do.

  “Are you ready?”

  The Dragon Soul grunted. “Dressed like this? I suppose I’m as ready as I can be.”

  Jason let David get in front of him, and they headed out of the cave. At the entrance, he found the ice dragon and the iron dragon flying, circling outside. The iron dragon was turning, spiraling in the air much more efficiently than he had been before. He’d been practicing.

  “They are unusual,” the Dragon Soul said. “Misfits of a sort.”

  “I wouldn’t call them that.”

  “What would you call them, then?”

  “I would call them dragons.”

  “Indeed.”

  “Where else were you looking for dragons?”

  “Like those? There would be no other dragons like those.”

  Jason frowned. “If you aren’t going to be helpful, then you can remain behind. There’s no reason for you to have to come with us.” He focused on the cold, using the dragon, prepared to shatter the man’s leg again. He didn’t like the brutality, but he also wasn’t about to leave this man behind to continue to cause trouble for the dragons.

  “There’s only so much I was privy to.”

  “Where do you think the others are looking?”

  “There is a valley not far from here.”

  “Why would they have gone there?”

  “Look at them,” the Dragon Soul said.

  “What about them?”

  “You can see how unique they are. There’s something impressive about them. They have taken on aspects that traditional dragons have not. They are different. Misfits.”

  Jason frowned. He didn’t want to think of the dragons like that. They might be different, but they certainly weren’t misfits. The ice dragon had saved him and had changed things for him. He didn’t know the iron dragon as well, but he was powerful, and there was something about him that would be even stronger in time.

  “They shouldn’t be. The great Sol knows there should be nothing about them that could exist, yet here they are.”

  “The eggs have taken on characteristics of the environment,” Jason said.

  “Perhaps,” David said.

  “You think there’s another answer?”

  “I think there is the possibility of another answer,” David said. He continued to stare, looking outward. “There have been attempts at something similar over the years. None of them have been successful.”

  “Why this one, and why now?”

  David glanced over, watching Jason. “Exactly.”

  It was more than just the fact that the experiment was successful at this point. It was successful with more than one dragon. And if it had worked with more than one dragon, and if what the ice dragon said about his hatch mates was true, then there were several others they had to find.

  He looked outward, watching as the ice dragon circled, watching the way that he regarded the iron dragon. There was still hesitancy to him, but even so, Jason noticed how the ice dragon tilted his wing, getting closer to the iron dragon, before shifting course and flying higher into the air.

  There might be some uncertainty, but there was also a desire to understand.

  It was that desire which had brought him here in the first place. It was that desire that had motivated the ice dragon. And it was that desire that Jason needed to help see through. He understood what the ice dragon was after, the knowledge of who he was and how he came to be, but more than that, there was an understanding of where he belonged.

  The dragons were powerful, and despite that, they didn’t want to be alone.

  More than ever, Jason felt that with a certainty.

  He pulled on the power of the dragon pearl, summoning through it, and the ice dragon turned toward him.

  When he landed near them, Jason climbed onto his neck, and he waited for David. David hesitated only a moment before following Jason onto the ice dragon.

  “You will guide us to the next place,” Jason said.

  David held on to the ice dragon, and there was something about the way he looked at the creatures that both unsettled Jason—and gave him a glimmer of hope.

  12

  They soared high over the sky. The air took on a bit of a chill, and the longer they flew, the more that chill began to work its way around the ice dragon. The cold seemed to strengthen the ice dragon, empowering him, and Jason clung to his back, holding tightly, worried that something would change. He’d flown without saying a word the entire time, and next to him, the iron dragon continued to fly, moving quickly, his wings arcing in a strange fashion. Yet the longer he flew, the more certain Jason was that the iron dragon was beginning to understand what it took for him to do so.

  David had been silent throughout their travels. Eventually, Jason would need to get him to say something, but for now, the silence was fine.

  He thought instead of his sister. His mother. He couldn’t help but wonder whether his sister had tracked down the slope, finding the cave, and had managed to acquire more of the venison.

  Leaving when he had troubled him. He would not willingly have abandoned his family at a time when things were uncertain. He had no idea who was trying to steal from them, and when he returned, he would have to be prepared for the possibility that he would need to resolve that situation.

  That was if he could return.

  Learning about these dragons, and the possibility of others, left Jason wondering what he would have to do moving forward.

  Maybe his task would be about serving the dragons.

  Family first, then village…

  There was another way to take care of his family. He could move his sister and mother down to the town at the base of the mountain. There was nothing for them in the village, not any longer, not without their father, and with enough coin, Jason could ensure their safety.

  Then he could continue to work with the dragons, no longer worried about what was happening to his family, no longer fearing they would not have enough to eat.

  He sighed, and he noticed that David was watching him.

  “What is it?” Jason asked.

  “There is something about you I can’t quite place,” David said.

  “Then stop trying,” he said.

  “I don’t think that I will. Whatever it is, I haven’t seen it in quite some time.”

  “I don’t care for the way that you’re looking at me.”

  “Call it curiosity.”

  “You can call it whatever you want, but I don’t care for it.”

  David watched him for a moment before turning away. Despite that, Jason noticed the way he was turning toward him, how every so often, his gaze would drift. He wanted to force David to ignore him, but how could he?

  The landscape below was difficult to track. He tried to focus on that, to pay attention to only what was below them, but it was hard to see anything from where he sat on the dragon. His dragon sight wasn’t helpful when it came to peering over the edge. Everything was different. There were swatches of dark green and brown. There wasn’t the usual undulating banks of snow, though every so often, he did catch pockets of white, as if there were snowier sections of the ground below.

  He had no idea where they were heading, and the longer they flew, the more he began to wonder whether David was leading them into a trap. He might have spoken the words of the flame, but what did that really mean?

  “When you said the words of the flame, what is that?”

  “The words of the flame are a sacred vow. It’s spoken with the Dragon Soul’s power, and it is meant to convey a commitment. They are not
spoken lightly.”

  “How?”

  “How did I speak them?”

  “How is it something of power?”

  The Dragon Soul watched him. “I find it amazing that you have survived as long as you have without knowing these things.”

  “I haven’t had any experience with your people before recently.”

  David glanced over before turning away again. “You should have been brought to Lorach and trained.”

  “Trained or enslaved?”

  “There are things done for safety,” he said.

  “Whose safety? Yours or the others?”

  David frowned. “You can’t understand. You don’t know what we have been through.”

  “No. I don’t, and I have no interest in knowing what you’ve been through. Not if you’re going to use the dragons like this. All I know is that you’ve tormented them. You’ve abused them. And because of that, you’ve made them into something they should not have been.”

  David watched him, saying nothing.

  After a moment, he turned his attention away and pointed toward the ground. “There,” he said.

  “What’s down there?” Jason asked, reluctantly turning away. A part of him wanted to know more, to discover what they might be encountering, but another part didn’t want to continue the conversation with David. He had no idea what he might do, and because of that, he wanted to be careful with him.

  “There’s the sense of something.”

  Jason turned to the ice dragon. “Can you feel it?”

  “I can feel there’s something there,” he said. “I cannot tell what it is.”

  “Does it feel like your hatch mates?”

  David pressed his lips together and frowned.

  “It feels similar,” the ice dragon said.

  If it was similar, then it was probably the hatch mates, but why wouldn’t it be the same?

  Everything about this felt off. The longer he flew with the dragon, the longer he traveled, the more he began to wonder whether what he detected down there would be another unusual dragon.

  A misfit.

  He stared at the ground and, clutching the dragon pearl, he pushed out a hint of cold, letting it wash away from him. It was nondirectional, and when it struck the ground, it diffused away. There was strength behind it, the strength of the ice dragon, but there was no real purpose to it.

  He needed to be more careful with using power like that. Anything he might do would potentially waste any energy he—or the dragon—possessed. And he needed to ensure that they had enough strength to pull through this.

  David shook his head. “You should not be so casual about that.”

  “Casual about what?”

  “About using your power in such a way.”

  “You can tell what I do?”

  David nodded thoughtfully. “Surprisingly, I can.”

  “Why is that surprising?”

  “I would not have thought I would have been able to do so. And yet it seems that when you draw upon this ice dragon, I’m able to tell.” He twisted and looked over toward the iron dragon. “Can you use his pearl as well?”

  Jason considered ignoring the question. It revealed too much about him, he thought. And yet, if there was any way to better understand the nature of the dragon pearls, and to better understand if there was something he could do differently in order to borrow that power, then shouldn’t he pursue it?

  “I haven’t figured out the key.”

  “Some dragons are difficult. It takes great training to draw power from them.”

  “You’re not training this dragon.”

  “Be that as it may, it is unusual for me to be able to detect your use of power.”

  Jason thought he understood. “You think you could use it.”

  David glanced down at Jason’s hand. “I suspect I could, only I don’t know if I would understand what is necessary.”

  That was a key piece that Jason was not about to reveal. He wasn’t about to share with David that it would involve pulling on the cold, the familiarity of it, and he wasn’t about to reveal that in knowing that cold, letting it flow through him, he could…

  Was David somehow influencing him?

  He looked over, watching David.

  He didn’t think so, but he wondered if the meandering nature of his thoughts was related to something David was doing.

  He had to be careful. He didn’t want to be used—and he really didn’t want the dragon to be used. At this point, his control over the ice dragon and the dragon pearls was the only thing keeping David from overpowering him. That and his promise made through the words of the flame.

  As they descended, the ground began to take on form. The trees were a bit different than what he had experienced before. Humidity wafted toward them, warmth that wasn’t present in the upper air. It was almost overbearing, and the ice dragon surged with cold, as if he were attempting to fight it.

  “Will you be all right?”

  “I will need to resist,” the ice dragon said.

  “Do you think that you can do so?”

  “For now,” he said.

  “If you need to return—”

  “I’m not returning,” the dragon said.

  Jason wasn’t about to argue. When it came to this, and when it came to what they would need to do, he thought the dragon needed to decide for himself. He would know the limits he had, if there were any real limits.

  He held on to the dragon’s back, clinging to him, and the cold continued to radiate away from him. The iron dragon descended more rapidly, plunging toward the ground. His body began to glow, more so than before, and yet, as they neared the trees, the glowing retreated.

  They circled, finding a clearing and coming down in the middle of it.

  Once down, Jason looked around. The trees were tall, with broad leaves, and there was heavy underbrush all around. This was nothing like the forest he had seen near Varmin, and it was nothing like the forest he had seen near the town at the base of the mountain.

  David climbed off the ice dragon and looked up, breathing in deeply. His eyes closed and he held his hands out to either side, palms facing up. As he took those deep breaths, he looked all around.

  “Do you know where this is?” Jason asked.

  “This is Saren. I haven’t been here in quite some time.”

  “The forest or this place?”

  “These lands. All of this. There will be several towns scattered throughout.”

  Jason frowned. He hadn’t seen any sign of towns, and yet, from above, it would’ve been difficult to do so.

  Strangely, the dragonskin seemed to protect him even here. There was less of a sense of the heat, and he was able to tolerate it much better than he probably would’ve in his bearskin. He glanced over at David, looking to see how David was handling it, and he seemed to be doing fine.

  “Well?”

  David pressed his lips together. “I will do what I can.”

  “I thought you said you detected something here.”

  “I thought that I could, but I will need some time to focus on it.”

  “That wasn’t what you said.”

  “It might not have been what I said, but it will take me some time to determine if there’s anything here I can uncover.”

  Jason wanted to argue, but it wasn’t going to change anything. The longer they lingered, the more he suspected the ice dragon was going to suffer. He looked over and studied the ice dragon. There seemed to be a shell of ice around him, and it glistened, water dripping from it.

  “If you suffer too much—”

  “I will stay until this is done.”

  “You don’t need to torment yourself.”

  “I wasn’t there with you for him,” he said, looking toward the iron dragon.

  For his part, the iron dragon slithered between the trees. He moved quickly, gliding along the ground, almost as if this were his element, though even here, Jason didn’t think the iron dragon was particularly c
omfortable. There were no mines, and there was no iron, and there was nothing that was familiar to the dragon.

  He could tolerate the warmth, but he would be unlikely to tolerate much else.

  “You didn’t have to be there physically to be there,” Jason said.

  “I will be there this time.”

  Rather than arguing, Jason turned and studied David. David was focusing, and rather than concentrating on the trees, or on the sky, he was looking down. He made a steady circle, his feet dragging through the fallen leaves and debris. He murmured something softly, his lips moving, though Jason didn’t hear anything coming from him.

  As he approached, he looked to see if he might be able to understand anything about what the man was doing, but he couldn’t identify anything.

  “David?”

  “Quiet,” the Dragon Soul said.

  Jason debated arguing, saying something back to him, but what would the point in that be? He needed David’s focus, and if he had some way of finding the dragon, then they needed to use it.

  Instead, he turned to the ice dragon.

  “Can you feel your hatch mates?”

  “There is something here, but I’m not able to determine what it is. I have a sense of energy, and it reminds me of what we felt near him.”

  The iron dragon continued to move, winding through the trees.

  “Do you think you could work with him to pinpoint it?”

  “I doubt it,” the ice dragon said.

  “Is that only because you don’t want to, or because you don’t think that you can?”

  “I think the two of us are different enough that it will be difficult for me to effectively work with him.”

  “You’re both dragons.”

  “We are both dragons, but we are different.”

  It reminded Jason of what David had said. Misfits. Was that really what the dragons were? He didn’t think so, and yet, they were unusual. Unusual wasn’t necessarily bad, but perhaps when it came to these dragons, unusual was… unusual.