Now that he pushed, he could feel that energy, and he let it roll out from him, and he welcomed it.
The power filled him, and he pushed through it, searching for some way of knowing what the dragon had done, looking for where to find the dragon, and the more that he pushed, the more certain he was that the dragon was nearby.
The tolling of the bell continued, loud and unabated.
There was something to that. Jason listened, leaning down.
Somehow, he had to focus on the tolling of the bell, the ringing, and if he could do that, then he might be able to uncover where the iron dragon had been dragged.
“Do you hear that?” he asked.
“I hear something,” the ice dragon said.
“I think that I have figured out how to connect to the dragon, but I’m not completely certain.”
The dragon rumbled and sniffed at the air, his head swiveling side to side, and Jason focused on the dragon, listening, and in doing so, he thought that he could hear the bell continuing. He focused on what he had done, sending that sense of anger and rage through the dragon pearl.
There was something unpleasant about using it, and yet, he thought he understood what was needed.
Distantly, he found the sense of the dragon.
It was below him.
After directing the ice dragon, they descended. They dropped quickly, the wind whistling around him. Jason didn’t know how long he would be able to hold on to the power within the iron dragon pearl, and he worried that he wouldn’t be strong enough if it came down to it, but for now, he was able to keep his grasp on the power and to use it.
He searched the ground, scanning it, and wasn’t surprised to find the iron dragon down there, standing between the maroon dragon and the black one. What surprised him was the fact that the iron dragon didn’t glow with the same heat as he normally did.
It was almost as if the dragon wasn’t afraid.
Could the Dragon Souls have gotten to him?
It was possible they had. They were powerful, and they were drawing on significant energy, and if they had, then it would explain why the iron dragon wouldn’t be concerned, and it would explain why it wasn’t blowing with the same heat and intensity as it had been before.
They circled and Jason focused, listening to the bell tolling.
It didn’t give him any insight, and yet as he held on to that anger, power bubbled up within him.
It was a strange thing to be able to detect, and yet as he focused on that energy, he was able to borrow from it. As Jason drew through the dragon pearl, the iron dragon glowed a bit more brightly with each attempt to pull on his power.
Strange.
Would the iron dragon know what Jason was doing?
The better question would be whether or not the iron dragon even cared.
It was possible he didn’t care that Jason was trying to draw upon his power, and it was possible the iron dragon wouldn’t do anything. Jason and the ice dragon had done everything they could to protect the iron dragon, and it was possible that they had succeeded, keeping anyone else from influencing him.
They circled high overhead, and he focused on the Dragon Souls below.
Something that David had said occurred to him.
There were three dragons that came. One had been sent away. Two remained.
These were the two that remained.
How many Dragon Souls were down there? He remembered three on one dragon and two on the other, and with David down there, it was possible that the different dragons would also be enough to overwhelm all three dragons on the ground.
Two Dragon Souls per dragon.
Would the numbers matter?
He borrowed from the iron dragon, and he focused on what he could detect of the other two dragons, and he pushed, borrowing power through the dragon pearl, washing it over the black dragon and the maroon dragon. When the power struck, there was no sense of resistance as there had been before.
Either the dragons were unharmed, or whatever power he was able to summon through the iron dragon was different.
“We need to land,” Jason said.
“Are you prepared for what must be done?”
“I don’t know what must be done, but I don’t know if the iron dragon is injured.”
Whatever had happened to him had left the iron dragon changed, though how much had he altered?
It was part of the question that Jason couldn’t answer, something he would need to better understand, and yet, he worried that the Dragon Souls would continue to attack.
They streaked downward, the ice dragon shooting forward, the air around them solidifying, becoming colder, icicles forming on the dragon’s side. This was a different approach, and as they did so, wind whistled around them, the air took on sharp notes, and it seemed almost as if snow began to fall around the dragon.
As it swirled, something awoke within Jason.
It was a familiar scent, one that he remembered from his homeland. He was able to use that. That cold washed through him, and it seemed to help awaken him.
He took a deep breath and, when they landed, he hopped off the dragon’s back and darted forward.
Three of the Dragon Souls turned toward him and he focused, using both the power of the iron dragon and that of the ice dragon, fire and ice, and he connected them, allowing that combined force to explode outward from him. He had done something similar before, but this had only been a part of it. When he had freed the iron dragon, he had needed to use that combined power, and now he thought that he could do even more with it.
And if he could, then he might be able to attack the way that he needed to.
Power flowed through him. He struck, using the power of the combined dragon pearl, again and again. Each time that he did, power exploded out from him, and it connected with the Dragon Souls.
He was able to throw them back, and with the doubled power, they didn’t get back up. He turned toward the other two Dragon Souls. He stormed forward, holding power in his hand, and he struck. He didn’t give them a chance to attack, sending his surge toward them, uncaring.
It left only David.
He turned toward the man.
“You would have betrayed us?”
“I spoke the words of—”
“I know you spoke the words, but apparently the words mean nothing to you.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I obviously don’t.” He held up the dragon pearls, gripping them tightly, and he sent power exploding away from him. He diverted it at the last moment, not wanting to strike David, but wanting him to be aware of the fact that he could. David had betrayed them, and though he had said the words of the flame, and though Jason had no idea what that meant or whether it was anything significant, he still wondered if perhaps he should relent.
“What were you trying to do?”
“I was trying to show them they didn’t need to harm the dragon,” David said.
“That wouldn’t work.”
“You don’t know the Dragon Souls the way I do.”
“I understand the Dragon Souls used the dragons. I understand that if it were up to you, you would try to harm them, destroy them, and you would use them. I understand enough,” he said.
David took a deep breath and met Jason’s eyes. “You know nothing about the Dragon Souls, but I could help you. If you would listen, I could show you. You have potential.”
“You don’t see me as somebody with potential. You see me as a slave.”
There was a hesitation, and with it, he frowned, wondering whether or not David would admit to that, but he shook his head. “Perhaps I would once have considered you a slave, but I have seen what you have done. I understand the nature of your power, and that you have uncovered something we have not.”
Jason looked at the fallen Dragon Souls. He had no desire to continue attacking, and yet he thought he would need to, if only to better understand what had taken place here, to see if there was any way to stop these ot
hers.
He needed to protect the dragons.
“I’m not going to leave you behind,” Jason said.
He turned to the fallen Dragon Souls, and he debated what to do with them. There was one thing he thought he could do, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to unclothe them. Then again, taking the dragonskin cloaks seemed fitting.
He worked quickly, and as he did, he found that David was working alongside him, helping to pull the clothing off some of the Dragon Souls. Working together, they undressed the rest of the Dragon Souls and piled up the dragonskin.
“Why did you kick me off the dragon?”
“I was trying to grab you,” he said.
“You didn’t. You pushed.”
“You were starting to fall and I reached for you.”
Jason thought about what happened, and he couldn’t remember the exact details of it, only that he had felt as if he had been pushed off. Possibly even kicked off.
And from there, he was falling.
Had it not been for the ice dragon, Jason wouldn’t have survived.
By the time they had the Dragon Souls all undressed, he wondered what to do with them. It was time for them to get moving, and yet, he didn’t know how to awaken them.
If his next task involved going back after the forest dragon, then he would, but he didn’t know if the dragon in the forest wanted them to pursue it. It was possible that the dragon was content, able to hide itself, and it was possible that anything they might do would only reveal its presence and make things worse for it.
“How long do we have?” he asked David.
“How long we have for what?”
“Before the rest of the Dragon Souls come? How long do we have?”
“Not long,” David said.
“How many will come?”
“I suspect they would have sent word, so there will be many.”
Jason clutched his jaw. Many. And then they would have to deal with the Dragon Souls searching and terrorizing this place, and worse than that was the thought of how to deal with any attempts to harm the forest dragon, let alone the others.
How many other hatch mates would they need to protect?
Jason didn’t know.
All he knew was that they had to protect the three he knew about.
Family first, then village…
There was only one thing to do. It was the one thing he had avoided, and yet now it was time to stop avoiding it. There was no reason not to return to Dragon Haven other than the fact that he if he brought David with him, there was a real risk to the others.
He could leave him.
He didn’t necessarily trust David, but he also didn’t know if he needed to harm him. He didn’t really want to hurt the man, and he couldn’t shake the sense that David knew something he wasn’t sharing yet.
“You can go,” he said to the dragons. He turned to the maroon dragon, the black dragon, and he wondered how much they would understand and whether they would even respond. It was possible that they wouldn’t, that they wouldn’t be able to do anything, and yet, he looked at them, feeling a connection to them. “Unless you intend to return to Lorach, you are free.”
The maroon dragon turned toward him, and power emanated from the creature. It was heat, and it flowed, rolling over Jason. He had felt something similar from the other dragons before, and yet this time it felt different. It was a power that washed over him, leaving him uncertain.
That heat passed, leaving Jason unharmed.
“You are the one who freed me.”
“I didn’t do it alone. I had help from the dragons.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Jason Dreshen.”
“Who are you?”
Hadn’t he just answered that? Perhaps it was a different question, the same question he asked himself. Who was he?
There was a time when he’d thought he was a hunter, and that he would stay in the village, and yet now that he had been here, now that he had spent the time with the dragons, he could no longer feel as if he were a hunter. He was something else, more than what he had been before, and yet, Jason didn’t know exactly what that was, only that he was no longer the same as what he had believed.
“I don’t know, but I’m trying to understand.”
The dragon rumbled and let out a streamer of fire.
He turned to the other dragon. The black dragon was powerful, and he suspected if he could, he needed to get some message to that dragon as well, and perhaps he could help the black dragon understand. When they had been attacked, there had been some way that the black dragon had disappeared. It was probably tied to the power the dragons possessed, or perhaps even whatever the Dragon Souls had done, using their magic, and yet, he didn’t care. All he cared about was checking to see if the black dragon was unharmed.
The dragon watched him, and there was power radiating from him.
“You would be free as well,” Jason said.
The dragon said nothing and launched into the air.
He spiraled up, circling the same way the dragons had when Jason had been near Henry. The maroon dragon watched them for a moment before following, taking off and heading off to the west.
When they were gone, David stared up at the sky. “I wonder what will become of that.”
“Why?”
“Because they didn’t head back to Lorach. I don’t know where they’re going, but it is somewhere else.”
Jason sighed. If the dragons returned to Lorach, there would be nothing he could do to help protect them, and it was possible that the Dragon Souls would once again control them. And yet, that was their choice, wasn’t it? Was not the entire point of all this that he didn’t get to choose for the dragons?
He had done what he thought he could, trying to rescue them, to free their minds, but beyond that, he didn’t know if there was anything else he would be able to accomplish.
As he stood there, he couldn’t help but feel as if there were answers, and yet, he needed to move.
“What do you plan to do?” David asked.
“I plan to get help,” he said.
“What kind of help?”
“The kind of help that will ensure the forest dragon”—and the other hatch mates, he didn’t add—“is unharmed.”
15
There was a part of Jason that wondered if he would remember how to find Dragon Haven. As they soared overhead, he focused on the token Henry had given him and was able to use that to guide him. More than just directing him, it helped guide the ice dragon. It was almost as if the ice dragon knew how to find where they were heading.
But then, the ice dragon had claimed he was able to use knowledge Jason possessed, and by doing so, he was able to know much the same things that Jason knew.
He wished there would be something else they could do, and yet, as they flew, he couldn’t help but feel as if he were doing what was necessary. In order to help the dragons, he was going to have to secure the protection of Dragon Haven.
When he did, what was going to happen?
Jason worried it was going to require an all-out battle, and yet, perhaps that was what was necessary. In order to protect these misfits, the dragons that had taken on characteristics of their land, he thought it might be.
“How much farther do we have to fly?” David asked.
“I don’t really know. I can feel the effect of where we’re heading, but I don’t know how long it will take us to reach it.”
“You’ve been here before?”
When Jason had shared with him where they were going, David had seemed almost excited. It was enough for Jason to consider not allowing David to come with him, and yet, he needed help, and he thought David would be able to offer either assistance or information.
More than anything, they needed that information. They needed to have some leverage over the Dragon Souls. But there was another reason he’d agreed to allow David to come.
“I’ve been here once, but it wasn’t by my doing.”
“How did you end up here, then?”
Jason said nothing. In the distance, there was a sense of change. It was a shifting on the air, that of warmth, and he allowed himself to breathe it in, feeling the way it changed the air, the nature of the power as it flowed through him.
It was strange, unique, and strong.
The more he pulled on that sense, the more he was aware of it, and the easier it was to know he was traveling in the right direction.
But that wasn’t all. There was something else in the air, some other sense, and the longer they flew, the more certain he was he detected it.
It had something to do with the dragons, but what?
He could feel it. It was a sense of power that flowed through him and energy that radiated around them.
And then it faded.
A barrier. That was what it was.
Dragon Haven was a large city, though not as populated as what the area could contain. There were hundreds of structures, all of them blending into the forest, the curves so different than what was found in his village. Black obsidian sculptures were scattered around the city, many of them of dragons. Those sculptures drew his attention even from the sky. One of the structures was larger than the rest, situated near the center of the city. It was where he had met Sarah.
Coming back to Dragon Haven left him feeling guilt. Mostly it was because he felt as if he had betrayed Sarah and Henry and even William. He had denied the existence of the ice dragon. He had denied the presence of that dragon, and he had withheld knowledge of it from them.
Would they forgive him?
He didn’t have any idea what they were going to find, or what sort of greeting they would get, and as they approached, Jason realized he didn’t even know how to find anyone.
But then, it didn’t matter.
Five dragons suddenly leapt into the air. They came in formation, a massive golden-scaled dragon leading the way. The others all had similarly bright colors, red and yellow and green and orange, and they streaked toward them.
Jason glanced over at the iron dragon. He was still with them, and yet he had been silent during their travels. They had not needed to rest, and though he didn’t expect the iron dragon to need rest, the moment that the other dragons approached, he worried what would happen.
Iron Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 2) Page 19