Storm Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 4)

by D. K. Holmberg

  It was the first time that Jason had realized she was dressed in a way that was unusual, but as he looked at her, he recognized how her dragonskin was different than the rest. It reminded him of what he wore, taken from David.

  How would the king react to that?

  “Jessica has chased a dangerous power,” David said.

  “Only dangerous if you’re not strong enough to control it,” Jessica said. “And I am strong enough.”

  Somewhere distantly, the sound of a dragon roaring thundered through the room.

  It came from high overhead, almost as if the dragons were nearby.

  Jason watched David, worried that his dragon friend had been injured, but he didn’t see any sign from him that was the case.

  “Would the two of you care to share with us what is taking place?” the king asked.

  “Jessica has chased after a dangerous power.”

  “I chased no power different than what Therin chased.”

  “What has my brother done now?” the king asked.

  Jason’s heart lurched. Therin was the king’s brother?

  If Henry had known, why hadn’t he said anything? And if he had known about that, if he had known that the king and Therin were brothers, that David was Therin’s nephew, why wouldn’t he have shared? Why would he have kept that from Jason?

  “He understood the nature of the dragons,” Jessica said.

  The king came into the room more fully. He looked around, glancing at Jason as if seeing him for the first time. The king was a tall man, massive in size, with broad shoulders that reminded Jason of his father. A thick beard covered his face, and his dark eyes were drawn, narrowed as he stared at him. There was a question in his eyes, but he didn’t ask it.

  Jason was thankful he didn’t because he didn’t know how he would respond. How was he supposed to explain why he was wearing the familiar dragonskin?

  “My brother has long believed he understands the dragons better than most, but…”

  He waved his hand and the other Dragon Souls made their way into the room, looking around. None of them spoke. They took up positions around the room as if to protect it, or to protect the king. Jason didn’t know. Perhaps it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they were here.

  He had access to the dragons, and he could call upon his connection to them, but he wasn’t sure if he could use it in any way that would protect him from the possibility of an attack. He didn’t like the idea that he would be forced to fight not only Jessica and the Dragon Souls, but the king and the queen.

  “He succeeded,” Jessica said.

  The king frowned. “He did what?”

  “He succeeded.” She flicked her gaze toward Jason, and everything within him tensed.

  “How did he succeed?” the king asked.

  “Father,” David started, but Jessica stepped toward him, cutting him off.

  She shot David a hard look. Mixed within that look was aggression, violence and then anger, and some measure of a threat. “You know that Therin had been working on connecting the dragons to our land,” Jessica said. “He succeeded.”

  “I know Therin has been attempting to breed the dragons in a way that creates danger,” the king said. “He harvested far too many eggs. Risking them. We have few the way it is, and we need to keep them for the trainers. My foolish brother believed he could take the eggs and use them.”

  “But it worked,” Jessica said.

  “How do you know?”

  Jessica turned to Jason, nodding at him. “He is proof of that.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Father. She wants you to allow her to continue Therin’s research, which means we would waste even more eggs. With as few females as we have, it’s not something we can do.”

  “You don’t have to listen to me. You have to listen to them.”

  With a wave of her hand, Jessica revealed a shimmering illusion that Jason hadn’t even been aware of. How could she have managed to hold on to an illusion without him knowing? The nature of it was subtle, but he recognized how she was able to do so. It was little more than a masking, almost as if she held on to an image near her, a way of hiding within the wall.

  It was something he should’ve paid attention to. Now aware of it, he began to focus around the room, searching for other signs of illusion, but he didn’t find any. If there were others, they were just as subtle as the last.

  Hidden behind the illusion was William—and Sarah.

  Neither of them spoke. They were both bound, trapped by invisible bands of power he could feel and suspected came from a hidden dragon pearl.

  Jason glanced at them, looking to see if they were injured, but wasn’t able to tell if they had been. Sarah looked unharmed, though there was bruising around her eyes. William stood defiantly, his arms crossed in front of him, but rather than appearing powerful, he looked almost as if he were petulant.

  Jessica grinned at him. “You don’t have to ask me. You can ask his friends.” She nodded at them.

  Jason focused on the heat of the iron dragon, borrowing from him briefly. In that moment, he started to work on the power that was wrapped around Sarah and William, but he changed his mind. Rather than trying to use the iron dragon, there had to be another way.

  He shifted the nature of his touch and used the forest dragon, borrowing her illusion, and used it to shift reality. It was the same way he had trapped Jessica within the cell. He knew it would hold, but for how long?

  He didn’t layer it over them quite yet. Doing so would expose the fact that he had the power Jessica implied, and he wasn’t ready to do that.

  What he wanted instead was to give himself an opportunity to find out what she was planning. She worried him, and until he knew what she was doing, he didn’t know if he could risk exposing himself. He might need to be free to help the dragons.

  “This is a waste of time,” David said. He waved his hand at Sarah and William, and as he did, the power began to unravel. It happened quickly, suddenly, and with a surge of energy that unspooled what Jessica held around them.

  Jason let his connection to the illusion fade, not wanting to hold on to it too tightly.

  Sarah staggered toward him and grabbed his arm. She held on to it for a moment before releasing it, turning toward Jessica. Hatred shone in her eyes.

  “She speaks of nonsense, Father,” David said. “You know how she has wanted to abuse the power we possess.”

  “Abuse? I understand the nature of that power far better than you. You would try to train those dragons in a way contrary to tradition.”

  Jessica stalked toward William, and she ran her finger underneath his chin, forcing him to look up at her. When he did, she smiled at him.

  Something in William changed.

  Jason shivered at the change, worried about what had happened to his friend and what she had done to him. William looked at her with a wide grin.

  “Why don’t you tell them what you told me?”

  “There are three dragons,” William said.

  Jason stared at him, trying to will him to silence, but the other man ignored him. He had eyes for Jessica and nothing else.

  “They’re different than the dragons they have in Dragon Haven. Those dragons are like your dragons. Powerful, but the ones he has are even more so. One of them connects to the ice and snow. One of them is like the molten metal of a forge. And the last is like the trees. She creates the most amazing illusions.”

  Jessica smiled.

  “See?” She turned toward her father. “Like I said, Therin succeeded.”

  19

  Jason didn’t know what to say. The only thing he could do at this point was to look around the room, to debate whether or not there was anything he could do, anywhere he would be able to go.

  There didn’t appear to be. He was trapped here.

  There were too many Dragon Souls. With Jessica here, and her control over her power, Jason didn’t know if they would have enough strength to even be able to escape. The
challenge was in overcoming her natural abilities.

  If he couldn’t, then he wouldn’t be able to get Sarah—or William—out of here.

  He held on to an illusion, ready to layer it over the room. With this illusion, he started to focus on the snow and the storms of the northern mountains, but he changed his mind about it, shifting it toward something else. The illusion would be easier to hold if it were similar to what was already here.

  If he didn’t try to add too much, he could hold on to the illusion with more power. In the case of this room and this place and all the dragons all around him, he needed an illusion that was not only powerful, but that didn’t draw too much energy.

  He might need to call upon more strength than he was accustomed to in order to maintain it.

  “Go,” David whispered.

  It was quiet, little more than a plea, but it was enough that Jason heard.

  He wasn’t going to go anywhere. Not without Sarah and William.

  “He succeeded?” the king asked, studying William.

  “From what I can tell,” Jessica said. “And this is the one who has connected to them. When I first met him, I didn’t recognize the power he drew upon, but now I do. It’s potent, Father, and the nature of the power he uses is unlike anything we have experienced. If we could find those dragons—”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” David said, taking a step forward. He positioned himself so that he was in between Jessica and Jason, making it so that Jason had an opportunity to reach for William.

  Did he really believe he didn’t have to worry about his sister?

  He’d already been attacked by her. With her so willing to openly attack, Jason had a hard time believing she wouldn’t do so again. The presence of their parents wouldn’t be enough to stop that.

  “Don’t I?”

  Jessica took a step toward her brother, and she swept her hand around in a circle. Everything about the room began to change. Colors shifted, and snow began to fall.

  She was using illusion, but she was not just using any illusion. She was using his illusion. She was using the qualities he would draw upon, the power he was familiar with, and she was creating that around him.

  Jason hesitated to react. Maybe that was a mistake, but he didn’t think so. There was something different about it than the way he created an illusion. At least with his illusion, there was a connection. It flowed not only from him, but through the forest dragon and her connection to the earth and everything around her.

  With Jessica, hers was brutality. It was forced, drawing upon significant quantities of dragon pearls, the way Therin had acted. Violently, treating the dragons as a tool. Not as equals. She was depleting the dragons.

  “Stop,” David said.

  “And why should I stop? If you don’t think your friend is who I claim, then release him to me. Let us test him.”

  “You don’t get to test him.”

  “I sit above you.”

  “Father sits above you,” David said.

  Jason glanced between Jessica and her father and wondered if the king or queen would intervene, but there was a strange look in the king’s eyes, almost as if he were pleased with what was taking place.

  As he looked at the king, the subtle drawing of energy all around him began to make sense. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but could see that it was not just coming from Jessica as he had believed. It was coming from the king, but not from any dragon pearl. It came from the room itself.

  It was that power that David had warned him against using, and the king was drawing on it.

  Not only that, but what he did joined with Jessica.

  The king had already made his decision.

  There was another influence within the room. Standing behind the king, silent the entire time, the queen still said nothing. There was power from her, though he didn’t detect it in the same way.

  She was drawing it through herself. It seemed to be drawn by dragon pearls, but no dragon pearl he could easily detect. It was possible she held one similar to the way he did. The nature of her power was flowing from her and out into David.

  Strange.

  It was almost as if the king and queen wanted them to battle, as if they used their children against each other.

  Jason felt the overwhelming power between the two, the way they argued, the way they battled, but it was subtle. Whatever was happening between the two of them was meant to be hidden.

  Power built from David, slamming into Jessica. She turned it, using a different source of power, and drew upon it, sending what she was using blasting toward David.

  They went back and forth, barely moving, basically standing in place. Were Jason not able to feel what they were doing, he wouldn’t have any idea that there was anything taking place. He might have believed there was nothing more than an angry stare passing between them.

  He could feel the power, though. He could feel the energy, and he recognized how potent the two of them were.

  The energy they called upon was different, though. David had a more subtle touch, an element of finesse to it, where Jessica acted with brutality.

  Jason was tempted to add to the attack, see if there was anything he might be able to do to help David, but he wasn’t sure if he should. Anything that he might do would reveal the extent of his power.

  With Jessica’s focus on David, Jason turned briefly to William. He aimed a surge of power toward him, drawing upon the heat of the iron dragon, and sent it rolling through William. He added that of the ice dragon, combining the two. As he did, the healing wave washed through the other man. William sucked in a sharp breath.

  Jessica turned toward him, a dark and dangerous grin glittering on her face. “As I thought.”

  “What?” Jason asked.

  “You see?” She turned to her father. “Do you see what he was able to do?”

  Jason had made a mistake. He’d allowed himself to get drawn in. She had forced him to reveal his abilities. He should have known better, but how could he have left William and Sarah behind?

  “Grab them,” Jessica said, motioning to the Dragon Souls.

  David stepped in front of Jason. He cocked his head to the side and kept his focus on his sister. “Go,” he whispered.

  “I can’t go, not if you are—”

  “Don’t worry about me. Just get going,” he said.

  Jason took a deep breath and created an illusion.

  This illusion was nothing more than his absence. They were there, but then they vanished. He left the rest of the room unchanged, not wanting to twist too much at one time. He grabbed William and Sarah and turned, running.

  They went streaking past the Dragon Souls, hurrying beyond them, unmindful of the fact that they were there. The Dragon Souls ignored them, not seeing them, but something slammed into him. It came with a burst of power.

  He looked behind him to see Jessica glaring at him. Power radiated from her as she pulled away his illusion. He stood near the door, exposed.

  The Dragon Souls turned toward them, power surging from them.

  Jason reacted in the only way that he could.

  He drew off the power in the room.

  It was the only thing he thought might be effective. As he pulled upon the power, he knew that if he were to succeed, he should be able to call upon enough power that it would prevent the others from being able to harm him.

  Not only that, but he needed to weaken the king. He also needed to weaken Jessica. Though he didn’t know if this would be effective against her, he suspected she called upon the same power in the room as the king.

  David’s eyes widened as he watched Jason, shaking his head slightly.

  Jason used that power, and he swirled it outward, letting it slam into Jessica. He held her, pinning her arms to her sides with the same bands of power she had used against his friends.

  That power continued to build, radiating off him. He kept pulling, drawing more and more strength from the room, letting it f
ill him.

  As he did, there was another sense.

  With a flicker of movement, a vision swirled into his mind. It was the ice dragon, and within the ice dragon’s vision, he saw the storm dragon.

  The storm dragon was coming. The power of the storm itself continued to build, energy that was far more than what Jason could fathom. The surging storm was coming faster than he could track—and it would be here soon.

  Jason threw up a barrier of power, drawing everything from the room, and forced it in front of them, holding it between him and Jessica. He grabbed Sarah and pushed William behind him, heading out the door.

  When they were through the door, he slammed it closed, using the power of the ice dragon to seal it shut.

  “Jason?” Sarah asked. “What happened?”

  “We can talk about that later, but right now we need to get going. The storm dragon is coming, and if we don’t get moving, he’s going to attack the dragons here.”

  “Let him,” William said.

  “You don’t understand. The storm dragon is powerful. I’ve seen the way his power has been used, and I’ve seen what that would destroy. Dragons. All of them.”

  It was more than just that. If he left the storm dragon, he had little doubt Jessica would figure out some way of using him.

  “She forced me,” William said. He glanced from Jason to Sarah. “You have to know that. It wasn’t my choice.”

  Jason nodded. “You did only what you had to do.”

  They stood outside the clearing, and he looked around. He could feel the rumbling of the storm as it came, but he didn’t see anything. It was out there, the power exploding around him, and yet as he focused on it, as he felt the energy in the air, he didn’t see any sign of the dragon.

  He didn’t know if he would even be able to see anything of the storm dragon. It was possible the creature would be masked from him.

  He needed to find a way to reach the storm dragon, to calm him.

  Power exploded behind him, and he could feel it within the palace. If he remained here, they ran the risk of Jessica breaking free, and either her or one of the others attacking, but he didn’t have access to any dragons.