“We need to keep moving,” Henry said.
They meandered, and they didn’t go much farther before another burst of heat struck. Jason glanced back, thinking it was only a dragon seed, but Henry stiffened.
“That wasn’t a dragon seed, was it?” Jason asked.
“No. The Dragon Souls are getting closer.”
“I haven’t noticed one of your seeds exploding recently.”
“I haven’t either. It seems as if they found a way around them.”
“They can do that?”
“They know as much as I do. More. And Therin is clever.”
As they raced through the forest, Jason looked behind him every so often, detecting the sense of heat exploding. William watched, his brow furrowing, a question written on his face.
What was going to be the end result of all of this? Once they escaped with Henry, what were they going to do?
That was the part he didn’t fully understand, and the part he wasn’t sure could be answered. Once they managed to get free of these Dragon Souls, he still didn’t know whether they’d be safe.
Every so often, he would glance over at William. William had withdrawn, remaining quiet. Jason didn’t know if there was anything he could say that would draw his attention. At least, there was nothing he could say that would draw his attention and not alert Henry of the fact he was trying to do so.
The trees began to space out more widely, and the farther they went, the harder it was going to be to conceal themselves as they had when going through the forest. Henry began to pick up his pace. Jason raced after him, following, but he did so with reservations.
“How much further do we have to go?” William asked.
“Quiet,” Henry snapped.
Jason shared a look with William.
“Tell us where you’re taking us,” he said, reaching Henry.
Henry didn’t even slow, giving a dark-eyed stare in his direction.
Jason debated turning away, but for now, his fate was tied to Henry.
The other man continued to run, tracking almost directly through the forest, making his way in a straight line. At least, as straight as he could with the trees in the way. Snow drifted down on them, and his boots crunched through it. He watched Henry, looking to see if the other man glided above the surface of the snow, and found he did.
William was having a harder time in the forest. He wasn’t dressed nearly as warmly as Jason or Henry. He would freeze if they eventually stopped. Even though Henry had some control over the dragon pearls, Jason didn’t know if he had enough control to keep William warm.
Another explosion came from behind them, and he jumped.
This one was close, and it sounded almost as if it were close enough for him to feel.
The Dragon Souls could glide across the surface of the snow the same way Henry was able to do. They didn’t need to trudge through it, not like Jason and William did. Every footstep they made ended up with them buried deeper in the snow, which meant they were traveling far more slowly than the Dragon Souls.
Jason grabbed for William, pulling him along.
Henry suddenly spun, putting himself behind them. “Head straight north. You do know which direction north is?” he asked Jason.
Jason glanced at the sky before nodding.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to see if I can’t delay them a little bit. With the way you’re sinking into the snow, we’ve gotten slowed down.”
Henry veered off and Jason pulled William with him, heading north, following the stars. If nothing else, his time in the mountains had taught him how to navigate.
Then again, in the mountains, everything was either up or down. There wasn’t much in the way of navigation. Still, the stars were brighter there and easier to see. His father had taken the time to work with him, wanting him to know how to follow the stars.
“Are you sure we should be listening to him?” William asked.
“I’m not sure about anything anymore.” Jason hurried forward. The snow continued to thicken, making it even more difficult for them to race along. With each step, he felt himself sinking deeper and deeper. They would have to get wherever they were going soon or they would be caught by the Dragon Souls, unless Henry had some way of helping them navigate the same way he could. It would be easier if the other man could guide them above the surface of the snow like he did. If that were possible, then they wouldn’t have to struggle quite as much.
Wind started to pick up, whistling around them and gusting between the trees. It was cold and biting and reminded him of all the wind out of the north in the village.
The falling snowflakes were wet and heavy. It was a precursor—at least, it would be in his village. Eventually that wet, heavy snow would transition over to the dry and sharp flakes, the painful kind that would bite at exposed skin.
Jason shifted the hood of his coat, pulling it up over his ears. He glanced over at William, realizing the other man didn’t even have a hood.
This was going to go poorly.
As they plunged through the snow, explosions of heat continued behind them. Jason shook with each one. It seemed like thunder, a steady rumbling, one after another, and the ongoing drumbeat practically guided them onward.
He trembled under it. If something were to slow them, they would be caught up by that thundering. The wind whistled. It pushed against them, almost as if it wanted to keep him in the forest. Jason leaned into the wind, trying to power forward.
The trees were continuing to thin, providing less and less cover. It had been easier deeper in the forest, where the ground was hard packed, the snow less plentiful, and the wind not quite as violent.
And then they were in the open.
From here, there was nothing but the vast expanse of the mountain stretching in front of them.
This couldn’t be what Henry wanted them to do. If he intended for them to head up the mountain, they were ill equipped for it. He wasn’t going to be able to make good time and William wasn’t dressed for the weather.
“Where to now?” William asked.
“He said to go north.”
Another explosion came from behind them, and Jason staggered before heading up the mountainside. At least he had his bow and arrows.
North.
As he went, it felt as if the air were shifting. It was less cold than it had been, and the star guided him around the side of the mountain.
That was strange. He’d always thought that the mountaintop was due north, but perhaps from where they were, it wasn’t exactly north.
He paused, glancing over at William before looking back toward the forest. It was difficult to see anything in the darkness, even with his dragon sight. There had to be something in the forest, but he wasn’t able to see anything, and certainly no striations of color that would suggest that Henry—or any of the Dragon Souls—were coming toward them.
“What is it?” William asked.
“He told us to go north, but…”
“But what?”
“But north isn’t up the mountainside.”
“I don’t think I can climb the mountain,” William said.
“I don’t know where else he wanted us to go.”
Jason looked into the darkness, trying to see if there was anything he could make out. The darkness stretched in front of him, almost all-encompassing. With the cold, there was no movement.
As he looked for anything that might guide them, he turned his attention back to the stars, but that still veered them away from the mountain peak.
Shaking his head, he headed north. That was what Henry had wanted them to do.
As they wound along the side of the mountain, he found they were climbing somewhat, but slowly. It wasn’t nearly as steep as Jason would’ve expected had they been trying to climb up the mountain the way he had come down. The chill began to fade and the wind let up. He was thankful for that, and it seemed almost as if it were growing warmer.
“
What is that?” William asked. “Why does it seem almost as if we are—”
Heat exploded in front of them.
Jason froze.
If heat was in front of them, it meant the Dragon Souls got around them somehow. Yet it didn’t seem possible the Dragon Souls would’ve been able to navigate around them while they were working their way up the side of the mountain.
Unless there were other Dragon Souls.
He shivered and stopped, looking around.
Their only option was to head up the side of the mountain. While that might have been different than what Henry wanted them to do, it seemed as if it would take them away from the heat and the threat of the Dragon Souls.
“I think we need to climb,” he said.
“Jason, I don’t have the necessary clothing.”
“The other option is for us to head back to your town.”
William turned and looked behind him, but shook his head. “I can’t do that, either.”
“Then we need to climb.”
They veered off, turning away from the North Star and heading up the slope of the mountain. It was hard. As they climbed, the cold began to whip around them, biting at them, ripping at Jason’s clothing. Jason pulled his jacket tighter around him, and knew that if he was cold, William would be freezing.
He looked over at the other man and saw him shivering, his teeth chattering and his ears already starting to turn blue. He wasn’t going to be able to withstand the cold for very long.
This was a mistake. There was no way to keep the other man warm.
Heat exploded in front of them.
Dragon Souls.
“I think—”
He didn’t get a chance to finish. A thunderous roar exploded, different than the sound and feeling of the explosions he’d been running from through the forest.
“What was that?” William asked through his chattering teeth.
“I don’t know.”
Before he had a chance to think much of it, flames burst from nearby, illuminating the night.
A figure emerged and Jason stared, unable to do anything else.
“Come on,” a voice said.
“Henry?”
“Of course it’s me. What did you think?”
“I…” He looked past the other man, trying to peer into the darkness, but was unable to see anything. The heat was there, and he could feel it, but he couldn’t see anything. “I thought that was the Dragon Souls.”
“No. Not the Dragon Souls. It’s a dragon.”
18
Henry scrambled down the slope and grabbed William, wrapping his arms around the other boy. William shivered, and the color of his face left Jason worried.
“We need to get him warmed up,” he said.
“Then help,” Henry said.
Jason slipped an arm around William and helped guide him, following Henry. Every so often, the sense of heat ballooned behind him, reminding him of the Dragon Souls they’d evaded. The heat he detected in front of him was different. It was similar to what he had noticed when he had been following the North Star, when he’d thought it came from the Dragon Souls in front of them.
Could it have been Henry and his dragon all along?
They climbed a little ways. As they went, a faint tracing of light began to glow against the darkness. It didn’t take long for that light to resolve into something of a flame. And then…
Jason stopped short, unable to go any farther.
An enormous creature rested on the slope. It had long wings that were unfurled, and it rested on massive forelegs. Its spiked body ran the length of the mountain, curling alongside it, and its powerful tail followed the lines of the mountain. A giant head—larger than any creature Jason had ever seen—swiveled toward him, two glowing orange eyes turning in his direction. Heat radiated off the entirety of the creature, illuminating a scaled side with dangerously sharp spikes protruding from its body.
“That’s a dragon,” William said.
“I told you we were heading toward the dragon.”
Jason stared at it. Anger built within him.
We’re safe from the dragons in the north.
They had been safe.
Then his father had died.
How could the dragon survive the cold?
“You said it couldn’t tolerate the cold.”
“Not for long. That’s why we’re going.”
“What are we going to do?” William asked through chattering teeth.
“We’re going to ride the dragon,” Henry said.
“I can’t ride a dragon,” Jason said.
“Normally, you would not. Our need is great, and the dragon understands that.”
“The dragon understands?”
Henry pushed him, and Jason went staggering up the slope and barely caught himself in time. He stopped in front of the dragon, and the creature looked at him.
Jason had a sense of the dragon staring at him, almost as if it knew something.
This was no dumb animal. That much was clear. He could see that from the way the dragon looked at him, the intensity—and intelligence—shining in its eyes. It flicked its gaze from Jason to William and then to Henry.
“Put your hand out,” Henry said.
“So that it can eat it?”
“So that he can get to know you.”
Jason shivered, and it had nothing to do with the cold. He stretched his hand out as Henry said, not knowing what else he could do. The dragon lowered its massive head and brought its nostrils up toward his hand and breathed in.
It created a powerful suction of air, and Jason felt drawn toward it.
He resisted, digging his heels into the snow, holding himself steady. He locked eyes with the dragon, and realized almost too late that if this was like any other predator, meeting its gaze like this was a threatening gesture.
He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with the dragon, but he wasn’t about to look away at this point.
The dragon snorted. There was no other way to describe what happened. A burst of hot air pressed Jason back, knocking him to the ground.
“He approves,” Henry said.
“Approves?” Jason couldn’t tear his gaze off the dragon, but he noticed movement near him and finally managed to peel his gaze away. Henry was helping William up the side of the dragon, and the other man was saying nothing as he followed.
“Come on,” Henry said.
He reached his hand out and Jason got to his feet, but did so slowly.
“What are we going to do?”
“We are going to climb on the dragon, and if you stop talking, we might be able to get away from here before—”
Henry jerked his head downslope, and he squinted.
“We need to go,” he said. “Now!”
Henry shifted on the dragon’s back and came to sit near the base of its neck, resting close to the head.
Jason hesitated for a moment before getting to his feet and starting up the side of the dragon. Even before he had found a place to rest, the dragon had jumped, lifting into the air, beating at the sky with enormous wings. It was a strange, undulating sort of movement and the wind whipped around him, tearing at him. Heat radiated off the dragon, warming him. He hadn’t even realized how cold he was until he pressed himself up against the dragon’s back and rested near William.
As he did, he breathed out, looking down toward the ground, though he was unable to see anything. The dragon circled, spiraling higher and higher into the air, and the wind whistling around him should have been cold, but it was almost pleasant.
“Where is it taking us?”
“He’s a he, and he’s taking us where we need to go.”
Jason clung to the dragon’s back, unable to move anywhere else. As he did, he tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, the fear rising through him, and he tried to ignore the fact he was sitting on top of the dragon—a creature his people had been trained to fight, to kill, and a creature his people had weapons s
urrounding the village to defend against.
The longer that they were going, the more that they flew, the more uncertain Jason felt. The dragon continued to circle, going higher and higher into the air, and finally, it twisted.
Jason was almost tossed off. He was forced to grab on to the spikes on the dragon’s back, clinging to the creature, trying to avoid getting thrown off. The fall from here would be fatal, he had no doubt, and yet, Henry seemed thrilled with the movement, laughing wildly as the dragon banked off to one side and then streaked away.
North.
That couldn’t be a coincidence, and Jason tried to watch where they were going. It wasn’t up the slope of the mountain. Riding on top of the dragon would have been an easy way to return to the village, but it didn’t seem that was where they were headed.
“You could take me home.”
Henry twisted, glancing back at him. “What sort of weapons does your village have?”
Jason shook his head. “They wouldn’t—”
Henry glared at him. “They would. I’ve been around far too many places where they fire on dragons.”
Jason licked his lips. Nausea rolled through him, and he wondered how much of it was from sitting on top of the dragon and how much was from the strange movements.
He couldn’t even hold Henry’s gaze.
He turned his attention to William and found the other man breathing more easily, though he was lying on the back of the dragon. His color had improved, the heat from the creature’s back warming him, and he no longer shivered quite as violently as he had.
He should have been better dressed for the weather.
How would he have known, though? William wasn’t expecting to run from Dragon Souls, to escape from his town, and to need to run out into the night and come up the mountainside and risk exposure to the elements. William wasn’t expecting any of this.
Ice Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 1) Page 18
