“You won’t ever find Dragon Haven.”
Therin paused, studying him. A sense of power surrounded Jason, holding him in place. “You’ve seen it.”
Had he made a mistake? Was there some way Therin would be able to force him to share what he knew? He could imagine the other man knew of torments that would compel him to speak. If anyone would have some way of doing so, it would be the Dragon Souls, wouldn’t it?
Jason licked his lips and tried to back away but Therin approached, stepping closer to him, a dark grin on his face.
“I think you might be even more useful than I’d realized. And here I thought you would only be able to guide me to an ice dragon, but perhaps you can guide me to much more than that.”
“I’m not going to guide you to anything.”
“And you won’t have much of a choice. If you refuse, everyone in that village you care so much for is going to be incinerated.” He grinned at him. “Do you think the dragons fear your ballistae? They have thicker hides than any other creature, and a simple ballista will pose no threat to them.”
Armor. That was what Henry had said.
The ballistae might not be of any use. The village might still be in danger from dragons. Unless he could do something to stop Therin.
“First you’re going to guide me to this dragon, and then you’re going to take me to Dragon Haven. Afterward, if you’ve served well, you can come with me to Lorach. Perhaps I will allow you to serve me.”
“I’m not going to serve anyone.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to serve someone.”
Jason looked around, but there was nothing and no one coming to help. Therin grinned.
“I don’t know how to find the dragon.”
“Perhaps not. But you have seen it.”
“Why do you believe that?”
“Because of what you told me.”
“I didn’t tell you about anything.”
“Ah, but you did. I heard you talking in the village. And then during our travels. You saw something. Now you just have to tell me where it was.”
Jason swallowed. “Do you think it’s that easy? In this place, it’s impossible to find one location versus another. The only place that has any sort of permanence is—”
Jason cut himself off, realizing he’d already said too much.
“Is what?” Therin asked.
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s something. You may not want to tell me, but you will. Oh, you will.”
Therin grabbed him and lifted him to his feet.
Jason tried to fight, but the other man was strong, and Jason had to wonder if he was somehow powered by the dragon pearl, its magic giving him increased strength. As he was forced forward, he noticed heat washing away from him. Jason tried to fight, but he had no way of getting free.
“Where is this place?” Therin asked.
What harm was there in sharing the stream? It wasn’t as if he was the only one to know where it was, and if he didn’t reveal it to Therin, someone would.
Besides, there was nothing there that Therin would be able to find. If everything went as they intended, Sarah and William would have tracked the dragon and would have already reached it, which meant the dragon would be safe.
Why was he even concerned about that?
It wasn’t that he cared about the dragon, but he wanted to do anything in his power to prevent Therin from succeeding. If that meant keeping the dragon from him, then that was his goal.
“There’s a stream.”
“A stream?”
“I know it sounds impossible up here, but it flows fast enough that it doesn’t freeze.”
Therin shoved him. “Show me.”
Jason looked around. There had to be other Dragon Souls, but where were they? Then again, where was Henry?
It was possible Henry was following the other Dragon Souls.
All Jason had to do was create a distraction. Out here in the bleak landscape, with the snow swirling around him, the wind whipping, there should be some way to find a chance to break free.
When disoriented, keep your wits about you. You can lose your way, but don’t lose your mind.
Therin didn’t know the land as well as he did.
Jason understood how to move in the snow and the cold.
The only advantage Therin had was that his connection to the dragon pearl somehow allowed him to float above the snow.
First, he needed to get closer to the stream.
As they walked, Jason thought he heard the distant sound of the burbling stream, but wasn’t sure.
“How much farther is it?” Therin asked.
“It’s hard to follow. Out here, distances are difficult. You’ve been out here long enough that you have to know that.”
Therin wrinkled his nose. “I might’ve been out here, but I’ve never liked it.”
The other man was a step away from him. It was his opportunity.
He kicked, separating from Therin. “It doesn’t like you, either.”
Jason dropped to his backside. He lifted his feet, and he slid.
It was icier than usual. He was able to glide, flowing down the snow, and as he went, he glanced back and felt a hint of heat radiating from Therin, but the other man was behind him.
The sound of the stream came upon him too fast, and he realized almost too late that he needed to slow himself.
Jason dug his feet in, jamming his heels down to the ground, and skittered to a stop.
It was almost too late. The water burbled, splashing up toward his boots, and he held his breath. A little farther, and he would’ve crashed into the water.
He scrambled back and looked behind him, but didn’t see anything. There was a sense of heat continuing to build. The longer he was here and the more he detected that heat, the more likely Therin would find him. He didn’t think he’d be able to conceal himself from the other man for too long.
It meant he was going to have to try something else.
The only thing he could think of was returning to the cave. At least within the cave, there was the hope that the structure would somehow shield him from the other man. He hurried along the edge of the stream, following the flowing water. The distant sight of the darkened cave entrance called to him.
He reached the entrance to the cave.
Once he was there, he hugged the lip of stone, barely able to see it in the darkness, and hurried along it. At one point, his foot slipped. He nearly tumbled into the stream before catching himself and throwing himself back against the wall. He paused, breathing heavily, waiting for a moment before continuing deeper into the cave.
As he remained there, he crouched down, wrapping his arms and legs around himself. A moment passed, and then another, and another.
There was no sign of the Dragon Souls at the entrance to the cave. With each passing moment, he allowed himself to think he was going to be able to survive this.
While waiting, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the icy dragon pearl. In the darkness of the cave, he couldn’t really make out anything. He pulled his glove off, and he held the dragon pearl in one hand. It was strange and smooth, and it was so similar to the one he’d found the night he’d encountered the Dragon Souls.
It seemed impossible to believe he’d found another dragon pearl, but what else could it have been?
As he held on to it, he couldn’t shake the sense that there was a certain hint of power within it. It was different than the other dragon pearl. That one radiated heat and gave a suggestion of something more. This was cold, but not unpleasantly so.
As Jason squeezed the dragon pearl, he breathed out.
All of this, and now he had to believe Therin was the one responsible for his father’s death. For so long, Jason had blamed the dragons. While the dragon might’ve been responsible, it was because of Therin and his plan, his attempt to place dragon eggs in places like this so he could have new types of dragons.
And Therin wasn�
�t even sure that it was him, but Jason felt convinced. It was the only thing that really fit. What would his father have thought about all of this?
More than anything, that question drove him. Jason knew his father was an open-minded man, and though he loved the village, and he loved their life, however simple it might be, he had also understood there was a greater world out there that they hadn’t explored.
Jason breathed out as he held the dragon pearl.
“I wish you were here, Father.”
Would his father have wanted to see the dragons? Would he have feared them?
The memories of conversations Jason had with his father stayed with him, making him wonder if perhaps he had known about the Dragon Souls. About the dragons and dragon pearls. About magic.
A steady rumbling built.
Jason looked up, toward the end of the cave. Was one of the Dragon Souls here? He wasn’t strong enough to overpower Therin, and he certainly didn’t have a connection to magic that would be of any use in stopping him.
If it were one of the other Dragon Souls, he doubted he would have any way of stopping them, either. His best bet was avoiding them altogether. Maybe he could hide in the back of the cave, keeping himself concealed so they wouldn’t even know he was here.
Jason pressed himself against the wall of the cave, remaining hidden, squeezing the dragon pearl in his hand. Maybe it was nothing more than a stone, but if it was a dragon pearl, he…
The rumbling came again.
This time, Jason realized it wasn’t coming from outside the cave, but inside.
Where was it?
He looked around and focused on what he could see, but there wasn’t anything. The inside of the cave was completely darkened, making it difficult to make anything out. Without Sarah and her dragon pearl to give illumination, there was no way to see anything in detail.
He hesitated, squeezing the dragon pearl as he looked around, wishing he could draw power out from it.
A surge of cold worked through him.
It wasn’t the first time he’d detected cold from the dragon pearl, but he was almost tempted to drop it, but this time that cold sent a surge through him, almost reverberating within him.
He remembered that from when he had held the other dragon pearl the first time.
It was a strange sensation. As he squeezed it, he felt it echoing within him.
Could he be connecting to that power?
Therin had told him he would be able to do so, and even though he might’ve been lying, Henry had said the best lies had a sprinkle of truth within them.
Why would Therin have lied about that? He would’ve wanted to tell the truth if only to gain Jason’s trust. What better way to gain his trust than by showing him a connection to a greater power?
Jason squeezed the dragon pearl, feeling that cold as it surged through him, reverberating.
That was familiar to him.
When he had held the warm dragon pearl, there had been a sense of power, but none of it had been familiar to him, not the way this was.
This reminded him of everything he’d known his entire life. The longer he held on to the dragon pearl, the more he thought he could use it.
Connect to the dragon pearl.
Wasn’t that what Therin and Henry had said?
What he had to do was figure out some way of using it, and though he wasn’t sure if he did have any way, he could feel that cold.
Heat built.
He was no longer alone here.
Jason didn’t know if he’d be able to withstand a Dragon Soul, but if he could somehow connect to this dragon pearl, it might help him overcome whatever attack was about to occur. He continued to squeeze, holding on to the dragon pearl, using his connection to it, and thought about how he might be able to draw that power. There didn’t seem to be anything he could use, and yet there had to be something.
Heat emanated from the end of the cave.
A Dragon Soul. He was certain of that.
How did he use this?
That was the key, even more than trying to conceal the dragon. He thought he needed to find some way of using the dragon pearl.
A soft rumbling came from near him again and Jason jerked his head around, but didn’t see anything near him.
What was that sound?
When they had been here before, there hadn’t been any creatures here. Had he interrupted a bear crawling into the cave for safety?
It would’ve been too dark and too windy to have made out any footprints coming into the cave, and yet, on a night like tonight, this would be a perfect place for a bear to have hunkered down, using the cave for protection from the wind and the snow.
Jason pressed his back against the wall, continuing to squeeze the dragon pearl, but what he needed was some way to see something. If only the dragon pearl would begin to glow the same way that Sarah’s did.
His hand started to glow with a pale white light.
Jason’s eyes widened.
That white light reflected off the crystals and illuminated a form at the end of the cave. His breath caught.
Was it Therin?
He held his hand out and tried to push out power from the pearl.
The strange white light exploded from his hand, and it shot down the length of the cave and slammed into the man. He teetered for a moment before splashing into the stream. He continued to kick, splashing, as the stream pulled him farther and farther down.
Jason shivered, unable to look away.
If it was a Dragon Soul, he might have some way of using his dragon pearl to escape, but at least he wouldn’t be coming after Jason again so quickly.
He turned, using the pearl to illuminate everything inside the cave, and found nothing. Still, the sense of the rumbling continued.
Where was it coming from?
There was one place he hadn’t looked, and Jason turned his attention down to the stream.
A shape moved on the bottom of the stream. From where he stood, it appeared translucent. Shimmering in the water, reflecting in a way that looked like thousands of crystals along the surface.
Jason backed away, and yet, as he did, the shape began to undulate and then broke free of the water.
A dragon.
24
The dragon was unlike any that he had seen. All of the others had spikes along their back, and they had either glowing orange or red eyes. Heat radiated from them and dark wings spread out from their bodies.
This creature was nothing like that.
The general shape was the same. There were spikes along its back, but it had flat silver eyes and scales of icy white. When it spread its wings outward, it made a noise like icicles crackling. The dragon was long and slender, its body practically translucent.
The dragon took a step toward him and ice shook free from its back.
It was like shards of needles that radiated all around, and it matched the crystals reflected off the ceiling of the cave.
Jason flicked his gaze upward.
That couldn’t be coincidental, could it?
He turned his attention back to the dragon, afraid to do anything but look at the creature.
He held on to the dragon pearl, squeezing it. The dragon rumbled, watching him with those strange silver eyes. They were eyes so much like his own, and yet, the dragon’s were matching. There was power in those eyes, and there was power in the way the dragon approached him, looking at him, and Jason couldn’t help but hold the dragon’s gaze.
“I’m Jason,” he said.
The way the dragon was looking at him suggested that somehow it was aware of him. The dragons in Dragon Haven had spoken, so why wouldn’t this one?
The creature was not nearly as large as the ones he’d seen in Dragon Haven. Was that because it was young, or was it because it was different?
The dragon rumbled again and Jason backed up, slamming his back into the wall of the cave. He couldn’t go any farther, and he almost dropped the dragon pearl, but if he were to
do that, he worried that the glow from it would extinguish and he wouldn’t have any way of seeing the dragon. He thought he needed to be able to watch the dragon, that he needed to know that it was coming, and he needed to be able to react.
Then again, what would he be able to do?
It wasn’t as if he had some way of fighting the creature.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.
The dragon rumbled again, and it shook something within him.
Some part of him reverberated, echoing, and it reminded him of what he felt when he held the dragon pearl.
Jason looked down at it, frowning. That couldn’t be a coincidence. There had to be something meaningful in the way the dragon pearl called to him, the power he felt within it, and it was similar to the way the dragon tried to communicate with him.
And it was an attempt to communicate.
More than anything, Jason was certain of that. He continued to hold on to the dragon pearl, focusing on it, feeling its power. The longer he held it, the more certain he was that there was great power within it.
What was he going to do?
The better question was, what was the dragon going to do?
There wasn’t much time before Therin arrived. He didn’t think it had been Therin at the entrance to the cave. He was far too savvy to have allowed Jason to use some uncontrolled power to throw him into the water. No. That was more likely to be just a regular Dragon Soul.
If there was any such thing as a regular Dragon Soul.
He looked up, and the dragon rumbled at him again.
“I don’t understand,” he said. He squeezed the dragon pearl, wishing there was some way to better comprehend the dragon. As he did, cold jolted through him again, and some part of him answered, a reverberation that rang through him.
The dragon rumbled. “Why are you here?”
Jason trembled.
He’d heard it.
That hadn’t been his imagination. The voice had come from the dragon itself.
“That was you?”
The dragon rumbled again. “Why are you here?”
Ice Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 1) Page 24
