Jason couldn’t help but think that he had done what was necessary. If the dragon had been captured by the Dragon Soul, it was possible that whatever he was doing was freeing the dragon.
He let the power roll through the dragon, and strangely, as he did so, he felt a stirring, a connection that formed.
For a moment, he thought he shared the dragon’s perspective, but then it passed.
As the dragon crashed into the ground, there was a thunder of sound. The dragon cried out, someone else screamed, and Jason looked down.
The Dragon Soul.
There was more than just one Dragon Soul.
Two had been riding on the dragon.
Where was the other dragon?
The iron dragon rolled and then began to climb.
“There’s another dragon out here,” Jason said.
“I can feel it,” the iron dragon rumbled.
“Can you tell where it is?”
“I cannot.”
He looked over at David. “What about you? Do you know where the other dragon is?”
“Why would I be able to tell where the other dragon is?”
“Because you’re a Dragon Soul. You would have some way of knowing where the other is. Where is it?”
“I only knew about the maroon dragon.”
“You knew?” Jason sat up, facing David. “What do you mean you knew?”
“How do you think we got there?”
“How many other dragons were here?”
“There were three that carried us. One departed, heading back to Lorach.”
“Then you knew that there would be two. The maroon dragon and—”
A shadow suddenly loomed overhead.
Jason dropped down, but he wasn’t fast enough.
Something grabbed for the iron dragon.
The iron dragon screamed, a rasping metallic sound he’d never heard before, and it seemed as if steam hissed from him, squealing out into the sky.
The dragon burst into painful heat, his entire body beginning to glow, the redness working along his scales and then fading, but it did so slowly.
He twisted, and they managed to avoid the attack, but as he looked over, he realized David hadn’t completely dodged it.
An enormous gash was torn through his arm. Blood poured down it and he slumped over.
Swearing to himself, Jason reached for David and pushed power outward, sending it from the ice dragon pearl and into him.
He summoned the ice dragon, letting that power flow through him. It rolled into David, hitting the wound, and yet the ice dragon wasn’t guiding them as he had before.
He needed the help.
The ice dragon would help.
Unless freeing the maroon dragon had taken too much out of him.
Jason fumbled for the power within the dragon pearl, but he didn’t have enough.
What about one of the dragon pearls he’d taken from David?
He grabbed for one, pulling heat through it, using the heat from himself, from what he felt from the iron dragon. As he did, it radiated outward, and it flowed into David.
The power was enormous, and he didn’t know if it was because they were so close to the maroon dragon or because of the heat radiating off the iron dragon. Either way, that power flowed into David. It seemed as if David guided the flow, and the blood stopped pouring from his arm.
Jason didn’t know enough to do more than that. If nothing else, he thought he could prevent David from bleeding out. It would involve holding on to the Dragon Soul and keeping him on the dragon’s back, and he wasn’t sure that he was able to do that.
He looked around but couldn’t find where the other dragon had gone.
“Where did the last attack come from?”
“I don’t know,” the dragon rumbled.
How could the dragon not know?
Then again, Jason hadn’t known. The attack had suddenly been there. It was almost as if it had appeared out of nowhere.
Was there some other way for the dragon to attack?
Jason looked up. He had to be here somewhere, but as he looked around, he saw nothing.
Power flowed. There was a steady rumble, and he focused on it, listening, and felt the source of it.
He pulled on power through the dragon pearl, letting it flow out from him, and he sent it through the dragon nearly upon them.
It struck, and rather than refraining, trying to push gently, Jason sent everything he could through the pearl, into the dragon, and felt the resistance there. As before, it was something of an injury, and now that he had worked with it once before, he thought he understood it. It was like a scar somewhere deep inside of the dragon. If he could smooth it over—
He didn’t have an opportunity. Something struck the iron dragon again.
Surprisingly, the iron dragon was ready and its heat flared, rolling through it. It seemed as if the entire dragon roiled, and he whipped his tail around.
Another dragon cried out.
Somewhere, the dragon was here, but Jason couldn’t see it.
How could a dragon be invisible?
These were enormous creatures, and it seemed impossible to him that one could simply disappear, and yet there it was. There was no sign of the dragon, no sign of where it had come from and where it had gone.
He focused on the power he was pushing through the dragon pearl, letting that flow through him, and as he did, he felt that ongoing resistance. He pushed again, allowing it to roll through him. It struck the dragon, and he pushed again.
The scar began to disappear.
Jason shoved again, this time drawing all the strength he could, all the power he had within him, and he let it flow over him, into the strange mysterious dragon, and it overpowered the dragon and its scar.
It also overpowered him.
Weakness washed over him and he slumped forward, trying to cling to the iron dragon’s back.
Somewhere, he heard a deep rumbling, and he worried they were going to be attacked again, but then there came a loud crash, a roar of pain, and something else.
Another cry.
The iron dragon circled. Far below them, Jason was able to make out the form of a black dragon lying motionless on the ground. Three Dragon Souls scattered around it. Some of them were moving, but it was difficult for Jason to tell what they were doing. He tried to draw upon power, but he was wiped out, and anything that he might have left was gone.
He wanted to help. He wanted to ensure that the black dragon—and the maroon dragon—were not going to be harmed, but he didn’t know if he had the strength to fight Dragon Souls.
He tapped on the iron dragon’s back and leaned close to him. “We need to go.”
“Are you sure?”
“No,” Jason said, looking over the dragon’s side. “But I don’t know if I can handle another attack.”
He hated the idea of leaving the dragons behind. If there was any way to rescue them, he wanted to do it, and yet, he didn’t know if he had the necessary strength to do so. It was better for them to get out of here, survive, and move forward.
They angled upward, and as they did, Jason was forced to help hold on to David, keeping him pinned to the dragon’s back. He was tired, more tired than he had been in quite some time, and as they plunged through the clouds, he found the ice dragon circling, watching. Locking eyes with the ice dragon, he nodded. They had survived.
David rolled over, looking over at him, and then he pushed Jason free of the dragon’s back.
14
This was how he was going to die.
All things die…
Jason had never really given it much thought, and yet living in the village, there was never a question that life was hard and that it would be all too easy to perish from the elements. Still, he had thought that he would get a few more years before something claimed him.
And he never would’ve expected dragons to be the reason he died. Despite what happened to his father, Jason thought he was going to have mo
re time.
As he dropped, the wind whistling around him, the cold air blowing past him, he thought of his mother. His sister. The village. All of those were disappointments. He wouldn’t get to return, and yet it was only his mother and sister that he cared about. He no longer cared to return to the village, not as he once would have. What he did care about was not helping the dragons. Disappointing them. Being unable to see them to safety.
It was his mistake. The Dragon Souls would now claim the ice dragon and the iron dragon, and had he been smarter, he might have been able to learn more than he had, and yet he had been too trusting.
What he should’ve done was go to Henry right away. He should’ve returned to Dragon Haven as soon as he knew there were other dragons. He should’ve gone for help.
He parted the clouds.
The ground loomed toward him, much closer than it had been. It was still far below, rapidly getting closer and closer. How much longer did he have until he crashed into it?
Strangely, there was a greater sense of flying by falling than he’d ever had riding with the dragons. He stretched his arms out, wondering if he could slow himself.
Even if he could, what point would there be? There wouldn’t be any way to save himself.
At least he would die warm. He would die dressed in dragonskin. And maybe there was a hope that the dragons would survive this. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was possible, but he had to think they could pull through it.
A chill began to work through him.
That was strange. Ever since connecting to the ice dragon, he’d never felt the same chill. Dressed in the dragonskin, he shouldn’t be cold. The dragonskin should protect him, should keep him from that sensation, and yet here he was, cold in a way he hadn’t been since finding the ice dragon.
It could be fear. He certainly was afraid, though strangely, he wasn’t nearly as frightened as he thought he would’ve been. He would see his father again. And eventually, his mother and sister would join them. They would celebrate in the afterlife.
The cold continued to build.
Was someone calling out his name?
Jason frowned.
The ground was close, and yet he continued to feel the cold rolling toward him, the surge of it, and he looked behind him.
The ice dragon swooped toward him.
“Be ready,” the ice dragon said.
He ducked his head, parted his wings, and streaked beneath Jason.
As he did, the ice dragon pulled up, and he grabbed for Jason.
Jason grabbed for the dragon at the same time and wrapped his arms around his neck, clinging tightly to the dragon.
He held on, but started to slip.
“I need something to grip,” he shouted. The wind was loud, whistling around him, making any conversation difficult. That was why he hadn’t heard the ice dragon in the first place, and yet, the ice dragon must have heard him.
Spikes began to protrude from the ice dragon’s back. Jason grabbed on to two of them, holding tightly.
The dragon spun and shot toward the sky.
But not before drawing the attention of the three Dragon Souls on the ground.
They watched and Jason looked down, knowing that they saw him, saw the ice dragon, and saw what had happened.
“How did you fall?” the ice dragon asked as they pierced the clouds.
“David kicked me off.”
The dragon rumbled.
As they parted the clouds, Jason looked, searching for the iron dragon, but there was no sign of it.
Where would they have gone?
He couldn’t leave David with the iron dragon, and yet, he had no idea how to search for it.
“Can you detect him?”
“I feel that dragon no differently than I feel the others.”
“How many others?”
“There are four others,” the ice dragon said.
“How much of the others can you detect?”
“Not as much as I would like,” the dragon said.
Jason wished there were some way to find the iron dragon.
And maybe there was.
He released one hand and searched through his pocket, sorting the various pearls he’d uncovered, and came across the iron dragon pearl.
He might not understand how to connect to the iron dragon, but he had ridden the dragon, and he had worked with him, and if there was any way to find him, he would search.
And it was possible he didn’t need to find the iron dragon.
He held the ice dragon and iron dragon pearl, and frowned.
“How much strength do you have remaining?”
“Enough.”
Jason wasn’t about to argue, so he called upon the cold, letting it roll through him. He was tired, but for the iron dragon, he needed to do this.
He sensed that power surging through him and connected, letting it flow outward from the ice pearl and into the iron pearl.
It was a strange way of attempting to heal the iron dragon, but what he needed was some way to connect, and he had the iron dragon pearl, which was a part of the dragon, even if it wasn’t a complete part.
At first, there was a strange resistance, but then the power began to flow.
It wasn’t just a power, it was a connection. It began to build, cold pouring from the ice dragon pearl into the iron dragon pearl. But then something changed, and it began to flow in the other direction. It was almost as if they were connecting.
Jason hesitated. He feared doing too much, and yet, he thought that he needed to do anything he could in order to help the iron dragon.
“Keep going,” the ice dragon said.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Jason said.
“I don’t either, but I think you’re doing what must be done.”
“Will this affect you in any way?”
“You are calling upon my power. It’s possible it will.”
And if it did, Jason worried that he was making a mistake. If he were somehow connecting the ice dragon to the iron dragon, fire to ice, then it was equally possible the Dragon Souls would be able to use that connection to reach for the ice dragon. It was possible they would be able to do the same thing he was doing now, and yet if nothing else, he was determined to try to free the iron dragon from any influence. As he pushed through the iron pearl, he continued to feel that power. It flowed outward, rolling from ice to fire, and yet it began to retreat.
There was no other influence.
He frowned, releasing his power.
“The dragon is not influenced,” he said.
That seemed surprising to him, and yet, he was certain of it.
And if he wasn’t influenced, then where was he?
Jason held on to the iron dragon pearl, looking around, and yet he couldn’t feel anything.
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
They had been betrayed by David, but so far, David hadn’t influenced the other dragon in any way that would change him.
It didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t trying to. All it meant was that for now, he hadn’t done so.
What if he wouldn’t be able to? It was possible that with what Jason had done, the way the ice dragon had healed the iron dragon, there was no way for the iron dragon to be influenced in the same way. If that were the case, then where had the iron dragon gone?
He stared at the pearl, trying to find an answer, but there were no answers.
There were only more questions.
He breathed out, thinking of the molten heat he knew when around the iron dragon. There was nothing within him that understood that heat. There was nothing within him that flowed the same way the molten nature of the dragon flowed. There was no part of him that would be able to understand the dragon in order to connect to the dragon pearl.
Still, somehow he had to find that part of himself. He had to find a way to reach deep within him, to uncover the connection he had to the dragon. He want
ed to understand what had happened. He needed to find the creature. He had no idea what it was going to take or where that knowledge was going to come from.
He imagined trying to flow the same way the molten metal of the dragon flowed, thinking about how that sense of metal rolled along his back, the way that the dragon seemed to shift, change, and as he thought about it, he was certain there was some way to uncover it. Jason had to find that within himself, only he didn’t know where.
He held on to the sphere, the power of the other dragon within him. He knew it was there, that it was just a matter of finding it. If he could, then he could summon that connection.
Was there a part of him that worked the same way? He thought about how the dragon had slithered, the way he had used the undulating feature to draw heat through him, to power himself. There was nothing similar Jason could come up with. Try as he might, he came up blank.
The ice dragon circled, and Jason felt no closer to answers than he had been before.
Was this a mistake?
There was no way to find the answer. He’d been kicked off the iron dragon, and in doing so, David had made it so that he wouldn’t be able to return, so he would lose his connection to the iron dragon.
It filled him with rage.
That anger flowed through him, slowly, and he was unsettled by it, but he wasn’t about to let that rage consume him.
Still, it boiled up within him, burbling deep beneath the surface, and as it did, Jason understood. There was the connection to the iron dragon, and all he had to do was latch on to that rage, to that anger, and he could use it.
It filled him.
Jason let it. He welcomed that anger. It came to him slowly, roiling through him in the same way that the molten nature of the metal had roiled through the dragon.
That couldn’t be a coincidence. That had to be something real, and as he focused on it, he was more and more certain he needed to use that anger.
He pushed that connection into the dragon pearl.
Power flowed with it.
It seemed to unlock something within him, and it unlocked something within the pearl.
A soft bell started to toll.
Why should that make a difference? Why should anger seem tied to the dragon?
Maybe it was a matter of the dragon’s captivity, or maybe there was something else to it, but either way, Jason knew that was what it had taken to connect him to the dragon.
Iron Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 2) Page 18
