And he needed to focus his energy, his anger, on what had happened, why he was here. Sarah blamed him, and yet by holding him here, by confining him, wasn’t she to blame as well?
Could he draw upon both hot and cold and the iron dragon?
He didn’t know if he was able to summon that much power. He leaned against the wall, holding the different dragon pearls in his hand, staring at them, focusing. It would be a different technique. He could reach the ice dragon and the maroon dragon at the same time, but reaching for the power within the iron dragon took a different type of focus. He strained, trying to come up with what he could in order to find that focus, and struggled to do so. The energy might be there, but he was unable to reach it. The longer he stood there, the more uncertain he was that he could even do anything. He debated releasing the hot and the cold at the doorway again, but he’d done that twice before and failed.
He wasn’t going to be able to do anything. He wasn’t going to be able to get out of here. He was going to remain trapped, no different than David.
“You begin to see the dilemma,” David said.
“I don’t deserve to be trapped like this,” he muttered.
“And I do?”
“You’re an Auran.”
“You say that as if you suddenly understand what that means. You know what it means no better than they do.”
“I know what you are doing to the dragons.”
“You know what they tell you was done to the dragons. We can go around and around with this, and I can continue to share with you what I know, but it won’t change your mind.”
Jason took a seat on the floor and stared at the door to the cell.
He couldn’t shake the sense the dragons needed him. It was more than just the dragons outside; it was the dragons in the other part of the world, the misfits, the dragons that the Dragon Souls would go for. If only he had some way of finding them, of chasing them down, and yet he didn’t even know how to get out of the cell and help them.
He rested his head on the wall. As he did, he held on to the dragon pearls, rolling them in his hands. Regardless of what David said, he didn’t have the power within himself. He might have the ability to draw upon the dragons, and that was a specific type of power, but he didn’t possess anything more than that. It was a wonder he had the magic he did.
“You should get up,” David said.
“And do what?”
“Someone is coming,” he said.
Jason grunted. “How can you tell?”
“Do you think I need a dragon pearl to use my ability?” Jason glanced over at him. David stood rigidly in the opening between the cells. “You saw me in the forest when you were trying to help that dragon. Did I require a dragon pearl?”
“We’d taken the pearls from you,” Jason said.
“You had, but you didn’t eliminate my ability to use power. You might have believed you did, but I’m not completely helpless.”
“If you’re not helpless, then get yourself free.”
“As you have seen, they have protections that prevent that. I can use my own abilities to recognize when something is coming. And as I said, something is coming.”
Jason stared at the door and didn’t want to move. He didn’t want to say anything, and he didn’t want to even look up. Regardless of what David told him, he didn’t have that power, and perhaps he didn’t even care. The longer he was here, the more he was doing, the more uncertain he became.
This was beyond him. All of this was beyond what he could do. He had come thinking he could help the dragons, and though he might have aided the iron dragon, and though he had discovered the forest dragon, he didn’t know enough to be of much use.
“You do need to get up,” David said.
“I’m comfortable here,” Jason said.
“I didn’t take you for the type to abandon hope so easily.”
“I’m not abandoning hope. I’m merely waiting.”
“I’ve seen men like you before. This is abandoning hope.”
“Do you think I should do something different?”
“I think you should be ready. The moment your door opens, you can attack. When you do, then you can find your way to freedom.”
Jason sighed. He doubted he would be able to get to freedom, but then, it was possible he could attack when the door was opened. He thought about using the combination of the powers, drawing upon both the fire and the ice. If he put them together, it was unlikely that anyone would be able to overwhelm that.
Getting to his feet, he watched the two dragon pearls, and then he changed his mind.
The iron dragon pearl instead.
He let his irritation, his anger, the fact that he wasn’t able to help his family, his sister, his mother, and his village, fill him.
Those emotions rolled through him, the boiling rage that began to bubble up within him. It matched the anger within the iron dragon, and he held on to that simmering sort of heat. It flowed into the dragon pearl, leaving the pearl to glow with the heat that he didn’t feel. It was almost as if he were immune to it.
The door opened.
Jason unleashed that anger, the nature of the heat, and it exploded.
It struck the opening and he ran toward the door, prying it open.
On the other side of the door, Henry lay unmoving.
17
Jason hesitated. Now that the door was open, he should escape. He looked along the length of the tunnel, debating what to do, and yet this was Henry. This was someone who had helped him, who had explained to him all that he knew about the dragons, and though Henry was a strange man, he had been responsible for supporting Jason.
He wore his black furs, but the heavy beard covering his jawline seemed to be trimmer than the last time Jason had seen him. The wrinkles along the corners of his eyes appeared more etched than before. He didn’t move.
What had Jason done?
He glanced back. David was trying to crawl into the room.
Holding on to the ice dragon pearl, Jason pushed power outward, letting it flow and slamming into the wall where David crawled through. He yelped and backed up.
Taking a deep breath, Jason turned his focus to the fallen man in front of him. He held on to the dragon pearl and debated. Which dragon pearl should he use? He wanted to help Henry. He wasn’t about to leave the man to suffer. Who knew how long he could lie here until someone found him.
He used the power of the ice dragon. He let it flow through him, and having gone through the motions several times, he understood the way the ice dragon magic could be used to heal. It flowed out from him, washing into Henry. This time, there was no guidance, no sense of the ice dragon helping him, and yet Jason thought he understood how to use it. He used the energy while searching for injury. When he encountered it, he continued to push, letting that power overwhelm Henry.
With a gasp, Henry opened his eyes.
He rolled over, and power began to build from him.
Jason backed up, gripping a pair of dragon pearls, ready to protect himself, though he wasn’t sure how.
“What was that?” Henry asked.
“That was my fault.”
“You?” He flicked his gaze into the room before looking back at Jason. “You’ve grown since the time I saw you last.”
“What do you mean?”
“In skill.” Henry sat up, flicked his gaze once more into the room, and frowned. “Stay in your cell.”
Jason turned to see David trying to crawl through again. When Henry said it, David crawled back, muttering something.
“If you knew I was here, why would you let them keep me trapped?”
“I only learned you were here now. Sarah did what she thought was necessary.”
“By trapping me here?”
Henry nodded to the back of the cell. “You brought an Auran.”
“I brought him here because I needed answers. There are other dragons out there we need to help.”
“I know. That’s
why I’m here.”
“You know?”
“I don’t believe I would’ve known otherwise, but your dragons made it clear.”
“What do you mean by my dragons?”
“The dragons you brought with you.”
“You were talking with them?”
“No one has been talking with them. Once you were brought away, they became unsettled. They are quite powerful.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“No you’re not. And you shouldn’t be. You didn’t control the dragons. You connected to them. That’s the ideal of the Dragon Haven. And yet, we need to do something so they don’t harm anyone else.”
“How many people have they harmed?”
“Come with me, and I will show you.”
“No.” Jason went back to David. “I’m not sure who I should go with. I’m not even sure who I can trust anymore.”
“It’s about time,” Henry said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean you should have been questioning all along. Dragon Haven is safe for the dragons. I’ve shown you that, but you need to come to your own understanding. I thought you had when you decided to remain in your village.”
Jason turned away. “I remained because I didn’t know what to do with the dragon. And I needed to help my family.”
Henry studied him. “That’s the only reason you remained?”
“Mostly. I did what I needed to in order to protect those I care for.”
“Interesting. What brought you out of your village in pursuit of the other dragons?”
Family first…
“The ice dragon.” Jason looked up, meeting Henry’s eyes. He had two deep silver eyes, unlike Jason, who had only one. There was a sense that radiated from Henry, the same sort of power he’d picked up on when he first met the man. “He recognized his hatch mates were in need of help. We went looking, and…”
“You found the iron dragon.”
“I did.”
“Where?”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because I’ve been searching for evidence of other dragons. Ever since we left you, I have been hunting for that information, knowing Therin wouldn’t have left only one egg. There would’ve been more, and if he was successful anywhere, I thought I would hear.”
“Varmin.”
Henry scratched his chin. “Interesting. That would make sense with it being an iron dragon, but I didn’t hear anything in Varmin about the presence of a dragon.”
“They had it held captive in one of the iron mines.”
“How were you able to find it?”
Jason shook his head. “I don’t really know. I followed the sense of rumbling, almost as if I were hearing the dragon, but honestly, I think it was chance more than anything else.”
“It is unlikely that it was chance.”
“Why would you say that?”
Henry flicked his gaze past Jason and held David’s eyes for a long moment. “You have an Auran with you. And not just any Auran, but one who sits high within Lorach. He serves at the right hand of the throne. Unfortunately, I suspect he hasn’t been completely truthful with you.”
“I don’t know. I think David has been the only one who has been truthful with me.”
“David? Is that what he’s calling himself?”
“It is my name,” David said.
“Is it? When I was in Lorach, you went by another moniker. Do you want me to share that with Jason, or would you care to do so?”
David turned away. He retreated from the opening in the cell, leaving Jason watching that emptiness.
“What was he called?”
“He was known as Dragon’s Bane. A powerful Auran, perhaps one of the strongest. And he has a very particular understanding of the nature of the dragons and views his role with them in a very specific way.”
Why would David have lied to him?
Then again, why wouldn’t he have lied to him? He was an Auran, he was a Dragon Soul, and he’d been hunting the dragons. He wanted to learn everything Jason might know about finding the other dragons, and it wouldn’t surprise Jason that he would be willing to lie in order to uncover anything he could.
“What now?”
“Now you need to come with me, no differently than I said before.”
“What about him?”
“He will remain here.”
“In this cell?”
“Do you think there should be another place?”
“Are you sure the cell can hold him?”
Henry studied the inside of the cell. “I would have said yes, but then again, I’ve never seen anyone able to blast a hole between cells. We’ve held other Dragon Souls here over the years, and none have managed to do anything like that. This place is meant to protect from it. The power of it is too overwhelming, and yet…” He leveled his gaze on Jason, a hint of a smile curling his lips. “You managed to do so.”
“I didn’t do it alone. I had help.”
“I imagine you did. And considering the type of dragons you’ve been working with, I suspect that help has been considerable.”
Henry held out a dragon pearl, and he pushed power into it. It flowed into the room, something Jason could almost see, and it washed along the walls. When it was done, whatever Henry was doing retreated, but the power remained. He frowned for a moment before nodding. Closing the door, he locked it again and motioned for Jason to follow him.
“What are the words of the flame?”
Henry froze. “What did he say?” Jason told him, and Henry looked toward the cells. “The words of the flame are dangerous. It is where you make a promise to the fire within yourself, and use that energy. If you betray the vow, that energy will burn off you.”
“What does that mean? You won’t be able to use your magic?”
“I’m afraid it’s a bit more than that. I’ve only seen the words of the flame spoken a few times, and I’ve only seen them violated once. It is a brutal thing. When someone speaks the words and then they violate that vow, the words and the vow tear through them, as if fire is burning from the inside out.” Henry’s voice trailed off toward the end and became much softer. “You claim he spoke the words of the flame?”
“He did speak them,” Jason said.
“And my suspicion is that he spoke them with the intention of finding a way beyond them. I don’t know what he planned, or how he thought he would be able to maneuver around the words, but it’s unlikely that he spoke them intending to comply by them.” He glanced toward the door. “Knowing him as vaguely as I do, I have a feeling he spoke them thinking that he would convince you. Most people from Lorach are at least familiar with the words of the flame, and they understand that if a Dragon Soul speaks them, there would be no way for them to violate that.”
“But I didn’t know what it meant.”
That was the part of all of this that troubled Jason the most. David had spoken words, even though Jason had not really understood what they meant. David had said it anyway. He could have said anything. He could’ve claimed any vow. Why did it have to be words of the flame?
He looked back toward the doors.
“I know you don’t believe him, and I’m not sure I can believe him, either, but…” The more Jason thought about it, the more certain he was that there was something more taking place. He couldn’t help but feel as if, regardless of Henry’s feelings about David and about Aurans in general, there was something more he was missing. It was the same thing he felt about Sarah and her abrupt decision to imprison him.
There was more taking place here.
Jason spun, facing the cell, and he headed back toward David’s cell, stopping in front of the door. “We need to understand what he’s doing, and he has no power with him. I’ve taken his dragon pearls. I’ve even taken his clothing,” he said, motioning to himself and the dragonskin he was wearing. “I made sure the dragons accepted me wearing it, but he doesn’t have anything. No marker of his offi
ce. No power.”
“You asked the dragon if you could wear the dragonskin?”
“I thought it was appropriate. I didn’t want the dragons to be angry if I suddenly was wearing a dragonskin cloak and jacket.”
Henry smiled. “How did that go?”
“The ice dragon was fine with it.” He hadn’t really asked the iron dragon, but the iron dragon was different. The more he understood that dragon, the more certain he was of that fact.
Henry chuckled softly, shaking his head. “Interesting. Regardless, the Aurans don’t need dragon pearls in order to use their power. It will certainly augment it, but without a dragon pearl, they still have some power within them.”
That was the same thing that David had admitted. It was even more reason to question how much David had been lying to him. It might not be nearly as much as what Henry believed. And if he wasn’t lying, and if at least part of what he said was the truth, then they needed to include him. It might be difficult for Henry and the others in Dragon Haven to believe, but the more he thought about it, the more certain he was.
“He’s going to have to come with us,” Jason said.
“I can’t allow that.”
“You can’t, but I can.”
“He knows how to find Dragon Haven.”
“Then find some way to prevent him from remembering.”
Henry shook his head. “It doesn’t quite work like that. We don’t have any way of restricting memory. That’s not how the dragon pearls work.”
“Make him say the words of the flame that he won’t share the location.”
Henry stared at him, and there was a debate waging behind his eyes, flickering there. Jason didn’t know all that Henry had gone through when he served the Dragon Souls, but he did know that Henry had changed, and that because of that, he viewed those commitments very differently. He viewed those who still served the Dragon Souls differently as well. If anyone would understand wanting something different, wanting to be someone different, it would be Henry.
Jason wasn’t completely convinced that David wanted to be anything different. He still had mentioned returning to Lorach, and being here hadn’t changed David’s belief that he would be able to return. If he did so, there was little doubt in Jason’s mind that David would try to use the knowledge he had gleaned to somehow harm dragons here.
Iron Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 2) Page 22
