“I’m not trying to make him think he’s more powerful. I’m trying to help him understand—”
“You’re trying to make him think that he was the savior of Dragon Haven. He’s a Dragon Soul. Nothing more.”
She glowered at him. “He might be a Dragon Soul, but it’s the dragon he’s connected to that matters, Henry. You would know that if you were paying attention.”
“And you would know that we are nearing Lorach if you were paying attention.”
Jason looked up, and he realized that they were indeed nearing a city. A massive wall surrounded it, with towers spaced every hundred yards or so, and soldiers stood in those towers. Enormous bolts angled toward the sky, ballistae targeting an imaginary threat. Jason pointed.
“Those are for us,” Sarah said.
“They would shoot the dragons of the sky?”
“I doubt they would these days,” Henry said, “though there was a time when they were more concerned about the possibility of an attack. These days, the Dragon Souls know enough that they think they’d be able to train any dragon that might appear.”
“Other than the ones Jason has saved.”
“Will you stop?” Henry said.
Sarah shrugged.
As they neared, a line of people headed toward the city. He saw covered wagons and horse-drawn carts and people in clusters all being funneled toward an enormous gate.
“If they’re so worried about dragons, why would they need a gate like that?”
“Because the king likes to keep track of who comes into his city. You’ll find we need to register when we enter.”
“How will we register?”
“There are papers they require, though I don’t know if it will matter when they see either of you. You have enough of the appearance of the Dragon Souls that they will believe you’re capable.”
“We should talk about our approach,” Sarah said.
“You can talk all you want, but your approach is going to be that you were discovered by a Dragon Soul out in the countryside. He gave you the skins of fallen Dragon Souls and was bringing you back to Lorach when he was waylaid by the rebellion.”
Sarah frowned at him. “All that’s going to do is draw attention to the rebellion.”
“Do you think they need more attention drawn to them? They know all they need about the rebellion. It’s believable. That’s what matters. And when it comes to ensuring we get into the city, believability is going to be the key.”
Henry turned away from them, continuing forward, and it left Jason and Sarah sharing a glance before chasing after him.
Jason hadn’t considered all that was going to be involved in convincing the Dragon Souls that he could be one of them. And yet, now that he was thinking about it, now that he was here, looking at the wall, the men standing on the towers overhead, he couldn’t help but wonder if he would be able to convince them.
Jason focused on his connection to the ice dragon, determined to hold on to it so he could maintain the illusion. It was all about the illusion now, and if he couldn’t maintain it, then they’d discover what he was.
Sarah patted his hand.
He didn’t share her optimism, though perhaps it didn’t matter. Perhaps none of this mattered. All that mattered was that he was continuing to get closer to the city. Now that he was here, he believed he would be able to find the villagers. Once he did, he believed he could free them, and then they could leave, and go…
Where?
It was another thing Jason hadn’t given all that much thought to. He had no idea what he would do when he rescued the villagers. He would bring their mother back to Dragon Haven, back to Kayla, but what of the others? They didn’t need to have the same exposure, and it was possible the people of the village wouldn’t even want to know about the reality of dragons. They might not want to know what he knew.
“There’s one more thing,” Henry said, turning back to them.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“You won’t be able to stay together.”
“What do you mean?”
“They separate male candidates from female candidates,” Henry said.
Jason’s heart started to hammer. “If you knew that, then why would you have let her come along?” he asked.
“I didn’t let her do anything, and I think you’ve come to know Sarah well enough that you have to believe she wouldn’t leave us much of a choice.”
He was probably right, but Jason still didn’t care for the idea that he would be separated from her. The whole point of them coming together, of working together, was so they would be able to support each other. If something happened so they could no longer do that, he worried what that might mean.
“It doesn’t change anything,” Sarah said.
Henry stared at her. “You might change your mind once we’re there.”
“And I might not.” She glanced over at Jason. “I’ve been wanting to infiltrate the Dragon Souls for a long time. This isn’t going to change anything.”
“I will not do anything more to try to dissuade you,” Henry said.
When they reached the main road, he paused, letting a caravan of wagons move past. When they were gone, Jason watched them. “Where did they come from?”
“There are small villages and towns that dot the landscape.”
“Places like where I met you?”
“Places like that, and other places. There are many such places throughout Lorach. Most of the time, people come here because they can’t find things anywhere else. This is the center of trade, the heart of the kingdom, but it’s also a place people don’t always like to visit.”
“Because of the dragons,” Sarah said.
Henry nodded slowly. “Because of the dragons. We can’t deny the fact that people fear the dragons, Sarah.”
“And they don’t need to.”
Henry shook his head, stepping out on the road.
They fell silent as they made their way along the road, heading in toward the city. Every so often, they would come across people heading out, away from Lorach. When they did, Jason studied them, looking to see if there was anything about them he could find remarkable, but there wasn’t. The people looked like the same people he had known in his village. Then again, most people in the village were large, much larger than what he saw on the road, and larger than he was. These people were more like him.
He focused on the road. He got lost in his thoughts, trying to maintain his hold on the ice dragon, trying to maintain his silver eyes, not wanting anyone to be able to see that he had a blue eye, the marker of the slaves. As Thomas had suggested, holding on to the illusion became easier the more he did it.
He still feared it would fail, and yet, now that he knew how to use the sense of the ice dragon, he didn’t worry quite as much as he had when he was first learning. Now he believed that he could hold on to it, and he believed that he would be able to maintain it if it came down to doing so in front of the Dragon Souls.
Unless they did something to try to test him.
It was possible they had some way of testing, though Henry hadn’t suggested that. He wouldn’t have offered to teach Jason how to create an illusion if he believed the Dragon Souls had some way of overpowering it.
And then there was his hand. While walking along the road, Jason kept his hand in his pocket, finding that easier to do. He’d taken up his dragonskin cloak and stuffed it under his arm, and they’d abandoned the sword long before leaving Dragon Haven. There was no point in keeping it with him, mostly because he had no idea how to even wield a sword. Even if he had it, he would be helpless to fight with it. When he’d been around Therin, he’d noticed that the other man carried a sword, but he’d never seen him fighting with it. He preferred to use his dragon pearls. With that power, he was far better protected than he would have been even with the blade.