It was here. It swirled around him, and all he needed was to find the way to draw upon it. When he could, then he believed he would be able to find power that he wasn’t able to otherwise. The sense of it was there, all around him, and more than ever, he knew that it was there.
Jason opened his eyes, looking around, tracing the sense of magic. If he could see it within his mind, then maybe he could see it with his eyes open.
As he looked around, he couldn’t find where it was coming from, but he could feel it.
The next step was going to be tracing through it, trying to find some way to overpower what was being done to him, and once he did, then he could find his way past the illusion.
He had to wonder if he had made a mistake by challenging the woman, telling her that he knew all of this was an illusion. Perhaps he’d revealed to her that he would be able to find some way of seeing past it.
And if that were the case, then what would they do to him?
Perhaps nothing.
Jason breathed out heavily, looking around, and he decided to focus. He squeezed the leaf, drawing through it, and as he did, he thought that he understood the power from the forest dragon in a way that he hadn’t before.
And he thought that he understood why she’d given it to him.
With the leaf, he would have some way of finding the illusions.
The challenge was using it.
He had time. Because of that time, he would continue to dig, to try to uncover what he could, and when he had those answers, then he would push beyond what was done to him.
And then he would find Sarah. From there, he would locate the rest of his village.
And then it would be time for them to leave. The Dragon Soul dragons would have to be dealt with later. Hopefully Sarah would understand.
13
Holding on to the leaf, Jason began to trace the sense of power from it. It was strange. The longer he held on to the leaf, the more he began to understand the nature of that power, and he began to understand the way that power could be used. It flowed through him, filling him, and he thought he recognized what he could do with it.
What was even stranger was how that power existed. It was a strange sensation, a nature of how it worked around him, and the more he stared at that power, the more certain he was that there was something to try to uncover.
Jason drew upon the power of the leaf, letting it fill him, and thought he could find the tracings of the illusion.
The door opened again.
It had been a while since the woman had returned to him. In that time, he’d taken the opportunity to continue to work at mastering his connection to the illusion, trying to understand what she was doing to him. As he was sitting here, as he was focusing on it, he couldn’t help but feel as if the answer was there, but he had to dig. If he could push a little deeper, he might be able to find that answer.
“Have you decided to tell me about your village?” she asked, taking a seat.
How long had he been here? Jason had lost track of trying to even think about it, focusing instead on the illusion covering everything that he felt around him. With her return, he had to wonder if perhaps that was a mistake. Maybe what he needed to do instead was to pay more attention to the time that passed.
“I’ve told you about my village. It was a small mining village near the edge of Gilroy.”
“And the dragon?”
“What dragon are you getting at?”
She smiled. When she did, he noticed something strange. There was a swirl around her, a hint of power, and then it faded.
Had he not been working with the leaf, and had he not been focusing on the power that was used in creating the illusion, he might not have even noticed it, but as it was, he saw it quite clearly.
“There was a dragon you’d thought about.”
“How do you know what I was thinking about?”
“You have it in your mind. It’s there, and I can see it.”
“You can see what’s in my mind?”
The more he thought about what she was telling him, the more certain he was that she was trying to lead him on, to get him to reveal something dangerous to himself—and to the dragons. He wasn’t about to make that mistake.
Now that he knew about her, and now that he knew about the way the power swirled around her, he thought he could not only see beyond what she was doing, but he might be able to unravel it.
Somehow, he had to figure out how to do that.
He stared at her. He focused on the sense of power, and focused on what he could detect.
She smiled at him. “There are things so plain upon a man’s face that you can read them. With enough time and experience, you can learn to do that,” she said.
“I haven’t seen any dragons other than what I saw when I came close to Lorach. I must admit they are impressive.”
“The journey from Gilroy is difficult. How is it you did it by foot?”
It was a different line of questioning for her, and he was left with a decision. Would he continue to let her push him like this, or would he push back?
He focused on the power. He concentrated on the leaf, thinking about what the forest dragon had shown him, and he thought about the way that power swirled around him and how he could reach for it. If all that it took was an understanding, then Jason was going to find it. He had an understanding of the illusion, and now that he was aware of the power around him and in particular around her, he thought he could trace it. It was there, swirling around her, and the longer he focused on it, the more certain he was that she was hiding something from him.
“It was a difficult journey,” he said.
“Do you care to share with me anything about it?”
“Do you care to share with me anything about yourself?” He looked up, meeting her eyes. As he did, he focused on that hint of power.
What had he done when he had removed the chains from his wrists?
That was the key. It was tied to doing something similar.
“I’m the one doing the questioning.”
“You keep asking the same questions. I’m sorry I don’t have the answers you want, but I’m telling you everything that I can.”
“Unfortunately for you, you aren’t telling me everything you can. I suspect there’s more that you know and you think you can convince me otherwise.” She smiled, leaning back. “Tell me about your journey to Lorach.”
“It was not all that exciting. We walked along a hill we passed, headed toward the road leading into Lorach, and we were waved through the gate.”
“Were you?”
Jason frowned. Hadn’t they been?
That was another point that had been strange. When he and Sarah had been waved through, both of them had thought something had been off about it, but neither had given it much thought other than the fact that Henry had suggested they would have a harder time getting into the city.
“Jason Dreshen,” she said.
He ignored her, focusing instead on what was in front of him, and on what he could see. It was the tracings of the power, connecting to the dragon pearls and to energy that he could use.
That was the key, wasn’t it?
It was a matter of being able to use that power.
He drew upon it.
As he did, something shifted.
The colors around him started to swirl and everything began to shimmer.
He held on to that power for a brief moment, but then turned back toward her.
He wondered if he could do the same thing with her. If he could, then he might be able to unmask her and find what she was trying to do—and what she was trying to hide from him.
“You are hiding things from me,” she said.