That wasn’t normal.
That certainly wasn’t an avalanche.
The hissing came from right in front of him.
The snow was shifting.
That was what he was sensing. It wasn’t just that there was an avalanche, but now it was collapsing in on them. Now there would be no way for them to survive.
And then something jutted into the opening.
Jason trembled. It was dark, but it glowed softly.
The iron dragon.
He grabbed on to the tail with a gloved hand. That was what it had to be, and he wrapped his arm around Kayla.
Heat filled him, warming him immediately, and now that he had a physical connection to the iron dragon, power flowed through him. He pushed outward, widening the hole the iron dragon’s tail had formed, and they were jerked free.
They were dragged through a deep tunnel, far deeper than Jason would have ever imagined possible, and when he lay on the snow next to the iron dragon, he looked up at a dark sky. Snow swirled around them; the wind whipped. And the iron dragon crouched nearby, his body glowing intensely with heat.
The dragon curled around Jason and Kayla, pressing his warmth into them.
“How did you find us?”
“I felt your summons,” the iron dragon said.
“I didn’t think you would.”
“You didn’t think I would hear or didn’t think I would come?”
“Either,” Jason said.
He took a few deep breaths. He continued to stare up at the sky.
Jason rolled over to Kayla, pressing power into her. He worried she was too weak to survive, and yet she was breathing. The iron dragon’s warmth pressed into her, and her breathing quickened as her coloring started to improve.
“Thank you,” he said.
He looked up at the iron dragon and realized the dragon couldn’t stay here. With as cold as it was, the energy it took for the iron dragon to continue to push against it was incredible. The dragon used significant energy in order to maintain his temperature.
“You can leave,” he said.
“I want to ensure that you are safe,” the iron dragon said.
“I think we will be.”
“I will wait,” the dragon said.
Jason wanted to argue, but he was relieved by having the iron dragon with him, and he appreciated that he didn’t have to do this alone.
Gathering Kayla to him, he lifted her. She was light, even though she was nearly the same size as him. Had she grown so frail in the time that he’d been gone, or could it be more about him? Jason had changed in the time he’d been away, drawing now from the dragons in a way he never had before.
He looked up the slope. He would walk. He thought that he could ride the dragon, but that would draw attention.
As they trudged up the side of the mountain, the dragon trailing alongside, his body glowing a faint orange, Jason shook his head. “I thought the ice dragon would have appeared.”
“I don’t detect him,” the iron dragon said.
Jason looked over. “What do you mean that you don’t detect him?”
“I don’t detect him. He has been gone for some time.”
“Where has he gone?”
The iron dragon surged heat, and Jason imagined him trying to use whatever connection existed between them to determine what had happened to the ice dragon, but when it faded, the iron dragon rumbled. “I don’t detect him.”
That troubled Jason.
He’d been waiting for the possibility the Dragon Souls would come looking for the ice dragon, waiting for the possibility that Therin would come for revenge. He knew that day would come, but he’d thought they had more time. Therin would need to gather himself, to regroup and find more troops.
He crawled along the mountainside, and as he went, he drew power from the iron dragon, partly without even meaning to. It flowed from him, into him, and the iron dragon didn’t resist. Jason didn’t expect the iron dragon to fight him, but was thankful that the dragon allowed him to draw power. He remained warm, filling the dragonskin cloak and jacket with heat radiating from the dragon.
As he walked, strength began to return.
He tested his connection to the ice dragon. Could he still use that power?
He found it within him, so the ice dragon was still around, but where? Jason looked around, as if he would magically be able to see the ice dragon, and as he did, he suspected they would soon be nearing the village.
He turned to the iron dragon. “You can return.”
“All you need to do is summon,” the iron dragon said.
Jason smiled and patted the dragon on the side.
With that, the dragon took to the air, streaking as if he were an arrow shot into the sky, a flaming bolt that disappeared into the night. Jason watched for a long moment before turning his attention away and carrying Kayla back into the village.
Only, they didn’t reach the village.
He was wrong. He had thought they were nearing the village, but there wasn’t any sign of it quite yet. As he continued to make his way up the slope, he began to entertain a different question.
There had been an avalanche, but where had it come from?
So far, they hadn’t seen any sign of snow having sheared off. Typically, with an avalanche, there would be a section that he would’ve expected to have torn away, but as they came along the slope, he didn’t see anything to explain that.
Maybe it hadn’t been an avalanche. Maybe it had been an attack.
He hadn’t thought that it was, but he didn’t really know.
Had he been wrong?
He didn’t think so, but perhaps something had happened to the village.
What if the village had succumbed to an attack?
He took a deep breath and lunged forward. He needed to find the village.
There was no sign of it.
Had the avalanche somehow covered it?
The idea seemed possible. The village was high enough on the mountain that they didn’t experience avalanches.
As he continued to head through the snow, wandering the face of the mountain, looking for any sign of the village, he didn’t find anything.
It was almost as if it were gone.
Kayla stirred.
Jason paused, setting her down, and he used a bit of heat, drawn from the iron dragon again, and let it roll into his sister. She moaned again, and he tapped her on the forehead. “Kayla?”
“What happened?” she whispered.
“The avalanche.”
“Are we dead?”
“Not yet,” he said.
She looked around, and there seemed to be a dazed expression on her face. “Where are we?”
“We’re on the mountain,” he said.
He waited for her to come back around, and when she did, she took a deep breath. Together, they started walking, and it made it easier to move more quickly. He was able to hurry along the side of the mountain, though he floated above the snow whereas Kayla sunk in as she walked.
He wondered if there were any way to use his abilities in order to keep her from sinking into the snow, but he didn’t know how to control what he did well enough to do so.
A light flickered in the distance.
A light might mean the village. It would be unusual for anyone to burn anything, unless something was wrong.
Kayla pointed and Jason hurried toward it, racing along the snow, and when they neared the glowing light, he slowed.
It wasn’t anything like he expected. Nothing remained of the village other than glowing embers.
That couldn’t be right, could it?
He slowed, looking over at Kayla.
“What was this?” she asked.
“I think this was the village,” he said.
“This can’t be that.”