And perhaps that was why he was here.
Someone had known he was holding on to an illusion.
All this time, all of the plans they had made, and they had thought that they were going to infiltrate the Dragon Souls, and instead, they had done nothing more than manage to get caught by the slaves.
“No one sent us. We came for answers,” he said.
“Answers? Did you want to know how to place an illusion? They have plenty of others who can teach that.”
“What do you mean?”
She stared at him, studying him with a bright intensity, before turning and sweeping her gaze over the people all around him. Most of them turned away, hurrying back to what they were doing. Jason took a moment to look all around. It was an enormous room. The walls looked to be run-down, and it seemed as if there was a strange haze in the air. It took a moment to realize that light was filtering through slats in the wood, and a cool breeze gusted through here.
There had to be hundreds of people, and all of them wore ratty clothing, nothing like what he wore. Strangely, as he looked down at himself, he didn’t know if he was even wearing dragonskin anymore. Was that an illusion too?
Then again, they hadn’t taken that off, because if they had, he wouldn’t have the leaf with him anymore.
“Where is this place?”
“You don’t know?”
Jason shook his head. “We came looking for answers. I really do come from an isolated village, but…”
“Not from Gilroy,” she said.
He shook his head. “I’ve never been to Gilroy. I’ve never even been to Lorach before recently.”
“Why would you come now?”
“Because my village was attacked. The people were abducted. I came looking for them.”
The woman watched him, frowning. And then she nodded. “That seems to be the first truth you said to me.”
“It is the truth,” he said.
“Why would they have attacked your village?”
He breathed out a heavy sigh. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated. And by that, you mean you don’t want to share with me.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Because you’ve been sent to infiltrate us.”
Jason looked around again. There was a small cluster of people watching, and as he paid attention, he realized within that cluster were some who had something closed within their hands.
Dragon pearls.
That was how they were holding on to the illusion, and even now, he had to wonder if there was another illusion around him. If they were layered, and done so delicately that he had struggled to try to peel them away, then he had to wonder if they were still able to do so. If so, then how was he going to be able to dig through what they were doing? How was he going to be able to find his way beyond the layers?
And maybe he wouldn’t be able to find any way beyond it.
He could keep digging, but the last layer had been so subtle, so slight, he’d barely detected anything. If the next one was anything like that, he wasn’t sure he would even know.
“They want something from us,” he said.
He looked back at the woman, meeting her eyes. He released his hold on his illusion, letting his eyes take on their normal color.
She didn’t make any reaction.
“You knew,” he said.
“How could I not? It was an obvious change. There was no subtlety to it.”
“How is it that you know how to do this?”
“I’ve already asked you how it is that you know how to peel that away. You seem to have their training, and despite myself, I find I believe you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I should probably not, but I don’t think you’re hiding anything from me.”
“What’s there to hide?”
“The real reason you’re here. If you’re here to infiltrate us, you have already uncovered anything that you might know. And so if you are here to infiltrate us, then we will have to decide whether or not you will get to leave.”
She nodded for him to follow. Jason squeezed Sarah’s hand, and they trailed after the woman. She wound between several groups of people. They were of all different ages. He saw small children and older people, all of them dirty, wearing worn and tattered clothes, and all of them with eyes that matched his.
This was the slave camp.
And here he had thought he would have a hard time finding it, but the real challenge would be in freeing himself from it.
“If you have as much power as it seems you do, why do you stay here?”
She cocked her head at him, studying him. “Do you think we have a choice?”
“You’re able to create such powerful illusions. Why can’t you use that to escape?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
He shook his head.
She grunted and motioned for him to continue to follow. Jason did, and they reached the wall. She pulled back a sliding door, and a bleak landscape opened before them. It was nothing but hard rock. All around them was a vast expanse, and stone sloped up on either side, snow dotting the peak of it.
“Where would we go? We stay in the shelter because it protects us from the elements, but even that is not always effective.”
“What elements?”
“Storms. Rain. Hail. Wind. Thankfully, we rarely get snow, but occasionally it happens, and then we need to use whatever we can in order to keep ourselves warm. We have people who can do that, but it draws enough attention to us, and then we end up with a search.”
“What sort of search?”
“The kind of search that ends up with us losing what we’ve gained. We try not to do it, and so have managed to evade their focus as long as we can.”
“This is your home?”
“Home?” She shook her head, turning back into the building. “This isn’t home. This is where we live, but it’s not even living. It’s where we’re held. Corralled like animals.”
“I don’t understand. Why don’t you stay anywhere else?”
“Where would you have us stay? Look out there. Do you see any shelter? Do you see any supplies? Anytime we try climbing, they send the dragons down at us and they attack.”
“Can’t you use your power in order to escape?”
“I can’t believe I thought you were sent to infiltrate us.”
She turned and slid the door closed. As she did, the distant sound of thunder rumbled. She headed into the rest of the building and Sarah pulled on his arm, forcing his attention over to her.
“We need to get out of here,” she whispered.
“I know, but how are we going to do that?”
“If they say the dragons are attacking, you can use that, can’t you?”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“What about the…” She squeezed his other hand. “You know.”
He considered whether he could summon the iron dragon, and he thought he might be able to do so. If he did, the iron dragon would be able to fly them to safety, but that would involve being able to fly through whatever dangers existed around the city.
And Jason had seen the ballistae lining the walls.
He wasn’t about to run the risk of having the dragon shot down.
That wasn’t going to work. It meant he had to find some other way to get them out of here, and yet, how?
“We’ll figure something out.” He hurried forward, catching up to the woman. “I’m looking for some people.”
“Your villagers,” she said.
Jason nodded. “They wouldn’t look like us.”
“Then they won’t be here,” the woman said.
“But I was told that they were brought here, and that they were trapped, so—”