What he needed to do was to draw away the entirety of the illusion, to shatter all of it, but he wondered if it were even possible.
The leaf.
Jason held in his hand, feeling the warmth, the way that it glowed.
The forest dragon had given it to him. Everything strange that had happened after that had been tied to it. Jason was certain of that.
Which meant that if he removed the leaf, what would change?
He held on to it and squeezed.
He pulled power through the iron dragon, letting that flow through him and explode into his hand. Power washed over him, washing over the leaf, and it cracked.
“What are you—”
Sarah didn’t have a chance to finish. Everything started to shimmer all around them.
It was a strange image, but Jason held on to her, squeezing her hand, ready for the possibility this would happen. He didn’t know what was going to take place; all he knew was that there was power around them, and that power continued to change, to twist, and he squeezed the leaf again, letting it crack and crumble in his iron dragon hand.
Light began to filter in. At first it was gray and twisted, shimmering around him, but even that began to change, and more of the sky came into view.
Jason looked up at the sky, feeling the energy as it washed over him.
Clouds dotted the sky.
They sat in a clearing. Trees circled them. Henry was across from them, his eyes closed, and he said nothing.
Sarah gasped. “What just happened?”
“I destroyed the illusion,” Jason said.
If he were right, if what he thought he saw was real, then his village might not even have been destroyed. If that were the case, then he needed to find some way of figuring out where they had targeted the illusion.
Jason hurried across the clearing and grabbed for Henry. “I need you to wake up,” he said.
He didn’t have any way of stimulating Henry. Now that he was here, now that he was outside the illusion, when Jason tried to change things, he found he didn’t have any power over it. The only time he’d had that power was when he had been around the leaf, and with the forest dragon.
Which meant he didn’t have any power over illusion anyway.
He might have it over his eyes and over his hands, but even that was faint.
Instead, he pulled heat through the iron dragon and tapped Henry with it, sending a surge of power through him. When he did, he felt a reverberation from the ice dragon. It filled him, an awareness there.
If nothing else, the illusion had shown him he was still connected to the ice dragon, and because of that, he could still reach for the ice dragon’s power—and did so now. Jason pulled through it, letting that sense flood him, and he sent it washing through Henry. He connected not only to the ice dragon but also to the iron dragon, and that connection of the two bounced through him, washing through him. There was a resistance, but Jason pushed through it.
With a gasp, Henry blinked open his eyes. He looked around. “What happened? How did you bring me here?”
“It was an illusion,” Jason said.
“What was?”
“Everything we experienced.”
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head, focusing on the power of the iron dragon. He could feel the iron dragon nearby, hiding, and as he did, he realized something.
The iron dragon needed their help.
“I’ll explain later, but for now, we need to get moving.”
He focused, thinking about what he could detect from the iron dragon, focusing on that power, and he began to run.
Sarah chased him, and gradually, Henry came after them, though he was slower. Jason understood why he would be. He probably was confused, uncertain about what they were dealing with, the same way that Jason was confused.
As she ran, she looked over. “When did you know?”
“Not until the end,” he said.
And yet, he should have questioned, shouldn’t he?
There was a strangeness throughout all of those visions. All of those illusions had struck him oddly, playing upon his fears. And in all of them, he’d remained dressed in the dragonskin.
Somehow, he’d claimed control over the illusion. That suggested he had some ability with it, which meant that if he could find the forest dragon again, maybe he would be able to help her—but maybe it would be too late.
“I think the Dragon Souls got to her,” he said.
“How would they have done that? We’ve been there. We would’ve known.”
“I don’t know that we would have. Therin is powerful, and if he realized there was something about the forest dragon…” And it wasn’t even Therin he had to worry about. It was David. The Auran had been there, he had seen the forest dragon, and if anyone would have understood what was taking place and what power the forest dragon would have, why wouldn’t it have been an Auran?
It was a mistake not to have held David from leaving. He shouldn’t have let him go, and yet, he’d thought the man had spoken the words of the flame and had made some sort of commitment to him—and yet, he had not.
They ran.
His stomach rumbled, and he realized that during the time they had been in their vision, he and the others hadn’t eaten anything. How long would they have been held there?
It was possible they would have remained trapped in the vision until they died, and once they did, then the iron dragon would have been in even more danger. There had been a passage of time within the illusion, but how much of that was real and how much of it was only part of the illusion?
He had no idea, and until they reached the iron dragon, there wouldn’t be any way to know. It was imperative they do so now. More than ever, he wished that they hadn’t left his sword behind. He didn’t have any knowledge of how to use it, but having a weapon would’ve at least looked imposing when they came across any of the Dragon Souls.
Jason had lost track of how long they were running when they began to feel the heat of the iron dragon. It was in the distance and night had begun to fall, enough that he could not just feel the heat of the iron dragon, he could see the glowing in the sky, light against the darkness.
“He’s out there,” Jason said. He pointed, frowning, and wondered if he might be able to see through the dragon’s eyes. He had connected to him before, so it was something he should be able to do again.
He paused, closing his eyes, and he focused on the connection to the dragon.
In doing so, he let that sense roll through him, the power of the dragon himself, and he focused on the glove. As he did, he began to feel a connection form. It was more than the connection he normally had with the iron dragon. It was one that allowed him to focus, to see through what the iron dragon was able to see, and he had to wonder if perhaps he could do the same thing with the ice dragon.
He looked around.
With the dragon sight, and with the way that dragons saw things, everything had striations of color, gradations of heat. Jason was accustomed to that with his own dragon sight, and he was able to pick out the strangeness, and as he did, he frowned.
Dragons.
There were at least four, though there might be a fifth, but it was one he couldn’t clearly see.
He glanced back at Sarah and Henry. “I think there are Dragon Souls around the iron dragon. I don’t know how many there are, but the iron dragon is trapped.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because the dragon let me see it.”
Henry shook his head. “The dragon wouldn’t be able to show you that.”
“He did, though.”
“Jason, that’s not how a connection to the dragons work.”
“Maybe not for a Dragon Soul, but for me it does.” He tapped his head, then the glove. “Now that I have been connected to the iron dragon, I can see things through him, but it takes incredible focus.”