As he burst power out of his hand, he pushed away the darkness and found Henry and Sarah. They were in the distance and he approached them slowly, carefully, making sure that they were alone.
There was no sign of anyone else around them. When he neared them, Sarah breathed out a sigh of relief.
“Have you seen anything?” she asked. “We’ve been looking, but we haven’t seen any sign of any dragon. I don’t know if it made sense for us to come at night. It might’ve been easier for us to come during the daytime when we could see more clearly.”
“She found me,” he said.
Henry turned toward him, watching. “What happened?”
“She was influenced by the Dragon Souls,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
Jason nodded. “I did what I could to free her.”
“What did it take?” Henry asked.
“It took me borrowing from both the ice dragon and the iron dragon.” The way that power had washed over the forest dragon had been significant, but something he could replicate. It was almost as if the combination of the two had created a surge of water. And with that, he would be able to heal. He’d never experienced anything like it before and didn’t know if he could use it all the time.
“Of course. Water,” Sarah whispered.
“Water,” he agreed.
“That’s amazing,” she said.
“Is she able to help us?” Henry asked.
Jason breathed out. “She said she couldn’t. She claims she was able to give me all the help she could, and that there isn’t anything more she can do.”
“Why not?”
Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. Because she did whatever she could.”
And even though she claimed she was giving him all the help she was able, he wished there was something more that she could offer, but had no idea what that might be.
He breathed out, frustration filling him. If it came down to overwhelming the illusion, and if it came down to figuring out what Therin might have done to the people in Dragon Haven, Jason wasn’t sure they would have enough knowledge to stop him.
Even with the forest dragon, they might not be strong enough. If Therin had brought the power of the Dragon Souls, that might be more than they could withstand.
How long would it take for Therin to realize what he had done?
Probably not long. They needed to get going.
He turned toward the distant sense of the iron dragon. He called to him with a sense of urgency, and the iron dragon slithered toward them, heat beginning to glow along his body, matching the heat radiating through Jason’s hand.
When the iron dragon reached him, Jason crawled onto his neck.
“It’s time for us to go to Dragon Haven.”
“Are you sure?”
And it might already be too late.
He would have to go, he would have to try, and he would have to fight.
And it might involve drawing the iron dragon and the ice dragon and all of the dragons they could into the fight. It might involve Jason using every bit of power that he had, and every way he had of connecting to the dragons. But now that he understood how to use the iron dragon and the ice dragon together, the way he could heal using their combined connection, he had to think there would be some way to do so.
The other two climbed on, and without saying another word, they slithered out of the forest and took to the air.
18
No one spoke as they flew.
Jason rested, drawing upon the power of the ice dragon, using that to help restore him. He knew that connection between himself and the ice dragon would give him strength, and he needed that strength in order to better understand what he was able to do. He continued to call upon that power, letting it fill him.
The ice dragon remained high overhead, staying much above them, and Jason didn’t try to summon him any closer. He needed the ice dragon to be strong and not to have any weakness from the journey. More than that, he needed the ice dragon to remain hidden. At least if he stayed hidden, he thought they could prevent Therin from knowing he was coming.
“What happens if nothing is taking place here?” Henry asked as they flew.
“You think this wasn’t just an illusion?”
“I don’t know what any of this was,” he said. “At this point, it’s possible he was using an illusion on you, on me, on all of us. And if he was, the nature of it is nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced before, but at the same time, I have to wonder if maybe there was something else. And if there was, then we need to try to be prepared for what we might face.”
“If he has begun to attack the dragons, then we have to free them,” he said.
“If he’s already begun to attack the dragons, then we would already be lost,” Sarah whispered.
“You don’t know that,” Henry said.
She turned to him, and her eyes were reddened. “If the dragons have been attacked, it won’t take long for him to gain control over them. How many of those dragons are ready for this? Most of those dragons have known freedom their entire lives. None of them have been trained to fight. It wasn’t until Jason appeared that we ever had any idea we could do anything to fight. We haven’t tried to fight the Dragon Souls before, knowing there wouldn’t be any way that we could in order to protect our dragons.”
“And now we know they can be protected,” Henry said.
“They can be protected, but will they believe it?”
“They will have to believe it,” Henry said.
Jason stared out into the distance. There was nothing but blackness. The iron dragon was flying, but not moving at incredible speed, not the way he had when they had been traveling toward the forest. He was trying to conserve energy, preparing for the possibility he might need to fight. If it came down to it, Jason didn’t know if they would be able to withstand what they would have to face.
Every so often, he connected to the iron dragon, ensuring he still had that bond, and when he was certain, he breathed out a sigh of relief.
“I wish the forest dragon would have given you something more,” Sarah said.
“I wish she would have too, but I don’t know that we can complain about what she was giving us. At least she will no longer be influenced by Therin.”
As they flew, he felt the buildup of heat. It was a swirling energy of dragons. Dozens upon dozens of dragons.
All of a sudden, heat exploded near them.
The iron dragon twisted, turning, and banked.
Jason looked up, noting a streak of darkness, and he focused on it, pulling on the power of the ice dragon along with that of the iron dragon, and he blasted through it. The combined energy was different than what he had used when he had healed with the ice dragon, and it rolled through this strange dragon.
Unlike when he had only accessed the ice dragon, this was a soothing sort of touch. It didn’t startle the dragons quite as much, and they regained control quickly.
The dragon shifted direction, and it turned toward them.
With a violent shake, the dragon tossed the Dragon Souls free. They screamed and fell from its back.
Jason stared at the dragon, watching, and he waited, worried that the dragon might disappear, but instead of racing off, the dragon stayed with them, flying alongside them.
He smiled to himself.
Could the forest dragon have been right? Could she have given him something?
It might not have been what he was expecting, and it might’ve been a different type of power, but the more that he thought about it, the more certain he was that she had given him something. She had given him a connection, an understanding. He could use what he had and not blast past the dragons. He didn’t have to nearly destroy them in order to heal them.