And when she failed, he would fail. When that happened, she would be at the mercy of whatever Therin did to her. She would be dragged off to Lorach, turned into breeding stock. He hated the idea that could happen, and hated that she would be used—abused—like that.
How could he overwhelm this?
It wasn’t going to be defeating Therin by using an illusion greater than his. Therin was right. Jason didn’t know the extent of what he was using, and he had no idea about the nature of the power he was trying to command. He understood parts of it, but certainly not enough to be effective.
And that was exactly what Therin wanted.
He wanted Jason to fail. He wanted him to suffer.
And once he was suffering, Therin would continue to abuse the dragons.
But the dragons could help him.
The illusion continued to shift, shimmering around him, and each time it did, he was aware of what Therin was doing, the way he was twisting it, trying to turn it in a way that would make it so that Jason couldn’t overpower it.
Rather than trying to fight him over the illusion, Jason focused only on the way Therin was using it on him. He didn’t care where Therin brought him. He didn’t care what he created around him. That wasn’t what he needed to be concerned about. The ice dragon and the iron dragon were there, regardless of whether he had brought them into the illusion. That was what he needed to care about.
As long as he wasn’t captured, as long as the chains didn’t circle his ankles and wrists, none of it mattered. Jason held on to the power around him, and he held on to the nature of the illusion, but he did nothing with it.
Therin started toward him again. Bands of power were wrapping around Jason, trying to hold him in place. He did nothing against that, either.
“You aren’t even going to fight anymore? Have you recognized how overmatched you are?”
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this, but you won’t succeed.”
“And you have already lost. I warned you that you needed to bring everything you wanted into the illusion. By closing off the illusion, you excluded everything you had access to.”
“And what about you?”
“I have all that I need.” Therin opened his palm, showing a fistful of dragon pearls. They were of different colors, black and red and deep green.
And on the other palm was the leaf.
That was the source of his connection to the forest dragon.
Therin had stolen it from her, and now he was using it against her.
“I don’t see any dragon pearls on you. Which means anything you brought in was yourself. I don’t know how you’re connecting to the forest dragon, but perhaps it doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does matter. And I think you misjudged.”
With that, Jason focused on his hands. He released the illusion that had been shielding them. One hand glowed with a deep green energy, the power of the forest dragon working along his palm, and the other blazed with the orange intensity of the iron dragon.
“You see, I have a different connection to the dragons. Whereas you need the dragon pearls, they have gifted me their power. I have become the dragon pearls.”
And with it, he realized that it was true. The ice dragon was within his mind, in a different way than the forest dragon or the iron dragon, but it was there. The iron dragon may have granted him some sort of fistful of armor, and the forest dragon might be coursing up his arm, but the ice dragon was in his mind.
That power flowed through him, filling him, and he called upon it.
Therin stared at him.
The bands tried to squeeze, but Jason reacted, drawing upon the heat of the iron dragon. It exploded through him and his entire body took on the heat of the iron dragon.
That was probably nothing more than the illusion. As he acted, he pushed outward and Therin went flying.
The illusion flickered.
Jason took a step toward him and Therin scrambled to his feet, clutching a dragon pearl in hand. Power swirled around Jason, flames streaking outward, circling him.
He held his own hands outward, drawing from both the ice dragon and the iron dragon. As he did, he combined their power, and everything that Therin was trying to use against him faded. It failed, collapsing.
He stalked toward Therin again, and he held on to the power.
The other man held on to the dragon pearls, squeezing them.
“You don’t know enough to defeat me.”
“Because I didn’t include these powers in the illusion? They were with me all along, Therin.”
With that, he shifted the illusion.
Knowledge of how to do so filled him, and he blasted it outward.
No longer did he call upon the power of the forest dragon. There was no need. Therin was down, and when the illusion shattered, the fog filled the area around him. The iron dragon was there, right behind him, but surprisingly, so too was the ice dragon. There was a fluttering breeze flowing all around him, and Jason had a sense that the forest dragon was there, too.
“You won’t be able to do—”
The ice dragon didn’t give Therin a chance to finish. Icicles shot from his back, sharp arrows that streaked toward Therin, and they crashed into him. Most of them dissipated, dissolving and becoming nothing more than steam as Therin overpowered them with his connection to the dragons. Still Jason continued to call upon power, holding Therin in place, and the ice dragon emptied himself into Therin, shooting power toward him.
And then the iron dragon acted.
With a swipe of his tail, a glowing sword of destruction, he cleaved through Therin.
The last thing the Dragon Soul did was gasp, his eyes going wide. When his body fell, lifeless, his hand opened and the dragon pearls rolled onto the ground around him.
21
Jason could scarcely move. He couldn’t believe they had succeeded. And they had succeeded. Regardless of anything else, they had won.
He turned to the dragons. The iron dragon radiated heat, but the ice dragon leaned forward, his body bowed, and Jason worried that he had expended too much of himself.
“You can go,” he said to the ice dragon.
“Are you sure?”
“You can. You’re with me, so I will know how to reach you,” he said.
With that, the ice dragon took to the air and quickly disappeared into the fog, leaving Jason with just the iron dragon. He turned to the dragon, looking at him, and waited for him to say something, but he rested. The heat radiated along his body, but there was nothing else from him.
“I need to find the others.”
“Jason?”
The voice came out of the distance, and he turned toward it, looking for Sarah. He could hear her, but the fog was still there.
But then, the fog was dissipating.
A shadowed form appeared, and he turned toward it and found Sarah approaching. Henry followed her. Both of them had glazed looks on their faces.
“What happened?” she asked.
He pointed to Therin.
Henry’s breath caught. “How?”
“He was controlling the illusion, and I wrapped him in my own.”
“And you killed him?”
“The dragons did,” Jason said.
“I didn’t think illusions would be able to kill,” Henry said.
Jason let out a shaky breath. “I didn’t either.” He reached for the iron dragon. “There’s something else I need to do.”
“Your village,” Sarah said.
“My village.”
“I can go with you,” she said.
“I would like that.”
He turned to the iron dragon. “Do you think you can fly?”