D.K. Holmberg
Iron Dragon
1
A flutter of movement caught Jason’s attention and he stared into the distance, searching for the gradient of heat that his dragon sight would show, but came across nothing. The longer he stared, the more certain he was that he had seen something.
It was difficult to make anything out against the steadily circling wind. It tossed snow and ice into the air, swirling it around. Gripping his bow, Jason crouched low, gliding along the snow. His bearskin jacket hung open, letting some of the snow in, the bite of the wind not bothering him as it once had.
His stomach rumbled but he ignored it, trying to focus. It did no good to worry about food until he completed this hunt. If he failed, it would result in more than him going hungry.
Clear your mind of everything but the target.
Twisting away, he tracked along the snow, the way his father had always taught, but the shifting wind made it difficult to follow any footprints. He had to rely upon his ability to find movement and the gradations of heat, though those weren’t nearly as common as they once had been.
The path brought him toward a stream. It flowed rapidly, the water moving with swirls of the current, occasionally sending spray that crashed against unseen rocks in its path. Jason had never seen the stream completely frozen, and yet, its temperature was potentially deadly if he were to fall into it.
He cupped his hands together, bringing some of the water up to his lips and drinking it carefully. It was cold, and it practically burned as it rolled down his throat. There was a time when he wouldn’t have dared even dip his hands in the water. Warming up again would have been nearly impossible, and yet since finding the ice dragon, something had changed for him. He had changed, and his ability to tolerate the cold had altered. What would his father have thought of that?
He remained along the edge of the stream, bent down, one knee buried in the snow, looking for any signs of movement. There were none.
The shifting sky told him that a storm was coming, though in this place a storm was always on the horizon. He needed to move quickly or he could get trapped out here, and experience had told him that getting trapped out in the snow and in these conditions could be dangerous—even deadly.
Always stay alert. An avalanche is as deadly to you as your arrow is to your target.
Jason knew better than to sit around and wait, but he also knew better than to leave his jacket unbuttoned against the cold and the snow, and yet he still did it.
There wasn’t going to be any sign of the creature he’d been hunting. Likely a rabbit, though he hadn’t seen it clearly enough to know. Maybe it was something larger. He doubted it was a deer. Those rarely came this high up onto the mountain. It was even less likely with the dragon out hunting.
It would be much easier if he could hunt with the dragon, and yet he had rarely even seen the creature since finding it the first time.
Jason glanced along the stream, turning his attention toward the cave that served as the headwaters, though the true headwaters was somewhere much more distant and difficult for anyone to reach.
Getting to his feet, Jason hurried along the snow and found the cave entrance. It arched about four feet high, and a narrow walkway led on either side of the stream into the cave. It was a dangerous path, and it was one he had never taken very frequently, knowing a misstep would lead him into the potential for danger. There was a time when he’d believed falling into the stream would be fatal, and while it still might be, he no longer feared it as he once did.
He paused as he often did when coming here, looking up at the ceiling. A crystalline structure arched overhead. It glittered, dozens of hard-edged crystals reflecting the light, catching it in a way that made it so that it practically glowed. Gems, he’d been told. Wealth. Not that they had any value here.
No lamp was needed. It didn’t take long for Jason’s eyes to adjust and for him to be able to look around the inside of the cave. The water bubbled rapidly where it emerged from someplace deep within the mountain, some hidden reserve that likely waterfalled down, cascading until it reached this point where it poured out and found the entrance. He peered into the depths of the water, searching for signs of the dragon. The creature could hide even in the stream, concealing itself from him.
There didn’t even seem to be any sign that the dragon was here. How could a creature like that hide so effectively? It seemed impossible. The dragon had to eat, and there should be some remains. Even droppings, though he didn’t like to think of the dragon leaving droppings he might step in. How enormous would those be?
And yet, if he found dragon droppings, he could dry them. They would burn just as well as any other dung.
He took a seat, looking up at the cave. Coming here gave him bittersweet memories. This was where his father had brought him, teaching him how to hunt and provide for the family. This was where his father had wanted to show him some of the secrets of this land, and it was a place few others visited. No one would dare risk the treacherous entrance. It was why it was such a good place for the dragon to hide.
Regardless of anything else, the dragon had helped him. Because of the dragon, he had survived the Dragon Souls’ attack, making it through what Therin had planned, and yet he thought he should have an opportunity to see the dragon more often than he did. In the months following the attack, Jason had only managed to spot the dragon a handful of times, and never quite as closely as the first. While he knew dragons could talk, this one had not spoken to him since. It was almost as if the dragon didn’t want him around.
Then again, why would the dragon want him around? Dragons were in danger of being used. This one in particular. From what he’d experienced, Jason understood he had some way of connecting to the dragons, perhaps serving as a Dragon Soul, and yet, because he only had partial dragon sight, it wouldn’t be nearly as potent as someone like Therin or the full-born Dragon Souls.
As he sat there, voices caught his attention.
Jason jerked to his feet.
For a moment, he thought the Dragon Souls had returned. They knew of the dragon, and he feared that Therin might eventually come back here, thinking to use the ice dragon, claiming it and then taking it from here. Jason had seen that the dragons were incredibly powerful, and had also felt something unusual when he had been around one. His whole life had been spent fearing dragons, terrified of what those creatures could do, but working with Henry had shown him another side of the dragons and had helped him understand that while they were powerful, they were also intelligent and had been used by the Dragon Souls.
More than that, speaking to Therin had revealed why his father had died.
He listened, but it didn’t seem to be Dragon Souls.
The voice was familiar, the tone mocking.
“I told you there was a cave here,” Reltash said.
Jason crouched near the edge of the cave entrance. In the time he had been coming here, he hadn’t encountered anyone else who’d risk coming into the cave. Reltash would. Reltash was arrogant enough to think nothing could harm him, and he was skilled enough that it would be unlikely he would be harmed.
The only advantage Jason had was that he wasn’t nearly as large as Reltash. Reltash was massive, like most of their people, whereas with his smaller frame, Jason found it easier to slide along the path into the cave.
“What’s in there?”
“How do I know?” Reltash asked.
A shadow appeared in front of the cave, and Jason tensed. If they headed in here, there wouldn’t be any way to hide. He wasn’t about to get into an argument with Reltash and his friends.