All of a sudden, the dragon stretched out his wings, and they took to the air.
The change was drastic and sudden, and the power with which the dragon used that shift caught him off guard. There was a surge of his muscular wings, and then they soared higher and higher into the air. Unlike the other dragon Jason had flown with, this one did not spiral up. He simply streaked straight up, almost as if angling against the wind gusting against him.
The power of the dragon was almost alarming. They streaked higher and higher, and as they did, Jason gripped the dragon’s back, squeezing with his legs, trying to ensure that he didn’t fall.
Still, there was a sense of joy in flying with the dragon. There was something relaxing about the change, the energy the dragon used, and he cried out in surprise.
The dragon twisted in the air, banking, and they changed directions, angling toward the mountain peak. For a moment, Jason thought they might be visible, but the color of the dragon blended into the bleak gray sky. They were high enough up that he could see nothing other than the snow reflecting up toward him. As they crested the top of the mountain, he looked down, hoping to catch a glimpse of the village, but they were within the clouds and he could see nothing.
And then they angled down.
The dragon hurtled toward the ground, moving more and more rapidly, power surging from his massive wings as he streaked downward.
Jason squeezed, terrified, and yet there wasn’t anything else to do. The dragon wasn’t going to harm him—he didn’t think.
“Where are we traveling?”
The dragon spread his wings and they slowed, catching a current of air and gliding. It was almost peaceful that way, certainly more peaceful than when they had been powering straight ahead, and as Jason clung to the dragon, feeling the way his wings moved beneath him, the entire body flexing as he flew, he experienced that surge of joy.
“I search for the sense of my hatch mates,” the dragon said.
Jason breathed out, letting the cold air circle around him, trying to welcome it, but with as fast as they were moving, he felt nothing more than the cold working over him.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
The dragon rumbled beneath him. “I have been hunting for the last few weeks.”
“This is where you’ve been going?”
“It is.”
They dove, hurtling toward the ground, and as they did, Jason realized the dragon streaked toward a horned creature that was unlike anything he’d seen before. When the dragon neared, the creature darted, and rather than shifting, the dragon spread his wings and glided after the horned creature, snapping it in his massive jaws and swallowing it.
There was a brief spray of blood that stained the snow, but then they were climbing again.
“How often do you need to eat?”
“When I hunt, I eat.”
“And you’re hunting now?”
“We are hunting.”
They continued flying, staying above the ground, Jason clinging to the dragon’s back, feeling the movements of the creature beneath him. With each moment, he started to unwind, letting the sense of the dragon fill him. There was power to it, and yet, the chill he’d been experiencing began to ease. It was almost as if the dragon had finally come to accept that he wasn’t going to run off again.
“What should I call you?”
“Call?”
“I’m sure you have a name. I’m Jason Dreshen. Do dragons go by anything?”
“There has been no need to call me anything.”
“Have you interacted with anyone else?”
“Only you.”
As they flew, there was something about that which troubled Jason. It took a moment to realize why that should be. “How is it that you’ve only interacted with me, and yet you know how to speak my language?”
“I understand the words you know.”
“You can understand my thoughts?”
“We are connected,” the dragon said.
Jason hadn’t realized that, and yet, did it surprise him? It seemed the dragon had had some connection to him ever since he’d first found it, and yet Jason had not been able to know the dragon’s thoughts.
“How is it you can know my thoughts but I can’t know yours?”
“Because you have not tried.”
“I have to have something to call you.”
“Then choose.”
It seemed so simple, and at the same time, it was not. Anything he chose would have to fit the dragon. He wasn’t entirely sure what would be suitable. What could he call a creature like this? He didn’t know anything that might fit with the right language, and yet, he realized something else. He didn’t know the dragon well enough to choose anything for him. Perhaps in time he would.
Rather than calling him anything inappropriate, it might be better for him to simply refer to the dragon as dragon. Eventually, he would have to come up with a name. If they were going to travel together, then the dragon deserved a name. More than that, he probably needed a name. It would be easier for them to communicate.
Perhaps he should have asked Henry how the dragons were named. At least then he would have some idea of what the naming conventions were, and yet, he hadn’t even revealed the dragon’s presence to Henry or any of the others.
There was a part of him that felt a little guilty at hiding the dragon from them, but he thought he owed it to the dragon as an attempt to protect him. The moment the others knew about the ice dragon, they would want something from him. Perhaps they would attempt to use him. It was part of the reason he’d not revealed the dragon’s presence to anyone.
The dragon rumbled again.
“You knew what I was thinking just then, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“Can I keep anything from you?”
“Perhaps you can learn to, but why would you want to?”
“Why would I want you to know everything that I’m thinking?”
“Are you thinking anything that would cause harm to me?”
“I think I’ve proven I am not.”
“Then you would have no need to fear.”
Jason grunted. It seemed so simple to the dragon, and yet he knew it was not. There was nothing simple about any of this.
“The other dragons can’t tolerate the cold, but can you tolerate heat?”
“I haven’t tried,” the dragon said.
“What do you think would happen?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you enjoy the mountains?”
“Enjoy?”
“Do you mind it here?”
“It’s all I’ve known.”
The answer surprised Jason. “And yet you can feel your hatch mates.”
“I can feel them. They are there within me.”
What must that be like? What would it be like for him if he could detect his sister and mother? If he knew how they were feeling and how to help them?
Family, then village.
The hatch mates were the ice dragon’s family.
In some ways, feeling his family would be beneficial. He might be able to use that knowledge to determine whether there was anything they needed of him, but it might also make him suffer more. Knowing the agony they experienced might be more than he could bear. Perhaps it was for the best that he wasn’t connected the same way that the dragons were.
“If you can feel them, is there any way you can determine where they are?”
“What I feel is what you feel when it comes to detecting my energy,” the dragon said.