It meant that Jason and the dragons would have to find reinforcements as well.
Doing so involved taking a risk that he hadn’t necessarily wanted to take. It involved doing something he hadn’t necessarily wanted to do.
When he had agreed to remain in the village, he had done so because he’d believed he could offer a certain protection to the ice dragon, and he’d thought he could help his mother and sister. Surprisingly, even though he’d remained, he still didn’t feel as if he had helped them nearly as much as he had wanted to.
Now there was something else that needed him.
The dragons needed him.
Hopefully his sister and mother would be all right with him being gone a few more days. Family first, then village. The dragons were now his village. If this worked, if he went to Dragon Haven, then it was possible he could help save more than he had intended.
“I think I’m going to need help rescuing your hatch mates,” Jason said.
“I thought you were the help,” the ice dragon said.
“I was going to be the help, and I still am going to help, but I wonder if perhaps we need more than what we have.”
“What more?”
“Others who understand—and respect—the dragons.”
The ice dragon rumbled. “I don’t know if I will be able to remain.”
“You need the cold?”
“Even this place is difficult.”
“I understand.” He glanced over at the iron dragon and could not help but wonder if the same would be true of him. He needed something similar to the mines, and without them, Jason had to wonder if the iron dragon would suffer the same way the ice dragon did in this place.
There was only one way to find out, and yet, trying to bring the iron dragon with them posed a different set of challenges.
“He doesn’t know how to fly,” Jason said.
The ice dragon rumbled and turned away, but not before shooting a pair of icicles. They both struck Jason, though he suspected they were intended for him.
11
The ledge leading out to the gorge had a steep drop-off. In the daylight, it was far easier for Jason to see what was far below them, which was the water rushing through the gorge and flowing with a violent energy.
The ice dragon flapped his wings, hovering in front of him, just out of reach.
The iron dragon clutched the edge of the ledge, his body glowing, almost unbearable heat radiating from him. Were it not for the dragonskin cloak and jacket that Jason now wore, he wasn’t sure he would even be able to tolerate it.
“You just have to glide,” Jason said.
“You don’t have wings,” the iron dragon said.
“I don’t, and you do. Look at how he glides.”
“I am not like him.”
Jason had hoped that the opportunity to work together would help bring the two dragons closer, and yet it seemed almost as if they were more irritable. The ice dragon seemed upset because he hadn’t found someone who understood him, and the iron dragon was upset because the ice dragon was able to fly.
As he watched, he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the iron dragon was right. The ice dragon was different. It was possible his means of flying was different. Certainly the ice dragon flew differently than the other dragons Jason had experienced. When those dragons had taken off from the mountain, they had spiraled up, almost as if circling on the wind, whereas the ice dragon would glide down the mountain, catching the breeze before shooting up into the air.
What if the iron dragon couldn’t even fly?
He was different, and because of that, it was possible there was nothing he could learn from the ice dragon. They were fire and ice; how could either one understand what the other was going through?
And yet, Jason felt quite strongly that the iron dragon needed to learn how to fly. In order to safely reach Dragon Haven, he would need to fly. So far, there had been no more sign of the Dragon Souls, but even that wasn’t likely to last. The longer they lingered here, the more likely it was that the Dragon Souls would return. If they recognized the dragon was freed, they would go hunting for it.
He didn’t know what had happened, or why the dragon had been captured, or even who had been responsible for capturing it, but he doubted it would take long for the Dragon Souls to get word that something had taken place.
“How do you move usually?” he asked.
That seemed to be the key. The ice dragon glided along the snow, whereas the iron dragon was different. He writhed, wiggling along the surface, so different in his movements.
“How do you move?”
“I walk, but I’m not a dragon.”
“No. You are not.”
“I’m just asking so we can figure out what might help you understand how you can fly.”
Jason stared at the iron dragon. There was something about the heat and the way his entire body seemed to glow, the way the molten nature of his scales appeared to flow.
That had to be the key, didn’t it?
If that were the key, what was it going to take? If it were about using the molten nature of the dragon, Jason would have to find something within the dragon himself to latch on to, but didn’t know if there was anything he could do that with.
He focused, staring at the dragon, thinking about his experience in traveling with the creature and watching the surface of his scales as he rolled.
An idea came to him.
“Try slithering through the air.”
“Slithering?” the ice dragon asked.
“I know you fly differently, but then, you fly how you needed to in the ice and the cold. The iron dragon will need to travel differently. When I traveled with him, I felt him practically slither.” There wasn’t any other way to describe it, and as he considered it, he thought that he was right.
Only, how was the iron dragon going to slither out into the air?
“Open your wings and slink forward as you did through the forest,” he said.
If that worked, he would be amazed. If it didn’t, then the dragon would drop, and though he didn’t think the creature would be harmed by the fall, he still did not want to be responsible for something happening to him. He had no idea if they would be able to climb back down to help the dragon, though he had to believe there would be some way of reaching him if it were necessary.
The iron dragon clutched the ground. Slowly, he began to spread his wings, separating them out from his body, and as he did, the heat billowed off him. It was enormous and almost unpleasant, and on a whim, Jason crawled up on the iron dragon’s back.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going with you.”
“And if I slither to the ground?”
“I’m still going with you,” Jason said.
“You’re that sure this will work?”
Jason shrugged. “I have no idea whether it will work or not, but I believe your way of moving is different enough that it could—and should.”
The dragon swiveled his head, looking at Jason, his eyes glowing a bright orange. As Jason stared at him, he noticed that the way his eyes glowed seemed to mimic the manner in which the heat radiated off his body. It was flowing, the same way his body seemed to flow, and it was a strange thing.
The dragon turned his head away, and heat began to build from him.
Jason looked away, staring across the distance, watching the ice dragon. His crystal-blue eyes met Jason’s, and they stared at each other. For a moment, Jason could practically feel the disappointment within him. It was almost as if Jason were betraying the ice dragon, but that wasn’t it at all. Why couldn’t the ice dragon see Jason was trying to help? Wasn’t that what the ice dragon had wanted? He had wanted for them to find the hatch mates. And now that he had, now that they were trying to help one, the ice dragon didn’t want him to do so?