“You can see how unique they are. There’s something impressive about them. They have taken on aspects that traditional dragons have not. They are different. Misfits.”
Jason frowned. He didn’t want to think of the dragons like that. They might be different, but they certainly weren’t misfits. The ice dragon had saved him and had changed things for him. He didn’t know the iron dragon as well, but he was powerful, and there was something about him that would be even stronger in time.
“They shouldn’t be. The great Sol knows there should be nothing about them that could exist, yet here they are.”
“The eggs have taken on characteristics of the environment,” Jason said.
“Perhaps,” David said.
“You think there’s another answer?”
“I think there is the possibility of another answer,” David said. He continued to stare, looking outward. “There have been attempts at something similar over the years. None of them have been successful.”
“Why this one, and why now?”
David glanced over, watching Jason. “Exactly.”
It was more than just the fact that the experiment was successful at this point. It was successful with more than one dragon. And if it had worked with more than one dragon, and if what the ice dragon said about his hatch mates was true, then there were several others they had to find.
He looked outward, watching as the ice dragon circled, watching the way that he regarded the iron dragon. There was still hesitancy to him, but even so, Jason noticed how the ice dragon tilted his wing, getting closer to the iron dragon, before shifting course and flying higher into the air.
There might be some uncertainty, but there was also a desire to understand.
It was that desire which had brought him here in the first place. It was that desire that had motivated the ice dragon. And it was that desire that Jason needed to help see through. He understood what the ice dragon was after, the knowledge of who he was and how he came to be, but more than that, there was an understanding of where he belonged.
The dragons were powerful, and despite that, they didn’t want to be alone.
More than ever, Jason felt that with a certainty.
He pulled on the power of the dragon pearl, summoning through it, and the ice dragon turned toward him.
When he landed near them, Jason climbed onto his neck, and he waited for David. David hesitated only a moment before following Jason onto the ice dragon.
“You will guide us to the next place,” Jason said.
David held on to the ice dragon, and there was something about the way he looked at the creatures that both unsettled Jason—and gave him a glimmer of hope.
12
They soared high over the sky. The air took on a bit of a chill, and the longer they flew, the more that chill began to work its way around the ice dragon. The cold seemed to strengthen the ice dragon, empowering him, and Jason clung to his back, holding tightly, worried that something would change. He’d flown without saying a word the entire time, and next to him, the iron dragon continued to fly, moving quickly, his wings arcing in a strange fashion. Yet the longer he flew, the more certain Jason was that the iron dragon was beginning to understand what it took for him to do so.
David had been silent throughout their travels. Eventually, Jason would need to get him to say something, but for now, the silence was fine.
He thought instead of his sister. His mother. He couldn’t help but wonder whether his sister had tracked down the slope, finding the cave, and had managed to acquire more of the venison.
Leaving when he had troubled him. He would not willingly have abandoned his family at a time when things were uncertain. He had no idea who was trying to steal from them, and when he returned, he would have to be prepared for the possibility that he would need to resolve that situation.
That was if he could return.
Learning about these dragons, and the possibility of others, left Jason wondering what he would have to do moving forward.
Maybe his task would be about serving the dragons.
Family first, then village…
There was another way to take care of his family. He could move his sister and mother down to the town at the base of the mountain. There was nothing for them in the village, not any longer, not without their father, and with enough coin, Jason could ensure their safety.
Then he could continue to work with the dragons, no longer worried about what was happening to his family, no longer fearing they would not have enough to eat.
He sighed, and he noticed that David was watching him.
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“There is something about you I can’t quite place,” David said.
“Then stop trying,” he said.
“I don’t think that I will. Whatever it is, I haven’t seen it in quite some time.”
“I don’t care for the way that you’re looking at me.”
“Call it curiosity.”
“You can call it whatever you want, but I don’t care for it.”
David watched him for a moment before turning away. Despite that, Jason noticed the way he was turning toward him, how every so often, his gaze would drift. He wanted to force David to ignore him, but how could he?
The landscape below was difficult to track. He tried to focus on that, to pay attention to only what was below them, but it was hard to see anything from where he sat on the dragon. His dragon sight wasn’t helpful when it came to peering over the edge. Everything was different. There were swatches of dark green and brown. There wasn’t the usual undulating banks of snow, though every so often, he did catch pockets of white, as if there were snowier sections of the ground below.
He had no idea where they were heading, and the longer they flew, the more he began to wonder whether David was leading them into a trap. He might have spoken the words of the flame, but what did that really mean?
“When you said the words of the flame, what is that?”
“The words of the flame are a sacred vow. It’s spoken with the Dragon Soul’s power, and it is meant to convey a commitment. They are not spoken lightly.”
“How?”
“How did I speak them?”
“How is it something of power?”
The Dragon Soul watched him. “I find it amazing that you have survived as long as you have without knowing these things.”
“I haven’t had any experience with your people before recently.”
David glanced over before turning away again. “You should have been brought to Lorach and trained.”
“Trained or enslaved?”
“There are things done for safety,” he said.
“Whose safety? Yours or the others?”
David frowned. “You can’t understand. You don’t know what we have been through.”
“No. I don’t, and I have no interest in knowing what you’ve been through. Not if you’re going to use the dragons like this. All I know is that you’ve tormented them. You’ve abused them. And because of that, you’ve made them into something they should not have been.”
David watched him, saying nothing.
After a moment, he turned his attention away and pointed toward the ground. “There,” he said.
“What’s down there?” Jason asked, reluctantly turning away. A part of him wanted to know more, to discover what they might be encountering, but another part didn’t want to continue the conversation with David. He had no idea what he might do, and because of that, he wanted to be careful with him.
“There’s the sense of something.”
Jason turned to the ice dragon. “Can you feel it?”