Jason’s breath caught. He had made a mistake. Here he had thought he was going to borrow power from the dragon pearl, and yet in doing so, he’d only done what he’d been trying to avoid. The Dragon Souls would now know that they were here, searching for the dragon, and how long would it take for them to arrive? They wanted to avoid the Dragon Souls, and yet he might be the reason they drew their attention.
He pushed the dragon pearl back into his pocket, ignoring it. There would have to be another way.
“I must act quickly,” David said. He looked around the clearing for a moment. “I need his help.” He pointed to the ice dragon.
“I don’t know that he will help you.”
“Then we will not be able to act before the others come.”
“How do we know you would even help us?”
“Have I done anything to prove otherwise?”
“Other than attack me? Other than trying to summon the iron dragon? Other than attempting to summon this dragon?”
“All of those things were necessary. And I have given you the word of the flame. I will not attack.”
Jason flicked his gaze over to the ice dragon. “We need your help,” he said. He pushed a hint of power through the dragon pearl.
The ice dragon looked over. There was a glaze over his eyes. He was growing tired.
They wouldn’t be able to stay here much longer, and if the Dragon Souls appeared, the ice dragon was unlikely to help much at all.
It was going to require they find some other way to escape. Thankfully, it seemed as if the iron dragon was still fine, and yet Jason didn’t have any way of knowing how to use that dragon’s abilities. He might have the iron dragon pearl, but even with that, he didn’t have anything he could use it for.
“What do you need?”
“I made a mistake. I attempted to use one of the other dragon pearls, and now the Dragon Soul claims I have alerted the others.”
The ice dragon regarded him. For a moment, clarity returned to his icy blue eyes. “Why would you use another?”
“Because you’re struggling here.”
“I have more than enough strength.”
“I’m not doubting your strength, but I’m doubting what you’re experiencing, and I worry you don’t have enough power remaining to withstand all of this.”
“What do you need now?”
“The dragons will need your help in order to try to finish what he’s doing.”
The ice dragon regarded David. “He’s trying to control the dragon.”
“Can you feel it?”
“Indirectly. I understand what he’s attempting to do, and yet, I’m not subjected to the same influence.”
“If you can feel it, you can add whatever you can to help it be effective.” Jason didn’t know if that would matter, but if it worked, then they might be able to summon the dragon, and then… He had no idea. All of this was predicated on the idea of finding the dragons, gathering them together, and then what? He knew the Dragon Souls were out there, hunting for these so-called misfits, and yet, if they were so difficult for this one Dragon Soul to summon, it seemed to him they would be difficult for the others to summon as well.
The ice dragon perched with his wings spread out. Ice began to form on the ground around him, creating a circle. It appeared around the place on the ground where the Dragon Soul had dragged his pattern. As the ice dragon pushed outward, ice continued to form, pressing inward. The power that the Dragon Soul was summoning increased, drawing with increasing energy. The longer that Jason focused on it, the more he could feel that.
He understood the reverberation within it. There was additional power, a response, and yet he didn’t have any idea what it came from.
The dragon, most likely, but where was the dragon?
They had been here for a little while, long enough that they should have seen something.
He focused on the ground, thinking that perhaps it would be underneath him, the same way the iron dragon had been under the ground. The ice dragon had even been underground, though he had been within the stream and the cave, the cold surrounding him.
Where would they find this dragon?
If it had taken on traits of the forest, traits of this humid place, then…
Jason jerked his head around, studying the trees.
That was the key. This place was alive with forest energy.
The trees swayed, moving with the breeze, and yet, the air was heavy and still.
That wasn’t a breeze at all.
He breathed in, focusing. He felt the power, the energy of this place, and the more that he focused on it, the more certain he was that it was there. He could use it somehow.
He let that energy fill him, that sense, and tried to think of how he might be able to better call upon it.
From what he could tell, there was no way to do so. The energy was there, the power was there, and yet, there was nothing else.
The branches high overhead continued to sway.
That was where he needed to focus his attention. He stared, looking through the shadows and the darkness, and he searched for any sign of the dragon.
There wasn’t anything moving.
Other than the trees.
Heat pressed in upon him, and it took a moment to realize it came from the iron dragon. He’d settled in near Jason, and much like him, he was looking up at the trees.
“I can feel it,” the iron dragon said. His voice was a hiss, little more than a whisper.
“Do you know what it is?”
“It is one like me—and not like me.”
Heat writhed along his leg, undulating and then dissipating.
Jason turned his attention back to the top of the trees, and as he did, he began to make out a shape. It was up there, though it wasn’t moving.
He stared, looking for anything that would remind him of the dragons, anything that would reveal the presence of it, and then he saw it.
Two eyes that glimmered. They were a deep green, so deep he thought he imagined them at first and that they might be nothing more than the leaves on the trees, but those were a fainter green than what he saw now.
“You can come down,” he whispered.
He had no idea if his voice even carried, but in this place, he had to believe that the tree dragon would recognize him. And if it did, then he had to hope there would be some way to call the dragon down.
There was no movement.
And yet, he was certain of what he saw. He was certain that he noticed the green eyes looking down at them, watching. The dragon was aware of everything.
And there was something else within it that he realized.
The dragon was able to resist.
The Dragon Soul summons persisted, and as it did, Jason could feel the way it was radiating out, the power added to it by the ice dragon, but even with that, the dragon managed to ignore it.
“I want to help you. You can come down here.”
This time, he pushed a hint of energy with the words, wondering if it would make a difference. If it did, then perhaps he might be able to draw the dragon down, and yet, there came no response. It was almost as if the dragon couldn’t even hear him.
Somehow, he would have to get up there.
He looked over. The Dragon Soul and the ice dragon were caught up in what they were doing. Was there anything Jason could do?
Short of reaching the dragon, he didn’t know if there was.
There might be a way to reach the dragon.
He looked over at the tree. It was wide, but he thought he could climb along it.
Taking a deep breath, he wrapped his arms around the trunk and started up.
The bark of the tree had a smooth surface, and it was difficult for Jason to keep his grip. Every so often, he started to slip, and that forced him to dig his heels into the tree to maintain his position. He struggled against it, and yet, as he climbed, he could feel the presence of the dragon overhead. There was something about the dragon that called to him.