He glanced up. The deep green eyes stared at him, watching. The dragon hadn’t moved. He was thankful that it hadn’t, but what would happen when he reached it?
It was something he would have to consider when he got closer, but for now, Jason was content to continue to climb, trying to reach the dragon as quickly as he could. If the Dragon Souls came, he would be responsible for that, and he wanted to get to this dragon before they had a chance of reaching it.
He continued his climb, moving quickly. Every so often, he slipped, losing his grip on the trunk, and he struggled to hold on to his place.
As he climbed, he couldn’t help but feel as if he were getting closer. He let the sense of the dragon draw him and squeezed as tightly as he could. Finally, he reached a branch he could hold on to if he were to fall, and then propped himself up. Jason took an opportunity to rest, catching his breath. He looked down, realizing how high he was, and resisted the urge to slide back down to the ground. The ice dragon continued his circle of power, pushing around the Dragon Soul. From above, there seemed to be a pattern forming in the frost, though it was difficult to tell what shape that pattern would take.
Taking a deep breath, Jason continued, climbing along the trunk. He worked quickly, moving his legs first, then his arms, and then repeating. He dragged himself up the trunk, and when he reached another branch, he paused. He hazarded a glance up, noting the way the dragon seemed to watch him. As he got closer, he was hoping to be able to make out more of the dragon’s form, but there wasn’t anything other than the eyes.
There had to be something more he could discern.
He was closer now, and even still, he wasn’t able to tell much more about the dragon than he had before. There had to be something about the dragon that was concealing it.
Jason steadied himself, and when he had himself prepared, he started up the side of the tree again, climbing quickly.
Near the next branch, he paused, crouching once more. Surprisingly, there didn’t seem to be more of a shape to the dragon than there had been before.
Not only were there the deep green eyes, but the scales of the dragon seemed to blend into the tree. It was why he hadn’t seen anything at all. It was as if the dragon formed the canopy. The more Jason stared, the more he began to understand. The dragon’s tail stretched down the trunk of the tree, and his massive wings were spread out, arcing overhead, blending in and looking like the treetops. The only thing that was visible was his eyes. As he got closer, he was able to make out the enormous size of the jaw and head, and in doing so, he almost slipped.
He was close—far closer than he’d realized he was.
Jason didn’t move. He could scarcely breathe. He didn’t know if any movement would draw the anger of the dragon, and yet the creature simply watched him, almost as if curious.
“I’m Jason Dreshen.”
The dragon didn’t move.
“I want to help you. There are others who will try to use you, but I don’t want them to.”
He wasn’t sure how to explain the Dragon Souls, or how to explain his role with them.
“Can you feel what’s happening down there?”
He glanced at the clearing, where the ice dragon and David were working.
The dragon stretched his head forward, moving slowly, and as it did, it seemed to be nothing more than leaves fluttering on a breeze. The effect was enough that Jason smiled, amazed at how delicately the dragon was able to move, the precision with how it concealed itself.
“They’re trying to call to you. They want to help you.”
The dragon pressed his head closer to Jason. In that moment, a hint of panic rolled through him. He was approaching an unknown dragon, a creature of enormous power, and he was letting it get so close that it could almost bite him. He’d seen the ice dragon hunting and knew the kind of power they possessed, the way they were able to rip apart enormous creatures with little more than a snap of their jaw.
He didn’t have the sense that this dragon wanted to harm him. Whatever else happened, he believed the dragon was curious, much like all the dragons he had met.
“You could come with us. We want to protect you.”
Jason tried to push, using his connection to the dragon, straining for some way of reaching the dragon, and yet he didn’t think that there was any way to do so.
There was a resistance within the dragon.
“There are others who would love to meet with you. They want to understand.”
The dragon inhaled. It practically sucked the wind out of Jason’s lungs, and he held on to the branch, afraid of going anywhere. For a moment, he thought the dragon might come along with them, that they might be able to escape and figure out the rest of it, determine worlds they could escape to and hide within, but then an explosion struck.
It came again. And again. Each time it came, it was familiar to him, ringing through the entirety of his body.
Dragon Souls.
He looked back over toward the green dragon, but the dragon was gone.
13
Jason looked through the treetop, searching for signs of the dragon, anything that would tell him where the creature had gone, but he could make out nothing. Every so often, the upper branches would sway, and as they did, he couldn’t help but feel as if that was a sign of the dragon moving through the branches, but then the motion stopped, leaving him watching, wondering.
How had he lost the dragon so easily?
There was a stealth to it that the others did not have. He’d lost all evidence of it. That amazed him. For the dragon to be able to disappear so quickly and so quietly was a marvel.
Another explosion thundered, then another.
Jason squeezed the tree, sliding down the trunk. He moved quickly, every so often digging his heels into the trunk to slow himself, and held on as he dropped to the ground. When he neared, he jumped free, racing toward the ice dragon.
“Something’s coming,” he said.
David looked up. “We aren’t finished.”
“What you’re doing isn’t going to work.”
“You don’t know that. I can continue to summon, connect to the dragon, and I can—”
“The dragon is gone.”
David blinked. “Gone? Did they get to it?”
Jason shook his head. “When the Dragon Souls appeared, the dragon disappeared.”
“Because of you,” David said.
“Not because of me.” Well, not entirely because of him.
He glanced over at the ice dragon. Water was streaming down his side. The heat of this place was almost too much for the creature, and if they stayed, he wouldn’t be able to fight if it came down to it.
“Go,” he said to the ice dragon.
“I can stay.”
“If you stay, you won’t be able to fight.”
With a rumble that suggested how frustrated the dragon was, he lurched into the air. With a flutter of wings, he exploded upward, streaking into the sky and disappearing.
Jason held on to his connection to the dragon, using the cold flowing through the dragon pearl, testing whether he would return and whether there would be any sign of injury to the dragon, but he didn’t detect anything.
Either the ice dragon had managed to move past the Dragon Souls, or they hadn’t been aware of him.
He turned, looking toward the iron dragon.
“We need to get him out of here,” he said.
“You can’t control that one as well?”
“I’m not controlling any of the dragons. I simply ask.”