The iron dragon screamed, a rasping metallic sound he’d never heard before, and it seemed as if steam hissed from him, squealing out into the sky.
The dragon burst into painful heat, his entire body beginning to glow, the redness working along his scales and then fading, but it did so slowly.
He twisted, and they managed to avoid the attack, but as he looked over, he realized David hadn’t completely dodged it.
An enormous gash was torn through his arm. Blood poured down it and he slumped over.
Swearing to himself, Jason reached for David and pushed power outward, sending it from the ice dragon pearl and into him.
He summoned the ice dragon, letting that power flow through him. It rolled into David, hitting the wound, and yet the ice dragon wasn’t guiding them as he had before.
He needed the help.
The ice dragon would help.
Unless freeing the maroon dragon had taken too much out of him.
Jason fumbled for the power within the dragon pearl, but he didn’t have enough.
What about one of the dragon pearls he’d taken from David?
He grabbed for one, pulling heat through it, using the heat from himself, from what he felt from the iron dragon. As he did, it radiated outward, and it flowed into David.
The power was enormous, and he didn’t know if it was because they were so close to the maroon dragon or because of the heat radiating off the iron dragon. Either way, that power flowed into David. It seemed as if David guided the flow, and the blood stopped pouring from his arm.
Jason didn’t know enough to do more than that. If nothing else, he thought he could prevent David from bleeding out. It would involve holding on to the Dragon Soul and keeping him on the dragon’s back, and he wasn’t sure that he was able to do that.
He looked around but couldn’t find where the other dragon had gone.
“Where did the last attack come from?”
“I don’t know,” the dragon rumbled.
How could the dragon not know?
Then again, Jason hadn’t known. The attack had suddenly been there. It was almost as if it had appeared out of nowhere.
Was there some other way for the dragon to attack?
Jason looked up. He had to be here somewhere, but as he looked around, he saw nothing.
Power flowed. There was a steady rumble, and he focused on it, listening, and felt the source of it.
He pulled on power through the dragon pearl, letting it flow out from him, and he sent it through the dragon nearly upon them.
It struck, and rather than refraining, trying to push gently, Jason sent everything he could through the pearl, into the dragon, and felt the resistance there. As before, it was something of an injury, and now that he had worked with it once before, he thought he understood it. It was like a scar somewhere deep inside of the dragon. If he could smooth it over—
He didn’t have an opportunity. Something struck the iron dragon again.
Surprisingly, the iron dragon was ready and its heat flared, rolling through it. It seemed as if the entire dragon roiled, and he whipped his tail around.
Another dragon cried out.
Somewhere, the dragon was here, but Jason couldn’t see it.
How could a dragon be invisible?
These were enormous creatures, and it seemed impossible to him that one could simply disappear, and yet there it was. There was no sign of the dragon, no sign of where it had come from and where it had gone.
He focused on the power he was pushing through the dragon pearl, letting that flow through him, and as he did, he felt that ongoing resistance. He pushed again, allowing it to roll through him. It struck the dragon, and he pushed again.
The scar began to disappear.
Jason shoved again, this time drawing all the strength he could, all the power he had within him, and he let it flow over him, into the strange mysterious dragon, and it overpowered the dragon and its scar.
It also overpowered him.
Weakness washed over him and he slumped forward, trying to cling to the iron dragon’s back.
Somewhere, he heard a deep rumbling, and he worried they were going to be attacked again, but then there came a loud crash, a roar of pain, and something else.
Another cry.
The iron dragon circled. Far below them, Jason was able to make out the form of a black dragon lying motionless on the ground. Three Dragon Souls scattered around it. Some of them were moving, but it was difficult for Jason to tell what they were doing. He tried to draw upon power, but he was wiped out, and anything that he might have left was gone.
He wanted to help. He wanted to ensure that the black dragon—and the maroon dragon—were not going to be harmed, but he didn’t know if he had the strength to fight Dragon Souls.
He tapped on the iron dragon’s back and leaned close to him. “We need to go.”
“Are you sure?”
“No,” Jason said, looking over the dragon’s side. “But I don’t know if I can handle another attack.”
He hated the idea of leaving the dragons behind. If there was any way to rescue them, he wanted to do it, and yet, he didn’t know if he had the necessary strength to do so. It was better for them to get out of here, survive, and move forward.
They angled upward, and as they did, Jason was forced to help hold on to David, keeping him pinned to the dragon’s back. He was tired, more tired than he had been in quite some time, and as they plunged through the clouds, he found the ice dragon circling, watching. Locking eyes with the ice dragon, he nodded. They had survived.
David rolled over, looking over at him, and then he pushed Jason free of the dragon’s back.
14
This was how he was going to die.
All things die…
Jason had never really given it much thought, and yet living in the village, there was never a question that life was hard and that it would be all too easy to perish from the elements. Still, he had thought that he would get a few more years before something claimed him.
And he never would’ve expected dragons to be the reason he died. Despite what happened to his father, Jason thought he was going to have more time.
As he dropped, the wind whistling around him, the cold air blowing past him, he thought of his mother. His sister. The village. All of those were disappointments. He wouldn’t get to return, and yet it was only his mother and sister that he cared about. He no longer cared to return to the village, not as he once would have. What he did care about was not helping the dragons. Disappointing them. Being unable to see them to safety.
It was his mistake. The Dragon Souls would now claim the ice dragon and the iron dragon, and had he been smarter, he might have been able to learn more than he had, and yet he had been too trusting.
What he should’ve done was go to Henry right away. He should’ve returned to Dragon Haven as soon as he knew there were other dragons. He should’ve gone for help.
He parted the clouds.
The ground loomed toward him, much closer than it had been. It was still far below, rapidly getting closer and closer. How much longer did he have until he crashed into it?
Strangely, there was a greater sense of flying by falling than he’d ever had riding with the dragons. He stretched his arms out, wondering if he could slow himself.
Even if he could, what point would there be? There wouldn’t be any way to save himself.
At least he would die warm. He would die dressed in dragonskin. And maybe there was a hope that the dragons would survive this. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was possible, but he had to think they could pull through it.
A chill began to work through him.
That was strange. Ever since connecting to the ice dragon, he’d never felt the same chill. Dressed in the dragonskin, he shouldn’t be cold. The dragonskin should protect him, should keep him from that sensation, and yet here he was, cold in a way he hadn’t been since finding the ice dragon.