Still, it boiled up within him, burbling deep beneath the surface, and as it did, Jason understood. There was the connection to the iron dragon, and all he had to do was latch on to that rage, to that anger, and he could use it.
It filled him.
Jason let it. He welcomed that anger. It came to him slowly, roiling through him in the same way that the molten nature of the metal had roiled through the dragon.
That couldn’t be a coincidence. That had to be something real, and as he focused on it, he was more and more certain he needed to use that anger.
He pushed that connection into the dragon pearl.
Power flowed with it.
It seemed to unlock something within him, and it unlocked something within the pearl.
A soft bell started to toll.
Why should that make a difference? Why should anger seem tied to the dragon?
Maybe it was a matter of the dragon’s captivity, or maybe there was something else to it, but either way, Jason knew that was what it had taken to connect him to the dragon.
Now that he pushed, he could feel that energy, and he let it roll out from him, and he welcomed it.
The power filled him, and he pushed through it, searching for some way of knowing what the dragon had done, looking for where to find the dragon, and the more that he pushed, the more certain he was that the dragon was nearby.
The tolling of the bell continued, loud and unabated.
There was something to that. Jason listened, leaning down.
Somehow, he had to focus on the tolling of the bell, the ringing, and if he could do that, then he might be able to uncover where the iron dragon had been dragged.
“Do you hear that?” he asked.
“I hear something,” the ice dragon said.
“I think that I have figured out how to connect to the dragon, but I’m not completely certain.”
The dragon rumbled and sniffed at the air, his head swiveling side to side, and Jason focused on the dragon, listening, and in doing so, he thought that he could hear the bell continuing. He focused on what he had done, sending that sense of anger and rage through the dragon pearl.
There was something unpleasant about using it, and yet, he thought he understood what was needed.
Distantly, he found the sense of the dragon.
It was below him.
After directing the ice dragon, they descended. They dropped quickly, the wind whistling around him. Jason didn’t know how long he would be able to hold on to the power within the iron dragon pearl, and he worried that he wouldn’t be strong enough if it came down to it, but for now, he was able to keep his grasp on the power and to use it.
He searched the ground, scanning it, and wasn’t surprised to find the iron dragon down there, standing between the maroon dragon and the black one. What surprised him was the fact that the iron dragon didn’t glow with the same heat as he normally did.
It was almost as if the dragon wasn’t afraid.
Could the Dragon Souls have gotten to him?
It was possible they had. They were powerful, and they were drawing on significant energy, and if they had, then it would explain why the iron dragon wouldn’t be concerned, and it would explain why it wasn’t blowing with the same heat and intensity as it had been before.
They circled and Jason focused, listening to the bell tolling.
It didn’t give him any insight, and yet as he held on to that anger, power bubbled up within him.
It was a strange thing to be able to detect, and yet as he focused on that energy, he was able to borrow from it. As Jason drew through the dragon pearl, the iron dragon glowed a bit more brightly with each attempt to pull on his power.
Strange.
Would the iron dragon know what Jason was doing?
The better question would be whether or not the iron dragon even cared.
It was possible he didn’t care that Jason was trying to draw upon his power, and it was possible the iron dragon wouldn’t do anything. Jason and the ice dragon had done everything they could to protect the iron dragon, and it was possible that they had succeeded, keeping anyone else from influencing him.
They circled high overhead, and he focused on the Dragon Souls below.
Something that David had said occurred to him.
There were three dragons that came. One had been sent away. Two remained.
These were the two that remained.
How many Dragon Souls were down there? He remembered three on one dragon and two on the other, and with David down there, it was possible that the different dragons would also be enough to overwhelm all three dragons on the ground.
Two Dragon Souls per dragon.
Would the numbers matter?
He borrowed from the iron dragon, and he focused on what he could detect of the other two dragons, and he pushed, borrowing power through the dragon pearl, washing it over the black dragon and the maroon dragon. When the power struck, there was no sense of resistance as there had been before.
Either the dragons were unharmed, or whatever power he was able to summon through the iron dragon was different.
“We need to land,” Jason said.
“Are you prepared for what must be done?”
“I don’t know what must be done, but I don’t know if the iron dragon is injured.”
Whatever had happened to him had left the iron dragon changed, though how much had he altered?
It was part of the question that Jason couldn’t answer, something he would need to better understand, and yet, he worried that the Dragon Souls would continue to attack.
They streaked downward, the ice dragon shooting forward, the air around them solidifying, becoming colder, icicles forming on the dragon’s side. This was a different approach, and as they did so, wind whistled around them, the air took on sharp notes, and it seemed almost as if snow began to fall around the dragon.
As it swirled, something awoke within Jason.
It was a familiar scent, one that he remembered from his homeland. He was able to use that. That cold washed through him, and it seemed to help awaken him.
He took a deep breath and, when they landed, he hopped off the dragon’s back and darted forward.
Three of the Dragon Souls turned toward him and he focused, using both the power of the iron dragon and that of the ice dragon, fire and ice, and he connected them, allowing that combined force to explode outward from him. He had done something similar before, but this had only been a part of it. When he had freed the iron dragon, he had needed to use that combined power, and now he thought that he could do even more with it.
And if he could, then he might be able to attack the way that he needed to.
Power flowed through him. He struck, using the power of the combined dragon pearl, again and again. Each time that he did, power exploded out from him, and it connected with the Dragon Souls.
He was able to throw them back, and with the doubled power, they didn’t get back up. He turned toward the other two Dragon Souls. He stormed forward, holding power in his hand, and he struck. He didn’t give them a chance to attack, sending his surge toward them, uncaring.
It left only David.
He turned toward the man.
“You would have betrayed us?”
“I spoke the words of—”
“I know you spoke the words, but apparently the words mean nothing to you.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I obviously don’t.” He held up the dragon pearls, gripping them tightly, and he sent power exploding away from him. He diverted it at the last moment, not wanting to strike David, but wanting him to be aware of the fact that he could. David had betrayed them, and though he had said the words of the flame, and though Jason had no idea what that meant or whether it was anything significant, he still wondered if perhaps he should relent.