“What were you trying to do?”
“I was trying to show them they didn’t need to harm the dragon,” David said.
“That wouldn’t work.”
“You don’t know the Dragon Souls the way I do.”
“I understand the Dragon Souls used the dragons. I understand that if it were up to you, you would try to harm them, destroy them, and you would use them. I understand enough,” he said.
David took a deep breath and met Jason’s eyes. “You know nothing about the Dragon Souls, but I could help you. If you would listen, I could show you. You have potential.”
“You don’t see me as somebody with potential. You see me as a slave.”
There was a hesitation, and with it, he frowned, wondering whether or not David would admit to that, but he shook his head. “Perhaps I would once have considered you a slave, but I have seen what you have done. I understand the nature of your power, and that you have uncovered something we have not.”
Jason looked at the fallen Dragon Souls. He had no desire to continue attacking, and yet he thought he would need to, if only to better understand what had taken place here, to see if there was any way to stop these others.
He needed to protect the dragons.
“I’m not going to leave you behind,” Jason said.
He turned to the fallen Dragon Souls, and he debated what to do with them. There was one thing he thought he could do, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to unclothe them. Then again, taking the dragonskin cloaks seemed fitting.
He worked quickly, and as he did, he found that David was working alongside him, helping to pull the clothing off some of the Dragon Souls. Working together, they undressed the rest of the Dragon Souls and piled up the dragonskin.
“Why did you kick me off the dragon?”
“I was trying to grab you,” he said.
“You didn’t. You pushed.”
“You were starting to fall and I reached for you.”
Jason thought about what happened, and he couldn’t remember the exact details of it, only that he had felt as if he had been pushed off. Possibly even kicked off.
And from there, he was falling.
Had it not been for the ice dragon, Jason wouldn’t have survived.
By the time they had the Dragon Souls all undressed, he wondered what to do with them. It was time for them to get moving, and yet, he didn’t know how to awaken them.
If his next task involved going back after the forest dragon, then he would, but he didn’t know if the dragon in the forest wanted them to pursue it. It was possible that the dragon was content, able to hide itself, and it was possible that anything they might do would only reveal its presence and make things worse for it.
“How long do we have?” he asked David.
“How long we have for what?”
“Before the rest of the Dragon Souls come? How long do we have?”
“Not long,” David said.
“How many will come?”
“I suspect they would have sent word, so there will be many.”
Jason clutched his jaw. Many. And then they would have to deal with the Dragon Souls searching and terrorizing this place, and worse than that was the thought of how to deal with any attempts to harm the forest dragon, let alone the others.
How many other hatch mates would they need to protect?
Jason didn’t know.
All he knew was that they had to protect the three he knew about.
Family first, then village…
There was only one thing to do. It was the one thing he had avoided, and yet now it was time to stop avoiding it. There was no reason not to return to Dragon Haven other than the fact that he if he brought David with him, there was a real risk to the others.
He could leave him.
He didn’t necessarily trust David, but he also didn’t know if he needed to harm him. He didn’t really want to hurt the man, and he couldn’t shake the sense that David knew something he wasn’t sharing yet.
“You can go,” he said to the dragons. He turned to the maroon dragon, the black dragon, and he wondered how much they would understand and whether they would even respond. It was possible that they wouldn’t, that they wouldn’t be able to do anything, and yet, he looked at them, feeling a connection to them. “Unless you intend to return to Lorach, you are free.”
The maroon dragon turned toward him, and power emanated from the creature. It was heat, and it flowed, rolling over Jason. He had felt something similar from the other dragons before, and yet this time it felt different. It was a power that washed over him, leaving him uncertain.
That heat passed, leaving Jason unharmed.
“You are the one who freed me.”
“I didn’t do it alone. I had help from the dragons.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Jason Dreshen.”
“Who are you?”
Hadn’t he just answered that? Perhaps it was a different question, the same question he asked himself. Who was he?
There was a time when he’d thought he was a hunter, and that he would stay in the village, and yet now that he had been here, now that he had spent the time with the dragons, he could no longer feel as if he were a hunter. He was something else, more than what he had been before, and yet, Jason didn’t know exactly what that was, only that he was no longer the same as what he had believed.
“I don’t know, but I’m trying to understand.”
The dragon rumbled and let out a streamer of fire.
He turned to the other dragon. The black dragon was powerful, and he suspected if he could, he needed to get some message to that dragon as well, and perhaps he could help the black dragon understand. When they had been attacked, there had been some way that the black dragon had disappeared. It was probably tied to the power the dragons possessed, or perhaps even whatever the Dragon Souls had done, using their magic, and yet, he didn’t care. All he cared about was checking to see if the black dragon was unharmed.
The dragon watched him, and there was power radiating from him.
“You would be free as well,” Jason said.
The dragon said nothing and launched into the air.
He spiraled up, circling the same way the dragons had when Jason had been near Henry. The maroon dragon watched them for a moment before following, taking off and heading off to the west.
When they were gone, David stared up at the sky. “I wonder what will become of that.”
“Why?”
“Because they didn’t head back to Lorach. I don’t know where they’re going, but it is somewhere else.”
Jason sighed. If the dragons returned to Lorach, there would be nothing he could do to help protect them, and it was possible that the Dragon Souls would once again control them. And yet, that was their choice, wasn’t it? Was not the entire point of all this that he didn’t get to choose for the dragons?
He had done what he thought he could, trying to rescue them, to free their minds, but beyond that, he didn’t know if there was anything else he would be able to accomplish.
As he stood there, he couldn’t help but feel as if there were answers, and yet, he needed to move.
“What do you plan to do?” David asked.
“I plan to get help,” he said.
“What kind of help?”
“The kind of help that will ensure the forest dragon”—and the other hatch mates, he didn’t add—“is unharmed.”
15
There was a part of Jason that wondered if he would remember how to find Dragon Haven. As they soared overhead, he focused on the token Henry had given him and was able to use that to guide him. More than just directing him, it helped guide the ice dragon. It was almost as if the ice dragon knew how to find where they were heading.