Jason turned to the ice dragon, patting his side. “This is the ice dragon. I’m sorry I wasn’t truthful with you when we were back in the mountains, but I had the sense from him that he didn’t want to be discovered. And he saved me, so I kind of owed him.”
“You hid a dragon from us. Do you know what might’ve happened?”
“What might’ve happened?”
“She fears that the Dragon Souls would have found him and claimed him,” David said.
Jason shot him a hard look. “You’re not helping your situation.”
“I am speaking the truth. How is that not helping?”
“Your truth is going to end up getting them angry with you.”
“Be that as it may, that is what she feared.”
“I was there, and I was watching for any signs of the Dragon Souls,” he said. “Therin didn’t return.”
“Just because he didn’t return didn’t mean he wasn’t going to send people to search for that dragon. As far as you know, this Auran was sent to investigate.”
Jason turned to David. “Is that what it was? Were you sent to investigate?”
“I was sent for a different purpose.”
“And what purpose was that?”
“To find the missing eggs.”
“What about the missing eggs?”
“Therin has been hiding from the Dragon Souls. He took them from us, and he has been using them for his own plans. I don’t think any of us would’ve expected anything like this, and yet, with Therin involved, it’s not altogether surprising.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I imagine Therin had you believe he was acting under our orders.”
Jason shrugged. “He told me that he was working on behalf of Lorach. Isn’t that the same?”
“Perhaps to him. And perhaps he was. Therin did sit above even the Aurans, given a place of authority beyond what most have. Because of that, he had less accountability than he should have had. Therin abused his place and tainted the work we do.”
“I’m not so sure you should be proud of the work you do.”
“You don’t understand.”
“You keep telling me that, but I think I understand more than you believe, and I understand the nature of what you’ve done, the difference in the way you and I believe the dragons deserve to be treated. I understand far more than you do.” He looked around. “How can you be in a place like this and not comprehend that?”
“Dragon Haven,” David said, disdain dripping from his words. “A place where the dragons have been stolen, preventing us from training them. A place of the rebels and the rebellion.”
“You’re going to have to be careful. You’re in a place where they don’t view the dragons the same way as you.”
“The rebels have never viewed the dragon the same. They have thought they could overcome us for ages, and where has that gotten them?” David looked around, his brow narrowing. “It has gotten them to Dragon Haven. Isolated. Separated from the rest of the world. Cut off from power.”
“It has given the dragons the chance for freedom,” Sarah said. She glared at David for a long moment before looking at the iron dragon. “I understand what happened with the ice dragon, and I can even understand your reasoning, but what about that one? I don’t even know that I recognize what kind of dragon that is.”
“I call him an iron dragon. The ice dragon said he detected his hatch mate, and he wanted me to help find them. We went looking, and we came across him.”
“How?”
“He was held captive, and I think he has an affinity for iron. You should see the way his scales change when he’s using fire. It’s almost as if he becomes molten metal.”
Sarah’s eyes widened briefly. “You said hatch mates?”
Jason glanced over at David. “According to the dragon, there will be others.”
She breathed out heavily. “We need to discuss this.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t bring it to you sooner. I was trying to help the dragon, and…”
“Why did you come now?”
“Because the Dragon Souls know.”
“What do they know?”
“That there’s another dragon.” He glanced over at David. He hadn’t shared much with him, either, and he didn’t necessarily want to share, but he thought that Sarah of all people needed to know, to understand what he was concerned about and why he wanted to offer protection. There had to be some way to do so, and if it came down to it, he was willing to return. He would do it with or without the people of Dragon Haven, even though he understood that it involved danger.
“Let me guess, a water dragon?”
“No, though it wouldn’t be surprising if we found one. This one was in the trees. He—or she; I didn’t really know—had deep green eyes and wings that looked like the canopy of the trees. I could barely see her even when I was up close to her.”
“You do realize what you’re saying,” Sarah said.
“I understand and I know how it might sound, but I’m telling the truth.”
She frowned at him. “Considering how you appear to have a very different view of the truth, I’m not sure how much we can believe you. But I suppose that as you did bring the ice dragon and the iron dragon with you, we need to put some stock in what you’re saying.”
Jason sighed. He looked around the clearing. There were three smaller dragons off to the side, and they sat rigid, watching the ice and iron dragons, but the two misfit dragons were completely ignoring them. They were focused on the other dragons, the five that had arrived to greet them.
“What now?” he asked.
“Now we need to go to the others. If this is as critical as you say, we don’t have much time.”
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t tell me that you’re sorry. Tell the dragon if we don’t manage to get to it.”
Sarah motioned to David, and he was forced in front of her. She glanced at Jason before following along the path that wound beside the forest, and every so often, she would look over, irritation glimmering in her eyes. He had worried about telling Henry what he’d done, but he hadn’t given much thought to telling Sarah. And yet, perhaps he should have. Sarah had been there, fighting alongside him, helping him, and now that he was here, now that he realized what he had done, he thought that he had betrayed her.
Perhaps by hiding the ice dragon, he’d betrayed all of them.
“What has William been doing since he’s been here?”
“He’s worked on training dragons.”
At the mention of training, David’s head perked up.
Sarah pushed him. “Nothing like how you would train them. We train them differently. We train them on patterns, coordination, and we work with them to better understand how we use their power. It’s almost as much training ourselves as we are the dragons.”
“I didn’t realize that William had any ability to reach the dragons,” he said.
“He doesn’t. At least, so far he hasn’t shown that he does, but he wants to work, and in Dragon Haven, we don’t exclude anyone who shows an interest in working.”
David laughed softly. “It’s a waste of time. If someone doesn’t demonstrate a talent with the dragons, then they will not develop one. You waste not only your time, but the dragons’.”
“We don’t decide for the dragons,” Sarah said.
She shoved David forward again.
As she did, she shot Jason a look. It was filled with annoyance, and he worried that he’d made a mistake by bringing David here. Perhaps he would have been better served by leaving him behind with the other Dragon Souls. At least then, he would not have to worry about what Sarah might do or how she might react; and yet, there were things David knew, information he thought he could glean from the man.