Power exploded from him.
When it struck the red dragon, it seemed to slow it.
“Work on it,” David urged.
Jason focused his energy on the red dragon, holding on to the ice dragon pearl, sending power flowing through him and into it.
He summoned power from the ice dragon overhead, knowing the ice dragon was there, knowing the dragon understood what he needed. The connection between them was strong. It had to be for the ice dragon to be able to help him in the way that it had.
Once again, a bolt of ice lightning streaked toward him. It arced through the dragon pearl, flowing through it and then him, and slammed into the red dragon. This time, Jason paid attention to what was happening, and he tried to control the flow of the ice lightning, straining to guide the lightning. If he could manage to hold on to that control, he knew he could use it to help the dragon.
That was what he wanted most of all. The dragon wasn’t his enemy. Therin was the problem, not the dragon. And in order to help, he was going to have to overwhelm the dragon. He was going to have to force the healing upon it. The dragon might not know it needed it, but it did. And Jason was determined to do everything in his power to help the dragon, to send what it needed, to find a way to heal it.
The dragon roared. It was almost as if it understood.
High overhead, there came a shriek.
The ice dragon added his power.
The flow of energy coming from overhead was enormous. When Jason had suggested the ice dragon go into the upper sky, he had known it was colder, but he hadn’t expected the ice dragon to be able to draw upon such power. He understood that being in the sky overhead would allow him to reach for energy he hadn’t been able to do otherwise. There was power. Now there was that which Jason couldn’t fully grasp.
He unleashed it, letting it flow outward and into the red dragon.
Next to him, David struggled. He held his hands out, but they were trembling. Power flowed through him, though it was beginning to wane.
Jason continued to push, sending more and more through the red dragon.
The resistance was there, a barrier in the creature’s mind.
As he recognized that, Jason understood what he needed to do.
It wasn’t a matter of trying to heal, not quite the same way. What he needed to do was to separate that barrier.
The iron dragon rolled, jerking slightly.
Jason lost control. The ice lightning dissipated, streaking somewhere below him. Someone cried out, though it mingled with the other shrieks in the air.
They rolled off to the side and David slumped forward.
“He is too powerful,” David said.
“I thought you were a powerful Auran.”
“I have ability, but…” He shook his head, breathing heavily.
They weren’t going to be able to keep fighting. The iron dragon rolled, and Jason tried to reorient himself, to position himself back on the dragon, but found it difficult. He was struggling with this, but then, the dragon was struggling as well. The longer they were here, the harder it was going to be for them to survive.
Perhaps the better solution was to join the ice dragon, to run.
Distantly, Jason was aware of the maroon and black dragon fighting alongside them. They had joined in the fray, and they were attacking the Dragon Souls, trying to tear them from the other dragons’ backs. It was a mixture of tails and fire and wings flapping. It was a violent dance in the sky.
Jason hated it.
Dragons shouldn’t be fighting other dragons.
He breathed out.
“I’m sorry,” he said, tapping the iron dragon on the side.
“The fight is not over,” the iron dragon said.
“We don’t have enough power.”
“You have all that you need.”
“I’ve been trying, but…”
His attempt had not been enough. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t do what he needed in order to save the dragons. There was nothing he could do.
Suddenly, another shriek split the sky. He looked over, dreading how many more dragons would come. David had warned him that Therin had many dragons at his disposal, that his regimen involved dozens of dragons, and they had only faced a small number so far.
Even in that, they were surrounded. He worried about the ice dragon, wondering what was happening to him in the sky high overhead, but so far, the dragon remained aloft, as if untouched by what was coming.
Would it stay that way? How much longer would they have before even the ice dragon failed?
It was possible that from his position overhead, the ice dragon would be able to escape. He was able to fly higher—or so Jason thought—and hopefully could fly faster than the other dragons. If he were able to do that, then he should be able to get away.
And perhaps that was what Jason should have asked of the dragon. He didn’t need the ice dragon to be caught up in this. He didn’t need the dragon to experience this torment. He needed the dragon to have safety.
Another shriek came, and Jason looked around.
A faint yellow shape was surging toward them. Near it was an orange shape. Green. Pale blue.
The dragons from Dragon Haven.
They still wouldn’t be enough.
It was a mistake. He needed to call out, to warn Henry and Sarah and whoever else might be on those dragons, but how could he?
He tried to turn the iron dragon, but he wasn’t able to. The iron dragon was rolling, the movement keeping him from harm, power surging through him. That movement allowed the iron dragon to somehow absorb each fiery blast that struck. Each one that hit the iron dragon was deflected, or absorbed, but it didn’t cause any pain or problems.
Jason tried to call out, to alert the others, but his voice wouldn’t carry on the wind. He screamed out against it, but he couldn’t get his voice out there.
He cried out again, shouting, but once more, his voice was lost.
The only thing he could do was focus on Therin. Focus on his dragon. And if he could do so, then he might be able to find some way of slowing this.
Even if he did, what would happen next?
With his massive size, Jason had to believe the red dragon would be able to help.
He breathed in, focusing on the dragon pearl. What he needed was power from the ice dragon, and he needed to call it down from overhead and let it flow through him.
Once again, ice lightning burst, streaking toward the ground, and it exploded through him, through the dragon pearl, and outward. He focused it on the red dragon, and this time, he shoved it beneath the influence he felt within the red dragon. That sense was deep within the red dragon’s mind, and Jason was able to slide underneath, to force his way through it, and tear through the injury to the dragon.
He focused the lightning. And as he did, he could feel that influence shearing away.
The dragon roared, and Jason worried for a moment he’d done something that harmed it, but he could feel the necessity of what he was doing. He could tell tearing this influence away was going to help the dragon.
And then the dragon roared again.
Jason shoved, pushing with everything he could, separating the strange sensation from the dragon.
When it tore free, the dragon screamed.
Jason released his hold. The red dragon plummeted.
Therin remained on his back, and he watched as the other man dropped to the ground.
He tore his attention away, focusing on the nearest dragons. There were three near them, and he pushed power, drawing it from the ice dragon through its pearl and into the nearest dragons, tearing away the influence forced upon them. Now that he understood what it was and how to remove it, it wasn’t so much a healing as it was a separation. He was able to rip through it. When he did so, he realized that it wasn’t even ripping. He was burning through it, using the cold in order to seal it off.