Jason rumbled.
Had he somehow bonded to the storm dragon?
If he could use that power, he might be able to find a better way to understand the magic within this land, whatever it was Jessica had done and the way she intended to use this land against the people of Dragon Haven.
He let the energy of the storm dragon sizzle up from deep within him.
The rumbling began to build within him again. That rumbling started slowly, softly in the back of his mind, and it built forward. Jason thought that he could call to it, but every time he tried to, it faded again.
He opened his eyes, looking over at the two dragons that were on the ground with them, but neither of them were paying much attention to him.
He doubted either of them would know what he needed in order to reach the power of the storm dragon. For that matter, he doubted either of them would be interested in helping him. It involved him finding his own connection, finding some other way to reach through that power and grasping it, pulling it to him.
He tried again.
More and more power came to him, but it came to him from the other two dragons—three, really. Even the forest dragon granted enough power to him he could detect her energy, and it flowed within him too.
He turned to the ice dragon. “We need answers,” he said. “Something happened to Sarah’s parents.”
“We have searched,” the ice dragon said.
It sounded to Jason as if they’d abandoned the search, as well. Jason could not.
“If you don’t want to search for them, then we need to better understand just what Jessica’s people were doing out here.”
“They were hunting for bones,” the ice dragon said.
“I know that, but why?”
There was one consideration. They had learned how to create misfits, and he wouldn’t put it past Jessica to use that knowledge against him, but would they have done so this close to Dragon Haven? What if there was something to the dragon bones that the Dragon Souls could use against Dragon Haven?
“What if there’s something else they intend to do?”
Jason tried to think about the connections he had. The dragons that he was connected to might not be enough for whatever was coming if Jessica moved with more force. They had the dragons of Dragon Haven, both those that had never been captured and those Jason had freed, along with the misfits, but that might not be enough against the might Jessica could bring against them.
There are other dragons.
Jason didn’t know if those other dragons would answer him. Given that he had been the one to kill Lorren, it was possible the mist dragons and the earth dragons wouldn’t respond to him.
How would he even find those other misfits?
He didn’t know where to start. Even when he found them, he worried about their response to him. Given what he had done, the way that he had been involved with the person who had helped bring them into the world, he couldn’t help but wonder if they would not respond to him. Stopping Lorach—especially if they continued to develop resistance to his attacks—would require more than just his misfits.
He looked over at the iron dragon. “I’m going to travel with the ice dragon. Can you return to Dragon Haven and make sure the night dragon is safe?”
The iron dragon radiated a hint of heat, and he rumbled with energy. It was frustration. Jason thought he understood the iron dragon’s frustration. He wanted to be a part of what Jason did and wanted to be useful, but in this case, since he wanted to start by heading to the cold and northern mountains, he didn’t think that the iron dragon would be able to offer much assistance.
“It’s not that I don’t want you with me. It’s more about whether or not you’d be able to withstand the cold.”
The iron dragon rumbled again, his frustration evident.
Jason hadn’t spent any time looking in the north, searching for the key to what Lorren had done with his dragons. It was long past time that he make that attempt. As much as the iron dragon might be angry with him for wanting to head to the north without him, this was something Jason thought he needed to do.
He also thought the iron dragon might be able to offer a level of protection that the other dragons wouldn’t be able to do. The iron dragon could ensure that the night dragon remained safe and stable. That was part of what Jason needed.
He tried to convey all of that through the connection they shared, and he thought that he was effective in doing so, but he didn’t know for certain. As the iron dragon slithered off, heading through the trees before launching himself in the air, Jason wasn’t sure if he had conveyed what he wanted to the dragon. He couldn’t tell anything other than the dragon’s frustration.
Jason breathed out heavily and then turned, focusing on the ice dragon.
It wasn’t all that warm here, though it was warm enough that moisture glistened on the side of the ice dragon. He radiated energy, and within that energy came the power of the dragon, filling the clearing around him with a fog of moisture that drifted off his sides.
Jason climbed onto his back and the ice dragon shook for a moment, droplets of water freezing in the air, and then he launched into the sky.
“Where’s the storm dragon?”
“He comes when he is needed,” the ice dragon said.
“Are you able to reach him?”
“When he is needed,” the ice dragon said.
“How does he know when he is needed?”
“He comes.”
Jason started to laugh but he had the sense that the ice dragon didn’t share in his amusement. It was almost as if the ice dragon didn’t understand what Jason was getting at, nor did he understand why that would amuse him so much.
He motioned to the ice dragon to veer off, and as they flew, Jason could feel the energy of the ice dragon as they headed off to the north. There was a power to the dragon, a surge of energy, and it flowed out from him, cold radiating away from him in the same sort of fog that Jason had become accustomed to. Within that fog was the power of this dragon, and within the fog was the connection to the cold high overhead.
When Jason focused on that sense, he could feel a connection to the energy high overhead. That was new for him. When he had connected to the ice dragon before, he had felt as if he were connecting to his power, but this time, what he detected was something else, something different. It felt almost as if he were connecting not to the ice dragon so much as he was connecting to the source of his own power.
Jason thought about the way the cold radiated toward him, the energy within it, and he thought about whether there was something that he might be able to glean from it. If he could access that cold power, he might be able to draw upon it directly.
“Do you think that I would be able to access that?”
The ice dragon shook the ends of his wings. Icicles shook free from them, shooting off in either direction.
They parted a cloud and the ice dragon continued to fly faster and faster. He was an incredibly powerful and fast dragon, and the more that he raced forward, the easier it was for Jason to feel that energy within him.
“It’s possible that you would be able to,” the ice dragon said.
“Just possible?”
“You aren’t a dragon.”
Jason smiled. “No, but I do wonder if maybe I would be able to use some aspect of your power.”
“You use an aspect of my power when you connect through me.”