It pleased him to see his sister like that. There had been too long where she’d been dour and sad, and seeing her like this, moving with such happiness within her, filled him with a similar happiness.
He turned, heading into the building that housed his family, along with several others. The building itself was fairly standard for Dragon Haven, with a domed roof, long walls, and windows that let light in throughout it. Carvings of dragons adorned the outside of the building, and many other dragon carvings lined the hall inside, some of them in the stone, but most along the doorways. They gave an aura to the entirety of the building, a feel for the way the people of this place valued the dragons, and forcing him once again to reflect on what it might be like for the dragons to fly freely.
He hurried through the halls. Lanterns lit the way, casting a bright light that washed along the hallways.
His boots thudded off the hard stone and he made an effort to mute the sound, using a hint of the forest dragon power with which to do so. It was unnecessary, though he didn’t like to announce his passing quite so loudly.
He reached the end of the hall and paused in front of one of the doorways, knocking briefly. For a moment, there was nothing. He knocked again, waiting, but again, there was nothing.
Jason continued to hesitate and pushed out with a hint of the sense of the ice and iron dragons, using that combination to create a burst of power that he pressed through the doorway.
Using power in that way, he could feel whether there was somebody in the room on the other side. It was empty.
Strange. He would’ve expected Sarah to be there at this time of day, but there was no sense of her. Turning and heading back down the hall, he paused at the branch point leading to the main part of the building.
Voices caught his attention and Jason headed in that direction, hurrying toward them. When he reached the wide double doors leading into what he had once considered a throne room, he found Sarah speaking quietly with several of the Dragon Guard.
Jason stood in the doorway, listening. He wasn’t concerned about eavesdropping, knowing she wouldn’t be concerned about his presence, but he was curious as to the nature of the conversation.
“They have to be somewhere,” Sarah said.
“I’m sorry, but we haven’t been able to find anything of them.”
Jason understood what they were talking about. And he understood just why Sarah would be so passionate as she spoke.
Her parents.
They had disappeared, and in the days since the night dragon had hatched, there had been an attempt to try to find them, but none had succeeded. They had to be somewhere, but as they continued looking, it seemed almost as if Olar and Cherise had completely disappeared.
“I’m not sure I can give you the answer you want, then,” Sarah said.
“You understand that with them gone—”
“They will return,” Sarah said.
The Dragon Guard tensed.
Jason looked over at the Dragon Guard, studying him.
He was probably ten years older than Jason, with dark, close-cropped hair, a wide chin, and a muscular body. He was dressed in dragonskin, much like most of the Dragon Guard, and a curved blade hung at his side.
He felt a sense of energy radiating off the Dragon Guard, the kind of power that Jason had come to attribute to them, though he wasn’t sure if there was something more to the Dragon Guard that he should be able to detect at this point.
Finally, the man leaned forward, bowing briefly before heading out of the room.
Sarah leaned down, resting her head on the table, shaking it slowly. Her blonde hair dangled in front of her face and her crystal blue eyes stared straight ahead. She was lovely, but looked as if she were irritated.
Jason cleared his throat and she looked up. She wiped tears from her eyes.
“No sign of them?” Jason asked, his gaze going back toward the spot the Dragon Guard had occupied.
“There’s been none. I don’t know why they would have disappeared. Or if Lorren did something to them.”
As much as it pained him to admit, that was the most likely answer. “Do you think they might have detected something they would have gone after?”
“My parents wouldn’t have abandoned the city like that,” she said.
Jason didn’t know her parents all that well, but wasn’t sure he would consider that abandoning anything. They had been confident in their desire and willingness to do anything that was necessary to protect Dragon Haven, and yet, in the time that Jason had been here, he hadn’t seen them leave the city once. The fact that they had done so, or had been abducted and taken from here, was startling.
“We have to find them,” she said. Her eyes looked as if they wanted to burrow into him, demanding him to help.
“There are others looking,” Jason said.
“I know there are others looking, but we have to find them.”
Jason had had this discussion with her before, and it hadn’t gone any better than this one was going. “What do you think that you and I might be able to do that’s more than the Dragon Guard can do?”
“What can you and I do? The better question is what can you do, Jason Dreshen? You’re the one who managed to break into Lorach, and you managed to save dozens—no, hundreds—of dragons, rescuing them from the Dragon Souls. What can you do?”
“You know why I can’t leave,” he said softly.
“I know why you won’t leave,” she said.
“Henry agrees.”
“Henry.” She shook her head, looking back down at the table.
Jason realized a stack of papers rested in front of her, and couldn’t help but wonder if there was something on them. Perhaps it was something that detailed what had happened to her parents. Or perhaps it was something to do with the ruling of Dragon Haven.
When it came to understanding just what they needed to know about how to lead in Dragon Haven, he didn’t have much of an idea about what was involved. The only thing he knew was that Cherise and Olar had done so effectively for many years.
“Henry feels we’re doing everything that we need to do,” Jason said.
“Henry is doing everything he needs to do. The Dragon Guard are doing everything that they need to do. And what I need is my friend to do everything he can do,” she said.
Jason sighed. “I can send the dragons looking.”
Of course, he had already done that. He’d asked the ice and the iron dragons to search, hunting for signs of Cherise and Olar. There had been nothing. The forest dragon wouldn’t look. She rarely left her forest, and when she did, she wasn’t one to go searching for someone like this. That wasn’t a task he could request of her.
If only his connection to the storm dragon were stronger. The storm dragon might be able to investigate in a way that the other dragons wouldn’t manage quite as effectively. Only, he didn’t know if the storm dragon would even be willing to do so.
What he didn’t want to tell her was his real hesitation. He risked the dragons by sending them out. If anyone from Lorach came upon the misfit dragons, there was a real risk that they would be taken, trained, and forced to serve.
“Sarah…”
He took a step toward her and pulled a chair out from the table, taking a seat next to her. He rested a hand on her arm and she looked up, meeting his eyes. She didn’t bother to hide the tears streaming down her face.