Perhaps nothing. Perhaps trying to give the dragon an opportunity to fly freely was a mistake.
Am I the one controlling him now?
All of them?
The dragon misfits didn’t have to stay here. They did so because of him, but would it be so bad if they left? They could be safe, not having to fear what Lorach might do to them. They could fly freely.
He had to push those thoughts out of his mind.
“We will find them,” he said, resting his hand on Sarah’s. “Whatever happened to your parents, we will find them.”
“And if we don’t?”
He needed to pick his words carefully. “If we don’t, Dragon Haven will continue.”
He thought that was her concern, though he didn’t know if that was it or not. It was more about the safety of her parents, about worrying about what had happened to them and whether there was anything she could do to bring them back.
“I know Dragon Haven will continue. I’m not worried about that. There are enough people here, and dragons, that the city will survive. Thrive, even. It’s been a long time since we’ve had this many dragons freed within the city.” She looked at Jason, locking eyes with him. “All of that is because of you. That’s why I wondered if there’s anything that you might be able to do to help my parents, and to see if we might be able to help rescue them.”
“If we know where to look, then I would be willing to do anything to rescue them,” he said, and he meant it.
Searching for her parents was something that he didn’t know if he was be best suited for, but rescuing them did fit him. Not only did it fit him, but it fit the strengths he now possessed.
“You mean that?”
“I do,” he said.
She breathed in heavily, stared at the page, and then nodded. “See what you can find along the border here,” she said. “And continue to free as many of the dragons as you can.”
“I will.” He hesitated, thinking she might suggest that she would come with him, but in the days since her parents had disappeared, Sarah hadn’t tried to come with him.
Of course, by default, she had begun to rule in Dragon Haven.
She was royalty here. The idea of it had amused him at first, enough that he teased her about it, but he had also realized very quickly that she wasn’t willing to tolerate any sort of teasing like that. Given that her parents had disappeared, Jason understood.
He got up, nodded, and then leaned down, wrapping her in a quick hug.
Sarah stiffened for a moment before relaxing and breathing out.
Jason thought about something he might be able to say to her, anything he might be able to offer to appease her, but there were no words that he could say, nothing that he could do, that would reassure her.
There was nothing.
Instead, he held her for a moment, his arms around her, and they stayed like that until she pulled away and turned her attention back to the papers in front of her.
3
The iron dragon surged with heat. Power undulated beneath him, flowing from head to toe, surging through him. There was a sense of it radiating down his length. The power of the iron dragon was unique amongst the dragon misfits. While not summoning all the heat that he could, he seemed to draw only a little bit of power, leaving his body looking like gleaming silver metal. When calling upon the power of fire, heat surged through him and energy filled him, leaving him glowing, practically molten metal.
Jason maintained their connection, holding on to the power and the bond that he shared with the iron dragon, feeling it as it flowed through the dragon. He looked out through the dragon’s eyes, staring down at the landscape. The dragon saw everything below him in bursts of color. Heat and energy and a brightness and vibrancy bound the dragon to everything below him.
In this case, Jason made out the brightness along with the dragon, staring at the shifting landscape below them. There came the energy of the heat rolling off the dragon. Some of that energy came in the form of a soft glowing light, and some of it came in the form of contours rolling across the landscape.
“Are you seeing anything?” he asked the iron dragon.
“I see what you see,” the iron dragon said.
“I don’t see anything, but I’m not as comfortable looking through your eyes.”
“Yet you do it easily,”