Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,27

to visit with the others.”

Would the earth dragon answer?

Even if he did, Jason wasn’t sure that the earth dragon would be willing to offer up what Jason needed. He needed the answers, and he needed to better understand just what Lorren had done when he’d been working with the other dragons, including the way he’d been tormenting them.

The ice dragon was an extension of water. That seemed to be the key. Jason could use that, and he could use the heat that he felt within him, heat that he was borrowing from the iron dragon.

Jason took a deep breath and turned to the dragon, holding his hands out. “All I want is an opportunity to speak with you. I want to better understand just what Lorren had done.”

He continued to release his hold on the dragon.

The ground started to tremble, releasing energy coming from the dragon, but Jason did nothing to counter it. The only thing that happened was that the ice dragon used the ground, using power within him in order to try to calm things.

Jason held his attention on the earth dragon, letting that awareness and the power that he felt continue to flow into him. He held onto power, letting it wash into the dragon. Jason recognized there was something more that he might be able to do, and he released power, unleashing it into the dragon for a moment.

No evidence of control.

Not that Jason had expected Lorren to have controlled the dragons. His understanding of the way that Lorren worked, the help that he offered them and the way that he worked with the dragons, was such that he didn’t think that Lorren had done anything to control them. Not the way that the Dragon Souls had attempted to control dragons.

Finally, Jason released all of his power.

He stood on the snow and faced the earth dragon.

There was incredible power coming off that dragon, a sense of energy, a sense of strength, and it connected from someplace deep. Jason could practically feel it. It was almost as if the dragon tried to connect to the bones of the earth, to a place trapped beneath him.

“I just need answers. Nothing more than that. Lorach is continuing their attack, but I don’t understand what they’re doing and what we can do. All of us. Somehow, we have to stop Lorach. That’s the only way the dragons will finally be free.”

Even if he were to stop another dozen dragons, or more than that. He didn’t know if it was going to be enough. Having seen the way that Lorach was able to attack, the energy that the people within the Dragon Souls possessed, the way that they were able to bring more and more Dragon Souls to bear, Jason didn’t know if he was going to be able to withstand them.

The last time, he had managed to get lucky, but that was because he had all of these dragons working on his behalf. What would happen if the dragons stopped assisting him? What would happen if the storm dragon hadn’t arrived?

Jason knew what would have happened. He wouldn’t have succeeded.

There would not have been enough strength within him to stop those dragons. He would have been defeated, destroyed. It was why he needed the help of any of the dragons who might be able to offer him any assistance.

That included the earth dragons. That included the mist dragons.

“Help us.”

The earth dragon rumbled again, the rumbling taking on words. “Follow.”

7

Far below him, he could see the earth dragon, and as they traveled, Jason tried to understand what the earth dragon was trying to show him, but there wasn’t anything obvious.

The ice dragon didn’t seem to have any idea, either, but he didn’t object to the travel. Jason would not have expected the ice dragon to object, though. The ice dragon was willing to go along with all of this, wanting to know what they were doing and if there was anything that they needed to do to help the earth dragon.

Finally, the rumbling stopped.

They were near a small valley with a stream running through it.

The ice dragon descended rapidly, dropping to the ground, and the earth rumbled enough to reveal the presence of the earth dragon.

As he appeared, Jason climbed off the ice dragon. “What is this?” he asked.

“This is where you need to be,” he said. The earth dragon had a deep, strange way of rumbling, and there was an energy in the way that he did it, an energy