Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,31

detect anything more within it.

“You can’t tell me. I see. Something is still compelling you.”

Any influence that was on the dragon should have been lifted the moment that Lorren was gone, but perhaps his influence had lingered.

“He’s gone.”

“Him,” the earth dragon said, this time with more urgency.

That was what he needed. That was what he wanted. Somehow, he had to find an understanding. The dragon needed it from him.

Jason reached out and touched the earth dragon.

There was a tremor underneath his skin, almost as if the dragon were filled with energy he was trying to fight against, or as if the dragon were struggling against something that Jason did.

He held his hand in place, waiting, knowing that he had to do something more for this dragon, only not knowing what it was.

“I can help,” he whispered.

The dragon turned to look at him. The earth dragon was so unusual compared to some of the other misfits, blocky, filled with power, and with small, stubby wings that wouldn’t be able to split the sky and fly. Still, there was an energy within the dragon that Jason could feel. An energy that carried through him, and it was an energy that Jason recognized would be powerful.

“Let me help you.”

A surge came off the dragon.

“Him,” the earth dragon said.

Jason recognized it. It was a request to follow.

But follow him where?

8

Jason stayed atop the ice dragon, and they headed steadily north.

It wasn’t at all where he expected the earth dragon would’ve led him. He thought that by following the other dragon, they would’ve headed south, to less snowy and cold lands, not at all in this direction. Only, the earth dragon continued to rumble through the ground.

It seemed to Jason that the earth dragon wanted to augment the sound he traveled with, making it so Jason could more easily follow him. The ice dragon did so, having no difficulty maintaining the same pace as the other dragon.

Jason shouldn’t be traveling this way. There were other things he needed to be doing. Understanding Lorach’s plan. Finding Sarah’s parents.

This felt like something the dragons needed from him.

How could he refuse?

Gradually, the snowcapped mountains began to fade.

Jason had gone this way before, though it had been a while. Beyond the mountains was a strange, bleak land, a place of heat, and it was a place in which the ice dragon wouldn’t be able to last for long. Perhaps if Jason would’ve brought the iron dragon, but he didn’t know if the iron dragon would have been able to manage the cold.

It was the same reason Jason didn’t think the other dragons had traveled this far. This land was protected, separated, and by taking the ice dragon, Jason had an opportunity to travel where the other dragons wouldn’t be able to go. Finally, they passed the last of the snowcapped mountains.

The earth dragon roared in the distance.

It was a steady trembling, an energy that came up from deep within the ground, and it rumbled with a sense that seemed to urge him onward. Jason could feel the way the dragon called to him, summoning him, trying to compel him to follow.

He felt not only that of the earth dragon, but there was something else. It was a familiar sense. The mist dragons.

Jason looked down at the ground, but he didn’t see any sign of the mist dragons. The mist dragons had been difficult to track before, and in this land, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do it more easily. As they descended, the ground took on a haze. It was the power of the mist dragons.

That wasn’t all that it was, though. Smoke drifted in.

A memory of what Lorren had said to him came to him then. Lorren had suggested he had some way of creating smoke dragons. He had claimed the smoke dragons weren’t that powerful, but Jason could feel energy within them. They might not be all that powerful, but they had their own unique kind of power.

The ice dragon came to land amidst the mist and the smoke.

He tapped on the ice dragon’s side as he slipped from his back. “Are you going to be okay here?” There was heat in the air, and he could feel the energy and he worried about what it might do to the ice dragon.

The ice dragon rumbled, power radiating from him. “I can manage,” he said.

Jason smiled at the confidence, but he could feel how the ice dragon was pulling upon energy, the way he