anything out there, but he didn’t see anything clearly.
“I fear why Jessica has sent the dragons out here,” he said. He swiveled so that he could look at Janeya, seeing her dark hair and silver eyes, her pale skin, and the hint of a smile that had been plastered to her face ever since they had taken to the air. She enjoyed flying with the dragons. He understood that feeling, having known it ever since learning of his connection to the ice dragon. Each dragon that he rode had a different style of flying, and each dragon gave him a different feeling as they traveled. It was as if he were meant to feel something distinct from the dragons.
“What makes you think this is her?”
“A feeling,” he said.
The ice dragon streaked forward. If they were farther to the north, he could have powered through the energy of the ice, of the cold, but they headed up over large, grassy mountains, each of them carrying a different sort of energy and power that existed here. A warm wind gusted around him, mitigated somewhat by the cool of the ice dragon, but not so much that it offset it completely.
Then he saw the dragon.
It wasn’t alone.
There were two dragons, and he knew why the call for help would have come.
Janeya’s breath caught.
The dragons battled.
Jason focused through the ice dragon, trying to borrow his vision, but he couldn’t see anything that way. There was the roar of the dragons, flames streaking from their massive jaws, and they ripped at each other, claws tearing at dragon flesh.
Jason needed to get there.
He needed to stop this.
He needed to know whether one of these dragons was from Dragon Haven.
The ice dragon streaked forward, and Jason recognized one of the dragons. A dark blue, massive creature, blood pouring down from his belly, a wound ripped through it.
He cried out.
“You cannot help him now,” the ice dragon said.
“I have to stop this,” Jason said.
The other dragon was all black, with three Dragon Souls on its back, and the power exploding from them washed over the blue dragon—David’s dragon—as they attempted to try to tame him. To control him.
David would not have wanted that for his dragon.
Jason jumped, pouring power out of him so that he could streak upward, and he shot toward the Dragon Souls.
He did it without thinking, without even considering the implications or what might happen to him, knowing only that he needed to get there. Power carried him forward, and it was the power and energy of the north, power and energy of the ice, of the cold, and the power and energy of his home.
All of that launched Jason forward, and he streaked upon the wind, carrying him toward the blue dragon.
He roared.
Power filled him.
Jason didn’t even know how much of the power came from the dragons, or how much of it came from him. At this point, he didn’t have the time to stop and investigate.
He reached the blue dragon and grabbed for him, wrapping his arms around the dragon’s neck, and then stood upright, anchoring himself with power in order to hold onto the dragon, worried that he wasn’t going to be strong enough.
“Let me help,” he said to the dragon.
The dragon roared, power exploding from him, and he continued to rip at the black dragon, but Jason could feel the weakness within the dragon, the energy that was within him already starting to fade. He tried to tear at the dragon, using all of his remaining power, pushing heat and energy into the attack, and sending more through it.
It was only then that Jason realized the black dragon had something clenched in his talons.
A bone.
Why would the dragon have a bone in his talons?
A burst of power struck him and he nearly tumbled free of the blue dragon.
He roared again, anger filling him.
David had died in order to protect this dragon, to protect his people, and to provide understanding for the dragons, and now the dragon would be hurt?
He called upon ice and fire, mixing them together in a burst of power, and he struck it at the first of the Dragon Souls, the man sitting at the front of the black dragon and holding onto the dragon’s spikes, leaning forward as if to control the dragon.
Jason would not permit it. He would not allow the Dragon Soul to get away with anything.
Other than dying.
Another burst of power exploded from him.
He struck the next Dragon Soul.
The woman was ready for it.
She