power of the mountains, the energy of the north, had been a nearly complete spine.
He stopped near a skull. This skull was massive, and Jason could only imagine what kind of dragon it came from. There weren’t any dragons alive that he had seen that would rival this creature in size.
As he stared at it, he wondered whether or not it would pull upon power the same way as the other bones had. He felt that power flowing, the way that it continued to sweep out from him, and he recognized power radiating away.
Something within him began to draw outward.
Strangely enough, Jason was aware of what was coming from him.
It was the power of the iron dragon. That heat and energy, and not only did it come from some place within Jason, but it came from the distant connection he shared with the iron dragon.
Jason had to be careful with it, not wanting the iron dragon to be weakened, fearing what might happen were this bone to hold onto that power, trapping it. There had to be something that he could do to ensure that the dragon bones didn’t draw off too much power.
Jason held onto that energy, feeling it flowing from within him. He continued to call that power to him, trying to summon it himself rather than letting the iron dragon be the source of it. The more power he pushed through himself, connecting to these bones, the easier it was to ensure that nothing different took place.
He tried to separate from the drawing of power.
He couldn’t do so. As he attempted to separate from that power, he felt a change, something within him, some aspect of it that made it so he couldn’t pull away. He continued to let that power flow through him, trying not to fight it.
Fighting wasn’t going to do anything, at least not the way he needed. Jason focused on it. He wasn’t going to be able to pull away, but could he do something different? He was aware of the energy that flowed out of him, a mixture of each of the dragons, and he tried to withdraw so that he didn’t take too much power from them, but his attempts failed. He could not withdraw nearly as much as he needed to.
“Can I help with anything?” Janeya asked, looking over at him.
Jason locked eyes with her. “I might need your help. The bones are drawing upon me.”
“The bones?”
He nodded. “Somehow, these bones are drawing on me, just like the last set did. I need to try to separate from it, but I don’t know if I can.” Even as he felt for the power that was flowing around him, Jason tried to use something to separate, but he couldn’t. There was too much power here, too much energy building.
He tried to restrict the bones from calling upon his connection, but the control over the iron dragon power was different than what he had over that of the ice dragon. Even with the ice dragon, Jason didn’t necessarily have any real control. He had strength, and he had a connection to the north, but anything else…
Janeya touched his hand and he felt the trembling within the earth, that same connection that had bound them together. By holding onto that sense of energy coming from her, Jason felt a changing, the energy around him pressing in upon him.
The earth continued rumbling.
“Why would these bones call on your power?” Janeya asked.
Jason shook his head. “I don’t know. I can feel power rolling away from me. I can feel the way they’re trying to draw energy from me. And I can feel the considerable power here.”
Holding onto the connection he now shared with Janeya, he felt that power building, some aspect of it different than what he had felt before. He recognized something within the way that Janeya called power. It was a familiarity. It was almost as if he had known her before.
Jason tried not to think about it.
She looked at him, watching him. “What is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. All I can tell you is that—”
Jason didn’t have an opportunity to finish. As the power continued to draw from him, it was too much. He strained, struggling to resist that power, and failed.
He lost control.
Energy exploded, called out of him, and he tried to hold on to what he could to counter the effect, but he couldn’t.
There was far too much power coming out of him.
He tried a different approach.
Rather than attempting