Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,67

It’s time for you to return. You’re needed.”

“Why am I needed?”

“You must see it.” There was an urgency to his words, and Jason studied the night dragon, wondering what it was. “Power.”

It seemed to Jason that the night dragon struggled to put into words what he wanted to say.

“Where do we need to go?”

“Where I hatched. Follow.”

The night dragon stretched out, spreading wings of shadows and darkness, and with that, he took flight. He hovered high overhead, a dark shadow in the sky.

From where Jason stood, it seemed almost as if the dragon were larger than he appeared on the ground, though Jason knew that was nothing more than the shadows. Nothing more than an illusion.

He stared at the dragon, staring at the power he detected coming off him, and he stared at the energy that he detected. Within that dragon was a familiar sense. Much like within these other dragons was a familiar sense.

The dragons pushed outward with power, and it was that power which flooded into Jason, the same powers that he could connect to. It came from his understanding of the dragon misfits, an understanding that had bound and bridged their magic together. It came from his understanding of their connection to the world, and the way that he had called upon that power.

He focused on the connection he had to the other dragons and felt a connection to these dragons too. It filled him, that understanding. It radiated up from someplace deep within him. Jason could use that.

He sent forth a request.

Not a requirement. Not a demand. Not even a command.

A request.

These dragons were young, but he had a sense that there was something about them that was different from the other dragons. The night dragon had sped along their development, using his own unique power, that of the darkness and the shadows, and now they were there in front of him, fully formed dragons, and Jason had to ask whether they would help stop Lorach. That was what Jason needed to do now. The only thing that he could think of doing. With dragons like these, Lorach wouldn’t be able to slow them.

But would they help?

The night dragon had changed them. He could feel that change. And that power.

They were more than they should be.

Which was the advantage they needed against Lorach.

When the dragons answered, they did so without hesitation.

16

They veered toward Dragon Haven, staying high over the ground. The landscape shifted beneath them and Jason stared down at the ground, holding onto the power of the ice dragon, letting that energy fill him, searching for what was down there.

“I can sense something is wrong,” Janeya said to him.

The farther they traveled, the more he felt it as well. It bothered him.

An absence.

The night dragon had warned him. Something was going on. Something the night dragon wasn’t able to explain. Whatever it was reflected power.

Lachen.

That had to be what it was.

But what had Lachen done now?

The night dragon had come to the boneyard, but then disappeared again.

You’re needed.

At the time, he hadn’t given it enough thought, but he should have.

Now…

“I don’t know what it is,” Jason said. “The dragons are missing.” Not the misfits; he could feel them within himself, though the sense of those dragons had faded somewhat. This was about the Dragon Haven dragons.

He focused on Janeya for a moment, a sudden concern filling him that perhaps she was responsible for it, though he didn’t think that was the case. If she were responsible, he would have felt that influence before now.

Whatever else it was, it wasn’t her.

As he continued to focus, straining and feeling for the power that was out there, he realized he detected the absence. It was that absence which troubled him the most. Within that absence there was something more, the lack of the dragon power, connections, people. All of it should be there. Something about it was off, though.

Janeya turned so that she could face him.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“Maybe. I don’t know,” Jason said. “I don’t really know what’s going on. I don’t really know what has happened, and I don’t really know whether there’s anything that we can do differently.”

“Tell me what you’re looking for.”

“Dragon Haven.”

“This is the rebellion?”

Jason nodded. “The rebellion. Other dragons. I placed an illusion around it to shield it, but there’s something off.”

“There has been an illusion around all of Dragon Haven since I placed it, but now the illusion is different.” It was almost more robust, as if it