Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,68

were fortified. Still, some part of the illusion felt off to him, something Jason couldn’t quite place and didn’t know how to explain. Power, but not the kind of power he had expected to be here.

What about this had the night dragon wanted him to see?

“Is the city missing?”

“Not missing,” he said. Through the illusion, he thought he could still feel that, though wasn’t entirely sure. “But something is wrong.”

As he glanced over to her, it felt almost as if they had a shared connection, though he put that thought out of mind. It was strange that he would have some sort of connection to her, but Jason was certain that was what he felt. A connection.

She was lovely. Dark hair, silver eyes, and power that emanated from her. There was something quite potent and intriguing about her.

He had to push those thoughts away. It was dangerous, not only because he didn’t know her at all, other than her connection to the dragons, but it was dangerous because of what he thought had been a growing affection between him and Sarah.

Perhaps there hadn’t been, though.

With everything Sarah had been doing while searching for her parents and trying to protect Dragon Haven, Jason had been an outsider. Not because she had made him one. It was more because he had no other choice. He had wanted to continue searching for the dragons, wanting to protect them, and had been less concerned about the people of Dragon Haven. It had started to drive a wedge between him and Sarah, which had only worsened with her need to lead in Dragon Haven now that her parents had gone missing.

Now as he looked at Janeya, he didn’t even know how to answer.

He tapped on the ice dragon’s back. “We have to go see what happened.” Turning to Janeya, he said, “I don’t know what took place, and I don’t know if you are going to be in any danger here, so I can’t promise I will be able to protect you.”

She ran her hand along the surface of the dragon, and he could feel something through that connection, though Jason wasn’t at all sure what it was or why he should feel something from her, only that there came a connection, something distinct and formidable from her. She nodded, as if making up her mind.

“I accept the risk,” she said.

Jason held her gaze for a moment, then he tapped on the ice dragon’s back again.

They descended.

They streaked toward the ground.

The dragon seemed to know exactly where he needed to go. The power within the ice dragon filled him, and then the treetops loomed into view. That was all Jason could see. Trees. There was nothing else.

Is this illusion?

The illusion was far more extensive than what Jason had placed. Incredibly powerful, vast, and far more believable than the illusion that he had placed.

The dragon turned, heading farther inland.

Jason called upon the power of the ice dragon, but he shifted that, changing to grab for that of the iron dragon. The iron dragon was somewhere nearby. Jason could feel the sense of him, though he couldn’t see him.

He focused on the dragons connected to him, but only those that had been connected to him the longest. The ice and iron and forest, and even the storm dragon. By holding onto those dragons, Jason could track through that connection, and he could feel something greater, some other aspect to it, and he felt beyond that connection.

It was there in the back of his mind. He detected it faintly, but definitely there.

He reached across that distance and added a hint more power.

Something shifted at the edge of his vision.

It was faint, but even as he probed, he recognized the power there.

There.

The shimmering came again.

When it did, Jason hung onto that sense of power, latching onto that connection. He detected something buried within the connection, and he felt a faint and faded sort of sense. This time, Jason recognized that the power was within him even though he could feel that energy out there.

“The night dragon is causing this.”

The illusion stretched all over the land. Not just over Dragon Haven, but over much more than the city. It seemed as if the illusion was used to conceal the city, the forest, and everything.

Had the night dragon feared Lorach finding them?

Why would he have done it otherwise?

The question Jason had was why?

You’re needed.

What had happened here?

The shimmering changed around him. Jason used everything in his power to overwhelm what happened