Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,70

that from within her. Somehow, the earth dragon had bound them together, giving them that bridge of connection.

“I can feel something,” she said softly as they ran.

Jason looked over, holding onto her silver gaze as he started to slow. “The other dragons?” If they were outside of the city, then he should go there first. Maybe Sarah had moved them.

“Not dragons. Something else. It’s strange. I’ve always had that connection to the earth dragon, but there is something within it.” She looked at him briefly. “As long as I can remember, the earth dragon has allowed me to connect to him, and I’ve been able to use that power and draw upon it. This is something else.”

He nodded again, starting back toward the city. Not the other dragons, then. “I think what you’re detecting is me. I think it’s the shared connection we have to the earth dragon, and somehow that allows us to share some sort of familiarity.”

Her brow furrowed and something about her expression darkened.

“I didn’t ask him for this,” he said quickly.

“That’s not it. It’s just…” She looked around for a moment before turning her attention back to him. “Lorren taught me to be alone. That I had to be prepared for it. That I should learn to work with the dragons and…” She swallowed, shaking her head and leaving Jason wondering what else Lorren had wanted her to learn. “I haven’t needed to connect to anybody else. Having to have this connection to you, and having some sort of connection like this is difficult.” She said the last softly.

Jason chuckled. “I haven’t had this sort of a connection before, either.”

He spoke carefully, feeling a hint of guilt in it. He didn’t want the misfit dragons to know; he didn’t want Sarah to know. It felt almost as if he were betraying her by having this connection to Janeya, especially now that he was back in Dragon Haven.

Dragon Haven, but where are the dragons?

Where are the people?

Through the earth dragon, he sensed uncertainty from her. He felt it as well.

Jason held his hand out, and she took it.

17

The inside of Dragon Haven was quiet. He had never seen anything quite like it before. There had never been crowds; the city was home to only a few thousand people at most, all of them part of the rebellion, but the sudden absence of everything here was striking. Jason could feel that absence.

Where was everybody?

You’re needed.

There had been an illusion around everything, enough power that had covered the city, the forest, everything.

Could it be an illusion now?

It wasn’t just that the Dragon Guard was missing. Dragons were missing. Those who had a connection to the dragons were missing. He stared at the empty streets. The city was never the busiest of places, but now it was totally empty, devoid of people and strangely quiet.

He closed his eyes, using each of the dragons that he connected to and trying to understand whether there was anyone here, but without a dragon connection to the people, Jason wouldn’t be able to find them. If anyone was still here, he wouldn’t even know.

“I thought this was a home to a great number of people,” Janeya said.

“It was. It is.”

Is this part of the night dragon’s illusion?

Therin had performed a powerful illusion on him once before, and had made it so that he hadn’t been able to even find Dragon Haven. Jessica had similar abilities. What if this was her now?

Still, there was something about this which felt real.

Then there was the issue of the night dragon’s illusion around the entire forest.

Protection.

But from what?

He focused on the misfits. They were still there.

Which meant the illusion would have to be selective.

If that was what it was.

He felt increasingly worried it was something else, though.

Not illusion.

Jason nodded to Janeya. “I need to see if I can find anything.”

Dragons or people.

He guided her through the city, through the empty streets, nothing moving around him. There were the sculptures of dragons lining the streets. They were lifeless, almost as if they were trying to taunt him, a memory of the people and their pride that had been here before.

The city was empty. No people. No dragons.

Completely empty.

His sister and mother. William. Henry. Sarah.

Countless others he’d come to know and had said he would protect.

And he’d been gone.

That hit him harder than he would have expected. Jason had been away, working with the dragons, when this attack had come. He could have been here for them. He should have