Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,77

entirely know,” Jason said. “It’s tied to the energy of the dragons.”

“This is different than drawing upon the energy of the dragons,” she said.

As he called upon that power, he could feel how different it was, but he didn’t have any idea why it would be that way. He could feel the dragons, he could feel the energy, and he could feel how the power continued to explode away from him.

It was something familiar, but it was different as well. He couldn’t figure out what else there might be down there. Janeya did. He could feel it within her.

He turned to her, realizing she had some connection to what was down there, some energy within her, an awareness of the way his power built from him. “What do you detect?”

“I’m not exactly sure,” she said. “I’m using what you are calling, and as I do, I can feel…” She sat up, looking outward. “I can feel it calling. Don’t you feel it?”

Jason didn’t, and he wondered if that was because he was wrapped so thoroughly in the power he held onto—or was it that because of what he had done, the way he had started to call power of the dragon, he could not.

He couldn’t tell whether or not the dragons were tied to that same calling and whether there would be anything within them that would be drawn by it, but as he looked around, he pushed through the energy he had shared with Janeya, and he felt the calling through her.

He pushed through the dragons, starting with the ice dragon. By doing so, he recognized the calling within him. It was distinct. That was what he’d been detecting since leaving Dragon Haven.

Ever since leaving the protective illusion the night dragon had placed around it.

And that sense was close.

The dragon settled to the ground. Jason hopped off his back, racing forward. Janeya followed. Jason could feel that power coming off her, and he recognized the energy she was holding onto, and he wondered if perhaps there was something else within it that he might be able to understand.

He focused on what he could feel out in the distance. There was definitely the sense of something out there, some energy that he could detect. It was almost as if it were trying to summon him.

He raced forward, using the energy he detected within him.

Where were the missing Dragon Haven dragons? The people?

He held out his hand and Janeya slowed.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“I’m not exactly sure. I can feel something…”

He still didn’t see anything.

Illusion.

Of course.

Knowing what he did about Jessica and the way she would use power, he wouldn’t be surprised at all that she would use illusion so convincingly.

Drawing on the power of the forest dragon came slowly, but he recognized there was something more to it as well. Some aspect of it flowed deep within him. That was what Jason called upon, no longer drawing upon the energy of the forest dragon herself.

Now he called upon the power he detected around him, that energy that existed throughout him. It was like the breath within his lungs, like the energy he held.

He had to use that power.

Jason continued to call on that magic, letting it fill him.

Finally, he felt something more within it. It was the power of the illusion.

Jason exploded that out from him, slamming it into what he detected.

Strangely, when he did that, there came a shifting and a shimmering, almost as if the power he pushed against bulged against him but then resisted.

Why should it resist?

Better yet, how did it resist?

The energy managed to oppose him.

He had to try another tactic.

Jason scrambled, sending more power out from him, searching for some way to use that energy and to see if there might be something more within it. Power bubbled up from within him. That power came slowly, building gradually, and the more he felt it, the more certain he was that he wasn’t reaching for what he needed.

Jason borrowed as much power as he could from the forest dragon, calling upon as much energy as he could from his own connection with the dragon and the forest and the energy all around him. Finally, as he pushed, he could feel the surge of energy as it exploded away from him.

He used that and drove it outward.

There was power around him.

It was the power of dragons. The power of someone else using illusion.

That he was able to feel that other power suggested to Jason that it was