Night Dragon An Epic Fantasy Adventure - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,96

was a mistake,” William said.

Jason held his own hand out, feeling for the egg, recognizing that there was a power within it. By holding his hand toward the egg, Jason understood its surge of power. He maintained his connection, feeling for that power, reaching for a sense of something within it.

He looked over at Janeya. “This one is different,” he said. “It’s drawing differently than the others.”

“I can feel it.” Janeya glanced toward Sarah as she spoke.

Sarah frowned and looked at Jason, then Janeya, before shaking her head. She still looked angry, though Jason couldn’t quite place the source of her anger. Maybe it was about Janeya, or that Jason had been spending time with her, or perhaps it had more to do with everything they were dealing with when it came to the attack on Lorach.

Jason worried that there was irritation between the two of them.

He breathed out heavily and strained toward the egg. There was definitely a connection there, something that flowed from the egg, a power that radiated from it.

Jason focused on the sense of the forest dragon. She had been the key to his illusion.

The egg needed to feed. That was how he would stop the pull on the dragons. Feed and then this could be over. The only problem was that he didn’t know if his new connections would be enough or if he would have to draw upon the dragons.

He forced power out.

Surprisingly, so did Janeya.

Between the two of them, they pushed power out of them.

As Jason looked over, he realized something about her.

All this time, he had come to believe that he was a misfit, much like the dragons he worked with. Until meeting Janeya.

He had a similar sort of power as hers. He had a similar sort of power to that which Lorren had possessed. Even Therin and Jessica had demonstrated something similar to Jason.

He had to finish feeding the egg.

He pushed, sending more and more energy out from himself. As he did, he could feel the way it funneled away from him, drawing on the cold, the anger, the illusion powers that coursed through him. It drew upon the rumbling of the earth, the flash of smoke, and the mist Janeya had control over.

Then the egg hatched.

This one was even smaller than the others. Jason could feel the pull of Lorach coming from the egg, coming from the dragon, and could feel how it still tried to draw upon the dragon.

He created an illusion, swirling around, and solidified it. Janeya anchored it using earth. He looked up to see the others with him staring at what had been the dragon. He understood that feeling, but he needed something more from them now. He needed help.

“For this to be over, we’re going to have to take the fight to Lorach,” he said, looking at the faces around him.

“We’ve tried, and we have failed,” Sarah said. “It was my fault Lorach found Dragon Haven. I knew better and I—”

“Did what I should have done,” he said softly. Her parents had died trying to take the fight to Lorach. Could he really ask more from her? This was his fight now. “I will do this,” he said. It was what he’d planned when he’d departed an empty Dragon Haven. It was what he still planned.

“Jason,” Henry said, turning to him. “When we’ve attempted to defeat the Dragon Souls before, they overwhelmed us. They overwhelmed you. Think about what has happened when you have encountered dragons controlled by more than one Dragon Soul.”

“They won’t be able to do so this time,” Jason said.

“What makes you think we could do this?” one of the Dragon Guard asked.

“I can feel energy within me that’s different than what I had before.” He looked at them. “I no longer need to call through the dragons for that power. It’s almost as if the dragons themselves taught me how to connect to that energy in a way that grants me my own source of power.”

“That shouldn’t be possible,” Sarah said.

“I know it shouldn’t be, but I’m telling you it is. I can use the power of the north, that of the iron dragon, even that of the storm dragon without drawing through them.”

“You’re bonded to all of them, though,” Henry said. “How are you sure that you’re not calling upon it from them?”

“I can feel the power more directly,” Jason said. “I don’t know how to explain it in any other way. I realize there’s pow1er that’s out there, and