Jason swiveled so that he could see William and the other dragon as they started to ascend. It happened slowly, much more slowly than Jason and the iron dragon, but gradually they began to spiral up, taking to the air and joining them.

  The dragon was mighty, though small. Perhaps Jason shouldn’t be surprised that the dragon could carry William. William grinned at him as he followed, and Jason shook his head, turning away, and they streaked into the distance.

  They headed toward the sound of the rumbling.

  Jason tried to gauge where it came from. He feared the storm dragon. The dragon could be unpredictable, and though he didn’t fear the dragon, not as he once did, he feared what that dragon might do to other dragons if it got close to them.

  Jason could feel energy within the air, and the iron dragon surged toward it.

  The small dragon William rode was far faster than what Jason would’ve given him credit for. He streaked through the sky, carrying William as the valley dipped below them.

  The iron dragon stayed low, soaring above the treetops.

  In the distance, he noticed something. At first, it looked almost as if it was just the wind rustling the trees. The dragon slowed, hovering, and Jason raised his hand to motion to William to keep him from arriving too quickly.

  “What is it?” William asked.

  “Look at the trees,” Jason said. “It looks as if a wind is gusting through here, but I don’t see any or feel anything.”

  Beneath them, the trees trembled. Something big was coming through the forest.

  “What do you think it is?” Jason asked.

  When Lorach had traveled through the forests before, it was nothing like this. They would travel by dragonback, not thunder through the forest the same way the iron dragon had done. Something was coming here. Something big. Something dangerous.

  “I don’t know what you’re looking at,” William said.

  Jason smiled as he’d been talking to the iron dragon.

  “I can’t tell,” the iron dragon said. “Not from up here.”

  “Do think we could tell if we flew higher?”

  “Possibly,” the dragon said.

  Only, Jason knew the truth. The trees were dense, which made being able to see through them difficult. Even from an altitude, it would be challenging to be able to make out what was happening in the forest below.

  “Wait here,” Jason called over to William.

  The iron dragon circled higher, and Jason looked down toward the forest, toward the trembling trees, using the dragon’s sight. What he could tell were gradations of color, orange and red reflecting the energy down below. Jason couldn’t see anything beyond that. The trees were too dense to be able to make anything out, the canopy blocking him.

  The tops of the trees trembled, though all the trees swayed rhythmically, as if something were snaking through the forest.

  Jason looked over at William. “We need to go down there. I worry there could be a misfit down there.” Worse, if it wasn’t a dragon misfit, that meant it was Lorach. Maybe this was what he had detected, though when he had felt that strangeness before, there had been no sense of a rumbling, not like he recognized now. It didn’t feel like the storm dragon, but could this be where the forest dragon had brought him?

  Jason closed his eyes, trying to focus on the connection between himself and the forest dragon, but there was some aspect to it that felt clouded as if she didn’t want to connect fully to him.

  He didn’t know why she wouldn’t want that, though perhaps it was time to visit with her again and ask. He patted the iron dragon. “We need to circle behind it.” Looking over at William, he said, “If you want to head back to the city, I won’t blame you.”

  “I’ll stay with you.”

  They veered around before starting toward the forest floor. The iron dragon carried them quickly, descending toward the treetops, streaking down to the ground. When they reached the canopy, Jason braced himself, and the iron dragon plunged between the trees.

  It was something of a gamble.

  Jason had learned that when dealing with trees or any other obstruction like that, it could often be a gamble with the dragons as to whether they could even pass through. Dragonskin had its advantages in that they were protected from danger of whatever might be there, but they also didn’t know whether there would be space enough for them to retake flight.

  In the case of the iron dragon, Jason was not as concerned. There was something different to the way he flew, the way he undulated with heat, that allowed him to propel himself upward, shooting the power behind him, but he worried more about the small dragon William rode. It was possible that the dragon would be trapped within the forest. He might have to find a clearing, space enough for him to stretch his wings and take off, unlike the iron dragon.

  They plunged to the ground. This close, he could feel the trembling. It wasn’t too far from them. Jason climbed off the dragon. The iron dragon snaked off, and Jason followed him.

  William climbed down from his dragon. “You’re going to walk?”

  “I want to be ready if there is something strange here.”

  “Dragon strange?”

  “I don’t know if it’s a dragon,” Jason said.

  “What else would it be?”

  “I don’t know, but everything that I am detecting is—”

  The rumbling came again, this time near him. Jason backed toward one of the tree trunks. He focused on the iron dragon and what he could see through the iron dragon’s eyes but didn’t see anything.

  There was only the heat, but in the forest, it was difficult to make out much of anything. The colors of the trees all blended together, making it difficult for the iron dragon to navigate effectively. The iron dragon saw the trees as small beams of heat light and could generally avoid crashing into them.

  Could whatever was in the forest and coming toward them do the same thing? Dragons had similar eyesight, as far as Jason had determined. He focused on the energy around him. It was something he’d come to realize he could do. It allowed him to test for dragons.

  And it was.

  He couldn’t tell whether this was one of the regular dragons, one of the dragons he’d freed from the Dragon Souls, or whether it was one of the dragon misfits. After having seen the river dragon, at least seeing the evidence of the river dragon, Jason wanted nothing more than to find more misfits. He hadn’t expected to find any misfits this close to Dragon Haven, but perhaps that was because he hadn’t been looking well enough. If this was one of the misfits coming toward Dragon Haven, maybe it was coming toward Dragon Haven because of him.

  “Do you see anything?” he asked the iron dragon.

  “Not yet,” the dragon rumbled.

  “What about your dragon?” Jason asked, turning to William.

  “How would I know?”

  “You ask,” Jason said.

  William turned to the small dragon and frowned. “Would he tell me?”

  “If you ask nicely.” Jason headed over to the small dragon. He remained crouched, his wings tucked in. Jason raised his hand to the dragon.

  He sensed something coming from the small dragon: uncertainty. The prospect of coming here, that he might not be able to escape, left the dragon unsettled.

  “I’ll make sure you return when this is over,” Jason said to the dragon. “For now, I need to know if you can see anything.”

  The dragon turned his head toward him, the bright glowing eyes looking at him, orange burning within them. Heat streamed from his nostrils. He nudged Jason.

  “I know you can talk, so you might as well get on with it.”

  There was power within every dragon, and he had only to reach it, to find that energy, to see if there was anything that he might be able to uncover from that dragon.

  The ground rumbled again, closer.

  “Do you detect anything?” he pressed.

  “I can feel something,” the small red dragon said.

  Jason smiled. “Good. What is it?”

  “It feels as if it’s everywhere. Beneath me.”

  Jason frowned, focusing on that rumbling, but didn’t detect anything. Perhaps the red dragon was right. They were focusing more on what might be pushing up through the trees, but what if that wasn’t the case? Maybe it came from beneath the ground.

  The dragon looked over at him. He was uneasy.

  Jason turned to William. “You need to get the dragon out of here. It has nothing to do with you or the dragon’s ability to stay here. I just worry that you won’t be able to take off again.”

  William looked over at him, then at the dragon as horror dawned upon his face.

  “I didn’t even think about what might happen when we tried to leave,” the red dragon said.

  “You can head to the clearing up there,” Jason said, motioning into the distance. He couldn’t see anything, though he could feel a space between the trees, mostly because he could see the iron dragon up ahead.

  “If there’s something here, I can help,” William said.

  “I believe you could, but I think there’s something more you can do by returning to Dragon Haven. Alert them there’s something out here and send people to investigate.”

  “What about you? You shouldn’t stay here, either.”

  William wasn’t wrong.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he said.

  Jason motioned for the small dragon and patted him on the side. The dragon looked over at him. There was something in his eyes Jason couldn’t quite make out. Was it irritation? The dragon wasn’t angry with him, but perhaps it was the fact he couldn’t do what he wanted.

  William climbed on the dragon’s back, and they headed through the forest, away from Jason. After a moment, he felt the dragon taking to the air, the power of the small dragon as it circled up and into the sky.

  He stayed there for a moment and pushed through a connection to the dragon, borrowing from that dragon’s sight. Having spoken to the dragon allowed him to connect, and now connected, he could feel his energy, and he thought he might be able to borrow enough to use that connection were it needed.

  The trembling of the trees persisted, but it was fainter than it had been.

  He turned to the iron dragon. “Do you detect anything else?”

  “Nothing more than what we already have,” the iron dragon said, emerging from the forest.

  “There was something here, but what was it?” The rumbling came more faintly. It drifted away, becoming distant. “It was a dragon. I’m sure of it.”

  “Probably,” the iron dragon said, rolling his neck forward and rubbing up against one of the trees.

  The trees shook. When they did, Jason realized something. Seeing the iron dragon pressing up against the tree didn’t cause the tree to swing in the same way as he had seen from above. Whatever had been causing that trembling had caused the ground to shake beneath them. It had come from someplace deep.

  Jason stood in place for a few more moments, waiting for the rumbling to return, but it never did. It was as if the rumbling had disappeared completely. That left him troubled. If Lorach had some way of finding them, of moving through here and then disappearing…

  Dragon Haven had stood for decades. Probably centuries. They had remained hidden, serving as a rebellion working against Lorach for longer than Jason could even understand. He didn’t want to be the reason that something happened to Dragon Haven. Unfortunately, ever since he had come to the city, things had shifted. He was the reason some things had changed.

  Letting out a sigh, he knew he had to be careful. Everything wasn’t one of the dragon misfits, regardless of what he wanted to believe.

  “Let’s go,” he said to the iron dragon.

  He climbed onto the iron dragon’s back, and the dragon began to pulse with heat, starting from deep within him, radiating from his tail all the way up to his neck in rhythmic energies that surged through him as they coursed along his body. Then they launched themselves into the air. The sudden explosion of power carried them up and above the trees. From here, Jason swiveled, looking below him, searching for anything that he might be able to make out from this vantage, but saw nothing.

  There was nothing. No trembling to the trees. Nothing other than the forest below him. With a feeling of frustration, he turned, and they headed toward Dragon Haven.

  7

  S arah found Jason and William within the courtyard. Her brow was deeply creased, her jaw was set, and she strode toward him with a determined pace. She had her hair pulled back and a loop of gold set atop her forehead.

  “She’s dressed formally,” William said.

  She was, which troubled him.

  More than that, he was troubled by what he and William had just experienced. If it wasn’t Lorach, then what was it? They had not found the river dragon, though Jason doubted that he would find that dragon very easily. He wanted to, if only so they might know if it would help with the imminent Lorach threat.

  “I need you to come with me,” she said to Jason before glancing at William. “Not you.”

  Jason frowned. “Which is it?”

  “You. I need you to come.”

  “Why?”

  She shook her head. “Something happened.”

  “What?” Had something happened with the dragon that they had detected? “Is it the Dragon Guard?”

  She shook her head. “Not the Dragon Guard. This is something else. My parents wanted you to come.”

  Jason glanced over at William before turning to Sarah. “Your parents wanted me?”

  “I know. I’ve been trying to have them bring you in for the last few days and all of a sudden, they had me come out here chasing you. I don’t know what it’s about, only that they wanted me to get you.” She turned William. “I’m sorry. They don’t need you.”

  William shrugged. “I don’t mind. I can stay out here with the other dragons, anyway.”

  Jason sighed. Something was going on, and it was something that he didn’t know about. Maybe it was Lorach, but perhaps not.

  They hurried through the city, reaching the main building, and Sarah held onto his arm in the hallway. Jason glanced at her. She looked straight ahead, her golden hair flowing around her shoulders. She looked regal, every bit the appearance of someone who should be a ruler, though her isolation in Dragon Haven would prevent her from ever genuinely ruling.

  They strode through the hallway, and movement in the distance along the hall caught Jason’s attention. He slowed, looking at the Dragon Guard. Three of them marched through the hall, all armed with their swords, pale white blades made of dragon bone and heavy leathers cut from dragonskin. They were impressive, even though Jason knew they used the same sort of power that he did.

  Jason couldn’t help but be amazed by the Dragon Guard. They were powerful, but not nearly as numerous as needed to put up a real fight against the Dragon Souls. Still, they had served as the face of the rebellion for a long time. Without the Dragon Guard, Lorach might have destroyed the rebellion—and Dragon Haven—a long time ago.

  The Dragon Guard marched in front of him, disappearing along the hallway. When the sound of their boots on the stone disappeared, Jason shook his head, tearing his attention away and turning back to Sarah.

  “I don’t recognize any of them,” Jason said.

  “No,” Sarah said, leaning closer to him. A heavy frown wrinkled her features, and she pulled on her pale yellow dress, slipping a hand into her pocket. When she did, the distinctive energy of power pulsing from a dragon pearl flowed from her.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, opening them again, and they marched onward, reaching the throne room. She paused for a moment, nodding to two soldiers standing on either side of the door before striding inside toward her mother and father.

  Cherise and Olar were seated at a table. Cherise wore her golden hair twisted back behind her ears, braided and pinned up. She looked much like Sarah, only a generation older. She had strands of gray sweeping through her hair and faint blue eyes that were not nearly as piercing or bright as Sarah’s. Jason wondered if Cherise had ever been able to summon dragons the way that Sarah could. She must have some potential, otherwise, Sarah wouldn’t have developed it.

  Her father, Olar, sat alongside Cherise. He had dark hair and no silver in his eyes. He was dressed distinguishably in a crimson jacket, his hair brushed back, his deep brown eyes darting at everyone within the room. He was more on edge than Jason had seen him before.

  Henry sat near Olar, his hands resting on the table, dressed in the heavy furs that Jason had first seen him in. He was every bit as disheveled as he’d looked when Jason had first encountered him, but his bright silver eyes glared at the man sitting across from him.

  “Who is that?” Jason whispered.

  Sarah shook her head, glancing at her parents for a moment before turning her attention back to studying the man. “I don’t know. I knew the Dragon Guard had arrived, but I didn’t see anyone else come with them.”

  Jason wasn’t sure that he was a Dragon Guard. He had a piercing stare, bright silver eyes, and a sharp jaw. He was slight of build, not at all burly like Olar or Henry. Still, there was something quite intimidating about him. Although he wore dragonskin jacket and pants, it was nothing like the dragonskin Jason wore, as if it came from some other land. The cut was completely different, the style of the jacket sweeping and wide, leaving the lapels open. The scales glittered, almost as if they caught the light in a way that allowed them to shimmer. Heat radiated from him, an energy that Jason could feel, a power that pressed outward almost overwhelming him.

  The man turned toward him, regarding Jason. “Sit,” the man said.

  “Who are you?” Jason asked.

  The man grunted. “Is he always like this?” He spoke the question to Cherise and Olar but held his gaze on Jason.

  “Most of the time,” Henry muttered.

  “Good.” The man leaned forward, regarding Jason with that bright-eyed stare.

  Jason crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to tell me who you are?” Sarah reached for him, but Jason didn’t let her get too close. He didn’t want to argue, but at the same time, he knew better than to be intimidated. He had been through too much and had done far more for the people of Dragon Haven than this stranger had.