Ice Dragon: An Epic Fantasy Adventure (The Dragon Misfits Book 1) Read online

  At this time of night, the festival began to change. There was less of the ceremony and more of the true celebrating. Foods he couldn’t afford were brought out by butchers and bakers and anyone who thought they could offer something along the street for others to purchase. He crept forward, watching, and found himself pushed into the growing throng of people.

  He couldn’t see well, his height a disadvantage here, and as he was pushed forward, he found himself drawn toward the cannon.

  It fired again and he looked up. Red sizzled in the sky, a circle forming. It looked something like a fireball, though his father would have done a better job. Not that Morris was bad at his job. His father had worked with him, training him in the years before his passing.

  “Jason?”

  Tessa approached from across the festival plaza, carrying a sweet bread wrapped in burlap, and was starting to bring it to her lips. A smile formed, and she slipped close to him.

  “I wasn’t expecting to see you out this late.”

  The cannon fired again, and he glanced over. “I wasn’t going to, but…”

  This time, green erupted in the night sky, sparkles streaming all over, the colors bright, mixed with a hint of blue. It created a shimmering pattern that seemed to undulate in the sky.

  “I liked your father’s better.”

  He nodded. “Morris isn’t bad. I think with enough practice, he could be a good cannon master.”

  Another explosion rang out, this time yellow and purple. The mixture was strange, a combination of colors that his father never would’ve chosen. He could tell that Morris was working quickly now, hurriedly repacking the cannon.

  “Still.”

  They stood in silence, people pushing up behind them, forcing him forward, ever closer to the cannon. Eventually, he caught a glimpse of it, just the barest sight, nothing more than that. He tried to stay back, knowing that if he were to get too close, Morris would invite him over. Jason had no interest in getting near the cannon. It would be too hard.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “What was that?”

  Tessa offered him the bread. “Hungry. Are you? I know you don’t always eat as well as you should.”

  “I do fine,” he said. “There was something today near the stream. I’m sure I’ll find something soon.”

  Tessa laughed softly, touching him on the arm. “That’s not a criticism, Jason Dreshen. It’s a comment on how hard it is to catch food around here.”

  “I do fine,” he repeated. His stomach took that moment to betray him, rumbling loudly.

  Tessa chuckled, forcing the sweet bread into his hand. “Take this.”

  “You don’t need to do that. I told you that I would find—”

  Tessa shook her head. “I know I don’t need to, but I want to. Take it. I can get more.”

  He held on to the sweet bread, staring at it. A loaf like that could last his family a week. By that time, it would be stale but no less sweet.

  “Thanks.”

  She laughed again. “You don’t have to be so stubborn. I’m happy to help.”

  “I didn’t realize I was being stubborn.”

  “Well—”

  The cannon fired again, and a scream followed it. Jason jerked his head toward the cannon and started forward before thinking about what he was doing.

  When he reached it, he found Morris lying alongside the cannon. His dragonskin coat smoldered. He didn’t appear to be moving.

  Where was his help?

  A cannon master didn’t work alone, and when it came to the nighttime festivities, it didn’t make sense for the cannon master to not have assistants.

  “Morris?” He dropped down onto his knees next to the man, but the heat from his jacket made it difficult to get too close. Morris had spent the better part of the day near the fire, and his dragonskin jacket had absorbed much of that heat.

  “Let me,” Tessa said, sliding in next to him. She pressed her head down to Morris’s chest. Jason almost cautioned her against it, but with her dragonskin hat, she wasn’t in any real danger. She could withstand the heat of Morris’s coat, much like she could withstand the residual effect of the explosion along his chest.

  “Heart’s still beating,” she said. Tessa met his eyes and Jason looked around, searching for anyone who could help. Everyone was so caught up in the festivities that they hadn’t paid any attention to the fact that the cannon had stopped firing.

  “We need to bring him to my mother.”

  “Are you sure?” There was another question lingering in it, one few were willing to ask aloud.

  “Who else could we take him to?” Jason asked.

  Tessa nodded, reaching for Morris’s arms. “You grab his legs.”

  Jason was thankful for his gloves and clutched Morris’s legs, trying to ignore the heat radiating from the dragonskin boots. He would have a hard time dragging him, so they needed someone else who had dragonskin clothing to help.

  “Jason?”

  He shook his head and started off, dragging Morris more than he carried him. Thankfully, they went across the snow, though the jacket had the effect of melting the snow as they passed over it. Tessa was strong and managed to keep Morris lifted a little bit, though not so much that he didn’t drag.

  Jason fought his way through the crowd, worried his mother wouldn’t be well enough to help. She hadn’t been well enough in a long time.

  As they elbowed their way through, he crashed into a man who was about his height. He glanced at Jason before his gaze darted down to Tessa. “Let me help,” the man said, his voice a gravelly sort of growl.

  Jason didn’t have the strength to argue. Even if he did, there wasn’t an argument that he would’ve been able to voice. Nor did he necessarily want to. Having someone else help carry Morris would be better. They could get him to his home faster that way.

  “Where are we going?” the man asked.

  “Healer,” he managed to say.

  “What happened?”

  “Explosion,” he said.

  The man glanced past Jason, his gaze drifting toward where the cannon would be found. He said nothing, and together with Jason, Tessa and the stranger managed to lift Morris, keeping him above the snow. As they carried him, they bumped into a few others, though not so many that they were slowed. They drifted away from the sounds of the festivities, and Jason glanced over at Tessa, wondering why she would be spending her time with him like this.

  He was tempted to tell her to go, but he didn’t really want her to leave. He was appreciative of the fact that she was here, that she was willing to help, and he worried that if he sent her off, she would actually go, so he said nothing.

  By the time they reached his home, a small trail of smoke drifted from the chimney. Jason spotted a hint of red against the outline of darkness and worried his sister might have put too much dung into the fireplace. If she had, there wouldn’t be enough remaining for the rest of the week. He could try to search for other sources of heat, but within the village, it was incredibly valuable. Everything that could burn was held on to.

  He shouldered open the door, dragging Morris with him. The stranger said nothing, moving along with him.

  Once they got into the room, a hint of warmth greeted him. It was too much.

  “Jason? Did you… What is this?” Kayla asked.

  “Where is Mother?”

  Kayla glanced at the stranger and then at Tessa before her gaze darted to the back room. “She already went to bed.”

  “We need to get her up.”

  “Jason… Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  He nodded to Morris. “The cannon backfired.”

  The only thing Jason could figure was that Morris had been standing too close to the cannon. One of the things his father had taught him about the explosives was that if he stood too close, and if he didn’t have a long enough fuse, there was some danger in a backfire. His father was always one for safety, to the point where he’d forced Jason to stay back
a significant distance while he was watching. Even doing that hadn’t always made him happy. His father would have preferred Jason to have watched from behind a dragonskin cloak, though they didn’t have many that he could use.

  “Can you just go and wake her?”

  “I can try.” Kayla scurried off, and it gave him an opportunity to look at the man.

  He wasn’t so much taller than Jason, something that was fairly uncommon in the village. Most people were a hand or two taller than him, and incredibly muscular. This man was lean, almost as if he were underfed, no different than Jason. He was dressed in a strange gray fur. It wasn’t bearskin, and it certainly wasn’t dragonskin, but it wasn’t an animal that he recognized. The hood of his cloak was pulled up, concealing most of his face other than the hint of a shadowy beard.

  “Thanks for your help. I think we can handle it from here.”

  “I can stay,” the stranger said.

  Jason glanced over at Tessa, and she shrugged.

  “I’m Jason Dreshen. This is Tessa Olive.”

  The man nodded, but he didn’t offer his name.

  A shuffling near the door to the back room caught his attention, and Jason turned to see his mother smoothing her hair back from her face, her sleepy gaze sweeping around the room. “Jason? Did you find any food?”

  He shook his head. “It’s Morris, Mother. The cannon backfired, and—”

  “I can’t help him.”

  “You can. You just have to—”

  His mother looked up, and the darkness that he’d known since his father’s death flared in her eyes. “I can’t help them.”

  She turned away, shuffling back into the room.

  “What was that about?” the stranger asked.

  “That’s my mother.”

  “I take it that she’s a healer.”

  “She was,” he said.

  “What happened?”

  “My father died about a year ago. She couldn’t save him.”

  The stranger met his gaze for a moment before nodding. “Why don’t we see what I can do.” The man leaned forward, crouching next to Morris. He began to peel away Morris’s dragonskin coat, and when it was off, he handed it to Jason. “Take this outside.”

  “Once it’s off, he loses the benefit of the stored heat.”

  The stranger looked up. The shadows in the distance of his eyes were unreadable. “I’m sure he won’t mind when he recovers.”

  Jason started toward the door but Tessa shook her head, grabbing the coat from him. He was thankful for it. The coat was already starting to burn his hands. Even through his gloves, the heat was intense. It was a strange thing about dragonskin. Having just a little bit granted the wearer protection from its heat. As Jason had none, he wasn’t protected at all from the heat coming off the jacket. Considering the way the man had peeled the jacket off Morris, he must have some protection of his own.

  “Can you help him?” Jason asked.

  The man nodded, pushing back the hood of his cloak. He had dark, disheveled hair, and in the dim light of the inside of the house, Jason was able to make out the gray flowing through his beard.

  “I have some experience with helping those who’ve been injured, but I’m not sure whether it will be effective on him.”

  He reached into his pocket, as if looking for something that might help him, and when he pulled his hand out, Jason realized that he held a small circular stone. He pressed it on Morris’s chest and began to mumble softly, his words little more than a whisper and too faint for Jason to make out.

  The heat within the room began to build and Jason turned his attention to the hearth. The dung glowed too brightly, far more brightly than it should. What had Kayla been thinking, lighting the hearth like that? Why had she ruined so much of their supplies? She knew better, even if she had been cold.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said to the stranger and hurried over to the hearth, taking the shovel and shifting the coals around. They began to fade, the bright light dimming, and Jason leaned back on his heels. At least they hadn’t burned through all of the coals. Just enough that they had wasted some.

  Turning back to the stranger, he found the man pushing something back into his pocket. Jason watched, thinking he might be able to figure out what it was, but the man kept his back to him, making it difficult to make anything out.

  “How is he?”

  “He should pull through,” the stranger said. “The jacket he was wearing conveys both a blessing and a curse.”

  Jason blinked. It was the first time he’d ever heard anyone describe a dragonskin jacket as a curse. If he were so lucky to have one, he would certainly not view it that way.

  “Why a curse?”

  The stranger got to his feet, wiping his hands together. “He’ll need water. And I suspect he’ll be hungry.”

  “We don’t have much in the way of food,” Jason said.

  “Then find someone who does,” the stranger said.

  The stranger reached the door and started out it at the same time as Tessa was coming back in. They bumped into each other, and she looked up, starting to apologize, before catching herself. Her eyes widened and she stepped to the side.

  When the stranger was gone, Jason frowned at her. “What was that about?”

  “Did you see his eyes?”

  Jason frowned and shook his head. “He was wearing his cloak most of the time,” he said. And even when he wasn’t, he was looking away so that Jason didn’t have the opportunity to look in the man’s eyes.

  “They were like yours.”

  “Blue and silver?”

  She glanced toward the door. Wind whistled in and Jason hurried over, closing it quickly before all the heat rushed out. With as much dung as they’d burned, he didn’t want to allow the heat to fully escape. Now that they had heated the home to this temperature, they might as well take advantage of it.

  “Not blue and silver. Silver.”

  Dragon sight? He had always believed himself unique, and at least around the village and the surrounding areas, he was so.

  “Maybe you saw it wrong.”

  “Maybe,” she said.

  “You can go back to the festival. I can stay with Morris.”

  “I can stay with you.”

  Jason smiled and shook his head. “I’m fine. Really. Besides, if Morris comes back around, I’ll make sure he gets back to the cannon.”

  She glanced toward the door before nodding. “Don’t stay in all night.”

  “Even if I do, I’m sure you’ll have fun.”

  “Jason—”

  He squeezed her arm. “Thanks for your help.”

  When she was gone, Kayla emerged from the back room. “How is he?”

  “The stranger seemed to help. I don’t know what he did, but he said Morris should be fine. He told me to give him water and food.”

  Kayla looked up at him. “Food? How are we supposed to give him food when we don’t even have food for ourselves?”

  Jason pulled the sweet bread from his pocket and handed it over. “We have this.”

  “Where did you get this? Did you steal it?”

  “I didn’t steal it. Tessa gave it to me.”

  Kayla started in on it, eating quickly, having no hesitation, not the way that Jason had. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For sharing it.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Of course I’d share it. You’re my sister.”

  3

  A soft cough caught Jason’s attention. He stirred, having slept poorly, and turned to look. The coals in the hearth glowed softly, barely any heat emanating off them.

  “Where am I?”

  He got to his feet and hurried over to Morris. “You’re in the Dreshen home.”

  Morris clutched his hands to his chest, blinking. “The cannon.”

  Jason nodded and leaned close to Morris, helping the man sit up. He was about ten years older than Jason, solid—much like Jason’s father—and his
thick beard had been singed by the explosion.

  “What happened?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t know. I was packing the powder into the cannon and it backfired.”

  “My father said that could happen.”

  Morris took a deep breath, wincing as he did and clutching his hands over his chest. “That’s what he told me, too. I followed all of his instructions, Jason. It shouldn’t have backfired like that.”

  Jason smiled. “He always told me that despite our plans, things sometimes go awry.”

  “I suppose,” he said.

  “You don’t think so?”

  “I… I don’t know.” Morris looked around. “Is your mother here? I’d like to thank her for helping me.”

  Jason glanced at the door leading to the back room. “She’s asleep. And it wasn’t my mother who helped. There was a stranger, a visitor to the village, who helped you.”

  Morris took a deep breath. “I should thank him, too.”

  “If we can find him.”

  “You don’t know who he is?”

  Jason shook his head. “I don’t know anything about him. He offered his aid and then disappeared.”

  Getting to his feet, Morris looked around. “Where’s my jacket?” There was a bit of urgency in his voice, and Jason understood it. The dragonskin coat was valuable, and he didn’t even think it was Morris’s. It was probably borrowed from the village, the benefit of being the cannon master.

  “We took it outside.”

  “Why outside?”

  Jason shrugged. “The stranger wanted it outside. I don’t really know.” Had they left it inside, they would have had some extra heat, so it would’ve been beneficial. Without it, it had grown considerably colder inside than it had been.

  “I take it you brought me here?”

  “Me and Tessa Olive. We thought my mother would help.”

  Morris was silent for a moment. “I’m sorry, Jason.” When Jason didn’t immediately say anything, he took that as an invitation to speak more. “I’m sorry about what happened. I’m sorry I took over for your father. I’m sorry that—”

  Jason shook his head. “You did well."

  "But the cannon was silent."