The Caged Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 1) by Dan Michaelson (miss read books .txt) 📗

I had to hope she would as I looked around the clearing, trying to get my vision to adjust again. The air around me was still, humid, and there was still some heat behind us, though it was starting to fade. Strangely, it seemed as if the sounds of the forest began to increase, as if it was an attempt from the forest to speak to us. That had to be my imagination, but I could almost feel the wind swirling around the ground, the strange moisture of the forest coming with it.

“What are you doing here, Ashan?” Alison asked.

“Joran told me about the caravan attack. I came looking for you.”

I looked around, searching for the Vard captor. He would have to be nearby, and once I found him, then I would know whether I could speak more freely. I couldn’t find him. I shuffled, scooting as much as I could toward Alison. I could feel the warmth of her, and I recognized the familiar smell of her soap. “There’s something you need to know.”

“What?”

“Before I learned what happened to you, Dad wandered off again.”

“I hope you found him,” she said. “I know he can be frustrating sometimes, but he’s still our father.”

“I did,” I said.

There was silence between us for a long moment. “What happened to him?” Alison asked. “I can hear it in your voice that something did. ”

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and resisted the temptation to look away. She needed to know the truth. Alison was a strong young woman. Growing up on the farm the way that we had, living the life that we did, she had no choice but to be..

“He didn’t make it.”

She said nothing, though her muffled sobs came through the quiet of the night. I wanted to comfort her, but I couldn’t reach her.

She’d been the one to take care of our father, far more than I had.

Despite his delusions, he was still our father.

Her quiet sobs faded after a while. “What happened?” she said softly.

“I don’t really know,” I said. “He fell off Adela, and by the time I got to him, his pulse was weak.”

“Cold?” Alison whispered.

I nodded.

“But it’s been so hot out.”

“I know,” I said. “It was even before the storm came.”

She fell silent again, and I didn’t say anything, knowing that there wasn’t anything really for me to say.

“There’s something else,” I said.

“More than Dad dying?” Alison whispered.

I nodded. “It’s Thenis.”

“Quiet!”

I focused on the direction of the Vard’s voice, turning so that I could try to see where he was shouting at us from. It came from off to my left, toward the trees. I doubted they wanted to be in the forest. Nobody really wanted to be in the forest.

I waited, leaning into Alison. “Thenis got sick about the same time Dad ran off.”

“What did you do for him?”

“Mom took him to Berestal.”

Alison took in a shaky breath. “Good.” She looked over to me, as she tried to twist, and I felt her fingers grabbing me. “He’s been getting sick quite a bit lately. Fevers. I’ve been telling Mom that we need to get a healer out to him, but she hasn’t wanted to.”

“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

“We’ve been giving him medicine, Ashan. There isn’t anything we could do other than that, and considering how expensive it is to get a healer out to the house, I…” She leaned against me. “I should’ve pushed harder. It’s just that Mom kept telling me there wasn’t anything more we could do for him.”

"Hopefully she’ll get him real help,” I whispered.

We fell into silence, and I remained pressed up against Alison, thankful I had gotten to her. After a while, I started laughing softly.

She leaned away from me. “What is it?”

“I intended to come after you to rescue you, but it doesn’t seem as if I’ve done all that good of a job,” I said.

“Thank you ,” she said.

“You’re my sister. Of course I’m going to save you.”

Alison let out a shaky laugh. I jerked my head around, looking to see if the Vard might be there, but I found no evidence of them.

“I thought I wanted to go and see the Academy,” Alison said. “ I thought I wanted to get away from the farm, but ever since the Vard attacked, all I can think about is going back home. Isn’t that strange?”

I sighed. “It’s not so strange. We’ll get out of this.”

“How?” She pressed up against me again. “ I don’t know if there’s anything that we’re going to be able to do to escape from them.”

“We will. Somehow, we will.”

She looked over to me, and I could see in her eyes that she didn’t believe me. More than that, I didn’t know whether I could believe me either. We’d have to find a way. Maybe Elaine would come for us, maybe the mesahn would attack and lead the Vard away—if it didn’t attack us too—or maybe we would be stuck finding our own way free. Either way, we would have to do something. I refused to allow the Vard to hold us.

“There’s something else,” Alison whispered. “They have something here. I think that’s the reason that they came after the Academy caravan.”

“The dragon,” I said.

“How did you know?”

“I found it,” I said. “In one of the wagons. It’s little, I only saw it once.”

“That’s what they’re after,” Joran said. “But my mother said the Vard don’t care about the dragons. They would never use that power.”

“Anyone would want that power,” I said.

“Not the Vard. They don’t have anyone who can use it, but it’s more than that. I don’t really understand it, but I’ve heard my mother talking about dragons. It’s almost as if she doesn’t care for them. Like she thinks they’re some sort of abomination.”

“Well, they have one. ”

Elaine hadn’t shared with us that there had been a dragon, and I didn’t know what was going on with her search for the Djarn, only that