The Caged Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 1) by Dan Michaelson (websites to read books for free txt) 📕

we’ve gone through a bit of a dry spell. If we didn’t earn a little coin I was afraid that Posten might have to let me go.”

I looked over to the city. I didn’t really want to be here during any sort of official business, but I couldn’t deny a certain curiosity. There was a time when I would’ve wanted to know what that testing involved, a time when I might have even wanted to present myself for testing, if only so that I could prove to myself I could be a part of something more.

“Do you think you can stable these two for a little while?” I asked.

Laret glanced at the horses, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t know, Ashan. With what’s going on we’ve been overrun with people.”

“It doesn’t have to be long,” I said, glancing over to Alison. “Just an hour or two.”

She frowned at me. I knew she’d be disappointed at the idea that we would only stay an hour or two, but if we didn’t have a place to put the horses then we wouldn’t be able to stay long anyway. I wasn’t about to tie them up someplace outside the city where they could be stolen, and guiding them through the crowd was a fool’s errand.

All of this might have been a fool’s errand anyway.

“We would really appreciate it,” Alison said.

Laret looked over to her again. “I suppose, uh, I could hold on to them for a little while. Um… I’m sorry, but it’ll cost you.”

I patted Adela on the side. “I didn’t expect you to stable them for free.”

“I mean, more than it usually does. I’m sorry, Ashan.” He hurriedly glanced at Alison. “Posten would be pissed if he knew I took on more than we were supposed to, but, um, if you can pay, then…”

I reached into my coin pouch. “I can pay two coppers. Anything more than that, and I don’t know if I can afford it.”

Laret nodded. “I suppose that’ll be enough to convince Posten that it’s worthwhile.”

I handed over the coin. Alison leaned close, whispering in my ear. “You don’t want to try to talk him down?”

I looked over to the large crowd. “I don’t know if I would be able to talk him down. I don’t think Laret is trying to pull one over on me. He’s always treated me well in the past. Besides, he’ll take care of the horses, at least better than some of these other places.”

Handing over the reins to Laret, I nodded to him. “Take good care of them.”

“You know I will,” Laret said. “If you see anything interesting, at least share it with me.” He swept his hand behind him. “Posten won’t let me leave. I’ve asked him for time off, but he warned me that the only time off I would get would be if he let me go. Considering the rainy season we had, I figured it was best if I keep my post.” Laret ran his hand through his shaggy hair. “I need to get back to work.”

He looked over to Alison, the flush rising to his cheeks again.

As we turned away, I chuckled. We headed toward the gate and the main part of the city. “Why are you laughing?”

“I think you intimidated him,” I said.

She planted her fists on her hips, glaring at me. “That’s not funny.”

“I’ve never seen Laret stammer quite so much.”

She glanced over her shoulder back toward the stable. “I thought he was just troubled.”

I chuckled again. “ Troubled by you. The same way that Joran is.”

It was Alison’s turn to flush. “Joran is nice enough, but he wants to stay on his farm,” she said softly.

We reached the edge of the crowd and began to head deeper into the city. Berestal was a large city and the number of people here was overwhelming. It was part of the reason that I didn’t like coming here all that often. Though typically there weren’t crowds quite like right now. Along the outskirts of Berestal, just past the wall, was a series of shops. Most of these were of a higher quality than the ones outside , but they were not nearly as nice as the shops found in the center of the city. They were all crammed together, each shop practically piling atop the next, and most of them didn't have signs to indicate what it was they sold.

The main street running into the city was wide enough for horses and carts, but most of the side streets were incredibly narrow, especially here on the outskirts. I’d never seen it this crowded. It was a good thing we hadn’t tried to bring the horses with us.

I looked over to Alison, her eyes were wide as she looked around.

“There are even more people here than at the festival,” she said softly.

She looked over at me, grinning. “I was a little worried you were going to want to head off already.”

“I’m tempted,” I said.

“I know you don’t like crowds, but I appreciate you doing this for me.”

I weaved along the street, turning as we went, and started looking for a way through. “What do you want to do?” I asked.

“I just want to see the caravan,” she said.

“They are probably closer to Marshal’s Tower.” I nodded to the tower. It was an enormous, circular, flat-topped structure at the heart of Berestal, rising high above everything else. The windowless tower had been here for centuries. Some claimed the city had been built around the tower. Given how different it looked compared to the rest of the city, it was easy enough to believe that. Others claimed the city had once looked quite a bit different, and something had destroyed everything but the tower, forcing the people to rebuild. I didn't know which it was, but I didn't really care either way.

Unlike the stacked stone wall that comprised the border around Berestal, the Marshal’s Tower rose up almost as if it was a single sheet of stone. It probably wasn’t,