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

“If most of these people aren’t from Berestal, and if they’ve come in from the surrounding villages, they might not know the city nearly as well as we do.”

I chuckled. “I don’t know if I would claim either of us knows the city all that well.”

“Better than some. Come on, Ashan… ”

I let her lead me. We took one of the side streets. The crowd was still thick here, as it moved toward the main street, though not nearly as dense as it had been. We weren’t shoulder to shoulder anymore, elbowing our way through the crowd. Eventually, we even found a few carts set up with food and drinks, and Alison convinced me to buy roasted meats and sweet breads. We moved on, eating in silence, looking around as we headed through the city.

“What kind of test do you think the Academy performs?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. There are different needs within the Academy.”

“What if they’re here to test for dragon riders?”

I chuckled. “Then they’ll be disappointed. Probably here for the traditional Academy needs. Scholars. Historians. That sort of thing.”

“You don’t think anybody in Berestal has the potential to become a dragon rider?”

“I don’t really know anything about dragon riders,” I said.

Alison shot me a look. “Ashan Feranth. We both know that’s not true. You wanted to be a dragon rider when you were just a child. If anyone were to know anything about dragon riders and what was involved , it would be you.”

I sighed. “That was a long time ago,” I said. “And I never looked into what would be involved. Only that I know we’ve seen a mere handful of dragons in all the time we’ve lived here.”

“Just because we’ve only seen a handful of dragons doesn’t mean there aren’t dozens upon dozens. Hundreds. I imagine the king has a whole menagerie of dragons.”

I glanced over, grinning at her. “A menagerie?”

“I don’t know. They are somewhat like birds, aren’t they?”

“Enormous, fire-breathing birds.”

“So, would you say a flock of dragons?”

I laughed again. “I suppose so.”

We continued along the street, as we turned a corner heading toward the tower, but now we came at it from a different direction. The crowd wasn’t nearly as thick here. I finished the roasted meat that we purchased, wiping my hands on my pants, and pulled the sweet bread out of my pocket, unwrapping it to take a small bite of it. It wasn’t nearly as good as the sweet breads Alison made, and I told her that.

“Maybe I should set up a cart and sell my goods here,” she said.

“I think you would do well.”

“Had we known about this I could’ve done it earlier,” she said.

I eyed her, still not convinced that she hadn’t known. “We don’t come to the city enough for us to have known.”

“Mom does.” She looked around, and pressed her lips together as she frowned. “I wonder if she knew that the king had sent the Academy here for a selection.”

“Now you want to blame Mom for keeping something from you?”

“She’s in the city two or three times a week,” Alison said.

I frowned at her. “She doesn’t come that often.”

“She does. She leaves me with Dad and Thenis. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”

“I’ve noticed her gone sometimes, but the work on the farm takes most of my attention,” I said.

“It can’t be more than once a week.”

“You ask her.”

We neared a section of the city where the crowd began to thicken again. We had passed a series of wooden homes, each one seemingly larger than the last. As we neared the Marshal’s Tower, the homes had some green space around them, along with high stone walls that prevented anyone from getting too close. This was the wealthier section of the city and a place where neither of us had spent much time.

“I imagine they don’t love that the crowd is spreading all the way out to here,” I said.

“I suppose not,” Alison said, laughing. “With the Tallman Festival, they mostly stay out of the city.”

“Even with the Midlon Festival there isn’t this kind of a crowd.

It celebrated the end of the dry season as it headed into the wet season. It was a time where people gathered to pray to the storm gods to give them a gentle rain.

It was a festival I’d always found entertaining, though not one I put much stock in. Living out in the plains, farming and dealing with the livestock, there was a certain practicality we needed. I wasn’t superstitious enough to think that prayers impacted the rain or the weather at all.

We neared the crowd, and I pressed up close , trying to make our way through. We got a few angry looks, but I ignored them.

“We aren’t going to get close enough to see anything,” Alison said. “If there’s some sort of a selection, all we need to do is—”

Somebody shoved us. I staggered back, trying to stay close to Alison. We got separated for a moment until I forced my way forward and grabbed hold of her arm. That was one advantage of working on the farm. Dealing with stubborn animals, I didn’t lack for strength. I also wouldn’t hesitate fighting my way through, especially when it involved my sister.

“Stay close to me,” I said.

Alison looked over, her eyes wide. “I didn’t expect to get shoved like that,” she said.

“I know, but with this many people it’s going to be hard for us to stay together. Don’t let anyone pull you away from me.”

“What happens if we get separated?”

I looked around. It would be difficult to do anything if that were to happen. “If we get separated, let’s meet back at the stables. Laret will let you stay there until I get back.”

“Are you trying to put us together?”

I snorted. “I think I would rather you and Joran be together than you and Laret.”

“You don’t care for him?”

I laughed again. “It’s not a matter of not caring for him. I think you could do better than