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

We forced our way through the crowd, moving deeper and deeper into the throng of people. I had to stay close to her, but it was difficult to keep my hand on her. As we went, I started to take the lead, forcing my way past her.

The crowd suddenly opened up.

There was an enormous cobblestone courtyard outside of the Marshal’s Tower.The caravan of wagons was arranged alongside it. The sunlight shining down caught the maroon and gold painted lead wagon in such a way that made it look even more regal, if such a thing were possible. The flags sitting atop each bore the king’s standard, the dragon flying in such a way as to appear both threatening and reassuring. It was almost as if I could feel the energy of the king and his dragons from the standard alone. A dozen men and women were nearby, though they didn’t seem to pay any mind to the crowd.

“Why isn’t anyone getting any closer?” Alison whispered.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s almost as if people are afraid to.”

As we continued forward we found a line of soldiers blocking us from getting any closer. They were dressed the same as the others we’d seen on the city wall, their armor gleaming. Each of them carried a sword with their hands resting on the hilt.

I nodded toward them. “At least now we know why people aren’t getting any closer.”

“Those soldiers wouldn’t keep everyone back—”

An enormous roar erupted, and my eye was drawn up.

A dragon.

Not just any dragon, but the same blue-scaled dragon I’d seen the other night was now perched atop the Marshal’s Tower. The stone itself gave off an energy that radiated around the city. Shadows stretched away from the tower as if crawling toward us in the courtyard.

Heat radiated off the dragon, and I could practically feel it washing over me. My skin began to grow tight, and when a burst of flame erupted from the dragon’s mouth, the crowd gasped. There was some part of me that felt a burning deeper inside, as if the heat was working its way through me.

“A dragon,” Alison whispered.

“I didn’t see it fly in,” I said.

“Did you think you would?”

“It means it’s been here for a little while.”

“We don’t know that,” she said.

I shook my head. “Maybe , but…”

The dragon roared again, and another burst of flame shot out. My skin felt tight again. There was nothing quite like that dragon, nothing quite like the heat that I felt, and nothing quite like the strange certainty that rolled within me of the power that the dragon must possess.

“That’s why the crowd isn’t getting too close,” Alison said.

I nodded.

“Aren’t you glad we came?”

I shook my head slowly. “I would have been just as content staying home.”

“Liar,” she said, laughing.

The dozen people near the wagons turned as one of the men stepped forward. He raised his hands wide, and I noticed that he was wearing a black robe. The dragon standard of the king was sewn into the robe in a bright maroon embroidery. Flames streamed from his hands, and they spiraled up, forming the same shape over him. Everyone in the crowd gasped.

“A dragon mage,” Alison breathed out.

Dragon riders were rare. Dragon mages even more so.

Out of everything that defended the kingdom, dragons were the most fearsome, if only because they were so visible. A person could see a dragon, could feel the heat , and would know the danger such a massive and violent creature posed. The dragon mages posed a different sort of threat, one few ever witnessed. A dragon mage could move through the kingdom unnoticed and undetected.

“Let the testing begin,” the dragon mage said, his voice carrying.

I wasn’t sure what that involved but people began separating from the crowd, pushing forward. I glanced over to Alison. Her eyes widened as she was pulled from my grasp, and went staggering toward the courtyard as if drawn by an invisible band.

8

I reached for Alison, but I wasn’t fast enough. The soldier closest to me unsheathed his sword, pointing it right at me. My eyes went straight to the gleaming blade, unable to look away from it.

“That’s my sister,” I said.

The soldier shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. She is going for testing.”

“She didn’t come here for testing,” I said.

The soldier chuckled. “Everybody comes for the test,” he said.

“We only came here for…”

I wasn’t even sure what to say what we had come here for. Certainly not this. We hadn’t even known that there was going to be a testing like this at all.

Alison looked back at me.

She wasn’t the only one drawn out into the courtyard.

All around us the crowd parted as people of various ages were drawn toward the dragon mage. Most of them were younger than Alison. There were a few who looked to be about the same age as her. They all had the same wide-eyed expression on their face, as if they didn’t know why they were summoned.

I had no idea how or why she was summoned.

“At least let me go with her,” I said.

The soldier stared at me. “Go with her? Were you summoned?”

“How would I know? She wasn’t summoned.”

He grunted again. “Wasn’t she?”

The people that were called forward began to approach the dragon mage. He had short dark hair and black eyes. The symbol above his head crackled and simmered. The air seemed to hiss with energy. A strange heat washed over me and I looked up to see the dragon, but it had disappeared.

I tried to push forward again, but the soldier kept blocking me.

He was a little bit shorter than me and not as muscular, but with his blade I doubted I would be able to make it very far. As much as I wanted to get to Alison, I didn’t dare push past the guard. All I could do was watch.

I took a step back, staying close to the front of the crowd, watching