The Betrayed Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 2) by Dan Michaelson (best free ereader TXT) 📕

“Right, but other than dragon mages, who else do you think can do that? Wait a minute,” Joran said, frowning as he looked over to me. “You didn’t seem surprised to see me.”

“Why should I have been surprised?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because your friend from near Berestal just made the journey to the capital and hasn’t seen you in the better part of several months.”

I chuckled. “My sister sent me a letter.”

“But she wouldn’t have known until after we had left,” he said, frowning and glancing to the forest.

“Which way did you take?”

Joran glanced to the trees. “Apparently, the roundabout one.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t realize we’d been taking that long, but it had to have been long enough for Alison to get word here ahead of us.”

I chuckled. “Well, you are traveling with your father. Doesn’t he always prefer the longer road?”

“Too often,” he muttered.

“Why are you here, anyway?”

He sighed before shaking his head. “I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much, but my father wasn’t eager for me to share the reason for our visit with anybody because of my mother and sister,” he said, shaking his head again. “Well, I told him about that Djarn city we visited, and do you know what that old trickster did? He snuck off one night, heading into the forest, and went to visit on his own. The only man I know—other than you—who discovered one of the Djarn paths and managed to navigate it. Somewhere along the line, he got caught up in what they were doing, and they asked him to take a journey for them.”

“What do you mean ‘they asked him to take a journey for them’?”

“They asked him to deliver something to another one of the Djarn settlements.”

“Why couldn’t they have done it?” I thought about the Djarn that I had encountered in the forest when I was working with the dragon, feeling the heat and energy radiating off of the creature, but there had been no sense from them that they wouldn’t have been able to maneuver easily.

“I don’t really know,” he said, shaking his head. “He just agreed to do it. I think it’s giving him freer access to their trade, and you know how my father is when it comes to the Djarn. Especially when it comes to trading with them. If he thinks it’s going to give him something more than what he had before, he’s going to take it.” He clenched his fists, but smiled as he did. “The stupid fool. It forced us through the forest. I think we were lucky to stumble across one of the Djarn paths. Of course, to hear him tell it, he knew where he was going the whole time. I don’t think we even took the path intentionally,” Joran said, lowering his voice as if sharing a secret. “And I don’t even know what he brought.”

“Where did you bring it?”

“To another settlement—it’s not terribly far from here—and then we had to bring something else here. I don’t even know.” He chuckled again and glanced toward the forest. “At least I convinced him to take the King’s Road back. I don’t want to wander through the forest on our way back home if I don’t have to. It’s so dark in there, but he doesn’t seem to mind that, as if he’s the only one who’s risking himself traveling through there.”

I frowned and turned my attention to the forest. First, the Djarn surrounded me when I had the dragon, and now this? What were they doing by moving things? It felt strange, but maybe that was only my imagination. Besides, I had no real reason to get involved in any of this. I was just a student, curious but untalented.

“What is it?” he asked, looking over at me. “You look like you’re thinking hard. Either that, or you look like you’re trying to do a puzzle and failing.”

I snorted. “The only puzzle that I can’t solve is the one that tells me why you and your father were foolish enough to risk yourselves on behalf of the Djarn.”

His face turned serious. “You know how my father can be. And when it comes to the Djarn, and him feeling like he has to offer them . . . whatever he feels like he has to offer them . . . I just go along with it. Now I’ve got my mother and sister all tied up in the Vard, sympathizing with them, despite what happened—and they claim not to have known anything about Elaine and her intentions. Can you believe that?”

“I have a feeling they weren’t really with the Vard,” I said.

We fell silent and I sighed. It might be better not to think about all of that.

“I don’t suppose you saw any other dragons on your way to the city.”

Joran frowned. “You mean through the incredibly dense forest with a canopy that barely lets any light in?” He started to laugh. “No. We didn’t see any dragons.”

I breathed out. That would be too easy.

Joran gave me a soft shove. “Why don’t we wander through the city, if you can. Then you can tell me what’s on your mind, and I can tell you how ridiculous it is, the way that we used to.”

I looked over to Joran, smiling and nodding. “I’d like that.”

“Good. Because you won’t believe the place that my father has put us up in. It’s terrible. The room is little more than a closet, the bedding doesn’t look like it’s been washed for the better part of a week, and the food is terrible. You know how much I enjoy food. My mother is one of the best cooks on the plains.”

“There aren’t that many people out on the plains,” I said, shooting him a look.

“Just because there aren’t many people in the plains doesn’t diminish the quality of her skill.”

I smiled. “I think I can help you find food.”

“I don’t suppose