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

I felt the same way about that as I had felt about going into Berestal to bring the healer out to my brother. It would be too slow. Taking that detour would involve too much time. At this point, time was the one thing that we didn’t have. I needed to keep moving, and to stay ahead of whatever else was happening, if only so we could reach Alison.

“You could go,” I said to Joran. “If they know about the Djarn path, they’ll be able to move through the forest quickly.”

“You’re going to send me away?”

“I don’t want to. I think it’s better if I have you with me, but it might make more sense for one of us to go to the marshal and get help.”

Joran just shook his head. “I’m not leaving you to do this by yourself. Gods, you’re just as likely to end up dead as you are to rescue Alison.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“It’s not an insult. It’s just…”

I stared at him in silence.

“It’s just you’re rushing this, and we don’t even know if this is the right thing for us to do.”

“It probably isn’t,” I said. “But again, we’ve already decided I’m not leaving my sister to be carted off by the Vard. Don’t you care about her?” I arched a brow at him. “After everything you’ve said about her…”

Joran looked as if he wanted to argue with me, but I could see him considering it a bit longer before finally shutting his mouth and following me. “If we go into the forest, how do you expect to find the caravan?”

That was a good question. It was one I didn’t have an answer to. Why here?

That was what kept bothering me.

The wagon caravan was north of the King’s Road.

There had to be a reason for that, but then they went into the forest. Once we got into the trees, we had to decide which way they would go. Were they going to follow the path deeper into the forest, or would they head south? The real power of the Vard lived in the south, beyond the Southern Reach. Very few people had any experience with the Vard anymore.

The storm picked up , and the rain began to pour around us, thunder rumbling with violent intensity, lightning flashing everywhere. It was almost as if the storm was choosing for us.

“We can’t wait much longer,” I said.

He sighed and shook his head. We followed along the trees, and I looked for where I’d entered before. I wasn’t even sure if I could find it again, but I had marked the trees. There was another way I’d marked the outside of the forest, though it was not nearly as easy for me to tell in the night. I had stacked a few stones.

I slowed Adela as we made our way along , and began to give up hope that I would find the stones. But then I saw them. Three rocks I’d stacked, though they had tumbled.

“Here,” I said, motioning to Joran. “I marked the entrance.”

“What do you think we’ll find once we’re in there?”

“Hopefully just the path and the caravan.”

Joran followed me into the trees. I paused at each tree, looking for my marking. I had scratched it deeply into the trunk, and was a bit surprised to see that most of the markings had faded. Once we were several trees in, I began to carve out the bark of the trees again, marking them once more. It was slow going trying to find our way , but eventually we reached the Djarn path, and the rain around us eased a little bit. The air took on a different quality, the dampness of the earth no longer quite as prominent, now filled with the scent of the forest. The air was humid, not quite as cool as it had been out on the plain.

Joran nudged up behind me. “I can’t believe it,” he whispered.

“You thought I was making it up?”

“I didn’t think you were making it up, but… I can’t believe it. I never expected to see one of the Djarn paths.”

“I didn’t get very far ,” I said.

“No, but if we can find any evidence of the wagon caravan coming through here, then maybe we can find your sister.”

I look back at him. From the way he said it, he hadn’t expected us to be successful.

Of course he wouldn’t. How could he have expected us to have succeeded in this? The idea of chasing after the Vard to rescue my sister was laughable, almost impossible to contemplate.

“You don’t have to do this ,” I said. “This is my sister, after all. I don’t want to take you away from your family, not when we don’t really know what we might encounter in here.”

“That’s exactly why I have to come along with you,” he said. “ You may need help.”

“But if something were to happen to me…”

“If something were to happen to you, then you’ll need somebody with you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, thinking about what I’d gone through so far today. I’d lost my father. My brother was sick. My sister had been chosen for the Academy, and now I was dealing with the possibility that she was in danger.

All of this was too much for me to fathom.

I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I opened my eyes. “Here I was trying to be happy for Alison. ,” I said. “She wanted nothing more than to have a chance to do something else.”

“I’m sorry,” Joran said.

“Let’s move south and search for wagon tracks,” I said, as we moved along the path.

He nodded, and we fell into silence. The Djarn path was easy enough for us navigateas we made our way through the forest. The horses didn’t struggle, and it was hard-packed enough that we didn’t get bogged down as we had out on the plain. The canopy overhead blocked most of the rain,