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

and waist, an invisible band that pulled me forward. I was aware of what was happening, but I wasn’t able to fight it. I tried, but my body seemed to not respond. The heat made it difficult for me to do anything else. It was almost too much to even breathe. The light continued to build, rising around me, pushing back the darkness all around as I was called forward. I raised my hand to shield my eyes, but even that wasn’t going to work. Distantly, I was aware of someone near me. It had to be one of the Vard, but I couldn’t turn toward him. I could do nothing.

The rumbling of the mesahn came again, the deep growl of the creature echoing throughout the forest. I could hear the mesahn, and I knew it had to be somewhere near us. If Elaine saw what was happening, maybe she’d come help. She did serve the king. The mesahn rumbled again, and this time it was more distant.

Everything around me seemed to blur. There was only that blinding brightness, as it continued to glow with an increasing intensity. I tried to ignore it, to push it out of mind, and to focus only on turning and running, but I couldn’t.

Then I was near the wagon.

I was aware of it, and that somebody grabbed my arms, but nothing else. I couldn’t even jerk free. Somebody grabbed the belt knife, removing it from my hands but there was no fight within me.

I stared at the wagon, feeling the energy of the dragon, the burning within my belly, and the heat along my skin. All around me was that almost impossibly bright light.

“I found him running,” a voice said, distantly and somewhat muted.

“Seems like he wasn’t running anywhere,” another said.

“Think he has potential, Barton?”

Somebody stepped up toward me, and suddenly the brightness began to fade. A face loomed into view, one that I had seen before. It was one of the Vard, the dark-haired man with the deep-set eyes. He watched me, standing no more than a pace away from me, energy spreading from him.

For a moment, the burning in my stomach flared before it retreated.

The Vard began to grin. “Oh, yes. I think he has potential. Put him with the others.”

I couldn’t fight, as I was guided away from the wagon. Away from the heat, from the burning within my stomach, and from the glowing light in front of me.

As he guided me away, my vision began to dim. I was aware of it slowly, though the further they guided me, the more I thought I understood. It was as if the bright glowing that had been pressing around me had faded, leaving everything with a strange, almost muted darkness. It made it difficult for me to see anything.

I was aware of the wagons nearby and the force on the other side of me, but nothing else. Something jabbed my back. My mind processed it, telling me that it was a sword and that I needed to keep movingto avoid being stabbed, but another part of me rebelled, wanting nothing more than to fight back, to ignore what they were doing to me, to keep them from capturing me…What did they mean, I had potential?

That thought burned through everything else.

Potential for what?

Did they think they were going to take me and force me to serve the Vard?

I didn’t have any real allegiance to the king , but I also had no real interest in serving the Vard.

Were it up to me, I’d stay on the plains, doing nothing other than live my life.

I wasn’t going to be given the chance. I wasn’t going to be given any chance. My mother would have to take care of Thenis by herself. Alison and I were gone, captured by the Vard. Dad was dead. It was going to be up to her.

The jabbing in my back stopped. I looked in front of me. Everything was a bit dark, though there was a hint of that glow still persisting behind me. It radiated forward, giving me just enough light for me to make out people clustered on the road. There were three of them. All of them were bound, hands tied behind their backs, their legs wrapped in rope. All three of them were seated.

“Ashan?”

I recognized Joran’s voice.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” I said to Joran.

“When you were up there—”

“Quiet.”

I was forced down. Somebody wrapped something around my wrists, and I didn’t even fight. They began to bind my feet as well.

I couldn’t move.

Then they disappeared, leaving us seated.

I tried to move, but my legs were bound in such a way that I wouldn’t even be able to do anything other than hop in place. I suspected there was one of the Vard nearby, probably watching, though I had no real idea if that was the case or not. I needed to survey everything around us, to see if there was anybody here, but even as I looked, I couldn’t make out anything in the darkness.

“Is Alison here?” I whispered.

“I’m here,” a voice said.

I turned toward it, trying to focus through the darkness, to will that light into existence again, but I could not. The darkness made everything too difficult for me to make out.

“Alison?”

“I’m here.”

Knowing she lived…Relief swept through me, almost enough to make me giddy.

Now I had to get her free.

And myself.

“What happened to the others?”

“Others?” she said.

“The others who were with you during the Academy selection. They would have been in the caravan.”

“They were lost,” she whispered.

“Lost?” Joran asked.

Alison nodded. I could see it as a shadowed shape. “When the Academy caravan was attacked, the others were killed. There weren’t many of us who survived. There was an explosion and a fire and heat… so much heat.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “I thought I was going to die .” She fell silent for a moment. “There was an instructor here. I don’t know what happened.”

“We found her. She’s a dragon mage,”