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

“Dinner will be ready soon,” I said carefully. “I can help you get to the table now, or I could… ”

“I would prefer to eat in here,” Thenis said.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “If that's what you want,” I said, and sighed.

Most nights he took his meal in his room. It was rare when he would join the rest of us at the table. Not that I didn’t try. Whenever I was finished with my chores for the day, I would always try to get Thenis to join the rest of us. But he preferred his room, as if he enjoyed being walled up inside here rather than the comfort of being surrounded by his family.

I sat with him for a few more moments, but he never turned his attention away from the windowand didn’t say anything else. After a while, I got to my feet, heading back out into the kitchen.

I found Alison working alone. That wasn’t uncommon. She had become a skilled cook, and an even better baker. She glanced up as I entered, offering me a hint of a smile, dusting her hands on her apron before she turned back to the pot. “Is Joran gone?”

“He wanted to get home before the storm hit,” I said.

“Oh,” she said. “I thought…” She shook her head. “I suppose that’s probably better. I don’t have enough food for him if he stayed, anyways.”

“What are you making?” The savory aromas drifted from the pot as she stirred. I leaned over her shoulder to see carrots and onions piled around a hunk of meat at the center, the water nearly boiling over.

“The Holstons brought over some venison,” she said.

They were a neighboring family that had been good to us since my father and brother had gotten sick. I glanced back toward the hearth. I hadn’t seen our father when I came home. “Do you need any help?”

As I reached for the spoon, Alison smacked my hand. “I think I can manage.”

“You had better.”

I turned to see my mother standing behind me. With her rounded face and full lips, she was an older version of Alison. Her golden hair had started to gray, and the wrinkles around the corners of her eyes had deepened over the last few years. She didn't smile as much as she used to, though the creases around her mouth were a reminder of a time when she could laugh easily.

“Your brother is getting restless. Why don’t you go check on him—”

“I just did,” I said to her.

She frowned, her gaze flicking to Alison. “Did you check to see if his bedsheets need changing?”

“Well—”

“I didn’t think so.” She tapped me on the arm, shoving me off to the side. “And I think that you should get out of the kitchen. The two of us can manage just fine.”

Alison pressed her lips in a frown as she started back toward Thenis’s room. “See?” she said to me.

I sighed, getting out of their way. I knew better than to stay underfoot, and to cause problems for the two of them.

I took a seat on the wooden rocking chair near the hearth, picking up the book next to it and thumbing through the pages. It was something Alison had been reading, a volume filled with children’s stories. It surprised me that she would be reading something like this. I paused when I reached the story of Nan and Her Dragon. It was an old tale, a fable that I remembered being told when I was a child. I skimmed the pages, reading about Nan and her adventures, as she hunted and helped defend her village alongside her dragon.

“You didn’t finish the fence,” my father said.

I looked up, setting the book down on my lap, so that I could turn to him. “No. Joran came to help, but we got distracted toward the end of the day.”

He made a disappointed click in the back of his throat, and took a seat opposite me, looking at the fire. He rubbed his knee, fingering the brace that was strapped to his leg. “It’s a wonder you managed to get that boy to work at all.”

“Joran helps out quite a bit,” I said softly.

“He should,” my father said.

I shook my head. I wasn’t going to get into an argument with my father about this. “I saw something burning near the forest, so we went to investigate.”

“A storm fire?”

It seemed to be one of his clear days. I should be thankful. They were better than the alternative. He would ramble on and on about monsters prowling the forest or dragons attacking. “That’s what I thought as well, but it was before the storm came through,” I said.

“What did you think it was?”

“I’m not really sure. A section of the road was scorched. Probably sixty-paces long. We didn’t see anything.” I didn’t want to get him riled up. We didn’t need that. It happened often enough as it was .

He looked over at me. “It sounds like you might’ve seen something.”

I shrugged, realizing I might have been too careful with how I’d clipped my words and ended up drawing his attention anyway. “Maybe , I’m not exactly sure what it was. It was hidden in the trees. But I could have sworn that it was one of the Djarn.”

That had to have been what I’d caught sight of. If it wasn’t one of the Djarn, then I didn’t know what it was.

“They saved me, you know.”

He said it so casually that I didn’t know how to react. “When we got hurt, the Djarn brought us back.”

“You’ve never told me that.” Even now I didn’t think I could believe it. Not with the way he acted. “Besides, the Djarn wouldn’t get close enough for people to see them .”

“You sound like your sister.”

I waited for him to tell me more about why I sounded like my sister, but he had turned his attention back to his hands.

“It was probably just