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

I looked back to Alison.

“What was that?” she whispered.

“That’s the mesahn, as far as I know.”

I shared with her what I knew of the mesahn, along with how I’d seen one. That there was a creature like that prowling in the forest should terrify me, but I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps we should head toward it.

If Elaine and those she was with feared the mesahn, then having it on our side might be helpful.

As I looked at Alison, I knew that wasn’t the right strategy, either. Her eyes were wide as she jerked her head around constantly looking for threats. She’d been through too much already. It was time for her to leave the forest and get to safety. “We should go,” I said.

“What about her?”

We looked down to Elaine. She still hadn’t moved. I didn’t want to leave her where she was, but bringing her through the forest wasn’t going to be easy to do either. We had to leave her. There wasn’t a choice in doing it otherwise.

“Leave her. I don’t think she’s going to follow us. I think she’s going to follow the dragon. If we’re here when she comes around, she might be able to overpower us and force us to serve her.” She was a dragon mage, after all. I’d surprised her once, but doubted I could do it again. I remembered the pain that I’d felt when she’d used that strange magic on me.

We started walking away from Elaine, and away from the glowing light that might represent the dragon, and away from the sound that suggested the mesahn was coming toward us.

We hadn’t gone very far when I heard the rumble coming from behind us again.

I looked over to my sister, but it didn’t seem as if she heard it. If she had, then she didn’t say anything. We continued racing onward through the forest, moving as quickly as we could, and every so often it seemed as if the undergrowth would reach up and grab for one or both of us. Either Alison or I would stumble, and we would find ourselves staggering forward, practically sprawled out on the ground.

The light that had followed persisted. I thought that we were heading in a different direction, away from it, but the light seemed to head toward us instead.

At one point, I paused to look around us.

There was no movement near us, and I didn’t hear the shouts of the Vard or the rumbling roar of the mesahn. I didn’t feel anything that would suggest to me that there was magic working from behind me. No sense of heat or tightness to my skin. There was no burning within my belly.

The only thing I noticed was that the light seemed to be turning in the same direction that we were heading.

I continued stumbling through the forest. I had no idea which direction we were heading, or if this would take us the way that we needed to go. It was possible that where we were heading now would lead us right back to the Djarn path, but it was also possible that it would take us deeper into the forest. If so, I didn’t know what we might find.

Maybe the Djarn would help us, much like they had attacked earlier.

The thought of that almost made me chuckle. I had a hard time thinking that they would actively assist us. There were those three men that I’d seen with the strange circular weapons, but other than them…

The Djarn had never been helpful. The only one who had ever had any trade with the Djarn was Joran’s father. I hadn’t heard of anybody beyond him having any experience with them. We turned again, as we raced deeper into the forest.

This time, I was certain that the bright light was coming toward us.

When I slowed, Alison looked over to me. “What is it?” she whispered.

I shook my head. “Something’s not right.” I pointed to the glowing in the distance. “I don’t know if you can see it or not, but the light is getting brighter.”

“I can’t see it,” she said.

I nodded. “I didn’t think that you could, but if you could see it, you would know that as that light gets brighter, we’re heading in the wrong direction.”

As I looked around, I didn’t hear any sound that would tell me the mesahn was nearby. I didn’t see anything other than the light.

“We should—”

A shout came from nearby.

I turned, looking through the trees, trying to gauge what it was.

I couldn’t tell.

We headed away from that shout, though. I guided Alison along the path, moving through the forest. At least we had the glowing light—or, I should say that I had the glowing light— to ensure that we didn’t get snared by the forest itself.

There wasn’t anything else. I felt as if that glowing light was chasing us, like the dragon chased us. Power seemed to build around us in the forest.

It was an energy that radiated everywhere around us, an energy that suggested that there was something more taking place here, but even as I started to search around for answers, I didn’t have them. We moved more carefully now. If there was a shout nearby, it meant one of the men with Elaine had to be near us. I wasn’t sure any more if they were Vard or not. The rumbling came again. It was faint, but it seemed to me that it was growing more intense the longer that I listened—w hich meant that the creature was getting closer to us.

“I don’t know if we’re going to be able to get out of here,” I said.

Alison’s eyes widened, as she looked around, her gaze sweeping around her. I felt for her. All of this had been my attempt to try and rescue her, to get her to safety, but I was doing a poor job of it. She took my hand, squeezing.

I shared a look with her. “I’m sorry, Alison.”

She shook her head. “You