The Caged Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 1) Read online

  “You know how it is. Once he decided to take over Berestal, he wanted to make sure he had a way of reaching it by ground, not just by dragon. The dragons helped, though. Can’t have a road built up like that and so quickly without the dragons helping.”

  I watched my father, frowning at him. I had no idea if he was telling the truth or not. He’d lived through the time when the king had assumed command of Berestal, and his experience was such that I wouldn’t be shocked if what he told me was true, but it was something he’d never spoken of before. “Of course, there were other things he had to deal with at that time. Darker things. Not that he’d ever admit to it.”

  “He?”

  “Why, the king. Aren’t you paying attention, Ashan?”

  I shook my head. Here I’d started to let myself think he was clear, despite what Alison had told me about his night.

  “I suppose you need to get back to work,” he said.

  I looked past him toward the house. Alison needed me. “I could use some help,” I said.

  He frowned at me. “Without pants?”

  “Alison is bringing the pants,” I said.

  “Well, she had better.”

  Alison appeared behind him. “Dad? What are you doing out here?”

  “I came out to see what all the noise was about.”

  “Why don’t you head back inside? It would be a good time for you to rest.”

  He turned, his face darkening. “Rest? I’m not a child, Alison.”

  She took a step back. “I know you’re not , it’s just that you didn’t get much sleep last night, what with the storm. I thought that maybe you would want to catch up on your sleep a little bit.”

  “Why would I need to catch up on my sleep?”

  “Dad?”

  He took a step toward her, and I darted forward, stepping in between them. “Why don’t you come and help me outside?”

  He glowered at me for a moment. “Are you trying to get in the way of this too?”

  I frowned at him, shaking my head. “Get in the way of what?”

  “Disciplining your sister. I can take you over my knee, just as well as I can her.”

  I glanced over to Alison for a moment, shaking my head. There was a time a comment like that would have angered me, but now it was empty threats from a man who’d lost what mind he had.

  Alison had said it was a bad night, but I had a feeling that she had understated what had happened. Which made whatever my father had told me about the dragons and the King’s Road even harder for me to believe. More likely than not, all of that was a fabrication, like so many of his other stories.

  “If we work together, it’ll go a lot faster,” I said.

  He frowned for a long moment before glancing over to Alison. “We’re going to talk about this later.”

  He turned, heading outside.

  I took my pants from Alison and hurriedly slipped them on. “I guess I’m going to get back into my filthy boots,” I muttered.

  “Thanks for that,” she said softly.

  “You don’t have to thank me. We all need to take turns taking care of him.”

  “I know, it just feels like…”

  She didn’t finish, but I didn’t need her to. I understood what it felt like. I understood that it seemed as if she was the one responsible for dealing with him the majority of the time. It often fell to her to deal with him when he got like that. Even our mother didn’t want to address it.

  “I’ll get him settled. And tomorrow you and I can go into the city.”

  A look of appreciation swept across her face. “You would do that?”

  It wasn’t my first choice. Nor my second. It meant that I would either be working late into the night tonight and then getting up early, or I would be working extra over the next few days to make up for it. As I looked at my sister, I knew what I needed to do.

  “I would be happy to do it,” I said.

  She smiled at me, and then took a deep breath looking toward the kitchen. “I suppose I should get back to helping Mom. Thenis has been off today as well. I think it’s the storm. It seems like it’s affecting both of them.”

  I hesitated a moment, but then I stepped toward Alison wrapping her in a quick hug. “We’ll get through this.”

  “How?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know. But we will.”

  She stiffened for a moment but then pulled away from me. “Thank you,” she said again.

  “You don’t have to thank me,” I said.

  She glanced over to me. “I do. If you were here last night, you would know that I do.”

  I heard a shout from outside, and I looked back to see my father attempting to pull open the barn door. I swore softly under my breath. He was going to rip the door off if he wasn’t careful.

  “I’m going to go and see if I can’t help him,” I said. Regardless of anything else, I’d have to keep my father with me outside. Alison needed the break, and though it would be difficult on me, I believed I owed that to her. My father shouted again. I hurried over to intervene before he could do anything worse.

  7

  Adela swayed slowly underneath me, and with each step I rocked with her, not wanting to urge her on too quickly. As saturated as the road was she would only break a leg, and I didn’t need a lame horse on top of everything else.

  Alison rode next to me on Gray, our oldest horse. He was a stately workhorse and incredibly steady. I figured he would have an easier time with the roads than some of our alternatives.

  “I can’t believe how bad the road still is,” Alison said.

  We had only been gone for an hour, and normally we would have reached Berestal by now. As it was, I suspected it would take us another hour to reach. The King’s Road sat above the surrounding landscape, with the plains located on either side. Every so often, a tree dotted the horizon, with the occasional farmhouse in the distance. Most of the farms were spread out, and not too many were situated along the King’s Road like ours was. That had been happenstance.

  Or not, if what my father had said was true. I didn’t know if he really had a role in the building of the King’s Road or not.

  “The road will get better over time, but it is pretty bad,” I said. “At least we’re riding. We won’t get as filthy as I did when I was out the other day.”

  Alison twisted in the saddle, looking behind her. “This is going to take most of the day.”

  “It all depends on how long you want to spend in the city.”

  She looked over and a hint of a smile crossed over her for a moment before fading. “I suppose we shouldn’t spend too much time there. Mom is going to want us back before it gets too late.”

  “Probably,” I agreed. “But that doesn’t matter. We can take all the time we need.”

  I hated saying that, knowing it meant I would be delayed with my own chores, but Alison needed this. Maybe I needed this too. And I could tell that with each mile we took she began to relax. When we got back, I needed to have a conversation with our mom. Something had to change. She couldn’t keep going on the way that she was. I don’t know if our mom saw it the way I did, but I vowed to myself I would find a way to help her. I had no idea what reason she had for going to the city as often as she did. It wasn't just for supplies, unless Thenis and Dad's sickness had progressed

  After we rode a while longer the wall of the city began to loom into view. The wall surrounding Berestal was from a time before Berestal had joined the kingdom. Gray stone towers that were situated every forty-feet or so. Even now, guards patrolled the walls bearing the king’s colors. The flag hanging above the wall bore the symbol of the marshal colored in the maroon and gold standard.

  As we neared, more and more farms became prominent. They were built closer to the road in this part of the kingdom, and there were more people out. Not as many had livestock here, which was part of the advantage that our farm had. Given the space we had, and our experience in raising and breeding them, we were able to charge a premi
um compared to those who lived closer to Berestal. The massive gates to the city were open, as people streamed in. The crowd was larger than I was expecting.

  “Why do you think there are so many people here?” I asked.

  “Because of the king’s caravan,” she said.

  I glanced over to her. “You think all of these people know about the caravan?”

  “Not everybody is as isolated as you, Ashan. ”

  I grunted. Turning my attention back to the road and the throng of people visible inside , I shook my head. “It looks almost like the Tallman Festival.”

  The Tallman Festival was a celebration of the people who had founded Berestal, and a time that brought people from all over the plains to the city to celebrate.

  Alison glanced over. “Do you see any posts set up outside the wall? Do you see any carvings of eagles?”

  I chuckled. “No, I’m not saying it is the Tallman Festival, only that it looks like it.”

  “It looks like any festival,” she said.

  “I suppose that it does,” I said.

  As we neared the city I motioned for us to slow, as we climbed down from the saddle. “We are probably going to need to stable our horses outside of the city. If there’s a crowd like this, it’s going to be easier for us to keep them there.”

  Alison nodded. “You’re probably right.”

  “Probably? I know I’m right.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  I chuckled. We guided our horses off of the King’s Road. Now that we were close to the city there were other roads that made it easier to navigate around the walls. A few shops and storefronts were situated outside of the walls of Berestal Most of them were a bit run-down, and they sold goods that couldn’t be found inside of the city. When we came to the city, I didn’t often shop here. They didn’t have the items we needed most of the time. I did take advantage of the stables, though. They were cheaper than the ones on the inside , and stabling a horse for a day didn’t require much in the way of accommodation. As we approached one of the stables, I nodded to Laret, a pale-haired stable worker I had come to know. He pulled his wide-brimmed hat off, sweeping an arm across his forehead, as he flicked his gaze toward the wall.

  “Ashan. I didn’t expect to see you coming here for this.”

  I shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t have, but we needed some supplies.”

  “Now? Not the right time to be coming out here.”

  “Maybe not, but—”

  Alison stepped past me. “I made him come,” she said.

  He blinked, turning to her as if seeing her for the first time. A flush worked up his face, and he scrubbed at the hint of a beard that had begun to grow. Flat blue eyes quickly took in Alison, her deep blue eyes and wavy brown hair, sweeping along her figure.

  “You wanted to see the testing?”

  I frowned. “Testing?”

  “I thought that was why you came. The king sent the Academy out to the far reaches of the kingdom to look for candidates for dragon riders and the Academy.” He frowned. “I suppose since you aren’t in Berestal all that often, you might not have known about it.”

  I looked over to Alison and found her staring toward the wall, an unreadable expression on her face. Was that longing? Maybe something else. Maybe she was concerned about the king sending the Academy here. Or, that she’d known and had talked me into coming today for this reason alone.

  “There have been posters up throughout the city for the last month.”

  I chuckled. “I suppose you weren’t surprised when the caravan came.”

  “Surprised? Gods, we’ve been counting on it. We needed the business. After the rainy season that we had, we’ve gone through a bit of a dry spell. If we didn’t earn a little coin I was afraid that Posten might have to let me go.”

  I looked over to the city. I didn’t really want to be here during any sort of official business, but I couldn’t deny a certain curiosity. There was a time when I would’ve wanted to know what that testing involved, a time when I might have even wanted to present myself for testing, if only so that I could prove to myself I could be a part of something more.

  “Do you think you can stable these two for a little while?” I asked.

  Laret glanced at the horses, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t know, Ashan. With what’s going on we’ve been overrun with people.”

  “It doesn’t have to be long,” I said, glancing over to Alison. “Just an hour or two.”

  She frowned at me. I knew she’d be disappointed at the idea that we would only stay an hour or two, but if we didn’t have a place to put the horses then we wouldn’t be able to stay long anyway. I wasn’t about to tie them up someplace outside the city where they could be stolen, and guiding them through the crowd was a fool’s errand.

  All of this might have been a fool’s errand anyway.

  “We would really appreciate it,” Alison said.

  Laret looked over to her again. “I suppose, uh, I could hold on to them for a little while. Um… I’m sorry, but it’ll cost you.”

  I patted Adela on the side. “I didn’t expect you to stable them for free.”

  “I mean, more than it usually does. I’m sorry, Ashan.” He hurriedly glanced at Alison. “Posten would be pissed if he knew I took on more than we were supposed to, but, um, if you can pay, then…”

  I reached into my coin pouch. “I can pay two coppers. Anything more than that, and I don’t know if I can afford it.”

  Laret nodded. “I suppose that’ll be enough to convince Posten that it’s worthwhile.”

  I handed over the coin. Alison leaned close, whispering in my ear. “You don’t want to try to talk him down?”

  I looked over to the large crowd. “I don’t know if I would be able to talk him down. I don’t think Laret is trying to pull one over on me. He’s always treated me well in the past. Besides, he’ll take care of the horses, at least better than some of these other places.”

  Handing over the reins to Laret, I nodded to him. “Take good care of them.”

  “You know I will,” Laret said. “If you see anything interesting, at least share it with me.” He swept his hand behind him. “Posten won’t let me leave. I’ve asked him for time off, but he warned me that the only time off I would get would be if he let me go. Considering the rainy season we had, I figured it was best if I keep my post.” Laret ran his hand through his shaggy hair. “I need to get back to work.”

  He looked over to Alison, the flush rising to his cheeks again.

  As we turned away, I chuckled. We headed toward the gate and the main part of the city. “Why are you laughing?”

  “I think you intimidated him,” I said.

  She planted her fists on her hips, glaring at me. “That’s not funny.”

  “I’ve never seen Laret stammer quite so much.”

  She glanced over her shoulder back toward the stable. “I thought he was just troubled.”

  I chuckled again. “ Troubled by you. The same way that Joran is.”

  It was Alison’s turn to flush. “Joran is nice enough, but he wants to stay on his farm,” she said softly.

  We reached the edge of the crowd and began to head deeper into the city. Berestal was a large city and the number of people here was overwhelming. It was part of the reason that I didn’t like coming here all that often. Though typically there weren’t crowds quite like right now. Along the outskirts of Berestal, just past the wall, was a series of shops. Most of these were of a higher quality than the ones outside , but they were not nearly as nice as the shops found in the center of the city. They were all crammed together, each shop practically piling atop the next, and most of them didn't have signs to indicate what it was they sold.

  The main street running into the city was wide enough for horses and carts, but most of the side streets were incredibly narrow, especially here on the outskirts. I’d never seen it this crowded. It was a good thing we hadn’t tried to bring the horses with us.


  I looked over to Alison, her eyes were wide as she looked around.

  “There are even more people here than at the festival,” she said softly.

  She looked over at me, grinning. “I was a little worried you were going to want to head off already.”

  “I’m tempted,” I said.

  “I know you don’t like crowds, but I appreciate you doing this for me.”

  I weaved along the street, turning as we went, and started looking for a way through. “What do you want to do?” I asked.

  “I just want to see the caravan,” she said.

  “They are probably closer to Marshal’s Tower.” I nodded to the tower. It was an enormous, circular, flat-topped structure at the heart of Berestal, rising high above everything else. The windowless tower had been here for centuries. Some claimed the city had been built around the tower. Given how different it looked compared to the rest of the city, it was easy enough to believe that. Others claimed the city had once looked quite a bit different, and something had destroyed everything but the tower, forcing the people to rebuild. I didn't know which it was, but I didn't really care either way.

  Unlike the stacked stone wall that comprised the border around Berestal, the Marshal’s Tower rose up almost as if it was a single sheet of stone. It probably wasn’t, but it had been built so skillfully that it was easy enough to believe that artisans from centuries before had managed to construct that way.

  “Dad doesn’t like us going to Marshal’s Tower.”

  “That’s just because he doesn’t like getting that close to the king’s men.”

  She grinned at me. “You don’t mind?”

  “I wouldn’t say it’s my first choice, but…” I flashed another smile at her. “For you, I’ll head there.”

  As we forced our way through the crowd we came upon a circus troupe performing. There were probably a dozen of them, a combination of acrobats, dancers, and minstrels, accompanied by the sounds of people chanting and stomping around them. A strange furred creature crawled along one of the acrobats. It looked like a mix between a ferret and a squirrel. My gaze lingered for a moment before I tore it away. I had to pull on Alison to get her to come with me.