The Caged Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 1)

by Dan Michaelson

  “Which way should we go?” I asked.

  Joran looked up, and he flushed slightly.

  What were the two of them talking about?

  Whatever it was seemed to embarrass him, if only a little bit.

  “It goes in two directions,” Alison said.

  I nodded. “I don’t know which one will take us out of the forest.”

  As I looked along the stream, I could feel something changing. It was almost as if the energy in the air started to shift. The light that glowed in the distance started to intensify, and I hesitated.

  Rumbling came from nearby, far closer than it had been before.

  I turned to say something to Joran, when I realized we had taken too long.

  Three figures approached out of the forest.

  21

  I ran toward Alison, putting myself between her and the oncoming figures. Even as I did, I knew that I was going to be too late. I glanced over to Joran. “If something happens to me, I want you to take her out of the forest. Run as fast as you can.”

  “I’m not leaving you here,” Joran said.

  “If it comes down to one of us, I’ll stay behind and try to lead them off.”

  “Ashan—”

  “There you are,” a familiar voice said. It was Barton, as he strode forward, he watched me. Something about his expression seemed to be more amused than annoyed. “You have caused quite a bit of trouble tonight.”

  “I’m sorry I’ve irritated you,” I said.

  “Oh, you have. Now it seems you will serve quite well.”

  I glanced over to Joran, before looking past him to the other two. They were armed, but I thought that we might have a chance. Between Joran and I, I believed we would have an opportunity to get past them. It would be difficult. We would have to risk getting stabbed, but the alternative was going with them.

  I shared a look with Joran, and he seemed to realize what I was thinking, shaking his head slightly. I frowned at him. He wasn’t willing to help?

  The three men came closer, heading into the clearing.

  “If that woman didn’t think that you could be useful, you would already be dead,” Barton said, looking at me.

  “You’re not Vard, are you?” I asked.

  Barton smiled tightly. “Who said we were?”

  Barton continued to come toward me.

  I positioned myself so that I would block Alison, but there wasn’t much more I might be able to do. I could delay them. Give my sister and Joran a chance to run. See if they could get a head start. That was all I hoped for.

  As I prepared to attack, heat began to build in my arms. Pain started to shoot through me. I jerked my head around, looking through the forest.

  Elaine strode forward. A terrible grin crossed her bruised face. Dried blood caked a cut on her forehead. “Did you really think you would be able to get away from me? You are not so difficult to follow. Seeing as how you decided to run, I think I’ll ensure that you suffer this time.”

  She smiled at me, and then the pain began to roll through me. It quickly incapacitated me, dropping me to my knees. I looked up at her, and noticed her grinning at me, a dark expression on her face. I tried to fight the pain, to ignore it, to do anything that I could to withstand it, but the pain was overwhelming, more than I could handle.

  She just watched me. She seemed to come closer and closer, looming over me. I felt like I could do nothing. I couldn't even move. I wanted to get up. I wanted to run or even attack them. My hands were free this time. I didn’t have to feel like I couldn’t strike her.

  When she was only a step or two away from me, she leaned close. “You will help me reclaim the creature,” she said. “And then you will guide me back to that place where you went before. You will guide me back to the remains of the city.”

  “I won’t,” I managed to say.

  She traced a finger around my chin. “Oh, but you will.” Pain shot through me. Distantly, I was aware of Alison shouting, saying something to me, but that was the only thing that I was aware of. There came a strange buildup of heat and a pressure deep within me.

  I could practically feel Elaine laughing.

  “Do you recognize it?” she said, leaning close. “If you had any control over it, perhaps you would. But you don’t, do you?” She laughed again. “It won’t be long now. He has been calling it.”

  “If he’s been calling it, then why have we not seen it?” Barton asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Let’s get this over with. We don’t have far to go. We can keep heading south along the stream here, and then we can get back to our lands,” Barton said. “There’s nothing else in the forest for us to find. It’s time to take our prize and return.”

  Their lands.

  Not Vard lands.

  “Like I said, I won’t be long,” Elaine said. She turned her attention back to me.

  The pain was incredible. It was unlike anything that I had ever experienced before. I could only focus on the pain, nothing else. It seemed to consume me. I struggled to move, to do anything, but as I lay there, there was nothing more than the agony washing through me.

  Elaine leaned close. Her breath was warm, and it smelled of strange spices. “I might keep you for myself once we reach our lands. You will be trained no differently than that creature.”

  The pressure building within me was intense. It, combined with the needles jabbing into my skin, felt as if I needed to do something to release it. Anything. It was almost too much for me to handle.

  Elaine laughed. “I can feel it building within you,” she said. “Call the creature to you.”

  “He can’t!” Alison shouted.

  Everything around me was a blur. The glowing light was near, but not so bright that I could see everything else. I could hear Alison, and I wanted to cry out to her, to tell her to run, but even if I was able to get the words out, I didn’t know if they would reach her the way that they needed to. I didn’t know if there was anything that she would be able to do. I didn’t know if she could escape.

  I had to help. Somehow, I had to fight through the pain. I had to knock Elaine down, then attack the Vard. I would do anything to protect my sister. My family. I would do anything to keep them safe. That pressure continued to build within me.

  I opened my mouth to cry out.

  A rumbling exploded near us.

  The pressure on me eased, if only a little bit. The needles jabbing into my skin suddenly abated, and I blinked, tears streaming from my eyes as my vision cleared briefly. It was long enough that I could see a dark shadow blurring nearby. The Vard cried out, and then there came the sound of metal on metal, fighting all around us.

  For a moment, I saw figures in dark green cloaks carrying strange circular weapons, slashing at the other men.

  We’d seen them before.

  The men slipped through the forest, moving soundlessly. There was only one thing they could be. The Djarn. And they were here.

  More than that—they were helping.

  I staggered to my feet. I turned to Elaine.

  Her back was to me so I shoved her. She staggered, sprawling forward.

  I stumbled toward Alison and Joran.

  I could see them as little more than blurs.

  “We need to run,” I said, looking back to see if there was any other sign of the Djarn, but I couldn’t see them. They were gone, but the others with Elaine were gone as well.

  “What happened to you?” Alison asked.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

  They both slipped their arms around me, and we started running. We hadn’t run for very long before the pain shot through me again. The pressure was building as well.

  I pushed Joran and Alison forward. “Go. I’ll catch up to you.”

  “We’re not leaving you,” Alison said.

  “I don’t—”

  Pain shot through me, it was more than I could tolerate.

  I tried to turn, but that pain was shooting throu
gh me in a way that I couldn’t handle. Alison reached for me, trying to lift me to my feet, but it was as if all of my strength had faded.

  I staggered. Distantly, I was aware of Elaine coming toward me.. That pressure was building up within me again. The glowing light seemed to be everywhere around me, consuming everything.

  She laughed again. “Good. You are calling to it. I can feel it coming this time. Once I have it, then I can remove the blasted Djarn. The king is wrong about them. They are a threat, but I know how to stop them.”

  “Stop hurting him,” Alison said.

  I heard her gasp, and then Joran’s frenzied cries.

  Not my sister.

  Not Joran.

  The pressure building within me became almost too much.

  I needed to release it. There had to be some way for me to let that pressure go. I tried to turn toward Elaine. She was nearby. I could smell her strange scent. The sound of the rumbling of the mesahn was there as well. If I could bide my time long enough for the mesahn to reach me…

  That was assuming the mesahn would help. I wouldn’t be able to end this. I felt the agony of the needles jabbing into me, the agony of the pain that rocked me, and nothing else. I was aware of nothing more than pain.

  I looked up. Tears streamed down my eyes.

  For a moment, the light around me began to clear but then it faded.

  I needed that light.

  I couldn’t see without it. I needed to be able to see. I needed to be able to target Elaine. I needed to be able to break free of what she was doing to me. I needed to cry out.

  I had failed taking care of my brother and my father. My sister had wanted nothing more than to escape from our home. My family, the one thing that I had tried to keep together, crumbled around me.

  I wasn’t going to fail my sister now.

  As I opened my mouth, a scream erupted. The tension within me exploded. It came like a crack of thunder, and then it eased. The pain began to ease as well.

  Getting to my feet, I staggered toward Elaine. She was close enough that I could tell that she tried to reach for me, but I wouldn’t let her. I had to keep moving.

  I found Alison lying curled up on the ground, Joran cradling her. Was she hurt? After what I’d been through, I wasn’t about to lose my sister. Not when there was something I could do about it.

  I didn’t know how, though.

  “I don’t know what happened,” Joran said.

  “Elaine did something to her,” I said. “Dragon mage magic.” My mouth felt dry and didn’t work quite right. I tried to say something more, but nothing else came out.

  Together, we helped Alison get to her feet. I looked around, but didn’t see where Elaine ended up. The pain was gone. The glowing light was bright nearby, and it called to me.

  “I don’t know where to go,” Joran said.

  The others were still out there. Elaine was still out there.

  Thankfully, I believed the Djarn were out there too.

  I remembered what my father had said. He had believed the Djarn had helped him. At the time, I had thought it was nothing more than a story, that his sickened mind had created another tale for him to share, but now I didn’t know. What if he and Thenis had been saved by the Djarn? Or if not saved, rescued?

  That didn’t explain what had happened to them. I didn’t know if I would ever have those answers. Another explosion rumbled nearby. It was close.

  We had to get moving, but I didn’t know where we could disappear. The men with Elaine had proven they knew how to find us. Anywhere we might try to go would be discovered.

  Though there might be one more place we could try.

  “Follow me,” I said.

  Joran and I carried Alison, guiding her through the forest. We headed toward the light. I could feel the pulling of that light, and it didn’t take long before it began to intensify. There was something familiar and not unpleasant about it.

  I had to hope it would be enough to keep us safe.

  Then we could figure out what we would do next.

  All of this was about the dragon. We couldn’t run from it. Not anymore. If the dragon was the key, then we needed to use that and ensure we got away safely.

  “It’s getting warmer,” Joran whispered.

  “Because we’re getting close to the dragon.”

  “We’re what?”

  I ignored him, focusing on the light, on the way that it was calling me toward it, and on the dragon that was there. The energy continued to draw me in, though I didn’t know why I felt it as strongly as I did.

  Then I saw it.

  It seemed to be resting near the entrance of the cave set into a sloped hillside. The glowing eyes looked out at me, and its long nose sniffed the air. The heat wafted away from it and the light surrounded it. It was that light and heat that I had been following, the energy that had drawn me here.

  It was smaller than any other dragon I’d seen before. The dragon had deep green scales, bright yellow eyes that looked at me as if it somehow knew me, and a long tail wrapped around its side. Leathery wings stretched off on either side , propping it up against the ground, and there was an energy coming from it. More than the heat, but a power I could feel.

  Why could I feel that power?

  I approached the dragon carefully.

  “Is that…”

  “A dragon,” I said.

  “How did you find it?” Joran asked.

  “I have no idea. Elaine seems to think that I’m connected to the dragon, and maybe I am. It seems as if the dragon called me to it.”

  “The dragon called you?”

  “I don’t really know,” I said. “It pulls me towards it.”

  “You know what that means, don’t you? That’s how they find those who can study with the dragon mages. This is different than the testing they did in Berestal for the Academy,” he said. “That’s for riders and those who have minor magic. A dragon pulling on you means you might—”

  Pain began to roll through me again, and I couldn’t listen to anything more.

  I turned.

  Elaine was here, though where?

  I could feel the energy she used , but I couldn’t see where she was. It wasn’t nearly as bad as before. It was almost as if my proximity to the dragon eased some of the pain that had been there. Could the dragon somehow temper the effect that she was trying to use upon me?

  I could feel the heat coming off the dragon, and that strange tension that had worked within me continued to build, washing over me. It felt as if I needed to release it.

  “Did you think that you could get away from me that easily?” Elaine stepped out of the forest. She appeared at the edge of the small ravine. She looked up at me, her hips twisted slightly. I could feel the power she was holding on to, the way that she was angling it toward me. She glanced beyond me, looking to the dragon. Her bruised face contorted as she glared at me. “And look at you. You have brought me to the creature. If you’re this sensitive to them, perhaps you will be even more useful than I realized. Perhaps you can help us find others. They’re not very common. The king has his hunters searching for them. We have not managed to acquire any. Until now. Things will be different with a dragon under our control,” she said. “With this one, we can find more.”

  If they were trying to find more, it meant war.

  Dragon war.

  Not with the Vard, but whoever Elaine served.

  When I was younger, I probably would’ve been thrilled at the possibility that there might be dragon-on-dragon fighting, but now all I could think about was how that would destroy my home. How that would harm people I cared about. All I could think about was what would happen to them.

  The king had brought us peace.

  I had to stop Elaine.

  I took a step toward her. Pain throbbed through me, though strangely it was tolerable. At least tolerable enough that I thought I could withstand it.

  Elaine watched me. “Look at you trying to fight through it. You
might learn to control it, if you had time. Unfortunately, you will not have that time.”

  The needles shot through me again..

  I staggered, and almost stumbled.

  I had to reach her.

  The pressure and tension within me continued to build.

  It seemed to me that the tension was helping in some way. It was almost as if it helped fight off the pain.

  I staggered again toward Elaine.

  I heard Alison cry out and knew that she was in danger.

  “You’re going to leave us alone,” I said.

  Elaine grinned at me. “I don’t think so. Not knowing what you are capable of.” She grinned at me. “And to think that I would have never come if it weren’t for those who had believed there was potential within Berestal.”

  I kept my focus on her. The power continued to build within me, pressure that radiated upward. I feel it surging. If only the dragon would help.

  Elaine watched me, and I could feel the energy she radiated. It struck me, but it also moved past , as if she was trying to use it to attack something behind me. I could feel that power and energy, and the way that she targeted it. I could tell that she was attempting to do something more with it.

  It wasn’t just me she was attacking.

  It was the dragon.

  Strangely, I could feel the way she targeted the dragon. I don’t know how, only that the pressure that built within me told me that she was doing something to the creature.

  The dragon was no better able to fight it than I was.

  I took a step, staggering toward her.

  She was not far from me, though still down the ravine a few steps. With as much as the pain wracked through me, I didn’t know if I could get to her.

  There was something I could try, though.

  I might not be able to keep moving, but I didn’t have to be controlled by the pain.

  She watched me. The pain stabbed into me, bright and burning.

  “The others will be here soon,” she said.

  “No,” I grunted. “Mesahn.”

  She sneered at me. “The mesahn won’t be any problem once I have the dragon under control.”

  I could barely stand. The pain was almost too much to bear. It wouldn’t take much. All I had to do was be willing to let go.