The Caged Dragon (Cycle of Dragons Book 1) Dan Michaelson (online e reader .TXT) 📖

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 needher 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