The Princess of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen

Author:Michelle Knudsen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Ages 10 & Up
ISBN: 9780763659646
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2012-07-26T07:00:00+00:00

IT WAS HARD TO TELL HOW much time had passed when Jakl suddenly seemed to press forward with new effort. The clouds sped by even faster than before, and Calen made himself stare very intently at Jakl’s neck so he could try to stop noticing the clouds. He didn’t really need to see how fast they were going.

There was a shift in the dragon’s body below them, and suddenly they were dropping through the sky. Calen squeaked involuntarily before he realized it was a controlled, if still alarmingly swift, descent, not the dragon plunging downward to all of their deaths.

They seemed to be approaching a small city. It was no place he’d been before; he could see an unfamiliar castle in the distance. Not one of Trelian’s provinces, then. Someplace else. He had no sense of which direction they’d traveled, no idea where they were in relation to the Magistratum or anyplace else. Maybe Serek or Anders would know. Or Meg could tell them later. After they reached the ground safely and rescued her from whatever danger she was in and all made it safely back home again.

As Jakl dropped lower still, the castle grew closer. Calen could see more details below — houses and fields, trees and roads. And up ahead, in an area adjoining the castle proper, a large group of people stood facing a raised platform with a large cleared area before it. There were several figures on the platform, a few seated, the rest standing.

A few heads turned in their direction, and then suddenly everyone was shouting and people were racing every which way. As they drew nearer, Calen saw with relief that one of the figures on the platform was Meg. She was struggling to break free from a guard, but she seemed all right. Awake and alive, anyway, and not visibly damaged, except for what looked like a cut under one eye. But she was screaming — screaming at the guard, at the people near her, screaming at Jakl. . . . What was she saying?

Jakl screamed back, then lurched crazily to the side, and Calen threw himself against the dragon’s neck, trying to grab on to whatever he could hold. He heard Serek swearing behind him. A volley of crossbow bolts flew through the space they’d occupied a moment earlier.

Calen was beginning to make out some of Meg’s words. He heard her scream, “Jakl, no fire! No fire, do you hear me?” and then Jakl lurched again, this time rising up as he did so. Maybe to get out of range of the bolts, Calen thought. Why didn’t Meg want him to use his fire? That would make whoever was shooting at them stop and run away, wouldn’t it?

Jakl changed direction again, looping around in a stomach-twisting arc and circling low around the outside of the amphitheater. Calen had a moment to realize they were upside down, and then Jakl shuddered violently, and they all fell off.

Calen had only just inhaled to scream when the ground came up to meet him.

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