by Logan Jacobs
“Well, if not Gulr, then what do you suggest?” Eira asked.
“I don’t know,” Kas said. “Something--”
Kas’ words were cut short by a loud shriek that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I whipped my head around to see a group of men charge out of the woods right toward us. Each one was bigger and dirtier than the last, and I could immediately tell they were lowlife bandits.
They may be large, but they gave away the element of surprise, so they clearly weren’t intelligent.
Immediately, I yanked on the reins of the animals pulling the cart, and they came to a halt as I stood up and unsheathed my sword.
There were six men, each of which had a weapon held high above their heads as they ran toward us. I almost felt sorry for them since they obviously had no idea how to use the blades, but then I remembered they were about to try and rob us, and that feeling quickly went away.
“Fucking bandits,” Eira said through gritted teeth as she, Asta, and Kas stood up, too.
Blar was wrapped around me in an instant, with his head and front paws on one shoulder, and his back paws and tail on my opposite hip. His long claws held onto me gently, but I knew he was ready to attack as soon as I gave him the go ahead. His little blue eyes were narrowed on our opponents, and I could feel how tense his long body was as he clung to me.
I hopped down onto the ground and held my sword up at the ready, and I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face as these arseholes continued to run toward me. Since they were still alive, I figured they’d never come across an opponent who actually knew what they were doing, so this brief interaction was going to be a wakeup call and a death sentence for them all in one.
“Get ‘em!” one of the men yelled, and the group split into two.
“I got this side,” I said with a gesture to the right.
“We’ll cover left,” Eira assured me, and she turned back to the three men headed toward her, Asta, and Kas. “Come here, you big dumb oafs!”
I allowed the girls to handle the men to the left while I focused on the ones to the right. The leader clearly thought splitting his team up would mean they had a better chance of taking us down, especially if they considered me to be the greatest threat since I was the largest.
They didn’t know it yet, but they were in for a fight.
I stopped just ahead of the cart and readied my sword as the three men picked up speed.
“Better to give in now,” the man in the front said as he leaped up and held his axe back behind his head. He came down at me in an attempt to land a blow, but I dodged it and gave him a swift kick in the back as he landed on shaky legs.
The bandit landed on the ground, but he’d let go of his axe in the fall, and it was still in the air above him. I snagged it with one hand, and he looked up at it with wide eyes and tried to scurry out of the way, but he was too late.
I brought the axe down with all my might, and the blade landed in the middle of the elf’s back, dug in deep, and clearly did some damage to his spinal cord since he jerked like he’d been struck by lightning.
He let out a screech of pain, and his arms clawed at the ground in front of him, but his legs didn’t move at all, which told me they probably couldn’t.
I had to hand it to him, he was an arsehole, but that was one sharp axe.
The next man was on me in an instant, and his long blade came at me over and over from the top and both sides. He even tried to slice at my ankles once, but I leaped up and avoided his attack.
I waited until the right moment, and then I made my move. The elf was attacking with fervor, and after a few seconds, he started to breathe heavily, so when he reared back to take a big swing, I let him think he had it.
At just the last second, though, I stepped back and dodged his strike, and then I used my own sword to quickly stab through the soft skin of his side. The sword lifted above his head instantly fell to the ground as he let out a gut-wrenching scream.
The elf’s buddy wasn’t far behind him, so I yanked my sword from his side and turned toward his friend.
The last man was huge, at least twice my size, and with a face five times as ugly. He had a huge brow ridge that protruded out from his face and thick bushy eyebrows on top of it, and he bared a nasty, yellow set of jagged teeth as he let out a guttural yell and came at me.
“Come on, big boy,” I said, but I felt Blar clench my shoulder. He wanted in on the fight, and I couldn’t deny him for too long. Besides, this guy was clearly an idiot, but he was large, and a little bit of firepower would make him a lot easier to take down.
I couldn’t feel it right then because of the adrenaline coursing through me, but I knew my body was still tired from the battle we’d been in earlier that day, so the least amount of energy I had to use, the better.
“You come on, little boy,” the big oaf laughed in a terrible deep voice that made me grimace with disgust. He even sounded stupid.
I widened my stance and held my sword out in front of me so he would think I was going to take him head on, but as soon as he was within range, I gave the command.
“Blar, now!” I exclaimed, and the little blue dragon jumped from my shoulder and up into the air above our large opponent to let out a huge blue flame.
“Ahhh!” the man screamed and dropped his weapon so he could try to cover his face and eyes.
I’d nearly forgotten Kas and Asta had put the enchantment back on the dragons so they appeared as dogs to everyone else. We couldn’t exactly run around with dragons, especially not in Asta’s homeworld with the dragon trade so rampant. The Elf King may be behind it, but the trade was still illegal, and anybody caught with dragons was to incur a severe punishment.
I couldn’t help but laugh as the man screeched, but I figured it was time to end his suffering, so I flipped my sword in my hand, held it above my shoulder, and threw it like a spear.
My blade pierced right through the elf’s chest, and he hunched forward slightly as his mouth fell open and blood poured out.
Then I focused on my blade and used its magic to extend it to its full size.
The bandit’s whole body arched back as my blade expanded inside him so there was no doubt about whether his injuries would be fatal or not. The large male fell to the ground with a resounding thud, and blood seeped from under him to form a puddle around his torso.
I walked over and looked down at the dead bandit. His hands and parts of his face were terribly burned, and blood dripped from his mouth down to his throat. The poor bastard never stood a chance, though he didn’t know that.
My blade made a terrible schloop sound as I carefully pulled it from the man’s chest. The metal of my weapon was virtually indestructible, but I hadn’t quite gotten used to that yet, so I still felt the urge to try and protect it from any damage this guy’s bones might have done to it.
Once the blade was out, I wiped it on his tunic and then re-sheathed it as Blar landed on my shoulders.
Suddenly, I heard the girls laugh, so I walked around the side of the cart and saw them standing over the three dead bandits they’d taken out.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as I walked over to them.
“We were just laughing about a move Eira did,” Kas explained with a gesture at one of the men on the ground.
My eyebrows pulled together as I inspected the body. There was a huge gash in the man’s stomach where Eira had thrust her blade into him, but the more interesting thing was that where the man’s eyes should have been there was only blood and some terribly mushed up white substance I could only guess used to be his eyeballs.
“Mmm.” I nodded and wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, I’ve seen this before.”
“I figured you had,” Eira chuckled. “I’ve done this move many times before.”
“She just shoved her fingers right into his eye sockets!” Asta exclaimed with a shake of her head, and she glanced down to Eira’s hand. “It was terribly disturbing to watch.”
“What’s the matter?” the redhead teased with a half-smile. “Can’t stand a little mess?”
“I would simply prefer to not have eyeballs on my fingers,” Asta explained calmly. “I eat with my hands a lot.”
The white-haired elf girl may not want eyeballs on her fingers, but she didn’t seem to have a problem with the blood splattered across her face from battle.
“That’s a good point,” Eira laughed and wiped her fingers on her tunic.
“On a more positive note, Eira thought of a name for the new dragon,” Kas said with a smile, and it almost looked out of place on her face since she was the bloodiest of all the girls.
I glanced down to the dead men and found the one Kas had taken down. It was obvious because the man was nearly cut in half, and though Asta and Eira were great warriors, only Kas’ greatsword could do that much damage in one single swoop.
“Oh, is that right?” I asked as I turned my attention to the redheaded warband leader.
“She blew a flame right in this guy’s face as he came at me,” Eira said with a gesture at the dead man at her feet. “But then, once I’d taken him down, she rubbed her face against mine and made the sweetest little noises.”
“And?” I chuckled. “What’s her name?”
I didn’t think I’d ever heard Eira use the word ‘sweet’ until recently. She was usually a battle-hardened badass, but being around these dragons was bringing out the softer side in her, and I liked it.
“Svass.” Eira smiled, and the little yellow dragon cooed and nodded happily.
“Svass.” I grinned. “Or ‘sweet’ in the old language.”
“Right,” the redhead agreed.
“I think it’s very fitting,” Asta chimed in.
“Yes, me, too.” Kas smiled and reached out to stroke the little yellow dragon on Eira’s shoulder.
“Very fitting indeed,” I said, and I reached out to pet her as well.
“Alright, alright,” Eira said, and she playfully swatted mine and Kas’ hands away. “You’re going to get my hair all bloody.”
“She has eyeball juice on her fingers, but she’s worried about a little blood in her already red hair,” Kas laughed and jokingly rolled her eyes.
“That’s fine,” I chuckled and ignored Eira’s playful glares. “Anyway, we should grab what we can off these bandits and then head to our camp spot. It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”
The girls and I quickly looked over the bandits we’d just taken out and gathered up all the supplies we could find. They didn’t have much on them but a few silver and copper coins and their weapons, though we did find a small stash of supplies in the woods where they’d come from. It wasn’t much, just some elven bread, smoked meat, and jugs of water, but still, we took it all and loaded it into the cart.
After that was done, we moved the bodies of the men back behind the trees so they weren’t out in the open and hopped back in the cart.
“Well, that was exciting,” Eira said with a half-smile as we reached the field we’d been in the day before. “There’s never a dull moment with you all, is there?”
“I don’t think so,” I chuckled.
“I bet you’re glad you’re here with us rather than back in Asgard fighting all the time,” Asta said with a wide smile.
“She’s just fighting with us, too,” Kas pointed out with a laugh.
“Hm.” I pursed my lips. “You have been with us for a while. I’m sure you’ve been missed. Once we set up camp, I can have Blar make a portal so you can get home.”
“Oh, yes, we appreciate your help.” Kas nodded. “But we know you have other duties as well.”
“You’re a respected warband leader,” I added. “We don’t want to take you away from your duties.”
“Fuck my duties.” Eira smiled and reached up to pet the little yellow dragon still nestled in her hair. “You all won’t get rid of me that easily.”
“We’re not trying to get rid of you,” Kas chuckled.
“Good,” the redhead said. “Because I’m staying. I want to be here and be part of this. It’s far more important than any other mission I’ve ever been on. I probably should let the council know I’m staying, though, that way they can replace me for a while.”
“Oh, good!” Asta clapped and bounced up and down on her seat. “I’m glad you’re staying.”
“Me, too,” Eira agreed. “I wouldn’t miss being a part of this.”
I smiled at the redhead. Of course, I wanted her to stay, but I’d never ask that from her. She’d worked her way up to warband leader, and I didn’t want to be the reason why she left those duties. Still, I was glad she’d decided to stay. Not only did I like having her around, but she was a great asset as far as fighting went.
The warband leader had more experience than Asta and Kas, and though the two of them were learning quickly, Eira had hundreds of hours of battle experience to draw from.
We reached the field with the tall yellow grass, and the horse-like creatures navigated through it easily until we reached our campsite from the night before. There was a break in the grass near a wooded area where we’d set up camp, and I pulled the cart over to the trees and tugged on the reins to stop the animals.
“Asta and I can set up camp while you two run to the council,” Kas offered as we all climbed out of the cart.
“That’s probably a good idea.” I nodded. “No reason for all of us to go. Thank you.”
“Of course,” the strawberry-blonde said.
“We can make dinner, too,” Asta added with a wide smile.
“Don’t worry,” Kas laughed. “I’ll look up a spell so it tastes good.”
The two girls were terrible cooks, and this wouldn’t be the first time Kas looked up a spell to try and improve her cooking. It would kill two birds with one stone, though, so I didn’t mind eating cooking that had a little extra magic in it.
Blar’s paws hit my leg, and I looked down to see him stretched out and looking up at me with round blue eyes. He cocked his head to the side and blinked twice.
“I know,” I chuckled. “You’re hungry.”
“Why don’t you grab some of that smoked meat the bandits had,” Kas suggested. “It should tide him over for a little while at least.”
“Good idea,” I told her. “We shouldn’t be gone too long.”
I gathered up some meat from the cart and gave Blar a little piece. The sweet blue dragon gobbled it up within seconds and then looked to me for more.
“Wait your turn,” I told him, and I broke off pieces of meat for Inger and Uffe and a smaller piece for the little yellow dragon.
I held the food out so Svass could sniff it, and she hesitantly took the meat and held it in her little paws so she could pull bites off it.
“Why don’t you stay with Kas and Asta,” Eira said, and she gently pulled the little dragon down from her shoulders so she could look at her.
The little yellow female glanced around and then scurried back up Eira’s arm so she could bury herself in her hair once more.
“I think that’s a no,” Asta said seriously.
“I’d say so,” Eira laughed.
“She can come with us.” I smiled. “She doesn’t want to leave you.”
“As long as it’s okay with you,” the redhead said, and she turned her head to look at the little dragon and smile.
Eira clearly had a soft spot for the tiny creature, and it seemed the feeling was mutual. All of the dragons had taken to different members of my crew, and I couldn’t be happier.
Of course, I was their leader, and I could control them if need be, but they each matched one of the girls when it came to personality and fighting style.
Inger often rode on Asta’s shoulders and assisted her in battle. The elf girl tended to throw her weapons a lot, and Inger would retrieve them for her.
Uffe usually assisted Kas since the two of them were very grounded in their fighting styles. Kas didn’t use a lot of fancy maneuvers, instead, she rel
ied on the massive weight of her weapon. Uffe preferred an up-close physical battle as well since he used his earth manipulation as his main means of defense.
It looked like this new little dragon was going to bond with Eira, which was fine with me. That meant the warband leader was more likely to join our little group permanently, or at least for as long as it took to dismantle the dragon trade. Though, that could be years considering how widespread it was. I didn’t think a single realm didn’t have some form of the trade, and while not all the dragons who were captured were abused by the families that bought them, it should still be their choice.
The dragons I had were orphans, and I would take care of them for as long as they’d allow me to, but I also knew there could possibly come a day where they wanted to venture out on their own.
I wanted to make sure the world was safe for them when that happened.
“Alright,” I said after everyone had gotten a little bit of meat. “Blar, can you make us a portal?”
The little dragon stood up on his back legs and patted his tummy with his front paws.
“You want me to bribe you?” I asked with a laugh.
Blar patted his tummy once more.
“Alright,” I chuckled. “I suppose we did skip lunch today. I’ll give you a little more, but then we’ve got to go, okay?”
Blar leaned forward so he landed on his front paws, and then he looked up at me, smiled, and nodded.
“He really is a brat, isn’t he?” Eira laughed.
“Definitely,” I agreed.
Blar scoffed and turned away from us, but I just rolled my eyes and retrieved more meat from the cart, which he eagerly took from my hands. Apparently, he wasn’t too mad to accept my offering.
While the little dragons all ate their second piece of meat, I looked up at the evening sky. It was going to be dark soon, and I didn’t want to leave Kas and Asta alone for too long. I knew they were capable of taking care of themselves, and they’d have Inger and Uffe with them, too, but I still didn’t like the idea of the two of them alone at night.
They were my women, and I would do whatever I could to protect them at all costs, and that meant making sure they weren’t in an entirely different realm without me once the sun went down. We’d already encountered one set of bandits today, and I could only imagine there were more lurking in the area.