by Logan Jacobs
“It’s good they know that,” Eira said. “That way they can be here in case we bring their babies back, but it’s also incredibly sad to think of them sitting here just waiting and hoping it’s their baby we have today.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I sighed, and I glanced into the valley at all the other females who were gathered around and shook my head. I only had the two babies today, but I would come back with more. I wouldn’t stop until all of these families were reunited.
The large brown-colored male seemed to smile as he turned back to me and bowed his massive head.
“We’ll be back soon with more babies,” I told him. “It’s good the mothers are here, this is where we’ll bring whatever little ones we find.”
He let out another huff, and I felt his breath hit my chest and face before I nodded back and led the girls back up the path.
“Where are we headed now?” Eira asked.
“Back home,” I said with a shake of my head. “We need to figure out a plan for the elf King.”
“Right,” the redhead agreed, and her fingers flexed like he was imagining wrapping them around the elf King’s throat. “I can’t wait to get my hands on that arsehole.”
“That won’t be as easy as you might think.” Preyna shook her head.
“I’m sure it won’t be,” I sighed.
“I will stay a while and help you all come up with a plan,” the sorceress said. “I don’t have any duties at the castle for the next couple of days while Odin prepares for his party.”
“That would be very helpful,” I said.
Blar opened a portal for us, and we all stepped through into the courtyard. The first thing I noticed was our cart was there, which was surprising since we’d left it at Ramir’s the day before.
The old man must have figured out a way to deliver it to our home, and I appreciated him for it.
It was still somewhat early in the day, but it had been a while since breakfast, so I got a fire going and gathered up some vegetables from the garden, as well as some smoked meat and elven bread from the cart.
“Alright,” I said once I got the food on the flames. “We’ll have to be extremely careful as we go after the elf King.”
“Yes.” Preyna nodded. “We can’t cause any issues between Alfheim and Asgard. The two realms are at peace right now, and it needs to stay that way, at least for the time being.”
“Right,” Eira agreed. “We don’t want to let the elf King know we’re coming after him.”
“Not yet, at least,” I said with a cocky smile.
“Hmm.” The redhead pursed her lips. “As much as I want to take out that arsehole, I don’t think we should attack yet.”
“What do you mean?” Kas asked.
“Yes, we have to do something,” Asta pushed with a frown. “He has dragons trapped in his dungeon.”
“I know.” Eira nodded. “And we’ll get them out, but right now, we don’t know enough about our opponent to attack.”
“Eira’s right,” I sighed. “We need to do some reconnaissance and see what we’re up against.”
“You mean we need to go snooping around the castle?” Kas asked.
“If we can get into the castle, that would be ideal,” I said.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Preyna said with a smirk. “I’ll come with.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You’ve already been with us a day.”
“As I said, Odin is preparing for a party,” Preyna explained. “He’s always greatly distracted during this time. I assure you, he won’t miss me at all.”
“Alright,” I agreed. “We’ll go tonight, then.”
“Perfect.” The golden-haired sorceress smiled.
“We can cast another invisibility spell,” Kas said, and Preyna nodded in agreement.
“That would be great,” I told the two of them. “We’ll split up and figure out what we can about why the elf King has dragons in the first place. There’s got to be some sort of reason.’
“Maybe he’s just an arsehole.” Eira shrugged and twisted her face to show her disgust.
“He’s definitely an arsehole,” I chuckled. “But something tells me that’s not the whole story. There has to be a reason he’s acquiring so many dragons.”
“You’re right,” Eira agreed, and her emerald eyes narrowed. “He’s up to something.”
“Exactly,” I said. “We’ll go tonight and see exactly what that something is.”
The girls nodded, and I smiled at them and then pulled our food off the fire.
Everyone was quiet while we ate, and afterward, they dispersed to practice on their own. Kas and Preyna sat together in the grass, and every once in a while, I saw some gold and red sparkles floating around them as they worked on their craft.
Eira sharpened her blade, and then she used one of the trees around the courtyard to practice slicing and stabbing while Svass flew around her and blasted the makeshift opponent with her fire.
I noticed the little dragon had great control over her fire power. She was able to hold streams of flame for extended periods of time, or shoot out small fireballs that propelled toward her enemy with great force. I was impressed with her skills, especially given how young she was, and I was sure her fire would be her greatest asset when it came to battle.
Asta practiced casting rain, sunshine, and snow over her blade midair so it turned into different weapons. She could transform the thin sword into an axe and two daggers, then back to her blade all in one smooth motion. She continuously improved her skills, and it was a joy to watch her grow as a warrior, especially since I’d trained her myself.
Blar and Inger flew around the courtyard in a sort of play practice while Uffe stayed on the ground and hurtled rocks at them. The three of them seemed to be having more fun than anything, but it was good practice all the same, so I let them enjoy their day and relax a little bit.
My blade was enchanted to never go dull, so I didn’t have to worry about sharpening it, but I did practice throwing it and altering the length mid-air. I’d already mastered the skill, so I didn’t need too much practice, but it was always good to stay sharp.
It was also a good distraction from thinking about our plans that evening. I could barely wait until nightfall so we could make our way into the King’s palace and figure out what he was doing with all these dragons.
Unlike the dealers in the area, he didn’t need money, so there was no true reason he would need to be involved in the dragon trade. And if he wanted them as pets, he wouldn’t need so many all at once since it would be better to keep one or two and train them.
No, there was something else going on, and I intended to find out exactly what it was.
While I threw my weapon over and over again, I wracked my brain to try and figure out what the King was up to. He had such a large hand in the dragon trade, and part of me thought he was behind the whole thing in a simple attempt to make more coin. It wasn’t unheard of for the rich to become greedy and unable to think about anything but money.
Still, my gut told me that wasn’t it, but I wasn’t sure what else it could be.
It seemed like forever until the sun began its descent toward the horizon, but as soon as twilight began, I gathered the girls up so Preyna and Kas could cast their invisibility spell.
Once that was done, Blar made us a portal, and we stepped through into Alfheim.
It was time to see what the King was up to.
Chapter 12
We hadn’t been to the palace before, Blar had only seen it on the map, but his portal was surprisingly accurate. As soon as I stepped through, I realized we were in the courtyard of the palace, and I was incredibly relieved we’d applied our invisibility spell before we left Asgard.
“Good going, Blar,” I whispered to the little dragon.
“The entrance is right up there,” Asta said with a point to our left.
“Alright,” I said. “Once we’re inside, we split up.”
“Right,” Eira agreed. “Kas and Asta are with me.”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Here, take this.”
I pulled the amulet Preyna had given me from my chest and handed it to Eira.
“If you find anything, simply hold the amulet and think of Rath,” Preyna explained.
“Got it,” the redhead said, and she cast me a surprisingly flirty wink. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”
Though we were invisible, I’d made sure to split us up strategically. Preyna was new to missions like this, so she was with me, while Eira was with Kas and Asta because she was an incredible warrior while the other two were still learning. I had Blar, but the girls had Inger, Uffe, and Svass. This way, everyone was protected in case something went wrong.
I didn’t anticipate that happening, but it was always better to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“We’ll try to find the dungeon,” Kas said.
Asta pursed her lips and looked down. I’d asked her earlier if she could get us down there, but she wasn’t sure how to get there, and she’d looked so upset by the question, I wasn’t going to push the issue. I couldn’t blame her for forgetting how to get to the place she’d been held captive.
On top of that, I doubted she’d been taken to the dungeon through the front doors, so it made sense she wouldn’t know how to get there.
“Try not to touch anything,” I reminded them.
“We’ll use the amulet if we find anything that needs your attention,” Kas assured me.
“Good.” I nodded and took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”
The girls followed me up the palace steps and around to the side of the building where we found a set of double doors that weren’t guarded.
We made our way inside, and we were careful to not make a sound as we closed the door behind us.
Once we were in the palace, I nodded to Eira, and she, Kas, and Asta slipped off down the hallway to the right while Preyna and I headed to the left.
The palace was made of beautiful white and golden marble, with floors to match. There were some golden rugs down the length of the hallways, along with numerous paintings of past Kings.
I noticed most of the past Kings had families, however, the current King did not. In lieu of a family portrait, there was another painting of him sitting near a huge fireplace with a portrait of himself hung on the mantle.
He had golden hair that hung down to his shoulders, with sunken in dark-green eyes and a long, dignified nose. Based off the fireplace, he was fairly tall, with long, lanky limbs, and he had the longest, most disgusting fingernails I’d ever seen.
“How conceited,” Preyna whispered as we stopped to look at the picture.
“You have to be conceited to think your life is above that of another living, sentient being,” I sneered.
I hadn’t liked this arsehole already, but this painting made it even worse. The elf King was not only completely self-obsessed, he was also a lunatic. No ruler in their right mind would put up a portrait of themselves standing next to another portrait of themselves.
Part of me couldn’t decide whether it was sad, or just plain stupid. Maybe there was something wrong with this guy. Perhaps he belonged in the part of the realm we’d been in a few days before, where those who were ostracized by society were sent.
Then again, even if he did belong there, nobody would have admitted it. That was the problem with royalty from what I’d seen over the years in the warband. Even when rulers were absolutely awful, it took an uprising to get them out of their position since they felt it was a given right to be there.
No matter how awful this man had been, his parents would have given him the throne regardless.
I shook my head at the ways of royalty and kept moving through the hallway.
Preyna and I made it to the front room, and there were two guards posted near the door. Each of them wore a black tunic with a golden waistband that held the sheath for their greatswords.
I glanced back at Preyna, and the sorceress nodded to me with focused brown eyes before we carefully slipped by the guards.
As much as I would have liked to snap their necks right then, we needed to remain invisible for the time being. We had to figure out what the elf King was up to, and if he knew his palace was under attack, he was bound to immediately hide whatever he was doing with the dragons.
I wanted to find the dungeon, but I made sure to take note of everything as we made our way through the castle.
The palace was eerily quiet as we used the moonlight to navigate the hallways, and just when I was about to turn around and head another direction, I noticed two double doors at the far end of the hall.
A tall plant adorned either side of them, but what caught my attention was a large seal set between the two doors. It was golden, and on it was a strange sigil I hadn’t seen before. It looked almost like elf ears, with a tree in the middle of them.
“The seal of the elf King,” Preyna whispered.
“That must be his study,” I said, and I waved for her to follow me as I headed toward the end of the hall.
We reached the doors, and I was about to push them open when Preyna put her hand on mine to stop me. For a brief second, a spark of electricity shot up my hand at her touch, but I took a deep breath to steady myself.
“Wait,” Preyna said, and she closed her eyes and gently pressed her hand against the door.
Golden sparkles spread out from her palm to cover the entire door before they disappeared a second later.
“Okay.” The sorceress nodded. “It should be safe now.”
There was a small creaking sound as the door opened, and I held my breath and put my hand on my sword, ready for guards to swarm the area, but nothing happened.
Preyna’s light-brown eyes caught mine, and after a brief pause, we entered the study and closed the door behind us.
The large chambers had a bookshelf on one wall and a desk near the other. There were several more shelves behind the desk, and each was adorned with various dragon paraphernalia. There were paintings of eggs, golden plated dragon claws on display, and the jawbone of an adult dragon nearly took up the entire length of the wall above the shelves.
“What is all this?” Preyna asked.
Blar glared at the display and then turned his head away.
“I know, buddy,” I said, and I reached up to stroke under his chin before I turned to Preyna. “I don’t like this. I didn’t think he’d be so blatant about his obsession with dragons.”
“I doubt it seems odd to anybody who visits,” Preyna said, and she pursed her lips. “This realm is known to be the home of dragons, so it probably looks completely normal. I’m sure visitors assume he’s simply proud of his home realm.”
“You’re right.” I nodded. “If only everyone knew what he was really involved in.”
“Yes,” Preyna said, and she looked around the room curiously. “I know you wanted to find the dungeon, but do you think we can find anything in here to help us?”
“We’ll try,” I told her. “Help me look around.”
“Of course,” the blonde sorceress replied, and she walked over to the bookcase and ran her fingers along the spines of the volumes.
While she searched that side of the room, I made my way over to the desk and rummaged around. I tried the shelves first, but I didn’t see anything other than what was blatantly on them, and my nose wrinkled as I took in the sight of the dragon carcass on display, so I moved to the drawers of the desk.
The first couple of drawers proved to be nothing more than some deeds for other properties and a list of people held in the dungeon and their offenses. Some of them were entirely petty, such as speaking ill of the King, but I just shook my head, put the paper back, and moved on.
I pulled open the top right-hand drawer, saw it was only ornate pens and trinkets, and then closed it again.
When I opened the drawer below it, however, my interest piqued. A piece of paper sat face up, and across the top were the wor
ds ‘Ancient Stories of Dragons and their Origins.’
I reached for the paper, only to realize there was a large stack underneath it, so I pulled out the entire sheaf and set it on the desk.
Blar hopped from my shoulder onto the work surface and sniffed at the papers as I rifled through them.
There had to be hundreds of pages regarding dragon lore, and my eyebrows pulled together as I thumbed through them and quickly scanned the words.
“What is he up to?” I wondered aloud.
“What did you find?” Preyna asked, and the blonde sorceress made her way over to the desk so she could look at the papers. “What is this? Dragon lore?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “A lot of it.”
“Shouldn’t he know about dragons?” Preyna asked. “Why would he have this?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, but just then, I flipped over a page and saw the words ‘Garm’ and ‘Helheim,’ so I stopped and picked up the paper.
“What is it?” Preyna asked as I scanned the document.
“It’s instructions,” I muttered.
“Instructions for what?” the sorceress asked.
“How to get someone out of Helheim,” I said, and I turned the paper around for her to see.
“What in the world,” Preyna breathed as she took the page and looked it over.
I continued to thumb through the pages, and I found more suspicious works. There were pages and pages of documents concerning Vinrar, his crimes against dragons, and his punishment.
There were also documents outlining how the sonofabitch had forced dragons into submission.
“Is that about Vinrar?” Preyna asked as she read over my shoulder.
“It is,” I whispered, and her light-brown eyes locked on mine.
“Rath,” she said, and her voice was so quiet I wasn’t even sure she’d spoken at all except for her lips moving. “You don’t think…”
“He’s trying to figure out how to free Vinrar,” I said through gritted teeth.
“It can’t be,” Preyna gasped, but she looked down at the papers with incredulous brown eyes.
“It has to be.” I shook my head. “This sonofabitch is trying to free Vinrar and train the dragons just like he did.”