Dragons of Asgard 3

by Logan Jacobs

  I pulled my sword from his skull, and then I ran toward Kas and Asta. The two of them were holding their own against the three giants by working together with each other and the dragons, and I was proud of their efforts.

  Still, I wasn’t going to have them take on three opponents without some help, so I ran over to the group with my sword raised. I swung wide at the frost giant in the middle, and the other two branched off to attack Kas and Asta.

  The giant was quick, and he must have sensed me coming, because he dove forward and came up to look at me with a terrible snarl on his face.

  “You sonofabitch,” he said when he looked behind me and saw his buddy dead on the ground.

  “That’s me.” I grinned and reared my sword back again.

  “I’ll kill you,” the man roared as he ran toward me with his axe at the ready.

  Because of his size, he wasn’t very fast, and I easily stepped to the side to avoid his monstrous body so his momentum carried him forward onto the ice.

  Unfortunately, he landed in the room with the eggs, and I gritted my teeth as I tried to stay out of the cavern and lure him back into the hallway.

  Eira was still locked in battle with the other giant, but I could see he was bleeding from several wounds, so I knew it wouldn’t be too much longer before the redhead took him out for good.

  “Come and get me, you arsehole,” I taunted as a way to get him back into the tunnel and out of the cavern where the eggs were.

  The huge giant let out a war cry and pulled a dagger off his hip to throw it at me. I stepped to the side to dodge the blade, but that was all part of his plan, and as soon as he threw the dagger, he took off running toward me.

  I barely regained my composure from dodging his blade, and then he was right in front of me.

  He swung at me with his axe, and I nearly slipped on the ice since I was off balance from dodging the dagger a few seconds before.

  I held my sword up to block his axe, and the man snarled and pushed down even further so his face was just inches from mine.

  “Whatever you are, you’re going to pay for killing my brother,” he growled.

  “Oh, soo being a sick fuck runs in the family, eh?” I grunted as I held my blade steady against the force of his mighty arms.

  The man sneered again, and he pushed down with his axe even harder, but I was ready for him, and I waited until just the right second to push up with my blade and send him skidding back a few feet.

  The man wasted no time, though, and he immediately charged at me again.

  Thankfully, Blar had my back, and the little dragon released a monstrous fireball at the guy so he lost his footing and slammed into the wall. I worried the impact had sent some of the eggs flying, but I couldn’t concern myself with that right then. This was my opportunity to finish this arsehole off.

  Before he could regain his composure, I swung my sword and caught him across the chest. My weapon was powerful, but his skin was thick, so the blade only dug in an inch or so.

  The giant screamed out in pain, but I just yanked my sword back and immediately swung it again. I caught him on the first laceration, and this time, my sword dug deep and punctured a lung.

  Blood poured out from his wounds, and he leaned his head back against the ice wall as the red liquid leaked from his mouth down to his neck and chest.

  I heard another loud thud just after I delivered one final blow to the sonofabitch, and I glanced into the ice cavern to see the giant Eira had been fighting fall to the ground.

  “Shite,” she breathed, and she looked up at me. The redhead was covered in blood, but from her grin, I knew it was the giant’s blood and not her own.

  I glanced back to Kas and Asta behind me and saw the two of them had managed to take out their giants as well, and it looked like the little dragons had helped a great deal judging from the burn marks on the arseholes.

  “Everybody okay?” I asked.

  “We’re fine,” Kas assured me. She had blood splatter across her tunic and face, but I didn’t see any open wounds on her.

  “Yes, we’re okay.” Asta smiled, but I saw her put her hand behind her back.

  “Asta,” I said. “What’s going on?”

  “Oh, nothing,” the elf girl breathed.

  “Let me see your arm,” I commanded as I walked over to her.

  “It’s just a little tiny cut,” she said, and she held her arm out for me to see.

  The elf girl was right, the wound was incredibly small, but I still didn’t like her trying to keep it from everyone.

  “You need to tell us when you’re injured.” I frowned.

  “I know,” she sighed. “I just wanted to go check on the eggs first. My arm is fine.”

  “Here.” Kas walked over as she dug into her satchel, and then she pulled out some salve and rubbed it on Asta’s wound. “This will have that little cut healed in no time.”

  “Thank you.” The elf girl smiled.

  Then the girls and I headed into the cavern where Eira was, and I quickly looked around to assess the damage.

  “It doesn’t look like any of the eggs fell, thank goodness,” Eira said as she swiped some of the blood off her face. “I tried to be careful, but this arsehole didn’t seem to care either way.”

  “Mine didn’t, either,” I agreed.

  “You’d think they’d be more careful with their merchandise,” Kas muttered.

  I glanced around until I found the little dragon in the cage. He was still on the desk to my right, but the cage was knocked over now, and he was pressed up against the bottom of it in an effort to stay off the ice.

  “Oh, no.” Asta frowned as she followed me. “The poor little guy.”

  “Hi,” I said as we walked up. “We’re here to help. I’m going to get you out of here.”

  Just as I reached the table, Svass landed on it and looked up at me before she walked over to the cage.

  The little yellow dragon glanced back at me and frowned. I knew she was upset she’d given away our presence, but I simply smiled and reached down to stroke my hand down her back.

  I undid the door to the cage, but instead of reaching in, I allowed Svass to go inside and nuzzle the little dragon. He was bright green, with dark-blue eyes and a dark-blue belly to match. He was beautiful, but clearly scared, though Svass’ presence seemed to help with that.

  The little yellow female was trying to assure him it was alright, and I appreciated her desire to help. I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face as the little dragon followed Svass back out of the cage and onto the table.

  “Would you like to get on my shoulder?” I asked the little green male. “I know the ice is very cold.”

  “Here,” Kas said, and she pulled a scarf out of her bottomless satchel.

  “Thank you,” I told her as I took the scarf, laid it on the table, and then looked at the little dragon. “It’s okay, this will keep you warm.”

  The small green reptile hesitantly walked over to the scarf, sniffed it, and then curled up and laid down in it.

  Before I could even blink, Svass was right next to him, and she curled her yellow body around his to help keep him warm, though she was barely bigger than he was.

  “Good job,” I told her with a smile. “Can you two stay here for a little bit while we clean up and look around? We’ll get you to your family as soon as we’re done.”

  Svass nodded, and the little green dragon looked up at me with dark-blue eyes. Then he yawned and laid his head on Svass’ back.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” I chuckled.

  “There must be close to sixty eggs here.” Eira put her hands on her hips and shook her head as she looked around. “I can’t believe this.”

  “I know,” I agreed. “It’s awful.”

  “What should we do with all of them?” Kas asked as she bit her lip.

  “I don’t know yet.” I pursed my lips and looked down at the blood-soaked ground. “Let’s get these giants out of here first so we can lo
ok around.”

  “Good idea,” Eira said, and she grabbed onto one of the giant’s arms while Asta grabbed his legs.

  Kas and I handled the other giant, and soon the two of them were all out in the tunnel, and the room was clear except for the blood on the floor.

  I walked around and looked at the eggs on the shelves. There were so many, and each was uniquely beautiful. It was a shame to think they’d all been stolen away from their families. I couldn’t feel anything coming from them, so it seemed they were dormant, but just to be sure, I wanted to hold each egg before we tried to put them into storage.

  “What do you feel?” Kas asked, and she walked up behind me.

  “I don’t feel anything,” I said. “I think they’re dormant, at least for now. They’re in a deep sleep.”

  “That’s good, right?” the strawberry-blonde asked.

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “It’s hard to think anything about this is good.”

  “I understand,” she sighed.

  “I want to be the one to pack them,” I told her. “That way I can hold each of them and make sure they’re dormant.”

  “I think that’s a good idea.” Kas nodded. ‘“I know with magic, sometimes it’s better to touch something to sense its properties.”

  I nodded, but her use of the word magic gave me pause for a moment. I’d never considered myself magical, and it was still new for me to think I had any sort of abilities.

  Besides, I always felt magic was completely out of my reach, and that it would be something people had to work hard to achieve. My abilities with dragons came so naturally, there didn’t seem to be anything magical about it. At least, not to me.

  “Let’s see what else we can find around here,” I said.

  The girls dispersed and started to walk around the small, icy room to try and find anything that would give us some inkling as to what the Elf King was up to. This seemed like such a strange place to keep dragon eggs, and I wondered if the cold helped them go into a dormant state. It might make sense, considering dragons were typically fire-breathing creatures who liked heat. Perhaps this was why the frost giants had brought them here in the first place, because their home made a great place to store dragon eggs.

  There were at least ten shelves in the dome-like area of the cavern, and each shelf was packed with dragon eggs leaned up against each other. As I walked around, I admired each egg and imagined its family and where it came from.

  Even with how many eggs there were here, though, I still didn’t see any speckled ones like Blar’s egg had been.

  In all of our travels, and with how many dragons we’d saved, I figured I would have found at least one egg that looked like his, or one other dragon with his same shape, but I still had yet to come across any that looked even remotely similar to him.

  All the dragons we’d seen looked like Inger and Uffe. Of course, each of them was beautiful and wonderful, but I still wondered where Blar came from.

  The only other dragon that looked remotely like him was Nidhug, and nobody in all the realms knew where he came from, not with how old he was.

  The room we were in was small, and with how it was built, I couldn’t imagine there were any secret areas, but then again, I hadn’t expected there to be a cavern at the end of this tunnel, either. So, I looked all around to see if I could spot anything that might lead to somewhere else, but I didn’t see any other doors besides the one we’d come through.

  Suddenly, Blar landed on my shoulder, and I could sense the little dragon’s sadness. He wrapped his lower half around me and clipped his back feet on my hip to steady himself as I reached up and rubbed his chin.

  “I know, buddy,” I told him with a smile. “But we’re going to get them back home.”

  As much as I could sense Blar’s emotions and understand him, I didn’t know exactly what he was thinking, and I wondered if he was thinking about his own history, just like I was. The little dragon had to wonder where he came from, especially since I’d been boiling him to eat when he hatched.

  Then again, I had no idea how long ago he’d been stolen, so I didn’t know if he was able to recall anything before he hatched.

  The little dragon we’d just taken back to Alfheim from the council’s chambers had been able to feel inside of his shell, but he’d also been incredibly close to hatching.

  There was no way to tell when Blar was stolen, it could’ve been centuries ago for all I knew, but I wouldn’t let that stop me from trying to find his family.

  Of course, I was his family, and he was mine, and something deep inside told me we were meant to be together, but I thought he deserved to at least know where he came from.

  “Rath,” Asta said, and her voice cracked with emotion.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, and I rushed over to where the white-haired elf girl sat on the floor.

  I knelt down next to her and saw a light-pink egg on her lap, and she looked up at me with golden eyes filled with tears.

  “It’s cracked,” she sniffled, and she turned the egg slightly so I could see a huge break in the shell on the side of it.

  “Fuck,” I breathed.

  “Is the baby okay?” Asta asked, and she bit her lip to try and hold back tears.

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head.

  “What are we going to do?” the elf girl asked as a hot tear ran down her cheek.

  “We’re going to fix it,” I told her.

  I just wasn’t sure how yet.

  Chapter 18

  “What’s going on?” Eira asked as she and Kas crowded around us.

  “The egg is cracked,” I said, and I held the little pale-pink egg up for them to see.

  “Oh, no,” Kas breathed, and she lifted her hand to cover her mouth.

  “Can you fix it?” Eira asked.

  “I’ve never tried to heal a broken egg.” I pursed my lips. “I can try, though.”

  “What about you, Kas?” Eira asked. “If Rath can’t fix it, can you?”

  “I’ve never healed a broken egg, either,” the strawberry-blonde said, but she took a deep breath and looked at the redhead. “But I’ll try my best.”

  “Rath, you should try first,” Asta pushed.

  “Yes, your powers revolve around dragons,” Kas added. “It would make sense you’d be able to heal them, too.”

  “Aren’t healing powers totally different?” Eira asked.

  “You might be right.” Kas pursed her lips again. “I’m not sure.”

  “I’ll try,” I said. “But Kas, you should look up a spell just in case.”

  “I’m on it,” the sorceress replied, and she rushed over to her satchel and pulled out her spell book.

  I held the little egg in my hands and gently stroked the intact portion of the shell with my fingers. Then I closed my eyes and focused on the energy of the egg, but I couldn’t feel anything. I wasn’t sure if the baby was dormant, or if he was gone, but until I had proof it was the latter, I’d treat it like the former.

  I’d never tried to heal anything in my life, and I wasn’t even sure I had that ability. All of this was incredibly new to me still, but I needed to do something.

  I took a deep breath and let it out as I focused all my energy on the egg. I imagined the shell being fused back together where it was broken, but when I opened my eyes, nothing had changed.

  “Did you try?” Asta asked, and she looked at me with hopeful golden eyes.

  “I did.” I nodded slowly. “I don’t think I have the ability to heal him.”

  “Could you hatch him?” the elf girl asked.

  “Hold on,” Eira said. “Let’s give Kas a chance to heal him first.”

  “How do we know it’s a him?” Kas asked as she returned to the group.

  “I guess we don’t.” Asta cocked her head to the side and looked at me. “Do you know, Rath?”

  “I’m afraid not.” I frowned. “I can’t tell. I think he’s dormant in there.”

  “You don’t feel an
ything?” Asta asked, and her white eyebrows raised up into her forehead with surprise and concern.

  “I don’t,” I sighed.

  “Do you think that means…” Eira’s voice trailed off as she shook her head.

  “I’m going to take it to mean the baby is dormant,” I said decisively. “Nothing more.”

  “Understood.” The redhead nodded.

  “I found something that might help,” Kas said. “It’s for healing animals. I can’t find a spell specifically for healing cracked eggs, so I think this is our best bet.”

  “Alright,” I agreed, and I looked down at the pale-pink egg and then back to the sorceress. “What do we need to do?”

  “You should keep holding the egg,” Kas said. “I can draw from your power to heal it.”

  “Okay.” I nodded.

  “Let me get a couple of things,” the strawberry-blonde said, and she dug in her satchel and pulled out the two large red dragon scales she used to practice her magic when we first met. She usually didn’t need them anymore, but I could feel how nervous she was and how much she wanted this spell to work, so I couldn’t blame her for pulling out everything she could to try and help it along.

  Kas also brought out a small red amulet, along with the healing salve she’d put on Asta just a little while earlier.

  “I think I’m ready,” she said with a nod, and then her violet eyes locked on mine. “Just hold still.”

  “I'll do my best,” I assured her, and I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

  Even though I knew I wasn’t helping as far as the healing went, I focused on the small egg in my hands and once again imagined the crack healing.

  After a moment, I heard Kas start to mutter in the old language, and I instinctively opened my eyes. All around me was a flurry of red sparkles, and they floated quietly and serenely on their own. Then, slowly, they came together in one long strand of magic.

  The red flecks floated down to the egg and wrapped around the shell, and I watched as the pale-pink egg lit up with a faint red glow. Whatever Kas was doing, it looked like it was working, and I held my breath as I waited for the crack to heal.