by Logan Jacobs
snack.
“Come on, Blar,” I laughed, and the little reptile wobbled back toward
the cart.
When we got back in, I offered our driver an apple. He was hesitant at
first, but then he took it and flashed me a quick smile.
“Here,” he said, and he passed me a scroll. “The Elders instructed me
to give you this.”
“Thank you,” I replied, and I leaned back between the girls to unwrap
the paper.
It was a map of the world of the light elves, and Asta looked it over as
we traveled to the portal.
“Do you know where it is?” Kas asked.
“I do,” Asta agreed. “At least, I know the area. It is a place common
for dragons to make their nests.”
“How do the Elders know about this?” I mused.
“You don’t think they’re sending us to steal baby dragons from their
mother, do you?” Asta worried, and she bit her lip as she looked up at me.
“They said to prepare for a fight,” Kas said with a frown. “But I don’t
think they would do that.”
“I can’t be so sure,” Asta muttered and shook her head.
“Would you trust the elders in your home world?” Kas asked.
“That is not how our world works,” the elf girl answered.
“What do you mean?” I wondered.
“We do not have elders like you do,” Asta answered. “Our world has
rules, and if someone breaks them, they are put on trial, but we are not as
secretive as your people.”
“Well, I trust the council.” Kas shrugged. “Maybe you’d feel
differently if they were your own people.”
“Perhaps,” Asta allowed, but I could tell she wasn’t convinced.
We were almost to the Bifrost, then, and I still tended to side with Asta
more. I wasn’t sure about the council, since it seemed incredibly odd and
convenient they knew so much about where these dragon eggs were. How
many of them did they have already? And for what purpose?
“Kas,” I said. “Can you do a protection spell for us on top of our
armor?”
“Of course,” the blonde sorceress agreed, and she reached into her
satchel to pull out the dragon scales she’d found in the world of the light
elves the last time we were there.
Kas whispered to herself while the three of us held hands in the back of
the cart, and a moment later, a flash of light surrounded us then disappeared
just as quickly.
“That should help,” she said with a smile. “It won’t protect us from
everything, but this plus the armor should be enough to save us from any
great injuries.”
“Thank you,” I replied, and I leaned over and kissed her forehead.
We arrived a few minutes later, and I hopped out of the cart and
thanked the driver.
“We received orders to usher you through,” the guard at the Bifrost
called out, so the girls and I ran over to the stone circle and stood in the
center of it. Then the male pulled a lever, and suddenly we were overtaken by
a rainbow of light.
A second later, we landed in Asta’s home world.
“I feel so rushed,” Kas grumbled as she shook her mane of curls and
several more came loose from her braids.
“They said this was time sensitive,” I reminded her, and then I turned
to Asta. “Lead the way.”
“This way,” Asta said, and she took off through the forest to our right.
This was definitely not the place Kas and I had landed in the first time,
though the scenery looked similar. The trees around us now bloomed with
pinks and reds instead of the yellow, purple, and white flowers we’d seen
before, and the ground around us this time was dirt instead of grass.
The world was still magnificently beautiful. The ground was soft
beneath my feet, and the trees gave off a lovely floral scent, but I didn’t have
time to focus on any of it. I had to figure out what was so urgent that we’d been forced to leave with so little instruction.
As we ran, I looked through the trees, and every so often, I saw
dragon’s nests like the one Kas and I had seen before, but they were more
broken down and looked as though they’d been there for a while.
Asta must have been correct, we were in a nesting area of some sort.
“It should be just ahead,” the elf girl called back as she darted through
the trees. She ran so quickly it was almost difficult to keep up with her, but I
pushed on until I saw her come to an abrupt halt in front of me.
I skidded to a stop, and Kas crashed into me from behind.
“What is--” Kas started to ask, but Asta turned around with wide eyes
and put her finger to her lips to silence us.
A loud growl sounded up ahead of us, and the hair on the back of my
neck stood up.
I slowly made my way to the tree line and looked out. There was a
large clearing with a nest inside, but to the right of the nest laid a large red
dragon. The creature’s throat had been bitten badly, and it stared up at the sky
with lifeless eyes. It was hard to see such a majestic creature like that, but the
most terrifying part of it all was the massive wolf that stood above its body.
The beast was at least ten feet tall on all fours, and twice as long. It had
glowing red eyes and giant claws at the end of its massive paws. The elders had said to be prepared for a fight, and they weren’t kidding. This thing had
just taken out a dragon, which I was sure was not an easy task.
As I watched, the great wolf started to walk toward the nest, and I
noticed then there were two red eggs in there. No wonder it wasn’t eating the
dragon, it was only after the eggs.
I looked at Blar on my shoulder, and the little dragon stared back at me
with narrowed eyes before he nodded quickly.
Just as the wolf placed one foot into the nest, I ran forward with my
axe up, ready to attack the giant beast. I hopped over the branches and leaves
that made up the nest and swung my axe up in a wide arc, but the wolf darted
back with a blur-like movement, and I just barely grazed under its chin.
I had to have made contact, though, because I saw a couple drops of
blood fall from its muzzle, and it looked up at me with glowing red eyes full
of anger. Then it let out a low snarl, which revealed its pink gums and giant
razor-sharp fangs.
I should have been terrified, but I wasn’t.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and I was ready to take on this
beast. I wouldn’t allow it to eat these innocent eggs. It had already killed their
mother, so there was no way I’d allow it to rid the world of another dragon.
“Come on, you sonofabitch,” I breathed and gritted my teeth.
Blar let out a little bark then and leaned forward on my shoulder. I
knew he was upset about the situation as well, and I wasn’t about to prevent
him from getting revenge for his own kind.
Then something strange happened.
Another brother, eh?
I looked around in bewilderment. Who had said that?
A stupid brother.
The voice spoke again, and as the wolf snapped his maw at me, I
realized then that it was him speaking into my head.
“Who are you?” I asked, and the wolf and I stared
at each other.
Your father never told you of his son Fenrir? the voice scoffed.
“My father?” I asked, and now I was doubly confused about what in
the hell was happening.
Why do the stupid ones always get the good powers? the voice
growled.
“Fuck you,” I spat, and I raised my axe higher. I didn’t know what the
hell was happening, but I wasn’t going to let this strangeness distract me.
“Come on, let’s get this over with.”
The voice laughed in my head, and the sound seemed to fill my brain.
What the hell was this?
Feisty. I like that. Though Father should have given me the dragon
magic. As I said, always the stupid ones with the good powers.
Could the wolf see through Blar’s disguise? I shook the thought away,
though, because it didn’t matter.
I had a mission.
“Prepare to fight, beast!” I hollered, and I took a wider fighting stance
while Blar leaned forward on my shoulder and hissed low at the creature.
The voice laughed in my head again, and the deep sound reverberated
through my brain.
If you insist, the wolf said.
The beast charged at me, then, and I tucked and rolled out of the way
and landed on my feet. I swung my axe in a wide arc toward the creature’s
side, but he bounced out of the way before I could make contact.
You’re a bit better than I expected, the voice in my head growled. But
not good enough.
The giant wolf lunged at me with a snarl, and I tucked and rolled again,
but this time I moved my body forward and landed underneath him. I slid my
axe down his torso, but he was quick to let out a yelp and jump away, so I
only managed to make about a two-foot cut.
Still, his bright red blood stained the ground, and a smirk spread across
my face.
“What was that about not being good enough?” I taunted, which only
served to piss the beast off, since it snarled low, then ran at me with its head
down.
Before I could react, the wolf crashed into me and flung me backward
into the trees. I crashed into some branches and fell down with a loud thud.
When I scrambled to my feet, I looked to Blar on my shoulder to make sure
he was alright, and he barked and leaned forward.
I smiled at the small dragon, and then I ran toward the wolf as it
snarled at me and raised its haunches.
“Blar, right!” I commanded as I ran, and the little dragon hopped down
from my shoulder and darted to the right.
The wolf laughed in my head again, then sprang after Blar, but the
little dragon knew the plan already, and he turned around and unleashed a
huge blue flame right in the wolf’s face. It was a larger flame than I’d ever
seen him produce, and I was impressed with his skills and how much he’d
grown.
The wolf groaned and skidded backward, which played right into my
plan. I was right behind him, and once he got within striking range, I swung my blade and caught his shoulder. My weapon carved a huge gash into the
beast’s flesh, and blood splayed outward and landed in an arc on the ground.
The pink muscle of the wolf’s shoulder was exposed now, and a flap of skin
hung down from where I’d made contact.
The wolf let out a loud yowl of pain, and the leg connected to his
shoulder collapsed.
The beast looked at his shoulder, then at me with glowing red eyes, but
I just raised my axe and smirked at him.
I’d kill you right now, but I wouldn’t want to upset Father. The wolf
barred his long fangs and snarled at me. You’ll only get lucky this once,
though, remember that. See you next time, brother.
The wolf raised its head and let out a loud howl. Then it darted into the
trees, and I was left standing dumbfounded in the nest.
Blar ran over to me, then, and I scratched under his chin and
congratulated him on a job well done, though I still was unsure of what had
just happened.
“Rath!” Kas hollered as she and Asta ran toward me. “What just
happened?”
“I don’t know,” I said, and my eyebrows pinched together in
confusion.
“Were you talking to it?” Asta asked.
“I think the wolf was talking to me,” I said. “I could hear its voice in
my head.”
“Strange,” Kas muttered as she looked at me. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her, but then I remembered the eggs I’d been
protecting and turned around in the nest.
The two red eggs still sat, untouched, and I moved closer to them and
knelt down. They were exactly the same size, and the same color. Both eggs
were a vibrant crimson, and the light reflected off them and made them that
much brighter.
“They’re twins,” Asta breathed as she knelt down next to me.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“It’s rare for eggs to be the exact same color,” she explained. “I’ve
looked in many discarded nests and rarely seen the same colored eggs.”
“Interesting,” I murmured, and I stared at the two eggs in front of me. I
could sense Asta was right, though. These eggs gave off the same energy
somehow. It was as if they weren’t separate entities, but rather one large one
in two shells.
Blar hopped down from my shoulder, then, and walked over to sniff
them.
“Since there’s two, you should keep one,” Asta suggested suddenly,
and she looked at me seriously.
“Keep one?” Kas gasped. “The elders sent us here to get them.”
“They said ‘another egg to be collected,’” Asta corrected. “They think
there was only one. We should keep the other.”
“No,” Kas insisted, and she shook her head vigorously. “We need to
turn them over to the elders.”
“Why?” the elf girl inquired. “Why should they get them both?”
“They told us to get them,” Kas said with a frown. “Just because
there’s an extra one doesn’t mean we should just keep it all for ourselves.”
“I think it means exactly that,” Asta scoffed.
“Enough,” I cut in before they could argue further.
I’d stared at the eggs the whole time they were bickering, and I knew I
couldn’t separate them, but I also knew I couldn’t give them to the elders.
“Rath?” Kas asked, and she looked at me with curious violet eyes.
“What are we going to do?”
I considered the question for a long moment, and then I took a deep
breath.
“We’re keeping both of them,” I decided, and I put the two eggs into
my satchel.
Chapter 16
“What do you mean we’re keeping both of them?” Kas asked as she
stared at me with wide purple eyes.
“Yes,” Asta giggled as she clapped her hands. “Good choice. Rath
deserves all the eggs.”
“We can’t give them to the council,” I told Kas. “I’m not sure what
they’re up to, but all this dragon business with them is strange, I don’t trust
it.”
“What are we going to do with them?” the sorceress asked, and she
stared at my satchel as Blar crawled in on top of the eggs.
“We’re going
to do what we were going to do before,” I told her with a
smile. “We’re going to hatch them.”
“The elders know about Blar, though,” she said. “Don’t you think
they’ll notice more dragons around?”
“We’ll keep them hidden,” I assured her. “At least until we know what
the council is up to. We need to figure out how they know so much about
where these eggs are and why they have so many to begin with.”
“Okay,” Kas finally agreed, but her brow was still furrowed with
concern. “I am bound to you, so it is my duty to do as you say.”
“But you still don’t agree?” I asked her.
“I do not want to defy the council,” she admitted with a heavy sigh,
“but you are my mate, my lover, and the source of my magic. I shall give you
all of me. As I said before, I am yours to command.”
“Good,” I said as I leaned over to kiss her sweet mouth, and she
moaned gratefully as her tongue danced with mine.
“Also…” Kas muttered once our lips had parted. “I am a bit curious
about these eggs. So, what’s the plan to keep them from the council and hatch
them?””
“Get out your map,” I instructed. “We need to find the nearest portal to
Asgard. I don’t want to risk going through the Bifrost, since they could
search us when we arrive.”
“Good idea,” Asta said. “We should hide the eggs before we speak to
the council again.”
“Alright,” Kas murmured, and she pulled the map out of her satchel.
“How will we know if the portal leads to Asgard, though?”
“We won’t,” I said. “But Blar will, so we’ll ask him when we get
there.”
“I trust you,” Kas sighed. “But I am still worried for us.”
“I know,” I said, and I put my hand on her shoulder. “But it will be
fine.”
Kas nodded and looked down at the map.
A couple of minutes later, we arrived at the closest portal to us, but
Blar shook his head, so we moved to the next. That one took us to Asgard,
near the countryside, and from there we made our way to my house to hide
the eggs before anyone knew of our return.
After the eggs were safely tucked under my bed, we went back through
the portal to Asta’s home world, then went back to Asgard via the Bifrost. I
didn’t want the elders to get suspicious of why we hadn’t come home by the
Bifrost, so I thought it was the safer bet.