by Logan Jacobs
The next morning, I woke to Blar landing on my chest with a small
thud that almost knocked the breath out of me.
“Blar!” Kas laughed. “I told you to wake him up, not jump on him.”
“I’m alright,” I chuckled as I sat up and scratched under Blar’s chin.
I smelled something delicious then and saw Kas and Asta had a couple
of pans on the fire.
The twins came up to me as I stretched, and all three dragons crowded
around me. Blar rolled over in my lap so I could rub his belly, then Inger
rubbed her neck and head against my arm until I reached down and stroked
her back. Uffe waited patiently for his turn, so once I had finished petting the
other two, I grabbed him up and held him in my arms for a moment while he
rubbed his face against my beard. My little friends were obviously starved for
attention, so I petted and stroked each of them.
“Well, that’s certainly a way to wake up,” Kas commented as I loved
on the dragons.
“Yeah,” Asta chuckled. “All I got was a foot to the face, then they
begged me for breakfast.”
“It seems like you all figured it out, though,” I laughed as I stood up
and walked over to the fire. “It smells delicious.”
“We didn’t have much of a choice,” Kas muttered. “Those little things
are relentless.”
“They’re growing babies,” I teased.
“They’re hungry babies,” Kas laughed.
“So, what did you all make?” I asked as I smelled the air. I thought I
could smell apples and spices, but I wasn’t sure.
“Some sort of quick apple bread,” Kas said with a shrug, and she lifted
the lid so I could see. “I’m not sure exactly what we made, but it seemed like
it would be good.”
In the pan was a combination of flour and apples with some spices.
The flour had cooked up to an almost bread-like consistency it looked like,
and the apples were cut up and mixed in with the bread. Whatever they had
made, it smelled amazing.
“Kas did all the work,” Asta told me. “I just picked the apples.”
“You’re only saying that so I’ll get blamed if it’s terrible,” the blonde
laughed and playfully pushed at the elf girl.
“Apparently, my powers of persuasion aren’t so effective on other
sorcerers,” Asta chuckled.
“Whatever it is, it smells delicious,” I told the girls.
“We made tea, too,” Asta informed me.
“Tea?” I asked. I hadn’t drunk tea in a long time. It was the one thing I
could never truly master on my own. Finding the perfect blend of herbs and spices was difficult, and mine never tasted very good, so I’d given up on it a
long time ago.
“Yes,” the white-haired elf told me with a smile, and she handed me a
cup. “Elves love tea. Try some.”
I put the cup to my nose and inhaled the fruity and floral aroma. It was
delicate and sweet and made my mouth water.
The second the liquid hit my tongue, my eyes closed in pleasure as I
savored the flavor. It had a sweetness like peach to it, but I could taste some
other floral herbs as well. I had no idea what she’d put in it, but it was
absolutely delightful.
“This is amazing,” I sighed.
“I’m glad you like it,” Asta said with a proud grin.
Kas dished up breakfast and handed Asta and me a plate before she set
down little plates for the dragons as well. The little creatures ate their
breakfast with exuberance, and I had to laugh at how their little tails swished
back and forth in happiness.
The dish Kas prepared tasted just as good as it smelled, and I thought
for a second she’d been holding out on me as far as cooking, but then another
thought crossed my mind.
“Kas,” I said as I lifted another bite toward my mouth.
“Yes?” the blonde asked, but she wouldn’t look at me.
“Did you make this all on your own?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course,” the blonde said, but I just stared at her for another few
seconds until she tossed her arms down by her sides and rolled her eyes.
“Alright, you caught me. I used a spell.”
“How did you use a spell to cook breakfast?” I laughed.
“I found a spell to make whatever I made taste the best that it possibly
could, no matter how poorly it was prepared,” the sorceress said, and she
tried not to laugh.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to tell him,” Asta whispered, and she
looked back and forth between Kas and me with wide eyes.
“You knew, too?” I chuckled.
“Um,” the elf girl said, and she looked down.
“Did you enchant the tea as well?” I laughed.
“No, the tea was all Asta,” Kas said with a smile. “But this breakfast
probably wouldn’t taste nearly as good without the enchantment I put on it.”
“Well, whatever you did, it’s delicious,” I told her with a grin.
“Thank you,” the blonde replied, and she lifted her chin indignantly.
We ate quietly then, though I couldn’t help but smile about the
situation. Kas knew she wasn’t the greatest cook, and she’d obviously wanted
to prepare a nice meal for us. It was sweet, really, though I found it quite
funny she couldn’t prepare something without the addition of a spell to add
flavor.
Blar let out a little growl sound then, and I turned to see someone
coming through the trees that led back out to the road. I immediately grabbed
my axe and stood up so I could defend my women and my dragons. Luckily,
the enchantment was still on the dragons, so whoever it was would only see
three dogs, but I rarely got visitors, especially not unannounced ones.
“Who is there?” I questioned.
“I’m a messenger from the council,” a male voice said, and a younger
boy stepped into view and held his hands up in surrender.
“What’s your business here?” I asked, my axe still in hand.
“I have a message from the council, as I said,” the boy sang. “They
wish to see you at once.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about the council right then still, but I didn’t
want to refuse their invitation as well, especially not since the messenger had
come and found me personally.
“Anything else?” I asked.
“No,” the boy said. “But they do wish for it to be today.”
“Thank you for the message,” I said with a nod, and the boy waved and
backed up and exited through the trees.
I pursed my lips as I thought for a moment. The council hadn’t called
on me since I’d lied to them about the twins, and I hoped they didn’t want me
to try and get another egg for them. I wasn’t sure I could give that one over to
them, either, not until they told me what exactly was going on, which I didn’t
expect them to do anytime soon.
I knew they had a plan with the dragons, but they hadn’t told me what
it was yet, and I refused to do their bidding if it meant they would continue to
be secretive with the information they had on dragons.
“Alright,” I said with a nod. “I’ll head over there, you all stay here. I
wanted to go to the hunter’s lodge today, anyway. Will you be okay here with
the dragons?”
“Of course,” Kas agreed, but her eyebrows pulled together in
confusion. “But why do you need to go to the hunter’s lodge?”
“I want to ask them about some birds around here,” I said. “I think if I
can show the dragons how the birds fight in the air, then it could help with
their training.”
“Oh,” Asta said with a nod. “That’s a good idea. It is always better to
learn from seeing than being told.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “It shouldn’t take long.”
“Take all the time you need.” Kas smiled. “We can handle the
dragons.”
“You hear that?” I called out to the three little reptiles that played in
the yard. “Kas and Asta are in charge while I’m gone.”
They had paused to listen as I spoke, but as soon as I finished my
sentence, they went directly back to playing without acknowledging what I’d
said whatsoever. I knew they’d listen to the women, though, and at the house
there wasn’t much trouble they could cause in the first place.
After I finished my tea, I went inside and threw on an old blue tunic
and grabbed my axe to hang down by my hip. I didn’t think I’d need it, but
sometimes the hunters could get rowdy, so it was better to have it rather than
not. I also grabbed some coins from the coin purse under the bed. There
wasn’t much in there, just what was leftover from my own earning with the
warband, but I didn’t often need coins, so it didn’t bother me. Today, though,
I wanted to get the girls some new shoes. They had lost theirs yesterday, and
I couldn’t have them running around in sandals or barefoot in different
worlds.
After I retrieved the coins and pulled my hair back into a braid, I left
the girls by the fire as I started toward the trees that would lead me to the city.
Kas was reading a spell book, and Asta was sipping tea when they turned to
wave at me. The dragons, of course, were still playing, and the amount of
energy they possessed was amazing, but just as I was about to cross the tree
line Blar saw me and ran over to me.
He came up to my feet, sat down, and looked up at me.
“You need to stay here,” I told him as I crouched down to pet his chin,
but the little dragon shook my hand away before he gave me a determined
look and stomped his little front feet.
“I think he’s insisting he go,” Kas chuckled as she and Asta walked
over to us to see what was going on.
“I think you’re right,” I agreed with a sigh. The council already knew
about Blar, so I didn’t have to worry so much about him, but they couldn’t
see the twins. “Blar and I will go, then, you two stay here with the twins.”
“Of course,” Kas agreed.
“However we can help,” Asta added with a sad smile. “Please be
careful.”
“Don’t worry,” I told them both, and I put my hands on their shoulders.
“We’ll be fine.”
Regardless of what the council had to say, I knew they knew I was
valuable to them, so they wouldn’t try anything stupid. I was the only one who could control Blar, and small as he was, if they tried to harm me, I had
no doubt he would defend me to his last breath just as I would do for him.
It was concerning they wanted to see me so suddenly, though,
especially considering the last time they summoned me quickly it was to send
me off on an adventure to find another egg. I wondered how they knew so
much about the whereabouts of the eggs in the first place, but Preyna was a
high sorceress, so perhaps she had a way of finding them that Kas and I
hadn’t thought of yet.
The girls still looked at me with concerned eyes, but I kissed both of
them on the cheeks. Then I looked down at Blar, who sat by my feet with a
determined look on his little blue face.
“Will you be good if I let you stay off the leash?” I asked, and the little
dragon nodded eagerly.
“Hurry,” Kas said. “And if they try to send you somewhere again, then
come back and get us, so we can join you.”
“Of course,” I told her with a smile, then I turned to Blar once more.
“Let’s go.”
I waved to the girls and watched as Inger climbed up Asta and Uffe
climbed up Kas. Then both of the girls and the dragons watched as Blar and I
made our way through the trees and headed toward town.
The little blue dragon at my side had grown even since the twins had
been born, so he was nearly up to my knee in height now and almost as long
as my leg. He was so narrow, though, that I often forgot about how big he’d
really gotten. He could barely fit on my shoulders anymore, and soon I’d
have to figure out another way for him to come to me when we were in battle.
His little horns were bigger, too, and I thought about how small he’d been
when he’d first hatched and how he slept in my hair that first night.
I couldn’t even imagine how large he might be by the time he was a
year old. Would he be as large as the dragons we’d seen in Asta’s home
world? I wondered how long it took for dragons to grow to their full size.
They were massive creatures, but Blar had grown so quickly I couldn’t rule
out the idea that he’d been fully grown in just a few months.
Blar stayed right by my feet as we made our way up the cobblestone
street toward the castle. It was a beautiful morning, and the sun shone down
on us and cast a bright white light on the world, so I had to squint my eyes as
we walked. The market bustled as we walked through, and where I half
expected Blar to run over to every food vendor he smelled, he stayed right
next to me, intent on his destination.
I could feel he was determined and focused, and I appreciated his
concern, but it also made me much more nervous about our visit with the
council. What did they want? If it was another mission, I wasn’t sure I could take it. If I found another egg, I didn’t think I could give it to them, just like I
hadn’t been able to give the twins to them. I still had too many questions
about their intentions with the dragons to just hand them over to them.
It was well over an hour’s walk to the castle, and I tried to focus on the
scenery around me, but the closer we got, the more my heart rate accelerated.
The walk seemed to have taken forever and also no time at all, and as we
went up the white stone stairs, I instinctively reached down to feel my axe at
my side.
It was already almost afternoon by the time we got there, and some
sweat beaded on my forehead from the walk, which I quickly wiped away
when I approached the magnificent spiral keep where the elders of Asgard
conducted their business. The two guards in front of the council doors didn’t
hesitate to let me in this time, and I smiled and waved at them, but Blar
pranced in ahead of me with his little head held high as if he owned the entire
castle.
“Ah, Rath,” Rinbar called from his middle seat. He had on a black
tunic that matched his long hair, and he smiled at me as I slowly approached
the stairs that led to their seats.
“We’re glad you came,” Preyna told me, and her brown eyes looked
/>
friendlier than usual, which only made me more suspicious.
“I was told it was urgent,” I said, and I looked at the three council members before me.
“It is a matter of great importance.” Beyer nodded, and his light blue
eyes were all business.
“What is this about?” I asked, and I took a slight step forward so my
foot was in front of Blar.
“Please,” Preyna said, and she closed her eyes for a second and held up
her palm to me. “We did not call you here to harm you or Blar.”
The gesture had been small, but I wasn’t surprised she’d noticed it.
“Forgive me if I seem concerned,” I said, but I kept my face straight
and stared at each of them. I wouldn’t allow them to think I was a pawn for
them to use any longer. They may be the council of elders, but I was the man
who could tame the dragons, and I had decided I was not to be fucked with.
“We understand your concern,” Beyer said, and his voice was gentle
and soothing.
“You do?” I asked, and now I was even more suspicious of this entire
meeting.
“Yes,” Rinbar replied, and his mouth widened into a smile behind his
massive black beard. “We know what you did, and we don’t blame you. We
haven’t been very forthcoming.”
“What is all this about?” I asked as my eyebrows pulled together in
confusion.
“Rath,” Preyna said softly, and she waited until I locked eyes with her
before she continued. “We know you have the egg.”
I made no move to comment. I wouldn’t deny it, but I wasn’t about to
confirm it as well.
“You were right to do what you did,” Rinbar said with a nod. “We
realized after you told us the egg had been eaten that you only wanted to
protect it.”
“Them,” I corrected, since I’d already been caught in one lie, and it
was only a matter of time before the council discovered the truth. “There
were actually two eggs. Twins.”
“Really?” Preyna breathed with wide eyes.
“Yes, but dragons are worth protecting,” I said, and my chin lifted
slightly as I spoke even though my heart hammered in my chest. “They
should be considered sacred beings instead of bloodthirsty monsters.”
“We agree,” Beyer said.
“Your training of Blar has impressed us greatly,” Preyna added, and
she smiled slightly at Blar.