Dragons of Asgard 2

by Jacobs, Logan

  At that moment, I knew they’d be just fine.

  “It won’t heal right away,” Kas told the dragons after she’d finished. “But in a few hours, it should be all better.”

  The yellow dragon nodded to Kas and closed her eyes for a second to show her appreciation, and I could feel her gratitude toward Kas and the rest of us spread through my body like a warm wave.

  I stepped up next to the strawberry-blonde and smiled at the great yellow mother.

  “I am sorry for your suffering,” I told her gently. “I hope you find solace in your babies.”

  The mother nodded slightly before she bowed her head to me, and I turned to see the other three mothers had followed her lead.

  I closed my eyes, and I could feel her gratitude and her overwhelming love for her children. I didn’t know how many babies dragons usually had throughout their long lifetimes, but I didn’t feel any more or less love for any of them. She loved each of them just the same, and she was clearly excited to be able to take them home.

  I reached my hand out and touched the yellow mother’s forehead. My skin touching hers only amplified my ability to feel her emotions, and I smiled at the sense of fondness she already felt toward my team and I.

  After a moment, I pulled my hand away and stepped back, and the large dragons nodded to one another and then helped their little ones climb onto their backs. Once they were all secure, the giant females flapped their wings and took off into the sky and toward the valley.

  We were left with an empty cart and wide smiles on our faces.

  “That was so wonderful,” Asta breathed as she clasped her hands under her chin. “They were just how I’d always imagined.”

  “What do you mean?” Kas asked. “You’ve been close to dragons before.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, and my eyebrows pinched together with confusion. “Ove was even larger than those females, and you were right next to him.”

  Inger was on the elf girl’s shoulder, and she looked over at her and also let out a little huff.

  “Yes.” Asta nodded. “But it’s not quite the same. These are dragons from my homeworld. I used to sit at the top of the ridge of the valley and watch them for hours. I’ve never been quite that close to one of them.”

  “I get it.” Kas smiled. “You’ve loved them from afar for so long that it’s special to meet them, even if you have seen more impressive dragons.”

  “Right,” the elf girl said with a grin, but then her face fell. “I am concerned about their wounds, though.”

  “Yeah,” Kas sighed and chewed on her lower lip. “They were pretty deep.”

  “You got a better up-close look,” I said. “Do you think it was made with a blade?”

  “I don’t know.” The Valkyrie shook her head. “I wish I could say for sure, but it was just a large gash. If they all hadn’t been in the same place, I would have probably just thought they’d run into a tree or something, but there’s no way that was a coincidence.”

  “No,” I agreed. “I don’t think so, either. The dealers must be subduing the mothers somehow.”

  “How could they even manage that?” Kas pondered out loud. “Those females were enormous, and from what we’ve seen, it looks like most of the dragons in the valley stay close to one another. How could they sneak up on them like that?”

  “And if they were able to injure them, why not kill them?” I asked.

  “Oh, that would have been terrible.” Asta frowned, and her yellow eyes grew wide with emotion.

  “I know.” I nodded. “It’s not easy to think about, but we have to think like our enemy in order to predict their moves and figure out their plans.”

  “I understand.” Asta nodded and took a deep breath.

  I reached up and put my hand on Blar’s head where it laid on my shoulder. I didn’t like having to think such terrible thoughts, either, but I knew it would help us in the long run, just like pretending to want to buy dragons had gotten us to the dealers. This was a sleazy business, and if we wanted to get rid of it, we’d have to get in it first.

  “Perhaps they’re keeping the females around to lay more eggs,” Kas suggested.

  “I was wondering how many eggs a female could lay in her lifetime,” I mused.

  “Asta,” Kas said. “Do you have any idea?”

  “I’m not sure.” The elf girl shook her head. “I know they can have several eggs at once, but I don’t know how often they have them.”

  “That’s okay,” I told her with a smile. “We don’t expect you to know everything about the dragons in your homeworld.”

  “But we need to figure out why they’re keeping the mothers alive,” Asta insisted, and her lips pursed into a thin line.

  “We will,” I agreed. “We just need to find more dealers.”

  “And keep one of them alive,” Kas chuckled.

  “That might help,” I laughed. “If we can keep one alive for questioning, I’m sure I can get some answers for us.”

  “Are you going to torture him?” Asta asked, and she blinked and cocked her head to the side.

  “Um, yes,” I murmured. “That’s the plan.”

  “Good.” The elf girl grinned wide.

  “You’re okay with that?” I chuckled.

  “Of course,” Asta said, and her expression grew uncharacteristically serious. “Those men are truly repulsive, and they deserve whatever slow punishment awaits them. I only wish I’d made the man I killed earlier suffer more before I’d taken his life.”

  “Whoa, there,” Kas said, and she put a hand on the elf girl’s shoulder. “You seem a bit worked up. Let’s get you home and get some tea.”

  “Tea sounds nice.” Asta nodded.

  I couldn’t help the amused smile that came to my face, but Kas was right. Asta was typically the sweet, innocent one in the group, and she was clearly frazzled. I didn’t know if it was the fight, or seeing the dragons in cages, or seeing them reunited with their mothers, but whatever it was, she was upset.

  She had every reason to be, though, and I wouldn’t try to stop her from feeling her emotions. However, we’d just killed a group of dragon dealers and stolen their cart not long ago, so I figured it was probably best if we got out of Asta’s homeworld, at least for the time being.

  “What should we do about the cart and the creature pulling it?” Asta asked. “We can’t leave it here.”

  “You’re right,” I agreed. “We’ll set the creature free, but we’ll have to just leave the cart. There’s no reason for us to try and take it somewhere before we go.”

  “We should mark it on the map first,” Kas said. “I doubt anybody comes out this way. That way, if we need it for some reason the next time we come, we’ll know where it’s at.”

  “Good idea.” I smiled at the sorceress.

  Kas pulled out the map and performed some small spell to mark the spot we were at. It didn’t take long, and while she worked on that, I looked around at the forest that surrounded us.

  The white speckled trees were tall and thin with yellow leaves, and the road we were on was old and somewhat overgrown, with patches of yellow grass that shot up in the middle of it.

  I pulled the cart out of the road and hid it by some trees in case we did need it later, and then I made my way back over to the girls.

  “Alright,” I said as I stopped near them. “Let’s get going. We’ve been here long enough. I don’t want anyone to see us.”

  “Do you think anyone from the market would recognize us?” Asta asked with wide eyes.

  “I’m not sure.” I shrugged. “But we do have three… dogs with us. There don’t seem to be many others roaming around, so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone was able to place us.”

  “We’ll have to disguise ourselves another way when we come back.” Kas nodded.

  “Good idea,” I agreed. “But for now, let’s get home.”

  I looked at Blar on my shoulder, and the little dragon nodded to me.

  “You know what to do.”
I smiled, and Blar closed his eyes and focused.

  A small portal appeared in front of us moments later and started to grow, but before it could get large enough for us to step through, my vision went dark, and I dropped to my knees.

  “Rath!” Kas screamed, and I felt her hands on my shoulders.

  “What’s happening?” Asta gasped, and her voice was high-pitched with panic.

  “I’m okay,” I groaned, but my body felt like it was being ripped in two. I couldn’t see anything, I could only feel a sense of terror wash over me.

  My entire body was consumed with fear and panic, and I clenched my teeth together and dug my fingernails into the dirt below me. I didn’t understand what was happening. Was this part of my power?

  My gut wrenched, and my chest tightened as another wave of horror overcame me.

  “What do we do?” Kas pushed.

  “There’s nothing…” My voice trailed off as my consciousness was ripped from my body.

  This time wasn’t like before at Nidhug’s well when I’d simply blinked and found my mind somewhere else. No, I could physically feel my thoughts and feelings being pulled somewhere else.

  There was a dragon calling me to him. I didn’t know how he was doing it, but it was working.

  I gasped as the world I knew around me faded away, and I opened my eyes to find I was in an entirely different place.

  Only, now I knew exactly where I was.

  Chapter 22

  The walls around me were made of stone, just like the walls in the Elf King’s dungeon. Only this time, I wasn’t in a cell. I was in some sort of cage, and I was much smaller than the dragon I’d been before.

  Still, I was sure this was the palace.

  I couldn’t tell exactly how large I was, but judging from the stones on the wall, I knew I had to be a baby, and I was overcome with fear, sadness, and hunger.

  I’d never experienced hunger before as a dragon, and it took me by surprise. That wasn’t a feeling the other dragons had been focused on, but this little baby, he was hungry, and I could feel it. All he wanted was his mother, and my heart broke a little bit as I looked through his eyes.

  The room smelled the same as it had before, musty and earthy, with the faint scent of that strange smoke they’d thrown at me when I’d been in the cell.

  I glanced around frantically, and as I did, I realized I could hear little squeals and squawks like the ones I’d heard just earlier.

  There were other baby dragons here.

  Three others, to be exact. There was a small green dragon in the cage next to me. I couldn’t see its eyes because they were squeezed shut as it tried to make itself blend into the back of its cage, but its scales were definitely green.

  Then there were two other dragons to my right. One was a deep orange color, and it was a little bit larger than the rest of us. The baby reptile laid at the back of its cage with a sad look on its weary face, and the poor thing had obviously been there longer than the rest of us.

  The final dragon was a deep purple color, and it was as small as I was. The creature quivered, and its whole body visibly shook in terror as it pressed itself against the bars of the cage.

  I looked around the room and saw a wall lined with eggs of all different colors, and I wondered why the Elf King would have eggs. I didn’t think he could hatch them like I could, so what was the point? Did he keep them for sport, or as trophies?

  Asta was right, he was not a good man, and I doubted he was a good King, either. Any man who would do this to dragons, or any animal, was no man at all as far as I was concerned.

  I pushed past the constant fear the little dragon felt and tried to focus on anything it saw that I might be able to use to try and save it.

  We were in a large room, and underneath the eggs was a huge desk filled with papers and books. A tall, wide wooden door sat at either end of the room, and there was a small fireplace between us and the desk.

  Nobody was there, but as I continued to try and find something we could use to help us get the dragons out of the Elf King’s palace, I heard footsteps.

  I was immediately overcome with a new wave of fear, and the little dragon scurried to the back of the cage and tried to hide again. It squeezed its eyes shut, so I couldn’t see anything, but I could still hear the footsteps as they drew closer.

  The sound of a door creaking startled me, and I glanced up to see a male elf with long, black hair enter the room. He had sunken eyes, with high cheekbones that made his face look gaunt, and he pulled a long cart behind him.

  The wheels of the cart squeaked as they went over the stone floor, but the little dragon squeezed its eyes closed again.

  After a second, though, a loud cry of pain caught the dragon’s attention, and it looked up again.

  On top of the cart was a large metal cage, and inside it was the dragon I’d been just a day earlier. It was out of its cell, but it clearly wasn’t free, and I wasn’t sure if this was better or worse than the dark room it’d been in. I hadn’t been able to see anything of the dragon in the darkness except its tail, and even then I hadn’t known what color it was, but here, in the firelight, I could see it was a light-blue dragon with white eyes.

  I wasn’t sure how I knew exactly, maybe it was because I’d been inside its mind, but I was positive it was the same dragon from my dream.

  “Keep your mouth shut!” the elf yelled, and he spun around and banged on the bars of the cage.

  The light-blue dragon in the cage let out another cry, this time of fear, and when the elf raised his hand again, the small dragon I saw through pinched his eyes shut so tight I was shot back into my body.

  I gasped as I opened my eyes and found myself on my hands and knees. My nails were coated in dirt, and I saw the girls’ feet in front of me, along with Blar, Inger, and Uffe.

  The little blue dragon had his head cocked to the side as he eyed me curiously.

  Inger cooed and walked over to rub her head against my shoulder, and Uffe nuzzled my hand gently.

  “I’m okay,” I breathed.

  “Rath!” Kas exclaimed, and she put both hands on the side of my face. “We were worried. Are you okay? What did you see?”

  “I saw the dungeon again,” I said, and I was bewildered and horrified at what had just transpired.

  “Were you seeing through the same dragon?” Asta asked with wide eyes full of surprise as she leaned down next to Kas.

  “No.” I shook my head. “This was a baby. There were three other babies, too. I was in a different part of the dungeon, but I did see the dragon I was in my dream. He was being transported somewhere.”

  “Did you see anything at all that could help us get into the King’s dungeon?” Kas inquired quickly.

  “No.” I frowned. “I tried to look around, but the baby dragon I was in was incredibly panicked… and hungry.”

  My stomach growled as I said it, and I looked down and frowned harder. I could fill my own belly, but the little dragon wouldn’t be able to.

  “Maybe that’s why it overtook you so,” Asta suggested. “If the dragon was panicked, it could have called to you unintentionally.”

  “Asta’s right.” Kas nodded. “The poor thing was probably calling out for help, and your powers answered him in some way.”

  “We’ve got to get them out of there,” I growled as I ground my teeth together.

  “We will,” Kas assured me, and she placed her hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get home for now, we’ll figure out what to do.”

  “Alright,” I agreed, and I stood up and dusted myself off.

  Blar flew up onto my shoulder and nuzzled my cheek, so I reached up and scratched behind his ear. Then he closed his eyes, and a portal appeared just in front of us.

  We wound up back in Asgard near the river that ran past our home. It was only a ten-minute walk or so to get to the cottage, but it felt like forever, and everyone was quiet as we took in what had just happened.

  I knew the girls couldn’t possibly understand w
hat I’d experienced, but they knew it had been unsettling. The whole situation was unsettling, to say the least, and it was up to us to fix it.

  “So, what’s our plan?” Asta asked with a determined look after we arrived home and sat by the fire.

  “I’m not sure,” I sighed and ran a hand across the shaved portion of my head. “We need to get those dragons out of there, but we can’t outright attack the Elf King and start a war with the elves.”

  “Yes.” Kas nodded. “I’m not sure how we can get them out without the Elf King knowing. We don’t exactly know our way around the castle, and if we tried to free them and got caught, it could be very bad.”

  “Even if we defeated the Elf King and everyone thought we were elves, that would still mean the dealers would know someone was after them,” I added.

  “Perhaps we should discuss this with Preyna?” Asta suggested.

  “You may be right,” Kas agreed. “It would be nice to know exactly where the council would stand on this issue.”

  I knew Preyna, Beyer, and Rinbar would do whatever they personally could to stop the dragon trade, but I didn’t think there was anything they could do as council members. Odin had made his stance on dragons painfully clear, and if he found out they disobeyed them, he would no doubt have their heads for it. Or send them to Helheim, like he had his trusted advisor who tried to free the dragons when he’d intended to banish them.

  One day, I’d tell Odin what I thought about him. But for the moment, I had to focus on the dragons and their wellbeing.

  “Okay.” I nodded. “Let’s go talk to Preyna. Maybe she has some input on what we can do.”

  “It won’t be dark for a few hours still,” Kas noted. “Should we go now?”