A quick glance around the room revealed the girls had taken care of the rest of the men as well. I looked over just in time to see Eira snap one of the men’s necks with her bare hands, and then she dropped him to the ground like a sack of flour. The redhead caught my eye and flashed me a grin. She had blood splattered across her face and neck, but it only made me want her more. She was fierce and sexy, and I absolutely loved it.
Kas, Asta, and Inger were trying to calm down the baby dragons on the wall. The poor things were screeching out of fear, and I could feel how upset and confused they were.
I caught the eye of the large green dragon, and he looked confused as well. Then I remembered the girls still had their enchantments on.
“Kas,” I said. “Take the enchantment off.”
“Oh.” The strawberry-blonde turned and looked at me. “Right.”
The sorceress grabbed hold of Asta’s hand, and the two of them chanted something quickly in the old language. A second later, I saw some silver and red magic swirl around them, and Eira, too.
The baby dragons were captivated with what had just happened, and they grew quiet as they inspected Kas and Asta now that the two of them looked like themselves. Eira joined them at the cages, and they all spoke softly to the little dragons in an effort to calm them.
The feeling of paws on my shin caught my attention, and I looked down to see Uffe on my leg.
“Hey.” I smiled and leaned down. “Good job today, buddy.”
The little red dragon shook his head, and then he scurried off toward the large dragon cages.
I realized something was wrong, so I followed him.
My little earth dragon ran right to the old brown dragon’s cage, and I stopped dead in my tracks.
The ancient creature was laying on the ground in a large pool of blood.
I closed my eyes as my fists clenched.
Please, let him be breathing.
Chapter 28
I rushed over to the cage and yanked on the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Kas!” I yelled. “I need you!”
I stared at the brown male on the ground. I could see the brief rise and fall of his chest, and a small sense of relief washed over me. He was still alive. There was still a chance we could save him.
“Rath,” Kas panted as she ran over to me. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s injured,” I informed her with a point. “I can’t open the cage, there’s some sort of enchantment on it.”
“Right.” The strawberry-blonde nodded and pulled out her spell book. It only took her a few seconds to find the right spell, but every instant that passed was torture to me. “Got it.”
Asta and Kas linked hands and began the spell while I continued to watch the old dragon through the bars of his cage.
I focused on his emotions and found them faint and dreamlike. He was in pain, and he was tired. Reality felt distant and foggy, like he was in a haze. The poor creature was obviously fragile from blood loss.
“Done!” Kas said, and I immediately yanked on the handle of the cage.
The metal bars gave in, and the cage door opened. Then I ran over to where Uffe sat next to the dragon’s head.
“You’re going to be okay,” I told the brown beast as I stroked his head.
“He was hit by a dagger,” Kas said, and I nodded to Uffe to stay with him before I rushed over to where the strawberry-blonde sat near the dragon’s stomach.
“Bastard.” Eira gritted her teeth as she stared at the blade. “One of the arseholes I was up against tried to throw his weapon. He missed me, and I assumed he’d hit nothing because he was such a bad shot. It seems I was wrong.”
Eira took a deep breath and looked down, but before she did, I could see the mist in her eyes. She clearly blamed herself for what had happened, even though it wasn’t her fault.
“We’re going to heal him,” Kas told the redhead quickly. “Don’t worry.”
“How can I help?” Asta asked as she knelt down next to Kas.
Inger sat on the elf girl’s shoulders, and she peered down at the wound with a little frown on her scaly lips.
The dagger was still protruding from the dragon’s side, just above his stomach near his ribs. Blood slowly flowed from the wound down to the ground, and the large puddle that was already there made my heart rate accelerate once more.
Still, if anybody could fix him, it was Kas.
“Put your hand here,” Kas directed.
She and Asta placed their open palms on either side of the dagger, and then Kas closed her eyes and began to murmur something in the old language. Asta joined in the second time, and a few seconds later, there was a swirl of red and silver magic around the dagger. The blade glowed with the power of their magic, and slowly, without anyone touching it, the dagger began to remove itself from the dragon’s flesh.
It was agonizing to watch the blade slowly pull itself from the large male, but after a moment, it fell to the ground with a loud thud.
“Now, put your hands here,” Kas instructed as she moved Asta’s hands to cover the wound.
“What do we do now?” Eira pushed.
“Yes.” I nodded fervently. “How can we assist?”
“I need to sew him up so I can put some salve on him,” Kas murmured as she looked through her bottomless satchel.
“Sew him up?” Eira asked with wide eyes. “Can a needle get through his scales?”
“I have a special needle,” Kas explained as she pulled out a needle and thread from her satchel and cut a long piece to use.
My heart pounded as I watched the strawberry-blonde sorceress work on the large male dragon. He was still in pain, but now there was a sense of calm that surrounded him. He was happy to know there were people who cared for him and were trying to help him.
I glanced back over to the dragon’s head to see Uffe was curled up next to him, and at some point Blar and Inger had joined him as well. I wasn’t sure when the little dragons had made their way over there, but I was glad they had. The old dragon could use all the reassurance we could give him.
I wasn’t about to let him die, not after everything we’d been through. These arseholes weren’t going to win. They would never lay a finger on another dragon, ever, we’d made sure of that.
“He’s going to be okay, right?” Eira asked quietly while Kas pulled the thread through the dragon’s scaly skin.
“He’ll be fine as long as we get this healed,” Kas answered without looking up from her task. “He’s lost a lot of blood.”
The redhead nodded and set her hand softly on the dragon’s leg.
I’d never seen Eira appear so vulnerable, but she looked like she was about to cry, and I watched her chest rise and fall quickly as she tried to hold back the tears. Over the past few days, I’d seen a side of Eira I never had before, and it was beautiful. The warband leader was a big softy under her tough exterior.
Since Kas was working, and there was nothing I could to assist at the moment, I walked over to where the baby dragons sat pressed up against the large male’s head. Then I sat cross legged on the ground next to them and put my hand on the dragon’s forehead. His brown scales were soft to the touch, like velvet, and I stroked his head gently as I closed my eyes and tried to connect with him.
I felt his emotions first. He was still in pain, but it was better now that the dagger had been removed, so I focused on pushing his feelings to the side and replacing them with my own. I sent him feelings of love and happiness, and I tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible.
I still couldn’t believe anybody would do this to another living creature. I opened my eyes for a brief moment and looked at the other dragons in their cages. Each of them looked at us with eyes that shone with emotion. They may not have known each other before they’d arrived here, but I knew they cared for one another.
“He’ll be okay,” I said quietly, but I knew they could hear me.
“Rath,” Kas said as she walked over to me. “I fi
nished the healing process.”
“He’s all closed up?” I asked.
“Yes.” She nodded. “It will still be sore for a while, but it is as healed as I could manage.”
“Thank you, Kas,” I said, and I reached up and grabbed her hand, then Asta’s, too. “And you, too, Asta. Thank you both.”
“There’s no need to thank us,” Kas said softly. “We wanted to help.”
“Why isn’t he getting up?” Eira asked, and her voice cracked a little bit with emotion.
“I don’t know.” Kas shook her head and pursed her lips. “Rath, can you see what he’s feeling?”
“He’s tired,” I said as I tapped into the old dragon’s emotions.
“You should get him up,” Kas told me, and the worried look on her face became even more prominent. “Just so we know he’s okay.”
“I’ll try,” I said, and I turned to look at the great brown dragon’s face. “I’m Rath. You’re okay now. Can you open your eyes for me?”
A few seconds went by, and nothing happened, but I knew he could hear me.
“Rath.” Eira’s voice was high-pitched and filled with barely restrained emotion. “Make him get up.”
I held a hand up to steady the warband leader, and then I leaned in closer to the dragon and placed my forehead against his.
“I need you to get up,” I whispered.
I stayed there for a few seconds and listened to the faint sound of his breathing, and then I heard Asta gasp behind me.
“Rath,” Kas whispered.
I pulled back and saw the brown dragon had opened his eyes. The bright orange and gold iris looked at me, and he let out a small huff and lightly nuzzled the babies near his head.
I could feel it had been a long time since he’d been around babies. They made him happy, but sad all at once. I could only imagine the anguish the poor creature had gone through seeing his babies being traded and sold over and over again.
“Oh, Odin.” Eira breathed an audible sigh of relief, and her hand clutched her chest.
“Eira, you seemed very upset,” Asta noted.
“Aren’t you?” the redhead replied.
“Well, of course.” The elf girl nodded. “It’s just that you have been in so many battles, I figured you would be unphased by the horrors of them.”
“I am most of the time,” Eira sighed and watched the brown dragon nuzzle Blar and the twins. “But this… was different.”
“I’m sure most of the time you fight it’s for Asgard,” Kas said. “Which is wonderful, but it’s not the same as fighting for the dragons.”
“It’s not,” Eira agreed. “When I fight for Asgard, I’m following Odin’s orders. Now, I’m following my sense of morality. It feels good to take on a worthy cause and be able to do something about it.”
I smiled and set my hand on Eira’s shoulder. I knew what she meant. In the warband, we fought based on what Odin considered to be right or wrong, and recently I’d found his judgement to be far from adequate. Here, we fought because we knew in our hearts it was the right thing to do.
The brown dragon caught my eye then, and his orange and golden gaze lowered as he bowed his head to thank me.
“We’re going to get you out of here,” I told him as I reached out and touched his face with my palm. Then I looked around at all the other dragons in the room. “We’re going to get all of you out of here.”
“How are we going to get the larger dragons back to the valley?” Asta asked, and her white eyebrows pinched together with concern.
“Hm.” I thought for a moment. I figured they would simply fly there, but it could be dangerous, especially since we didn’t know where any other dealers were located.
Blar ran over to me then, and he put his front paws on my knee as his blue eyes locked onto mine.
“Do you think you can make a portal that large?” I asked seriously.
“Oh, Blar,” Kas said with a small frown. “That’s a lot of work.”
The little blue dragon didn’t look away from me. Instead, he held my gaze and narrowed his eyes so I knew he was serious.
“Alright.” I nodded. “We’ll try.”
Kas was right, that would be a large amount of effort for the little dragon, but if he felt he could do it, I wouldn’t crush his spirit. I had faith in him. And even if he wasn’t able to make one large enough, we would find another way to get the dragons home. It didn’t hurt to try.
With the shape the brown dragon was in, though, if we could get him home without too much effort, that would be ideal. Kas said he would still be sore for some time, and even if that wasn’t the case, he’d been inside his cage for years. I had no idea what kind of havoc that wreaked on his body, but I figured his muscles were probably atrophied to some degree. He needed to take things slowly, which was why we needed to get him back to the valley. The dragons there would be able to keep him safe, especially since we’d found the dealer who seemed to be supplying the herbs that put them to sleep.
“The herbs,” I said with a point. “We need to get rid of them.”
“Normally, I’d say burn them.” Kas pursed her lips. “But I suppose that won’t work now.”
“I suppose not,” I half chuckled.
“We could bury them,” Asta suggested, but then she frowned. “Oh, but then they would simply grow in the ground.”
“Can’t you magically destroy them somehow?” Eira asked.
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Kas said, and she picked her spell book up off the ground. “There’s got to be one in here somewhere.”
I was sure there were others out there with some of the leaves left, like the guards at the Elf King’s castle, but at least now we knew we got rid of one of the main sources. The amount of leaves from the plants here could have put half the valley to sleep, and I shuddered to think of all the babies they’d stolen using the nasty herb.
If Asta was right, though, and the herb didn’t come from Alfheim, then we needed to figure out where it originated from.
“Got it!” Kas exclaimed.
“Good.” I nodded. “I need you to remove the enchantments on the rest of the cages, then you and Asta can destroy the plants.”
“Alright,” the strawberry-blonde agreed.
I patted the brown dragon one more time before I stood up and walked out of the cage. Every dragons’ eyes were on me, so I looked at each of them before I spoke.
“I’m Rath,” I said. “You probably already know what’s going on here, but I just wanted to assure you that we’re going to get you home today. My friend is going to remove the enchantments on your cages, and then we’re going to let you out.”
The red female stepped forward before she nodded to the baby dragons. I glanced to the wall where they were kept, and I saw a small red male and a pink female both looking toward her.
“They’re yours?” I asked, and the female nodded. Her white eyes pierced into mine, and though she hid it well on the outside, I felt her relief that the boss was dead, and her heart wrenching desire to be with her babies again.
I walked over to the babies’ cages and set those two free first. They ran over to their mother, and the red female let out a small, happy roar as her babies jumped on her head and nuzzled against her.
Even if the enchantment prevented me from opening the cages, other things could easily get inside. I doubted that was something the boss had thought about preventing when he put the enchantments into place.
After that, I released all the babies, or at the very least, I opened their cages. They didn’t have the same enchantment as the big ones, presumably because nobody was worried about the babies breaking out and destroying everything in a matter of seconds.
Still, some of the babies were scared, and they chose to stay inside their cages. The red mother called playfully to the babies, and most of the ones that had left their cages went to her and played with her babies.
I caught the red mother’s eye and smiled at her while Kas worked on o
pening her cage. The giant, ancient creature didn’t have to play mother to all the babies here, but she’d chosen to do so, and I thought it was incredibly kind of her.
That was reassurance the dragons would be taken care of once we got them back to the valley. Even if they hadn’t started out as pack animals, they were intelligent, and with the abductions going on, it made sense to stay close to one another.
They wouldn’t go on for much longer, though. I’d make sure of that.
It didn’t take Kas too long until she and Asta had the first cage door open, and they moved onto the next one while I set the red dragon free.
Eira stood next to me, and I heard her shallow breathing and saw her chest rise and fall quickly as the female walked past us and out of the building.
I knew the warband leader’s heart must have been beating hard inside her chest. She’d been around a lot of baby dragons the past couple of days, and she’d been in the cage with the brown dragon, but this was different. Babies were small and adorable, and the brown dragon had been injured and laying down, so he wasn’t the grandiose creature he could’ve been.
Even the silver dragon we’d saved hadn’t appeared as large and dominating as the red female. Eira was experiencing the ultimate power of dragons for the first time, and it was a spectacular sight.
The redhead’s jaw was slightly agape as her eyes took in the beautiful red of the dragon’s scales.
“She’s beautiful,” Eira sighed. “They’re so magnificent, aren’t they?”
“They are.” I smiled and nodded.
“Thank you,” she said, and she turned to look at me with sparkling green eyes.
“For what?” I asked, and my brow furrowed. “You’re the one who came to help us.”
“Thank you for allowing me to come,” the redhead clarified. “This has been the most amazing experience of my life. I’ve always loved dragons, and I’ve gotten some eggs over the past few years for the council, but this…” She gestured all around. “This is incredible. I’m fortunate to be part of such an important endeavor.”
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