Dragons of Asgard 2 Read online

  As the girls and I walked back toward home, the day flew by, and before I knew it, the sun was dipping down into the trees. The terrain we were in was mountainous and much more difficult to navigate than I’d anticipated. It would probably take us another day before we arrived back home.

  I smiled at the thought of “home.” What used to be my sanctuary had now become a place for the girls and I to call our own. I’d never intended for anyone else to live there with me, it had been a place just for myself. I’d lived there on my own for years, with only the occasional visitor to speak of, and I certainly had never thought about two women living with me. Granted, I always let my female companions stay the night, and I would even make breakfast for them in the morning, but I never considered anyone would want to stay with me for longer than one or two nights at a time.

  I was an orphan, and I didn’t have any family lineage to impress anyone with. Most Asgardians were hung up on family lines and what they meant, and I suspected Kas was only the way she was because her father was such a unique man. Her mother was a Valkyrie, and her father was Asgardian, so the two of them were never truly meant to be together in the first place. It wasn’t against any sort of rules or anything, but it wasn’t a very popular thing to do.

  Part of me thought Kas understood the way I felt because she’d felt the same way many times in her own life. We were similar in that sense, and I appreciated the strawberry-blonde for who she was and what she’d gone through.

  I wasn’t sure about Asta and her family as far as lineage went, but she loved me, and I loved her. That was really all that mattered to the both of us. She’d been in a bad spot when we’d found her, and ever since we saved her, the three of us had all bonded well together. I’d been with Kas before Asta showed up and was concerned Kas wouldn’t appreciate another woman being around, but the strawberry-blonde seemed to welcome the elf girl with open arms. Kas had even told me to go to Asta to fulfill her needs, which wasn’t something I thought she would have been okay with.

  Now, we all lived in the small home I’d built for myself, and I was starting to think I might need to add on a little bit to make it roomier for us. The girls and I could do just fine with how small it was at the moment, but with the three dragons, I was sure it was going to get cramped sometime soon. Blar was only a month or so old, and he’d already just about doubled his initial size. I knew he would get big, and it was only a matter of time until that understanding became a reality.

  “Let’s stop here for the night,” I said as I stopped in a mostly flat clearly surrounded by trees.

  “I was thinking that, too,” Kas said with a nod. “It’s getting late now.”

  “I guess we won’t make it back before nightfall.” Asta frowned.

  “I’m afraid not,” I said. “We’re probably at least another day's journey out of town.”

  “I figured the same thing,” Kas agreed.

  Blar walked over to me and nudged my leg, and then he looked at the satchel slung over my shoulder. He was hungry.

  “Alright,” I chuckled. “I’ll go find us something to eat, so why don’t you two build us a fire for the night?”

  “Okay.” Kas nodded. “Are you sure you don’t want any help?”

  “I’m sure,” I said, and then I frowned at her still bloody clothes. “You might want to see if there’s a spell to help clean you up, though.”

  “Oh, right,” the sorceress muttered as she glanced down at her blood-stained garments. “I had almost forgotten about that.”

  “I can help you,” Asta offered with a sweet smile. “I can make some rain for you to wash off in.”

  “Let’s see if we can find a different spell before we resort to me taking a bath in the middle of nowhere,” Kas snorted. “But thank you, Asta.”

  “Of course,” the white-haired elf girl said. “I’ll work on the fire while you look through your spell book.”

  The two were such opposites. Kas was responsible and slightly uptight, except for on the battlefield. Asta, however, was constantly chipper and optimistic. The elf girl was able to go with the flow while the sorceress was one to try and plan out every detail. They complimented each other well.

  “Stay with Kas and Asta,” I told the dragons. “I’ll be right back.

  Blar narrowed his large blue eyes at me before he stomped his front feet on the ground.

  “Fine,” I said with a smile. “You can go.”

  The little blue dragon smiled up at me, and I shook my head and led us through some nearby trees to search for something to eat. It was getting dark out, so I knew I couldn’t take too long to gather us some food or I risked being out in the wilderness alone in the dark. Fighting against other men was one thing, but wild animals were another. I didn’t want to have to deal with that, not after everything I’d just gone through.

  Taking out those outsiders had been a blip on my radar, my main concern at the moment was what Nidhug, the huge black dragon, told me. He said I’d need to find the man who was responsible for getting the dragons banned from Asgard, but from what the council told me about Vinrar, I didn’t think I ever wanted to meet him.

  Apparently, he’d trained a lot of dragons in his day, but he used cruel and unusual techniques to do so. Finally, the dragons grew tired of him, and they attacked. Then the giant creatures unleashed havoc on the world of Asgard, so Odin banished them from our realm forever more.

  I understood why Odin had done it, the dragons were a threat at that point, and one that couldn’t be controlled. The creatures had been mistreated, and he knew such by then, but unfortunately, nothing could be done. If Odin had allowed them to stay, then there was a large possibility they would attack again. Even though they’d been driven to violence, that no longer mattered, Odin needed to keep his people safe.

  Still, I didn’t like it. The dragons were punished for the wrongdoings of a mad man, and now they had a vicious and undeserved reputation in Asgard. Most citizens would never think of a dragon as anything other than a killing machine. That was what the council and I were trying to change, but it would take time. We needed to show Odin Blar first, but now I had this message from Nidhug that I needed to deal with as well.

  I glanced around at the trees I’d come to and saw a nest up above me in one of the branches. I surveyed the area for a moment but didn’t see anything, so I pointed out the nest to Blar and had him fly up to retrieve the eggs. He dropped them down to me one by one, they were good size, about the size of my fist, and they’d make a decent addition to dinner.

  I wandered around for a little while longer and found some wild herbs, berries, and some wild vegetables. I wasn’t sure what they were called, but they were dark leafy greens, and I’d eaten them plenty of times when I’d been out in the woods on my own.

  After I’d finished gathering everything for dinner, I made my way back the way I had come. Blar flew ahead of me, and he kept a steady pace. He was clearly happy to have some room to play, and I suspected there would be a game or two of wrestling with the twins once we got back to camp.

  I could smell the fire before I broke the tree line. It wasn’t fully dark out yet, and as I walked over to the flames the girls had built, I could see Kas and Asta had cleaned themselves up.

  “I see you found a spell.” I smirked.

  “And I see you’ve found dinner,” Kas said with a grin.

  “I have,” I chuckled, and I pulled out the berries and set them down. “Everyone can snack on these while I prepare our meal.”

  “Thank you very much,” Asta told me as she reached for a berry. “We are lucky to have a male to take such good care of us.”

  “I’m lucky to have you, too.” I winked at the elf girl, and she blushed prettily under my gaze.

  “Now that you’re back, though,” Kas said. “We need to talk.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Nidhug,” the strawberry-blonde said as if it were obvious. “Helheim. All of it. What are we going to do?”

 
“We have to go,” Asta said, but then she looked from Kas to me. “Don’t we?”

  “I believe so,” I said with a nod.

  “Helheim is the worst place we could possibly go.” Kas frowned. “I don’t know how we’ll protect ourselves there.”

  “Can’t we find a spell to do it?” Asta asked, and she bit her lip.

  “We can try.” Kas shrugged. “But it won’t be an easy one, and it will take a lot of power.”

  “Between the two of us, I know we can do it,” Asta encouraged the sorceress. “We’re incredibly strong, especially together.”

  “Svendorf did say the steel we enchanted was the best he’d ever seen,” Kas mused as she referred to the blacksmith who had made our weapons.

  “He did,” Asta said with a smile.

  “I need to look up some protection spells,” Kas said, and she pulled out her spell book and began to flip through it.

  “I can help, too,” Asta said, and she looked over Kas’ shoulder. “My nature magic can be really powerful when it comes to protection.”

  “Good, that’s what we need,” Kas muttered as she got to work.

  I tried to pay attention to the girls’ conversation after that, but I was still reeling from what had happened earlier. Everything with the enemy outsiders had distracted me, but the more I thought about what Nidhug had said, the more confused and frustrated I became.

  Was he trying to tell me to find Vinrar because he thought I was like him? It was true, I was the only other person who could train dragons, at least that I knew of. But that didn’t mean he and I were anything alike. The things Vinrar did made me sick to my stomach, and I couldn’t imagine how I needed him for anything to be able to save the dragons. The man was a monster, and if I saw him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop myself from killing him.

  It was better than he deserved to be in Helheim, but I still didn’t have a way to get there. The place was massive, and it would start to drain the joy out of us as soon as we arrived. It wouldn’t be long until we would no longer be able to feel joy at all, even after we left. Kas might be able to find us a protection spell to get us there, but we couldn’t risk going through a random portal that popped us out somewhere in the vast wasteland where the dead roamed. We needed to be able to get to Vinrar within a couple of hours at least. I wasn’t sure how long Kas’ spell would last, but I couldn’t imagine it could last much longer than that, not in a place like Helheim. The entire realm was enchanted, and even with her and Asta’s powers combined, I wasn’t sure we could compete with that.

  I thought about Blar then, and how he was able to distinguish the portals from one another. He could tell us where each one went, and just recently he’d shown us he was able to teleport in space. I wondered if I could teach him to hone his teleportation abilities and create portals. There was no guarantee I could, but it was worth a try in my opinion. Otherwise, we would have to try and wait for a portal to Helheim to open up. That could take months, and even after one opened, there was no guarantee it would take us to where we needed to go. I didn’t have that kind of time to waste, and I didn’t have any other ideas. The Bifrost was off the table since its use was kept track of and reported, and Odin couldn’t know about my abilities or companions just yet, so I’d have to try and get Blar to harness his capabilities and put them to good use making portals. That would make things a lot easier in general. The girls and I traveled a lot, and if we didn’t have to wait for a portal to open up, then we would have a lot more freedom when it came to where and when we traveled.

  I had to figure out the prophecy Nidhug had talked about, too. He’d told me I was going to fulfill the prophecy and save the dragons, but I’d never heard of any prophecy involving dragons. Granted, that wasn’t surprising considering Odin had virtually removed all traces of dragons, including literature about them, when he banished them.

  I needed to figure out what this all meant, and in order to do that I would need to talk to the council. They were the ones who’d originally told us about Vinrar, and though I’d been skeptical to trust them at first, I knew now they were on my side. They wanted the same thing I did: to protect the dragons, put an end to the dragon slave trade in other realms, and bring dragons back to Asgard.

  The council needed to know about this experience I’d had with Nidhug, and I needed to ask them some questions about it. If anybody knew about this prophecy, I had a feeling it might be them.

  Well, them or Kas’ father, Ramir. The old man knew far more than he should about a lot of things, and that included dragons.

  I felt a nudge against my leg and looked down to see Blar sitting on the ground next to me. The little blue dragon stared up at me with wide eyes of concern, and once he had my attention, he nudged me again by butting his little head against my shin bone.

  I smiled at Blar, but then I felt something hit my other leg, and I looked over to see Inger and Uffe. The twins sat next to each other, and leaned against one another. Inger looked sweet with her small pink ribbon tied around her neck, and Uffe seemed worried as he stared at me with his large purple eyes.

  Blar butted his horns against my leg once again, this time harder than the last time.

  “It’s okay,” I told him with a smile, and I reached down to scratch under his chin. “I’m okay.”

  Uffe hit my leg again, and I reached over and petted him, too. Inger was jealous, though, and she let out little cooing noises as she pushed her head under my hand so she could get some pets as well.

  “Is everything okay over there?” Kas asked.

  I looked across the fire to see the sorceress and the elf girl staring at me with matching expressions of worry. Kas’ violet eyes bored into me, and she had a heavy frown on her face as she cocked her head to the side with curiosity.

  Asta’s yellow eyes sat above a small, sympathetic smile, and the elf girl watched me carefully, like she thought I might burst into tears at any second.

  “I’m fine,” I chuckled.

  “Are you sure?” Kas asked. “The dragons don’t seem to think so.”

  “You must be overwhelmed by all of this,” Asta said. “Certainly anybody would be.”

  “I am a bit overwhelmed,” I admitted with a sigh. “I’m not sure what to make of this prophecy.”

  “We’ll have to do some digging to figure out what it is,” Kas said.

  “We need to talk to the council,” I said.

  “I agree,” Asta added with a nod. “They should know.”

  “Then it’s settled,” I said. “We’ll speak to the council as soon as we get back into town.”

  The council already knew about Blar and the twins, and we’d come to an understanding. We were on the same team, but now all I could do was hope they knew what this prophecy meant.

  And hope I could fulfill it, whatever it was.

  Chapter 2

  The next morning was spent traveling back into town. It was midday by the time we arrived, and even though we didn’t have an appointment with the council, I decided we would head there right away.

  At the moment, there was a part of me that wanted to head back to my home and stay there with my dragons. I had them and my women, and for a second that felt like enough. I knew the feeling wouldn’t last, though, and as much as I wanted to hold onto the euphoria, I knew I had to let it go. I needed to focus on the bigger picture and make sure I was prepared for whatever I needed to do.

  This wasn’t about me any longer, it was about the dragons.

  I thought about all of the enslaved dragons in other realms, and my heart crumbled. In Asta’s homeworld, there was a thriving dragon trade, and people would use them as sideshows or try to train them. The elf girl said most were unsuccessful with the training of them, but dragons from her homeworld were often taken and sold to people in other realms as well. I’d seen the dragons in Alfheim, and I couldn’t imagine taking them away from one another. I’d watched as a mother played with her three younglings and taught them about flying and playing, a
nd I’d felt her happiness, and the children’s, too. I couldn’t possibly for an instant think about taking that feeling away from either of them, and I would kill whoever would dare to do such a thing.

  No, this wasn’t about my own life any longer, it was about innocent dragon lives and doing whatever I could to save them.

  I led the girls through town until we were just outside of the council building, and then I marched up the solid white stairs that led to the council’s room and past the two guards at the door. Neither of them said anything to me. Instead, they just opened the door to allow me through.

  “Thank you,” Asta said sweetly as we walked through the double doors and into the great hall.

  The place was white marble all around, and at the opposite end was where the council members sat on their stone thrones.

  Rinbar was farthest to the left, and the rugged looking man had long black hair that hung past his shoulders and a large black beard to match.

  “Rath,” the dark-haired man called out with a mirthful laugh. “We didn’t expect you today. Come, come in.”

  Before I could stop them, my three little dragons ran forward and up to the council members. Blar and Inger immediately plopped themselves in Preyna’s lap, and the beautiful blonde council member chuckled and petted them each in turn.

  Uffe held back, and instead of eagerly receiving pets from Preyna, who would have gladly given them, he marched up to Rinbar and casually lifted himself up to peer at the man.

  Rinbar smiled and patted Uffe on the head so his little red tail began to wag like a dog’s, which was fitting, considering they were enchanted to look like dogs.

  “We will have to finish this meeting later this week,” Beyer said calmly, and I glanced over to see someone had been in a meeting with the council.