Dragons of Asgard Chapter 1

I took a deep breath and stared up at the beautiful multicolored sky. The horizon was lit up with the deep blues, purples, pinks, and oranges of the sunset, and a sense of serenity washed over me as I took it all in.

The horned horse-like animals pulling the small cart I was driving moved slowly down the road toward the large field where my campsite from the night before was.

The feel of a small creature crawling up my back to sit on my shoulder made me smile, and I turned to see it was the new little dragon my group and I had just taken in. The poor little girl was just freshly hatched and already without a mother. The dragon slave trade destroyed her family, but we were her family now.

“She’s so curious,” Asta, the beautiful white-haired elf, giggled as she reached out to stroke the small yellow dragon’s head.

The elf girl understood better than most what it was like to not have a family. When we’d found her, she had nobody, so she’d joined the group and been with us ever since. Her knowledge of the elf realm and the dragon slave trade often came in handy, and her bright, fun personality made me happy to have her as part of the team.

Asta was tall and thin, with large pointed ears that stuck out of her often braided long white hair, which hung down past her waist. Right then, she wore a short bright yellow tunic that matched the honey color of her eyes, and her deep, nearly black armor contrasted against her light features beautifully. She had high cheekbones, large, beautiful eyes, and full vibrant pink lips.

“You’re right,” Kas, the gorgeous strawberry blonde Valkyrie, agreed, and she leaned forward to get a better look at the little dragon. “She’s very smart, especially for just being hatched.”

Kas was also incredibly intelligent, and I was always impressed with her knowledge base. She was nearly a master sorcerer, and because of her training with her father, she was able to do things many sorcerers weren’t at her age.

The Valkyrie’s curly strawberry blonde hair hung down around her shoulders in large, wild ringlets, and she had bright violet eyes, large red lips, and a curvy, full figure. At the moment, she wore a short white tunic, sandals that allowed her to move freely in battle, and the steel armor I’d bought for her. She also owned a set of golden armor that once belonged to her mother, but it required a good amount of magic, so she could only wear it for short periods of time.

Kas was the first to join my little crew, and I loved her immensely. Her nose was always buried in a book, but she was one of the kindest and sweetest girls I’d ever met. From the moment I’d seen her, I knew there was something special about her. She didn’t judge me the way some of the other people in town did, which I figured was because of her own upbringing. Kas had her father, but her mother died when she was very young.

She didn’t talk about her mother much, but I knew Kas missed her, and I sensed doing magic was her way of remaining connected to her in some way.

“Yeah, I think she’s going to be a serious little dragon like Uffe here,” Eira said with a smile and a gesture at the little red dragon who laid by our feet.

The redheaded warband leader was the last woman to join my little crew, and she’d been my warband captain before I’d found the egg that hatched Blar, the little blue dragon who made me into what I am today.

Eira had always been a hardass, and she’d always been unattainably beautiful, but I’d never expected her to join my little party. It hadn’t been until recently that I’d found out her feelings mirrored my own. I’d pined after her the entire time I’d served under her, and I’d never once suspected she felt the same way, though she’d always seemed to respect me more than some of the other men we worked with.

Some of them were downright buffoons, though, and I could understand why she liked me more. We shared a similar fighting style, and we both tended to use our brains rather than our brawns, though we each had plenty of both.

Eira was a complete badass, and she was able to take on enemies three times her size. I’d been on the battlefield with her numerous times, and she’d never been injured, or even come close to losing a fight. I suspected that was how she gained the honor of being a warband leader at such a young age.

Then again, it was in her blood. Eira recently told me she was the daughter of a famous warband leader, but the redhead had purposefully kept her lineage a secret. She didn’t want to get anywhere in life off her father’s merits, only her own, and I respected the Hel out of her for that.

On top of being an incredible warrior, Eira was also astoundingly beautiful. Long red hair hung down to her waist, and her face was made up of bright emerald green eyes, a straight, dignified nose, and sweet plump pink lips. Her body was a perfect hourglass shape, with large breasts, wide hips, and a thin waist in between.

Though all the girls were so different, they got along extremely well, and even though Eira was the newest woman to our crew, she and Asta had become quite close. The white-haired elf girl was so innocent and sweet she often didn’t understand the joking and sarcasm us Asgardians used, but something about that innocence attracted Eira to her.

The redhead found Asta’s naivety amusing at first, but I suspected she rather liked it.

After all, Eira had seen a lot of blood and gore in her time, and I figured it was nice to have someone incredibly innocent around to show her there was still a lot of good in the world.

Asta had been through a lot herself, but she never let that define her, which was one of the reasons I loved her so much. I’d seen a lot of blood and gore, too, and Asta’s bright, happy presence was a much appreciated relief from some of the terrible things we’d gone through.

I reached up to touch the small yellow dragon on my shoulder, and the little creature let out a sweet coo and leaned into my hand. She stared at me with round pink eyes that reflected the beauty of the evening sun, and I couldn’t help but smile.

A pressure on my knee brought my attention downward, and I saw Blar now had both of his front paws on my leg and was stretching lazily. He smacked his lips and looked at me with pleading bright blue eyes.

“We’re almost to camp,” I chuckled. “Then we’ll make some dinner.”

The little blue reptile was always incredibly hungry. All of the dragons were, actually, but it was a trait I attributed more to their constant growing than anything else.

Blar had already tripled in size from when he was hatched, and he was now the size of a medium sized dog. He once could fit in my satchel, but now, he could barely fit on my shoulders.

He was only able to climb on me still because his body shape was so long and thin. His form was completely different from the other dragons that came from Asta’s homeworld, since the elven dragons had long, thin necks, large, thick bodies, and a long tail at the end.

Not only did Blar have a different body shape, but horns also protruded from his forehead, and some scales stood upright and ran down the center of his back. On top of that, Blar had the ability to create portals to different realms and even teleport himself through space.

I knew exactly where Uffe, Inger, and this new dragon were from, but I had no idea when it came to Blar. He was the first dragon I’d ever seen, probably the first Kas and Eira had seen as well since dragons were banished from Asgard years before I was ever born.

That was a terrible situation, and though it was no fault of the dragons, they were the ones who suffered for it, and they’d continued to suffer. The dragon slave trade was rampant across all the realms, but it was terrible in Asta’s realm in particular.

Dragons were everywhere in Alfheim, and the dragon traders knew that. More were taken from this realm than from anywhere else, which was why my crew and I were here in the first place.

We’d managed to take out some of the smaller dealers, but we still hadn’t gotten to the large catch yet: the Elf King.

I recently found out I had the ability to hatch, bond, and control dragons, but even more recently, I’d discovered I could see through their eyes. One of the dragons I’d seen was in the Elf King’s dungeon, and there were many others down there with him. The poor dragon was being held hostage and tormented every single day, and the thought made my blood boil with rage.

It was my mission to save him, and all dragons. I’d put an end to this damn dragon trade if it was the last thing I did.

Luckily, I had plenty of help, and I turned to smile at my crew.

Asta, the beautiful white-haired elf girl, sat to my right on the large cart seat. She peered out ahead of us with a sweet smile on her face, and as I watched, she absentmindedly reached up to her shoulder to pet Inger, the small red female dragon she’d named.

Twin dragons were known for having powers, and Inger and Uffe were no exception. The two looked nearly identical, with both of them having bright red scales and vibrant purple eyes, but Uffe had grown to be just a little bit larger than Inger, and the little female’s features were somehow more delicate than her brother’s. I wasn’t sure a stranger would be able to tell them apart, but the girls and I most definitely could.

As much as they looked alike, though, they were completely different in both power and personality. Inger had quite an attitude, and while she and Blar were both quick to do everything, like eat their food in one minute flat, Uffe was much more contemplative. The little boy dragon chewed slowly and carefully so he could savor each bite, and he cautiously considered every move he made.

Their personalities seemed to match their powers, too. Inger’s powers were air related. The little girl had been able to fly before both Blar and Uffe, even though Blar was older than she was. Something about the air came naturally to her, and then we’d noticed she was able to manipulate the air around her to a small degree. Her powers would no doubt get stronger as she grew older, but it was clear they were air related.

And like the air and wind, Inger was quick, constantly changing her path at a second’s notice. The little red female seemed to breeze through life and any challenge that came our way. I’d never seen her get really upset about anything we dealt with, she just continued to move forward, just like the wind.

Uffe, on the other hand, was serious, grounded. His power was related to the earth, and he was able to draw pieces of soil from the ground and throw them at his opponent. Unlike his sister, flying hadn’t come easy to him, which made sense considering his powers were rooted in the earth below his feet. He’d been the last of the dragons to learn to fly, and even now he preferred to walk or ride on Kas’ shoulders rather than fly ahead with Inger and Blar.

I shook my head silently as I thought about everything that had happened to me over the past few months. Barely any time had passed, and yet my entire life was changed.

I’d found out I was able to hatch dragons, an ability it seemed nobody else shared, and I could also control them and feel their emotions. I’d never been magical, so this had been quite a shock, especially since I’d stumbled upon the knowledge by accident. I’d been trying to cook Blar’s egg to eat when he’d popped out of it.

Since that moment, everything I thought I knew had been questioned.

On top of finding out about my own powers, I’d also found Kas and Asta. I’d bonded with the two of them, and I loved them both incredibly dearly. They were my women and my partners, and they were as fierce as any warrior I’d gone to battle with before.

Eira and I had yet to bond, but I secretly hoped she might come to me one day and request we do. My soul bond with Kas and Asta made our relationship that much more intense. It gave me a hold over them, and I also felt a duty to protect them. I was able to experience the emotions they were feeling, especially their pleasure when we were intimate. I’d never experienced something so powerful, and I wanted to experience it with Eira as well when the time came.

“What do you think we should name her?” Asta asked with a smile, and her sweet voice drew me out of my own thoughts.

“Oh, why don’t we let Eira pick,” Kas suggested.

“Me?” Eira asked, and she leaned back slightly. “I don’t know how good I’ll be at picking out names. I can try, though.”

“Yes, I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Asta smiled so big her eyes became just slits with happy crinkles around them. “Eira hasn’t got to name a dragon yet.”

“You two named these?” the redhead asked as she gestured to the twins.

“We did.” Kas nodded. “Asta named Inger, and I named Uffe. It’s funny, Rath seems to be accumulating dragons at nearly the same rate he’s accumulating women.”

“What do you mean ‘accumulating women’?” Eira asked, and she narrowed her eyes seriously. “I haven’t been accumulated by anyone.”

“Oh, I just meant--” Kas backtracked, but Eira interrupted her with a laugh and a playful swat on the arm.

“I’m teasing you,” the redhead chuckled. “Rath does seem to be accumulating them.”

“It must be my cute dragons,” I joked. “They’re drawing you all in.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely it,” Kas giggled.

“No, it’s not.” Asta frowned and shook her head. “We love you, Rath. You mustn’t say such things.”

“He’s joking,” Kas explained with a shake of her head.

“Ohhh, yes, that’s right.” Asta nodded. “I sometimes forget your meanness is playful.”

“Hey, I wasn’t being mean,” I laughed.

“Well, it wasn’t nice,” the white haired elf girl countered.

“Asta,” Eira said, and she tilted her head to the side curiously. “How do elves tease each other?”

“We do not.” Asta blinked.

“You don’t play around at all?” the redhead pushed. “To make someone laugh maybe?”

“Hm.” Asta’s white eyebrows furrowed together as she thought. “There is one thing. My parents and I would do it before they died.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Eira frowned.

“It’s okay.” The elf girl smiled and shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

“Well, what’s the thing?” Kas asked.

“It’s called pranke,” Asta explained. “It’s where you convince someone of something that is not true, or maybe place something in an area where it will startle them.”

“You play pranks on each other?” Eira asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s pronounced pranke,” Asta said.

“No, I get that,” the redhead laughed. “In Asgard we call them pranks.”

“That’s a funny word for it,” the elf girl said.

“It’s so close to your word,” Kas laughed.

“Yes, but my word sounds better.” Asta shrugged.

“Alright, alright, your word is better,” the strawberry blonde conceded with a smile, and then she turned to Eira. “So, what’s her name going to be?”

“Hm.” Eira reached her hand out to the dragon on my shoulder, and the little yellow female sniffed it before scurrying down her arm.

“I think she likes you,” Kas chuckled as the little dragon crawled behind Eira’s long red hair and curled around her neck. Her little head was visible on one side of Eira’s throat, and her tail on the other. She nestled against the redhead’s skin and closed her eyes as her tail swished back and forth happily.

“She certainly made herself comfortable,” Eira said, and her body was stiff from the shock of how quickly the little dragon had claimed a piece of her to use as a bed.

I tapped into the little yellow dragon’s emotions, and I could feel how incredibly content she was laying against Eira. She was soaking in the redhead’s warmth, but there was something else.

I closed my eyes as I continued to focus on the little dragon’s feelings. I didn’t experience them so much in words, but in emotions and images, and I kept getting a flash of something red.

Then it hit me.

“Her mother was red,” I said quietly, and I smiled at the content yellow dragon.

“Oh no,” Asta whispered, and her white brows pulled together. “How sad.”

“It is sad.” Kas nodded and looked at Eira. “That must be why she likes you so much. Your hair reminds her of her mother.”

“I may not be your mother,” Eira said softly, and she reached up to stroke the little dragon’s head. “But I promise I won’t let anything happen to you ever again.”

“I definitely think you should be the one to name her now,” Asta said with a small smile.

“Right.” Eira looked down and pursed her lips. “How about Gulr?”

“You want to name her ‘yellow’ in the old language?” Kas asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well… Rath named Blar after his coloring,” the redhead mumbled.

“Yes, but we weren’t with him when that happened,” Kas mock whispered.

“Hey!” I laughed, and Blar hopped up on my lap to glare at the girls. “He likes his name, thank you very much.”

Blar huffed, nodded, and then turned his back on Kas.

“Oh, come on,” the strawberry blonde said. “I was just teasing.”

The little blue dragon turned around and glared at her once more, and then he stuck his tongue out and blew a tiny little flame in her direction.

“You are so terrible,” Kas laughed.

“Well, if not Gulr, then what do you suggest?” Eira asked.

“I don’t know,” Kas said. “Something--”

Kas’s words were cut short by a loud shriek that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I whipped my head around to see a group of men charge out of the woods right toward us. Each one was bigger and dirtier than the last, and I could immediately tell they were lowlife bandits.

They may be large, but they gave away the element of surprise, so they clearly weren’t intelligent.

Immediately, I yanked on the reins of the animals pulling the cart, and they came to a halt as I stood up and unsheathed my sword.

There were six men, each of which had a weapon held high above their head as they ran toward us. I almost felt sorry for them since they obviously had no idea how to use the blades, but then I remembered they were about to try and rob us, and that feeling quickly went away.

“Fucking bandits,” Eira said through gritted teeth as she, Asta, and Kas stood up, too.

Blar was wrapped around me in an instant, with his head and front paws on one shoulder, and his back paws and tails on my opposite hip. His long claws held onto me gently, but I knew he was ready to attack as soon as I gave him the go ahead. His little blue eyes were narrowed on our opponents, and I could feel how tense his long body was as he clung to me.

I hopped down onto the ground and held my sword up at the ready, and I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face as these arseholes continued to run toward me. Since they were still alive, I figured they’d never come across an opponent who actually knew what they were doing, so this brief interaction was going to be a wake up call and a death sentence for them all in one.

“Get ‘em!” one of the men yelled, and the group split into two.

“I got this side,” I said with a gesture to the right.

“We’ll cover left,” Eira assured me, and she turned back to the three men headed toward her, Asta, and Kas. “Come here, you big dumb oafs!”

I allowed the girls to handle the men to the left while I focused on the ones to the right. The leader clearly thought splitting his team up would mean they had a better chance of taking us down, especially if they considered me to be the greatest threat since I was the largest.

They didn’t know it yet, but they were in for a fight.

I stopped just ahead of the cart and readied my sword as the three men picked up speed.

“Better to give in now,” the man in the front said as he leaped up and held his axe back behind his head. He came barrelling down at me in an attempt to land a blow, but I dodged it and gave him a swift kick in the back as he landed on shaky legs.

The bandit landed on the ground, but he’d let go of his axe in the fall, and it was still in the air above him. He looked up at it with wide eyes and tried to scurry out of the way, but he was too late.

The weapon came down quickly, and the blade landed in the middle of the elf’s back, dug in deep, and clearly did some damage to his spinal cord since he jerked like he’d been struck by lightning.

He let out a screech of pain, and his arms clawed at the ground in front of him, but his legs didn’t move at all, which told me they probably couldn’t.

I had to hand it to him, he was an arsehole, but that was one sharp blade.

The next man was on me in an instant, and his long blade came at me over and over from the top and both sides. He even tried to slice at my ankles once, but I leaped up and avoided his attack.

I waited until the right moment, and then I made my move. The elf was attacking with fervor, and after a few seconds, he started to breath heavily, so when he reared back to take a big swing, I let him think he had it.

At just the last second, though, I stepped back and dodged his strike, and then I used my own sword to quickly stab through the soft skin of his side. The axe lifted above his head instantly fell to the ground as he let out a gut wrenching scream.

The elf’s buddy wasn’t far behind him, so I yanked my sword from his side and turned toward his friend.

The last man was huge, at least twice my size, and with a face five times as ugly. He had a huge eyebrow bone that protruded out from his face and thick bushy brows on top of it, and he bared a nasty, yellow set of jagged teeth as he let out a guttural yell and came at me.

“Come on, big boy,” I said, but I felt Blar clench my shoulder. He wanted in on the fight, and I couldn’t deny him for too long. Besides, this guy was clearly an idiot, but he was large, and a little bit of firepower would make him a lot easier to take down.

I couldn’t feel it right then because of the adrenaline coursing through me, but I knew my body was still tired from the battle we’d been in earlier that day, so the least amount of energy I had to use, the better.

“You come on, little boy,” the big oaf laughed in a terrible deep voice that made me grimace with disgust. He even sounded stupid.

I widened my stance and held my sword out in front of me so he would think I was going to take him head on, but as soon as he was within range, I gave the command.

“Blar, now!” I exclaimed, and the little blue dragon jumped from my shoulder and up into the air above our large opponent to let out a huge blue flame.

“Ahhh!” the man screamed and dropped his weapon so he could try to cover his face and eyes. “Bad puppy!”

I’d nearly forgotten Kas and Asta had put the enchantment back on the dragons so they appeared as dogs to everyone else. We couldn’t exactly run around with dragons, especially not in Asta’s homeworld with the dragon trade so rampant. The Elf King may be behind it, but the trade was still illegal, and anybody caught with dragons was to incur a severe punishment.

I couldn’t help but laugh as the man screeched, but I figured it was time to end his suffering, so I flipped my sword in my hand, held it above my shoulder, and threw it like a spear.

My blade pierced right through the elf’s chest, and he hunched forward slightly as his mouth fell open and blood poured out.

Then I focused on my blade and used its magic to extend it to its full size.

The bandit’s whole body arched back as my blade expanded inside him so there was no doubt about whether his injuries would be fatal or not. The large male fell to the ground with a resounding thud, and blood seeped from under him to form a puddle around his torso.

I walked over and looked down at the dead bandit. His hands and parts of his face were terribly burned, and blood dripped from his mouth down to his throat. The poor bastard never stood a chance, though he didn’t know that.

My blade made a terrible schloop sound as I carefully pulled it from the man’s chest. The metal of my weapon was virtually indestructible, but I hadn’t quite gotten used to that yet, so I still felt the urge to try and protect it from any damage this guy’s bones might have done to it.

Once the blade was out, I wiped it on his tunic and then resheathed it as Blar landed on my shoulders.

Suddenly, I heard the girls laugh, so I walked around the side of the cart and saw them standing over the three dead bandits they’d taken out.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as I walked over to them.

“We were just laughing about a move Eira did,” Kas explained with a gesture at one of the men on the ground.

My eyebrows pulled together as I inspected the body. There was a huge gash in the man’s stomach where Eira had thrust her blade into him, but the more interesting thing was that where the man’s eyes should have been there was only blood and some terribly mushed up white substance I could only guess used to be his eyeballs.

“Mmm.” I nodded and wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, I’ve seen this before.”

“I figured you had,” Eira chuckled. “I’ve done this move many times before.”

“She just shoved her fingers right into his eye sockets!” Asta exclaimed with a shake of her head, and she glanced down to Eira’s hand. “It was terribly disturbing to watch.”

“What’s the matter?” the redhead teased with a half smile. “Can’t stand a little mess?”

“I would simply prefer to not have eyeballs on my fingers,” Asta explained calmly. “I eat with my hands a lot.”

The white-haired elf girl may not want eyeballs on her fingers, but she didn’t seem to have a problem with the blood splattered across her face from battle.

“That’s a good point,” Eira laughed and wiped her fingers on her tunic.

“On a more positive note, Eira thought of a name for the new dragon,” Kas said with a smile, and it almost looked out of place on her face since she was the bloodiest of all the girls.

I glanced down to the dead men and found the one Kas had taken down. It was obvious because the man was nearly cut in half, and though Asta and Eira were great warriors, only Kas’s greatsword could do that much damage in one single swoop.

“Oh, is that right?” I asked as I turned my attention to the redheaded warband leader.

“She blew a flame right in this guy’s face as he came at me,” Eira said with a gesture at the dead man at her feet. “But then, once I’d taken him down, she rubbed her face against mine and made the sweetest little noises.”

“And?” I chuckled. “What’s her name?”

I didn’t think I’d ever heard Eira use the word ‘sweet’ until recently. She was usually a battle hardened badass, but being around these dragons was bringing out the softer side in her, and I liked it.

“Svass.” Eira smiled, and the little yellow dragon cooed and nodded happily.

“Svass.” I grinned. “Or ‘sweet’ in the old language.”

“Right,” the redhead agreed.

“I think it’s very fitting,” Asta chimed in.

“Yes, me, too.” Kas smiled and reached out to stroke the little yellow dragon on Eira’s shoulder.

“Very fitting indeed,” I said, and I reached out to pet her as well.

“Alright, alright,” Eira said, and she playfully swatted mine and Kas’ hands away. “You’re going to get my hair all bloody.”

“She has eyeball juice on her fingers, but she’s worried about a little blood in her already red hair,” Kas laughed and jokingly rolled her eyes.

“That’s fine,” I chuckled and ignored Eira’s playful glares. “Anyway, we should grab what we can off these bandits and then head to our camp spot. It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”

The girls and I quickly looked over the bandits we’d just taken out and gathered up all the supplies we could find. They didn’t have much on them but a few silver and copper coins and their weapons, though we did find a small stash of supplies in the woods where they’d come from. It wasn’t much, just some elven bread, smoked meat, and jugs of water, but still, we took it all and loaded it into the cart.

After that was done, we moved the bodies of the men back behind the trees so they weren’t out in the open and hopped back in the cart.

“Well, that was exciting,” Eira said with a half smile as we reached the field we’d been in the day before. “There’s never a dull moment with you all, is there?”

“I don’t think so,” I chuckled.

“I bet you’re glad you’re here with us rather than back in Asgard fighting all the time,” Asta said with a wide smile.

“She’s just fighting with us, too,” Kas pointed out with a laugh.

“Hm.” I pursed my lips. “You have been with us for awhile. I’m sure you’ve been missed. Once we set up camp, I can have Blar make a portal so you can get home.”

“Oh yes, we appreciate your help.” Kas nodded. “But we know you have other duties as well.”

“You’re a respected warband leader,” I added. “We don’t want to take you away from your duties.”

“Fuck my duties.” Eira smiled and reached up to pet the little yellow dragon still nestled in her hair. “You all won’t get rid of me that easily.”

“We’re not trying to get rid of you,” Kas chuckled.

“Good,” the redhead said. “Because I’m staying. I want to be here and be part of this. It’s far more important than any other mission I’ve ever been on. I probably should let the council know I’m staying, though, that way they can replace me for awhile.”

“Oh good!” Asta clapped and bounced up and down on her seat. “I’m glad you’re staying.”

“Me, too,” Eira agreed. “I wouldn’t miss being a part of this.”

I smiled at the redhead. Of course, I wanted her to stay, but I’d never ask that from her. She’d worked her way up to warband leader, and I didn’t want to be the reason why she left those duties. Still, I was glad she’d decided to stay. Not only did I like having her around, but she was a great asset as far as fighting went.

The warband leader had more experience than Asta and Kas, and though the two of them were learning quickly, Eira had hundreds of hours of battle experience to draw from.

We reached the field with the tall yellow grass, and the horse-like creatures navigated through it easily until we reached our campsite from the night before. There was a break in the grass near a wooded area where we’d set up camp, and I pulled the cart over to the trees and tugged on the reins to stop the animals.

“Asta and I can set up camp while you two run to the council,” Kas offered as we all climbed out of the cart.

“That’s probably a good idea.” I nodded. “No reason for all of us to go. Thank you.”

“Of course,” the strawberry blonde said.

“We can make dinner, too,” Asta added with a wide smile.

“Don’t worry,” Kas laughed. “I’ll look up a spell so it tastes good.”

The two girls were terrible cooks, and this wouldn’t be the first time Kas looked up a spell to try and improve her cooking. It would kill two birds with one stone, though, so I didn’t mind eating cooking that had a little extra magic in it.

Blar’s paws hit my leg, and I looked down to see him stretched out and looking up at me with round blue eyes. He cocked his head to the side and blinked twice.

“I know,” I chuckled. “You’re hungry.”

“Why don’t you grab some of that smoked meat the bandits had,” Kas suggested. “It should tide him over for a little while at least.”

“Good idea,” I told her. “We shouldn’t be gone too long.”

I gathered up some meat from the cart and gave Blar a little piece. The sweet blue dragon gobbled it up within seconds and then looked to me for more.

“Wait your turn,” I told him, and I broke off pieces of meat for Inger and Uffe and a smaller piece for the little yellow dragon.

I held the food out so Svass could sniff it, and she hesitantly took the meat and held it in her little paws so she could pull bites off it.

“Why don’t you stay with Kas and Asta,” Eira said, and she gently pulled the little dragon down from her shoulders so she could look at her.

The little yellow female glanced around and then scurried back up Eira’s arm so she could bury herself in her hair once more.

“I think that’s a no,” Asta said seriously.

“I’d say so,” Eira laughed.

“She can come with us.” I smiled. “She doesn’t want to leave you.”

“As long as it’s okay with you,” the redhead said, and she turned her head to look at the little dragon and smile.

Eira clearly had a soft spot for the tiny creature, and it seemed the feeling was mutual. All of the dragons had taken to different members of my crew, and I couldn’t be happier.

Of course, I was their leader, and I could control them if need be, but they each matched one of the girls when it came to personality and fighting style.

Inger often rode on Asta’s shoulders and assisted her in battle. The elf girl tended to throw her weapons a lot, and Inger would retrieve them for her.

Uffe usually assisted Kas since the two of them were very grounded in their fighting style. Kas didn’t use a lot of fancy maneuvers, instead, she relied on the massive weight of her weapon. Uffe preferred an up close physical battle as well since he used his earth manipulation as his main means of defense.

It looked like this new little dragon was going to bond with Eira, which was fine with me. That meant the warband leader was more likely to join our little group permanently, or at least for as long as it took to dismantle the dragon trade. Though, that could be years considering how widespread it was. I didn’t think a single realm didn’t have some form of the trade, and while not all the dragons who were captured were abused by the families that bought them, it should still be their choice.

The dragons I had were orphans, and I would take care of them for as long as they’d allow me to, but I also knew there could possibly come a day where they wanted to venture out on their own.

I wanted to make sure the world was safe for them when that happened.

“Alright,” I said after everyone had gotten a little bit of meat. “Blar, can you make us a portal?”

The little dragon stood up on his back legs and patted his tummy with his front paws.

“You want me to bribe you?” I asked with a laugh.

Blar patted his tummy once more.

“Alright,” I chuckled. “I suppose we did skip lunch today. I’ll give you a little more, but then we’ve got to go, okay?”

Blar leaned forward so he landed on his front paws, and then he looked up at me, smiled, and nodded.

“He really is a brat, isn’t he?” Eira laughed.

“Definitely,” I agreed.

Blar scoffed and turned away from us, but I just rolled my eyes and retrieved more meat from the car, which he eagerly took from my hands. Apparently, he wasn’t too mad to accept my offering.

While the little dragons all ate their second piece of meat, I looked up at the evening sky. It was going to be dark soon, and I didn’t want to leave Kas and Asta alone for too long. I knew they were capable of taking care of themselves, and they’d have Inger and Uffe with them, too, but I still didn’t like the idea of the two of them alone at night.

They were my women, and I would do whatever I could to protect them at all costs, and that meant making sure they weren’t in an entirely different realm without me once the sun went down. We’d already encountered one set of bandits today, and I could only imagine there more lurking in the area.

“Ready now?” I asked Blar after he’d finished his meat.

The little blue dragon nodded and flew up to land on my shoulder.

I grabbed hold of Eira’s hand while Blar closed his eyes and focused. After a few seconds, a portal appeared in front of us, and I stepped through the spinning pool of air into my homeworld of Asgard.

I took a quick look around and saw we were in the woods just behind the castle. It was a lot closer than Blar used to get us.

After he’d discovered his teleportation ability, he had to learn to harness it just like I did with my dragon communication. He was able to make portals, but they wouldn’t always bring us to where we needed to be, and sometimes we were miles from our destination.

“Your ability to control your portals has greatly improved,” I told the little blue dragon with a smile.

“That amulet probably helped a lot,” Eira said as she pointed at the small stone around Blar’s neck.

Kas’s father had made it for him, and the old sorcerer crafted one for me as well. They were intended to help us with harnessing our abilities. They didn’t increase our power at all, simply made it easier for us to control, and the redhead was right, they’d helped a lot.

Blar lifted his little chin and closed his eyes, and he looked incredibly proud of himself.

“Alright,” I chuckled, and I reached up to scratch under his chin. “You’re doing well, but let’s not get a big head here. We have to keep working.”

The little blue reptile rolled his eyes, but then he flashed me a sweet smile and laid down on my shoulder.

“Of course you’re going to make me carry you for that,” I laughed and shook my head as I started to walk around the castle fence toward the council room. “You know, you’re not as light as you once were.”

Blar just settled in against me and let out a tired little sigh.

“I think it looks pretty badass at least,” Eira chuckled. “You carrying around a dragon on your shoulders, I mean. It’s pretty hot.”

“I’m glad you think so.” I smiled. “Even though to everyone else it probably looks incredibly strange since he appears like a dog.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” the redhead laughed.

Asgard was cast in an orange glow from the sunset, and it reflected beautifully on Eira’s deep red hair and soft, pale skin. Her plump pink lips begged to be kissed, so I softly grabbed her wrist and pulled her to me to plant my lips against hers.

Her mouth was as soft as I remembered, and I held my lips against her for a few extra seconds until I heard Blar huff and turn his head away.

“Mmm, that was pleasantly unexpected,” the redhead said after I pulled away.

“Anything to piss Blar off,” I snickered, and the little dragon glared at me.

It didn’t take long for Eira and I to reach the council building, and we ascended the pristine white steps and walked right past the two guards outside. They used to stop me when I’d first started coming to the council room, but now they had orders to let me through without questioning, which was convenient, but also made me feel a sense of importance I’d never had until recently. It felt good to be doing something that gained me the respect of the council.

I pushed open the double doors, and Eira and I stepped inside. The building was just as white on the inside as it was on the outside, save for a vibrant red rug that ran the length of the great hall.

The three council members were all in their seats on the other side of the room, and there was a citizen standing in front of them speaking in a low voice.

Eira and I walked toward the group, but we maintained a respectful distance as we waited for them to finish their meeting.

Preyna, the beautiful blonde sorceress, glanced over and flashed me a smile as the man talked. She was absolutely stunning. Her golden hair fell down to her waist, and the light green tunic she wore complimented her brown eyes.

It didn’t take long for them to solve the civilian’s issue and send him on his way, and once he’d left the great hall, the council turned to greet us.

“Rath,” Rinbar, the large male with deep black hair and a long beard, said with a nod. Then he looked at Eira and raised an eyebrow. “Eira.”

“Rinbar,” the redhead said cooly, and she flashed him a half smile.

“It is good the two of you are here,” Preyna said, and her golden eyebrows pulled together. “I’m afraid we have news to give you. It’s about the dragons.”