“Shite,” she breathed, and she looked up at me. The redhead was covered in blood, but from her grin, I knew it was the giant’s blood and not her own.
I glanced back to Kas and Asta behind me and saw the two of them had managed to take out their giants as well, and it looked like the little dragons had helped a great deal judging from the burn marks on the arseholes.
“Everybody okay?” I asked.
“We’re fine,” Kas assured me. She had blood splatter across her tunic and face, but I didn’t see any open wounds on her.
“Yes, we’re okay.” Asta smiled, but I saw her put her hand behind her back.
“Asta,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing,” the elf girl breathed.
“Let me see your arm,” I commanded as I walked over to her.
“It’s just a little tiny cut,” she said, and she held her arm out for me to see.
The elf girl was right, the wound was incredibly small, but I still didn’t like her trying to keep it from everyone.
“You need to tell us when you’re injured.” I frowned.
“I know,” she sighed. “I just wanted to go check on the eggs first. My arm is fine.”
“Here.” Kas walked over as she dug into her satchel, and then she pulled out some salve and rubbed it on Asta’s wound. “This will have that little cut healed in no time.”
“Thank you.” The elf girl smiled.
Then the girls and I headed into the cavern where Eira was, and I quickly looked around to assess the damage.
“It doesn’t look like any of the eggs fell, thank goodness,” Eira said as she swiped some of the blood off her face. “I tried to be careful, but this arsehole didn’t seem to care either way.”
“Mine didn’t, either,” I agreed.
“You’d think they’d be more careful with their merchandise,” Kas muttered.
I glanced around until I found the little dragon in the cage. He was still on the desk to my right, but the cage was knocked over now, and he was pressed up against the bottom of it in an effort to stay off the ice.
“Oh, no.” Asta frowned as she followed me. “The poor little guy.”
“Hi,” I said as we walked up. “We’re here to help. I’m going to get you out of here.”
Just as I reached the table, Svass landed on it and looked up at me before she walked over to the cage.
The little yellow dragon glanced back at me and frowned. I knew she was upset she’d given away our presence, but I simply smiled and reached down to stroke my hand down her back.
I undid the door to the cage, but instead of reaching in, I allowed Svass to go inside and nuzzle the little dragon. He was bright green, with dark-blue eyes and a dark-blue belly to match. He was beautiful, but clearly scared, though Svass’ presence seemed to help with that.
The little yellow female was trying to assure him it was alright, and I appreciated her desire to help. I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face as the little dragon followed Svass back out of the cage and onto the table.
“Would you like to get on my shoulder?” I asked the little green male. “I know the ice is very cold.”
“Here,” Kas said, and she pulled a scarf out of her bottomless satchel.
“Thank you,” I told her as I took the scarf, laid it on the table, and then looked at the little dragon. “It’s okay, this will keep you warm.”
The small green reptile hesitantly walked over to the scarf, sniffed it, and then curled up and laid down in it.
Before I could even blink, Svass was right next to him, and she curled her yellow body around his to help keep him warm, though she was barely bigger than he was.
“Good job,” I told her with a smile. “Can you two stay here for a little bit while we clean up and look around? We’ll get you to your family as soon as we’re done.”
Svass nodded, and the little green dragon looked up at me with dark-blue eyes. Then he yawned and laid his head on Svass’ back.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I chuckled.
“There must be close to sixty eggs here.” Eira put her hands on her hips and shook her head as she looked around. “I can’t believe this.”
“I know,” I agreed. “It’s awful.”
“What should we do with all of them?” Kas asked as she bit her lip.
“I don’t know yet.” I pursed my lips and looked down at the blood-soaked ground. “Let’s get these giants out of here first so we can look around.”
“Good idea,” Eira said, and she grabbed onto one of the giant’s arms while Asta grabbed his legs.
Kas and I handled the other giant, and soon the two of them were all out in the tunnel, and the room was clear except for the blood on the floor.
I walked around and looked at the eggs on the shelves. There were so many, and each was uniquely beautiful. It was a shame to think they’d all been stolen away from their families. I couldn’t feel anything coming from them, so it seemed they were dormant, but just to be sure, I wanted to hold each egg before we tried to put them into storage.
“What do you feel?” Kas asked, and she walked up behind me.
“I don’t feel anything,” I said. “I think they’re dormant, at least for now. They’re in a deep sleep.”
“That’s good, right?” the strawberry-blonde asked.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “It’s hard to think anything about this is good.”
“I understand,” she sighed.
“I want to be the one to pack them,” I told her. “That
