“What kind of weapons?” Kas asked as she walked over and looked down at the page with pinched together eyebrows.
“It doesn’t say exactly.” I shook my head.
“Why would the frost giants have this letter?” Eira asked, and her brow furrowed with confusion.
“I was wondering that, too.” I pursed my lips.
“Do you think the frost giants are trying to get more money out of the Elf King?” Kas asked.
“What do you mean?” Eira inquired.
“Could they be intercepting his messages so they can hold it against him?” the strawberry-blonde asked.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “That’s definitely something to consider. I wouldn’t put it past these bastards.”
“Does it say anything else?” Asta asked.
“It only says he needs the weapons they discussed to be delivered before Asgard summer is over,” I said.
“That’s in a few weeks,” Eira said.
“You’re right,” I agreed. “That’s not much time at all.”
“That still seems like a long time for a dwarf to make weapons,” Asta said. “Dwarves are very proficient blacksmiths. These weapons must be quite large.”
“That’s not good.” Kas frowned.
“No, it’s not,” I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.
“What are we going to do?” Asta asked.
“We’re going to stop him,” I told her with a determined nod.
“Right,” the elf girl agreed, and she flashed me a sweet smile.
“Right now, though, we should get this little guy home.” I gestured to the small dragon curled up on the table.
Svass, Inger, and Uffe were all curled around him, and I could sense the little boy felt completely at ease in his slumber.
“I hate to wake him,” Kas said as she smiled down at the little reptiles.
“I do, too,” I chuckled. “But we should be going, and I’m sure he misses his family.”
“Let’s hope his mother is there waiting,” Eira added.
I nodded, but I was concerned about that as well. I wasn’t sure when the baby was taken, and there was no guarantee his mother would be there waiting for him.
If she wasn’t, he’d be welcome to stay with us, but it was always sad to see an orphan, even if it meant adding another baby to our family.
The girls and I gathered up all the eggs, and then we did one last look through the room and the pockets of the frost giants to make sure there was nothing else left. After that was done, Blar opened a portal to Alfheim, and we took the chests filled with eggs and stepped through.
The little green dragon didn’t want to leave Svass’ side, so he rode with her on Eira’s shoulder, but I could sense his understanding of where we were as soon as we stepped through the portal into Alfheim.
Though he’d only been in his home world as an egg, he instinctively knew it was where he belonged, and I looked over to see a huge smile on his little reptilian face.
“Do you see your mom down there?” Asta asked as we walked over to the edge of the cliff.
The little dragon looked down, and the scales above his eyes pinched together, but then he turned to the white-haired elf girl and shook his head. I could see his dark-blue eyes glisten with emotion, and I knew he was upset he didn’t see his mother yet.
“Come on,” I said as I picked up the chest full of eggs once more.
I led my team down to the valley, but as we walked, a loud sound filled the air, and suddenly, there was an ear-piercing screech.
I looked up and saw a massive dark-blue female headed right toward us.
“Um, Rath,” Kas breathed. “She looks angry…”
“She does,” I murmured, but I didn’t think that was it at all.
The little green dragon on Eira’s shoulder let out an excited squeal, and he flew up to the large blue dragon and circled around her head.
The two of them danced in the air for a moment, and then the huge female landed in front of us and used her front paws to pull her baby to her face so she could nuzzle him.
“Awww.” Asta smiled and clasped her hands under her chin. “That’s his mom.”
The huge female looked at us, and then her piercing white eyes landed on mine, and she gave me a small bow as a show of gratitude.
“We’re happy we could help,” I told her.
As I tuned into the emotions of the dragon, I got the sense she’d missed her baby for a long time. It seemed he’d been taken a couple years earlier at least, which only made me think I was right, and the frost giants had been working on their egg collection for some time.
The giant blue mother turned toward the valley, but her baby flew over to Svass and nuzzled his face against hers before he followed his mother.
“What about the rest of the eggs?” Kas asked once the mom and the baby flew away.
“We’ll see if there are any mothers who can claim them,” I said.
“Will they be able to sense if it’s their egg?” Eira asked.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Mother dragons know their babies, no matter if they’re dormant or not.”
The large brown dragon who’d greeted us before met us again as we entered the valley.
“We have eggs for the mothers to look through,” I told him, and I set the chest down.
Kas and Asta set the chest they were carrying down, too, and we carefully pulled the eggs out and lined them up on the ground.
Mother after mother came over to sniff and look at the eggs, but ultimately, only four of them were reunited with their families. That still left several dozen
