Dragons of Asgard 3 by Logan Jacobs (first ebook reader txt) 📗

it doesn’t matter which one we follow at this point.” Eira shrugged. “Though it would make sense to try the middle one first.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” I nodded. “I’m betting that’s where people live.”

“If we don’t see anything down there, we can always try another tunnel,” Kas reminded us.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s worth a try.”

The girls nodded, and we all made our way to the tunnel across from the entrance.

Unlike the tunnel Eira and I had been in earlier, this one grew larger the further we walked, and there were some strange blue lights along the wall to guide our way.

“What is that?” Kas asked with a gesture to the lights.

“It’s some sort of algae or something that grows in Jotunheim,” Eira explained. “I’ve seen them use it before to mark out paths and stuff when I’ve been here on missions. They’re smart for using it in the caves, too.”

“Do you think it grows in the caves?” Asta asked.

“It might.” Eira nodded. “I’ve never actually seen where it comes from, I’ve just seen the stuff scattered around this realm on my visits, so it has to be naturally occurring somewhere around here.”

“It seems like a good sign at least,” Kas said.

“Right.” I nodded.

The girls and I continued down the tunnel, but I kept my hand on the hilt of my blade. We were disguised as frost giants, so nobody had any reason to suspect we didn’t belong. I still wasn’t sure how to feel about being in an underground cave system where my people’s natural born enemies lived, but it had to be done.

I took a deep breath and focused on the mission at hand. The caves couldn’t be that large, so it should only take us a day or so to look around and find the dragon eggs.

As we walked, a low noise began to fill the tunnel, and it got louder and louder the farther we walked.

“What’s that noise?” Eira asked, and the redhead’s hand drifted toward her weapon.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head.

“It sounds almost like running water,” Asta said, and she cocked her head to the side. “But it’s… something else.”

The low sound continued to grow louder and louder, and up ahead I could see a bright blue light.

“I think we’re nearly there,” I said as we approached the blue illumination.

The sound was becoming clearer, and I realized it wasn’t one sound, but many, all at once.

I squinted with confusion and made the rest of the trek to the opening at the end of the tunnel. Then my jaw dropped as I looked down at the huge open area below.

The sound we heard had been a massive marketplace that spread out for what seemed like miles. I couldn’t see the end of it from our place at the top of a huge staircase made of ice, and I realized then the caves were far more extensive than I’d thought.

“Oh, shite,” Eira breathed.

“I think this is going to take longer than expected,” I said as I looked over at the girls, and I gulped as I stared out at the vast market below us.

Oh, shite, was right.

Chapter 16

“It’s going to take us days to search this place,” Kas said, and she looked at me with panicked violet eyes.

“I thought Ramir said people lived down here.” Asta frowned. “This looks like it’s a marketplace.”

“It is.” I nodded and gestured to the smaller tunnels that branched off from the larger one we were looking down at. “I’m betting those smaller tunnels lead to people’s homes.”

“Right,” Eira agreed. “And if people live here, it would make sense they’d need a marketplace. I guess I just hadn’t realized how huge this place would be.”

“I hadn’t, either.” I shook my head.

“What are we going to do?” Kas pushed. “We don’t know when the King is going to come for those babies.”

“Yes,” Asta added. “And we need to get to the little baby who hatched.”

“I know,” I said, and I pursed my lips and thought for a moment.

The area was much larger than I’d expected, but that didn’t mean our plan had to change too much. It might even be better for our disguises that the area was so large since we were less likely to run into someone who knew the people we were disguised as. We could move among the tunnels unnoticed, but the only problem was there were too many tunnels to search in the amount of time we had.

We needed to work with our wits.

“We can do this,” I told the girls.

“How?” Kas asked, and she bit her lip.

“We’re going to do the same thing here that we did at the market in Alfheim,” I explained.

“Good idea.” Eira smirked. “We should be able to spot the arseholes around here pretty quickly.”

“Yeah,” I said. “If we walk around and keep an eye out for suspicious-looking giants, I’m sure we can find them. It might take longer than we’d anticipated, but it’s our best bet right now.”

“You’re right.” Kas nodded. “The market in Alfheim was huge, too, but we spotted the dragon trading bastards there.”

“If I’ve learned anything being in a warband, it’s that criminals aren’t afraid to operate out in the open,” Eira said with a shake of her head.

“You would think they would try to avoid being in public.” Asta frowned.

“Everyone looks in the shadows for someone being suspicious,” I explained. “Nobody expects it to be right in front of them, which is why they operate in plain sight. Most people wouldn’t think criminals would be that bold, but they almost always are.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Kas said, and her strawberry-blonde eyebrows pulled together.

“Everyone, stay close,” I said, and I looked at Blar and Inger. “No flying, at