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

one of the frost giant women. “We’d like to be served, please. Do you have mead?”

“We can serve you,” another woman with only a piece of fabric tied around her breasts and waist said, and she walked over and grabbed Asta’s hand to try and pull her into the darkness.

“Oh, no, no, no,” Kas said as she grabbed Asta and pulled her toward the door. “Come on, everyone. Let’s go.”

Blar tugged on my leash as he tried to get to one of the females, but I just pulled him away, waved at the women, and stepped back out into the marketplace.

Once we were back on the street, a couple of men walking by nodded and smiled at us as if we were in on some dirty little secret, and I realized we were still standing directly in front of the brothel.

“Come on,” I said, and I led the girls down the main path and took a deep breath to clear my head.

“What was that?” Asta asked with an innocent frown.

“It was clearly a brothel.” Eira rolled her eyes and laughed. “You led us into a brothel.”

“A brothel?” the elf girl asked, and her white eyebrows pinched together with confusion. “What’s that?”

“Seriously?” Kas asked. “You don’t know what a brothel is?”

“No.” Asta shook her head. “Are there any in Asgard?”

“A couple,” Eira chuckled.

“I’ve never been,” the elf girl mused.

“Yes, that’s clear,” the redhead giggled.

“So, what is it?” Asta pushed. “Are they fun?”

Kas leaned in and whispered something in her ear.

“No!” the elf girl gasped and covered her mouth.

“Afraid so.” Kas nodded.

“Oh, I’m so embarrassed I brought us in there!” Asta squealed.

“It’s alright,” I laughed. “You couldn’t have known.”

“Maybe not, but it’s still embarrassing.” The white-haired elf girl’s cheeks were bright red, and she put her face in her hands.

“There’s no need to look so mortified,” Eira chuckled. “I’m sure Rath’s been in a brothel or two.”

The redhead winked at me, but I just shook my head.

“Not once,” I said honestly.

“Really?” Eira asked, and she jerked her head back with surprise.

“Really.” I shrugged. “I never saw the point.”

“Hm.” The redhead regarded me coolly. “I was sure all the men in my warband visited the brothels after a good victory.”

“Oh, they do,” I laughed. “I’ve just never gone with them.”

“You continue to surprise me, Volrath, you know that?” Eira asked with a smile and a shake of her head.

It’d been a long time since I’d heard Eira use my whole name, and I liked it more than I remembered.

We continued down the main path of the market until we found another bar. This one had a window where passersby could order a glass of booze, as well as a small seating area in front of the pub.

I walked over and ordered four pints, but the man looked at me strangely and gave me four huge glasses of some sort of dark liquid I assumed was the Jotunheim version of mead.

I passed out the drinks and took a sip of the dark ale. The drink was not nearly as sweet as mead, but it was earthy, spicy, and flavorful, and I took another sip as I sat at the table with the girls and looked out to the main street of the market.

“I haven’t seen anything even remotely suspicious yet,” Eira grumbled around the rim of her own mug. “Whoever’s doing this is good at hiding.”

“I know.” Kas pursed her lips. “I thought we would have seen something by now.”

“It’s only been a couple of hours,” I reminded them. “We’ll stay as long as it takes.”

“What if we don’t find anything tonight?” Asta asked with a frown.

“Then we’ll come back tomorrow,” I assured her. “We have to find those eggs before the King gets a hold of them.”

“There’s no telling how many he’d break trying to cast his terrible little spells,” Eira muttered, and she took a long drink.

“I hadn’t considered that,” Kas said as her strawberry-blonde eyebrows pulled together.

“It was the first thing I considered.” Eira shook her head. “I’ve been around enough magic to see it not go well, and I can’t imagine he’s going to get that spell right on the first try.”

“Even just one little dragon egg being cracked would be horrendous,” Asta gasped. “How can he live with himself?”

“Isn’t this the same arsehole who locked you in his dungeon?” Eira asked. “I’ve seen plenty of Kings in different realms, and they’re almost always terrible.”

“It’s because they think they can do whatever they want,” Kas growled, and her fist clenched on the table. “It makes me so mad.”

“It’s alright,” I told her. “We’re going to catch these dragon trading bastards. Just keep an eye out for anybody who looks like they’re trying to blend in.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing?” Asta asked. “Trying to blend in?”

“It is.” I nodded. “So, you should be able to spot it, right?”

“Mmm, good point.” The white-haired elf girl nodded. “I was looking for wagons or large bags that could be carrying eggs, but maybe I should look for people like us.”

“There’s no guarantee that whoever we see will have eggs on them at the moment,” I said. “But we’ll need to check out anybody who looks even remotely suspicious.”

“Okay.” Kas nodded, and the girls all drank their ale as we looked around at the frost giants passing by.

The dragons slept near our feet as we watched the market, and I could hear Blar snoring lightly underneath me.

We’d certainly made it to a different part of the market.. This area had a lot of pubs, as well as weapon and armor vendors, but surprisingly, it was still extremely busy.

There were more single males, or groups of men traveling in this area. Most of them