Guarding Her Dragon (Dragon Guard Series Book 17) Read online

  Jumping to her feet, Elsa ran to the man, and using all the adrenalin racing through her body, flipped his still frozen form onto its back before landing on her bum in the snow with a loud, “Oomph!”

  Mona’s eyes were as big as saucers and her mouth had dropped open as she stood staring. Elsa enjoyed two full seconds of silence before her oldest and most opinionated sister yelled, “What on earth do you think you are doing?”

  “I’m saving him! What does it look like I’m doing?” She answered with as much exasperation as she could work up while wrapping the blanket around the man.

  “It looks like you just dumped the already frozen man onto the frozen snow. How is that saving him?” Mona asked with her usual air of superiority which at that moment danced on Elsa’s last nerve.

  Jumping to her feet and advancing on her sister she yelled, “It’s the box, you bonehead.” She pointed behind her with such force that her feet slipped on the snow but the little elf didn’t let that stop her, she kept right on screaming. “It’s the box that’s evil.”

  Stopping in her tracks as another thought went through her mind, Elsa spun around and headed back towards her frozen man and his silver coffin. All thoughts of fighting with her sister evaporated in light of her new belief and as she mumbled to herself, more than her sister, she began working it all out. “Those symbols…it had to be the symbols more than the lock that held him in there. I knew they looked weird…they definitely got angry when I hit them with Elven Light.”

  Rifling through her pack, she pulled out a notebook and pen, and began sketching what she could remember of the glyphs. It surprised her how many she could recall and also how evil they truly looked. Of course, Mona had to ask, “What are you doing, now?”

  Sighing as she finished the last of the runes, Elsa closed her notebook, put it back in her pack and looked up at her sister, trying to decide whether to answer her question or not. Knowing Mona would just ask again and again, Elsa responded as she went back to bundling up the frozen man with the extra green woolen beanie cap knitted by her mother along with the matching muffler. It was hard dressing a man that was stiff as a board and talking at the same time, but the elf made it work. “If you must know,” she had to stop and take a breath. “I am trying to get him as warm as possible for the trip home.”

  At this point she was sweating under her snowsuit and wishing she’d asked Olivia, the middle sister of the seven, to come with her instead of Mona. At least Ollie loved a good mystery, was up for almost anything and would’ve been more help than Miss Bossy Pants, who was already screaming her adamant disapproval at Elsa. “Oh no…no, no, no, no! Absolutely not! You are not taking him home. He is not some lost penguin…he’s a…he’s a…he’s a man!”

  “Very good, Mona, you know a man from a penguin,” Elsa retorted, too tired for anymore arguing and already dreading the mile and a half trip home. Still bundling up the man she added, “I am taking him home, with or without your help. Poppa always says we are to help those in need and if this guy isn’t in need,” she stood and wiped the sweat from her brow and glared at her sister, “then I don’t know who is.”

  “But…but…but…what if…” Mona stammered. Clearly taken back by Elsa’s conviction.

  “If if’s and but’s were candy and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas, Mona,” the little elf countered with her mother’s favorite rhyme to combat her children’s grumbling at having to do chores. “Now, are you gonna help me get him on the sled or do I have to do that myself, too?”

  Running towards their oversized toboggan, Mona squealed, “Oh no! I draw the line at using the sled. We have to use it to get the tree home.”

  Completely exasperated and more than fed up with her sister’s attitude, Elsa stalked over to the bobsled, pushed her sister’s hands off the handlebar and growled, “I am putting him,” she pointed over her shoulder with her thumb, “on the sled and taking him to the house. You can either help me or get outta my way.”

  Taking several steps back, with the color draining from her face, Mona stood with a look of complete awe, opening and shutting her mouth like fish out of water. Deciding to let her sister work through her acceptance of the situation, Elsa spun around and marched back to her frozen man.

  She had to smile and wondered what he would think if he could see himself all bundled up in a pink and grey plaid blanket with a bright green stocking cap complete with fuzzy ball on the top and matching muffler around his neck. Something told the elf that he would not be pleased. Even in his ‘popsicle-form’, as she had been thinking of him, he looked stoic, regal, like a warrior of some sort.

  His thick dark brows were furrowed, his lips pulled into a thin line of a frown and his shoulders thrown back as if accepting of his fate but vowing revenge at the first opportunity. There was no doubt in Elsa’s mind, this man served a greater purpose and it was her job to see to his welfare. Her sister and anyone else who chose to oppose her could just, well…they could just take a long walk off a short snow bank.

  Glancing back and forth between her sister and the sled as she maneuvered it towards her patient, Elsa asked, “Are you gonna stand there with that judgy look on your face or are you gonna help me?”

  Heaving a sigh and shaking her head, Mona started to follow. “I’m going to help but only because he is seriously the most deserving of it as anyone I’ve ever seen but I swear if he jumps outta that box and eats us for Christmas dinner, I’m gonna haunt you for all eternity.”

  “Whatever you think is best, Mona,” Elsa snickered, then mumbled under her breath, “Knew you couldn’t resist.”

  Chapter Two

  “You know, Dad is gonna be mad when he gets home and sees what you’ve done?”

  “Yes, Mona.”

  “And Mom is gonna have a heart attack that we don’t have the tree?”

  “Yes, Mona.”

  “And our house is already busting at the seams, what are you gonna do with him?” She said the word like it tasted bad before adding, “He’s at least six and a half feet tall and even all skinny and gross and frozen he’s still big as a moose.”

  “Yes, Mona.”

  “And…”

  “And if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna put him in your bed because it’s going to be empty,” Elsa interrupted with a grumble.

  “But, why would my bed be empty?” The oldest elf asked with her nose all crinkled up and her brows furrowed.

  Stopping the sled and looking directly at her sister, she said, “Cause I’m gonna leave you out here to freeze and see how you like it.”

  “Well, I never,” Mona huffed.

  “Yeah, you never shut up.” Elsa grabbed the handlebar and started pushing again, glad they were heading downhill, even if it was a tiny one.

  Pouting, Mona caught up but still refused to help push, instead she walked alongside the toboggan, cutting her eyes to Elsa and grumbling under her breath about ungrateful sisters and men who get themselves frozen in the Arctic. Elsa thought about apologizing. She knew it wasn't Mona’s fault that she was a big pain in the butt, it was just how she was wired. It went against everything in her not to follow the rules and stick to the plan. The oldest of the O’Leary girls was a true type A personality. Her world was black and white. She did not color outside the lines or buck the system…ever.

  Elsa, on the other hand, rarely followed the rules, always came up with new and inventive ways to subvert the plan and never, ever, ever colored inside the lines. Hell, she usually made the sky pink, the grass purple and the people every other color under the sun. She believed variety was the spice of life and had never met a person she couldn’t talk to. To say she and Mona were complete opposites was only the tip of the iceberg, but it didn’t mean she didn’t love her big sister, it just meant she rarely listened to her and always gave her a hard time.

  The rest of the trip home was traveled in silence. Elsa never apologized and Mona turned pouting into an art form, but they finally made it to the gate and down the long l
ane to the two-story cottage they’d lived in their whole lives. The long dark day was getting even darker and the candles her mom always kept in the windows were lit and shining like beacons, assuring the elves the home fires were burning and all was well.

  Of course, still pissed and licking her wounds from their argument, Mona ran into the house, left the door wide opened and yelled, “You are not gonna believe what Elsa brought home this time!”

  “It had better not be something I have to feed. I can barely keep up with all of you. Whoever said girls don’t eat as much as boys didn’t have any,” her mother called out as she stepped into the doorway and gasped, “What in the name of the Goddess?” Carolyn stood, staring, as five more faces appeared around her, all with pointed ears, wide eyes and mouths in the shape of an ‘O’.

  “It’s a frozen man, who was in a box and Elsa used her magic to free him then insisted on bringing him home,” Mona tattled. “Tell her she’s crazy and make her take him back, Momma.”

  “Could you be any more of a tattle-tail, Mona? You do know you’re two hundred years old, right?” Elsa rolled her eyes before speaking to her mother and ignoring Mona’s rebuttal. “What was I supposed to do? Leave him in that horrible coffin, in the middle of nowhere when the weather is just starting to turn bitter?”

  She walked towards her mom and continued to explain, “He’s been there a long time. Locked away by evil magic.” The elf shivered just remembering it. “I had to help. There’s just something about him…” Her voice trailed off as her body, by its own volition turned to the side so she could look at him again then whisper, “He’s special, Momma, really special.”

  Walking past her daughter, still silent, Carolyn, along with Olivia, Penelope and Muriel, the sisters closest to Elsa in age, stepped up to the sled and assessed the man, still quite frozen and still unmoving.

  “He has icicles on his beard,” Penelope giggled.

  Chuckling, Muriel mused, “I bet he’s kinda handsome under all that hair.”

  “He needs to eat. He’s skin and bones,” Olivia chimed in. “But I guess he has to thaw out first.”

  Ignoring her sisters while watching her mother closely, Elsa held her breath as Carolyn looked up, took a deep breath and asked, “Are you even sure he’s still alive?”

  “Yes, ma’am, he’s got a heartbeat. It’s faint but it’s there.” Elsa quickly answered. Then added, “And it got stronger when I got him out of that cursed silver box,” as she crossed her fingers inside her gloves that her mother would let him stay. Of course, instead of just saying yes, there were more questions.

  “And how do you know he’s not the one that is evil?”

  “Because, even when he was in the coffin, I could see his aura and it’s beautiful, Mom, really beautiful, like a kaleidoscope lit from within with bright white light.”

  Carolyn nodded as she shivered in the cold, wrapped the shawl she always wore tighter around her shoulders and walked around the sled just staring at the man. When she did finally speak, it was in a low tone almost as if she was thinking out loud. “Yes, I see it and there appears to be no immediate danger but I don’t think we should let him in the house before your father gets home.”

  Elsa blew out the breath she’d been holding and snapped her mouth closed as her mother said, “But you can put him in the barn with the reindeer calves. It’s heated and only the two little ones are there until your father returns with the others.” Carolyn looked over the frames of her glasses that always seemed to sit on the end of her nose no matter how many times she pushed them up, and added, “Put him in the incubator stall with the heat lamps, that should get him thawed out quickly.”

  “Are you serious?” Mona yelled from where she stood inside the house.

  Elsa was only able to get a dirty look thrown her oldest sister’s way before Carolyn waved her hand over her shoulder and said, “Mona, go tend to the potatoes on the stove. I’m sure Elsa, as well as every creature along your route home has heard your arguments.” Then to the other elves shivering but still gawking, pointing and whispering amongst themselves, she ordered, “Get in the house and help get dinner on the table. You’re gonna catch your death out here. Your dad won’t be back until tomorrow, he needs an extra day at the market, so we’re on our own and I don’t intend on being in the kitchen all night.”

  Waiting until her sisters were all in the house, Elsa ran to her mother, threw her arms around the older elf and hugged her for all she was worth. “Oh, thank you, Momma, thank you so very much. I knew you would help.”

  Patting her on the back before pulling back, Carolyn nodded her head, “We have to help those in need and I don’t feel the presence of any evil about him, but as he awakens you will need to be careful. We don’t know anything about him. How long he’s been stuck in the snow? Where’s he from? Who he is? Anything…so, caution first, Elsa dear. Please, just this once, caution first.”

  “Yes, Momma,” The elf quickly agreed, spinning on her toes and heading back to the sled. “Go inside and get warm,” She called over her shoulder, turning the toboggan towards the huge red barn to the left of the cottage. “I’ll be in when I get him settled.”

  “Don’t you need help? I can send Olivia out,” Carolyn called.

  “Nope, I got this.” Elsa answered, not wanting to admit that she didn’t want to share her frozen man with anyone else.

  For some unknown reason, she felt protective of him, like he was hers to care for… hers to…well, just hers. If she was honest with herself, which she always was, even when it was a pain in the butt, it had made her jealous when her sisters were oohing and ahhing and ogling him. It was unnerving and she was glad when her mom had made them go away.

  “Okay dear, I’ll keep your dinner warm. Don’t be too long.”

  “Thanks again, Mom. Love you,” Elsa yelled to be heard over the howling wind that had suddenly appeared out of the north with a vengeance.

  “Love you, too, Sweetheart. Oh, and don’t think you’ve gotten out of getting my Christmas tree. I’ll expect it tomorrow.” Was the last thing she heard her mother say as the door to the cottage slammed shut from an especially fierce gust.

  The elf chuckled, knowing full well her mother meant every word she said and that Elsa would indeed be heading back out for the tree she and Mona had already cut down. However, she was asking one of her other sisters to go along, she’d had enough of Motormouth Mona.

  Running around the sled, Elsa struggled to open the heavy barn doors against the bracing wind. Finally, getting it secured, she headed back, grabbed the handlebars and pushed the toboggan with her very special cargo into the warmth. Thankfully, when she went to shut the doors, the wind was on her side and pushed them shut. The only downside was the loud bang that had the reindeer calves belting out their annoyance at the disruption.

  “Shhh, It’s just me. I’ll get you some mushrooms and moss when I’m done with him.” The calves immediately settled down as if they understood what she’d said. She had to snicker at the way they stood with their noses over the side of the pen sniffing as the sled went past.

  Getting to the incubation stall that her father had built for premature calves or mothers who were having a hard time keeping their warmth after delivery, Elsa took off her gloves. The warm air almost stung her bare skin, making her realize that in her worry for the man in her care she hadn’t been paying attention to the dropping temperatures.

  “That’s a good way to lose a finger or a toe,” she mimicked her dad’s low grumbly voice, repeating the warning he’d been giving them all for as long as Elsa could remember.

  Stepping out of her boots, she peeled off her heavy snowsuit and threw it to the side knowing she would have to put it on again when she was finished with her patient. Heading to the storage closet, the elf grabbed four thick bedding blankets, two electric blankets, a couple of towels and a pair of her dad’s long johns. She knew they would be too short for her frozen man but he was going to need clothes when he thawed out an
d woke up and she decided they were better than hers with red and green polka dots.

  Arriving back at the stall, Elsa looked at the man, trying to decide the best way to get him off the sled. “Well, first I have to get a couple of these blankets spread out,” she told herself, jumping into action.

  Time seemed to fly, especially with all the questions floating through her mind, like… “Who is he? How long has he been buried in the snow? Who put him there? Why did they put him there? Does he have a family, a wife and kids?”

  The last inquiry bothered Elsa more than she wanted to admit, so instead of dwelling, she dispensed with the questions and got to thawing him out. The only way she could think to get him off the sled was to pull and pray, so after a prayer to the Goddess that was exactly what she did.

  With a firm hold on the bottom edge of the pink and grey plaid blanket, Elsa took a deep breath, summoned all her strength and with one mighty pull grunted, “Oh, great Goddess please give me strength.”

  Three steps backward and a crash followed by a crack as he hit the floor, teetering just a bit before settling, and the elf had successfully gotten him off the sled and onto the blankets on the floor of the stall. Reaching for the plaid coverlet, Else cursed aloud when she realized the fabric had frozen to the ice. “Oh, crap on a Christmas cookie, now what am I going to do?”

  Stepping back, she twirled the long red curl that had fallen out of the bun from under the hat on top of her head around her index finger and tried to decide what to do next. It came to her in a flash of inspiration that had the elf running towards the store room, squealing, “The hand-held warmer,” to the calves who were staring as she dashed by.

  Throwing open the door, she grabbed the large silver appliance off the shelf, spun around and ran back, smiling from ear-to-ear. Plugging what looked like a hair dryer for the jolly green giant into the outlet and stretching the cord until she was standing by her patient, Elsa chuckled in her best announcer’s voice, “And now, lady and gentleman,” she winked to the female and male twin reindeer calves then nodded to the man at her feet, “the hundred and first use for a portable reindeer hoof warmer. I give you the Man Defroster. You too, can own this amazing appliance for just ten payments of $19.99.”