Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

The other bandit looked at him in disgust and came even closer to Kjetil, who continued to lose blood from his neck.

"That bow. I was watching it carefully a while ago... it looks like a magnificent weapon..." said Dag, pointing his finger at Kjetil's bow, resting on the ground next to him.

The kneeling bandit interrupted him: "It is. It's a magical weapon, it was of a warrior who lived near the village of Tyven. If you load an arrow while no one is looking at you, two more appear… but not normal ones…they're magical".

"Uhm? Try to explain it better" said Dag, curiously.

The last man left to protect Kjetil hit his traitor comrade with a kick in the stomach.

"Silence, traitor!" he said contemptuously, spitting on him.

The man, after recovering from the blow, crept toward Dag.

"If you load the bow stealthily... it generates two magical arrows, which are heading in the direction you want, helping you catch your enemies by surprise... I've seen Kjetil use his weapon many times, I know how it works!" the man continued, confessing everything.

"This sounds interesting" said Dag, who quickly grabbed his hammer and threw it at Kjetil's guard, who, after being shot in the head, fell to the ground, continuing to move and touching his head.

"You have a hard head, don't you?" asked Dag, approaching the guard with bad intentions.

"Dag, wait!" said Karl, trying to stop his friend.

But he had already grabbed his hammer and with it struck the guard again on the head, shattering his skull.

He continued to strike repeatedly and pieces of brain fell on Kjetil, who was leaning against the wall half a meter away and began to cry, realizing that his end had come.

"Stop, Dag!" Karl continued to shout.

He tried to go towards him, but one hand blocked him from behind, touching his shoulder.

It was Reidar.

When Dag stopped his fury, he stood up, looking into Kjetil's eyes.

"Well... you seem to have been left without protection, like a helpless lamb" he said, as the bandit leader continued to bleed from his neck and had pieces of his personal guard's body on him.

"Why... why did you do this to me?" he asked, with a thread of a voice.

Dag lowered himself to him, his ear toward his mouth.

"Sorry, I can't hear you. Repeat" he said, in a calm and serious voice.

"Your goal was to steal my treasure... right? What are you waiting, then... take them and let me die in peace..." Kjetil continued.

"Your treasure? Mmh... you're wrong, I had no interest in your riches. I just wanted to kill you" Dag replied, looking into the dying enemy's eyes and smiling sadistically.

Kjetil looked back, losing himself in Dag's piercing eyes, one light-blue, and the other of an intense purple.

He tried to speak, but he couldn't. He had lost too much blood and was slowly squinting.

"I came to kill you for what you did to the village behind the hill. You killed and ransacked all his people. Death is the least punishment for you, I'm doing you a favor. I could cure you and let you go, but what good would that do? You'd gather another group of sons of bitches like you and start doing what you were born to do" Dag continued, standing up and turning the other way.

"When the other bandits in the region will know about my death... they will come looking for you... and for you, it will be the end..." whispered Kjetil, with the little breath remaining in his lungs.

Dag lowered himself toward the corpse of the guard he had just killed and picked up his spear.

Then he turned again to Kjetil.

"I can't wait to meet them" he said, before thrusting the spear into his enemy's chest.

Kjetil opened his eyes wide and dropped the blood-soaked rag he was pressing on his neck.

Dag grabbed the spear rod with both hands and pushed forcefully, lifting Kjetil off the ground, despite his size.

With a further effort, he lifted it even further, about a meter and a half above the ground, causing his back to crawl against the wall.

Kjetil put his hand on the spear, grabbing it with a weak grip.

Dag grabbed his hammer as he held the weapon stuck in Kjetil's chest and began hitting its lower end, to hang his enemy on the wall.

After about 30 seconds, Kjetil's hands fell down lifeless and he remained pinned to the wall, next to a trophy with a lion's head.

the blood coming out of his neck and chest continued to drop to the ground and within minutes, it formed a pug.

Dag turned to his companions: "It was easy. Now the bandits will no longer be a danger".

Reidar nodded his head, approving of Dag's gesture, while Karl looked at him displeased.

"Reidar, take this. I think it's better than yours" Dag continued, picking up Kjetil's magic bow and handing it over to his companion.

"Me? Why me?" asked Reidar, astonished.

"Do you see any other archer here? Or rather, other archers alive?" smiled Dag.

Reidar knelt down and gripped the bow firmly.

"Thank you, Captain! I will lovingly guard this weapon, which will have a new life and will serve our cause" Reidar continued, looking down as if he was taking an oath to Dag.

"I have no doubt, I'm sure you will" he replied.

Reidar stood up to better admire the weapon.

It was a magnificent longbow, dark-wood colored, almost black.

At the ends of the two limbs were carved two small wooden wings, similar to those of an eagle and in the center of the curve of the wooden structure, to enrich the sight window, there was a pointed metal protuberance, similar to the beak of a raptor.

It was the viewfinder, which seemed much more precise than that of the common bow Reidar was used to fight with.