Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

"Come on, all with me! To the villages! It's a trap! That boat is just a diversion!" he yelled, beginning to ride on Aslan towards the ascent that led to the three surviving villages. 

Everyone else hesitated for a moment, but when they realized Dag was serious, they followed him, spurring the horses.

"Hey! Dag, slow down! How can you say it's a diversion?! What did you see?" Kjell yelled, attracting Dag's attention, that listened to those words but didn't decelerate.

"The helmsman was looking towards the villages, his eyes were not on us! Those three men are just a bait, to which we took easy bites, leaving the other side of the coast uncovered!" Dag yelled, continuing to push forward Aslan, who was running at his best speed.

"Fuck!" Ellen exclaimed, realizing that her Warchief's speech made perfect sense.

Gridd and Reidar were puzzled about it and continued to turn back to keep an eye on the boat, which was now about 30 feet from the mainland, ready to dock.

Their doubts ceased when the man at the helm, as Dag guessed, rang the horn, having seen the whole group of warriors running away, realizing that their plan was blown. 

"Oh no, fuck, let's hurry!" Dag shouted again, waving his arm at his teammates and advising them to speed up, fearing they would not be able to save the unsuspecting fishermen, who put all hope in them.

With his feet stuck in the saddle's metal bracket, Dag raised his hips forward, approaching his chest around Aslan's neck and assuming a more aerodynamic position.

The horse further increased the speed of his race, moving progressively away from his companions behind him.

As he climbed the coast, he noticed that the first village, the one in which they should have spent the night, seemed unharmed.

Some of the fishermen and their wives saw Dag and the other warriors arriving in a hurry and stood still waiting for orders.

Dag moved his arm up, signaling to those people to take shelter because the danger was looming.

"Why is that boy so agitated? The boat is still there, far from the village... I don't understand what everyone is doing" one man in the crowd blathered.

"If the enemies are down there, what's the point of going back to the village? Shouldn't they protect us?" 

"So they will do nothing but put our lives in danger! There are children here, how can they do such a thing? I'm heartless!" 

The crowd began to fret, not knowing that they had fallen into the trap of the enemy.

"What's going on here?!" the Shieldmaiden leading the troop of soldiers asked aloud, in a tone of reproach, restoring the order.

"Your Masters are coming back! They promised to protect us, but here they are, running away in front of the enemies!" the fisherman who had begun to agitate the villagers replied.

The Shieldmaiden, followed by two other soldiers, made her way between them and saw Dag, who was heading at great speed in that direction.

With a questioning air, she squinted and tried to focus him when she noticed his arms waving, indicating an imminent danger.

When in addition to Dag, Ellen and the others also began to scream something in the distance, the group of soldiers finally realized that it was not a retreat.

"Everyone inside the houses! Soon! Enter your homes and don't go out for any reason, until our signal!" the troop commander yelled, hardly pushing people toward the huts.

"But what are you babbling about? We don't move from here, we need to know what's going on!" the fisherman continued, as his wife egged on him against the soldiers.

"There's no time for explanations! We're in danger! Obey the orders of our Masters, don't resist, we're here to help you!" the big woman continued, forcing people around her to enter their homes and lock the doors.

Dag was the first to arrive at the village, being Aslan the fastest of their horses.

"What's going on? Enemies have landed on the coast, what are you doing here? We were ready to defend the villagers in case of need!" the woman exclaimed, asking Dag for an explanation.

He slowed down, pulling Aslan's bridles, whose hooves left furrows in the ground after braking.

"You'll need reinforcements! The enemies are not the ones on the boat, it's just a bait! They are going to attack us from the other side, you have to be careful and..." 

*crush*boom*

Before Dag could finish speaking, a tremendous din spread from one of the neighboring villages.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, starting again to ride in that direction.

Ellen, Kjell, Gridd, and Reidar joined him on horseback, racing by the Shieldmaiden, who was speechless, trying to figure out what was going on.

Trying to narrow his eyes, Dag could see nothing but a large cloud of dust coming from the village center, probably resulting from the collapse of one or more huts.

"Go, Aslan! Run, my friend! As fast as an arrow! Aaagh!" he shouted as if the horse could understand his words.

They passed over before the second village, slightly smaller than the first and still intact.

"That way! I can see them! I see the Jotunns!" Reidar shouted from the back, alerting his allies of the imminent danger.

After the third village, another descent, less steep than the other, led to a kind of cliff, completely covered by the rocky coast, which prevented its view.

"You should have known there was another access point! We were so stupid, those monsters managed to trick us easily!" Dag shouted, turning his head back slightly, looking at Ellen and Kjell in a tone of reproach, who despite Dag's young age, knew that he was right to criticize their recklessness.

Immediately after looking back, Dag turned forward again, while his sixth sense heralded a near danger.

Immediately he lowered himself to the back of Aslan, who slightly deflected the trajectory of his run, to dodge that incredibly large object: a gigantic arrow, almost as big as a wooden pole had been fired at great speed towards Dag, missing the target by a few centimeters.