Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

"Yes, I still can't believe it. It wasn't easy, but it seems my ideas are finally beginning to come true. Fortunately, even the Crows Of Odin's Masters, at first reluctant mainly because of my young age, accepted the proposed alliance. It took two great battles to earn my trust! Hahaha!" Dag chuckled, venting to his Master, sure that he would understand his emotions.

"I already know everything. Skjegg's two messengers told me in detail about both the recent battle against the Jotunns and the previous one, to save the poor Freydis from the Horns Of Heimdallr... my girl, can you please get closer, if you don't mind?" Egill asked, making a hand gesture to Freydis, who without thinking twice, got up from the wooden chair and approached him.

"Can you show me the wound?" 

"Do you mean... "that wound?" she asked, looking at Egill and then Dag, who nodded.

"They told me it all started with your infected wound and I'm curious to see it... I don't know anything else" Egill replied, intrigued.

Freydis showed him the lower part of her neck, slightly loosening the upper part of the armor: the scar of the Inguz rune had completely disappeared, replaced by another much larger and visible, surrounded by six tusk-shaped holes, four at the top and two at the bottom.

"Okay... it seems totally healed... whoever treated it did a really good job, disinfecting and suturing it properly" Egill exclaimed, approaching Freydis's shoulder, trying to see better.

"It was Karl, Master Egill... thanks to your advice and your almanac, which has practically learned by heart, he has become a very good healer, despite his young age" Dag replied, intruding into the speech and praising his companion's progress.

"Very well. Does it still hurt? What exactly happened? Do you know what kind of power triggered this scar? Honestly, I've never seen this irregular shape" Egill continued, studying it in detail.

Before Freydis could answer the question, Dag said: "This is not the scar that caused the catastrophic events we've faced, actually. On Freydis's neck, a Horns Of Heimdallr sorcerer had engraved the Inguz rune, somehow tying her soul to that of the Frostsinners, who, thanks to the rune, were able to control her body and actions, forcing her to fight against her own comrades and giving her unimaginable powers".

"What? Inguz did you say? It is a very old and extremely powerful rune! Only a few people in the world can successfully activate it..." Egill commented, standing up, astonished at Dag's words.

With the help of Reidar, who as usual had been very attentive to the details, the two companions explained to Egill everything that had happened, considering that Freydis had few memories and very fragmented, due to her loss of consciousness.

They told him about her transformation and that of Dag, who after absorbing the powers of Roar, the goat demon, had lost his reason, turning in part against his allies, in that murderous fury driven exclusively by his senses, inherited from the beast-man.

"So you cut the scar off her? Did you bite her?" the Master Of Healing asked, getting a confirmation from Dag, who nodded his head.

"Unbelievable... Master Sondre... I must admit that I never heard of him, but judging by your story, he must have been a very wicked person. Thankfully his colleague sacrificed him to the Frostsinners, sparing us the trouble of returning to Horns Of Heimdallr Island, who are now without any Masters" Egill replied, continuing to observe the Shieldmaiden's scar up close.

"Master Egill, if I may say so... Master Dag has not only saved Freydis and Skjegg, as usual, my Captain is too humble to report the reality of the facts in their entirety. A few days after that unfortunate event, we set off to the coast of Skjegg, because we had been informed that some fishing villages had been razed to the ground by unknown enemies..." Reidar intervened, taking the floor to fill the moments of silence.

"Yes, I know everything, son. The messengers who arrived here told me and Dargeon everything about the Jotunns and the devastating attack of Dag, which decimated their troops, causing their panicky retreat. Once again, I congratulate you!" Egill exclaimed, ignoring the Giantbane thing and its attempted theft, the reason for which remained unknown.

*boom*

With a violent noise, the library doors opened and Dargeon made his entrance, yawning and scratching his belly, full as usual.

"Eehehe... back from the dead! Long time no see, welcome back, boy!" the Master Of Defense yelled, approaching Dag and looking confused at Freydis, who immediately covered her wound.

It took him a few minutes longer to summarize the story that had involved Dag and his team a few days earlier, updating him on the facts and adding the detail of the Giantbane, of which Master Egill was also unaware.

"This is very strange... I mean... how could they, warriors from a distant nation, know of the existence of your weapon? And above all, how did they know that you had it and that you were there?" Dargeon asked, trying to reason with his two colleagues. 

"I don't know, but I suspect this story has to do with the red crystal embedded on it. I can't tell you why, but apparently, the Jotunns wanted to get hold of it. A little girl, a survivor of their first attack, confessed to having eavesdropped on a conversation, in which they babbled something about a 'crystal'... and there are no crystals other than this one" Dag replied, pulling out the Giantbane and placing it on the table in front of everyone.

As its power was not active at the time, the two small rubies embedded in the eyes of the deer head on the handle of the axe were not particularly shining and were barely visible.

"Mmh... I remember the story of this crystal. Even if we often don't remember this, this is a legendary weapon, forged by Weland himself! It is obvious that it can attract prying eyes! There must be something or someone you haven't noticed that alerted the Giants Of Ymir. They could hit any point in Okstorm, but they decided to attack the coast of Runar, the closest point to Skjegg, the city you were in at the time. Too many coincidences Dag, don't you think?" Egill replied, reflecting on the chronological order of events.