Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

"Let's walk along this rock face... it should lead us to the coast. Seeing the sea, it will be easier for us to orient!" Dag exclaimed, urging his allies not to stray too far from the tunnel so that they can find their way back in the event of a strategic retreat.

Without saying anything, Master Kjell had carried with him a long chain, which he had rolled around his shoulders.

He untied it and wedged one of its ends to a rock at the entrance to the tunnel leading to the cave.

"What are you doing?" Sander asked, who was walking next to him.

"In this way, if we don't find shelter for the night, we'll be able to get back in there. We just have to find a place where to tie the other side of the chain so that we can walk the path backward" he explained, who had thought about this important detail, not wanting to risk losing his soldiers to the penetrating cold.

Continuing to walk eastward, the wind gradually diminished its strength, until Dag could see the ravine in front of him, under which there was the Great Deep Sea.

"Well, at least we know that the Iron Emerald isn't visible from up here" he said, raising his arm and ordering everyone to stop because of the rough terrain.

"Dag, look here... they look like footprints!" Freydis exclaimed, leaning down to the ground and tapping it with one hand.

He approached her and looked at the indicated point: large circular furrows were dug in the fresh snow and repeated in succession, while the wind partially covered them.

"They look like the footprints of a Jotunn! One here, another over there... There's no doubt, somehow they are connected to what happened down in the cave, maybe they belong to the girl's kidnapper!" Gridd continued, who despite personally recruiting Claire, didn't even remember her face, which would make her realize that she wasn't actually who she said.

"I think we should follow them before the wind covers them for good! We can't stay here, we're going to freeze to death! We need to move and find another shelter!" Dag ordered, looking at Kjell and the others and seeking their approval.

"I'm going to tie this chain to that big boulder, so we just have to go back to the coast to find our way back to the cave" Kjell said, who stuck the other end of the chain inside a fracture in the big rock next to them, which, thanks to the action of wind and rain, had taken on a characteristic shape, different from the others.

"Perfect, let's move, then! You heard Master Dag! Come on, try to keep up! The kidnapper can't be far away!" Master Sander said aloud, trying to be heard by everyone despite the strong wind.

Walking more or less neatly, Dag and his companions led the troops of soldiers, who merely followed them, managing to withstand enough the cold, thanks to their well-stocked equipment. 

He continued to follow the tracks at a sustained pace, hearing the constant sound of his feet sinking into the snow, which reached almost his knees.

"Claire, hold on! I don't know who kidnapped you, but I'm going to save you again, just like I did in the past! I hope you're in a warm place... this Jotunn was on foot, his footprints prove it!" he thought, continuing undaunted to walk in nothingness, while around him there was nothing but the white desolate landscape of Krypstorm.

About half an hour passed when the warriors began to slow down due to the cold, which lowered their resistance.

"Over there! I see something! Hold on, we can't go back now, we're too far from the cave!" Dag yelled, turning back and trying to encourage his soldiers.

About 800 meters away from their current location, a kind of wooden fence stood in the middle of the snow, with two low hills behind it.

"Courage! We've just arrived, the exploration hasn't started yet! If two old men like us can make it, you young and determined warriors should have no problem resisting this cold!" Sander said, breathing hard and giggling with Egill, who like him was having some difficulty continuing, being his robe less suitable to travel long distances in the snow.

Kjell accelerated and continued to walk next to Dag, looking forward.

"It looks like it's uninhabited... I don't see smoke coming out of the chimneys and with this cold, I think even those who live in Krypstorm are forced to burn some wood to warm up" he said, discussing with Dag the possible inhabitants of that structure, which had all the air of being a half-destroyed village.

Part of the fence, in fact, was ceded and the long pointed wooden beams lay on the ground partially covered by snow.

With one last effort, Dag, Gridd, and Kjell managed to get to the village in advance, before all the others, to make sure it was safe.

"If someone is ambushing us, we're all doomed! There are no hiding places out here, it's all so... white!" Gridd said, resting her shoulders behind some of the outer gate beams, hiding with his companions, who tried to look inside from the holes of the wood.

Sharpening the view, Dag realized before them that, as anticipated by Kjell, the three huts that made up the village were abandoned.

"Master Kjell, follow me. Gridd, you will stay there... at our signal you will give the soldiers the green light" Dag ordered, trying to be as practical as possible.

He and Kjell quickly entered through the destroyed door of the fence, hiding behind the wooden skeleton of a wagon, completely destroyed by the weather.

Communicating only with their eyes, they approached at great speed towards the first hut, exactly where the Jotunn's footprints were interrupted.

"Let's be careful, he's definitely in there" Kjell said, as Dag detached a piece of shattered wood from the wagon and without warning threw it toward the hut, hitting one of its walls.