Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Egill, Dag, and Reidar sat side by side on the old, moldy wooden floor and began sipping a hot broth, which someone more foreshadowing than them had brought with them.

"So? What did you find out? I noticed that you stayed in that hut for a long time, despite the cold" Freydis asked, stroking Dag's shoulders, who was shaking without even noticing.

He began to tell what they had seen in the hut, although Kjell had already anticipated something, despite he was not much of a talker.

With the help of Egill and Reidar, he described the injuries sustained on the Jotunn's corpse and their theories about who or what could be the killer of such a huge being.

"And what about Claire? There's no sign of her? Is she there?" Karl asked, who next to his sister was listening to Dag's story, sipping the broth from his mug.

"Someone took her away. We don't know who, but it seems to have disappeared into thin air and her blood is nowhere. If the Jotunn who is now lying dead on the ground had given it to another Jotunn en route from the cave to this village, we would have noticed it from the footprints. But there's nothing, it remains a mystery" Dag said, covering his shoulders with a fur coat and blowing some warm air into his hands, which looked like two pieces of ice, despite his leather fingerless gloves.

Everyone sitting around the bonfire expressed their opinions and misgivings about Claire's unresolved issue but agreed that this could not delay the mission, the exploration of the new continent.

They all spoke, except Reidar, who, with his gaze firm on the fire, was immersed in his thoughts, processing something. 

"All the soldiers, before leaving, knew the risks we would face. As bad as it is to let her go and pretend that nothing has happened, I propose to leave immediately tomorrow morning and head inland, to look for inhabited places and begin our revenge. If the Shieldmaiden's abduction were to lead to an enemy village, we would take two birds with one stone" Kjell said, with his usual coolness, considering Claire's rescue option a mere waste of time.

Dag, as far as he could be attached to her and sorry for how he had treated her during their last conversation, could only agree to the proposal to resume the journey north, which was the most logical thing to do.

"Unfortunately, climbing through those narrow tunnels, it was not possible to bring many supplies and a good part of them remained on the ship. Considering these temperatures, we will need to feed and drink often and this leads us to another conclusion: we need to get more food. From hunting or raiding villages, it doesn't matter. In a few days, our supplies will run out and stay without eating and drinking in this place means only one thing... death" Freydis intervened, who had spoken to a Sons Of Freya warrior shortly before lighting the bonfire, who had been in charge of rationing food and transporting it to the soldiers, doing the inventory.

"Of course, you're perfectly right, Freydis. Tomorrow morning, after regaining our strength, we will leave north, looking for inhabited villages" Sander said. 

After those words, Dag stood up and turned to the soldiers in the hut, ready to make an announcement.

"Soldiers! We're going to spend the night in here, divided between this hut and the other, because they're the only shelters miles away... some of you will also notify your companions who are in the other house. In addition, we will take turns to look over the place, divided into groups of at least 6 people per hut" he said, as his listeners nodded.

After his announcement, two warriors stood up and approached the door, taking a long breath before going out and wrapping their furs around their faces as well.

As soon as the door opened, in a few seconds, the icy wind filled much of the hut, and Karl and Freydis were forced to stand in front of the bonfire so as not to make it extinguish.

Before Dag could sit back on the floor, Reidar stood up and approached him, intending to tell him something on the sidelines.

The two companions moved slightly away from the others, positioning themselves in a corner of the hut.

"I know what you were thinking before, Captain" the archer said, looking into Dag's eyes.

"What are you referring to?"

"When you looked at your wolf. I know that expression, I know what you were thinking. I too noticed how Thalos tore those pieces of meat, using his claws and tusks" Reidar continued.

Dag looked back, marveling at what he had just heard: by now Reidar had become so attentive and empathetic, that he recognized his looks and gave them a precise meaning, knowing his personality.

He thought something like this had never happened to him, not even with Freydis.

His friend had only needed a glance to understand what he had in mind.

"You will never stop surprising me, my friend... yes, I was thinking about… that thing. We all know that the Giants Of Ymir are just one of the Clans that populate this nation. There could be even more than three of them, as far as we know. But those cuts on the Jotunn's chest... they were incredibly accurate to have been made by a beast and too deep to be caused by a human weapon. Whoever reduced that giant to those conditions must have been the perfect fusion of man and beast, in which both sides coexist in balance, in a lethal union" Dag said, confessing his thoughts to his friend and trying to figure out if Reidar had really realized what he was referring to.

"The Claws Of Fenrir..." Reidar answered in a low voice, trying not to be heard by anyone.

"That's right. I was thinking about them. Remember, the Giants Of Ymir aren't the only shape-shifters. Legends tell that the adepts of the great wolf Fenrir are able to turn into large werewolves when the sun goes down".