Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

"What... yuck... cough!" Sander whispered, who, after regaining consciousness, began coughing heavily. 

Egill turned his head to one side and a hand behind his back when the Master Of Defense spat out another blackish and smelly liquid, which squirted out of his mouth and ended up on the ground.

"Very good, my friend... expel all this shit..." Egill said, relieved that he could finally hear Sander's voice, fearing that he would never recover.

"Master Sander!" 

Even Freydis, after realizing that his fond Master was back in the world of the living, lowered herself towards him and with a smile printed on her face grabbed his hand.

All the soldiers in the room approached him, happy to see him smile.

"Egill..." he whispered again, turning his gaze towards his friend.

"I have... I'm very hungry..." 

"Hahahaha! Okay, now I'm sure you're okay! You're always the usual!" the Master Of Healing chuckled, realizing that his old friend had finally returned to himself.

While some soldiers set other pieces of flesh on fire, others approached the two mangled bodies, in a huge pool of blood on the floor, mourning the death of their comrades.

Dag looked at the scene and approached them, inviting them to get up.

"Collect all their things. We will give them a worthy burial, out here, under one of those little mountains" he said, trying to lift morale for his men, who continued to lose their lives with ease.

The four soldiers in front of him obeyed the orders and began to collect the pieces of their deceased comrades, wrapping them in their clothes and trying not to vomit from disgust.

"Dag... Dag!" Sander called, trying to sit down, aided by Egill and Freydis, next to him.

Dag approached the three Masters, straining to make a smile, looking Sander in the eye.

"I... I apologize... I'm so sorry about what happened." 

"Sorry? Don't be ridiculous, I'm glad you're okay. It wasn't your fault, you did much more than you were supposed to do to save our men."

"Yes, but I also killed two of them for no reason... I couldn't even remember their faces, I didn't have control of my body... I barely remember what happened... once again, you managed to save everyone... thank you." 

"I only did my duty... Karl and Egill have been trying all this time to resuscitate you and it looked like your body was making progress. I couldn't lose hope, I had to save you" Dag continued, speaking in a more detached tone than usual, but still kind and polite, knowing that what had happened was not dependent on Sander, who had repeatedly shown that he cared a lot about his soldiers.

"You could have killed me... I'm glad you didn't" he smiled, thanking Dag with his eyes.

"Here's your food, sir!" one of the soldiers said, leaning down to Sander and handing him a plate with two large chunks of smoked salmon and a large mug full of mead.

Sander, without thinking twice and without adding anything else, began to eat voraciously, not realizing that a few minutes earlier, during his transformation, he had eaten more than 5 whole salmon.

"Sir... if I may say so..." 

"Tell me, what happened?" Egill said to the soldier, who asked permission to speak.

"After what happened, the fish is almost finished, it will barely be enough for tomorrow" the soldier added, looking down and his head slightly bowed, out of respect in front of his Masters.

"All right, thank you for the information. You can go back to your comrades" Egill answered, dismissing the warrior, who nodded and walked away.

Sander swallowed the last bite of salmon and drank the mead glass in one breath, wiping his mouth with an arm.

"I know what you're thinking" he said, after finishing his meal. 

"Uhm? What are you referring to?" Gridd asked.

"You think I'll slow you down, because of my leg. Well, maybe you don't have all the wrongs, I'm sure I'll walk slower than usual and in the stretches of the path with high snow I'll have some little difficulty, but... fear not, I'll be able to keep up."

"As I said, Sander... don't worry about that. We'll find a way to help you..." Dag said, looking around and beginning to think about what was the best way to allow and Sander to walk.

His gaze fell on a lot of pieces of wood piled up next to the bonfire, which would have served to keep the fire burning.

Without adding anything else, as his companions spoke to the unlucky Master Of Defense, asking him about the details of the transformation and the blackish object he had driven out of his mouth, Dag got up and headed for the wood.

Moving the various pieces away, he found one with a slightly larger diameter than the others, consisting of very sturdy wood, perhaps oak.

"Are any of you skilled with manual labor? We need a woodworker" he asked, addressing a group of soldiers in front of him, who as soon as they heard those words, stopped chatting with each other and paid attention.

None of them came forward, but diligently, they spread the word among their companions, who, being far from Dag, had not heard the question.

"My father is a carpenter, sir. I learned a few tricks of the trade during my teenage years" a Berserkr exclaimed, a few years older than Dag. 

"Very well, come closer. I have to ask you a favor" Dag continued, urging the soldier to approach the pile of wood. 

"Do you see this piece of wood? I'd like you to use it with a little inventiveness to build a wooden leg for Master Sander so that he will be able to walk on his own and not weigh down the march of our troops. Do you think you can do that?" 

"It won't be easy to find a hammer and good screws, but... yes, sir. I will carry out the order with pleasure! It's an honor to be able to make something useful!" the soldier replied, picking up the piece of wood from his commander's hands and beginning to study a way to hold it firmly together with a solid structure.