Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

The houses that made up that village, located to the northwest, were blue and around them, there was a thick celestial circle, made with a stroke much thicker than the rest of the drawing.

"What will it ever be? Maybe a wall, or another kind of barrier to defend the village..." Dag thought aloud, while Thalos, intrigued and tired, sat down beside him, waiting for some caress.

Continuing to follow the distances depicted on the parchment with his finger, Dag discovered that on the other side, to the northeast, beyond the mountains he could see, there were two other villages, but both drawn with another color, red.

"Hey, you! Lone wolf!"

A voice distracted him and he turned back, noting that Freydis, not finding him among the other warriors, had gone out to look for him.

"Hey!" he smiled, as his girlfriend sat next to him, on the cold rock of the little mountain.

"What are you doing? What is this?" Freydis asked, approaching the map and spying on it, not understanding what it was.

"One of our warriors found among the stuff of the warriors of the Claws Of Fenrir, inside the cave. It's a map." 

"A map? That's good news, isn't it? At least we can move knowing where we're going! What did you find out? Does the village you and Gridd talked about really exist?" she asked again, hopeful.

"Perhaps is this one, do you see it?" he replied, pointing to the blue drawing surrounded by the celestial circle.

Freydis looked closely at the map, shifting her attention to the other elements that made it up, trying to ignore the writings, even incomprehensible to her.

"None of us can comprehend this alphabet, right? Everything would be so much easier..." 

"Unfortunately not, no one can. Even Egill is not capable of it, despite his boundless culture, specialized in ancient tales. I think it's the official language of Krypstorm... whereas there has never been much contact between our two nations, perhaps it was never necessary to find an alphabet that would fit both of them" Dag continued, making his remarks and looking at Freydis, who in his eyes was incredibly attractive while focused on the map.

"Dag, I was thinking... King Einarr... he's also the King of Krypstorm, isn't he?" 

"Mmh... I think so. His official title is 'King of all Vikings', so I imagine his dominance extends over all the lands and seas of Skjold" he continued, puzzled, not knowing the real answer to that question. 

"Something tells me that the inhabitants of this place do not recognize him as King. I don't know why, but I have this feeling. I mean, how can a man who has never landed in Krypstorm its King?" 

Dag and Freydis continued the conversation for about half an hour, coming to the conclusion that the supremacy on the land of perennial ice remained unknown, but that this should not have worried them, since they were the first of Okstorm to visit Krypstorm in the last century.

He put the map in the bag, guarding it jealously, believing that it was an invaluable asset and intending to talk about it to Egill and the other Masters the next day, he got off the cliff and together with Freydis entered the cave, where all the soldiers had been sleeping for a few minutes.

Near one of the many small bonfires, Freydis had already prepared a place to spend the night with her man, consisting of a pair of furs lying on the ground on a mat, which served to make the edgy soil slightly more comfortable and flat.

After lying next to each other and pampered by the heat of the fire, gently stroking their cold skin, they noticed that three warriors rose from their beds and walked to the entrance, to begin their guard turn.

A few minutes passed when two others did the same thing, but in the other direction, lighting a torch and sitting next to it in the interior of the cave, to make sure no one came from behind trying to attack them by surprise.

Relaxing his muscles and mind, Dag was caught in an incredible sleep, having accumulated much fatigue due to the combat and the ever-increasing tension to which his physique had been subjected throughout the trip in the cave.

Stroking Freydis's face and hugging her from behind, he fell asleep.

...

The night passed smoothly and fortunately, all the soldiers awoke in perfect shape, while a faint light illuminated the entrance of the cave, barely penetrating inside it.

Dag got up before Freydis and without saying a word, he came out of the cave, having woken up with the thought of seeing the village, convinced that during the day the visibility had increased.

Yawning and rubbing his eyes still half-closed due to sleep, he climbed the cliff at the top of the entrance and looked toward the high mountains, trying to peer into the village of the Ice Giants, but to no avail.

Although the Sun was stronger than the previous days and illuminated the whole plain around the headland, the idea of that village began to fade more and more in his mind.

Caught in a wave of pessimism, he descended into the cave and greeted the other Masters, who had just risen from their respective bedding, stretching their bones and preparing to resume their journey.

He approached Master Egill, who when saw him coming, turned to him.

"Good morning, Warchief!" he exclaimed, turning to Dag with his usual friendliness and calling him by that name, expressing incredible respect, despite being almost three times his age.

"Good morning to you, Master Egill... I wanted to show you something that could help us with our exploration" he replied, pulling out the map and showing it on the sidelines, explaining the details he had managed to interpret to gain some useful time.

When Egill looked up at him, the Master Of Healing noticed his perplexed expression and asked: "So? What is that face? We know where to go, don't we? The village we talked about seems to be a few hours from here, I don't understand your concern."