"Umpf... they... they are on the other side of the Island, their base is near the three towers, to the east... I never went there, as my wife said, the warriors come once a week here to our farm and load up on supplies!" confirmed the man, unable to look Dag in the eye out of fear.

Dag pulled his jacket and dragged it to the chimney, where the fire burned under the cauldron with soup.

"Aagh! No! Please stop! I have children and grandchildren! I've never done anything wrong!" the old man yelled, trying to stop Dag's advance by crawling his feet to the ground.

"Nothing else?!" he asked, approaching the man's face to the fire and looking at his wife, immobilized next to them.

"Aaagh! Aaagh! It burns!" 

"A few weeks ago... a few weeks ago, an unknown boat arrived in the port of Vaeren! That group of warriors went to the Clan's main camp, and I never saw them leave! I was there by accident that day, I had delivered to their cooks our goat's milk... please! Now let him go!" the woman yelled, kneeling and crying, panicking.

Dag threw the man at his wife's feet, having just burned part of his cheek and beard on it.

"Let's go" he said, heading for the door and opening it suddenly.

The others followed him a few seconds later, turning back and looking at the couple of farmers, to make sure they didn't make missteps.

The rain began to be felt again, but Dag and the others walked about 2 kilometers undaunted until lights were visible behind some low hills, on which they stopped to better look at the situation. 

"Their base village must be that one, that woman's directions were correct" Karl said, his hand resting on his forehead, trying to keep his eyes dry so he could see better.

"I don't see anyone out there, I think they're all sleeping. This rain is just what we needed, it's making things a lot easier!" said Dag, making his team realize that leaving at that time of night and with those weather conditions had been the right choice.

"How do we figure out which hut Freydis is in? We can't open every door, otherwise, they might get suspicious and if she's still alive, they could kill her" Gridd exclaimed, trying to calm her brother's fiery spirit, whose eyes oozed anger.

"The two farmers talked about two Masters... Roar and Sondre. We need to find both of them. Where can a Clan's Masters live and sleep, if not in the largest building in the village?" asked Dag, pointing to the only stone building among the huts.

In front of its entrance, two large vertical torches were protected by a canopy, which prevented them from going out during the rain. 

The light illuminated the front of the building, completely covered in mud.

Just as Dag was about to come up with an attack plan with his comrades, the door to that stone construction opened.

He noticed the scene and invited his friends to remain silent, trying to figure out what was happening down there.

Two men in armor, both wearing horned helmets, came out of the large wooden door, dragging a st.u.r.dy iron chain, connected to something.

After walking 5 or 6 meters, a hooded figure dressed in a long white cloak fell from the step forward to the door, ending up in the mud, pulled by the two men, who continued to drag forward the chain connected to the wrists of the mysterious figure.

A third guard came out the door and closed it, grabbing the person who had just fallen to the ground and pus.h.i.+ng her rudely forward, urging her to stand up and screaming in that direction.

"Dag... you don't think that's..." Karl said, that was watching the scene like everyone else, as he heard Dag growling like an angry beast next to him.

Before he could p.r.o.nounce that name, Dag climbed over the natural embankment of the hill and let himself slide along its slope, running at great speed toward those enemy warriors.

"s.h.i.+t! Dag! What the f.u.c.k are you doing?!" 

"Captain! Hold on! It's suicide!" 

Gridd and Reidar screamed at him, but, caught in the wrath of the moment, he did not hear their voices.

"Let's go! We can't leave him alone! Come on!" exclaimed Gridd again, throwing herself on the steep and slippery slope of the hill, following her brother. 

The other two followed her without hesitation, frightened by the fury of Dag, who recklessly was putting their lives in great danger.

*Anf*anf*anf*

Dag continued to run as fast as possible, overcoming the natural obstacles that separated him from those men and wielding both of his weapons, ready to hit them hard.

As the hooded figure rose from the ground, her cloak completely covered in mud, a strand of red hair sprang from the hood, leaning down, bathed in rain.

Dag squinted, continuing to run like a madman, about a hundred yards from them.

"Freydis!" he thought, unable to believe his eyes.

The speed of his dash increased considerably and his feet left furrows in the wet ground before he pa.s.sed yet another bush with a jump.

"Aaagh!" he yelled, charging furiously at the enemies, who noticed him too late and could not immediately extract their weapons.

Loading the electric hammer, Dag powerfully hit the first guard of the row on the chest.

The hammering was so strong that the man in armor flew meters away, releasing a trail of purple sparks and ending up on the roof of a nearby hut, smas.h.i.+ng through it.

"f.u.c.k! What are you doing?! All the warriors of the village will be alerted, soon we will be surrounded by hundreds of enemies!" exclaimed Gridd, who ran along with Karl and Reidar, noticed that lights popped up inside the huts around them.

The second guard managed to pull out a sword and tried to hit Dag, who deflected the blow with the hammer, turned on himself, and cut his neck with the Giantbane, severing his head, which fell rolling in the mud, while the body sank lifelessly.