LXVIII. The Farmhouse

With his nose and developed sense of direction, Thalos would be able to lead them to their destination.

Without hesitation, the wolf walked towards the stream.

Dag took Magni on his shoulders and followed him.

"Let's go! This way!" he said, calling the women to him.

With Thalos' help, they were able to get to the farm as soon as the sun began to set.

The castle was far away.

"Here you go, ladies! This will be your new home" Dag said, pointing to the farm.

All the women began to thank him again, embracing him from all sides, in gratitude.

"Thalos. I have to ask you one last favor" Dag said.

"You must stay here with them. You know these woods better than me. You will protect them from anyone who wants to hurt them. All right, my friend?"

Thalos barked as if to confirm Dag's request.

"Perfect" he concluded.

"And where will you go?" asked Claire, who kept watching Dag intently.

"I have a business to do. But I'll come back. I'll come back to you once in a while, I promise" he replied.

Claire looked down, sad.

Dag rose her face, resting one hand under her chin.

He looked her in the eye.

"Promised" he repeated.

Claire did a half-smile.

After showing the women the space and logistics of the farm, Dag took a shovel from the warehouse and walked away to the top of Mount Torden, climbing the path.

"I'm going to carry you right where you taught me your skill, Master" Dag said.

He continued to walk with Magni on his shoulders until he reached the clearing with the training dummies.

He began to dig in the center of that place and buried Magni's body.

He knelt on the mound of earth and placed a hand on it, making one last prayer before finally greeting his master.

"I will never forget what you have done for me. See you in the next life" he said.

After getting up and taking a deep sigh, he walked back to the path, intending to retrace the road backward, to return to Temple Of Orn.

He would talk about what happened, hoping to be able to re-enter the Temple, so that he could continue to learn increasingly stronger skills.

Possessing the emblem, perhaps Egill and Dargeon would have believed his version.

Continuing to walk, he looked at the farmhouse from afar.

The girls already seemed to have settled: some of them washed with the water of the mill, others collected herbs and cooked, talking cheerfully to each other.

Dag felt relieved.

Thalos was standing in front of the entrance, guarding.

He looked at Dag with a gaze of understanding, without moving from his position.

After descending further along the path, Dag crossed the cave, passing it without any problem.

Although the sunset was coming to an end, a faint light illuminated the trail that ran alongside the rocky wall and would take it to the temple of Orn.

Dag advanced again and smoothly reached the other side.

Walking on that old wooden walkway, the memory of crows and the first undead came to mind.

In so few days his powers had grown enormously.

After walking for several hours, he finally reached the path leading to the Temple.

Fatigue began to be felt on his legs.

Along the way, he saw an indentation in the wall. He entered it.

It was a huge hole dug into the terrain: after the entrance, the tunnel made a corner and led to a second area, even larger.

Despite poor visibility due to the absence of light, after trampling on bones that were there on the ground, Dag sensed that it must be an old bear den.

Without thinking twice, he lay down on the ground.

"Shortly, the night will fall... at the Temple Of Orn everybody will retreat to their rooms" Dag thought.

He would spend the night in there, then reach his nearby destination the next day.

As soon as his head rested on his arm, he fell deeply asleep.

He needed to recover his energy.

…

"Stomp stomp"

…

Dag opened his eyes slightly, after hearing strange noises coming from outside the lair.

A sound of footsteps joined the sound of metal parts rubbing against each other.

Trying to count the steps, Dag realized that they were not only one person.

A group of people was walking quickly out front and carrying weapons with them.

Judging by the constant stride, it looked like they were marching like a real army.

Dag knelt down, making as little noise as possible.

Thanks to the shape of that little cave, no one had noticed him.

He slowly swayed toward the entrance.

It was dawn.

Many men in armor walked quickly along the Temple path.

Dag tried to observe them better, suspiciously.

All that movement at that time of the morning was downright unusual.

Each armor had the same symbol engraved on its chest: a kind of snake twisted on itself, its jaws wide open.

Dag hid again behind the tunnel wall, to avoid being discovered.

Whoever they were, they had no good intentions toward the Temple. He had to catch them by surprise.

There were so many, in a few minutes he had counted about 80.

After the sound of the footsteps drifted away from his hiding place, Dag came out into the open.

He turned in the direction of the Temple, trying to catch a glimpse of the men in the distance, but they had already disappeared: the road circled the mountain top.

"Hey, you!"

Someone shouted from behind him.

Dag turned, taken by surprise.

Two of those men had fallen behind the main group.

They wore the same armor with the snake and were both armed: one of them had a sword and a shield and the other had a spear.

Dag said nothing, resting his hand on the head of the hammer, in his belt.

"Who the fuck are you?" said one of the men, pulling out the spear and pointing it at Dag.