LXXXII. The Determination

Asa fell to the ground, stunned.

Dag paused, reflecting: "If I met her as an adult, it means she didn't die during the battle, that's for sure. I can't risk interfering, I'll keep the distance."

Other soldiers approached her.

One of them pulled out a large sharp dagger and began to walk towards the young Asa.

Dag kept looking at the scene, impatient.

Asa turned to the warrior, who pointed the dagger at her.

He tried to hit her and she raised her hand, covering her eyes.

She seemed to be doomed.

Before the blade of the great dagger could hit her, a green luminous barrier enveloped her body, shattering the weapon in the hands of the enemy, who retreated in disbelief.

Asa got up, recovering her strength instantly.

A man with a strange cylindrical hat and a tunic came out of the vegetation behind him.

He wielded a staff with its toe rolled upon itself, with a small green gem set on the wood.

"No doubt, that's Egill's bracket!" thought Dag.

After getting up, Asa picked up a sword from the ground and killed each of the enemy warriors near her.

"My lady! Our enemies begin to retreat! Let's move on!" said Egill.

"That way!" replied Asa.

Dag followed them.

Around them, a large number of corpses painted the snow with red blood: the dead allied warriors were far fewer than the enemy ones.

Asa and Egill arrived at a clearing, where the vegetation was less dense.

In that huge open space, there was no snow on the ground. The ground seemed to have been burned.

"Bran!" shouted Asa.

Dag looked immediately in the indicated direction, anxious to see Brann.

A man in dark red armor walked slowly toward an enemy Clan soldier, crawling to the ground without a leg, trying to get away from him.

"Please, mercy! We gave up, it's over!" shouted the man on the ground, panicked, turning to Brann.

"It's not over until I say it!" said Brann, raising his big double-headed axe, ready to hit his helpless enemy.

"Where is your Warchief?" he continued.

"I... I.. I don't know, I swear! I am sure that they will have already returned to the fortress of Bedrag at this time, far from here!" replied the enemy soldier, continuing to plead for mercy.

Brann looked at him with an expression of indifference.

"Wrong" he said, striking him violently with the axe.

The blow, though not so powerful, hit the man in the eye, cutting his head in half and squirting his blood everywhere.

Dag watched with puzzlement: he believed that Brann was a righteous man, he would never have expected such a merciless scene.

"Master! We did it! We won another battle. I am convinced that Lies Of Loki will no longer try to attacking us or reclaiming our lands" said Egill, who was thrilled with the win.

Asa walked towards Brann.

She hugged him and gave him a passionate kiss.

"Gather our men. Those bastards will not be far away, on horseback we will be able to reach them and kill them all, ending their existence once and for all" Brann said, moving away from his woman's loving arms.

"My love, there is no need to continue. Let's retreat and get our strength back. Soon we will attack them again, they certainly will not expect a second battle!" said Asa, sure to convince his man.

Brann stroked her: "You know it doesn't work that way. If we wait, they will have time to prepare for our invasion and we'll run the risk of being defeated".

He put his hand under his armor and threw out his emblem.

Dag looked at that object with interest.

It was a silver rabbit's paw, hooked to a leather necklace.

It matched Gridd's description.

Brann shook hands with the n° 6 emblem.

"I'm convinced that Hakon, their Warchief, has an emblem. I proved my superiority over him by winning another battle, so I demand my reward. That emblem is rightfully mine" he said.

"Master... If I may interject... in this way we would put the lives of all the warriors who survived this bloody war at risk. We don't know the areas surrounding Bedrag's fortress! Legends tell that there are woods and swamps infested with spirits!" exclaimed Egill, trying to dissuade Brann.

"Egill, my friend" he replied, approaching the magician and resting his hand on his shoulder.

"One day, not too far, I'll be King of all Vikings. Every command of mine you carry out is nothing more than a small step towards that goal. I know what I have to do. The God Thor will be with us" he continued.

Egill lowered his head, defeated.

"Maybe Egill is right" Asa replied.

Brann approached the corpse of a soldier and picked up a war horn near him.

He shrugged off the snow on it and rang it.

In a few minutes, all allied soldiers gathered in front of them.

There were both the Hammers Of Thor and the Sons Of Freya.

"Warriors! The battle is not over yet! As long as even one of those sneaky bastards continues to breathe, we can't sleep peacefully! Follow me and put an end to the Clan that has been stalking us for years!" yelled Brann, inciting the warriors.

Some of them strongly cheered their leader's decision, but others looked at each other, puzzled.

"What is he saying?"

"We have defeated them all, from the first to the last!"

"I don't understand"

"I'm tired, I just want to go home to my wife is my children"

The warriors continued to whisper.

Dag stood silently watching, leaning against a tree.

He kept looking around: he wasn't in the same region as Jernest. The vegetation was different and there were no mountains on the horizon.

Two men brought a black horse to Brann, who immediately rode towards the woods in front of them.

"Be careful, my lady. We're in great danger, I feel that" Egill told Asa.