Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 70: LXX. The Strategy

Pushing it, the door opened.

After entering the armory, he walked out the other door leading to the courtyard where the warriors used to train.

It was in that very place that he had marked his fate, his exile, failing to retain his powers.

He kept running to the dorm.

He knew roughly where that troop was before, but he did not know the location of the other troops: if they had already arrived at the walls, his attempt to alert everyone would be futile.

He entered the dormitories and continued to run in their long corridors, heading to the Masters' rooms.

At the end of one of the corridors, he found three doors.

Above each of them, there was an incision: a hammer, a shield, and a staff.

They were the doors to the Masters's rooms.

The one with the hammer was definitely Magni's.

Dag knocked insistently at the other two doors.

No one went to open.

He continued to knock forcefully, and just when he was about to break into the door with the staff-shaped incision, it opened up.

Master Egill looked him in the eye, focusing on him, after waking up with a start.

"Dag?" he said.

In the meantime, the second door opened and Dargeon came out.

"What are you doing here? Our decision has not been reversed" Egill continued.

Dag, after taking his breath away, told Egill and Dargeon about the fangs Of Jormungandr's impending attack.

"What? Now?!" said Dargeon, returning to his room to get dressed.

"What does it mean ' Magni is dead'?!" asked Egill.

"Master, it's a long story. After repulsing the invaders' attack, I will tell you every detail and you'll decide what to do with me" Dag said, pulling Magni's hammer from his belt.

"Now let's go. We have to warn everyone" he continued.

Although Egill was still doubtful about Dag's speech, the hammer's vision gave him credibility.

Immediately the two Masters came out of their rooms and headed for the courtyard.

"Dargeon, you and Dag must wake up the warriors! I will go to the library, to secure it with a seal-spell" Egill said, moving away from Dag and Dargeon.

The Master of Defense continued to run, until he reached a bell, placed next to the dorm door.

"Wake up! We're under attack! Run for arms! Wake up!" shouted Dargeon, repeatedly ringing the bell, which echoed in the long corridors of the structure.

"Dag, follow me! We must divide and guard the temple's entrances" he continued.

Without hesitation, Dag followed Dargeon out of the dorm.

"I'll go to the south wing, you to the west one. Egill is in the library, so the east wing is covered" Dargeon said, pointing to Dag's direction to defend.

Dag nodded and ran to the east wing of the Temple.

"With the help of all the Clan warriors, by blocking all the Temple's entrances, we will be able to block the advance of enemies" Dag thought, thinking of the excellent plan of his two Masters.

The Hammers Of Thor Clan had several very powerful warriors.

With their help, repelling the invaders would not have been impossible. The plan of the enemies would go up in smoke.

In less than a minute, Dag arrived at the east entrance, marked by a huge iron door, closed by a heavy beam.

With the hammer in his hand, he closed his eyes and began to focus on the sounds coming from outside.

He heard only the wind moving the leaves of the trees.

"Dag? Is that you?" said someone from behind him.

Dag turned.

It was Aslan.

"Hello, Aslan" Dag replied.

"What's going on? Who's attacking us?" he asked.

"Master Magni is dead. The Fangs Of Jormungandr want to take advantage of his absence to assault and plunder our Temple" Dag said.

"Is he dead?! And who killed him?! He was the most powerful warrior in the Clan, no one would ever defeat him" Aslan continued.

"He's dead. When this is over, you will find out the full story" Dag replied, turning back to the door.

"Dag..." Aslan said, approaching him.

Dag stood still staring at the door, ignoring Aslan.

"I have thought long and long about what you have been through because of me. I'm sorry. I didn't want it to end like this" he continued.

"Right. You'd rather kill me in that fight, wouldn't you?" said Dag.

Aslan was speechless.

"That was my only alternative. You might not have killed me, but I definitely would have suffered serious bodily pain. You attacked me with all your might and using real weapons. Defending myself and counterattacking was the least I could do" Dag replied.

"It was an unconscious gesture... I apologize..."

"There will be time for apologies. Now let's not die. Even if you don't see our enemies, it doesn't mean they're not here" Dag said.

Within minutes, other warriors came to reinforce the defenses.

One of them, turning to his companions, whispered: "that is Magni's hammer, I would recognize it with my eyes closed!"

All the warriors began to murmur to each other.

"Brothers. Under the precise command of our Masters, we must defend this entry. The enemies are at the gates, if we allow them to break through this door, we will be close to defeat. They're about 400. We have to play cunningly" Dag said aloud, for everyone to hear.

"You killed Magni, admit it!"

"But no, it's impossible, how could Magni lose a fight against this idiot?"

"He must have betrayed him, and then stabbed him in the back!"

"That hammer belongs to our Master, you have no right to wield it!"

The crowd of warriors was angry and everyone yelled at Dag.

"Now that's enough! Masters Egill and Dargeon gave the order! All your doubts will be clarified after the battle!"

"But what battle? What are you talking about? You're just making fun of us. Perhaps our Masters are too naive, but we won't be fooled by a loser like you!" said a warrior from the crowd.

Immediately after these words, an arrow struck one of them in the chest.

"Eh?!"

"From... from where did it come?!"

They all started fidgeting.

Dag turned again to the door.

Enemy troops had arrived at the walls of the Temple, the battle was imminent.