Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 385: CCCLXXXV. The Behavior Change

Unpredictably, Kjell burst into tears and hugged Dag, who stood motionless and with his eyes wide open for a few seconds.

Even Gridd, who was helping him to stand, walked away from him, watching that singular scene.

Kjell continued to cry and hold Dag in his arms, resting his head on his shoulders, when he reciprocated the embrace, placing a single arm on his back and closing his eye, trying to share his pain.

"I'm a fool! I should have been in his place! He told me to listen to you, he told me I should trust you from the beginning, but I thought his was a weakness! Look what I've done! I killed dozens of warriors and also my best friend! I don't deserve to live, I will never reach Valhalla!" Kjell shouted, venting all his repressed frustration with Dag, who stood still listening. 

Not immediately knowing what to answer, Dag moved Kjell slightly backward, interrupting the embrace.

The face of Crows of Odin's Master Of Offense expressed genuine remorse and displeasure and this time he seemed to have realized he had made the wrong choice.

Making a mental effort, Dag tried not to soften himself in front of that scene, showing everyone that he could have a cold and strong character when needed.

"If you hadn't involved your soldiers, now you'd be in his place. Not only did you break our pact and make it your own, but you also implicitly forced your Clan warriors to follow you. Master Sander was too good to leave you out there alone, he would stay with you at any cost... but you knew that too, didn't you, Kjell?" Dag said, resting his hand on his interlocutor's shoulder and passing by him, heading toward Sander's body, still lying on the ground and unconscious.

Kjell remained speechless and raised his eyebrows, continuing to cry and look to the floor, thinking back to the harsh and severe words of Dag, who despite his goodness and youthful naivety, was unwilling to forgive such a high loss of human lives.

Gridd, still in front of him, followed his brother, struck by his authoritarian and severe tone, through which he had used Kjell's sincere embrace to hurt him back, making him understand that his mistake was unforgivable and had led to those serious consequences.

"Egill..." Dag whispered, leaning down to the Master Of Healing and then sitting on the ground and emitting groans of pain, because of his sore legs.

A large hacksaw blade was resting on the ground next to him, also completely covered in blood. 

"His leg would kill him in a few hours, I had to stop the infection. I was forced to cut it off..." he said in a low voice, his eyes fixed in the void.

"I'm sure that, if you chose to amputate Sander's leg, it was the only way to save him. Your qualities as a healer are out of the question, Egill... now we just have to wait for him to recover. 

After Dag's words of comfort, Karl approached the body holding a bottle with green liquid. 

He lowered himself towards Sander and gently poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth, a few drops at a time, allowing the liquid to descend down his throat without being swallowed.

"Here, Master Egill... I did as you asked me. It was the last healing potion of our stocks... I hope it will take effect soon. The heartbeat is very weak, but Master Sander is still alive, right now he is struggling between life and death" Karl said, resting two fingers on the neck of the Master Of Defense, trying to feel the beat of his heart.

"He protected the barrier on his own. He stood still there, even though he knew he would jeopardize his life, while his enemies kept coming in large numbers. If we are all still alive, we also owe it to his sacrifice" Egill said, who could not take his eyes off his friend, with whom he had shared a multitude of adventures.

After those words, Dag stood up, realizing that not even Egill, the great Master Of Healing was able to say for sure whether Master Sander would recover.

Step by step, holding on to Gridd's back, he returned to the door outside the room, while Kjell and Karl looked at him, waiting for him to say a few words of comfort, but that didn't happen. 

Dag left the room with his sister, angry at everything that had happened, with the belief that that massacre could have been avoided.

In front of him, he found the faces of the surviving soldiers, who looked at him with a remote air, trying to understand the gravity of the situation.

He stood with his back to the wall, making room for some warriors, and waited for absolute silence in the main room of the building.

"Master Sander is in serious condition. I won't hide that we Masters are all worried about him, who sacrificed himself to protect the Master Egill barrier, putting himself against dozens of werewolves" 

In those words, the gaze of the warriors in the front rows before him was further filled, although they suspected even before that the situation was serious, judging the palpable tension in the air.

Before he continued, Kjell and Karl left Sander's room, having cleaned their hands of his blood.

"We Masters are human beings, just like you. We sleep like you, we eat like you, we bleed like you... we make mistakes, just like you do. If you think that we are divine beings, you are wrong. But mistakes can also happen to the wisest of the leaders, who will not be judged for this. You have climbed the Iron Emerald as free men and you will always be able to choose for yourself who to follow. But I, Master Dag, as Warchief of the Iron Alliance, swore before the Gods that I would protect each of you at the cost of my life."