Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 389: CCCLXXXIX. Hold Him Still

Just as Egill held out a hand at the beast, believing that Sander was alive and conscious, the wolf pounced on him, trying to bite his arm.

Egill dodged the blow and fell to the ground, hastily beginning to crawl backwards, dragging himself on his elbows when Kjell punched the wolf in the face, who stood motionless, moving his head backwards.

"What... what the fuck is happening to you... S... Sander?! Did... did you become like those monsters?!" he exclaimed, terrified, positioning himself in front of Egill and the other soldiers to serve as a human shield.

The correspondences between that beast-man and the Master Of Defense were too many: his hair was the same color as Sander's hair and under his snout, a small braid of the beard was closed by the same golden ring. 

The most glaring evidence that he had turned into a werewolf was the fact that the beast had a severed leg, bandaged exactly as Egill had done just before with his colleague and his wounds, at the same points of the body.

"Get away! His transformation was caused by the bite of one of the wolves that reduced near death! It must be some kind of skill of their Clan..." Dag exclaimed, attracting the attention of his companions and that of the wolf, who despite having just been hit by Kjell, did not react violently, maintaining a surprising composure.

"It can't be! I too have been bitten, as have you and Gridd! Look at us! None of us turned into a wolf! Kjell said, his fists clenched in front of him, fighting with his bare hands.

"It's true, but none of us have suffered so many injuries! I don't know how it works, but maybe not all wolves are able to cause this transformation! Get away from him, it's not in himself, I notice it from the smell he emanates!" Dag replied, avoiding screaming after noticing that one of the wolf's ears was pointed at him, moving slightly after every word that came out of his mouth.

Without objecting for a second, after the last bad experience, Kjell immediately backtracked, moving with him also Master Egill, who had not yet managed to realize what was going on.

The mighty beast-man began to smell the food, regardless of all the people around him, who looked at him in fear, ready to flee the house.

He stretched out his arm toward the embers and grabbed a piece of salmon, burning his hand.

"Groooargh!" he roared when his paw burned on contact with the burning stone plate, knocking the fish to the ground.

Lowering down, he picked up the piece of salmon and swallowed it in a single bite, licking his still traumatized claw.

Meanwhile, Dag felt something touch his leg and turned to look.

Thalos, under the instructions of Freydis, held his belt between his teeth, and without making any suspicious noise he had managed to bring it to him.

Dag grabbed it and tied it around his waist, slowly detaching the hammer from the magnet.

As the wolf continued to burn its paws and eat the fish on the embers, Egill noticed that Dag was preparing for an attack maneuver and waved his hands upwards, trying to stop him.

Dag saw his colleague out of the corner of his eye, but he continued to walk cautiously on tiptoe, coming out of the wolf's field of view, that being too busy savoring that delicious fish, did not notice him, who stopped behind him, about three meters away.

Egill continued to agitate but managed to hold back the words, which would alert the wolf. 

Under the worried eyes of all the soldiers, who were once again entrusting their lives to Dag, the young Warchief began to approach Sander's shoulders, while he swallowed the penultimate bite.

Before the wolf could see his presence, Dag jumped toward him, clinging with both arms around his neck.

"Grrraargh!" 

Sander began to squirm, while all the warriors remained helpless to watch the scene.

All but Kjell, who, to preventing Dag from doing it all on his own, snapped at them and struck the wolf with another violent punch, which bent in two from pain and dragged back from Dag, sat on the ground, his head stuck in his grip.

"Sander! Wake up, my friend! You're alive! You did it! Your wounds are healing, come back to you, please!" Kjell yelled, grabbing the big werewolf by the hairs of his face and trying to look him in the eye, in the hope that in that way, Sander might recognize him.

Dag tightened his grip even more, helping himself with the hammer: he grabbed the two ends of the weapon and with the handle resting on the wolf man's trachea, he pulled forcefully backwards, trying to make him unconscious, without causing him any further damage.

For a few seconds, it seemed as if the beast man wanted to surrender, but suddenly, he raised his arm and hit Kjell on the chest, causing him to fall backwards, very close to the burning wood of the bonfire, which burned only slightly a flap of his shirt.

After hitting his colleague, Sander moved his arms backwards and Dag tried to wriggle to avoid getting caught.

Although he managed to move his neck deftly, the werewolf's arms were too long and he grabbed his hair, pulling it and hurting him very much.

Dag began to cry out for pain and effort on the hammer, which was pulled more and more forcefully, without being able to scratch the neck of the wolf, so muscular that it opposed the movement of the handle of the weapon.

Fortunately, as Sander had no leg, he tried several times to get up, but he did not succeed because of Dag, who kept stepping back. 

Kjell, after getting up, ran back towards them, but this time he was kicked in the legs and fell violently on the stone floor, injuring his arms.

At that point, Gridd and Egill moved forward, determined to help their Warchief, after coming out of the state of paralysis due to fear, which lasted a few minutes.