Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 471: CDLXXI. Krypstorm's Map

When Dag and Freydis saw the complete map of Krypstorm, they remained breathless, noting that that nation was nearly three times the size of Okstorm and teeming with life and cities.

Before starting to speak, Kranus opened a second box, containing small objects made of cylindrical carved pebbles.

After realizing that they were pawns depicting Jotunn army units, Dag watched Kranus distribute them on the map, to show his guests how and where his troops were deployed.

"As you can see from this map, my army extends far beyond the walls of Tungvek. We Giants Of Ymir have two military outposts, located in tactical zones in the battle against the Claws Of Fenrir. Fort Hvit, in which you and your companions were refugees, was one of the outposts, but when Tungvek grew and became so big, it was abandoned" Kranus said, looking at the map and finishing carefully positioning the pawns.

"I had never seen such a complete map of Krypstorm... it's really big and I didn't think there were so many population centers" Dag said, walking next to Kranus and stopping at a better location to observe the details of those areas unknown to him.

The island stretched thousands of square kilometers and had the classic triangular shape, already hypothesized by Okstorm's explorers of the past.

Unlike what he and his companions believed, Tungvek was located in the far east of Krypstorm and Fort Hvit was just below, southwest of the city walls.

The two military outposts in which Kranus had just rested the pawns were located northwest of Tungvek, along the coast, more than 200 kilometers away from their current location and in the far southwest, in the geographically closest corner of Okstorm, where Dag was sure they docked the ship.

"I think something went wrong while sailing. We should have arrived exactly here and would have to look for a cove to dock safely, without being spotted. Evidently, the sea current must be particularly strong in this stretch and the Iron Emerald had increased its speed so much that it arrived on the other side of the island in a heartbeat, east of Tungvek" Dag said, looking at the map and explaining to Kranus his original plan.

"Yes, that's it. In addition, starting from that point in the direction of Okstorm is virtually impossible, because the strong current always travels eastward. So you can imagine that to get from Krypstorm to Okstorm, the only way is to circumnavigate the island. My men succeeded that mission in just under a week, traveling without ever stopping" Kranus explained, pointing to Dag's exact spot where the sea was characterized by strong one-way waves and reels, which would have prevented navigation to the west.

At that point on the map, in fact, there was a drawing of a spiral with a boat sinking at its center, which symbolized just that kind of danger.

Dag stood for a few seconds still thinking, without saying anything, as if something was missing from his reasoning.

"Fuck! Gridd! The royal boat with all my men on board will surely be headed in that direction! They will all die!" he exclaimed, thinking aloud and realizing what would happen in the immediate future.

Freydis opened her eyes wide and began to look down, thinking of a solution to alert the King's crew of the danger.

"Dag, I'm sorry to inform you that if they come to that point in daylight, they will be able to notice the anomalies on the surface of the sea and if they are skilled at sailing, they will be able to save themselves... otherwise, if the ship will travel on those waters at night... I fear that your King's ship will sink with his crew, swallowed by the sea" Kranus said, in a slightly sorry tone, as if he really cared about the lives of all those men, while Gunnar, in front of him, was pleased with the news but deftly managed not to be discovered, holding back a malignant smile. 

"We just have to hope. There's nothing we can do... they're in the hands of the Gods" Freydis said, grabbing Dag's arm and sharing with him the fear of losing all their teammates. 

Once again, Dag did not respond immediately, pausing to think in absolute silence, until he realized that reaching them in the middle of the sea to warn them would be impossible and they would never arrive in time. 

"How long does it take a large medium-speed ship to travel from this point to this one?" Dag asked, pointing with one finger at the starting point of King Einar's ship, which was indicative closer to the Iron Emerald, and the other finger the arrival one, the area of the map where the vortex was drawn.

"About a day and a half, two if you go very slow" Kranus said, trying to be as honest as possible.

"Two days... if they take about 48 hours, leaving in the morning they will arrive in the morning, with daylight and may manage to escape the danger. We hope that because of the men who have joined their crew, the ship will go slower" Dag said, who once again thought aloud, trying not to think lucidly and not give in to panic. 

After taking a deep breath, he asked Kranus to continue with his explanation, trying not to think about that detail, even though the faces of Gridd, Egill, Reidar, and Karl continued to appear in his mind.

"As I was explaining to you just now, this is our 'Outpost 1', an old village abandoned for hundreds of years, which has been renovated by my men and which is currently home to about 250 soldiers" the magician said, pointing to the nearest outpost at Tungvek.

"And what about this one? How many soldiers are there? And why is it so isolated from your capital? I think it's very risky to send your men so far from home" Dag said, noting that the distance to Outpost 2 was almost three times as far away as the other.