Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 492: CDXCII. The Translation

Meanwhile, Freydis extracted some of the food she had kept in secret from the basket the day before, hiding it from Dag to prevent him from eating all their stocks.

"And those? Where did they come from? I'm hungry!" he said, as soon as he saw the bread and pieces of meat his girlfriend had hidden.

"Yes, don't worry... we're going to eat them now. I'm sure we won't have to worry about food tomorrow too, our fellow travelers will think about it" she thought out loud, who, being not a local, had no idea how and where to get food, afraid to walk alone through the streets of Tungvek among all those unknown people.

After eating a bite of his portion, Dag took off the upper piece of the armor and the shirt underneath it, wearing the other sleeping clothes. 

As he turned her back toward Freydis, she looked at him carefully, sipping wine.

"I noticed that scar yesterday, but I didn't tell you anything. What is it?" she asked, pointing to a precise spot behind Dag's right shoulder, next to his Berserkr mark.

He moved his hand behind his back and touched the embossed scar, which was so large that it came out of his arm, which was the point where all his skill scars had appeared during the months.

"I also thought it was strange for a scar to come out at this point, behind my right shoulder... it comes from a skill, the last one I learned, Memory Of Mjllnir. I think it's so big because it's a level 9 skill, which makes it harder than the others to learn" he said, tucking his shirt into which he would sleep. 

"It's the one you used last time against wolves, isn't it? The skill that would have killed us too, if Egill had not protected us with his barrier..." she asked, trying to remember the details. 

"Yes, unfortunately, I can't control all that power perfectly, I need more time. It's already a miracle that I've managed to learn such a high-level skill, even Master Magni never did it!" he continued, explaining to Freydis that he had no intention of hurting them. 

"What if you could also learn skills that don't come from your Clan?" she replied, sipping more wine and looking at him, sitting at the stool in front of the fireplace. 

"Of other Clans? And why would I? Honestly, with all the things that happened to me during the last period, I didn't even think about it..." 

"Your learning skills are unique, no one can learn skills in such a short time. Do you remember the scroll you found in the Claws Of Fenrir cave? The one you showed me along with the map, which you think depicted the instructions for a skill?" Freydis said as if trying to tell him something a little at a time.

"Yes, of course. I gave up reading its contents because it was written in an alphabet that I don't understand. Look, it's right in here. Uhm? Where is it?! I would have sworn I put it in my bag, it's gone!" he exclaimed, leaning down to his leather bag and noticing that there was only the old map inside.

"For the first time I did something without your knowledge, Dag... and you didn't even notice! Hahaha!" she chuckled, rising from the stool and walking toward the things that she had leaned on by the bed.

"What are you planning? You rummaged through my bag and stole that scroll! Hahah, you're a thief!" Dag replied, joking with her and failing to understand what she had done with it.

"If my theory is right, you will soon thank me. Here, hold those" she replied, passing in Dag's hands two scrolls carefully closed by a piece of string.

"What's that? Why are there two of them?" 

"Uff, how impatient you are! Is it possible that you haven't figured it out yet? With the help of Skaldr of the Hunters Of Ullr, I had their alphabet translated and transcribed the meaning of the original scroll on an empty one. Tadaaan!" she exclaimed, curious to see her boyfriend's reaction to the gift she had been hiding for days. 

"What?! Wow! How did you not let me notice anything?" he continued, approaching his woman and stroking her face.

"Believe me, it wasn't hard! When you're immersed in your thoughts and busy doing missions it's very easy to hide something! What are you waiting for? Open it!" she replied, impatient to know what he thought.

Dag, amazed by the unusual gift, hastily opened the scroll, being careful not to break the string that Freydis had carefully wrapped on the piece of parchment.

"Blood Red Claws... wow! It seems to be a very old skill! And it's all perfectly translated and written in elder futhark! How long did it take? It almost feels like an original scroll!" Dag continued, reading the title aloud and congratulating Freydis for being so accurate.

"Come on, read the rest, and try to learn it! Knowing a skill of the Clan we are about to face could come in handy!" she said, inviting him to sit on a stool next to her, benefiting from the light and heat of the fire lit in the fireplace.

"Learn it? What makes you think I can do that? It is known that once my oath to Thor has been performed, I can only learn the skills that derive from the warriors and the Masters of my own Clan" Dag commented, who appreciated the gesture, even though he did not believe he could use it concretely.

"Of course, how not... just like you can't learn unique skills, right? So you never learned the skill of your Master, Magni... maybe I just dreamed it" Freydis replied, reminding Dag that sometimes the Clans' 'rules' were just outdated beliefs, ready to be disproved. 

Dag did not immediately respond to that statement, knowing that if they got to the bottom of the matter, Freydis would probably be right.