229 CCXXIX. Sondre (1/2)

The iron chain tied to the prisoner's wrists fell to the ground with him and the hooded figure stopped, looking down, toward her barefoot feet.

The third guard pulled out a short bow and tried to load a shot, but was immediately hit by an arrow, which pierced his neck, causing it to fall to the ground lifeless.

Reidar, who along with the other two team members was about a hundred yards away from Dag, still managed to help him.

Dag grabbed the chain from the ground and pressed the Giantbane's red-hot blade against it, breaking it in the middle of the prisoner's two arms, which could move her hands again.

Her hands and feet, the only visible parts of the body, were decidedly feminine.

”Forgive me... forgive me, my love, if I didn't come sooner...” Dag whispered, touching the strand of red hair sticking out of her hood and beginning to cry like a child.

As Reidar and Karl rushed to his aid, Gridd stopped, noticing suspicious movements in a hut nearby.

A kind of vertical door on the roof opened and an enemy warrior sprang out, pulling out a bow and setting fire to the tip of an arrow, loading a blow towards them.

”What...?!” thought Gridd aloud, who immediately turned to the other side, where the same thing was happening on another hut.

Within seconds, from the roofs of each hut in the village, lots of warriors sprung up, with fiery arrows pointed at Dag, ready to fire.

”Hey! Heeeey! Get out of there! It's a trap! Daag!” shouted Gridd, who was caught with a sudden sense of bewilderment, unable to move, fearing she would lose all his teammates in seconds.

Meanwhile, Dag slipped his hands on the girl's hood in front of him, slowly.

He pulled it back, continuing to cry, unable to hold back the emotion of finally seeing his woman again.

”I love you, Freydis. I'll take you away from this place and we will...”

When he saw the girl's face, Dag stopped talking, realizing that under that hood there was not Freydis, but another young woman, with red hair and fair skin, just like her beloved.

”Fr... Freydis...” he continued to whisper, dropping the tuft of hair he was clutching in his hand and stepping back, while the girl in front of him looked on the ground, embarrassed.

”Get away from there! There are archers everywhere! Dag, Reidar, Karl! Go awaaaay!”

Gridd's screams finally reached their ears, including those of Dag, who, with his gaze lost in the void, seemed to be back with his feet on the ground.

”I love you, Freydis! We will be together forever, I will take you away from here and we will live happy and content in Jernhest, on my beautiful farm! Hahahaha! What a pathetic scene! Puh!” exclaimed a man as he slowly exited the door in front of Dag, spitting on the ground in disgust.