Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons 147 CXLVII. The Climb

One of the walls of the mountain had a hollow, which created a kind of cave, and Dag tied Aslan to a nearby trunk.

"I think this tree is fine. Underneath here the horses can also take shelter in case of rain" he said.

His companions did the same, and when they made sure that all three horses were tied firmly to the trunk, they returned to the front of the mountain.

"It's really high" said Karl, who, with one hand resting on his forehead, was trying to see the summit of the mountain.

"We must reach a cave. And a cave is never on top of a mountain. Vegard's lair will be at least 5 or 10 meters below" Dag replied, encouraging Karl, who was scared as usual.

Soon after, he began to cling to the rock face, trying to find the best grips to climb it.

"Try to follow my movements. I've climbed other walls like this in the past, but they weren't mountains that high" Dag continued, referring to Gridd's shortcut to get from Jernhest to his farm, avoiding a stretch of the main trail.

Karl and Reidar obeyed and slowly began to climb the wall, putting their hands and feet exactly where Dag was clinging.

Karl was last in line.

"Never look below you! It's a trick my sister taught me, one of the most agile people I know. Got it, Karl?" said aloud Dag, who kept climbing the wall looking up.

"How did you know?" asked Karl, who, as Dag had predicted, looked down, noting that the terrain was becoming more and more distant.

"I know you too well, brother!" chuckled Dag.

"All right. I can do it" Karl replied, taking a deep breath and focusing on the wall in front of him.

He had to try to pay attention to the footholds because his hands were sweaty from nervousness and the rock was intermittently slippery.

After a few minutes, the three adventurers were able to climb part of the mountain.

At about 25 meters high, Dag noticed an indentation in the rock and moved toward it.

"We can make a short stop there, follow me!" he said, climbing to the right.

When he and Reidar entered the rock recess, they helped Karl, who had some extra difficulty climbing.

For a few seconds no one spoke, they just caught their breath.

"We are close. I sense a feeling inside me... I've never heard this" said Dag, who felt his heart beating fast.

He closed his eyes trying to relax, but he heard a particular sound coming from above.

"Do you heard that too? Do you hear that sound? It sounds like a liquid, I don't know how to explain it to you" he continued.

"No... I can't hear anything. Where did it come from?" asked Reidar, who pointed an ear out of the recess in which they had stopped.

"It comes from up here. We keep going up, we're almost there".

Dag stood up and slowly put his hands on the wall, though, clinging to the rock, he noticed that his grip was beginning to be less and less tight, not being trained to climb.

"Keep quiet... I feel a presence. And it's very strong... Vegard?" whispered Dag to his companions, clinging to the wall immediately after him.

After a few meters, the wall was interrupted and Dag strained his arms, pulling up, towards the natural terrace.

"There we go!" he said pleased when he saw the entrance of a cave before him.

"Is this it? How long has this guy been living here? He must have amassed a lot of stock, it's not very easy to get to Tyven from up here" Karl said out of his breath, after climbing onto the rocky terrace.

Dag did not answer, as he realized he had finally managed to get to his goal, which seemed too far away to be reached.

The entrance to the cave was several meters high, marked by a wide opening in the rock.

A huge rocky door was leaning against the wall in front of them: above it, there were several runes engraved next to each other, forming a circle.

Dag tried to figure out what kind of runes they were, but it wasn't simple Futhark. They looked so much older, should have been magic runes or something.

"I think those runes are a kind of a mechanism that keeps the door shut" he said, trying to study every detail before advancing.

Right under the door, there was a puddle of water.

It was not very deep and the liquid inside boiled, giving off steam.

Dag lowered himself to see better, keeping a safe distance.

The rock at the bottom of the waterhole was fractured and bubbles came out of those fractures, causing a kind of metal ring to move, resting on the bottom.

"It looks like a hydrothermal spring or something like that. Yet another element that has nothing to do with the landscape in which we find ourselves. I remember my mother telling me that Brann went down with Vegard for many meters underground, reaching a huge magma pool. If there was such a strong heat source under our feet, this would justify the presence of these natural thermal baths" Dag thought aloud.

"To me, it just looks like a normal bubbly puddle. And what's that thing floating in it?" said Karl, not paying attention to Dag's speech as he approached the water.

Dag stopped him, resting his hand on his chest.

"We must move cautiously. No one has ever told me about this pool of water, I think it was created recently".

"Created? Don't you think it formed naturally? I think during the winter it snowed and rained a lot in this area..." Reidar said, trying to help Dag in reasoning.

Dag looked at that water intently, activating Niva.

Chapter end