433 CDXXXIII. The Change Of Strategy

"I know, Gridd, but... there's no time to be afraid. Today is a decisive day, I must make Kranus accept my proposal... I already have something in mind, but still, the anxiety did not allow me to sleep well this night. 

Without saying anything, Gridd continued to approach him, uttering groans typical of those who had just woken up from long, deep sleep and, inadvertently, opened her arms wide and hugged him, resting her head in the center of his chest. 

Dag remained immobilized: his sister did not give him a hug of her own free will since they were children and usually, despite her incredible aesthetic beauty, she behaved like a bad boy, who preferred combat to these cheeks. 

He, too, squeezed his arms, resting his hand on her head and stroking her long, smooth, slightly flailed blonde hair, which when they moved released a smell very similar to those of their mother, Asa.

"You are strong, Dag, and I trust you. You're the most beautiful thing I've ever had, my brother. I'm sure Odin himself wanted you to be entrusted to our mother and father. I still remember that day. You looked at everything in amazement, the farm, the junk hanging on the walls, our father and our brother... Hahah! That's a hoot!" she exclaimed, continuing to hold him tight. 

"You were incredibly disliked and full of yourself! I thought we'd never get a good relationship, we were too different when we were kids" Dag said, teasing her. 

The two siblings continued to laugh, retracing those beautiful moments of their childhood when someone else descended the stairs into the entrance room. 

Dag and Gridd moved slightly away, stopping to hug, but they continued to look at each other with eyes full of love and admiration, happy that the circumstances of life, even after many misadventures, had given them the opportunity to live such adventures together. 

"Captain, forgive my interruption, I wanted to talk to you a little bit. I know it's still early, but I would have liked to have defined the last details of the mission, with the help of someone from the Hunters Of Ullr, to figure out where Serpent Mountain, our meeting place, is" Reidar said, justifying himself to Dag, fearing he had interrupted a delicate moment. 

"Hi, Reidar. Yes, of course, you're absolutely right! I need to tell someone everything I thought tonight, I barely slept!" 

Seeing the relaxed expression painted on Dag's face, Reidar calmed down, trusting the feelings of his Captain.

"See you later, Gridd... Reidar and I are busy. You, meanwhile... uhm... I don't know...get dressed" Dag said, continuing to look at her sister and failing not to look at her breasts, much more voluminous than Freydis's.

The white and semi-transparent shirt was the ideal garment to wear under the armor, because it did not weigh down the movements, but without it, it had zero hiding power.

"Hahaha! Yes, of course little brother, how not! See you later... Hello, Reidar!" Gridd replied, pushing Dag backwards with a joking air and waving to the archer, turning to him.

Reidar raised his hand to reciprocate the greeting, and when he noticed her breasts were so clearly visible, his expression changed dramatically and his face turned red with embarrassment.

Gridd went up the stairs, returning to the rooms, and Reidar and Dag looked at each other, without saying a word.

In a way, Dag felt a kind of jealousy: the idea that someone else, even a close friend like Reidar, saw his sister's naked body, made him nervous.

"Why do my body and my instincts react like this?! She's my fucking sister, no matter how sensual her body is, I have to stop looking at her like that or she might notice one day! What would it look like?!" Dag thought, looking at the floor and walking toward the table.

"All right, Captain?" 

"Yes, Reidar. It's all right. I feel like I heard Skaldr's voice coming from outside, towards the barn. If he's already awake, we could explain to us exactly where this Serpent Mountain is..." 

As the rest of the warriors slowly began to open their eyes, the two friends walked out the door and immediately met Skaldr, who was feeding the horses, raising large tufts of straw with a pitchfork and throwing them over the fence.

Dag and Reidar, when Skaldr had finished his daily assignment, asked him about the location to be reached.

"Serpent Mountain is about 30 minutes on horseback from here. It's heading northwest, you'll just have to skirt the only forest nearby and you'll get there easily. The question is... why right down there?" he said, looking up at the sky and thinking about why Kranus chose that meeting place over another.

"Maybe because it's halfway between Fort Hvit and Tungvek?" Reidar asked rhetorically, almost sure that the real reason was that.

"Tell me, Skadr... what puzzles you? What's wrong with that place?" Dag added, who wanted to get to the bottom of the matter.

"It's called 'Serpent Mountain' because it looks like a huge snake twisted on itself, in fact, the headland is not very tall, but wide. In addition, my perplexity arises from the fact that along the rock face, there are dozens of caves and natural cavities..."

"Do you think Kranus may have prepared a trap? Fuck, we should have known this detail in advance! What if he was already there and his soldiers were hiding in caves, ready to attack us? It would be a suicide mission since we will only go in three" Dag said, who for a moment began sweating cold, quickly thinking of a solution.

"Captain, we can't risk such a thing! It would be absurd to die like this, after overcoming a thousand difficulties! We need to prepare a counter-attack, in case things get bad!" Reidar exclaimed, who had not imagined this detail and began to feel fear.