546 DXLVI. The Decoy

Among them, there was also one of his bodyguards, the same short, skinny man who had witnessed the dialogue between him and Kranus that morning.

Reidar did not say a word and when he reached Dag who had slightly accelerated the pace to talk to the Packmaster, the two friends looked each other in the eye, hoping that that was not a trap, unconsciously fearing that the Claws Of Fenrir were actually allies of the Lies Of Loki and that way they would soon kill them all.

Suddenly, just before he passed the last two trees, Bloodfang raised his arm and all his soldiers stopped, anchoring their bare feet to the ground.

Dag and Reidar did the same, trying to figure out what he had in mind.

Thyrius turned to his bodyguard and nodded another hand, pointing the direction ahead of him, which coincided with that of the walls, that were close to the vegetation and were partially covered by the shade of the trees, unlike the front of the entrance that was instead exposed to the Sun.

The skinny man lowered himself on his knees and as if nothing had happened, his body began to dematerialize: every particle of his flesh and clothes became ethereal and within seconds, he completely turned into a shadow, maintaining the same shape as his original body, but totally losing its texture.

"What the fuck?!" Reidar exclaimed in a low voice, unable to hold back his amazement at such a unique skill and drawing on himself the rabid gaze of Thyrius, who perceived every noise in an amplified way.

The archer immediately shut his mouth, returning to follow the necessary religious silence and the shadow warrior quickly walked forward, camouflaging himself perfectly with the shade of vegetation and leaving the woods.

Once he reached the walls, before everyone's eyes, looking at him as if the whole plan depended on his next move, Bloodfang's bodyguard put his back to the vertical surface of the wall, waiting for something.

At the same time, Bloodfang, who had ordered everyone to stand still in position, looked slightly into the sunlight and raised his gaze, holding his steady hand towards the shadow man in front of him, who although nobody could see him, was looking at him, waiting for his signal.

Dag, unable to resist curiosity and sensing that Thyrius was checking for guards at the top of the walls, approached him and looked in the same direction, taking advantage of his enhanced sight.

They both caught a glimpse of men, perhaps three or four walking back and forth, and sometimes stopping to talk to each other.

Reidar, stationed behind them along with the other men, noticed that the feral soldiers were ready to run and were warming their muscles as if they knew that in a few seconds their state of quiet would be interrupted.

...

"Heey! Is this your way of welcoming guests?!" 

"Yuhuu?!" 

"Lies Of Looooki?! Can you hear us?" 

"We're here, we're the Giants Of Ymir, we just want to talk!" 

While Bloodfang and Dag's group was still on the west side of the city, Kane and his men screamed loudly toward the front door, hoping to get someone's attention.

Two observation towers lined the two huge columns that supported the heavy iron door and after several minutes of screams and calls of all kinds, enemy soldiers finally appeared.

"Soldiers, here they are! Enemies have come out, they are watching us!" Kane exclaimed, inviting all his subordinates to continue the provocations.

"What's going on here?! And who might you be?!" a lookout from the enemy Clan inquired, who along with his colleagues on the walls marveled at seeing about thirty men equipped for combat in front of the huge impenetrable door of their city.

"What did you just say?! Are you deaf or what?! We have already said that! We're Giants Of Ymir, fucker!" one of the allied soldiers exclaimed.

"Yes, I know it was true… besides being thieves you are also stupid!" another one yelled, spitting at the city gate as a gesture of defiance.

The man on the walls turned on his side and began to speak in a low voice with his colleagues, asking them how they should treat those annoying men that were creating no little confusion.

"We will count to ten and give you a chance to run away, pretending we haven't seen anything! If you don't take advantage of this possibility and you'll be still there, our archers will make our bodies look like sieves!" the same lookout yelled again.

"Get ready!" Kane whispered, still encouraging his men.

At the same time, a row of more than ten enemy archers sprang from the front walls, tasked with fearing those ridiculous attackers, who wanted to attack such a resilient city in only thirty units.

"Now!" Kane yelled.

After the young warrior's unexpected scream, five of his allies immediately pulled out bows and loaded their arrows, firing them at great speed and hitting five of the enemy archers, who were not ready to respond to fire.

Within seconds, that gesture created chaos among the enemy forces, who a few moments earlier thought it was just a bad joke and moments later found themselves with four soldiers missing.

"Again! Shields up!" Kane screamed once again, gesticulating with his arms and coordinating his men, who moved lightning-fast around him and created their formation.