Bloodlines of the Ancient Pantheons

Chapter 183: CLXXXIII. The Hooded Man

Reidar accelerated the run, continuing to call the man ahead of him, trying to stop him somehow.

The streets of the city were completely deserted, all the people were concentrated in Golden Chariot Square.

"Stop!" shouted Reidar again, as the man in armor spun around, pulling out a small crossbow and firing an arrow at him.

Reidar managed to dodge the blow, having already sensed that he was an enemy warrior, and took advantage of it to gain ground, extracting the Failnaught. 

Before he could get too close, the enemy pulled two daggers from behind his back. 

Both stopped, facing each other about 20 meters away, catching their breath after the run.

"Why are you following me?" the man asked, looking at Reidar with a menacing air. 

He was a young man, with black hair and no beard on his face: his armor was covered with scales at the top and showed a symbol engraved at belly height, but Reidar could not distinguish it well from that distance.

"Who are you? Why were you running? You don't seem to be from around here, because you just entered a dead-end road" Reidar said, noting to the enemy that a few feet behind him there was a high wall, which prevented the continuation. 

"It's none of your business! Now get away, if you don't want to get hurt!" continued the enemy, pointing the two daggers at Reidar, who charged an arrow.

"Which Clan do you belong to? What are you doing here in Hevnen?" 

As Reidar continued to ask questions, suspicious that the man was an informant for some enemy Clan, he threw the daggers, trying to hit him at a distance.

Reidar managed to dodge them and as soon as the enemy tried to take advantage of the moment to escape in the other direction, he fired an arrow and hit him on the calf, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.

He charged another arrow and slowly approached him.

"Considering you were running northwest, I guess you weren't headed for the harbor... your horse must be nearby, but you don't remember the way, right?"

The enemy turned to the ground and detached the arrow from his leg, trying to get up, while Reidar kept his distance.

"North of Sjonir is Kvete, but there are no Clans on that side and you don't look like a bandit. There is only one Clan that dominates the region further north of Okstorm. The Fangs Of Jormungandr!" continued Reidar, who confirmed his suspicions when he recognized the symbol engraved on the young man's armor.

He rose from the ground, limping with his bleeding leg.

"And you're one of the Hammers Of Thor, aren't you? That rookie who won the fight seems to be your captain... I've heard you before, as you incited him and shouted his name!" answered the enemy, pulling a small bottle out of his pocket.

Reidar, seeing an unknown object, pointed the arrow at the boy's hand, but then noticed that it was only an ointment, of typical yellowish color.

"Yes, it's true. You've been ordered to spy on us, aren't you?! Why?!" asked Reidar, holding him in his sights.

The young man walked for a few meters, sitting on a stone bench as if relaxing under the Sun. 

"I shouldn't tell you anything, but you won't be able to get back to your mates alive, so..." he answered, blowing a loud whistle in the direction of the wall at the end of the road. 

At that very moment, three grappling hooks climbed over the wall and hooked on it.

Reidar backtracked, trying to figure out what was going on.

Three other hooded warriors climbed over the wall and found themselves in front of him.

Reidar immediately pointed the bow at them, frightened.

"You know, when I'll report to my Masters that your two Clans have made an Alliance, I don't think they'll be very happy about it. So maybe, to cheer them up a little bit, I could bring them your head, as a little tribute from the Hammers Of Thor! Hahahah!" continued the man, laughing sadistically, sitting comfortably on the bench, whose white stone had been soiled with blood leaking from his leg, despite the ointment having already taken effect, blocking the hemorrhage.

"Why? Why did you come right here at this very moment?!" continued Reidar, who, despite being frightened, tried to think lucidly. 

The seated man did not respond and gestured toward his hooded comrades, who immediately pulled out their weapons.

Two of them slowly began to advance toward Reidar, who fired an arrow in that direction, hitting one on the shoulder.

The enemy stopped for a moment, then, in a few seconds, continued to walk, with the arrow stuck in his flesh. 

Reidar continued to load more arrows and fired them one after the other, repeatedly hitting the same enemy in multiple parts of his body, slowing his advance, until he stopped and at the same time stopped the other hooded man.

With 6 arrows stuck in his body, the enemy opened his arms outwards, as if to challenge Reidar, who remained motionless after realizing that although he had struck him several times, he had not caused any damage to him.

In less than a second, with his arms still in the same position, the enemy took off his cloak, throwing it on the ground, but not with his hands: a large reptile tail was hidden under disguise.

Reidar broke out in a cold sweat when he discovered that at least one of the enemies in front of him was a reptilian, similar to those who had attacked the Temple Of Orn.

The arrows stuck in his flesh had barely crossed the scales that covered his skin.

Despite being a reptilian, his stature was much lower than that of the reptilians he had previously encountered, which allowed him to go unnoticed, thanks to his dressing-up.

Reidar relaxed his arm, stopping pointing the bow in that direction, realizing to be hopeless.