362 CCCLXII. The Autopsy

The little piece of wood made a small noise, but it echoed to them, accompanied by the sound of the wind, which blew incessantly.

"Don't be impatient, wait! It could be more than one!" Kjell said, raising his arm toward Dag and preventing him from repeating that gesture, after which, however, they had not perceived any movement inside the hut.

The chain warrior dashed forward and remained lowered, positioned himself on the front wall of the hut, whose door was completely destroyed, partially showing its interior.

"And then I'm the impatient one!" Dag whispered, thinking aloud and cautiously walking across the door, face to face with his ally, as Gridd watched the scene from afar.

Out of the corner of their eyes, they both tried to figure out if there was anyone inside the house, considering that the Jotunn's footprints led right there.

Kjell looked at Dag, making him realize that he could not see anything from his position, and Dag did the same, trying to use his nose more than his eyes.

Concentrating, he approached the door even more, trying to smell something.

The wood of the hut was totally shattered, as well as its furniture and the overturned table in the middle of the floor, covered with ice and mold.

In addition to that stink, which made Dag realize that no one had lived in that hut for many years, there was another smell, stronger and incoherent with that of the environment.

"Uhm? What is it?" Kjell whispered, trying to speak in the lowest possible voice.

Dag continued to sniff like a hound when the particles of that nauseating smell took shape in his mind and he sensed that it was fresh blood, which judging by the particular smell, was not human.

Before Kjell could continue with the questions, he got up and entered the door undisturbed, terrified both his companion and Gridd, who from a distance could not understand what was going on and continued to keep the allied soldiers away.

"Are you crazy?! What the fuck are you doing, Dag?!" Kjell exclaimed, immediately wielding both of his chains and joining him, ready to remedy his bad mistake.

Immediately after passing the door, both of the Masters Of Offense stopped to watch the show in front of their eyes.

The huge corpse of a Jotunn lay on the ground, in a deep pool of dark red blood.

Flies and other types of insects particularly resistant to the cold flew around it, beginning the slow process that would lead to its rotting, while his hand was still clinging to one leg of the overturned table.

"What the fuck did it happen?" Kjell asked aloud, as Dag approached the corpse, trying to figure out something more. 

The huge giant had his mouth wide open and his jaws were completely soaked in blood, as well as part of his face. 

"We thought the Jotunns were the problem, but maybe there's something even more dangerous than them..." Dag commented, lowering himself and dipping a finger in the blood, trying to get an idea of the time that had elapsed since the giant had died.

"What?! What could have done such a thing? What about those? Those wounds... they seem to have been caused by huge claws! I don't know of ferocious animals capable of killing a Jotunn of this size!" Kjell replied, who couldn't hold back his concern.

"Aaagh! What the fuck?!" 

Dag and Kjell turned around, discovering that Gridd had also entered the hut.

"Why did you come in without our signal? It could be dangerous, Gridd!" Dag shouted, standing up and looking into her eyes, his hand still dirty with Jotunn's blood.

"I left the command to Sander and Egill... our soldiers won't move until their order... this... this is a Jotunn! Who reduced him to these conditions?!" she asked, her eyes wide open in amazement.

"We were wondering it too. Anyway, the wounds on his neck are still fresh, as is this pool of blood. He died recently, maybe an hour. With this cold, the rotting process has slowed down, but if he had been killed for longer his muscles would be stiffer and icier" Dag said, resting one foot on the calf of the beastly being and proving to his two companions the truth of his thesis.

"Brrr... it freezes in there!" Gridd said, who despite the fright of seeing that scene, couldn't help but think of the cold the soldiers were enduring outside, standing still waiting for their orders.

"Kjell, you and Gridd go check out the other two huts, which will certainly be empty... once you've made sure they're safe, order all the soldiers to come in and equally split into two groups, trying to stay as close as possible and warm up" Dag ordered, who didn't seem intent on getting out of that hut before examining the details of the corpse.

"All right, Dag" Kjell confirmed, who immediately obeyed the order, running out to check on the other huts.

Gridd did the same, but before crossing the door she was interrupted by Dag, who said: "Ah, Gridd... tell Master Egill I need help here... and bring Reidar too".

Gridd nodded her head, confirming that she understood, and soon after, she ran to help Kjell.

Within minutes, all the soldiers entered the village, splitting into the two huts that, unlike the first, were equipped with a door that had managed to withstand the weather.

As requested by Dag, Egill and Reidar joined him, making a disgusted expression after seeing the corpse.

"Captain! But what the..." 

"I'm trying to figure it out too, my friend, so I asked my sister to call the two I think are the most perceptive of the group" Dag replied, implicitly complimenting Egill and his archer friend.

Without saying a word, the Master Of Healing approached the corpse and placed a hand at the height of his head, without touching him.