510 DX. A Body On The Table

"Commander, of course! I don't know how I missed that! The word 'Jotunn' is the answer! We will ask all the warriors to turn into Jotunns before our eyes and those of them will not succeed, will be unmasked!" Atran exclaimed, who had silently continued to think about a possible solution.

"Even this could not work, because not all your warriors can transform, I know this well since I train them. But your observation is very helpful to us because it means that if there is a spy, he hides among the recruits" Dag replied, looking at Kranus, whose gaze suddenly brightened up.

"Great! Very good, Atran! Then we'll do this... I will order all the adult warriors to turn into Jotunns, discount the first hypothesis, and if all of them will succeed, I will ask each recruit to tell me the name of his parents and where they live, leaving the task of investigating my guards" Kranus added, hitting his fist on the palm of his hand, satisfied with the plan.

"And what about the guards?" Freydis asked, naively.

"All my guards know how to use the transformation skill in Jotunn... they too will be tested." 

"Excellent. Looks like we've got a plan again! All we have to do is get to Tungvek and put it into practice!" Dag said, smiling and stroking Claire's arm with the hand that wasn't busy holding the reins of the horse.

...

After retracing the road backward, as the false Sun set on the horizon, Tungvek walls popped up behind a snowy hill and the diplomatic team returned to the base.

The gates immediately opened at the sight of Kranus and the citizens, when they realized that their leader had gone on a mission along with two of his strongest warriors and two strangers, began to cheer him on, shouting his name. 

Claire's body, which was still sleeping wrapped in fur, did not go unnoticed and attracted the eyes of many people, none of whom approached Dag, although realizing that he was part of Commander Kranus' personal escort.

When they passed their little house, Dag and Freydis got off their horses.

"Kranus, we stop here. Claire urgently needs help" Dag said, who passed the reins of her horse to Atran, asking him to take him to the stable for him.

Freydis did the same with Kron and without adding anything else, the three Giants Of Ymir warriors continued to the Colossus Palace, amid the yelling of the crowd that kept cheering and surrounding them.

Freydis slipped the key of the house out of Dag's pants, which had his hands busy, and hurriedly opened the lock, leaving the door wide open. 

"Come next to Claire... I'll take care of the fire!" Dag said, asking Freydis for a switch, who obeyed without speaking.

After unfastening the fur coat, the Shieldmaiden noticed that Claire's hands were completely covered in blood, that as they rode their horses, continued to gush from her wounds, deeply staining Dag's fur.

"My bag... take it... inside there is a healer's kit that Karl gave me in case of need" Freydis said, continuing to untie the cape.

Dag, who was blowing on the sparks generated by the stone fire starter and was waiting for the small flame to spread under the cold wood, got up and immediately made his way to the bag in question, finding a small cubic bag, little larger than one of his hands.

"Yes, that's it! Come on, quick!" Freydis exclaimed, grabbing the object from his hands and placing it on the table, next to the girl.

While Dag was next to her, stopping to observe without knowing how to help, Freydis spread the fur ends, completely discovering Claire's naked body lying unconscious on the table.

The bloodstain under her back had hardened after being completely absorbed by the fur that wrapped her during the journey and hundreds of small cuts scattered over her body, from her neck to the abdomen, from thighs to feet.

"Warm-up some clean water put it in the pot on the fire, come on!" Freydis replied, who as she witnessed that raw scene, opened the bag given to her by Karl and pulled out a long suture needle, with a slightly curved tip.

Just then, Claire began to moan and the only points in her body moving were her hands and feet.

"... Dag... where... Dag" the Earthly girl whispered, barely moving her lips battered for the cold and the bad conditions in which her body had remained for who knows how long.

"I'm here! Claire, I'm here! I'm coming, hold on!" Dag answered, speeding up his movements and putting the clean water from the wooden tank inside the pot on the fire, waiting for it to warm up.

Soon after, he began looking for clean rags that he could give Freydis to clean the blood, but found them nowhere, panicking.

Not wanting to distract his woman, who was preparing the materials needed to perform a very delicate action, Dag took the shirt he used to sleep and tore it into several pieces, creating towels to dip in the hot water. 

"Well done, Dag. Now come here and squeeze her hand. You have to calm her down and when the water is warm enough, I'll sew all her wounds" Freydis said, explaining to him what she would do after a few minutes of waiting.

"Of course, here I am" he replied, who tried to calm his agitation and grabbed Claire's hand, that stop shaking. 

"Dag..." 

"Yes, it's me. Keep calm, you must have a few minutes of patience and your suffering will diminish... you're safe now."