The Sage of Einar

In a small shelter, Goi woke up abruptly due to hearing the noise of a horn.

So he quickly dressed and took his crossbow to go out into the cold courtyard of the small military strong. Ignoring the snow on his feet, he began to run towards the wall.

Where once he got he could see three scrawny white bears, which seemed to be completely insane as they tried to break free from the traps around the camp.

Goi sighed as he saw the animals that we're desperate to eat he placed his crossbow on his shoulder and took aim at the white bears.

Firing the bolt of his crossbow, he killed one of the bears. This caused the two white bears that were trying to free themselves to stop.

But this only lasted a few seconds as they subsequently began to move to the corpse of the white bear that had died.

With their great jaws, they began to dismember the corpse, Goi, and Floki seeing the actions of the bears pointed their crossbows and ended their festival of blood that they were doing.

After killing the three scrawny white bears, the two men emerged from the wooden palisade and dragged the two carcasses of the white bears.

They did not take the corpse of the dismembered bear as it was completely useless, so its only function should be to act as bait.

After entering the Strong, Goi sat on a wooden log in front of a campfire to regain his body heat.

"Floki, you have to be more aware of those hungry bears, if they are usually dangerous when they are starving.

They will become beasts that will not hesitate to sacrifice their bodies to be able to bite anything that has meat.

Perhaps the only good thing about this behavior they are having is the fact that we can kill them more easily. "

Floki, who was watching the fire in the campfire while drinking a pine leaf tea, nodded at Goi's words.

"Although in recent weeks their numbers have dropped a lot because most of the bears had to go into hibernation.

The poor bastards who didn't gather enough food can only go out and search for food in groups, fortunately, the strong defenses should be more than enough.

But we must continue cheating as Herald Einar said, since when the white bears that are hibernating they wake up.

They will be like the wild beasts that they are, and that will happen long before the party to relieve us arrives. "

Goi stretched out his hands and using his dagger began to cut the corpse of one of the bears "When the sun is at its peak, I will gather everyone to coordinate the process of expanding the strong defenses.

But for the moment you should help me prepare the fur for these bears since this is where our food for today will come from.

Unless you want to eat beef jerky. "

Floki, who had finished his tea, took out his dagger and began to skin the white bear corpse that he had next to him.

"Goi, how do you think the town with the Yule festival is, just think about the delicious food or drink.

It makes me wish I could go back to the village, not to mention that I can't wait to see my daughter and my wife with whom I want to spend a full day locked up. "

Goi smiled wistfully and carefully removed the skin from the white bear's back. "I understand what you're feeling and I think it's a good idea. As for the festival, I'm sure it must have been something fantastic.

With Herald Einar, things will never be dull again. "

Floki stopped when he saw the melancholy look of his partner "Goi, I know you still miss your wife but you have not thought about trying to get together with another woman.

You are still quite young and I think you could have quite a few children. "

Goi lowered his head and sighed "It is not so easy to be able to forget the woman with whom I spent much of my childhood.

I've thought about it many times, but I just don't think I can start a relationship again. "

Using his hand, he pulled out the shell necklace that he had on his neck so he could caress it while remembering the talk with Einar.

"But you know I think being in this place helped me a little bit to realize that maybe I should start my life over."

Floki smiled when he saw Goi a little more cheerful "Remember that when you decide to get married, invite me to your wedding I think I can give you a good gift.

Not to mention that when you have your first child I can be his godfather and who knows maybe your son can marry my daughter. "

Goi laughed and yanked the skin off the white bear's corpse completely.

"I will, but I hope you will support me as a father-in-law, as I can be a bit harsh."

Floki shook his head and raised his shoulders "The only person who should be concerned is your future child as my wife will be behind him to ensure that our daughter is always well ..."

The two men continued talking until they finished cutting the meat of the two white bears, after which they began to prepare breakfast for all the warriors of the strong.

After breakfast Floki used a little warm water to clean his face. Once he was ready he took his ax and with the rest of the warriors they left the wooden palisade.

Goi, who was the leader of the group, pointed out some distant trees "We should cut down those trees to create a few wooden spears.

Floki, I hope you can lead half the warriors. "

Pointing his finger to a part near the palisade "Since I and the rest of the warriors will start with the expansion of the pit, that also means that we will remove the excess snow.

How do you know in the morning some bears attacked the strong, but due to the traps, they did not go any further.

But if we receive an attack from all places and we do not improve our defenses, we may end up dying. "

After this, they all separated and began to perform their respective tasks.

Goi, who had a wooden shovel, walked with three warriors to the pit already built and began to pass it on the snow that had accumulated.

For his part, Floki began by cutting down a medium-sized tree, after some time cutting and using the techniques he had learned from Einar.

The tree fell into the snow, and the two warriors who followed it began to cut the branches to leave only the trunk.

After working for a few hours, the sky began to darken, so the warriors stopped what they were doing and returned to the wooden strong.

Where Floki prepared dinner, which was a bit different since in one of the trees they found a nest of white foxes.

After removing the skin and guts from the carcasses of the white foxes, he put the meat in an iron pot and set them to sew only with salt.

When the simple stew was boiling and the meat was cooked, Floki served chunks of meat with broth to the warriors.

Those who, regardless of the taste, ate with gusto, as they needed to regain all the energy they had lost in the afternoon work.

Jensen, who was quite tired, bit the piece of meat and sighed silently.

"Melker, you don't think this meat tastes better than bear meat."

Melker who was biting a bone looked at Jensen with a sad look "It's hard to choose when the options taste disgusting or maybe it's just me.

In the end, after eating so much meat, livers and hearts, I can no longer distinguish the taste of meat.

The only good thing is that we have salt and pine tea to make the food taste better. "

Jensen patted Melker on the back "Don't be so pessimistic, you know very well that bear meat is sweet and sometimes it tastes quite strange depending on what the white bear is feeding.

While white fox meat has a lighter flavor but is more fibrous, I insist that fox meat is better, anyway.

What do you think Goi, Floki and Ull "

Goi looked at his plate and scratched his forehead "It's complicated, but I'd say I prefer white bear meat.

But it must be from a white bear with fat since the meat can then be cooked on the fire with a little salt, which completely takes away the sweet taste it has. "

Floki shook his head "White bear meat is very difficult to season so I prefer stringy white fox meat.

At least this one does not leave a very strong flavor in the mouth, also the fox broth has a good flavor.

It's a shame there aren't any salicorns or some greens to complement it. "

Ull who was the youngest among them all sighed "I belong to the group that hates the taste of both types of meat, I prefer the taste of fish.

It's a shame that the sea is too far from where we are. "

Jensen laughed at the responses and yelled, "Van and Raner, what do you think."

Van, who was eating while guarding the palisade, stroked his mustache "I agree with Ull that meat tastes disgusting, I think fish is better."

Raner felt a little itchy, so he scratched his nose. "I think I'm the only stranger in the bunch who likes the taste of white bear livers and hearts more than any kind of meat."

They all stopped and looked at Raner in surprise and then began to laugh.

The warm atmosphere of the place lasted until the night when some warriors went to sleep while others looked after the wooden strong.