51 First death

"OSWIN, THE WIND IS PICKING UP MORE STRENGTH, WE MUST GET SHELTER!"

Osiwn, who was walking at the head of the group, completely decked out in fur robes, heard Wymond's words and raised his fist to bring the caravan to a halt.

"BLAKE, BREAK CAMP!"

Blake who was walking a little further back, nodded, following the order and organizing the men to set up the tents.

The tents had been made in advance by Blake and other craftsmen of the black axe tribe, out of wood and skins, and held in place with ropes nailed to the ground with wooden stakes.

Blake divided the men into two groups, one erecting the tents while another searched the Haunted forest for wood.

They had left the Milkwater River behind weeks ago and were walking around the Frostfangs as they searched for the entrance to the Thenn Valley.

They had been walking for three weeks now, and Oswin was sure that the entrance to the valley was near, but a snowstorm had hit them for three days now, preventing them from both moving forward and finding the entrance.

In the largest of the tents, sat Oswin, Blake, Wymond, Clay, and Zafar. All held a hot plate of rabbit and wolf stew as they ate.

"I can't get my bearings because of the storm, it would be dangerous to go any further, if we pass thenn valley we could end up in the lands of eternal winter much sooner than we expect."

Wymond said with a frown.

"We are very close, but it would be best to wait for the storm to end."

Oswin nodded, it was dangerous to keep moving when the snow was almost waist-deep.

"I don't think it's feasible to wait, we don't know how much longer the storm will last, if we lag too long, we won't have food to trade with Thenn's men, besides, Lopt's condition is getting worse."

Blake said, shaking his head.

"Your eyesight is that good even with the snow hitting so hard?"

Oswin asked Blake had told him about his peculiar vision, able to see a squirrel 5 kilometers away, even at night, but a storm always made him lose vision.

"Yes, and I haven't seen the entrance to the valley, at least according to your description, so we must keep moving."

Oswin hesitated briefly, not that he distrusted Blake, but he was far more experienced than his son when it came to travel, and he judged that it would be dangerous to continue the march.

"I agree with Blake on this one, we'd better keep moving."

The one who spoke was Clay, who had finished eating and was now drinking a glass of warm water.

"Why?"

Oswin asked.

"I was the one who taught him to hunt, I know his skills better than anyone."

Clay shrugged, according to him Blake had better eyesight than an eagle, if he said they hadn't passed the entrance then it was true.

"If this is the way and we haven't strayed, I'll find the entrance to the valley."

Blake assured.

"Well, I'll leave it with you then, we'll continue our march at dawn."

With these words from Oswin, they all went to their tents.

"You're going out today too?"

Blake had shared his tent with Zafar, and the latter asked him, as Blake placed a quiver of huge, thick arrows on his back, and a dagger at his waist.

"Our party will not return to the fortress city after reaching Thenn, so we must save as much food as possible."

Zafar, lying on a woven wool hammock, watched as Blake came out with a large Weirwood longbow, almost as thick as his arm.

"How the hell can he use that thing...?"

The Weirwood longbow had been made by Blake to be used only by him, as only 3 men together had the strength to pull the rope.

The camp had been set up next to the forest, and Blake walked into the woods as he searched for prey.

Before, he would set nets in the river to get fish, but now he only depended on what he could find in the forest.

As he went deeper into the forest, the storm was losing strength because of the huge pine trees that made up that part of the Haunted forest.

For the first hour, Blake didn't have much luck, but then he found a burrow with 6 hares under the snow.

In the winter, hunters who could identify the burrows of different animals were more successful during the hunt according to Clay, and Blake confirmed that his words were true after going out hunting the last few days.

He hunted all night, landing a dozen rabbits, 7 Lemmings, a snowy owl that wandered into the woods, and the biggest prize, a huge caribou with one antler missing.

He had put an arrow through its neck, nearly decapitating it as he couldn't measure its strength.

Blake tied the caribou's legs with rope and dragged it back to camp, the storm had not abated, and the tribesmen were still in their tents, sleeping as they rocked in their hammocks by a campfire...

Blake had the almost primitive impulse to get them up but preferred to let them rest a little longer while he prepared breakfast, for they, unlike him, did feel the cold and fatigue.

When the food was ready, Blake went from tent to tent, waking the tribesmen as he gave them breakfast.

He had hunted more than enough meat for everyone, so breakfast was plentiful.

"Everyone survived the night?"

Oswin asked after Blake woke him up with breakfast in hand.

In such heavy storms, it was not uncommon for any of the tribesmen to freeze to death when their campfire went out in the middle of the night.

"None of them died."

Blake confirmed, thanks to the tents and preparations for the old man, winter had not claimed any lives of the tribesmen so far.

Osiwn finished his meal and left the campaign alongside Blake.

"Make the most of your warm stomachs and break camp, we're leaving!"

With Oswin's words, in just under an hour the caravan was ready to move on, this time with Blake in the lead as he continued to search for the entrance to the Thenn Valley.

It took another full week for them to find the entrance, and the pelts of the animals Blake had hunted were already filling two whole wagons.

"STOP!"

At Blake's shout, the whole team stopped.

"DID YOU FIND IT?!"

Oswin stood next to Blake, asking. The snowstorm was barely letting him speak.

"THERE'S A GORGE 20 METERS AHEAD!"

"AT THE TOP, THERE'S A ROCK LEDGE?!"

Blake looked at the top of the gorge, there was a huge rock jutting out for several meters as if it was about to fall at any moment.

"SO MUCH SO THAT IT LOOKS LIKE IT'S ABOUT TO FALL!"

Oswin bared his teeth with a grin.

"WE MADE IT TO THE VALLEY, BOYS!"

"ROOOOAAAAA!"

Oswin announced and all the men shouted.

They had been walking for a whole month, and much of that time was in the middle of a snowstorm, they were completely exhausted.

"WE HAVE TO FOLLOW THE GORGE FOR 3 DAYS AND WE WILL REACH THENN, THE WORST PART IS OVER!"

The gorge was slightly steep, but it was nothing compared to the way so far, where the snow covered them up to their waists, besides, the mountain would protect them from the breeze, so the way was much safer.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

One of the tribesmen began to cough loudly, and Blake walked over to him to see what was wrong.

"FATHER, WE NEED TO BREAK CAMP IN THE GORGE, IT'S GETTING DARK!"

Blake noticed that the man coughing was Lopt, and he didn't look well at all.

"WELL, FETCH WOOD FROM THE FOREST, ENOUGH FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS AND BREAK CAMP!"

During that night, Blake did not go out hunting, as Lopt had fallen ill and needed to be cared for. He was very old, and the storm had struck for too long, it was already unbelievable that he held out until now.

Blake put several blankets on him, heated wine, and built a big fire, but in the end, it was all to no avail, Lopt died in the middle of the night, as did his only guide to the giants.

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perdón por la falta de capítulo de ayer, pero por alguna razón me temblaba el ojo izquierdo todo el día, y justo hoy ha parado un poco desde que me puse gafas de sol, pero bueno, seguiré con los capítulos diarios hasta que termine la primera temporada, después me tomaré unos días de descanso <3