The Sage of Einar

Chapter 69: Ansgar’s joy

Ansgar looked sadly at the sloping mountain wall “It is the fourth path that is blocked by these mountains if I do not soon find a safe passage that allows me to pass.

Soon I will run out of food “

When he finished saying those words, Ansgar turned and started walking back along the small path where he had walked.

As he walked, he looked in amazement at how in some ledges the water that had frozen, formed immense stalagmites

These were completely blue and you could see through them, not to mention that there were also different sizes, which created a mystical and beautiful view of that path where he was.

When he finally returned to the origin of the trails he was walking, he drew his dagger and made some runes from the mountain wall.

“I hope these runes can serve as a warning, for even though this path has a blessing from Skadi.

It is a dead-end road and the ice peaks can fall and kill or injure those who walk this path. “

When Ansgar finished drawing the runes, he walked along the other path that remained. It had not given him much confidence because he had to cross what seemed to be a large cave.

Because he didn’t know how deep the cave was, he pulled out three thick wooden branches from his makeshift bag made of fox fur.

Once I had them outside, I put them aside while I made a small fire.

Seeing that the fire in the campfire was already fully lit, he removed his helmet and placed it on the fire to later place a large piece of grease.

With the heat of the fire, it began to slowly melt. While this was happening, Ansgar cut a large piece of cloth from his pants.

With the piece of cloth in his hand, I wait for the fat to be completely melted. This took only a few minutes, so when it was completely liquid.

He dipped the piece of cloth in the grease and using one of the wooden sticks; he was to make the grease completely impregnate the cloth.

When the cloth was completely moistened, he took his helmet out of the fire and left it in the snow, so as not to waste the fire that he already had lit, he took out a piece of fox meat and using his dagger put it to heat.

Unfortunately, he did not measure the cooking time of the meat to take care of the cloth in his helmet, so with a forced smile, he looked at the piece of coal that was on his dagger.

Ignoring the bitter taste of the meat I just ate and it was then that he very carefully touched the cloth which was no longer hot but warm.

So taking advantage of the fact that it had the ideal temperature, he took it out of his helmet and using his dagger; broke it into three equal pieces.

Using the thick branches of wood and the pieces of cloth that he had made, he made 3 artisan torches.

“I hope they can last long enough to be able to cross that cave, otherwise I might end up dying in its dark guts.”

Before leaving for the cave, Ansgar checked all his things and checked that his torches were in good condition.

When he saw that he had everything in order, he took one of the torches and placed it on the small fire. It was set on fire, and it was then that Ansgar entrusted himself to Odin.

For he knew that if the cave did not have an exit then, his only path would be death, since perhaps at that moment he has no way of seeing where he is walking in the dark.

Standing in front of the cave entrance, Ansgar took a deep breath and closed his eyes to later sigh as he walked into the cave.

Inside the cave, Ansgar could only see a few meters in the torchlight.

He was surprised to feel that the further he went into the cave; it began to get hotter. This was quite strange because generally the caves that he knew were cold and in some cases, there was so much humidity that it was difficult for him to breathe.

So with curiosity, he began to walk towards where the heat came from the cave and it was then that he could see illuminated with the light of the torch a large pool of thermal waters.

Swallowing a bit of saliva at his discovery, he drew from his bag a piece of meat, which, supported by his dagger, he placed in the water.

When the meat touched the hot springs, absolutely nothing happened, so Ansgar was happy because if there is a way out of the cave this place could become a good resting point.

After saving the piece of meat, he used his dagger to make some marks on the wall of the cave, which he repeated every so often as he walked.

After a while, the torch that was lighting it began to go out so that a feeling of discomfort was present in Ansgar.

With the second torch-lit, he began to walk a little faster, looking for some sign that would allow him to find a way out.

But even walking faster did not prevent his second torch from going out eventually, so Ansgar who already had his third torch in his hand decided to calm down and remain standing where he was.

Closing his eyes, he paid attention to the great number of noises that were in that cave and that came out of the darkness.

I listened from the dripping of the water to some strange noises that I did not know what they belonged to but concentrating all I could try to ignore those noises and look for the characteristic noise of the wind.

It took a few minutes for a cold breeze to touch his left cheek and the whistle of the wind was present, at that moment Ansgar opened his eyes and began to run to his left.

As he went further into the cave, he could feel the cold air outside as well as the characteristic noise of the air hitting the rocks.

As he turned around in a small cave passageway, he could see a small beam of light coming in from what appeared to be the snow-covered cave entrance.

With a smile and holding his torch, he ran towards the entrance to later use his hand to start removing the snow that blocked the entrance.

When he was able to remove enough snow that covered the entrance, the sun’s rays dazzled him for a few seconds, but this did not stop his perseverance of wanting to get out of that cave.

So when he made a big enough hole in the snow, he stuck his head out and was able to see the majestic coastline of Iceland in all its glory.

This caused a tear of happiness to come out of one of Ansgar’s eyes, since from that moment on he would only have to follow the coast to get home.