The Ageless Promise

The Winter Wolves decide to leave the shelter of the woods the next day, but during one of his dreams/visions Sigurd sees a woman looking for her son. Sensing something strange in the situation he decides to investigate, and manages to leave the vision as pure spirit. He finds himself in a camp not far from the forest where they are still camped. Arriving at their own camp he finds Alrik on watch; he tries to interact with him but cannot be seen. With few options left, he decides to try to return to his body, and shortly after he wakes up. He tells Alrik that he thinks it is important that their next stop be the camp he visited in his dream, explaining that there is a woman they must help. In the morning the Ulfar get ready to leave the forest, but Sif’s ribbon comes loose from her hair, a sign that her dream protection has ended and that she can once again become a target in her dreams.

Reaching the camp, the Ulfar notice some soldiers, commanded by a shadowcaster (a powerful mage with power over shadows), who are violently interrogating the people living there. The Ulfar of course decide to step in and stop the interrogation. Despite the reputation of the shadowcasters and their bodyguards, the Obsidian Legion, the shadowcaster prefers to avoid a direct fight, thanks in part to the powerful illusions of an old woman, which made them believe that more riders were rushing to the camp. The Ulfar try to de-escalate the conflict, urging the Obsidian Guard to leave after healing them. In the end the Nidalese units withdraw, and Sigurd discovers that the woman he saw in his dream is the very old woman who was being interrogated by the shadowcaster and who helped drive them off; only, in his vision she was 40 years younger. She explains that they are Horselord nomads, the true Nidalese, those who rejected the pact with Zon-Kuthon and who hope one day to free Nidal from the eternal night. The Winter Wolves notice that the nomads’ culture has a lot in common with their own way of life, and they spend the night with them at the camp. Before that, however, the old woman takes Sif aside and tells her that their meeting was written in fate; then she falls into a trance. In the trance she tells her that Sif herself was the reason Mistreach was razed to the ground: as a child she overheard a conversation between Bjorn and Olso in which they talked about the Candle of Vigil and said they would keep it in the village. This information passed from Sif to the Ulfar’s enemies through her dreams: Sif was spied on, and from there the initial chain of events that led to this moment was set off. Now that Nina’s magic ribbon no longer protects her in her sleep, the old woman explains to Sif that she will have to train to control her own dreams, and that this bond is almost impossible to break.

The next day the Ulfar set off; the Horselords have lent them three horses, Axe, Stone and Staff, who know the land very well: thanks to them they will be able to reach the border with Oprak in little more than a week instead of a month.

NPCs

The Shadowcaller, The clan witch