“Jotun,” said Erika snapping the book shut, entirely unnecessary but she liked the drama. “Only pure blooded jotun have the size and the metal bones, jotun kin are tall for humans but their bones only possess a weaving of naturally occurring metal, like living chainmail under their skin, Jotun on the other hand have fully metallic bones… no idea how they survive like that though…”

“That’s incredible dear.” Said Kara warmly, Erika blushed bright red prompting Laudon to chuckle and shake his head, Erika glared at him with feigned petulance which just made him laugh louder.

“… explains how big this place is right?” Reidar asked, the blue haired saga skin was one of the only people who still had thunderer rounds left in the entire expedition, the barrel of his thunder arm never wavered from the pile of metallic bones.

“Built by giants for giants?” Said one of the scouts, Erika thought about correcting them as jotun weren’t the only kind of giant that existed but, in the end, she didn’t bother instead just nodding along silently as the group cursed and muttered quiet prayers.

It’s no wonder they were scared, all jotun were born bronze rank and even a half decent jotun warrior was silver ranked, one could probably wipe Losthope out entirely if Sigurn wasn't there, even with her it would probably only be a draw.

“Well… luckily we know there aren’t any more around.” Kara said suddenly, interrupted the plummeting mood.

“How do you know that?” Laudon asked seeming more resigned that curious.

Kara seemed to freeze for a moment then she smiled widely and gestured. “I once met one, near the rim of the world, back before the Vracian smashed the Realmgate…. Anyway, she and I didn’t speak much but she did mention how elaborate their death rituals are. They have layers and layers; songs are sung and a cairn is built and the skull is taken away… none of those have been done here, right? So that means either there’s no other jotuns at all or none survived whatever killed this one.”

“…so, what killed this one?” Asked one of the men near the back, an archer Erika thought, that instantly set people on edge again and a glance at Kara just got a shake of the head in return. “I'm not an expert or anything,” she said swiftly. “And even if I was a jotun expert I'm not a… bones expert or whatever you call it.”

“Some of the ribs look broken,” Gunhilda said, touching the metal bones gently as if she was worried, they turn to dust. “Broken ribs are incredible dangerous in humans I assume it’s the same with jotun, a punctured lung should kill a jotun right?”

“I never heard anything about jotun not needing to breathe so probably.”

“They breathe just like normal,” Kara nearly snapped. “… Stabbing a lung would do it.”

“But if it’s a thing, like an attacker, where are the others? Did it somehow eat their bones?” Gunhilda asked hefting her battle-axe. “All the stories say that jotun come in great hordes! Thousands of giants seated on hill sized yaks that raid and pillage entire kingdoms.”

“Maybe this one was different?” Erika asked with an exaggerated shrug. “My books say jotun have just as many factions, guilds and groups as humans do, maybe this one was a loner or an outcast that’s not important, the important question is… do we want the bones?”

In the crowd Kara stared at Erika with a complex expression as Gunhilda laughed, ignoring the reactions Erika gestured at the skeleton. “I mean they must be valuable right? Most are two big to move sure but, Gunhilda you said some of the ribs are broken right, do any pieces look portable sized?”

“I think this one might… oh no its broken in half… oh this one… wait.”

Erika saw Gunhilda freeze and unbidden odium surged from her well ready to destroy whatever ancient horror the Gothi had discovered, but Gunhilda didn’t reach for her battle-axe instead she had grabbed something that lay in the bones, whatever it was scrapped across the floor with a metallic clatter but it didn’t look like part of skeleton, it glittered dully like gold.

“What the Hel is this?” Gunhilda muttered as she finished lifting it, a long spear of bronze with a twisted head on one end and a round hoop on the other, it didn’t seem to be affected by however many eons it had laid there, tangled with the bones… oh!

“That’s what kill the jotun right?” Erika smiled at her conclusion only to see Gunhilda shake her head.

“Uh sorry Erika but no, it’s not a weapon,” lowering the thing Gunhilda spun it to face the other way and gestured using it, “look, it’s a key I think.”

Erika blushed slightly and looked away prompting Kara to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It was a good guess love.” She whispered which just made Erika blush. The rest of the patrol didn’t seem to notice as they were all crowded around Gunhilda and the key.

“By the Aesir that’s massive!”

“To us maybe but it would be small for a giant right?”

“It looks… about half the length of the jotun fingers so… yeah that would be a small key even for them.”

“A single man with a small, perhaps hidden, key?”

“Treasure!” That last word was said by many voices becoming an avaricious echo as eyes turned speculatively to the walls, as others began tapping the floor with metal hilts and a few even began to ponder the ceiling.

Kara managed a half smile before shaking her head. “I think this scouting run has become a treasure hunt now, the troops aren’t going to give up on the chance of treasure.”

“Good point…” Erika turned away from Kara and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Ok everyone let’s stick together, we’ll check around and look for treasure, but remember that it’s been a long long time ok? Whatever it is might have been stolen by Wargs or just crumbled with the ages.”