Although they had to crouch to get through the entrance, inside the cave was large and hollow with different tunnels leading to different passages. There were a few rock carvings and cave paintings on the walls and ceilings, but there was no sign of life at the entrance of the cave. A few human skeletons had been carefully placed near the back wall of the cave, and Sigurd could tell that they had been undisturbed for at least a hundred years, if not longer.
"This must be where they buried their dead," one of the guards said. Sigurd nodded in agreement, grabbing the lanturn and examining the skeletons. One of them had a bronze arm band and there were silver coins in the dirt beside him. Sigurd would pick up one of the coins, wiping it with his thumb before studying it. "Norwegians," he said while tossing the coin to his guard. "Ay, that's King Egil's currency, I haven't seen this type of stamping since I was a young boy," the guard explained. "King Egil disappeared at sea over one hundred years ago. Could it be?" The suggestion was hint enough. Sigurd Hring had found the long lost resting place of Egil Skurljasson, a legendary Norwegian king who lived long before his time. "They must have built this settlement," the guard said. "Or built over it," Sigurd added before looking around at the cave walls. The rock carvings told a pictographic story which Sigurd pieced together. King Egil apparently had got lost at sea after a successful naval battle and in a desperate attempt to save his people, decided to build the old settlement. It wasn't enough, for the settlers appeared to have died or moved on after some time, probably dying from sickness or starvation. The last remaining Norwegian settlers, in an act of empathy, had buried their king in this cave before abandoning the region.
Deep inside the cave, down one of the long, dark passages, undiscovered for what was probably decades, maybe years, or even just months; were more skeletons, five in total that were hidden away, deep inside a winding, rocky passage that was steeped in brackish water.
These skeletons were different than the Norwegian men that were found further up inside the cave. These skeletons still had their decayed clothing. Clothing that consisted of wool uniforms in a dark green color, which were barely recognizable amid the brackish water, and mud. However, these dark green wool uniforms were accented at the collar by dingy red collar taps, which bore a small yellow chrysanthemum design, and yellow rank striping.