A Fate Inked in Blood

As Freya and Bjorn continue their trek, Freya thinks about the sexual tension between them and acknowledges that it is mutual. She also realizes that her feelings aren’t purely physical; she admires Bjorn. When they finally emerge near the top of the mountain, they encounter a temple attendant and inform him that the draug have been vanquished. They are still outside the temple walls. The attendant informs them that there is only one entrance gate at the end of a long, steep path. They find Jarl Sten and his warriors waiting at the gate to ambush them, but Bjorn has a plan to get past them.

Freya and Bjorn steal clothes from two temple attendants, whom they tie up and leave in the tunnels. Then they approach the gates in disguise. The ruse almost works, but the attendants escape their bonds too quickly. Jarl Sten’s warriors realize who Freya is and attack. Bjorn pushes Freya through the gate and fights off the mass of warriors singlehandedly, but he begins to falter. Help arrives when Snorri and his warriors appear on the other side of the fray, but their aid is not enough. Freya goes back through the gate, wraps her arms around Bjorn, and envelops him in her protective magic until the fight is over. Inside the temple hall, Freya and Bjorn come face to face with King Harald of Nordeland, the man who held Bjorn hostage for much of his life and killed Bjorn’s mother.

The rules of Fjalltindr force Snorri and Harald to abide in peace while there. Freya places a silver coin at the base of each god’s statue and asks for their favor on all her loved ones. In preparation for the sacrificial rituals that evening, Ylva selects Freya’s attire: a mask shaped like a raven’s head and a long cape of raven feathers. Ylva uses her runic magic to protect their living quarters. The magic will deny access to anyone who intends to harm them.

The ritual grounds occupy a clearing in the forest, where hundreds of people gather in front of an enormous rock lit by torchlight. Ylva insists that Freya drink a hallucinogenic mushroom tea to bring her closer to the gods. When their turn at the altar comes, Freya prepares to cut the sacrificial bull’s throat. A circling group of blackbirds, which seem like omens to Freya, distracts her and make her question her actions. Just as the bull is about to bolt, she makes the sacrifice. The blackbirds vanish like smoke. A temple attendant marks Freya’s face with blood. Then she sees hooded figures surrounding the crowd, holding torches that burn with silver fire. Bjorn says the figures are the gods, and that all of them are present. A voice booms, “Freya Born-in-Fire, child of two bloods, we see you” (212). Then the gods disappear. Bjorn tells the crowd it’s a sign that the gods are watching.

Snorri sees the event as a validation of the prophecy and wants to take Freya into battle against Nordeland right away. Ylva and Bjorn counter that Freya needs more training first. Snorri leaves Ylva and Bjorn to guard Freya in the hall while he attempts to recruit other jarls for his alliance. Freya cannot sleep, and thinking about Bjorn gets her aroused, so she masturbates as quietly as possible. She is distracted when Ylva and then Bjorn leave the hall. When neither returns, she fears they may have been attacked and leaves the hall to look for Bjorn. She finds Tora, one of Harald’s warriors, guarding a building. She spies through a window and sees a figure she takes to be Harald talking to someone she can’t quite see. She hears snippets of the conversation and becomes convinced that Ylva is plotting with Harald to get Bjorn out of the way so that Leif can be Snorri’s heir. Back at Snorri’s hall, Freya sees a figure who tries to enter the hall but is flung back by the protective magic. Then someone grabs Freya from behind and pulls her into the forest.

Freya realizes that Bjorn has pulled her into the forest. They see sober soldiers from Harald’s army searching for Freya amongst the revelers, pulling away masks to check faces. To blend in with the crowd, Bjorn kisses Freya. Two soldiers recognize Bjorn, but his pretense convinces them to leave without checking the face behind Freya’s mask. He later tells her that the soldiers assume he is not foolish enough to cuckold his own father. Freya feels foolish for having believed that his lustful feelings mirrored her own.

They rejoin Snorri and Ylva outside the hall. A warrior woman appears, flanked by dozens of other female warriors. She is Jarl Bodil, a famed warrior and the only female jarl. Bodil is also a child of the god Forseti and can tell truth from lies, no matter who is speaking. She says that Ylva was with her, promoting an alliance. She accepts the alliance, but her allegiance is to the shield maiden, not to Snorri. Bjorn explains his absence by saying that he needed to visit a seer. The seer’s words suggest that Halsar, which they left unprotected, will be attacked. Bjorn says, “She told me that an unwatched hearth spits the hottest embers and that an untended hall is formed of the driest kindling” (231). Snorri decides that it is a test from the gods, forcing him to choose between that which he has—Halsar—and that which he might achieve—an alliance that will make him King of Skaland. Snorri argues that instead of rushing back to Halsar, his forces should stay and destroy King Harald as soon as he departs Fjalltindr. Freya speaks up, advocating for saving their homes and families, and the rest of Snorri’s warriors cheer. Snorri acquiesces, and they make plans to head home.

As they make their way down the mountain, Freya is conflicted by her lust for Bjorn and her feelings of guilt for acting on her forbidden desires. At their camp at the base of the mountain, they reunite with Steinunn, and Freya relates her encounter with the draug while they ride through the day and night. Freya asks Bjorn why he went to visit the seer. He says he asked the seer, not about Halsar, but whether the gods will tell him if he walks the path they wish for him.

When they reach Halsar, they find that everything has been burned to the ground. Ylva wails, thinking her son must be dead. Then a group of survivors approaches, and Leif is among them. Freya learns that Jarl Gnut was responsible. After their first defeat at Halsar, Gnut and his warriors returned for revenge, taking advantage of Snorri’s absence. Liv, a healer and a friend to both Freya and Bjorn, was among those killed. Bodil offers to stay and help rebuild. However, Snorri decides not to, believing that Gnut wants to keep them busy rebuilding so that they will not retaliate. He makes a speech about vengeance and whips everyone into a fervor with plans to attack Gnut’s stronghold at Grindill.

Freya asks Bodil about her ability to detect deception. Bodil says that experience, not magic, has taught her to distinguish lies told in empathy or fear from those told out of malice. Bjorn joins them and says that Gnut’s stronghold is unassailable; starving the people is the only way to take it. Bodil asks Freya’s opinion about Snorri’s strategy and responds encouragingly when Freya shares it. She says she must be the one to take Grindill so the rest of Skaland will believe that the gods want Snorri to rule. Bodil offers to train Freya and help her to play her part in Skaland’s destiny. She also warns Freya about the possible consequences of what she senses between her and Bjorn. That night, Freya drinks and dances around the bonfire with Bodil’s warriors. Then Steinunn comes to sing part of her ballad about Freya. For Freya, this is akin to being back in the tunnels with the draug. She feels sick and passes out.