A Curse Carved in Bone

Harald’s wolves, Skoll and Hati, accompany Freya and Bjorn on their trip to visit Saga. At Hrafnheim’s gates, they meet Gyda, an unfated smith in Harald’s service. She has mended Freya’s broken sword, the only thing Freya had left from her father. Freya thought it had been left in the hot springs in Skaland, but Harald retrieved it. The runes Gyda added to the blade make it unbreakable. Gyda also gives Freya a shield that is as light as a feather, thanks to more runic magic.

On the way to Saga’s cabin, Freya and Bjorn come across a beautiful young woman. Her probing questions about Freya’s feelings for Bjorn are off-putting. As they make camp later that night, attraction, anger, and fear of further heartache war within Freya’s heart. When Bjorn doesn’t return from bathing in the river, Freya finds the beautiful woman trying to seduce him. Freya realizes the woman is a huldra—a creature that seduces men, beds them, and kills them. She transforms into a monstrous beast and attacks Bjorn. Freya and the two wolves fight her, but it takes Bjorn coming out of his trance and using Tyr’s fire axe to overcome and kill her. Afterward, Freya admits to herself that she still loves and wants Bjorn, though she doesn’t trust him.

Upon reaching Saga’s home, Freya sees that the woman is shockingly beautiful, seemingly untouched by time. Saga explains to Freya that although the Unfated can change the future predicted by the Norns, it doesn’t happen often because it requires them to do something wholly against their nature. She says her vision of Freya’s future hasn’t changed. She doesn’t share Harald’s hope that there are other options for changing it besides killing Freya, but she admits it may be possible. Freya asks to hear the truth about the night Snorri tried to kill Saga.

Saga tells Freya her story. In her youth, Snorri and Harald both sought information from her visions. She took both as lovers. After she conceived Bjorn, Snorri demanded that Saga end things with Harald. Saga had her shield maiden vision when Bjorn was four or five. Snorri was present and began hunting for the shield maiden immediately. Soon, Snorri’s ambition led him to try to kill Saga. She and Bjorn fled to Harald’s protection in Nordeland, where she had another vision of Freya with “thousands of dead beneath [her] feet” (121).

After telling this story, Saga calls Freya selfish and callous for refusing to forgive Bjorn, who has always tried to protect her. Freya sees the truth in Saga’s words.

That evening, Freya and Saga sit in the sauna, talking and drinking wine. Freya talks about the specter that appeared to her several times in Skaland, whom Snorri believed to be Saga’s spirit. Though Freya can’t speak about the blood oath that Ylva and Snorri used to bind her, Saga figures it out. Ylva included the words “of Snorri’s blood” to ensure Freya’s allegiance to Leif (66), but it applies to Bjorn too, making him the key to freeing Freya from Snorri’s control. Later that night, Freya decides to make up with Bjorn. He stops her from making love to him because she’s drunk and he doesn’t believe she’s emotionally ready, nor does he feel he’s earned her forgiveness.

In the morning, Bjorn talks to his mother about Freya’s oath and her powers. He believes Freya’s attempt to curse him, Harald, Tora, and Skade to Helheim failed only because they were able to fight off the roots that dragged everyone else there, not because three of them are unfated. Saga urges Bjorn to take Freya out of Nordeland and into hiding, where Snorri can never find her. Freya agrees to this plan but stipulates that once Snorri gives up the search, she and Bjorn will go their separate ways.

While bidding Freya and Bjorn goodbye, Saga has another vision. She prophesies that a son of Skaland will sail forth to make war and that the shield maiden must cut her thread free of the false king to avert a massive death toll. The prophecy leads Freya to believe that hiding from Snorri won’t prevent him from waging war in her name. She decides she has to find a way to kill him.

Freya tells Bjorn to call her to arms using the blood oath and to name Snorri as his enemy. Then she can call on Hel to take Snorri’s soul to Helheim. Bjorn, unwilling to compel Freya, refuses. Speaking privately to Bjorn, Saga tells him he took advantage of Freya in Skaland, prioritizing his own desires over her well-being. Bjorn says he should kill Snorri himself, but Saga insists her vision shows Freya, not Bjorn, cutting her thread free of the false king’s control.

As Freya and Bjorn ride hard for Hrafnheim, they argue over Freya’s request that Bjorn use the blood oath to wield her against Snorri. To make a point, Bjorn gives a mock command, and Freya unconsciously moves to obey. As they realize how much influence the blood oath has on Freya, they wonder how much the oath, rather than Freya’s free will, has shaped their relationship. Bjorn says he’ll fight at Freya’s side but will never give her another order.

In Hrafnheim, Freya and Bjorn inform Harald of Saga’s latest prophecy and of the blood oath binding Freya. Harald says Freya must lead Nordeland through this ordeal and promises to give her control of all his forces so she can determine her own destiny. When Bjorn is alone with Freya, he says her control and leadership are an illusion and that “her” plan to defend Nordeland is really just Harald’s plan.

Freya asks Gyda about Harald, since they knew each other as children. Gyda reveals that Harald left Nordeland because his father, then the jarl, was abusive. When he returned as a man, he challenged and killed his father, swearing to be a better leader. Gyda urges Freya to hear how the rest of the Unfated in Hrafnheim came to serve Harald so she can judge the king’s worth.