The Sea of Trolls

Over lunch, the Bard asks Jack to become his apprentice because he’s more perceptive than the other village children. The man discusses his proposal with the boy’s parents that night. Jack’s mother wants him to have an education, but his father protests that he needs the boy to work on the farm, and “there’s no proof he’s bright” (12). The Bard expresses his faith in Jack and reveals that he’s already arranged for the other village boys to help Giles with the farm. Giles reluctantly agrees to the arrangement. The old man assures the boy’s mother that Jack can visit home on Sundays.

The following morning, Jack gathers his few worldly belongings and tells his family goodbye. His departure saddens Lucy, but Giles distracts her by describing the sweets the monks make on the Holy Isle. As the Bard’s apprentice, Jack does chores like preparing the man’s meals, gathering wood, and hauling water. He also has the auspicious task of carrying the Bard’s harp when he visits the villagers’ homes to tell stories. At the man’s instruction, the boy spends much of his days outdoors observing nature. As the weeks pass, Jack gains a greater understanding of animals’ behavior, and the Bard begins to teach him songs.

One night, the Bard has a night terror about a troll and accidentally strikes Jack with magic. As soon as Jack recovers enough to speak, he asks the Bard to teach him magic, and his mentor is impressed with the boy’s curiosity and tenacity.

The next morning, the Bard explains that most of the trolls, or Jotuns, he’s known are benevolent, but half-trolls are malevolent shapeshifters. A half-troll rode the Nightmare that attacked him. Sensing an evil force across the sea, the old man says, “She is hunting for me, and if she has found out where I am, her servants may already be on the way” (23). He tells the alarmed boy that he won’t flee because that would mean abandoning the villagers to the Jotuns’ wrath. The Bard sends Jack home and spends the next three days in the forest.

When Jack returns home, he is deeply moved by a newfound appreciation for the farm’s beauty, his family, and his father’s determination. He cries when he thinks about the danger the village is in, but he distracts himself from his negative thoughts because the Bard warned him that Jotuns can detect fear.

Three days later, Jack returns to the Bard. The old man reports that a group of Northmen ruled by Ivar the Boneless and his half-troll queen, Frith, is preparing to launch an invasion. When the Bard reveals that Queen Frith is the one who attacked him in the Nightmare, the boy faints. 

When he awakens, the Bard explains that some of his own life force flowed into Jack when he struck him with magic. This has rapidly increased his apprentice’s powers of perception as well as his emotional sensitivity. Almost all living things are drawn to the subterranean streams of life force that flow through the world, but humans deliberately cut themselves off from the life force long ago.

Jack’s new connection with nature leaves him dazed, but physical exertion helps to clear his head. The Bard tells Jack that he and his best friend trained to be bards together in Ireland, but his friend took in too much of the life force, had a mental health crisis, and joined others like him in the “Valley of Lunatics.” The Bard is determined to prevent his apprentice from meeting the same fate.

The narrative moves forward in time. During the fall, the Bard teaches Jack how to perform small acts of magic, such as summoning mist and birds. In the winter, he instructs his apprentice in playing the harp and conjuring fire. The Bard warns Jack that working magic is especially perilous in the winter because the Jotuns “lie in wait for the careless” (40). He urges the boy to persevere through the drowsiness and nausea he experiences when he touches the life force. When he finally manages to start a fire, Jack is filled with a fierce, proud exaltation and sets the house’s thatched roof ablaze. The Bard douses the fire and casts a spell of protection over the boy. He urges, “You must respect the limits of your power. You can cause a great deal of harm if you don’t” (42).

The Bard tells Jack the story of how he met Ivar the Boneless. Shortly after he graduated from the College of Bards, a Northman invited him to the hall of King Hrothgar. The structure’s magnificence and the merrymaking of Hrothgar’s people angered a monster named Grendel, who killed and devoured many warriors before the mighty Beowulf slew him. Grendel’s mother, a half-troll named Frothi, retaliated by killing Hrothgar’s best friend.

The Bard continues his tale. Beowulf journeyed to the swamp where Frothi lived. Using his magic, the Bard allowed the warrior to breathe underwater. When the hero didn’t return for hours, Hrothgar and his retinue believed that he had perished and returned to the hall to mourn him. The Bard sent his spirit into a fish and swam to the bottom of the swamp, where he found Beowulf dumbstruck by the half-troll’s beautiful human form. The Bard bit Frothi, causing her to revert to her troll form, and Beowulf slew her after a fierce battle.

About three years ago, the poem the Bard composed about these events reached Jotunheim. Frothi’s sister, Frith, sent a dragon to kill Beowulf and seduced the Bard’s employer at the time, Ivar the Boneless. Her influence changed the king from a “pea-brained bully” to a “half-mad tyrant” (52), but he spared the Bard’s life by sending him away in a coracle.

On a bright March day, Jack reflects on the fact that he has been the Bard’s apprentice for over a year. He discovers a box carved with an image of a wolf-headed man floating in the sea and brings it to his mentor. The Bard explains that the box belongs to a group of berserkers, bloodthirsty warriors who think they have the power to turn into animals like wolves and bears. He sends Jack to warn the villagers.