Contents
Chapter Twenty-Three: Elvar
Overview
At a tavern in Snakavik, Elvar faces her past as Jarl Störr arrives with payment for Berak and requests a private meeting. Family tensions flare, but Störr surprises Elvar by proposing reconciliation and offering her command of a warband instead of a forced marriage. Thorun’s provocations are checked by Grend, signaling Elvar’s earned renown and shifting power within her family.
Summary
Before dawn in a Snakavik tavern, Elvar wakes among the Battle-Grim. She observes Biórr, Uspa, and Bjarn over porridge and tafl while wrestling with anger and pride after a tense, wordless confrontation with her father the previous night. Uspa quietly urges leaving Snakavik, revealing fear over her and Bjarn’s fates.
Gytha, Jarl Störr’s champion, arrives with a chest of coin as payment for Berak. Agnar leads the Battle-Grim out to deliver it to the Wave-Jarl, leaving Elvar behind for Störr’s requested privacy. The tavern fills with Störr’s oathsworn, then Störr enters with Thorun, Broðir, and the Galdurwoman Silrið.
Störr rebukes Elvar for leaving and the shame it caused, while Elvar defends her hard-won battle-fame and rejects being bartered in marriage, especially to Hakon. Thorun insults Elvar and implies she rides Grend’s reputation. Elvar rises to challenge him, but Grend states that Elvar earns her own renown, prompting Störr to silence Thorun.
Shifting tactics, Störr proposes reconciliation: he suggests alternatives to a Helka marriage and, with Silrið’s assent, offers Elvar command of her own drengrs. The offer stuns Elvar. Störr departs, asking her to consider it, and Broðir warmly bids her return, contrasting Thorun’s hostility.
As Gytha clears the room, Elvar, reeling from the unexpected offer and Grend’s public support, laughs—caught between old grievances, new leverage, and an uncertain path with her kin.
Who Appears
- ElvarBattle-Grim warrior; confronts her father, rejects marriage politics, is offered command of a warband.
- Jarl StörrElvar’s father; pays for Berak, seeks reconciliation, proposes Elvar lead her own drengrs.
- GrendElvar’s steadfast guardian; publicly affirms her renown and warns Thorun off.
- ThorunElvar’s elder brother; insults and provokes Elvar, silenced by Störr.
- SilriðGaldurwoman; supports Störr’s alternative path to ambition beyond marriage.
- BroðirElvar’s younger brother; shyly urges her to return to the family.
- GythaStörr’s champion; delivers payment chest and secures privacy for the meeting.
- AgnarChief of the Battle-Grim; departs with the payment to the Wave-Jarl.
- BiórrBattle-Grim warrior; tends to the group, shows kindness to Uspa and Bjarn.
- UspaSeiðr-witch thrall; fears remaining in Snakavik, urges leaving.
- BjarnUspa’s son; plays tafl, asks after his missing father.
- ThrudBattle-Grim warrior; accompanies Uspa and Bjarn out with Biórr.
- SighvatBattle-Grim warrior; comic moment squeezing from the loft, hauls the payment chest.