Chapter Forty-Eight: Elvar

Elvar and the Battle-Grim enter the Gallows Wood, a silent forest hung with blood-eagled corpses. Pressing on, they crest a ridge and behold Oskutreð: a vast ash-covered battle plain strewn with mounds, shattered remnants of titanic forms, and the blackened stump of the world-ash. A palpable tremor pulses from within the stump.

Drawn aside, Elvar uncovers a mound that proves to be Ulfrir’s skeleton, vast and chained, its lingering malice unsettling Grend. Rejoining the vanguard, the crew approaches the stump and notices a living sapling and a carved giant’s head—Aska, the dead Froa. From the living tree emerges Vörn Askasdottir, the new Froa-spirit guardian.

When Agnar states they seek relics, Vörn allows scavenging but forbids any touch upon the dead tree. Sighvat challenges her and strikes; Vörn parries with her staff, floors him, and binds him in tightening vines. She warns the ash’s bolted door must remain sealed, revealing that Lik-Rifa is caged beneath, guarded by Orna and Ulfrir’s daughters: Urd, Verdani, and Skuld.

Agnar swears none will set foot on the tree in exchange for Sighvat’s eventual release, and the Battle-Grim begin excavating relics—bones, weapons, and ornaments—around the plain. As they work near Aska’s remains, Elvar spots a host descending from the woods: warriors bearing grey shields with raven wings.

Realizing it is Ilska the Cruel’s force, the chapter closes with the Battle-Grim surrounded by sacred prohibitions, a bound comrade, the perilous truth of Lik-Rifa below, and an enemy host advancing across the battlefield of gods.