Contents
Chapter One: Orka
Overview
On a hunt, Orka, Thorkel, and Breca witness a wounded fell-wolf and follow distant screams to Asgrim’s steading. They find Asgrim slain and Idrun tortured and nailed to the gate. Despite warding runes, the scene suggests human attackers. Tracks indicate captives taken, raising fears for Harek.
Summary
Orka instructs her son Breca during his first hunt, urging him to harden himself to killing. Breca throws well but misses when a wounded fell-wolf bursts into the glade and scatters the reindeer. The family notes the wolf’s many wounds and fresh blood, then hears faint screams from the woods.
Recognizing the direction of Asgrim’s steading, they decide to investigate despite worsening weather. Along the ridge, Thorkel distracts Breca with a shortened saga of Snaka and the gods, while Orka remains vigilant, sensing danger and recalling the land’s bloody past. They press on as snow and wind rise.
Reaching the steading, they find the stockade gates open and Asgrim dead outside, apparently felled swiftly by a stab to the heart. Orka arms the corpse for the soul road and observes signs of a struggle and drag marks. Inside the gate hangs Idrun, nailed up and disemboweled, her cooling entrails steaming in the snow—likely the source of the earlier screams.
Thorkel points out warding runes on the gate, making vaesen involvement unlikely. Orka notes Asgrim’s missing teeth, taken by tennúr scavengers after death, and blood indicating others were wounded and carried off. Concluding that men likely committed the atrocity despite the so-called Age of Peace, Orka names it an age of storm and murder. Breca, shaken, asks after his friend Harek, implying he may be among the missing.
Who Appears
- OrkaMother and seasoned hunter; leads the response to distant screams and assesses the massacre at Asgrim’s steading.
- ThorkelOrka’s husband; supports Breca, identifies the fell-wolf, notices warding runes, and aids in investigating the steading.
- BrecaOrka and Thorkel’s ten-year-old son; attempts his first spear throw and worries for his friend Harek.
- AsgrimSteading owner; found dead outside the gate with a fatal chest wound after a violent attack.
- IdrunAsgrim’s wife; discovered nailed to the gate, disemboweled, likely the source of the screams.
- HarekAsgrim’s son; absent from the scene, presumed taken or missing, focus of Breca’s concern.