Dark Clouds

In a burning house an escaped bondsman stands over the dead. His master begs for mercy, offering freedom and even his own servitude, kissing the man's boots, but the slave declares that a slave has no say over whether he lives and cuts him down. Sparing a woman and child, he sets off to reclaim someone he means to find. On the road to Sverkel's, Einar admits he still cannot decide what to do with his coming freedom and confesses he might stay to try to free Arnheid. Snake bursts out complaining that Sverkel never returned that morning, then rushes off in alarm and discovers the old man collapsed in his field.

Sverkel survives but is bedridden and furious at the thought of dying indoors rather than on his land. Arnheid comes at the mistress's bidding to cook and nurse him, and the household shares a warm meal, though Sverkel refuses to be spoon-fed until his growling stomach betrays him and sets everyone laughing. Washing dishes with Einar, Arnheid says the evening made her feel free again. Fox then arrives with news of a slave who fled Kjallakr's farm three days earlier after killing Kjallakr and his son and torching the house, with three horses offered as a bounty. Snake cautions his men to call for backup rather than tackle the fugitive alone. Fox, Badger, and Lizard spot a sleeping armed man in the woods, but their loud bickering over the reward wakes him and he attacks. Later, as the household works, Snake warns the failing Sverkel has little time left. When a rider tears past and Fox gallops behind shouting that this is the killer who slew Lizard, Arnheid recognizes him and cries out his name, Gardar, who halts and declares he has finally found his wife.

The runaway slave Gardar murders his master and burns Kjallakr's farm before setting out to find Arnheid. Sverkel suffers a physical collapse in his field, signaling his decline, and Arnheid moves in to care for him, drawing the household closer. Fox brings word of the bounty on the fugitive, and the guards' first encounter with him ends in Lizard's death. The episode closes on the revelation that the killer is Gardar, Arnheid's husband, arriving at the very farm where she is enslaved.

Airing April 4, 2023, this is the thirty-seventh episode overall and the thirteenth of the second season under MAPPA. It adapts part of chapter 73 together with chapters 74 and 79. Kouki Aoshima directed, with storyboards by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. The title signals the gathering menace closing over the farm as Gardar's arrival and Sverkel's decline darken the mood.