Chapter 41: United Front

The riders sent to seize Prince Canute race to catch him before he can reach Derby, safe territory under King Sweyn to the east. Some are pleased by the task, promised a pound of silver each for the prince, while others wish they could watch Thorkell fight Thorfinn, dismissing the boy as a reckless fool sure to die in seconds. Musing that Thorkell might be an incarnation of Thors, one jokes that would make the prince Freya. Spotting figures on the path, they urge their horses on, assume Canute is surrendering, and speak to him rudely, only for the prince to cut them off and demand they show proper respect in a king's presence. He announces he is going to meet Thorkell and orders them to lead the way, and the men are unsettled by how much he has changed.

Thorkell asks Thorfinn whether pain is dulling his movements and whether he will forfeit his shot at Askeladd by giving up. Thorfinn keeps slipping the swings and stumbles back into the watching men, who jeer at him to stop playing. Angered, Thorkell warns him to fight with pride to the end so as not to shame the name of Thors. Crouched nearby, Askeladd rubs snow along his blade, thinking that Thorfinn must hold steady and stay patient, since even at full strength he could not reach the giant's vital areas, so his only path is to make Thorkell come to him. Askeladd lifts the sword toward the sun to make it flash and recalls the Battle of Maldon, a bloody fight where Byrhtnoth nearly maimed Thorkell and briefly dropped him to his knees.

One swing knocks Thorfinn's shortsword loose, and it lodges in a tree beside Askeladd, who judges this useful, since Thorkell will not lower his guard while he sees blades in the boy's hands and must believe him out of options. Thorfinn stays crouched and defiant but does not move, and a disappointed Thorkell steps closer, raising an axe, certain his opponent is helpless. Askeladd creates the very instant he witnessed at Maldon, planting his sword point-down and angling the blade so the sunlight flashes into Thorkell's eyes. Blinded for a moment, Thorkell is kicked in the face by a leaping Thorfinn and crashes onto his back. Thorfinn springs onto him, locks his legs around the giant's neck, and claws at his eye with his good hand, drawing blood and tearing off his headband, while Askeladd curses him for losing his cool and abandoning his weapon.

Asgeir orders the men to swarm Thorfinn and kill him, and one pins him down to strike, but Thorkell roars at them all to stop. Bleeding heavily from one eye, wild-haired and crazed, he damns his men as cowards for shaming him and dishonoring his duel. All back away except Asgeir, whom Thorkell confronts, demanding to know what a warrior's pride means to him. Asgeir answers that Thorkell may curse him, but the duel ends here and he will kill Thorfinn. Thorkell seizes his head and neck, ready to end him, yet Asgeir holds firm, insisting Thorkell must live because no one else could command their army of five hundred beasts. Askeladd is impressed to find real character in the crew. Thorkell releases him, and Canute arrives, telling everyone to be calm, declaring that the fighting is over and that any who die in it would only be wasting their lives.

Thorkell's riders find a transformed Canute, who demands to be taken to their leader. Following Askeladd's coaching, Thorfinn feigns helplessness to lure Thorkell in. Askeladd recreates a Maldon-era trick, using sunlight off his blade to blind the giant. Thorfinn kicks Thorkell down and attacks his eye barehanded. Asgeir defies Thorkell to protect the crew's leader, and Canute arrives to halt the battle entirely.

Part of Volume 6, this chapter is adapted within Episode 19 and carries the Japanese title Kyoto. The featured quote lays out Askeladd's strategy of patience and provocation, framing the duel as a contest of cunning rather than raw strength. The chapter also draws on the historical Battle of Maldon, weaving the real defeat inflicted on Thorkell by Byrhtnoth into the trick that finally brings the giant to the ground.