Chapter 63: I Need a Horse

On Ketil's farm in Denmark during September 1015, Einar and Thorfinn labor to clear forest. Einar loops a rope around a stump and heaves, but Thorfinn suggests digging deeper first, and after hard work they expose thick roots. Slumped and winded, Einar declares they need a horse and wonders why one is denied for cultivation when they were lent one to haul timber. Thorfinn explains the workers only shared the animal because moving the logs did the workers' own job for them. He proposes setting cultivation aside to keep felling trees, but Einar insists on asking for a horse one more time.

At the barn they are called a nuisance and refused again. Einar protests that Pater granted them permission, but the worker dismisses Pater as a former slave and points to the resting horses as off limits. As other farmers arrive and order the pair back to the forest, Thorfinn politely bids them good day while Einar sulks and avoids their eyes. The men mock the larger slave's lack of manners, and one takes for his own use the very horse they called too tired to lend. He sneers that slaves bought with coin are no different from horses and cattle, finds it absurd that one beast should want another for work, and tells them to labor with their bodies and know their place.

Walking back, Einar grumbles that they must now appeal to the master, since they need a horse for uprooting stumps and later plowing. Thorfinn warns that leaning on Ketil's authority would only deepen the workers' resentment, and suggests clearing more land before cultivating rather than attempting both alone. Einar shoves him lightly and demands to know why he is always so gloomy, insisting he will grow crops and buy his freedom whatever the odds, and that a horse is essential. Thorfinn remarks that Einar is spirited for a man on poor rations, and Einar shoots back that Thorfinn simply lacks spirit. In a nearby field, an old worker straightens painfully, says he understands their trouble, and calls them over. He asks their names, then offers to lend them a horse, leaving the astonished Einar to accept eagerly and ask who he is.

In September 1015, Einar and Thorfinn realize they cannot uproot the stumps without a horse. The farm workers refuse them again and belittle them as no better than livestock, taking for themselves a horse they claimed was resting. Thorfinn cautions against invoking Ketil's authority, and Einar reaffirms his determination to buy his freedom. An old man working nearby overhears their argument and offers to lend them a horse.

The sixty-third chapter continues the Slave Arc in Volume 9 and was adapted in Episode 30. Its epigraph comes from Einar as he scolds Thorfinn's low spirits and insists on winning his freedom. The old man who makes the offer, unnamed here, is Sverkel.