Chapter 78: Treason

Ketil reaches the scene of the brawl and recoils in horror. Thorgil, unbothered, studies Brodd's ruined eye and insists they have done no wrong, since Olmar was defending his honor against men who knew the risk of insulting an armed Norseman. Ketil reminds him that dueling is against the law, but Thorgil counters that the statute is almost never enforced, stressing the word normally in a way that puzzles his father.

A patrol arrives, spots the still-living Olmar, and moves to bind all three men for the crime. As one soldier demands Thorgil surrender his sword, Thorgil beheads him, kills a second beside Ketil, and severs the hand of a third. Sparing the maimed man for interrogation, he demands to know why Olmar was allowed to win, who arranged it, and to what end. After a knife to the eye, the soldier breaks and confesses that Olmar was set up to slay the king's messenger so Ketil could be charged with high treason. Thorgil deduces the true aim, the crown wants Ketil's prosperous farm, and Ketil sinks in despair while his son grins that the real fight has only begun.

Wulf reports the family's escape to Canute, noting their ships have been seized but they themselves are gone. Unshaken, Canute vows to march on Ketil's farm anyway with a force of one hundred and two elite troops, thirty-two royal guards and seventy-two of Floki's Jomsvikings, once Floki arrives in three days. Dismissed, Canute turns to the chuckling severed head of his father Sweyn, who mocks how much the son now resembles him. Canute answers that everything he does is meant to build a paradise on earth for the sake of a love that was lost.

Far out at sea aboard Leif's knarr, with no pursuers in sight, Leif calls the fugitives up from the barrels where they hid. Thorgil thanks him, but Leif reminds him the rescue was a bargain, not charity, and that convincing his crew to shelter criminals was no small feat. Thorgil pledges to buy Leif's cargo at triple price, and when Leif names his real price, Thorfinn, Thorgil readily agrees. Still crammed in his barrel, a broken Ketil snaps at them to leave him alone.

Thorgil kills the soldiers sent to arrest his family and extracts a confession that the killing was a deliberate frame-up. Thorgil concludes the crown's goal is to confiscate Ketil's farm. Canute prepares to lead over a hundred elite troops to the farm and again converses with a vision of his dead father. Leif hides the family in barrels and ferries them to safety, sealing his deal to be given the slave Thorfinn.

Released November 25, 2011, this chapter closes out the Jelling sequence of Volume 11 and adapts into Episode 36. It confirms Canute's plot outright and ties the crown's scheme directly to Leif's long search, since the family's survival now hinges on surrendering Thorfinn.