Chapter 81: Storm

Badger hauls the bound Gardar away as he screams for Arnheid, who covers her ears. Snake assigns five men to guard the captive and sends Fox to notify the Kjallakr family of his capture. When Einar asks whether Gardar could somehow be freed, Snake refuses flatly: the man has killed, means to murder Ketil, and intends to abduct Arnheid, whom Ketil cherishes. He urges Arnheid to think of the prisoner not as her husband but as a deranged slave, then rides off, asking them to look after Sverkel.

Indoors, Einar presses the idea of slipping in at night to free Gardar before he is executed, but Arnheid asks him to sit and let the matter rest, saying some things cannot be changed and are best endured in stillness until the storm passes. She admits she still loves the husband her parents arranged for her, a man once gentle to her and their son. When Einar insists that freedom is worth fighting for and turns to Thorfinn for agreement, Thorfinn looks troubled and stays silent. Arnheid stops the plan by offering to share her past.

She recounts a peaceful life in a village in Svealand, upended when iron deposits were found in a distant forest and disputes over them turned violent. At a friend's request, Gardar rallied the village men, who voted to join the fight for a share of the iron despite the women's objections that they lacked for nothing. On the morning he left, Gardar cradled their son Hjalti and swore he fought to protect him, which baffled Arnheid, who felt he should simply have stayed. Weeks later, ships they mistook for the returning men brought raiders who burned the homes, killed the old, and carried the women off to be sold. Hjalti died that day, because unwed female slaves fetched a higher price.

Arnheid confesses that Gardar frightened her at their reunion, seeing that he has himself become the storm through untold suffering. This time, she resolves to shield her child from the violence of men, revealing that she is now carrying Ketil's baby and believes he will welcome the news. She asks Einar to let the storm blow over. Late that night she gathers supplies to slip out; at the door, Sverkel, still lucid, says he thought she meant to wait the storm out. Arnheid explains she only wishes to treat Gardar's wounds, and though she asks whether she should avoid him entirely, Sverkel refuses to judge her, apologizes for being little help, and lets her go.

Gardar is imprisoned under heavy guard, and Snake rejects any thought of releasing him. Arnheid recounts her past: the raid that destroyed her village, her enslavement, and the death of her son Hjalti. She reveals she is pregnant with Ketil's child and intends to protect it by staying still. Against her own stated wishes, she leaves at night to tend Gardar's wounds.

Released March 24, 2012 in Volume 12, this chapter adapts into Episode 38. It supplies Arnheid's full backstory and gives the arc its central image, the storm of men's violence, framing her tragedy as a cycle she is desperate to break.