Chapter 89: The Eve of Battle

Thorfinn, Einar, Leif and Mols enter to find Arnheid battered and swathed in bandages. At her bedside Pater reports that she breathes but has not woken, and he cannot promise she will pull through. He warns them against moving her in her fragile state. Out on the field, an armored Ketil stands atop a boulder and rallies his fighters, telling them that the so-called king means to rob them of ancestral land through trumped-up charges. The crowd roars that they will meet the thieves with blood, and Ketil urges them to show their brand of justice.

Fox counts roughly three hundred and fifty men but notes only about a hundred carry real weapons and armor. Snake orders an exact tally and admits they have no choice but to fight, since Ketil commands it. He reasons that pride as Norsemen will keep the debt-bound farmers from fleeing now, and he credits Thorgil's decision to hide the enemy's identity until after the muster. Watching from a distance, Thorfinn meets Snake's gaze.

Back at the house, Thorfinn announces the farm is about to become a battlefield, and Einar reminds him to stop calling Ketil master, since they are no longer his property. Thorfinn thanks Leif for traveling so far yet asks him to leave without him, unwilling to abandon Arnheid. Leif smiles, telling Thorfinn how much he has grown since York, and refuses to sail off alone after finally finding him. When Arnheid begins to heave, Pater has her turned on her side and advises against moving her while unconscious, mindful of her unborn child. Leif agrees to wait a single day for her to wake. Soon Spider calls Snake up the watchtower, having sighted the king's fleet to the north, arriving sooner than anyone thought.

Pater reports Arnheid remains unconscious with an uncertain prognosis. Ketil rallies his roughly three hundred and fifty men to fight King Canute, though only about a hundred are properly equipped. Snake accepts that they must fight despite the odds. Thorfinn refuses to leave with Leif while Arnheid is bedridden, and Leif agrees to wait one day for her to wake. Spider spots Canute's fleet approaching from the north ahead of schedule.

The chapter runs in Volume 13 and is split across the anime's Episode 42, the supplementary Episode 42.5, and Episode 43. Its Japanese title, Kaisen Zen'ya, translates as the eve of the opening of war. The featured quote is Thorfinn's flat observation that the farm is set to become a battlefield.