The Shadow of the Gods

Content Warning: This section contains scenes of graphic violence, enslavement, and child abuse.

Orka and Thorkel guide their son, Breca, through his first hunt of reindeer. The family hear distant screams, which lead them to the home of Asgrim, a fellow villager. Asgrim lies dead with a stab wound to the heart and his body is being desecrated by scavenging creatures called tennúr, which have taken his teeth. The stockade gates are ominously open, and Asgrim’s wife, Idrun, is nailed to the gate and disemboweled.

Varg, a man who liberated himself from enslavement, has run for days along a river that leads to Liga, a bustling port town where he plans to seek magical help to avenge his sister, Frøya. There, he learns that a band of mercenaries, the Bloodsworn, is in town and that they travel with a Seiðr-witch named Vol.

Varg heads toward the town’s longhouse, where the Bloodsworn are hosted by Jarl Logur. The longhouse’s steps are crowded with warriors, including the deadly Einar Half-Troll, because the Bloodsworn are holding trials to fill a vacancy left by a fallen member.

When Varg approaches a Bloodsworn member, Svik, to request access to the witch, he is dismissed, as Vol’s abilities are reserved solely for the Bloodsworn.