Summary

Chapter 1 resumes three years later. Orm and his friends live on the estate Asa inherited from her father in the border country. The estate is called Gröning. They suffered their first winter there, for there was little food to be found. Orm sent men to a thane called Gudmund of Uvaberg to buy hay and hops. When they returned home empty handed, Orm went himself. He dangled Gudmund over a well until he agreed to sell to him. Father Willibald heals Gudmund’s injuries and tries to convince the Viking to be baptized. Gudmund refuses. He tells Orm that he intends to return the insult done to him sometime in the future. Orm warns him that should there be any mischief, he will baptize Gudmund by force.

Orm builds their house. In the spring, Ylva gives birth to...