I had been laying in my bed for days when I decided to try my luck and stand and walk out the door.

My head spun, my muscles felt weak and every part of me was aching from laying down too much. But the terrible headache was gone, and the wound was almost sealed.

My hand grabbed the doorframe and I was just about to greet my wife, when I overheard her conversation. "Liv says it's Vidar who cursed me from having more of Tyr's children," she sobbed. "Apparently they had some sort of ceremony before they left and they're married!"

"Noora," her maiden cooed, "you don't know that. It's only Liv's words. Why would Vidar do that?"

"Because he wants to rule over Skal, or he wants Tyr for himself?"

"And why would he want that? I thought he and Freke were married, and they left to be with their pack. They're gone and Tyr is here with you and Ari," she continued but to deaf ears.

My heart ached and my head spun when I stumbled backwards, how could she know? Had someone seen us? This was not how I had planned to tell Noora. My feet walked back into the hall and I sat down heavily on my throne. It felt wrong. I was not a king, so why did I have one?

I was lost in deep thoughts and my head was so clouded that I didn't notice when Dag entered the house. "It's good to see you on your feet," he said and smiled at me.

"Are you here to question my loyalty as well?" I asked him with a bitterness I did not know I had in me.

"Well, is it true? Did you make a deal with them?"

I looked at him, but there was no anger in his eyes, only curiosity. "There was no deal, only a union, a bond, a promise."

Dag shrugged. "Sounds like a deal to me."

"A promise that the three of us are equals, it had nothing to do with the villagers of Skal or the Hamarr pack."

"Really? I find that hard to understand," he said and rubbed his head, "everything you do affects us. You know that, right?"

"Yes," I said and sighed tiredly, "I told you I want to move back to Bildsfell, and this union with Vidar makes the bond between our clans stronger."

"So, it's true, the three of you are married in the eyes of their god?" He said and chewed on a branch to clean his teeth.

"They don't believe in gods, they worship the spirits of nature and their ancestors."

Dag chuckled, "that my friend, was an attempt to avoid my question. So I'm guessing that it's true." I closed my eyes and bit my lower lip, contemplating how to continue this discussion. But Dag beat me to it. "You should go to them, let me take care of Noora and Ivar can take care of the village," he said and walked up to me to place a hand on my knee. "If you love them – that's all that matters, and you never really wanted to be a jarl, did you?"

I met his smiling eyes with a chuckle, "You have no idea how many times I just wanted to leave this place, but not for that reason. There's something evil in the air here."

"I take that as my cue," a shrill voice exclaimed as a dark hooded figure approached us.

Dag instantly rose to his feet and placed a hand on his swordhandle. "Greetings traveller, welcome to Skal. What business do you have here?"

The mysterious man did not even look at my friend before he pulled his hood down and took a step towards me, "I'm here to meet my father's headsman."

The man standing only a few steps away from me was a split image of a younger Brokk with his chiselled face, broad shoulders and dark hair. There was no question about it, this was my enemy. The man I had killed numerous times in my dreams. I inhaled a sharp breath and looked for any kind of weapon, but found none. Seeing my distress and instantly recognising the man in front of us, Dag came to my aid and placed himself protectively between us.

"You are not welcome here, Bjarke, son of Brokk," he hissed. "Not after what you've done."

"And what exactly has he done?" A female voice shouted from behind. "Are you sure it was this man who cursed us? I only remember Freke and their delusional talk as they came back after weeks alone in the forest."

"I trust Freke with my life," I hissed and couldn't believe my eyes when I realised it was Noora who had said those words in Bjarke's favour.

"And that was always your weakness Tyr," Liv continued as she stepped up beside Bjarke and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Freke is obviously mad after spending too much time in the spirit world. We've all seen the change in the wolf," she paused and gave me a delighted smile, "It was good of you to send them away, I'm sure their pack would know how to cure the illness."

"So, you're saying that the curse was Freke's doing?" Ivar grunted from the entrance, "I won't believe it. The wolf healed me time and time again on the battlefield. There is not an evil bone in their body!"

"The answer is simple, Freke is torn between the realm of the spirits and our world. It messes with the brain, and even if they once were a delightful creature, something has changed in them. Like Liv said, they were acting differently when they first came back from the forest," isn't that true, Jarl Starke?" the niðingr asked me with a playful smile on his wicked lips.

"Because you did something to them!" I growled.

"It is simply their word against mine, and apparently Freke is not here to tell their side of the story, so you just have to trust mine."

"How convenient," Dag murmured for my ears only.

I looked around the room. Others had joined us, Noora stood close to Liv, Faste was there too, and my heart sank when I realised they were all on Liv's side in this. She had been clouding their minds when I was resting in bed. There was nothing I could do. At this point, Liv had invited him inside my hall, and it would go against our laws of hospitality to kill him now. I needed evidence, and I had to be patient.

I licked my lips and took one step forward, lowering my head to look down into Bjarke's eyes, "are you here for my head, cousin? Do you want to avenge your father's death?"

The man's laugh was even more painful to listen to than his squeaky voice, so I was happy when he stopped and cleared his throat. "No, my father was a terrible man, you did us both a favour."

"Are you here to claim the throne then? To take Tyr's spot as Jarl of Skal?" Ivar demanded to know as he raised his weapon and shield.

I watched with horror as Liv moved to stand like a protective wall between Bjarke and Ivar, and something told me that she was the real threat, not my cousin.

"I am not," the newcomer said honestly. "I heard a rumour that you went to retrieve my mother, but you failed, so I wanted to hear the story with my own ears. So I found Liv, and she told me of your bravery."

To ease the tension in the room I pointed at the fire and motioned him to have a seat. There was no way I could fight this man with my injury still healing. I had to be smart. I had to make him believe that he could convince me of his innocence.

"What else did she tell you?" I asked as we sat down and my slaves approached us with mugs of beer in their hands.

"That you inspired the inhabitants of Skal to grow and prosper, which is a good deed on its own. But also that you managed to heal the lands with the help of powerful magic and the help of your childhood friend."

"You honour me with your words," I told Liv and gave her a wide smile, which seemed to make her utterly confused and for a brief moment she seemed to stagger in her loyalty towards Bjarke. If she was in love with me still, I could use that to my advantage.

"Are you just going to let him move in?" Dag whispered close to my ear as he leaned in behind me.

And with my most convincing smile I turned to Bjarke and reached out my hand towards him, "we shouldn't dwell on the past, let's take this moment and discuss our future."

With a similar smile, the black haired man grabbed my hand and shook it. "Thank you, dear Jarl, you won't regret it," he cackled.

I probably will, I thought, but did not say it out loud. I was going to kill that man, the question was, how, when and where.