A Doe in the Thicket. Book 2: Dragon of Battle

Torvard, конунг фьяллей, and Skelvir hevding from Slattlenland spent the night on the Quitting peninsula. Under the influence of evil spells rooted in the long-ago war between the kvitts and the fьяlлей tribes, Torvard saw Skelvir’s place as his old enemy—the unrecognized kvitts’ конунг Bergvid, the Black Hide—and attacked him. In the battle, Skelvir was mortally wounded. Skelvir’s daughter, Ingitora, who possessed a strong poetic gift, began to take revenge for her father’s death, composing shameful verses about Torvard (which, according to Scandinavians’ beliefs, bring misfortune and may even kill). Egwald, the son of the Slätter конунг, fell in love with Ingitora and promised to kill Torvard if she later became his wife. But in the battle, Egwald was defeated and taken prisoner. Torvard promised to release him for ransom, on the condition that Egwald’s sister, Valborg, would bring the ransom. Instead of Valborg, Ingitora rode off with the ransom. On the way to Fjalленланд, the ship on which she sailed was captured by Bergvid, the Black Hide. Ingitora slipped from him—and found herself alone in a deep forest, in a hostile foreign land, very far from home…