The Greenlander named Bjǫrnar Ejri'ks'on used the lumber he bought to build a ship and came to Vi'nland with his family, where they built a homestead overlooking the cliff near Tcise'gawþing. He called it Staðs Dy'rðfaksr1, after the name of his favourite stallion.

He had two sons, whose names were Agvalðr2 and Halþo'r3. Agvalðr was older and more responsible with property, but Bjǫrnar loved Halþo'r more because Agvalðr was boring at parties and drank too little mead.

Bjǫrnar was a devotee of Frøyr4. Once he'd established his homestead, Bjǫrnar sacrificed a horse to Frøyr and built a temple on that spot. All those who devoted themselves to Frøyr came to his temple. As each of them came, Bjǫrnar suggested to each orc and orc-man that they should make an alliance. So, on an appointed day, they all gathered in the temple and swore an oath that every one of them would aid the others in feuds, in legal matters, and in any other situation where they required help.

Bjǫrnar built a large homestead: in addition to the longhouse and temple, there were also two barns, sheds, and a tower in which a signal fire could be lit to alert all the surrounding farms in an emergency. He was a man of substance on account of his large herds of cattle and sheep, but the most prized of his animals were his horses. Dy'rðfaksr was the alpha stallion of the herd and Bjǫrnar always rode him wherever he went.

*  *  *

The same summer Bjǫrnar came to Vi'nland, Þo'rði's's goat Vri'nðra got sick. Every evening, the animals were taken in from the field and kept in the barn to keep them away from predators. Þo'rði's was often found in the barn with Vri'nðra.

One night, Þo'rvalðr awoke to the sound of something moving around outside and sniffing at the door of the house. It moved away after some time, and from its footfalls, it sounded big.

Þo'rvalðr heard Si'gvejg moving on the bed she shared with her younger daughters before she whispered, “Erma, where's Þo'rði's?” There was no response. “Where's Þo'rði's?” Si'gvejg repeated;

“Vri'nðra's been getting worse, so she wanted to keep an eye on her.”

Si'gvejg got up and moved over to Þo'rvalðr and He'lgi's bed; “Þo'rvalðr! Þo'rði's's in the barn!”

“I heard.” Þo'rvalðr replied, “He'lgi, you awake?”

“Yeah.”

The two orc-men got up, put on their shoes, and He'lgi got their swords while Þo'rvalðr lit up a torch. Si'gvejg got her staff and took Þo'rvalðr by the shoulder;

“Whatever you do, don't do anything stupid or threatening. Don't start a fight if you don't absolutely have to.”

Þo'rvalðr nodded.

“What about me?” Erma asked,

“You stay here, don't come out for anything.” Si'gvejg told her, and Þo'rvalðr led the way outside.

They could hear sounds coming from the direction of the barn and followed them. The sound of a scuffle escalated as animals in the barn panicked and started up a din of terrified bleating, lowing and stamping of hooves. Þo'rvalðr and company ran the rest of the way and were met by the sight of a very large brown posterior. They saw eyes gleaming as the animal twisted its head to look at them. Then, he turned around completely and reared up on his hind legs. The bear was nearly twice the height of a full-grown orc. He snarled at the little orc-men in front of him through the sheep in his mouth, which was very much alive and kicking. He was so tall, the light of the torch didn't illuminate all of him, leaving most of his upper body shrouded in darkness and the sight of his eyes reflected in the torchlight would send shivers down the spine of the bravest orc-man.

“Tyr, Þo'r and Frøyja.” Þo'rvalðr breathed in awe and terror.

“Don't move, don't speak.” whispered Si'gveig.

Þo'rvalðr saw and smelled a fire starting to spread in the straw behind the bear. Si'gvejg stepped forward and raised her staff toward the bear. He stopped growling and sniffed the air. Then, he dropped to all fours and ran away. He didn't seem to notice the fence in his way as he ploughed through it.

Þo'rvalðr and He'lgi rushed forward, Þo'rvalðr stamping out the flame as He'lgi kicked away any straw near it that hadn't caught fire yet. There was a candle on the floor where the fire had started.

“Þo'rði's?” Si'gvejg called out, looking around at the animals cowering in terror in every corner, “The bear's gone, you can come out now!”

Þo'rði's peered out from behind two cows, holding Vri'nðra in her arms. She ran into Si'gvejg's embrace.

“What, in the name of all the gods, was that?” said He'lgi,

“What did you do to him?” Þo'rvalðr asked Si'gvejg, who replied,

“I called his attention to the smell of the fire burning behind him until it was all he could think of.”

“Some spawn of Loki?” He'lgi was saying to himself, “A brother of Jǫrmungǫ'nðr and Fenrir?”

“He's a big beast, but every beast still bleeds red.” Þo'rvalðr assured him.

Over the next several days, the bear caused problems on other farms nearby. One farmer's wife left food out for the pigs which attracted the bear, and he mauled a pig. On another farm, he broke into a chicken house, destroying it to get at a few chickens and letting the rest run free into the wild. He broke down several fences and damaged people's barns, sheds, and houses. At Ulvrin''s farm, he ate one of the reindeer and nearly killed Gjorbu.

There was a group of three orc-men who belonged to Bjǫrnar's group. One was a farmer named Si'gstelðr, the other two were his son and a huskatðr. They were not wealthy and had very little to eat, so they went out hunting one day with spears and bows. As they passed by Gi'sls'tað, Si'gvejg called to them from the gate. They came to her, and she said,

“I see you're going hunting.”

“How very perceptive of you.” Si'gstelðr said,

“I must warn you there is a bear the size of two orcs prowling the woods.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“I know that, I'm not a hermit.”

“I must warn you he's a massive beast who can knock over fences and break roof beams like twigs, and he's nearly killed two people already.”

“I'm very well ware of that.” Si'gstelðr said, “Have you got something important to say, bitch, or will you stop pestering us?”

Si'gvejg did not immediately reply. They turned and began walking away but at last she said, “I must warn you that I have a bad feeling about today. I think you should go hunting tomorrow, or any other day, but not today.”

Si'gstelðr threw a glance her way, scoffed, and continued on into the woods.

They spent most of the day searching, but eventually found and killed a moose. As they were preparing to take it with them, the bear came upon them to claim the carcass. He stood on his hind legs, easily several feet taller than any two of them together, and roared, the sound reverberating among the trees and leaving them half-deafened. The first to react to the bear's presence was Si'gstelðr's son, who picked up his bow and shot an arrow at the bear's chest. He failed to hit his heart, however, and the bear dropped to all fours. Si'gstelðr and his huskatðr thrust at him with their spears, but he swiped them out of their hands. Then, he threw Si'gstelðr's son to the ground and stepped on his chest. Si'gstelðr and his huskatðr could hear the ribs splintering and the son's screaming was cut short. The huskatðr ran in terror, but Si'gstelðr picked up his spear and thrust it into the bear's neck.

That was the last the huskatðr saw. He ran to Staðs Dy'rðfaksr and told Bjǫrnar what had happened.

“You left your master there and ran like a whipped dog?!” He shouted down at the orc-man; Bjǫrnar was tall even for an orc, and towered over all orc-men. “Take us back there immediately, if you're not too moist!”

Bjǫrnar and a dozen orcs and orc-men followed Si'gstelðr's huskatðr back to the place where they encountered the bear, only to find the bodies of Si'gstelðr and his son and a pile of picked-clean moose bones.

On the way back, with his huskatnar carrying the bodies, Bjǫrnar went to Gi'sls'tað and called for Þo'rvalðr. By then, it was well past sunset and the people at Gi'sls'tað were getting ready for bed, but Þo'rvalðr, He'lgi, and Si'gvejg met him in the yard.

“I warned them not to go.” Si'gvejg said when she saw the bodies.

“What do you want?” Þo'rvalðr asked,

“This bear can't be allowed to roam free. It's a menace, and it's only going to kill more people!”

“Do you expect me to take care of it myself?”

“You were one of the first settlers here. The others respect you. Your mother's a vǫlva, and you've got that Finnish friend. If we all get together, we can take it down, I'm sure of it.”

“Well, he did almost kill my sister. You're right. Tomorrow, I'll head over to the holtmaðr camp and see if I can find out anything about this... dire bear5. Then we can make a plan for hunting him down.”

The next morning, Þo'rvalðr and He'lgi went to U'scna'bew's camp.

“U'scna'bew, I have a question for you.” said Þo'rvalðr.

“Walk with me.” U'scna'bew replied. He, Na'nɨmyswa't, and some other men were heading out of the camp to check on their trap lines.

“So...” Þo'rvalðr began, paused, and began again after some thought; “Have you have seen a bear three times the size of a man?”

“They say there are bears like that far to the west, concentrated in the Great White Peaks6. I've never seen one myself, but I've heard they occasionally come this far from the mountains.”

“What would you do if one was prowling around your home?”

U'scna'bew snorted; “Move.”

“Imagine you're a farmer. You've got permanent roots in one place, you can't move. What would you do then?”

“That's why we're nomads!” Na'nɨmyswa't said and he and the other men laughed;

“This bear almost killed my sister.” Þo'rvalðr snarled. He gave them a look that made them shut up.

“Well...” U'scna'bew said thoughtfully, “I'd find a way to trap it.”

They approached the first trap in the line. It was a snare made from a string run through a hollowed-out stick, with a loop on one end of the stick. One end of the string was tied in a knot and the other was tied to the branch of a nearby bush. A fox had stepped in the snare, and the loop had tightened against his ankle so he couldn't get out, nor could he free the string from the branch. He growled and barked at them, but one of the young men hit him with a club, then drew a knife across his throat.

“Obviously, you'd need a bigger trap.” U'scna'bew said, “But you get the idea. The only other way I can see is to shoot it with arrows when it's standing, but that's risky. If you don't get it in the heart right away, it'll get down on all fours, and it'll be angry. Of course, you'd have to find the thing first.”

“I know someone who can track down anything.” As Þo'rvalðr was speaking, the men tied the fox to a branch to carry it home with and reset the trap before they continued on toward the next trap in the line. “So, what kind of trap do we use for this dire bear?”

“We?”

“Yeah.” Þo'rvalðr nodded, “He'lgi and I can't do this on our own, why do think I'm asking you about it?”

“I already told you, I don't know anything about these bears, I've never even seen one. You've seen one; you probably know more about them than I do!”

“If you can't help us, then who can?”

U'scna'bew sighed and thought for a minute. “I know one person who was around the last time a bear like you've described had to be put down. I'll get in touch with her.”

“Who is she?”

“The shaman of another band. They're inland right now, fishing at a lake up the Mikin'fljo't from here, but I can get in contact with her.”

Þo'rvalðr and He'lgi finished checking the trap line with the men and went home. The next morning, U'scna'bew and Na'nɨmyswa't showed up at Gi'sls'tað very early.

“I got in touch in with my friend and got some advice.” U'scna'bew said cheerfully;

“Already? I thought she was far away?”

“That's got nothing to do with it. She told me all about the other time one of those giant bears showed up.”

“Hold on, what do you mean 'that's got nothing to do with it'?” He'lgi asked, “How does the fact that she's miles and miles away at some lake not have anything to do with how she told you anything?”

“Um... well, it's... you know...” U'scna'bew stammered. He seemed to be searching for the right words to use. “Our spirits touched each other in the night and we spoke in a dream.”

“You don't say...?” said Þo'rvalðr with a raised eyebrow,

“By Frøyja!” Si'gvejg exclaimed, “You mean you connected directly with her mind, don't you? I've heard stories of people who can do it, but always a rumour someone's brother's friend's cousin told them about. How—”

“Look, we can keep standing here chatting about inconsequential details, or I can tell you about what happened last time and how we might deal with the bear this time.”

Þo'rvalðr and Si'gvejg exchanged glances. “You go on. We won't interrupt anymore.” He said.