"Everything is prepared," Einar said, and Ulfrik saw from the corner of his eye Snorri glaring at him.
"You're right," Ulfrik said, continuing to stare at the mound. "I don't know why I wanted to come here today. Nothing special about it."
"No wrong in it, lad. I expect you'll come here many more times."
"I want to raise a stone to mark his life." Ulfrik clasped both hands behind his neck. "It ended too soon, without the glory due him."
Einar grunted agreement and Snorri nodded. "Fate is a strange thing, and can't be changed. Such was Toki's weave, short but filled with the glory of ten men's lives."
"Throst cut his life short, and when I find him I will cut the bloody eagle into his back and send him to Nifleheim."
"Halla never admitted it was Throst," Einar said.
"She didn't need to. Gunnar said that comb belonged to Astra." Ulfrik dropped his hands to his side and let out a long breath. "Throst left it with an arrow, a coward's way to admit he was Toki's killer. A gutless murderer, like his father."
The three men fell silent again. Halla's madness had turned all her words to curses, and since the day of Toki's death she alternated between raving and weeping. All Ulfrik had pried from her was that Runa should have died instead of Toki.
For her part, Runa had borne Halla's madness with surprising patience. Halla stopped caring for her children, not even recognizing them, and Runa adopted the girls once she realized they would get no love from their mother. Eventually Halla had grabbed a knife to attack Runa, and so ended her time in Ravndal. In a rare peaceful contact with the Franks, Ulfrik negotiated to have Frankish nuns care for Halla. She had been gone for a month, and finally healing had a chance in his home.
"All right, let's go," Ulfrik said, and the three men turned from the grave. Ulfrik looked south where Clovis's fortress hung in ruins. Unable to fill the place with their own men, Gunther and Ulfrik's people tore down the stronghold and burned it to ash. Ulfrik wondered how such a complete and total victory felt so miserable.
"Do you think Gunther One-Eye has stolen all the glory for himself by now?" Einar asked as they walked toward Ravndal. "I mean, he has Hrolf's ear and can tell the story however he likes. It wouldn't be fair to you."
"Gunther can take all the glory he wants," Ulfrik said. "I've had my fill of it, besides, without his men I couldn't have done what I did."
"But the plan was yours, and it was one for the songs."
"I'm done with creating lyrics for the skalds. All the tricks and feints, living my life behind a shield of lies, look what it earned me."
"Victory over your enemies, the pride of your people, and domination of the border," Snorri said, and Einar agreed.
"And the price was the death of my brother, the hand of my son, and the love of my wife. I've no heart for such victories again."
Moody silence enveloped them as their feet swished through the grass on the return to Ravndal. After a few more strides, Einar broke the quiet.
"Then what do you want?"
Ulfrik stopped and looked Einar in the eye. "I want back all I've lost, but more than anything I want revenge. And I swear to you that I will have it."