When horns announce that Hrafnheim is under attack, Bjorn rejects Harald's first panic that Snorri has somehow arrived with an army. Even so, Bjorn sends Harald to gather Tora and others while insisting Freya be left out of the fighting, then heads for the wall because he still feels bound to defend the people of Nordeland.

Outside, arrows begin falling on the fortress. The wards initially protect the streets, but the attackers foul one of the runes with blood and gore, breaking part of the magical defense and allowing flaming arrows to ignite buildings. On his way to the battlements, Bjorn rescues a crying boy from a falling arrow and orders him to run to the great hall.

At the wall, Skade explains that the attackers covered the runes and that the blood must be washed away before the whole fortress burns. Because the enemy is hidden in the dark beyond the Rimstrom, Skade cannot target them accurately. Bjorn throws his firelit axe to illuminate the riverbank, allowing Skade to shoot one attacker and Tora to strike another with lightning before the rest flee into the darkness.

The danger inside Hrafnheim remains severe. Fires spread across multiple roofs, and Bjorn, Tora, Harald, and the townspeople work together to contain them. Harald even climbs onto a roof, coughing through the smoke, to paint protective wards. When the fires are finally extinguished, six homes have been destroyed, and Bjorn feels guilty, believing that if Snorri is responsible, his own choices brought this attack to Hrafnheim.

Afterward, Bjorn goes to the great hall and learns that people fled to the harbor when they feared the fire would consume the hall. At the crowded quay, he cannot find Freya. Tora says she left Freya in the hall, and the search intensifies as Harald's wolves track Freya's scent to the harbor. When Skade brings an old man whose boat has been taken, Bjorn still refuses to believe Freya escaped willingly.

The rescued boy then reveals that a stranger carrying his supposedly sick wife took the missing boat, claiming the smoke was harming her. That detail makes the truth clear: the assault was never meant to conquer Hrafnheim, only to create chaos. Harald recognizes it as a diversion, and Bjorn realizes with horror that Freya has been taken back by Snorri's side.