Freya crashes through the roof into a pigsty, where Bjorn finds her. She informs him that a second enemy force is threatening the great hall from the south and that they're demanding she be handed over. Bjorn urges her to flee Skaland entirely, warning that more dangerous jarls than Gnut will come for her, but Freya refuses to abandon the innocent people sheltering in the hall. She devises a plan to set fire to Gnut's drakkar fleet, reasoning that the threat to his ships and his line of retreat will force his warriors to abandon the assault on Halsar.

After stripping down to lighter clothing for swimming, Freya and Bjorn swim through the freezing fjord to approach the ships from behind. Bjorn lifts Freya into a drakkar, where she uses a stick he lights with his fire axe to ignite the sails. Rather than retreating to the water as Bjorn instructed, Freya jumps to a second ship to set it ablaze as well. She is spotted by guards, and as she tries to escape, her ankle tangles in a rope. A warrior tackles her into the water and pins her to the sea floor, nearly drowning her. Bjorn kills the man with his fire axe and pulls Freya to the surface.

The plan works: Gnut's warriors abandon the fight to save their ships, and Snorri uses the opportunity to rally his sobered warriors into an organized shield wall on the beach. Gnut's commander concedes, telling Snorri to keep his shield maiden but vowing that none of his men will ever call Snorri lord. Snorri ominously replies that their deaths are already woven, and the enemy fleet departs.

Exhausted and freezing, Freya can barely move, and Bjorn pulls her against his chest to warm her. In the intimate closeness, Freya becomes acutely aware of her attraction to him—the comfort and safety she feels in his touch, which carries no demand or agenda. She imagines an alternate world where she married Bjorn instead of Snorri, and the two share a charged, almost-kiss moment before Freya hears searchers calling her name. Remembering her arrangement with Ylva and the danger of being discovered with Bjorn, she pulls away and follows him back at a deliberate distance, resolving to maintain that distance despite the desire she feels.