The party departs Halsar for Fjalltindr, the sacred temple atop Mount Hammar, where Skaland's jarls are gathering. Freya rides behind Bjorn due to a shortage of horses. As they leave, Freya spots a hooded specter wreathed in embers and smoke on a rocky outcropping—visible only to her. The specter delivers a warning: Freya, the unfated child of Hlin, must give sacrifice to the gods on the mount at the first night of the full moon or her thread will be cut short and the foreseen future will unravel. Snorri interprets this as a divine test, warning Freya that if she destroys his fated destiny, his wrath will fall on everything she loves.

During the evening camp, Bjorn uses his god-fire axe to start a fire, and Freya examines it closely, noting it appears made of translucent glass beneath the flames. Steinunn the skald approaches Freya to learn her feelings about the specter, explaining that her magic requires understanding the emotions of those she chronicles. Freya sympathizes with Steinunn's situation—being treated as a tool—while Bjorn warns Freya that the skald's songs force listeners to experience the subject's private feelings. Freya and Bjorn then experiment with her shield magic, discovering that Hlin's power can encase any object—even a cooking pot—and that it repels Bjorn's god-fire axe with devastating force. When Bjorn presses his hand gently against the magic, it lets him through, prompting his observation: "You get what you give." The moment of connection between them is interrupted by Snorri noting Freya's magic seems stronger than Bjorn's.

Tensions erupt when Bjorn insults Ylva's age. Snorri strikes Bjorn, demanding an apology. Ylva openly declares she does not want Bjorn to inherit, calling him more Nordelander than Skalander and questioning his legitimacy. Bjorn retorts that Ylva once said the same to his mother, an accusation that shocks everyone. Snorri blames King Harald for poisoning Bjorn's mind during his years as a hostage, while Ylva subtly uses the moment to further undermine Bjorn's loyalty. Later, Bjorn applies healing salve to Freya's scarred hand, an intimate moment that stirs powerful attraction in Freya, though she reminds herself she is married to his father. Bjorn confides that Snorri likely doesn't know how to use Freya to achieve his ambitions.

That night, the camp is ambushed by warriors led by Jarl Torvin, who shout orders to kill the shield maiden. A thrall woman is killed instantly. Freya invokes Hlin's power, and her shield magic extends outward to cover the entire shield wall, repelling the attackers with tremendous force. Freya fights ferociously, helping to defeat the enemy, though she is sickened by the carnage afterward. The dying Torvin warns Snorri that every jarl in Skaland is coming for Freya—to kill or capture her—and questions whether the foreseen greatness truly belongs to Snorri.

With horses scattered and a third of their men dead, Snorri insists they must still reach Fjalltindr before the full moon. He proposes that Bjorn and Freya take a secret route called the Path to Helheim—a set of stairs and tunnels inside the mountain's sheer face, reputedly infested with draug, the undead. Bjorn vehemently protests, calling the plan insanity, but Snorri questions his courage, leaving him no honorable choice but to comply. Ylva threatens that if Freya fails to arrive in time, her family will suffer. Freya agrees to go, and when she asks for her own horse, she keeps her father's sword despite the risk, signaling a hardening resolve.