Svala never saw the first blow that struck Haakon, disbelieving and horror-struck as a most piteous sight unfolded, that helpless, screaming girl thrown into the flames. But Haakon was going to act - of [i]course[/i] he was. A man of few words, he would let his deeds speak for him - but for that second blow, the haft of the long-axe that sent him sprawling to the ground. And though the slender young woman never stood a chance of peeling even one of these armed and armored cowards off Haakon, kicking and beating him like the pack of curs they truly were, that did not stop her from trying. Not even a day ago, Svala saw Orran stand his ground, outnumbered but not outmatched, and had fled after the children when he ordered her away. 

She would [i]not[/i] run again. Svala snarled, leaping to the back of Harald's man closest to her, wrapping her arms as best she could around his armored neck and shoulders to pull him back. But all she earned for her efforts was an annoyed shrug of his shoulders and a half-hearted shove that sent her flying back on the well-trodden, snow-muddied ground. Svala rose again, not much more than her backside and her pride hurt as she leapt for another attempt - and received not much better for her next futile attempt, or even the one after that. 

But when that arc of crimson blood sprayed over the snow, the [i]*crack*[/i] of Haakon's nose breaking sickeningly audible as he collapsed, Svala drew her own axe back, ready to bury it to the haft in some bastard's back and see [i]just[/i] how easy that was to ignore! But just as that blow hovered in mid-swing, she saw the seax blade laid Haakon's exposed throat, the threat implied and the menacing promise...

Svala's eyes widened in horror, her mouth fallen open as she lowered the bearded axe in her hand, shaking her head in a silent plea that blade go no further. She took a slow step back as her deep blue eyes sought out their match in her Madir's pale, stunned face, silent questions begging for reason in her gaze. 

But Hallerna simply had no good answers to give. All she ever saw in those first moments was her precious, feisty little Eyja murdered, thrown - alive and screaming - into the flames. She had stood stunned, too slow, rooted to the spot and disbelieving even as this unspeakable outrage unfolded before her very eyes. Oh [i]certainly[/i] Tora's horrific wounds told her all ever need know about Harald's black character, this low, vicious beast of a man. But the murder of a child, for no better reason than... Than [i]spite?[/i] This was an atrocity, a crime so heinous, so foul... 

Ragnar's man was beaten to the ground behind the treacherous safety of Trelleborg's walls, for stepping to the defense of a child! And when Vigi's protests were met with a public thrashing, with such abject humiliation, any restraint Hallerna had left fell away like shattered chains. She knew the desperate denials of the beaten, red-haired slave would count for nothing, no matter his reckless courage. But Hallerna knew the truth of the matter - and she was a Dane, a free woman. She turned on the vile little man with a rage so violent she shook with the effort to maintain any semblance of control.

[b][i]"NITHSKALD![/i] I name you liar and coward, false thegn!"[/b] she roared, over the heads of the cowed people who had gathered, shoving aside men and women as she strode toward Harald.[b] "I saw to [i]everyone[/i], every last Dane and thrall who left the healing house,[i] and that child was not bitten![/i]"[/b]

But Hallerna's rage was nowhere near spent, and she rounded on the gawking, useless bystanders who had just begun to gather outside the healing house. [b]"How many of you went out into the village yesterday morning to retrieve supplies? How many of you remember my face, if not my name? And do a single one of you remember [i]his[/i] face out there with us?"[/b] she asked, pointing with her axe to Harald. [b]"Who among you would say I lie about such a thing, about a child bitten?"[/b]

[b]"And your seidrmadr! Vigi fought the draugr alongside you! He sewed your wounds closed, healed your sick - and all you can do is stand here open-mouthed like cattle, while some dog of a man not worthy to lick shit from his boots beats him to the ground!? As if our seidrmadr, the favored of the gods, could be the cause of the draugr? Ha! And you call yourself free men? You call yourself [i]Danes[/i]?"[/b] The woman growled her disgust and spat to the ground.

[b]"Oh, but I know [i]just[/i] what to call [i]you[/i],"[/b] Hallerna snarled, turning back to the vile little man, no more than a few steps away from him now. [b]"Harald [i]Nithskald.[/i]"[/b]