Darkness—once again, the infinite darkness in which the band of warriors now drifted, those who this time had fought for freedom.
Karl opened his eyes and beheld his companions anew: spectral forms floating beside him, each tethered to him by a thread of blue-green light. He remembered how every one of them had fought at the bridge, wielding the muskets they had been taught to use alongside their favored weapons. The struggle had turned so vicious, so soaked in blood, that none of them survived. This time there had been no way to tell who fell first or who lasted longest. It had been pure chaos.
When they all awakened, they began to converse through the system of sounds they had invented, replaying the battle and unraveling what had gone wrong. They lingered in that state until, without warning, a sixth spectral figure appeared among them. This one wore long hair and kept their eyes closed. After the others shouted their sounds in the cadence of their shared song, the figure stirred and awoke. It was Arvid, and irritation clung to him like a shadow.
They spoke with him as best they could. Arvid told them he had learned of their deaths on the battlefield, yet he offered comfort as well—explaining that the clash had shifted the fate of the country, weakening Spanish power. The news lifted their spirits.
They asked Arvid how he had died. He admitted he wasn’t entirely sure.
He recalled drinking too much after spending the night with a woman, then waking in the infinite dark. Perhaps he had simply gone too far with the drink. Perhaps the woman had poisoned him. In the end, he said, it no longer mattered.
They talked a while longer, until Rune felt an invisible pull seize his body and drag him toward the whirlpool. Hjørdis followed, then Karl and Holger, and almost at the same instant, Sigurd and Arvid.
Arvid did not fade the way the others usually did. Instead, his body twisted, tearing itself apart in a violent rupture before plunging through the whirl and into the dark center. Sigurd witnessed this just before surrendering himself to his own passage of rebirth.
