As he tossed juniper berries into the fire, the crackling snap and cleansing scent wafted into the frosty night air. Thegoði’shaunting, ethereal voice echoed across the snow-laced grass and out over the Narrow Sea.
“On this longest night, beneath the watchful stars,
Three couples stand in the fire’s glow.
In this trinity of winter solstice weddings.
By ash and boar’s blood, in the names of Odin, Freyja, and Thor,
We bind these hearts in love and light, blood and vow.
Before gods and men, let these unions be sealed from this night, forevermore.”
As the last words of the invocation faded into the still night air, thegoðistepped away from the fire, the silver bowl still cradled in one weathered hand, the ash twig trembling slightly between his long, gnarled fingers.
He turned to Elfi and Njörd, the center couple.
“Let the first groom come forth,” he intoned, his voice low and solemn. “Njörd, son of Brökk, offer your Dwarven sword to Elfi, daughter of Thorfinn. Place the ring upon her hand, and speak the vow that binds your heart to hers.”
White wolfskin draped over dark brown locks, his long hair braided with glittering blue beads the color of the seas that bound him to Elfi, Njörd unsheathedÚlfsongrfrom his hip and offered it to her with solemn grace across his outstretched forearms.
When Elfi accepted the sword, Njörd untied the lapis lazuli ring and slipped it on the third finger of her right hand and declared his vow, just as he had done in Ísland three moons ago.
“With this, my father’s blade, I give you my sword, my life, and my vow.
I will protect you, honor you, and walk beside you.
All my days beneath sun and stars.
Let this ring bear witness to my oath.
To love and honor you in this life and the next.”
Elfi nodded with reverence and smiled up at Njörd. His intense blue eyes glistened like the beads in his braided beard—and the depths of the seas he had crossed to find her in the Land of the White Chalk Cliffs. “I accept your sword, your ring, and your vow. I offer you mine in return.” She handed theÚlfsongrsword to herammaOda, whose silver hair and mauve silk gown shimmered softly in the firelight. Turning back to Thorfinn, she reached forShadowbanefrom his outstretched armsand offered it to Njörd. When he accepted the blade, she untied the band from its hilt, and slipped it onto Njörd’s large, swarthy finger, repeating the same vows she had spoken in Ísland—but this time, before herfaðir,Jarl Rikard, and the nobles of Normandy.
“I give you my sword, my life, and my vow.
I shall bear your children, stand with you, and walk beside you.
All my days beneath sun and stars.
Let this ring bear witness to my oath.
To love and honor you in this life and the next.”
Njörd took the sword and sheathed it at his hip. “I accept your sword, your ring, and your vow,”
Thegoðidipped his sacred ash twig into the silver bowl of sacrificial boar’s blood, the dark red liquid gleaming in the firelight. With the tip of the slender branch, he marked Njörd’s brow, then Elfi’s. “By blood and vow, by blade and breath, before gods and men, I bind you.”
He lifted the twig to the starry night sky, “This union is sealed. May it never be broken.” Antler headpiece glinting in the firelight, the pagan priest strode over the snow-covered grass and stopped before Skadi and Skjöld.
She shimmered in the silvery fox fur cape that Úlvhild had so lovingly stitched as a wedding gift. The silverkransenatop her elaborate pale braids and the ice blue silk wedding gown glittered like the stars in the clear night sky. At her side, Skjöld—a towering blond brute like his father Skårde and his uncle Sweyn—was beastly handsome in his white bearskin cloak, the blue dragon coiled in woad ink around his corded neck. Sheathed at his waist, alongside the sword he would soon offer Skadi, the dagger gifted by Haldor sparkled in the scabbard made by Úlvhild from the same foxskin that cloaked his beguiling bride.
As he had done for Elfi and Njörd, thegoðiguided Skjöld to offer Skadi his sword, his ring, and his vow.
Skjöld unsheathed the sword at his waist and offered it solemnly to Skadi. When she accepted it, he untied the silver ring set with glittering amethyst and aquamarine gems, slipping it onto Skadi’s luminous finger. Skjöld’s deep voice reverberated across the hushed glen where the only sounds were the crackling of the bonfire and the waves crashing against the white chalk cliffs.
“I found you in fire, but first saw you in water.
