It remained a blackened line of burnt wood and graves until the forest slowly reclaimed it. Within a few years the only signs that anyone had ever lived there were the seat hut which I still used and my grave mounds. Rolf, my guards and my servants were buried alongside Erika. When the forest made the landward journey too hard I took to sailing across on a small skiff I had built. It became a place of contemplation for me. I could look down the Water and almost see Ynys Cybi and the hill fort. If I closed my eyes then I saw Cnut and heard his chants as he kept the cadence in the drekar. When I immersed myself in the Water then their spirits would swirl and surge around me creating a feeling of peace. Finally, when I sat in the sweat hut and allowed my body to be cleansed the spirits cleansed my mind and I was able to become the Jarl who watched over my people and kept their protection at the fore of his mind. Aiden and my daughter unravelled the mystery of the wolf pendant and the blue stones.
