After a mighty battle in the clearing of the Ironwood, its Hag has shouted:  "I have helped you too much already - if One-Eye All-Seeing chooses, there will be a long dark night for all of us at Hel's table.  She and her brood will feast on our bones until the end of the world swallows all!  Be gone!"

Opposite the glen lies Elivagar - the mighty river which separates Midgaard from Jotenheim, the land of the Giants.  Can respite lie with the Covenant-Breakers?  Asgeir, the Volsung, is reluctant, but agrees with a grudge in his heart.  Edny of the Vines, the day-elf, abandons the cause as hopeless - none could build a bridge to span Elivagar and fighting the Einherjar is an endless and fruitless option.

Eight of the Nyrond Nine set to building an ironwood longboat with their mighty weapons as axes and Snidil the Dwarf's mithril pounding-plate.  While crossing Elivagar, a massive behemoth stares with a suspicious eye.  Thorolf Nightsun, aided by Vignir the giant and Hafgrim of the Mists, charm the giant creature to sleep, and so pass the Kraken's Reach without baring a blade.

They land upon the far shore of Elivagar, in Jotenheim, having passed ancient pillars that stand the brutal waves.  There, they find two giant brothers, idle and, by appearances, simple.  These they persuade to watch the boat, while Vignir leads the company inland, where they hope to find the adjacent settlement of a friendly kind.

An ancient giant sits by the well of the town square, and no others save his mighty steed accompany him.  His beard and hair are long and white, trailing in the mud as he mumbles and occasionally shakes his fist at the sky.  The horse introduced himself as Svadilfari, and explained his master's bitter isolation.

"Years ago, when we were both young, my master and I offered to protect Asgard, the realm of the gods, by building an impassable wall.  We made this arrangement in good faith, asking only for the Sun, the Moon and the hand of the Vanir Goddess Freyja in exchange.  The gods agreed, provided we could complete the task in six months - before the summer solstice.  As that time approached, with our task nearly completed, the gods conspired with Loki Great-Raven to divert us."

Here, Svadilfari appears to blush as much as a stallion might.  Cebo of the Vanir explains why - Loki had transformed himself into a mare, and Svadilfari had dallied long enough to keep the wall from being complete.

"It's true," the old white horse says by way of conclusion.  "In this way, the gods kept their Vanir queen and the giants became forever known as Covenant-Breakers."

The old man stirs and roars - "But it is they, the Aesir, who have visited lies and deceit upon these worlds!" - whereupon he lies down to sleep.  Svadilfari tells the company of a bridge he and the mason had begun, a bridge across Elivagar to forever connect the land of giants with the land of men.  This the gods could not abide.  They created the Ironwood and its halfbeasts to prevent the building of a Midgaard bridgehead and cursed the quarry whence came the stone.  Rock trolls protected the place and prevented any further mining.  

At the entreaty of Svadilfari, the company - Asgeir the Volsung dissenting - approaches the quarry and bests the trolls.  The stones available again, the stonemason and the stallion renew their construction of Elivagar's Span.

However, when the bridge is half complete, a mighty storm approaches.  The company - Asgeir excepted - stand at the end of the bridge, as mighty Thor approaches on a horse made of storm clouds, with lightning shooting from its nostrils and flanks flecked with hailstones the size of boulders.  Thor raises his hammer, and lets it fall with a thunderous shout.

"Let you now suffer the fate of all cowards and thieves - I banish you to Niflheim, there to negotiate for your freedom with Hel herself!"

The company looks about, but they are enshrouded in mist.  Dark, cold, and cloying, it gives neither hope nor hint of an exit.  A keening wail rises from nearby, and as it abates, the company again hears the familiar orlog faintly chanted:

In the midst of darkness, light;
In the midst of death, life;
In the midst of chaos, order.
In the midst of order, chaos;
In the midst of life, death;
In the midst of light, darkness.

Urd is the Witch of That-Which-Has-Been, and she sings:

Thus has it ever been,

Verndani is the Witch of That-Which-Is, and she sings:

Thus is it now, and...

Skuld is the Witch of That-Which-Will-Be.  And she is still.