When they came near him, Bersi hurled a spear at Alf, and it went right through him. Then Loft cast at Bersi, but he caught the spear on his target and it dropped off. Then Bersi threw at Loft and killed him, and so he did by Skofti.
When all was over, the house-carles of the brothers came up. Thorleif turned back to meet them, and they all went home together.
After that Bersi went to find Steinvor, and mounted his horse. He came home before men were out of bed. They asked him about his journey and he told them. When Odd met him he asked about the fight and how it had passed, and Bersi answered in this verse:—
(45)
“There was one fed the wolves has encountered
His weird in the dale of the Bowstring—
Thorarin the Strong, 'neath the slayer
Lay slain by the might of my weapon.
And loss of their lives men abided
When Loft fell, and Alf fell, and Skofti.
They were four, yonder kinsmen, and fated—
They were fey—and I met them, alone!”
After that Odd went home, but Steinvor was with Bersi, though it misliked Thordis, his wife. By this time his stone wall was some-what broken down, but he had it built up again; and it is said that no blood-money was ever paid for Thorarin and his sons. So the time went on.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy.
Once on a day when Thordis and Bersi were talking together, said he, “I have been thinking I might ask Olaf Peacock for a child of his to foster.”
“Nay,” said she, “I think little of that. It seems to me a great trouble, and I doubt if folk will reckon more of us for it.”
“It means that I should have a sure friend,” answered he. “I have many foes, and I am growing heavy with age.”