[horse neighing] [groaning] Please, this is all a terrible mistake.

I didn't mean to kill anyone.

Save it for your ancestors.

You!

You'll be with them soon enough.

Help!

Hey!

Get out of the way.

There's a man's neck to be stretched!

Hurry up!

Get him down!

I said hurry up!

Hurry up!

[horse neighing] Don't do this.

Please, whoever you are, don't let them do this.

[groaning] [shouting] [groaning] [gasping] [knife drawing] I owe you my life.

Stop there, or I'll kill you, too!

I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth if I have to!

[suspenseful music playing] [kissing sounds] [grunting] Nothing.

It's fine, it's fine.

[chuckling] You're a dangerous woman.

You have the eyes of the devil in the body of a dancing girl.

[giggling] And the cold, cold heart of an assassin.

You swore I'd never need to kill in cold blood again.

Who?

Slean's bride.

Kela?

She's so young.

But she's old enough to marry.

Slean-- does he know?

I don't think he has quite the stomach for it yet.

When the girl's dead, my sister's pact with [inaudible] will be worthless.

She will have to stand down as Jarl, or fight for it.

If Slean keeps his [inaudible] quiet, and I will reward him when the time comes.

If not?

Then we'll sweep him aside along with his mother.

[kissing sounds] Hane will with go with you.

Don't you have enough?

This isn't about seizing power any longer.

The Warig are rising.

This is about survival.

[suspenseful music playing] There-- that's him, the one that saved Breca.

[door closing] [drink being poured] This one talk yet?

No, he's more of a thinker.

Aren't you, Gerd?

Right know, he's thinking how he's never going to attack his wife with a copper pot again.

[door closing] Where's the reeve?

Why?

What's it to you?

I'm the reeve.

They were looking for work.

What your trade?

Carpenters.

Well, then, they can use you on the wall.

I'm going there now.

Why don't you come?

No, maybe tomorrow.

Who are you?

[music playing] A friend of the reeve.

Do you have any other friends?

Like I said, I've things to tend to.

[music playing] [door opening and closing] [chatter] That him?

The other one's the reeve.

We'll have to rethink how we handle it.

No rush.

We could all do with a good night's sleep.

Who's that?

Abrecan's woman.

Let's go.

[music playing] [door squeaking] Saray.

Rheda.

I'm so pleased to finally meet you.

How's Abrecan, his wound?

It's better.

He asked I stand for him.

At Slean's union with Kela?

Saray, you are my brother's love, and so you are my sister.

You must have seen places much grander than this in the Farlands?

None ruled by a woman.

[chuckling] You must each choose a second to be your companion and look after your interests during the rituals.

And you will attend your binding, friends and kin.

I've no kin here.

My mother and others will join you.

Then tomorrow we'll meet at the grey stones for the truth telling.

And after that, it's all over with.

[door squeaking] Kela, this is Saray from Bregan.

Know my son.

Your bride is beautiful.

Thank you.

If you'll excuse me?

Rheda, must I be guarded all the time?

Your marriage to my son must go ahead, or your father will revoke his support for me.

And the other Thanes will question my right to be Jarl of the Shieldlands.

I don't really understand such things.

But I do know that I must marry Slean, and I know I will come to love him.

[music playing] Why are you here, Hane?

For your wedding.

[footsteps] And to see you play the good son, as your uncle requested.

[music playing] Perfume for the bride, milked from a lake viper.

It only has to touch her skin.

She'll be dead in moments.

Abrecan is counting on you.

[suspenseful music playing] Elvina?

No, it's me, Saray.

I meant to give you this.

Oh, but I said I can't accept gifts.

It'll be our secret, then.

All brides should smell sweet for their wedding.

But remember, it's our secret.

[footsteps] [chatter] Sit down.

We'll take all we came for while they're nursing sore heads.

[door opening and closing] You wanted to talk?

I wanted to apologize.

I never lay with Alvina.

But she's her own woman.

She can do what she wants.

I need a second to support me.

(SCOFFING) You serious?

Call it building bridges.

All right.

You have a way of making yourself useful, Beowulf.

Well, this family took me in, made me one of its own when I was nothing.

We have all made mistakes in the past, but what's done is done.

We must all move forward.

[music playing] Kela it's time for the first ritual.

Elvina, will you be my second?

Building bridges will take more than being Slean's second.

People change.

[grunting] Only in the eyes of those that want them to change.

[door squeaking] A man should know who his true friends are.

[cheering] I like the dress, very fetching.

From the bride, for the game.

We need to meet, discuss any reasons the marriage shouldn't go ahead.

If we don't fulfill our duties, their union could be void.

Go away.

The future of the Shieldlands depends upon it.

All right.

[sighing] Later.

[loud chatter] Then there were Zafting, who wanted out, the Skinshifters.

Boo!

Boring!

Boo!

Hey, watch it.

Before I told stories about warriors, I took down a few.

Boo.

Hey, tell us a story about a living hero.

[cheering] Yeah, tell a story!

Let me tell you about a young warrior, Beowulf.

[giggling] Are you nervous?

A bit.

Were you?

I was angry, angry at being sent here, angry at being forced to marry Hrothgar.

I was so angry, I scared him.

The great warrior Hrothgar.

8 ravenous trolls on his trail, a young boy clinging to-- I was there.

There were two trolls and no heroes but Hrothgar.

Don't be so glum, Slean.

There are worse fates than marrying a pretty girl.

[cheering] Let's celebrate in the old way!

[cheering] Just two.

Ready.

Ready.

Would you put it on for me?

Please?

Oh, the cloth absorbs the smell.

Use your fingers.

Of course.

[glass shatters] I'm so sorry.

It was a mistake.

That's all.

You'll get him!

Go, lad.

[shouting] Who would you want to stand with us?

[cheering] And you?

[laughter] We help Slean retrieve the token to give to his bride.

Sounds easy enough.

[cheering] [growling] Open the gate!

[growling] Come on, you stinking mudbull.

[cheering] Slean, Slean, the tower.

Come on!

[cheering] Slean.

What were you doing?

Chasing a troll.

Why do you follow Beowulf around like a dog?

He saved my life.

Breca, tell me what happened.

I stole something, got caught.

Punishment was death.

That wasn't so hard, was it?

There are always lies between people, between a man and a woman, a husband and wife.

Some they tell each other, some they tell themselves.

A relationship can only bare so much truth.

Remember that tomorrow.

I'll be a good son.

Your father loved you more than any other, more than he loved Beowulf.

My son, I have a gift for you.

Please, Father, there's no-- There.

Now it'll be easier to hate me.

Don't measure yourself by me.

Find your own way, be your own man.

Slean isn't ready.

You must be thane until he is.

No.

When else?

Quiet.

Kela is sleeping.

So are they ready for this marriage?

I see no reason why Slean shouldn't marry Kela.

Do you?

He's still in love with you.

Isn't that a reason?

No, I don't think it is.

He must put his own feelings aside, and do what is best for-- Would you put aside what you want for the sake of others?

This isn't about me.

It's what we all must do.

If a man or a woman spends their whole life pleasing others, then they're not living at all.

Be yourself, or nothing at all.

It must be very liberating to think like that.

It is.

Try it.

[spitting] [groaning] Hey!

Get him out of here.

We're headhunters.

Breca's wanted for murder.

You know it.

We act under law.

Yeah, I'm the law here.

Kill him!

Kill Breca now!

I'll do it!

Stop, witch!

You die here without any explanation, and we're all dead.

The boy's name is Kye.

Yeah, I know his face.

He hired us to bring Breca to law after he escaped the noose!

If that's so, why try to snatch him away?

Why not just ask?

Ask the man who helped him escape the first time?

You're the reeve here now, Beowulf, and protector of these good people.

So we'll overlook that.

But we must have Breca.

Beowulf, believe me.

I didn't mean to kill anyone.

Shut up.

Given your interest, we ask this matter be put to trial for the crimes he's committed.

Tomorrow.

Now, in case you're tempted to let him slip the noose again.

Get up.

Speak your piece.

The boy demands Breca's life or blood money for the killing of his brother.

You said it was a woman's husband.

Detail.

Breca swept my ma off her feet.

That's what he does, seeks out widows he thinks have coin, and then he steals it and runs.

This dirtlicker abandoned my mother, and left with everything of value she had.

So my brother pursued him, and it cost him his life.

Breca, is it true?

Breca?

In a way.

The price for a life is 50 silver coin.

Do you have it, Breca?

Take him.

No!

I'll pay the blood money for the boy's brother.

Lila, do you even have 50 silver coins?

I don't want coin.

I want blood!

Silence!

You have until noon.

If the blood money is paid, Breca will go free.

[grunting] Stay.

You lied to me.

Beowulf, I never meant to hurt anyone, here or in the Farlands.

That boy's brother attacked me.

To protect his mother.

He was wounded.

I took him to a settlement.

I was trying to help him.

And how do I know any of that is true?

[chuckling] Say it.

Why don't you say it?

Because you're my mother.

I'm sorry.

I knew Breca had killed a man, but he spun me a different story.

It's nobody's fault but his.

Lila, no one would think any less of you-- Whatever he did, would have done, I can't let them kill him.

In that case, take this.

It's all I've got.

A killer of widow's children.

Who cares what a man who attacks his wife with a copper pot thinks?

I never attacked her, not this time, nor them other times.

Then why are you here?

If I told the truth, she'd be in here.

And when she got out, she'd take that pot to me again, sooner and harder than otherwise.

Leave her.

Can't.

I love her, like a tree loves an axe.

Some take, some give.

You're a taker.

Lila's a giver.

You have it?

[coins jingle] This isn't 50 coins.

There's not enough, unless I make up for this shortfall by taking a cut in my share, which I do for the right incentive.

Get out.

You should know.

The moment we're through that gate, the boy'll finish Breca.

And I'll hold him while he does.

[applause] Tell the truth at each stone.

Only then can you look upon one another, light the fire signifying your union.

You will then be man and wife.

Without truth, without trust, there is nothing left to bind us together.

Do you like it here in Herot?

There's nowhere I'd rather be.

Kela's belongings, my thane.

Just put it there.

Have you ever loved anyone?

No.

There was enough coin?

It's paid.

Try your hand at headhunting, Beowulf.

It's better paid.

Lila?

Leave this, Beowulf, please.

Do you really want to marry me?

Yes, with all my heart.

You don't speak to Lila.

You get on your horse.

You leave Herot, and you never come back.

Am I clear?

Beowulf.

Am I clear?

You have no place here.

I thought before I came here that you would be-- In Mere, they say that all the men in Herot are filthy and smell of charcoal.

[chuckling] I wish we'd known each other then, when we were young.

Do you want to be thane?

What are you doing?

I have to do this.

This is what you want.

If she dies, you'll be thane.

This was never planned.

She's innocent to all this.

Tell my uncle I am done with him.

Go.

Go!

Get out!

Aer you all right?

She tried to kill me.

[inaudible] We must go back.

No.

We aren't done here.

Don't you understand?

I've betrayed my mother.

I plotted with my uncle.

That woman was sent here to kill you.

But you saved me.

Why?

I don't know.

But you have no part in any of this.

You're just a piece being moved in a game of which you have no understanding!

Don't I?

I killed my sister.

She is the one who should have been with you today.

Even as our world turned to dust, Mara had everything.

People loved her because she was kind.

My father loved her because she was first.

And she had run.

And then the chance to escape, to live in that hall, to never feel hunger or fear, to need for nothing.

She died of fever.

She was recovering.

I poisoned her.

Slean, I'll never breathe a word of what you've done, of what happened here today.

Walk away.

I-- I owe you my life.

You owe me nothing.

Stay.

I can't.

Because you love Elvina?

I know, but she is Beowulf's.

He came to her bed last night.

We don't choose who we love, or who loves us.

But we can choose who we make our way through this world with.

Light the fire with me.

You wish to be thane?

I can help you against whoever stands in your way.

We can't take it away from you now, Rita.

With this marriage, you are jarl of the Shield Lands.

[theme music]