And so we waited. And waited. I was getting very hungry. Of all my new physical sensations, eating was one of the ones I preferred, but actual hunger – I wasn’t a fan. The scent of roasting flesh was so good that my mouth was watering. My stomach was cramped with anticipation. We waited until we were sure it was ready, then raked the meat out of the ashes, only to find it was still cold.

‘What’s this?’ I said. ‘That beef should be cooked.’

Odin shrugged. ‘Put it back. It can’t have been cooking for as long as we thought.’

We put the meat back on the fire and covered it in hot coals. Night began to fall. The icy mist that during the day had kept mostly to the mountaintops began to roll down into the valley.

Honir asked: ‘Is it ready yet?’

‘How the Hel should I know?’ I said.

‘Should we check? I think we should check.’

I pulled a haunch out of the fire. I like my beef pretty rare, and I was more than ready for lunch. But the piece of meat was as cold as ever, not even seared on the outside.

I cursed. ‘This isn’t right,’ I said.

‘Do you think someone’s using glam?’ Honir said.

‘Well, duh.’

I looked around. And we saw, above us, in a tree, a giant eagle watching us. Bjarkán, the rune of true vision, revealed it to be no ordinary bird; its eyes gleamed with evil intelligence.

It saw us watching and gave a croak, flexing its powerful wings.

‘Ark. Share your meal with me,’ it said, ‘and I’ll make sure the meat is cooked.’

I could see the glam around the bird; he had a powerful signature. A demon, I guessed, or a scavenger; or maybe one of the Ice Folk in bird Aspect, flying south to explore the terrain. In any case, our position was weak and it didn’t seem wise to dispute him a share of the spoils.

‘I think we should share,’ Honir said. ‘Don’t you agree that we should share? I mean, if we share we’ll get to eat soon. And birds don’t have much of an appetite. Don’t the Folk say “he eats like a bird” when someone doesn’t have much of an appetite?’

Odin agreed to the bargain. The ox was a good size, he said, and besides, as Honir suggested, how much could an eagle eat?

Turns out that particular eagle could eat almost a whole one. As soon as the ox was ready, it grabbed both haunches and the rump, leaving us with little more than the carcass. Then it took the pieces onto a nearby outcrop of rock and began to tear at the flesh, noisily and with relish.