That night, as they prepare for the raid, another Lagakin finds them. He is a buowin, named Kitgari, who has come to help see to the safety of the Tappan braves. He holds a brief ritual where he sees what the spirits
They then secretly went to Tjaraholt in the night. Thorfinn and a young brave named Saskawa climbed over the palisade near the stables to get the horses. Meanwhile, Kitgari and Kjartan climbed over near the gates to let them out as soon as they had them. Thorfinn handled the horses well and was leading them out, when a person walked out of the longhouse. Unsure whether they had been spotted, Thorfinn leaps onto the horse and rides out. The figure then shouts and chases after, reaching the gates before they can close them.
Kjartan and Poul meet the figure -- Brom, the burly young son of Bront. They tackle him there, and in the struggle Poul hits Brom over the head with the blunt back of his axe. Brom slumps unconscious and Poul realizes that he has gravely injured him. For a few moments he tries to aid the youth, but soon others start to emerge from the Tjaraholt house. Poul then announces to these who they are and what they have done, and runs off into the woods.
All the raiders successfully make it to the longship with the horses. However, as they are pushing off, Killer-Gest rode up to the shore and threw an axe into the back of Poul as he was climbing aboard. The Tappans shot several arrows at him, to no immediate effect. As they were leaving range, Gest made a loud whistle and the horses on board went crazy again. However, Thorfinn was able to skillfully master them.
Arriving back at Tjaraholt, the Tappans agree to hold a celebratory feast where they kill and eat the horses (they being clearly useless). Later in the feast, the buowin Kitgari slips off to visit the spirit world. He talks to the spirits of the horses and learns that they are magically bound to Gest. At their birth, there was a ritual in which the horses' mothers were killed as they were being born. The ritual resulted in the enslavement of those horses spirits.
The next day, Metinwa and the Tappan braves agree to return to their village. Meanwhile, Poul and Kjartan think that they should find someone to negotiate over payment for the wounding or killing of Brom. They decide to visit Tjaraholt's neighbors to the north, the wealthy homestead of Syfjaourholur. They arrive in the late afternoon and are welcomed by Tosti the Golden and his family.
Over dinner, Kjartan tells the tale of the horse-raid upon Tjaraholt, including the grave injury of Brom. Later, Kjartan speaks with Tosti's brother Ari the Learned. Ari warns against stirring up trouble with charges of witchcraft. From their point of view, the people of Tjaraholt are perhaps ungracious but his family has had no trouble for them.
Early the next afternoon, a visitor arrives at Syfjaourholur. Going to see who it is, all are surprised to see that it is Brom Brontsson (!!!).