The following day, Hakon and his army began the long process of rebuilding Kaupang at Skiringssal. It was arduous work, made harder by the summer heat and the fact that Ragnvald had been so thorough in his destruction. Yet Hakon refused to leave his nephews with nothing, and so the men pulled damaged wood from the wreckage and salvaged what they could.
As his men repaired the town, Erik and the other prisoners cleared some land on the hillside overlooking Kaupang for Gudrod"s new hall. Skiringssal"s luck, he argued, was now gone, and to rebuild it in its original location would only invite more trouble. After a thorough survey of the entire area, they decided on a boulder-strewn spot on the hill just inland from Kaupang. Once cleared and leveled, it would make for a far more defensible pl
