Caithness (Scotland)

Caithness — the far northern tip of Scotland — is the Norse-touched borderland that serves as Kári's refuge between his voyages of vengeance. Here, at the house of his friend Skeggi, the avenger of the Burning finds shelter and a base as he hunts the burners across the western world. Caithness belongs to the wide diaspora of the Norse seas — a Scottish land long under Norse and Orkney influence, a waystation on the sea-roads where an Icelandic feud's pursuit can pause and resupply. It is the saga's image of the northern refuge — the friendly harbour at the edge of Scotland where Kári rests between the killings, one of the far-flung points across which the vengeance for Bergþórshváll is carried before it is finally laid to rest.