What exactly is happening in chapter 44 of Egil's Saga?

In
chapter 44 of Egils Saga, there is a banquet for the king, who has arrived
that night. The king inquires where the bard is, as the bard is the host of the banquet, and
hears that the bard is looking after other guests at the moment. The king takes offence at the
fact that the bard seems to look after his other guests better than after the king. He therefore
asks to bring these guests to him, which is how Egil and Olvir end up sitting in the kings
company.

In the course of the evening, they become progressively more
intoxicated, as the bard ensures that there is always drink available. Egil starts reciting
verses, but the bard begs him to keep on drinking instead of continuing to recite verses, as he
finds them too slanderous. Eventually, the bard complains to the queen about the fact that Egil
keeps on drinking and reciting slanderous verses, so they decide to poison Egils
drink.

When being given the drinking horn, Egil scratches runes on it and
pricks his hand in order to smear his own blood onto these runes, at the same time reciting more
verses. At this point, the horn bursts and Olvir begins to faint, which is why Egil decides to
escort him outside. However, the bard follows him and asks him to drink some more, at which
point Egil proceeds to stab the bard with his sword; the bard dies as a result.

Upon observing the scene, the king asks to see Egil, but Egil has already leftthe kings
men search for him in vain. The king then decides to continue the search for Egil in the morning
in order to kill him.