Again she waited. Again he said nothing. At last they reached the bottom of the hill and turned down the path that led away from the village. "The muddle o' it be, we have no weapons to hunt with. It be spring, we have eaten our winter store and we need a man to help us. First, we must do something about yer hair."

"What be wrong with my hair?"

Kannak smiled. "Ye look like a Viking. Scotsmen dinna wear their hair that long." She patted the side of the horse's neck to halt him and swung her leg over so she could sit sideways. Kannak folded her hands in her lap and took a long look at Stefan's face. "Ye are but a laddie. Oh well, ye will have to do. I say we make our bargain now. I have saved yer life. In return, ye will save ours."

It was not an unreasonable request, he thought. What she said was true, she did save his life and where else could he go? But he could not believe the Vikings would not come back for him. He imagined them sailing only to the horizon and then coming back…perhaps tomorrow. "I will think on it."

"And that be the best I can hope for…ye will think on it?"

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"Aye."

"I see." Kannak glared at him. "At least I will not have to marry ye."

"I dinna want a wife."

"Well bletherskite, I dinna want a husband either." She tilted her head and suspiciously eyed him. "How be it ye speak my language?"

"My mother was a Scot."

"Fancy that, bletherskite, so be my mother."

The last thing in the world he felt like doing was smiling, but this little slip of a girl with a face overrun by freckles and dimples calling him a silly talker, was making him do just that. "I am Stefan."

"Stefan…it be a Viking name, but I have heard it afore. My father named me Kannak."

"A Viking name?"

Both her eyebrows shot up, "Ye know this name? Be it truly a Viking name?" She watched his eyes and nearly forgot to draw breath until his mouth began to curve into a smile. "Ye are lying."

"All Vikings lie, ye said so yerself."

"That I did." She grabbed hold of his arm and slid down off the horse. "Come with me to the river and I will cut yer hair. Ye have a blade, do ye not?"




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