Jirvel smiled. The laddie was not going to take to strong drink and that was refreshing. She decided it was a good time to caution her new charge. "Stefan, when ye go to the river ye may well see Limonds on the other side. They will not attack ye, but we are not so very friendly with that clan."
"Why not?"
"'Tis a long dispute over the salmon. Limond accuses us of taking our catch from his side of the river." She saw the perplexed look on his face and could guess what he was thinking. "Laird Limond be an old lad with no family and there be no accounting for his suspicions. His men watch us, but they mean no harm normally. Nevertheless, we take only the fish we need."
"I see. I brought a spear."
"A Viking spear with three prongs?"
"Aye."
"Good, we will use it but ye must hide it. In the village they know one o' the Vikings got away."
"Where best can I hide it?"
"Bring it inside and lay it along the wall behind the baskets. No one will see it there." She studied his face for a moment and decided she should tell him about the battle. "As I said, we are not fond o' the Limond, nor they o' us…except when the Vikings come. For that, we fight together. We lost only three, the Vikings lost twenty-six."
He could not help but close his eyes and bow his head. It was a hard thing to hear, but he would rather hear it from her where he did not have to hide his sorrow. At length, he gathered his wits. "How did the Limond get across the river so quickly?"
"'Tis right dead brilliant how they do it. When ye go to the village ye will see a large raft on each side o' the river. The men board the raft, tie the ropes to arrows and shoot them across so the men on the other side can pull the raft over."
"'Tis brilliant."
"Aye, but it takes time and for this battle, they were slow in pulling them across. A few minutes more and the battle might have been lost."
Stefan nodded. It explained why there were no men to fight them on the shore and he made a mental note to search out these rafts and have a look. For now, however, he did not want to think about it anymore so he smiled to relieve her worry. "'Tis the past and best left behind."
*
Jirvel insisted Kannak sleep with her and gave him the bed in the other room near the door. It was perhaps not proper to let a boy not related stay inside, but she decided she would feel safer with him and his weapons inside where he could protect them…safer than she felt in weeks.