He liked having her arms around him, even if it was just to hold on. He especially liked it when she laid her head against his back and imagined she was hugging him intentionally. Too soon, she was full of questions again.
"What else could make the water move constantly?"
"The wind." He half expected to run into Macoran as he urged the horse upward, but their laird was no where in sight.
"The wind? But 'tis not always windy."
"'Tis always windy somewhere in the world."
Kannak wrinkled her brow. The world she knew only consisted of France, England, Scotland, Ireland and the dreaded land of the Vikings. "How big be the world?"
"The world has no ending."
She clicked her tongue on the top of her mouth. "Ye do not know that, bletherskite? I begin to think ye dinna know everything after all."
"I know there be a place called Deutschland and another they call Istanbul. Deutschland is not so far, but Istanbul is many weeks to the south. The air be far warmer than it be here…hotter even than our summer heat, and it stays hot all the time. The lands in the south have many riches, I am told. They are rich in jewels, gold, silver and…" He saw them just as they reached the top of the hill and quickly halted his horse. Seven Viking ships sat in the water a careful distance from the shore and the men had their oars held straight up waiting for the order to row. He heard Kannak catch her breath and tighten her arms around him.
"They mean to attack again."
"Nay, they will not attack. They have come to find me. Get down, Kannak."
"Nay, Stefan I will not get down."
He turned nearly all the way around, kissed her forehead and then pried her arms away. Swiftly, he lifted her off the horse and stood her on the ground.
"Nay, Stefan, dinna leave us. We need ye still."
"Stay here!"
"Will ye come back?" He did not answer and already tears were streaming down her cheeks as she watched him disappear into the forest.
After nearly a year, they had finally come back for Donar and his son, and they came with seven full ships prepared to fight for them. Yet Stefan did not want a fight. Instead, he traveled in the trees until he was sure Macoran's men could not see him and then rode past the cemetery and down to the sandy beach to show himself. It wasn't long until the ships turned his direction and began to row.
He could hear the men in the village cheering when they turned and hoped the Macoran's would not come to see why, but just in case, he rode further down the beach and then stopped. His heart was overjoyed and he desperately wanted to go home, to carve a stone in his father's memory and to see his aunt, uncle and cousins again.