The Viking (22 page)

“Did others come?”

“Aye, but by then all we could do was keep it from spreading.”

“And ye dinnae know how it started?”

“Nay. Jirvel swore the fire in the hearth was put out afore they left. But then, an ember might have blown out on the floor. I’ve seen that happen a time or two when the wind blows hard enough.”

Stefan changed the subject. “Have ye seen the black stallion?”

“The gift from God, Jirvel calls it? Nay, no one has seen him since he helped Kannak escape. She talks about it often, but then she talks about ye constantly.”

“I think about her constantly too.”

“Love…it will either kill us or cure us…o’ what, I am not quite certain.” William laughed and kicked the side of his horse. “Come on, Stefan, yer love has waited long and hard.”

They were almost around the bend when Stefan suddenly halted his horse. “William?”

William stopped, turned his horse around and went back. “What is it?”

“I must see Macoran alone afore I let anyone know I am alive.” William started to protest, but Stefan put up a hand to stop him. “Go to Macoran and bring him back without his guard.”

“What should I tell him?”

“I dinnae know…
tell him ye’ve a surprise for him only.”

William hesitated, but the look on Stefan
’s face assured him it was serious, so he turned his horse and rode off.

Stefan guided the dapple gray into the trees and dismounted. He prayed his suspicions were wrong but feared they were not. If he was right, only Macoran would know who to trust and what to do.

It seemed like it was taking forever for William to come back and he ran his hand through his hair repeatedly. Finally he heard horses, peeked around a tree, made sure it was William with Macoran and then stepped out.

Macoran slowed and cautiously approached the man wearing a Limond kilt, until at last he saw the face of the tall, muscular man wearing it. Instantly, his eyes lit up and he quickly got down off his horse. “Stefan? Ye are not dead? We had nearly given up hope.”

“Nay, I am not dead but there be danger still. Come and I will explain it.” He led them into the forest and waited until all three were standing close together. “My snatching was planned.”

“What? By whom?” Macoran asked.

“Brodies.”

Macoran spat on the ground, “Those blackguards! I
’ll see they…”

“Ye dinnae know who it was?”

“Kannak was so frightened she could not remember the colors o’ the lads who chased her. Ye were on Limond land and…”

“Limond be my grandfather.”

Macoran was so shocked he had to lean against a tree for support. “Good heavens, that is bad news.”

CHAPTER XVIII

Stefan was beginning to get frustrated. There was so much to tell and he wanted to see Kannak. At least William had stopped asking questions. “If ye will allow it, I will explain.”

“Please. Should I sit down?” Macoran asked.

“If ye prefer, but I doubt ye would stay down for long.
‘Twas yer wife who arranged my snatching.” Macoran’s mouth dropped and he started to speak, but Stefan wouldn’t let him. “Toran was captured with me.”

“Toran the thief? The one I flogged in the courtyard? He run off just a day or two afore.”

“He did not run off, he was sent with a message to yer wife’s father. Just afore Toran died, he told me everything. She sent him to say these words exact: ‘My husband does not come to my bed. He shames me with another just as yer wife shamed ye. The proof be his daughter.”

Macoran
could hardly speak. “She wanted…she knew Kannak was my daughter and…” He suddenly realized William was there and turned to see the look of shock on his face. But William was smiling. “Ye knew? “

“Everyone knows; she looks just like ye and not at all like Eogan. The only one who dinnae know be Kannak.”

“Kannak knows too and has for…but that matters not. Stefan, are ye saying my wife hoped for war?”

“Aye, she wanted ye dead and she would have gotten her desire for they are a very large clan with many warriors.”

“How well I know. So why are we talking here, hiding in the forest like thieves?”

“Because their plan did not work. Toran was with the Brodies that day and they intended to come up the river at night and take Jirvel and Kannak. For Jirvel and Kannak ye would have gone to war and even if ye did not die, at least Agnes could cause torment by ridding ye o
’ the lass and the daughter ye loved. Toran was then to come back to ye and say he saw Brodies take them. But they found us instead at the castle and Kannak got away.”

“Go on, I am listening.”

“I fear yer wife was so furious she tried to burn Jirvel and Kannak alive.”

At that, Macoran looked for a place, spotted a log and had to sit down. “I knew the lass hated me, but …”

“Laird Brodie could not release me, so he sold Toran and me into slavery.”

Macoran shook his head in disgust. “What say ye I do?”

“Mistress Macoran will be none too pleased to see me. Ye must make certain she has no opportunity of trying to harm Jirvel and Kannak again.” It was enough and Stefan could wait nor more. “Where be Kannak?”

“Where she always be this time o
’ day. Atop the hill watching the ocean.”

Stefan grinned, handed his horse
’s reins to William and started up the hill.

*

William watched Stefan go and then turned to Macoran. “What will ye do now?”

“I will marry the lass I have loved for years.”

“Aye, but afore that?”

“Afore that, I must set aside my wife and get her out of my clan.”

“Tis not easily done,” said William. He offered his hand and helped his laird stand up.

“Nay or I would have done it afore now.” He shook his head in disbelief again. “Never had I guessed Agnes might attempt to have us
all killed.  A war would have…”

“Aye, but ye have no proof o
’ that.”

“I have Stefan.”

“He only heard it from a man who be now dead and no one saw yer wife…or her sons start the fire. I doubt the priest will believe any o’ it.”

“
Twas the twins who most likely set the fire.”

“Aye.”

“There must be a way to rid us o’ all three.”

William mounted his horse and waited for Macoran to do the same. “What does a priest always believe be just cause for setting a wife aside?”

“Adultery? But who would believe it? I had to get so drunk, I do not even recall doing it and I assure ye, it was only once.”

“Perhaps it was not ye?”

Macoran guided his horse out of the trees and turned up the path toward the village. “Aye, but the laddies look just like me.”

“Are ye blind? They look just like her. They are skinny malinky longlegs and their father could be any man with red hair. Besides, they are hateful, spiteful laddies just like their mother. The Macorans would be well rid of the three of them.”

“I dinnae deny that. I tried to…do ye really think the priest would believe it?”

“Are ye willing to swear ye never bedded her?”

*

Kannak had her arms folded and was looking out across the ocean watching for Viking ships or sea monsters. She had not seen either since Stefan was taken, but she watched for them daily just the same. Her waist length auburn hair was unbound, not because she preferred it, but because she neglected to braid it before she left the cottage. Jirvel often commented that the color of her frock was nearly the same as her hair, and they both found it amusing.

She sometimes dreamed Stefan had found the Vikings and their longships would bring him home, but other times she thought it a silly dream. This day there were storm clouds to the north and a beautiful rainbow arching across the sky. She loved rainbows and it eased her heart a little.

Sometimes she could not remember what he looked like and it plagued her. Other times if she closed her eyes, she could still feel his arms around her. Today, even that didn
’t help. At least she stopped crying when she came to watch the waves. All crying did was give her a headache and make her mother sad. But not crying did not mean the hurt in her heart had gone away. Others said in time her heart would heal, but they were wrong.

Kannak reached out and touched the last drop of dew on the leaf of a tree and without even realizing she was saying it out loud, she whispered, “Will we ever be happy, Stefan?“

In a whisper just as soft, he said, “Aye.”

She dared not turn around for fear her ears deceived her. It sounded like his voice, but she thought her mind was playing tricks. Her heart would surely break all over again if she turned and he was not there.

“I love ye.”

Still she was afraid to look. Then she felt him come closer and put his arms around her from behind, the way he did when she was looking out the window of the hidden castle. “It is truly ye?”

“Aye.” He felt her lean against him and closed his eyes. At last she was back in his arms.

“I have missed ye so.”

“I have missed ye too. We will be happy now, I pledge it.”

“Ye
cannae promise happiness, no one can.”

“I can pledge to love ye until the day I die.”

Finally, she turned in his arms and pulled away enough to look at him. He had not changed much except he had grown a thicker beard and his hair was lighter than she remembered. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen and his blue eyes seemed more brilliant than ever before. Kannak lifted her hand and traced the side of his face with her fingertips. “Am I forgiven?”

“For what?”

“For tricking ye into going to the hidden castle. I have wished for that day back so very often.”

He took a moment to brush a stand of hair away from her face. “Ye
cannae have that day back, I forbid it. That was the day ye gave me a reason to live. As to the castle, I hope to make it our home after we are married.”

“Live in the hidden castle?”

“Aye. Would ye like it if we did?” At sixteen she was even more beautiful than he remembered. He touched her long silky hair and felt her lay her head on his chest.

“I would like that very much.” She was still a little afraid she was sleeping and would wake to find him gone. But he felt so real. “Where have ye been?”

“I have been with ye. I have loved ye and prayed for ye and sent ye all kinds o’ messages in my mind. Did ye not receive them?”

She giggled, pulled away a little and looked up at him. “What messages?”

“Each night I told ye I was not dead and each morning I told ye to wait for me.”

“Then I must have gotten them for I w
ould not believe ye were dead…and I waited.” She slipped her arms around him and laid her head back on his chest. “Dinnae let go o’ me, Stefan. Dinnae ever let go o’ me.”

“I will never let go.” At last, she lifted her head and he lowered his lips to hers.

*

The priest sat at one end of the table and Macoran sat at the other. Between them were Agnes Macoran and her two twelve-year-old sons, one on each side of her. Seated across from her, William waited patiently.

The priest finished writing something down and then looked up. “And why has it taken ye all this time to bring it to my attention, Laird Macoran?”

Macoran was not prepared for that question and scratched his he
ad trying to think of a reason.

“Because I just this morning confessed,” said William. Hi
s words shocked himself as much.as it did everyone else. Then he narrowed his eyes and pointed at Agnes, “She did it.”

“Ye bedded her?” the astonished priest asked.

“Nay, ‘twas my uncle.”

It was the first Macoran heard anything about an uncle, but he was entranced with the story.

The priest frowned, “If that be the case, I will hear it from yer uncle.”

William crossed himself and hung his head, “Dead these five years I am sad to say. I miss him still.”

“Be silent,” Agnes shouted. “Ye lie.”

“I dinnae lie, I saw it. Ye tempted him, ye did and I saw it.”

“When?”

William found her question confusing. “Years ago, afore yer sons were born.”

Agnes scooted her chair back and stood up. “Are ye saying these are not Macoran’s sons?”

Finally getting his wits about him, Macoran spoke up. “They are not.”

“They are not?” the priest asked. “How do ye know?”

He glanced at his wife and then turned his full attention to the priest, “I swear to ye that lass has never been in
my
bed.”

Growing more incredulous by the moment, the priest
’s mouth dropped, “Not in all these years?”

“Truly, father, would ye?”