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    “Ye admit ye stole it then?” Kannak asked, putting on one shoe and then the other.
    Stefan rolled his eyes. He picked the two gold coins up off the table and showed them to her. The wheat for the bread be yer store for the planting and with this ye can barter for better seed and enough to feed us until the harvest .”
    “Where did ye get those?”
    “If ye must know, wee bairn, I found them.”
    “Bletherskite.” She did not believe a word of it. “They are English coins. Next ye will say ye favor the English. We dinna prefer them.”
    “Nor do we?”
    Kannak lightly bit her bottom lip and thought for a moment. “If we both hate the English, perhap s…”
    Jirvel knew her daughter well enough to know Kannak would soon be challenging the boy, for what the girl loved most was competition and a good wager. “I suggest we eat and then see to the chores. There will be time for talking later.”
    The cottage was a pleasant place not so different from the home he grew up in except it was much smaller and square instead of oval shaped. It had the pleasant smell of lavender and spices. A small table and three chairs were on one side of the room and Kannak’s bed was on the other. Several pots made of metal and baskets of different shapes and sizes were lined up near the walls, some obviously still in the process of being crafted. A small pile of heather sticks lay next to the hearth to use for fire wood and a doorway led to a second small room where he guessed Jirvel slept.
    There were places on the wall to hang weapons, but the places were empty save for a long bow. Soon the bread got his attention and the smell of it made him want to lick his lips too. After the tasteless meals at sea, he was ready to devour all she could make. “Where be yer father?”
    He directed his question to Kannak, but it was Jirvel who answered. “Eogan has gone off to war these three weeks and we have had no word of him.” She put the bread in a bowl and set it on the table. “Kannak says ye agreed to stay and help us, is it true?”
    Stefan nodded, tore off a small piece of the hot bread, blew on it and quickly devoured it. Then he turned his attentio n back to the longbow. “In my…at home I tended my aunt and uncle’s land. I am accustomed to it.”
    Kannak rolled her eyes. “She knows yer a Viking; she dinna believe the lie.”
    He stood up and took the longbow off the hook on the wall. Effortlessly, he pulled the string back to test it. “Then she has far more wits about her than her daughter.”
    Thoroughly insulted, Kannak stood up, straightened her frock and then put her hands on her hips. “‘Ye might as well put that back. Everyone knows Vikings go to sea and none are skilled enough to hunt on land. I wager yer the same.”
    Stefan didn ’t even bother to look at her. “What will ye wager?”
    “Well …if ye win, I will haul all the water for two days.”
    “And if ye win?”
    “Ye will milk the cow morning and night for two days.”
    “Lads dinnae milk cows.”
    “Then I am fortunate yer not yet a lad.” Kannak tore off two pieces of bread and walked out the door.
    Jirvel watched him test the bow again and smiled. “God has surly sent ye to us, Stefan. Will my daughter lose her wager?”
    “Aye.”
    “Good, she needs to be set down occasionally. Spend the day hunting while we see to the marketing. The land can wait another day or two and we must keep ye strong.”
    *
    In the light of morning, Stefan got his first good look at the land. The cottage was far enough from the tree lined river to avoid the spring floods, yet close enough for fishing and hauling water. He followed the path to the river, knelt down, cupped his hands and splashed water on his face. But when he looked at the reflection, all he saw was his father ’s lifeless face. He closed his eyes tight, searched his mind for a pleasing image to remember and settled on the mighty commander standing in the stern of the ship with his legs apart