Not an hour later, Stefan was bathed, his beard and hair were trimmed and he wore new clothing in the colors of his grandfather. The slaves hardly recognized him as he sat a horse next to Limond and looked down at them. "Ye are free. Laird Limond has agreed to give each of ye a portion of food and a horse to see ye home safely."
Limond nodded to the guards, who were happy to walk away, but the slaves still could not believe it. "We are truly free?" asked Baodan.
Stefan smiled. "Aye, and if ye still have families, they have waited long enough."
"And if we no longer have families, where will ye be?" Baodan asked. "I will be in yer clan, Stefan. Ye have saved our lives more than once and ye will be my laird."
Amazed, Stefan watched several of the others nod their agreement. Marriage to a laird was what Kannak wanted and it was now in his power to give it to her. "First I must marry the lass I love…if she be yet free and then I will take her to the hidden castle. Do ye know where that be?"
Limond smiled. "'Tis on my land and ye are welcome to it. The place be haunted."
Several of the men gasped, but Stefan grinned. "'Tis not haunted. 'Tis only the wind, but there are no cottages for ye to live in."
"We can build cottages easy enough." Baodan dumped his last load of rocks out of the bag he carried over his shoulder and grinned. "Say it again, are we truly free?"
"Truly," said Limond. "My grandson has shown me the error o' my ways and I hope someday ye will forgive me."
"We can go, right enough," another man said, "but we have no weapons to defend ourselves. I'd not like letting them capture me a second time."
At that Limond scratched his head. "I have a few Viking weapons if that will do. Come to the keep and choose. If ye will stay the night, it will give our lasses more time to bake bread for yer journey."
"Do ye trust him, Stefan? Be it a lie?"
"I trust him, but I promised we would not harm his people. 'Tis a small price to pay for our freedom, do ye agree?" He waited and one by one, the men nodded. "Good. If ye come to me at the hidden castle, l will welcome ye and yer families. But let it be known we have nothing to build with, no planted fields and no seed or stores for the winter."