Chapter Twenty-One

The fire in the village roared high, sending smoke twisting into the sky. The flames writhed, forming images that were beyond nightmarish.

A wizened woman stood nearby. One eye was glazed, blind from birth but giving a rare sight that no other had. The second sight to the other world and powers that foretold present and future.

She watched quietly. The crackling filled her ears as she studied what the fire was saying.

'What leads travellers to be so foolhardy?' She asked herself, shaking her head. 'They see not the true treasures that surround them. Only caring about trinkets that hold no real worth.'

She shifted, looking across in the direction of the sea. The intrusion was widely felt but none felt what she did.

A great blessing as the cold darkness chilled one to the core, like a cloth, saturated with rain and clinging to the skin.

"May the Gods and their guardian spirits come through to them," she whispered. "The errors must be seen, and the price must be paid. May my prayer