The river below was full of boats riding on a silver tide, and beside them, swimming with quiet elegance, were five and twenty pure white swans. As he whispered his prayer to Imogene, the swans lifted simultaneously off the water, making a thunderous noise as their feet beat against the surface in the effort to lift their bodies into the air. At last, necks stretched to their limit, they broke free and, resembling a graceful flight of arrows, headed towards the Island of Thorns.
* * * *
Thorn Island. Bladud remembered the times he had spent with the priest Fergal on Thorn Island. It was a place of extraordinary sanctity since the very ancient days. On the high ground stood a circle of tall standing stones that must have existed since the beginning of time. Even Yaruk’s people had no memo
