She continued to work, kneading the garment in the water, taking it out, pounding it on a rounded boulder, inspecting it and replacing it in the water.
'Can we all see her?' I asked.
'The woman washing her clothes,' Lorna said at once. 'I see her as plainly as I see you.'
'I see her too,' Christine said.
Mary told me that she means death,' I said. 'She is washing the shroud that covers the body of her who is to die.'
'She only has one shroud,' Christine pointed out.
'So one more of us have to die.' I said. 'An Cailleach will take one more as payment for defiling her with our presence.'
'No.' Lorna said. 'That is only a woman washing clothes. Nothing more and nothing less. She's probably some old crofter woman.' She sighed. 'Well, we certainly can't cross here today. We'll stay on th
