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The biting wind sapped his strength He'd given his woollen tunic to Alison The thought of a fire and dry clothes was appealing A long tirew colder For theto do except wait and bail out the water that was slopping over the sides

The top of the island was a hand's breadth above the horizon when the tide turned Noo The gap had halved He checked the to Alison was as radiant as ever but Miralda looked close to death He adjusted their clothing and did his best to stay warers, placing one upon the other It was so he'd learnt from the Duideth For the priests it was an act of worship, so they did in the darkest days of winter when the Lord Sun was in the deepest point of His Divine Journey Fury wasn't interested in that His only concern was to bring Alison and their unborn child to safety

He had questioned the boatmen of Galboreth They were faithful to the Great Mother They knew the Lord Sun was an i Poof's only worth was to tell the tiiven his to say where the foul hand of Lord Sun would strike Like the boatmen, Fury wasn't interested in the play of cosht you had to tell the time of day That would tell you where north was The closer you got, the better you could steer And you had to know the tides They were controlled by Lady Moon If you knew them you could sail the estuary

He checked and rechecked his position

Everything was on course The island looainst the was to find a safe place to land The boatmen had spoken about a bay on the southern side Fury shielded his eyes and searched for it

There would be no second chance The current was too strong to turn back He scanned the cliffs, looking for a break in the walls of black granite Waves crashed against the coracles Spray blew in his face His heart sank and he had al of seals

Miralda heard the cliffs 'Our friends, the seals, are guiding us to safety'