There was a dragon in the sky the night before the stranger came.
It flamed across the red west from the cliffs to the black road of the sea.
It did not speak to me. But I feared it.
After the death of her father and brothers in a Viking raid, Ran is alone. Alone and afraid. Travelling by sledge across a snowy headland to take part in the winter sacrifice, her future is uncertain.
Her fate lies in the hands of Vigut, a cruel stranger who brings nothing but fear and death. Her life at the mercy of an evil magician. Her destiny in the love of a travelling musician. But where the journey ends is up to her...