Publisher's Synopsis
The afternoon sun was high and the heat of it felt good. The noonday meal had been finished and everyone was just a little sleepy when Izel heard one of her handmaids scream in terror. Izel looked instinctively at her guard and watched in horror as a dozen blonde barbarian giants fell upon the men. The Captain of the guard was already dead, his head almost severed from his body and his red blood staining the sand in a gruesome tableau that made a mockery of the beauty of this place. She watched in horror as these monsters killed each man for they took just a moment to strip the bodies of weapons and loot. And, now they were turning to the women. She stood as the realization and terror gripped her and started to run but saw that it was useless. These monsters had obviously come from cover of the sand dunes and now there were half a dozen shallow long boats coming up on the beach out of the surf. Each of the boats was disgorging more of the giants.Then she saw the strategy. They had waited for the highest point of the tide to bring their boats over the reefs for the attack but the killers were not giving chase. They had killed the guard and spread themselves out along the perimeter as a blocking force. The murderers from the sea seemed to be following a tall one with red hair and he was headed directly to her location. She and her women, the realization hit her that they were the prize and they were being hunted; no, they were being herded into a trap. The knowledge startled her and angered her at the same time. She and her ladies were about to be taken as booty. In a blinding flash of the situation she wondered if she would spend the rest of her days as a slave, never seeing her husband or her child again, in some far away land.Aenar was pleased that these women had spirit and in fact the one in the center seemed to be almost defiant. This might prove to be an even better day than he had imagined. His men closed on the group of half a dozen women with surprising speed and as the one in the middle started to speak, a quick solid blow to the head quieted her protests. The raiding party made quick work of it and half a dozen of his warriors each threw a woman across his shoulders and loaded them back into the boats. As the men from shore joined them they pushed off the shore and set out back around the far edge of the cove that had helped block their advance into this once peaceful little beach.The only witnesses to survive the whole scene was one of the youngest of the soldiers, Kalen, who had slipped away with one of the handmaids, Mextli. The two of them were exploring each other's bodies when the attack started. They had hidden between the far dunes and watched in horror as their mistress had been led away to be a captive and they had felt the desperation as the fair skinned, yellow haired giants just sailed away. The young couple was in shock at the horror of the blood on the sand in this place that had been so innocent and pristine and peaceful half an hour ago.
