Chapter Seven

Kijik lay on her mat, a satisfied smile playing at the corners of her lips. She’d been dreaming of her god-spirit and he had been showing her intimacies that had so far eluded her experience.

With each dream-vision, she felt more sure, secure in the knowledge of his intentions. He had told her it would only be a short while before they would meet in the body and become one, as they had already, in the spirit.

She knew they would, too, as she had discussed the whole situation with Nabad, whose name means ‘Sleeper’, the medicine man who doubles as a shaman when required. Nabad had gone into a trance to see the future – a future which forecast that a white stranger would reach their shores. The clincher was that this stranger had red hair.

On hearing Nabad’s pronouncements, Kijik’s heart leapt with joy. Her visions had not deceived her, and the one in which she was now immersed was the culmination of her wildest hopes. The red-haired god-spirit, whom she decided to name Eeang, because he was the ‘Rock’ on which her future was based, was coming to get her and take her away from these despised people.