Prologue
The waves lapped gently at the stony shore, their ferocity a pale comparison to what had gone before. The beach, if the irregular stones of which it was comprised could be attributed such a term, was littered with evidence of the sea’s wrath. The shattered hull of a mighty vessel was beached where the storm had deposited it. Listing to one side, its only valid purpose now was to provide shelter from the sun that blazed overhead. The broken timber scattered across the beach could only account for about half the vessel. The remainder had been claimed by the sea. Gulls wheeled overhead and cawed to one another. One, braver than the rest, circled lower until it landed on a plank jutting from the pebbled beach. From its vantage point it surveyed a prone figure, cocking its head this way and that to regard it with one eye at a time. The figure was that of an otter, that much was clear. His broad frame was clad in a silk shirt and loose-fitting slacks, which were tucked into tall, heavy boots...