When Beastmen in Viking ships start attacking Gramarye, the king's army is strangely helpless to defend the coastal villages against them. Enter Rodney Gallowglass, High Warlock of this backwards land and an offworlder with a bag of scientific tricks at his disposal. Together with his robot horse and a crowd of psionically talented witches, he sets out to tackle this new threat. But what is this "evil eye" with which the invaders are able to bring whole armies to a standstill? And why do the Beastmen strangely resemble...Neanderthals?