Dragon Eyes - In the eye of the dragons

Prologue - Kathie's Pendulum

It was a cold winter day in late November. Katherina was walking through the city streets looking for Christmas presents. The sooner she got everyone together, the sooner she would have her peace and quiet and look forward to Christmas.
It had started to snow and Kathie was shivering. When she passed a small shop, she decided to go inside to warm up a bit.
She opened the door and the small ringing of small bells rang out. Then she stepped into a darkened room and at first she couldn't see anything.
"Welcome," said a low voice. "Can I help you?"
When Kathie's eyes got used to the darkness, she saw that an old woman was sitting at the other end of the small, narrow but elongated shop on a small wobbly-looking tripod chair and looking at her with piercing eyes.
"Um," stuttered Kathie."N- no. Not really. I just wanted to look around a bit."
In the shop there were a dozen bookshelves on the walls, all filled to the top, countless little tables standing around, all loaded with the most unusual things that Kathie could never have named. Under a pile of old, yellowed newspapers, she saw a piano, the keys of which were full of dust, and behind a collection of old chairs of all sizes, shapes and colors, she saw an old cupboard that was crammed with old clothes from bygone eras.
Kathie looked around for a while, but the longer she stayed in the shop, the more uncomfortable she felt. She felt the old woman's gaze on the back of her neck, she seemed to be watching her the whole time.
"I think I have exactly what you are looking for."
Kathie winced. She turned and looked at the old woman. She had about shoulder-length, gray, curly hair and violet-blue eyes.Kathie had never seen bluer eyes before.
"Come to me," said the old woman and nodded to Kathie. "Come on, I won't bite!"
Kathie walked slowly to the other end of the shop, where the old woman was still sitting in a chair.
When she finally got there, the old woman started to talk again: "It's about time you finally got there. The place isn't that big either. I thought you wouldn't make it anymore to come over here before I die. But it doesn't matter. Do you see that little box up there on the shelf? Can you get that down for me? Unfortunately, my old bones no longer play completely to me, otherwise I would do it myself to do."
Kathie only nodded imperceptibly for a moment, then looked around the room, saw a chair, pulled it up to the shelf that the old woman had pointed to, climbed up and carefully pulled down the small box. It was harder than it looked and Kathie almost dropped it when she suddenly had to sneeze.It was terribly dusty on the shelf. Kathie wondered when the cleaning was last done here.
When she got down from the chair, she went back to the woman who apparently owned the shop, handed her the box and said: "Here, please."
The old woman had meanwhile got up, held the box in her hands and examined it for a while from all sides. Then she put it on the counter in front of her and opened it. She took out something that Kathie first thought was a gray wire, but when the old woman held it up to the light, she realized that it was a gold chain with a silver pendant.
"Come on, come to me!", The old woman waved Kathie over to her. "And turn around!"
Kathie obeyed her, walked over to her and turned around. She felt a little queasy about it. There was something strange about the old woman, something that unsettled you, so that you didn't know what to do, but also drove you to do exactly what she asked you to do."Get your hair up, girl," she said now and Kathie obeyed her. She took her hands up and caught the strands of her long brown hair with her fingers, bringing them together as if to make a ponytail. Then she suddenly saw the old woman's hands in front of her and felt how she put the chain on her.
"This necklace once belonged to my daughter," she told her. "I believe that she is in good hands with you."
Kathie turned and stared at the old woman. "But the chain is definitely super expensive! I don't have that much money, and who says I want to buy it ?!"
"Who is talking about buying here?" Asked the old woman and began to laugh. "I'm giving it to you!"
"You are giving it to me?", Kathie asked incredulously. "But you said it belonged to your daughter?"
“Yes, that's right,” replied the old woman, “but my daughter died many years ago and she would certainly have agreed that you would have her now.Believe me. When I saw you come in here earlier, I thought my daughter would come to see me. You look like she is cut from her face. Just that my daughter was a little older than you before she died. So take the necklace as a gift now, I'm sure it will bring you luck. "
Kathie thanked the old woman, then took her bag, which she had previously placed on the floor, said goodbye and went to the door.
Just as she was about to open it, the old woman said: "The pendulum will guide you on the right path, my child. Have only trust and wait patiently for the right time, then it will guide you!"
Kathie took another quick look over her shoulder, then turned around and walked out the door.