Blood-red sails: Fantasy or Historical

[penthius]

The ship that sailed tonight had blood-red sails, Riva thought. Blood-red sails on the horizon. She shuddered. It was a bad omen. They'd followed the seers and the rotations of the wheel, but they'd still ended up with blood-red as the safest color for the ship. The seer herself had been upset by that, Riva had noticed. She looked out to sea and saw blood-red sails on the horizon. Her heart lifted. They were back, and safe, and her worries had been for nothing. She hitched her skirts to her knees and sprinted down from the lookout point. When she reached the beach, she shielded her eyes from the sun and stared out to find the ship of her father and brothers returning. She found a set of blood-red sails, and began to smile. Then she saw that three other ships with blood-red sails crossed the horizon beside it, and her skin turned white with fear.

Inspiration: "Salty Dog" by Flogging Molly
Story Potential: Low for a regular story, but high for a short-short flash fiction piece.
Notes: Could work as flash fiction.