Then, under one overhanging house, Carys paused. Her boots were coated with slimy weed, making her slip; she scraped it off hastily. Darkness closed over her. Instantly she glanced up and stared, paralysed with astonishment. The thing was black; huge and winged. Its evil face had tiny eyes; hooked talons slashed at her.

‘Get down!’

Galen’s yell made her drop. With a whistle of stinking breath the thing swooped over her, its call eerie and wild. Rolling, she jabbed a bolt into the bow. The thing flew back, its claws raked her face; she kicked aside and fired. The creature shrieked up, a blot of darkness against the gloom.

‘Run!’ Galen was yelling. ‘There are more!’

Scrambling up, she limped after him, fumbling for another bolt, leaping a shattered wall, picking herself up. Looking up made her skin crawl. The sky was infested with the things; they dropped noiselessly, flapping, screeching, so fast she could hardly make them out.

Ahead, the street turned a corner. Racing round it, she caught up with Raffi, ducking with a yell as one of the things screamed low, its claws snatching at her hair. Then she slammed into a wall, hands flat. Turning instantly, she slid to a crouch, jerking up the bow, hearing Galen yell with fury.

The alley was a dead end.

They were trapped.

18

Out of Darkness shall come Light.

Pilgrims shall walk on the Roads of the Sky.

Apocalypse of Tamar

RAFFI BUCKLED AGAINST the wall next to Carys. She had her bow up; for a second he saw the bolt, then it was gone. But there was so much screeching overhead he couldn’t tell if any of the things had been hurt.

Galen fell beside him, ducking, arms over head. ‘Lights!’ he yelled. ‘Mind-lights!’

Raffi was appalled. ‘I can’t!’

‘TRY!’

He tried. He searched for his inner eye; it was buried deep in his mind, closed tight. Opening it took an age; dimly, far-off, he heard the shrieks of the attacking beasts and Carys yelling with anger. Then he saw a tiny purple light and caught hold of it, made it swell and brighten. It was in the darkness before him, wobbling, expanding; now it was glowing and crackling, and briefly he saw Galen turn, and Carys’s eyes wide in amazement. The pale globe pulsed in the alley, it gleamed on the black wings that drove straight at him. He leapt back, cracked his head on the wall and staggered, half-stunned.

The globe popped like a soap bubble.

Darkness swallowed them; the sky shrieked.

‘Do something!’ Carys was crouched over Raffi, looking up, her face cut. ‘You’re the keeper, Galen!’ she yelled, furious. ‘Do something!’

Their eyes met. In that instant she knew, without doubt, that there was nothing he could do. He was powerless.

Then he stood up, recklessly, stepping out from the wall.