Carys looked at him, trying to keep her mind empty as she’d been taught. She felt strangely miserable. ‘Of course,’ she murmured.

‘I hope so.’

‘Keeper,’ Galen said urgently, ‘can you do anything for me?’

Shean looked uneasy. Finally he said, ‘I will try. It depends on how deep your hurt was. Eat first. Then you and I will meditate, and try the healing.’ He looked at the others. ‘We will be some time, but there’s plenty of food here. In the room beyond are beds, and water for washing. Make yourselves comfortable. You have come home, keepers.’

The food was good. Raffi felt he hadn’t eaten properly since leaving Lerin’s village, and though Carys was quiet, she ate well too. The Sekoi picked delicately at fruit, spitting out pips and looking round the room curiously.

Later, when Shean and Galen were gone, they all slept, on small comfortable couches near the fire, and the Sekoi in a nest of cushions it had piled in one corner. Deep in the night, Raffi opened his eyes. Galen was standing in the warm darkness, looking into the fire.

Raffi propped himself on one elbow. ‘Did it work?’

But already he knew the answer. Galen gave him a look that went right through him; the keeper’s face was drawn and exhausted.

‘What does the keeper fear, Raffi?’ he muttered hoarsely.

‘Despair,’ Raffi whispered. ‘But Galen …’

‘I know despair,’ the keeper said. ‘Despair and I are old friends.’

‘It’s not your fault!’

‘It must be. I have failed in some way. I have to pay and this is the way God chooses.’

Raffi shook his head hopelessly. He felt like crying. ‘We’ll find the Crow. The Crow will cure you.’

Galen didn’t answer. He sat in the chair, knees huddled up, staring into the flames. When Raffi went back to sleep, he was still there.

Journal

Date unknown

What’s happening to me?’

First I feel sorry for Galen, and now the old man’s got me feeling guilty. This place doesn’t help. It must be one of the last strongholds of the Order anywhere, and I should be glad that I’ve found it but the whole thing seems …

Carys stopped. Then she crossed out everything furiously and started again.

They have a Relic-chapel here. I saw it this morning, though Galen spent most of the night in there. It is really very beautiful; Raffi was almost moved to tears. There are superb statues, so real they might almost be Flain and Tamar and the others. Candles burn before them. Relics are kept in boxes of gold – the Sekoi was squirming with jealousy. The windows are pieced together from broken fragments. Seeing it was strange. Old Jellie would have hated it, and so should I. It’s just… the statues looked too real. I almost thought Flain was looking at me.

Superstition is easy to catch.