For day after day, Micah rode beside Robert, in a daze, most of the time. He had one thing in the forefront of his mind – to keep up. He had to. Robert wouldn’t wait for him. The beautiful hills of southern Lusara rolled by, untouched by their passage.
Jenn had a day and a half head start and Robert was determined to find her before she could reach the Goleth, but she was not to be found. Every few hours Robert would stop and get that familiar look in his eyes as he tried Seeking her – but without success.
Father Aiden had told Micah about Robert and Jenn’s journey to Budlandi, and what had awaited their return. But there was something else behind Robert’s haste. Something other than his normal worry about the prophecy.
There were quieter moments, when they rested the horses by walking, or in the brief period before they snatched a few hours’ sleep, when Robert would ask him about Dromna. Not about the army, but of his life in the tavern. It was difficult avoiding the truth; Micah was unaccustomed to lying to Robert. He wanted so badly to confide in him, to explain how he felt – but there was nothing he could say about a Malachi that Robert would want to hear. In the end, he told the simple story of meeting a girl called Sairead, how he had fallen in love and left her behind.
And Robert, feeling as wretched as Micah, voiced hope and concern. It was a poor distraction, but it worked for both of them – for a while.
Still they rode on, changing horses when they could, steering clear of towns and villages. They saw no patrols, no Guildesmen and no trouble. Shortly after dawn on the seventh day, they finally climbed into the foothills of the Goleth range.
And Micah began to pray.
*
Hurry. He had to hurry. He pushed the poor horse so hard, it was a miracle it didn’t collapse under him. But the path was worn, with recent marks of others passing this way, perhaps only a few hours before. It had to be Jenn. Just about everybody else would already be here. He might not be too late, but still he had to hurry.
He had to stop her. She was blind and couldn’t see the truth. It sat before her, plain as day, and still she wouldn’t see it. She didn’t want to believe the Key had changed the prophecy to suit itself. She’d made the promise to Stand and there was nothing else to it. And why shouldn’t she go? He could no longer offer her anything else.
There it was, the gate, at the end of this path. The horse stumbled and was too slow to recover. Instead, Robert jumped down and ran the last few feet to the gate. He heard Micah following behind as he stepped into the darkness. He felt the mild tingle and then he was outside again, running across the field to the main tunnel. There was nobody about, no challenger, no one to ask his purpose.
He couldn’t be so close and still too late.
Exhausted now, he swung around corners and tore down passages, his boots skidding on the stone floor. As he drew closer to the great cavern, he could feel it, building up inside him, like a weight ready to drown him. Already dreading what he would see, he came to a halt at the entrance.
The cavern was almost full. People stood well back, surrounding the Key as it dominated the Circle. The bell had already dissolved and in its place, a shiny black orb glowed, suspended in space. From it came a single light, flooding the face of the only person standing before it: Jenn.
‘No!’ Robert lunged forward, but somebody caught his arm. Without a thought, he shoved back, flinging the person away. He continued on towards the Key. As he crossed the empty space around it, his hands rose, automatically preparing a defence.
Jenn was frozen in place, seeing nothing. She was pale under the light, her eyes colourless. Without pausing, Robert stepped forward and reached out to drag her away and …
… Nothing …
He couldn’t move … but he had no body to move with … gone … there was just the nothing.
No light nor dark, just emptiness, filling him, surrounding him, penetrating him.
Slowly, the nothing developed substance, colour. A swirling grey fog, almost black. He couldn’t feel it, nor see it. He had no eyes and yet he knew it enfolded him, dying and breathing, shifting and swaying. He was alone.
Jenn?
Alone. Completely alone.
Jenn?
WHY ARE YOU HERE, ENEMY?
Jenn? Answer me!
YOU ANSWER US, ENEMY. YOU WERE NOT CALLED.
I don’t care. Leave her alone. You can’t have her … Jenny? Please answer me!
Robert.
Suddenly she was there, and yet wholly insubstantial. He couldn’t see her – and yet he could, with Other eyes.
Please, Robert, go. You can’t stop this.
But you can. You must leave now, before it’s too late. Don’t you understand what you’re doing?
It’s already too late. It always was. I know you love me but you must go. You must forget. Leave me behind.
Do you think that’s why I’m here? Don’t you see this is not the way?
You don’t understand.
THEN MAKE HIM UNDERSTAND, LITTLE ONE.
The booming voice of the Key drowned out everything else, made Jenn fade from his awareness. Then, slowly, everything vanished, the fog fading to nothingness again … only …
This time he wasn’t alone. She was with him, as though she’d always been there, inside him, a part of him – as he was with her. Together, as one, they moved through the fog, but now it was lighter, as though her mind alone illuminated the darkness …
… and then she was gone again, with a wrench so complete it left him staggering, tumbling in the wasteland.
NOW GO, ENEMY. YOU HAVE DONE ENOUGH. YOUR DESTINY LIES ELSEWHERE.
Jenn – stop this now! I beg you.
I can’t, Robert. I made a promise. The Key has chosen me.
The Key is insane, Jenn. You don’t understand what it’s done. Just ask …
WE ARE NOT INSANE, ENEMY. WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE DOING. DO YOU? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO NOT LEAVE NOW?
I’m not afraid.
NO, YOU ARE NOT. YOU ARE THE ENEMY. YOU WERE NOT MADE TO FEAR US.
Suddenly Robert could feel his body again, drowning in the swirling grey mess, gagging and suffocating him, dragging him away from her.
Stop it! Leave him. I won’t let you harm him.
WE WOULD NEVER HARM THE ENEMY, LITTLE ONE. ALLY. WE ONLY DO WHAT WE MUST. TO BOTH OF YOU. THE PATH BEFORE YOU IS LONG AND YOU MUST NOT BE TORN BY THE WASTE OF AGING BODIES. THE G’HARVZIN E MIRANI MUST COME.
Robert gasped in silence as pain filled his entire body, a pain so intense that the grey shifted to red. The agony was appalling, but he could do nothing to stop it.
Then leave him alone! I won’t allow you to hurt him. You may be the Key, but I will stop you.
Flickering lights now filled Robert’s vision and parts of the floor seemed solid beneath his feet. Desperately he tried to get back to wherever Jenn was, but it was too much effort. Was this the power of the Key?
WE HAVE NOT HARMED HIM, LITTLE ONE. QUITE THE OPPOSITE. AND YOU ARE MISTAKEN.
Robert’s head was spinning, red, grey, white. Lights, flashing, on off on off …
Mistaken?
YES, MISTAKEN. WE ARE NOT THE KEY.
His body was his own again, but still he clung on to the last frail threads of the connection …
WE ARE NOT THE KEY, LITTLE ONE – YOU ARE.
Robert’s eyes snapped open. Jenn still stood before him, held in thrall by the Key’s light. He teetered there for a moment, unable to move, then, without warning, his knees buckled beneath him and the blackness came again, blotting out everything.
*
Micah finished checking the horses and spent more time than he needed putting together the rest of the supplies. Outside the barn the night cracked bitter cold, ignoring spring which was flooding the rest of the country. Here in the mountains, seasons changed slowly. Perhaps that was why the Enclave had flourished here. Change had never been thrust upon the Salti; instead, it had always crept inexorably, dragging even the most reluctant along with it.
Until now.
He put the last bag down and leaned back against a wall built by Dunlorn men over the last five years. Wilf was dead. Jenn was Jaibir and that was that. Never again would she be able to leave the Enclave and enjoy the freedom she’d once thrived on. Well, that had been her choice – but was that all that had happened yesterday?
He turned his head until he could see out of the door to where moonlight caught clumps of stubborn snow clinging to the rocky mountaintop. With a sigh, he left the horses and ducked outside, heading for the corridor leading below.
Everything had turned out different. Everything. This war, Robert and Galiena, Sairead – and now Jenn. For a long time, Micah had been able to see the way forward, see what they were aiming for, the goal in the far distance. The path had always been clear and true.
He wanted to see Robert … but he was afraid of what he would find. But why was he suddenly so afraid of a man he’d known and worked alongside almost his entire life?
Robert had changed. Slowly, as inexorably as the seasons, he had changed and there was now about him a layer Micah couldn’t recognise – and it scared him.
The corridors of the Enclave were empty and very quiet, as though the air held something oppressive, like the eye of the storm. Perhaps there was nothing he could do for Robert, but that didn’t mean he should stop trying – especially because he was afraid.
Arlie and Martha had waited supper for him and as soon as he entered their rooms, Martha began to serve up. As usual, her cooking smelled wonderful and his stomach growled in anticipation.
‘How is Jenn?’ Micah began, reaching for the bread.
Arlie’s long face frowned. ‘Still unconscious. Fiona’s with her at the moment. I’m going back after supper.’
‘You sound worried.’
With a nod, Arlie replied, ‘I am. It’s been too long. And there’s something strange with her eyes. I just hope when she wakes up, she can still see.’
‘You mean she’s blind?’ Micah asked.
‘I don’t know. I’ve just never seen anything like it before. We’ll just have to wait. If she is, well, perhaps it will wear off in a few days. Her body’s been under tremendous strain.’
There was a sombre silence after this, punctuated only by the sounds of eating. Micah found himself watching Arlie and how he dealt with a meal with only one hand. The other had been cut off years ago by a Guilde soldier because Arlie had tried to help some sick children. Robert had almost got himself killed trying to save Arlie and, for a while, they’d wondered if the shock of the amputation would kill the Healer. But now, Arlie worked around his severed wrist. He paid it no attention. He lived with it.
After a few more mouthfuls, Martha pushed her plate away and sat back. ‘Don’t you think this feels strange?’
‘What?’ Micah murmured.
‘Well, for five hundred years, we’ve been looking for a sorcerer powerful enough to wield the Key properly. How long is it since we had a woman Jaibir?’
‘About a hundred and twenty years, I think,’ Arlie replied, pausing with his fork in the air.
‘Then it’s about time.’
Micah looked down at his plate but his own appetite had gone. He pushed his chair back, ready to stand. ‘Is Robert awake yet?’
Martha started and glanced quickly at Arlie. She shook her head. ‘Not last time I looked. He’s been sleeping pretty solidly for the last eight hours.’
‘I might look in on him.’
‘I wouldn’t do that. Finnlay’s in there with him.’
Micah’s face fell. ‘Oh. But is he all right now?’
Martha turned to her husband for an answer. Arlie nodded vigorously. ‘Absolutely.’
‘But the bleeding … ’
‘All stopped. Don’t ask me to explain it. I don’t understand what the Key did to Robert and Jenn, but there’s not a mark on either of them now.’
‘But … ’ Micah hesitated, tapping the table edge. ‘Every old scar he’d ever had was open and pouring blood when the Key finally released him! Are you saying they’ve all healed again?’
‘I told you I don’t understand it. But honestly, there’s not a single mark on him now, as though he’d never had a scratch in all his life. Jenn’s the same. The cuts she got from Eachern have vanished. Whatever the Key did to them, it hasn’t done them any harm.’
‘Not yet,’ Martha said, then looked apologetic. ‘I don’t mean to sound callous, but ever since the first day Jenn came here, people like Wilf and Henry have wondered what she could do for us, given the chance. Ever since the Key was created, we’ve struggled to understand it, to use it properly, in the hope that it will, as legend promised, find the Calyx and let us out of this prison we all live in. Aren’t either of you just a little curious what Jenn will say when she finally wakes up?’
Arlie got to his feet and pushed his chair back under the table. ‘Actually, I think I have a damned good idea what she’ll say – and I think none of it will have anything to do with the Calyx. I’m going back to her now. I’ll see you later.’
*
Robert drifted through layers of warmth, each movement brought a corresponding ache, but as he gradually surfaced, the pain drifted away. He opened his eyes, but the darkness was so profound he could make out nothing at all.
Was he still enmeshed with the Key? No, his body felt the same, solid, alive. The bed surrounded him, held him, cradled him. There was no danger here. Not now.
He had been too late. The Key had taken Jenn and now she belonged to it, heart and soul. Now there was no going back. No pause, no hope for redemption. She’d done it, just as she’d been fated to do.
She was the Key. It had been there all along and nobody had noticed. Jenn, the Ally, stuck in the centre, her road not defined by action, merely by existence. Hers was the choice to make, and now she’d made it – even if she’d had no idea of the consequences.
No going back. For any of them.
It was too dark in here. And too quiet. What had the Key done to him? Left him bereft of his Senses? No …
‘Who’s there?’
‘Me,’ Finnlay replied softly from the other side of the room. ‘How do you feel?’
Gingerly, Robert stretched and the blood flowed to his hands and feet, full of energy. ‘Fine. Better than I expected.’
‘Good.’
‘How’s Jenn?’
‘Arlie’s looking after her. He said she’ll be fine once she’s rested.’ Finnlay’s words emerged softly from the darkness. ‘I Sensed you waking up. I caught your aura as it gradually revealed itself, but by the time you opened your eyes, you started shielding again – like you always do – and you vanished. I’m the strongest Seeker in the whole Enclave – stronger even than you, but although I’m only a few feet away from you, you’re invisible to me. As always. Why don’t you ever let me Seek you, Robert?’
Carefully, Robert pushed himself up in bed. Why was Finnlay sitting in the dark?
‘Why did you come here? Is the army moving?’
‘Yes. I came to tell you … ’ This was ridiculous! Robert reached to the bedside and found a candle. With a brief flick of his hand, the flame came to life and he turned back to Finnlay. ‘Serin’s blood, Finn, what happened to you?’
His brother sat crookedly in a chair in the corner. A nasty bruise crossed his left eyebrow, swelling the lid. His left arm was bandaged, too, held against his chest in a sling. ‘What did the Key say to you?’
Robert frowned and swung his legs out of bed. He pulled on trousers and a shirt, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Finnlay.
‘Well?’ Finnlay’s voice dropped to a whisper. ‘You won’t tell me, will you? Well, I hope it was worth it.’
‘Are you going to tell me—’
‘I tried to stop you,’ Finnlay replied, lifting his head a little, his eyes dark and luminous. ‘When you came crashing into the cavern, I reached out and grabbed your arm, because I knew what you would do. I was afraid you’d get hurt – that the Key might kill you for daring such a thing. I tried to stop you,’ he paused, blinking a moment, ‘and you pushed me away.’
‘But I … ’ He hadn’t used any force to get free. How could he have done this much damage? This must be some kind of joke!
‘You don’t believe me, do you?’ Finnlay’s voice suddenly changed, harsher now, cutting. ‘How could you hurt your little brother like this? Real, physical injuries? No, it has to be impossible. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?’
‘Finn, you don’t understand.’
‘I understand plenty!’ Finnlay lurched forward to the edge of his chair. ‘I know better than anyone else how you drive yourself, day after day, year after year. And you drive all of us along with you, dragging us whether we want to go or not. It’s you who doesn’t understand!’
With that, he got to his feet, steadying himself and breathing hard. ‘I know how much you love her, Robert, but you’ve become so obsessed with the prophecy that nothing else matters any more!’
‘That’s not true.’ Robert stood and faced him squarely. ‘Would I be going to war if it was?’
‘Would you be dragging us all into it if it wasn’t?’ Finnlay took another step forward, his eyes blazing. ‘Why bother going to war when all you really have to do is face Nash alone.’
‘You know I can’t do that.’
‘No, I don’t – and neither do you. You just let the prophecy drive you towards the least frightening goal.’ Finnlay paused, his voice full of venom. ‘You could have killed Jenn last night. And now you’ve hurt me – except that this time, I have the bruises to prove it. But you won’t believe you did this. You won’t even say you’re sorry. I’m just another sacrifice to your cause.’
‘But I am sorry, Finn.’ Robert reached out but Finnlay slapped his hand away.
He stood there for a moment, unshed tears filling his eyes. ‘You hurt me, Robert, and the truth is, I’m not sure I can forgive you.’ With that, he turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
*
Martha looked up when Finnlay emerged from Robert’s room. She rose to say something, but his visage was a stone wall. He went to leave, then paused a moment by the door, looking back at her.
‘I’m sorry. You didn’t want to hear that. I’m going up to make sure everyone’s ready to leave. Knowing Robert, he’ll want to be away as soon as he’s had breakfast. There are other wars going on, after all.’
He would have left, but Micah rose quickly and stood in the doorway, blocking Finnlay’s exit. The two men watched each other steadily for several long heartbeats, then Micah spoke. ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’
‘What?’ Finnlay grunted. ‘Spoken my mind? Told him what I thought? Why not? He’s my brother.’
‘That’s not the point.’
‘Oh, stop protecting him, Micah!’ Finnlay snapped. ‘Trust me, Robert is more than capable of looking after himself!’
He pushed past Micah and left, the sound of his footsteps disappearing quickly down the passage.
Martha came around the table and took Micah’s arm. ‘Was that wise?’
Micah shook his head, utterly lost. ‘I don’t know. Hell, I don’t know anything any more.’
*
Jenn lay in her bed, listening. A long time ago, when she’d spent her first night at the Enclave, she’d done the same, learning the normal noises of the place, the scent, the feel. Back then, people had been wary of her, an unknown quantity, a potential, nothing more.
Now she was the Jaibir, linked to the Key for the rest of her life.
Rejoice, little one. Ally. All is well.
Are you ever going to give me some peace? Let me alone for a while?
This is what being Jaibir means.
Was it the same for Wilf? For Marcus and all the others before him?
They were too weak to feel it as you do. Little one. Ally.
Yes, yes, I know that part. What about the rest?
In time. We will always be with you.
She could see very little, no more than a blur of light where the heat of a candle stood by the wall. If she watched carefully, she could discern movement, but nothing more.
Why did every muscle in her body feel like it had been stretched to breaking point? Her head ached as though somebody had hit it with a mallet, but she could feel no bruise. She felt rested, but unable to get up. Her body was dry clay and would crack if she moved.
So she lay there and listened and, slowly, the noises changed. Hesitant, quiet noises. The bedroom door opened and Arlie’s voice came, warm and friendly.
‘Feeling better? Ready to have something to eat?’
‘Yes, but in a minute. Is Robert there?’
‘No. I’ve got some broth here Martha made especially for you.’
‘Robert is there. I can Sense him. Make him come in here, please. I need to talk to him before he leaves.’
There was a silence then and Jenn held her breath. A long silence filled with suggestions and weight and absolutely no words at all. Then heavier footsteps trod on the stone floor and the door closed.
He was in the room, though she could see nothing of him but a hint of shadow. Closing her eyes made it easier; she could Sense him approach, darker than her blindness.
‘Arlie tells me you’ll recover well enough,’ Robert said levelly, not moving from the foot of her bed.
‘How are you?’
‘Fine.’
‘When do you leave?’
‘An hour. Everyone’s ready.’
‘Then we don’t have much time.’
‘No.’
She held out her hand, willing him to come closer. He hesitated a long time before sitting on the edge of the bed, but he didn’t touch her. Eventually, he began to talk, his voice the only real thing about him. Rich and warm, but also bewildered.
‘You wanted to know if I was afraid – but you never asked what I was afraid of.’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘Would you have told me the truth?’
He sighed lightly, holding back even now. ‘Do you have any idea how precious you are to me?’
Fighting the heaviness in her breast, Jenn reached out again until she found his hand. This time he took it. A silence then, with only the sounds from beyond the door as company.
Eventually he spoke again. ‘Do you know that if the Key hadn’t said you and I were Bonded, I would have found some way to win your father over. I would have convinced him to let us marry, years ago.’
‘That would have been some feat. He despised you.’
‘And now the Key has you. Now it says you are the key. I think it knew that all along.’
‘How?’
He laughed a little, soft and bitter. ‘I think the prophecy says as much. It wasn’t until yesterday that I understood. I suppose I was hoping it didn’t mean something like that, so I ignored it. What did the Key do to us?’
‘I’m not sure. Something about aging, of sustaining us. It won’t tell me more – but it hurt.’
He paused and she opened her eyes again, hoping to see something of him.
‘You have no idea how much I hate the Key for ordering my life,’ he continued. ‘I should have seen what would happen if I fought it.’
‘Robert, you can’t keep blaming yourself. You were only nine years old. You didn’t have the skills to see into the future.’
‘I am the Enemy, Jenn. You have to accept that as much as I do. I can see what I’ve become and I don’t like it much. Finnlay
But he broke off, falling into silence again. A silence of regret, heavy and unbreachable. In the back of her mind, she could feel the Key hedging her awareness, waiting for her attention. She ignored it.
He let out air, slowly and noisily. ‘Oh, Jenny, what a road this has been. Sometimes I think the biggest mistake I ever made was believing that it was the Bonding alone that brought us together. You always knew the truth, even as I refused to see it.’
‘Well, you can’t have all the best powers,’ Jenn replied, trying to lighten the mood. Blind though she was, her Senses found the demon, a ball of blackness sitting deep inside him, wound tight, pulsing with readiness. Did he know what it was? Did he understand how it had been formed? How his struggles against his fate only fed it, made it stronger, wore down his ability to resist it? More than once, he’d lost control – and at Elita, it had controlled him so much it had forced him to use the Word of Destruction.
No, he didn’t understand – and that was why the demon thrived. Why, in the end, despite his strength, his power and unbreakable determination, the demon would kill him.
And what could she say? There wasn’t a power on this earth that could turn his eyes inward to see what lay there. She had always known that destroying the demon was something Robert had to do on his own.
He lifted her hand to his cheek, pressed his lips to her fingers. ‘You know this is the end of us, don’t you?’
She swallowed. Did he have to go on? ‘Yes.’
‘What I feel for you will never change but … ’ He fell silent and all she could hear for a long time was his breathing, forced and uneven. She could feel his hand stiffen around hers, Sense the tension radiating from him. Finally, his voice harsh and leaden, he added, ‘I can’t trust you any more.’
Jenn took in a swift breath, and held onto it, not daring to let anything go. Tears would finish her. He didn’t let her say a word. Instead, he leaned forward and kissed her gently, holding her as though she were a thing already lost. Then he stood and dropped her hand. She heard him reach the door.
Hold him here. Don’t let him go. ‘Robert?’
‘Yes?’
Say something. Anything. Don’t let him go. Not like this. ‘I’ll be there, I promise.’
‘No, you won’t. You can never leave this place again. And I’ll never come back.’
He opened the door, but again she stopped him, keeping the fear from her voice. ‘Robert? Will you do something for me?’
‘What?’
‘Tell Finnlay I don’t know where the Calyx is. The Key won’t tell me.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Well, I’m afraid you’ll have to tell him yourself. That’s one bridge I’ve burned once too often.’ Another pause and she could think of nothing else to say. The door opened. ‘Goodbye, Jenny.’
And then he was gone and the emptiness was complete.
Do not fret so, little one. You are not alone. You have Us.
Jenn rolled over onto her side and wrapped her face in her hands. Please – just shut up!
*
There was a line of cloud across the sky, blanking out the deep blue and casting half the mountaintop in shadow. Where the sun fell, the grass was green and almost warm. The rest was grey, cold and untouchable.
As Finnlay brought Jenn out of the tunnel, the last horse was brought around and mounted. Forty of the Enclave’s finest men and women were prepared to leave, anticipation and some eagerness showing on their faces. Alongside them were fifty fighting men who’d come from Dunlorn, waiting for this very day. Already the caves below felt empty.
Friends and family had gathered to bid them all good luck. Martha waited to one side, her children with her, watching Arlie as he fussed with his horse, looking anxiously at her. The same pattern was repeated everywhere. Micah worked his way through the group, keeping order and passing out encouraging smiles to everyone.
And there was Robert, standing in the centre of the group, talking to, of all people, Fiona.
‘What’s happening?’ Jenn asked as he paused outside the group.
‘They’re just about ready to leave. How do you feel? Do you need to sit?’
‘No, I’m fine. Feeling stronger by the minute. I think it was a good move to make myself get up.’
‘I don’t – you’re still very pale.’ She was more than that. Not fragile exactly, but the red around her eyes had nothing to do with blindness. ‘How much can you see?’
‘Nothing. Just light and shadow. No shapes.’
‘Then why come out?’
‘I’m Jaibir, Finn. Of all people, I must be here. Would Wilf have stayed below?’
‘I sincerely hope you’re not going to model your leadership on his.’
Jenn smiled at this, turning her face towards him. ‘Not a hope in hell, as it happens.’
Despite everything, Finnlay had to smile back. Two people could not be more unalike.
‘What’s happening now?’
‘Everyone is ready. They’re just waiting for my brother.’
‘But he’s there, I can Sense him.’
‘Yes, but he seems to be deep in conversation with my wife. The gods alone know what they’re talking about.’
Then the conversation ended. Fiona gave Robert a hug and moved back to stand with Martha. Robert took his horse and looked around, his expression sombre. Finally he turned towards Jenn and Finnlay, his gaze steady and unflinching, as though he could stay like that forever.
‘Are you sorry?’ Jenn whispered.
Finnlay couldn’t answer immediately. Then Robert turned his horse and led the others through the gate. He disappeared quickly and the rest followed behind. Nobody moved until the last had gone.
‘Yes, I’m sorry,’ Finnlay finally breathed.
‘But you haven’t changed your mind?’
‘No.’ He turned to face her. She had a little more colour in her face now and she no longer stood as though she was about to fall over. ‘I just wish I hadn’t let my anger get the better of me.’
‘Oh, Finn, you are wonderful, you know that?’
Finnlay looked askance at her. ‘Are you sure you’re feeling all right?’
‘Of all the brothers Robert could have had, I know he wouldn’t have swapped you for anyone.’ She smiled and took his hand. ‘You’re worried you’ll never see him again, aren’t you?’
‘I thought you were blind.’
‘I think I have been, for a long time. It seems that when my eyes no longer work, I can see more than ever before. I want to ask you something, but I need you to think about it carefully before you answer.’
‘What?’
‘Do you trust me?’
Trust her? After all this time she had to ask?
But it was different now – she was different. It was weird, but although her blue eyes were glazed over with a pale white, it was obvious she could see him clearly. And, as if for the first time, he could see her in the same way.
He nodded slowly. ‘Yes, Jenn. I trust you. I think I’ve always trusted you more than anyone else.’
She smiled again, warm and genuine. ‘Then believe me when I tell you, you will see Robert again. I promise.’
‘But … he’ll never come back here again. You know that.’
‘Yes. But you will see him.’ She turned him back towards the tunnel, still holding onto his hand. ‘I’ll take you to him.’