I've got to admit that, like Digger, I have little truck with prophecies. There's some interesting stuff going on here as Digger meets a deer-faced guide who is a walking warning against herbal medicine, a monastery deserted of everything but ghosts and demons, and a shadow that grows up. The last is both the most and the least interesting of the piece - I feel as if I've read that story (a monster, raised with the kindness of strangers to something more) numerous times before, but it was well-done if not hugely original.