Six: The Defense of Mithil Stonedown


   Late, he was shaken awake by Foamfollower. The Giant nudged his shoulder until he started up out of his blankets into the darkness. In the dim light of half-covered graveling pots, he could see that the snow had stopped, but dawn was still some time away. Night locked the valley full of black air.
   He dropped back into the blankets, muttering groggily, "Go away. Let me sleep."
   Foamfollower shook him again. "Arise, ur-Lord. You must eat now. We will depart soon."
   "Dawn," Covenant said. The stiff soreness of his lip made him mumble as if the numbness of his hands and feet had spread to his tongue. "He said dawn."
   "Yeurquin reports watch fires approaching Mithil Stonedown from the South Plains. They will not be friendly-few people of the south dare show light at night. And someone climbs toward us from the Stonedown itself. We will not remain here. Arise." He lifted Covenant into a sitting position, then thrust a flask and bowl into his hands. "Eat."
   Sleepily, Covenant drank from the stone flask, and found that it contained water as icy as melted snow. The chill draft jolted him toward wakefulness. Shivering, he turned to the bowl. It contained unleavened bread and treasure-berries. He began to eat quickly to appease the cold water in his stomach.
   Between bites, he asked, "If whatever they are-marauders-are coming, aren't we safe here?"
   "Perhaps. But the Stonedownors will fight for their homes. They are Triock's people-we must aid them."
   "Can't they just hide in the mountains-until the marauders go away?"
   "They have done so in the past. But Mithil Stonedown has been attacked many times. The Stonedownors are sick at the damage done to their homes in these attacks. This time, they will fight."
   Covenant emptied the bowl, and forced himself to drink deeply from the flask. The chill of the water made his throat ache.
   "I'm no warrior."
   "I remember," Foamfollower said with an ambiguous smile, as if what he remembered did not accord with Covenant's assertion. "We will keep you from harm."
   He took the flask and bowl and stowed them in a large leather sack. Then from it he pulled out a heavy sheepskin jacket, which he handed to Covenant. "This will serve you well-though it is said that no apparel or blaze can wholly refute the cold of this winter." As Covenant donned the jacket, the Giant went on, "I regret that I have no better footwear for you. But the Stonedownors wear only sandals." He took from his sack a pair of thick sandals and passed them to Covenant.
   When Covenant pushed back his blankets, he saw for the first time the damage he had done to his feet. They were torn and bruised from toe to heel; dry, caked blood covered them in blotches; and the remains of his socks hung from his ankles like the ragged frills of a jester. But he felt no pain; the deadness of his nerves reached deeper than these injuries. "Don't worry about it," he rasped as he pulled the socks from his ankles, "it's only leprosy."
   He snatched the sandals from Foamfollower, jammed them onto his feet, and tied their thongs behind his heels. "One of these days I'll figure out why I bother to protect myself at all." But he knew why; his inchoate purpose demanded it.
   "You ought to visit my world," he growled only half to the Giant. "It's painless. You won't feel a thing."
   Then Triock hailed them. Foamfollower got swiftly to his feet. When Covenant climbed from the blankets, Foamfollower picked them up and pushed them into his sack. With the sack in one hand and the graveling pot in the other, he went with Covenant toward the Stonedownor.
   Triock stood with three companions near the narrow ravine which was the outlet of the valley. They spoke together in low, urgent tones until Foamfollower and Covenant joined them. Then Triock said rapidly, "Rockbrother, our scouts have returned from the Plains. Slen reports that-" Abruptly he stopped himself. His mouth bent into a sardonic smile, and he said, "Pardon me. I forget my courtesy. I must make introductions."
   He turned to one of his companions, a stocky old man breathing hoarsely in the cold. "Slen Terass-mate, here is ur-Lord Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever and white gold wielder. Unbeliever, here is Slen, the rarest cook in all the South Plains. Terass his wife stands among the Circle of elders of Mithil Stonedown."
   Slen gave Covenant a salute which he returned awkwardly, as if the steaming of his breath and the numbness of his hands prevented him from grace. Then Triock turned to his other companions. They were a man and a woman who resembled each other like twins. They had an embattled look, as if they were familiar with bloodshed and killing at night, and their brown eyes blinked at Covenant like the orbs of people who had lost the capacity to be surprised. "Here are Yeurquin and Quirrel," said Triock. "We have fought together from the first days of this attack upon the Land.
   "Unbeliever, when the Giant and I heard the word of Revelstone's siege, we were at work harrying a large band of the Slayer's creatures in the center of the South Plains. We fled from them at once, taking care to hide °ur trail so that they would not follow. And we left scouts to keep watch on the band. Now the scouts have returned to say that at first the band hunted us without success. But two days ago they turned suddenly and hastened straight toward the Mithil valley."
   Triock paused grimly, then said, "They have felt the power of our work upon Kevin's Watch. Melenkurion! Some creature among them has eyes."
   "Therefore we are not safe here," Foamfollower said to Covenant. "If they have truly seen the power of the High Wood, they will not rest until they have captured it for Soulcrusher-and slain its wielder."
   Slen coughed a gout of steam. "We must go. We will be assailed at daybreak."
   With a sharp nod, Triock agreed. "We are ready." He glanced toward Foamfollower and Covenant. "Unbeliever, we must travel afoot. The days of horseback sojourning are gone from the Land. Are you able?"
   Covenant shrugged the question away. "It's a little late for us to start worrying about what I can or can't do. Foamfollower can carry me easily enough-if I slow you down."
   "Well, then.'' Triock tightened his cloak, then picked up the graveling pot and held it over his head so that it lighted the ravine ahead of him. "Let us go."
   Quirrel strode briskly ahead of them into the darkness of the ravine, and Triock preceded Slen after her. At a gesture from the Giant, Covenant followed Slen. Foamfollower came behind him with the other graveling pot, and Yeurquin brought up the rear of the group.
   Before he had worked his way twenty yards down the ravine, Covenant knew that he was not yet strong enough to travel. Lassitude clogged his muscles, and what little energy he had he needed to defend himself from the penetrating cold. At first he resolved to endure despite his weakness. But by the time he had hauled himself halfway up the rift which led to the mountainside overlooking Mithil Stonedown, he understood that he could not go on without help. If he were to accomplish the purpose which grew obscurely in the back of his mind, he would have to learn how to accept help.
   He leaned panting against the stone. "Foamfollower."
   The Giant bent near him. "Yes, my friend."
   "Foamfollower-I can't make it alone."
   Chuckling gently, Foamfollower said, "Nor can I. My friend, there is comfort-in some companionships." He lifted Covenant effortlessly into his arms, carried him in a half-sitting position so that Covenant could see ahead. Though he only needed one arm to bear Covenant's weight, he put the graveling pot into Covenant's hands. The warm light revealed that Foamfollower was grinning as he said, "This is hazardous for me. It is possible that being of use may become a dangerous habit."
   Gruffly, Covenant muttered, "That sounds like something I might say."
   Foamfollower's grin broadened. But Triock threw back a warning
   scowl, and the Giant made no other response.
   Moments later, Triock covered his graveling pot. At a nod from Foamfollower, Covenant did the same. The Giant placed the urn in his sack. Without any light to give them away, the group climbed out of the rift onto the exposed mountainside high above the Mithil valley.
   Under the heavy darkness, they could see nothing below them but the distant watch fires smoldering like sparks in cold black tinder. Covenant could not gauge how far away the fires were, but Foamfollower said tightly, "It is a large band. They will gain the Stonedown by dawn-as Slen said."
   "Then we must make haste,'' snapped Triock. He swung away to the left, moving swiftly along the unlit ledge.
   The Giant followed at once, and his long strides easily matched Triock's trotting pace. Soon they had left the ledge, crossed from it to more gradual slopes as their trail worked downward into the valley. Slowly, Covenant could feel the air thickening. With the warmth of the graveling pot resting against his chest, he began to feel stronger. He made an effort to remember what this trail had looked like in the spring, but no memories came; he could not escape the impression of bare bleakness which shone through the night at him. He sensed that if he could have seen the unrelieved rock faces of the mountains, or the imposed lifelessness of the foothills, or the blasted tree trunks, or the Mithil River writhing in ice, he would have been dismayed. He was not yet ready for dismay.
   Ahead of him, Triock began to run.
   Foamfollower's jogging shook other thoughts out of Covenant's mind, and he began to concentrate in earnest on the gloomy night. By squinting grotesquely, he found that he could adjust his sight somewhat to the dark; apparently his eyes were remembering their Land-born penetration. As Foamfollower hurried him down the trail, he made out the high loom of the mountains on his left and the depth of the valley on his right. After a while, he caught vague, pale glimpses of the ice-gnarled river. Then the trail neared the end of the valley, and swung down in a wide arc toward the Mithil. When Foamfollower had completed the turn, Covenant saw the first dim lightening of dawn behind the eastern peaks.
   Their pace became more urgent. As dawn leaked into the air, Covenant could see shadowy clouts of snow jumping from under the beat of Triock's feet. Foamfollower's strong respiration filled his ears, and behind it at odd intervals he heard the river straining in sharp creaks and groans against the weight of its own freezing. He began to feel a need to get down from the Giant's arms, either to separate himself from this urgency or to run toward it on his own.
   Then Quirrel slowed abruptly and stopped. Triock and Foamfollower caught up with her, found her with another Stonedownor woman. The woman whispered quickly, "Triock, the people are ready. Enemies approach. They are many, but the scouts saw no Cavewights or ur-viles. How shall we fight them?"
   As she spoke, Covenant dropped to the ground. He stamped his feet to speed the circulation in his knees and stepped close to Triock so that he could hear what was said.
   "Someone among them has eyes," Triock responded. "They hunt the High Wood."
   "So say the elders."
   "We will use it to lure them. I will remain on this side of the Stonedown-away from them, so that they must search all the homes to find me. The houses will disrupt their formations, come between them. The Stonedown itself and surprise will aid us. Tell the people to conceal themselves on this side-behind the walls, in the outer houses. Go."
   The woman turned and ran toward the Stonedown. Triock followed her more slowly, giving instructions to Quirrel and Yeurquin as he moved. With Foamfollower at his side, Covenant hurried after them, trying to figure out how to keep himself alive when the fighting started. Triock seemed sure that the marauders were after the lomillialor, but Covenant had other ideas. He was prepared to believe that this band of Foul's creatures had come for him and the white gold.
   He panted his way up a long hill behind Triock, and when they topped it, he found himself overlooking the crouched stone shapes of the village. In the unhale dawn, he made out the rough, circular configuration of the Stonedown; its irregular houses, most of them flat-roofed and single-storied, stood facing inward around its open center, the gathering place for its people.
   In the distance, near the mouth of the valley, were the fires of the marauders. They moved swiftly, as if they had the scent of prey in their nostrils.
   Triock stopped for a moment to peer through the gloom toward them. Then he said to Foamfollower, "If this also goes astray, I leave the High Wood and the Unbeliever in your care. You must do what I cannot."
   "It must not go astray," Foamfollower replied. "We cannot allow it. What is there that I could do in your stead?"
   Triock jerked his head toward Covenant. "Forgive him."
   Without waiting for an answer, he started at a lope down the hill.
   Covenant rushed to catch up with him, but his dead feet slipped so uncertainly through the snow that he could not move fast enough. He did not overtake Triock until they were almost at the bottom of the hill. There Covenant grabbed his arm, stopped him, and panted steamily into his face, "Don't forgive me. Don't do any more violence to yourself for me. Just give me a weapon so I can defend myself."
   Triock struck Covenant's hand away. "A weapon, Unbeliever?" he barked. '' Use your ring." But a moment later he controlled himself, fought down his bitterness. Softly, he said, "Covenant, perhaps one day we will come to comprehend each other, you and I." Reaching into his cloak, he drew out a stone dagger with a long blade, and handed it to Covenant gravely, as if they were comrades. Then he hastened away to join the people scurrying toward their positions on the outskirts of the village.
   Covenant regarded the knife as if it were a secret asp. For a moment, he was uncertain what to do with it; now that he had a weapon, he could not imagine using it. He had had other knives, the implications of which were ambiguous. He looked questioningly up at Foamfollower, but the Giant's attention was elsewhere. He was staring intently toward the approach of the fires, and his eyes held a hot, enthusiastic gleam, as if they reflected or remembered slaughter. Covenant winced inwardly. He passed the knife back and forth between his hands, almost threw it away, then abruptly opened his jacket and slid the blade under his belt.
   "Now what?" he demanded, trying to distract Foamfollower's stare. "Do we just stand here, or should we start running around in circles?"
   The Giant looked down sharply and his face darkened. "They fight for their homes," he said dangerously. "If you cannot aid, at least forbear to ridicule." With a commanding gesture, he strode away between the nearest houses.
   Groaning at the Giant's unfamiliar ire, Covenant followed him into the Stonedown. Most of the people had stopped moving now and were stealthily crouched behind the houses around that side of the village. They seemed to ignore Covenant, and he went by them after Foamfollower as if he were on his way to bait their trap for the marauders.
   Foamfollower halted at the back of one of the inner houses. It was flat-roofed, like most of the buildings around it, and its stone eaves reached as high as the Giant's throat. When Covenant joined him, he picked up the Unbeliever and tossed him lightly onto the roof.
   Covenant landed facedown in the snow. At once, he lurched sputtering to his knees, and turned angrily back toward the Giant.
   "You will be safer there," Foamfollower said. He nodded toward a neighboring house. "I will ward you from here. Stay low. They are almost upon us."
   Instinctively, Covenant dropped to his belly.
   As if on signal, he felt a hushed silence spring up around him. No sound touched the Stonedown except the low, dislocated whistle of the wind. He felt acutely exposed on the roof. But even this height made him dizzy; he could not look or jump down. Hastily, he skittered back from the edge, then froze as he heard the noise he made. Though his movements were muffled by the snow, they sounded as loud as betrayal in the stillness. For a moment, he could not muster the courage to turn around. He feared to find cruel faces leering at him over the roof edge.
   But slowly the apprehension beating in his temples eased. He began to curse himself. Spread-eagled on the roof, he worked slowly around until he was facing in toward the center of the Stonedown.
   Across the valley, light bled into the air through the gray packed clouds. The clouds shut out any other sky completely, and under their cold weight the day dawned bleak and cheerless, irremediably aggrieved. The sight chilled Covenant more than black night. He could see now more clearly than he had from Kevin's Watch that this shrouded, constant gloom was unnatural, wrong-the pall of Lord Foul's maddest malice. And he was aghast at the power it implied. Foul had the might to distort the Earth's most fundamental orders. It would not exhaust him to crush one ineffectual leper. Any purpose to the contrary was mere witless buffoonery.
   Covenant's hand moved toward the knife as if its stone edge could remind him of fortitude, tighten the moorings of his endurance. But a distant, clashing sound, uncertain in the wind, cast all other thoughts from his mind. After straining his ears briefly, he knew that he was hearing the approach of the marauders.
   He began to shiver as he realized that they were making no effort to move quietly. The whole valley lay open before them, and they had the hungry confidence of numbers; they came up along the river clattering their weapons, defying the Stonedownors to oppose them. Cautiously, Covenant slid into a better position to see over the edge of the roof. His muscles trembled, but he locked his jaws, pressed himself flat in the snow, and peered through the dim air toward the center of the village with an intensity of concentration that made his head ache.
   Soon he heard guttural shouts and the clang of iron on stone as the marauders rushed to search the first houses. Still he could see nothing; the roof line of the village blocked his view. He tried to keep his breathing low, so that exhaled vapor would not obscure his sight or reveal his position. When he turned his head to look in other directions, he found that he was clenching fistfuls of snow, squeezing them into ice. He opened his hands, forced his fingers to unclaw themselves, then braced his palms flat on the stone so that he would be ready to move.
   The loud approach spread out over the far side of the village and began to move inward, working roughly parallel to the river. Instead of trying to surround and trap the Stonedownors, the marauders were performing a slow sweep of the village; disdaining surprise, they maneuvered so that the people would be forced to flee toward the narrow end of the valley. Covenant could think of no explanation for these tactics but red-eyed confidence and contempt. The marauders wanted to drive the people into the final trap of the valley's end, thus prolonging and sharpening the anticipated slaughter. Such malicious surety was frightening, but Covenant found relief in it. It was not an approach designed to capture something as reputedly powerful as white gold.
   But he soon learned another explanation. As he strained his eyes to peer through the dawn, he saw a sharp flash of green light from the far side of the village. It lasted only an instant, and in its wake a crumbling noise filled the air-a noise like the sound of boulders crushing each other. It startled him so much that he almost leaped to his feet to see what had happened. But he caught himself when he saw the first creatures enter the center of the Stonedown.
   Most of them were vaguely human in outline. But their features were tormented, grotesquely arranged, as if some potent fist had clenched them at birth, twisting them beyond all recognition. Eyes were out of place, malformed; noses and mouths bulged in skin that was contorted like clay which had been squeezed between strong fingers; and in some cases all the flesh of face and scalp oozed fluid as if the entire head were a running sore. And the rest of their forms were no healthier. Some had backs bent at demented angles, others bore extra arms or legs, still others wore their heads between their shoulder blades or in the center of their chests. But one quality they shared: they all reeked of perversion as if it were the very lifeblood of their existence; and a hatred of everything hale or well curdled their sight.
   Naked except for food sacks and bands to hold weapons, they came snarling and spitting into the open core of Mithil Stonedown. There they stopped until the shouts of their fellows told them that the first half of the village was under their control. Then a tall figure with a knuckled face and three massive arms barked a command to the marauders behind her. In response, a group moved into the open circle, bringing with it three prodigious creatures unlike the others.
   These three were as blind and hairless as if they had been spawned from ur-viles, but they had neither ears nor noses. Their small heads sat necklessly on their immense shoulders. At the bottom of trunks as big as hogsheads, their short legs protruded like braces, and their heavy arms were long enough to reach the ground. From shoulder to fingertip, the inner surfaces of their arms were covered with suckers. Together, they seemed to ripple in Covenant's sight, as if within them they carried so much ill might that his unwarped eyes could not discern their limits.
   On command, the marauders led the three to a house at the edge of the circle. They were positioned around the building, and at once they moved close to the walls, spread their arms to their fullest extent, gripped the flat rock with their suckers.
   Hoarse, growling power began to mount between them. Their might reached around the house and tightened slowly like a noose.
   Covenant watched them in blank dismay. He understood the marauders' tactics now; the band attacked as it did to protect these three. With a stink of attar, their power increased, tightened, growled, until he could see a hawser of green force running through them around the house, squeezing it in implacable fury. He thought that he should shout to the Stonedownors, warn them of the danger. But he was dry-mouthed and frozen with horror. He hardly knew that he had risen to his hands and knees to gain a better view of what was happening.
   Moments passed. Tension crackled in the air as the stone of the house began to scream silently under the stress. Covenant gaped at it as if the mute rock were crying out to him for help.
   Then the noose exploded in a flash of green force. The house crumbled inward, fell into itself until all its rooms and furnishings were buried in rubble. Its three destroyers stepped back and searched blindly around them for more stone to crush.
   Abruptly, a woman screamed-a raw shout of outrage. Covenant heard her running between the houses. He leaped to his feet and saw a fleet, white-haired woman dash past the eaves of his roof with a long knife clenched in both hands. In an instant, she had raced beyond him toward the center of the Stonedown.
   At once he went after her. With two quick steps, he threw himself like a bundle of disjointed limbs toward the next roof. He landed off balance, fell, and slid through the snow almost to the edge of the house. But he picked himself up and moved back to get a running start toward the next roof.
   From that position, he saw the woman rush into the open circle. Her scream had alerted the marauders, but they were not ready for the speed with which she launched herself at them. As she sprang, she stabbed the long knife with all her strength, drove it hilt-deep into the breast of the three-armed creature which had been commanding the assault.
   The next instant, another creature grabbed her by the hair and flung her back. She lost her knife, fell out of Covenant's sight in front of one of the houses. The marauders moved after her, swords upraised.
   Covenant leaped for the next roof. He kept his balance as he landed this time, ran across the stone, and leaped again. Then he fell skidding on the roof of the house which blocked the woman from his sight. He had too much momentum now; he could not stop. In a cloud of snow, he toppled over the edge and slammed heavily to the ground beside the woman.
   The impact stunned him. But his sudden appearance had surprised the attackers, and the nearest creature recoiled several steps, waving its sword defensively as if Covenant were a group of warriors. In the interval, he shook red mist from his eyes, and got gasping to his feet.
   The marauders whirled their weapons, dropped into fighting crouches. But when they saw that they were threatened by only one half-stunned man, some of them spat hoarse curses at him and others began to laugh malevolently. Sheathing their weapons, several of them moved forward with an exaggerated display of caution to capture Covenant and the old woman. At this, other creatures jeered harshly, and more came into the circle to see what was happening.
   Covenant's gaze dashed in all directions, hunting for a way of escape. But he could find nothing; he and the woman were alone against more than a score of the misborn creatures.
   The marauders' breathing did not steam in the cold air. Though they wore nothing to protect their flesh from the cold, they seemed horribly comfortable in the preternatural winter.
   They approached as if they meant to eat Covenant and the woman alive.
   The woman hissed at them in revulsion, but he paid no attention to her. All of him was concentrated on escape. An odd memory tugged at the back of his mind. He remembered a time when Mhoram had made even powerless white gold useful. As the creatures crept hooting toward him, he suddenly brandished his ring and sprang forward a step, shouting, "Get back, you bloody bastards, or I'll blast you where you stand!"
   Either his shout or the sight of his ring startled them; they jumped back a few paces, grabbing at their weapons.
   In that instant, Covenant snatched up the woman's hand and fled. Pulling her after him, he raced to the corner of the house, swung sharply around it, and sped as fast as he could away from the open ground. He lost his hold on the woman almost at once; he could not grip her securely with his half-fingerless hand. But she was running on her own now. In a moment, she caught up with him and took hold of his arm, helped him make the next turn.
   Roaring with fury, the marauders started in pursuit. But when they entered the lane between the houses, Foamfollower dove from a rooftop and crashed headlong into them like a battering ram. Constricted by the houses on either side, they could not evade him; he hit them squarely, breaking the ones nearest him and bowling the others back into the center of the Stonedown.
   Then Triock, Quirrel, and Yeurquin led a dozen Stonedownors into the village across the roofs. Amid the confusion caused by the Giant's attack, the defenders fell onto the marauders like a rain of swords and javelins. Other people ran forward to engage the creatures that were still hunting among the houses. In moments, fighting raged throughout the Stonedown.
   But Covenant did not stop; drawing the woman with him, he fled until he was past the last buildings. There he lengthened his stride, intending to run as far as he could up the valley. But Slen intercepted him. Panting hoarsely, Slen snapped at the woman, "Fool! You have lost sense altogether." Then he tugged at Covenant. "Come. Come."
   Covenant and the woman followed him away from the river along an unmarked path into the foothills. A few hundred yards above the village, they came to a jumble of boulders-the ancient remains of a rockfall from the mountains. Slen took a cunning way in among the boulders and soon reached a large, hidden cave. Several Stonedownors stood on guard at the cave mouth, and within it the children and the ill or infirm huddled around graveling bowls.
   Covenant was tempted to enter the cave and share its sanctuary. But near its mouth was a high, sloped heap of rock with a broad crown. He turned and climbed the rocks to find out if he could see the Stonedown from its top. The white-haired woman ascended lightly behind him; soon they stood together, looking down at the battle of Mithil Stonedown.
   The altitude of his position surprised him. He had not realized that he had climbed so high. Vertigo made his feet feel suddenly slippery, and he recoiled from the sight. For a moment, the valley reeled around him. He could not believe that a short time ago he had been leaping across rooftops; the mere thought of such audacity seemed to sweep his balance away, leaving him at the mercy of the height. But the woman caught hold of him,  supported him. And his urgent need to watch the fighting helped him to resist his dizziness. Clinging half unconsciously to the woman's shoulder, he forced himself to peer downward.
   At first, the cloud-locked dimness of the day obscured the battle, prevented him from being able to distinguish what was happening. But as he concentrated, he made out the Giant.
   Foamfollower dominated the melee in the Stonedown's center. He waded hugely through the marauders, heaved himself from place to place. Swinging his mighty fists like cudgels, he chopped creatures down, pounded them out of his way with blows which appeared powerful enough to tear their heads off. But he was sorely outnumbered. Though his movement prevented the marauders from hitting him with a concerted attack, they were armed and he was not. As Covenant watched, several of the creatures succeeded in knocking Foamfollower toward one of the rock destroyers.
   The soft, glad tone of the woman's voice jarred painfully against his anxiety. "Thomas Covenant, I thank you," she said. "My life is yours."
   Foamfollower! Covenant cried silently. "What?" He doubted that the woman had actually spoken. "I don't want your life. What in hell possessed you to run out there, anyway?"
   "That is unkind," she replied quietly. "I have waited for you. I have ridden your Ranyhyn."
   The meaning of what she said did not penetrate him. "Foamfollower is getting himself killed down there because of you."
   "I have borne your child."
   What?
   Without warning, her words hit him in the face like ice water. He snatched his hand from her shoulder, jerked backward a step or two across the rock. A shift in the wind brought the clamor of battle up to him in tatters, but he did not hear it. For the first time, he looked at the woman.
   She appeared to be in her mid-sixties-easily old enough to be his mother. Lines of groundless hope marked her pale skin around the blue veins in her temples, and the hair which plumed her head was no longer thick. He saw nothing to recognize in the open expectancy of her mouth, or in the bone-leanness of her body, or in her wrinkled hands. Her eyes had a curious, round, misfocused look, like the confusion of madness.
   But for all their inaccuracy, they were spacious eyes, like the eyes of the women she claimed for her mother and daughter. And woven into the shoulders of her long blue robe was a pattern of white leaves.
   "Do you not know me, Thomas Covenant?" she said gently. "I have lot changed. They all wish me to change-Triock and Trell my father and the Circle of elders, all wish me to change. But I do not. Do I appear changed?"
   "No," Covenant panted. With sour nausea in his mouth, he understood that he was looking at Lena, the woman he had violated with his lust-mother of the woman he had violated with his love-recipient of the Ranyhyn-boon he had instigated when he had violated the great horses with his false bargains. Despite her earlier fury, she looked too old, too fragile, to be touched. He forced out the words as if they appalled him. "No-change."
   She smiled with relief. "I am glad. I have striven to hold true. The Unbeliever deserves no less."
   "Deserves," Covenant croaked helplessly. The battle noises from Mithil Stonedown taunted him again. "Hellfire."
   He coerced himself to meet her gaze, and slowly her smile turned to a look of concern. She moved forward, reached out to him. He wanted to back away, but he held still as her fingertips lightly touched his lip, then stroked a cool line around the wound on his forehead. "You have been harmed," she said. "Does the Despiser dare to assault you in your own world?"
   He felt that he had to warn her away from him; the misfocus of her gaze showed that she was endangered by him. Rapidly, he whispered, "Atiaran's judgment is coming true. The Land is being destroyed, and it's my fault."
   Her fingers caressed him as if they were trying to smooth a frown from his brow. "You will save the Land. You are the Unbeliever-the new Berek Half hand of our age."
   "I can't save anything-I can't even help those people down there. Foamfollower is my friend, and I can't help him. Triock-Triock has earned anything I can do, and I can't-"
   "Were I a Giant,'' she interrupted with sudden vehemence, "I would require no aid in such a battle. And Triock-" She faltered unexpectedly, as if she had stumbled over an unwonted perception of what Triock meant to her. "He is a Cattleherd-content. He wishes- But I am unchanged. He-"
   Covenant stared at the distress which strained her face. For an instant, her eyes seemed to be on the verge of seeing clearly, and her forehead tightened under the imminence of cruel facts. "Covenant?" she whispered painfully. "Unbeliever?"
   "Yes, I know," Covenant mumbled in spite of himself. "He would consider himself lucky if he got killed." As tenderly as he could, he reached out and drew her into his arms.
   At once she embraced him, clung convulsively to him while a crisis within her crested, receded. But even as he gave her what comfort he could with his arms, he was looking back toward the Stonedown. The shouts and cries and clatter of the fighting outweighed his own torn emotions, his conflicting sympathy for and horror of Lena. When she stepped back from him, he had to force himself to meet the happiness which sparkled in her mistaken eyes.
   "I am so glad-my eyes rejoice to behold you. I have held-I have desired to be worthy. Ah, you must meet our daughter. She will make you proud."
   Elena! Covenant groaned thickly. They haven't told her-she doesn't understand- Hellfire.
   For a moment, he ached under his helplessness, his inability to speak. But then a hoarse shout from the Stonedown rescued him. Looking down, he saw people standing in the center of the village with their swords and spears upraised. Beyond them, the surviving marauders fled for their lives toward the open plains. A handful of the defenders gave savage pursuit, harried the creatures to prevent as many as possible from escaping.
   Immediately, Covenant started down the rocks. He heard Lena shout word of the victory to Slen and the other people at the mouth of the cave, but he did not wait for her or them. He ran down out of the foothills as if he too were fleeing-fleeing from Lena, or from his fear for Foamfollower, he did not know which. As swiftly as he could without slipping in the snow, he hurried toward Mithil Stonedown.
   But when he dashed between the houses and stumbled in among the hacked corpses, he lurched to a halt. All around him the snow and stone were spattered with blood-livid incarnadine patches, heavy swaths of red-gray serum diseased by streaks of green. Stonedownors-some of them torn limb from limb-lay confused amid the litter of Lord Foul's creatures. But the perverse faces and forms of the creatures were what drew Covenant's attention. Even in death, they stank of the abomination which had been practiced upon them by their maker, and they appalled him more than ur-viles or kresh or discolored moons. They were so entirely the victims of Foul's contempt. The sight and smell of them made his guts heave. He dropped to his knees in the disfigured snow and vomited as if he were desperate to purge himself of his kinship with these creatures.
   Lena caught up with him there. When she saw him, she gave a low cry and flung her arms around him. "What is wrong?" she moaned. "Oh, beloved, you are ill."
   Her use of the word beloved stung him like acid flung from the far side °f Elena's lost grave. It drove him reeling to his feet. Lena tried to help him, but he pushed her hands away. Into the concern of her face, he cried, "Don't touch me. Don't." Jerking brokenly, his hands gestured at the bodies around him. "They're lepers. Lepers like me. This is what Foul wants to do to everything." His mouth twisted around the words as if they shared the gall of his nausea.
   Several Stonedownors had gathered near him. Triock was among them. His hands were red, and blood ran from a cut along the line of his jaw, but when he spoke, he only sounded bitterer, harder. "It boots nothing to say that they have been made to be what they are. Still they shed blood-they ravage-they destroy. They must be prevented."
   "They're like me." Covenant turned panting toward Triock as if he meant to hurl himself at the Stonedownor's throat. But when he looked up he saw Foamfollower standing behind Triock. The Giant had survived a fearsome struggle. The muscles of his arms quivered with exhaustion. His leather jerkin hung from his shoulders in shreds, and all across his chest were garish red sores-wounds inflicted by the suckers of the rock destroyer. But a sated look glazed his deep-set eyes, and the vestiges of a fierce grin clung to his lips.
   Covenant struggled for breath in the bloody air of the Stonedown. The sight of Foamfollower triggered a reaction he could not control. "Get your people together," he rasped at Triock. "I've decided what I'm going to do."
   The hardness of Triock's mouth did not relent, but his eyes softened as he searched Covenant's gaze. "Such choices can wait a little longer," he replied stiffly. "We have other duties. We must cleanse Mithil Stonedown -rid our homes of this stain." Then he turned and walked away.
   Soon all the people who were whole or strong enough were at work. First they buried their fallen friends and kindred in honorable rocky cairns high in the eastern slopes of the valley. And when that grim task was done, they gathered together all the creature corpses and carted this hacked and broken rubble downriver across the bridge to the west bank of the Mithil. There they built a pyre like a huge warning blaze to any marauders in the South Plains and burned the dead creatures until even the bones were reduced to white ash. Then they returned to the Stonedown. With clean snow, they scrubbed it from rim to center until all the blood and gore had been washed from the houses and swept from the ground of the village.
   Covenant did not help them. After his recent exertions, he was too weak for such labor. But he felt cold, upright, and passionate, ballasted by the new granite of his purpose. He went with Lena, Slen, and the Circle of elders to the banks of the river, and there helped treat the injuries of the Stonedownors. He cleaned and bound wounds, removed slivers of broken weapons, amputated mangled fingers and toes. When even the elders faltered, he took the blue-hot blade and used it to clean the sores which covered Foamfollower's chest and back. His fingers trembled at the task, and his halfhand slipped on the knife's handle, but he pressed fire into the Giant's oaken muscles until all the sucker wounds had been  seared.
   Foamfollower took a deep breath that shuddered with pain, and said, "Thank you, my friend. That is a grateful fire. You have made it somewhat like the caamora." But Covenant threw down the blade without answering, and went to plunge his shaking hands into the icy waters of the Mithil. All the while, a deep rage mounted within him, grew up his soul like slow vines reaching toward savagery.
   Later, when all the wounded had been given treatment, Slen and the elders cooked a meal for the whole village. Sitting in the new cleanliness of the open center, the people ate hot savory stew with unleavened bread, cheese, and dried fruit. Covenant joined them. Throughout the meal, Lena tended him like a servant. But he kept his eyes down, stared at the ground to avoid her face and all other faces; he did not wish to be distracted from the process taking place within him. With cold determination, he ate every scrap of food offered to him. He needed nourishment for his purpose.
   After the meal, Triock made new arrangements for the protection of the Stonedown. He sent scouts back out to the Plains, designed tentative plans against another attack, asked for volunteers to carry word of the rock-destroying creatures to the Stonedown's nearest neighbors, thirty leagues away. Then at last he turned to the matter of Covenant's decision.
   Yeurquin and Quirrel sat down on either side of Triock as he faced the village. Before he began, he glanced at Foamfollower, who stood nearby. Obliquely, Covenant observed that in the place of his ruined jerkin Foam-follower now wore an armless sheepskin cloak. It did not close across his chest, but it covered his shoulders and back like a vest. He nodded in response to Triock's mute question, and Triock said, "Well, then. Let us delay no longer." In a rough, sardonic tone, he added, "We have had rest enough.
   "My friends, here is ur-Lord Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever and white gold wielder. For good or ill, the Giant and I have brought him to the Land. You know the lore which has been abroad in the Land since that day seven and forty years ago when the Unbeliever first came to Mithil Stonedown from Kevin's Watch. You see that he comes in the semblance of Berek Halfhand, Heartthew and Lord-Fatherer, and bears with him the talisman of the wild magic which destroys peace. You have heard the ancient song:
   And with the one word of truth or treachery, he will save or damn the Earth because he is mad and sane, cold and passionate, lost and found.
   He is among us now so that he may fulfill all his prophecies.
   "My friends, a blessing in the apparel of disease may still right wrongs. And treachers in any other garb remain accursed. I know not whether we have wrought life or death for the Land in this matter. But many brave hearts have held hope in the name of the Unbeliever. The Lorewardens of the Loresraat saw omens of good in the darkest deeds which cling to Covenant's name. And it was said among them that High Lord Mhoram does not falter in his trust. Each of you must choose your own faith. I choose to support the High Lord's trust."
   "I, also," said Foamfollower quietly. "I have known both Mhoram son of Variol and Thomas Covenant."
   Omens, hell! Covenant muttered to himself. Rape and betrayal. He sensed that Lena was gathering herself to make some kind of avowal. To prevent her, he pushed glaring to his feet. "That's not all," he grated. "Tamarantha and Prothall and Mhoram and who knows how many others thought that I was chosen for this by the Creator or whoever's responsible in the end. Take consolation in that if you can. Never mind that it's just another way of saying I chose myself. The idea itself isn't so crazy. Creators are the most helpless people alive. They have to work through unsufferable-they have to work through tools as blunt and misbegotten and useless as myself. Believe me, it's easier just to burn the world down, reduce it to innocent or clean or at least dead ash. Which may be what I'm doing. How else could I-?"
   With an effort, he stopped himself. He had already iterated often enough the fundamental unbelief with which he viewed the Land; he had no reason to repeat that it was a delusion spawned by his abysmal incapacity for life. He had gone beyond the need for such assertions. Now he had to face their consequences. To begin, he broached a tangent of what was in his heart. "Did any of you see a break in the clouds-sometime-maybe a couple nights ago?"
   Triock stiffened. "We saw," he said gruffly.
   "Did you see the moon?"
   "It was full."
   "It was green!" Covenant spat. His vehemence cracked his swollen lip, and a trickle of blood started down his chin. He scrubbed the blood away with his numb fingers, steadied himself on the stone visage of his purpose. Ignoring the stares of the Stonedownors, he went on, "Never mind. Never mind that. Listen. I'll tell you what we're going to do. I'll tell you what you're going to do."
   He met Triock's gaze. Triock's lips were white with tension, but his eyes crouched in their sockets as if they ached to flinch away from what they beheld. Covenant scowled into them. "You're going to find some way to let Mhoram know I'm here."
   For an instant, Triock gaped involuntarily. Then he drew himself up as if he were about to start yelling at Covenant. Seeing this, Foamfollower interposed, "Ur-Lord, do you know what you ask? Revelstone is three hundred leagues distant. In the best of times, even a Giant could not gain the high halls of Lord's Keep in less than fifteen days."
   "And the Plains are a swarm with marauders!'' barked Triock. "From here to the joining of the Black and Mithil rivers, a strong band might fight and dodge its way in twenty days. But beyond-in the Center Plains-are the fell legions of the Gray Slayer. All the Land from Andelain to the Last Hills is under their dominion. With twenty thousand warriors, I could not battle my way even to the Soulsease River in twice or ten times fifty days.''
   Covenant began, "I don't give a bloody damn what-"
   Flatly, Quirrel interrupted him. "Further, you must not call upon the Ranyhyn for aid. The creatures of the Gray Slayer prize Ranyhyn-flesh. The Ranyhyn would be taken and eaten."
   "I don't care!" Covenant fumed. "It doesn't matter what you think is possible or impossible. Everything here is impossible. If we don't start doing the impossible now, it'll be too late. And Mhoram has got to know.''
   "Why?" Anger still crackled in Triock's voice, but he was watching Covenant closely now, scrutinizing him as if he could see something malignant growing behind Covenant's belligerence.
   Under Triock's gaze, Covenant felt too ashamed to admit that he had already refused a summons from Mhoram. He could taste the outrage with which all the Stonedownors would greet such a confession. Instead, he replied, "Because it will make a difference to him. If he knows where I am-if he knows what I'm doing-it'll make a difference. He'll know what to do."
   "What can he do? Revelstone is besieged by an army as unanswerable as the Desert. High Lord Mhoram and all the Council are prisoners in Lord's Keep. We are less helpless than they."
   "Triock, you're making a big mistake if you ever assume that Mhoram is helpless."
   "The Unbeliever speaks truly," Foamfollower said. "The son of Variol is a man of many resources. Much that may appear impossible is possible for him."
   At this Triock looked at his hands, then nodded sharply. "I hear you. The High Lord must be told. But still I know not how such a thing may be accomplished. Much which may appear possible to Giants and white gold wielders is impossible for me."
   "You've got one of those lomillialor rods," rasped Covenant. "They were made for communication."
   Triock growled in exasperation. "I have told you that I lack the lore for such work. I did not study the speaking of messages in the Loresraat.''
   "Then learn. By hell! Did you expect it to be easy? Learn!'' Covenant knew how unfairly he was treating Triock, but the exigency of his purpose countenanced neither consideration nor failure.
   For a long moment, Triock glared miserably at Covenant, and his hands twitched with anger and helplessness. But then Quirrel whispered to him, and his eyes widened hopefully. "Perhaps, "he murmured. "Perhaps it may be done.'' He made an effort to steady himself, forced a measure of calmness into his face. "It is said''-he swallowed thickly-"it is said that an Unfettered One lives in the mountains which protect the South Plains from Garroting Deep. Uncertain word of such a One has been whispered among the southron villages for-many years. It is said that he studies the slow breathing of the mountains-or that he gazes constantly across Garroting Deep in contemplation of Melenkurion Skyweir-or that he lives in a high place to learn the language of the wind. If such a One lives-if he may be found-perhaps he can make use of the High Wood as I cannot."
   A rustle of excitement ran through the circle at this idea. Triock took a deep breath and nodded to his companions. "I will make this attempt." Then a sardonic hue colored his voice. "If it also goes astray, I will at least know that I have striven to fulfill your choices.
   "Unbeliever, what word shall I send to High Lord Mhoram and the Council of Revelstone?"
   Covenant looked away, raised his face to the leaden sky. Snow had started to fall in the valley; a scattering of flakes drifted on the breeze like instants of mist, dimming the day even further. They had an early look about them, as if they presaged a heavy fall. For a moment, Covenant watched them tumble through the Stonedown. He was acutely conscious of Triock's question. It confronted him starkly, challenged the untried mettle of his purpose. And he feared to answer it. He feared to hear himself say things which were so insane. When he returned his gaze to the waiting Stonedownors, he replied obliquely, seeking fuel for his courage.
   "Foamfollower, what happened to your people?"
   "My friend?"
   "Tell me what happened to the Giants."
   Foamfollower squirmed at Covenant's scowl. "Ah, ur-Lord, there is no need for such stories now. They are long in the telling, and would better suit another time. The present is full."
   "Tell me!" Covenant hissed. "Bloody hell, Foamfollower! I want to know it all! I need-everything, every damned despicable thing that
   Foul-"
   Without warning, Triock interrupted him. "The Giants have returned to their Home beyond the Sunbirth Sea."
   Covenant whirled toward Triock. The lie in his words was so palpable that it left Covenant gasping, and around him the Stonedownors gaped at Triock. But Triock met Covenant's aghast stare without flinching. The cut along his jaw emphasized his determination. In a hard, steady voice that cut through Covenant's superficial ire to the rage growing within him, Triock said, "We have sworn the Oath of Peace. Do not ask us to feed your hate. The Land will not be served by such passions."
   "It's all I've got!" Covenant answered thickly. "Don't you understand? I don't have anything else. Nothing! All by itself, it has got to be enough."
   Gravely, almost sorrowfully, Triock said, "Such a foe cannot be fought with hate. I know. I have felt it in my heart."
   "Hellfire, Triock! Don't preach at me. I'm sick to death of being victimized. I'm sick of walking meekly or at least quietly and just putting my head on the block. I am going to fight this."
   "Why?" Triock asked in a restrained voice. "What will you fight for?"
   "Are you deaf as well as blind?" Covenant wrapped his arms around his chest to steady himself. "I hate Foul. I've had all I can stand of-"
   "No. I am neither deaf nor blind. I see and hear that you intend to fight. What will you fight for? There is matter enough to occupy your hate in your own world. You are in the Land now. What will you fight for?"
   Hell and blood! Covenant shouted silently. How much of me do you want? But Triock's question threw him back upon himself. He could have replied: I hate Foul because of what he's doing to the Land. But that sounded like a disclaimer of responsibility, and he was too angry to deny his own convictions. He was too angry, also, to give Triock any comforting answer. In a brittle voice, he said, "I'm going to do it for myself. So that I can at least believe in me before I lose my mind altogether."
   This response silenced Triock, and after a moment Foamfollower asked painfully,  "My friend, what will you do with your passion?"
   Snow slowly thickened in the air. The flakes danced like motes of obscurity across Covenant's vision, and the strain of his fierce stare made his unhealed forehead throb as if his skull were crippled with cracks. But he did not relent, could not relent now. "There's only one good answer to someone like Foul." Yet in spite of his anger, he found that he could not meet Foamfollower's gaze.
   "What answer?"
   Involuntarily, Covenant's fingers bent into claws. "I'm going to bring Foul's Creche down around his ears."
   He heard the surprise and incredulity of the Stonedownors, but he ignored them. He listened only to Foamfollower as the Giant said, "Have you learned then how to make use of the white gold?"
   With all the intensity of conviction he could muster, Covenant replied, "I'll find a way."
   As he spoke, he believed himself. Hatred would be enough. Foul could not take it from him, could not quench it or deflect its aim. He, Thomas Covenant, was a leper; he alone in all the Land had the moral experience or training for this task. Facing between Foamfollower and Triock, addressing them both, he said, "You can either help me or not."
   Triock met him squarely. "I will not aid you. I will undertake to send word of you to High Lord Mhoram-but I will not share in this defamation of Peace."
   "It is the wild magic, Triock," Foamfollower said as if he were pleading on Covenant's behalf, "the wild magic which destroys Peace. You have heard the song. White gold surpasses all Oaths."
   "Yet I will retain my own. Without the Oath, I would have slain the Unbeliever seven and forty years ago. Let him accept that, and be content."
   Softly, the Giant said, "I hear you, my friend. You are worthy of the Land you serve." Then he turned to Covenant. "Ur-Lord, permit me to accompany you. I am a Giant-I may be of use. And I-I yearn to strike closer blows against the Soulcrusher who so appalled my kindred. And I know the peril. I have seen the ways in which we become what we hate. Permit me."
   Before Covenant could reply, Lena jumped to her feet. "Permit me also!" she cried excitedly.
   "Lena!" Triock protested.
   She paid no attention to him. "I wish to accompany you. I have waited so long. I have striven to be worthy. I have mothered a High Lord and ridden a Ranyhyn. I am young and strong. Ah, I yearn to share with you. Permit me, Thomas Covenant."
   The wind hummed softly between the houses, carrying the snow like haze into Covenant's eyes. The flakes flicked cold at his sore lip, but still he nodded his approval of the gathering flurries. A good snowfall would cover his trail. The snow muffled the sounds of the village, and he seemed to be speaking to himself as he said, "Let's get going. I've got debts to pay."

Seven: Message to Revelstone


   Though his jaws ached with protests, Triock gave the orders which sent several of his comrades hurrying to collect supplies for Covenant, Foamfollower, and Lena. In that moment, the giving of those orders seemed to be the hardest thing he had ever done. The restraint which had allowed Covenant to live seven and forty years ago paled by comparison. The exertions which had brought Covenant to the Land now lost their meaning. Lena Atiaran-daughter's desire to accompany the Unbeliever turned all Triock's long years of devotion to dust and loss, and all his lavish love had been wasted.
   Yet he could not refuse her-could not, though he had the authority to do so. He was one of Mithil Stonedown's Circle of elders, and by old Stonedown tradition, even marriages and long journeys were subject to the approval of the Circle. Furthermore, he was the acknowledged leader of Mithil Stonedown's defense. He could have commanded Lena to stay at home, and if his reasons were valid, all the Stonedown would have fought to keep her.
   His reasons were valid. Lena was old, half confused. She might hamper Covenant's movements; she might even risk his life again, as she had so recently. She would be in danger from all the enemies between Mithil Stonedown and Foul's Creche. Covenant was the one man responsible for her condition, the man who had permanently warped the channel of her life. And he, Triock son of Thuler-he loved her.
   Yet he gave the orders. He had never loved Lena in a way which would have enabled him to control her. At one time, he had been ready to break his Oath of Peace for her, but throughout most of his life now he had kept it for her. He had done his utmost to raise her daughter free of shame and outrage. He could not begin now to refuse the cost of a love to which he had so entirely given himself.
   Once that ordeal was over, he grew somewhat calmer. In the back of his heart, he believed that if there were any hope for the Land in Thomas Covenant, it depended upon Covenant's responses to Lena. Then his chief bitterness lay in the fact that he himself could not accompany Covenant could not go along to watch over Lena. He had his own work to do, work which he acknowledged and approved. Through the yearning clench of his jaws, he told himself that he would have to rely on Saltheart Foamfollower.
   With a brusque movement, he pushed the gray snow out of his eyes and looked toward the Giant. Foamfollower met his gaze, came over to him, and said, "Be easy at heart, my friend. You know that I am not an inconsiderable ally. I will do all I can for both."
   "Take great care," Triock breathed through his teeth. "The eyes which saw our work upon Kevin's Watch are yet open. We did not close them in this battle."
   Foamfollower studied this thought for a moment, then said, "If that is true, then it is you who must take the greatest care. You bear your High Wood into the hazard of the South Plains."
   Triock shrugged. "High Wood or white gold-we must all tread cunningly. I can send none of my people with you."
   With a nod of approval, the Giant said, "I would refuse if they were offered. You will need every sword. The mountains where you will seek this Unfettered One are many leagues distant, and you will be required to fight much of your way."
   The clench of Triock's teeth made his voice rasp harshly. "I take none but Quirrel and Yeurquin with me."
   Foamfollower started to protest, but Triock cut him off. "I need the speed of few companions. And Mithil Stonedown stands now in its gravest peril. For the first time, we have given open battle to the marauders. With the power we revealed on Kevin's Watch, and the strength of our victory here, we have declared beyond question that we are not mere vagabond warriors, seeking refuge in lifeless homes. We have defended our Stonedown-we are an unbeaten people. Therefore the enemy will return against us with a host to dwarf this last band. No, Rockbrother," he concluded grimly, "every war-ready hand must remain to hold what we have won-lest our foes break upon the Stonedown like a wave and leave not one home standing."
   After a moment, Foamfollower sighed. "I hear you. Ah, Triock- these are grave times indeed. I will rest easier when my friend Mhoram son Of Variol has received word of what we do."
   "You believe I will succeed?"
   "Who can if you cannot? You are hardy and knowledgeable, familiar with plains and mountains-and marauders. You have accepted the need, though your feet yearn to follow other paths. Those who pursue their heart's desire risk more subtle failures and treacheries. In some ways, it is well to leave your soul wish in other hands." He spoke musingly, as if in his thoughts he were comparing Triock's position with his own. "You can accomplish this message purely."
   "I reap one other blessing also," Triock returned through a mouthful of involuntary gall. "The burden of mercy falls on your shoulders. Perhaps you will bear it more easily."
   Foamfollower sighed again, then smiled gently. "Ah, my friend, I know nothing of mercy. My own need for it is too great."
   The sight of Foamfollower's smiling regret made Triock wish that he could protest against what the Giant said. But he understood only too well the complex loss and rue which weighed on Foamfollower. Instead, he returned the best smile he could manage and saluted Foamfollower from the bottom of his heart. Then he turned away to make his own preparations for travel.
   In a short time, he packed blankets, an extra cloak, a small stoneware pot of graveling, supplies of dried meat, cheese, and fruit, and a knife to replace the one he had given Covenant, in a knapsack. He took only a few moments to whet his sword, and to secure his lomillialor rod in the tunic belt under his cloak. Yet when he returned to the open center of the Stonedown, he found Covenant, Foamfollower, and Lena ready to depart. Lena carried her own few belongings in a pack like his; Foamfollower had all the supplies for the three of them in his leather sack, which he slung easily over his shoulder; and Covenant's wounded face held a look of intentness or frustration, as if only the hurt on his mouth kept him from complaining impatiently. In that look, Triock caught a glimpse of how fragile Covenant's avowed hatred was. It did not appear to be a sustaining Passion. Triock shivered. A foreboding distrust told him that Thomas Covenant's resolve or passion would not suffice.
   But he clenched the thought to himself as he returned Foamfollower's final salute. There was nothing he could say. And a moment later, the Giant arid his two companions had disappeared northward between the houses.
   Their footmarks filled with snow and faded from sight until Mithil Stonedown seemed to retain no record of their passing.
   Gruffly, Triock said to Yeurquin and Quirrel, "We also must depart We must leave this valley while the snow holds."
   His two friends nodded without question. Their faces were empty of expression; they looked like people from whom combat had drained all other considerations-carried their short javelins as if the killing of enemies were their sole interest. From them, Triock drew a kind of serenity. He was no High Wood wielder to them, no bearer of burdens which would have bent the back of a Lord. He was only a man, fighting as best he could for the Land, without pretensions to wisdom or prophecy. This was a proper role for a Cattleherd in times of war, and he welcomed it.
   Girded by the readiness of his companions, he went to the other elders and spent a short time discussing with them Mithil Stonedown's precautions against future attacks. Then he left his home to them and went out into the snow again as if it were the duty of his life.
   Flanked by Quirrel and Yeurquin, he left the village by the northward road, and crossed without stealth the stone bridge to the western side of the valley. He wanted to make good time while the snow cover lasted, so he stayed on the easiest route until he neared the end of the horn of mountains which formed the Mithil valley's western wall. At that point, he moved off the road and started up into the foothills that clung around the tip of the horn.
   He intended to skirt the peaks west and south almost as far as Doom's Retreat, then swing northwest toward the isolated wedge of mountains which defended the South Plains from Garroting Deep. He could not take the straight march westward. In the open Plains, he would certainly encounter marauders, and when he did, he would have to flee wherever they chased him. So he chose the rugged terrain of the foothills. The higher ground would give him both a vantage from which to watch for enemies and a cover in which to hide from them.
   Yet, as he plodded upward through the snow, he feared the choice he had made. In the foothills, he would need twenty days to reach those mountains beyond Doom's Retreat; twenty days would be lost before he could begin to search for the Unfettered One. In that time, Covenant and his companions might travel all the way to Landsdrop or beyond. Then any message which the High Lord might receive would be too late; Covenant would be beyond any hand but the Gray Slayer's.
   With that dread in his heart, he began the arduous work of rounding the promontory.
   He and his comrades had reached the first lee beyond the horn when the snowfall ended, late that afternoon. There he ordered a halt. Instead of running the risk of being seen-brown against the gray slush of the snow he made camp and let the long weariness which had been his constant companion since he first began fighting lull him to sleep.
   Sometime after nightfall, Yeurquin awakened him. They moved on again, chewing strips of dried meat to keep some warmth in their bones, and washing the salt from their throats with mouthfuls of the unsavory snow. In the cloud-locked darkness, they made slow progress. And every league took them farther from the hills they knew most intimately. After a tortuous and unsuccessful effort to scale one bluff slope, Triock cursed the dreary clasp of the sky and turned to descend toward easier ground nearer the Plains.
   For most of the night, they traveled the lower hillsides, but when they felt dawn crouching near, they climbed again to regain their vantage. They pushed upward until they gained a high ridge from which they could see a long stretch of the way they had come. There they stopped. During the gray seepage of day into the air, they opened their smokeless graveling pots and cooked one hot meal. When they were done, they waited until the wind had obliterated all their tracks. Then they set watches, slept.
   They followed this pattern for two more days-down out of the foothills at dusk, long, dark night-trek, back toward higher ground at dawn for one hot meal and sleep-and during these three days, they saw no sign of any life, human or animal, friend or foe, anywhere; they were alone in the cold gray world and the forlorn wind. Trudging as if they were half crippled by the snow, they pressed themselves through the chapped solitude toward Doom's Retreat. Aside from the unpredictably crisp or muffled noises of their own movement, they heard nothing but the over-stressed cracklings of the ice and the scrapings of the wind, fractured in their ears by the rumpled hills.
   But in the dawn of the fourth day, while they watched the wind slowly filling the footmarks of their train, they saw a dull, ugly, yellow movement cross one rib of the hills below them and come hunting upward in their direction. Triock counted ten in the pack.
   "Kresh!" Yeurquin spat under his breath.
   Quirrel nodded. "And hunting us. It must be that they passed downwind of us during the night."
   Triock shivered. The fearsome yellow wolves were not familiar to the people of the South Plains; until the last few years, the kresh had lived primarily in the regions north of Ra, foraging into the North Plains when they could not get Ranyhyn-flesh. And many thousands of them had been slain in the great battle of Doom's Retreat. Yet they soon replenished their numbers, and now scavenged in every part of the Land where the hand of the Lords no longer held sway. Triock had never had to fight kresh, but he had seen what they could do. A year ago, one huge pack had annihilated the whole population of Gleam Stonedown, in the crystal hills near the joining of the Black and Mithil rivers; and when Triock had walked through the deserted village, he had found nothing but rent clothes and splinters of bone.
   "Melenkurion!" he breathed as he gauged the speed of the yellow wolves. "We must climb swiftly."
   As his companions slung their packs, he searched the terrain ahead for an escape or refuge. But despite their roughness, the hills and slopes showed nothing which the wolves might find impassable; and Triock knew of no defensible caves or valleys this far from Mithil Stonedown.
   He turned upward. With Quirrel and Yeurquin behind him, he started along a ridge of foothills toward the mountains.
   In the lee of the ridge, the snow was not thick. They made good speed as they climbed and scrambled toward the nearest mountain flank. But it rose sheerly out of the hillslope ahead, preventing escape in that direction. When the western valley beside the ridge rose up toward the mountain, Triock swung to the right and ran downward, traversed the valley, lunged through the piled snow toward the higher ground on the far side.
   Before he and his companions reached the top, the leading kresh crested the ridge behind them and gave out a ferocious howl. The sound hit Triock between his shoulder blades like the flick of a flail. He stopped, whirled to see the wolves rushing like yellow death along the ridge hardly five hundred yards from him.
   The sight made the skin of his scalp crawl, and his cold-stiff cheeks twitched as if he were trying to bare his teeth in fear. Without a word, he turned and attacked the climb again, threw himself through the snow until his pulse pounded and he seemed to be surrounded by his own gasping.
   When he gained the ridge top, he paused long enough to steady his gaze, then scanned the terrain ahead. Beyond this rib of the foothills, all the ground in a wide half-circle reaching to the very edge of the mountains fell steeply away into a deep valley. The valley was roughly conical in shape, open to the plains only through a sheer ravine on its north side. It offered no hope to Triock's searching eyes. But clinging to the mountain edge beyond a narrow ledge along the lip of the valley was a broken pile of boulders, the remains of an old rockfall. Triock's attention leaped to see if the boulders could be reached along the ledge.
   "Go!" Quirrel muttered urgently. "I will hold them here."
   "Two javelins and one sword," Triock panted in response. "Then they will outweigh us seven to two. I prefer you alive.'' Pointing, he said,  "We must cross that ledge to the rocks. There we can strike at the kresh from above. Come."
   He started forward again, driving his tired legs as fast as he could, and Quirrel and Yeurquin followed on his heels. When they reached the rough ground where the ridge blended into the cliff, they clambered through it toward the ledge.
   At the ledge, Triock hesitated. The lip of the valley was packed in snow, and he could not tell how much solid rock was hidden under it. But the kresh were howling up the hill behind him; he had no time to scrape the snow clear. Gritting his teeth, he pressed himself against the cliff and started outward.
   His feet felt the slickness of the ledge. Ice covered the rock under the snow. But he had become accustomed to ice in the course of this preternatural winter. He moved with small, unabrupt steps, did not let himself slip. In moments, Quirrel and Yeurquin were on the ledge as well, and he was halfway to his destination.
   Suddenly, a muffled boom like the snapping of old bones echoed off the cliff. The ledge jerked. Triock scrambled for handholds in the rock, and found none. He and his comrades were too far from safety at either end of the ledge.
   An instant later, it fell under their weight. Plunging like stones in an avalanche, they tumbled helplessly down the steep side of the valley.
   Triock tucked his head and knees together and rolled as best he could. The snow protected him from the impacts of the fall, but it also gave way under him, prevented him from stopping or slowing himself. He could do nothing but hug himself and fall. Dislodged by the collapse of the ledge, more snow slid into the valley with him, adding its weight to his momentum as if it were hurling him at the bottom. In wild vertigo, he lost all sense of how far he had fallen or how far he was from the bottom. When he hit level ground, the force of the jolt slammed his breath away, left him stunned while snow piled over him.
   For a time, he lay smothered under the snow, but as the dizziness relaxed in his head, he began to recover. He thrust himself to his hands and knees. Gasping, he fought the darkness which swarmed his sight like clouds of bats rushing at his face. "Quirrel!" he croaked. "Yeurquin!"
   With an effort, he made out Quirrel's legs protruding from the snow a short distance away. Beyond her, Yeurquin lay on his back. A bloody gash on his temple marred the blank pallor of his face. Neither of them moved.
   Abruptly, Triock heard the scrabbling of claws. A savage howl like an anthem of victory snatched his gaze away from Quirrel and Yeurquin, made him look up toward the slope of the valley.
   The kresh were charging furiously down toward him. They had chosen a shallower and less snowbound part of the ridge side, and were racing with rapacious abandon toward their fallen prey. Their leader was hardly a dozen yards from Triock.
   He moved instantly. His fighting experience took over, and he reacted without thought or hesitation. Snatching at his sword, he heaved erect, presented himself as a standing target to the first wolf. Fangs bared, red eyes blazing, it leaped for his throat. He ducked under it, twisted, and wrenched his sword into its belly.
   It sailed past him and crashed into the snow, lay still as if it were impaled on the red trail of its blood. But its momentum had torn his sword from his cold hand.
   He had no chance to retrieve his weapon. Already the next wolf was gathering to spring at him.
   He dove out from under its leap, rolled heels over head, snapped to his feet holding his lomillialor rod in his hands.
   The rod was not made to be a weapon; its shapers in the Loresraat had wrought that piece of High Wood for other purposes. But its power could be made to burn, and Triock had no other defense. Crying the invocation in a curious tongue understood only by the lillianrill, he swung the High Wood over his head and chopped it down on the skull of the nearest wolf.
   At the impact, the rod burst into flame like a pitch-soaked brand, and all the wolf's fur caught fire as swiftly as tinder.
   The flame of the rod lapsed immediately, but Triock shouted to it and hacked at a kresh bounding at his chest. Again the power flared. The wolf fell dead in screaming flames.
   Another and another Triock slew. But each blast, each unwonted exertion of the High Wood's might, drained his strength. With four kresh sizzling in the snow around him, his breath came in ragged heaves, gaps of exhaustion veered across his sight, and fatigue clogged his limbs like iron fetters.
   The five remaining wolves circled him viciously.
   He could not face them all at once. Their yellow fur bristled in violent smears across his sight; their red and horrid eyes flashed at him above their wet chops and imminent fangs. For an instant, his fighting instincts faltered.
   Then a weight of compact fury struck him from behind, slammed him facedown in the trampled snow. The force of the blow stunned him, and the weight on his back pinned him. He could do nothing but hunch his shoulders against the rending poised over the back of his neck.  But the weight did not move. It lay as inert as death across his shoulder blades.
   His fingers still clutched the lomillialor.
   With a convulsive heave, he rolled to one side, tipped the heavy fur off him. It smeared him with blood-blood that ran, still pulsing, from the javelin which pierced it just behind its foreleg.
   Another javelined kresh lay a few paces away.
   The last three wolves dodged and feinted around Quirrel. She stood over Yeurquin, whirling her sword and cursing.
   Triock lurched to his feet.
   At the same time, Yeurquin moved, struggled to get his legs under him. Despite the wound on his temple, his hands pulled instinctively at his sword.
   The sight of him made the wolves hesitate.
   In that instant, Triock snatched a javelin from the nearest corpse and hurled it with the strength of triumph into the ribs of another kresh.
   Yeurquin was unsteady on his feet; but with one lumbering hack of his sword, he managed to disable a wolf. It lurched away from him on three legs, but he caught up with it and cleft its skull.
   The last kresh was already in full flight. It did not run yipping, with its tail between its legs, like a thrashed cur; it shot straight toward the narrow outlet of the valley as if it knew where allies were and intended to summon them.
   "Quirrel!" Triock gasped.
   She moved instantly. Ripping her javelin free of the nearest wolf, she balanced the short shaft across her palm, took three quick steps, and lofted it after the running kresh. The javelin arched so high that Triock feared it would fall short, then plunged sharply downward and caught the wolf in the back. The beast collapsed in a rolling heap, flopped several times across the snow, throwing blood in all directions, quivered, and lay still.
   Triock realized dimly that he was breathing in rough sobs. He was so spent that he could hardly retain his grip on the lomillialor. When Quirrel came over to him, he put his arms around her, as much to gain strength from her as to express his gratitude and comradeship. She returned the clasp briefly, as if his gesture embarrassed her. Then they moved toward Yeurquin.
   Mutely, they inspected and tended Yeurquin's wound. Under other circumstances, Triock would not have considered the hurt dangerous; it Was clean and shallow, and the bone was unharmed. But Yeurquin still needed time to rest and heal-and Triock had no time. The plight of his message was now more urgent than ever.
   He said nothing about this. While Quirrel cooked a meal, he retrieved their weapons, then buried all the kresh and the blood of battle under mounds of gray snow. This would not disguise what had happened from any close inspection, but Triock hoped that a chance enemy passing along the rim of the valley would not be attracted to look closer.
   When he was done, he ate slowly, gathering his strength, and his eyes jumped around the valley as if he expected ur-viles or worse to rise up suddenly from the ground against him. But then his mouth locked into its habitual dour lines. He made no concessions to Yeurquin's injury; he told his companions flatly that he had decided to leave the foothills and risk cutting straight west toward the mountains where he hoped to find the Unfettered One. For such a risk, the only possibility of success lay in speed.
   With their supplies repacked and their weapons cleaned, they left the valley through its narrow northward outlet at a lope.
   They traveled during the day now for the sake of speed. Half dragging Yeurquin behind them, Triock and Quirrel trotted doggedly due west, across the cold-blasted flatland toward the eastmost outcropping of the mountains. As they moved, Triock prayed for snow to cover their trail.
   By the end of the next day, they caught their first glimpses of the great storm which brooded for more than a score of leagues in every direction over the approaches to Doom's Retreat.
   North of that defile through the mountains, the parched ancient heat of the Southron Wastes met the Gray Slayer's winter, and the result was an immense storm, rotating against the mountain walls which blocked it on the south and west. Its outer edges concealed the forces which raged within, but even from the distance of a day's hard traveling, Triock caught hints of hurricane conditions: cycling winds that ripped along the ground as if they meant to lay bare the bones of the earth; snow as thick as night; gelid air cold enough to freeze blood in the warmest places of the heart.
   It lay directly across his path.
   Yet he led Quirrel and Yeurquin toward it for another day, hurried in the direction of the storm's core until its outer winds were tugging at his garments, and its first snows were packing wetly against his windward side. Yeurquin was in grim condition-blood oozed like exhaustion through the overstrained scabs of his wound, and the tough fiber of his stamina was frayed and loosened like a breaking rope. But Triock did not turn aside. He could not attempt to skirt the storm, could not swing north toward the middle of the South Plains to go around. During the first night after the battle with the kresh, he had seen watch fires northeast of him. They were following him. He had studied them the next night, and had perceived that they were moving straight toward him, gaining ground at an alarming rate.
   Some enemy had felt his exertion of the lomillialor. Some enemy knew his scent now and pursued him like mounting furor.
   "We cannot outrun them," Quirrel observed grimly as they huddled together under the lip of the storm to rest and eat.
   Triock said nothing. He could hear Covenant rasping, If we don't start doing the impossible. Doing the impossible.
   A moment later, she sniffed the wind. "And I do not like the taste of this weather. There is a blizzard here-a blast raw enough to strike the flesh from our limbs."
   The impossible, Triock repeated to himself. He should have said to the Unbeliever, "I was born to tend cattle. I am not a man who does impossible things." He was tired and old and unwise. He should have taken Lena and led his people toward safety deep in the Southron Range, should have chosen to renew the ancient exile rather than allow one extravagant stranger to bend all Mithil Stonedown to the shape of his terrible purpose.
   Without looking at him, Quirrel said, "We must separate."
   "Separate," Yeurquin groaned hollowly.
   "We must confuse the trail-confuse these"-she spat fiercely along the wind-"so that you may find your way west."
   Impossible. The word repeated itself like a weary litany in Triock's mind.
   Quirrel raised her eyes to face him squarely. "We must."
   And Yeurquin echoed, "Must."
   Triock looked at her, and the wrinkles around his eyes winced as if even the skin of his face were afraid. For a moment, his jaw worked soundlessly. Then he grimaced. "No."
   Quirrel tightened in protest, and he forced himself to explain. "We would gain nothing. They do not follow our trail-they could not follow a trail so swiftly. Your trails would not turn them aside. They follow the spoor of the High Wood."
   "That cannot be," she replied incredulously. "I sense nothing of it from an arm's reach away."
   "You have no eyes for power. If we part, you will leave me alone against them."
   "Separate," Yeurquin groaned again.
   "No!" Anger filled Triock's mouth. "I need you."
   "I slow you," the injured man returned emptily, fatally. His face looked pale and slack, frost-rimed, defeated.
   "Come!" Triock surged to his feet, quickly gathered his supplies and threw his pack over his shoulders, then stalked away across the wind in the direction of the storm's heart. He did not look behind him. But after a moment Quirrel caught up with him on the right, and Yeurquin came shambling after him on the left. Together, they cut their way into the blizzard.
   Before they had covered a league, they were stumbling against wind and snow as if the angry air were assaulting them with fine granite chips of cold. Snow piled against them, and the wind tore through their clothes as if the fabric were thinner than gauze. And in another league, they lost the light of day; the mounting snow flailed it out of the air. Quirrel tried to provide some light by uncovering a small urn of graveling, but the wind snatched the fire-stones from the urn, scattered them like a brief burning plume of gems from her hands. When they were gone, Triock could hardly make out her form huddled dimly near him, too cold even to curse what had happened. Yeurquin had dropped to the ground when they had stopped, and already he was almost buried in snow. Ahead of them-unmuffled now by the outer winds-Triock could see something of the rabid howl and scourge of the storm itself, the hurricane or blizzard shrieking at the violence of the forces which formed it.
   Its fury slammed against his senses like the crumbling of a mountain. Peering at it, he knew that there was nothing erect within it, no beast or man or Giant or tree or stone; the maelstroming winds had long since leveled everything which had dared raise its head above the battered line of the ground. Triock had to protect his eyes with his hands. Impossible was a pale word to describe the task of walking through that storm. But it was his only defense against pursuit.
   With all the strength he could muster, he lifted Yeurquin and helped the injured man lurch onward.
   Black wind and sharp snow clamped down on him, stamped at him, slashed sideways to cut his legs from under him. Cold blinded him, deafened him, numbed him; he only knew that he had not lost his companions because Quirrel clutched the back of his cloak and Yeurquin sagged with growing helplessness against him. But he himself was failing, and could do nothing to prevent the loss. He could hardly breathe; the wind ripped past him so savagely that he caught only inadequate pieces of it. Yeurquin's weight seemed unendurable. He jerked woodenly to a halt. Out of a simple and unanswerable need for respite, he pushed Yeurquin away, forced him to support himself.
   Yeurquin reeled, tottered a few steps along the wind, and abruptly vanished-disappeared as completely as if a sudden maw of the blizzard had swallowed him.
   "Yeurquin!" Triock screamed. "Yeurquin!"
   He dashed after his friend, grappling, groping frantically for him. For an instant, a dim shape scudded away just beyond his reach. "Yeurquin!" Then it was gone, scattered into the distance like a handful of brittle leaves on the raving wind.
   He ran after it. He was hardly conscious of Quirrel's grip on his cloak, or of the wind yammering at his back, impelling him southward, away from his destination. Fear for Yeurquin drove every other thought from his mind. Suddenly he was no longer the bearer of impossible messages for the Lords. With a rush of passion, he became mere Triock son of Thuler, the former Cattleherd who could not bear to abandon a friend. He ran along the wind in search of Yeurquin as if his soul depended on it.
   But the snow struck at his back like one vicious blow prolonged into torment; the wind yelped and yowled in his numb ears, unmoored his bearings; the cold sucked the strength out of him, weakened him as if it frosted the blood in his veins. He could not find Yeurquin. He had rushed past his friend unknowing in the darkness-or Yeurquin had somewhere found the strength to turn to one side against the wind-or the injured man had simply fallen and disappeared under the snow. Triock shouted and groped and ran, and encountered nothing but the storm. When he tried to turn his head toward Quirrel, he found that inches of ice had already formed on his shoulders, freezing his neck into that one strained position. His very sweat turned to ice on him. He could not resist the blast. If he did not keep stumbling tortuously before the wind, he would fall and never rise again.
   He kept going until he had forgotten Yeurquin and Covenant and messages, forgotten everything except the exertion of his steps and Quirrel's grim grasp on his cloak. He had no conception of where he was going; he was not going anywhere except along the wind, always along the wind. Gradually the storm became silent around him as the crusting snow froze over his ears. Leagues passed unnoticed. When the ground abruptly canted upward under him, he fell to his hands and knees. A wave of numbness and lassitude ran through him as if it were springing from the frostbite in his hands and feet.
   Something shook his head, something was hitting him on the side of his head. At first, the ice protected him, then it broke away with a tearing pain as if it had taken his ear with it. The howling of wind demons rushed at him, and he almost did not hear Quirrel shout, "Hills! Foothills! Climb! Find shelter!"
   He was an old man, too old for such labor. He was a strong Stonedown Cattleherd, and did not intend to die frozen and useless. He lumbered to his feet, struggled upward.
   Leaning weakly back against the wind, he ascended the ragged slope. He realized dimly that both wind and snow were less now. But still he could see nothing; now the storm itself was wrapped in night. When the slope became too steep for the wind to push him up it, he turned to the side which offered the least resistance and went on, lumbering blindly through knee-deep snow, letting the blizzard guide him wherever it chose.
   Yet in spite of the night and the storm, his senses became slowly aware of looming rock walls. The wind lost its single fury, turned to frigid gusts and eddies, and he limped between sheer, close cliffs into a valley. But the disruption of the storm's force came too late to save him. The valley floor lay waist-deep in heavy gray snow, and he was too exhausted to make much headway against it. Once again, he found he was supporting a comrade; Quirrel hung from his shoulders like spent mortality. Soon he could go no farther. He fell into a snowbank, gasping into the snow,' Tire. Must-fire."
   But his hands were too frozen, his arms were too locked in ice. He could not reach his lomillialor rod, could never have pulled flame from it. Quirrel had already lost her graveling. And his was in his pack. It might as well have been lost also; he could not free his shoulders from the pack straps. He tried to rouse Quirrel, failed. The lower half of her face was caked in ice, and her eyelids fluttered as if she were going into shock.
   "Fire," Triock rasped. He was sobbing and could not stop. Frustration and exhaustion overwhelmed him. The snow towered above him as if it would go on forever.
   Tears froze his eyes shut, and when he pried them open again, he saw a yellow flame flickering its way toward him. He stared at it dumbly. It bobbed and weaved forward as if it were riding the wick of an invisible candle until it was so close to his face that he could feel its warm radiance on his eyeballs. But it had no wick. It stood in the air before his face and flickered urgently, as if it were trying to tell him something.
   He could not move; he felt that ice and exhaustion had already frozen his limbs to the ground. But when he glanced away from the flame, he saw others, three or four more, dancing around him and Quirrel. One of them touched her forehead as if it were trying to catch her attention. When it failed, it flared slightly, and at once all the flames left, scurried away down the valley. Triock watched them go as if they were his last hope.
   Then the cold came over him like slumber, and he began to lose consciousness. Unable to help himself, he sagged toward night. The cold and the snow and the valley faded and were replaced by vague faces- Lena, Elena, Atiaran, Trell, Saltheart Foamfollower, Thomas Covenant. They all regarded him with supplication, imploring him to do something. If he failed, their deaths would have no meaning. "Forgive me," he breathed, speaking especially to Covenant. "Forgive."
   "Perhaps I shall," a distant voice replied. "It will not be easy-I do not desire these intrusions. But you bear a rare token. I see that I must at least help you."
   Struggling, Triock turned his sight outward again. The air over his head was bright with dancing flames, each no larger than his hand. And among them stood a tall man dressed only in a long robe the color of granite. He met Triock's gaze awkwardly, as if he were unaccustomed to dealing with eyes other than his own. But when Triock croaked, "Help," he replied quickly, "Yes. I will help you. Have no fear."
   Moving decisively, he knelt, pulled open Triock's cloak and tunic, and placed one warm palm on his chest. The man sang softly to himself, and as he did so, Triock felt a surge of heat pour into him. His pulse steadied almost at once; his breathing unclenched; with wondrous speed, the possibility of movement returned to his limbs. Then the man turned away to help Quirrel. By the time Triock was on his feet among the bobbing flames, she had regained consciousness.
   He recognized the flames now; he had heard of them in some of the happiest and saddest legends of the Land. They were Wraiths. As he shook his head clear of ice, he heard through the gusting wind snatches of their light crystal song, music like the melody of perfect quartz. They danced about him as if they were asking him questions which he would never be able to understand or answer, and their lights bemused him, so that he stood entranced among them.
   The tall man distracted him by helping Quirrel to her feet. Surrounded by Wraiths, he raised her, supported her until she could stand on her own. Then for a moment he looked uncomfortably back and forth between her and Triock. He seemed to be asking himself if he could justify leaving them there, not helping them further. Almost at once, however, he made his decision. The distant roar of the blizzard rose and fell as if some hungry storm-animal strove to gain access to the valley. He shivered and said, 'Come. Foul's winter is no place for flesh and blood."
   As the man turned to move toward the upper end of the valley, Triock said abruptly, "You are One of the Unfettered."
   "Yes. Yet I aid you.'' His voice vanished as soon as it appeared on the tattered wind. "I was once Woodhelvennin. The hand of the Forest is upon me- And you"-he was thrusting powerfully away through the snow as if he were talking to himself, as if he had been companionless for so long that he had forgotten how people listen-"bear lomillialor."
   Triock and Quirrel pushed after him. His gait was strong, unweary, but by following his path through the drifts, they were able to keep up with him. The Wraiths lighted their way with crystal music until Triock felt that he was moving through a pocket of Andelain, a brief eldritch incarnation of clean light and warmth amid the Gray Slayer's preternatural malevolence. In the dancing encouragement of the flames, he was able to disregard his great fatigue and follow the Unfettered One's song:
   Lone
   Unfriended
   Bondless
   Lone-
   Drink of loss until 'tis done:
   Til solitude has come and gone,
   And silence is communion-
   And yet
   Unfriended
   Bondless
   Lone.
   Slowly, they worked their way up to the end of the valley. It was blocked by a huge litter of boulders, but the Unfettered One led them along an intricate path through the rocks. Beyond, they entered a sheer ravine which gradually closed over their heads until they were walking into a black cave lit only by the flickering of the Wraiths. In time, the crooked length of the cave shut out all the wind and winter. Warmth grew around Triock and Quirrel, causing their garments to drip thickly. And ahead they saw more light.
   Then they reached the cave end, the Unfettered One's home. Here the cave expanded to form a large chamber, and all of it was alive with light and music, as scores of Wraiths flamed and curtsied in the air. Some of them cycled through the center of the chamber, and others hung near the black walls as if to illuminate inscriptions on the gleaming facets of the stone. The floor was rude granite marked by lumps and projecting surfaces which the Unfettered One clearly used as chairs, tables, bed. But the walls and ceiling were as black as obsidian, and they were covered with reflective irregular planes like the myriad fragments of a broken mirror in which the Wraith light would have dazzled the beholders if the surfaces had not been made of black stone. As it was, the chamber was warm and evocative; it seemed a fit place for a seer to read the writing graved within the heart of the mountain.
   At the mouth of the chamber, Triock and Quirrel shed their packs and cloaks, opened their ice-stiff inner garments to the warmth. Then they took their first clear look at their rescuer. He was bald except for a white fringe at the back of his head, and his mouth hid in a gnarled white beard. His eyes were so heavily couched in wrinkles that he seemed to have spent generations squinting at illegible communications; and this impression of age was both confirmed by the old pallor of his skin and denied by the upright strength of his frame. Now Triock could see that his robe had been white at one time. It had gained its dull granite color from long years of contact with the cave walls.
   In his home, he seemed even more disturbed by the Stonedownors. His eyes flicked fearful and surprised glances at them-not as if he considered them evil, but rather as if he distrusted their clumsiness, as if his life lay in fragile sections on the floor and might be broken by their feet.
   "I have little food," he said as he watched the puddles which Triock and Quirrel left behind. "Food also-I have no time for it." But then an old memory seemed to pass across his face-a recollection that the people of the Land did not treat their guests in this way. Triock felt suddenly sure that the One had been living in this cave before he, Triock, was born. "I am not accustomed," the man went on as if he felt he should explain himself. "One life does not suffice. When I found I could not refuse succor to the Wraiths-much time was lost. They repay me as they can, but much- much- How can I live to the end of my work? You are costly to me. Food itself is costly."
   As Triock recovered himself in the cave's mouth, he remembered his message to the Lords, and his face tightened into its familiar frown. "The Gray Slayer is costly," he replied grimly.
   His statement disconcerted the Unfettered One. "Yes,'' he mumbled. Bending quickly, he picked up a large flask of water and a covered urn containing dried fruit. "Take all you require," he said as he handed these to Triock. "I have-I have seen some of the Despiser's work. Here." He gestured vaguely at the walls of his cave.
   There was little fruit in the urn, but Triock and Quirrel divided it between them. As he munched his share, Triock found he felt a great deal better. Although the meager amount of food hardly touched his hunger, his skin seemed to be absorbing nourishment as well as warmth from the Wraith light. And the radiance of the flames affected him in other ways also. Gradually the numbness of frostbite faded from his fingers and toes ears; blood and health flowed back into them as if they had been treated with hurtloam. Even the habitual sourness which galled his mouth seemed to decline.
   But his mission remained clear to him. When he was sure that Quirrel had regained her stability, he asked her to go a short way out of the tunnel to stand guard.
   She responded tightly, "Will pursuit come even here?"
   "Who can say?" The Unfettered One did not appear to be listening, so Triock went on: "But we must have this One's aid-and I fear he will not be persuaded easily. We must not be surprised here with the message unattempted."
   Quirrel nodded, approving his caution though she clearly believed that no pursuit could have followed them through the blizzard. Without delay, she collected her cloak and weapons and moved away down the cave until she was out of sight beyond the first bend.
   The Unfettered One watched her go with a question in his face.
   "She will stand guard while we talk," Triock answered.
   "Do we require guarding? There are no ill creatures in these mountains-in this winter. The animals do not intrude."
   '' Foes pursue me," said Triock. " I bear my own ill-and the Land' s need." But there he faltered and fell silent. For the first time, he realized the immensity of his situation. He was face to face with an Unfettered One and Wraiths. In this cave, accompanied by dancing flames, the One studied secret lores which might have amazed even the Lords. Awe crowded forward in Triock; his own audacity daunted him. "Unfettered One," he mumbled, "lore-servant-I do not intrude willingly. You are beyond me. Only the greatness of the need drives-"
   "I have saved your life,'' the One said brusquely. "I know nothing of other needs."
   "Then I must tell you." Triock gathered himself and began, "The Gray Slayer is abroad in the Land-"
   The tall man forestalled him. "I know my work. I was given the Rites of Unfettering when Tamarantha was Staff-Elder of the Loresraat, and know nothing else. Except for the intrusion of the Wraiths-except- which I could not refuse-I have devoted my meager flesh here, so that I might work my work and see what no eyes have seen before. I know nothing else-no, not even how the Wraiths came to be driven from Andelain, though they speak of ur-viles and- Such talk intrudes."
   Triock was amazed. He had not known that Tamarantha Variol-mate had ever been Staff-Elder of the Loresraat, but such a time must have been decades before Prothall became High Lord at Revelstone. This Unfettered One must have been out of touch with all the Land for the past four- or five-score years. Thickly, awefully, Triock said, "Unfettered One, what is your work?"
   A grimace of distaste for explanations touched the man's face. "Words- I do not speak of it. Words falter." Abruptly, he moved to the wall and touched one of the stone facets gently, as if he were caressing it. "Stone is alive. Do you see it? You are Stonedownor-do you see it? Yes, alive-alive and alert. Attentive. Everything-everything which transpires upon or within the Earth is seen-beheld-by the Earthrock." As he spoke, enthusiasm came over him. Despite his awkwardness, he could not stop once he had begun. His head leaned close to the stone until he was peering deeply into its flat blackness. "But the-the process-the action of this seeing is slow. Lives like mine are futilely swift- Time-time!-is consumed as the seeing spreads-from the outer surfaces inward. And this time varies. Some veins pass their perception in to the mountain roots in millennia. Others require millennia of millennia.
   "Here"-he gestured around him without moving from where he stood-"can be seen the entire ancient history of the Land. For one whose work is to see. In these myriad facets are a myriad perceptions of all that has occurred. All!
   "It is my work to see-and to discover the order-and to preserve- so that the whole life of the Land may be known."
   As he spoke, a tremor of passion shook the Unfettered One's breathing.
   "Since the coming of the Wraiths, I have studied the fate of the One Forest. I have seen it since the first seed grew to become the great Tree. I have seen its awakening-its awareness-the peaceful communion of its Land-spanning consciousness. I have seen Forestals born and slain. I have seen the Colossus of the Fall exercise its interdict. The hand of the Forest is upon me. Here''-his hands touched the facet into which he stared as if the stone were full of anguish-"I see men with axes-men of the ground with blades formed from the bones of the ground-I see them cut-!"
   His voice trembled vividly. "I am Woodhelvennin. In this rock I see the desecration of trees. You are Stonedownor. You bear a rare fragment of High Wood, precious lomillialor"
   Suddenly, he turned from the wall and confronted Triock with a flush or urgent fervor, almost of desperation, in his old face.'' Give it to me!" he begged. "It will help me see." He came forward until his eager hands nearly touched Triock's chest. "My life is not the equal of this rock."
   Triock did not need to think or speak. If Covenant himself had been standing at his back, he would not have acted differently; he could not distrust an Unfettered One any more than he could have distrusted a Lord.
   Without hesitation, he drew out the High Wood rod and placed it in the tall man's hands. Then, very quietly, he said, "The foes who pursue me also seek this lomillialor. It is a perilous thing I have given you."
   The One did not appear to hear. As his fingers closed on the wood, his eyes rolled shut, and a quiver passed through his frame; he seemed to be drinking in the High Wood's unique strength through his hands.
   But then he turned outward again. With several deep breaths he steadied himself until he was gazing calmly into Triock's face.
   "Perilous," he said. "I hear you. You spoke of the Land's need. Do you require aid to fight your foes?"
   "I require a message." All at once, Triock's own urgency came boiling up in him, and he spouted, "The whole Land is at war! The Staff of Law has been lost again, and with it the Law of Death has been broken! Creatures that destroy stone have attacked Mithil Stonedown. Revelstone itself is besieged! I need-!"
   "I hear you," the tall man repeated. His earlier awkwardness was gone; possession of the High Wood seemed to make him confident, capable. "Do not fear. I have found that I must help you also. Speak your need."
   With an effort, Triock wrenched himself into a semblance of control. "You have heard the Wraiths," he rasped. "They spoke to you of ur-viles-and white gold. The bearer of that white gold is a stranger to the Land, and he has returned. The Lords do not know this. They must be told."
   "Yes." The One held Triock's hot gaze. "How?"
   "The Loresraat formed this High Wood so that messages may be spoken through it. I have no lore for such work. I am a Stonedownor, and my hands are not apt for wood. I-"
   But the Unfettered One accepted Triock's explanation with a wave of his hand. "Who," he asked, "who in Revelstone can hear such speaking?"
   "High Lord Mhoram."
   "I do not know him. How can I reach him? I cannot direct my words to him if I do not know him."
   Inspired by urgency, Triock answered, "He is the son of Tamarantha Variol-mate. You have known Tamarantha. The thought of her will guide you to him."
   "Yes," the One mused. "It is possible. I have-I have not forgotten her."
   "Tell the High Lord that Thomas Covenant has returned to the Land and seeks to attack the Gray Slayer. Tell him that Thomas Covenant has sworn to destroy Foul's Creche."
   The One's eyes widened at this. But Triock went on: "The message must be spoken now. I have been pursued. A blizzard will not prevent any eyes which could see the High Wood in my grasp."
   "Yes," the tall man said once more. "Very well-I will begin. Perhaps it will bring this intrusion to an end."
   He turned as if dismissing Triock from his thoughts, and moved into the center of his cave. Facing the entrance of the chamber, he gathered the Wraiths around him so that he was surrounded in light, and held the lomillialor rod up before his face with both hands. Quietly, he began to sing-a delicate, almost wordless melody that sounded strangely like a transposition, a rendering into human tones, of the Wraith song. As he sang, he closed his eyes, and his head tilted back until his forehead was raised toward the ceiling.
   "Mhoram,'' he murmured through the pauses in his song, "Mhoram. Son of Variol and Tamarantha. Open your heart to hear me."
   Triock stared at him, tense and entranced.
   "Tamarantha-son, open your heart. Mhoram."
   Slowly, power began to gleam from the core of the smooth rod.
   The next .instant, Triock heard feet behind him. Something about them, something deadly and abominable, snatched his attention, spun him toward the entrance to the chamber.
   A voice as harsh as the breaking of stone grated, "Give it up. He cannot open his heart to you. He is caught in our power and will never open his heart again."
   Yeurquin stood just within the cave, eyes exalted with madness.
   The sight stunned Triock. Yeurquin's frozen apparel had been partially torn from him, and wherever his flesh was bare the skin hung in frostbitten tatters. The blizzard had clawed his face and hands to the bone. But no blood came from his wounds.
   He bore Quirrel in his arms. Her head dangled abjectly from her broken neck.
   When he saw Yeurquin, the Unfettered One recoiled as if he had been struck-reeled backward and staggered against the opposite wall of the cave, gaping in soundless horror.
   Together, the Wraiths fled, screaming.
   "Yeurquin." The death and wrong which shone from the man made Triock gag. He croaked the name as if he were strangling on it. "Yeurquin?"
   Yeurquin laughed with a ragged, nauseating sound. In gleeful savagery, he dropped Quirrel to the floor and stepped past her. "We meet at last," he rasped to Triock. " I have labored for this encounter. I think I will make you pay for that labor."
   "Yeurquin?" Staggering where he stood, Triock could see that the man should have been dead; the storm damage he had suffered was too great for anyone to survive. But some force animated him, some ferocity that relished his death kept him moving. He was an incarnated nightmare.
   The next moment, the Unfettered One mastered his shock, rushed forward. Wielding the lomillialor before him like a weapon, he cried hoarsely, " Turiya Raver! Tree foe! I know you-I have seen you. Melen-kurion abatha! Leave this place. Your touch desecrates the very Earth.''
   Yeurquin winced under the flick of the potent words. But they did not daunt him. "Better dead feet like mine than idiocy like yours," he smirked. "I think I will not leave this place until I have tasted your blood, Unfettered wastrel. You are so quick to give your life to nothing. Now you will give it to me."
   The One did not flinch. "I will give you nothing but the lomillialor test of truth. Even you have cause to fear that, Turiya Raver. The High Wood will burn you to the core."
   "Fool!" the Raver laughed. "You have lived here so long that you have forgotten the meaning of power!"
   Fearlessly, he started toward the two men.
   With a sharp cry, Triock threw off his stunned dismay. Sweeping his sword from its scabbard, he sprang at the Raver.
   Yeurquin knocked him effortlessly aside, sent him careening to smack his head against the wall. Then Turiya closed with the Unfettered One.
   Pain slammed through Triock, flooded his mind with blood. Gelid agony shrieked in his chest where the Raver had struck him. But for one moment, he resisted unconsciousness, lurched to his feet. In torment, he saw turiya and the Unfettered One fighting back and forth, both grasping the High Wood. Then the Raver howled triumphantly. Bolts of sick, red-green power shot up through the Unfettered One's arms and shattered his chest.
   When Triock plunged into darkness, the Raver had already started to dismember his victim. He was laughing all the while.

Eight: Winter


   With snow swirling around him like palpable mist, Thomas Covenant left Mithil Stonedown in the company of Saltheart Foamfollower and Lena daughter of Atiaran. The sensation of purpose ran high in him-he felt that all his complex rages had at last found an effective focus-and he strode impatiently northward along the snow-clogged road as if he were no longer conscious of his still-unhealed forehead and lip, or of the damaged condition of his feet, or of fatigue. He walked leaning ahead into the wind like a fanatic.
   But he was not well, could not pretend for any length of time that he was well. Snowflakes hurried around him like subtle gray chips of Lord Foul's malice, seeking to drain the heat of his life. And he felt burdened by Lena. The mother of Elena his daughter stepped proudly at his side as if his companionship honored her. Before he had traveled half a league toward the mouth of the valley, his knees were trembling, and his breath scraped unevenly past his sore lip. He was forced to stop and rest.
   Foamfollower and Lena regarded him gravely, concernedly. But his former resolution to accept help had deserted him; he was too angry to be carried like a child. He rejected with a grimace the tacit offer in Foamfollower' s eyes.
   The Giant also was not well-his wounds gave him pain-and he appeared to understand the impulse behind Covenant's refusal. Quietly, he asked, "My friend, do you know the way"-he hesitated as if he were searching for a short name-"the way to Ridjeck Thome, Foul's Creche?"
   "I'm leaving that to you."
   Foamfollower frowned. "I know the way-I have it graven in my heart past all forgetting. But if we are separated-"
   "I don't have a chance if we're separated," Covenant muttered mordantly. He wished that he could leave the sound of leprosy out of his voice, but the malady was too rife in him to be stifled.
   "Separated? Who speaks of separation?" Lena protested before Foamfollower could reply. "Do not utter such things, Giant. We will not be separated. I have preserved-I will not part from him. You are old Giant. You do not remember the giving of life to life in love-or you would not speak of separation."
   In some way, her words twisted the deep knife of Foamfollower's hurt. "Old, yes." Yet after a moment he forced a wry grin onto his lips. "And you are altogether too young for me, fair Lena."
   Covenant winced for them both. Have mercy on me, he groaned. Have mercy. He started forward again, but almost at once he tripped on a snow-hidden roughness in the road.
   Lena and Foamfollower caught him from either side and upheld him.
   He looked back and forth between them. "Treasure-berries. I need aliantha."
   Foamfollower nodded and moved away briskly, as if his Giantish instincts told him exactly where to find the nearest aliantha. But Lena retained her hold on Covenant's arm. She had not pulled the hood of her robe over her head, and her white hair hung like wet snow. She was gazing into Covenant's face as if she were famished for the sight of him.
   He endured her scrutiny as long as he could. Then he carefully removed his arm from her fingers and said, "If I'm going to survive this, I'll have to learn to stand on my own."
   "Why ?'' she asked. "All are eager to aid-and none more eager than I. You have suffered enough for your aloneness."
   Because I'm all I have, he answered. But he could not say such a thing to her. He was terrified by her need for him.
   When he did not reply, she glanced down for a moment, away from the fever of his gaze, then looked up again with the brightness of an idea in her eyes. "Summon the Ranyhyn."
   The Ranyhyn?
   "They will come to you. They come to me at your command. It has hardly been forty days since they last came. They come each year on"- she faltered, looked around at the snow with a memory of fear in her face-"on the middle night of spring.'' Her voice fell until Covenant could hardly hear her. "This year the winter cold in my heart would not go away. The Land forgot spring-forgot- Sunlight abandoned us. I feared- feared that the Ranyhyn would never come again-that all my dreams were folly.
   "But the stallion came. Sweat and snow froze in his coat, and ice hung from his muzzle. His breath steamed as he asked me to mount him. But I thanked him from the bottom of my heart and sent him home. He brought back such thoughts of you that I could not ride."
   Her eyes had left his face, and now she fell silent as if she had forgotten why she was speaking. But when she raised her head, Covenant saw that her old face was full of tears. "Oh, my dear one,'' she said softly, "you are weak and in pain. Summon the Ranyhyn and ride them as you deserve."
   "No, Lena.'' He could not accept the kind of help the Ranyhyn would give him. He reached out and awkwardly brushed at her tears. His fingers felt nothing. "I made a bad bargain with them. I've made nothing but bad bargains."
   "Bad?" she asked as if he amazed her. "You are Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. How could any doing of yours be bad?"
   Because it let me commit crimes.
   But he could not say that aloud either. He reacted instead as if she had struck the touchstone of his fury.
   ''Listen, I don't know who you think I am these days; maybe you've still got Berek Halfhand on the brain. But I'm not him-I'm not any kind of hero. I'm nothing but a broken-down leper, and I'm doing this because I've had it up to here with being pushed around. With or without your company I'm going to start getting even regardless of any misbegotten whatever that tries to get in my way. I'm going to do it my own way. If you don't want to walk, you can go home."
   Before she had a chance to respond, he turned away from her in shame, and found Foamfollower standing sadly beside him. "And that's another thing," he went on almost without pause. "I have also had it with your confounded misery. Either tell me the truth about what's happened to you or stop sniveling." He emphasized his last two words by grabbing treasure-berries from the Giant's open hands. "Hell and blood! I'm sick to death of this whole thing." Glaring up at the Giant's face, he jammed aliantha into his mouth, chewed them with an air of helpless belligerence.
   "Ah, my friend," Foamfollower breathed. "This way that you have found for yourself is a cataract. I have felt it in myself. It will bear you to the edge in a rush and hurl you into abysses from which there is no recovery.''
   Lena's hands touched Covenant's arm again, but he threw them off. He could not face her. Still glaring at Foamfollower, he said, "You haven't told me the truth.'' Then he turned and stalked away through the snow. In his rage, he could not forgive himself for being so unable to distinguish between hate and grief.
   Treasure-berries supplied by both Foamfollower and Lena kept him going through most of the afternoon. But his pace remained slow and ragged. Finally his strength gave out when Foamfollower guided him off the road and eastward into the foothills beyond the mouth of the valley. By then, he was too exhausted to worry about the fact that the snowfall was ending. He simply lumbered into the lee of a hill and lay down to sleep. Later, in half-conscious moments, he discovered that the Giant was carrying him, but he was too tired to care.
   He awoke sometime after dawn with a pleasant sensation of warmth on his face and a smell of cooking in his nostrils. When he opened his eyes, he saw Foamfollower crouched over a graveling pot a few feet away, preparing a meal. They were in a small ravine. The leaden skies clamped over them like a coffin lid, but the air was free of snow. Beside him, Lena lay deep in weary slumber.
   Softly, Foamfollower said, "She is no longer young. And we walked until near dawn. Let her sleep." With a short gesture around the ravine, he went on: "We will not be easily discovered here. We should remain until nightfall. It is better for us to travel at night." He smiled faintly. "More rest will not harm you."
   "I don't want to rest," Covenant muttered, though he felt dull with fatigue. "I want to keep moving."
   "Rest," Foamfollower commanded. "You will be able to travel more swiftly when your health has improved."
   Covenant acquiesced involuntarily. He lacked the energy to argue. While he waited for the meal, he inspected himself. Inwardly, he felt steadier; some of his self-possession had returned. The swelling of his lip had receded, and his forehead no longer seemed feverish. The infection in his battered feet did not appear to be spreading.
   But his hands and feet were as numb as if they were being gradually gnawed off his limbs by frostbite. The backs of his knuckles and the tops of his arches retained some sensitivity, but the essential deadness was anchored in his bones. At first he tried to believe that the cause actually was frostbite. But he knew better. His sight told him clearly that it was not ice which deadened him.
   His leprosy was spreading. Under Lord Foul's dominion-under the gray malignant winter-the Land no longer had the power to give him health.
   Dream health! He knew that it had always been a lie, that leprosy was incurable because dead nerves could not be regenerated, that the previous impossible aliveness of his fingers and toes was the one incontrovertible proof that the Land was a dream, a delusion. Yet the absence of that health staggered him, dismayed the secret, yearning recusancy of his immedicable flesh. Not anymore, he gaped dumbly. Now he had been bereft of that, too. The cruelty of it seemed to be more than he could bear.
   "Covenant?" Foamfollower asked anxiously. "My friend?" Covenant gaped at the Giant as well, and another realization shook him. Foamfollower was closed to him. Except for the restless grief which crouched behind the Giant's eyes, Covenant could see nothing of his inner condition, could not see whether his companion was well or ill, right or wrong. His Land-born sight or penetration had been truncated, crippled. He might as well have been back in his own blind, impervious, superficial world.
   "Covenant?" Foamfollower repeated.
   For a time, the fact surpassed Covenant's comprehension. He tested-yes, he could see the interminable corruption eating its ill way toward his wrists, toward his heart. He could smell the potential gangrene in his feet. He could feel the vestiges of poison in his lip, the residual fever in his forehead. He could see hints of Lena's age, Foamfollower's sorrow. He could taste the malevolence which hurled this winter across the Land- that he could perceive without question. And he had surely seen the ill in the marauders at Mithil Stonedown.
   But that was no feat; their wrong was written on them so legibly that even a child could read it. Everything else was essentially closed to him. He could not discern Foamfollower's spirit, or Lena's confusion, or the snow's falseness. The stubbornness which should have been apparent in the rocky hillsides above him was invisible. Even this rare gift which the Land had twice given him was half denied him now.
   "Foamfollower." He could hardly refrain from moaning. "It's not coming back. I can't-this winter-it's not coming back."
   "Softly, my friend. I hear you. I"-a wry smile bent his lips-"I have seen what effect this winter has upon you. Perhaps I should be grateful that you cannot behold its effect upon me."
   "What effect?" Covenant croaked.
   Foamfollower shrugged as if to deprecate his own plight. "At times- when I have been too long unsheltered in this wind-I find I cannot remember certain precious Giantish tales. My friend, Giants do not forget stories."
   "Hell and blood." Covenant's voice shook convulsively. But he neither cried out nor moved from his blankets. "Get that food ready," he juddered. "I've got to eat." He needed food for strength. His purpose required strength.
   There was no question in him about what he meant to do. He was shackled to it as if his leprosy were an iron harness. And the hands that held the reins were in Foul's Creche.
   The stew which Foamfollower handed to him he ate severely, tremorously. Then he lay back in his blankets as if he were stretching himself on a slab, and coerced himself to rest, to remain still and conserve his energy. When the warm stew, and the long debt of recuperation he owed to himself, sent him drifting toward slumber, he fell asleep still glowering thunderously at the bleak, gray, cloud-locked sky.
   He awoke again toward noon and found Lena yet asleep. But she was nestling against him now, smiling faintly at her dreams. Foamfollower was no longer nearby.
   Covenant glanced around and located the Giant keeping watch up near the head of the ravine. He waved when Covenant looked toward him. Covenant responded by carefully extricating himself from Lena, climbing out of his blankets. He tied his sandals securely onto his numb feet, tightened his jacket, and went to join the Giant.
   From Foamfollower's position, he found that he could see over the rims of the ravine into its natural approaches. After a moment, he asked quietly, "How far did we get?" His breath steamed as if his mouth were full of smoke.
   "We have rounded the northmost point of this promontory," Foam-follower replied. Nodding back over his left shoulder, he continued, "Kevin's Watch is behind us. Through these hills we can gain the Plains of Ra in three more nights."
   "We should get going," muttered Covenant. "I'm in a hurry."
   "Practice patience, my friend. We will gain nothing if we hasten into the arms of marauders."
   Covenant looked around, then asked, "Are the Ramen letting marauders get this close to the Ranyhyn? Has something happened to them?"
   "Perhaps. I have had no contact with them. But the Plains are threatened along the whole length of the Roamsedge and Landrider rivers. And the Ramen spend themselves extravagantly to preserve the great horses. Perhaps their numbers are too few for them to ward these hills."
   Covenant accepted this as best he could. "Foamfollower," he murmured, "whatever happened to all that Giantish talk you used to be so famous for? You haven't actually told me what you're worried about. Is it those 'eyes' that saw you and Triock summon me? Every time I ask a question, you act as if you've got lockjaw."
   With a dim smile, Foamfollower said, "I have lived a brusque life. The sound of my own voice is no longer so attractive to me."
   "Is that a fact?" Covenant drawled. "I've heard worse."
   "Perhaps," Foamfollower said softly. But he did not explain.
   The Giant's reticence made Covenant want to ask more questions, attack his own ignorance somehow. He was sure that the issues at stake were large, that the things he did not yet know about the Land's doom were immensely important. But he remembered the way in which he had extracted information from Banner on the plateau of Rivenrock. He could not forget the consequences of what he had done. He left Foamfollower's secrets alone.
   Down the ravine from him, Lena's slumber became more restless. He shivered to himself as she began to flinch from side to side, whimpering under her breath. An impulse urged him to go to her, prevent her from thrashing about for fear that she might break her old, frail bones; but he resisted. He could not afford all that she wanted to mean to him.
   Yet when she jerked up and looked frantically around her, found that he was gone from her side-when she cried out piercingly, as if she had been abandoned-he was already halfway down the ravine toward her. Then she caught sight of him. Surging up from her blankets, she rushed to meet him, threw herself into his arms. There she clung to him so that her sobs were muffled in his shoulder.
   With his right hand-its remaining fingers as numb and awkward as if they should have been amputated-he stroked her thin white hair. He tried to hold her consolingly to make up for his utter lack of comfortable words. Slowly, she regained control of herself. When he eased the pressure of his embrace, she stepped back. "Pardon me, beloved, "she said contritely. "I feared that you had left me. I am weak and foolish, or I would not have forgotten that you are the Unbeliever. You deserve better trust."
   Covenant shook his head dumbly, as if he wished to deny everything and did not know where or how to begin.
   "But I could not bear to be without you," she went on. "In deep nights-when the cold catches at my breast until I cannot keep it out-and the mirror lies to me, saying that I have not kept myself unchanged for you-I have held to the promise of your return. I have not faltered, no! But I learned that I could not bear to be without you-not again. I have earned-I have- But I could not bear it-to sneak alone into the night and crouch in hiding as if I were ashamed-not again."
   "Not again," Covenant breathed. In her old face he could see Elena clearly now, looking so beautiful and lost that his love for her wrenched his heart. "As long as I'm stuck in this thing-I won't go anywhere without you."
   But she seemed to hear only his proviso, not his promise. With anguish in her face, she asked, "Must you depart?"

"Yes." The stiffness of his mouth made it difficult for him to speak gently; he could not articulate without tearing at his newly formed scabs. "I don't belong here."
   She gasped at his words as if he had stabbed her with them. Her gaze fell away from his face. Panting, she murmured, "Again! I cannot_ cannot- Oh, Atiaran my mother! I love him. I have given my life without regret. When I was young, I ached to follow you to the Loresraat to succeed so boldly that you could say, 'There is the meaning of my life, there in my daughter.' I ached to marry a Lord. But I have given-"
   Abruptly, she caught the front of Covenant's jacket in both hands, pulled herself close to him, thrust her gaze urgently at his face. "Thomas Covenant, will you marry me?"
   Covenant gaped at her in horror.
   The excitement of the idea carried her on in a rush. "Let us marry! Oh, dearest one, that would restore me. I could bear any burden. We do not need the permission of the elders-I have spoken to them many times of my desires. I know the rites, the solemn promises-I can teach you. And the Giant can witness the sharing of our lives." Before Covenant could gain any control over his face, she was pleading with him. "Oh, Unbeliever! I have borne your daughter. I have ridden the Ranyhyn that you sent to me. I have waited-! Surely I have shown the depth of my love for you. Beloved, marry me. Do not refuse."
   Her appeal made him cringe, made him feel grotesque and unclean. In his pain, he wanted to turn his back on her, push her from him and walk away. Part of him was already shouting, You're crazy, old woman! It's your daughter I love! But he restrained himself. With his shoulders hunched like a strangler's to choke the violence of his responses, he gripped Lena's wrists and pulled her hands from his jacket. He held them up so that his fingers were directly in front of her face. "Look at my hands," he rasped. "Look at my fingers."
   She stared at them wildly.
   "Look at the sickness in them. They aren't just cold-they're sick, numb with sickness almost all the way across my palms. That's my disease."
   "You are closed to me," she said desolately.
   "That's leprosy, I tell you! It's there-even if you're blind to it, it's there. And there's only one way you can get it. Prolonged exposure. You might get it if you stayed around me long enough. And children-what's marriage without children?" He could not keep the passion out of his voice. "Children are even more susceptible. They get it more easily--children and-and old people. When I get wiped out of the Land the next time, you'll be left behind, and the only absolutely guaranteed legacy you'll have from me is leprosy. Foul will make sure of it. On top of everything else, I'll be responsible for contaminating the entire Land."
   "Covenant-beloved," Lena whispered, "I beg you. Do not refuse '' Her eyes swam with tears, torn by a cruel effort to see herself as she really was. "Behold, I am frail and faulty. I have neither worth nor courage to preserve myself alone. I have given- Please, Thomas Covenant." Before he could stop her, she dropped to her knees. "I beg-do not shame me in the eyes of my whole life."
   His defensive rage was no match for her. He snatched her up from her knees as if he meant to break her back, but then he held her tenderly, put all the gentleness of which he was capable into his face. For an instant, he felt he had in his hands proof that he-not Lord Foul-was responsible for the misery of the Land. And he could not accept that responsibility without rejecting her. What she asked him to do was to forget-
   He knew that Foamfollower was watching him. But if Triock and Mhoram and Banner had been behind him as well-if even Trell and Atiaran had been present-he would not have changed his answer.
   "No, Lena,'' he said softly. "I don't love you right-I don't have the right kind of love to marry you. I'd only be cheating you. You're beautiful -beautiful. Any other man wouldn't wait for you to ask him. But I'm the Unbeliever, remember? I'm here for a reason.'' With a sick twisting of his lips that was as close as he could come to a smile, he finished, "Berek Halfhand didn't marry his Queen, either."
   His words filled him with disgust. He felt that he was telling her a lie worse than the lie of marrying her-that any comfort he might try to offer her violated the severe truth. But as she realized what he was saying, she caught hold of the idea and clasped it to her. She blinked rapidly at her tears, and the harsh effort of holding her confusion at bay faded from her face. In its place, a shy smile touched her lips. "Am I your Queen then, Unbeliever?" she asked in a tone of wonder.
   Roughly, Covenant hugged her so that she could not see the savagery which white-knuckled his countenance. "Of course." He forced up the words as if they were too thick for his aching throat. "No one else is worthy."
   He held her, half fearing she would collapse if he let her go, but after a long moment, she withdrew from his embrace. With a look that reminded him of her sprightly girlhood, she said, "Let us tell the Giant," as if she wished to announce something better than a betrothal.
   Together, they turned and climbed arm in arm up the ravine toward Saltheart Foamfollower.
   When they reached him, they found that his buttressed visage was still wet with weeping. Gray ice sheened his face, hung like beads from his stiff beard. His hands were gripped and straining across his knees. "Foamfollower," Lena said in surprise, "this is a moment of happiness. Why do you weep?"
   His hands jerked up to scrub away the ice, and when it was gone, he smiled at her with wonderful fondness. "You are too beautiful, my Queen," he told her gently. "You surpass me."
   His response made her shine with pleasure. For a moment, her old flesh blushed youthfully, and she met the Giant's gaze with joy in her eyes. Then a recollection started her. "But I am remiss. I have been asleep, and you have not eaten. I must cook for you." Turning lightly, she scampered down the ravine toward Foamfollower's supplies.
   The Giant glanced up at the chill sky, then looked at Covenant's gaunt face. His cavernous eyes glinted sharply, as if he understood what Covenant had been through. As gently as he had spoken to Lena, he asked, "Do you now believe in the Land?"
   "I'm the Unbeliever. I don't change."
   "Do you not?"
   "I am going to"-Covenant's shoulders hunched-"exterminate Lord Foul the bloody Despiser. Isn't that enough for you?"
   "Oh, it is enough for me," Foamfollower said with sudden vehemence. "I require nothing more. But it does not suffice for you. What do you believe-what is your faith?"
   "I don't know."
   Foamfollower looked away again at the weather. His heavy brows hid his eyes, but his smile seemed sad, almost hopeless. "Therefore I am afraid."
   Covenant nodded grimly, as if in agreement.
   Nevertheless, if Lord Foul had appeared before him at that moment, he, Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever and leper, would have tried to tear the Despiser's heart out with his bare hands.
   He needed to know how to use the white wild magic gold.
   But there were no answers in the meal Lena cooked for him and Foamfollower, or in the gray remainder of the afternoon, which he spent huddled over the fire-stones with Lena resting drowsily against him, or in the dank, suffering twilight that finally brought his waiting to an end. When Foamfollower led the way eastward out of the ravine, Covenant felt that he understood nothing but the wind which blew through him like scorn for the impotence of sunlight and warmth. And after that he had no more time to think about it. All his attention was occupied with the work of stumbling numbly through the benighted hills.
   Traveling was difficult for him. His body's struggle to recover from injury and inanition drained his strength; the bitter cold drained his strength. He could not see where to place his feet, could not avoid tripping, falling, bruising himself on insensate dirt and rock. Yet he kept going, pushed himself after Foamfollower until the sweat froze on his forehead and his clothing grew crusted with stains of ice. His resolve held him. In time, he even became dimly grateful that his feet were numb, so that he could not feel the damage he was doing to himself.
   He had no sense of duration or progress; he measured out the time in rest halts, in aliantha unexpectedly handed to him out of the darkness by Foamfollower. Such things sustained him. But eventually he stopped rubbing the ice from his nose and lips, from his forehead and his fanatical beard; he allowed the gray cold to hang like a mask on his features, as if he were becoming a creature of winter. And he stumbled on in the Giant's wake.
   When Foamfollower stopped at last, shortly before dawn, Covenant simply dropped to the snow and fell asleep.
   Later, the Giant woke him for breakfast, and he found Lena sleeping beside him, curled against the cold. Her lips were faintly tinged with blue, and she shivered from time to time, unable to get warm. Her years showed clearly now in the lines of her face and in the frail, open-mouthed rise and fall of her breathing. Covenant roused her carefully, made her eat hot food until her lips lost their cold hue and the veins in her temples became less prominent. Then, despite her protests, he put her down in blankets and lay beside her until she went back to sleep.
   Sometime later, he roused himself to finish his own breakfast. Calculating backward, he guessed that the Giant had been without rest for at least the last three days and nights. So he said abruptly, "I'll let you know when I can't stay awake anymore," took the graveling pot, and moved off to find a sheltered place where he could keep watch. There he sat and watched daylight ooze into the air like seepage through the scab of an old wound.
   He awoke late in the afternoon to find Foamfollower sitting beside him, and Lena preparing a meal a short distance away. He jerked erect, cursing inwardly. But his companions did not appear to have suffered from his dereliction. Foamfollower met his gaze with a smile and said, "Do not be alarmed. We have been safe enough-though I was greatly weary and slept until midday. There is a deer run north of us, and some of the tracks are fresh. Deer would not remain here in the presence of marauder spoor.''
   Covenant nodded. His breath steamed heavily in the cold. "Foamfollower," he muttered, "I am incredibly tired of being so bloody mortal."
   But that night he found the going easier. In spite of the encroaching numbness of his hands and feet, some of his strength had returned. And as Foamfollower led him and Lena eastward, the mountains moved away from them on the south, easing the ruggedness of the hills. As a result, he was better able to keep up the pace.
   Yet the relaxation of the terrain caused another problem. Since they were less protected from the wind, they often had to walk straight into the teeth of Lord Foul's winter. In that wind, Covenant's inmost clothing seemed to turn to ice, and he moved as if he were scraping his chest raw like a penitent.
   Still, he had enough stamina left at the end of the night's march to take the first watch. The Giant had chosen to camp in a small hollow sheltered on the east by a low hill; and after they had eaten, Foamfollower and Lena lay down to sleep while Covenant took a position under a dead, gnarled juniper just below the crown of the knoll. From there, he looked down at his companions, resting as if they trusted him completely. He was determined not to fail them again.
   Yet he knew, could not help knowing, that he was poorly equipped for such duty. The wintry truncation of his senses nagged at him as if it implied disaster-as if his inability to see, smell, hear peril would necessarily give rise to peril. And he was not mistaken. Though he was awake, almost alert-though the day had begun, filling the air with its gray, cold sludge- though the attack came from the east, upwind from him-he felt nothing until too late.
   He had just finished a circuit of the hilltop, scanning the terrain around the hollow, and had returned to sit in the thin shelter of the juniper, when at last he became aware of danger. Something imminent ran along the wind; the atmosphere over the hollow became suddenly intense. The next instant, dark figures rose up out of the snow around Foamfollower and Lena. As he tried to shout a warning, the figures attacked.
   He sprang to his feet, raced down into the hollow. Below him, Foamfollower surged to his knees, throwing dark brown people aside. With a low cry of anger, Lena struggled against the weight of the attackers who pinned her in her blankets. But before Covenant could get to her, someone hit him from behind, knocked him headlong into the snow.
   He rolled, got his feet under him, but immediately arms caught him around the chest above the elbows. His own arms were trapped. He fought, threw himself from side to side, but his captor was far too strong; he could not break the grip. Then a flat, alien voice said into his ear, "Remain still or I will break your back."
   His helplessness infuriated him.' Then break it,'' he panted under his breath as he struggled. "Just let her go." Lena was resisting frantically, yelping in frustration and outrage as she failed to free herself.
   "Foamfollower!" Covenant shouted hoarsely.
   But he saw in shocked amazement that the Giant was not fighting. His attackers stood back from him, and he sat motionless, regarding Covenant's captor gravely.
   Covenant went limp with chagrin.
   Roughly, the attackers pulled Lena from her blankets. They had already lashed her wrists with cords. She still struggled, but now her only aim seemed to be to break loose so that she could run to Covenant.
   Then Foamfollower spoke. Levelly, dangerously, he said, "Release him.'' When the arms holding Covenant did not loosen, the Giant went on: "Stone and Sea! You will regret it if you have harmed him. Do you not know me?"
   "The Giants are dead," the voice in Covenant's ear said dispassionately. "Only Giant-Ravers remain."
   "Let me go!" Lena hissed. "Oh, look at him, you fools! Melenkurion abatha! Is he a Raver?" But Covenant could not tell whether she referred to Foamfollower or himself.
   His captor ignored her. "We have seen-I have seen The Grieve. I have made that journey to behold the work of Ravers."
   A shadow tightened in Foamfollower's eyes, but his voice did not flicker. "Distrust me, then. Look at him, as Lena daughter of Atiaran suggests. He is Thomas Covenant."
   Abruptly, the strong arms spun Covenant. He found himself facing a compact man with flat eyes and a magisterial mien. The man wore nothing but a thin, short, vellum robe, as if he were impervious to the cold. In some ways he had changed; his eyebrows were stark white against his brown skin; his hair had aged to a mottled gray; and deep lines ran like the erosion of time down his cheeks past the corners of his mouth. But still Covenant recognized him.
   He was Banner of the Bloodguard.

Nine: Ramen Covert


   The sight of him stunned Covenant. Lithe, loam-colored forms, some wearing light robes shaded to match the gray-white snow, moved closer to him as if to verify his identify; a few of them muttered "Ringthane" in tense voices. He hardly saw them. "But Mhoram said-"
   But Mhoram had said that the Bloodguard were lost.
   "Ur-Lord Covenant." Banner inclined his head in a slight bow. "Pardon my error. You are well disguised."
   "Disguised?" Covenant had no conception of what Banner was talking about. Mhoram's pain had carried so much conviction. Numbly, he glanced downward as if he expected to find two fingers missing from Banner's right hand.
   "A Stonedownor jacket. Sandals. A Giant for a companion." Banner's impassive eyes held Covenant's face. "And you stink of infection. Only your countenance may be recognized."
   "Recognized." Covenant could not stop himself. He repeated the word because it was the last thing Banner had said. Fighting for self-control, he croaked, "Why aren't you with the Lords?"
   "The Vow was Corrupted. We no longer serve the Lords."
   Covenant gaped at this answer as if it were nonsense. Confusion befogged his comprehension. Had Mhoram said anything like this? He found that his knees were trembling as if the ground under him had shifted. No longer serve the Lords, he repeated blankly. He did not know what the words meant.
   But then the sounds of Lena's struggle penetrated him. "You have harmed him," she gasped fiercely. "Release me!"
   He made an effort to pull himself together. "Let her go," he said to Banner. "Don't you understand who she is?"
   "Did the Giant speak truly?"
   "What? Did he what?" Covenant almost lapsed back into his stupor at the jolt of this distrust. But for Lena's sake he took a deep breath, resisted. "She is the mother of High Lord Elena,'' he grated. "Tell them to let her go."
   Banner glanced past Covenant at Lena, then said distantly, "The Lords spoke of her. They were unable to heal her." He shrugged slightly. "They were unable to heal many things."
   Before Covenant could respond, the Bloodguard signaled to his companions. A moment later, Lena was at Covenant's side. From somewhere in her robes, she produced a stone knife and brandished it between Bannor and Covenant. "If you have harmed him, "she fumed, "I will take the price of it from your skin, old man."
   The Bloodguard cocked an eyebrow at her. Covenant reached for her arm to hold her back, but he was still too staggered to think of a way to calm her, reassure her. "Lena," he murmured ineffectively, "Lena." When Foamfollower joined them, Covenant's eyes appealed to the Giant for help.
   "Ah, my Queen," Foamfollower said softly. "Remember your Oath of Peace."
   "Peace!" Lena snapped in a brittle voice. "Speak to them of Peace. They attacked the Unbeliever."
   "Yet they are not our enemies. They are the Ramen."
   She jerked incredulously to face the Giant. "Ramen? The tenders of the Ranyhyn?"
   Covenant stared as well. Ramen? He had unconsciously assumed that Banner's companions were other Bloodguard. The Ramen had always secretly hated the Bloodguard because so many Ranyhyn had died while bearing the Bloodguard in battle. Ramen and Bloodguard? The ground seemed to lurch palpably under him. Nothing was as he believed it to be; everything in the Land would either astound or appall him, if only he were told the truth.
   "Yes," Foamfollower replied to Lena. And now Covenant recognized the Ramen for himself. Eight of them, men and women, stood around him. They were lean, swift people, with the keen faces of hunters, and skin so deeply tanned from their years in the open air that even this winter could not pale them. Except for their scanty robes, their camouflage, they dressed in the Ramen fashion as Covenant remembered it-short shifts and tunics which left their legs and arms free; bare feet. Seven of them had the cropped hair and roped waists characteristic of Cords; and the eighth was marked as a Manethrall by the way his fighting thong tied his long black hair into one strand, and by the small, woven circlet of yellow flowers on the crown of his head.
   Yet they had changed; they were not like the Ramen he had known forty-seven years ago. The easiest alteration for him to see was in their attitude toward him. During his first visit to the Land, they had looked at him in awed respect. He was the Ringthane, the man to whom the Ranyhyn had reared a hundred strong. But now their proud, severe faces regarded him with asperity backed by ready rage, as if he had violated their honor by committing some nameless perfidy.
   But that was not the only change in them. As he scrutinized the uncompromising eyes around him, he became conscious of a more significant difference, something he could not define. Perhaps they carried themselves with less confidence or pride; perhaps they had been attacked so often that they had developed a habitual flinch; perhaps this ratio of seven Cords to one Manethrall, instead of three or four to one, as it should have been, indicated a crippling loss of life among their leaders, the teachers of the Ranyhyn-lore. Whatever the reason, they had a haunted look, an aspect of erosion, as if some subliminal ghoul were gnawing at the bones of their courage. Studying them, Covenant was suddenly convinced that they endured Bannor, even followed him, because they were no longer self-sure enough to refuse a Bloodguard.
   After a moment, he became aware that Lena was speaking, more in confusion than in anger now. "Why did you attack us? Can you not recognize the Unbeliever? Do you not remember the Rockbrothers of the Land? Can you not see that I have ridden Ranyhyn?"
   "Ridden!" spat the Manethrall.
   "My Queen," Foamfollower said softly, "the Ramen do not ride."
   "As for Giants," the man went on, "they betray."
   "Betray?" Covenant's pulse pounded in his temples, as if he were too close to an abyss hidden in the snow.
   "Twice now Giants have led Fangthane's rending armies north of the Plains of Ra. These 'Rockbrothers' have sent fangs and claws in scores of thousands to tear the flesh of Ranyhyn. Behold!" With a swift tug, he snatched his cord from his hair and grasped it taut like a garrote. "Every Ramen cord is black with blood." His knuckles tightened as if he were about to leap at the Giant. "Manhome is abandoned. Ramen and Ranyhyn are scattered. Giants!" He spat again as if the very taste of the word disgusted him.
   "Yet you know me," Foamfollower said to Bannor. "You know that I am not one of the three who fell to the Ravers."
   Bannor shrugged noncommittally. "Two of the three are dead. Who can say where those Ravers have gone?"
   "I am a Giant, Bannor!'' Foamfollower insisted in a tone of supplication, as if that fact were the only proof of his fidelity. "It was I who first brought Thomas Covenant to Revelstone."
   Bannor was unmoved. "Then how is it that you are alive?"
   At this, Foamfollower's eyes glinted painfully. In a thin tone, he said, "I was absent from Coercri-when my kindred brought their years in Seareach to an end."
   The Bloodguard cocked an eyebrow, but did not relent. After a moment, Covenant realized that the resolution of this impasse was in his hands. He was in no condition to deal with such problems, but he knew he had to say something. With an effort, he turned to Bannor. "You can't claim you don't remember me. You probably have nightmares about me, even if you don't ever sleep."
   "I know you, ur-Lord Covenant." As he spoke, Bannor's nostrils flared as if they were offended by the smell of illness.
   "You know me, too," Covenant said with mounting urgency to the Manethrall. "Your people call me Ringthane. The Ranyhyn reared to me."
   The Manethrall looked away from Covenant's demanding gaze, and for an instant the haunted look filled his face like an ongoing tragedy. "Of the Ringthane we do not speak," he said quietly. "The Ranyhyn have chosen. It is not our place to question the choices of the Ranyhyn."
   "Then back off!" Covenant did not intend to shout, but he was too full of undefined fears to contain himself. "Leave us alone! Hellfire! We've got enough trouble as it is."
   His tone brought back the Manethrall's pride. Severely, the man asked, "Why have you come?"
   "I haven't 'come.' I don't want to be here at all."
   "What is your purpose?"
   In a voice full of mordant inflections, Covenant said, "I intend to pay a little visit to Foul's Creche."
   His words jolted the Cords, and their breath hissed through their teeth. The Manethrall's hands twitched on his weapon.
   A flare of savage desire widened Bannor's eyes momentarily. But his flat dispassion returned at once. He shared a clear glance with the Manethrall, then said, "Ur-Lord, you and your companions must accompany us. We will take you to a place where more Ramen may give thought to you.''
   "Are we your prisoners?" Covenant glowered.
   "Ur-Lord, no hand will be raised against you in my presence. But these matters must be given consideration."
   Covenant glared hard into Bannor's expressionlessness, then turned to Foamfollower. "What do you think?"
   "I do not like this treatment,'' Lena interjected. ''Saltheart Foamfollower is a true friend of the Land. Atiaran my mother spoke of all Giants with gladness. And you are the Unbeliever, the bearer of white gold. They show disrespect. Let us leave them and go our way."
   Foamfollower replied to them both, "The Ramen are not blind. Bannor is not blind. They will see me more clearly in time. And their help is worth seeking."
   "All right,'' Covenant muttered. "I'm no good at fighting anyway.'' To Bannor, he said stiffly, "We'll go with you." Then, for the sake of everything that had happened between himself and the Bloodguard, he added, "No matter what else is going on here, you've saved my life too often for me to start distrusting you now."
   Bannor gave Covenant another fractional bow. At once, the Mane-thrall snapped a few orders to the Cords. Two of them left at a flat run toward the northeast, and two more moved off to take scouting positions on either side of the company, while the rest gathered small knapsacks from hiding places around the hollow. Watching them, Covenant was amazed once again at how easily, swiftly, they could disappear into their surroundings. Even their footprints seemed to vanish before his eyes. By the time Foamfollower had packed his leather sack, they had effaced all signs of their presence from the hollow. It looked as untroubled as if they had never been there.
   Before long, Covenant found himself trudging between Lena and Foamfollower in the same general direction taken by the two runners. The Manethrall and Bannor strode briskly ahead of them, and the three remaining Cords marched at their backs like guards. They seemed to be moving openly, as if they had no fear of enemies. But twice when he looked back Covenant saw the Cords erasing the traces of their passage from the gray drifts and the cold ground.
   The presence of those three ready garrotes behind him only aggravated his confusion. Despite his long experience with hostility, he was not prepared for such distrust from the Ramen. Clearly, important events had taken place-events of which he had no conception. His ignorance afflicted him with a powerful sense that the fate of the Land was moving toward a crisis, a fundamental concatenation in which his own role was beclouded, obscure. The facts were being kept from him. This feeling cast the whole harsh edifice of his purpose into doubt, as if it were erected on slow quicksand. He needed to ask questions, to get answers. But the unspoken threat of those Ramen ropes disconcerted him. And Bannor-! He could not frame his questions, even to himself.
   And he was tired. He had already traveled all night, had not slept since the previous afternoon. Only four days had passed since his summoning.  As he labored to keep up the pace, he found that he lacked the strength of concentration to think.
   Lena was in no better condition. Although she was healthier than he, she was old, and not hardened to walking. Gradually, he became as worried about her as he was weary himself. When she began to droop against him, he told Banner flatly that he would have to rest.
   They slept until midafternoon, then traveled late into the night before camping again. And the next morning, they were on their way before dawn. But Covenant and Lena did better now. The food which the Ramen gave them was hot and nourishing. And soon after gray dim day had shambled into the laden air, they reached the edge of the hills, came in sight of the Plains of Ra. At this point, they swung northward, staying in the rumbled terrain of the hills-edge rather than venturing into the bleak, winter-bitten openness of the Plains. But still they found the going easier. In time, Covenant recovered enough to begin asking questions.
   As usual, he had trouble talking to Banner. The Bloodguard's un-breachable dispassion daunted him, often made him malicious or angry through simple frustration; such reticence seemed outrageously immune from judgment-the antithesis of leprosy. Now all the Bloodguard had abandoned the Lords, Revelstone, death refusal. Lord's Keep would fall without them. And yet Bannor was here, living and working with the Ramen. When Covenant tried to ask questions, he felt that he no longer knew the man to whom he spoke.
   Bannor met his first tentative inquiries by introducing Covenant to the Ramen-Manethrall Kam, and his Cords, Whane, Lal, and Puhl-and by assuring him that they would reach their destination by evening the next day. He explained that this band of Ramen was a scouting patrol responsible for detecting marauders along the western marge of Ra; they had found Covenant and his companions by chance rather than design. When Covenant asked about Rue, the Manethrall who had brought word of Fleshharrower's army to Revelstone seven years ago, Bannor replied flatly that she had died soon after her return home. But after that, Covenant had to wrestle for what he wanted to know.
   At last he could find no graceful way to frame his question. "You left the Lords," he rasped awkwardly. "Why are you here?"
   "The Vow was broken. How could we remain?"
   "They need you. They couldn't need you more."
   "Ur-Lord, I say to you that the Vow was broken. Many things were  broken. You were present. We could not-ur-Lord, I am old now. I, Bannor, First Mark of the Bloodguard. I require sleep and hot food.
   Though I was bred for mountains, this cold penetrates my bones. I am no fit server for Revelstone-no, nor for the Lords, though they do not equal High Lord Kevin who went before them."
   "Then why are you here? Why didn't you just go home and forget it?"
   Foamfollower winced at Covenant's tone, but Bannor replied evenly, "That was my purpose-when I departed Lord's Keep. But I found I could not forget. I had ridden too many Ranyhyn. At night I saw them-in my dreams they ran like clear skies and cleanliness. Have you not beheld them? Without Vows or defiance of death, they surpassed the faith of the Bloodguard. Therefore I returned."
   "Just because you were addicted to Ranyhyn? You let the Lords and Revelstone and all go to hell and blood, but you came here because you couldn't give up riding Ranyhyn?"
   "I do not ride."
   Covenant stared at him.
   "I have come to share the work of the Ramen. A few of the Haruchai-I know not how many-a few felt as I did. We had known Kevin in the youth of his glory, and could not forget. Terrel is here, and Runnik. There are others. We teach our skills to the Ramen, and learn from them the tending of the great horses. Perhaps we will learn to make peace with our failure before we die."
   Make peace, Covenant groaned. Bannor! The very simplicity of the Bloodguard's explanation dismayed him. So all those centuries of untainted and sleepless service came to this.
   He asked Bannor no more questions; he was afraid of the answers.
   For the rest of that day, he fell out of touch with his purpose. Despite the concern and companionship of Foamfollower and Lena, he walked between them in morose separateness. Banner's words had numbed his heart. And he slept that night on his back with his eyes upward, as if he did not believe that he would ever see the sun again.
   But the next morning he remembered. Shortly after dawn, Manethrall Kam's party met another Cord. The man was on his way to the edge of the Plains, and in his hands he carried two small bouquets of yellow flowers. The gray wind made their frail petals flutter pathetically. After saluting Manethrall Kam, he strode out into the open, shouted shrilly against the wind in a language Covenant could not understand. He repeated his shout, then waited with his hands extended as if he were offering flowers to the wind.
   Shortly, out of the shelter of a frozen gully came two Ranyhyn, a stallion and a mare. The stallion's chest was scored with fresh claw-marks, and the mare had a broken, hollow look, as if she had just lost her foal. Both were as gaunt as skeletons; hunger had carved the pride from their shoulders and haunches, exposed their ribs, given their emaciated muscles an abject starkness. They hardly seemed able to hold up their heads. But they nickered to the Cord. With a stumbling gait, they trotted forward, and began at once to eat the flowers he offered to them. In three bites the food was gone. He hugged them quickly, then turned away with tears in his eyes.
   Without a word, Manethrall Kam gave the Cord the bedraggled circlet from his hair, so that each of the Ranyhyn could have one more bite. "That is amanibhavam, the healing grass of Ra," he explained stiffly to Covenant. "It is a hardy grass, not so easily daunted by this winter as the Render might wish. It will keep life in them-for another day." As he spoke, he glared redly into Covenant's face, as if the misery of these two horses were the Unbeliever's doing. With a brusque nod toward the Cord feeding the Ranyhyn, he went on: "He walked ten leagues today to bring even this much food to them.'' The haunted erosion filled his face; he looked like the victim of a curse. Painfully, he turned and strode away again northward, along the edges of the Plains.
   Covenant remembered; he had no trouble remembering his purpose now. When he followed the Manethrall, he walked as if he were fighting the deadness of his feet with outrage.
   In the course of that day, he saw a few more Ranyhyn. Two were uninjured, but all were gaunt, weak, humbled. All had gone a long way down the road toward starvation.
   The sight of them wore heavily upon Lena. There was no confusion in the way she perceived them, no distortion or inaccuracy. Such vision consumed her. As time passed, her eyes sank back under her brows, as if they were trying to hide in her skull, and dark circles like bruises grew around the orbs. She stared brittlely about her as if even Covenant were dim in her gaze-as if she beheld nothing but the protruding ribs and fleshless limbs of Ranyhyn.
   Covenant held her arm as they walked, guided and supported her as best he could. Weariness gradually became irrelevant to him; even the keen wind, flaying straight toward him across the Plains, seemed to lose its importance. He stamped along behind Kam like a wild prophet, come to forge the Ramen to his will.
   They reached the outposts of Kam's destination by midafternoon. Ahead of them, two Cords abruptly stepped out of a barren copse of wattle, and saluted Manethrall Kam in the Ramen fashion, with their hands raised °n either side of their heads and their palms open, weaponless. Kam returned the bow, spoke to the two briefly in a low, aspirated tongue, then motioned for Covenant, Lena, and Foamfollower to continue on with him. As they moved back into the hills, he told them, "My Cords were able to summon only three other Manethralls. But four will be enough."
   "Enough?" Covenant asked.
   "The Ramen will accept a judgment made by four Manethralls."
   Covenant met Kam's glare squarely. A moment later, the Manethrall turned away with an oddly daunted air, as if he had remembered that Covenant's claim on him came from the Ranyhyn. Hurrying now, he led his company upward with the gray wind cutting at their backs.
   They climbed across two steep bluffs which gave them a panoramic view of the Plains. The hard open ground lay ruined below them, scorched with winter and gray snow until it looked maimed and lifeless. But Manethrall Kam moved rapidly onward, ignoring the sight. He took his companions past the bluffs down into a valley cunningly hidden among rough knolls and hilltops. This valley was largely sheltered from the wind, and faint, cultivated patches of unripe amanibhavam grew on its sides. Now Covenant remembered what he had heard about amanibhavam during his previous visit to the Plains of Ra. This grass, which held such a rare power of healing for horses, was poisonous to humans.
   Aside from the grass, the valley contained nothing but three dead copses leaning at various points against the steepest of the slopes. Manethrall Kam walked directly toward the thickest one. As he approached, four Cords stepped out of the wood to meet him. They had a tense, frail air about them which made Covenant notice how young they were; even the two older girls seemed to have had their Cording thrust unready upon them. They saluted Kam nervously, and when he had returned their bow, they moved aside to let him enter the copse.
   Covenant followed Banner into the wood and found that at its back was a narrow rift in the hillside. The rift did not close, but its upper reaches were so crooked that Covenant could not see out the top. Under his feet, a layer of damp, dead leaves muffled his steps; he passed in silence like a shadow between the cold stone walls. A smell of musty age filled his nostrils, as if the packed leaves had been rotting in the rift for generations; and despite their wetness, he felt dim warmth radiating from them. No one spoke. Gripping Lena's chill fingers in his numb hand, he moved behind Banner as the cleft bent irregularly from side to side on its way through the rock.
   Then Manethrall Kam stopped. When Covenant caught up with him, he said softly, "We now enter the secret places of a Ramen covert. Be warned, Ringthane. If we are not taught to trust you and your companions, you will not leave this place. In all the Plains of Ra and the surrounding hills, this is the last covert.
   "At one time, the Ramen held several such hidden places of refuge. In them the Manethralls tended the grievous wounds of the Ranyhyn and trained Cords in the secret rites of their Maneing. But one by one in turn each covert"-Kam fixed Covenant with a demon-ridden gaze-"has been betrayed. Though we have preserved them with our utterest skill, fresh-ur-viles-Cavewights-ill flesh in every shape-all have found our hidden coverts and ravaged them." He studied the Ringthane as if he were searching for some sign which would brand Covenant as the betrayer. "We will hold you here-we will kill your companions-rather than permit treachery to this place."
   Without allowing Covenant time to reply, he turned on his heel and stalked around another bend in the cleft.
   Covenant followed, scowling stormily. Beyond the bend, he found himself in a large chamber. The air was dim, but he could see well enough to discern several Ranyhyn standing against the walls. They were eating scant bundles of grass, and in this closed space the sharp aroma of the amanibhavam made his head ring. All of them were injured-some so severely that they could hardly stand. One had lost the side of its face in a fight, another still bled from a cruel fretwork of claw-marks in its flanks, and two others had broken legs which hung limply, with excruciating bone-splinters tearing the skin.
   As he stared gauntly at them, they became aware of him. A restless movement passed through them, and their heads came up painfully, turning soft, miserable eyes toward him. For a long moment, they looked at him as if they should have been afraid but were too badly hurt for fear. Then, in agony, even the horses with broken legs tried to rear.
   "Stop it. Stop." Covenant hardly knew that he was moaning aloud. His hands flinched in front of his face, trying to ward off an abominable vision. "I can't stand it."
   Firmly, Banner took his arm and drew him past the chamber into another passage through the rock.
   After a few steps, his legs failed him. But Banner gripped him, bore him up. Clutching with useless fingers at the Bloodguard's shoulders, he pulled himself around until he was facing Bannor. "Why?" he panted into Bannor's flat visage. "Why did they do that?"
   Banner's face and voice revealed nothing. "You are the Ringthane. They have made promises to you."
   "Promises.'' Covenant rubbed a hand over his eyes. The promises of the Ranyhyn limped across his memory. "Hell and blood.'' With an effort, he pushed away from Banner. Bracing himself against the wall of the crevice, he clenched his trembling fists as if he were trying to squeeze steadiness out of them. His fingers ached for the Despiser's throat. "They should be killed!" he raged thickly. "They should be put out of their misery! How can you be so cruel?"
   Manethrall Kam spat, "Is that how it is done in your world, Ringthane?"
   But Bannor replied evenly, "They are the Ranyhyn. Do not presume to offer them kindness. How can any human decide the choices of death and pain for them?"
   At this, Foamfollower reached out and touched Banner's shoulder in a gesture of respect.
   Covenant's jaw muscles jumped as he bit his shouts into silence. He followed the Giant's gesture, turned, and looked grayly up at Foamfollower. Both the Giant and Bannor had witnessed his bargain with the Ranyhyn forty-seven years ago, when the great horses had first reared to him; Bannor and Foamfollower and Mhoram and Quaan might be the last remaining survivors of the Quest for the Staff of Law. But they were enough. They could accuse him. The Ramen could accuse him. He still did not know all the things of which they could accuse him.
   His wedding band hung loosely on his ring finger; he had lost weight, and the white gold dangled as if it were meaningless. He needed its power. Without power, he was afraid to guess at the things which were being kept from him.
   Abruptly, he stepped up to Kam, jabbed the Manethrall's chest with one stiff finger. "By hell,'' he muttered into Kam's glare, "if you're only doing this out of pride, I hope you rot for it. You could have taken them south into the mountains-you could have saved them from this. Pride isn't a good enough excuse."
   Again the ghoul-begotten hurt darkened Kam's gaze. "It is not pride," he said softly. "The Ranyhyn do not choose to go."
   Without wanting to, Covenant believed him. He could not doubt what he saw in the Manethrall. He drew back, straightened his shoulders, took a deep breath. "Then you'd better help me. Trust me whether you want to or not. I hate Foul just as much as you do."
   "That may be," Kam replied, recovering his severity. "We will not contradict the Ranyhyn concerning you. I saw-I would not have believed if I had not seen. To rear! Hurt as they are! You need not fear us. But your companions are another matter. The woman''-he made an effort to speak calmly-"I do not distrust. Her love for the Manes is in her face. But this Giant-he must prove himself."
   "I hear you, Manethrall," said Foamfollower quietly. "I will respect your distrust as best I can."
   Kam met the Giant's look, then glanced over at Bannor. The Blood-guard shrugged impassively. Kam nodded and led the way farther down the cleft.
   Before following, Covenant regained his grip on Lena's hand. She did not raise her head, and in the gloom he could see nothing of her eyes but the bruises under them. "Be brave," he said as gently as he could. "Maybe it won't all be this bad." She made no response, but when he drew her forward she did not resist. He kept her at his side, and soon they stepped together out the far end of the passage.
   The cleft opened into a hidden valley which seemed spacious after the constriction of its approach. Over a flat floor of packed dirt the sheer walls rose ruggedly to a narrow swath of evening sky. The valley itself was long and deep; its crooked length formed a vague S, ending in another crevice in the hills. Battered rock pillars and piles stood against the walls in several places, and in the corners and crannies around these immense stones, sheltered from any snowfall through the open roof, were Ramen tents-the nomadic homes of individual families. They seemed pitifully few in the canyon.
   Manethrall Kam had announced himself with a shout as he entered the valley, and when Covenant and Lena caught up with him, dozens of Ramen were already moving toward them from the tents. Covenant was struck by how much they all shared Kam's haunted air. In sharp contrast to the Ranyhyn, they were not ill-fed. The Ramen were renowned for their skill as hunters, and clearly they were better able to provide more meat for themselves than grass for the horses. Nevertheless they were suffering. Every one of them who was not either a child or infirm wore the apparel of a Cord, though even Covenant's untrained and superficial eyes could see how unready some were for the work and risk of being Cords. This fact confirmed his earlier guess that the Ramen population had been dangerously reduced, by winter or war. And they all had Kam's driven, sleepless aspect, as if they could not rest because their dreams were fraught with horror.
   Now Covenant knew intuitively what it was. All of them, even the children, were haunted by the bloody visage of Ranyhyn extermination. They were afraid that the meaning, the reason, of their entire race would soon be eradicated utterly from the Land. The Ramen had always lived for the Ranyhyn, and now they believed they would only survive long enough to see the last Ranyhyn slaughtered. As long as the great horses refused to leave the Plains, the Ramen were helpless to prevent that end.
   Only their stubborn, fighting pride kept them from despair.
   They met Covenant, Lena, and the Giant with silence and hollow stares. Lena hardly seemed to notice them, but Foamfollower gave them a bow in the Ramen style, and Covenant took his example, though the salute exposed his ring for all to see.
   Several Cords murmured at the sight of the white gold, and one of the Manethralls said grimly, "It is true, then. He has returned." When Kam told them what the wounded Ranyhyn had done, some recoiled in pained amazement, and others muttered angrily under their breath. Yet they all bowed to Covenant; the Ranyhyn had reared to him, and the Ramen could not refuse him welcome.
   Then the Winhomes, the Ramen who were too young or too old or too crippled to be Cords, moved away, and the three Manethralls Kam had mentioned earlier came forward to be introduced. When they had given their names, Manethrall Jain, the grim woman who had just spoken, asked Kam, "Was it necessary to admit the Giant?"
   "He's my friend," Covenant said at once. "And Bannor knows he can be trusted, even if the Bloodguard are too thickheaded to say such things out loud. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for Saltheart Foamfollower."
   "You honor me too much," Foamfollower said wryly.
   The Manethralls weighed Covenant's words as if his speech had more than one meaning. But Bannor said, "Saltheart Foamfollower shared the Quest for the Staff of Law with High Lord Prothall, ur-Lord Covenant, and Manethrall Lithe. At that time, he was worthy of trust. But I have seen many trusts fall into Corruption. Perhaps nothing of the old Giantish faith remains."
   "You don't believe that," Covenant snapped.
   Bannor raised one eyebrow. "Have you seen The Grieve, ur-Lord? Has Saltheart Foamfollower told you what occurred in the Seareach home of the Giants?"
   "No."
   "Then you have been too quick with your trust."
   Covenant tightened his grip on himself. "Why don't you tell me about it?"
   "That is not my place. I do not offer to guide you to Ridjeck Thome.
   Covenant started to protest, but Foamfollower placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. In spite of the conflicting emotions which knotted the Giant's forehead, smoldered dangerously in his cavernous eye-sockets, his voice was steady as he said, "Is it the Ramen custom to keep their guests standing cold and hungry after a long journey?"
   Kam spat on the ground, but Manethrall Jain replied tautly, "No, that is not our custom. Behold." She nodded toward the head of the canyon, where the Winhomes were busy around a large fire under the overhang of one of the pillars. "The food will be prepared soon. It is kresh meat, but you may eat it in safety-it has been cooked many times." Then she took Lena's arm and said, "Come. You have suffered at the sight of the Ranyhyn. Thus you share our pain. We will do what we can to restore you." As she spoke, she guided Lena toward the fire.
   Covenant was seething with frustration and dread, but he could not refuse the warmth of the campfire; his flesh needed it too badly. His fingertips and knuckles had a frostbitten look in addition to their sick numbness, and he knew that if he did not tend his feet soon he would be in danger of blood poisoning and gangrene. The effort of self-command hurt him, yet he followed Lena and Jain to the fire. As quietly as he could, he asked one of the Winhomes for hot water in which to bathe his feet.
   Despite his numbness, the soaking of his feet gave him relief. The hot water helped the fire's warmth thaw out his bones. And his feet were not as badly damaged as he had feared they would be. Both were swollen with infection, but the harm was no worse than it had been several days ago. For some reason, his flesh was resisting the illness. He was glad to discover that he was in no immediate danger of losing his feet.
   A short time later, the food was ready. Kam's seven Cords sat cross-legged around the fire with the four Manethralls, Banner, Foamfollower, Lena, and Covenant, and the Winhomes set dry, brittle banana leaves in front of them as plates. Covenant found himself positioned between Lena and Bannor. A lame man muttering dimly to himself served the three of them stew and hot winter potatoes. Covenant did not relish the idea of eating kresh-he expected to find the meat rank and stringy-but it had been cooked so long, with such potent herbs, that only a faint bitterness remained. And it was hot. His appetite for heat seemed insatiable. He ate as if he could see long days of cold, scarce provender ahead of him.
   He had good reason. Without help, he and his companions would not be able to find enough food for the journey to Foul's Creche. He seemed to remember having heard somewhere that aliantha did not grow in the Spoiled Plains. The hostility of the Ramen boded ill for him in more ways than one.
   Though he was afraid of it, he knew he would have to penetrate to the bottom of that hostility.
   He looked for an antidote to fear in food, but while he chewed and thought, he was interrupted by a strange man who strode unexpectedly into the covert. The man entered at the far end of the canyon, and moved directly, deliberately, toward the seated men and women. His dress vaguely resembled that of the Ramen; he used the same materials to make his thin shirt and pants, his cloak. But he wore the cloak hanging from his shoulders in a way that affected his freedom of movement more than any Ramen would have tolerated. And he bore no cords anywhere about him. Instead of a Ramen garrote, he carried a short spear like a staff in one hand; and under his belt he wore a sharp wooden stave.
   Despite the directness with which he approached, he created an impression of uncomfortable daring, as if he had some reason to believe that the Ramen might jeer at him. His gaze flicked fearfully about him, jumping away from rather than toward what he saw.
   He had an air of blood about him that Covenant could not explain. He was clean, uninjured; neither spear nor spike showed recent use. Yet something in him spoke of blood, of killing and hunger. As the man reached the fire, Covenant realized that all the Ramen were sitting stiffly in their places-not moving, not eating, not looking at the stranger. They knew this man in a way that gave them pain.
   After a moment, the man said aggressively, "Do you eat without me? I, too, need food."
   Manethrall Jain's eyes did not raise themselves from the ground. "You are welcome, as you know. Join us or take what food you require.''
   "Am I so welcome? Where are the salutes and words of greeting? Pah! You do not even gaze at me."
   But when Kam glared up from under his angry brows at the stranger, the man winced and looked away.
   Jain said softly, "You have drunk blood."
   " Yes!" the man barked rapidly. '' And you are offended. You understand nothing. If I were not the best runner and Ranyhyn-tender in the Plains of Ra, you would slay me where I stand without a moment's concern for your promises."
   Darkly, Kam muttered, "We are not so swift to forget promises."
   The stranger took no notice of Kam's assertion. "Now I see guests among you. The Ringthane himself. And a Giant''-he drawled acerbically-"if my eyes do not mistake. Are Ravers also welcome?"
   Covenant was surprised to hear Banner speaking before either Jain or Kam could reply. "He is Saltheart Foamfollower." The Bloodguard's alien inflection carried an odd note of intensity, as if he were communicating a crucial fact.
   "Saltheart Foamfollower!" the stranger jeered. But he did not meet the Giant's gaze. "Then you are already certain that he is a Raver."
   Kam said, "We are uncertain."
   Still the man ignored him. "And the Ringthane-the tormentor of horses. Does he also Rave? He holds his proper place-at the right hand of a Bloodguard. This is a proud feast-all the crudest foes of the Ranyhyn together. And welcome!"
   At this, Jain's tone tightened. "You also are welcome. Join us-or take what food you require and go."
   A Winhome moved hesitantly toward the stranger, carrying a leaf laden with food. He caught it from her hands brusquely. "I will go. I hear your heart deny your words. I am not proud or welcome enough to eat with such as these.'' At once, he turned sarcastically on his heel, strode back the way he had come. Moments later, he had left the covert as abruptly as he had entered.
   Covenant stared uncomprehendingly after him, then looked toward the Manethralls for some explanation. But they sat glowering at their food as if they could not meet either his eyes or each other's. Foamfollower also showed no understanding of what had happened. Lena had not noticed it; she was half asleep where she sat. Covenant turned to Banner.
   The Bloodguard faced Covenant's question squarely, answered it with the same dispassionate intensity. "He is Pietten."
   "Pietten," Covenant repeated dismally. And Foamfollower echoed thickly, "Pietten!"
   "He and the Heer Llaura were saved by the Quest for the Staff of Law at the battle of Soaring Woodhelven. Do you remember? Llaura and the child Pietten were damaged-"
   "I remember," Covenant answered bitterly. "The ur-viles did something to them. They were used to bait the trap. She-she-'' The memory appalled him. Llaura had been horribly abused, and all her great courage had not sufficed to overcome what had been done to her. And the child, Pietten-the child, too, had been abused.
   Across Covenant's dismay, Foamfollower said, "We bore both Heer Llaura and Pietten to the Plains of Ra and Manhome." Covenant remembered that the Giant had carried Pietten in his arms. "There, at the request of the Ringthane and-and myself-the Ramen took Llaura and Pietten into their care."
   Banner nodded. "That is the promise of which he spoke."
   "Llaura?" asked Covenant weakly.
   "While Pietten was yet young she died. The harm done to her cut short her years."
   "And Pietten?" Foamfollower pursued. "What did the ur-viles do to him?"
   Manethrall Kam broke his silence to mutter, "He is mad."
   But Jain countered grimly, "He is the best runner and Ranyhyn-tender in the Plains of Ra-as he said."
   "He serves the Ranyhyn," Banner added. "He cares for them as entirely as any Manethrall. But there is"-he searched briefly for a description-"a ferocity in his love. He-"
   "He liked the taste of blood," Covenant interrupted. In his memory, he could see Pietten-hardly more than four years old-under the crimson light of the sick moon. Pietten had smeared his hands on the bloody grass, then licked his fingers and smiled.
   Bannor agreed with a nod.
   "He licks the wounds of the Ranyhyn to clean them!" Kam snapped in horror.
   "Because of his great skill with the Ranyhyn," Bannor went on, "and because of old promises made in the days of the Quest, the Ramen share their lives and work with him. But he is feared for his wildness. Therefore he lives alone. And he abuses the Ramen as if they have outcast him."

"Yet he fights," Jain breathed a moment later. "I have seen that spear slay three kresh in their very death hold on a Ranyhyn."
   "He fights," Kam murmured. "He is mad."
   Covenant took a deep breath as if he were trying to inhale courage. "And we're responsible-Foamfollower and I-we're the ones who gave him to you, so we're responsible. Is that it?"
   At the sound of his voice, Lena stirred, blinked wearily, and Foamfollower said, "No, my friend."
   But Manethrall Jain answered in a haunted voice, "The Ranyhyn have chosen you. We do not ask you to save them."
   And Kam added, "You may call that pride if you wish. The Ranyhyn are worthy of all pride."
   "And the responsibility is mine,'' Foamfollower said in a tone of pain that made Covenant's hearing ache. "The blame is mine. For after the battle of Soaring Woodhelven-when all the Quest knew that some nameless harm had been done to the child-it was I who denied to him the hurtloam which might have healed him."
   This also Covenant remembered. Stricken by remorse for all the Cavewights he had slain, Foamfollower had used the last of the hurtloam to ease one of the wounded creatures rather than to treat Pietten. In protest against the Giant's self-judgment, Covenant said, "You didn't deny it.
   You--"
   "I did not give it." Foamfollower's response was as final as an ax.
   "Oh, hell!" Covenant glared around the group, searching for some way in which to grasp the situation. But he did not find it.
   He had unintentionally roused Lena. She pulled herself erect, and asked, "Beloved, what is amiss?"
   Covenant took her hand in his numb fingers. "Don't worry about it. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here."
   "My Queen," Foamfollower interposed. He wiped his mouth, set aside the leaves which had held his meal, then climbed to his feet. Towering over the circle of Ramen, he stepped forward to stand beside the fire. "My Queen, our difficulty is that the Ramen misdoubt me. They have spoken their respect for you, Lena Atiaran-daughter, and their acceptance of ur-Lord Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever and Ringthane. But me they distrust."
   Lena looked up at him. "Then they are fools,'' she said with dignity.
   "No." Foamfollower smiled wanly. "It is true that I have been a guest at Manhome, and a companion of Manethrall Lithe on the Quest for the Staff of Law. And it is true that Banner of the Bloodguard has known me. We fought together at the battle of Soaring Woodhelven. But they are not fools. They suffer a doom of Giants, and their distrust must be respected."
   He turned to the four Manethralls. "Yet, though I acknowledge your doubt, it is hard for me to bear. My heart urges me to leave this place where I am not trusted. You could not easily stop me. But I do not go. My thoughts urge me to turn to my friend Thomas Covenant. Perhaps he would compel you to accept me. But I do not ask this of him. I must bring your acceptance upon myself. I will strive to meet your doubt-so that the enemies of the Despiser, Soulcrusher and Fangthane, may not be divided against themselves. Ask anything that you require."
   The Manethralls looked sharply at each other, and Covenant felt the atmosphere over the gathering tighten. The Giant's face was ominously calm, as if he recognized a personal crisis and understood how to meet it. But Covenant did not understand. The hostility of the Ramen continued to amaze him. He ached to jump to the Giant's defense.
   He refrained because he saw why Foamfollower wanted to prove himself-and because he had a fascinated, fearful desire to see how the Giant would do it.
   After a wordless consultation with the other Manethralls, Jain got to her feet and confronted Foamfollower across the fire. Unbidden, Bannor joined her. They regarded the Giant gravely for a long moment. Then Jain said, "Saltheart Foamfollower, the Render is cunning in malice. To discover him in all his secret treacheries requires an equal cunning. The Ramen have no such cunning. How is it possible for us to test you?"
   "Inquire of my past," Foamfollower responded evenly. "I was absent from Giant-wrought Coercri when the Ravers put their hands upon my kindred. Since that time, I have roved the Land, striking-slaying marauders. I have fought at the side of the Stonedownors in defense of their homes. I-"
   "They had creatures which destroyed stone!" Lena cut in with sudden vehemence. "Their great, cruel arms tore our homes to rubble. Without the Giant's strength, we could not have preserved one rock upright."
   "Lena." Covenant wanted to applaud, cheer her affirmation, but he stopped her gently, squeezed her arm until she turned her angry gaze toward him. "He doesn't need our help,'' he said as if he were afraid her ire might break the frail bones of her face. "He can answer for himself."
   Slowly, her anger turned to pain. "Why do they torment us? We seek to save the Ranyhyn also. The Ranyhyn trust us."
   Covenant steadied her as best he could. "They've suffered. They've got to answer for themselves too."
   "I also shared somewhat in the returning of Thomas Covenant to the Land," Foamfollower continued. "He would not sit here now, purposing to aid the Land, had I not given of my strength."
   "That does not suffice," said Jain sternly. "The Render would not hesitate to kill his own for the sake of a larger goal. Perhaps you served the Stonedownors and the summoning so that this white gold might fall into Fangthane's hands."
   "And you have not given an account of The Grieve.'' Bannor's voice was soft, withdrawn, as if the question he raised were perilous.
   But Foamfollower turned such issues aside with a jerk of his massive head. "Then discount my past-discount the scars of risk which cover my flesh. It is possible that I am a tool of the Despiser. Inquire of what you see. Behold me. Do you truly believe that a Raver might disguise himself within me?"
   "How can we answer?" Jain muttered. "We have never seen you hale."
   But Foamfollower was facing Bannor now, addressing his question to the Bloodguard.
   Evenly, objectively, Bannor replied, "Giant, you do not appear well.  Many things are obscured in this winter-but you do not appear well. There is a lust in you that I do not comprehend. It has the look of Corruption."
   The Manethralls nodded in sharp agreement.
   "Bannor!" Foamfollower breathed intently. His stiff calm broke momentarily, and a pang of anguish twisted his countenance. "Do not damn me with such short words. It may be that I too much resemble Pietten. I have struck blows that I cannot call back or prevent. And you have seen-there is the blood of Giants upon my head."
   The blood of Giants? Covenant moaned. Foamfollower!
   The next instant, Foamfollower regained mastery of himself. "But you have known me, Bannor. You can see that it is not my intent to serve the Despiser. I could not-!" The words ripped themselves savagely past his lips.
   '' I have known you," Bannor agreed simply. " In what way do I know you now?"
   The Giant's hands twitched as if they were eager for a violent answer, but he kept his steadiness. Without dropping Banner's gaze, he knelt by the fire. Even then he was taller than Bannor or Manethrall Jain. His muscles tensed as he leaned forward, and the orange firelight echoed dangerously out of the dark caves of his eyes.
   "You have seen the caamora, Bannor," he said tightly, "the Giantish ritual fire of grief. You have seen its pain. I am not prepared-this is not my time for such rituals. But I will not withdraw until you acknowledge me, Bannor of the Bloodguard."
   He did not release Banner's eyes as he thrust both his fists into the hottest coals of the campfire.
   The Cords gasped at the sight, and the other Manethralls jumped up to join Jain. Covenant followed as if the Giant had snatched him erect.
   Foamfollower was rigid with agony. Though the flames did not consume his flesh, they tortured him horrendously. The muscles of his forehead bulged and worked as if they were tearing his skull apart; the thews of his neck stood out like cables; sweat oozed like blood down his fire-hot cheeks; his lips drew back into a white snarl across his teeth. But his gaze did not waver. In anguish he kept up the demand of his pain.
   Bannor stared back with a look of magisterial indifference on his alien mien.
   The Cords were appalled. They gaped sickly at Foamfollower's hands. And the Manethralls painfully, fearfully, watched Bannor and the Giant, measuring the test of will between them. But Lena gave a low cry and hid her face in Covenant's shoulder.
   Covenant, too, could not bear to see Foamfollower's hurt. He turned on Banner and gasped into the Bloodguard's ear, "Give it up! Admit you know him. Hellfire! Banner-you bloody egomaniac! You're so proud- after the Bloodguard failed you can't stand to admit there might be any faithfulness left anywhere. It's you or nothing. But he's a Giant, Bannor!'' Bannor did not move, but a muscle quivered along his jaw. "Wasn't Elena enough for you?" Covenant hissed. "Are you trying to make another Kevin out of him?"
   For an instant, Banner's white eyebrows gathered into a stark frown. Then he said flatly, "Pardon me, Saltheart Foamfollower. I trust you."
   Foamfollower withdrew his hands. They were rigid with pain, and he hugged them to his chest, panting hoarsely.
   Bannor turned to Covenant. Something in his pose made Covenant flinch as if he expected the Bloodguard to strike him. "You also caused the fall of High Lord Elena," Bannor said brittlely. "You compelled us to reveal the unspoken name. Yet you did not bear the burden of that name yourself. Therefore the Law of Death was broken, and Elena fell. I did not reproach you then, and do not now. But I say to you: beware, ur-Lord Covenant! You hold too many dooms in your unwell hands."
   "I know that," muttered Covenant. He was shaking so badly that he had to keep both arms around Lena to support himself. "I know that. It's the only thing I know for sure.'' He could not look at Foamfollower; he was afraid of the Giant's pain, afraid that the Giant might resent his intervention. Instead, he held onto Lena while his reaction to the strain surged into anger.
   ''But I've had enough of this.'' His voice was too violent, but he did not care. He needed some outlet for his passion. "I'm not interested in asking for help anymore. Now I'm going to tell you what to do. Manethrall Lithe promised that the Ramen would do whatever I wanted. You care about promises-you keep this one. I want food, all we can carry. I want guides to take us to Landsdrop as fast as possible. I want scouts to help us get across the Spoiled Plains.'' Words tumbled through his teeth faster than he could control them. "If Foamfollower's been crippled- By hell, you're going to make it up to him!"
   "Ask for the moon," Manethrall Kam muttered.
   "Don't tempt me!" Hot shouts thronged in his throat like fire; he whirled to fling flames at the Manethralls. But their haunted eyes stopped him. They did not deserve his rage. Like Bannor and Foamfollower, they were the victims of the Despiser-the victims of the things he, Thomas Covenant, had not done, had been unwilling or unable to do, for the Land. Again, he could feel the ground on which he stood tremoring.
   With an effort, he turned back to Bannor, met the Bloodguard's aging gaze. "What happened to Elena wasn't your fault at all," he mumbled. "She and I-did it together. Or I did it to her." Then he pushed himself to go to Foamfollower.
   But as he moved, Lena caught his arm, swung him around. He had been bracing himself on her without paying any attention to her; now she made him look at her. "Elena-my daughter-what has happened to her?" Horror crackled in her eyes. The next instant, she was clawing at his chest with desperate fingers. "What has happened to her?"
   Covenant stared at her. He had half forgotten, he had not wanted to remember that she knew nothing of Elena's end.
   "He said she fell!" she cried at him. "What have you done to her?"
   He held her at arm's length, backed away from her. Suddenly everything was too much for him. Lena, Foamfollower, Bannor, the Ramen-he could not keep a grip on it all at once. He turned his head toward Foamfollower, ignored Lena, and looked dumbly to the Giant for help. But Foamfollower did not even see Covenant's stricken, silent plea. He was still wrapped in his own pain, struggling to flex his wracked fingers. Covenant lowered his head and turned back toward Lena as if she were a wall against which he had to batter himself.
   "She's dead," he said thickly. "It's my fault-she wouldn't have been in that mess if it hadn't been for me. I didn't save her because I didn't know how."
   He heard shouts behind him, but they made no impression on him. He was watching Lena. Slowly the import of his words penetrated her. "Dead," she echoed emptily. "Fault." As Covenant watched her, the light of consciousness in her eyes seemed to falter and go out.
   "Lena," he groaned. "Lena!"
   Her gaze did not recognize him. She stared blankly through him as if her soul had lapsed within her.
   The shouting behind him mounted. A voice nearby gasped out, "We are betrayed! Ur-viles and Cavewights-! The sentries were slain."
   The urgency in the voice reached him. He turned dully. A young Cord almost chattering with fear stood before the Manethralls and Bannor. Behind her, in the entrance to the covert, fighting had already begun. Covenant could hear the shouts and groans of frantic hand-to-hand combat echoing out of the rift.
   The next instant, a tight pack of Cavewights burst into the canyon, whirling huge broadswords in their powerful, spatulate hands. With a shrill roar, they charged the Ramen.
   Before Covenant could react, Bannor caught hold of him and Lena,  began to drag them both toward the other end of the valley. "Flee,'' he said distinctly as he impelled them forward. "The Giant and I will prevent pursuit. We will overtake you-as soon as may be. Flee north, then east.''
   The cliffs narrowed until Covenant and Lena stood in the mouth of another cleft through the hills. Banner thrust them in the direction of the dark crevice. '' Make haste. Keep to the left.'' Then he was gone, running toward the battle.
   Half unconsciously, Covenant checked to be sure that he still had Triock's knife under his belt. Part of him yearned to run after Banner, to throw himself like Banner into the absolution of the fray-to seek forgiveness.
   Clutching hard at Lena's arm, he drew her with him into the cleft.

Ten: Pariah


   After the first bend, even the trailing light of the campfires was cut off, and he could see nothing. Lena moved like a puppet in his grasp- empty and unadept. He wanted her to hold onto him, so that he would have both hands free; but when he wrapped her fingers around his arm, they slipped limply off again. He was forced to grope ahead with his left hand, and retain her with his maimed right. His numbness made him feel at every moment that he was about to lose her.
   The shouting pursued him along the crevice, increased his sense of urgency yell by yell. He cursed furiously, trying to keep himself from becoming frantic.
   When the rift divided, he followed the left wall. In a few steps, this crevice became so narrow that he had to move along it sideways, pulling Lena after him. Then it began to descend. Soon it was so steep that the moldering leaves and loam of the floor occasionally shifted under their feet. There the rift became a tunnel. The stone sealed over their heads, while the floor leveled until the ceiling was so close that it made Covenant duck for fear he might crack open his skull. The utter lightlessness of the passage dismayed him. He felt that he was groping his way blindly into the bowels of the earth, felt at every step that the tunnel might pitch him into a chasm. He no longer heard any sound from the canyon; his own loud scrabbling filled his ears. Yet he did not stop. The pressure of his urgency, the pressure of the blind stone impending over the back of his neck, compelled him onward.
   Still Lena gave no sign of life. She stumbled, moved at his pull, bumped dumbly against the walls of the tunnel; but her arm in his grasp was inert. He could not even hear her breathing. He tugged her after him as if she were a mindless child.
   At last the tunnel ended. Without warning, the stone vanished, and Covenant blundered into a thicket. The stems and branches lashed at him as if he were an enemy. Protecting his eyes with his forearm, he thrust ahead until he found himself on open ground, sweating in the teeth of the wind.
   The night was as dank and bitter as ever, but after the pitch blackness of the tunnel he found that he could see vaguely. He and Lena stood below a high, looming bluff. Thickets and brush covered most of its base, but beyond them the ground sloped down barrenly toward the Plains of Ra.
   He paused in the scything wind and tried to take stock of the situation. The tunnel from this side was well disguised by the thickets and underbrush, but still the Ramen should have posted sentries here. Where were they? He saw no one, heard nothing but the wind.
   He was tempted to call out, but the frigid emptiness of the night restrained him. If the Ramen were defeated, the marauders would have no difficulty following him through the tunnel; Cavewights and ur-viles could take such passages in the dark gleefully. Ur-viles might already be watching him from the thicket.
   North, then east, Bannor had said. He knew he had to start moving. But he had no supplies-no food, no bedding, no fire. Even if he were not pursued, he could hardly hope to survive in this cold. If Bannor and the Giant did not come soon, he and Lena were finished.
   But Bannor had said that they would overtake him. It's too late, he muttered to steady his resolve, it's too late to start worrying about the impossible. It's all been impossible from the beginning. Just get going. At least get her out of this wind.
   He put Lena on his left, wrapped his arm around her, and started north across the preternatural current of the winter.
   He hurried as much as possible, supporting Lena, glancing fearfully back over his shoulder to see if they were being followed. When he reached a break in the hills on his left, he faced a difficult decision: Bannor and Foamfollower would locate him more easily if he stayed on the edge of the Plains, but if he moved up among the hills he would have a better chance of finding shelter and aliantha. After a painful moment, he chose the hills. He would have to trust the hunting skills of his friends; Lena was his first concern.
   He labored strenuously up through the break, half carrying his companion. Once he had passed beyond the first crests, he found a shallow valley running roughly northward which provided some cover from the wind. But he did not stop; he was not far enough from the tunnel. Instead, he took Lena along the valley and into the hills beyond it.
   On the way, he stumbled by chance into a battered aliantha. It had few berries, but its presence there reassured him somewhat. He ate two berries himself, then tried to get Lena to take the others. But she neither saw the aliantha nor heard his demands; all her outer senses were blank.
   He ate the rest of the treasure-berries so that they would not be wasted, then left the bush behind and took Lena along and out of the valley. For a long time after that, he could not find an easy way through the hills. He struggled generally northward, searching for usable valleys or paths, but the terrain turned him insistently east, downhill toward the plains. Now the sweat was freezing in his beard again, and his muscles slowly stiffened against the icy cut of the wind. Whenever the wind hit Lena directly, she trembled. At last her need for shelter became imperative in his mind. When he saw a darker shadow which looked like a gully in the wasteland below him, he gave up on the hills and went down to it.
   It had not deceived him. It was a dry arroyo with sheer sides. In places its walls were more than ten feet high. He took Lena down an uneven slope into the gully, then guided her under the lee of the opposite wall and seated her with her back against the packed dirt.
   As he peered at her through the darkness, her condition scared him. She shivered constantly now, and her skin was cold and clammy. Her face held no recognition, no awareness of where she was or what was happening to her. He chafed her wrists roughly, but her arms remained limp, as if the cold had unmarrowed her bones. "Lena,'' he called to her hesitantly, then with more force. "Lena!" She did not answer. She sat slack against the wall as if she had decided to freeze to death rather than acknowledge the fact that the man she loved was a murderer.
   "Lena!" he begged gruffly. "Don't make me do this. I don't want to do it again."
   She did not respond. The irregular moan and catch of her breathing gave no indication that she had heard him. She looked as brittle as frostbitten porcelain.
   With a fierce grimace clenched on his face, he drew back his halfhand and struck her hard across the side of her head for the second time in his life.
   Her head snapped soddenly to the side, swung back toward him. For an instant, her breath shuddered in her lungs, and her lips trembled as if the air hurt her mouth. Then suddenly her hands leaped out like claws. Her nails dug into the flesh of his face around his eyes. She gripped him there, gouging him, poised ready to tear his eyes out.
   A sharp nausea of fear wrenched his guts, made him flinch. But he did not back away.
   After a moment, she said starkly, "You slew Elena my daughter."
   "Yes."
   Her fingers tightened. "I could blind you."
   "Yes."
   "Are you not afraid?"
   "I'm afraid."
   Her fingers tightened again. "Then why do you not resist?'' Her nails drew blood from his left cheek.
   "Because I've got to talk to you-about what happened to Elena. I've got to tell you what she did-and what I did-and why I did it. You won't listen unless you decide-"
   "I will not listen at all!" Her voice shook with weeping. Savagely, she snatched back her hands and returned his blow, struck his cheek with all her strength. The sting brought water to his eyes. When he blinked them clear, he saw that she had clamped her hands to her face to keep herself from sobbing aloud.
   Awkwardly, he put his arms around her. She did not resist. He held her firmly while she wept, and after a time she moved her head, pressed her face into his jacket. But soon she stiffened and withdrew. She wiped her eyes, averting her face as if she were ashamed of a momentary weakness. "I do not want your comfort, Unbeliever. You have not been her father. It is a father's place to love his daughter, and you did not love her. Do not mistake my frail grief-I will not forget what you have done."
   Covenant hugged himself in an effort to contain his hurt. "I don't want you to forget.'' For that moment, he would have been willing to lose his eyes if the pain of blindness could have enabled him to weep. "I don't want anyone to forget."
   But he was too barren for tears; the water which blurred his sight did not come from his heart. Roughly, he forced himself to his feet. "Come on. We'll freeze to death if we don't get moving."
   Before she could respond, he heard feet hit the ground behind him. He whirled, waving his hands to ward off an attack. A dark figure stood opposite him in the gully. It was wrapped in a cloak; he could not discern its outlines. But it carried a spear like a staff in its right hand.
   "Pah!" the figure spat. "You would be dead five times if I had not chosen to watch over you."
   "Pietten?" Covenant asked in surprise. "What're you doing here?" Lena was at his side, but she did not touch him.
   '' You are stupid as well as unskilled,'' rasped Pietten. " I saw at once that the Ramen would not defend you. I took the task upon myself. What folly made you deliver yourself into their hands?"
   "What happened in the fight?" Questions rushed up in Covenant. "What happened to Banner and Foamfollower? Where are they?"
   "Come!" the Woodhelvennin snapped. "Those wormspawn are not far behind. We must move swiftly if you wish to live."
   Covenant stared. Pietten's attitude unnerved him. For an instant, his jaw worked uselessly. Then he repeated with a note of desperation in his voice, "What happened to Bannor and Foamfollower?"
   "You will not see them again." Pietten sounded scornful. "You will see nothing again unless you follow me now. You have no food and no skill. Remain here, and you will be dead before I have gone a league." Without waiting for answer, he turned and trotted away along the gully.
   Covenant hesitated indecisively while contradictory fears clamored in him. He did not want to trust Pietten. His instincts shouted loudly: He drinks blood; Foul did something to him and he likes the taste of blood! But he and Lena were too helpless. They could not fend for themselves. Abruptly, he took Lena's arm and started after Pietten.
   The Ramen-trained Woodhelvennin allowed Covenant and Lena to catch up with him, but then he set a pace for them which kept Covenant from asking any questions. Traveling swiftly, he guided them northward out of the arroyo into the open Plains, hastened them along like a man with a goal clearly visible before him. When they showed signs of tiring, he irritably found aliantha for them. But he revealed no weariness himself; he moved strongly, surely, reveling in the flow of his strides. And from time to time he grinned jeeringly at Covenant and Lena, mocking them for their inability to match him.
   They followed him as if they were entranced, spellbound to him by the harsh winter and their extreme need. Covenant maintained the pace doggedly, and Lena labored at his side, spurning his every effort to help her. Her new, grim independence seemed to sustain her; she covered nearly two leagues before she began to weaken. Then, however, her strength rapidly deserted her.
   Covenant was deeply tired himself, but he ached to aid her. When she stumbled for the third time, and could hardly regain her feet, he demanded breathlessly across the wind,  "Pietten, we've got to rest. We need fire and shelter."
   "You are not hardy, Ringthane," Pietten gibed. "Why do so many people fear you?"
   "We can't go on like this."
   "You will freeze to death if you stop here."
   Painfully, Covenant mustered the strength to shout, " I know that! Are you going to help us or not?"
   Pietten's voice sounded oddly cunning as he replied, "We will be safer-beyond the river. It is not far." He hurried on before Covenant could question him.
   Covenant and Lena made the effort to follow him and found that he had spoken the truth. Soon they reached the banks of a dark river flowing eastward out of the hills. It lay forbiddingly across their way like a stream of black ice, but Pietten jumped into it at once and waded straight to the opposite bank. The current was stiff, but did not reach above his knees.
   Cursing, Covenant watched him go. His weariness multiplied his distrust; his instinctive leper's caution was yowling inside him like a wounded animal. He did not know this river, but he guessed it was the Roamsedge, Ra's northern boundary. He feared that Bannor and Foamfollower would not expect him to leave the Plains-if they were still alive.
   But he still had no choice. The Woodhelvennin was their only chance.
   "Will you halt there?" Pietten scoffed at them from the far bank. "Halt and die."
   Hellf ire! Covenant snarled to himself. He took Lena's arm despite her angry efforts to pull away, and went down the bank into the river.
   His feet felt nothing of the cold, but it burned like numb fire into his lower legs. Before he had waded a dozen yards, his knees hurt as if his calves were being shredded by the river. He tried to hurry, but the speed of the current and the unevenness of the river bottom only made him trip and stagger brokenly. He clung to Lena's arm and plowed onward with his gaze fixed on the bank ahead.
   When he stumbled up out of the river, his legs ached as if they had been maimed. "Damn you, Pietten," he muttered. "Now we have got to have a fire."
   Pietten bowed sardonically. "Whatever you command, Ringthane." Turning on his heel, he ran lightly away into the low hills north of the river like a sprite enticing them to perdition.
   Covenant lumbered in pursuit, and when he crested the hill, he saw that Pietten had already started a fire in the hollow beyond it. Flames crackled in a dry patch of brambles and bushes. As Covenant and Lena descended toward it, the fire spread, jumping fiendishly higher and higher as it ran through the dead wood.
   They hastened fervidly to the blaze. Lena's legs gave way at the last moment, and she fell to her knees as if that were the only way she could prevent herself from leaping into the flames. And Covenant spread his arms to the heat, stood on the very verge of the fire and threw open his jacket like an acolyte embracing vision. For long moments they neither spoke nor moved.
   But when the warmth melted the ice to make itself felt against Covenant's forehead, started to draw the moisture in steam from his clothes, he stepped back a pace and looked about him.
   Pietten was leering at him mercilessly.
   He felt suddenly trapped, cornered; for reasons that he could not name, he knew he was in danger. He looked quickly toward Lena. But she was absorbed in the fire, oblivious. Unwillingly he met Pietten's gaze again. That stare held him like the eyes of a snake, trying to paralyze him. He had to resist it. Without thinking, he growled, "That was a damn stupid thing to do." He indicated the fire with a jerk of one hand. " A fire this big will throw light over the hill. We'll be seen."
   "I know." Pietten licked his lips.
   "You know," Covenant muttered mordantly. "Did it occur to you that this could bring a pack of marauders down on us?" He snarled the words thoughtlessly, but as soon as he had spoken them, they sent a stammer of fear through him.
   "Are you not grateful?" Pietten grinned maliciously. "You command fire-fire I provide. Is that not how men show their devotion to the Ringthane?"
   "What are we going to do if we're attacked? She and I are in no condition to fight."
   "I know."
   "You know," Covenant repeated. The upsurge of his trepidation almost made him stutter.
   "But no marauders will come," the Woodhelvennin went on immediately. "I hate them. Pah! They slay Ranyhyn."
   "What do you mean, they won't come? You said"-he searched his memory-"you said they weren't far behind. How in hell do you expect them to miss us in all this light?"
   "I do not want them to miss us."
   "What?" The fear taking shape within him made him shout. "Hell-fire! Make sense!"
   "Ringthane," Pietten shot back with sudden vehemence, "this night I will complete the whole sense of my life!"
   The next instant he had returned to scorn. "I desire them to find us, yes! I desire them to see this blaze and come. Land friends-horse servants-pah! They torment the Ranyhyn in the name of faith. I will teach them faith." Covenant felt Lena jump to her feet behind him; he could sense the way she focused herself on Pietten. In the warmth of the fire, he finally noticed what had caught her attention. It was the smell of blood. "I desire the Giant my benefactor and Banner the Bloodguard to stand upon this hillside and witness my faith."
   "You said that they are dead! "Lena hissed. "You said that we would not see them again."
   At the same time, Covenant croaked, "It was you!" His apprehensions burst into clarity. "You did it.'' In the lurid light of the fire, he caught his first sure glimpse of his plight. "You're the one who betrayed all those coverts!"
   Lena's movement triggered him into movement. He was one step ahead of her as she threw herself at Pietten.
   But Pietten was too swift for them. He aimed his spear and braced himself to impale the first attack.
   Covenant leaped to a stop. Grappling frantically, he caught Lena, held her from hurling herself onto Pietten's weapon. She struggled for one mute, furious moment, then became still in his grasp. Her bedraggled white hair hung across her face like a fringe of madness. Grimly, he set her behind him.
   He was trembling, but he forced himself to face Pietten. "You want them to watch while you kill us."
   Pietten laughed sourly. "Do they not deserve it?" His eyes flashed as if a lightning of murder played in back of them. "If I could have my wish, I would place the entire Ramen nation around this hollow so that they might behold my contempt for them. Ranyhyn servants! Pah! They are vermin.''
   "Render!" Lena spat hoarsely.
   With his left hand, Covenant held her behind him. "You betrayed those coverts-you betrayed them all. You're the only one who could have done it. You killed the sentries and showed those marauders how to get in. No wonder you stink of blood."
   "It pleases me."
   "You betrayed the Ranyhyn!" Covenant raged. "Injured Ranyhyn got slaughtered!"
   At this, Pietten jerked forward, brandished his spear viciously. "Hold your tongue, Ringthane!" he snapped. "Do not question my faith. I have fought-I would slay any living creature that raised its hands against the Ranyhyn."
   "Do you call that faith? There were injured Ranyhyn in that covert, and they were butchered!"
   "They were murdered by Ramen!" Pietten retorted redly. "Vermin! They pretend service to the Ranyhyn, but they do not take the Ranyhyn to the safety of the south. I hold no fealty for them." Lena tried to leap at Pietten again, but Covenant restrained her. "They are like you-and that Giant-and the Bloodguard! Pah! You feast on Ranyhyn-flesh like jackals."
   With an effort, Covenant made Lena look at him. "Go!" he whispered rapidly. "Run. Get out of here. Get back across the river-try to find Bannor or Foamfollower. He doesn't care about you. He won't chase you. He wants me."
   Pietten cocked his spear. "If you take one step to flee,'' he grated, "I will kill the Ringthane where he stands and hunt you down like a wolf."
   The threat carried conviction. "All right," Covenant groaned to Lena. "All right." Glowering thunderously, he swung back toward Pietten. "Do you remember ur-viles, Pietten? Soaring Woodhelven? Fire and ur-viles? They captured you. Do you remember?"
   Pietten stared back like lightning.
   "They captured you. They did things to you. Just as they did to Llaura. Do you remember her? They hurt her inside so that she had to help trap the Lords. The harder she tried to break free, the worse the trap got. Do you remember? It's just like that with you. They hurt you so that you would-destroy the Ranyhyn. Listen to me! Foul knew when he started this war that he wouldn't be able to crush the Ranyhyn unless he found some way to betray the Ramen. So he hurt you. He made you do what he wants. He's using you to butcher the Ranyhyn! And he's probably given you special orders about me. What did he tell you to do with my ring?" He hurled the words at Pietten with all his strength. "How many bloody times have you been to Foul's Creche since this winter started?"
   For a moment, Pietten's eyes lost their focus. Dimly, he murmured, "I must take it to him. He will use it to save the Ranyhyn." But the next instant, white fury flared in him again. '' You lie! I love the Ranyhyn! You are the butchers, you and those vermin!"
   "That isn't true. You know it isn't true."
   "Is it not?" Pietten laughed desperately. "Do you think I am blind, Ringthane? I have learned much in-in my journeys. Do you think the Ramen hold the Ranyhyn here out of love?"
   "They can't help it," Covenant replied. "The Ranyhyn refuse to go."
   Pietten did not hear him. "Do you think the Bloodguard are here out of love? You are a fool! Banner is here because he has caused the deaths of so many Ranyhyn that he has become a betrayer. He needs to betray, as he did the Lords. Oh, he fights-he has always fought. He hungers to see every Ranyhyn slain in spite of his fighting so that his need will be fed. Pah!"
   Covenant tried to interrupt, protest, but Pietten rushed on: "Do you think the Giant is here out of love? You are anile-sick with trust. Foamfollower is here because he has betrayed his people. Every last Giant, every man, woman, and child of his kindred, lies dead and moldered in Seareach because he abandoned them! He fled rather than defend them. His very bones are made of treachery, and he is here because he can find no one else to betray. All his other companions are dead."
   Foamfollower! Covenant cried in stricken silence. All dead? Foamfollower!
   "And you, Ringthane-you are the worst of all. You surpass my contempt. You ask what I remember." His spear point waved patterns of outrage at Covenant's chest. "I remember that the Ranyhyn reared to you. I remember that I strove to stop you. But you had already chosen to betray them. You bound them with promises-promises which you knew they could not break. Therefore the Ranyhyn cannot seek the safety of the mountains. They are shackled by commitments which you forced from them, you! You are the true butcher, Ringthane. I have lived my life for the chance to slay you."
   "No," Covenant gasped. "I didn't know." But he heard the truth in Pietten's accusation. Waves of crime seemed to spread from him in all directions. "I didn't know."
   Bannor? he moaned. Foamfollower? A livid orange mist filled his sight like the radiance of brimstone. How could he have done so much harm? He had only wanted to survive-had only wanted to extract survival from the raw stuff of suicide and madness. The Giants!-lost like Elena. And now the Ranyhyn were being driven down the same bloody road. Foamfollower? Did I do this to you? He knew that he was defenseless, that he could have done nothing to ward off a spear thrust. But he was staring into the abyss of his own actions and could not look away.
   "We're the same,'' he breathed without knowing what he was saying. "Foul and I are the same."
   Then he became aware that hands were pulling at him. Lena had gripped his jacket and was shaking him as hard as she could. "Is it true?" she shouted at him. "Are they dying because you made them promise to visit me each year?"
   He met her eyes. They were full of firelight; they compelled him to recognize still another of his crimes. In spite of his peril, he could not refuse her the truth.
   "No." His throat was clogged with grief and horror. "That's only part- Even if they went to the mountains, they could still reach you. I-I"-his voice ached thickly-"I made them promise to save me-if I ever called them. I did it for myself."
   Pietten laughed.
   A cry of fury and despair tore between her lips. With the strength of revulsion, she thrust Covenant from her, then started to run out of the hollow.
   "Stop!'' Pietten barked after her.'' You cannot escape!" He turned as she ran, following her with the tip of his spear.
   In the instant that Pietten cocked his arm to throw, Covenant charged. He got his hands on the spear, heaved his weight against Pietten, tried to tear the spear away. Pietten recoiled a few steps under the onslaught. They wrestled furiously. But the grip of Covenant's half hand was too weak. With a violent wrench, Pietten twisted the spear free.
   Covenant grappled for Pietten's arms. Pietten knocked him back with the butt of the spear and stabbed its point at him. Covenant threw himself to the side, managed to avoid the thrust. But he landed heavily on one foot, with the ankle bent under his weight.
   Bones snapped. He heard them retorting through his flesh as he crashed to the ground, heard himself scream. Agony erupted in his leg. But he made himself roll, trying to evade the jabs of the spear.
   As he flopped onto his back, he saw Pietten standing over him with the spear clenched like a spike in both hands.
   Then Lena slammed into the Woodhelvennin. She launched her slight form at him with such ferocity that he fell under her, lost his grip on the spear. It landed across Covenant.
   He grabbed it, tried to lever himself to his feet with it. But the pain in his ankle held him down as if his foot had been nailed to the ground. "Lena!" he shouted wildly. "No!"
   Pietten threw her off him with one powerful sweep of his arm. She sprang up again and pulled a knife out of her robe. Rage contorted her fragile face as she hacked at Pietten.
   He evaded her strokes, backed away quickly for an instant to gather his balance. Then, fiercely, he grinned.
   "No!" Covenant shrieked.
   When Lena charged again, Pietten caught her knife wrist neatly and turned the blade away from him. Slowly, he twisted her arm, forcing her down. She hammered at him with her free hand, but he held her. She could not resist his strength. She fell to her knees.
   "The Ranyhyn!" she gasped to Covenant. "Call the Ranyhyn!"
   "Lena!" Using the spear, he lunged to his feet, fell, tried to crawl forward.
   Slowly, inexorably, Pietten bent her backward until she lay writhing on the ground. Then he pulled his sharp wooden stave from his belt. With one savage blow he stabbed her in the stomach, spiked her to the frozen earth.
   Horror roared in Covenant's head. He seemed to feel himself shattering; stricken with pain, he lost consciousness momentarily.
   When he opened his eyes, he found Pietten standing in front of him.
   Pietten was licking the blood off his hand.
   Covenant tried to raise the spear, but Pietten snatched it from him. "Now, Ringthane!" he cried ecstatically. "Now I will slay you. Kneel there-grovel before me. Bring my dreams to life. I will be fair-I will allow you a chance. From ten paces I will hurl my spear. You may dodge-if your ankle permits. Do so. I relish it."
   With a grin like a snarl on his face, he strode away, turned and balanced the spear on his palm. "Do you not choose to live?" he jeered. "Kneel, then. Groveling becomes you."
   Numbly, as if he did not know what he was doing, Covenant raised the two fingers of his right hand to his mouth and let out a weak whistle.
   A Ranyhyn appeared instantly over the hillcrest, and came galloping down into the hollow. It was miserably gaunt, reduced by the long winter to such inanition that only its chestnut coat seemed to hold its skeleton together. But it ran like indomitable pride straight toward Covenant.
   Pietten did not appear to see it coming. He was in a personal trance, exalted by blood. Obliviously, he drew back his arm, bent his body until his muscles strained with passion-obliviously he launched the spear like a bolt of retribution at Covenant's heart.
   The Ranyhyn veered, flashed between the two men, then fell tumbling like a sack of dismembered bones. When it came to rest on its side, both men saw Pietten's spear jutting from its bloodstained coat.
   The sight struck Pietten like a blast of chaos. He gaped at what he had done in disbelief, as if it were inconceivable, unendurable. His shoulders sagged, eyes stared widely. He seemed to lack language for what he saw. His lips fumbled over meaningless whimpers, and the muscles of his throat jerked as if he could not swallow. If he saw Covenant crawling terribly toward him, he gave no sign. His arms dangled at his sides until Covenant reared up in front of him on one leg and drove a sharp Stonedownor knife into his chest with both hands.
   Covenant delivered the blow like a double fistful of hate. Its momentum carried him forward, and he toppled across Pietten's corpse. Blood pumping from around the blade scored his jacket, slicked his hands, stained his shirt. But he paid no attention to it. That one blow seemed to have spent all his rage. He pushed himself off the body, and crawled away toward Lena, dragging his broken ankle like a millstone of pain behind him.
   When he reached her, he found that she was still alive. The whole front of her robe was soaked, and blood coughed thinly between her lips; but she was still alive. He gripped the spike to draw it out. But the movement drew a gasp of pain from her. With an effort, she opened her eyes. They were clear, as if she were finally free of the confusion which had shaped her life. After a moment, she recognized Covenant, and tried to smile.
   "Lena," he panted. "Lena."
   "I love you," she replied in a voice wet with blood. "I have not changed."
   "Lena." He struggled to return her smile, but the attempt convulsed his face as if he were about to shriek.
   Her hand reached toward him, touched his forehead as if to smooth away his scowl. "Free the Ranyhyn," she whispered.
   The plea took her last strength. She died with blood streaming between her lips.
   Covenant stared at it as if it were vituperation. His eyes had a feverish cast, a look of having been blistered from within. No words came to his mind, but he knew what had happened. Rape, treachery, now murder-he had done them all, he had committed every crime. He had broken the promise he had made after the battle of Soaring Woodhelven, when he swore that he would not kill again. For a long moment, he regarded his numb fingers as if they were things of no importance. Only the blood on them mattered. Then he pushed himself away from Lena. Crawling like an abject passion, he moved toward the Ranyhyn.
   Its muzzle was frothed with pain, and its sides heaved horridly. But it watched Covenant's approach steadily, as if for the first time in its life it was not afraid of the bearer of white gold. When he reached it, he went directly to its wound. The spear was deeply embedded; at first he did not believe he could draw it out. But he worked at it with his hands, digging his elbows into the Ranyhyn's panting ribs. At last the shaft tore free. Blood pulsed from the wound, yet the horse lurched to its feet, stood wavering weakly on splayed legs, and nuzzled him as if to tell him that it would live.
   "All right," he muttered, speaking half to himself. "Go back. Go-tell all the others. Our bargain is over. No more bargains. No more-'' The fire was falling into embers, and his voice faded as if he were losing strength along with it. Dark fog blew into him along the wind. But a moment later, he rallied. "No more bargains. Tell them."

The Ranyhyn stood as if it were unwilling to leave him.
   "Go on," he insisted thickly. "You're free. You've got to tell them. In the-in the name of Kelenbhrabanal, Father of Horses. Go."
   At the sound of that name, the Ranyhyn turned painfully and started to limp out of the hollow. When it reached the crest of the hill, it stopped and faced him once more. For an instant, he thought he could see it silhouetted against the night, rearing. Then it was gone.
   He did not wait, did not rest. He was past taking any account of the cost of his actions. He caught up Pietten's spear and used it as a staff to hold himself erect. His ankle screamed at him as it dragged the ground, but he set his teeth and struggled away from the fire. As soon as he left the range of its warmth, his wet clothing began to freeze.
   He had no idea where he was headed, but he knew he had to go. On each breath that panted through his locked teeth, he whispered hate as if it were a question.

Eleven: The Ritual of Desecration


   After Loerya left him, High Lord Mhoram stayed on the tower for the rest of the night. He kept himself warm against the bitter wind by calling up a flow of power through his staff from time to time and watched in silent dread as the pronged veins of malice in the ground pulsed at Revelstone like sick, green-red lava oozing its way into the Keep's courage. The ill might which spread from samadhi Raver's Stone and the staves of the ur-viles lit the night garishly; and at irregular intervals, fervid sparks writhed upward when the attack met resistance in the rock of the foothills.
   Though it moved slowly, the hungry agony of the attack was now only scant yards from Revelstone's walls. Through his feet, Mhoram could feel the Keep moaning in silent immobility, as if it ached to recoil from the leering threat of those veins.
   But that was not why Mhoram stood throughout the long night exposed to the immedicable gall of the wind. He could have sensed the progress of the assault from anywhere in the Keep, just as he did not need his eyes to tell him how close the inhabitants of the city were to gibbering collapse. He watched because it was only by beholding Satansfist's might with all his senses, perceiving it with all his resources in all its horror, that he could deal with it.
   When he was away from the sight, dread seemed to fall on him from nowhere, adumbrate against his heart like the knell of an unmotivated doom. It confused his thoughts, paralyzed his instincts. Walking through the halls of Revelstone, he saw faces gray with inarticulate terror, heard above the constant, clenched mumble of sobs children howling in panic at the sight of their parents, felt the rigid moral exhaustion of the stalwart few who kept the Keep alive-Quaan, the three Lords, most of the Lorewardens, lillianrill, and rhadhamaerl. Then he could hardly master the passion of his futility, the passion which urged him to strike at his friends because it blamed him for failing the Land. A wild hopelessness moved in him, shouldered its way toward the front of his responses. And he alone of all the Lords knew how to make such hopelessness bear fruit.
   But alone on the watchtower, with Satansfist's army revealed below him, he could clarify himself, recognize what was being done to Revel-stone. The winter and the attack assumed a different meaning. He no longer accused himself; he knew then that no one could be blamed for being inadequate in the face of such unanswerable malevolence. Destruction was easier than preservation, and when destruction had risen high enough, mere men and women could not be condemned if they failed to throw back the tide. Therefore he was able to resist his own capacity for desecration. His eyes burned like yellow fury at the creeping attack, but he was searching for defenses.
   The aspect of the assault which most daunted him was its unwavering ferocity. He could see that the ur-viles maintained their part of the power by rotating their positions, allowing each wedge and loremaster to rest in turn. And he knew from experience that Lord Foul's strength-his own prodigious might making use of the Illearth Stone-was able to drive armies mad, push them to greater savagery than their flesh could bear. But Satansfist was only one Giant, one body of mortal thew and bone and blood. Even a Giant-Raver should not have been able to sustain such an extravagant exertion for so long.
   In addition, while samadhi concentrated on his attack, he might reasonably have been expected to lose some of his control over his army. Yet the whole horde, legion after legion, remained poised around Revel-stone . Each creature in its own way bent the lust of its will at the Keep. And the emerald expenditure of samadhi's strength never blinked. Clearly, Lord Foul supported his army and its commander with might so immense that it surpassed all Mhoram's previous conceptions of power.
   He could see no hope for Revelstone anywhere except in the cost of that unwavering exertion. The defenders would have to hope and pray that Satansfist's aegis broke before they did. If they could not contrive to endure the Raver's attack, they were doomed.
   When Mhoram returned to the hollow stone halls in the first, gray, dim ridicule of dawn, he was ready to strive for that endurance.
   The hushed, tight wave of panic that struck him as he strode down the main passage into the Keep almost broke his resolve. He could feel people grinding their teeth in fear behind the walls on either side of him. Shouts reached him from a far gallery; two parties had banded together to defend themselves from each other. Around a bend he surprised a hungry group that was attempting to raid one of the food storerooms; the people believed that the cooks in the refectories were preparing poison.
   His anger blazed up in him, and he surged forward, intending to strike them where they stood in their folly. But before he reached them, they fell into panic and fled from him as if he were a ghoul. Their retreat left two of Quaan's warriors standing guard in front of the storeroom as if they were watching each other rather than the supplies. Even these two regarded Mhoram with dread.
   He mastered himself, forced a smile onto his crooked lips, said a few encouraging words to the guards. Then he hastened away.
   He saw now that Revelstone was at the flash point of crisis. To help it, he had to provide the city with something more than moments of temporary aid. Grimly, he ignored the other needs, the multitudes of fear, which cut at his awareness. As he strode along passages and down stairways, he used his staff to summon Hearthrall Tohrm and all the Gravelingases. He put his full authority into the command, so that as many rhadhamaerl as possible might resist their panic and answer.
   When he reached the bright floor of the courtyard around which the Lords' chambers were situated, he felt a brief surge of relief to see that Tohrm and a dozen Gravelingases were already there, and more were on their way. Soon a score of the rhadhamaerl-nearly all the Keep's masters of stone-lore-stood on the shining rock, waiting to hear him.
   For a moment, the High Lord gazed at the men, wincing inwardly at their misery. They were Gravelingases of the rhadhamaerl, and were being hurt through the very stone around them. Then he nodded sharply to himself. This was the right place for him to begin; if he could convince these men that they were able to resist Satansfist's ill, they would be able to do much for the rest of the city.
   With an effort that strained the muscles of his face, he smiled for them. Tohrm answered with an awkward grin which quickly fell into apprehension again.
   "Gravelingases," Mhoram began roughly, "we have spent too long each of us alone enduring this ill in small ways. We must put our strength together to form a large defense."
   "We have obeyed your orders," one man muttered sullenly.
   "That is true," Mhoram returned. "Thus far we have all given our strength to encourage the people of Revelstone. You have kept your graveling fires bright, as I commanded. But wisdom does not always come swiftly. Now I see with other eyes. I have listened more closely to the voice of the Keep. I have felt the rock itself cry out against this evil. And I say now that we must resist in other ways if Revelstone is to endure.
   "We have mistaken our purpose. The Land does not live for us-we live for the Land. Gravelingases, you must turn your lore to the defense of the stone. Here, in this place"-he touched the radiant floor with the heel of his staff-"slumbers power that perhaps only a rhadhamaerl may comprehend. Make use of it. Make use of any possible lore-do here together whatever must be done. But find some means to seal the heart-rock of Revelstone against this blight. The people can provide for themselves if Revelstone remains brave."
   As he spoke, he realized that he should have understood these things all along. But the fear had numbed him, just as it had icebound the Gravelingases. And like him they now began to comprehend. They shook themselves, struck their hands together, looked around them with preparations rather than dread in their eyes. Tohrm's lips twitched with their familiar grin.
   Without hesitation, High Lord Mhoram left the Gravelingases alone to do their work. As he walked along the tunnel away from the courtyard, he felt like a man who had discovered a new magic.
   He directed his steps toward one of the main refectories, whose chief cook he knew to be a feisty, food-loving man not prone to either awe or fear; and as he moved, he sent out more summonses, this time calling his fellow Lords and Hearthrall Borillar's Hirebrands. Amatin and Trevor answered tensely, and Borillar sent a half-timid sign through the walls. But a long moment passed before Loerya answered, and when her signal came it was torpid, as if she were dazed with dismay. Mhoram hoped that the rhadhamaerl could make themselves felt soon, so that people like Loerya might not altogether lose heart; and he climbed up through the levels of the Keep toward the refectory as if he were surging through viscous dread.
   But as he neared the kitchen, he saw a familiar figure dodge away into a side passage, obviously trying to avoid him. He swung around the corner after the man, and came face to face with Trell Atiaran-mate.
   The big man looked feverish. His graying beard seemed to bristle hotly, his sunken cheeks were flushed, and his dull, hectic eyes slid away from Mhoram's gaze in all directions, as if he could not control their wandering. He stood under Mhoram's scrutiny as if he might break and run at any moment.
   "Trell Gravelingas," Mhoram said carefully, "the other rhadhamaerl are at work against this ill. They need your strength."
   Trell's gaze flicked once across Mhoram's face like a lash of anger. "You wish to preserve Revelstone so that it will be intact for the Despiser's use.'' He filled the word intact with so much bitterness that it sounded like a curse.
   At the accusation, Mhoram's lips tightened. "I wish to preserve the Keep for its own sake."
   The roaming of Trell's eyes had an insatiable cast, as if they were afraid of going blind. "I do not work well with others,'' he said dimly after a moment. Then, without transition, he became urgent. "High Lord, tell me your secret."
   Mhoram was taken aback. "My secret?"
   "It is a secret of power. I must have power."
   "For what purpose?"
   At first, Trell squirmed under the question. But then his gaze hit Mhoram again. "Do you wish Revelstone intact?" Again, in tact spat like gall past his lips. He turned sharply and strode away.
   For an instant, Mhoram felt a cold hand of foreboding on the back of his neck, and he watched Trell go as if the big Gravelingas trailed plumes of calamity. But before he could grasp the perception, Revelstone's ambience of dread clouded it, obscured it. He did not dare give Trell his secret knowledge. Even a Gravelingas might be capable of invoking the Ritual of Desecration.
   With an effort, he remembered his purpose, and started again toward the refectory.
   Because he had been delayed, all the people he had summoned were waiting for him. They stood ineffectively among the forlorn tables in the great, empty hall, and watched his approach with trepidation, as if he were a paradoxically fatal hope, a saving doom. "High Lord," the chief cook began at once, quelling his fear with anger, "I cannot control these useless sheep disguised as cooks. Half have deserted me, and the rest will not work. They swing knives and refuse to leave the corners where they hide.''
   "Then we must restore their courage." Despite the scare Trell had given him, Mhoram found that he could smile more easily. He looked at the Lords and Hirebrands. "Do you not feel it?"
   Amatin nodded with tears in her eyes. Trevor grinned.
   A change was taking place under their feet.
   It was a small change, almost subliminal. Yet soon even the Hire-brands could feel it. Without either heat or light, it warmed and lit their hearts.
   On a barely palpable level, the rock of Revelstone was remembering that it was obdurate granite, not susceptible sandstone.
   Mhoram knew that this change could not be felt everywhere in the Keep-that all the strength of the rhadhamaerl would never suffice to throw back the lurid dread of Satansfist's attack. But the Gravelingases had made a start. Now anyone who felt the alteration would know that resistance was still possible.
   He let his companions taste the granite for a moment. Then he began the second part of his defense. He asked Hearthrall Borillar for all the healing wood essence-the rillinlure-he could provide, and sent the other Hirebrands to help the chief cook begin working again. "Cook and do not stop," he commanded. "The other refectories are paralyzed. All who seek food must find it here."
   Borillar was doubtful. "Our stores of rillinlure will be swiftly consumed in such quantities of food. None will remain for the future of this siege."
   "That is as it must be. Our error has been to conserve and portion our strength against future perils. If we fail to endure this assault, we will have no future.'' When Borillar still hesitated, Mhoram went on: "Do not fear, Hearthrall. Satansfist himself must rest after such an exertion of power."
   After a moment, Borillar recognized the wisdom of the High Lord's decision. He left to obey, and Mhoram turned to the other Lords. "My friends, to us falls another task. We must bring the people here so that they may eat and be restored."
   "Send the Warward,'' said Loerya. Her pain at being away from her daughters was plainly visible in her face.
   "No. Fear will cause some to resist with violence. We must call them, make them wish to come. We must put aside our own apprehension, and send a call like a melding through the Keep, so that the people will choose to answer."
   "Who will defend Revelstone-while we work here ?'' Trevor asked.
   "The peril is here. We must not waste our strength on useless watching. While this attack continues, there will be no other. Come. Join your power to mine. We, the Lords, cannot permit the Keep to be thus broken in spirit."
   As he spoke, he drew a fire bright and luminescent from his staff. Tuning it to the ambience of the stone, he set it against one wall so that it ran through the rock like courage, urging all the people within its range to lift up their heads and come to the refectory.
   At his back, he felt Amatin, Trevor, then Loerya following his example. Their Lords-fire joined his; their minds bent to the same task. With their help, he pushed dread away, shared his own indomitable conviction, so that the appeal which radiated from them into Revelstone carried no flaw or dross of fear.
   Soon people began to answer. Hollow-eyed like the victims of nightmares, they entered the refectory-accepted steaming trays from the chief cook and the Hirebrands-sat at the tables and began to eat. And when they had eaten, they found themselves ushered to a nearby hall, where the Lorewardens enjoined them to sing boldly in the face of defeat:
   Berek! Earthfriend!-help and weal, Battle-aid against the foe!
   Earth gives and answers Power's peal,
   Ringing, Earthfriend! help and heal! Clean the Land from bloody death and woe!
   More and more people came, drawn by the music, and the Lords, and the reaffirmation of Revelstone's granite. Supporting each other, carrying their children, dragging their friends, they fought their fear and came because the deepest impulses of their hearts responded to food, music, rillinlure, rock-to the Lords and the life of Revelstone.
   After the first influx, the Lords took turns resting so that fatigue would not make their efforts waver. When the rillinlure gave out, the Hirebrands provided special fires for the returning cooks, and joined their own lore to the call of the Lords. Quaan's warriors gave up all pretense of guarding the walls, and came to help the cooks-clearing tables, cleaning pots and trays, carrying supplies from the storerooms.
   Now the city had found a way to resist the dread, and it was determined to prevail. In all, less than half of Revelstone's people responded. But they were enough. They kept Lord's Keep alive when the very air they breathed reeked of malice.
   For four days and four nights, High Lord Mhoram did not leave his post. He rested and ate to sustain himself, but he stayed at his station by the refectory wall. After a time, he hardly saw or heard the people moving around him. He concentrated on the stone, wrought himself to the pitch of Revelstone, to the pulse of its existence and the battle for possession of its life rock. He saw as clearly as if he were standing on the watchtower that Satansfist's livid power oozed close to the outer walls and then halted- hung poised while the Keep struggled against it. He heard the muffled groaning of the rock as it fought to remember itself. He felt the exhaustion of the Gravelingases. All these things he took into himself, and against the Despiser's wrong he placed his unbreaking will.
   And he won.
   Shortly before dawn on the fifth day, the onslaught broke like a tidal wave collapsing out to sea under its own weight. For a long stunned moment, Mhoram felt jubilation running through the rock under his feet and could not understand it. Around him, people gaped as if the sudden release of pressure astounded them. Then, swept together by a common impulse, he and everyone else dashed toward the outer battlements to look at the siege.
   The ground below them steamed and quivered like wounded flesh, but the malevolence which had stricken it was gone. Satansfist's army lay prostrate from overexertion in its encampments. The Giant-Raver himself was nowhere to be seen.
   Over all its walls from end to end, Revelstone erupted in the exultation of victory. Weak, hoarse, ragged, starving voices cheered, wept, shouted raucous defiance as if the siege had been beaten. Mhoram found his own vision blurred with relief. When he turned to go back into the Keep, he discovered Loerya behind him, weeping happily and trying to hug all three of her daughters at once. At her side, Trevor crowed, and tossed one of the girls giggling into the air.
   "Rest now, Mhoram," Loerya said through her joy. "Leave the Keep to us. We know what must be done."
   High Lord Mhoram nodded his mute gratitude and went wearily away to his bed.
   Yet even then he did not relax until he had felt the Warward resume its defensive stance-felt search parties hunting through the Keep for the most blighted survivors of the assault-felt order slowly reform the city like a mammoth being struggling out of chaos. Only then did he let himself flow with the slow pulse of the gut-rock and lose his burdens in sleep-secure in the confidence of stone.
   By the time he awoke the next morning, Lord's Keep had been returned as much as possible to battle-readiness. Warmark Quaan brought a tray of breakfast to him in his private quarters, and reported the news of the city to him while he ate.
   Thanks to its training, and to exceptional service by some of the Hafts and Warhafts, the Warward had survived essentially unscathed. The Gravelingases were exhausted, but well. The Lorewardens and Hirebrands had suffered only chance injuries from panic-stricken friends. But the people who had not answered the Lords' summons had not fared so well. Search parties had found several score dead, especially in ground-level apartments near the outer walls. Most of these people had died of thirst, but some were murdered by their fear-mad friends and neighbors. And of the hundreds of other survivors, four- or fivescore appeared irreparably insane.
   After the search had ended, Lord Loerya had taken to the Healers all those who were physically and mentally damaged, as well as those who seemed to remember having committed murder. She was assisting the Healers now. In other ways, Revelstone was swiftly recovering. The Keep was intact.
   Mhoram listened in silence, then waited for the old Warmark to continue. But Quaan fell studiously silent, and the High Lord was forced to ask, "What of the Raver's army?"
   Quaan spat in sudden vehemence. "They have not moved."
   It was true. Satansfist's hordes had retreated to their encampment and fallen into stasis as if the force which animated them had been withdrawn.
   In the days that followed, they remained essentially still. They moved enough to perform the bare functions of their camp. They received dark supply wains from the south and east. From time to time, an indefinite flicker of power ran among them-a halfhearted whip keeping surly beasts under control. But none of them approached within hailing distance of the Keep. Samadhi Raver did not show himself. Only the unbroken girdle of the siege showed that Lord Foul had not been defeated.
   For five days-ten-fifteen-the enemy lay like a dead thing around Revelstone. At first, some of the more optimistic inhabitants of the city argued that the spirit of the attackers had been broken. But Warmark Quaan did not believe this, and after one long look from the watchtower, Mhoram agreed with his old friend.
   Satansfist was simply waiting for Revelstone to eat up its supplies, weaken itself, before he launched his next assault.
   As the days passed, High Lord Mhoram lost his capacity to rest. He lay tense in his chambers and listened to the mood of the city turn sour.
   Slowly, day by day, Lord's Keep came to understand its predicament. The Giants who had delved Revelstone out of the mountain rock thousands of years ago, in the age of Damelon, had made it to be impregnable; and all its inhabitants had lived from birth with the belief that this intention had succeeded. The walls were granite, and the gates, unbreakable. In a crisis the fertile upland plateau could provide the Keep with food. But the Despiser's unforeseen, unforeseeable winter had laid the upland barren; crops and fruit could not grow, cattle or other animals could not live, in the brazen wind. And the storerooms had already supplied the city since the natural onset of winter.
   For the first time in its long history, Revelstone's people saw that they might starve.
   In the initial days of waiting, the Lords began a stricter rationing of the supplies. They reduced each person's daily share of food until everyone in Revelstone felt hungry all the time. They organized the refectories more stringently, so that food would not be wasted. But these measures were palpably inadequate. The city had many thousand inhabitants; even on minimal rations they consumed large portions of the stores every day.
   Their earlier elation ran out of them like water leaking into parched sand. The wait became first stupefying, then heavy and ominous, like pent thunder, then maddening. And High Lord Mhoram found himself yearning for the next attack. He could fight back against an attack.
   Gradually, the cold gray days of suspense began to weaken the Keep's discretion, its pragmatic sense. Some of the farmers-people whose lifework had been taken from them by the winter-crept out to the upland hills around Glimmermere, sneaking as if they were ashamed to be caught planting futile rows of seeds in the frozen earth.
   Lord Trevor began to neglect some of his duties. At odd times, he forgot why he had become a Lord, forgot the impulse which had made him a Lord in defiance of his lack of belief in himself; and he shirked normal responsibilities as if he were inexplicably afraid of failure. Loerya his wife remained staunch in her work, but she became distracted, almost furtive, as she moved through the Keep. She often went hungry so that her daughters could have more food. Whenever she saw the High Lord, she glared at him with a strange resentment in her eyes.
   Like Loerya, Lord Amatin grew slowly distant. At every free moment she plunged into a feverish study of the First and Second Wards, searching so hard for the unlocking of mysteries that when she went back to her public duties her forehead looked as sore as if she had been battering it against her table.
   Several Hirebrands and Gravelingases took to carrying fire with them wherever they went, like men who were going incomprehensibly blind. And on the twentieth day of the waiting, Warmark Quaan abruptly reversed all his former decisions; without consulting any of the Lords, he sent a party of scouts out of the Keep toward Satansfist's camp. None of them returned.
   Still the Raver's army lay like dormant chains, constricting the heart of Revelstone.
   Quaan berated himself to the High Lord. " I am a fool," he articulated severely, "an old fool. Replace me before I am mad enough to send the Warward itself out to die."
   "Who can replace you?" Mhoram replied gently. "It is the Despiser's purpose to make mad all the defenders of the Land."
   Quaan looked around him as if to measure with his eyes the chill of Revelstone's travail. "He will succeed. He requires no weapon but patience."
   Mhoram shrugged. "Perhaps. But I think it is an unsure tactic. Lord Foul cannot foretell the size of our stores-or the extent of our determination."
   "Then why does he wait?"
   The High Lord did not need to be a seer to answer this question. "Samadhi Raver awaits a sign-perhaps from us-perhaps from the Despiser."
   Glowering at the thought, Quaan went back to his duties. And Mhoram returned to a problem which had been nagging at him. For the third time, he went in search of Trell.
   But once again he could not locate the tormented Gravelingas. Trell must have secreted himself somewhere. Mhoram found no trace, felt no emanation, and none of the other rhadhamaerl had seen the big Stonedownor recently. Mhoram ached at the thought of Trell in hiding, gnawing in cataleptic isolation the infested meat of his anguishes. Yet the High Lord could not afford either the time or the energy to dredge all Revelstone's private places for the sake of one embittered Gravelingas. Before he had completed even a cursory search, he was distracted by a group of Lorewardens who had irrationally decided to go and negotiate a peace with the Raver. Once again, he was compelled to put aside the question of Trell Atiaran-mate.
   On the twenty-fourth day, Lord Trevor forsook his duties altogether.
   He sealed himself in his study like a penitent, and refused all food and drink. Loerya could get no response from him, and when the High Lord spoke to him, he said nothing except that he wished his wife and daughters to have his ration of food.
   "Now even I am a cause of pain to him,'' Loerya murmured with hot tears in her eyes. "Because I have given some of my food to my daughters, he believes that he is an insufficient husband and father, and must sacrifice himself.'' She gave Mhoram one desperate glance, like a woman trying to judge the cost of abdication, then hurried away before he could reply.
   On the twenty-fifth day, Lord Amatin strode up to Mhoram and demanded without preface or explanation that he reveal to her his secret knowledge.
   "Ah, Amatin," he sighed, "are you so eager for burdens?"
   She turned at once and walked fragilely away as if he had betrayed her.
   When he went to stand his solitary watch on the tower, a dull vermeil mood was on him, and he felt that he had in fact betrayed her; he had withheld dangerous knowledge from her as if he judged her unable to bear it. Yet nowhere in his heart could he find the courage to give his fellow Lords the key to the Ritual of Desecration. That key had a lurid, entrancing weight. It urged him to rage at Trevor, pummel the pain from Loerya's face, shake Amatin's frail shoulders until she understood, call down fire from the hidden puissance of the skies on Satansfist's head-and refused to let him speak.
   On the twenty-seventh day, the first of the storerooms was emptied. Together, the chief cook and the most experienced Healer reported to Mhoram that the cold and infirm would begin to die of hunger in a few days.
   When he went to his chambers to rest, he felt too cold to sleep. Despite the warm graveling, Lord Foul's winter reached through the stone walls at him as if the gray, unfaltering wind were tuned to his most vulnerable resonances. He lay wide-eyed on his pallet like a man in a fever of helplessness and imminent despair.
   The next night he was snatched off his bed shortly after midnight by the sudden thrill of trepidation which raced through the walls like a flame in the extreme tinder of the Keep' s anticipation. He was on his way before any summons could reach him; with his staff clenched whitely in his hand, he hastened toward the highest eastward battlements of the main Keep. He focused on Quaan's dour presence, found the Warmark on a balcony overlooking the watchtower and the night soot of Satansfist's army.
   As Mhoram joined him, Quaan pointed one rigid arm like an indictment away toward the east. But the High Lord did not need Quaan's gesture; the sight seemed to spring at him out of the darkness like a bright abomination on the wind.
   Running from the east toward Revelstone was a rift in the clouds, a break that stretched out to the north and south as far as Mhoram could see. The rift appeared wide, assertive, but the clouds behind it were as impenetrable as ever.
   It was so clearly visible because through it streamed light as green as the frozen essence of emerald.
   Its brightness made it seem swift, but it moved like a slow, ineluctable tide across the ice-blasted fields beyond the foothills. Its green, radiant swath swept like a blaze of wrong over the ground, igniting invisible contours into brilliance and then quenching them again. Mhoram watched it in stunned silence as it lit the Raver's army and rushed on into the foothills of the plateau. Like a tsunami of malignant scorn, it rolled upward and broke across the Keep.
   People screamed when they saw the full emerald moon leering evilly at them through the rift. The High Lord himself flinched, raised his staff as if to ward off a nightmare. For a horrific moment while the rift moved, Lord Foul's moon dominated the clear, starless abysm of the sky like an incurable wound, a maiming of the very Law of the heavens. Emerald radiance covered everything, drowned every heart and drenched Revel-stone's every upraised rock in the tic, green defeat.
   Then the rift passed; sick light slid away into the west. Lord's Keep sank like a broken sea-cliff into irreparable night.
   "Melenkurion!" Quaan panted as if he were suffocating. "Melenkurion!"
   Slowly, Mhoram realized that he was grimacing like a cornered madman. But while the darkness crashed and echoed around him, he could not relax his features; the contortion clung to his face like the grin of a skull. A long, taut time seemed to pass before he thought to peer through the night at Satansfist's army.
   When at last he compelled himself to look, he saw that the army had come to life. It sloughed off its uneasy repose and began to seethe, bristling in the darkness like reanimated lust.
   "Ready the Warward," he said, fighting an unwonted tremor in his rough voice. "The Raver has been given his sign. He will attack."
   With an effort, Warmark Quaan brought himself back under control and left the balcony, shouting orders as he moved.
   Mhoram hugged his staff to his chest and breathed deeply, heavily. At first, the air shuddered in his lungs, and he could not pull the grimace off his face. But slowly he untied his muscles, turned his tension into other channels. His thoughts gathered themselves around the defense of the Keep.
   Calling on the Hearthralls and the other Lords to join him, he went to the tower to watch what samadhi Raver was doing.
   There, in the company of the two shaken sentries, he could follow the Raver's movements. Satansfist held his fragment of the Illearth Stone blazing aloft, an oriflamme of gelid fire, and its stark green illumination revealed him clearly as he moved among his forces, barking orders in a hoarse, alien tongue. Without haste he gathered ur-viles about him until their midnight forms spread out under his light like a lake of black water. Then he forged them into two immense wedges, one on either side of him, with their tips at his shoulders, facing Revelstone. In the garish Stone light, the loremasters looked like roynish, compact power, fatal and eager. Waves of other creatures fanned out beyond them on either side as they began to approach the Keep.
   Following the Raver's fire, they moved deliberately straight out of the southeast toward the knuckled and clenched gates at the base of the watchtower.
   High Lord Mhoram tightened his grip on his staff and tried to prepare himself for whatever might happen.
   At his back, he felt Lord Amatin and Hearthrall Borillar arrive, followed shortly by Tohrm and then Quaan. Without taking his eyes off Satansfist's approach, the Warmark reported.
   "I have ordered two Howard into the tower. More would serve no purpose-they would block each other. Half are archers. They are good warriors,'' he added unnecessarily, as if to reassure himself, "and all their Hafts and Warhafts are veterans of the war against Fleshharrower.
   '' The archers bear lor-liarill shafts. They will begin at your signal.''
   Mhoram nodded his approval. "Tell half the archers to strike when the Raver enters arrow range. Hold the rest for my signal."
   The Warmark turned to deliver these instructions, but Mhoram abruptly caught his arm. A chill tightened the High Lord's scalp as he said, "Place more archers upon the battlements above the court of the Gilden. If by some great ill Satansfist breaches the gates, the defenders of the tower will require aid. And-stand warriors ready to cut loose the crosswalks from the Keep."
   "Yes, High Lord." Quaan was a warrior and understood the necessity for such orders. He returned Mhoram's grip firmly, like a clasp of farewell, then left the top of the tower.
   "Breach the gates?" Borillar gaped as if the mere suggestion amazed him. "How is it possible?"
   "It is not possible," Tohrm replied flatly.
   "Nevertheless we must prepare." Mhoram braced his staff on the stone like a standard, and watched samadhi Sheol's approach.
   No one spoke while the army marched forward. It was already less than a hundred yards below the gates. Except for the dead rumble of its myriad feet on the frozen ground, it moved in silence, as if it were stalking the Keep-or as if in spite of their driven hunger many of its creatures themselves dreaded what Satansfist meant to do.
   Mhoram felt that he had only moments left. He asked Amatin if she had seen either Trevor or Loerya.
   "No.'' Her whispered answer had an empty sound, like a recognition of abandonment.
   Moments later, a flight of arrows thrummed from one of the upper levels of the tower. They were invisible in the darkness, and Satansfist gave no sign that he knew they had been fired. But the radiance of the Illearth Stone struck them into flame and knocked them down before they were within thirty feet of him.
   Another flight, and another, had no effect except to light the front of the Raver's army, revealing in lurid green and orange the deadly aspect of its leaders.
   Then samadhi halted. On either side of him, the ur-viles trembled. He coughed his orders. The wedges tightened. Snarling, the Cavewights and other creatures arranged themselves into formations, ready to charge.
   Without haste or hesitation, the Giant-Raver clenched his fist, so that iridescent steam plumed upward from his fragment of the Stone.
   Mhoram could feel the Stone's power mounting, radiating in tumid waves against his face.
   Abruptly, a bolt of force lashed from the Stone and struck the ground directly before one of the loremasters. The blast continued until the soil and rock caught fire, burned with green flames, crackled like firewood. Then samadhi moved his bolt, drew it over the ground in a wide, slow arc toward the other loremaster. His power left behind a groove that flamed and smoldered, flared and groaned in earthen agony.
   When the arc was complete, it enclosed Satansfist from side to side-a half-circle of emerald coals standing in front of him like a harness anchored by the two ur-vile wedges.
   Remembering the vortex of trepidation with which Fleshharrower had attacked the Warward at Doriendor Corishev, Mhoram strode across the tower and shouted up at the Keep, "Leave the battlements! All but the warriors must take shelter! Do not expose yourselves lest the sky itself assail you!" Then he returned to Lord Amatin's side.
   Below him, the two great loremasters raised their staves and jabbed them into the ends of the arc. At once, Demondim vitriol began to pulse wetly along the groove. The green flames turned black; they bubbled, spattered, burst out of the arc as if Satansfist had tapped a vein of EarthBlood in the ground.
   By the time Warmark Quaan had returned to the tower, Mhoram knew that samadhi was not summoning a vortex. The Raver's exertion was like nothing he had ever seen before. And it was slower than he had expected it to be. Once the ur-viles had tied themselves to the arc, Satansfist started to work with his Stone. From its incandescent core, he drew a fire that gushed to the ground and poured into the groove of the arc. This force combined with the black fluid of the ur-viles to make a mixture of ghastly potency. Soon black-green snake-tongues of lightning were flicking into the air from the whole length of the groove, and these bursts carried to the onlookers a gut-deep sense of violation, as if the rocky foundations of the foothills were under assault-as if the Despiser dared traduce even the necessary bones of the Earth.
   Yet the power did nothing except grow. Tongues of lightning leaped higher, joined together, became gradually but steadily more brilliant and wrong. Their violence increased until Mhoram felt that the nerves of his skin and eyes could endure no more-and went on increasing. When dawn began to bleed into the night at Satansfist's back, the individual tongues had merged into three continuous bolts striking without thunder into the deepest darkness of the clouds.
   The High Lord's throat was too dry; he had to swallow roughly several times before he could muster enough moisture to speak. "Hear-thrall Tohrm''-still he almost gagged on the words-"they will attack the gates. This power will attack the gates. Send any Gravelingases who will go to the aid of the stone."
   Tohrm started at the sound of his name, then hurried away as if he were glad to remove himself from the baleful glare of the arc.
   While gray daylight spread over the siege, the three unbroken bolts jumped and gibbered maniacally, raged at the silent clouds, drew closer to each other. Behind them, the army began to howl as the pressure became more and more unendurable.
   Lord Amatin dug her thin fingers into the flesh of Mhoram's arm. Quaan had crossed his arms over his chest, and was straining against himself to keep from shouting. Borillar's hands scrubbed fervidly over his features in an effort to erase the sensation of wrong. His staff lay useless at his feet. The High Lord prayed for them all and fought his dread.
   Then, abruptly, the Raver whirled his Stone and, roaring, threw still more power into the arc.
   The three great columns of lightning sprang together, became one.
   The earth shook with thunder in answer to that single, prodigious bolt. At once, the lightning vanished, though samadhi and the ur-viles did not withdraw their power from the arc.
   The thunder continued; tremors jolted the ground. In moments, the tower was trembling as if its foundations were about to crack open and swallow it.
   Immensely, tortuously, the ground of the foothills began to shift. It writhed, jerked, cracked; and through the cracks, stone shapes thrust upward. To his horror, Mhoram saw the forms of humans and Giants and horses rip themselves out of the earth. The forms were blunt, misshapen, insensate; they were articulated stone, the ancient fossilized remains of buried bodies.
   The memory of Asuraka's cry from Revelwood echoed in Mhoram's ears: He resurrected the old death!
   By hundreds and then thousands, the stone shapes heaved up out of the ground. Amid the colossal thunder of the breaking earth, they thrust free of their millennia-long graves and lumbered blindly toward the gates of Revelstone.
   "Defend the tower!" Mhoram cried to Quaan. "But do not waste lives. Amatin! Fight here! Flee if the tower falls. I go to the gates."
   But when he spun away from the parapet, he collided with Hearthrall Tohrm. Tohrm caught hold of him, stopped him. Yet in spite of the High Lord's urgency, a long moment passed before Tohrm could bring himself to speak.
   At last, he wrenched out, "The tunnel is defended."
   "Who?" Mhoram snapped.
   "The Lord Trevor ordered all others away. He and Trell Gravelingas support the gates."
   "Melenkurion!" Mhoram breathed. "Melenkurion abatha!" He turned back to the parapet.
   Below him, the dead, voiceless shapes had almost reached the base of the tower. Arrows flew at them from hundreds of bows, but the shafts glanced uselessly off the earthen forms and fell flaming to the ground without effect.
   He hesitated, muttering to himself in extreme astonishment. The breaking of the Law of Death had consequences beyond anything he had imagined. Thousands of the gnarled shapes were already massed and marching, and at every moment thousands more struggled up from the ground, writhed into motion like lost souls and obeyed the command of Sheol Satansfist's power.
   But then the first shape set its hands on the gates, and High Lord Mhoram sprang forward. Whirling his staff, he sent a blast down the side of the tower, struck the dead form where it stood. At the impact of his Lords-fire, it shattered like sandstone and fell into dirt.
   At once, he and Lord Amatin set to work with all their might. Their staffs rang and fired, rained blue strength like hammer blows down on the marching shapes. And every blow broke the dead into sand. But every one that fell was replaced by a score of others. Across all the terrain between the watchtower and Satansfist's arc, the ground heaved and buckled, pitching new forms into motion like beings dredged up from the bottommost muck of a lifeless sea. First one by one, then by tens, scores, fifties, they reached the gates and piled against them.
   Through the stone, Mhoram could feel the strain on the gates mounting. He could feel Trevor's fire and Trell's mighty subterranean song supporting the interlocked gates, while hundreds, thousands, of the blind, mute forms pressed against them, crushed forward in lifeless savagery like an avalanche leaping impossibly up out of the ground. He could feel the groaning retorts of pressure as if the bones of the tower were grinding together. And still the dead came, shambling out of the earth until they seemed as vast as the Raver's army and as irresistible as a cataclysm. Mhoram and Amatin broke hundreds of them and had no effect.

   Behind the High Lord, Tohrm was on his knees, sharing the tower's pain with his hands and sobbing openly, "Revelstone! Oh, Revelstone, alas! Oh, Revelstone, Revelstone!"
   Mhoram tore himself away from the fighting, caught hold of Tohrm's tunic, hauled the Hearthrall to his feet. Into Tohrm's broken face, he shouted, "Gravelingas! Remember who you are! You are the Hearthrall of Lord's Keep."
   "I am nothing!" Tohrm wept. "Ah! the Earth-!"
   "You are Hearthrall and Gravelingas! Hear me-I, High Lord Mhoram, command you. Study this attack-learn to know it. The inner gates must not fall. The rhadhamaerl must preserve Revelstone's inner gates!"
   He felt the change in the attack. Satansfist's Stone now threw bolts against the gates. Amatin tried to resist, but the Raver brushed her efforts aside as if they were nothing. Yet Mhoram stayed with Tohrm, focused his strength on the Hearthrall until Tohrm met the demand of his eyes and hands.
   "Who will mourn the stone if I do not?" Tohrm moaned.
   Mhoram controlled his desire to yell. "No harm will receive its due grief if we do not survive."
   The next instant, he forgot Tohrm, forgot everything except the silent screams that detonated through him from the base of the tower. Over Trell's shrill rage and the vehemence of Trevor's fire, the gates shrieked in agony.
   A shattering concussion convulsed the stone. The people atop the tower fell, tumbled across the floor. Huge thunder like a howl of victory crashed somewhere between earth and sky, as if the very firmament of existence had been rent asunder.
   The gates split inward.
   Torrents of dead stone flooded into the tunnel under the tower.
   Mhoram was shouting at Quaan and Amatin, "Defend the tower!" The shaking subsided, and he staggered erect. Pulling Tohrm with him, he yelled, "Come! Rally the Gravelingases! The inner gates must not fall." Though the tower was still trembling, he started toward the stairs.
   But before he could descend, he heard a rush of cries, human cries. An anguish like rage lashed through the roiling throng of his emotions. "Quaan!" he roared, though the old Warmark had almost caught up with him. "The warriors attack!" Quaan nodded bitterly as he reached Mhoram's side. "Stop them! They cannot fight these dead. Swords will not avail."
   With Tohrm and Quaan, the High Lord raced down the stairs, leaving Amatin to wield her fire from the edge of the parapet.
   Quaan went straight down through the tower, but Mhoram took Tohrm out over the courtyard between the tower and the Keep on the highest crosswalk. From there, he saw that Trell and Lord Trevor had already been driven back out of the tunnel. They were fighting for their lives against the slow, blind march of the dead. Trevor exerted an extreme force like nothing Mhoram had ever seen in him before, battering the foremost attackers, breaking them rapidly, continuously, into sand. And Trell wielded in both hands a massive fragment of one gate. He used the fragment like a club with such ferocious strength that even shapes vaguely resembling horses and Giants went down under his blows.
   But the two men had no chance. Swords and spears and arrows had no effect on the marching shapes; scores of warriors who leaped into the tunnel and the courtyard were simply crushed underfoot; and the cries of the crushed were fearful to hear. While Mhoram watched, the dead pushed Trell and Trevor back past the old Gilden tree toward the closed inner gates.
   Mhoram shouted to the warriors on the battlements below him, commanding them to stay out of the courtyard. Then he ran across to the Keep and dashed down the stairways toward the lower levels. With Tohrm behind him, he reached the first abutment over the inner gates in time to see Cavewights spill through the tunnel, squirming their way among the dead to attack the side doors which provided the only access to the tower.
   Some of them fell at once with arrows in their throats and bellies, and others were cut down by the few warriors in the court who had avoided being crushed. But their thick, heavy jerkins protected them from most of the shafts and swords. With their great strength and their knowledge of stone, they threw themselves at the doors. And soon the gangrel creatures were swarming through the tunnel in large numbers. The High Lord saw that the warriors alone could not keep samadhi's creatures out of the tower.
   For a harsh moment, he pushed Trevor and Trell, Cavewights, warriors, animated dead earth from his mind, and faced the decision he had to make. If Revelstone were to retain any viable defense, either the tower or the inner gates must be preserved. Without the gates, the tower might still restrict Satansfist's approach enough to keep Revelstone alive; without the tower, the gates could still seal out Satansfist. Without one or the other, Revelstone was defeated. But Mhoram could not fight for both, could not be in both places at once. He had to choose where to concentrate the Keep's defense.
   He chose the gates.
   At once, he sent Tohrm to gather the Gravelingases. Then he turned to the battle of the courtyard. He ignored the Cavewights, focused instead on the shambling dead as they trampled the Gilden tree and pushed Trell and Trevor back against the walls. Shouting to the warriors around him for dingor, he hurled his Lords-fire down at the faceless shapes, battered them into sand. Together, he and Trevor cleared a space in which the trapped men could make their escape.
   Almost immediately, the sentries brought two tough dingor lines, anchored them, tossed them down to Trevor and Trell. But in the brief delay, a new wave of Cavewights rode into the courtyard on the shoulders of the dead and joined the assault on the doors. With a nauseating sound like the breaking of bones, they tore the doors off the hinges, tossed the stone slabs aside, and charged roaring into the tower. They were met instantly by staunch, dour-handed warriors, but the momentum and strength of the Cavewights carried them inward.
   When he saw the doors broken, Trell gave a cry of outrage, and tried to attack the Cavewights. Slapping aside the clingor line, he rushed the dead as if he believed he could fight his way through them to join the defense of the tower. For a moment, his granite club and his rhadhamaerl lore broke passage for him, and he advanced a few steps across the court. But then even his club snapped. He went down under the prodigious weight of the dead.
   Trevor sprang after him. Aided by Mhoram's fire, the Lord reached Trell. One of the dead stamped a glancing blow along his ankle, but he ignored the pain, took hold of Trell's shoulders, dragged him back.
   As soon as he was able to regain his feet, Trell pushed Trevor away and attacked the insensate forms with his fists.
   Trevor snatched up one of the clingor lines and whipped it several times around his chest. Then he pounced at Trell's back. With his arms under Trell's, he gripped his staff like a bar across Trell's chest, and shouted for the warriors to pull him up. Instantly, ten warriors caught the line and hauled. While Mhoram protected the two men, they were drawn up the wall and over the parapet of the abutment.
   With a sickening jolt, the dead thudded against the inner gates.
   Amid the cries of battle from the tower, and the mute pressure building sharply against the gates, High Lord Mhoram turned his attention to Trell and Lord Trevor.
   The Gravelingas struggled free of Trevor's hold and the hands of the warriors, thrust himself erect, and faced Mhoram as if he meant to leap at the High Lord's throat. His face flamed with exertion and fury.
   "Intact!" he rasped horribly. "The tower lost-intact for Sheol's use! Is that your purpose for Revelstone? Better that we destroy it ourselves!"
   Swinging his powerful arms to keep anyone from touching him, he spun wildly and lurched away into the Keep.
   Mhoram's gaze burned dangerously, but he bit his lips, kept himself from rushing after the Gravelingas. Trell had spent himself extravagantly, and failed. He could not be blamed for hating his inadequacy; he should be left in peace. But his voice had sounded like the voice of a man who had lost all peace forever. Torn within himself, Mhoram sent two warriors to watch over Trell, then turned toward Trevor.
   The Lord stood panting against the back wall. Blood streamed from his injured ankle; his face was stained with the grime of battle, and he shuddered as the effort of breathing wracked his chest. Yet he seemed unconscious of his pain, unconscious of himself. His eyes gleamed with eldritch perceptions. When Mhoram faced him, he gasped, "I have felt it. I know what it is."
   Mhoram shouted for a Healer, but Trevor shrugged away any suggestion that he needed help. He met the High Lord like a man exalted, and repeated, "I have felt it, Mhoram."
   Mhoram controlled his concern. "Felt it?"
   "Lord Foul's power. The power which makes all this possible."
   "The Stone-" Mhoram began.
   "The Stone does not suffice. This weather-the speed with which he became so mighty after his defeat in Garroting Deep-the force of this army, though it is so far from his command-these dead shapes, compelled from the very ground by power so vast-!
   "The Stone does not suffice. I have felt it. Even Lord Foul the Despiser could not become so much more unconquerable in seven short years."
   "Then how?" the High Lord breathed.
   "This weather-this winter. It sustains and drives the army-it frees Satansfist-it frees the Despiser himself for other work-the work of the Stone. The work of these dead. Mhoram, do you remember Drool Rock-worm's power over the weather-and the moon?"
   Mhoram nodded in growing amazement and dread.
   "I have felt it. Lord Foul holds the Staff of Law."
   A cry tore itself past Mhoram's lips, despite his instantaneous conviction that Trevor was right. "How is it possible? The Staff fell with High Lord Elena under Melenkurion Sky weir."
   "I do not know. Perhaps the same being who slew Elena bore the Staff to Foul's Creche-perhaps it is dead Kevin himself who wields the Staff on Foul's behalf, so that the Despiser need not personally use a power not apt for his control. But I have felt the Staff, Mhoram-the Staff of Law beyond all question."
   Mhoram nodded, fought to contain the amazed fear that seemed to echo inimitably within him. The Staff! Battle raged around him; he could afford neither time nor strength for anything but the immediate task. Lord Foul held the Staff! If he allowed himself to think about such a thing, he might lose himself in panic. Eyes flashing, he gave Trevor's shoulder a hard clasp of praise and comradeship, then turned back toward the courtyard.
   For a moment, he pushed his perceptions through the din and clangor, bent his senses to assess Revelstone's situation. He could feel Lord Amatin atop the tower, still waging her fire against the dead. She was weakening- her continuous exertions had long since passed the normal limits of her stamina-yet she kept her ragged blaze striking downward, fighting as if she meant to spend her last pulse or breath in the tower's defense. And her labor had its effect. Though she could not stop even a tenth of the shambling shapes, she had now broken so many of them that the unbound sand clogged the approaches to the tunnel. Fewer of the dead could plow forward at one time; her work, and the constriction of the tunnel, slowed their march, slowed the multiplication of their pressure on the inner gates.
   But while she strove, battle began to mount up through the tower toward her. Few Cavewights now tried to enter through the doors. Their own dead blocked the corridors; and while they fought for access, they were exposed to the archers of the Keep. But enemies were breaching the tower somehow; Mhoram could hear loud combat surging upward through the tower's complex passages. With an effort, he ignored everything else around him, concentrated on the tower. Then through the hoarse commands, the clash of weapons, the raw cries of hunger and pain, the tumult of urgent feet, he sensed Satansfist's attack on the outer wall of the tower. The Raver threw fierce bolts of Illearth power at the exposed coigns and windows, occasionally at Lord Amatin herself; and under the cover of these blasts, his creatures threw up ladders against the wall, swarmed through the openings.
   In the stone under his feet, High Lord Mhoram could feel the inner gates groaning.
   Quickly, he turned to one of the warriors, a tense Stonedownor woman. "Go to the tower. Find Warmark Quaan. Say that I command him to withdraw from the tower. Say that he must bring Lord Amatin with him. Go."
   She saluted and ran. A few moments later, he saw her dash over the courtyard along one of the crosswalks.
   By that time, he had already returned to the battle. With Lord Trevor working doggedly at his side, he renewed his attack on the earthen pressure building against Revelstone's inner gates. While the supportive power of the Gravelingases vibrated in the stone under him, he gathered all his accumulated ferocity and drove it at the crush of dead. Now he knew clearly what he hoped to achieve; he wanted to cover the flagstones of the courtyard with so much sand that the blind, shambling shapes would have no solid footing from which to press forward. Trevor's aid seemed to uplift his effectiveness, and he shattered dead by tens and scores until his staff hummed in his hands and the air around him became so charged with blue force that he appeared to emanate Lords-fire.
   Yet while he labored, wielded his power like a scythe through Satansfist's ill crop, he kept part of his attention cocked toward the crosswalks. He was watching for Quaan and Amatin.
   A short time later, the first crosswalk fell. The battered remnant of an Eoman dashed along it out of the tower, rabidly pursued by Cavewights. Archers sent the Cavewights plunging to the courtyard, and as soon as the warriors were safe, the walk's cables were cut. The wooden span swung clattering down and crashed against the wall of the tower.
   The tumult of battle echoed out of the tower. Abruptly, Warmark Quaan appeared on one of the upper spans. Yelling stridently to make himself heard, he ordered all except the two highest crosswalks cut.
   Mhoram shouted up to the Warmark, "Amatin!"
   Quaan nodded, ran back into the tower.
   The next two spans fell promptly, but the sentries at the third waited. After a moment, several injured warriors stumbled out onto the walk. Supporting each other, carrying the crippled, they struggled toward the Keep. But then a score of Stone-born creatures charged madly out of the tower. Defying arrows and swords, they threw the injured off the span and rushed on across the walk.
   Grimly, deliberately, the sentries cut the cables.
   Every enemy that appeared in the doorways where the spans had been was killed or beaten back by a hail of fiery arrows. The higher crosswalks fell in swift succession. Only two remained for the survivors in the tower.
   Now Lord Trevor was panting dizzily at the High Lord's side, and Mhoram himself felt weak with strain. But he could not afford to rest. Tohrm's Gravelingases would not be able to hold the gates alone.
   Yet his flame lost its vehemence as the urgent moments passed. Fear for Quaan and Amatin disrupted his concentration. He wanted intensely to go after them. Warriors were escaping constantly across the last two spans, and he watched their flight with dread in his throat, aching to see their leaders.
   One more span went down.
   He stopped fighting altogether when Quaan appeared alone in the doorway of the last crosswalk.
   Quaan shouted across to the Keep, but Mhoram could not make out the words. He watched with clenched breath as four warriors raced toward the Warmark.
   Then a blue-robed figure moved behind Quaan-Amatin. But the two made no move to escape. When the warriors reached them, they both disappeared back into the tower.
   Stifling in helplessness, Mhoram stared at the empty doorway as if the strength of his desire might bring the two back. He could hear the Raver's hordes surging constantly upward.
   A moment later, the four warriors reappeared. Between them, they carried Hearthrall Borillar.
   He dangled in their hands as if he were dead.
   Quaan and Amatin followed the four. When they all had gained the Keep, the last crosswalk fell. It seemed to make no sound amid the clamor from the tower.
   A mist passed across Mhoram's sight. He found that he was leaning heavily on Trevor; while he gasped for breath, he could not stand alone. But the Lord upheld him. When his faintness receded, he met Trevor's gaze and smiled wanly.
   Without a word, they turned back to the defense of the gates.
   The tower had been lost, but the battle was not done. Unhindered now by Amatin's fire, the dead were slowly able to push a path through the sand. The weight of their assault began to mount again. And the sensation of wrong that they sent shuddering through the stone increased. The High Lord felt Revelstone's pain growing around him until it seemed to come from all sides. If he had not been so starkly confronted with these dead, he might have believed that the Keep was under attack at other points as well. But the present need consumed his attention. Revelstone's only hope lay in burying the gates with sand before they broke.
   He sensed Tohrm's arrival behind him, but did not turn until Quaan and Lord Amatin had joined the Hearthrall. Then he dropped his power and faced the three of them.
   Amatin was on the edge of prostration. Her eyes ached in the waifish pallor of her face; her hair stuck to her face in sweaty strands. When she spoke, her voice quivered. "He took a bolt meant for me. Borillar-he- I did not see samadhi's aim in time."
   A moment passed before Mhoram found the self-mastery to ask quietly, "Is he dead?"
   "No. The Healers-he will live. He is a Hirebrand-not defenseless." She dropped to the stone and slumped against the wall as if the thews which held her up had snapped.
   "I had forgotten he was with you," Mhoram murmured. "I am ashamed."
   " You are ashamed!" The rough croak of Quaan's voice caught at Mhoram's attention. The Warmark's face and arms were smeared with Wood, but he appeared uninjured. He could not meet Mhoram's gaze. "The tower-lost!" He bit the words bitterly. "It is I who am ashamed.  No Warmark would permit-Warmark Hile Troy would have found a means to preserve it."
   "Then find a means to aid us," Tohrm groaned. "These gates cannot hold."
   The livid desperation in his tone pulled all the eyes on the abutment toward him. Tears streamed down his face as if he would never stop weeping, and his hands flinched distractedly in front of him, seeking something impossible in the air, something that would not break. And the gates moaned at him as if they were witnessing to the truth of his distress.
   "We cannot," he went on. "Cannot. Such force! May the stones forgive me! I am-we are unequal to this stress."
   Quaan turned sharply on his heel and strode away, shouting for timbers and Hirebrands to shore up the gates.
   But Tohrm did not seem to hear the Warmark. His wet gaze held Mhoram as he whispered, "We are prevented. Something ill maims our strength. We do not comprehend- High Lord, is there other wrong here? Other wrong than weight and dead violence? I hear-all Revelstone's great rock cries out to me of evil."
   High Lord Mhoram's senses veered, and he swung into resonance with the gut-rock of the Keep as if he were melding himself with the stone. He felt all the weight of samadhi's dead concentrated as if it were impending squarely against him; he felt his own soul gates groaning, detonating, cracking. For an instant, like an ignition of prophecy, he became the Keep, took its life and pain into himself, experienced the horrific might which threatened to rend it-and something else, too, something distinct, private, terrible. When he heard frantic feet clattering toward him along the main hall, he knew that Tohrm had glimpsed the truth.
   One of the two men Mhoram had sent to watch over Trell dashed forward, jerked to a halt. His face was as white as terror, and he could hardly thrust words stuttering through his teeth.
   "High Lord, come! He!-the Close! Oh, help him!"
   Amatin covered her head with her arms as if she could not bear any more. But the High Lord said, "I hear you. Remember who you are. Speak clearly."
   The man gulped sickly several times. "Trell-you sent-he immolates himself. He will destroy the Close."
   A hoarse cry broke from Tohrm, and Amatin gasped, "Melenkurion!" Mhoram stared at the warrior as if he could not believe what he had heard. But he believed it; he felt the truth of it. He was appalled by the dreadful understanding that this knowledge also had come too late. Once again, he had failed of foresight, failed to meet the needs of the Keep. Spun by irrefusable exigencies, he wheeled on Lord Trevor and demanded, "Where is Loerya?"
   For the first time since his rescue, Trevor's exaltation wavered. He stood in his own blood as if his injury had no power to hurt him, but the mention of his wife pained him like a flaw in his new courage. "She," he began, then stopped to swallow thickly. "She has left the Keep. Last night-she took the children upland-to find a place of hiding. So that they would be safe."
   "By the Seven!'' Mhoram barked, raging at all his failures rather than at Trevor. "She is needed!" Revelstone's situation was desperate, and neither Trevor nor Amatin were in any condition to go on fighting. For an instant, Mhoram felt that the dilemma could not be resolved, that he could not make these decisions for the Keep. But he was Mhoram son of Variol, High Lord by the choice of the Council. He had said to the warrior: Remember who you are. He had said it to Tohrm. He was High Lord Mhoram, incapable of surrender. He struck the stone with his staff so that its iron heel rang, and sprang to his work.
   "Lord Trevor, can you hold the gates?"
   Trevor met Mhoram's gaze. "Do not fear, High Lord. If they can be held, I will hold them."
   "Good." The High Lord turned his back on the courtyard. "Lord Amatin-Hearthrall Tohrm-will you aid me?"
   For answer, Tohrm met the outreach of Amatin's arm and helped her to her feet.
   Taking the fear-blanched warrior by the arm, Mhoram hastened away into the Keep.
   As he strode through the halls toward the Close, he asked the warrior to tell him what had happened. "He-it-'' the man stammered. But then he seemed to draw a measure of steadiness from Mhoram's grip. "It surpassed me, High Lord."
   "What has happened?" repeated Mhoram firmly.
   "At your command, we followed him. When he learned that we did not mean to leave him, he reviled us. But his cursing showed us a part of the reason for your command. We were resolved to obey you. At last he turned from us like a broken man and led us to the Close.
   "There he went to the great graveling pit and knelt beside it. While we watched over him from the doors, he wept and prayed, begging. High Lord, it is in my heart that he begged for peace. But he found no peace. When he raised his head, we saw-we saw abomination in his face. He-the graveling-flame came from the fire-stones. Fire sprang from the floor. We ran down to him. But the flames forbade us. They consumed my comrade. I ran to you."
   The words chilled Mhoram's heart, but he replied to meet the pain and faltering in the warrior's face. "His Oath of Peace was broken. He lost self-trust, and fell into despair. This is the shadow of the Gray Slayer upon him."
   After a moment, the warrior said hesitantly, "I have heard-it is said-is this not the Unbeliever's doing?"
   "Perhaps. In some measure, the Unbeliever is Lord Foul's doing. But Trell's despair is also in part my doing. It is Trell's own doing. The Slayer's great strength is that our mortal weakness may be so turned against us."
   He spoke as calmly as he could, but before he was within a hundred yards of the Close, he began to feel the heat of the flames. He had no doubt that this was the source of the other ill Tohrm had sensed. Hot waves of desecration radiated in all directions from the council chamber. As he neared the high wooden doors, he saw that they were smoldering, nearly aflame, and the walls shimmered as if the stone were about to melt. He was panting for breath, wincing against the heat, even before he reached the open doorway and looked down into the Close.
   An inferno raged within it. Floor, tables, seats-all burned madly, spouted roaring flames like a convulsion of thunder. Heat scorched Mhoram's face, crisped his hair. He had to blink tears away before he could peer down through the conflagration to its center.
   There Trell stood in the graveling pit like the core of a holocaust, bursting with flames and hurling great gouts of fire at the ceiling with both fists. His whole form blazed like incarnated damnation, white-hot torment striking out at the stone it loved and could not save.
   The sheer power of it staggered Mhoram. He was looking at the onset of a Ritual of Desecration. Trell had found in his own despair the secret which Mhoram had guarded so fearfully, and he was using that secret against Revelstone. If he were not stopped, the gates would only be the first part of the Keep to break, the first and least link in a chain of destruction which might tear the whole plateau to rubble.
   He had to be stopped. That was imperative. But Mhoram was not a Gravelingas, had no stone-lore to counter the might which made this fire possible. He turned to Tohrm.
   "You are of the rhadhamaerl!'' he shouted over the raving of the fire. "You must silence this flame!"
   "Silence it?" Tohrm was staring, aghast, into the blaze; he had the stricken look of a man witnessing the ravage of his dearest love. "Silence it?" He did not shout; Mhoram could only comprehend him by reading his lips. "I have no strength to equal this. I am a Gravelingas of the rhadhamaerl-not Earthpower incarnate. He will destroy us all."
   "Tohrm!" the High Lord cried. "You are the Hearthrall of Lord's Keep! You or no one can meet this need!"
   Tohrm mouthed soundlessly, "How?"
   "I will accompany you! I will give you my strength-I will place all my power in you!"
   The Hearthrall's eyes rolled fearfully away from the Close and hauled themselves by sheer force of will into focus on the High Lord's face.
   "We will burn."
   "We will endure!"
   Tohrm met Mhoram's demand for a long moment. Then he groaned. He could not refuse to give himself for the sake of the Keep' s stone. " If you are with me," he said silently through the roar.
   Mhoram whirled to Amatin. "Tohrm and I will go into the Close. You must preserve us from the fire. Put your power around us-protect us."
   She nodded distractedly, pushed a damp strand of hair out of her face. "Go," she said weakly. "Already the table melts."
   The High Lord saw that she was right. Before their eyes, the table slumped into magma, poured down to the lowest level of the Close and into the pit around Trell's feet.
   Mhoram called his power into readiness and rested the shaft of his staff on Tohrm's shoulder. Together, they faced the Close, waited while Amatin built a defense around them. The sensation of it swarmed over their skin like hiving insects, but it kept back the heat.
   When she signaled to them, they started down into the Close as if they were struggling into a furnace.
   Despite Amatin's protection, the heat slammed into them like the fist of a cataclysm. Tohrm's tunic began to scorch. Mhoram felt his own robe blackening. All the hair on their heads and arms shriveled. But the High Lord put heat out of his mind; he concentrated on his staff and Tohrm. He could feel the Hearthrall singing now, though he heard nothing but the deep, ravenous howl of the blaze. Tuning his power to the pitch of Tohrm's song, he sent all his resources running through it.
   The savage flames backed slightly away from them as they moved, and patches of unburned rock appeared like stepping-stones under Tohrm's feet. They walked downward like a gap in the hell of Trell's rage.
   But the conflagration sealed behind them instantly. As they drew farther from the doors, Amatin's defense weakened; distance and flame interfered. Mhoram's flesh stung where his robe smoldered against it, and his eyes hurt so badly that he could no longer see. Tohrm's song became more and more like a scream as they descended. By the time they reached the level of the pit, where Loric's krill still stood embedded in its stone, Mhoram knew that if he did not take his strength away from Tohrm and use it for protection they would both roast at Trell's feet.
   "Trell!" Tohrm screamed soundlessly. "You are a Gravelingas of the rhadhamaerl! Do not do this!"
   For an instant, the fury of the inferno paused. Trell looked at them, seemed to see them, recognize them.
   "Trell!"
   But he had fallen too far under the power of his own holocaust. He pointed a rigid, accusing finger, then stooped to the graveling and heaved a double armful of fire at them.
   At the same moment, a thrill of strength ran through Mhoram. Amatin's protection steadied, stiffened. Though the force of Trell's attack knocked Tohrm back into Mhoram's arms, the fire did not touch them. And Amatin's sudden discovery of power called up an answer in the High Lord. With a look like joy gleaming in his eyes, he swept aside all his self-restraints and turned to his secret understanding of desecration. That secret contained might-might which the Lords had failed to discover because of their Oath of Peace-might which could be used to preserve as well as destroy. Despair was not the only unlocking emotion. Mhoram freed his own passion and stood against the devastation of the Close.
   Power coursed vividly in his chest and arms and staff. Power made even his flesh and blood seem like invulnerable bone. Power shone out from him to oppose Trell's ill. And the surge of his strength restored Tohrm. The Hearthrall regained his feet, summoned his lore; with all of his and Mhoram's energy, he resisted Trell.
   Confronting each other, standing almost face to face, the two Gravelingases wove their lore-secret gestures, sang their potent rhadhamaerl invocations. While the fire raged as if Revelstone were about to crash down upon them, they commanded the blaze, wrestled will against will for mastery of it.
   Tohrm was exalted by Mhoram's support. With the High Lord's power resonating in every word and note and gesture, renewing him, fulfilling his love for the stone, he bent back the desecration. After a last convulsive exertion, Trell fell to his knees, and his fire began to fail.
   It ran out of the Close like the recession of a tide-slowly at first, then faster, as the force which had raised it broke. The heat declined; cool fresh air poured around Mhoram from the airways of the Keep. Sight returned to his scorched eyes. For a moment, he feared that he would lose consciousness in relief.
   Weeping with joy and grief, he went to help Tohrm lift Trell Atiaran-mate from the graveling pit. Trell gave no sign that he felt them, knew in any way that they were present. He looked around with hollow eyes, muttering brokenly, "Intact. There is nothing intact. Nothing." Then he covered his head with his arms and huddled into himself on the floor at Mhoram's feet, shaking as if he needed to sob and could not.
   Tohrm met Mhoram's gaze. For a long moment, they looked into each other's faces, measuring what they had done together. Tohrm's features had the burned aspect of a wilderland, a place that would never grin again. But his emotion was clear and clean as he murmured at last, "We will grieve for him. The rhadhamaerl will grieve. The time has come for mourning."
   From the top of the stairs, an excited voice cried, "High Lord! The dead! They have all fallen into sand! Satansfist has exhausted this attack. The gates hold!"
   Through his tears, Mhoram looked around the Close. It was badly damaged. The Lords' table and chairs had melted, the steps were uneven, and most of the lower tiers had been misshaped by the fire. But the place had survived. The Keep had survived. Mhoram nodded to Tohrm. "It is time."
   His sight was so blurred with tears that he seemed to see two blue-robed figures moving down the stairs toward him. He blinked his tears away, and saw that Lord Loerya was with Amatin.
   Her presence explained the protection which had saved him and Tohrm; she had joined her strength to Amatin's.
   When she reached him, she looked gravely into his face. He searched her for shame or distress but saw only regret. "I left them with the Unfettered One at Glimmermere," she explained quietly. "Perhaps they will be safe. I returned-when I found courage."
   Then something at Mhoram's side caught her attention. Wonder lit her face, and she turned him so that he was looking at the table which held Loric's krill.
   The table was intact.
   In its center, the gem of the krill blazed with a pure white fire, as radiant as hope.
   Mhoram heard someone say, "Ur-Lord Covenant has returned to the Land." But he could no longer tell what was happening around him. His tears seemed to blind all his senses.
   Following the light of the gem, he reached out his hand and clasped the krill's haft. In its intense heat, he felt the truth of what he had heard. The Unbeliever had returned.
   With his new might, he gripped the krill and pulled it easily from the stone. Its edges were so sharp that when he held the knife in his hand he could see their keenness. His power protected him from the heat.
   He turned to his companions with a smile that felt like a ray of sunshine on his face.
   "Summon Lord Trevor," he said gladly. "I have-a knowledge of power that I wish to share with you."

Twelve: Amanibhavam


   Hate.
   It was the only thought in Covenant's mind. The weight of things he had not known crushed everything else.
   Hate.
   He clung to the unanswered question as he pried himself with the spear up over the rim of the hollow and hobbled down beyond the last ember-light of Pietten's fire.
   Hate.
   His crippled foot dragged along the ground, grinding the splintered bones of his ankle together until beads of excruciation burst from his pores and froze in the winter wind. But he clutched the shaft of the spear and lurched ahead, down that hillside and diagonally up the next. The wind cut against his right cheek, but he paid no attention to it; he turned gradually toward the right because of the steepness of the hill, not because he had any awareness of direction. When the convolution of the next slope bent him northward again, away from the Plains of Ra and his only friends, he followed it, tottered down it, fluttering in the wind like a maimed wildman, thinking only:
   Hate.
   Atiaran Trell-mate had said that it was the responsibility of the living to make meaningful the sacrifices of the dead. He had a whole Land full of death to make meaningful. Behind him, Lena lay slain in her own blood, with a wooden spike through her bell}. Elena was buried somewhere in the bowels of Melenkurion Sky weir, dead in her private apocalypse because of his manipulations and his failures. She had never even existed. Ranyhyn had been starved and slaughtered. Banner and Foamfollower might be dead or in despair. Pietten and Hile Troy and Trell and Triock were all his fault. None of them had ever existed. His pain did not exist. Nothing mattered except the one absolute question.
   He moaned deep in his throat, "Hate?"
   Nothing could have any meaning without the answer to that question. Despite its multitudinous disguises, he recognized it as the question which had shaped his life since the day he had first learned that he was subject to the law of leprosy. Loathing, self-loathing, fear, rape, murder, leper outcast unclean-they were all the same thing. He hobbled in search of the answer.
   He was totally alone for the first time since the beginning of his experiences in the Land.
   Sick gray dawn found him laboring vaguely northeastward-poling himself feverishly with the spear, and shivering in the bitter ague of winter. The dismal light seemed to rouse parts of him. He plunged into the shallow lee of a hillside and tried to take the measure of his situation.
   The shrill wind gibed around him as he plucked with diseased and frozen fingers at his pant leg. When he succeeded in moving the fabric, he felt a numb surprise at the dark discoloration of his flesh above the ankle. His foot sat at a crooked angle on his leg, and through the crusted blood he could see slivers of bone protruding against the thongs of his sandals.
   The injury looked worse than it felt. Its pain grated in his knee joint dully, gouged aches up through his thigh to his hip, but the ankle itself was bearable. Both his feet had been frozen senseless by the cold. And both were jabbed and torn and painlessly infected like the feet of a pilgrim. He thought blankly that he would probably lose the broken one. But the possibility carried no weight with him; it was just another part of his experience that did not exist.
   There were things that he should have been doing for himself, but he had no idea what they were. He had no conception of anything except the central need which drove him. He lacked food, warmth, knowledge of where he was or where he was going. Yet he was already urgent to be moving again. Nothing but movement could keep his lifeblood circulating -nothing but movement could help him find his answer.
   No tentative or half-unready answer would satisfy his need.
   He levered himself up, then slipped and fell, crying out unconsciously at the unfelt pain. For a moment, the winter roared in his ears like a triumphant predator. His breathing rasped him as if claws of cold had already torn his air passages and lungs. But he braced the spear on the hard earth again, and climbed up it hand over hand until he was erect. Then he lurched forward once more.
   He forced himself up the hill and beyond it to a low ridge lying across his way like a minor wall. His arms trembled at the strain of bearing his weight, and his hands slipped repeatedly on the smooth shaft of the spear. The ascent almost defeated him. When he reached the top, air whooped brokenly in and out of his frostbitten lungs, and icy vertigo made the whole winterscape cant raggedly from side to side. He rested, leaning on the spear. His respiration was so difficult that he thought the frozen sweat and vapor on his face might be suffocating him. But when he tried to break it, it tore away like a protective scab, hurting his skin, exposing new nerves to the cold. He let the rest of his frozen mask remain, and stood panting until at last his vision began to clear.
   The hard barren region ahead of him was so dreary, so wilderlanded by Foul's cruelty, that he could hardly bear to look at it. It was gray cold and dead from horizon to horizon under the gray dead clouds-not the soft comfortable gray of twilit illusions, of unstark colors blurring like consolation or complacency into each other, but rather the gray of disconsolation and dismay, paradoxically dull and raw, numb and poignant, a gray like the ashen remains of color and sap and blood and bone. Gray wind drove gray cold over the gray frozen hills; gray snow gathered in thin drifts under the lees of the gray terrain; gray ice underscored the black, brittle, leafless branches of the trees barely visible in the distance on his left, and stifled the gray, miserable current of the river almost out of sight on his right; gray numbness clutched at his flesh and soul. Lord Foul the Despiser was everywhere.
   Then for a time he remembered his purpose. He set his ice-muzzled teeth into the teeth of the cold and hobbled down from the ridge straight toward the source of the winter. Half blinded by the opposition of the wind, he stumped unheeding past slight shelters and straggling aliantha, thrust his tattered way among the hills, dragging his frozen foot like an accusation he meant to bring against the Despiser.
   But gradually the memory faded, lapsed from his consciousness like everything else except his reiterating interrogation of hate. Some inchoate instinct kept him from wending downward toward the river, but all other sense of direction deserted him. With the wind angling against his right cheek, he struggled slowly upward, upward, as if it were only in climbing that he could keep himself erect at all.
   As the morning passed, he began to fall more often. He could no longer retain his grip on the spear; his hands were too stiff, too weak, and a slick sheen of ice sweat made the spear too slippery. Amid the crunch of ice and his own panting cries, he slipped repeatedly to the ground. And after several convulsive efforts to go on, he lay face down on the ruined earth with his breath rattling in his throat, and tried to sleep.
   But before long he moved again. Sleep was not what he wanted; it had no place in the one focused fragment of his consciousness. Gasping thickly, he levered himself to his knees. Then, with an awkward abruptness, as if he were trying to take himself by surprise, he put weight on his broken ankle.
   It was numb enough. Pain jabbed the rest of his leg, and his foot twisted under him. But his ankle was numb enough.
   Ignoring the fallen spear, he heaved erect, tottered-and limped extremely into motion again.
   For a long time, he went on that way, jerking on his broken ankle like a badly articulated puppet commanded by clumsy fingers. He continued to fall; he was using two hunks of ice for feet, and could not keep his balance when the hillsides became too steep. And these slopes grew gradually worse. For some reason, he tended unevenly to his left, where the ground rose up to meet black trees; so more and more often he came to ascents and descents that affected him like precipices, though they might have seemed slight enough to a healthy traveler. He went up them on hands and knees, clawing against the hard ground for handholds, and plunged rolling helplessly down them like one of the damned.
   But after each fall he rested prone in the snow like a penitent, and after each rest he staggered or crawled forward once more, pursuing his private and inevitable apotheosis, though he was entirely unable to meet it.
   As the day waned into afternoon, his falls came more and more often. And after falling he lay still and listened to the air sob in and out of his lungs as if the breaking of his ankle had fractured some essential bone in him, some obdurate capacity for endurance-as if at last even numbness failed him, proved in some way inadequate, leaving him at the mercy of his injury. By degrees he began to believe that after all his dream was going to kill him.
   Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, he slipped, rolled, came to rest on his back. He could not muster the strength to turn over. Like a pinned insect, he struggled for a moment, then collapsed into prostrate sleep-trapped there between the iron heavens and the brass earth.
   Dreams roiled his unconsciousness, giving him no consolation. Again and again, he relived the double-fisted blow with which he had stabbed Pietten. But now he dealt that fierce blow at other hearts-Llaura, Mane-thrall Rue, Elena, Joan, the woman who had been killed protecting him at the battle of Soaring Woodhelven-why had he never asked anyone her name? In dreams he slew them all. They lay around him with gleams of light shining keenly out of their wounds like notes in an alien melody. The song tugged at him, urged-but before he could hear it, another figure hove across his vision, listing like a crippled frigate. The man was dressed in misery and violence. He had blood on his hands and the love of murder in his eyes, but Covenant could not make out his face. Again he raised the knife, again he drove it with all his might into that vulnerable breast. Only then did he see that the man was himself.
   He lurched as if the blank sky had struck him, and flopped over onto his chest to hide his face, conceal his wound.
   When he remembered the snow in which he lay, he got quavering to his feet and limped on into the late afternoon.
   Before long, he came to a hillside he could not master. He flung himself at it, limped and crawled at it as hard as he could. But he was exhausted and crippled. He turned left and stumbled along the slope, seeking a place where he could ascend, but then inexplicably he found himself rolling downward. When he tumbled to a stop at the bottom, he rested for a while in confusion. He must have crossed the top without knowing it. He hauled himself up again, gasping, and went on.
   The next hill was no better. But he had to master it. When he could not drive himself upward any farther, he turned to the left again, always left and up, though for some strange reason this seemed to take him down toward the river.
   After a short distance he found a trail in the snow.
   Part of him knew that he should be dismayed, but he felt only relief, hope. A trail meant that someone had passed this way-passed recently, or the wind would have effaced the marks. And that someone might help him.
   He needed help. He was freezing, starving, failing. Under its crust of scab and ice, his ankle was still bleeding. He had reached the infinitude of his impotence, his inefficacy, the point beyond which he could not keep going, could not believe, envision, hope that continuation, life, was possible. He needed whoever or whatever had made that trail to decide his fate for him.
   He followed it to the left, downward, into a hollow between hills. He kept his eyes on the trail immediately before him, fearing to look up and find that the maker of the trail was out of sight, out of reach. He saw where the maker had fallen, shed blood, rested, limped onward. Soon he met the next hill and began crawling up it along the crawling trail. He was desperate-alone and impoverished as he had never before been in the Land.
   But at last he recognized the truth. When the trail turned, crawled away to the left, fell back down the hillside, he could no longer deny that he had been following himself, that the trail was his own, a circle between hills he could not master.
   With a thick moan, he passed the boundary. His last strength fell out of him. Keen gleams winked across the dark gulf behind his closed eyes, but he could not answer them. He fell backward, slid down the hill into a low snowdrift.
   Yet even then his ordeal continued. His fall uncovered something in the snow. While he lay gasping helplessly, felt his heart tremble toward failure in his chest, a smell intruded on him. Despite the cold, it demanded his notice; it rose piquant and seductive in his face, ran into him on every breath, compelled him to respond. He propped himself up on quivering arms, and wiped the snow away with dead fingers.
   He found grass growing under the snowdrift. Somehow its potent life refused to be quenched; even a few yellow flowers blossomed under the weight of the snow. And their sharp aroma caught hold of him. His hands were useless for plucking, so he knocked some of the ice from around his mouth. Then he lowered his face to the grass, tore up blades with his teeth and ate them.
   As he swallowed the grass, its juice seemed to flow straight to his muscles like the energy of madness. The suddenness of the infusion caught him unaware. As he bent for a fourth bite, a convulsion came over him, and he collapsed into a rigid fetal position while raw power raged through his veins.
   For an instant, he screamed in agony. But at once he passed beyond himself into a bleak wilderland where nothing but winter and wind and malice existed. He felt Lord Foul's preternatural assault on a level that was not sight or hearing or touch, but rather a compaction of all his senses. The nerves of his soul ached as if they had been laid bare to the livid ill. And in the core of this perception, a thought struck him, stabbed into him as if it were the spear point of the winter. He identified the thing he did not understand.
   It was magic.
   A suggestion of keen gleams penumbraed the thought, then receded. Magic: eldritch power, theurgy. Such a thing did not exist, could not exist.
   Yet it was part of the Land. And it was denied to him. The thought turned painfully in him as cruel hands twisted the spear.
   He had heard Mhoram say, You are the white gold. What did that mean? He had no power. The dream was his, but he could not share its life-force. Its life-force was what proved it to be a dream. Magic: power. It sprang from him, and he could not touch it. It was impossible. With the Land's doom locked in the irremediable white gold circle of his ring, he was helpless to save himself.
   Gripped by an inchoate conviction, where prophecy and madness became indistinguishable, he flung himself around the contradiction and tried to contain it, make it all one within him.
   But then it faded in a scatter of keen alien gleaming. He found himself on his feet without any knowledge of how he had climbed erect. The gleams danced about his head like silent melody. The wild light of the grass played through his veins and muscles, elevating inanition and cold to the stature of gaunt priests presiding over an unholy sacrifice. He laughed at the immense prospect of his futility. The folly of his attempts to survive alone amused him.
   He was going to die a leper's death.
   His laughter scaled up into high gibbering mirth. Stumbling, limping, falling, lurching up and limping again, he followed the music toward the dark trees.
   He laughed every time he fell, unable to contain the secret humor of his distress; the frozen agony grinding in his ankle drew shrill peals from him like screams. But though he was impatient now for the end, eager for any blank damnable repose, still the keen gleams carried him along. Advancing and receding, urging, sprinkling his way like glaucous petals of ambergris, they made him rise after each fall and continue toward the outskirts of the forest.
   After a while, he began to think that the trees were singing to him. The gleams which fraught the air fell about him in alien intervals, like moist, blue-green shines of woodsong. But he could neither see nor hear them; they were apparent only to the restless energy in his veins. When in his wildness he tried to pluck them as if they were aliantha, they strewed themselves beyond his reach, enticing him on and on again after each fall until he found himself among the first winter-black trunks.
   As he wended through the marge of the forest, he felt an unexpected diminution of the cold. Daylight was dying out of the ashen sky behind him, and ahead lay nothing but the brooding bloom of the forest depths. Yet the winter seemed to ease rather than sharpen with the coming of night. Shambling onward, he soon discovered that the snow thinned as he moved deeper among the trees. In a few places, he even saw living leaves. They clung grimly to the branches, and the trees in turn clung to each other, interwove their branches and leaned on each other's shoulders like staunch, broad, black-wounded comrades holding themselves erect together. Through the thinning snow, animal tracks made light whorls that dizzied him when he tried to follow them. And the air grew warmer.
   Gradually, a dim light spread around him. For a time, he did not notice it to wonder what it was; he walked like a ruin along the alien spangles, and did not see the pale ghost-light expanding. But then a wet strand of moss struck his face, and he jerked into awareness of his surroundings.
   The tree trunks were glowing faintly, like moonlight mystically translated out of the blind sky into the forest. They huddled around him in stands and stretches and avenues of gossamer illumination; they were poised on all sides like white eyes, watching him. And through their branches hung draped, dangled curtains and hawsers of moist black moss.
   Then in his madness, fear came upon him like a shout of ancient forestial rage, springing from the unavenged slaughter of the trees; and he turned to flee. Wailing lornly, he slapped the moss away from him and tried to run. But his ankle buckled under him at every stride. And the music held him. Its former allure became a command, swinging him against his will so that his panic itself, his very flight, drove him deeper among the trees and the moss and the light. He had lost all possession of himself. The strength of the grass capered in him like poison; the gleams danced through their blue-green intervals, guiding him. He fled like the hunted, battering and recoiling against trunks, tangling himself in moss, tearing his hair in fear. Animals scampered out of his wailing path, and his ears echoed to the desolate cries of owls.
   He was soon exhausted. His flesh could not bear any more. As his wailing turned to frenzy in his throat, a large hairy moth the size of a cormorant suddenly fluttered out of the branches, veered erratically, and crashed into him. The impact knocked him to the ground in a pile of useless limbs. For a moment, he thrashed weakly. But he could not regain his breath, steady himself, rise. After a brief struggle, he collapsed on the warm turf and abandoned himself to the forest.
   For a time, the gleaming hovered over him as if it were curious about his immobility. Then it spangled away into the depths of the trees, leaving him clapped in dolorous dreams. While he slept, the light mounted until the trunks seemed to be reaching toward him with their illumination, seeking a way to absorb him, rid the ground of him, efface him from the sight of their hoary rage. But though they glowered, they did not harm him. And before long a feathery scampering came through the branches and the moss. The sound seemed to reduce the trees to baleful insentience; they withdrew their threatening as a host of spiders began to drop lightly onto Covenant's still form.
   Guided by gleams, the spiders swarmed over him as if they were searching for a vital spot to place their stings. But instead of stinging him, they gathered around his wounds; working together, they started to weave their webs over him wherever he was hurt.
   In a short time, both his feet were thickly wrapped in pearl-gray webs. The bleeding of his ankle was stanched, and its protruding bone-splinters were covered with gentle protection. A score of the spiders draped his frostbitten cheeks and nose with their threads, while others bandaged his hands, and still others webbed his forehead, though no injury was apparent there. Then they all scurried away as quickly as they had come.
   He slept on. His dreams wracked him at odd moments, but for the most part he lay still, and so his ragged pulse grew steadier, and the helpless whimper faded from his breathing. In his gray webs, he looked like a cocooned wreck in which something new was aborning.
   Much later that night, he stirred and found the keen gleams peering at him again through his closed eyelids. He was still far from consciousness, but the notes of the melody roused him enough to hear feet shuffling toward him across the grass. "Ah, mercy," an old woman's voice sighed over him, "mercy. So peace and silence come to this. I left all thought of such work-and yet my rest comes to this. Have mercy."
   Hands cleared the gentle bindings from his head and face.
   "Yes I see-for this reason the Forest called me from my old repose. Injured-cold-ill. And he has eaten amanibhavam. Ah, mercy. How the world intrudes, when even Morinmoss bestirs itself for such things as this. Well, the grass has kept life in him, whatever its penalty. But I mislike the look of his thoughts. He will be a sore trial to me."
   Covenant heard the words, though they did not penetrate the cold center of his sleep. He tried to open his eyes, but they kept themselves closed as if out of fear of what he might see. The old woman's hands as they searched him for other injuries filled him with loathing; yet he lay still, slumberous, shackled in mad dreams. He had no volition with which to oppose her. So he lurked within himself, hid from her until he could spring and strike her down and free himself.
   "Mercy," she mumbled on to herself, "mercy, indeed. Cold-ill and broken-minded. I left such work. Where will I find the strength for it?" Then her deft fingers bared his left hand, and she gasped, "Melenkurion! White gold? Ah, by the Seven! How has such a burden come to me?"
   The need to protect his ring from her drew him closer to consciousness. He could not move his hand, could not even clench his fist around the ring, so he sought to distract her.
   "Lena," he croaked through cracked lips, without knowing what he said. "Lena? Are you still alive?"
   With an effort he pried open his eyes.

Thirteen: The Healer


   Still sleep shrouded his sight; at first he saw nothing except the compact, baleful light of the trees. But his ring was in danger from her. He was jealous of his white gold. Sleep or no sleep, he did not mean to give it up. He strove to focus his eyes, strove to come far enough out of hiding to engage her attention.
   Then a soft stroke of her hand swept the cobwebs from his eyebrows, and he found that he could see her.

"Lena?" he croaked again.
   She was a dusky, loamy woman, with hair like tangled brown grass, and an old face uneven and crude of outline, as if it had been inexpertly molded in clay. The hood of a tattered fallow-green cloak covered the crown of her head. And her eyes were the brown of soft mud, an unexpected and suggestive brown, as if the silt of some private devotion filled her orbs, effaced her pupils-as if the black, round nexus between her mind and the outside world were something that she had surrendered in exchange for the rare, rich loam of power. Yet there was no. confidence, no surety, in her gaze as she regarded him; the life which had formed her eyes was far behind her. Now she was old, timorous. Her voice rustled like the creaking of antique parchment as she asked, "Lena?"
   "Are you still alive?"
   "Am I-? No, I am not your Lena. She is dead-if the look of you tells any truth. Mercy."
   Mercy, he echoed soundlessly.
   "This is the doing of the amanibhavam. Perhaps you have preserved your life in eating it-but surely you know that it is poison to you, a food too potent for human flesh."
   "Are you still alive?" he repeated with cunning in his throat. Thus he disguised himself, protected that part of him which had come out of hiding and sleep to ward his ring. Only the damaged state of his features kept him from grinning at his own slyness.
   "Perhaps not," she sighed. "But let that pass. You have no knowledge of what you say. You are cold-ill and poison-mad-and-and there is a sickness in you that I do not comprehend."
   "Why aren't you dead?"
   She brought her face close to his, and went on: "Listen to me. I know that the hand of confusion is upon you-but listen to me. Hear and hold my words. You have come in some way into Morinmoss Forest. I am-a Healer, an Unfettered One who turned to the work of healing. I will help you-because you are in need, and because the white gold reveals that great matters are afoot in the Land-and because the Forest found its voice to summon me for you, though that also I do not comprehend."
   "I saw him kill you." The raw croak of Covenant's voice sounded like horror and grief, but in his depths he hugged himself for glee at his cunning.
   She drew back her head but showed no other reaction to what he had said. "I came to this place from-from my life-because the Forest's unquiet slumber met my own long ache for repose. I am a Healer, and Morinmoss permits me. Yet now it speaks- Great matters, indeed. Ah, mercy. It is in my heart that the Colossus itself- Well, I wander. I have made my home here for many years. I am accustomed to speak only for my own pleasure."
   "I saw."
   "Do you not hear me?"
   "He stabbed you with a wooden spike. I saw the blood."
   "Mercy! Is your life so violent then? Well, let that pass also. You do not hear me-you have fallen too far into the amanibhavam. But violent or not I must aid you. It is well that my eyes have not forgotten their work. I see that you are too weak to harm me, whatever your purpose."
   Weak, he echoed to himself. What she said was true; he was too frail even to clench his fist for the protection of his wedding band. "Have you come back to haunt me?" he gasped. "To blame me?"
   '' Speak if you must,'' she said in a rustling tone, "but I cannot listen. I must be about my work." With a low groan, she climbed to her feet and moved stiffly away from him.
   "That's it," he continued, impelled by his grotesque inner glee. "That's it, isn't it? You've come back to torture me. You're not satisfied that I killed him. I put that knife all the way into his heart but you're not satisfied. You want to hurt me some more. You want me to go crazy thinking about all the things I'm guilty of. I did Foul's work for him, and you came to torture me for it. You and your blood! Where were you when it would have made a difference what happens to me? Why didn't you try to get even with me after I raped you? Why wait until now? If you'd made me pay for what I did then, maybe I would have figured out what's going on before this. All that generosity-! It was cruel. Oh, Lena! I didn't even understand what I'd done to you until it was too late, too late, I couldn't help myself. What are you waiting for? Torture me! I need pain!"
   "You need food," the Healer muttered as if he had disgusted her. With one hand she fixed his jaw in an odd compelling grip while the other placed two or three treasure-berries in his mouth. "Swallow the seeds. They, too, will sustain you."
   He wanted to spit out the aliantha, but her grip made him chew in spite of himself. Her other hand stroked his throat until he swallowed, then fed him more of the berries. Soon she had coerced him to eat several mouthfuls. He could feel sustenance flowing into him, yet for some reason it seemed to feed his deep slumber rather than his cunning. Before long he could not remember what he had been saying. An involuntary drowsiness shone into him from the trees. He was unable to resist or comply when the Healer lifted him from the grass.
   Grunting at the strain, she raised his limp form until he was half erect in her arms. Then she leaned him against her back with his arms over her shoulders, and gripped his upper arms like the handles of a burden. His feet dragged behind him; he dangled on her squat shoulders. But she bore his weight, carried him like a dead sack into the pale white night of Morinmoss.
   While he drowsed, she took him laboriously farther and farther into the secret depths of the Forest. And as they left its borders behind, they passed into warmer air and greater health-a region where spring had not been quenched by Lord Foul's winter. Leaves multiplied and spread out around bird nests to cloak the branches; moss and grass and small woodland animals increased among the trees. A defying spirit was abroad in this place-resisting cold, nourishing growth, affirming Morinmoss's natural impulse toward buds and new sap and arousal. It was as if the ancient Forestals had returned, bringing with them the wood's old knowledge of itself.
   Yet even in its secret heart Morinmoss was not impervious to the Despiser's fell influence. Temperatures rose above the freezing point, but failed to climb any higher. The leaves had no spring profusion; they grew thinly, in dark bitter greens rather than in hale verdancy. The animals wore their winter coats over bones that were too gaunt for true spring. If a Forestal had indeed returned to Morinmoss, he lacked the potency of his olden predecessors.
   No, it was more likely that the monolithic Colossus of the Fall had shrugged off its brooding slumber to take a hand in the defenses of the Forest. And it was more likely still that Caerroil Wildwood was reaching out from his fastness in Garroting Deep, doing what he could across the distance to preserve old Morinmoss.
   Nevertheless, this lessening of winter was a great boon to the trees, and to the denizens of the Forest. It kept alive many things which might have been among the first to die when Lord Foul interdicted spring. For that reason among others, the Unfettered Healer trudged onward with Covenant on her back. The defying spirit had not only tolerated both her and him; it had summoned her to him. She could not refuse. Though she was old, and found Covenant painfully heavy, she sustained herself by sucking moisture from the moss, and plodded under him toward her home among the secrets of the Forest.
   The tree shine had lapsed into dim gray dawn before her journey ended at a low cave in the bank of a hill. Thrusting aside the moss which curtained its small entrance, she stooped and dragged Covenant behind her into the modest single chamber of her dwelling.
   The cave was not large. It was barely deep enough for her to stand erect in its center, and its oval floor was no more than fifteen feet wide. But it was a cozy home for one person. It had comfort enough in the soft loam of its walls and its beds of piled dry leaves. It was warm, protected from the winter. And when other lights were withdrawn, it was lit in ghostly filigree by the tree roots which held its walls and ceiling. In its underground safety, her small cookfire was not a threat to the Forest.
   In addition to the low embers which awaited her against one wall, she possessed a pot of graveling. Dropping Covenant wearily on the bed, she opened the graveling and used some of its heat to resurrect her fire. Then she set her stiff old bones on the floor and rested for a long time.
   It was nearly midmorning when her fire threatened to die out. Sighing dryly, she roused herself to stoke up a blaze and cook a hot meal for herself. This she ate without a glance at Covenant. He was in no condition for solid food. She cooked and ate to gather strength for herself, because her peculiar power of healing required strength-so much strength that she had exhausted her reserves of courage before reaching middle age, and had left her work to rest in Morinmoss for the remainder of her days. Decades- four or five, she no longer knew-had passed since she had fled; and during that time she had lived in peace and reticence among the seasons of the Forest, believing that the ordeals of her life were over.
   Yet now even Morinmoss had bestirred itself to bring her work back to her. She needed strength. She forced herself to eat a large meal, then rested again.
   But at last she rallied herself to begin the task. She set her pot of fire-stones on a shelf in the wall so that its warm yellow light fell squarely over Covenant. He was still asleep, and this relieved her; she did not want to face either his mad talk or his resistance. But she was made afraid once again by the extent of his sickness. Something bone-deep had hold of him, something she could not recognize or understand. In its unfamiliarity, it reminded her of old nightmares in which she had terrified herself by attempting to heal the Despiser.
   The acute fracture of his ankle she did understand; his cold-bitten and battered hands and feet were within her experience, and she saw that they might even heal themselves, if he were kept warm for a long convalescence; his cheeks and nose and ears, his cracked lips with the odd scar on one side, his uncleanly healed forehead, all did not challenge her. But the damage the amanibhavam had done to his mind was another matter. It made his sleeping eyes bulge so feverishly in their sockets that through their lids she could read every flick and flinch of his wild dreams; it knuckled his forehead in an extreme scowl of rage or pain; it locked his hands into awkward fists, so that even if she had dared to touch his white gold she could not have taken it from him. And his essential sickness was still another matter. She caught glimpses of the way in which it was interwoven with his madness. She dreaded to touch that ill with her power.
   To steady herself, she hummed an old song under her breath:
   When last comes to last,
   I have little power:
   I am merely an urn. I hold the bone-sap of myself,
   and watch the marrow burn.
   When last comes to last,
   I have little strength:
   I am only a tool. I work its work; and in its hands
   I am the fool.
   When last comes to last,
   I have little life.
   I am simply a deed: an action done while courage holds:
   a seed.
   While she strove to master her faintheartedness, she made preparations. First she cooked a thin broth, using hot water and a dusty powder which she took from a leather pouch among her few belongings. This she fed to Covenant without awakening him. It deepened his respose, made rest and unconsciousness so thick in him that he could not have struggled awake to save his own life. Then, when he was entirely unable to interfere with her, she began to strip off his attire.
   Slowly, using her own hesitation to enhance the thoroughness of her preparations, she removed all his raiment and bathed him from head to foot. After cleaning away the cobwebs and grime and old sweat and encrusted blood, she explored him with her hands, probed him gently to assure herself that she knew the full extent of his hurts. The process took time, but it was done too soon for her unready courage.
   Still hesitating, she unwrapped from her belongings one of her few prized possessions-a long, cunningly woven white robe, made of a fabric both light and tough, easy to wear and full of warmth. It had been given to her decades ago by a great weaver from Soaring Woodhelven, whose life she had saved at severe cost to herself. The memory of his gratitude was precious to her, and she held the robe for a long time in hands that trembled agedly. But she was old now, old and alone; she had no need of finery. Her tattered cloak would serve her well enough as either apparel or cerement. With an expansive look in her loamy eyes, she took the robe to Covenant and dressed him tenderly in it.
   The effort of moving his limp form shortened her breathing, and she rested again, muttering out of old habit, "Ah, mercy, mercy. This is work for the young-for the young. I rest and rest, but I do not become young. Well, let that pass. I did not come to Morinmoss in search of youth. I came because I had lost heart for my work. Have I not found it again-in all this time? Ah, but time is no Healer. The body grows old-and now cruel winter enslaves the world-and the heart does not renew itself. Mercy, mercy. Courage belongs to the young, and I am old-old.
   "Yet surely great matters are afoot-great and terrible. White gold! -by the Seven! White gold. And this winter is the Despiser's doing, though Morinmoss resists. Ah, there are terrible purposes-The burden of this man was put upon me by a terrible purpose. I cannot-I must not refuse. Must not! Ah, mercy, but I am afraid. I am old-I have no need to fear-no, I do not fear death. But the pain. The pain. Have mercy-have mercy upon me, I lack the courage for this work."
   Yet Covenant lay on her bed like an irrefusable demand molded of broken bone and blood and mind, and after she had dozed briefly, she came back to herself. "Well, that too I must set aside. Complaint also is no Healer. I must set it aside, and work my work."
   Stiffly, she got to her feet, went to the far end of the cave to her supplies of firewood. Even now, she hoped in her heart that she would find she did hot have enough wood; then she would need to hunt through the Forest for fallen dead branches and twigs before she could begin her main task. But her woodpile was large enough. She could not pretend that it justified any further delay. She carried most of the wood to her cookfire and faced the commencement of her ordeal.
   First she took her graveling pot from the shelf above Covenant and made a place for it in the center of the fire, so that its heat and light were added to the core of the coals. Then, panting already at the thought of what she meant to do, she began to build up the fire. She stoked it, concentrated it with dry hard wood, until its flames mounted toward the cave's ceiling and its heat drew sweat from her old brows. And when the low roar of its blaze sucked at the air, causing the moss curtains over the entrance to flutter in the draft, she returned to the pouch of powder from which she had made the broth. With her fist clenched in the pouch, she hesitated once more, faltering as if the next step constituted an irretrievable commitment. "Ah, mercy," she breathed brittlely to herself. "I must remember- remember that I am alone. No one else will tend him-or me. I must do the work of two. For this reason eremites do not Heal. I must do the work."
   Panting in dismay at her own audacity, she threw a small quantity of the powder into the high fire.
   At once, the blaze began to change. The flames did not die down, but they muted themselves, translated their energy into a less visible form. Their light turned from orange and red and yellow to brown, a steadily deepening brown, as if they sprang now from thick loam rather than from wood. And as the brightness of the fire dimmed, a rich aroma spread into the cave. It tasted to the Healer like the breaking of fresh earth so that seeds could be planted-like the lively imminence of seeds and buds and spring -like the fructifying of green things which had germinated in wealthy soil. She could have lost herself in that brown fragrance, forgetful of Lord Foul's winter and the sick man and all pain. But it was part of her work. Through her love for it, it impelled her to Covenant's side. There she planted her feet and took one last moment to be sure of what she meant to do.
   His hands and feet and face she would not touch. They were not crucial to his recovery, not worth what they would cost her. And the sickness in his mind was too complex and multifarious to undertake until he was physically whole enough to bear the strain of healing. So she bent her loamy gaze toward his broken ankle.
   As she concentrated on that injury, the light of the fire became browner, richer, more potent and explicit, until it shone like the radiance of her eyes between her face and his ankle. The rest of the cave fell into gloom; soon only the link of sight between her attention and his pain retained illumination. It stretched between them, binding them together, gradually uniting their opposed pieces of need and power. Amid the heat and fragrancy of the fire, they became like one being, annealed of isolation, complete.
   Blindly, tremulously, as if she were no longer aware of herself, she placed her hands on his ankle, explored it with her touch until she unconsciously knew the precise angle and acuteness of its fracture. Then she withdrew.
   Her power subsumed her, made her independent flesh seem transient, devoid of significance; she became an involuntary vessel for her work, anchor and source of the bond which made her one with his wound.
   When the bond grew strong enough, she retreated from him. Without volition or awareness, she stopped and picked up the smooth heavy stone which she used as a pestle; without volition or awareness, she held it like a weighty gift in both hands, offering it to Covenant. Then she raised it high over her head.
   She blinked, and the brown link of oneness trembled.
   With all her strength, she swung the stone down, slammed it against her own ankle.
   The bones broke like dry wood.
   Pain shot through her-pain like the splintering of souls, hers and his. She shrieked once and crumbled to the floor in a swoon.
   Then time passed for her in a long agony that shut and sealed every other door of her mind. She lay on the floor while the fire died into dim embers, and the aroma of spring turned to dust in the air, and the ghostly fibers of the roots shone and waned. Nothing existed for her except the searing instant in which she had matched Covenant's pain-the instant in which she had taken all their pain, his and hers, upon herself. Night passed and came again; still she lay crumbled. Her breathing gasped hoarsely between her flaccid lips, and her heart fluttered along the verges of extinction. If she could have regained consciousness long enough to choose to die, she would have done so gladly, eagerly. But the pain sealed her within herself and had its way with her until it became all she knew of life or death.
   Yet at last she found herself thinking that it had never been this bad when she was younger. The old power had not altogether failed her, but her ordeals at their worst had never been like this. Her body was wracked with thirst and hunger. And this, too, was not as it had ever been before. Where were the people who should have watched over her-who should have at least given her water so that she did not die of thirst before the agony passed? Where were the family or friends who brought the ill and injured to her, and who gladly did all they could to aid the healing?
   In time, such questions led her to remember that she was alone, that she and the sick man were both untended. He, too, had been without food or water during the whole course of her ordeal; and even if her power had not failed, he was in no condition to endure such privation. He might be dead in spite of what she had survived for him.
   With an effort that made her old body tremble exhaustedly, she raised herself from the floor.
   On her hands and knees she rested, panting heavily. She needed to gather the feeble remnant of herself before she faced the sick man. Miserable tasks awaited her if he were dead. She would have to struggle through the Despiser's winter to take that white gold ring to the Lords of Revel-stone. And she would have to live with the fact that her agony had been the agony of failure. Such possibilities daunted her.
   Yet she knew that even this delay might make the difference, might prove fatal. Groaning, she tried to stand up.
   Before she could get her legs under her, movement staggered toward her from the bed. A foot kicked her to the floor again. The sick man lumbered past her and thrashed through the curtain of moss while she sprawled on the packed earth.
   The surprise of the blow hurt her more than the kick itself; the man was far too weak to do her any real harm. And his violence rekindled some of her energy. Panting blunt curses to herself, she stumbled stiffly upright and limped out of the cave after him.
   She caught up with him within twenty feet of the cave's mouth. The gleaming pale gaze of the tree trunks had stopped his flight. He reeled with fear whimpering in his throat, as if the trees were savage beasts crouched and waiting for him.
   "You are ill," the Healer muttered wearily. "Understand that if you understand nothing else. Return to the bed."
   He veered around to face her. "You're trying to kill me."
   "I am a Healer. I do not kill."
   "You hate lepers, and you're trying to kill me." His eyes bulged insanely in his haggard face. "You don't even exist."
   She could see that inanition had only aggravated his amanibhavam confusion and his inexplicable sickness; they had become so dominant that she could no longer tell them apart. And she was too weak to placate him; she had no strength to waste on words or gentleness which would not reach him. Instead, she simply stepped close to him and jabbed her rigid fingers into his stomach.
   While he fell gagging to the grass, she made her way to the nearest aliantha.
   It was not far from the entrance to her cave, but her fatigue was so extreme that she nearly swooned again before she could pluck and eat a few of the treasure-berries. However, their tangy potency came to her aid as soon as she swallowed them. Her legs steadied. After a moment, she was able to throw the seeds aside and pick more berries.
   When she had eaten half the ripe fruit, she picked the rest and took it back to Covenant. He tried to crawl away from her, but she held him down and forced him to eat. Then she went to a large sheet of moss hanging nearby, where she drank deeply of its rich green moisture. This refreshed her, gave her enough strength to wrestle the sick man back into the cave and control him while she put him back to sleep with a pinch of her rare powder.
   Under other circumstances, she might have pitied the turgid panic with which he felt himself lapsing into helplessness again. But she was too weary-and too full of dread for the work she had yet to do. She did not know how to console him and made no attempt. When he fell into uneasy slumber, she only muttered "Mercy" over him, and turned away.
   She wanted to sleep, too, but she was alone and had to bear the burden of care herself. Groaning at the unwieldiness of her old joints, she built another fire from the graveling and started a meal for herself and the sick man.
   While the food heated, she inspected his ankle. She nodded dully when she saw that it was as whole as her own. Already his pale scars were fading. Soon his bones would be as well and sturdy as if they had never been fractured. Looking at the evidence of her power, she wished that she could take pleasure in it. But she had lost decades ago her capacity to be pleased by the results of her anguish. She knew with certainty that if she had comprehended when she was young what her decisions would cost, she would never have taken the Rites of Unfettering, never have surrendered to the secret power yearning for birth within her.
   But power was not so easily evaded. Costs could not be known until they came to full fruition, and by that time the power no longer served the wielder. Then the wielder was the servant. No escape, no peace or reticence, could then evade the expense, and she could take no pleasure in healing. With the work she had yet to do lying stricken before her, she had no more satisfaction than choice.
   Yet as she resumed her cooking, she turned her back on regret. "Let it pass," she murmured dimly. "Let it pass. Only let it be done purely- without failure." At least the work which remained would be a different pain altogether.
   When the food was ready, she fed herself and Covenant, then gave him more of the soporific broth, so that he would not arise to strike her again. Then she banked her cookfire, pulled her tattered cloak tightly around her, and went agedly to sleep leaning against the pile of leaves that had been her bed.
   In the days that followed, she rested, tended Covenant's madness, and tried to remember courage. His need made her heart quail in her old bosom. Even in his slumber she could see that his mind was being eaten away by its ingrown torments. As his body regained its strength, her potions slowly lost their ability to control the restlessness of his dream-ridden sleep. He began to flail his arms and jabber deliriously, like a man snared in the skein of a nightmare. At unexpected moments, his ring gave out white gleams of passion; and when by chance the Healer saw them squarely, they seemed to pierce her like a voice of misery, beseeching her to her work.
   The Forest itself echoed his distress. Its mood bent in toward her like a demand, a compulsion as unmistakable as the summons which had called her to him in the beginning. She did not know why Morinmoss cared; she only felt its caring brush her cheek like the palm of authority, warning her. He needed to be healed. If it were not done in time, the essential fabric of his being would rot beyond all restitution.
   At last she became aware of time; she felt in the brightness of the tree shine that somewhere behind the impenetrable clouds moved a dark moon, readying itself for a new phase of the Despiser's power. She forced herself to unclench her hesitations, one by one, and to face her work again.
   Then she built her high blaze for the second time and made ready her rare powder. While the hard wood took fire, she set both water and food on the shelf above Covenant so that if he regained consciousness before she did, he would not have to search for what he needed. A fatal mood was on her, and she did not believe she would survive. "Mercy," she muttered as the fire mounted, "mercy." She uttered the word as if she were seeking a benediction for herself.
   Soon the flames filled her cave with light and heat, flushing the withered skin of her cheeks. The time had come; she could feel the power limping in her like a sere lover, oddly frail and masterful, yearning for its chance to rise up once more and take her-yearning, and yet strangely inadequate, old, as if it could no longer match what it remembered of its desires. For a moment, her blood deserted her; weakness filled all her muscles, so that the leather pouch fell from her fingers. But then she stooped to regain it, thrust her trembling hand into it, threw its dust into the fire as if that gesture were her last, best approximation of courage.
   As the potent aroma of the dust spread its arms, took all the air of the cave into its embrace, began its slow transubstantiation of the firelight, she stood near Covenant's head and locked her quavering knees. Staring brownly at his forehead while the heat and illumination of the blaze came into consonance with her attention, she passed beyond the verges of volition and became once more the vessel of her power. Around her the cave grew dim as the rich, loamy light of the bond wove itself between her pupilless orbs and his sick, mad mind. And before her Covenant tensed, stiffened-eyes staring gauntly, neck corded, knuckles white-as if her power clutched his very soul with fear.
   Trembling, she reached out her hands, placed her palms flat against the gathered thunder of his forehead.
   The next instant, she recoiled as if he had scalded her. "No!" she cried. Horror flooded her, she foundered in it. " You ask too much!'' Deep within her, she fought to regain her self-command, fought to thrust down the power, deny it, return to herself so that she would not be destroyed. "I cannot heal this!" But the man's madness came upon her as if he had reached out and caught her wrists. Wailing helplessly, she returned to him, replaced her palms on his forehead.
   The terror of it rushed into her, filled her until it burst between her lips like a shriek. Yet she could not withdraw. His madness pounded through her as she sank into it, trying not to see what lay at its root. And when at last it made her see, forced her to behold itself, the leering disease of its source, she knew that she was ruined. She wrenched her seared hands from his head and went hunting, scrabbling frantically among her possessions.
   Still shrieking, she pounced upon a long stone cooking knife, snatched it up, aimed it at his vulnerable heart.
   He lay under the knife like a sacrifice defiled with leprosy.
   But before she could stab out his life, consummate his unclean pain in death, a host of glaucous, alien gleams leaped like music into the air around her. They fell on her like dew, clung to her like moist melody, stayed her hand; they confined her power and her anguish, held all things within her until her taut, soundless cry imploded. They contained her until she broke under the strain of things that could not be contained. Then they let her fall.
   Gleaming like the grief of trees, they sang themselves away.

Fourteen: Only Those Who Hate


   Covenant first awoke after a night and a day. But the stupor of essential sleep was still on him, and he only roused himself at the behest of a nagging thirst. When he sat up in the bed of leaves, he found a water jug on a shelf by his head. He drank deeply, then saw that a bowl of fruit and bread also occupied the shelf. He ate, drank again, and went back to sleep as soon as he had stretched himself out among the warm dry leaves once more.
   The next time, he came languorously out of slumber amid the old gentle fragrance of the bed. When he opened his eyes, he discovered that he was looking up through a dim gloom of daylight at the root-woven roof of a cave. He turned his head, looked around the earthen walls until he located the moss-hung entrance which admitted so little light. He did not know where he was, or how he had come here, or how long he had slept. But his ignorance caused him no distress. He had recovered from fear. On the strength of unknown things which lay hidden behind the veil of his repose, he felt sure that he had no need to fear.
   That feeling was the only emotion in him. He was calm, steady, and hollow-empty and therefore undisturbed-as if the same cleansing or apotheosis which had quenched his terror had also drained every other passion from him. For a time, he could not even remember what those passions had been; between him and his past lay nothing but sleep and an annealed gulf of extravagant fear.
   Then he caught the first faint scent of death in the air. It was not urgent, and he did not react to it immediately. While he took its measure, made sure of it, he stretched his sleep-stiff muscles, feeling the flex of their revitalization. Whatever had brought him to this place had happened so long ago that even his body appeared to have forgotten it. Yet his recovery gave him little satisfaction. He accepted it with complete and empty confidence, for reasons that were hidden from him.
   When he was ready, he swung his feet off the bed and sat up. At once, he saw the old brown woman lying crumpled on the floor. She was dead with an outcry still rigid on her lips and a blasted look in the staring loam of her eyes. In the dim light, she seemed like a wracked mound of earth. He did not know who she was-he gazed at her with an effort of recollection and could not remember ever having seen her before-but she gave him the vague impression that she, too, had died for him.
   That's enough, he said dimly to himself. Other memories began to float to the surface like the dead seaweed and wreckage of his life. This must not happen again.
   He looked down at the unfamiliar white robe for a moment, then pushed the cloth aside so that he could see his ankle.
   It was broken, he thought in hollow surprise. He could remember breaking it; he could remember wrestling with Pietten, falling-he could remember using Pietten's spear to help him walk until the fracture froze. Yet now it showed no sign of any break. He tested it against the floor, half expecting its wholeness to vanish like an illusion. He stood up, hopped from foot to foot, sat down again. Muttering dully to himself, By hell, by hell, he gave himself his first VSE in many days.
   He found that he was more healed than he would have believed possible. The damage which he had done to his feet was almost completely gone. His gaunt hands flexed easily-though they had lost flesh, and his ring hung loosely on his wedding finger. Except for a faint numbness at their tips, his ears and nose had recovered from frostbite. His very bones were full of deep, sustaining warmth.
   But other things had not changed. His cheeks felt as stiff as ever. Along his forehead was the lump of a badly healed scar; it was tender to the touch, as if beneath the surface it festered against his skull. And his disease still gnawed its way remorselessly up the nerves of his hands and feet. His fingers were numb to the palms, and only the tops of his feet and the backs of his heels remained sensitive. So the fundamental condition of his existence remained intact. The law of his leprosy was graven within him, carved with the cold chisel of death as if he were made of dolomite or marble rather than bone and blood and humanity.
   For that reason he remained unmoved in the hollow center of his healing. He was a leper and had no business exposing himself to the risks of passion.
   Now when he looked back at the dead woman, he remembered what he had been doing before the winter had reft him of himself; he had been carrying a purpose of destruction and hate eastward, toward Foul's Creche. That purpose now wore the aspect of madness. He had been mad to throw himself against the winter alone, just as he had been mad to believe that he could ever challenge the Despiser. The path of his past appeared strewn with corpses, the victims of the process which had brought him to that purpose-the process of manipulation by which Lord Foul sought to produce the last fatal mistake of a direct challenge. And the result of that mistake would be a total victory for the Despiser.
   He knew better now. The fallen woman taught him a kind of wisdom. He could not challenge the Despiser for the same reason that he could not make his way through the Despiser's winter alone: the task was impossible, and mortal human beings accomplished nothing but their own destruction when they attempted the impossible. A leper's end- prescribed and circumscribed for him by the law of his illness-awaited him not far down the road of his life. He would only hasten his journey toward that end if he lashed himself with impossible demands. And the Land would be utterly lost.
   Then he realized that his inability to remember what had brought him to this place, what had happened to him in this place, was a great blessing, a giving of mercy so clear that it amazed him. Suddenly he understood at least in part why Triock had spoken to him of the mercy of new opportunities-and why Triock had refused to share his purpose. He put that purpose aside and looked around the cave for his clothes.
   He located them in a heap against one wall, but a moment later he had decided against them. They seemed to represent participation in something that he now wished to eschew. And this white robe was a gift which the dead woman had given him as part and symbol of her larger sacrifice. He accepted it with calm, sad, hollow gratitude.
   But he had already started to don his sandals before he realized how badly they reeked of illness. In days of walking, his infection had soaked into the leather, and he was loath to wear the unclean stench. He tossed the sandals back among his discarded apparel. He had come barefoot into this dream, and knew that he would go barefoot and sole-battered out of it again, no matter how he tried to protect himself. In spite of his reawakening caution, he chose not to worry about his feet.
   The faint attar of death in the air reminded him that he could not remain in the cave. He drew the robe tight around him and stooped through the entrance to see if he could discover where he was.
   Outside, under the gray clouds of day, the sight of the Forest gave him another surge of empty surprise. He recognized Morinmoss; he had crossed this wood once before. His vague knowledge of the Land's geography told him in general terms where he was, but he had no conception of how he had come here. The last thing in his memory was the slow death of Lord Foul's winter.
   There was little winter to be seen here. The black trees leaned against each other as if they were rooted interminably in the first gray verges of spring; but the air was brisk rather than bitter, and tough grass grew sufficiently over the clear ground between the trunks. He breathed the Forest smells while he examined his unreasoning confidence, and after a moment he felt sure that Morinmoss also was something he should not fear.
   When he turned to reenter the cave, he had chosen at least the first outlines of his new road.
   He did not attempt to bury the woman; he had no digging tool and no desire to offer any injury to the soil of the Forest. He wore her robe in part to show his respect for her, but he could not think of any other gesture to make toward her. He wanted to apologize for what he was doing-for what he had done-but had no way to make her hear him. At last he placed her on her bed, arranged her stiff limbs as best he could to give her an appearance of dignity. Then he found a sack among her possessions and packed into it all the food he could find.
   After that, he drank the last of her water and left behind the jug to save weight. With a pang of regret, he also left behind the pot of graveling; he knew he would want its warmth, but did not know how to tend it. The knife which lay oddly in the center of the floor he did not take because he had had enough of knives. Remembering Lena, he lightly kissed the woman's cold, withered cheek. Then he shrugged his way out of the cave, muttering, as if the word were a talisman he had learned from her sacrifice, "Mercy."
   He strode away into the day of his new comprehension.
   He did not hesitate over the choice of directions. He knew from past experience that the terrain of Morinmoss sloped generally downward from northwest to southeast, toward the Plains of Ra. He followed the slopes with his sack over his shoulder and his heart hollow-steady because it was full of lacks, like the heart of a man who had surrendered himself to the prospect of a colorless future.
   Before he had covered two leagues, daylight began to fail in the air, and night fell from the clouds like rain. But Morinmoss roused itself to light his way. And after his long rest, he did not need sleep. He slowed his pace so that he could move without disturbing the dark moss, and went on while the Forest grew lambent and restless around him. Its ancient uneasiness, its half-conscious memory of outrage and immense bereavement, was not directed at him-the perennial mood of the trees almost seemed to stand back as he passed, allowing him along his way-but he felt it nonetheless, heard it muttering through the breeze as if Morinmoss were breathing between clenched teeth. His senses remained truncated, winter-blurred, as they had been before his crisis with Pietten and Lena, but still he could perceive the Forest's sufferance of him. Morinmoss was aware of him and made a special exertion of tolerance on his behalf.
   Then he remembered that Garroting Deep also had not raised its hand against him. He remembered Caerroil Wildwood and the Forestal's unwilling disciple. Though he knew himself suffered, permitted, he murmured "Mercy" to the pale, shining trunks and strove to move carefully, avoiding anything which might give offense to the trees.
   His caution limited his progress, and when dawn came he was still wending generally southeast within the woods. But now he was reentering the demesne of winter. Cold snapped in the air, and the trees were bleak. Grass had given way to bare ground. He could see the first thin skiffs of snow through the gloom ahead of him. And as dawn limped into ill day, he began to learn what a gift the white robe was. Its lightness made it easy to wear, yet its special fabric was warm and comfortable, so that it held out the harshness of the wind. He considered it a better gift than any knife or staff or orcrest-stone, and he kept it sashed gratefully around him.
   Once the tree shine had subsided into daylight, he stopped to rest and eat. But he did not need much rest, and after a frugal meal he was up and moving again. The wind began to gust and flutter around him. In less than a league, he left the last black shelter of the Forest, and went out into Foul's uninterrupted spite.
   The wilderness of snow and cold that met his blunt senses seemed unchanged. From the edges of the Forest, the terrain continued to slope gradually downward, through the shallow rumpling of old hills, until it reached the dull river flowing miserably into the northeast. And across his whole view, winter exerted its gray ruination. The frozen ground slumped under the ceaseless rasp of the wind and the weight of the snowdrifts until it looked like irreparable disconsolation or apathy, an abdication of loam and intended verdancy. In spite of his white robe and his recovered strength, he felt the cut of the cold, and he huddled into himself as if the Land's burden were on his shoulders.
   For a moment he peered through the wind with moist eyes to choose his direction. He did not know where he was in relation to the shallows where he had crossed the river. But he felt sure that this river was in fact the Roamsedge, the northern boundary of the Plains of Ra. And the terrain off to his left seemed vaguely familiar. If his memory of the Quest for the Staff of Law did not delude him, he was looking down at the Roamsedge Ford.
   Leaning against the wind, limping barefoot over the brutalized ground, he made for the Ford as if it were the gateway to his altered purpose.
   But the distance was greater than it had appeared from the elevation of the Forest, and his movements were hampered by wind and snow and hill slopes. Noon came before he reached the last ridge west of the Ford.
   When his gaze passed over the top of the ridge and down toward the river crossing, he was startled to see a man standing on the bank.
   The man's visage was hidden by the hood of a Stonedownor cloak, but he faced squarely toward Covenant with his arms akimbo as if he had been impatiently awaiting the Unbeliever's arrival for some time. Caution urged Covenant to duck out of sight. But almost at once the man gestured brusquely, barking in tones that sounded like a distortion of a voice Covenant should have been able to recognize, "Come, Unbeliever! You have no craft for hiding or flight. I have watched your approach for a league."
   Covenant hesitated, but in his hollow surety he was not afraid. After a moment, he shrugged, and started toward the Ford. As he moved down the hillside, he kept his eyes on the waiting man and searched for some clue to the man's identity. At first he guessed that the man represented a part of his lost experience in the Forest and the woman's cave-a part he might never be able to comprehend or evaluate. But then his eyes made out the pattern woven into the shoulders of the Stonedownor cloak. It was a pattern like crossed lightning.
   "Triock!" he gasped under his breath. Triock?
   He ran over the hard ground, hurried up to the man, caught him by the shoulders. "Triock." An awkward thickness in his throat constricted his voice. "Triock? What are you doing here? How did you get here? What happened?"
   As Covenant panted questions at him, the man averted his face so that the hood sheltered his features. His hands leaped to Covenant's wrists, tore Covenant's hands off his shoulders as if their touch were noxious to him. With unmistakable ire, he thrust Covenant away from him. But when he spoke, his barking tone sounded almost casual.
   "Well, ur-Lord Covenant, Unbeliever and white gold wielder." He invested the titles with a sarcastic twang. "You have not come far in so many days. Have you rested well in Morinmoss?"
   Covenant stared and rubbed his wrists; Triock's anger left a burning sensation in them, like a residue of acid. The pain gave him an instant of doubt, but he recognized Triock's profile beyond the edge of the hood. In his confusion, he could not think of a reason for the Stonedownor's belligerence. "What happened?" he repeated uncertainly. "Did you get in touch with Mhoram? Did you find that Unfettered One?"
   Triock kept his face averted. But his fingers flexed and curled like claws, hungry for violence.
   Then a wave of sorrow effaced Covenant's confusion. "Did you find Lena?"
   With the same hoarse casualness, Triock said, "I followed you because I do not trust your purpose-or your companions. I see that I have not misjudged."
   "Did you find Lena?"
   "Your vaunted aim against the Despiser is expensive in companions as well as in time. How was the Giant persuaded from your side? Did you leave him"-he sneered-"among the perverse pleasures of Morinmoss?"
   "Lena?" Covenant insisted thickly.
   Triock's hands jerked to his face as if he meant to claw out his eyes. His palms muffled his voice, made it sound more familiar. "With a spike in her belly. And a man slain at her side." Fierce trembling shook him. But abruptly he dropped his hands, and his tone resumed its mordant insouciance. "Perhaps you will ask me to believe that they slew each other.''
   Through his empty sorrow, Covenant replied, "It was my fault. She tried to save me. Then I killed him." He felt the incompleteness of this, and added, "He wanted my ring."
   "The fool!" Triock barked sharply. "Did he believe he would be permitted to keep it?" But he did not give Covenant time to respond. Quietly again, he asked, "And the Giant?"
   "We were ambushed. He stayed behind-so that Lena and I could get away."
   A harsh laugh spat between Triock's teeth. "Faithful to the last," he gibed. The next instant, a wild sob convulsed him as if his self-control had snapped-as if a frantic grief had burst the bonds which held it down. But immediately he returned to sarcasm. Showing Covenant a flash of his teeth, he sneered, "It is well that I have come."
   "Well?" Covenant breathed. "Triock, what happened to you?" "Well, forsooth.'' The man sniffed as if he were fighting tears. '' You have lost much time in that place of harm and seduction. With each passing day, the Despiser grows mightier. He straitly binds-'' His teeth grinned at Covenant under the shadow of his hood. "Thomas Covenant, your work must be no longer delayed. I have come to take you to Ridjeck Thome.''
   Covenant gazed intensely at the man. A moment passed while he tested his hollow core and found that it remained sure. Then he bent all his attention toward Triock, tried to drive his truncated sight past its limits, its superficiality, so that he might catch some glimpse of Triock's inner estate. But the winter, and Triock's distraction, foiled him. He saw the averted face, the rigid flex and claw of the fingers, the baring of the white wet teeth, the turmoil, but he could not penetrate beyond them. Some stark travail was upon the Stonedownor. In sympathy and bafflement and self-defense, Covenant said, "Triock, you've got to tell me what happened."
   "Must I?"
   "Yes."

"Do you threaten me? Will you turn the wild magic against me if I refuse?" Triock winced as if he were genuinely afraid, and an oddly craven grimace flicked like a spasm across his lips. But then he shrugged sharply and turned his back, so that he was facing straight into the wind. "Ask, then."
   Threaten? Covenant asked Triock's hunched shoulders. No, no. I don't want it to happen again. I've done enough harm.
   "Ask!"
   "Did you"-he could hardly get the words through his clogged throat-"did you find that Unfettered One?"
   "Yes!"
   "Did he contact Mhoram?"
   "No!"
   "Why not?"
   "He did not suffice!"
   The bitterness of the words barked along the bitter wind, and Covenant could only repeat, "Triock, what happened?"
   "The Unfettered One lacked strength to match the lomillialor. He took it from me and could not match it. Yeurquin and Quirrel were lost-more companions lost while you dally and falter!"
   Both lost.
   "I didn't- How did you find me?"
   "This is expensive blood, Covenant. When will it sate you?"
   Sate me? Triock! The question hurt him, but he endured it. He had long ago lost the right to take umbrage at anything Triock might say. With difficulty, he asked again, "How did you find me?"
   "I waited! Where else could you have gone?"
   "Triock." Covenant covered himself with the void of his calm and said, "Triock, look at me."
   "I do not wish to look at you."
   "Look at me!"
   "I have no stomach for the sight."
   "Triock!" Covenant placed his hand on the man's shoulder.
   Instantly, Triock spun and struck Covenant across the cheek.
   The blow did not appear powerful; Triock swung shortly, as if he were trying to pull back his arm. But force erupted at the impact, threw Covenant to the ground several feet away. His cheek stung with a deep pain like vitriol that made his eyes stream. He barely saw Triock flinch, turn and start to flee, then catch himself and stop, waiting across the distance of a dozen yards as if he expected Covenant to hurl a spear through his back.
   The pain roared like a rush of black waters in Covenant's head, but he forced himself to sit up, ignored his burning cheek, and said quietly, "I'm not going to Foul's Creche."
   "Not?" Surprise spun Triock to face Covenant.
   "No." Covenant was vaguely surprised by his own certitude. "I'm going to cross the river-I'm going to try to go south with the Ramen. They might-''
   "You dare?" Triock yelled. He seemed livid with fury, but he did not advance toward Covenant. "You cost me my love! My comrades! My home! You slay every glad face of my life! And then you say you will deny the one promise which might recompense? Unbeliever! Do you think I would not kill you for such treachery?"
   Covenant shrugged. "Kill me if you want to. It doesn't make any difference.'' The pain in his face interfered with his concentration, but still he saw the self-contradiction behind Triock's threat. Fear and anger were balanced in the Stonedownor, as if he were two men trapped between flight and attack, straining in opposite directions. Somewhere amid those antagonists was the Triock Covenant remembered. He resisted the roaring in his head and tried to explain so that this Triock might understand.
   "The only way you can kill me is if I'm dying in my own world. You saw me-when you summoned me. Maybe you could kill me. But if I'm really dying, it doesn't matter whether you kill me or not. I'll get killed somehow. Dreams are like that.
   "But before you decide, let me try to tell you why-why I'm not going to Foul's Creche."
   He got painfully to his feet. He wanted to go to Triock, look deeply into the man's face, but Triock's conflicting passions kept him at a distance.
   "I'm not exactly innocent. I know that. I told you it was my fault, and it is. But it isn't all my fault. Lena and Elena and Atiaran-and Giants and Ranyhyn and Ramen and Bloodguard-and you-it isn't all my fault. All of you made decisions for yourselves. Lena made her own decision when she tried to save me from punishment-after I raped her. Atiaran made her own decision when she helped me get to Revelstone. Elena made her own decision when she drank the EarthBlood. You made your own decision- you decided to be loyal to the Oath of Peace. None of it is entirely my doing."
   "You talk as if we exist," Triock growled bitterly.
   "As far as my responsibility goes, you do. I don't control my nightmares. Part of me-the part that's talking-is a victim, as you are. Just less innocent.
   "But Foul has arranged it all. He-or the part of me that does the dreaming-has been arranging everything from the beginning. He's been manipulating me, and I finally figured out why. He wants this ring-he wants the wild magic. And he knows-knows!-that if he can get me feeling guilty and responsible and miserable enough I'll try to fight him on his own ground-on his own terms.
   " I can' t win a fight like that. I don' t know how to win it. So he wants me to do it. That way he ends up with everything. And I end up like any other suicide.
   "Look at me, Triock! Look! You can see that I'm diseased. I'm a leper. It's carved into me so loud anybody could see it. And lepers- commit suicide easily. All they have to do is forget the law of staying alive. That law is simple, selfish, practical caution. Foul's done a pretty good job of making me forget it-that's why you might be able to kill me now if you want to. But if I've got any choice left, the only way I can use it is by remembering who I am. Thomas Covenant, leper. I've got to give up these impossible ideas of trying to make restitution for what I've done. I've got to give up guilt and duty, or whatever it is I'm calling responsibility these days. I've got to give up trying to make myself innocent again. It can't be done. It's suicide to try. And suicide for me is the only absolute, perfect way Foul can win. Without it, he doesn't get the wild magic, and it's just possible that somewhere, somehow, he'll run into something that can beat him.
   "So I'm not going-I am not going to Foul's Creche. I'm going to do something simple and selfish and practical and cautious instead. I'm going to take care of myself as a leper should. I'll go into the Plains-I'll find the Ramen. They'll take me with them. The Ranyhyn-the Ranyhyn are probably going south already to hide in the mountains. The Ramen will take me with them. Mhoram doesn't know I'm here, so he won't be expecting anything from me.
   "Please understand, Triock. My grief for you is-it'll never end. I loved Elena, and I love the Land. But if I can just keep myself alive the way I should-Foul can't win. He can't win."
   Triock met this speech queerly across the distance between them. His anger seemed to fade, but it was not replaced by understanding. Instead, a mixture of cunning and desperation gained the upper hand on his desire to flee, so that his voice held a half-hysterical note of cajolery as he said, "Come, Unbeliever-do not take this choice hastily. Let us speak of it calmly. Let me urge"-he looked around as if in search of assistance, then went on hurriedly-"you are hungry and worn. That Forest has exacted a harsh penance-I see it. Let us rest here for a time. We are in no danger. I will build a fire-prepare food for you. We will talk of this choice while it may still be altered."
   Why? Covenant wanted to ask. Why have you changed like this? But he already knew too many explanations. And Triock bustled away promptly in search of firewood as if to forestall any questions. The land on this side of the Roamsedge had been wooded at one time, and before long he had collected a large pile of dead brush and bushes, which he placed in the shelter of a hill a short distance from the Ford. All the time, he kept his face averted from Covenant.
   When he was satisfied with his quantity of wood, he stooped in front of the pile with his hands hidden as if for some obscure reason he did not want Covenant to see how he started the fire. As soon as flames had begun to spread through the brush, he positioned himself on the far side of the fire and urged Covenant to approach its warmth.
   Covenant acquiesced gladly enough. His robe could not keep the cold out of his hands and feet; he could hardly refuse a fire. And he could hardly refuse Triock's desire to discuss his decision. His debt to Triock was large-not easily borne. He sat down within the radiant balm of the fire opposite Triock and silently watched him prepare a meal.
   As he worked, Triock mumbled to himself in a tone that made Covenant feel oddly uncomfortable. His movements seemed awkward, as if he were trying to conceal arcane gestures while he handled the food. He avoided Covenant's gaze, but whenever Covenant looked away, he could feel Triock's eyes flick furtively over him and flinch away. He was startled when Triock said abruptly, "So you have given up hate."
   "Given up-?" He had not thought of the matter in those terms before. "Maybe I have. It doesn't seem like a very good answer. I mean, aside from the fact that there's no room for it in-in the law of leprosy.
   Hate, humiliation, revenge-I make a mistake every time I let them touch me. I risk my life. And love, too, if you want to know the truth. But aside from that. It doesn't seem that I could beat Foul that way. I'm just a man. I can't hate-forever-as he can. And"-he forced himself to articulate a new perception-"my hate isn't pure. It's corrupt because part of me always hates me instead of him. Always."
   Triock placed a stoneware pot of stew in the fire to cook and said in a tone of eerie conviction, "It is the only answer. Look about you. Health, love, duty-none suffice against this winter. Only those who hate are immortal."
   "Immortal?"
   "Certainly. Death claims all else in the end. How else do the Despiser and-and his''-he said the name as if it dismayed him-"Ravers endure? They hate." In his hoarse, barking tone, the word took on a wide range of passion and violence, as if indeed it were the one word of truth and transcendence.
   The savor of the stew began to reach Covenant. He found that he was hungry-and that his inner quiescence covered even Triock's queer asseverations. He stretched out his legs, reclined on one elbow. "Hate," he sighed softly, reducing the word to manageable dimensions. "Is that it, Triock? I think-I think I've spent this whole thing-dream, delusion, fact, whatever you want to call it-I've spent it all looking for a good answer to death. Resistance, rape-ridicule-love-hate? Is that it? Is that your answer?"
   "Do not mistake me," Triock replied. "I do not hate death."
   Covenant gazed into the dance of the fire for a moment and let the aroma of the stew remind him of deep, sure, empty peace. Then he said as if he were completing a litany, "What do you hate?"
   "I hate life."
   Brusquely, Triock spooned stew into bowls. When he handed a bowl around the fire to Covenant, his hand shook. But as soon as he had returned to his hooded covert beyond the flames, he snapped angrily, "Do you think I am unjustified? You, Unbeliever?"
   No. No. Covenant could not lift up his head against the accusation in Triock's voice. Hate me as much as you need to, he breathed into the crackling of the fire and the steaming stew. I don't want anyone else to sacrifice himself for me. Without looking up, he began to eat.
   The taste of the stew was not unpleasant, but it had a disconcerting under-flavor which made it difficult to swallow. Yet once a mouthful had passed his throat, he found it warm and reassuring. Slowly, drowsiness spread outward from it. After a few moments, he was vaguely surprised to see that he had emptied the bowl.
   He put it aside and lay down on his back. Now the fire seemed to grow higher and hotter, so that he only caught glimpses of Triock watching him keenly through the weaving spring and crackle of the flames. He was beginning to rest when he heard Triock say through the fiery veil, "Unbeliever, why do you not resume your journey to Foul's Creche? Surely you do not believe that the Despiser will permit your flight-after he has striven so to bring about this confrontation of which you speak."
   "He won't want me to get away," Covenant replied emptily, surely. "But I think he's too busy doing other things to stop me. And if I can slip through his fingers just once, he'll let me go-at least for a while. I've-I've already done so much for him. The only thing he still wants from me is the ring. If I don't threaten him with it, he'll let me go while he fights the Lords. And then he'll be too late. I'll be gone as far as the Ranyhyn can take me."
   "But what of this-this Creator''-Triock spat the word-"who they say also chose you. Has he no hold upon you?"
   Sleepiness only strengthened Covenant's confidence. "I don't owe him anything. He chose me for this-I didn't choose it or him. If he doesn't like what I do, let him find someone else."
   "But what of the people who have died and suffered for you?" Triock's anger returned, and he ripped the words as if they were illustrations of meaning which he tore from the walls of a secret Hall of Gifts deep within him. "How will you supply the significance they have earned from you? They have lost themselves in bootless death if you flee."
   I know, Covenant sighed to the sharp flames and the wind. We're all futile, alive or dead. He made an effort to speak clearly through his coming sleep. "What kind of significance will it give them if I commit suicide? They won't thank me for throwing away-something that cost them so much. While I'm alive"-he lost the thought, then recovered it-"while I'm alive, the Land is still alive."
   "Because it is your dream!"
   Yes. For that reason among others.
   Covenant experienced a moment of stillness before the passion of Triock's response penetrated him. Then he hauled himself up and peered Wearily through the fire at the Stonedownor. Because he could think of nothing else to say, he murmured, "Why don't you get some rest? You probably exhausted yourself waiting for me."
   "I have given up sleep."
   Covenant yawned. "Don't be ridiculous. What do you think you are? A Bloodguard?"
   In answer, Triock laughed tautly, like a cord about to snap.
   The sound made Covenant feel that something was wrong, that he should not have been so irresistibly sleepy. He should have had the strength to meet Triock's distress responsibly. But he could hardly keep his eyes open. Rubbing his stiff face, he said, "Why don't you admit it? You're afraid I'll sneak off as soon as you stop watching me."
   "I do not mean to lose you now, Thomas Covenant."
   "I wouldn't-do that to you.'' Covenant blinked and found his cheek resting against the hard ground. He could not remember having reclined. Wake up, he said to himself without conviction. Sleep seemed to be falling on him out of the grayness of the sky. He mumbled, "I still don't know how you found me." But he was asleep before the sound of his voice reached his ears.
   He felt he had been unconscious for only a moment when he became aware on a half-subliminal level of darknesses thronging toward him out of the winter, as abysmal as death. Against them came faint alien gleams of music which he recognized and did not remember. They melodied themselves about him in blue-green intervals that he could neither hear nor see. They appeared weak, elusive, like voices calling to him across a great distance. But they were insistent; they nudged him, sang to him, plied him toward consciousness. Through his uncomprehending stupor, they danced a blind, voiceless warning of peril.
   To his own surprise, he heard himself muttering: He drugged me. By hell! that crazy man drugged me. The assertion made no sense. How had he arrived at such a conclusion? Triock was an honest man, frank and magnanimous in grief-a man who clove to mercy and peace despite their cost to himself.
   He drugged me.
   Where had that conviction come from? Covenant fumbled with numb fingers through his unconsciousness, while an unshakable sense of peril clutched his heart. Darkness and harm crowded toward him. Behind his sleep-behind the glaucous music-he seemed to see Triock's campfire still burning.
   How did he light that fire?
   How did he find me?
   The urgent gleams were trying to tell him things he could not hear. Triock was a danger. Triock had drugged him. He must get up and flee-flee somewhere-flee into the Forest.
   He struggled into a sitting position, wrenched his eyes open. He faced the low campfire in the last dead light of evening. Winter blew about him as if it were salivating gall. He could smell the approach of snow; already a few fetid flakes were visible at the edges of the firelight. Triock sat cross-legged opposite him, stared at him out of the smoldering abomination of his eyes.
   In the air before Covenant danced faint glaucous gleams, fragments of inaudible song. They were shrill with insistence: flee! flee!
   "What is it?" He tried to beat off the clinging hands of slumber. "What are they doing?"
   "Send it away,'' Triock answered in a voice full of fear and loathing. "Rid yourself of it. He cannot claim you now."
   "What is it?" Covenant lurched to his feet and stood trembling, hardly able to contain the panic in his muscles. "What's happening?"
   "It is the voice of a Forestal.'' Triock spoke simply, but every angle of his inflection expressed execration. He jumped erect and balanced himself as if he meant to give chase when Covenant began to run. "Garroting Deep has sent Caer-Caveral to Morinmoss. But he cannot claim you. I can"-his voice shook-"I cannot permit it."
   "Claim? Permit?" The peril gripping Covenant's heart tightened until he gasped. Something in him that he could not remember urged him to trust the gleams. "You drugged me!"
   "So that you would not escape!" White, rigid fear clenched Triock, and he stammered through drawn lips, "He urges you to destroy me. He cannot reach far from Morinmoss, but he urges-the white gold-! Ah!" Abruptly, his voice sharpened into a shriek. "Do not toy with me! I cannot-! Destroy me and have done! I cannot endure it!"
   The cries cut through Covenant's own dread. His distress receded, and he found himself grieving for the Stonedownor. Across the urging of the gleams, he breathed thickly, "Destroy you? Don't you know that you're safe from me? Don't you understand that I haven't got one godforsaken idea how to use this-this white gold? I couldn't hurt you if that were my heart's sole desire."
   "What?" Triock howled. "Still? Have I feared you for nothing?"
   "For nothing," groaned Covenant.
   Triock gaped bleakly out from under his hood, then threw back his head and began to laugh. Mordant glee barked through his teeth, making the music shiver as if its abhorrence were no less than his. "Powerless!" he laughed. "By the mirth of my master! Powerless!"
   Chuckling savagely, he started toward Covenant.
   At once, the silent song rushed gleaming between them. But Triock advanced against the lights. "Begone!" he growled. "You also will pay for your part in this.'' With a deft movement, he caught one spangle in each fist. Their wailing shimmered in the air as he crushed them between his fingers.
   Ringing like broken crystal, the rest of the music vanished.
   Covenant reeled as if an unseen support had been snatched away. He flung up his hands against Triock's approach, stumbled backward. But the man did not touch him. Instead, he stamped one foot on the hard ground. The earth bucked under Covenant, stretched him at Triock's feet.
   Then Triock threw off his hood. His visage was littered with broken possibilities, wrecked faiths and loves, but behind his features his skull shone with pale malice. The backs of his eyes were as black as night, and his teeth gaped as if they were hungry for the taste of flesh. Leering down at Covenant, he smirked, "No, groveler. I will not strike you again. The time for masquerading has ended. My master may frown upon me if I harm you now."
   "Master?" Covenant croaked.
   "I am turiya Raver, also called Herem-and Kinslaughterer-and Triock." He laughed again grotesquely. "This guise has served me well, though 'Triock' is not pleased. Behold me, groveler! I need no longer let his form and thoughts disguise me. You are powerless. Ah, I savor that jest! So now I permit you to know me as I am. It was I who slew the Giants of Seareach-I who slew the Unfettered One as he sought to warn that fool Mhoram-I who have captured the white gold! Brothers! I will sit upon the master's right hand and rule the universe!"
   As he gloated, he reached into his cloak and drew out the lomillialor rod. Brandishing it in Covenant's face, he barked, "Do you see it? High Wood! I spit on it. The test of truth is not a match for me." Then he gripped it between his hands as if he meant to break it, and shouted quick cruel words over it. It caught fire, blazed for an instant in red agony, and fell into cinders.
   Gleefully, the Raver snarled at Covenant, "Thus I signal your doom, as I was commanded. Breathe swiftly, groveler. There are only moments left to you."
   Covenant's muscles trembled as if the ground still pitched under him, but he braced himself, struggled to his feet. He felt stunned with horror, helpless. Yet in the back of his mind he strained to find an escape. "The ring," he panted. "Why don't you just take the ring?"
   A black response leaped in Triock's eyes. "Would you give it to me?"
   "No!" He thought desperately that if he could goad Triock into some act of power, Caer-Caveral's glaucous song might return to aid him.
   "Then I will tell you, groveler, that I do not take your ring because the command of my master is too strong. He does not choose that I should have such power. In other times, he did not bind us so straitly, and we were free to work his will in our several ways. But he claims-and-I obey."
   "Try to take it!" Covenant panted. "Be the ruler of the universe yourself. Why should he have it?"
   For an instant, he thought he saw something like regret in Triock's face. But the Raver only snarled, "Because the Law of Death has been broken, and he is not alone. There are eyes of compulsion upon me even now-eyes which may not be defied." His leer of hunger returned. "Perhaps you will see them before you are slain-before my brother and I tear your living heart from you and eat it in your last sight."
   He laughed harshly, and as if in answer the darkness around the campfire grew thicker. The night blackened like an accumulation of spite, then drew taut and formed discrete figures that came forward. Covenant heard their feet rustling over the cold ground. He whirled, and found himself surrounded by ur-viles.
   When their eyeless faces felt his stricken stare, they hesitated for an instant. Their wide, drooling nostrils quivered as they tasted the air for signs of power, evidence of wild magic. Then they rushed forward and overwhelmed him.
   Livid red blades wheeled above him like the shattering of the heavens. But instead of stabbing him, they pressed flat against his forehead. Red waves of horror crashed through him. He screamed once and went limp in the grasp of the ur-viles.