Linden’s heart may have grown as ungiving and dark as obsidian; but she could ask nothing of this frail old man. Even to save her son, she could not. She had already extorted too much pain from Anele. She was done with it.
And behind them stands Thomas Covenant, who craves only that I assure you of his love.
Swallowing grief as acute as rage, Linden said softly, “I want you to understand something. While you still can. I used you. When I was trying to convince the Masters to help me.” And she had contemplated causing him more hurt. “But I won’t do that again. I’m finished.”
She had learned at least this much from her betrayal by Roger and the croyel. They had wanted her to achieve their ends for them. And their manipulations had nearly destroyed her. But what the croyel was doing to Jeremiah was worse.
“I’ll keep you with me,” she promised. “I’ll protect you as much as I can.” She had no other hope to offer him. “But I won’t ask you to pay the price for what I want. Not again.”
Anele breathed heavily for a moment. He shuddered in her grasp: his eyes were closed. When he had mastered himself, he replied. “Linden Avery, you are the Chosen, and will determine much.” His low growl echoed Mahrtiir’s severity. “But that choice is not vouchsafed to you. All who live share the Land’s plight. Its cost will be borne by all who live. This you cannot alter. In the attempt, you may achieve only ruin.”
Then he pulled away from her easily, as if her strength had failed. Leaving her confounded, he handed the orcrest to Liand.
As soon as the stone left his fingers, he appeared to faint.
Too late, Linden snatched at his slumping form. But Bhapa was quicker. He caught the old man and lowered him gently to the rug.
Obviously the Cord had known what to expect. All of Linden’s friends had known.
“Liand?” she asked in chagrin. “Is he-?”
Liand continued to cradle the orcrest in his palm as though its touch gave him pleasure. “We have spoken of this,” he answered quietly, gazing at Anele. “We discern no lasting hurt. He will slumber briefly. When he wakes, he will be as he was. In some form, his madness is kindly. It shields him. In its absence, his bereavements would compel despair.” When the young man looked up at Linden, his compassion for Anele filled his eyes. “This we have concluded among ourselves, for we know not how otherwise to comprehend either his pain or his endurance of it.”
Mahrtiir nodded; and Pahni rested her hand on Liand’s shoulder, sharing his sympathy.
Linden’s knees felt suddenly weak. “God,” she breathed, “I need to sit down.” Unsteadily she moved to the nearest chair and dropped into it. Then she covered her face with her hands, trying to absorb what had just happened.
Oh, Anele. How much more of this will you have to suffer?
— that doom awaits you-
Sunder and Hollian feared intentions which Linden had not revealed, even to the Mahdoubt. She had hardly named them to herself.
And behind them stands Thomas Covenant
Now she believed absolutely that it was her Covenant who had spoken in her dreams; who had warned her through Anele in the Verge of Wandering; who had addressed her friends on the rich grass of the plateau. No one else would have spoken as he did.
— who craves only that I assure you of his love.
For a while, her friends waited for her in silence. Then Stave said firmly, “Chosen, we must speak. We recognise that you have suffered much. But you propose to combat the Land’s foes. You speak of betrayal. And it appears that both the Unbeliever and your son have been lost, when their proclaimed intent was the Land’s redemption. Such matters require comprehension.”
“Also we are bewildered by the Mahdoubt,” added Mahrtiir, “who has shown herself able to pass through stone. She is absent from these chambers, though she was not seen to depart. Her role in your return pleads for explanation.”
Linden did not lower her hands. When her friends had come to her door, she had believed herself ready for them. Now she knew that she was not.
“Manethrall,” Stave countered, “if you will heed my counsel, we will not consider the Mahdoubt until other concerns have been addressed. I do not desire concealment, either from you or from the Chosen. But I deem that the Mahdoubt’s strangeness is less than urgent. The ur-Lord’s fate, and our own straits, hold greater import.”
“As you will.” Linden felt Mahrtiir’s nod. The mistrust which he had once displayed toward Stave was entirely gone. “I am content to speak of her when you find it condign to do so.”
Promptly Stave continued. “Then I will say to you, Linden Avery, Chosen, that you have been absent from Revelstone for half a moon-”
“Thirteen days, Linden,” put in Liand.
“-and have slept for two days more,” the Haruchai went on. “In that time, we have feared for your life. And now that you have returned, we fear for the life of Land. Your words give us reason to conceive that the Unbeliever has failed.”
Still Linden covered her face; hid from her companions. The spectres of Sunder and Hollian distrusted her. How could she tell her friends that she had come within a few heartbeats of giving the Despiser exactly what he desired?
Gallows Howe demanded a greater champion than Linden Avery.
“Linden,” said Liand, prodding her gently, we did not know how to hope. When you had disappeared, Esmer likewise vanished. The ur-viles then dispersed, leaving no sign of themselves-or of the Waynhim. And the Ranyhyn had departed among the mountains, suggesting that you had no more need of them-” His voice tightened momentarily. That you would not return. Yet the Demondim besieged Revelstone furiously. The loss of you filled our hearts with dread.”
“It was Thomas Covenant who took you from us,” Pahni added as if she feared that Linden might doubt Liand, “the first Ringthane. Now he is gone. Through Anele, we have been promised travails rather than relief. How then should we hope?”
Linden sighed. They were right, of course, all of them. She had to tell them what had happened. Still she was reluctant to answer them. She did not want to reveal what she had become.
Anele’s warning scared her because she already knew that she would ignore it.
Soon, she commanded herself. Soon she would face the risk of her story. But she would postpone it a little longer.
Slowly she lowered her hands.
Her friends stood clustered in front of her. Pahni’s hand remained on Liand’s shoulder, gripping him for support or comfort. Bhapa waited near Anele, ready to help the old man when he woke. The older Cord kept his gaze averted from Linden’s as if to show that he asked nothing of her; that her mere presence was enough for him. But both Mahrtiir and Stave studied her, the Manethrall avidly, the Haruchai without expression.
Clearing her throat, Linden asked carefully. “How often has Anele been sane?”
“Once only,” Liand answered at once. And he retained himself only so that he might command us to grant him the orcrest stone when he beckoned. For ten days and more, he has not touched the stone, or spoken clearly.”
The Stonedownor’s gaze encouraged her not to worry about Anele-or any of her friends. But his tone held a muffled eagerness, a whetted admixture of relief, uncertainty, and excitement. He appeared to feel elevated by the Sunstone, raised to a stature which surpassed his expectations for himself.