Her troubled mind longed for the surcease of unconsciousness. But underneath the wariness and alarm which the Sandhold inspired lay a deeper and more acute distress. The memory of the Kemper's geas squirmed in the pit of her heart. Kasreyn had simply looked at her through his ocular, and instantly she had become his tool, a mere adjunct of his intent. She had not struggled, had not even understood the need to struggle. His will had possessed her as easily as if she had been waiting for it all her life.
The Haruchai had been able to resist. But she had been helpless. Her percipient openness had left her no defence. She was unable to completely close the doors the Land had opened in her.
As a result, she had betrayed Thomas Covenant. He was bound to her by yearnings more intimate than anything she had ever allowed herself to feel for any man; and she had sold him as if he had no value to her. No, not sold; she had been offered nothing in return. She had simply given him away. Only Brinn's determination had saved him.
That hurt surpassed the peril of the Sandhold. It was the cusp of all her failures. She felt like a rock which had been struck too hard or too often. She remained superficially intact; but within her fault lines spread at every blow. She no longer knew how to trust herself.
In her bedchamber after the banquet, she mimicked sleep because Cail was with her. But his presence also served to keep her awake. When she turned her face to the wall, she felt his hard aura like a pressure against her spine, denying what little courage she had left. He, too, did not trust her.
Yet the day had been long and arduous; and at last weariness overcame her tension. She sank into dreams of stone-the irrefragable gutrock of Revelstone. In the hold of the Clave, she had tried to force herself bodily into the granite to escape Gibbon-Raver. But the stone had refused her. According to Covenant, the former inhabitants of the Land had found life and beauty in stone; but this rock had been deaf to every appeal. She still heard the Raver saying, The principal doom of the Land is upon your shoulders. Are you not evil? And she had cried out in answer, had been crying ever since in self-abomination, No! Never!
Then the voice said something else. It said, “Chosen, arise. The ur-Lord has been taken.”
Sweating nightmares, she flung away from the wall. Cail placed a hand on her shoulder; the wail which Gibbon had spawned sprang into her throat. But the door stood open, admitting light to the bedchamber. Cail's mien held no ill glee. Instinctively, she bit down her unuttered cry. Her voice bled as she gasped, “Taken?” The word conveyed nothing except inchoate tremors of alarm.
“The ur-Lord has been taken,” Cail repeated inflexibly. “The Lady Alif came for him in the Kemper's name. She has taken him.”
She stared at him, groped through the confusion of her dreams. “Why?”
Shadows accentuated Cail's shrug. “She said, 'Kasreyn of the Gyre desires speech with Thomas Covenant.' ”
Taken him. A knife-tip of apprehension trailed down her spine. “Is Brinn with him?”
The Haruchai did not falter. “No.”
At that, her eyes widened. “You mean you let — ?” She was on her feet. Her hands grabbed at his shoulders. “Are you crazy? Why didn't you call me?”
She was fractionally taller than he; but his flat gaze out-sized her. He did not need words to repudiate her.
“Oh goddamn it!” She tried to thrust him away, but the effort only shoved her backward. Spinning, she flung toward the door. Over her shoulder, she snapped, “You should've called me.” But she already knew his answer.
In the corridor, she found the Giants. Honninscrave and Seadreamer were straightening their sarks, dressing hurriedly. But the First stood ready, with her shield on her arm, as if she had slept that way. Ceer was also there. Vain and Findail had not moved. But Brinn and Hergrom were nowhere to be seen.
The First answered Linden's hot visage sternly.
“It appears that we have miscounted the Kemper's cunning. The tale I have from Ceer. While we slept, the Lady Alif approached Hergrom where he stood with Vain and this Elohim. Speaking words of courtesy and blandishment, she drew nigh and into his face cast a powder which caused him slumber. Neither Vain nor Findail”-a keen edge ran through her tone — "saw fit to take action in this matter, and she turned from them as if their unconcern were a thing to be trusted. She then approached Brinn and the Giantfriend. Brinn also fell prey to her powder of slumber, and she bore Covenant away.
“Sensing the unwonted somnolence of his comrades, Ceer left me. In this passage, he saw the Lady Alif with Covenant, retreating.” She pointed down the corridor. “He went in pursuit. Yet ere he could gain them, they vanished.”
Linden gaped at the First.
“The slumber of Brinn and Hergrom was brief,” the Swordmain concluded. “They have gone in search of the Giantfriend-or of the Kemper. It is my thought that we must follow.”
The labour of Linden's heart cramped her breathing. What could Kasreyn possibly want from Covenant, that he was willing to risk so much coercion and stealth to gain it?
What else but the white ring?
A surge of hysteria rose up in her. She fought for self-command. Fear galvanized her. She turned on Ceer, demanded, “How could they have vanished?”
“I know not.” His countenance remained impassive. "At a certain place beyond these doors“-he searched momentarily for a word-”an acuteness came upon them. Then they were before me no longer. The means of their vanishment I could not discover."
Damn it to hell! With a wrench, Linden dismissed that unanswerable how. To the First, she gritted, “Kemper's Pitch.”
“Aye.” In spite of her empty scabbard, the Swordmain was whetted for action. “Kemper's Pitch.” With a jerk of her head, she sent Honninscrave and Seadreamer down the corridor.
They broke into a trot as Ceer joined them. At once, the First followed; then Linden and Cail ran after them, too concerned for Covenant to think about the consequences of what they were doing.
At the first corner, she glanced back, saw Vain and Findail following without apparent haste or effort.
Almost at once, the company encountered the Guards that had been stationed outside their rooms earlier. The faces of the hustin registered brutish surprise, uncertainty. Some of them stepped forward; but when the Giants swept defiantly past them, the hustin did not react. Mordantly, Linden thought that Kasreyn's attention must be concentrated elsewhere.
Like the Haruchai, the Giants had obviously learned more about the layout of the Second Circinate than she had been able to absorb. They threaded their way unerringly through the halls and passages, corridors and chambers. In a short time, they reached the forecourt near the stairways to the Tier of Riches. Upward they went without hesitation.
The Tier was as brightly lit as ever; but at this time of night it was deserted. Honninscrave promptly chose an intricate route through the galleries. When he arrived in the resting-place of the longsword at which the First had gazed with such desire, he stopped. Looking intently at her, he asked in a soft voice, “Will you not arm yourself?”
“Tempt me not.” Her features were cold. “Should we appear before the gaddhi or his Kemper bearing a gift which was denied us, we will forfeit all choice but that of battle. Let us not rashly put our feet to that path.”
Linden felt dark shapes rising from the Second Circinate. “Guards,” she panted. “Somebody told them what to do.”