The Last Dark: The climax of the entire Thomas Covenant Chronicles (Last Chronicles of Thomas Cove)

the Worm and that bane went after each other, we wouldn’t have to worry about the
Elohim
, or anything else for that matter, because we would already be dead.”
    He spread his hands; his truncated fingers. “We’re not, so I have to assume—”
    Rime Coldspray looked like she wanted to interrupt then; but Covenant did not pause. As concisely as he could, he explained how the lurker and the Demondim-spawn had striven to deflect the Worm from Mount Thunder. Then he finished, “I didn’t wait around to see how long they could hold. Branl and I just ran. But they must have held long enough.” Somehow. “I can’t imagine it would take this long for the Worm to get through Lifeswallower. Now I just have to hope we didn’t lose them in the process.”
    He expected Coldspray or the others to question him. He had questions of his own. What had happened to Jeremiah and Stave? How had Jeremiah been retrieved from his dissociation? But before anyone spoke, Branl moved.
    Without ceremony, as if the action did not require comment, the Humbled handed Loric’s
krill
to Rime Coldspray.
    She accepted it reflexively, her eyes wide, as Branl strode past her toward Stave.
    With Handir and the other Humbled, Branl had participated in punishing—in excommunicating—Stave for his defiance of his kinsmen; his devotion to Linden. The Masters had refused to acknowledge Stave’s mental voice. Like Clyme and even Galt, Branl had treated Stave with disdain. Like them, Branl had challenged Stave more than once, tried to strike him down.
    Now the last of the Humbled approached Stave’s prone form like a man who proposed to deliver judgment.
    Covenant should have stopped him; should have said something, anything. Clyme’s death was only one example of the severity with which the
Haruchai
judged themselves. But at that moment, Covenant was like the Giants. He had come to the end of what he could do.
    A darkening storm made omens in the northeast. Winds whipped Branl’s legs, tugged at the tears in his tunic. But he ignored them. Implacable as a fanatic, he strode through the gusts.
    At Stave’s side, he stopped, braced his fists on his hips. For a moment, he bowed his head over Stave, apparently searching Stave’s slack form for some sign of awareness. Stave’s hand and forearm, his right, no longer smoked. Still he lay helpless, as if his mind or his heart had been as badly charred as his skin.
    “I have named Stave ‘Rockbrother,’” Coldspray announced. She may have been warning Branl; but she seemed unable to raise her voice.
    Abruptly Branl stooped over the fallen
Haruchai
. With both hands, he lifted Stave upright.
    Stave’s head lolled to one side, then sagged until his chin rested on his chest. He dangled emptily in Branl’s grasp.
    In a blink of motion so swift that Covenant barely understood it, Branl released one hand and slapped the side of Stave’s head. The blow made no sound that Covenant could hear through the wind.
    Frostheart Grueburn winced. Coldspray lurched toward the
Haruchai
, going too late to Stave’s defense.
    As if the movement were full of pain, Stave slowly raised his head. His lone eye opened. Blinking, he fixed his gaze on Branl.
    Branl did not strike again. Unsure of herself, the Ironhand halted. Covenant watched with his pulse trapped like a cry in his throat.
    For a few heartbeats, Branl met Stave’s gaze. Then Stave’s head sagged again; and the Humbled nodded once. Shifting his grip, he wrapped his arms around Stave.
    With Stave hugged against his chest, Branl informed Covenant, “The tale of the Giants is incomplete. We do not fault them. Their heed was consumed by Kastenessen and great weariness. It may be that they did not recognize the plight of Linden Avery’s son. To Stave, however, it was evident that the boy received more than Earthpower at Anele’s hands. The gift included Anele’s openness to possession.
    “Arriving in his fury, Kastenessen entered the boy. His apparent purpose was to drive Infelice into the fane, that he might destroy her with the other
Elohim
. But Stave intervened. By removing the boy from dirt underfoot, he severed the possession. Hence his burns, and his unconsciousness, and the boy’s presence atop the fane, where he is warded by stone.
    “There he might readily have been slain. Only Longwrath’s coming, and yours, ur-Lord, preserved him. Yet more Stave could not have done. Without aspersion to the Swordmainnir, I assert that no other could