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

Earthpower did not push back the fog. Still these flames were
his
. They had been given freely.
    Yes, Linden thought. If he could do that, he could do more. She would teach him somehow. His own health-sense would guide him if hers did not suffice.
    “Giantfriend,” the Ironhand insisted. “Linden Avery.”
    “Now the Staff,” Linden instructed Jeremiah, whispering again. “It’s full of possibilities.” The runes. The iron heels as old as Berek Halfhand. The combined essences of Vain and Findail. Her own love. “Try to feel them. Maybe they’ll answer,” Earthpower to Earthpower.
    She had her wedding band. Covenant had made her a rightful white gold wielder. Surely she could fend for herself without the Staff of Law?
    “It might not respond right away,” she admitted. “It isn’t yours. I made it. I have a kind of symbiotic relationship with it. But if you keep trying, you should—”
    “
Attend
, Giantfriend!”
    The Ironhand’s shout snatched at Linden. Involuntarily she wheeled away from her son’s guttering hands.
    At once, the distinctive reek of gangrene stung her nose. Impressions of necrosis seemed to hit all of her nerves, her whole body. She recognized that smell, those emanations; but for a confused instant, she could not identify them.
    Then she saw a lurid swelling of brimstone, a fierce gnash of lava. It was some distance away on the far side of the Defiles Course. Nevertheless it was hot enough to pierce the fog. She remembered roaring ferocity, fangs like scimitars in long rows, terrible jaws.
    Oh, God—
    Beyond her, the Swordmainnir strode down the slope to intercept the attack, spreading out so that they would each have room to strike and dodge. Stave stood a few paces in front of Linden as if he imagined that he could counter one of the
skurj
.
    Covenant may have been unaware of the threat behind him. He continued hurling his demands into the shrouded Sarangrave. The
krill
slashed back and forth: cuts that had no effect. But now he was alone. Apparently Branl trusted that the lurker would not assail the Pure One, even if the monster had withdrawn its aid. With calm haste, the Humbled came back up the valley, gripping Longwrath’s flamberge in both hands.
    “Mom?” Jeremiah called: a small sound like a whimper. “Mom? What’s happening?”
    Abruptly a monster surged up from the eaten ground.
    Now Linden saw it clearly. The unthinking creature had devoured its way through the earth to emerge among the roots of an ironwood. Almost immediately, the tree exploded into flames. Bright as a bonfire, and hot as the ravaging of Covenant’s home on Haven Farm, it heralded hunger and scoria.
    Tall and thick as a Giant, the
skurj
stood in conflagration with half of its full length braced underground. Roaring like an eruption, it twisted from side to side, apparently seeking the scent of its prey. Then it began its rush toward the company, drawing its whole body out of the dirt as it snaked into the valley bottom.
    Under other circumstances, the river might have forced the monster to pause; perhaps to chew its way beneath the watercourse. But the Defiles Course was much diminished. The
skurj
did not hesitate. Coiling its strength, it launched itself in a brimstone arc above the waters.
    Its fury dismissed the fog around it. Even at that distance, Linden felt waves of heat beat against her face.
    Covenant’s shouting was hoarse and doomed. Still he persisted.
    Linden did not think. She had no time. Raising her Staff, she left Jeremiah’s side. Black flames like the tails of a scourge pulled free of the wood and whipped around her as she hurried toward the Giants.
    Stave accompanied her without question. He seemed to have no questions left.
    “Don’t move,” she urged as she passed between Coldspray and Frostheart Grueburn. “I can do this.” She hardly heard herself. “Take care of Jeremiah.” In the back of her mind, she had already begun to pronounce the Seven Words. “Lord Foul doesn’t want him dead, but that monster probably doesn’t care.”
    The
skurj
was only one.
    In Salva Gildenbourne, one alone had overwhelmed her in spite of her Staff. And during the company’s flight toward Andelain, Kastenessen’s monsters had been too strong for her. She could not have fought them in the Lost Deep.
    Since then, everything had changed. Kevin’s Dirt was gone. Kastenessen’s passing into the fane of the
Elohim
had struck manacles from her wrists. While Covenant still believed