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

perhaps no less unforeseen. With Rime Coldspray’s assent, he began.
    After the departure of the Ironhand’s company, Dire’s Vessel had remained in the anchorage of ancient
Coercri
, The Grieve of the Unhomed. For a number of days, the sailors busied themselves with the mundane tasks of repairing and maintaining their Giantship. Then they began to notice changes in the littoral’s weather, disturbances in the sea. Storms lashed the coast and disappeared again without apparent cause. Downpours drenched Dire’s Vessel out of clear skies. Currents ran awry, heaving the Giantship from side to side until anchors were set at every point of the compass. Still the Swordmainnir did not return. They had vanished among the uncertainties of their quest.
    Five mornings ago, however, the sun astonished the crew—Stoutgirth said this with improbable good cheer—by failing to rise. Stars began to disappear from the firmament of the heavens. Mighty swells from the southeast threatened Dire’s Vessel’s moorings. Such occurrences augured some immense and dolorous ill, but the sailors could not interpret the signs.
    Yet on the following day a new astonishment appeared. Striding forth from tales many centuries old, a man made himself manifest upon the foredeck of Dire’s Vessel.
    That he was a man of immense age was plain. The lines upon his visage were such that they mapped a world. Indeed, his years had been so prolonged that they appeared to erode his substance where he stood. His raiment was ancient, an unkempt robe of indeterminate hue, and his limbs wore hatchments of scars. Yet he bore himself as one who could not be bowed, and his glances had the effect of lightnings.
    Unmistakably, Bluff Stoutgirth announced, the man was one of the
Haruchai
. Indeed, he was unmistakably Brinn, the companion of the ur-Lord Thomas Covenant and the Sun-Sage Linden Avery aboard Starfare’s Gem: the
Haruchai
who had become the Guardian of the One Tree.
    The Guardian’s tidings were dire in all sooth, Stoutgirth confessed. “The Worm of the World’s End is roused, seeking the ruin of all things. Therefore the One Tree withers. The life of the Earth nears its close.” Yet when the Giants bewailed their lot, moaning the loss of love and wind and stone, of seas and joy and children, Brinn answered their lament.
    “Yet good may come from loss as it does from gain. The decline of the One Tree has concluded my devoir. I am freed to remember the promises of an earlier age. And the Worm is not instant in its feeding. Life lingers yet in the world’s heartwood. This gift is granted to me, that I may expend my waning strength in the Land’s service.
    “While I endure, I will guide you, for your aid will be sorely needed.”
    None aboard Dire’s Vessel, the Anchormaster continued, could comprehend that need. Yet their hearts were lifted by the thought that they might yet be of use in the Earth’s last peril. In a foreshortened Giantclave, the Master of Dire’s Vessel, Vigilall Scudweather, determined that she and a half portion of the crew would remain to tend the Giantship, praying that events would allow them to serve some worthy purpose in their turn. Bluff Stoutgirth and the others prepared such supplies and weapons as they were able to carry swiftly. Then they followed the Guardian of the One Tree from The Grieve into Seareach, tending always to the southwest toward the toils of Sarangrave Flat and the renowned perils of the lurker.
    For a wonder, they passed into and through the Sarangrave unthreatened. Indeed, their course was eased at every obstacle, though they had no understanding of the magicks which relieved their efforts. In another matter, however, fortune gazed less kindly upon them. The Guardian’s diminishment was unremitting, and no succor of companionship or repast eased it. During the evening of the day now past, he frayed at last and faded, drifting away along the world’s winds. Then the Giants feared that naught remained to thwart the Worm. Yet they persevered, for the Guardian had led them far enough to descry Mount Thunder. They knew their destination. Therefore they hastened onward, denying themselves all sorrow for Brinn
Haruchai
, until they beheld turmoil upon the mountain. And at the last, fortune smiled once more. The Giants of Dire’s Vessel did not come too late.
    So Bluff Stoutgirth ended his tale.
    “Joy is in the ears that hear,” Rime Coldspray replied formally, “not in the mouth that speaks.