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

where She is. But I can feel Her power. It’s leaking into the water. Just smelling it is bad enough. If I touch it—”
    Horror crouched in the pit of her stomach, in all of her nerves. The bane was death to her. It hungered for her soul.
    Just for a moment, Covenant held her like a man who wanted to howl. Then he mastered himself. “I understand,” he said stiffly. To retrieve her from carrion, he had been forced to hold her underwater; threaten her with drowning. “I’ll spare you if I can. If the Giants aren’t strong enough, I’ll try—”
    She felt him grimace as if he had bared his teeth. “Hellfire, Linden. I might bring down the roof.”
    She knew what he meant. He had too little health-sense—and he feared himself too much. His passions were too extreme for restraint.
    Hurl and Setrock reached the seam. While Hurl pressed an ear to the stone, listening, Setrock thumped the flaw with the heel of one palm, gently at first, then harder. Harder. Then Hurl stepped back. To the Anchormaster, he called, “Water lies beyond this stone. Linden Giantfriend and the Chosen-son gauge acutely.” His voice carried like streaks of argent across the surface of the pond. “Yet the Feroce do also. The stone has suffered much across the ages—aye, and absorbed much to harden it. It will not yield to blows or iron.”
    Branl raised Longwrath’s sword as if it were a question.
    Hurl shook his head. “The theurgies of that blade are obscure. I cannot conceive that they will suffice here.”
    “The
krill
?” asked Branl.
    The idea wrung a flinch from Linden. “No,” she told Covenant. “Not the
krill
. It might cut deep enough. But whoever holds it will be too close.” Tons of water and rock would crash outward—She had no choice. “I have to do it.”
    He pulled back his head, peered into her eyes. “Are you sure?”
    She could not hold his gaze. Leaning her forehead against his chest, she sighed, “I can try. I need to start using my ring. It might even help.”
    When he had invoked wild magic in the lower cavern, his wedding band had summoned a response from hers: a silver throb which had muted the sensations of pincers and scurrying. Perhaps her own power would shield her from the bane’s tormented, tormenting seepage.
    She felt Covenant gather his resolve. Briefly he tightened his hug again. Then he wheeled away.
    Shouting so that everyone would hear him, he demanded, “Listen! Linden is going to break through that wall for us, and she’s going to have to do it from here.” Opposite the seam. “But when she does, she’ll release a hell of a lot of water. I don’t want it to touch her! I don’t care how you do it.
Think
of something. Just keep her out of the water!”
    Jeremiah gaped at him. In surprise, the boy lost his grasp on Earthpower. The air failed in Linden’s lungs. She started to gag. But then Jeremiah recovered. Renewed flames spread outward.
    “Mom?” he asked anxiously. “Mom?”
    Panting, she urged him, “Don’t worry about me. Your job is hard enough. If I can do this, there’s going to be a flood—but we’ll still need air. The Giants will take care of me. I’ll be fine as long as we can breathe.”
    The Ironhand and the Anchormaster exchanged a few quick words. Then Rime Coldspray announced, “Timewarden, it will be done. The water here is vile. It will become more so. Yet we are hardy against such affronts. With your consent, I will entrust Linden Giantfriend to Bluff Stoutgirth and those in his command. They are not hampered by armor and swords. Frostheart Grueburn will stand ready to receive the Giantfriend when our passage inward has been opened.”
    Covenant did not object. Linden could not.
    At once, Stoutgirth called a few orders of his own. Almost immediately, everyone except Linden was in motion.
    The sailors refilling the waterskins helped each other past the fissure, moving directly toward the seam. Blustergale supported Baf Scatterwit in spite of her insistence that she did not need aid. Flashing a smile of encouragement at Linden, Grueburn strode away, followed by Cirrus Kindwind carrying Jeremiah. With a boost from Stave, Covenant climbed onto the Ironhand’s back. A look of nausea filled his eyes as if he had been overtaken by vertigo.
    For an instant as Branl passed her, Linden considered asking him to wait with her. She could use the
krill
’s gem to trigger wild magic: she had done so once before. But the outcome then had appalled her. She