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

for a floor and openings into other passages: a place where the companions could be questioned.
    “I don’t like it,” Covenant complained to Branl. “We’re running out of time.” And he did not want to hear accusations from the Masters.
    “In this, they speak with one voice,” replied Branl. His tone concealed his personal reaction. “They require an account of our deeds and purposes.”
    “They will be answered,” Stave returned. “Yet I also mislike the prospect of delay. We can have no effect upon the outcome of the world if we do not achieve our ends before the Worm drinks of the EarthBlood.”
    The Humbled shrugged. “If the Masters are denied, they may respond with denial.”
    “Oh, God,” Linden sighed. “Just what we need.”
    Covenant swore to himself. Whatever else Linden had done, she had not lied to the Masters. But they might not be able to see past the fact that she had set in motion the Earth’s ruin.
    Aloud, he demanded, “Can’t you convince them, Branl? It doesn’t matter why they’re here. Hellfire! It doesn’t even matter if Bhapa and Pahni lied to them. We need help. Holding us back now is just surrender. We might as well kill ourselves.”
    The Humbled held Covenant’s glare. “I cannot sway them, ur-Lord. I am not as I was. My thoughts no longer accord with theirs. They deem that they would not have acted as I have done. In their minds, they would have forestalled the Worm’s awakening. This belief justifies their wrath.”
    Jeremiah was squirming. “That’s stupid,” he snorted as soon as Branl finished: scorn thick as venom. “Covenant wouldn’t be here without it. And I wouldn’t be
here
. I would already be helping Roger and that
croyel
become
eternal
.
    “Did you tell the Masters
that
?”
    “To what purpose, Chosen-son?” countered Branl. “They would reply that Corruption could not threaten creation while he was imprisoned within the Arch. And while he was imprisoned, much might have been attempted to thwart him. Only the Worm’s awakening assures his triumph.”
    Before Covenant could think of a response that was not rage, Linden spoke. “If it’s up to me,” she told the Humbled, “I’ll answer anything. I don’t know how much time we have. I don’t know if we can afford to stand around arguing. But the Masters are important. I’ll do what I can.”
    “Chosen.” Branl’s visage revealed nothing. Yet when he bowed, he gave her his full respect. Then he turned away, bearing the company’s only light down the tunnel.
    Well, damn, Covenant thought. My wife—
    Baring his teeth, he tried to grin. When that failed, he concentrated on catching up with the Humbled.
    I am not as I was.
    And Linden was facing the most immediate of her fears.

    efore long, Covenant and his immediate companions reached the place where the tunnel forked. There four Masters awaited him. He recognized Ard and Ulman. The other two were Vortin and Samil.
    The
krill
lit momentary wonder in Vortin’s eyes, and in Samil’s, as they bowed to Covenant. It exposed their ire when they regarded Linden. But they did not linger. While Branl explained that they would help Grueburn, Bluntfist, and Dast guard the rear, the four men moved into the blackness of the passages.
    Covenant heard weapons behind him again. Giantish oaths echoed like gasps along the tunnel. Bluff Stoutgirth’s voice harried Scatterwit and Blustergale.
    “They are swift enough,” a Swordmain responded to the Anchormaster. Grueburn? Bluntfist? “Expostulation will not speed them.”
    Gritting his teeth, Covenant followed Stonemage with Linden, Jeremiah, and Stave. Among them, Branl strode along like a man whose uncertainties had become faith.
    This passage also ascended and dipped as it wandered; but now each rise took the company higher into the mountain. Covenant had no idea where he was in relation to the ancient Heart of Thunder. His human memories of the catacombs were confused by the dangers which he and his companions had faced then. Surrounded by this darkness, this weight of stone, he could not imagine how far he still had to go.
    Tired as he was, the erratic climb felt long. The vagaries of the rough corridor blocked his view in both directions: he could not see beyond the
krill
. Like the Giants ahead of him, those behind seemed insubstantial, as if they had faded from the world. Only Linden and Jeremiah were real. Branl, Stave, and Onyx Stonemage.
    But then the tunnel angled downward so