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

with skill, they rushed to support Stonemage and Bluntfist.
    Bhapa and Pahni hesitated for a moment, spoke to each other. Then they followed the Anchormaster.
    Together
Haruchai
, Giants, and Ramen began to force the Cavewights backward.
    At the same time, Coldspray and Grueburn appeared to redouble their efforts. They chopped down creatures, tore through flesh and bone, flung bodies off the ledge. Handir and Canrik fought as one, striking high and low simultaneously. Samil and Dast knocked Cavewights off their feet. Vortin and his comrades broke necks, cracked skulls, disabled limbs.
    For a moment, Covenant did not understand. The Ironhand had divided the company. Surely she had made it weaker? But then he realized that she had also divided the Cavewights. They were fighting for their homes now, not for Lord Foul. They rushed to oppose two threats instead of one.
    Near Covenant, Coldspray’s tactics seemed to accomplish nothing. Only savage fighting pushed the creatures back.
    Nevertheless fewer foes gathered on the bridges which the company had to cross.
    Coldspray and Grueburn gained the foot of the nearest span, the shallow arc to the third level. Handir and his warriors fought to secure the Ironhand’s position.
    Cavewights tried to burst from the tunnel at Covenant’s back. Masters repulsed them.
    Branl hauled Covenant after Coldspray. Covenant caught Linden’s hand, pulled her with him. Stave brought Jeremiah.
    “Mom!” Covenant could barely hear the boy. “What do you want me to do?”
    “Stay with Stave!” she called back. “He’ll tell you!”
    Coldspray and Grueburn started onto the bridge. Ahead of them, a fresh onslaught of Cavewights came howling down the span. Branl and Stave followed the two Swordmainnir with Covenant, Linden, and Jeremiah. Somehow Handir and his comrades finished their immediate foes.
    Swift as swords, Handir and Canrik ran to join the Ironhand. Dast and Samil. Vortin and a few
Haruchai
guarded the rear.
    At the mouth of the tunnel, Masters died one by one. Numberless Cavewights gained the ledge. Some sped after the group escorting Covenant. Others pursued the sailors.
    With Bhapa and Pahni, warriors reached the crossing to the fourth level. Stoutgirth and his crew fought as if they were caught in a hurricane. Stumbling on a slashed leg, Far Horizoneyes fell from the ledge. Blustergale scattered creatures with every swipe of his spear. Stoutgirth’s shouts sounded like hysteria as he herded his crew onto the bridge.
    Coldspray and Grueburn surged upward. Confusion spun through Covenant, lethal as vertigo, fatal as blades. The chasm gaped below him. It breathed his name. If Branl and Linden had not held him—
    Dizzy and wandering, he followed the Swordmainnir.
    They were still a dozen strides away from a collision with charging Cavewights when other creatures began to fling spears from the upper levels.
    Partially protected by their cataphracts, the Ironhand and Frostheart Grueburn did not pause. Cursing fiercely, Coldspray hastened to meet her foes. Grueburn slapped shafts aside with her longsword or her open hand.
    Handir and his warriors formed a shield around Covenant, Linden, and Jeremiah. The
Haruchai
countered a barrage of throws. Handir caught one spear, blocked another. A third pierced his chest, cast him silent as a stone into the chasm.
    Snagging shafts from the air, Canrik and the other Masters advanced as though their leader’s death changed nothing. When one of Vortin’s comrades mistimed a catch and was gutted, none of the warriors flinched.
    Covenant felt the shock as Rime Coldspray crashed against the torrent of Cavewights. She should have fallen: the impact would have split a slab of marble. Yet she stood. At her back, Grueburn braced her with one hand—and Canrik, Dast, and Samil attacked as if they were born to the use of weapons—
    —and the enfilade of spears stopped. The creatures thronging along both walls could not throw now without hitting their own kind.
    Cavewights plunged like detritus from the bridge as Coldspray and Grueburn powered ahead.
    Out of the heights, a boulder struck the span where the sailors and the Cords raced upward. Bouncing away, the stone took two Masters with it.
    After that, Covenant lost sight of Stoutgirth and the others. He hardly knew where he was. His boots skidded in blood: he could not imagine how Branl and Linden kept him on his feet. His mind was whirling madness. He seemed to rise borne on a gyre of