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

of his sins—Covenant turned to Jeremiah.
    “It’s probably a good thing you can see the Worm.” He did not try to be gentle. “You’ll know when it’s time.”
    Jeremiah jerked up his head. “Stop that.” His doom was stark in his eyes. Tattered and soiled, stained with old blood, his thin pajamas made him look as unloved as an empty house. “Stop saying things you know I can’t understand. You keep saying you need me, but you won’t tell me how or why. You act like you think I’m important, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.
    “Why can’t I come with you?”
    Covenant grinned without humor or kindness. “It’s fun, isn’t it. You’re like all the rest of us. Nobody ever hands you an answer. The only thing you can do is guess. Then you have to take your chances.”
    At once, however, he reached out, wrapped the fingers of his halfhand around the Staff of Law. Another test of truth: he wanted the boy to believe him.
    To his touch, the wood felt dead; almost brittle. Ripe for consummation.
    Startled, Jeremiah quenched his flames. But he did not look away. His gaze clung to Covenant’s. For a moment, his eyes resembled the Harrow’s, deep as voids, hungry for some life that was not his own. But slowly they became harder, flatter: the black of obsidian and anger.
    Distinctly Covenant said, “You can’t come with me because I don’t want you that close to Lord Foul until I can distract him. But I do want you to come. I think you’ll know when. You’ll be able to sense it.” He glanced at the Masters. “Or Canrik and Samil will. Or watching the Worm will tell you.”
    Jeremiah stared.
    Holding the Staff and the
krill
so hard that his forearms ached, Covenant tried to explain.
    “I need you because I don’t think I can beat Lord Foul by myself. You aren’t strong enough? Neither am I. He’s too much a part of me.
    “When the Worm drinks the EarthBlood, the Arch of Time will start to crumble. That’s when Foul can escape. More than anything else, he wants
freedom
. If he has to, he’ll even give up trying to trap the Creator. Being stuck here—” Covenant let go of the Staff. He shoved his fingers into his hair and pulled, trying to drag his thoughts into language. “There’s no word big enough for that kind of despair.”
    If Jeremiah understood nothing else, he would understand
that
.
    Again Covenant found himself swaying, unsure of his balance. His intentions became impossible as soon as he articulated them. He wanted to fall down; just hit the floor and lie there while he could still choose the moment of his last collapse.
    But he had made promises to Linden. Hell, he had made promises to practically everybody, one way or another. And he could not turn his back on Jeremiah’s distress.
    “I need your help to keep him busy. If we can, I want to make him miss his chance. As long as he’s stuck here with us, he’ll be vulnerable. Then I might be able to find an answer of my own.”
    Is that plain enough for you? Hellfire, Jeremiah! It’s all I’ve got.
    The boy glared blackness. His breath came in ragged chunks, as if the labor of his heart did not leave room for his lungs. He swallowed as if his mouth and throat were full of blood.
    “I
can’t
. Don’t you understand? He’s the
Despiser
. He can take me whenever he wants. I won’t able to do
anything
.”
    “Oh, stop,” Covenant snapped. He might have yelled, We’re out of time! “There’s always something you can do. You have talents. You have the Staff. And you know what
possession
is like.”
He broke me
.
I hate being used
. “If nothing else, you can just hide. You can hide as long as you want.”
    Jeremiah had freed himself from years of dissociation. Maybe he would be able to find his way out of Lord Foul’s grip.
    The boy bared his teeth as if he wanted to take a bite out of Covenant; but Covenant was done with him. Intuitively, if not with any of his truncated senses, he felt the end of Time approaching. He had to go.
    “Help me,” he finished. “Don’t help me. It’s up to you. I’m out of time.”
    Like a man who had recovered his balance, he turned his back on Jeremiah’s stained struggle; on the lost boy’s naked need. At one time, Covenant had risked the Land’s ruin for the sake of a snake-bitten child. More than once, he had approved when Linden had made similar choices. This was different. No matter what Jeremiah believed about himself, he was not helpless. He was
not
.
    And