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

gather about his head, contradicting the twilight and the clear stars. “Set aside your pride and hear me.
    “Doubtless others have spoken of arrogance. I do not. Rather the fault with which I charge you is
simony
.” He spat that word. His eyes flashed dangerously, echoing the
krill
’s radiance. “You have grown ungenerous of spirit, demeaning what would else have been a proud heritage. You have withheld knowledge from the folk of the Land when knowledge might have nurtured strength. And you have withheld trust from Linden Avery the Chosen, setting yourselves in opposition to her efforts and sacrifices because you were unable to share her love and passion. These are the deeds of misers. They do not become you.
    “Upon a time, the
Haruchai
were not ungiving in this fashion. Had they not been ruled by open-handedness, they would have been less grievously stung by the Vizard’s scorn. Yet open their hands were, and open they remained. The bonds among them were as vital as sun and snows, and as enduring as mountains. The wounds of scorn they sought to heal by open means, in direct challenge and honest combat. Thus it was that High Lord Kevin’s generosity moved them to emulation. The Vow of the Bloodguard expressed an answering generosity, a desire to repay expansive welcome with expansive service until both welcome and service overflowed.
    “Yet across the millennia of your Mastery you have allowed harsh times and cruel circumstances to bar the doors of your hearts. I will not cite your reasons for doing so, lest you deem yourselves thereby excused. Rather I say to you plainly that you have diminished yourselves until I am loath to acknowledge you as my people.”
    Instinctively Covenant wanted to defend Clyme and Branl. Oh, he agreed with the Guardian. How could he not? Nevertheless the Humbled had stood by him like the
Haruchai
of old. They had saved him again and again when he could not have saved himself.
    But his companions did not turn to him for justification. They did not look at him at all. As if they were proud to be castigated, they faced Brinn squarely.
    “
Ak-Haru
,” Clyme replied, “this accusation is unjust.” Tautness marred his flat tone. “We do not comprehend it. What deed of ours—or of any Master—has given rise to your wrath?”
    At once, the Guardian retorted, “Are you truly so blind that you see no fault in naming yourselves ‘the Masters of the Land’?” His voice had become a distant rattle of thunder. In spite of his diminishment, his words had the power to summon storms. “The Land is not a thing to be possessed as though it were a garment. It was not created for your use, that you might hazard it in a vain attempt to heal your ancient humiliation.”
    Unmoved, Branl countered, “Yet you yourself have done as we do. You are our exemplar. Our distrust of Linden Avery we learned first from you, who saw Corruption’s hand at work in her, and who strove to preserve the Unbeliever from her errors.”
    Omens of lightning glared from Brinn’s eyes. “I concede,” he answered, “that I trod your path when I forsook the Unbeliever’s service. What of it? Did Cail not return to speak of the Chosen’s salvific efforts at the Isle of the One Tree? And if you did not heed him, did you also fail to heed the First of the Search and Pitchwife when they described the forming of a new Staff of Law, and the unmaking of the Sunbane?
    “No,” he said harshly. “Do not protest that you have endeavored to treat the Chosen with both restraint and respect. I am not swayed. Your restraint and your respect are as miserly as your deeds. Had you permitted them to do so, the Giants would have reminded you that open hands and open spirits were once valued among the
Haruchai
. Yet for many centuries you have offered the kindred of the Unhomed naught but unwelcome.
    “
Unwelcome
, forsooth!” The
ak-Haru
’s indignation was a thunderclap. “For the
Giants
, of all the peoples of the Earth. That is my reproach. Humbled, Masters,
Haruchai
, I marvel that you are not shamed.”
    Now even Covenant’s numbed nerves and blunt health-sense felt tension rising in the Humbled. Brinn’s objurgation stirred millennia of suppressed passions, of ire and resentment and denied helplessness, into living flames.
    Speaking softly, ominously, Clyme asked, “Do you seek to renew our humiliation? Is that the purpose which has brought you among us, the last purpose of your life?”
    “Paugh!” The