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

trying to steady his thoughts.
    —that Lifeswallower was simply in the way. The Worm would merely pass through it. The instrument of the world’s end had a different goal.
    Perhaps the Worm was coming from the north. Perhaps its path toward
Melenkurion
Skyweir ran through the Great Swamp by chance.
    Or—
    Damnation!
    —it was going toward Mount Thunder.
    To Kastenessen. Or to She Who Must Not Be Named.
    Hell and
blood
!
    Both explanations seemed plausible. Kastenessen was
Elohim
. He might be the nearest source of food. But he was tainted. He had merged a portion of himself with the
skurj
. Their sulfurous scent might make him unpalatable. In his own fashion, he was as corrupted as the lurker.
    She Who Must Not Be Named was another matter. She was—Covenant had no apt language for Her—a gaoled god. She was not Earthpower. Nevertheless She was
power
. If the Worm sought to feed on Her—
    The battle between such beings would stagger the Arch of Time to its foundations. It might accomplish the purpose for which the Worm had been created.
    Lord Foul had planned well. Oh, he had planned well! Here was another conceivable reason why Roger had hidden Jeremiah in the Lost Deep. To conceal the boy, of course. To preserve him for Roger’s use—and for the Despiser’s. But also to arouse She Who Must Not Be Named if Linden discovered Jeremiah’s covert.
    It boots nothing to avoid his snares, for they are ever beset with other snares—
    “You are the Pure One,” repeated the Feroce in trepidation. “Will you not answer?”
    With an effort, Covenant shook aside a whirl of sickening speculations. “Oh, I’ll answer.” He did not know what he would say until he heard himself say it. “But you still haven’t told me what your High God wants. He can’t believe
I’m
going to stop the Worm. That havoc, as you call it, will swat me like I’m nothing. What does your High God think I
can
do?”
    Straining to respond, the voice of the Feroce scaled higher. The lurker’s reply was naked supplication. “Will you counsel?” they asked as if they wanted to weep and had no tears. “Will you reveal what must be done? For the alliance? For our High God’s life?”
    “
Damn
it,” Covenant muttered to himself. His impulse to speculate was too strong. His mind wheeled. “I can’t.” Even if the Worm hunted only Kastenessen, it was certain to encounter She Who Must Not Be Named. “Not until I know where it’s going.”
    Before the lurker’s servants could muster more words, Covenant turned to Branl. “What do you think? Maybe coming to Lifeswallower is an accident. Maybe the Worm is just passing through. But maybe it’s aiming for Mount Thunder. Don’t we have to know?”
    The gloom masked Branl’s features; but the Humbled faced Covenant with a firmness that resembled certainty. “Ur-Lord, hear me. You contemplate a journey to the last boundary of hills between Lifeswallower and the Sunbirth Sea. Such a quest will bear us many leagues farther from our companions, wherever they may be.”
    Covenant braced himself to argue; but Branl was not done.
    “Understand, ur-Lord, that I do not protest. Your task is mine. I am alone and have no path other than my chosen service. Yet I must observe that our need for an end to Kevin’s Dirt is absolute. Your straits confirm this. Already your illness regains its force. The Worm in Mount Thunder may perchance bring about the cessation of Kevin’s Dirt. Perchance it may not. Is it not therefore plain that our surest road to Kastenessen’s defeat lies toward Linden Avery and her company? Your powers and hers together are more certain of success than any chance or mischance of the Worm.”
    Covenant shook his head. Studying Branl while memories of Clyme’s end scarified his thoughts, he said slowly, feeling his way, “That makes sense, as far as it goes. But what if the Worm runs into She Who Must Not Be Named?”
    Realizations seemed to swarm in Branl’s gaze. Apparently he had not considered the bane. “That outcome,” he said slowly, “must be prevented.” Then he asked, “Yet how can it be forestalled?”
    Covenant grimaced. “That’s the problem. We have to know where the Worm is going. We might need the lurker against it.”
    When his companion acquiesced, Covenant turned back to the Feroce.
    Swallowing a clot of apprehension, he said, “Tell your High God this. I want him alive. I’ll give him counsel, if I can think of anything. But not until I know