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

Thunder.
    “
Ur-Lord
,” protested Branl.
    “Pure One?” The voice of the Feroce was a cry, a groan, a prayer. Their fires shuddered like the cliffs’ bedrock. “We are little. Our minds are small. We do not—”
    Covenant cut them off. “Just
tell
him!” He wanted to tear his hair. “I can’t explain. I don’t have time. I need him to
do it
. Rear up. Make himself
huge
. Pretend he’s a barrier.”
    If the lurker did not panic—if the monster kept its word—
    Frantically Covenant strove to impose comprehension on Horrim Carabal’s acolytes. “The Worm doesn’t want him. If he doesn’t fight, it won’t hurt him. But he has to look
big
enough to fight.
    “
Tell
him! He can get out of the way if the Worm doesn’t stop. But first he has to try to make it
pause
! He has to make it look somewhere else for food!”
    Would that work? Of course not. Or not for long. But it might distract the Worm for a while. Slow it down. Buy a little time. Until the World’s End found a different scent.
    The Feroce could do what he asked of them. They could communicate swiftly enough. And the deeper waters of Lifeswallower were the lurker’s true home. The core of the monster’s mass and muscle lived there. If Horrim Carabal chose to do so, it could respond immediately.
    Already the Worm had seethed a league closer.
    Wind scattered the wailing of the Feroce among the stones. Their fires rose like screams. The gale did not touch their emerald theurgy, but the mounting convulsions beneath them did. The Worm’s hunger made the flames flinch and bend.
    Instead of answering, they turned and fled.
    “Ur-Lord!” Branl demanded. He stood in the path of a glowing tendril, but it flowed around him as if he were nothing more than granite or basalt. “We must depart!”
    Shaking his head, Covenant turned to peer down at the delta. “I just need a minute! I have to see if this is going to work!”
    Please, God damn it! he begged the lurker. I almost killed myself against
turiya
. Clyme died for you. I know you’re terrified. But you made a promise.
    Why would Horrim Carabal comply? Covenant was asking the monster to dare its own extinction.
    The lash of seas over Lifeswallower had become an undifferentiated flood. Incoming waters tried to withdraw and could not: the imponderable forces of the Worm’s approach drove them farther into the Great Swamp. Night had overtaken the Lower Land, but it changed nothing. The fog shed its own light. Its radiance made the hard stone of the headland seem as insubstantial as dreams. Through obstructions of rock, Covenant felt every rise and dip of the Worm’s heaving. The rhythm of its undulations was slow. It seemed almost casual. Or perhaps it was sluggish yet. Nevertheless its speed—or its power—filled him with dismay. His chest felt ready to burst.
    Desperately he stared past the rim of precipice, praying.
    Branl put a hand on his shoulder. “Rallyn comes. We must ride.”
    The Humbled could have coerced Covenant; but Covenant ignored his companion. “Look!” Flailing one arm, he indicated the delta. “
Look!
Tell me what you see!”
    Instead of pulling Covenant away, Branl moved to stand at the Unbeliever’s side.
Your task is mine
. Leaning forward, he studied the thrash and clash of the flood.
I am alone and have no path other than my chosen service
. For a moment, he did not speak. Then he announced through the gale, “Ur-Lord, you are answered.”
    Answered?
    “The lurker gathers beneath the waters. Its bulk is immense. I cannot gauge its full extent. At present, it does not rise. It merely gathers. Yet I deem that it will heed your wishes. Its presence serves no purpose else.”
    “Tell me,” Covenant panted. “Tell me when it moves.” The growing might of the Worm’s aura snatched the air from his lungs. He struggled for every breath. “I can’t
see
.”
    Luminescence shone through the stones, but it did not affect the Humbled. He seemed impervious to fog and catastrophe. He sounded more stolid than granite.
    “Ur-Lord, there is more.”
    “More?” Hellfire! “Tell me!”
    The Worm was coming closer. In all the world, only a few moments remained; a handful of heartbeats. If the Worm passed the lurker toward Mount Thunder, nothing would stop it.
    “The lurker begins its rise,” reported Branl impassively. “It is not alone.”
    Covenant fought to see; fought to breathe. At first, he could only discern the tumultuous scourge and moil of seas, the