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

the lurker and beat it so that it would know we were too strong for it. It already knew that it couldn’t fight Covenant. Not when he has the
krill
.” Clearly Horrim Carabal had not forgotten the agony of Covenant’s power millennia ago. “The Ranyhyn wanted it to understand that it can’t fight us, either.
    “After that, I’m guessing. But I think that the Feroce must have approached Covenant. Infelice said something—”
    Stave would remember. Jeremiah might not. He had been absorbed in his construct.
    “The Feroce must have talked to him about an alliance. Whatever he said, it must have satisfied them.” And he had done more: that was obvious. She simply could not imagine what it might have been. “In any case, the Ranyhyn brought us here tonight because”—she shrugged awkwardly—“well, because they needed fodder, of course. But they also wanted to know where the lurker stands now. Or they wanted us to know.”
    And they had trusted both her companions to take care of her however the lurker reacted.
    With a subtle air of satisfaction, Stave asserted, “The Unbeliever has exceeded the terms, as is his wont. The alliance is sealed. It is my thought that the lurker fears the Worm. Therefore it craves power. And therefore it seeks allies.
    “Yet, Chosen,” he continued, “you have said naught of your experience within this new glamour. Your interpretation of the Ranyhyn I accept. I have none better. Will you now speak of the visions imposed upon you?”
    Linden did not want to reply. What she had learned or deduced was too great for her. She did not know where she would find the courage to bear it.
    I will
. She had promised that she would seek out an answer for Caerroil Wildwood. An answer which she could not possibly possess. For that reason, and because her company did not suffice for its task, she would have to forsake her son.
    “It wasn’t like the last time,” she said, striving for a steadiness that she could not feel. “It wasn’t terrifying. First I was down in the Lost Deep. Before we crossed the Hazard. I heard Anele reading that fan of obsidian and malachite. Then I was back on Gallows Howe with Caerroil Wildwood. The Feroce reminded me that I made a promise then. I told him that I would find out how the world could survive without Forestals.”
    Now she felt certain that the world could not.
    “But why?” Jeremiah asked quickly. “I mean, why did they want to remind you? It’s not like you were ever going to forget things like that.”
    Linden believed that she understood the point of Covenant’s message. And she surmised that the Feroce had tried to ensure that she did not misinterpret it. But she did not say so. Instead she deflected Jeremiah’s query.
    “Maybe the lurker doesn’t really understand alliances. It’s used to having worshippers. Alliances are new. Sure, I was never going to forget. But the lurker can’t know that. It’s just choosing between powers that can hurt it. The Worm is going to destroy everything. The lurker is bargaining for its life.”
    After a moment, Jeremiah conceded, “That makes sense, I guess.”
    Stave regarded her with his customary lack of expression. Briefly he lifted his head as if he were scenting the air. Then he said, “Dawn begins. It appears that the coming day will resemble the one past. And the Ranyhyn return. Doubtless they will feed again. Then we must hasten once more.”
    Linden nodded to escape more inquiries. Unlike the horses, she was not hungry. The roots that she had eaten still lay in her stomach, a fibrous mass difficult to digest. At uncomfortable moments, its taste returned to the back of her throat. But water was a necessity.
    “In that case,” she told the
Haruchai
, “we should get something to drink while we still can.”
    He flicked a glance toward her, but did not demur. And Jeremiah agreed at once. Already he was eager again; impatient.
    In the rising gloom of a new day—the second since the sun had failed—Linden and her son followed the former Master back to the eddy where they had risked the water the previous evening.
    The possibility that they might not find the like again did not trouble her as much as the prospect of her own intentions. They were too much for her: one appalling risk piled on another until their sheer scale threatened to overwhelm her.

7.
    Taking the Risk

    Soon Linden, Jeremiah, and Stave were mounted and running again, heading away from the Sarangrave directly into the