Against All Things Ending Part 13

The beribboned Insequent stood in the mouth of the tunnel near Anele. He kept his back to the abyss; did not look at anyone. If he had received any benefit from Liand's exertion of Earthpower, he did not show it. Instead he continued to breathe heavily, as if he had carried his fat and fear for leagues under the mountain. The mult.i.tudinous strips of his apparel remained clenched around him as tightly as a fist.

Had the will and power of his people deserted him? He seemed overwhelmed; too daunted to carry out their wishes. As useless as Covenant- Covenant found everyone except the Ardent and Anele looking at him. Even Linden's closest friends watched his every movement as though they expected him to perform a miracle of some kind. Take command of the situation. Tell them what to do.

Clearly they retained enough health-sense to see that his mind was present. As he had hoped, the orcrest orcrest's Earthpower resisted the worst effects of Kevin's Dirt. Linden's eyes clung to him. She was unutterably precious to him, and wounded past bearing. In some other life-the life that she deserved-he would have wrapped his arms around her and held her until her loneliness eased.

But he had no value to her here: not as he was.

"h.e.l.lfire," he muttered simply to break the silence. "That was fun." Trying to rub sensations of futility from his face with his bound hands, he asked, "Can any of you see what the Harrow is doing? I'm afraid to look."

No one glanced away. Even the Humbled regarded him stolidly.

Softly, as if she were reluctant to awaken echoes, Rime Coldspray replied, "The Harrow has gained the archway or portal at the foot of the span. Now he bows on one knee at the verge of an extreme dark which the Stonedownor's legacy cannot penetrate. Perhaps he prepares incantations. Perhaps not. The white gold ring he holds to his forehead in one fist. The Staff of Law he grips upright before him. To my diminished sight, however, he appears to wield no magicks. Rather he remains merely bowed as in contemplation."

The rim of the precipice was too near. Trickles and streams of water fell from the tips of the stalact.i.tes as if they were draining the life-blood out of the world's veins drop by drop. The web of malachite that defined or defied the obsidian under Covenant's boots created the illusion that its strands flowed ceaselessly toward the abysm.

"He's trying to find the way in." Covenant was hardly aware of his own voice. The Ardent's alarm was contagious. It bred vertigo. "Past that blank place is the Lost Deep. The home of the Viles, back when the Viles still existed. That's where they did their breeding-and the Demondim did-and the ur-viles. But it's protected. If the Harrow can't open it, we won't get in.

"That's why we're here. Why we aren't already with Jeremiah. No one can get in if that portal isn't opened first."

The Masters and Stave regarded him as though nothing that he might say could surprise them. The Giants only frowned in concentration, absorbing new information. But Linden stared at Covenant with darkness in her eyes. Her cheeks were pale, drained of blood. And the Ramen and Liand appeared to take their cue from her-or from the Ardent's labored breathing. Innominate uncertainties and dreads marked their faces like fretwork. Cowed by the ma.s.s of immeasurable stone above him, even the Manethrall gave the impression that he could be intimidated.

While he was still able to hold them, Covenant scrambled to articulate his memories. "This chasm. It's how the Viles guarded themselves. Isolated themselves. It isn't just just a chasm. A terrible power lives here. a chasm. A terrible power lives here.

"h.e.l.l and blood," he panted through his teeth. "This is hard. I can't think-" Every word was as dangerous as falling. He spoke in puffs of vapor that became nothing. He could not help Linden. "When the Viles formed that bridge, they called it the Hazard. But translation doesn't do it justice. When they said 'Hazard,' they didn't just mean that terrible power. And they didn't just mean they covered the bridge with wards so it would shatter if someone tried to enter the Lost Deep without knowing how. It was their their hazard, too. hazard, too.

"Making it, they risked everything. Who they were. What they meant to themselves. It was their only link to the rest of the Land. The rest of the Earth. When they crossed out of the Lost Deep, everything they'd ever done or cared about might be destroyed. While they kept themselves isolated, they could imagine they were perfect. But they were smart enough to know the world is a big place. Even the Land is a big place. They might meet beings and forces that would make them look paltry.

"They created the Hazard because they were too intelligent to be content with ideas of perfection that hadn't been tested. Compared. Measured."

The Haruchai Haruchai would understand that better than anyone. would understand that better than anyone.

Behind him, he heard Anele muttering: a babble of agitation. But Linden's stare held him. He did not want to drop her gaze, even for a moment. If he had been able to look into her eyes-into her heart-during his long partic.i.p.ation in the Arch, he might have been content to remain there until all things ended.

"Does the Harrow know how to open the door?"

Linden's question cut at Covenant: he had no numbness to cover that hurt. His scant memories became more useless whenever he needed them. All that time spent among the millennia, wasted- Thickly he admitted, "You'll have to ask the Ardent. I've forgotten. If I ever knew." He had no idea how to open the portal himself. He recalled only that wild magic would shatter the Hazard. For this task, the Harrow had to depend on the Staff of Law.

It belonged to Linden.

Briefly she searched him as if she thought that the sheer force of her yearning would compel remembrance. But the pressure acc.u.mulating within her demanded release: he could see that without percipience. While his pulse labored helplessly in his chest, and the cold tightened its grip, she turned away, drawing his attention with her.

Her lips were pallid and chilled as she repeated her question to the Insequent. Covenant drew inferences of s.h.i.+vering from the sound of her voice.

Why else had the Ardent insisted on accompanying Linden and her companions?

The fat man did not reply directly. He did not face her. Perhaps he could not. Instead he released a few of his ribbands in a flutter that suggested negation.

"I cannot aid him here." His voice was a taut wheeze. "This has been his life's quest. It is not mine. Nor has it been any other living Insequent's. I possess no knowledge, either earned or given, to ease his dilemma."

Hurt by Linden's desperation, Covenant demanded, "Then why exactly are are you here? Your people didn't pick you just because you happen to like new experiences. They must have had something more constructive in mind. Otherwise what was the point?" you here? Your people didn't pick you just because you happen to like new experiences. They must have had something more constructive in mind. Otherwise what was the point?"

The Ardent flinched as if a lash had licked across his back. His raiment expanded and contracted with every hoa.r.s.e breath. Nevertheless Covenant's challenge seemed to strike a spark of indignation or resolve within him. Summoning fort.i.tude as though he had found it hidden within his garish apparel, he lifted his head, straightened his back. Slowly he turned. Strips of cerise and azure wiped the sweat from his forehead and his plump cheeks. They appeared to do so of their own volition.

"It is my task to ensure that the Harrow abides by his oath. That mission I have begun. I will continue it. I will a.s.sist him when I am able to do so. For the nonce, however, Timewarden, I have another purpose, one which the conjoined will of the Insequent has urged. I have drawn you hither, to my side rather than to the Harrow's. Him you cannot succor. Here knowledge which you have forgotten may be restored.

"Among those who a.s.siduously seek out auguries and prescience, there is disagreement concerning the outcome of our present quest. Yet all concur that we must stand in this place at this time. Here we are vouchsafed an opportunity which will not recur, and which is greatly to be desired."

"What opportunity?" Linden's voice shook on the verge of hysteria. "How does this help us find my son?"

"It does not-" began the Insequent.

Before he could continue, Rime Coldspray put in, "Stonedownor, this illumination is a great boon." She sounded studiously nonchalant, casual, like a woman trying to ease the tension of her companions. "Can it be extended to supply warmth as well? Clearly the Ramen are hardy, inured to extremes. The same may be said of Giants and Haruchai Haruchai. But Linden Giantfriend suffers here, as you also suffer. And it appears that the Timewarden is s.h.i.+elded only by his illness."

Covenant nodded reflexively. The state of his hands and feet gave him no protection. Fingers of ice had found their way through his clothes into his unfamiliar flesh. He trembled to the rhythm of Linden's s.h.i.+vering. But he did not care about himself. Even wrapped in vellum, the krill krill's heat defended his physical core. And whenever Joan probed the gem, he gained more warmth. Inadvertently she did him good.

Linden was more at risk.

"It does not," repeated the Ardent. "Nonetheless it is needful."

Studying Linden, Liand replied to the Ironhand, "I have not made the attempt." His concern was evident. "Yet at every turn the virtues of orcrest orcrest have surpa.s.sed my imagination. If it gives light, banishes the effects of Kevin's Dirt, and cleanses this foul air, perhaps it may also emit heat. I will endeavor-" have surpa.s.sed my imagination. If it gives light, banishes the effects of Kevin's Dirt, and cleanses this foul air, perhaps it may also emit heat. I will endeavor-"

"Needful how?" insisted Linden.

"Chosen," Stave said flatly: a veiled command. "Attend to Anele."

Linden hardly appeared to hear the former Master. Her attention clung to the Ardent. But Covenant forced himself to glance toward the old man.

How could he not remember this? Surely it was the task for which he had been resurrected? To remember-and give warning?

The marks on Linden's jeans should have reminded him- Pahni drew a sharp breath as she followed Covenant's gaze. Baffled in his efforts to concentrate on the Sunstone, Liand looked momentarily fl.u.s.tered. Then his black brows arched in surprise. Blindly Mahrtiir faced Linden's first companion.

"Is this possession?" Stormpast Galesend asked, anxious for the man she had been charged to carry. "Is it some new manifestation of his madness? Stone and Sea! The diminishment of my sight vexes me."

Wincing, Linden wheeled away from the Ardent.

Anele lay facedown on the uneven obsidian with his arms and legs outstretched as if in deliberate prostration. Beneath his scrawny frame, veins of green radiated outward as though they depicted rays of light. Somehow the malachite conveyed the impression that it throbbed to the beat of his pulse.

Those veins resembled the stains which Covenant had once worn after pa.s.sing through Morinmoss.

To Covenant, Anele looked only frail and beaten, as if he had been felled. But Liand murmured in wonder, "See him, Linden." And one of the Swordmainnir added, "Aye, behold." him, Linden." And one of the Swordmainnir added, "Aye, behold."

Covenant wanted to ask, See what? Almost at once, however, Linden breathed, "That's not possession. It's Earthpower. He's on fire with it. His birthright-I've never seen it so strong. Or so close to the surface."

With an air of respect, even of reverence, the Ardent backed away from Anele; cleared a s.p.a.ce around the old man.

In a voice like stone and apprehension and sorrow crushed together until they were in danger of crumbling, the old man said distinctly, "It is here."

The words themselves, or the tone in which Anele spoke them, ignited memories in Covenant- Seek deep rock.

-memories so recent and explicit that they should have been impossible to forget.

The Harrow had brought Linden's company to stone so deep that no human capable of interpreting it had ever touched it before.

In Salva Gildenbourne, Anele had tried to explain something to Linden. Who else had heard him? Who else, apart from Covenant before his reincarnation? Stave? Liand?

"Here, Anele?" Linden asked in steam and cold. "What's here? What is the stone telling you?"

What had awakened the old man's inherited strength?

"The wood of the world has forgotten." Anele sounded as harsh as the rock beneath him. "It cannot reclaim itself. It requires aid. Yet this stone remembers."

Covenant remembered other things instead. A different time. A distant place.

Wood is too brief. All vastness is forgotten All vastness is forgotten.

He expected to see Anele's limbs straining, fingers clawing at the obsidian. But there was no effort in Anele's splayed fingers. His whole body looked limp, as if he were slowly melting into the gutrock. Only his voice was tight; wakeful.

"There must be forbidding."

Without forbidding, there is too little time.

The Giants gathered around Linden and Stave, Liand and the old man. Instinctively they formed a protective cordon, although there was nothing that they could do to ease or aid him. Linden knelt at Anele's side. Liand held his orcrest orcrest high. Its light cast grotesque shadows of the Swordmainnir on the crude walls of the pa.s.sage. The vapor of their breathing spread out and vanished, inhaled by the surrounding dark. high. Its light cast grotesque shadows of the Swordmainnir on the crude walls of the pa.s.sage. The vapor of their breathing spread out and vanished, inhaled by the surrounding dark.

The Humbled remained close to Covenant. Their halfhands seemed to mock him at the edges of his vision. He suspected that they would stop him if he tried to approach Anele. They had never trusted Anele's legacy-or any use of Earthpower.

"Anele," Linden whispered. "Tell me."

"Even here it is felt," the old man said as if he were answering her. "Written. Lamented." But the words were not a reply. Anele's fixation on the lines of malachite within the obsidian was complete. He responded to the world's oldest secrets, not to her. "The rousing of the Worm. It devours the magic of the Earth. The life. But its hunger is too great. When it has depleted lesser sustenance, it must come to the Land."

Lesser sustenance? He must have meant the Elohim Elohim. But Covenant could not be sure. His own memories were too fresh.

There is too much. Power and peril Power and peril. Malevolence Malevolence. Ruin Ruin. And too little time And too little time. The last days of the Land are counted The last days of the Land are counted.

On some level, however, he knew that Anele was right. The Worm was eating the magic out of the world. But it needed more than it could obtain from any Elohim Elohim-or from all of the Elohim Elohim.

By its very nature, the Worm would give Lord Foul what the Despiser had always craved.

Covenant did not know how Linden would be able to bear that responsibility.

"Heed him well," the Ardent advised in a hushed murmur. "This has been foreseen. It is knowledge which has been hidden since the rising of the first dawn within the Arch, shared by none but the Elohim Elohim. He must be heeded."

"We heed him very well," returned Rime Coldspray in a low growl. She may have wanted to silence the Insequent.

"The Worm will come." Gradually Anele's voice took on a ritual cadence, a sound of litany, as if he recited a sacral truth. "It must. Bringing with it the last crisis of the Earth, it will come. Here it will discover its final nourishment."

Become as trees, the roots of trees. Seek deep rock Seek deep rock.

Liand's upraised arm trembled with cold and effort. The Sunstone shook, stirring shadows like shaken leaves. Stave's lone eye caught the radiance in a flicker of gleams as if he were gazing into the fiery face of apocalypse.

"Here?" Linden asked, still whispering. Bereft or abandoned: Covenant could not tell the difference. "In the Lost Deep? In that chasm? What nourishment?"

Surely she knew that Anele did not hear her?

-the necessary forbidding of evils- If the Earth had no hope, there was none for Jeremiah-or for any love.

"If it is not forbidden, it will have Earthpower," Anele said in tones of rock and woe. "If it is not opposed by the forgotten truths of stone and wood, orcrest orcrest and refusal, it will have life. The very blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth's heart. When the Worm of the World's End drinks the Blood of the Earth, its puissance will consume the Arch of Time." and refusal, it will have life. The very blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth's heart. When the Worm of the World's End drinks the Blood of the Earth, its puissance will consume the Arch of Time."

"Anele!" Linden cried softly. "Are you sure? Anele? What forgotten truths?"

Beyond question the old man did not hear her. He said nothing further. He may have fallen asleep, exhausted by prophecy.

To Melenkurion Melenkurion Skyweir, Covenant thought dumbly. Of course. Not here. Not to the Lost Deep, or to any place within Mount Thunder. The Despiser had buried too much evil in these depths. The Worm needed Earthpower concentrated and pure, the world's essential chrism. Skyweir, Covenant thought dumbly. Of course. Not here. Not to the Lost Deep, or to any place within Mount Thunder. The Despiser had buried too much evil in these depths. The Worm needed Earthpower concentrated and pure, the world's essential chrism.

As pure as orcrest orcrest. As pure as the wrath of Forestals, who had possessed the power to refuse- "It is done," the Ardent announced with quiet satisfaction. "As it was foreseen, so it has transpired. And I alone among the Insequent bear witness. The Harrow himself has heard no single word. He cares naught for the joy of such epiphanies."

Some of the Giants closed their fists, glared at the Ardent. Others ignored the Insequent. The Humbled watched impa.s.sively as Linden bowed her head over Anele. In Liand's unsteady light, the Ramen seemed to shrink as though they were being made smaller by the loss of open skies and plains, of suns.h.i.+ne and Ranyhyn.

But Covenant shared none of their reactions. He was slipping again, skidding down a scree of moments into the Land's past. Losing the present. There was evil in the chasm. It was going to wake up. He could not stop himself.

-the necessary forbidding- He did not understand how he could have failed to remember.

Crossing the Hazard

Linden was pulled in too many directions at once. She had no time to comprehend what she heard or sensed or needed. Kneeling at Anele's side in the distressed light of Liand's orcrest orcrest, she felt Covenant's mind lose its grip on the present; felt him fall into himself. But there was nothing she could do about that, nothing. His dilemmas were beyond her. Without her Staff and his ring, she had no purpose of any kind except to reach her son.

That, too, might be impossible now. She and her companions had gathered on the wrong side of a bottomless chasm. A terrible power lives here A terrible power lives here. The cold was already terrible.

That the Harrow had bound himself with oaths did not comfort her. No one can get in if that portal isn't opened first No one can get in if that portal isn't opened first. The shock of being in this immured cavern, without full percipience or clean air, was not as great as her fear that he did not know how to unseal the way into the Lost Deep.

The Worm of the World's End was coming to the Land.

Like an echo of the paresthesia that had afflicted her among the Viles millennia ago, she seemed to smell the hard respiration of the Giants, taste the vapor they exhaled. Their confusion as they scrambled to absorb Anele's revelations stung her nerves.

Here it will discover its final nourishment. The very blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth's heart The very blood of life from the most potent and private recesses of the Earth's heart.

The old man was unconscious now, exhausted by his encounter with the world's oldest secrets.

Without forbidding, there is too little time.

Linden could not imagine where anyone would find or wield enough power to forbid forbid the Worm of the World's End. Covenant and wild magic might conceivably have done so. But his mind was broken, and Linden had given his ring to the Harrow. the Worm of the World's End. Covenant and wild magic might conceivably have done so. But his mind was broken, and Linden had given his ring to the Harrow.

She did not believe that the Harrow would be able to keep keep Covenant's ring. She hardly considered it likely that he would retain her Staff. He was counting too heavily on the inability of beings like the Covenant's ring. She hardly considered it likely that he would retain her Staff. He was counting too heavily on the inability of beings like the Elohim Elohim and Esmer to locate Jeremiah. And there were other enemies- and Esmer to locate Jeremiah. And there were other enemies- She had surrendered to the Harrow in part because she suspected that forces greater than her human desperation would oppose his intentions for her son.

But first the portal had to be opened. With one mistake, any any mistake, the Harrow would break the fragile span of stone; doom Jeremiah. The Staff of Law and Covenant's ring would be lost. mistake, the Harrow would break the fragile span of stone; doom Jeremiah. The Staff of Law and Covenant's ring would be lost.