The Fatal Revenant Part 53

In either case, the ramifications of his condition were too vague to be trusted. As far as she was concerned, the Land's last-and best-hope lay in Thomas Covenant.

When she and her friends had eaten, they settled themselves as comfortably as the rocky ground allowed while Stave stood guard over the camp, and Bhapa kept watch from the crest of a nearby hill. Rather than allowing herself to dread Roger and attack, Linden concentrated on Roger's father as she tried to sleep. She wanted to fill herself with images and desires which might enable Covenant to visit her dreams.

But the night did not bring dreams. Instead it brought the first in a tumbled series of spring showers that followed the company for much of the next day: prolonged sprinkles and quick downpours that soaked the riders in spite of the cloaks which they had brought from Revelstone for Linden, Liand, and Anele. At intervals, rain streaked the horizons, constricting the landscape to sodden gra.s.s and vleis, and to occasional copses shrouded with moisture. Then, between the showers and clouds, sunshine burst over the region, sketching bright transitory reflected jewels among the water drops until the earth and the trees were anademed in light.

Responding to the weather, the Ranyhyn slowed their fleet gallop somewhat, careful not to outrun the protection of the Humbled and the two Cords as they scouted ahead in a wide arc beyond the range of Linden's senses. Still the horses went swiftly, crossing slopes and lowlands until the contours of the Land appeared to open before them like a scroll.

Once in the distance, through a gap between showers, she glimpsed a caesure. But it was far against the northern horizon, seething erratically away from the riders. When Stave a.s.sured her that there were no villages or smaller habitations in the vicinity of the Fall, she decided to let it go. Deliberately she closed her mind to its migraine nausea, and by degrees it receded from her awareness.

Late in the day, the sky finally cleared, leaving the air full of sunlight as if the Land had been washed clean. Whenever Pahni or Bhapa rejoined the company to describe what lay ahead, they reported only that neither they nor the Humbled had found any evidence of danger. And the Ranyhyn quickened their strides to the pace that they had set the day before. Linden began to think that perhaps they were indeed traveling too swiftly to be caught by Kastenessen's servants, or Lord Foul's.

As for the Harrow, she could not begin to guess what he would do, or when he would do it. If she had known how to bargain with him-or been willing to do so-she still had no idea how to invoke his presence. Apparently his promise of companionship had been an empty threat.

While the company made camp that night on a broad swath of gravel and stones at the edge of a watercourse, Linden asked Stave how far they were from Salva Gildenbourne. He replied that they would catch sight of the sprawling forest before mid-morning, if they were not delayed. Then she asked Bhapa about the condition of the Humbled. She had not seen them since they had ridden away the previous morning.

The Cord considered her question for a moment, then shrugged. "Their hardiness is remarkable," he admitted as if he begrudged them any admiration. "No Raman heals as they do. Yet they are not what they were. The rigors of our journey hamper them.

With rest, I do not doubt that their full strength would soon return. Without it-"

Facing Mahrtiir rather than Linden, the Cord fell silent.

"Then, Cord," replied the Manethrall gruffly, "it falls to you, and to Cord Pahni, to increase your vigilance.

"Ringthane." He turned the hollows of his bandage toward Linden. "If you will accept my counsel, it is this. Request of the sleepless ones that they ride with you on the morrow. Permit my Cords to a.s.sume all the tasks of scouting. If the Masters are not yet whole, their skills will provide better service nearby than at a distance.

"Warded by Narunal's discernment where mine does not suffice, I will ride ahead of you. Thus any sudden threat will strike first against he who has the least worth in your defense."

Surprised by Mahrtiir's suggestion, Linden faltered. Too many people had already sacrificed themselves in her name-and now the Manethrall proposed to offer himself as bait. She could not bear to think of him as having the least worth; or to consider losing him.

Hesitating, she looked to Stave.

"The Manethrall's counsel is apt," he said at once. "I do not fear for the Humbled. But the Land's foes must oppose you. They cannot suffer you to obtain High Lord Loric's krill. When they appear, you must have every aid nigh about you."

In response, Linden made a stern effort to shake off her reluctance. In a moment of imposed coherence, Anele had informed her severely, All who live share the Land's plight. Its cost will be borne by all who live.

All right," she said through her teeth. "We'll do that." This you cannot alter. In the attempt, you may achieve only ruin. "Bhapa, I need you to find the Humbled for me." She had no means to contact them herself, except by a dangerous display of her powers; and the Masters would not heed Stave's mental voice. "Make sure that they understand what we want, and why. I don't think that they'll object." They would reason as Stave did. But if they do, tell them that they'll have to argue with me in person. You're just the messenger."

When the Manethrall nodded his approval, Bhapa replied, "As you wish, Ringthane." Whistling for Rohnhyn, he strode out into the last of the gloaming and pa.s.sed from sight. Briefly Linden heard the crunch of hooves on the stones. Then Bhapa and his mount were gone.

He did not return until after moonrise.

But when he reentered the watercourse, he reported that the Humbled would rejoin Linden as she approached Salva Gildenbourne in the morning. "They, too, deem the Manethrall's counsel apt."

That night, Linden did not expect to sleep. The rocks on which she lay seemed full of memories and fears, as legible to her flesh as they were to Anele's peculiar sight. They jutted against her like tangible reminders of all that she had gained and lost since she had first approached the Hills of Andelain with Covenant, Sunder, and Hollian. But she called a faint current of Earthpower from the Staff to soothe her taut nerves. Then she closed her eyes to rest them-and when she opened them again a moment later, dawn had come upon her, as stealthy and unforeseen as the results of every choice that she had ever made.

Her companions roused quickly, at once eager and apprehensive. Anele scented the air fretfully, as if he could smell trouble; but the fragmentation of his mind prevented him from describing what he sensed. Perhaps antic.i.p.ating another battle, Liand frowned darkly. However, he could not conceal the growing excitement behind his concern. Salva Gildenbourne promised to be unlike anything that he had ever seen.

Pahni also may have wished to gaze upon the vast woodland: her only knowledge of the Land's olden forests came from Ramen tales. Yet her anxiety for Liand dominated her. And Bhapa's emotions were similar, although he worried for the Manethrall rather than Liand. As for Mahrtiir, his belief that he had lost much of his usefulness dulled his characteristic hunger for peril and striving. The role which he had chosen for himself resembled that of a sacrificial lamb.

Only Stave faced the new day as if it were like any other. His single eye and his flat mien suggested neither hope nor trepidation.

As soon as the companions had eaten, Pahni kissed Liand quickly. Then the Cords summoned their Ranyhyn and rode away to a.s.sume the responsibilities of the Humbled.

In moments, Stave and Liand had repacked the bedding and supplies.

Hyn and Hynyn, Rhohm, Hrama, and Narunal answered Stave's whistle almost immediately, as if they had their own reasons for excitement or alarm. With Anele between them, Liand and Linden followed Mahrtiir and Stave to meet the horses.

The early sky looked too pristine to hold any omens. As the sun mounted, it spread light and azure across the heavens, immaculate and unfathomable; absolved from taint. If Anele were indeed able to detect an ominous scent, Linden could not. She smelled only the freshness of a bright day after rain; the gentle pleasure of gra.s.ses and wildflowers and loam in springtime.

First at a canter, then a liquid run, the Ranyhyn bore their riders into the southeast, toward the last obstacle or opportunity between Linden's company and Andelain.

Here the ground rose into a sequence of low ridges like striations across the landscape. Where the slopes were gradual, the horses confronted them directly, pounding upward without hesitation, and descending in a rush as smooth and secure as the surface of Glimmermere. But where the ridges jutted more steeply, Narunal angled across their sides; and the other Ranyhyn followed seamlessly, letting Mahrtiir's mount lead them by a stone's throw.

In the vale between the second and third ridge, Branl awaited Linden and her companions. At the same time, Galt approached them from the south. Although he rode at a full gallop, he conveyed no impression of haste or urgency. And Stave said nothing: apparently he heard no warning in the thoughts of the Humbled. While Hynyn and Narunal nickered a greeting to Bhanoryl, all of the Ranyhyn ran at the next rise as if it were level ground.

As Hyn kept pace with the other horses, still following Mahrtiir and Narunal, Linden looked around for Clyme. Presumably Bhapa and Pahni were far ahead, searching the air and the gra.s.s and the rumpled slopes for hints of ambush. But Linden wanted to see Clyme. He would come from the east, the most likely direction of attack.

Soon he appeared against the sky on the crest of the fourth ridge. Like Galt, he rode at speed, but without indicating the proximity of foes.

In the vale beyond that ridge-low ground as narrow as a barranca, but not as sheer, with a freshet from the previous day's rain running through it-Clyme met Linden and her companions. At once, she asked the Manethrall for a halt. The morning was still early, and the stream between the ridges lay in shadow. But she did not need broad daylight in order to study the condition of the Humbled.

They were closer to wholeness than she had imagined; closer than she would have believed possible. Some of their cuts and gashes had already become scars. The rest were healing cleanly. And their cracked or broken bones were almost entirely mended.

Like their strength, the native resilience of the Haruchai was more than human. Hard riding had not harmed them. It had only slowed their recuperation.

Satisfied, Linden said quietly, All right." Doubtless the Humbled remained uncertain of her. Perhaps their suspicions had increased. "Let's get going." Nevertheless she trusted them with her life-and with the lives of her friends as well. "I've been waiting to see Andelain again for years."

Without hesitation, the Manethrall headed along the vale until he reached a place where the Ranyhyn could surge up the sides of the next ridge.

Slowly he increased his lead-or the other horses held back-until he rode a dozen strides or more ahead of Linden and her defenders.

Pa.s.sing the crest, the riders ran out of shadow and down a gentle expanse of sunlit gra.s.s toward another rise. But it was little more than a line of low hillocks, and did not slow the Ranyhyn. Perhaps half a league beyond it stood a much higher ridge with more difficult slopes. Here and there, lichen-mottled fists and foreheads of bedrock jutted from the hillsides like b.u.t.tresses. The horses were forced to pick a crooked and cautious way upward.

At the end of that ascent, however, Linden and her companions saw Salva Gildenbourne for the first time. As if involuntarily, they stopped to gaze at the forest's immanent majesty.

It lay on the far side of a last ridge, a small interruption like a ripple in the earth. From the vantage of higher ground, Linden could see that Salva Gildenbourne was indeed vast. It stretched from the eastern horizon across her path and into the west, where it began to curve by slight degrees toward the south: a rich variegated green panoply bedecked at intervals with the ineffable gold of Gilden trees, and prodigal with the new growth of spring and rain; profligate with life and subtle Earthpower.

By her estimation, she was roughly fifteen leagues from Andelain. At this elevation, she might have been able to hope for a glimpse of the Hills which held the Land's defining glory. But Sunder and Hollian had wrought well when they had brought forth Salva Gildenbourne. In addition, the forest had flourished for millennia on the overflow of Andelain's fecundity. The woodland was too deep, dense, and tall to permit any faint emanation of the Hills to reach Linden's senses.

Still she searched the southeast so avidly that moments pa.s.sed before she felt the tension thick around her; the growing apprehension of her companions. Then she heard Liand say anxiously. "Linden," and she saw him point toward the east.

The four Haruchai were gazing in that direction. Anele did the same in spite of his blindness. Mahrtiir had already ridden past the crest; but Narunal had halted when the other Ranyhyn did, and the Manethrall's face also was turned to the east.

As soon as Linden saw the smoke seething out of the trees at the farthest limit of her sight, she wondered how she had failed to notice it immediately.

The smoke itself was black and fatal, but it was only smoke: it did not cry out to her health-sense. Natural fires were possible. Yet the season was spring. Showers had soaked the woods.

Nonetheless Salva Gildenbourne was burning.

And there was more.

At that distance, she did not expect to see flames; but she discerned something worse. Rather than fire, she descried a kind of diseased Earthpower, an organic mystical energy distilled and polluted until it had become as fiery as a furnace, as hot as lava, and incandescent with hunger.

Instantly, instinctively, Linden knew the cause of the blaze. You'll recognize them when you see them. Foul showed you what they're like. In imposed visions during her translation to the Land, she had seen spots of wrongness bloom like chancres in the body of the Land, eruptions of ruin among the gra.s.s and beauty of the landscape. And from those vile pustulent boils, buboes, infections, had squirmed forth devouring monsters which seemed to emerge from the depths of volcanoes. Serpentlike and ma.s.sive, with kraken jaws formed to rip and swallow earth and gra.s.s and trees, those beasts had feasted on the Land as if it were flesh. Ravenously they had consumed the vista of her vision.

Since then, she had learned to name the monsters. They were skurj, and they served Kastenessen because he had released them when he won free of his Durance.

They were a distortion rather than a shattering of Law, but they had one quality in common with caesures: they were discrete, localized; individually small compared to Salva Gildenbourne, or to the wider Land. However, enough of them together could wreak enormous devastation. Their combined hungers might prove to be as ruinous as the Sunbane.

Linden did not say their name aloud. None of her companions uttered it.

Instead she asked softly so that she would not gasp or groan, "How far-? Stave, can you tell how far away they are?"

"A score of leagues," the former Master replied as if he were unacquainted with dread or horror. "Perhaps somewhat more."

"More," stated Galt flatly.

"Are you able to determine their number'?" asked Liand. "I cannot."

Roger had told Linden that Kastenessen had not brought very many of them down from the north yet, but she had no confidence that Covenant's son had given her the truth.

"The distance precludes certainty," answered Stave. "but they do not appear to be as many as ten. Salva Gildenbourne has endured substantial harm. The source of this smoke is not the only region where the trees have suffered. Other portions also have been devoured, some at the verge, some in the depths, and some nigh unto Andelain itself. Yet the savaging of the forest is fresh only at the site of the smoke. Earlier flames were extinguished by rain." He looked to the Humbled for confirmation. "Therefore we judge that this smoke reveals where Kastenessen's beasts feed, and that the skurj are few in number."

At the sound of that name, Anele groaned.

"It is conceivable," Stave continued implacably. "that they feed for a time, then burrow beneath the trees to emerge in another place. But this is by no means certain. It is also conceivable that other skurj lurk within the earth. Indeed, it is conceivable that beasts in far greater numbers are masked by trees and distance, and that the razing of Andelain has already begun.

"Nor are we able to estimate the swiftness of the skurj. We can be certain only that Kastenessen is aware of your journey, and of your purpose. He will not find it difficult to gauge the point at which you will enter Salva Gildenbourne."

Linden swallowed at the dread beating in her throat. "Then we need to move fast. And we need to go now," before the distant monsters could cross twenty leagues of forest.

She had to hope that Roger and a new army of Cavewights or other forces did not await her among the trees.

Mahrtiir must have heard her-or Narunal did. At once, the Manethrall's Ranyhyn sprang into a hard gallop down the slope.

In formation, with the Humbled surrounding Stave and Linden, Liand and Anele, the company plunged after Mahrtiir.

As Hyn rushed toward the last ridge before the descent to Salva Gildenbourne, Linden confirmed that Covenant's ring still hung under her shirt; that Jeremiah's racecar remained in her pocket. Then she tightened her grasp on the Staff of Law and tried to ready herself. At her back, she felt Liand take the orcrest from its pouch and close it in his fist; but he did not invoke its radiance.

Clutching Hrama's mane, Anele continued to face the smoke in the east. His fixation there gave Linden reason to hope that no skurj were concealed closer to her small company.

In moments, the Ranyhyn were pounding up the shallow sides of the final rise; and she began to worry about Pahni and Bhapa. But as she and her companions followed Mahrtiir over the crest and downward again, she spotted the two Cords at the edge of the forest.

Their apprehension as they waved told her that they had seen the smoke and drawn their own conclusions; but their manner did not suggest any immediate peril.

Now Linden could see why Stave had described Salva Gildenbourne as unruly.-formed without the benefit of lore. She would not have called it a forest: it was a jungle. With no Forestal, or any other benign power, to shepherd the trees, they had thronged so close to each other over the centuries, and were crowded by such a mult.i.tude of brush, fallen branches, and ma.s.sive moss-thick deadwood trunks, that they seemed to forbid intrusion. Indeed, they almost forbade light.

They would restrict the percipience of anyone who walked among them.

Fifteen leagues of this woodland stood between her and Andelain; within Salva Gildenbourne, she and her companions might be taken by surprise; and she did not know how quickly the skurj moved.

By the time that Hyn and the other horses had slowed to join the Ramen, Mahrtiir had already spoken to Bhapa and Pahni. "There is no present peril apart from the distant skurj," he announced. "The Cords are certain of this.

"We are Ramen. Only theurgy may baffle our skills. But there is another matter which must be decided here."

Linden hugged the Staff to her chest. "Go on. I don't know how much time we have."

"Ringthane," said Mahrtiir as if he were glowering beneath his bandage. "we cannot ask the Ranyhyn to enter this forest. They would bear us, forcing pa.s.sage among the brush and saplings. But if we were a.s.sailed, by the skurj or any other foe, they could neither defend themselves nor flee. Salva Gildenbourne is too densely obstructed. Such monsters as we have cause to fear would devour the Ranyhyn whole."

Linden winced. "You're saying that we'll have to make it on foot." Fifteen leagues through the heaviest jungle that she had seen since the rampant dire fertility of the Sunbane. "That doesn't even sound possible."

"Yet the Manethrall speaks sooth," said Stave. "In this, the Humbled and I concur."

d.a.m.n it, she thought. "And there aren't any roads? Any paths? No, of course not." The Masters had discouraged travel for centuries. They certainly had not wanted anyone to visit Andelain, where the numinous manifestation of Earthpower would undermine everything that Stave's kinsmen had striven to accomplish. "So where is the nearest river?"

"In this region," Bhapa offered hesitantly, "are streams aplenty. The nearest lies no more than half a league to the east. Doubtless it provides a path into Salva Gildenbourne. Yet-"

"Yet," rasped Mahrtiir. "it would serve neither us nor the Ranyhyn if we are a.s.sailed. Such a path would be too easily blocked against us."

"No true river enters Salva Gildenbourne from the north," Stave added. "Only the nearer streams flow southward. Others gather toward Landsdrop in the east. If you seek to approach Andelain by water, we must ride west and south to the Soulsease. Even mounted as we are, that journey must delay us further. And there we will be no less distant from our goal."

Bitter with frustration, Linden faced Stave. "Why didn't you tell me? You knew all this. We could have headed straight for the Soulsease from Revelstone. We could have saved-"

"Chosen." Stave's eye flashed. "I did not speak of the Soulsease because I had no certain knowledge of the skurj. Also I deem our present course to be the safer road. Any pa.s.sage into Salva Gildenbourne by river will be fraught with hazard. Doubtless the Ranyhyn would be able to bear us, swimming. But doing so, they could not guard themselves." He indicated her other companions. "Nor could we give battle on their behalf-or on our own. Only your powers might preserve us."

Mahrtiir and the Cords nodded their agreement.

"A raft-?" Liand offered tentatively.

Stave held Linden's gaze. "Grant that we may devise a raft adequate to convey us. Still we would be required to part from the Ranyhyn. And still would we be defenseless, apart from your powers. Do you relish the prospect of spears, arrows, flung stones, and nameless theurgies while we stand exposed upon the unsteady support of a raft?

"If you did not ward us all, we could do naught but perish."

From the forest's edge, Linden could not see the place where the skurj consumed Salva Gildenbourne. She sensed nothing of the monsters. For that very reason, she seemed to feel them rush closer by the moment.

Bracing herself on the hard stone of her purpose, she said, All right. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blame you.

"I'm sure that you're right. And I really can't face the delay of riding around this forest." She did not want to give Kastenessen or Roger that much time-"Let's go to that stream Bhapa mentioned. Well do what we can on foot."

Surely any watercourse would be less occluded with brush and deadwood than the rest of the forest?

Mahrtiir nodded his a.s.sent. Without waiting for a reply from Stave or any of the Humbled, he and his Cords sent their mounts racing eastward along the fringe of Salva Gildenbourne.

Linden ground her teeth as she and the rest of her companions followed. She was galloping straight toward the most deadly of her many foes, but she could not imagine a better alternative. She had to locate Loric's krill; needed to find Thomas Covenant among the Dead. She would never rescue Jeremiah without them.

The Harrow's claim that he could take her to her son meant nothing while he stayed away. He may have feared Kastenessen and the skurj as badly as she did- The swift run of the Ranyhyn startled birds from the nearby trees.

Gra.s.shoppers leapt away and b.u.t.terflies scattered. Linden's company plowed a furrow of small frights, quickly forgotten in the immaculate sunlight, as the riders shortened the distance between themselves and their peril.