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

Stave?”
    “I?” Stave countered. He seemed to hear a jest in Covenant’s question. “No. I do not stand so high in my own estimation. And I do not doubt that the day will come when the Voice of the Masters must speak for the
Haruchai
rather than for the Land. The Council of Lords and the High Lord must regard wider concerns.
    “I have named Canrik to lead the first Council. He is newly acquainted with uncertainty, and will gain much from an immersion in the necessary doubts of the Lords.”
    Canrik nodded, expressionless as any Master or Bloodguard.
    “But Branl—?” Covenant asked. “Surely he’s earned it?”
    “I will not shoulder that burden,” the
Haruchai
halfhand stated flatly. “Clyme’s death mars my heart. I desire a different atonement. I will return to Gravin Threndor, seeking High Lord Loric’s
krill
.”
    He held up his remaining hand to forestall objections. “Certainly the Cavewights will greet me with enmity. However, Corruption no longer goads them to madness. And they, too, must feel awe at their continuation in life. It is my hope, therefore, that soft words and a refusal to do harm will dissuade them from bloodshed. They are not mindless, ur-Lord. And I am not helpless in my own defense, though I will cause no more hurt. Mayhap I will elude death until they perceive that we are no longer foes.
    “Should I succeed, I will bear the
krill
to Revelstone. And should I fail—” Branl shrugged delicately. “I will die content in myself. I will not perish grieving.”
    Covenant thought of Cail, who had been rejected by his people, and had gone to find his fate alone. Branl was rejected only by himself. Still he would have to find peace on his own terms.
    Finally Rime Coldspray said to Stave, “The boon you seek is too great to be granted readily, Rockbrother. My comrades and I must speak of it at length. Indeed, many Giantclaves await us, and we will spend whole seasons in delight and sorrow and hope. But first we will gladly accompany you to Revelstone. How can we refuse? We are Giants.”
    Together, Stave, Canrik, and Branl bowed their thanks.
    After a while, Linden came to join Covenant and Jeremiah. Resting one hand on her son’s shoulder, she pointed into the west. “Who do you suppose that is?”
    Looking there, Covenant saw a lone figure standing in sunlight at the rim of the hollow. A woman, he thought, although he could not be sure. The figure’s head was wrapped in cerements like the Theomach’s. Ribbands as garish as the Ardent’s ornamented the figure’s upper body, while from its waist hung a motley skirt as haphazard and arcane as the Mahdoubt’s.
    To Covenant’s gaze, and Linden’s, and Jeremiah’s, the figure replied with a beckoning gesture.
    At first, Covenant smiled. “It looks to me,” he said wryly, “like the Insequent are finally giving credence of the idea of acolytes.” He almost chuckled. “In fact, if I had to guess, I might say that’s
the
Acolyte.”
    But then his eyes darkened, and for a moment he resembled a man who had never recovered from his oldest wounds.
    “It’s time. We have to go.”
    As he spoke, the figure drifted out of sight.
    “Go?” Jeremiah protested at once. “Why? We just got here.”
    Linden studied her husband quizzically, but she did not contradict him.
    “The Chosen-son speaks for me as well,” began Rime Coldspray.
    “And for me,” put in Bluff Stoutgirth.
    “We have sung no songs to honor you,” Coldspray added. “We have not truly begun to voice our wonder and gratitude, our esteem deep as seas. We have not told you of our love. And we have heard neither Linden Giantfriend’s tale nor Jeremiah Chosen-son’s. In sooth, we are scarcely able to estimate your own.
    “What compulsion requires you to depart, Timewarden?”
    Covenant rubbed his glowing scar to disguise a clench of woe and regret. “Unearned knowledge,” he answered brusquely. “Right now, we’re too dangerous. Jeremiah and me. Maybe even Linden. Jeremiah needs time to figure out what he’s going to do with everything he got from
moksha
. He has to learn what it all means and decide how he wants to use it. Linden freed She Who Must Not Be Named. She freed Elena”—his voice caught for a moment—“and who knows how many other lost souls. That must have been shattering. She hasn’t had a chance to recover. And I’m carrying the Despiser around inside me. What he knows isn’t a problem for me. I used to be part of the Arch of