The Runes of the Earth

by Stephen R. Donaldson

  Now she wished that she had asked Liand to bring water as well as bread and cheese from her quarters. She had gained Stave’s support and freed Anele. The Staff in her hands reassured her. But the price—Revelstone was threatened by Demondim and the Illearth Stone because she had dared the past. The ur-viles and Waynhim had been decimated in her name, and many Haruchai had died. Her defiance had alienated the Masters. And because he had declared himself, Stave had suffered a hurt far more profound than the beating he had received from Esmer. She wanted water to wash down the taste of what she had accomplished.

  Nevertheless she trudged onward, following her guide into the unmapped complications of Revelstone.

  At first, she and her companions walked the unfamiliar passages in silence. This part of the Keep had not been prepared for guests: there were no lamps, and the torches were far apart, leaving only a faint tang of smoke in the air. But Stave knew the way and did not hesitate.

  However, Liand emitted a growing disquiet, and his need to speak soon became palpable. Clearing his throat, he began awkwardly, “Stave—” Then he admitted, “I know not how to address you. I have considered you a Master, but now that title seems”—he faltered briefly—“false.”

  “I am Stave,” the Haruchai replied. “I need no other name.”

  “Very well.” Liand tried again. “Stave. I wish to say—” For a moment longer, he struggled. Then he took on the dignity which Linden had first seen in him during their flight from Mithil Stonedown. In a firmer voice, he announced, “I regret that I have thought ill of you. Yes, and spoken ill as well. Your courage shames me.”

  Stave may have shrugged. “We are all shamed, you no more than I”—he glanced at Linden—“and neither of us more than the Chosen, who should not have been subjected to the disapproval of the Masters.”

  He waited until he had led his companions through the intersection of several corridors. Then he assured the Stonedownor, “Yet you need have no fear of me. I have claimed a place at the side of the Chosen, and will not withdraw from it.”

  “I do not doubt you,” Mahrtiir put in gruffly. “You have won my esteem as well, Stave of the Haruchai. The Ramen will never again err by demeaning you.”

  Stave nodded, but made no other reply.

  I have claimed—Again Linden fought back tears. She feared that she would never be done with weeping. She had only been in the Land for a few days, and already she needed so much forgiveness—

  Even Anele had refused to let her heal him.

  They walked on; and Linden’s thirst increased; and the passages of Revelstone seemed to have no end. Eventually, however, they reached a broad stair which appeared to curve up indefinitely into the dark rock of the Keep. And at the foot of the stair they found a stout figure waiting for them.

  The nearest torch was some distance away. In spite of the gloom, however, Linden soon recognized the Mahdoubt. The comfortable complacency of the older woman’s aura was unmistakable.

  Still shadows seemed to trail about the Mahdoubt like wisps of fog. But then she faced Linden with her startling eyes; and at once every scrap and tatter of obscurity dissipated, evaporated by her oblique warmth. Now she became more vivid to Linden’s health-sense than any of her companions; more distinct than the stone of the halls. The Mahdoubt’s presence shone in the dimness, lambent with abundance and implications. She appeared to command a personal dimension which was at once more ordinary and more numinous than any other place in the Keep.

  Apparently Mahrtiir had not encountered the Mahdoubt before. He started forward to place himself between Linden and the older woman. But Liand caught his arm and explained quickly, “She is the Mahdoubt. She serves Revelstone. And she has cared for us kindly.”

  Mahrtiir peered through the dimness. “She serves?” He sounded surprised. “Yet she is—” He hesitated. “There is that about her which—” Then he shook his head. “Perhaps I am mistaken.” To the Mahdoubt, he added, “I crave your pardon. My concerns have misled me.”

  Stave said nothing. However, he bowed to the older woman as he had to Linden, acknowledging her worth in spite of his injuries.

  The Mahdoubt ignored all of the men. “The lady is thirsty,” she huffed as if to reprove some fault in Revelstone’s hospitality—or in Linden. “She neglects her own needs. Is the Mahdoubt pleased? She is not. Oh, assuredly. Yet it is her burden and her gift to supply care where it is found lacking.”

  From within her miswoven robe she produced a flagon of water which she thrust unceremoniously at Linden.

  As Linden accepted it, the Mahdoubt continued, “The lady must not delay. Peril awaits her. Peril and pain, most assuredly. Yet the Mahdoubt will hinder her a moment. A little moment.”

  The woman stepped closer. “Heed her, lady,” she urged, whispering. “The Masters know not what they do.” She appeared to believe that Stave and the others could not hear her. “Nor does the lady.” She sighed lugubriously. “Nor does the Mahdoubt, alas.”

  Then she breathed with an air of intensity, “This, however, she knows assuredly. Be cautious of love. It misleads. There is a glamour upon it which binds the heart to destruction.”

  Linden stared at her. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

  The Mahdoubt did not answer. Instead she turned and walked away. As she moved, she appeared to wrap herself in shadows so that she slipped from sight almost at once.

  Be cautious of love?

  “Strange—” Mahrtiir murmured, gazing after the woman. “For a moment—a moment only—I seemed to see another in her place. Yet the seeming was brief. It mystifies me.”

  “Stave—?” Linden asked without knowing how to put her question into words.

  “She is the Mahdoubt,” he replied stolidly. “She serves Revelstone. Naught else is certain of her.”

  With one hand, he gestured toward the stair, urging his companions to ascend.

  Linden eyed the heights. She was too tired for this—and understood too little. But the Mahdoubt had given her water, and when she drank deeply she began to feel somewhat stronger. Handing the flagon to Liand, she said with a sigh, “All right. I’m ready. This can’t go on forever.”

  With her companions, she followed Stave up the stairs.

  They seemed to ascend for a long time; but when the Haruchai at last guided his small company into a side passage, the way became easier. And soon Linden saw more light ahead: not the flickering of torches, or the yellow glow of lamps, but the bright illumination of day.

  Stave had brought them to a balcony in the prow of the Keep, a walled projection overlooking the courtyard above the inner gates. From a gap in the ramparts, a narrow bridge of wooden slats hung suspended between the Keep and the watchtower, supported by ropes as thick as hawsers. More ropes served as railings and handholds on either side of the span.

  Stave strode out onto the slats without hesitation. After a moment, Linden followed, balancing herself with the Staff, and trusting the ropes to keep her safe.

  When she and her companions had crossed the span, Stave led them past tall piles of firewood and clay tubs of oil—the Keep’s first defense against the Demondim—to another walled projection like a coign several levels above the open gates of the tower. From this vantage, they could see a wide arc of Revelstone’s environs: north toward a region of newly planted fields, south and west among the hills that buttressed the Keep’s jutting plateau, and east down the long gradual slope of the bare plain where the previous day Linden and her company had emerged from her caesure, pursued by monsters.

  Glancing down, she saw Handir and the Humbled on a similar coign one level below her. Their attention was fixed to the east. As soon as she looked in that direction, she saw what held their eyes.

  Some distance away, perhaps half a league, the horde of the Demondim was plainly visible, advancing in an undifferentiated tumult toward the Keep. Even from so far away, the Vile-spawn seemed potent enough to overwhelm the Keep. Their malice howled at Linden’s senses, and a clangor
of opalescence stung the skin of her cheeks. At intervals, rank emerald flashed into the skies, staining her vision with images of violence; and concussions followed after them, hard blows which kicked up spouts and ripples of dust all around the horde. Despite the distance, faint tremors reached the watchtower. The stone seemed to shiver in reply, spreading visceral dread along her nerves.

  Briefly the effects of the Illearth Stone consumed Linden’s attention. But then Stave pointed out over the plain; and she saw a small cluster of riders racing ahead of the onslaught.

  Four Masters mounted on horses galloped for their lives. She could not guess how long or how far they had fled: the frenzy of the horses suggested that they had been ridden hard. But they had opened a gap between themselves and the Demondim. If they did not fall or falter, they would reach the watchtower ahead of their pursuers; in time for Revelstone’s defenders to close the gates.

  Peering fearfully across the distance, Linden counted four horses, four Masters. But two of the mounts bore other riders as well: the beasts were badly overburdened. Although their terror goaded them, they were falling behind their companions. And they looked like they were about to founder. At erratic intervals, they stumbled under the weight of their riders.

  When she saw them clearly, Linden’s heart seemed to fail her, and she sank to her knees. The Staff clattered, forgotten, to the stone beside her.

  The Masters had not rescued strangers. She knew both of them intimately.

  One was Jeremiah; her son beyond question. As the Master’s mount pounded the dirt, the boy waved his arms, urging the horse to run faster, and shouted encouragement to the other riders.

  Even from so far away, Linden could see that his eyes were afire with excitement.

  The other stranger was unmistakably Thomas Covenant.

  Here ends

  The Runes of the Earth

  Book One of

  “The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.”

  The story continues in Book Two

  Fatal Revenant.

  Glossary

  Acence: a Stonedownor, sister of Atiaran

  Ahamkara: Hoerkin, “the Door”

  Ahanna: painter, daughter of Hanna

  Aimil: daughter of Anest, wife of Sunder

  a-Jeroth of the Seven Hells: Lord of wickedness; Clave-name for Lord Foul the Despiser

  ak-Haru: a supreme Haruchai honorific

  Akkasri na-Mhoram-cro: a member of the Clave

  aliantha: treasure-berries

  Alif, the Lady: a woman Favored of the gaddhi

  amanibhavam: horse-healing grass, dangerous to humans

  Amatin: a Lord, daughter of Matin

  Amith: a woman of Crystal Stonedown

  Amok: mysterious guide to ancient Lore

  Amorine: First Haft, later Hiltmark

  Anchormaster: second in command aboard a Giantship

  Andelain, the Hills of Andelain, the Andelainian Hills: a region of the Land which embodies health and beauty

  Andelainscion: a region in the Center Plains

  Anele: a deranged old man; son of Sunder and Hollian

  Anest: a woman of Mithil Stonedown, sister of Kalina

  Annoy: a Courser

  anundivian yajña: “lost” Ramen craft of bone-sculpting

  Appointed, the: an Elohim chosen to bear a particular burden; Findail

  Arch of Time, the: symbol of the existence and structure of time; conditions which make the existence of time possible

  arghule/arghuleh: ferocious ice-beasts

  Asuraka: Staff-Elder of the Loresraat

  Atiaran Trell-mate: a Stonedownor, daughter of Tiaran; mother of Lena

  Aumbrie of the Clave, the: storeroom for former Lore

  Auspice, the: throne of the gaddhi

  aussat Befylam: child-form of the jheherrin

  Bahgoon the Unbearable: character in a Giantish tale

  Banas Nimoram: the Celebration of Spring

  Bandsoil Bounds: region north of Soulsease River

  Banefire, the: fire by which the Clave affects the Sunbane

  Bann: a Bloodguard, assigned to Lord Trevor

  Bannor: a Bloodguard, assigned to Thomas Covenant

  Baradakas: a Hirebrand of Soaring Woodhelven

  Bareisle: an island off the coast of Elemesnedene

  Benj, the Lady: a woman favored by the gaddhi

  Berek Halfhand: Heartthew, Lord-Fatherer, first of the Old Lords

  Bern:Haruchai lost to the Clave

  Bhapa: a Cord of the Ramen, Sahah’s half-brother; companion of Linden Avery

  Bhrathair: a people met by the wandering Giants, residents of Bhrathairealm on the verge of the Great Desert

  Bhrathairain: the town of the Bhrathair

  Bhrathairain Harbor: the port of the Bhrathair

  Bhrathairealm: the land of the Bhrathair

  Birinair: a Hirebrand, Hearthrall of Lord’s Keep

  Bloodguard, the:Haruchai, a people living in the Westron Mountains; the defenders of the Lords

  bone-sculpting: ancient Ramen craft; marrowmeld

  Borillar: a Hirebrand, Hearthrall of Lord’s Keep

  Bornin: a Haruchai, a Master of the Land

  Brabha: a Ranyhyn, Korik’s mount

  Branl: a Haruchai, a Master of the Land; one of the Humbled

  Brannil: man of Stonemight Woodhelven

  Brinn: a leader of the Haruchai, protector of Thomas Covenant; later Guardian of the One Tree

  Brow Gnarlfist: a Giant; father of the First of the Search

  caamora: Giantish ordeal of grief by fire

  Cable Seadreamer: a Giant, brother of Grimmand Honninscrave; member of the Search; possessed of the Earth-Sight

  Caer-Caveral: Forestal of Andelain; formerly Hile Troy

  Caerroil Wildwood: Forestal of Garroting Deep

  caesure: a Fall; a rent in the fabric of time

  Cail: one of the Haruchai, protector of Linden Avery

  Caitiffin: a captain of the armed forces of Bhrathairealm

  Callindrill Faer-mate: a Lord

  Callowwail, the river: stream arising from Elemesnedene

  Cavewights: evil creatures existing under Mount Thunder

  Ceer: one of the Haruchai

  Celebration of Spring, the: the Dance of the Wraiths of Andelain on the dark of the moon in the middle of spring

  Centerpith Barrens: a region in the Center Plains

  Cerrin: a Bloodguard, assigned to Lord Shetra

  Chant: one of the Elohim

  Char: a Cord of the Ramen, Sahah’s brother

  Chatelaine, the: courtiers of the gaddhi

  Chosen, the: title given to Linden Avery

  Circle of Elders: Stonedown leaders

  clachan, the: demesne of the Elohim

  Clang: a Courser

  Clangor: a Courser

  Clash: a Courser

  Clave, the: group which wields the Sunbane and rules the Land

  clingor: adhesive leather

  Close, the: the Council chamber of Lord’s Keep

  Clyme: a Haruchai, a Master of the Land; one of the Humbled

  Coercri: The Grieve; former home of the Giants in Seareach

  Colossus of the Fall, the: ancient stone figure guarding the Upper Land

  Consecear Redoin: a region north of the Soulsease River

  Cord: Ramen second rank

  Cording: Ramen ceremony of becoming a Cord

  Corimini: Eldest of the Loresraat

  Corruption: Bloodguard/Haruchai name for Lord Foul

  Council of Lords, the: protectors of the Land

  Courser: a beast made by the Clave using the Sunbane

  Creator, the: maker of the Earth Croft: Graveler of Crystal Stonedown

  Crowl: a Bloodguard croyel, the: mysterious creatures which grant power through bargains, living off their hosts

  Crystal Stonedown: home of Hollian Currier: a Ramen rank

  Damelon Giantfriend: son of Berek Halfhand, second High Lord of the Old Lor
ds

  Dance of the Wraiths, the: Celebration of Spring

  Dancers of the Sea, the:merewives; suspected to be the offspring of the Elohim Kastenessen and his mortal lover

  Daphine: one of the Elohim

  Dawngreeter: highest sail on the foremast of a Giantship

  Dead, the: specters of those who have died

  Defiles Course, the: river in the Lower Land

  Demondim, the: creatures created by Viles; creators of ur-viles and Waynhim

  Demondim-spawn: another name for ur-viles and Waynhim; Vain

  Desolation, the: era of ruin in the Land, after the Ritual of Desecration

  Despiser, the: Lord Foul

  Despite: evil; name given to the Despiser’s nature and effects

  dharmakshetra: “to brave the enemy,” a Waynhim

  dhraga: a Waynhim

  dhubha: a Waynhim

  dhurng: a Waynhim

  diamondraught: Giantish liquor

  Din: a Courser

  Doar: a Bloodguard

  Dohn: a Manethrall of the Ramen

  Dolewind, the: wind blowing to the Soulbiter

  drhami: a Waynhim

  Drinishok: Sword-Elder of the Loresraat

  Drinny: a Ranyhyn, Lord Mhoram’s mount; foal of Hynaril

  dromond: a Giantship

  Drool Rockworm: a Cavewight; leader of the Cavewights, finder of the Illearth Stone

  dukkha: “victim”; a Waynhim

  Dura Fairflank: a mustang, Covenant’s mount

  Durance: a cryptic barrier, apparently broken

  durhisitar: a Waynhim

  During Stonedown: village destroyed by the Grim; home of Hamako

  Duroc: one of the Seven Words

  Durris: a Haruchai

  EarthBlood: concentrated fluid Earthpower; only known to exist under Melenkurion

  Skyweir; source of the Power of Command

  Earthfriend: title first given to Berek Halfhand

  Earthpower: natural power of all life; the source of all power in the Land

  Earthroot: lake under Melenkurion Skyweir

  Earth-Sight: Giantish power to perceive distant dangers and needs

  eftmound: gathering-place for the Elohim

  eh-Brand: one who can use wood to read the Sunbane

  Elemesnedene: home of the Elohim