Part 44 (1/2)
Liand greeted her with a gust of relief. ”Linden!”
”Ringthane.” Mahrtiir was less easily rea.s.sured. ”This Master,” he snorted, slapping a gesture at Galt, ”grants nothing. He has refused to reveal your whereabouts. He will say only that in your absence we may not enter your chambers. Yet it is manifest that he has seen combat. Events of import have transpired while we are kept in ignorance, confined by stone.
”Does some new threat confront this harsh Keep?”
Bhapa shared the Manethrall's ire.
Pahni stood beside Liand, holding his arm as if she were determined not to let him go. Under his breath, Anele mumbled his distrust of the Masters and imprisonment.
Linden held up her hands to quiet Mahrtiir's vexation. Still panting, she said, ”I'm sorry. Were all right. You can see that. There were a couple of things that I needed to do while you were getting ready. Stave will tell you about them when he gets a chance.
Right now”-she tasted the air and found that daybreak was near-”we should head down to the gates. We have a long way to go, and I don't think that any of it will be easy.”
She had left nothing of hers in her rooms.
”Linden Avery,” Galt began firmly. ”the Masters-”
She cut him off. ”Don't say it. I already know.” And she was not yet sure what form her response might take. ”If I'm wrong, Handir won't hesitate to set me straight.”
The Humbled raised an eyebrow in apparent disapproval. But he did not insist on speaking.
Mahrtiir flashed a fierce grin at Galt; at Linden. Linden did not know what the Manethrall saw in her-or in the Humbled-but he was eager for its outcome.
Bhapa and Pahni said nothing: they would not when their Manethrall was silent. But Linden expected a flood of questions from Liand. She braced herself to fend them off.
He surprised her, however. With unfamiliar ease, he dammed his baffled concerns. Studying him, she guessed that Pahni had relieved much of his ignorance. But the change in him [.
had another source as well: she could see it. On a visceral and perhaps unconscious level, the focus of his attention had s.h.i.+fted. It was now concentrated on Pahni. He was Linden's friend: he would always be her friend. He would stand by her with the same steadfastness that she had known in Sunder. But she no longer consumed his thoughts, or his heart.
His alteration gave her a touch of relief, which she attempted to conceal for his sake. It freed her to focus more closely on her own intentions.
Even when her thoughts were elsewhere, everything that she felt and did revolved around Jeremiah.
Stave faced her with inquiry in his eye. He may have wanted to know how she would reply to the Masters. When she said nothing, however, he gave another small shrug and went to help the Ramen and Liand carry their burdens.
As soon as her companions had shouldered their bedrolls and supplies, Mahrtiir nodded sharply. With Stave beside her to lead the way, Linden headed back down the many stairs and pa.s.sages toward the forehall. Her companions came after her; and Galt followed behind them as if to ensure that they did not change their minds.
After a short distance, Linden asked Liand to walk with her. In spite of her relief, she needed to talk to him.
Through Anele, Covenant had promised the Stonedownor an obscure and difficult burden. And Liand had given her more generosity and consideration than she could measure. She wanted to contribute to his sense of discovered purpose. She owed him that much.
He left Pahni and Anele to join her. For a moment, she studied him sidelong, observing the ease with which his st.u.r.dy frame bore two bedrolls and a bulging sack; measuring the extent of his new antic.i.p.ation. Then, trying to sound casual, she said. ”I promised you some answers. Pahni has told you what she can. Stave will fill in a few of the gaps. But you and I-11 She paused briefly to consider what she could offer him. Not for the first time, she regretted that he was not safe in Mithil Stonedown. wish I could spare you. But there was no safety anywhere: not now. We should talk about orcrest.”p> wish I could spare you. But there was no safety anywhere: not now. We should talk about orcrest.”p> His eyes widened. ”Linden?” He could not mask his excitement.
”It suits you,” she said. ”That kind of Earthpower-It feels right.” He had inherited it across scores of generations. ”But I wonder if you've had time to explore what it can do.”
”I have seen that it gives light at need,” Liand replied with a mixture of awe, appreciation, and doubt. ”It is puissant to reunite the fragments of Anele's thoughts. And Stave has spoken of the test of truth. But I have gained no other knowledge.”
Carefully Linden probed with her health-sense at the pouch hanging from his belt, studying the strange textures of the Sunstone; tasting its unique savor. The impression of absence which it conveyed to ordinary sight was belied on other planes of perception.
”I think that there's more.” Wonder as gentle as a breeze curled through Linden. ”If I'm not mistaken, it can counter the effects of Kevin's Dirt. And not just for you. You should be able to help the rest of us. You won't need me,” or Glimmermere. ”to fend off that kind of blindness.
”In fact, you might be able to go further. I get the impression that orcrest can do some healing. Not physical. Spiritual.” With the Sunstone, Liand might be able to redress afflictions of wrongness. And that's not all.”
Then she s.n.a.t.c.hed herself back, startled by what she felt. ”My G.o.d, Liand,” she breathed; but she should not have been surprised. Over and over again, the Land had demonstrated its provident richness. ”I think that you can affect the weather.”
With enough practice-and enough courage- Liand stared at her. ”Surely that cannot be done.”
Linden tried to meet his disbelief; but before she found a reply, Stave said impa.s.sively, ”The Haruchai remember it. During the ages of the Bloodguard and the Lords, masters of the rhadhamaerl lore betimes performed such deeds with orcrest. In that use, however, the stone was destroyed.
Therefore orcrest was seldom thus expended, for all Stonedownors loved the Land's rock.”
He may have been cautioning Liand.
Watching the young man's gaze grow lambent with excitement, while behind him shadows filled Pahni's eyes, Linden murmured. ”I can't be sure. And I don't know how much lore is involved. I'm not even sure that I know what 'lore' means. But it's obvious that you have your own power now.”
She intended what she said as an affirmation, and in that she succeeded. Light and promises seemed to illumine Liand like a sunrise. But for Linden his reaction was eclipsed by Pahni's troubled pride and dread. Power imperiled its wielder, as Linden had learned repeatedly. The young Cord was afraid for him.
Sighing to herself, Linden walked toward her confrontation with the Masters. h.e.l.l, I wish any of us could spare you. She could afford to spare none of her companions. Not now: not after everything that she had learned and endured under Melenkurion Skyweir. And the Mandoubt's fate had demonstrated that Linden did not suffice to make their choices for them.
Her friends would live longer if they did not rely on her to protect them.
Eventually they reached the forehall, followed by Galt; and still Linden did not know how she would respond to the decision of the Masters. But when she found Handir waiting for her among a score of other Masters, including Clyme and Branl, with the gates of Revelstone sealed at his back, she knew that she had gauged their resolution accurately.
The Masters knew that she meant to leave Revelstone. They knew why. Stave had told them at her request. And they knew that she had heard the tale of their ancient encounter with the Insequent.
The closing of the gates was their answer.
For reasons of their own, they had provided lamps and torches aplenty. The forehall was bright with their rejection. In spite of their characteristic dispa.s.sion, the Voice of the Masters and Stave's other kinsmen conveyed the impression that they were poised for battle.
Linden did not hesitate. Striding directly to Handir, she stopped in front of him; inclined her head in acknowledgment. ”Handir. Please open the gates. My friends and I need to go.”
She could imagine no circ.u.mstances under which the Land might be saved by people who remained in Revelstone. And the croyel would not bring Jeremiah to her again. She could only rescue her son by going in search of him.
Handir replied to her bow with a nod. Formally he announced, ”Linden Avery, the Masters will not permit your departure.”
Behind Linden, the Manethrall muttered sour objurgations. Protests thronged in Liand. But they did not intrude between her and the Voice of the Masters.
Although she had known what to expect, Linden had to stifle a flare of anger. ”Would you mind telling me why?”
She hugged the Staff against her chest to steady herself on its refined and blackened strength-and to show Handir that she did not mean to challenge him with Law and Earthpower.
The inflexibility of his response seemed to give his words the force of a decree. We recognize that you are Linden Avery, Chosen and Sun-Sage, who accompanied ur-Lord Thomas Covenant to the redemption of the Land. Nonetheless we have not been swayed.
”At your word, we have not imprisoned the old man. Yet we are not persuaded that he may safely roam the Land. For reasons which Stave has doubtless described, we have not opposed the Stonedownor's possession of orcrest. But our acquiescence does not suggest that we see no hazard in his ignorance. We deem that he, also, may not safely roam the Land.”
The Voice of the Masters paused momentarily. Then he conceded.
”These are small matters, however. In your name, we might set them aside. But we have greater concerns.”
Tension mounted among Linden's companions. Anele shook his head anxiously from side to side while the Ramen tried to contain their indignation. With one hand, Liand gripped the pouch containing his piece of Sunstone. Only Stave appeared untouched by the att.i.tude of the Masters.