The way the hills baffled sound enabled her to catch a glimpse of the swift water before she heard it. Then she and her companions topped the last rise between them and the Soulsease; and the loud howl of its rush slapped at her. Narrowed by its stubborn granite channel, the river raced below her, white and writhing in despair toward its doom. And its doom towered over it, so massive and dire that the mountain filled all the east. Perhaps a league to Linden's right, the river flumed into the gullet of Mount Thunder and was swallowed away-ingested by the catacombs which mazed the hidden depths of the peak. When that water emerged again, on the Lower Land behind Gravin Threndor, it would be so polluted by the vileness of the Wightwarrens, so rank with the waste of charnels and breeding-dens, the spillage of forges and laboratories, the effluvium of corruption, that it would be called the Denies Course-the source of Sarangrave Flat's peril and perversion.
For a crazy moment. Linden thought Covenant meant to ride that extreme current into the mountain. But then he pointed toward the bank directly below him; and she saw that a roadway had been cut into the foothills at some height above the River. The River itself was declining: six days had passed since the last sun of rain; and the desert sun was rapidly drinking away the water which Andelain still provided. But the markings on the channel's sheer walls showed that the Soulsease virtually never reached as high as the roadway.
Along this road in ages past, armies had marched out of Mount Thunder to attack the Land. Much of the surface was ruinous, cracked and gouged by time and the severe alternation of the Sunbane, slick with spray; but it was still traversable. And it led straight into the dark belly of the mountain.
Covenant gestured toward the place where the walls rose like cliffs to meet the sides of Mount Thunder. He had to shout to make himself heard, and his voice was veined with stress. “That's Treacher's Gorge! Where Foul betrayed Kevin and the Council openly for the first time! Before they knew what he was! The war that broke Kevin's heart started there!”
The First scanned the thrashing River, the increasing constriction of the precipitate walls, then raised her voice through the roar. “Earthfriend, you have said that the passages of this mountain are a maze! How then may we discover the lurking place of the Despiser?”
“We won't have to!” His shout sounded feverish. He looked as tense and strict and avid as he had when Linden had first met him-when he had dammed the door of his house against her. “Once we get in there, all we have to do is wander around until we run into his defences. He’ll take care of the rest. The only trick is to stay alive until we get to him!”
Abruptly, he tamed to his companions. “You don't have to come! I’ll be safe. He won't do anything to me until he has me in front of him.” To Linden, he seemed to be saying the same things he had said on. Haven Farm, You don't know what's going on here. You couldn't possibly understand it. Go away. I don't need you. “You don't need to risk it”
But the First was not troubled by such memories. She replied promptly, “Of what worth is safety to us here? The Earth itself is at risk. Hazard is our chosen work. How will we bear the songs which our people will sing of us. if we do not hold true to the Search? We will not part from you.”
Covenant ducked his head as though he were ashamed or afraid. Perhaps he was remembering Saltheart Foamfollower. Yet his refusal or inability to meet Linden's. gaze indicated to her that she had not misread him. He was stilt vainly trying to protect her, spare her the consequences of her choices-consequences she did not know how to measure. And striving also to prevent her from interfering with what he meant to do.
But he did not expose himself to what she would say if he addressed her directly. Instead, he muttered, “Then let's get going.” The words were barely audible. “I don't know how much longer I can stand this.”
Nodding readily, me First at once moved ahead of him toward an erosion gully which angled down to the roadway. With one hand, she gripped the hilt of her longsword. Like her companions, she had lost too much in this quest. She was a warrior and wanted to measure out the price in blows.
Covenant followed her stiffly. The only strength left in his limbs was the stubbornness of his will.
Linden started after him, then turned back to Pitchwife. He still stood on the rim of the hill, gazing down into the Into the Wightwarrens River's rush as if it would carry his heart away. Though he was half again as tall as Linden, his deformed spine and grotesque features made him appear old and frail. His mute aching was as tangible as tears. Because of it, she put everything else aside for a moment.
“He was telling the truth about that, anyway. He doesn't need you to fight for him. Not anymore.” Pitchwife lifted his eyes like pleading to her. Fiercely, she went on, “And if he's wrong, I can stop him.” That also was true: the Sunbane and Ravers and Andelain's hurt had made her capable of it. “The First is the one who needs you. She can't beat Foul with just a sword-but she's likely to try. Don't let her get herself killed. Don't do that to yourself. Don't sacrifice her for me.”
His visage sharpened like a cry. His hands opened at his sides to show her and the desert sky that they were empty. Moisture blurred his gaze. For a moment, she feared he would say farewell to her; and hard grief clenched her throat But then a fragmentary smile changed the meaning of his face.
“Linden Avery,” he said clearly, “have I not affirmed and averred to all who would hear that you are well Chosen?”
Stooping toward her, he kissed her forehead. Then he hurried after the First and Covenant.
When she had wiped the tears from her cheeks, she followed him.
Vain trailed her with his habitual blankness. Yet she seemed to feel a hint of anticipation from him-an elusive tightening which he had not conveyed since the company had entered Elemesnedene.
Picking her way down the gully, she gained the rude shelf of the roadway and found her companions waiting for her. Pitchwife stood beside the First, reclaiming his place there; but both she and Covenant watched Linden. The First's regard was a compound of glad relief and uncertainty. She welcomed anything that eased her husband's unhappiness-but was unsure of its implications Covenant's attitude was simpler. Leaning close to Linden, he whispered against the background of the throttled River, “I don't know what you said to him. But thanks.”
She had no answer. Constantly, he foiled her expectations. When he appeared most destructive and unreachable, locked away in his deadly certainty, he showed flashes of poignant kindness, clear concern. Yet behind his empathy and courage lay his intended surrender, as indefeasible as despair. He contradicted himself at every turn. And how could she reply without telling him what she had promised?
But he did not appear to want an answer. Perhaps he understood her, knew that in her place he would have felt as she did. Or perhaps he was too weary and haunted to suffer questions or reconsider his purpose. He was starving for an end to his long pain. Almost immediately, he signalled his readiness to go on.
At once, the First started along the crude road toward the gullet of Mount Thunder.
With Pitchwife and then Vain behind her. Linden followed, stalking the stone, pursuing the Unbeliever to his crisis.
Below her, the Soulsease continued to shrink between its walls, consumed by the power of the Sunbane. The pitch of the rush changed as its roar softened toward sobbing. But she did not take her gaze from the backs of the First and Covenant, the rising sides of the gorge, the dark bulk of the mountain. Off that sun-ravaged crown had once come creatures of fire to rescue Thomas Covenant and the Lords from the armies of Drool Rockworm, the mad Cavewight. But those creatures had been called down by Law; and there was no more Law.