Why were they still alive?
Why were they no longer fleeing?
At last, he forced himself to look toward the east; and as he did so, the tsunami struck the cliff. In that instant, his entire reality became thunder and tumult as savage as the destruction of Ridjeck Thome.
Time seemed to pause as though the Arch itself recoiled in dismay. He felt stubborn rock shaken to shards and scattered. He heard cliffs scream as they clung to their moorings. He saw an immeasurable mass of water rise and rise, its surge crowned with froth and luminescence as if it were full of stars. Concussions shook the world. But he could not separate one detail from another. They were all one, all too much for his mind to contain; and they appeared to take no time. No time forever.
Water broke over the promontory; inundated it; plunged from its sides; swept forward. It spouted like a tremendous geyser from the rent where Foul’s Creche had once stood. Spray stung Covenant’s eyes until he could not see. It soaked his clothes, drenched his many wounds. Yet Clyme and Branl stood where they were, rigid as defiance. Apparently they believed that they had estimated the tsunami’s reach exactly; that it would not take them.
Too weak to protest, Covenant lay in Clyme’s arms and awaited the fate that the Humbled had chosen.
In front of him, the wave’s force was split by the wedge of the promontory, deflected by the shape and bulk of the stone. Higher turmoil crashed against the cliffs on either side. Sweeping over granite toward Hotash Slay, the tsunami parted; recoiled against itself; poured away. At the end of its rush, it climbed to the knees of the Masters. It slapped against the first bluffs of the Hills. Then it began to spill backward. Its sweep would have dragged anyone weaker than the Haruchai with it.
When time resumed its inexorable beat, Covenant understood that he was going to live.
After a while, he was able to think again. Eventually he was able to look away from the receding waters. But when he regarded his companions, their flat stoicism made him flinch. It reminded him that they had left the Ranyhyn behind.
Sighing to himself, he wondered whether he would ever again draw a breath that did not taste of salt and death. If the Humbled whistled, other Ranyhyn would come. And they would know how to find their way through the maze. But their fidelity would not make the loss of Mhornym and Naybahn less grievous. It would not relieve the necessity of Joan’s end.
By degrees, Covenant regained the sensation of passing moments. Through the star-pricked darkness, he watched the seas subside, thrashing against the cliffs. On either side, sections of stone had calved like glaciers. Slabs the size of Revelstone’s prow, or of Kevin’s Watch, continued to topple, unregarded by the lashing ocean. And as the waves shrank to the scale of a more ordinary storm, he saw that the end of the promontory was gone, broken by the brunt of the tidal-wave. Every hint or relic of the Despiser’s former habitation had collapsed, leaving no sign that it had ever existed.
Still Clyme and Branl stood where they were, as unmoved as icons. For a time, Covenant wondered why they remained, expressionless and dour. Then he realized that they were waiting for the Ranyhyn.
Waiting for Mhornym and Naybahn, and refusing to mourn, until hope became impossible.
Even then, they might not permit themselves sorrow. They were Haruchai: they had done what they could. To their way of thinking, grief was a form of disrespect. Any admission of loss would dishonor the sacrifice of the Ranyhyn.
Vexed by the self-inflicted wound that was the Haruchai version of rectitude, Covenant twisted against Clyme’s arms; asked to be put down. When the Master set him on his feet, he feared that he would prove too weak to stand. But he splayed his legs, braced himself on Clyme’s shoulder, and refused to crumble. Then he withdrew his hand, kept himself upright.
He needed at least that much distance from the intransigence of the Humbled. His own mute lament demanded it.
Gradually he became aware that dawn was near. The pallor in the east was faint: he could not be sure of it. Nonetheless his wan health-sense interpreted the darkness. His surviving nerves assured him that this night was nearly done.
Perhaps when the sun rose, the Humbled would consent to leave Hotash Slay so that he could at least try to return to Linden and Jeremiah and Stave; to Mahrtiir and the Swordmainnir.
Linden would recognize his sadness and his sins. Her companions would understand them.
But the sun did not rise.
By tentative increments, the east paled. Slowly a preternatural gloaming spread across the Sunbirth Sea until it diluted the dark over Hotash Slay and the Shattered Hills. In contrast, the stars overhead grew strangely distinct, eerie and fragile. They seemed closer, drawing near to bewail their plight. The Humbled became vaguely visible, as if they stood in dusk or shadow. At their backs, the Hills crouched like megalithic beasts. But there was no sun.
No sun at all.
When he peered upward, Covenant saw that the stars were winking out. One at a time, they vanished from the infinite heavens. A few died in rapid succession, others at longer intervals; but they were all doomed. Within a handful of days, every star would perish, extinguished by the unforbidden hunger of the Worm.
Here ends
Against All Things Ending
Book Three of
“The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.”
The story concludes in Book Four
The Last Dark.
Glossary
Abatha: one of the Seven Words
Acence: a Stonedownor, sister of Atiaran
Ahamkara: Hoerkin, “the Door”
Ahanna: painter, daughter of Hanna
Ahnryn: a Ranyhyn; mount of Tull
Aimil: daughter of Anest, wife of Sunder
Aisle of Approach: passage to Earthrootstair under Melenkurion Skyweir
a-Jeroth of the Seven Hells: Lord of wickedness; Clave-name for Lord Foul the Despiser
ak-Haru: a supreme Haruchai honorific; paragon and measure of all Haruchai virtues
Akkasri: a member of the Clave; one of the na-Mhoram-cro
aliantha: treasure-berries
Alif, the Lady: a woman Favored by 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: 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
Ardent, the: one of the Insequent
arghule/arghuleh: ferocious ice-beasts
Asuraka: Staff-Elder of the Loresraat
Atiaran: a Stonedownor, daughter of Tiaran, wife of Trell, mother of Lena
Audience Hall of Earthroot: maze under Melenkurion Skyweir to conceal and protect the Blood of the Earth
Aumbrie of the Clave, the: storeroom for former Lore
Auriference, the: one of the Insequent, long dead
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
Bargas Slit: a gap through the Last Hills from the Center Plains to Garroting Deep
Basila: a scout in Berek Halfhand’s army
Benj, the Lady: a woman Favored by the gaddhi
Berek Halfhand: Heartthew, Lord-Fatherer; first of the Old Lords
Bern: Haruchai slain by the Clave
Bhanoryl: a Ranyhyn; mount of Galt
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 city 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 and Hearthrall of Lord’s Keep
Bornin: a Haruchai; a Master of the Land
Brabha: a Ranyhyn; mount of Korik
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 Honninscrave; member of the Search; possessed of the Earth-Sight
Cabledarm: a Giant; one of the Swordmainnir
Caer-Caveral: Forestal of Andelain; formerly Hile Troy
Caerroil Wildwood: Forestal of Garroting Deep
caesure: a rent in the fabric of time; a Fall
Cail: one of the Haruchai; protector of Linden Avery
Caitiffin: a captain of the armed forces of Bhrathairealm
Callindrill: a Lord, husband of Faer
Callowwail, the River: stream arising from Elemesnedene
Cavewights: evil creatures existing under Mount Thunder
Cav-Morin Fernhold: former Forestal of Morinmoss
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
Center Plains, the: a region of the Land
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
Cirrus Kindwind: a Giant; one of the Swordmainnir
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
Corrupt, the: jheherrin name for themselves; also the soft ones
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 Lords
Damelon’s Door: door of lore which when opened permits passage through the Audience Hall of Earthroot under Melenkurion Skyweir
Dance of the Wraiths, the: the Celebration of Spring
Dancers of the Sea, the: merewives; suspected to be the offspring of the Elohim Kastenessen and his mortal lover
Daphin: one of the Elohim
Dawngreeter: highest sail on the foremast of a Giantship
Dead, the: spectres of those who have died
Deaththane: title given to High Lord Elena by the Ramen
Defiles Course, the: river in the Lower Land
Demimage: a sorcerer of Vidik Amar
Demondim, the: creatures created by Viles; creators of ur-viles and Waynhim
Demondim-spawn: another name for ur-viles and Waynhim; also another name for 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
Dhorehold of the Dark: Forestal of Grimmerdhore
dhraga: a Waynhim
dhubha: a Waynhim
dhurng: a Waynhim
diamondraught: Giantish liquor
Din: a Courser
Dire’s Vessel: Giantship used by the Swordmainnir to convey Longwrath
Doar: a Bloodguard
Dohn: a Manethrall of the Ramen
Dolewind, the: wind blowing to the Soulbiter
Doom’s Retreat: a gap in the Southron Range between the South Plains and Doriendor Corishev
Doriendor Corishev: an ancient city; seat of the King against whom Berek Halfhand rebelled
drhami: a Waynhim
Drinishok: Sword-Elder of the Loresraat
Drinny: a Ranyhyn, foal of Hynaril; mount of Lord Mhoram
dromond: a Giantship
Drool Rockworm: a Cavewight, leader of the Cavewights; finder of the Illearth Stone
dukkha: “victim,” Waynhim name
Dura Fairflank: a mustang, Thomas Covenant’s mount
Durance, the: a barrier Appointed by the Elohim; a prison for both Kastenessen and the skurj
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 organic power in the Land
Earthroot: lake under Melenkurion Skyweir
Earthrootstair: stairway down to the lake of Earthroot 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
Elena: daughter of Lena and Thomas Covenant; later High Lord
Elohim, the: a mystic people encountered by the wandering Giants
Elohimfest: a gathering of the Elohim
Emacrimma’s Maw: a region in the Center Plains
Emereau Vrai: Kastenessen’s mortal lover, now victim to She Who Must Not Be Named
Enemy: Lord Foul’s term of reference for the Creator
Eoman: a unit of the Warward of Lord’s Keep, twenty warriors and a Warhaft
Eoward: twenty Eoman plus a Haft
Epemin: a soldier in Berek Halfhand’s army, tenth Eoman, second Eoward
Esmer: tormented son of Cail and the Dancers of the Sea
Exalt Widenedworld: a Giant; youngest son of Soar Gladbirth and Sablehair Foamheart; later called Lostson and Longwrath
fael Befylam: serpent-form of the jheherrin
Faer: wife of Lord Callindrill
Fall: Haruchai name for a caesure
Fangs: the Teeth of the Render; Ramen name for the Demondim
Fangthane the Render: Ramen name for Lord Foul
Far Woodhelven: a village of the Land
Father of Horses, the: Kelenbhrabanal, legendary sire of the Ranyhyn
Favored, the: courtesans of the gaddhi
Feroce, the: denizens of Sarangrave Flat, worshippers of the lurker, descended from the jheherrin
Fields of Richloam: a region in the Center Plains
Filigree: a Giant; another name for Sablehair Foamheart
Findail: one of the Elohim; the Appointed
Fire-Lions: living fire-flow of Mount Thunder
fire-stones: graveling
First Betrayer: Clave-name for Berek Halfhand
First Circinate: first level of the Sandhold
First Haft: third-in-command of the Warward
First Mark: Bloodguard commander
First of the Search, the: leader of the Giants who follow the Earth-Sight; Gossmer Glowlimn
First Ward of Kevin’s Lore: primary cache of knowledge left by High Lord Kevin
First Woodhelven: banyan tree village between Revelstone and Andelain; first Woodhelven created by Sunder and Hollian
Fleshharrower: a Giant-Raver, Jehannum, moksha
Foamkite: tyrscull belonging to Honninscrave and Seadreamer
Fole: a Haruchai
Foodfendhall: eating-hall and galley aboard a Giantship
Forbidding: a wall of power
Forestal: a protector of the remnants of the One Forest
Fostil: a man of Mithil Stonedown; father of Liand
Foul’s Creche: the Despiser’s home; Ridjeck Thome
Frostheart Grueburn: a Giant; one of the Swordmainnir
Furl Falls: waterfall at Revelstone
Furl’s Fire: warning fire at Revelstone
gaddhi, the: sovereign of Bhrathairealm
Gallows Howe: a place of execution in Garroting Deep
Galt: a Haruchai; a Master of the Land; one of the Humbled
Garroting Deep: a forest of the Land
Garth: Warmark of the Warward of Lord’s Keep