Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson

oh, God, Honninscrave, who had deliberately accepted a Raver so that Lord Foul’s servant could be torn apart, “say anything about him?”
    Coldspray shook her head, and her manner softened. “Of the old man, we know only what your eyes have beheld. We see that he has found solance among his Dead. But his state does not affect the heading of our choices. For that reason, I deem, Honninscrave did not speak of him.”
    “I suppose you’re right,” Linden murmured as if to herself. “His freedom is as necessary as anyone else’s. If we knew what was going on inside him, we might interfere somehow.”
    Struggling against the Giants’ effect on her, she prepared herself to turn toward the Harrow again. You have companions, Chosen —She had an abundance of friends: the Swordmainnir had made that obvious.— who have not faltered in your service . Only the Humbled and Infelice wished to oppose her. But that changed nothing. She had set in motion the end of the world. She could not alter it. There was only one thing left for her to do.
    Surely she should retrieve her Staff and Covenant’s ring? They remained on the grass, discarded as if they had betrayed her. They would have no value to her unless she claimed them again.
    Perhaps, she thought, she should try to claim Loric’s krill as well. Its brightness defended Andelain; but now Andelain was doomed. Loric’s dagger may have been the highest achievement of the Old Lords—and it could not save the Hills. Nevertheless it might continue to draw power from Joan’s wedding band when Covenant’s was gone.
    It might save Linden herself.
    Or Jeremiah.
    Briefly.
    That was all she asked. She had gone too far, and done too much harm, to expect anything more.
    Yet she hesitated without knowing why. The Staff of Law belonged to her. In some sense, Covenant had left his ring to her. But she had no claim on the krill . No right to it.
    She wanted to ask the Harrow, Do you still believe that Infelice will stop you from taking me to Jeremiah? Even now?
    But this decision was hers to make. It did not belong to either the Elohim or the Insequent.
    Before she could make her last remaining choice, however, Manethrall Mahrtiir abruptly jerked up his head.
    “ Aliantha! ” he barked as if he were astonished or ashamed that he had not thought of this earlier. “Cords, find aliantha .”
    Bhapa and Pahni exchanged a baffled glance. In confusion, Pahni looked quickly at Liand. But they were Ramen: they obeyed their Manethrall at once. Dodging between the Ranyhyn, they sprinted up the slopes of the hollow until they passed beyond the reach of the krill ’s argence.
    “Manethrall?” asked Stave.
    Perplexed, Coldspray, Grueburn, and their comrades frowned at Mahrtiir.
    “The first Ringthane must have healing,” he replied harshly. “There is much here that lies beyond my comprehension—aye, beyond even my desire for comprehension. Yet it is plain to me, though I have no sight, that some portion of his suffering is mere human frailty. He has been given flesh which is too weak and flawed to contain his spirit.
    “No balm known to the Ramen will ease the ardor and constriction of his reborn pain. But aliantha will supply the most urgent needs of his flesh. Mayhap it will grant him the strength to awaken—and perhaps to speak.”
    Stave nodded; and some of the grimness lifted from the faces of the Giants. “Manethrall!” Liand exclaimed gladly. “The sight which you do not possess surpasses mine, which is whole. Aliantha , indeed! Why was this not our first thought rather than our last?”
    Because, Linden answered to herself mordantly, you were distracted. As she had been. Like her companions, she had concentrated on other forms of healing.
    Now she felt that she would never be able to meet Covenant’s gaze again. She could hardly bear to look into the faces of her friends, whom she had misled and misused.
    She meant to leave them all behind. She did not want to expose them to the