Stephen Donaldson - Fatal Revenant

Covenant or the stranger. “But it’s going to kill me.”

I can’t do it without you.

“Oh, that.” Covenant had recovered his air of superiority. “I’m doing so many things here, I forget how frail you are. Of course I don’t want you to freeze.”

With his right hand, he made a quick gesture that seemed to leave a memory of fire in the air; and at once, Linden felt warmth wash through her. In an instant, her clothes and her cloak were dry: even her socks and the insides of her boots were dry. Almost without transition, she rebounded from harsh cold to a sustaining anger like an aftertaste of the gift which the Waynhim and the loremaster had given her.

“Better?” asked Covenant with mordant sweetness. “Can I finish my conversation now?”

Linden blinked-and found the stranger standing nearby. The swaddled man’s head shifted from side to side, directing hidden eyes back and forth between Covenant and Linden. When he was satisfied with the sight, he said. “There is no need for haste. I mean to accompany you for some little while. We may converse at leisure. And”- now the light voice was arch, almost taunting- “we have not been introduced.”

“You don’t need a damn introduction,” growled Covenant. “You know who she is. And you sure as hell know who I am.”

“But she does not know us,” said the stranger, chuckling. “Would you prefer that I speak on your behalf?”

“Hellfire!” Covenant snapped at once. “Don’t even try it. I’ve already warned you.” Then he sighed. Apparently trying to mollify the newcomer, he began,

“Linden, this is-”

“Proceed with caution, Halfhand,” the man interrupted sharply. “If you step aside from the path which I have offered to you, the Elohim will assuredly intervene.”

“Why?” Covenant demanded in surprise. “Why the hell would they bother? She’s here , isn’t she? That’s all they care about. And you’re going to humiliate them. Eventually, anyway. Why should they give a damn if I mess with you? Hell, I’d expect them to thank me.”

He was part of the Arch of Time. And he had suggested that he knew-or could know-everything that had ever happened. Could he see the future as well? Or was his vision constrained by the present in which he had reified himself?

Now it was the stranger who sighed. “The Elohim are haughty in all sooth. They decline to profit by the knowledge which may be gleaned from humiliation. Yet among them there are matters which outweigh even their own meritless surquedry. They will act to preserve the integrity of Time. They must.”

“But they haven’t been humiliated yet ,” countered Covenant. “How does what I tell her about you threaten Time?’

With a show of patience, the newcomer explained. “Because she is here . In this circumstance, her mind cannot be distinguished from the Arch of Time. Do you dare to acknowledge that you do not comprehend this? Her place lies millennia hence. She has experienced the distant outcome of events which transpire in this present. If she is given knowledge which she cannot possess by right of that experience-knowledge which may alter her understanding of her own past-a paradox akin to the paradox of wild magic will ensue. Her every deed will have the power of wild magic to undo Time.

“Yet if she acts freely, without incondign comprehension or suasion, her deeds will do no harm. That I will ensure. Therefore you must permit her to command-aye, and to make demands-as she chooses.” Again the man sighed. “I have said that I do not desire the destruction of the Earth. If you are wise-if wisdom is possible for one such as you-you also will not desire it.”

Linden’s impatience for Jeremiah mounted. She could not understand what Covenant and the wrapped man were talking about; and she was sure that they would not explain themselves. They both had something to gain by mystifying her.

Nonetheless their attitudes confirmed that they had reason to fear her. That was a form of power which she could use.

Covenant was saying sourly. “Of course I don’t desire it. Hell and blood! Why didn’t you just say so? All this beating around the bush is giving me a headache.”

Turning to Linden, he indicated the stranger with an exasperated gesture. “Linden, he’s the Theomach. That’s really all I can tell you about him. Except you’ve probably noticed that he’s crazy. His whole damn race is crazy.”

Linden nodded to herself. The stranger, the Theomach, had challenged Covenant to introduce him as a kind of test.

“I don’t care,” she replied with her own acid sweetness. “None of this makes sense to me. And you both know that. I want you to stop treating me as if I weren’t here.

“While we’re waiting for Jeremiah-” She faltered. “He is coming, isn’t he?” Both Covenant and the Theomach nodded. Tightening her grip on herself, she continued, “Then tell me. How did you do that? I didn’t feel a caesure .” She would not have failed to recognise any disruption of time that arose from white gold. “How did we get here?”

Give me something that I can understand.

Perhaps Covenant was free to go wherever he wished. But surely the fact that he had brought her with him endangered Time?

Covenant muttered an obscenity under his breath. “You’re right. We didn’t break through time. We didn’t threaten the Arch. Instead we sort of slipped between the cracks. It’s like folding time. But it takes a lot more power. That’s why I couldn’t do it alone. Being in two places at once is hard enough. Moving us this far into the past really ought to be impossible.”

“Indeed,” remarked the Theomach casually.

“But your kid has his own magic now,” Covenant continued. “I told you that.” Think of it like blood from a wound. “When we work together, we can do some pretty amazing things. Like slip through cracks in time. Or make doors from one place to another.”

I can build all kinds of doors. And walls. In the Land, Jeremiah’s talent for constructs had taken an entirely new form.

“All right.” Linden shook her head in astonishment at what her son had become. “All right. I’ll assume that that makes sense.” What choice did she have? “I’ll try, anyway. So where are we? And when?”

And why? What could Covenant-or Jeremiah-possibly do here that would save the Land?

Scowling, Covenant looked around. Then he said, “Let’s go up there.” He nodded toward one of the hills bordering the valley on the south. “Right now, we’re in the middle of nowhere. If we want to accomplish anything, we have a lot of ground to cover.” He glared at the Theomach. “We might as well get started. You’ll understand better when you can see farther.”

Before Linden could ask about Jeremiah, the Theomach put in, “Your son will appear at the Halfhand’s side. No movement in this time will delay him.”

Swearing to himself again, Covenant began to pound through the ice and snow. The Theomach followed without waiting for Linden to make up her mind. As the stranger stepped lightly over the crust, he said to Covenant, “If you will but consider the path which I have opened to you, you will recognise that you have no cause for anger. True, I have presented new obstacles. But others I have removed. And my path is indeed less perilous.”

When Covenant did not respond, the Theomach said sharply. “I do not speak of her peril, Halfhand. I speak of yours.”

— the perils which have been prepared for you.

Behind them, Linden straggled into motion. She did not intend to be left behind when Jeremiah might rejoin Covenant at any moment. Bracing herself on the Staff, she fought the crust and the cloying snow in an effort to keep pace.