Stephen Donaldson - Fatal Revenant

His manner seemed to imply an oblique warning.

“There are a lot of reasons.” Covenant’s tone was leaden with sarcasm. “The Colossus of the Fall is losing its power. Too many trees are being butchered. There are too many people, and they’re too greedy. All the Forestals are getting weaker.

“But Caerroil Wildwood has lost more than the other Forestals. And he knows more about Ravers. You can’t see it from here, of course, but Doriendor Corishev is practically on Wildwood’s doorstep. It’s only sixty leagues from Cravenhaw. And Cravenhaw and Doom’s Retreat are the only gaps into the Land from Doriendor Corishev.

“A long time ago, when the southern kingdoms spread north toward the Land-even before the kings set up their capital in Doriendor Corishev, and samadhi Sheol got involved-they hacked down a lot of trees. A hell of a lot of trees. Which ruined the watershed. And ruining the watershed dried out the southlands. The old domain of the kings was becoming the Southron Waste. So they kept pushing north. Naturally they liked conquest. But they also needed arable land.”

Jeremiah had placed himself so that Linden could not see his tic. He seemed to be keeping an eye on her with his peripheral vision, but he did not look at her directly. Instead he resumed playing with his racecar while Covenant described details that did not interest him-or that he already knew.

“And then samadhi began spreading his poison,” Covenant muttered. “In this time, Foul still hasn’t shown his face. But a century or two ago, samadhi came west behind the Southron Range. Eventually that brought him to Doriendor Corishev.

“When he got there, he didn’t actually possess any of the kings. Not even Berek’s King. He didn’t want to risk getting too close to Caerroil Wildwood. But he incited - In fact, he did a shitload of inciting. He encouraged generations of kings to think all their problems would be solved if they could overrun the Land. Because of him, whole armies tried to slash and burn their way through Cravenhaw.

“That’s where Wildwood beat them. The terrain makes a kind of bottleneck. He could concentrate his power there. And he could smell that Raver. He knew who was responsible for slaughtering his trees. On his own ground, with the full force of Garroting Deep behind him, nothing could stand against him. He stopped generations of kings dead in Cravenhaw-and I do mean dead. In effect, he forced them to turn toward Doom’s Retreat. If they’d kept on trying to force a passage through Cravenhaw, that damn Forestal would have left none of them alive.

“By the time they gave up, he’d developed a grudge you wouldn’t

believe.”

The Theomach nodded as if in confirmation.

With less acid in his voice, Covenant explained, “Berek’s King is-I mean was-the last of their line. I know some of the old legends say the Land was one big peaceful nation, and Berek’s King and Queen were happy, but it wasn’t like that. People tell themselves simple stories because they’re easier to live with than the truth. In fact, the Land was never a nation, and the southern kings never actually succeeded at overrunning it.

But it wasn’t for lack of trying. And Berek’s King was the most bloody-minded and stubborn of them all. His whole lineage was grasping and brutal, but he was something more. He didn’t just take samadhi Sheol’s advice. Indirectly that Raver ruled him. And when Berek’s Queen decided she didn’t like what her husband was doing, samadhi ’s influence turned an ordinary struggle for new territory into an all-out civil war.

“Maybe you noticed the smell of death behind us? About a year and a half ago, one of the worst battles of the whole war was fought in that valley. The ground is so full of blood, even birds don’t go there.” With dark satisfaction, Covenant stated, “Under all that snow, we were walking across corpses.”

The idea made Linden wince inwardly; but she kept her reactions hidden. She could no longer estimate how far into the Land’s past she had been brought. Yet Covenant’s revelations changed nothing. A valley drenched in bloodshed changed nothing. He still had not told her anything that explained his intentions, or the Theomach’s-or her own plight. Holding his gaze, she waited for him to go on.

After a moment, he looked away. With renewed sarcasm, he remarked, “But you haven’t noticed what’s going on east of us.” He waved one hand negligently in that direction. “Or maybe you can’t see that far. I’m sure the all-wise and all-knowing Theomach can. In fact, I’m sure that’s why he brought us here.

“There’s smoke on the horizon. The smoke of battle. Good old Berek is fighting for his life. Has been for the past three days.

“Hell and blood!” he snapped suddenly. “I wish I didn’t have to do this. It’s so damn gratuitous .” Then, however, he made a visible effort to master his ire.

“When the Fire-Lions rescued Berek on Mount Thunder,” he said like a shrug, “they won a battle for him. A turning point. But they didn’t win the war. The king’s supporters took up the fight. And samadhi eggs them on from the safety of Doriendor Corishev, where Caerroil Wildwood can’t reach him, and he doesn’t have to worry about the Colossus. Berek still has a long way to go.

“Of course, it’s just a mopping-up operation. He has power now, power no one has ever seen before. Eventually he’ll win this battle. He’ll win the war. But he doesn’t know that. The people fighting and dying for him-or for the Queen-don’t know it. All they know is, they think they’ve found something they can believe in. Something they consider more precious than new territory and fresh resources and plain greed.

“Berek was alone on Mount Thunder. His army was scattered, effectively crippled. But they weren’t all dead. When the Fire-Lions answered him, it was a spectacle you could see for twenty or thirty leagues. Some of his survivors witnessed forces they couldn’t even imagine. And since then the rest have seen him do things-To them, he looks like he’s more than human. Better . They know about his vow, and they’re looking at this war through his eyes.

“That’s the real reason they’re going to win. Even with Berek’s power-which he doesn’t understand yet-they don’t have superior force. And they sure as hell don’t have superior numbers.” Again Covenant’s sarcasm mounted. “But they believe. They aren’t conscripts fighting because they’ll be cut down if they don’t. They’re fighting a damn holy war .”

Linden listened and said nothing. Moment by moment, she became increasingly certain that Covenant was no longer the man who had changed her life. He had lost some aspect of his humanity in the Arch of Time.

“It’ll all be wasted, of course,” he asserted trenchantly. “Just about two thousand years from now, poor doomed Kevin is going to join Foul in the Ritual of Desecration, and everything Berek and his true believers are fighting for will fall apart.

“After that, it’ll be a downhill battle all the way.”

Abruptly Covenant turned on the Theomach. “Which is why I’m so God damn pissed off at you! You and your fucking arrogance. We aren’t supposed to be here. We shouldn’t have to go through all this. She shouldn’t have to go through it.

“And I’m in a hurry . Never mind how hard I have to work just to keep us in one piece, or how long it’s going to take. I can handle that. Hellfire! I’m in a hurry because I’m trying to stop Foul before he finds a way to massacre everybody who has ever cared about the Land, or the Earth, or at least bare survival.”