The Runes of the Earth t3cotc-1

by Stephen R. Donaldson

  “I know we’ve had this conversation before. You said you want to help defend the Land. Believe me, I understand that. And you’ve already done a lot.” More than she could have expected from him. “But Stave isn’t wrong. What I’m planning terrifies me. So many things could go wrong-

  “This might be your last chance to see your home again.”

  Liand faced her soberly; but his voice held a note of affection or amusement as he replied, “Linden, you baffle me. You are wise and valorous, yet you appear as uncomprehending as the Masters. However, your concern is well meant, and I will not take it amiss.”

  He thought for a moment, then said, “I might respond once more that the folk of Mithil Stonedown have given you no cause to doubt that they are steadfast. Or I might remark that I have beheld great wonders in your company, and would not willingly forego more. Or I might avow that the loveliness of the Land has only grown more precious to me as my senses have been opened. I have tasted with my eyes and hands and tongue the true glory of the world. To turn homeward now would be to pass from treasure-berries to dust.”

  Linden wanted to protest, That’s beside the point. We aren’t talking about aliantha or dust. We’re talking about slaughter or survival. But she restrained herself. She was tired of vehemence. And she had already lost Stave.

  Instead she urged, “Then stay here. With the Ramen. You don’t have to waste your life in a Fall.”

  The young man shook his head. “You cannot ask it of me. For answer I will remind you of your own words.

  “You said that at one time you encountered a man in need. Perhaps he sought to dissuade you from aiding him, as you now seek to dissuade me. If so, you refused. Yet you acknowledged that you could not have imagined what would follow. If you had indeed grasped the nature of your peril, you doubt that you would have been able to endure it. Because of your refusal to abandon him, however, you have become the Linden Avery who now wishes to spare me a similar peril.”

  Gently he placed his hand on her shoulder; permitted himself to offer her that much of an embrace. “Do you not know that you are admirable in my sight? Can you not conceive that I have no desire to turn aside from your example? Your intent is not to destroy the Earth, but to redeem it, as you seek also to redeem your son. I will abide the outcome with you.”

  Linden wept too easily. She always had. Touched by Liand’s willingness, she blinked against the burn of tears in the corners of her eyes. Precisely because she hungered for hugs, however, she shrugged his hand away: his touch was not the one she craved. With her palms, she rubbed the moist salt from her cheeks. Then she did her best to match his trust.

  “If that’s the way you feel, I hope you’ll watch my back. I’ll have my hands full.” Mastering the flow of a caesure would demand all of her resources. “And I’m sure you’ve already noticed that I’m not particularly good at taking care of myself.”

  The warmth of his answering smile allowed her to hope that she had found a moment of grace after all.

  Above her, daylight swelled into the dawn sky, and birds began to sprinkle the gloaming with calls and soaring. The scent of dew seemed to quicken the grass. Sunshine glided swiftly down the westward mountainsides, pouring illumination into the Verge of Wandering. Nevertheless direct sunlight was slow to reach the depths of the vale. The eastern peaks, jagged as teeth, bit high enough into the heavens to cover her with shadows still.

  Linden thought that she would wait until the light touched her before she put her feet to the path she had selected for herself. She wanted to feel the sun’s consolation on her skin, let its benison warm the fear from her bones. However, her sense of urgency made her restless. Finally she could no longer sit still. She needed movement to help her manage her complex apprehensions. Rising to her feet, she asked Pahni how the Ramen took baths.

  Smiling shyly, the Cord led her to one of the shelters, set out a basin of warm water for her, and showed her how to wrap herself in a blanket so that she could remove her clothes and rub away grime and sweat with a soft cloth.

  Linden wanted to wash her clothes as well, and her hair, but the chill in the air dissuaded her. She had no way to dry her shirt and jeans quickly, and nothing else to wear. Nevertheless she felt somewhat cleansed, slightly better prepared, when she returned to the clearing.

  As Liand rose to greet her, she announced, “Let’s go. I can’t keep putting this off. You should get ready.” Presumably he would want to repack his pinto’s supplies. “I’m going to ask one of the Ramen how to call Hyn.”

  She felt a quick surge of tension from the Stonedownor, which he made no attempt to conceal. Yet he promised at once, “I will be swift. I need only request viands from the Ramen and tend to Somo’s burdens.”

  Smiling anxiously, he hastened away.

  Linden tightened her grip on herself as she looked around for someone who might answer her question.

  She expected to find Bhapa, Pahni, or Char hovering somewhere nearby, but the first person she saw was Stave. He stood just outside the clearing, watching her as if he had expected her to notice him earlier.

  He would know how to summon the Ranyhyn.

  She did not want to talk to him, but she forced herself to cross the bare dirt toward him. When he had acknowledged her with a nod, she said severely, “You should be in bed. You need rest. Your hip needs rest. If you don’t stay off your feet for at least the next three days, you’ll be in pain for weeks.”

  Even his Haruchai strength could not shrug off what had happened to him.

  But he ignored her admonition. “I have not yet departed,” he replied, “because I hoped that you would turn from your intent. However, it has become plain that you will not. I will delay no longer.”

  Nodding once again, he limped out into the clearing. His damaged hip seemed to leave a groan in the air as he passed.

  Involuntarily, Linden followed him. “Stave, stop. You can’t ride like this. Even you can’t. Be reasonable, for God’s sake.

  “Your people are too far away. They can’t respond in time. It won’t make any difference if they don’t hear from you for a few more days.”

  Stave said nothing; but he cast her a look of such disdain that she winced and fell silent. Then he put his fingers to his mouth and whistled shrilly.

  For an instant, the distant birds ceased their cries, and the air itself seemed to go still, hushed with expectation.

  Again Stave whistled. Suddenly Ramen crowded the rims of the clearing as if he had summoned them instead of the Ranyhyn.

  A third time, his whistle pierced the sky. Now Linden felt an answering tremor under her boots; a shiver of excitement in the ground. Whinnying like the clarion call of trumpets rose above the grass-muffled rumble of hooves.

  From the south and the mountains, two Ranyhyn came galloping, proud as flame in the warming day.

  Linden would not have recognised them. With Stave beaten and dying in her arms the previous night, she had hardly regarded the great horses; had noticed only the stars on their foreheads and the visceral impact of their power. She assumed, however, that these were Hynyn and Hyn, come in response to Stave’s call.

  Both of them answered, although only Hynyn had accepted him.

  In spite of their size, the beasts seemed to flow as fluidly as oil between the shelters of the Ramen. When they neared the circle of open ground, however, the smaller of the two, a mare with grave eyes and dappled grey flanks, slowed her pace, trotting to a halt among the gathered Ramen. Her companion, a roan stallion with a regal tail and an air of hauteur, cantered into the clearing to stand before Stave.

  The Master greeted Hynyn with a deep bow. When he had raised his head again, he pronounced softly, “Hail, Ranyhyn! Land-rider and proud-bearer.” His voice had a timbre of invocation and ritual; formal respect which his people had not uttered for thousands of years. “Sun-flesh and sky-mane, I am glad that you have heard my call. An urgent journey lies before me. Will you bear me?”

  In response, the stallion
shook his mane as if in denial, although he stood ready to be mounted.

  Stave appeared to hesitate. He glanced around at the assembled Ramen; but their frank adoration revealed nothing except that the Ranyhyn were revered.

  Linden frowned. Had Hynyn and Hyn answered Stave’s call only to refuse him? Both of them-?

  Stave twitched one shoulder, a slight shrug. Favouring his damaged hip, he gathered himself and vaulted up onto Hynyn’s back. In spite of his pain, he seemed entirely at home astride the Ranyhyn; mounted where he belonged.

  Hynyn tossed his head as if to welcome his rider. The Ramen watched, transfixed and disturbed by the sight. Stave had said that the defeat of the Bloodguard had tarnished the fidelity of the Ramen. He may have been right.

  Leaning forward, he murmured softly to Hynyn. Again the stallion shook his head and did not move. Stave nudged at Hynyn’s sides with his heels: Hynyn flattened his ears and set his legs. To Linden’s inexperienced eyes, the stallion seemed ready to buck.

  Uncharacteristic uncertainty creased the Master’s brows. As if to all of the Ramen, he announced, “Hynyn will not bear me.”

  From the edge of the clearing, Manethrall Dohn replied, “You are mistaken, sleepless one. Hynyn has accepted you. However, he does not consent to your intent. He will not bear you where you wish to go.”

  Stave’s mien darkened. As far as Linden knew, no Haruchai had ever been both accepted and refused. The Master may have been shocked. And without Hynyn to bear him, he would have to return to Mithil Stonedown on foot.

  How far would his stubbornness carry him with a wounded hip?

  “What now, Bloodguard?” Mahrtiir asked with sardonic satisfaction. “Will you cleave to the purposes of the Masters? Or will you honour the will of the Ranyhyn? Consult your arrogance. Surely it will not mislead you.”

  Stave turned a threatening scowl toward the Manethrall. “You are a fool,” he pronounced distinctly. “There is no contradiction. No Ranyhyn has ever refused to serve its rider. For the sake of all the Land, the Masters must learn what this refusal portends.”

  A sarcastic rejoinder flashed in Mahrtiir’s eyes, but he bit it back.

  Manethrall Dohn ignored both men. For a moment, he studied the daylight as it filled the vale. Then he announced, “Ringthane, Hyn is here as well, though you did not summon her. She also will not bear you where you wish to go. Nonetheless she desires to bear you.

  “Will you not mount?”

  Quickly Linden looked around for Liand and Anele. She would be lost without the old man; and she had already told Liand that he could accompany her.

  Will not bear you-

  Anele was nowhere to be seen. After a brief search, however, she spotted Liand among the Ramen, holding Somo by the pinto’s halter.

  – where you wish to go.

  Anxious for reasons which she could not have put into words, she turned to face Hyn.

  As soon as Linden met her gaze, the mare trotted forward.

  Studying the beast, Linden groaned to herself, Oh, God. I can’t ride that. Hyn was too big: Linden’s head barely reached her shoulder. And Linden was no horsewoman. If she fell from that height-and in motion-

  Under the Sunbane, she had ridden the Coursers of the Clave, and they were larger than any Ranyhyn. But Cail had supported her then. With his arms around her, she could not have fallen, even by choice.

  Hyn approached with a mincing step. Somehow the mare conveyed the unexpected impression that she felt shy in Linden’s presence. When she drew near, however, she nudged Linden’s chest, tangibly urging Linden to ride her.

  Her warm breath smelled of sweet grass and freedom; of galloping wildly across illimitable vistas.

  Linden looked around for help; and immediately Bhapa came toward her with wonder in his eyes. To both Linden and Hyn, he bowed deeply. Emotion thickened his voice as he said, “Ringthane, you are reluctant to ride. For that we honour you. It is fitting to be humbled by the Ranyhyn. But in this their will must not be thwarted. The fate of the Land rides with you, and you require their aid. You will not regret that you granted their desire here.”

  The Ranyhyn wanted something from her. And from Stave.

  Bhapa watched her face. “Do you fear that you may fall? There is no need. The Ranyhyn permit no harm to their riders.”

  Linden shook her head. She needed the Ranyhyn: she was certain of that. Whether she felt ready or not, able or not, she would have to ride Hyn eventually.

  She also will not bear you where you wish to go. Nonetheless she desires to bear you.

  What could the great horses possibly want from her?

  Linden seemed to have no choice. “All right,” she muttered. “I don’t understand any of this. Never mind that. Help me up.”

  Hyn nickered approval as Bhapa interlaced his fingers to form a stirrup. Hurrying so that she would not hesitate, Linden stepped into his hands and reached upward.

  Even then she might not have been able to mount. The distance was too great: for an instant, it seemed to symbolise or contain all of her limitations. But Bhapa lifted her higher; and she found herself unceremoniously seated on the mare’s back.

  Clutching the silk of Hyn’s mane in both fists, she tried to regain some sense of balance.

  With elaborate consideration, Hyn turned until she faced southward, away from the Land. At the same time, Hynyn wheeled more imperiously, bringing Stave to Linden’s side. Both Ranyhyn plainly intended to return in the direction from which they had come.

  “Linden!” Liand called anxiously. In haste, he tugged Somo out into the clearing, then scrambled onto the mustang’s back.

  Hynyn responded with a stern whinny. Hyn flicked up her hooves one at a time, showing Somo her heels.

  When the Ranyhyn started into motion, Somo refused to follow.

  Liand barked a command; dug his heels into the pinto’s sides; hauled on the reins. His mount dropped its head and did not move. “Linden!” he shouted again, at once angry and frightened. “Do not-! I must accompany you.”

  “Stop,” Linden muttered to Hyn, “wait, don’t go yet. I said he could come with us.”

  The Ranyhyn ignored her. Together, stately as frigates, Hyn and Hynyn walked out of the clearing among the Ramen.

  Linden nearly lost her seat turning to watch Liand’s struggle with Somo.

  Then two of the Cords intervened, obviously urging Liand to accept Somo’s refusal; and Manethrall Dohn explained to Linden, “It is the will of the Ranyhyn. They do not condone the Stonedownor’s presence. Fear not, Ringthane. You will return to find him safe among us. He will yet ride with you.”

  Liand protested, an inarticulate gasp of dismay. Flinging himself from the pinto’s back, he ran after Linden. The heat in his eyes and the dogged set of his shoulders proclaimed that he meant to follow her on foot as long and as far as necessary.

  Almost at once, however, the Cords stopped him. He wrestled with them furiously until Manethrall Hami snapped his name.

  “The will of the Ranyhyn is plain,” she told him severely. “We will not permit you to act against it.” When at last Liand subsided, she added more kindly, “Hyn will ward the Ringthane with her life.”

  Liand may have continued to protest. Perhaps Hami reassured him further. But Linden could no longer hear them. Hyn had borne her beyond earshot.

  For the moment, the ground seemed to yaw vertiginously on either side of her. She was perched too high on a mount over which she had no control; and her legs were stretched too wide. Only her grip on Hyn’s mane secured her. A precarious hold: the fine hair would slip through her fingers if she relied on it.

  She had made plans and promises, but she appeared to have no say at all in whether or not she ever kept her word.

  She wanted to demand explanations from Stave, although she knew that he had none to give her. But his pain was vivid in the morning light, and its sharpness closed her throat. In spite of her visceral alarm, she suspected that the behaviour of the Ranyhyn disturbed him more
profoundly. She was merely frightened-and frustrated by her inability to act on any of her choices. He was experiencing a violation of the ancient relationship between his people and the great horses.

  More for her own sake than for his-as far as she knew, the Haruchai had no sense of humour-she tried to lighten the silence; distract herself from her fears. “Well,” she said, “here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”

  He did not so much as glance at her.

  Linden shrugged to herself. More seriously, she asked, “Do you have any idea where they might be taking us? Can you think of anything that might explain what they’re doing?”

  She hardly expected him to respond. The scale of their disagreements and conflicts might make simple conversation impossible.

  Having stated his position and made his decisions, however, Stave now seemed content to comport himself as though nothing had changed. “I have no clear answer,” he replied calmly. “Yet there is a tale which was told by Bannor of the Bloodguard during the time of the Unbeliever. It suggests an answer.”

  “Please,” Linden put in promptly. “Tell me.”

  “This tale,” he said, “concerns the quest of High Lord Elena and ur-Lord Covenant for the Seventh Ward of Kevin’s Lore. Though they knew it not, they sought the Blood of the Earth and the Power of Command.

  “You have heard that when ur-Lord Covenant first summoned the Ranyhyn, a great many of them answered, each rearing in obeisance and fear, each offering to be ridden. Yet he refused them, for which the Ramen honour him above all Lords and Bloodguard. Rather than ride any Ranyhyn, he asked of them a boon.

  “In Mithil Stonedown he had done cruel harm to a woman of the Land-to Lena daughter of Atiaran, she who later gave birth to High Lord Elena. Hoping, perhaps, to ease that wrong, he asked of the Ranyhyn that one of them would visit Lena each year, for she adored them.

  “This service the Ranyhyn fulfilled without fail, until the Unbeliever himself released them from it.”

  Gradually Linden’s anxiety receded as she began to feel more secure on Hyn’s back. When they had left behind the shelters of the Ramen, the Ranyhyn increased their gait to an easy, rolling canter which carried them swiftly through the deep grass. At that speed, she might have felt more alarm rather than less. But the mare was able to compensate for her uncertain balance. In spite of her initial trepidation, she found herself relaxing to the sound of Stave’s voice.