Still they had no defense against the Worm of the World’s End. Perhaps no defense was possible.

And the problem of Roger remained. Even now, he summons an army of Cavewights to join his efforts—If he knew where the Ardent had taken Jeremiah, he might be able to muster an attack more swiftly than Kastenessen could. Certainly he would do everything in his considerable power to recapture Jeremiah and the croyel. They were his portal to eternity.

But Covenant did not dwell on such concerns. Though she hardly moved, except to breathe, Linden held his attention.

He saw echoes of Joan in her aggrieved face. The small muscles at the corners of her closed eyes winced occasionally, implying pains which she could not escape. Because of him, Elena had been consumed by She Who Must Not Be Named. Reminders of his ex-wife seemed to demand more from him than did the last crisis of the Earth. Her efforts to destroy his hands demonstrated that she was a burden which he could not refuse.

Therefore he would need Loric’s krill. If he confronted Joan without some potent weapon, she would incinerate him. But the krill was also needed here. It alone controlled the croyel. Freed, the creature would escape in an instant, taking Jeremiah with it—and killing everyone it could.

Restoring Covenant to life, Linden had sacrificed the Earth. He refused to sacrifice both her and her son merely to ease his own responsibilities.

Torn within himself, he stroked her hair, and prayed, and waited.

Apart from Clyme, Branl, and Stave, who watched the horizons from the rims of the gully, and Galt, who had accepted the task of restraining the croyel and Jeremiah so that Rime Coldspray could rest, Mahrtiir was the only member of the company still standing. Earlier he had sent out his Cords to scout the terrain and search for water in spite of their weariness. They had not yet returned; and everyone else had stretched out on the sand to sleep while they could. Now, alone, the Manethrall faced the east as though he expected the touch of the sunrise on his eyeless face to offer him an obscure revelation.

Fortunately Stormpast Galesend had not neglected to remove her cataphract and set it out as a cradle for Anele: protected by stone armor, he slept like the Giants. And Liand slept as well. His efforts with his orcrest so soon after Linden had healed him had exhausted even his youth and Stonedownor stamina.

Stoic as a plinth of brown marble, Galt held Loric’s dagger against the throat of the croyel. The blade prevented the fatal creature’s teeth from reaching Jeremiah’s neck; prevented the croyel from feeding. But Covenant could not tell whether the succubus was growing weaker. He knew only that Jeremiah looked like a rag doll, boneless and beaten. The boy’s muddy, disfocused gaze was as empty as an unfilled grave.