In the Verge of Wandering, she had tried to enter Anele in order to ease his madness, or his vulnerability. But she was grateful now that he had repulsed her. Her efforts would almost certainly have damaged him in some insidious fashion. She was neither wise nor unselfish enough to impose her wishes on him without transgressing his integrity.

She had spent years learning that lesson.

“If I interfere now, it won’t be any different than resurrecting him. I’ll take away his ability to make his own choices.” To save or damn himself. “After what I’ve done, I owe him at least a little respect.”

“Linden,” Liand murmured, not in protest, but in chagrin and concern, “is it truly so wrong that you have restored a man whom you once loved? To some extent, I grasp the peril of—”

“You do not,” Galt stated severely. “Had Linden Avery not roused the Worm of the World’s End, still would her deed be a Desecration as vile as any Fall, and as fatal. In her own name, and for no purpose other than to ease her own heart, she has violated Laws upon which the continuance of life depends. The result is an unraveling of necessity , of act and consequence.” His tone was pitiless. Through him, the Humbled passed judgment. “In the end, only evil can ensue.

“A woman who has committed such crimes will commit others. She must not be permitted to perform further atrocities.”

Clearly the Humbled did not intend to let Linden intervene in Covenant’s plight.

The Manethrall and his Cords stiffened. Mahrtiir twitched his garrote into his hands. But neither the Haruchai nor the Ranyhyn moved. Therefore the Ramen did not.

“Nevertheless,” Stave remarked without inflection, “you will not raise your hand against her. The Unbeliever has instructed your forbearance. The Ranyhyn have declared their devoir against you. And I will not stand aside. No friend of the Chosen will stand aside. Mayhap even the Giants, who have named her Giantfriend, will abide by their allegiance. If you intend to impose your will upon the Chosen, you must oppose all who have gathered here in her name. And you must defy the given command of the ur-Lord, Thomas Covenant.”

Linden ignored the denunciation of the Humbled. She did not listen to Stave’s affirmation. She meant to confront the Harrow. She had nowhere else to turn. She had already done everything else wrong. Lord Foul’s release had become inevitable. Nevertheless one task remained to her.

Did the Harrow covet her Staff and Covenant’s ring? Let him. If he accepted her instruments of power, the result would not be what he appeared to expect.

Before she could speak, however, Liand’s murmur and a shift in the attention of the Ramen caught her. Following their gaze, she saw the Giants emerge from the enfolding night. Spectral in the brightness of the krill, Rime Coldspray and her comrades strode into the vale, bringing Anele with them.

Anele, at least, seemed to be at peace. Linden saw at a glance that his protective madness remained. He was swaddled in incoherence. But he had found—or had been led to—a place of rest amid his private turmoil. She could almost believe that he had been given a sense of purpose by his parents; an insight into the needs which compelled his fractured striving.