Linden had fled flames in a hallway—a gullet—that had no end and no escape. She had only survived because she had turned to face the blaze; had read the map on her jeans and thrown away her only defense.

Trusting someone—

“There’s something that I want to understand about Kevin,” she told Stave awkwardly, “but I don’t know how to put it into words.” Grueburn’s presence discomfited her. Her friendship with the Swordmain lacked the earned certainty of her bond with Stave. Still she forced herself to proceed as if she and Stave were alone. “Ever since the Ritual of Desecration, he’s been called the Landwaster. I guess that makes me the Earthwaster. Compared to waking up the Worm, his Ritual looks like a petty offense. I want to know what he and I have in common.”

She needed a reason to believe that she had not already achieved Lord Foul’s victory for him.

“I can see how what Kelenbhrabanal did is different. He only sacrificed himself. And he did it because he thought that he was saving the Ranyhyn. He wasn’t trying to commit a Desecration. But what I’ve heard about Kevin sounds like how I feel.

“I mean like how I feel now. I didn’t feel this way in Andelain. Sure, I was too angry to think about the consequences. But I also had hope.” And need. “I wanted Covenant alive because I love him. But I also believed that he’s the only one who can save the Land. If I brought him back, I could afford to concentrate on rescuing Jeremiah. He would take care of everything else.”

Covenant was supposed to be her defense against despair. She had counted on that. She had never imagined that he would want to leave her behind—

“So now,” she finished like a sigh, “I want to know what Kevin and I have in common.” She felt the force of Grueburn’s scrutiny at her side; but she tried to ignore it. “He destroyed pretty much everything. I thought that I was saving everything.”

Fortunately Grueburn did not speak. If she had questions, she was too considerate to express them.

The Ranyhyn confronted the hills as if they were proof against mundane doubts. To Linden’s distracted gaze, the immediate slopes looked ready to slip. Sandstone columns whispered to her nerves that they were friable, too heavy to support their own mass. And beyond the columns stood glowering buttresses without any breach or gap. Nevertheless Narunal and Khelen began an angled ascent as if they were confident of safety. And Hyn and Hynyn followed without hesitation, surrounded by their coterie of stonewise Giants.

Somehow the surface held as horses and Swordmainnir pushed upward.

Stave appeared to dismiss the potential dangers of the climb. For a long moment, he was silent, perhaps probing the ancient memories of the Bloodguard. Then he replied, “If, Chosen.”

Grueburn nodded as though she knew what he meant. But Linden stared at him. “I don’t understand.”