birthright? You keep saying that you failed somehow. You lost your birthright. Do you want to recover it? Is that what you mean when you talk about hope?”
None of this made any sense.
Anele answered with an abject wail.
Then he whirled away from her to scramble over the shattered rocks, heedless of his old flesh and brittle bones. She shouted after him urgently, but he did not stop. Groping for holds and footing, he fled as swiftly as his frail strength could take him.
Again she looked around. Had he sensed some peril? But she saw nothing to alarm her. The sky and the sun hung over the quiet hills as if they could not be touched.
The old man did not flee from her. He fled because of the question she had asked.
“Anele!” she called again, “wait!” Then, groaning to herself, she started after him.
Her bruises had begun to throb, draining her endurance. Unable to move quickly, she concentrated instead on placing her feet and bracing her hands so that she did not slip or tumble. If Anele desired her protection, he would wait for her when his distress receded. And if he did notHe was her only link to the Land’s present.
When she had traversed half the rock fall, she glanced up and saw Anele standing on the rough grass of the hillside a few steps beyond the rubble. He had turned to watch her progress.
He appeared to be grinning.
Beyond doubt, he was a lunatic.
He had stopped just below a bulge in the hillside. There the ground swelled into an outcropping, as if under the soil a massive fist of gutrock had been trapped in the act of straining for release. His position provided him with cover from the east while allowing him a clear view over the rock fall to the western hills, toward Mithil Stonedown.
Had he thought of such things? Did his sanity-or his cunning-stretch so far?
Linden sorely wished that she knew.
At last, she left the broken stones behind, crossed a band of gouged dirt, and reached hardy grass. Pausing for a moment’s rest, she looked up at Anele.
The blind old man held his head oddly askew, grinning at her open-mouthed. His smile exposed the gaps between his remaining teeth.
Despite his expression, the white glare of his eyes resembled anguish.
Linden felt a pang of concern. Without hesitation, she ascended the slope until she stood no more than a pace below him.
He was not tall: his head was nearly on a level with hers as she tried to gauge his condition; discern what lay behind his mad grin and tormented stare.
“Anele,” she asked softly, “what’s wrong? Help me understand”
His grin suggested that he wanted to laugh at her. When he replied, his voice had changed gained depth and resonance so that it seemed to reach past her toward the far hillsides, warning them to beware.
Distinctly he pronounced, “I see that you are the Chosen, called Linden Avery. At one time, you were named ‘Sun-Sage’ for your power against the Sunbane. I have your son.”
Then he began to laugh as if his heart would break.
Chapter Four: Old Friends
Linden staggered backward, downhill: she nearly fell.
It was as though-
Oh, God!
– as though Lord Foul spoke through the blind old man.
She wanted to shout back at him, repudiate him somehow; but stark silence smothered her voice. Even the birds had ceased calling, and the breeze had fallen quiet, shocked still by the hurtful sound of Anele’s voice. In an instant, the air seemed to lose its warmth: a chill crept through her clothes. The sun mocked her from its unattainable height.
Anele continued laughing in mad agony.
“That dismays you, does it not? You have cause. He lies beyond you. At my whim, I am able to command or destroy him.”
Stop! she tried to cry out, stop! but her voice choked in her throat.
Which shall I perform?” he him mused cruelly. “Would it harm you more to observe my service, or to witness his death in torment?” He laughed harder. “Wretched woman! I do not reveal my aims to such as you.”
For a moment, Linden could not breathe. Then she gasped, “Anele, stop this.
Anele did not comply. Insanity or Despite held him like a
“Yet this I vow. In time you will behold the fruit of my endeavours. If your son serves me, he will do so in your presence. If I slaughter him, I will do so before you. Think on that when you seek to retrieve him from me. If you discover him, you will only hasten his doom. While you are apart from him, you cannot know his sufferings. You may be certain only that he lives.”
His voice knelled in her ears. It was no wonder that the old man had lost his mind.
The woman she had once been might have covered her ears and cowered; but she was different now. In response, an abrupt torrent of rage flashed through her, and she did not doubt herself. Inspired by memories of argent, she surged back up the hillside like a rush of fire. As she caught her fists in the front of his tattered raiment, she seemed on the verge of wild magic, almost capable of erupting in flame at will.
“Foul, you sick bastard,” she hissed into Anele’s weeping face, “hear me. If you can talk through this miserable old man, I’m sure you can hear me. You’re finished. You just don’t know it yet. Whatever you do to my son, I’m going to tear your heart out.
“Your only hope”- her fury rose into a shout- “is to
Anele struggled weakly against her grasp, but Lord Foul did not release him. His lips trembled as he jeered at her, “Fool! I have no heart. I have only darkness. For that reason, I strive to free myself.” His blindness sneered at her. “For that reason, I do not relent, though my torments are endless. For that reason, you may no longer oppose me.
“No mortal may stand in my path. I have gained white gold, and my triumph is certain.”
“Just watch me,” Linden muttered. Deliberately she stepped back, letting Anele go as her anger took another form. She was too furious to bandy threats with the Despiser. “Talk all you want.” And she did not mean to take her ire out on the old man. He was not responsible for the words in his mouth. “I’ll have more to say when I find you.”
Turning her back, she sat down on the grass and closed her eyes. Briefly her exhaustion became a blessing: she could sink into its depths and shut her ears to anything Anele might say.
I have gained white gold-
He had access to Joan’s ring. That poor aggrieved woman had been brought here. And she must have drawn Roger after her, as she had drawn Linden. Linden could not imagine that he had been left behind to die of his wounds.
– and my triumph is certain.
How many enemies did she have? she thought, aching. How many people would she have to fight in order to reach her son?
But she had more immediate concerns. She was near exhaustion and needed to concentrate on water and food. Shelter. Rest. If she turned her mind to them, such necessities would defend her against feeling
