The Runes of the Earth

Earthpower is not “wrong”. That is impossible. My words were that any use of Earthpower serves Corruption.”

Linden reeled inwardly, staggered by too many assaults on her perceptions. He is the hope of the Land- Who, Anele? How? And how could using Earthpower serve Lord Foul? The two were fundamentally antithetical. Any use-? How in sanity’s name had Stave’s people reached such a grotesque conclusion?

She could not-

Suddenly urgent, she stooped again, clasping her hands to the sides of Anele’s face to demand his attention. “Anele, listen to me. I heard you. I won’t forget. But I can’t deal with this many questions at the same time. I need you to let go of me. I need you to be patient. Before I do anything else, I have to concentrate on what Stave is saying.

“I’ll stay with you. I’ll get to the bottom of all this. Somehow. “But first you have to let go.”

Anele’s eyes stared into hers blindly. Bits and streaks of lamplight cast desperation across his features. Between bursts of coughing, he groaned deep in his chest.

By slow increments, he released her.

When his arms had finally dropped free, he crawled back to the rear wall and curled himself against it as though he found more comfort in blank stone than in her avowals.

Cursing to herself, Linden faced the Haruchai again.

“You’d better explain yourself,” she said darkly. “Earthpower is good, but using it isn’t?” All life in the Land throve on Earthpower. “How is that even possible?”

And who in hell gave you the right to judge the natural essence of any living thing?

Stave may have shrugged: shadows made her uncertain. The scar on his cheek gleamed like a small grin in the wavering light. “We do not account for it;” he replied. “That is not our place. We lack the lore for such explanations. We only remember, and learn.

“But the Staff of Law which you formed was soon lost. Doubtless if it had remained in wise hands, the peril of Earthpower would be diminished.

“You are Linden-”

“Just a minute.” Without knowing what she did, she covered her ears to close out his words; as if she might cause them to be unsaid. “Give me a minute.”

The Staff was lost? That explained-

It explained too much.

But it should have been impossible. Soon lost-People like Sunder and Hollian would not have been careless with something so precious. And after his defeat Lord Foul would have needed centuries, millennia, to recover his strength.

The touch of hope which she had felt earlier fell to ashes as she lowered her hands. Without the Staff of Law, the Land was effectively defenceless. Cryptic evils like the caesures and Kevin’s Dirt might prove as ruinous as the Sunbane had ever been.

“This is terrible,” she began weakly. “I had no idea.” She could barely force herself to meet Stave’s flat gaze. “I don’t know what to say.”

Unconscious, she had heard Covenant tell her, You need the Staff of Law. But if the Staff were lost-Lord Foul may have sent Covenant’s voice to taunt her, as he had caused her to be tormented during her translation to the Land.

“Who lost it? How could this happen?”

Anele squirmed against the wall, apparently trying to find a comfortable position.

“We do not know what transpired,” the Haruchai replied. “We were not present. We know only that the new Staff of Law was delivered into the hands of the Graveler Sunder and the eh-Brand Hollian when the Sunbane had been quenched. Among their kind, they were long-lived, and for perhaps five score years they served the Land with great care, healing what they could, and easing what they could not. Without them, many villages would not have survived the abrupt cessation of the Sunbane, for the folk of the Land knew no other way to live.

“Yet at last Sunder and Hollian grew weary and wished to set aside their labours. To their son they gave the Staff so that he might continue their service. Of a sudden, however, he disappeared, and the Staff with him.” A liquid rattle disturbed Anele’s respiration. “We have discovered no account of his doom. The Staff has not been found, though the Haruchai and the folk of the Land sought for it long and arduously.”

Stricken, Linden sighed, “All right. Go on. I just”- weakly she retreated to the nearest wall and slid down it to the floor- “just need to sit down.”

She lacked the courage to hear the rest of Stave’s explanation on her feet.

Apparently considerate, he allowed her a moment to compose herself. Then he began again.

“You are Linden Avery the Chosen. The Haruchai are known to you. You must grasp that to speak as you do is”- again he hunted for the right word- “graceless for us. Our thoughts are not easily contained in uttered speech. I can only assure you that we remember, and learn.

“And we remember much.

“The Haruchai recall High Lord Kevin son of Loric in his grandeur, with Revelstone his glorious habitation, and all the Council at his side in strength and peace.”

As he continued, Stave’s voice took on a slight sing-song cadence. Occasionally he touched on details which had been mentioned to Linden by Covenant and others, but most of what he said was new to her.

“Many times many centuries ago,” he related, “the Haruchai marched from their icy fastness in the Westron Mountains seeking opposition against which they might measure themselves. They had no wish to diminish or command those who dwelt elsewhere. Rather they sought to discover their own true strength in contest. Therefore they entered the Land. And therefore, when they had seen the might of High Lord Kevin and felt the astonishment of his works, our distant ancestors challenged him.

“However, he declined contention. He desired only peace and beauty, he treasured the richness of the Earth’s life, and he welcomed the Haruchai in friendship and honour.

“Your words will not convey his effect upon our people. Above all else, they desired to show themselves equal to those admirable Lords. Because they could not test themselves in combat, they elected rather to demonstrate their worth in service.

“Together they swore an undying Vow, enabled and preserved by Earthpower. They became the Bloodguard, five hundred Haruchai who set aside the fierce love of their Women and the stark beauty of their homes, and who neither slept nor rested nor wavered in the Lords’ defence. If one were slain in that service, the Vow brought another to take his place.

“For centuries the Bloodguard kept faith. They knew the marvels of Andelain and the eldritch Forests, extravagant with Earthpower. They knew the love and fealty of the Unhomed, the Giants of Seareach. They knew the broad backs and strong thews and boundless fidelity of the Ranyhyn, the great horses of Ra, in whom the Earthpower shone abundantly. In their Vow, the Bloodguard themselves became men of wonder.”

An undercurrent in Stave’s tone suggested that he would have gladly lived in that ancient time; shared that Vow.

“Yet High Lord Kevin’s greatness was misled by Corruption. In his love of peace and health, he countenanced Corruption’s place among the Council of Lords, not recognising the truth of the Despiser. And from that honourable blindness arose the enduring ills which have befallen the Land. For when Corruption unveiled his face, he had grown too puissant to be defeated in any contest of arms and powers, though the attempt was made at great cost.

“The Bloodguard burned to challenge the Despiser themselves, to exceed his might with their own valour. They believed that they were indomitable. Corruption had not yet taught them otherwise.

“But the High Lord forbade them. He could not bear to chance that they might fail and fall. Concealing the darkness in his heart, he ordered the Bloodguard from the Land. And because they honoured him-because they trusted him-they obeyed his will, dispersing themselves among the mountains.”

A note of sadness entered the faint music of Stave’s tone. “They did not grasp that darkness had mastered the High Lord’s heart. In despair he had conceived a stratagem of desperation. By his command, both the