blow. But the
Because of the Earthpower in him, his hurts would probably heal more swiftly than Linden’s sore muscles and burned skin.
But she was not concerned with his bodily recovery. Other exigencies drove her. And still she did not hesitate. If she paused for thought or doubt, she would remember that what she meant to do was perilous. It might destroy her.
“Here.” Hurrying now, she released Liand and lifted the chain from around her neck; thrust the chain and Covenant’s ring into Liand’s hands. “Take this. Hold it for me.” Without its weight, her neck felt instantly naked, exposed to attack. “Guard it.”
He stared at her in shock. His hands cupped the chain and the ring as though he feared to close his fingers.
“If anything happens to me,” she ordered, “anything at all-anything that scares you-get the hell out of here.
Otherwise-
He could not have known the reason for her command. Nevertheless he nodded dumbly, unable to speak.
Trusting the Stonedownor, she spared no consideration for what might happen if any of the powers that wracked Anele succeeded at entering her. Instead she dropped immediately to her knees beside the old man’s bed, pressed her palms to the sides of his head, and plunged her percipience into him as if she were falling.
At that moment, her attempt to possess him seemed a lesser evil than abandoning him to more torment.
Later she climbed unsteadily to her feet and reclaimed Covenant’s ring from Liand’s anxious hands.
She understood her failure well enough. And God knew that she should have expected it. She simply did not know how many more defeats she could bear.
“Linden?” Liand murmured, still fearful that she had been harmed, although he must have been able to see that she had not. “Linden-” His voice trailed away.
Weak with regret, she answered, “He’s protecting himself.” Of course. I can’t reach him.” How else had he survived his vulnerability for so long? “There’s a wall of Earthpower in his mind.” It was wrapped like cerements around the core of his identity. “I can see how badly he’s been hurt. But I can’t get in to where the damage is.”
The flaw in his defences which permitted him to be possessed was sealed away; beyond her reach. She knew now that she would never be able to help him without power. She needed some force potent enough to cut through the barriers which he had erected.
Covenant’s ring would do it. Anele’s inborn Earthpower preserved him, but it could not withstand wild magic. Even at its most delicate, however, that fire was too blunt and fierce to be used on anyone’s mind. She might blast every particle of his psyche long before she discovered how to make him whole.
Her beloved was right. Even if she had imagined him in dreams. She needed the Staff of Law. Without it, there was nothing she could do for Anele.
“I grieve for him,” Liand offered helplessly. “He has been made a plaything for powers which surpass him. It is wrong, Linden.” Then the young man’s tone sharpened. “It is evil. More so than
Linden nodded. If she spoke, she would not be able to contain her bitterness.
She had forgotten the presence of the woman who had guided her to Anele until the Cord touched Liand’s arm, asking for his attention. When he glanced at her, the young woman-like Sahah, she was hardly more than a girl-said bashfully, “If the Ringthane is willing, and Anele requires no other care, the gathering of the Ramen awaits her. Her need for sustenance is plain.”
Liand snorted. Taking a step forward as if to defend Linden, he demanded, “And do the Ramen intend still to affront the Ringthane with challenges which they do not name?”
In response, the Cord lifted her chin, and her Ramen pride flared in her eyes. “You are discourteous, Stonedownor.
Tiredly Linden interposed herself between them. “Please tell Manethrall Hami that we’ll be there in a few minutes.”
To her own ears, her voice sounded too thin to be heeded; too badly beaten. However, the Cord quickly ducked her head, gave a deep Ramen bow, and hastened away, as graceful as water.
Sighing, Linden turned to meet Liand’s protests.
“Linden-” he began. “I fear you are unwise. You cannot behold yourself as I do. The weariness in you-”
She lifted her hands. Instead of contradicting him, she said as clearly as she could, “Thank you.”
He shook his head. “I have done naught deserving of thanks. And I would be an ill companion if I did not-”
Again she interrupted him. “For being here. For being my friend. I’d almost forgotten what that feels like.
“Don’t worry about me. The Ramen won’t hurt me. Even if they decide they don, t trust me, they won’t hurt any of us. They aren’t like that.”
Frowning, he studied her for a moment. Then he acceded. “Your sight is more discerning than mine. And the Cord spoke truly. Your need for aliment is great.”
She smiled wanly. “Then let me hold on to you. I don’t want to fall on my face in front of all those Manethralls.”
Liand replied with a sympathetic grimace; offered her his arm. Together they walked back to the clearing in the centre of the encampment.
As soon as they stepped from the grass onto the beaten dirt, Manethrall Hami approached them with concern in her eyes.
“Ringthane,” she said sternly, “it shames me that you were harmed in our care. Such fire is an aspect of the old man’s plight which we have not witnessed before. Believing you to be safe among so many Ramen, we relaxed our vigilance. Plainly we should not have done so.”
Linden shook her head. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known. And I’m not badly hurt.” No doubt Hami could see as much. “But I’m very tired. Can we get this over with?” She meant the challenges. “I want us to start trusting each other.”
Hami bowed an acknowledgment. “As do we.
“Come.” Respectfully the Manethrall touched Linden’s arm. “The Cords have completed their preparations. Let us eat together, that we may be sustained for the telling of tales.”
When Linden nodded, Hami guided her to a circle of seats in the centre of the clearing. There the Manethrall gathered eight or ten of her older Cords, and they all sat down with Linden. At the same time, Liand was taken to another circle nearby, and Stave to a third. As with Linden, one Manethrall and several Cords joined them. Soon each ring was occupied by a Manethrall and his or her Cords.
Within each circle, a fire had been set to illumine the meal. The younger Ramen stood around the rim of the clearing, holding small trenchers of food and bulging waterskins, waiting for some signal to serve the food.
Once everyone in the circles had seated themselves, the Manethralls stood together. In unison, they turned to the northeast, holding their heads high. From a circle near Linden, an older man with grey-streaked hair and a fretwork of scars on his arm raised a voice like an old whinny.
“We are the Ramen,” he called softly to the deepening twilight, “long exiled from our ancient home in the Land. For a hundred generations and more have we sojourned without place or welcome, carrying our dispossession upon our backs as nomads, wanderers, and telling to no one but ourselves the long tale of who we are.
