Thomas Covenant 8 - The Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

resignation rather than ire.
    Manacles—? In frustration, Linden wanted to hit him with the Staff. He still had not answered her question about his grandsire—or shed any light on the conundrum of Covenant and Jeremiah.
    Struggling to keep her balance amid a gyre of information and implications which she did not know how to
    accommodate, she retreated to surer ground.
    All right. Forget the manacles. I don’t need to know.” Not now, when she had so many more immediate concerns. “Tell me something I can understand. How did you convince your ur-viles and Waynhim to come with you?’ She knew why her own small band had combined their efforts against the Demondim. Even now, however, she could not be certain that the truce
    between them would hold. And those with Esmer had not shared in her battles. “They’ve been enemies for thousands of years. Why have they set that aside’?”
    Esmer raised one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Closing his eyes, he massaged them briefly with his fingertips. As he did so, he replied in a tone of exaggerated patience, as if he had already answered her question in terms that even a child could
    comprehend.
    “To the ur-viles, I offered opportunity to see fulfilled the mighty purpose which they began in the making of Vain. To the Waynhim, I promised a joining with their few kindred, that they might be powerful in the Land’s service.” Then he lowered his hand, letting her see the wind-tossed disturbance in his eyes. “And of both I required this covenant, that they must cease all warfare between them.”
    As if in assent, the creatures fell silent again.
    Before Linden could ask another question, Esmer added, “Wildwielder, you exhaust my restraint. You have demanded answers. I have provided them, seeking to relieve the darkness of my nature. But one of the Haruchai approaches from that place”-again he indicated Revelstone-“and I will not suffer his presence. I cannot. Already my heart frays within me. Soon it will
    demand release. If I do not depart, I will wreak-“
    He stopped. His expression and his green eyes seemed to beseech her for forbearance.
    But her nausea and distress were too great. Her son and Thomas Covenant had refused to let her hold them. They might as well have rejected her years of unfulfilled love. Instead of honoring Esmer’s appeal, she said grimly, “If you
    didn’t insist on doing harm, you wouldn’t need relief.”
    For an instant, he looked so stricken that she thought he might weep. But then, as if by an act of will, he recovered his scorn. “If I did not insist upon aiding you,” he told her acidly, “I would not be required to commit harm.”
    He had told her the history of the Viles and Demondim in order to justify himself: she believed that, although it
    may have been only part of the truth. He wanted her to trust that the creatures which he had brought forward from the past would serve her. At the same time, he was plainly trying to warn her—
    But she could not afford to think about such things now. He was about to depart: she would not be able to stop him. And she still had learned nothing about Covenant and Jeremiah.
    “All right,” she said again, trying to speak more quickly. “I accept your explanation. I accept”-she gestured around at the ur-viles and WaynhimŹ”all of them. You’re trying to help me, even though I don’t understand it. But I still need answers.
    “You said that there’s a shadow on the hearts of the Elohim. What does that mean?” She meant, What does Kastenessen have to do with Covenant and my son? But Esmer had already
    evaded that question. “Why didn’t they stop Kastenessen from breaking free?’
    Esmer groaned as if she endangered his sanity. Gritting his teeth, he said, “The Elohim believe that they are equal to all things. This is false. Were it true, the Earth entire would exist in their image, and they would have no need to fear the rousing of the Worm of the World’s End. Nonetheless