"When Anele," oh, Anele, "stands on something other than stone-bare dirt, or different kinds of grass-he can be possessed. Sometimes Lord Foul reaches into him and takes over. The Despiser can see through his eyes, talk through his mouth.

"And there are other beings-" She would not mention Covenant: not here, out of desperation. "You've seen one of them, when you were fighting the Demondim. I don't know who it was, but it wasn't Anele. When his feet touched bare dirt, someone else claimed him."

A spirit or power whose hatred was magma.

"You probably think that's a good reason to keep him locked up." Linden shook her head to dismiss Handir's objections. "An even better reason than preventing him from saying too much about the Land's history.

But you're wrong.

"Don't you see?" In spite of her shame, she spoke as though she had no qualms about sacrificing the old man to her own needs. "If we understand who can possess him, and when, we'll have a tremendous advantage. By hearing what our enemies say, even when they're trying to mislead us, we might be able to figure out who they are and what they're doing.

"But there's more. Think about how we could mislead them. My God, if we were clever enough, we could make them believe anything we wanted."

Abruptly Liand put in, "Linden, this troubles me." His aura had become an ache of worry. "Would not Anele suffer in such use?"

Manethrall Mahrtiir nodded sharply. Bhapa and Pahni watched Linden with uncertainty on their faces.

It seemed that none of her companions had expected her to sound so callous.

Vexed by the interruption, and privately sickened by her own actions, Linden sighed, "Oh, hell, we're all suffering. Do you actually think it would be any worse than l what he's going through right now? And he wants to be of use. You heard him," in the cave of the Waynhim. "He doesn't think he's earned the right to be healed."

Then she faced Handir again. "I don't see how you can call yourselves the Masters of the Land and still believe that he should be kept prisoner."

Briefly Handir gazed around at the other Masters. He seemed to be communing with them in spite of his promise that their deliberations would be conducted aloud. Before Linden could object, however, he turned back to her.

"We are not persuaded," he announced. "You must demonstrate his worth."

She flinched, although Handir's demand did not surprise her. She had expected it; feared it. Indeed, she had proposed something similar herself. Now, however, her heart rebelled at the idea of asking Anele to perform like a trained animal. She still wanted to postpone the moment when she would be forced to misuse him.

And she could not be certain of his response.

But she had created a situation in which she had no choice but to surrender or forge ahead. When she had risked damaging the Arch of Time to seek for the Staff, she had in some sense misused everyone with her. And the Masters had made it plain that she could not answer them alone, any more than she could rescue Jeremiah or defeat Lord Foul by herself. She had to ask for help, and pray that she would get it.

With a silent groan, she stooped to the old man and urged him to stand.

He seemed reluctant to release her knees. Or perhaps it was the Staff to which he clung, consoling himself with its apt warmth. After a moment, however, he loosened his grasp and rose.

When he had gained his feet, she put her arm around him and hugged him close. "Anele," she murmured gently, "I need you. I said I would protect you, and I want to keep my promise. But I can't do this without you.

"We're standing on stone," surrounded by stone. "It's your friend." His only friend. "It's always been your friend.

"I need you to tell us what it says."

He was no longer the Anele who had averred that he was content to see the Staff of Law in her hands. That avatar of his dilemma had been left many centuries in the past. In this time-Linden's proper time, if not his own-he had been hounded to destitution by loneliness and loss as much as by the Masters. Linden could not be sure that he understood her. She had no reason to assume that he would comply.

By small shifts and stages, however, as if he had to remember separately how to move each muscle, he withdrew from her clasp. Reluctantly he trailed his fingertips along the Staff. Then he let it go.

"It is sooth." His voice was a low croak which seemed to hurt his throat. "Anele has no friend but stone. It does not comfort him. It is not kindly. It is strict, and full of hurt. But it only speaks. It does not judge. It does not demand. It does not punish."

The old man shook his head sadly. "For him there is no other solace."

Hampered by the burden of too much time, he took a few steps toward the center of the floor. His head began to flinch from side to side. Apparently trying to stop it, he covered his face with his hands. Still his head jerked back and forth as if he feared what he might see in spite of his blindness.

A moan slipped between his lips and fell away, leaving the Close hushed and expectant; waiting.

Linden held her breath. Hardly aware of herself, she retreated to sit once more between Liand and Mahrtiir. Her attention was fixed on Anele. At that moment, nothing else mattered.

Barely audible through his hands, Anele breathed, "Ah, stone. Bone of the world. Forlorn and unregarded. It weeps eternally, yet none heed its sorrow. None hear its endless plaint.

"This stone has known love which the Land has forgotten, the adoration of Giants and Lords. It has suffered rage. It has been afflicted with Desecration.

"In grief and understanding, it speaks to me of fathers."

Unselfconsciously Linden rested the Staff between her knees and reached out to her companions. But now simply gripping Liand's forearm, and Mahrtiir's, did not suffice. She needed to entwine her fingers with theirs and grip them until her knuckles ached.

That tight human clench, the Stonedownor on one side and the Manethrall on the other, seemed to make it possible for her to bear Anele's words.

Muffled by his hands, his voice was a thin thread of sound in the huge chamber, as inadequate as the lamps to fill the Close, and as necessary.

"First," he murmured, "always first, it speaks of the father who wrought this harm. He was Trell Atiaran-mate, Gravelingas of Mithil Stonedown. The stone remembers him compassionately, for he was of the rhadhamaerl, beloved of all the Earth's rock, and the plight of his daughter, his only child, had surpassed his heart's capacity for healing. Rent by her violation and pain, he here betrayed his love and his lore and himself, and when his hand was stayed the weight of his despair bore him down. What remains is the spilth and contortion of his anguish "

Anele's head jerked, and jerked again. "That sorrow would exceed any less enduring flesh. But this stone has more."

His voice seemed to limp between his hands, wincing to the rhythm of words which only he could interpret.

"It speaks of the Elohim Kastenessen in his Durance, father to the malice of the merewives. His daughters are the Dancers of the Sea, and they swim the fathomless deeps in hunger and cruelty, insatiable for retribution, while their own scion is torment. Yet they know glee as well as hunger, for their father has broken his imprisonment, and at his behest the skurj which he once unwillingly restrained have unleashed their cunning and frenzy against the Land.

"And in the same breath, it speaks of the Haruchai Cail, who succumbed to the merewives and fathered their scion. He also is remembered with compassion, for only death has spared him from desolation at his son's torment. Indeed, there is keening here on his behalf, keening and great sadness. He had been repudiated by his kindred, and his heart could not distinguish between its own yearning and the desire of the merewives. Yet that desire was not love but malice."

Slowly Anele sank to his knees, borne down by knowledge. He kept his hands pressed over his eyes, and his head beat from side to side as if his ears were full of threnodies. His voice had become a long- breathed gasping, scarcely strong enough to sustain the sentences which the stone required of him.

"And it speaks as well of Thomas Covenant, of the white gold wielder, whose daughter rent the law of death, and whose son is abroad in the Land, seeking such havoc that the bones of mountains tremble to contemplate it. For the wielder also this stone grieves, knowing him betrayed.

"It speaks of Sunder son of Nassic, Graveler of Mithil Stonedown, who abandoned all that he had known for the sake of the wielder and the Land. Him the stone names because the son whom he brought back from death in Andelain lost the Staff of Law. In spite of this father's valor and love, his legacy is sorrow.

"Also it names the Despiser, who is the father of woe.

Yet of him the stone says little. His darkness is beyond its ken."

Then the old man moaned again, a sound like distant winds complaining past jagged granite teeth. He began to pant heavily as if he were suffocating on words.

"And last, at the farthest extent of hearing, it speaks of Berek the Lord-Fatherer. It has not known him, for Revelstone had not been fashioned in that age, and he did not enter here. Yet he and his line prized and honored deep rock passionately, and until the Landwaster's Desecration all the Land's stone knew the savor of joy."

Abruptly he dropped his hands to the floor, crouching over them as if he could no longer support the weight of what he heard.

"More," he panted, "Anele cannot read. A seer might spend his life in study and not hear all that this stone would tell."

Yet he was not done. While Linden and her companions still watched him and waited, he flung up his head and turned to face her, unerring in spite of his blindness.

"You," he gasped between ragged gulps of air. "You who promised. Anele begsOh, he begs of you.

"Tell him that he has not failed your need."

Before she knew that she had moved, Linden knelt at his side, her friends and the Staff and all of the Masters forgotten. Wrapping her arms around him, she hugged him to her heart. "Oh, Anele." Tears which she could not refuse streamed down her cheeks. "Anele." His old body trembled in her embrace. "Of course you haven't failed me. Dear God, no. You've done more than I could have asked. You always have.

"You poor man." Releasing one hand, she brushed straggling hair out of his face.

Then tenderly she kissed his forehead. "Sometimes you astonish me."

He had told her, I am unworthy of such astonishment.

But he was wrong.

If he understood her-if he remembered any of his own past-he did not show it.

Gradually, however, his respiration eased, and the tension receded from his muscles.

By degrees, he grew quiet in her arms.

Liand had joined her while she concentrated on the old man. When Anele was still at last, the Stonedownor helped her raise him to his feet. Carefully they supported him to the edge of the floor and seated him between Pahni and Bhapa.

Only then did Linden retrieve the Staff and return her attention to the Masters; to Handir and Stave, who had not spoken since she had asked for Anele's help.

Shamed by what the old man had endured at her bidding, she no longer made any distinction between the two Haruchai.

"I hope you're satisfied," she said thinly. "I've had enough of this. Don't trust us, or do. Just make up your minds. I'm done trying to convince you."

She seemed to see nothing in Handir's mien except denial. Yet it was not the Voice of the Masters who replied to her.

It was Stave.

Although he stood at Handir's side as if the two of them were united against her, he gave her a deliberate bow. "You are Linden Avery the Chosen," he began without in flection, "and we have heard you. You have said much, to your cost, and to that of your companions, and to our own. Now I will speak again.

"I have named your perilous deeds. And I have said that I fear what you may do in your son's name. I do fear it. For such reasons the Masters withhold their trust. Yet one other matter remains unaddressed."

Linden's hopes seemed to gutter until she heard Stave say, "My people did not par ticipate in the horserite which you and I have shared. I have not yet spoken of the will of the Ranyhyn."

What-?

Suddenly she sat up straighter. Her eyes burned as she met his flat gaze. Tightening her grip on the Staff, she waited for Stave to go on.

He had told his people everything else "You have observed," he remarked almost casually, "that my stance toward you was altered by the horserite. You inquired of the cause. I declined to answer. I replied only that I awaited the proper time and place to speak.

Both now are upon me."

Still he spoke to Linden as though his words were meant for her alone. She could only stare at him in mute surprise as he continued.

"When the Ranyhyn Hynyn and Hyn had borne us to the vale and the eldritch tarn of their ancient gathering place, I avowed that I would not take part in their mindblending rituals."

She remembered his refusal vividly. I am Haruchai.

We have no need of horserites. "You sought there to humble me," he said, "as you have done here as well.

Yet your words persuaded me when I did not wish to be swayed.

"You spoke of the time which followed Kelenbhrabanal's failure to redeem the Ranyhyn from Fangthane's depredations. And you reminded me that the great horses were restored to the Land, not by Lords or Bloodguard, or by any great power."

Facing Linden, but clearly speaking for the benefit of the other Masters, Stave explained the point which she had made.

"Rather their return to the Plains of Ra was made possible by the Ramen. You spoke of 'the plain, selfless devotion of ordinary men and women: And you averred that the Ranyhyn endeavored to make this known as a warning, so that such men as we are would not conceive that we must redeem the Land through any form of Mastery. To do so, you suggested, would be to repeat the folly of High Lord Elena, and perhaps of Kevin Landwaster and Kelenbhrabanal as well."

Stave paused as if to consult his memories; to assure himself that he had described her argument fairly.

Then he lifted his shoulders in a slight shrug and went on.

"Also you observed that both the form and the substance of the horserite offered a warning which I must not ignore. Therefore I consented to the will of the Ranyhyn. With you I partook of their dark waters, and was transformed."

Linden nodded, although he had not asked for her confirmation. Intent on him, she listened, unable to turn away.

At last, he lifted his face to the few Masters among the broad empty spaces of the Close. "The perils which the Ranyhyn have foreseen for the Chosen are strait and arduous. They fear her as I do. They fear that the burdens of this age may be too great for her to bear.

"To me the great horses offered no such caution.

"Masters, kinsmen-" Again Stave paused for thought; and again he shrugged. Without raising his voice, he announced distinctly, "When I had drunk of the mindblending waters, I learned that the Ranyhyn laughed at me."

Linden stared, unable to conceal her amazement. At her side, Liand's aura showed that he, too, had expected to hear something very different. But Mahrtiir gave a snort of vindication, which his Cords echoed more discreetly.

Yet the Masters around the Close listened as if they felt nothing: no surprise or indignation; no uncertainty. The features of Handir and the Humbled were as unreactive as engravings.

Stolidly Stave explained, "Their laughter did not resemble Corruption's, scornful and demeaning. The Giants laugh so, and it gives no hurt. Rather it was kindly and-" He hesitated for a moment, murmuring, "Such speech is awkward." But then he pronounced clearly, "Their laughter was both kindly and affectionate. The Ranyhyn conceived no ill of me. They merely wished to express that they found amusement in my belief that our service is sufficient to the Land's need.

"Our Mastery amuses them. In their sight, we are too small to comprehend or gauge all of the paths which may lead to triumph or Desecration. Though they are beings of Earthpower and mystery, they do not claim for themselves either the discernment or the courage to determine the Land's defense."

For a few heartbeats, Stave fell silent. He may have felt that his people needed time to absorb what he had said. Then he resumed.

"At the same time, laughing, they desired me to grasp that they have declared themselves utterly to the service of the Chosen. They will bear her wheresoever she wills, until the end of days. Her paths may enter Falls and the hazardous depths of time. Each and all of her choices may conduce to ruin. Yet will they bear her gladly. Indeed, they deem themselves fortunate to serve her.

"It is sooth," he pronounced as if he were passing sentence, "that she may damn the Land. Yet the Ranyhyn believe that she will not. In their eyes, the Land's life and hope require them to believe that she will not."

Around him, tension gathered. It seemed to well up from the twists and flaws of the floor, drift down from the obscured ceiling, until it became so thick that the light of the lamps flickered and dimmed.

Stave's kinsmen were taking umbrage.

Now his tone appeared to quicken, although his words maintained their uninflected tread.

"Masters, you will decide as you must, according to your beliefs. Doubtless it is difficult for the people who gave birth to the Guardian of the One Tree to consider themselves small. But the Manethrall has spoken aptly, though he knew it not.

"I have shared the horserite of the Ranyhyn, and have learned that we are not greater than they. Nor are we greater than the Ramen, who are content with service, and who do not attempt to alter that which lies beyond them."