WGW Chapter 8 - The Defenders of the Land

[Fist and Faith]

Now here’s a chapter! When we last saw or intrepid band, they had run into Sunder and Hollian! What incredibly good news!! I’ve missed the heck out of them! We haven’t seen any Land-dwellers since TWL. What a joyous reunion this is going to be!!! Let’s peek in and see what happens!

Well, straight-off, Sunder asks how the quest went. He must be so excited to hear the tale, eh? The First answers: “The quest has failed! Cable Seadreamer is slain! We have come seeking another hope!” Well, this must be sad news to Sunder, but, or course, we readers know all that. So we’ll get to hear the good news of Sunder & Hollian’s mission. That’ll be a huge boost to Covenant & Co., that’s for sure!

But what’s this? What does Sunder mean by “You will find none here!”?? That doesn’t sound good… And when they finally get to a cave, out of the pouring rain, Covenant sees Sunder this way:

His eyes gleamed like daggers in the firelight. And all his movements were tense with coiled anger – a savage and baffled rage that he could not utter.

Sheesh! What the heck’s going on here?? Well, at least Hollian looks better:

She was luminous rather than angry – as warm of welcome as he was rigid.

And she’s making doe-eyes at Sunder. Odd how different these two Stonedownors seem.

BTW, in what seems to be an aside, we see that Cail - who, in the last several chapters, blew Mistweave away in the strength of will and endurance departments - is noticeably stronger, now that he is again in the presence of other Haruchai. If nothing else, their telepathy at least gives him great moral support. He supported Covenant like a figure of granite. Cail is da bomb!!

OK, back in the cave, we get some BIG news – Hollian is pregnant!!! Linden percipience easily picks up on this, even though there is no outward physical sign.

That was why Hollian glowed and Sunder raged. She was glad of it because she loved him. And because he loved her, he was appalled. The quest for the One Tree had failed. The purpose for which Covenant had sent the Stonedownors back to the Upper Land had failed. And Sunder had already been compelled to kill one wife and child. He had nowhere left to turn.

And now, Sunder gives what is, for me, the most difficult, conflicted speech in the entire 1st and 2nd Chrons. He is torn like nobody’s business! On the one hand, he feels grief and pain, and a feeling of having been betrayed when Covenant left the Clave intact. On the other, Covenant is the one who showed him what the Land had been, what it was supposed to be, what it could be again. He has hope in Covenant. Perhaps this hope is borne as much of desperation as anything else, but it’s all Sunder has. “Covenant, hear me. No words suffice. I am glad that you have come.” It’s a wonder Sunder doesn’t have a stroke from the conflicting emotions as he speaks!

But let’s get back to Sunder and Hollian’s mission. What about the recruits they went out to find at the end of TWL? What went wrong? Sunder tells a tale so sad it couldn’t have been written by anyone but SRD. When Covenant freed the Haruchai, the Clave found itself very short of blood. That Haruchai blood is potent stuff, and it takes a LOT of regular blood to make up for it. Sunder and Hollian went from village to village, almost always convincing the people of their story by performing miracles with the krill and orcrest – without shedding blood!!! They could even raise water and ussusimiel under a desert sun! But it didn’t matter. Wherever they went, they found no strong adults. As it felt Covenant leaving the Land in TWL, the Clave had no need of caution, and took all the people it needed, leaving only the weak - the old and the very young. In the village closest to Revelstone, Landsverge Stonedown, the Clave had taken everyone. “It was altogether empty of life.” There was nobody to join Sunder and Hollian against the Clave.

What’s more, the Haruchai couldn’t help. More came from the Westron Mountains, but, as they got close to Revelstone, their minds were taken over by the Clave.

As all of this news was sinking in, all hell breaks loose among the Haruchai. (In case anyone wondered why I was dissecting this particular chapter. ) Harn knocks Cail out into the torrential rain, and, with Durris and Fole preventing interference, they fight like madmen in the mud and rain. We’re all stunned as Durris explains.

“You miscomprehend. This must be done. It is the way of our people.”

“In this fashion, we test each other and resolve doubt.”

“Cail has spoken to us concerning ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol. He was companion to the victor, and we desire to measure our worth against his.”

Sheesh, aren’t these people ever satisfied? Brinn just proved their worth quite convincingly. Couldn’t they maybe take a day off before they start proving it among themselves yet again?? Anyway, the fight is going on throughout Durris’ explanations, with Cail not doing too well. He’s ok, but always on the defensive.

“Also it has been said that Brinn and Cail betrayed their chosen fidelity to the seduction of the merewives. Cail seeks to demonstrate that the lure of their seduction would have surpassed any Haruchai in his place.”

Hey spud, if Brinn and Cail were seduced, you’d have been too!!

“Also we desire to grieve for Hergrom and Ceer – and for those whose blood has gone to the Banefire.”

The Haruchai version of the caamora. No wonder they loved the Giants so much right from the start; they understood each other. Both races use pain to grieve.

I also see a similarity to the way Covenant used to shave to calm himself. If you don’t banish the distractions, you’re in deep trouble, whether you’re a leper with a stone knife at your throat, or one Haruchai being attacked by another.

Durris and Fold join Cail and Harn, and it’s a four-way fight. Everybody against everybody. But Cail, having learned self-doubt from the merewives and the death of Cable Seadreamer, was perhaps not able to fight as fiercely as the rest. He has been judged, by his people and himself.

“It is agreed that I am unworthy. My place at your side is not taken from me, for it was accorded by ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol. But I am required to acknowledge that the honor of such a place does not become me. Fole will ward the Chosen.” After a fraction of hesitation, he added, “Other matters have not been resolved.”

They can all bite me. Cail has been through a lot, so I'll excuse his having judged himself badly. But the rest of them can kma!


OK, a while later, Honninscrave goes out for a walk. He's such a tragic character. Breaks my heart every time. Here, Covenant tries to teach him what Foamfollower told Covenant waaaaaaaaaaaay back in LFB.

"I talked to Foamfollower about hope once." That memory was as vivid as healthy sunshine. "He said it doesn't come from us. It doesn't depend on us. It comes from the worth and power of what we serve."

"Aye, verily? And where now under all the Sunbane lies the 'worth and power' that you serve?"

"In you. In Sunder and Hollian. In the Haruchai."

This is the lesson Mhoram also tried to teach us in TPTP:

As he grasped the utterness of his plight, he turned inward, retreated into himself as if he were fleeing. There he looked the end of all his hopes and all his Landservice in the face, and found that its scarred, terrible visage no longer appalled him. He was a fighter, a man born to fight for the Land. As long as something for which he could fight remained, he was impervious to terror. And something did remain; while he lived, at least one flame of love for the Land still burned. He could fight for that.

And it's what I feel Brinn taught us when he fought ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol. And it's what SRD told us, at Elohimfest, Kevin did NOT know. The question of the worth of the one who serves is irrelevant. What matters is the worth of the thing being served, and keeping your faith. Kevin fell into despair because he thought nothing mattered if he did not win. That's a sure road to despair. Foamfollower and Mhoram knew better. I hope Honninscrave is as lucky.


And the chapter ends with Linden finding Covenant after that conversation. They do not have a happy conversation. (How could they possibly, in this chapter??) But I always get a kick out of her saying

"I need you to at least stop looking so much like my goddam father."

Maybe nothing about her father should ever be considered funny, but the way she said that always makes me grin.

[Dragonlily]

There's a word SRD uses several times in very moving ways: "unanswerable sorrow," "unanswerable need," "unanswerable emptiness".

That is not the way I am using it here, Fist, but the same word applies. Your understanding and clarity in describing the inner workings of the Haruchai in this chapter is "unanswerable".

(In case anyone wondered why I was dissecting this particular chapter. )

Thank you, I did wonder why you chose this chapter. You bring out the humanity in the unyielding Haruchai. It also shows how wounded Cail has been by his isolation from other Haruchai.

[duchess of malfi]

Great job, Fist! I especially like your analogy of the Haruchai and giants both using physical pain to help deal with their grief.

[Earthblood]

Fist - you truly are Haruchai. You insight is astounding.

I was also glad to be reunited with our beloved Land-dwellers - and to hear that Hollian is expecting a child - how great is that?!?!?!? There is hope for the Land....right???

SRD gets us caught up on months of thier efforts in a few short pages, leaving me breathless. Now what are they gonna do????

I also think Honnisgrave is a tragic character. How many ways can he see himself as failing, his ship, his people and more importantly his brother?

[dlbpharmd]

As always, Fist, superbly done.

It is really great to see Sunder and Hollian again, and with two new Haruchai! But in the months since Covenant left the land, the Stonedownors have lived a difficult life, and have failed the task given them by Covenant. It is a great wonder that Sunder can keep on going, but obviously his strength comes from Hollian.

The "Battle Royale" in the rain between the Haruchai brings back memories of Gilden-Fire, doesn't it? I love the comparison to this ritual and the Giantish caamora. But I swear I want to jump into the pages and defend Cail - course, I'd get my tail whipped but good.

[Furls Fire]

Awesome Fist!!! I too seemed to always draw a comparison between the Giant caamora and the physical battles of the bloodgaurd to answer their grief.

This...tore me up...

"When first you persuaded me from my home and duty in Mithil Stonedown," he said thickly, "I demanded of you that you should not betray me. You impelled me on a mad search of the desert sun for my friend Marid, whom you could not save—and you refused me the use of my blood to aid you—and you required of me that I eat aliantha which I knew to be poison—and so I beseecbed of you something greater than fidelity. I pleaded of you meaning for my life—and for the death of Nassic my father. And still you were not done, for you wrested Hollian Amith-daughter from her peril in Crystal Stonedown as if it were your desire that I should love her. And when we fell together into the hands of the Clave, you redeemed us from that hold. restored our lives.

"And still you were not done. When you had taught us to behold the Clave*s evil, you turned your back on that crime, though it cried out for retribution in the face of all the Land. There you betrayed me, ur-Lord. The meaning of which I was in such need you set aside. In its place, you gave me only a task that surpassed my strength."

That was true. In blood-loss and folly and passion. Covenant had made himself responsible for the truth he had required Sunder to accept. And then he had failed. What was that, if not betrayal? Sunder's accusations made him bleed rue and tears.

But Sunder also was not done. "Therefore," he went on hoarsely, "it is my right that you should hear me. Ur-Lord and Unbeliever, white gold wielder," he said as if he were addressing the hot streaks that stained Covenant's face, "you have betrayed me—and I am glad that you have come. Though you come without hope, you are the one hope that I have known. You have it in your hands to create or deny whatever truth you will, and I desire to serve you. While you remain, I will accept neither despair nor doom. There is neither betrayal nor failure while you endure to me. And if the truth you teach must be lost at last, I will be consoled
that my love and I were not asked to bear that loss alone.

"Covenant, hear me," he insisted. "No words suffice. I am glad that you have come."

Mutely, Covenant put his arms around Sunder's neck and hugged him.

The crying of his heart was also a promise. This time I won't turn my back. I'm going to tear those bastards down.

He remained there until the Graveler's answering clasp had comforted him.

Then Pitchwife broke the silence by clearing his throat; and Linden said in a voice husky with empathy, "It's about time. I thought you two were never going to start talking to each other." She was standing beside Hollian as if they had momentarily become sisters.

Sunder totally rocks!!!

[dlbpharmd]

I love this line of Sunder's:

There is neither betrayal nor failure while you endure to me.

With these words Sunder matches the fidelity of the Haruchai and the Giants. What a tremendous character he is!

[duchess of malfi]

Sunder is an awesome character. And can't you just imagine what a Lord he would have been, back in the day?

[Tulizar]

Nice synopsis Fist!

I love this chapter because it is filled with fresh-starts:
------TC, Linden, Cail and the Giants meet up with Sunder, Hollian and the other Haruchai to form a new gang ready to take on the Clave. Despite all of their collective tragedies, everyone is willing to start anew and move forward.
------The Haruchai fight, dicuss things and decide who is worthy and who is not.
------Hollian is pregnant.

And the chapter ends with Linden finding Covenant after that conversation. They do not have a happy conversation. (How could they possibly, in this chapter??) But I always get a kick out of her saying

"I need you to at least stop looking so much like my goddam father."

Maybe nothing about her father should ever be considered funny, but the way she said that always makes me grin.

It is pretty funny. I mean, poor Linden. She has the power to use the white gold, yet struggles with it for very personal reasons--namely her abusive relationship with her parents and pity for TC. Not only does she resist the urge to tap this source of power, but she puts up with Mr Doom and Gloom for months without much of a protest. The least he could do is stop looking like her good for nothing father! Sheesh.

[Seafoam Understone]

Awesome Fist!!! I too seemed to always draw a comparison between the Giant caamora and the physical battles of the bloodgaurd to answer their grief.

This...tore me up...

"When first you persuaded me from my home and duty in Mithil Stonedown," he said thickly, "I demanded of you that you should not betray me. You impelled me on a mad search of the desert sun for my friend Marid, whom you could not save—and you refused me the use of my blood to aid you—and you required of me that I eat aliantha which I knew to be poison—and so I beseecbed of you something greater than fidelity. I pleaded of you meaning for my life—and for the death of Nassic my father. And still you were not done, for you wrested Hollian Amith-daughter from her peril in Crystal Stonedown as if it were your desire that I should love her. And when we fell together into the hands of the Clave, you redeemed us from that hold. restored our lives.

"And still you were not done. When you had taught us to behold the Clave*s evil, you turned your back on that crime, though it cried out for retribution in the face of all the Land. There you betrayed me, ur-Lord. The meaning of which I was in such need you set aside. In its place, you gave me only a task that surpassed my strength."

That was true. In blood-loss and folly and passion. Covenant had made himself responsible for the truth he had required Sunder to accept. And then he had failed. What was that, if not betrayal? Sunder's accusations made him bleed rue and tears.

But Sunder also was not done. "Therefore," he went on hoarsely, "it is my right that you should hear me. Ur-Lord and Unbeliever, white gold wielder," he said as if he were addressing the hot streaks that stained Covenant's face, "you have betrayed me—and I am glad that you have come. Though you come without hope, you are the one hope that I have known. You have it in your hands to create or deny whatever truth you will, and I desire to serve you. While you remain, I will accept neither despair nor doom. There is neither betrayal nor failure while you endure to me. And if the truth you teach must be lost at last, I will be consoled
that my love and I were not asked to bear that loss alone.

"Covenant, hear me," he insisted. "No words suffice. I am glad that you have come."

Mutely, Covenant put his arms around Sunder's neck and hugged him.

The crying of his heart was also a promise. This time I won't turn my back. I'm going to tear those bastards down.

He remained there until the Graveler's answering clasp had comforted him.

Then Pitchwife broke the silence by clearing his throat; and Linden said in a voice husky with empathy, "It's about time. I thought you two were never going to start talking to each other." She was standing beside Hollian as if they had momentarily become sisters.

Sunder totally rocks!!!

Agreed... I wag my finger at Fist for leaving this out of his dissection. Naturally the battle between Cail and the other Haruchai were the drawing points for him to want this particular chapter, and a good dissection as usual rockbrother
... the quoted passage by Sunder (to me anyway ) was the most powerful.
Close friendship TC lacks in OUR world but here again he finds loyalty beyond his comprehension and ability to bear.
Sunder outlines each offense by Covenant that he could rail against and basically tell TC to kiss off. But at the end... "I am glad that you have come."
SRD clearly understands the value of friendship and how TRUE friendship can exceed the boundries of pain and grief.

"Greater love hath any man than this, that a man lay down his life for a friends." John 15:13 KJV

Sunder is ready to do this... as well as TC.

[Fist and Faith]

Thanks folks.

Hey dlb, did you ever see the Sunder thread in the TC forum? I'll see if I can find it and bump it.

[kastenessen]

Furls and Seafoam, I too, are a sucker for these moments that comes when you least expect it. I'm of course talking about Sunder's speech. It's magic. I don't know how SRD does it but it works. The words, when I read them almost takes me out of my body. No other writer does that with me. It's transcendental...I don't understand it and I do...

Sunder's words are so powerful yet simple. He speaks of TC's failings and betrayals but it is behind his words that we understands that he loves him. Towards the end of the speech he says and I'll quote it again:

"...You have it in you hands to create or deny whatever truth you will, and I desire to serve you. While you remain, I will accept neither despair nor doom. There is neither betrayal nor failure while you endure to me. And if the truth you teach must be lost at last, I will be consoled that my love and I were not asked to bear that loss alone..."

To me it seems that Sunder has seen the humanity in TC. Not just the immensly powerful magician who can tear the world apart, but the man who can make mistakes,who grieves, who doubts, but is also passionate and therefore has the power to change the world...

Ah! Can it get any darker? The story that Sunder tells us is almost beyond telling, and in the previous chapter we heard about the Waynhim. Where will we go from here? ....To Revelstone of course...

Great dissection F&F, as always. Funny, witty and brimming with insights.

Kastenessen

[Fist and Faith]

Hey Seafoam, I just didn't have the energy to type out Sunder's speech is all! But I'd hoped this expressed what I thought of it:

And now, Sunder gives what is, for me, the most difficult, conflicted speech in the entire 1st and 2nd Chrons. He is torn like nobody’s business! On the one hand, he feels grief and pain, and a feeling of having been betrayed when Covenant left the Clave intact. On the other, Covenant is the one who showed him what the Land had been, what it was supposed to be, what it could be again. He has hope in Covenant. Perhaps this hope is borne as much of desperation as anything else, but it’s all Sunder has. “Covenant, hear me. No words suffice. I am glad that you have come.” It’s a wonder Sunder doesn’t have a stroke from the conflicting emotions as he speaks!

Thanks for the kind words, kas.

[Seafoam Understone]

Hey Fist... it's one of the things that I do hate about the internet and the chats and IM's and forums... it's difficult to accurately convey tonal inflection and intent when responding to anything anyone else says.
Thus, t'was not my intent to say you were ALL HARUCHAI and screw everything else... grins... After all I to Giants as you are to Haruchai...
But hey, I'm probably blowing it all out of proportion anyway... I do enjoy your dissections and insights on those burly short guys who'd make any Vulcan proud with their toneless and emotionless inflections when answering anyone.
The fight between Cail and the others was IMO kinda tongue in cheek in that the Search is discussing the goings on and then all of the sudden a hellva fight breaks out, like a free-for-all.
Can't imagine the patience Durris had to endure to pause and explain while the fight was going on...

Without warning, he spun away from the company, leaped
lithe and feral into the rain toward Cail and Harn.

And with this... it would be impossible to tell the outcome unless you were part of the mind-speak...

As abruptly as it had begun, the fighting stopped. The four
Haruchai returned stoically to the shelter of the cave. They
were all bruised and hurt, though none as sorely as Cail. But
his visage concealed defeat, and his people wore no aspect of
triumph.

This got to me here at least got me thinking anyway...

He faced Covenant squarely. "It is agreed that I am un-
worthy." Slow blood trickled from a cut on his lip. a gash
over one cheekbone- "My place at your side is not taken from
me, for it was accorded by ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol. But
I am required to acknowledge that the honor of such a place
does not become me. Fole will ward the Chosen." After a
fraction of hesitation, he added, "Other matters have not
been resolved."

Though the ak-Haru-Kenaustin Ardenol gave Cail this place of (honor?) it is deemed that he isn't worthy enough to bear it, but the fact is they can't take it away from him because (their idea of) the supreme Haruchai gave it to them. Interesting situation. How can Cail even consider walking along side and guarding the Ur-Lord knowing that his kinfolk think him of him less (in their own way). I doubt that they have resentments but it's like saying "go ahead, do your duty as it was given to you but you're not worthy to do it honorably" or am I missing something here? Fist?

[Fist and Faith]

Hey Fist... it's one of the things that I do hate about the internet and the chats and IM's and forums... it's difficult to accurately convey tonal inflection and intent when responding to anything anyone else says.

Heh. No worries, I wasn't upset. I'm just sayin', the quote, which I truly wanted to include, was too long, considering I was already three days late as it was!

The fight between Cail and the others was IMO kinda tongue in cheek in that the Search is discussing the goings on and then all of the sudden a hellva fight breaks out, like a free-for-all.

I'd never looked at it that way, but yeah, I like that idea!

Can't imagine the patience Durris had to endure to pause and explain while the fight was going on...

Without warning, he spun away from the company, leaped
lithe and feral into the rain toward Cail and Harn.

Absolutely! I can imagine their telepathic conversation:
-Durris will stay and explain this to the ur-Lord.
-Huh?? Why do I have stay?!?!?! I wanna fight too!!
-I agree, Durris, you should be the one to explain this to them.
-Aw, come on!! You two are always ganging up on me!!

Though the ak-Haru-Kenaustin Ardenol gave Cail this place of (honor?) it is deemed that he isn't worthy enough to bear it, but the fact is they can't take it away from him because (their idea of) the supreme Haruchai gave it to them. Interesting situation. How can Cail even consider walking along side and guarding the Ur-Lord knowing that his kinfolk think him of him less (in their own way). I doubt that they have resentments but it's like saying "go ahead, do your duty as it was given to you but you're not worthy to do it honorably" or am I missing something here? Fist?

I guess it's possible that they thought ak-Haru Kenaustin Ardenol would not have given the honor to Cail if he had another option. But if it was me, instead of Covenant, I'd have refused any service from Durris & co. Cail is my favorite Haruchai or either Chron. He is worthy of any honor you'd care to name. I'd have told Durris where to get off.