Having only been gone two days, it would appear that participation in the horserite is the reason for their weakness, yet she is unable to speak of what transpired, while he is unwilling.
When Linden is recovered enough to speak of her experience, she is initially overwhelmed by one thought - one thought that dominates all others.'Let the Chosen speak of it,' he answered, 'if she is able.' Behind it's exhaustion, his voice hinted at chargin and old shame. 'I will not.'
This is a surprise for the Ramen, and likely for us as readers as well. What do the Ranyhyn have to be ashamed of? Tail of the sky, mane of the world - what action would they deem so terrible that only two of all their number would be sent to the horserite?'Just Hyn and Hynyn,' she croaked hoarsely. No other Ranyhyn. 'The others couldn't bear it. They're too ashamed.'
So we learn that as she ran with Hyn and Hynyn and Stave, Linden do not see the betrayal of Kelenbhrabanal by Fangthane as Elena had done so many years ago, but instead images of the former High Lord herself.'Because of Elena,' Linden explained as clearly as she could, although she had no words. 'That's why the Ranyhyn are ashamed. The horserite doomed her.'
The Ranyhyn, perceiving something within Elena that no one else could, had taken her to the tarn to join in the horserite to warn her - to show her the Kelenbhrabanal was blinded by arrogance when he offered his throat to the Render.At that time, Elena was a young girl, lovely as only a child could be, and innocent in spite of her mother's instability. Lena had been deranged by violation and yearning, rendered unfit to raise a child. And both of Lena's parents, Trell and Atiaran, had been broken to some extent by the crime against their daughter. Thus Elena was effectively abandoned by her own family; left to the care of a young, unregarded man who adored Lena. For the Land's sake, he had effectively adopted Elena. His embittered tenderness, and the boon of the Ranyhyn, were all that sustained her.
To Linden, the girl's loneliness and need were as vivid as Jeremiah's, as acute as her son's compelling maiming. The great horses had seen Elena clearly. Once each year, every year, an old stallion had approached Mithil Stonedown in order to relieve Lena's bereavement; and so he had witnessed again and again how the child's life was transformed for that brief time. When the mare Myrha had taken the stallions place, she had seen her potency in Elena's heart more vividly than any man or woman who might have loved the child.
Elena did not hear, or did not heed this warning however. Instead, Kelenbhrabanal became like a mythical hero to be revered, as did Kevin Landwaster, for his sacrifice was much the same as the Father of Horse's.Better to combat Fangthane directly and die than to believe that some grand sacrifice might alter Fangthane's nature - or the Land's fate.
It should also be noted however, that neither Covenant nor Linden heeded this warning in White Gold Wielder - both sacrificed themselves in different ways to save or heal the Land. Such is the paradox of white gold, a paradox which did not encompass Elena in spite of her parentage.
Yet Elena's story in itself, while poignant for us as readers, is scant reason on its own for Linden to be included in the horserite.The horserite had not dissuaded her from ruin. Rather it had set her more firmly on the path to distruction.
The reason they took Linden is to warn her that they fear she will follow in Elena's footsteps.
Finally, the Ranyhyn allow Linden to experience what is being done to her son so that she may know how she brings about destruction.Their minds united with her, Hyn and Hynyn retold the same story as if it had happened to Linden rather than Elena; as if Linden's mother and father and been Atiran and Trell as well as Lena and Covenant. And she experienced it with them: it transpired anew. It held the same abandonment and grief, the same failed cherishing, the same loneliness - and the same exalting in-rush of love for the Ranyhyn. Mercilessly, Hyn and hynyn described Elena's introduction to the murder and betrayal of Kelenbhrabanal as if that crisis were indistinguishable from Linden's experience of the Land with Covenant under the Sunbane.
Yet, in the face of the warning of the Ranyhyn, Linden still decides to press on with her chosen plan. To travel to the Land's past and recover the lost Staff of Law.Yet the visions of the horserite were unutterably cruel; for when she reached out to Covenant and Jeremiah, trying to restore them with herself, the Worm of the World's End squirmed from Covenant's mouth, and her son's dear face seemed to break open and become vile, bitter as Despite.
However, when the time comes and Esmer had summoned a caesure to bare her into the past, the Ranyhyn stand beside her, to the extent that they agree to bare not only Linden and Stave, but Anele, Liand, Mahrtiir, Bhapa and Pahni also.
And before she leaves, she is farewelled by her beloved.
'Go now, beloved. While you can. Just be wary of me. Remember that I'm dead.'
]
"[The Ranyhyn] saw far ahead in time; sensed the danger which would confront Elena years later." This confirms my belief that the Ranyhyn can do more than parlour tricks like answering whistles when it comes to Time. They have more talents than we otherwise could have guessed. 
