We get our first large dose of Foul's best shot at the Lords & thier work. It struck me as the antithesis of the lord's efforts of preserving life and all it's beauty - Foul wants to pervert life and then destroy it.
We also see for the first time the unbelievable skill & servitude of the Bloodguard. I was again amazed by thier agility & calm approach to any situation:
Man, can't you just see this taking place! SRD uses some of his best (albeit gruesome) imagery in the Battle of Soaring Woodhelven - I love it.Already, two warriors had fallen among the Cavewights around Variol and Tamarantha. At one instant, a Bloodguard found himself, and Tamarantha behind him, attacked simultaneously by three Cavewights with spears. The Bloodguard broke the first spear with a chop of his hand, and leaped high over the second to kick its wielder in the face. But even his great speed was not swift enough. The third Cavewight caught him by the arm. Grappling at once, the first latched his long fingers onto the Bloodguard's ankle. The two stretched their captive between them, and their companion jabbed his spear at the Bloodguard's belly.
Covenant watched, transfixed with helplessness, as the Bloodguard strained against the Cavewights, pulled them close enough together to wrench himself out of the path of the spear. Its tip scored his back. The next instant, he groined both his captor.
Covenant shows his power for the first time since the wraths of Andelian with Atiaran, after picking up Tamarantha's staff & blasting a few Cavewights.
In the end his & Foamfollower's grief over killing is almost too much for them. Foamfollower, of course, has his caamora to ease his immediate pain, but TC has no outlet or ease for his rage & pain, so he does what he always does - climbs back into his lepers shell.
Faomfollower says:
He can't justify any killing, of their people or Foul's minions. Even Foamfollower, in the end, gives the last bit of hurtloam to a suffering Cavewight instead of Pietten or himself."Do you feel nothing?" "Feel?" Covenant groaned. "I'm a leper".
Then a long & daunting trip thru Morinmoss leads them to the plains of Ra - home of the Ranyhyn!! Should be a time of wonderment at the great horses & the Ramen, sworn to serve them...Then TC asks Hurn "why don't you ride" Bad idea TC!! Manethrall Lithe allows them to pass into their home.
TC has decided to starve himself in order to make himself come to a decision on how he should act in this world he is struggling to understand.(no Tom - don't eat the grass!!!)
Probably some of the best chapters in the book. I was also struck with the similarites between Covenant's & Foamfollower's dilemmas about killing and death & their reactions to their own participation in killing[/quote]