Thomas Covenant is back in his own world again after having refused Mhorams summons. He shakes off the effects of unconsciousness and finds the girl. He then administers some first-aid against snakebites and carries her to her parents place.
At only seven pages this is certainly the shortest chapter in this book, and possibly in all the chronicles. So why does SRD use a full seven pages to describe what I have just outlined above?
The only reason I can think of is that this is somehow important in the character development of Thomas Covenant at this point. He feels responsible for the little girl and he gives up all his disciplines and considerations of self preservation to save her.
I have considered that this chapter might be a sort of simile for the travails that lie ahead when TC returns to the land, and indeed in many ways the short trip through the woods with the girl mirrors this on some levels. It lacks resolution though, and so it is difficult to make any real judgedments.
I think I detect a certain acceptance of the land in Covenant in this chapter though, and he certainly cares about what has happened to them. In one paragraph he briefly wonders what has happened to the giants at Seareach and why there were a giant hanging from the gibbet at Gallows Howe (the end of TIW).
Eventually Covenant returns the girl to her parents, almost killing himself in the process. His capacity for self-sacrifice is now evident to everybody.
Siege
It is the dark of the moon, on the middle night of spring, and finally the army of Lord Foul arrives at Revelstone. The unnatural winter has lasted for 42 days and Lord Foul's plan is on schedule. Apparently the army has marched the same route as the earlier army years earlier, but this time there was no possibility of stopping them. They have finished their business at Trothgard and the Loresraat and Satansfist has been taking his time approaching Revelstone. Satansfist puts his army in position for the siege. He obviously wants to make it clear that escape is impossible, and as an aside we get another glimpse of the ravers' corruption:Twelve days after the last charred trunks of Revelwood were consumed, reduced to ashes and trampled underfoot, Satansfist Raver, the right hand of the Gray Slayer, brought his vast, dolorous army to the stone gates of Lord's Keep.
This is the first attack on Revelstone in living history at this point. In fact it might have been the only attack on Revelstone ever made up until this time. I do not know if this is true, but I cannot remember any references to any siege of Revelstone earlier. And as a matter of fact a siege of Revelstone would probably have made it impossible for Kevin Landwaster to travel to Mount Thunder to enact the Ritual of Desecration. Then again we do know that the area now called Trothgard was badly damaged in the last war, so we know that the armies of Lord Foul was close to Revelstone at that time. (I am assuming that this was indeed done at that time because I assume that the old lords would have been capable of reparing the damage if they had the chance.) There is only four lords in Revelstone at this point: Mhoram (now High Lord Mhoram), Amatin, Trevor and Loerya.And that night, Satansfist feasted on the flesh of prisoners that had been captured during his long march from Landsdrop.
After putting his army in position Satansfist calls out the lords, and he is confronted by Mhoram and Quaan. Their exchange is one of the few times we actually have a verbal exchange between a raver and an inhabitant of the Land. Covenant speaks to ravers occasionally, but in my opinion they behave differently towards him than they do towards others, probably because they know that Lord Foul will be far more displeased with them should they screw up in their dealings with him.
I can see nothing special in the exchange, and I actually find myself thinking that this is just like every other exchange with a raver that we have witnessed but that is probably just because they are so very rare. In any case Mhoram does not attempt to explain or argue with the ravers like Covenant sometimes do, he defies him and tries (somewhat successfully) to daunt him. It probably helps that it is not the first time that Mhoram has met this particular raver. The exchange ends with Satansfist flinging a bolt of power from the Illearth fragment against Mhoram and with Mhoram quenching it with his own lord's fire. Simultaneously some of his army storms the gates and the defenders have to kill them, afterwards Satansfist returns to his army and commences the assault in earnest.
It is only afterwards that Mhoram says to his fellow lords:
Essentially he seems to be saying that he has no real hope of resisting the Despiser but that he does not intend to give in to hopelessness. He does however seem to have a short battle with doubt when carrying the Covenant sculpture to the Hall of Gifts.He is not safe while there is heart or bone or Earthpower to oppose him. I only say that I know not how he may be fought. Let him discover my ignorance for himself.
Later the assult begins with the Ur-viles building catapults. We have seen Ur-Viles in action earlier, but not in any major sense until now. This time they have been mustered in force and they are clearly the mainstay of Satansfists army. Their lore-craft makes the catapults that they use to attack Revelstone, and it also makes the ammunition, the black vitriol which they fling. The only thing which is strange is that if they are eyeless, why do they not attack at night? The most likely answer is that the purpose of the attack is not to "take" Revelstone as such, but to break the spirits of those within. Later events support this conclusion.
Even against this first, probing assault the defenders of Revelstone are hard pressed. They expend a lot of their resources before they successfully repel the assault. Again I wonder how this compares to what went on when the old lords lived in Revelstone. I am certain that the powers of the Ur-viles and the raver would not have been nearly as much of a problem for High Lord Kevin to repel, and he would have had the Bloodguard too, of course. Then again, Loric obviously had a problem with the viles or the demondim, and possibly fought a lenghty conflict with them. In fact he was pressed to the point where he found it necessary to create the Krill. The Krill is a weapon of earthpower. Possibly the only item that we know of from the chronicles that have been made as a weapon. Why did Loric feel the need to make it? He had the Staff of Law, was that not sufficient? Possibly he wanted to do something that could not be done with the Staff of Law. It is for this reason that I assume that the conflict with the viles were difficult for the old lords.
But enough of that. In the first assault the ur-viles make catapults and throw large amounts of their black acid against the walls of Revelstone. The acid is certainly potent enough to eat through the stone of the walls, even though the gravelingases can strengthen them to some degree. In this chapter that we see some of the strength of the Lordsfire, the blue fire that the lords can ignite from their staffs. They use it to good effect against the acid of the ur-viles, simply shooting it from the sky or burning it away before it can damage the stone too much. Later they use it as a morale booster, to lift the spirits of the inhabitants of the keep. The Lordsfire is obviously a strong manifestation of Earthpower. In addition to the Lordsfire the other inhabitants of the keep use their various skills to defend against the catapults. First the hirebrands make arrows of lor-lilanrill which burst into flame when they hit something which is first used against the catapults and then against the acid itself. Additionally the gravelingases strengthen the stone against the assault and try to stop the acid by throwing fire-stones at it with limited success.
Their efforts are rewarded, however, as Satansfist eventually abandons this mode of assault. Either satisfied with what he has learned about the defenses of Revelstone or because he does not find it efficient enough.
In his next move he brings the fragment of the Illearth Stone to bear against the defenses of Revelstone. Aided by the ur-viles he summons an illness which infects the ground around Revelstone and sends roots of ill towards the walls. It takes several days before Mhoram understands what is happening this time, but finally it becomes apparent that the raver is attacking the morale of the defenders directly by sending fear against Revelstone and its inhabitants.
Now we come to the importance of what has happened here. Mhoram has actually sent Covenant back to his own world, and when he is resummoned he is no longer in Revelstone. This, more than anything else, gives Thomas Covenant the opportunity to take the long road to Foul's Creche and hence victory. It takes him to the colossus of the fall where he will destroy the staff of law, thus making Lord Mhorams victory possible and also paving the way for the second chronicles. I wanted to mention this specifically because it is important to the story and it has not been the subject of very much debate so far.
The chapter ends with Mhoram watching the army and the raver as they work their evil through the night. The resolution of the last attack will have to wait for the next chapter from Revelstone: The Ritual of Desecration.
Spoiler
I guess it would not be too much of a spoiler to say that the siege is not going to be ultimatly successful.
In fact, as far as I know the only successful attack on Revelstone is made much later by Ur-Lord Thomas Covenant and his band of not-so-merry men, giants, haruchai and a sandgorgon.
In a twist of fate the defender and occupant of Revelstone at that time is actually Samadhi Sheol, aka Satansfist who is possessing the na-Mhoram.
But unfortunately none of the people at Revelstone knows that the Ur-Lord has returned to the land at this point. I think they do not realize that until Mhoram sees the echoes of the wild magic in the Krill at the end of "The Ritual of Desecration".
In fact, as far as I know the only successful attack on Revelstone is made much later by Ur-Lord Thomas Covenant and his band of not-so-merry men, giants, haruchai and a sandgorgon.
In a twist of fate the defender and occupant of Revelstone at that time is actually Samadhi Sheol, aka Satansfist who is possessing the na-Mhoram. But unfortunately none of the people at Revelstone knows that the Ur-Lord has returned to the land at this point. I think they do not realize that until Mhoram sees the echoes of the wild magic in the Krill at the end of "The Ritual of Desecration".
