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duchess of malfi
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 Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 6:55 am Post subject: The Wounded Land, Chapter 22: Plain of Fire |
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| Quote: | | Sunbane power: bloodshed and fire |
The company has been under attack of the the Grim of the Clave. Their way to the east has been blocked by thousands of Sunbane warped creatures, bizarre monsters which look like some sort of nightmarish cross of cavewights and army ants. Memla sacrificed herself in fighting both the creatures, trying to create a gap in their ranks for the company to move through, and also in fighting the Grim. Linden and Cail have been injured. Thomas Covenant, Sunder, and Hollian are exhausted. But the Haruchai urge the questors onward.
Brinn points out that the gap in the monsters is closing. Yet Covenant has eyes only for the unconcious Linden, held in Hergrom's arms. | Quote: | | He called out to her, but did not know how to reach her. |
 Sunder adds his urging to Brinn's, and they set forth.
The monsters would have surely gotten them, had they not paused to eat their own dead. And the haruchai are magnificent, as usual, breaking off the monsters' antennae so they cannot find their prey. And every creature that touches Vain drops dead! All that is left of Memla and Din are a few scraps of red cloth -- and her rukh, which is recovered by Ceer. But there are thousands of creatures, far too many for the haruchai to face, so the company is forced to run.
Cail finds a defensible place... | Quote: | | a pile of boulders rising incongrously out of the savannah, like a cairn left by Giants. |
Spoiler: a nice little reminder that Giants exist, given what will be coming soon.  |
The questors climb up the boulders, all except for Vain, who seemingly has nothing to fear from the creatures. Covenant takes the time to examine Linden. She has a minor head wound, but is unconcious and limp. | Quote: | | He was useless to her. |
and worse, much worse -- | Quote: | Sunder and Hollian climbed up to him. Kneeling beside Linden, Sunder scrutinized her. Fatigue and trepidation dragged at his features. "Ah, Linden Avery," he breathed. "This is a sore mischance."
Covenant stifled a groan and sought to contradict the dismay in Sunder's tone. "It doesn't look that serious."
The Graveler avoided Covenant's stare. "The injury itself - Perhaps even Cail's hurt does not threaten his life. But this is a sun of pestilence." He faltered into silence.
"Ur-Lord," Hollian said tightly,"any wound is fatal under a sun of pestilence. There is no healing for the Sunbane sickness." |
Covenant is horrified by the thought that Linden might be dying...and the thought that if any cure is known, only Memla would have known it, and she had given her life for the quest, so that Covenant would not have to risk using his ring. And the Coursers, with all of the baggage, all of the food and water, were gone, and cannot be recalled or controlled without Memla.
The attack from the creatures soon comes. The Haruchai spring to defense immediately. But only five could not defend such a large area by themselves. Thomas Covenant joins the fight, armed with the Krill. | Quote: | | Moving as if he was accursed, he slashed at them. the krill sliced their plating like bare felsh, cut through atannae, even mandibles, as if the blade were a broadsword with the weight and puissance of a Giant behind it. The krill was a tool of Law and the creatures were the lawless spawn of the Sunbane. |
Sunder and Hollian also join the defense. Spoiler: | another reference to Giants, and a description of a Giant who might as well be the First with her broadsword. |
The attack continues throughout the afternoon, but the company holds on. At sunset, the creatures disperse. Covenant, exhausted, tries to crawl to Linden, but collapses.
Spoiler: | Do the creatures die when they touch Vain because he holds the Law inside of himself? |
Covenant is awakened by Linden being horribly ill. She and Cail are both having convulsions. She swallows and begins to choke on her tongue. The haruchai save her, and try to hold both she and Cail down during the convulsions. | Quote: | | The sun of pestilence has infected her wound. From this sickness none recover. |
Hollian then adds even more miserable news. She has consulted her lianar, and has found that the next day will be a desert sun (and they, of course, have no water). And even worse -- her reading has shown fire, horrible fire, as nothing she has ever seen before. She insists that they must flee immediately. But Covenant refuses, as Linden and Cail are far too sick to be moved.
The Sunbane rises, a desert sun.
| Quote: | | As the Sunbane colored the savannah, the pampas grass began to melt. Its fiber turned to a dead gray sludge, and slumped to the ground like spilth. This, Covenant mused in a mood of canted detachment, was what had happened to Morinmoss. To Grimmerdhore and Garroting Deep. A desert sun had risen over them, and tens of thousands of yers of sentient forest had simply dissolved into muck.And the glory of the world becomes less than it was. |
The ground begins to glow. Vain climbs the boulders. The muck begins to burn. Covenant realizes the glow reminds him of firestones, of gravelling...Vain takes Linden from Covenant's arms. And then he climbs down and walks away, across the gravelling, though it is as hot as lava. Hergrom thows himself across Vain's shoulders, and the three disappear --Vain, Linden in his arms, Hergrom clinging to his back...
Covenant has one of his flashes of insight. He demands the rukh. He gives it to Sunder. | Quote: | | You're the Graveler. Use it. |
Together, Sunder and Hollian figure out how to attune Sunder to the rukh. He recalls the remaining Coursers, with their burdens of food and precious water. (Sunder kicks such serious butt!) The company rides the Coursers over what seems to be miles and miles of the gravelling, hot as lava. And then they finally find hard dirt, a blessed relief -- and Vain.
Vain had carried Linden to safety. Hergrom has placed her in the shade, and stood guard over her.
She is in convulsions, but recognizes Covenant. She keeps insisting that he give her the insect repellant, voure, to drink. No one wishes to give it to her, but Covenant insists. After taking it, she whispers The Haruchai then believe that her mind is, indeed clear, as she can understand how sick Cail is. Linden slowly grows limp, as Covanant holds her hand. He cannot tell if she is healing or dying, until Brinn tells them that Cail is mending, and she gives a sigh of relief.
Two things here -- even when Linden is sick, dying, having convulsions, she feels concern for Cail. And she tries the cure on herself first...as a test before giving it to him. You could not ask for more from a doctor, a healer.
And the Land is still supplying healing for its people, even though the Hurtloam is gone. But this healing power has possibly been concealed from the people of the Land by the Clave. If an eh-brand and a Graveler do not know of it, no person outside of Revelstone would know. Do the Riders of the Clave carry voure just because it is an insect repellant, or do they also know its power to cure Sunbane sickness?
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Last edited by duchess of malfi on Fri Jan 30, 2004 9:15 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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dlbpharmd
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| Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, Duchess!
The appearance of graveling here is interesting - but this is not earthpower graveling, but sickened, diseased - Sunbane graveling.
And I think you're right about voure and the Clave - they had to know of its healing properties, yet never added that bit of information to the Rede - which is a criminal act in itself. |
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matrixman
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| Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 7:58 am Post subject: |
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Another possibility: maybe the voure's efficacy against Sunbane sickness was a property that only Linden's health-sense could discern. I'm thinking that if the Clave knew about this aspect of the voure and kept it secret, then how do we explain Memla? She, being one of the Clave's uncorrupted members, surely would have objected to the dishonesty of withholding such life-saving information from the people of the Land. Or did Gibbon and his inner circle inform only selected members of the Clave about the voure?
Come to think of it, it would seem pretty dumb for the Clave to withhold this information at all. They need fresh blood (or rather, want it) to feed the Banefire. But they're not going to get it if people out there die from Sunbane sickness first. The Clave would be acting against its own interests, wouldn't it? |
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danlo
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| Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2004 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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Very good points MM!
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| Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 4:59 am Post subject: |
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| I always thought the major goal of Gibbon and his inner circle was the slow and as-painful-as-possible extermination of the human race in the Land. Withholding the information about the voure would certainly help this goal. And Gibbon certainly has abilities of his own when it comes to seeing...he certainly saw all of the darkness in Linden's soul. (I unspoiled it!-d) |
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matrixman
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| Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 8:40 am Post subject: |
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SIGH...the spoiler function strikes again.  Er, Guest, sorry if I sound like a curmudgeon, but in what way does the message in the spoiler spoil anything? It's information that has already been established up to this point. |
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Furls Fire
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| Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2004 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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YAY!!! Happy to see duchy do a chapter!! Great lead in!!
Seeing the North Plains turning into a vast stretch of smoldering graveling was incredible. I could actually vision Vain spiriting Linden and Hergrom away across it.
And I believe that Gibbon and those of the Clave that knew who and what he was (not the duped Riders, like Memla), knew of the healing powers of voure just as they knew that aliantha was not poison. Just add voure to the list of lies that Gibbon and Foul made the people of the Land swallow over the centuries...
Foul didn't want the people of the Land destroyed. He enjoyed watching them suffer too much, just as he relished watching the Land itself suffering.
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...for then I could fly away and be at rest. Sweet rest, Mom. We all love and miss you.
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matrixman
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 1:27 am Post subject: |
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According to the Atlas of the Land, that vast plain of graveling sits in an area where Grimmerdhore Forest once would have stood! I'm guessing that under a fertile sun, the entire region that was once Grimmerdhore becomes a huge savannah. Under a desert sun, it becomes this sea of graveling. I wonder if the other areas that were once Garroting Deep and Morinmoss Forest also behave in this way under the Sunbane. Considering how immense the Deep was, I'm scaring myself with a very frightening picture of the Land under the Sunbane  !! The entire southwest region of the Land may be nothing but a hell on earth under the desert sun!
This would please the Ravers enormously, since they hate trees and soil. I can imagine Gibbon-Raver feeling pretty satisfied with himself every time a desert sun hits the Land, knowing that the ground where the forests once stood would be helplessly roasting. Kinda puts you in the mood for garroting a few Ravers... |
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duchess of malfi
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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One of the Forests was there?
No wonder Covenant was thinking such sad thoughts about how the forests died under the Desert Sun.
And the glory of the world becomes less than it was.
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matrixman
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, Duchess, that area the company finds itself in would have roughly been the northeast portion of Grimmerdhore Forest, according to the maps in the Atlas.
And the glory of the world becomes less than it was. |
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dlbpharmd
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 9:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Matrixman wrote: | According to the Atlas of the Land, that vast plain of graveling sits in an area where Grimmerdhore Forest once would have stood! I'm guessing that under a fertile sun, the entire region that was once Grimmerdhore becomes a huge savannah. Under a desert sun, it becomes this sea of graveling. I wonder if the other areas that were once Garroting Deep and Morinmoss Forest also behave in this way under the Sunbane. Considering how immense the Deep was, I'm scaring myself with a very frightening picture of the Land under the Sunbane !! The entire southwest region of the Land may be nothing but a hell on earth under the desert sun!
This would please the Ravers enormously, since they hate trees and soil. I can imagine Gibbon-Raver feeling pretty satisfied with himself every time a desert sun hits the Land, knowing that the ground where the forests once stood would be helplessly roasting. Kinda puts you in the mood for garroting a few Ravers... |
Matrixman, this is one of the most profoundly revealing posts I've ever seen. I never realized (although I own the Atlas of the Land) that that part of the land was Grimmerdhore. That does explain so much. And this is why DTL is my favorite part of KW.com! |
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danlo
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2004 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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I figured that out too...a long time ago, but never said anything--just so overwhelmingling sad...
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matrixman
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:03 am Post subject: |
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 The connection between the graveling and Grimmerdhore never clicked in my head all these years until I was rereading the chapter for this Dissection. Then I put 2 and 2 together...
I'm learning here from all of you, too. This is a great forum! |
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Furls Fire
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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...And all about and in me beauties die...
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And I believe in you
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I will remember you
and what life put you thru.
~fly fly little wing, fly where only angels sing~
~this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you~
...for then I could fly away and be at rest. Sweet rest, Mom. We all love and miss you.
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