| Chapter 7: Marid |
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Sunder had not moved. He stood with his arms clamped across his chest. His eyes were dull with the horror of watching his life become false.
Carefully, Covenant picked the last berry. His stride was almost steady as he went to Sunder. His heart sang: Earthpower! "Sunder," he said, half insisting, half pleading, "this is aliantha. They used to be called treasure-berries--the gift of the Earth to anybody who suffered from hunger or need. This is what the Land was like." Sunder did not respond. The glazing of his gaze was complete. "It's not poison," Linden said clearly. "It's immune to the Sunbane." "Eat it," Covenant urged. "This is why we're here. What we want to accomplish. Health. Earthpower. Eat it." With a painful effort, Sunder dredged up his answer. "I do not wish to trust you." His voice was a wilderland. "You violate all my life. When I have learned that aliantha are not poison you will seek to teach me that the Sunbane does not exist--that all the life of the Land through all the generations has had no meaning. That the shedding I have done is no less than murder." He swallowed harshly. "But I must. I must find some truth to take the place of the truth you destroy." Abruptly, he took the berry, put it in his mouth. For a moment, his soul was naked in his face. His initial anticipation of harm became involuntary delight; his inner world struggled to alter itself. His hands quivered when he took the seed from his mouth. "Heaven and Earth!" he breathed. His awe was as exquisite as anguish. "Covenant--" His jaw worked to form words. "Is this truly the Land--the Land of which my father dreamed?" "Yes." "Then he was mad." One deep spasm of grief shook Sunder before he tugged back about him the tattered garment of his self-command. "I must learn to be likewise mad." |