The Runes of the Earth: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Book One by Stephen R. Donaldson

questions. Instead I get the distinct impression that you had more at stake than you let on. He looms for you somehow. Your whole face changes when his name comes up.
    â€œI don’t know what his son means to you, but I thought it might be something painful.” Her tone conveyed a brusque shrug. “So I wanted to spare you.
    â€œNow it’s your turn,” she added before Linden could respond. “ ‘Warn’ you? Why should I need to warn you about anything? What has he done?”
    But Linden was reluctant to describe Roger’s encounter with his mother. She feared hearing the experience put into words.
    â€œHe came to see me an hour ago,” she said slowly. “He thinks I should give him custody of his mother.” Words would make it more real. “And he’s very insistent . . . ,” Linden trailed into uncertainty.
    â€œYes?” her friend prompted.
    â€œMegan, you’re going to think I’ve lost my mind.” She touched Covenant’s ring for courage. “He made me believe that he intends to take her if I don’t let her go.”
    When Lord Foul put forth his power, people died. The beauty of the world was torn apart. He had to be stopped here.
    â€œOh, God,” Megan groaned. “Made you believe it how?”
    â€œI don’t know how to explain it,” Linden admitted. After all these years, she could not now suddenly tell Megan what had happened to her during Covenant’s death. If she did so, she would lose all of her credibility. “Will you believe that he just gave me a bad feeling?
    â€œI’ve been working with unbalanced people for a long time, and I think I have aninstinct for it. He’s off-kilter somehow. And I know for a fact that he didn’t listen to a thing I said.
    â€œHe seems obsessed with the idea of taking care of Joan. Nothing else affects him. As far as he’s concerned, she belongs with him. End of story. I’m afraid there aren’t any ordinary social or legal or even practical considerations that will hold him back.”
    Megan did not reply for a long moment. During the silence, Linden heard a ticking sound like a heartbeat along the phone line. Then it stopped. At last Megan said slowly, “In fact, I do believe you. I have a bad feeling about him myself. And I can’t explain it, either.
    â€œDo you know—?” She paused, apparently gathering her thoughts. “We started corresponding three years ago. He wrote to me when he turned eighteen. At that point he was still technically a ward of the state—his grandparents never actually adopted him—but the welfare people found it easier to let him start managing his own affairs.
    â€œHe wanted to know everything about his father’s estate. How much money there was, where it came from exactly, how it was invested, what kind of real property was involved. He wanted to make all the arrangements to take possession of the estate the minute he turned twenty-one. He understood that much about the law, at any rate. And he wanted to know everything I could tell him about his father personally. Hell, he even wanted to know about you, even though you hardly knew Thomas Covenant.”
    Linden stifled an impulse to ask Megan what she had told Roger. Instead she looked out the window again. Her car seemed to call to her, insisting that she drive home; that Jeremiah needed her protection.
    â€œBut he never said a word about his mother,” added Megan. “Based on our correspondence and conversations, I would have thought he didn’t know where she was. Or care.”
    He had not discussed Joan with Megan because he had not wanted to forewarn anyone.
    Linden forced herself to turn away from the window. “So what do you know about him? Has he talked about himself at all?”
    â€œHe doesn’t volunteer much,” Megan responded. “But he answers direct questions. You may know some of