Read Online The Runes of the Earth: The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Book One by Stephen R. Donaldson - Free Book Online Page B

Lytton—and Roger Covenant—could not intimidate her.
    As if she were merely making conversation, she asked, “What did you tell him?”
    Lytton laughed harshly. “I told him to burn it to the ground, Doctor. That leprosy shit isn’t something he should mess around with. His mother did him a favor when she moved out of that house.”
    A flash of anger pushed away Linden’s fear; but she kept her ire to herself. Calm now, settled and cold in her determination, she continued, “Did he happen to say why he wants to live there? Did he explain why he came back?”
    â€œNo, he didn’t. And I didn’t ask. If he wants to live in the house where he was born, it’s none of my business. I told him what I think of the idea. We didn’t have anything else to talk about.”
    â€œI see.” For a heartbeat or two, Linden hesitated, unsure of her ground. But then she informed Lytton, “I ask because he came to see me this morning. He told me why he’s here.”
    â€œDo tell,” Barton Lytton drawled.
    â€œHe wants custody of his mother,” she said, praying for credibility. “He wants to take care of her.”
    â€œWell, good for him,” retorted Lytton. “He’s a dutiful son, I’ll give him that. Too bad you can’t just release her, wouldn’t you say, Doctor?”
    â€œNot without a court order,” she agreed. “That’s why I called, Sheriff.” Summoning all the force of her conviction, she said plainly, “He made it clear that he doesn’t intend to wait for legal custody. If I don’t release her, he’s going to take her.”
    â€œ Take her?” Lytton sounded incredulous.
    â€œKidnap her, Sheriff. Remove her by force.”
    â€œDon’t make me laugh.” Lytton snorted his scorn. “Take her where ? He’s going to live on Haven Farm. He’s probably putting clean sheets on the beds right now.
    â€œSuppose you’re right. Suppose he sneaks her out of your precious ‘psychiatric hospital’ while Bill Coty is taking one of his permanent naps. Half an hour later, you call me. I send out a deputy, who finds Roger Covenant at home on Haven Farm, spooning Cream of Wheat into his mother’s mouth and wiping her chin when she slobbers. That’s not kidnapping, Doctor. That’s an embarrassment. ” The sheriff seemed to enjoy his own sarcasm. “For you more than for him, maybe.
    â€œTell me the truth now. Is that really why you called? You’re afraid Roger Covenant might kidnap his own mother? You’ve been working in that place too long. You’re starting to think like your patients.”
    Before Linden could tell him why he was wrong, he hung up.

3. In Spite of Her
    Â  Damn the man.
    For a while, she stormed mutely at the unresisting walls of her office. Lytton was wrong: Roger Covenant was not a “pleasant young man.” He was dangerous. And Joan was not his only potential victim.
    But her outrage accomplished nothing, protected no one; and after a few minutes she set it aside. The sheriff could not know what his disdain might cost. He had never been summoned to take his chances against despair in a world which baffled his comprehension. He lacked the experience, the background, to react effectively.
    Although she chose to excuse him, however, her anger did not recede. It had settled to a thetic hardness in the center of her chest. Damn him, she repeated, thinking now of Roger rather than the sheriff. His year with the Community of Retribution must have done him such harm—And of course he had been raised for weakness by his grandparents as well as by his mother.
    Why in God’s name did he want Covenant’s ring? If he took Joan somehow, hewould also gain possession of her wedding band. It, too, was white gold, no doubt essentially indistinguishable from her ex-husband’s. Surely it was white gold itself that