hunters_forest | Coldfire re-read: When True Night Falls

Today we're moving into Terate country. Be afraid ... for there are children involved! ;)

Plot summary

They cross the mountains and reach the valley of the Terata, where they wait for Tarrant. Together they descend into the valley, and Tarrant discovers traces of strange sorcery in the currents - and the human life he detected earlier is gone. What they do find: Someone's been engaging in biological experiments, but wasn't as good at it as Tarrant. (Naturally. *g*) And Tarrant demonstrates an impressive ability to reconstruct how that sorceror must think, just from the evidence at hand. (May I call him Sherlock Tarrant? :D)

And then they camp for the day - and while Tarrant's away, Damien and Hesseth (inevitably) are captured by the Terata. Which is to say, by evil children. Oops?

Quotes

How much I've changed, he mused as they made camp one night. Once I would have stood back and let him die. Once I thought that nothing could be worse than freeing the Hunter to feed again. Now I protect him without a second thought, and calmly wave good-bye while he goes off to murder countless innocents. But the situation was different now and he knew it. Tarrant had saved his own life several times, and while he understood that it was always for a selfish purpose - the Neocount never did anything except to benefit himself - the fact remained that he had done it.
That changed how you looked at a man, whether you wanted it to or not.

Use evil to fight evil, the Prophet wrote. If you're lucky, they'll destroy each other. Is that what I want? That Tarrant should die in combat, delivering the world from two evils at once?
He shut his eyes. His hands were shaking.
I don't know. I'm not sure anymore. Not sure of anything.
He said that his presence would corrupt me. Has it begun already? Is this what corruption feels like?

He tried to explain it all. How the earth-fae surged up from the beneath the planet's crust with enough force to kill. How it settled down soon after and then flowed like water over the land, in currents that could be mapped and harnessed, from the strongest tide down to the tiniest ripple. Since humans used the earth-fae for their Workings, he explained, then all their Workings must flow with the currents. Thus Tarrant or he could attempt to Know their enemy - in other words, interpret the effect of his presence upon the earth-fae - but it would take tremendous power to launch an active assault against the current.

"You're such strangers to this world, you humans. You come here and redefine our very world, you sculpt our native species as though they were clay, you spawn a thousand monsters each time you draw a breath . . . but you never really belong here. Not even after all these years. You live on this planet, but you're not part of it."

"You sound more curious than afraid."
The Neocount chuckled. "Does that surprise you?"
"No." Despite himself he smiled. "I guess not."
"We are what we are, Reverend Vryce. And I was a scholar long before I became . . . what I am." A faint smile creased the corners of his lips. "Scholar enough to know what you fear most of all, Reverend. Tonight I'll Work the weather as best I can, so that tomorrow the valley mist is lifted. If that's possible," he amended.

He didn't need to look at Tarrant to know that the man's eyes were fixed on him, and that he was studying Damien with more than mere sight. "A night of prayer would do you good, Reverend Vryce. It would cleanse your spirit."
He looked up sharply at Tarrant, expecting to see mockery in those pale eyes. But to his surprise there was none. Instead he saw something that might, in another man, be called compassion.
Was that possible? Had so much of the Hunter's veneer been stripped away by their recent experience that he was capable of such an emotion? His cruel persona had been forged and tempered in the solitude of the Forbidden Forest, where his only companions were demons and wraiths and a few carefully chosen men who had likewise sacrificed their emotional birthright. Was it being worn so thin by the constant presence of humanity that a hint of the original Neocount could begin to peek through?
We're making you more human, he mused.
The thought was strangely chilling.

It's just nature, he told himself. Species have adapted to meet the special demands of this place. But that didn't seem right, somehow. Tarrant's Forest had been horrible, but all the elements were interlocked in perfect biological harmony; you could sense that balance, even though you were repelled by its tenor. But here . . . there was too much death, he decided. Too much decay. It was as if Nature's precious balance had somehow been overburdened, as if something had been introduced or removed - or changed - that threw the whole system out of kilter.

"Nature is infinitely complex, Reverend Vryce. Who knows that better than I? A natural ecosystem is a delicately balanced creation, with all sorts of checks and balances that are continuously evolving in tandem. Nothing like this. The simplicity of it, and the waste . . . I sense a human hand behind it. Very inexperienced, limited in understanding, perhaps overwhelmed by its failure to control. Because in order to establish a new species properly, you have to make sure it comes equipped with counterspecies: predators, parasites, diseases, degraders. That wasn't done here. Such power, without understanding the consequences of applying it. No wonder there was such destruction."

Thoughts

Damien worrying about corruption - I know we've discussed that several times before, but nonetheless: Do you think he's being corrupted? He is looking the other way while Tarrant kills, after all, and is becoming less and less bothered by it. On the other hand, here Tarrant is choosing to go after the bad guys, not the most convenient victims, and later he shows Damien compassion, so Damien's not the only one being "corrupted" - and he knows it. Does that make a difference? Any thoughts?

What Hesseth says about humans never really belonging on Erna makes me think about the trilogy's ending again. I almost hate to bring it up here (again), but don't you think what the ending does is make sure they never will belong? Blinding humans to the fae, removing what adaptation to Erna humanity's produced? And tries to sell us that as a good thing, even though it's been criticised all through the trilogy? It certainly feels that way to me.

The Hunter saying he learns from his mistakes - that's another one of those things I enjoy immensely about these books: Our heroes never insist that they couldn't possibly be wrong. Even Tarrant in his arrogance acknowledges when he's made a mistake, and doesn't regard himself beyond that. Too much the scholar, I suppose - a good scholar. (I really, really love that, I can't stress it enough.)

Perhaps I shouldn't find it funny that Tarrant uses his ~~flaming sword~~ coldfire sword as a machete. But I do. *g*

We also get lots of hints about our villain's powers, what with all the emphasis this chapter puts on the vanished traces of humans on the currents in the valley - not there and gone, but as if they'd never been there. Good set-up for the (rather different) valley in the third book, too, wouldn't you say?

Evil children, oh dear. Well, we've seen them with Jenseny already, and we know where this is going, of course, but do you remember what you thought here at first? I admit it, every time something like this happens I secretly want the heroes to just kill the brats already ...

On Thursday, we'll be continuing with chapters 23-26 - four chapters, but don't worry, they're short ones. :-)