to see the spoilers, run your cursor over them...
I actually read this chapter a couple of days ago, but have lacked time to get anything typed up. Again, like chapter three, there is so much going on, and so many important things covered, that it is really hard to try to summarize it in a few words... 
And since I do not have much time again today (right now I should be heading into Ann Arbor with my older son, who is home for "fall break" from his university), I do not know if I can get through everything I would like to say about this truly awesome chapter in one or even two (maybe even three) sittings/postings. 
So if anyone would like to jump in and start talking about things I have not gotten to yet, that would be fine. There is a huge amount of stuff to talk about here! 
Just remember to not spoiler for any chapters after chapter eight, if you are further along in the book. 
and here we go!!
[spoiler]
I suppose I could start with meeting Berek and Damelon, and how very cool both men are, despite the differences in their personalities and outlooks. But that would be too easy. 
Linden has made it past the scouts, and is now riding into the camp. She can feel the pain and suffering coming from the hospital tents.
Now, in chapter seven, the Theomach told Linden that Berek is actually trying to give care to the sick and wounded from both armies. The Raver led army dumps their sick and wounded and dead, and Berek stops to pick them up and do his best to take care of them...another reason to love Berek. 
But it means that Linden must be truly feeling and carrying a world's weight of misery on her shoulders through her health sense.
Berek's soldiers challenge Linden - they have undoubtedly seen magic - particularly of the evil variety before. But Berek has not yet come into his knowledge of the Earth Power, so they are unfamiliar with Lord's staffs and Lord's fire....
Linden manages to get through the warriors by more or less begging to be allowed through to help the wounded, and by telling them to let her pass or kill her. She also throws Berek's name around.
The hospital tent itself sounds like one of the levels of hell...or something out of old wars in our world, before people realized what miracles hygiene and basic cleanliness can create. 
I have read accounts of wars 100 or more years ago, where the hospital areas sound a lot like this one - where more patients die from nosocumial or camp bourne infections than die from battle or wounds. About the only thing Donaldson misses here are rotting frost bitten hands and feet, which surely would have occurred in Lord Foul's nuclear winter, which he has created in support of the Raver King.
[begin side ramble]
A historical side note: nursing became a true profession out of hellish field hospitals like this one. A handful of brave and caring women in American and British field hospitals in war zones led the crusade for cleanliness and hygiene, and their standards and practices led not only to a revolution in the entire field of medicine, but led to the establishment of nursing as an accepted and honorable profession. We still remember some of the names of these brave leaders - such as Florence Nightingale and Clara Barton. May their memories always be honored in the names of all of the saved lives their changes led to, and all of the expressions of love and comfort and decency and care that have come to the sick and wounded of the world since then.
[/ side ramble]
Linden first heals one of the healers, and he in turn saves her life when the warriors try to cut her down. They are not malicious - they are just ignorant of what she is doing, and believe they are protecting the wounded from the mysterious and dangerous stranger...
When Linden is about to drop from exhaustion, Berek arrives. I find it interesting that, even now - long before he is a Lord - the Earthpower is so strong in him that he is compared to Anele - and we already know that Anele is so strong that his reflection can be seen in Glimmermere. Berek is...wonderful. Just wonderful!
And I think I will stop at this point.
To be continued.
[/spoiler]
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