to see the spoilers, run your cursor over them...
Oh, thankfully this chapter is a bit of breather after chapter eight... 
and off we go
[spoiler]
Linden, Covenant, and Jeremiah have been riding for three days now. Berek did indeed grant them horses and supplies for their journey. What Berek does not know is that they are on their way to Melenkurion Skyweir so that first Covenant and then Linden can drink the Earthblood and use the Power of Command.
They are traveling through Lord Foul's artificial and brutal winter, and at least part of their way will be very near the dreaded Garroting Deep and its fierce forestal.
Linden cannot use her staff to warm herself or the horses, or the warrior who accompanies them - one of Berek's scouts, named Yellinin.
This woman, and the many other women in Berek's army show that the roots of sexual equality run very very deep in the Land. 
The first big hint of trouble is that the horses are all very afraid of Covenant and Jeremiah, and are restive and hard to control when they are near.
And while it is in the deep of Lord Foul's nuclear winter, both Covenant and Jeremiah do not need coats or warm wrappings of any kind. 
Linden does not even believe that they need sleep. The only biological requirements they seem to need are food and liquid.
On one morning (is it the fourth?) it turns out that Covenant and Jeremiah's horses died during the night. Linden knows that the rest of the horses will not make it long enough to carry them all of the way to Skyweir. So she decides to trust Covenant and his weird powers. So she convinces Yellinin to return to Berek, hoping that Covenant and Jeremiah will feel free to use their strange powers for faster travel without the scout around.
Jeremiah and Covenant say that they can start using their powers the next day, as they will be far enough away from the Theomach that he will not notice... It also seems as if other puissant beings might also be interested in the goings on.
Covenant and Jeremiah are actually willing to talk to Linden and answer some questions. They tell her, for example, that Berek was able to find so much hurtloam because he is moving towards the Black River, which springs from Melenkurion Skyweir.
I cannot speak for anyone else, but I am loving all of these bits of history and facts about the Land. I just wish that they were coming from more reliable sources. 
That night they find a cold granite ravine that Covenant claims to be shelter from the Theomach and other prying ears. They make a pile of rocks the size of an infant's cairn (and how is that for a gruesome and ominous description?) and Covenant uses his fire powers to make heat.
Linden questions them about what they had done to Inbull, and the answers (and sneers at Damelon) are very disturbing. The answers cannot be possibly coming form the man she once knew.
And there are just so many things that seem to be half truths or untruths. And what is with the weird reaction when she brings up Joan and Roger Covenant? So there are lies and secrets, secrets and lies...
[/spoiler]
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