A New Player in the Game (Wheel of Time)
- Thread starter Teebs
- Start date
-
- Tags
- wheel of time
Tylin and her toys eh.
Chapter CIV - All Things Must End
Chapter CIV - All Things Must End
Mazrim Taim had been stewing in his room for the last day. His time was coming to an end. Demandred would not tolerate delays, that much had been made clear to him. He was quite sure there were other darkfriends in the Hall too, who would report back on his actions. Vacillation and procrastination would not be possible.
He sat there, turning the angreal over in his hands, ignoring the commotion outside. Staring at it with unseeing eyes. Sometimes he wished he had been born without the ability to channel, the curse of saidin. Although then he would probably be dead in some trolloc raid or other by now. Perhaps his whole life was just cursed. At least saidin had allowed him to survive for as long as he had. To live in relative comfort now.
It would have to be today. The question was which of them to try to kill first. He had no illusions about what would happen in a fair fight. Taija had disabused him of any delusions about that and that was without the inevitable reinforcements that would descend on any combat. He would get one shot and he would need to make it work. If he took it and missed there would be no second chance, he would be lucky to escape with his life.
For all that Demandred had said it was no suicide mission, it was clear that he was using Taim as a disposable tool. The man was too scared to attack the Hall himself. Of course he was, Taija had personally killed two of the Forsaken. No doubt Tel had others to his credit, not that Demandred would tell him. If Taim survived Demandred would no doubt be pleased, but it was not necessary.
In the end it was obvious which to go for. Taija was the weaker of the two of them, but more importantly she was also the glue holding the Hall together. He had seen the way the other aes sedai were around Tel. Even if they tolerated him, they did not trust him. He would be unable to lead in her place and there was no one else with the capability to truly fill her shoes.
Such an odd woman, blending weakness and strength into an unpredictable cocktail. She would be alone in her office soon, she always used that time to catch up on paperwork. He would go to see her and she would welcome him in politely as she always did. Then one quick strike, she would have no idea it was even coming, and that would be that. Tel he could take by surprise afterwards and then he would run amidst the shock. It was not a great plan, but it was the best he had been able to come up with.
Soon it would be time. Perhaps another half an hour. No, he was vacillating. Being weak. Now.
Taim was about to stand when there was a knock at his door. With a muttered curse he seized saidin, drawing as much as he could unaided, but ready to pull fully on his angreal if need be. The knock came again.
"Enter."
The last person he expected to see was Noruan, his face ruddy, panting from exertion. He had not seen the man leave the building he lived in since the trial of those Light-blasted aes sedai. Well not other than when he had made Noruan accompany him on walks. The man's eyes were glistening, nothing new, but the smile on his face certainly was.
"Wha...?" Before he could finish his sentence Noruan flung himself at him, enveloping him in a tight hug. Taim had to restrain himself from burning the man out of existence.
"She did it. Light she actually did it."
Taim stood uncomfortably, awkwardly, in Noruan's arms acutely aware of his body pressed against him. What was the blasted man talking about? "What are you talking about man? Speak clearly!" He pushed Noruan away from him.
Instead of saying anything, Noruan just seized saidin and grinned at him, the meager amount he could channel filling him.
"Well? What is it?" Taim's mind caught up with what he was seeing. "No…" That was impossible.
"Yes! Nynaeve did it, she worked out how to heal severing! Her and Damer. They did it! She healed me, it's like it never happened."
It still took Taim a few more seconds to really process that. It was just so… incredible. Fantastic, beautiful. Not a word he used often, but saidin flowing through Noruan again… Another moment of amazement and he broke years of habit. A short step forward and his arms were round Noruan, pulling him close. For a moment Taim allowed himself to be happy, to relax.
But in the end this changed nothing. It was good that Noruan would be alright. More than good, miraculous, but he was still in the same situation as he had been before. His world was still about to change. It would hurt Noruan too, but he would get over it. He could channel again. He would be fine. He ignored the nagging voice reminding him that if the Shadow won then nobody on the side of the Light would be alright.
Taim pulled away from Noruan, surprised at his own reluctance. He needed to do this. "I am very happy for you Noruan, delighted." He tried to sound it. "I need to go though, there is business I must attend to. You should go and celebrate and I will join you later. We can raise a toast to Nynaeve together." He hoped never to see the woman again because now he owed her something and if they did meet they would be trying to kill each other.
Noruan hesitated and then smiled, the man was far too trusting. "Of course Mazrim, I'll see you later. Don't take too long."
"Of course."
He waited for Noruan to leave and then slid the golden bracelet over his wrist. Naturally it fitted perfectly, he suspected it would fit perfectly on any man's wrist. After a moment he tugged his sleeve down over it and headed out himself.
=========
Alosa walked rapidly through the strange world that the gateway had led to, ignoring the feeling of unseen eyes watching her. She had practised here before. Hard fought lessons at the cost of many sul'dam and damane had taught the Ever Victorious Army some of what there was to know. A calm, determined and, most importantly, focused mind was key. Idle thoughts could change the world around you. Many sul'dam, damane and other servants of the Crystal Throne had died for that knowledge. Still, they had something of a grasp on the place now.
She glanced back at the small army walking with her. One thousand troops and over four hundred damane with their sul'dam. Just as importantly, another five hundred sul'dam, walking incomplete, numerous a'dam draped over their shoulders.
If the Light smiled on them then they would all survive this journey. It was a long way, but they had all trained extensively for it and they would be ready.
=========
Egwene released saidar, feeling the sweet ecstasy of the Power fade from her as the gateway closed behind them, looking ahead to the looming white walls of Ebou Dar. They made a small, slightly odd party. Her, Elayne, Mat, Helena and Eben all on horses, Jaer walking beside them because of course he wouldn't ride a horse. The man was ridiculous, like all of the Aiel. Quite impressive at times though.
There should be no issues with getting themselves established. Queen Tylin had had visits from two outreach missions already, so she would be aware of the Hall and hopefully at least feel positively towards it. Then the hard work would start. Egwene had sat down with one of the Ebou Dari initiates to get proper information on the city. After all, Taija always said that if you went into something without proper intelligence you were asking to have your… she shied away from the obscenity even in the privacy of her own head.
It sounded like the area she'd need to be searching was called the Rahad. Apparently it would be dangerous, but at least she had a rough idea of where she wanted to be looking there. The question was whether they should be conducting their searches openly as aes sedai or trying to go undercover. Her inclination was towards the latter, given that they didn't want to attract the attention of the forces of the Shadow to exactly what they were doing and they could always search more openly later on if need be. She'd discuss it with Elayne though and then see what Jaer, Helena and Eben thought. It would be good practice for them, being pushed to come to a decision and explain the reasoning behind it and there was a chance they would have useful insights. It might even be quite funny hearing what Jaer thought was a good approach to a 'wetlander' city.
========
Mazrim Taim strode towards Taija's office, resisting the urge to reach out with his left hand to touch the bracelet on his right wrist. Around him the Hall's life went on. Initiates and aspirants moving between classes or to leisure activities. Chatting happily with each other, gathering in laughing groups. They were certainly even happier than usual today. It must be Noruan and Eben. Still, not all of them were. He saw a scowling young man he didn't recognise walking towards an empty barrel holding a cup of water. Probably a new initiate. Clearly he had transgressed in some way. He wondered if the man had worked out yet that the barrel had a slow leak in it so he would never fill it, even with the ridiculously small cup.
All around him he saw life, future possibility. He was going to bring it to an end. Not because he particularly wanted to, but because it was his route to safety. To greatness. They would be the collateral damage for his survival.
His scowl deepened. In his heart of hearts he could even admit that they had done something special here. Men were welcomed, able to channel. Taught and given positions of honour, although of course a woman remained in charge. Still, for all his dislike of her, he had to admit, he did believe Taija when she said she wanted equality for men and women. She might be weak, not as a fighter, but in her attitudes, infested with insane ideas, but she was honest. She had struck back for what they did to Noruan and Eben, she had promised she would protect the men and she did. But no one could protect him, no one except himself.
He did not want to bring this idyllic little world to an end, not really. There was no true place for him here, but that did not mean that he could not recognise it for what it was. However, that was the problem. He had no choice. Really he would just like to take Noruan and run, somewhere far away where Demandred would never find him. He doubted Taija or Tel would look too hard, they always said anyone was free to leave as long as they were not a danger to others.
His mind went back to Noruan. Healed. Impossible, but they had done it. Taim was strong, he could stand high in the Dark One's followers, become one of the Forsaken. He would rule part of the world, be strong enough to be safe. Still what was the point of ruling over a wasteland? Even if he did not like their attitudes, if the Hall could actually continue to improve the world, it would be a better place to live, even without power. Not that it mattered. He had no choice and even if he had, he expected the Shadow to win.
With a start he realised his feet had brought him to Taija's door. His time was up.
A quick glance around to make sure there was no one to see and Taim knocked on her door. When he heard her accented voice, he opened it. She was alone, good. He seized saidin and drew as much as he could through the angreal.
=========
"The delegation from the Hall of Servants," the herald's voice boomed across the throne room. "Egwene al'Vere aes sedai, Elayne Trakand aes sedai, Lord Matrim Cauthon of Andor and accompanying party." Mat kept the scowl off his face at the herald's words. Elayne had better not think he hadn't seen her looking for it. He could play at being a bloody lord if he had to.
The three of them advanced into the throne room, the two women in the lead, then him once pace behind, bloody aes sedai, and finally the three aspirants. Facing them was a woman on a throne, Queen Tylin he presumed. Her hair was long and glossy, mostly black although with hints of gray showing through. He certainly didn't look at the substantial amount of cleavage that she was showing, a dagger hanging between her breasts.
Other than the guards, there were also a few courtiers or nobles in the throneroom, watching them as they came in with varying degrees of curiosity. More interestingly, among them were two ageless faces. Mat noticed Egwene's eyes flicking to them too. She didn't show any surprise, good for her, but he knew her and Elayne well enough to sense their unhappiness. They hadn't mentioned any Tower aes sedai being here, which suggested they hadn't known. His heart sank at the thought. Knowing his luck, these aes sedai would be looking to cause trouble at the first opportunity.
Egwene had dressed in the style of the Hall. Practical, loose breeches under a finely cut coat. Light only knew how Taija had persuaded her into that. The Egwene he'd known before all of this would have gone running to Nynaeve to have any woman who dared dress like that's ears boxed. Elayne on the other hand had worn a dress. It wasn't that she was unwilling to dress like Taija, he'd more than appreciated the few times she did, but she still had all her ideas about dressing like a royal for something like this.
Egwene and Elayne both stopped and bowed to Queen Tylin and Mat hurriedly joined them, giving a flourishing bow of his own. As he straightened up he realised he didn't like the way the Queen's eyes settled on him at all. They seemed to crawl over him.
"Egwene sedai, Elayne sedai, Lord Cauthon, be welcome to Ebou Dar. You are welcome as guests of the Crown in the Tarasin Palace for as long as you stay. You need only ask should you require any assistance."
The two Tower aes sedai did not look happy. He just knew they were going to be a problem.
Egwene replied. "Thank you Queen Tylin, we are pleased to be here on behalf of the Hall of Servants. We will also be pleased to assist you and the people of Ebou Dar while we are here. We have a number of skills among us, as have the aspirants who accompany us. Jaer, Eben and Helena. We look forward to discussing what we can contribute to Altara during our stay."
=========
Taija looked up when Taim entered the room, eyebrows raising slightly. Soft, brown eyes fixed on his, a hesitant smile on her face. He hated it. "Mazrim, this is unexpected, especially on a day like this. I'd have thought you'd be celebrating with Noruan." What was she implying? He ignored his spike of anger. "What can I do for you?"
Taim resisted the urge to snap at her in response and instead gave her a thin smile and a small bow as he started to weave. It came together, he would strike and that would be that. She would be gone, it would be over. From outside he could hear raised voices laughing and shouting. They must be celebrating the Hall's latest miracle. Well they would not be laughing for much longer. Not when they realised their leader was dead.
"Mazrim?" He realised he had just been standing there for too long. What was wrong with him? Where was his strength? His decisiveness?
Demandred was lying to him. The Dark One was the Father of Lies, why anyone would believe his promises he did not know. A valuable enough servant might be rewarded, if he was not a threat. Believing that was not idiotic. However, the idea that he would be anything other than a tool to be cast aside and disposed of if it was convenient, whatever the rewards in the meantime, that was delusional.
Taija for all her softness kept her promises. She said the Hall would make the world a better place and it was doing that. The greatest fear of any male channeler was gentling. The Hall had proven that they would protect their people from that and now… Now they had even removed its threat entirely. He was no soft weakling, he had no interest in becoming aes sedai. But still… This was… Pointless. He let the weave fade to nothing, still holding saidin.
Without being asked Taim sank into a chair in front of Taija's desk. and took a deep breath "I thought you should know that Demandred has ordered me to kill you and Tel."
Mazrim Taim had been stewing in his room for the last day. His time was coming to an end. Demandred would not tolerate delays, that much had been made clear to him. He was quite sure there were other darkfriends in the Hall too, who would report back on his actions. Vacillation and procrastination would not be possible.
He sat there, turning the angreal over in his hands, ignoring the commotion outside. Staring at it with unseeing eyes. Sometimes he wished he had been born without the ability to channel, the curse of saidin. Although then he would probably be dead in some trolloc raid or other by now. Perhaps his whole life was just cursed. At least saidin had allowed him to survive for as long as he had. To live in relative comfort now.
It would have to be today. The question was which of them to try to kill first. He had no illusions about what would happen in a fair fight. Taija had disabused him of any delusions about that and that was without the inevitable reinforcements that would descend on any combat. He would get one shot and he would need to make it work. If he took it and missed there would be no second chance, he would be lucky to escape with his life.
For all that Demandred had said it was no suicide mission, it was clear that he was using Taim as a disposable tool. The man was too scared to attack the Hall himself. Of course he was, Taija had personally killed two of the Forsaken. No doubt Tel had others to his credit, not that Demandred would tell him. If Taim survived Demandred would no doubt be pleased, but it was not necessary.
In the end it was obvious which to go for. Taija was the weaker of the two of them, but more importantly she was also the glue holding the Hall together. He had seen the way the other aes sedai were around Tel. Even if they tolerated him, they did not trust him. He would be unable to lead in her place and there was no one else with the capability to truly fill her shoes.
Such an odd woman, blending weakness and strength into an unpredictable cocktail. She would be alone in her office soon, she always used that time to catch up on paperwork. He would go to see her and she would welcome him in politely as she always did. Then one quick strike, she would have no idea it was even coming, and that would be that. Tel he could take by surprise afterwards and then he would run amidst the shock. It was not a great plan, but it was the best he had been able to come up with.
Soon it would be time. Perhaps another half an hour. No, he was vacillating. Being weak. Now.
Taim was about to stand when there was a knock at his door. With a muttered curse he seized saidin, drawing as much as he could unaided, but ready to pull fully on his angreal if need be. The knock came again.
"Enter."
The last person he expected to see was Noruan, his face ruddy, panting from exertion. He had not seen the man leave the building he lived in since the trial of those Light-blasted aes sedai. Well not other than when he had made Noruan accompany him on walks. The man's eyes were glistening, nothing new, but the smile on his face certainly was.
"Wha...?" Before he could finish his sentence Noruan flung himself at him, enveloping him in a tight hug. Taim had to restrain himself from burning the man out of existence.
"She did it. Light she actually did it."
Taim stood uncomfortably, awkwardly, in Noruan's arms acutely aware of his body pressed against him. What was the blasted man talking about? "What are you talking about man? Speak clearly!" He pushed Noruan away from him.
Instead of saying anything, Noruan just seized saidin and grinned at him, the meager amount he could channel filling him.
"Well? What is it?" Taim's mind caught up with what he was seeing. "No…" That was impossible.
"Yes! Nynaeve did it, she worked out how to heal severing! Her and Damer. They did it! She healed me, it's like it never happened."
It still took Taim a few more seconds to really process that. It was just so… incredible. Fantastic, beautiful. Not a word he used often, but saidin flowing through Noruan again… Another moment of amazement and he broke years of habit. A short step forward and his arms were round Noruan, pulling him close. For a moment Taim allowed himself to be happy, to relax.
But in the end this changed nothing. It was good that Noruan would be alright. More than good, miraculous, but he was still in the same situation as he had been before. His world was still about to change. It would hurt Noruan too, but he would get over it. He could channel again. He would be fine. He ignored the nagging voice reminding him that if the Shadow won then nobody on the side of the Light would be alright.
Taim pulled away from Noruan, surprised at his own reluctance. He needed to do this. "I am very happy for you Noruan, delighted." He tried to sound it. "I need to go though, there is business I must attend to. You should go and celebrate and I will join you later. We can raise a toast to Nynaeve together." He hoped never to see the woman again because now he owed her something and if they did meet they would be trying to kill each other.
Noruan hesitated and then smiled, the man was far too trusting. "Of course Mazrim, I'll see you later. Don't take too long."
"Of course."
He waited for Noruan to leave and then slid the golden bracelet over his wrist. Naturally it fitted perfectly, he suspected it would fit perfectly on any man's wrist. After a moment he tugged his sleeve down over it and headed out himself.
=========
Alosa walked rapidly through the strange world that the gateway had led to, ignoring the feeling of unseen eyes watching her. She had practised here before. Hard fought lessons at the cost of many sul'dam and damane had taught the Ever Victorious Army some of what there was to know. A calm, determined and, most importantly, focused mind was key. Idle thoughts could change the world around you. Many sul'dam, damane and other servants of the Crystal Throne had died for that knowledge. Still, they had something of a grasp on the place now.
She glanced back at the small army walking with her. One thousand troops and over four hundred damane with their sul'dam. Just as importantly, another five hundred sul'dam, walking incomplete, numerous a'dam draped over their shoulders.
If the Light smiled on them then they would all survive this journey. It was a long way, but they had all trained extensively for it and they would be ready.
=========
Egwene released saidar, feeling the sweet ecstasy of the Power fade from her as the gateway closed behind them, looking ahead to the looming white walls of Ebou Dar. They made a small, slightly odd party. Her, Elayne, Mat, Helena and Eben all on horses, Jaer walking beside them because of course he wouldn't ride a horse. The man was ridiculous, like all of the Aiel. Quite impressive at times though.
There should be no issues with getting themselves established. Queen Tylin had had visits from two outreach missions already, so she would be aware of the Hall and hopefully at least feel positively towards it. Then the hard work would start. Egwene had sat down with one of the Ebou Dari initiates to get proper information on the city. After all, Taija always said that if you went into something without proper intelligence you were asking to have your… she shied away from the obscenity even in the privacy of her own head.
It sounded like the area she'd need to be searching was called the Rahad. Apparently it would be dangerous, but at least she had a rough idea of where she wanted to be looking there. The question was whether they should be conducting their searches openly as aes sedai or trying to go undercover. Her inclination was towards the latter, given that they didn't want to attract the attention of the forces of the Shadow to exactly what they were doing and they could always search more openly later on if need be. She'd discuss it with Elayne though and then see what Jaer, Helena and Eben thought. It would be good practice for them, being pushed to come to a decision and explain the reasoning behind it and there was a chance they would have useful insights. It might even be quite funny hearing what Jaer thought was a good approach to a 'wetlander' city.
========
Mazrim Taim strode towards Taija's office, resisting the urge to reach out with his left hand to touch the bracelet on his right wrist. Around him the Hall's life went on. Initiates and aspirants moving between classes or to leisure activities. Chatting happily with each other, gathering in laughing groups. They were certainly even happier than usual today. It must be Noruan and Eben. Still, not all of them were. He saw a scowling young man he didn't recognise walking towards an empty barrel holding a cup of water. Probably a new initiate. Clearly he had transgressed in some way. He wondered if the man had worked out yet that the barrel had a slow leak in it so he would never fill it, even with the ridiculously small cup.
All around him he saw life, future possibility. He was going to bring it to an end. Not because he particularly wanted to, but because it was his route to safety. To greatness. They would be the collateral damage for his survival.
His scowl deepened. In his heart of hearts he could even admit that they had done something special here. Men were welcomed, able to channel. Taught and given positions of honour, although of course a woman remained in charge. Still, for all his dislike of her, he had to admit, he did believe Taija when she said she wanted equality for men and women. She might be weak, not as a fighter, but in her attitudes, infested with insane ideas, but she was honest. She had struck back for what they did to Noruan and Eben, she had promised she would protect the men and she did. But no one could protect him, no one except himself.
He did not want to bring this idyllic little world to an end, not really. There was no true place for him here, but that did not mean that he could not recognise it for what it was. However, that was the problem. He had no choice. Really he would just like to take Noruan and run, somewhere far away where Demandred would never find him. He doubted Taija or Tel would look too hard, they always said anyone was free to leave as long as they were not a danger to others.
His mind went back to Noruan. Healed. Impossible, but they had done it. Taim was strong, he could stand high in the Dark One's followers, become one of the Forsaken. He would rule part of the world, be strong enough to be safe. Still what was the point of ruling over a wasteland? Even if he did not like their attitudes, if the Hall could actually continue to improve the world, it would be a better place to live, even without power. Not that it mattered. He had no choice and even if he had, he expected the Shadow to win.
With a start he realised his feet had brought him to Taija's door. His time was up.
A quick glance around to make sure there was no one to see and Taim knocked on her door. When he heard her accented voice, he opened it. She was alone, good. He seized saidin and drew as much as he could through the angreal.
=========
"The delegation from the Hall of Servants," the herald's voice boomed across the throne room. "Egwene al'Vere aes sedai, Elayne Trakand aes sedai, Lord Matrim Cauthon of Andor and accompanying party." Mat kept the scowl off his face at the herald's words. Elayne had better not think he hadn't seen her looking for it. He could play at being a bloody lord if he had to.
The three of them advanced into the throne room, the two women in the lead, then him once pace behind, bloody aes sedai, and finally the three aspirants. Facing them was a woman on a throne, Queen Tylin he presumed. Her hair was long and glossy, mostly black although with hints of gray showing through. He certainly didn't look at the substantial amount of cleavage that she was showing, a dagger hanging between her breasts.
Other than the guards, there were also a few courtiers or nobles in the throneroom, watching them as they came in with varying degrees of curiosity. More interestingly, among them were two ageless faces. Mat noticed Egwene's eyes flicking to them too. She didn't show any surprise, good for her, but he knew her and Elayne well enough to sense their unhappiness. They hadn't mentioned any Tower aes sedai being here, which suggested they hadn't known. His heart sank at the thought. Knowing his luck, these aes sedai would be looking to cause trouble at the first opportunity.
Egwene had dressed in the style of the Hall. Practical, loose breeches under a finely cut coat. Light only knew how Taija had persuaded her into that. The Egwene he'd known before all of this would have gone running to Nynaeve to have any woman who dared dress like that's ears boxed. Elayne on the other hand had worn a dress. It wasn't that she was unwilling to dress like Taija, he'd more than appreciated the few times she did, but she still had all her ideas about dressing like a royal for something like this.
Egwene and Elayne both stopped and bowed to Queen Tylin and Mat hurriedly joined them, giving a flourishing bow of his own. As he straightened up he realised he didn't like the way the Queen's eyes settled on him at all. They seemed to crawl over him.
"Egwene sedai, Elayne sedai, Lord Cauthon, be welcome to Ebou Dar. You are welcome as guests of the Crown in the Tarasin Palace for as long as you stay. You need only ask should you require any assistance."
The two Tower aes sedai did not look happy. He just knew they were going to be a problem.
Egwene replied. "Thank you Queen Tylin, we are pleased to be here on behalf of the Hall of Servants. We will also be pleased to assist you and the people of Ebou Dar while we are here. We have a number of skills among us, as have the aspirants who accompany us. Jaer, Eben and Helena. We look forward to discussing what we can contribute to Altara during our stay."
=========
Taija looked up when Taim entered the room, eyebrows raising slightly. Soft, brown eyes fixed on his, a hesitant smile on her face. He hated it. "Mazrim, this is unexpected, especially on a day like this. I'd have thought you'd be celebrating with Noruan." What was she implying? He ignored his spike of anger. "What can I do for you?"
Taim resisted the urge to snap at her in response and instead gave her a thin smile and a small bow as he started to weave. It came together, he would strike and that would be that. She would be gone, it would be over. From outside he could hear raised voices laughing and shouting. They must be celebrating the Hall's latest miracle. Well they would not be laughing for much longer. Not when they realised their leader was dead.
"Mazrim?" He realised he had just been standing there for too long. What was wrong with him? Where was his strength? His decisiveness?
Demandred was lying to him. The Dark One was the Father of Lies, why anyone would believe his promises he did not know. A valuable enough servant might be rewarded, if he was not a threat. Believing that was not idiotic. However, the idea that he would be anything other than a tool to be cast aside and disposed of if it was convenient, whatever the rewards in the meantime, that was delusional.
Taija for all her softness kept her promises. She said the Hall would make the world a better place and it was doing that. The greatest fear of any male channeler was gentling. The Hall had proven that they would protect their people from that and now… Now they had even removed its threat entirely. He was no soft weakling, he had no interest in becoming aes sedai. But still… This was… Pointless. He let the weave fade to nothing, still holding saidin.
Without being asked Taim sank into a chair in front of Taija's desk. and took a deep breath "I thought you should know that Demandred has ordered me to kill you and Tel."
I'm sure that everything will be fine.
As you'll see from the latest update, she's here, lock up your sons...
- Location
- Toronto
Smartest thing Mazrim Taim has ever done.
Seriously the man is not smart. "Demandred of the Forsaken, who comes to see me alone in private, will kill me unless I obey him and assassinate his enemies! I have no other options or hope of surviving except to turn on the kind and helpful people who will fight to defend me and are entirely capable of killing Forsaken, especially if they can catch them alone in private!"
Seriously the man is not smart. "Demandred of the Forsaken, who comes to see me alone in private, will kill me unless I obey him and assassinate his enemies! I have no other options or hope of surviving except to turn on the kind and helpful people who will fight to defend me and are entirely capable of killing Forsaken, especially if they can catch them alone in private!"
There's something very loathsome about the Seanchan getting access to Travelling, and the opportunity it presents to spread their poison further. I hope they get eaten by poking some eldritch abomination and be forgotten.
Also, good choices abound among terrible circumstances. Taim is very traumatized, and most likely has been afraid for a very, very long time.
And Mat, jfc. I foresee problems, probably because of "modern" sensibilities.
Thanks for sharing.
Also, good choices abound among terrible circumstances. Taim is very traumatized, and most likely has been afraid for a very, very long time.
And Mat, jfc. I foresee problems, probably because of "modern" sensibilities.
Thanks for sharing.
Chapter CV - The Ever Victorious Army
Chapter CV - The Ever Victorious Army
Alosa watched carefully as the der'sul'dam commanded the damane to open a gateway back to the real world. It would be a relief on many levels to be out of the world of dreams. Not only was it dangerous just to be there, but also soon the tension she felt before every mission would be gone.
The greatest threat to the Return would end today. As a bonus, the Ever Victorious Army would return to the Empress, may she liver forever, with a bounty of new damane. The greatest concentration of channelers in the world, well except for the Ever Victorious Army's, and soon it would be hers.
A vertical slash appeared in the air and then fizzled into a bright shower of sparks. What in the Light?
Fear struck through her heart. This had never happened before. She couldn't be trapped here, she'd heard of the things that happened! Alosa took a moment to get herself under control, everyone here had been hand-picked because they were level headed and could keep their emotions under control, even the damane. Anything else was dangerous in this place. The gateway would not open. Fine. She would establish why, perhaps another damane could do it. Perhaps they could open it a little way away from their target. Or in the worst case they would return to Seandar. It would be a disappointment, but not a true defeat.
The Empress understood the difficulties of this place. Her orders were clear, if it was not possible to launch the attack then Alosa's priority was the preservation of her forces.
========
Taija sat back in her chair, the breath leaving her in a decisive woosh. She'd thought Nynaeve's discovery would be the biggest surprise that day. Taim's confession had just trumped it. She had to admit that it wasn't even that surprising that he was a darkfriend, the man's demeanour almost screamed it. The surprise was his coming to her and confessing. She'd thought he hated her!
Taija took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Thank you for coming to me with this Mazrim. I understand how," she thought carefully, he was a prickly man she didn't want to suggest he was scared, "difficult it can be to escape someone like Demandred if he can find you in a vulnerable situation. I appreciate you coming to me. If you don't mind, I'd like to get Tel and Nynaeve in here so that we can discuss the best way to deal with this." Taija hesitated as his face tightened. "Don't worry, I'm not looking to punish you. From what you've told me there's little to punish. All you need to do is work for the Light, but you're giving us an opportunity here too and I want to be make the best use of it." She'd be double-checking what he'd been up to of course, but she'd already made sure an eye had been kept on him while he'd been at the Hall and he hadn't done anything.
At least she was unlikely to get any more surprises today. Despite the extra work Taim was causing her, it had actually turned into a very good day.
========
Alosa breathed a small sigh of relief as the hole in the air appeared. It seemed that the marath'damane had woven something over their home to prevent gateways from opening. She looked forward to getting the knowledge of how to do that from the future damane. It would be invaluable for the protection of the Empress and Seanchan.
She stepped through the gateway, along with a small number of damane and troops. They would need to observe this nest of marath'damane from the real world and reconsider their plans on how to get to it. Hopefully they would be able to open gateways closer to it. What she wouldn't give for raken and to'raken now…
=======
"Enter." Lelaine put down the papers she had been reading as the guardsman came in.
He gave her a low bow. "Lelaine sedai, Vandene sedai sent me. She is on watch duty today, she said that there may have been some channeling on the Dragonmount. She said it was too far for her to be sure, but with the far-viewing weave she thought she saw some movement."
A jolt of nervous energy shot through her. She had thought that some of Siuan's proposals had been paranoia, until she had seen what the Hall had done to the Tower in their absence. It was probably nothing. Probably. But if the Hall thought they could repeat their actions with the Tower's rightful owners back in place, well they would find that the true aes sedai were no easy meat.
"Thank you, it is probably nothing significant, but the warning has been noted. You may return to your post and thank Vandene for her vigilance."
Burin had already unfolded himself from where he had sat, a reassuring presence at the back of the room as well as in the back of her head and she turned to him as the guardsman left.
"Please could you go and find the commander of the Tower guard. Tell him to ready them. For now we shall treat this as an exercise. It will do no harm to practise. I will go to speak to Maigan, return to me when you are done."
Siuan had sitters acting in rotation to hold responsibility for monitoring the Tower's defences. She would not pretend that she liked having to do it, but if there was something wrong then at least it had come today when she could be sure that someone competent would be in charge.
=======
Alosa surveyed Tar Valon in the distance from the slopes of the huge mountain overlooking it. Her far-seer allowed her to study it and its approaches in more detail. If they could get close this would not be a total failure. It all depended on where that barrier was.
They had studied the maps of the city made from scouting it in the world of dreams. If they got into the city, they could reach the tower that hosted the marath'damane quickly. She needed to decide. Attack or retreat.
In the end it was an easy decision. The Ever Victorious Army did not win wars by retreating. The marath'damane could not be allowed to continue to run free. They could be defeated piecemeal, of course, but this was an opportunity to end their threat once and for all that was unlikely to repeat itself.
Four hundred damane would struggle to hold a city of that size without a true army backing them, but they made a strike force that nothing in the world could stand up to. With a decisive nod she snapped her far-seer shut and returned it to her belt. They would attack.
=======
Olum stood at the centre of the Daghain Bridge watching as the guards under his command checked the sparse flow of traffic coming across it. A very quiet day today.
Not for the first time he glanced across at the young man dressed in white with the colours of the ajahs at his cuffs and ankles and suppressed a shudder. It simply wasn't right allowing that. Not that he would ever voice that opinion out loud after the Amyrlin's declaration. But in the privacy of his own head, he could think the truth. They should all be gentled as was right and proper.
Now that Siuan Sanche had resumed residence in the White Tower, the aes sedai had certainly increased security. Perhaps that wasn't surprising after the battle that took place in the Tower some weeks ago. Of course they pretended it hadn't happened and no one was foolish enough to discuss it, but the whole city had seen the effects. People still whispered about the bar of light that had blasted straight through the Tower.
Now every bridge and each harbour had an accepted or aes sedai to check those entering the city. He was not sure exactly how they checked them or what they checked them for, but that was aes sedai business.
His attention was drawn away from the unimposing and yet still frightening young man by a commotion on the far bank. Something going on in Daghain? He pushed up onto the tips of his toes to see further. Was that screaming?
He was about to send one of the guards back into Tar Valon to ask for reinforcements when he saw people coming running towards the bridge. Sprinting in fact. Behind them. Was that troops? It was hard to see at that distance, but it looked like troops. Fire suddenly erupted among the running citizens. The One Power? He stood stunned, his mouth hanging open for a couple of seconds until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
It was the accepted, Aruen. "Lieutenant Olum, you need to send for help. Now! They're channeling!"
"Yes… Yes! Silan, Valim, run back as fast as you can. Sound the alarm and call for reinforcements. Tar Valon may be under attack. Go, run!" He turned back to the advancing troops. Should he try to hold the bridge? He had ten men and an accepted. It looked like far far more than that and channelers too. Light!
He heard a roar from the far bank, some kind of battle cry. The soldiers were running forward, hundreds of them, more. So many. At least a thousand. "But why aren't they attacking us with the One Power?"
He murmured the words but Aruen must have heard. "Maybe they're worried about damaging the bridge?"
"But it's indestructible, it's stood for thousands of years."
"They might not know that though." Aruen's voice was a bit distant, he was studying the onrushing troops. Still, his words made up Olum's mind for him.
"Men, we will hold the bridge until we are reinforced. We are the best of Tar Valon." A white lie. "No one will get past us, we protect the city, we protect the Tower!"
He winced as a glowing fireball suddenly appeared in the air in front of Aruen and shot towards the enemy, because what else could they be. It was unnatural, a man channeling like that, but he was suddenly glad Aruen was there. As his men steadied their spears and formed a line he drew his own sword. There were enough of them to hold the bridge, it was narrow. With a slow, fighting retreat they might even survive.
======
It took Erulin a valuable moment to get over her surprise at the fireball flying towards them. She had felt nothing. Was it one of these marath'damane tricks that they had been warned about?
She saw one of the men at the top of the bridge's arch was dressed in white, another fireball forming in front of him. Surely that wasn't saidin? Allowing a man to channel for them?! Madness! The marath'damane showed yet again why they needed to be leashed.
With a thought she directed her Alivia and the fireball guttered out. She had one of the strongest damane in the Empire and she would use her well. A shield for the male channeler and then air for all of the men on the bridge, her Alivia had no problem splitting her threads that many ways. The soldiers could kill them as they passed. They would not even slow down the Seanchan forces and there would be no risk to the bridge. As long as they could get into the city then the marath'damane would fall.
=======
Another little flash of something, maybe saidar, in the distance. Vandene sighed and wondered whether she should send another runner to Lelaine. She did not want to be berated by the woman for jumping at shadows. Even if it was saidar, it might just be the Hall watching the White Tower, or something completely different. Even an aes sedai doing something up there. It was not a crime to channel on the Dragonmount after all.
After a moment she decided to leave it. If things continued maybe she would make another report. Only another hour to go before she could get out of the heat, standing there on top of the White Tower, and hand the task over to one of her sisters. She glanced over at the boy in white standing beside her. He was gazing determinedly outwards. At least this one was not trying to slack off.
A few minutes later she felt a flash of saidar from Daghain. It was unlikely anything troublesome was going on there. Sisters were always coming and going from the Tower and it was at the edge of the anti-Traveling wards. Nevertheless, she glanced down at the village. Nothing. It had been a lot of saidar though. More than any sister could channel unaided. Her eyes went back to the village.
Her vigilance was rewarded when she saw movement down there. It was hard to see what was going on at that distance, but there seemed to be people running. More saidar, was that a fireball? Was it the Hall? The Forsaken? Stifling a curse she spun to one of the guardsmen. "Tar Valon is under under attack! Channelers! The Daghain Bridge, inform Lelaine immediately!" The man did not even bow, just took off at a sprint.
Vandene wove her own weave, a small thread of spirit that she touched to the sophisticated wards Siuan had put up around the Tower. After a moment the sound of clanging bells started to ring out.
After seeing what the Hall had done to the White Tower, no sane aes sedai called Siuan paranoid anymore.
=======
Maigan sighed as Lelaine explained what was going on. While she could not criticise the woman for her diligence, she still thought she was excessively paranoid. The Hall were not their enemies. Well not to the point of attacking the Tower certainly.
"Thank you for informing me, but I do not think…" She was cut off by the sudden clanging of bells around the Tower. The wards. Light! She shared a glance with Lelaine. "Go, I will find the Amyrlin." Lelaine took off at a run, aes sedai composure forgotten.
=======
The bodies of the bridge guards were floating away down the river and the Ever Victorious Army had reached the gates of Tar Valon. Unsurprisingly they were closed and a desultory flow of arrows rained down on the Seanchan force from the walls. Of course they were deflected by a barrier put up by the sul'dam and their damane. They were not even facing channelers yet, arrows were no danger to the cream of the army and they would not be stopped.
"Take us through!" Alosa shouted the command and the sul'dam obeyed. A line of damane focused and the gates crumpled in front of them before tearing from their hinges, cast away as if they were nothing. Other sul'dam pointed and fire erupted along the top of the walls. Then they were through, hurrying through the gap in the walls and on towards the huge Tower looming in the distance. They might not have the level of surprise they had hoped for, but the marath'damane would not expect anyone to be able to strike at them in their very nest. By the time they realised what was happening and organised themselves the Seanchan would be among them.
========
Miad leapt from her desk when the bells started to ring. She still felt out of sorts a week after she had completed the test to become accepted, but she knew what those bells meant. They had practised often enough in the Village and the Amyrlin had insisted on further drills when they reoccupied their rightful place in the Tower. Was this another?
She came out of her room, intending to walk with the dignity of an aes sedai to her meeting point by the office of the Mistress of Novices. Then she saw a pair of aes sedai hurtle past her at a full sprint. She had never seen an aes sedai run before. If they were running… she accelerated to a jog and then a run.
======
Alosa jogged through the streets of Tar Valon, surrounded by the troops of the Ever Victorious Army. They had their orders, anyone who got in their way died. It was a pity to kill future subjects of the Empress. They had not done anything wrong beyond being born outside the protection of the Seanchan Empire; however, at that point speed was of the essence. Their deaths would be for the greater good of the world.
Ahead of her another clump of panicked civilians exploded into fire.
=======
Erinea reached her rally point, gasping for breath as the bells continued to sound all around the Tower. She was not fit enough for this! Lelaine gave her an inscrutable look and a second later she had joined the circle. A quick count of the women around her told her that she had completed it. Thirteen of them overlooking the Tower's grounds and the city beyond it. Saidar flowed through them, coming together under Lelaine's control.
Looking out over the balcony she could see smaller figures below her. Women moving to the Tower's walls. Soon they would see how Siuan's preparations had worked out. She was under no illusion, she had seen al'Thor fight, or would it be the Forsaken this time? At least they would put up a better showing than the turned aes sedai had.
Her job was just to provide saidar for the circle and to be ready to move as soon as they struck. Numerous aes sedai, mostly greens plus a couple of the few remaining reds, had interviewed her at great length about what she had witnessed in al'Thor's fight. It had been combined with the knowledge the Tower had gained from other battles at the Hall's side and this was what they had come up with. One thing was absolutely clear, the importance of mobility, where possible. That was why the Amyrlin, Siuan of course, not Elaida, had layered the anti-Traveling wards. The Hall would have a nasty surprise when they reached the Tower's walls. Manned by sisters strong enough to Travel and in a gap between layers of wards. The attackers would be hemmed in, unable to move around, while the Tower's aes sedai could Travel along the walls or to the space immediately behind them to evade retaliation.
=======
"It must be the Hall. They're coming for us, finally. We're going to die." Elaida resisted the urge to snap at the aes sedai beside her on the walls to stop her inane mutterings. She needed to remember her place in the Tower was not what it once was.
As for this attack, she did not believe it was the Hall. She had stared Taija in the eye, she thought she had some of the measure of the woman. She was far tougher than some of the more foolish aes sedai thought, but she was not a woman who would launch an unprovoked attack on the White Tower. That left the question of who it was. If it was the Black Ajah coming to reclaim the Tower they would be in for a truly nasty surprise. If it was the Forsaken though... If they were even close to al'Thor in capability…
=======
Siuan glanced behind her at the scared huddle of novices and accepted behind her. Boys and girls together, far more than when she had left the Tower. If the Tower was under attack there was nowhere safe for them, but at least here they would be out of the direct line of fire. She drew a trickle of the Power from them. Her job was to command and coordinate, not to fight on the front lines, but if she saw an opportunity… She might only get time to make one strike, so she would need to make it count. As soon as she drew fully on the circle behind her whoever was attacking would no doubt target her location.
So be it. She was under no illusion that the Tower would win this battle anyway. The only thing that confused her was why. Was it the Forsaken or Taija? The Forsaken had shown no inclination to engage in head on battles, other than at the cleansing. As for Taija, she had always struggled with her, but the woman was not violent to those she considered allies. If some of the Tower's aes sedai had done something to offend her, she would have come to speak about it with Siuan before taking action. Their relationship was not that bad.
Could the Forsaken have manipulated things somehow? How could they have? If they had killed Taija and made it look like the Tower…
Siuan caught her first sight of the attackers, a group of them hurrying down one of Tar Valon's wide streets towards the Tower. Saidar blazed and a group of fleeing Tar Valoners disappeared in fire. They did not look like the Hall. All the women wore dresses for one thing and there were no unarmoured men. Grey dresses, pairs of women. Siuan's heart soared as she realised. It was just the Seanchan!
Light though, if it was the Seanchan then they could only be here for one thing. Not just to kill the aes sedai, but to enslave them. Light only knew how they had even reached Tar Valon, had they also rediscovered Traveling? Another leak in the boat that she would need to patch, but for now it did not matter. If the Seanchan were attacking then that meant the Hall was not and that was important.
Maigan knew the limits of each of the wards. She was strong enough to Travel. Siuan whirled to face her. "Maigan, I need you to go to the Hall and tell them the Seanchan are attacking us, ask them for help, beg if you have to."
It took her a moment to realise. "Not the Hall or the Forsaken? Oh thank the Light!" She dropped a brief curtsy. "I will bring help."
"Do not let them catch you. It would be better to die."
Maigan gave her a quick nod and opened a gateway to the middle of the Tower. There was only so far that they had been able to segment the Tower and Tar Valon, but it did mean those who knew the layout of the wards could maneuver more freely.
========
Padaul nodded at the bolt of cloth the tailor was showing him, ignoring the sideways looks the man gave him when he thought he wasn't looking. Despite the distrust it was nice to be home in Tar Valon, not that this was the kind of establishment that he would have been able to afford before he had joined the White Tower. He had done well for himself before, but not on this level. However, since Siuan had politely, at least by her standards, suggested that he should upgrade his wardrobe, here he was.
"Will there be anything else Padaul sedai?" The man managed to not wince at the title, better than most, he might continue to patronise the place.
"The royal blue is good, but I would quite like to see the sky blue as well." He did find himself dressing in blue rather more these days. His attention was drawn away from the tailor by the sound of screams outside followed by a series of explosions. What in the Light was going on out there? He hesitated for a second, but no, if Tar Valon was under attack then he had his duty. "My apologies, I think I may be needed at the White Tower. I will take five shirts in white and five in the royal blue. I will think further on the sky blue on my return. Please send your bill to me at the White Tower." He gave the tailor a thin smile and headed for the door.
Alosa watched carefully as the der'sul'dam commanded the damane to open a gateway back to the real world. It would be a relief on many levels to be out of the world of dreams. Not only was it dangerous just to be there, but also soon the tension she felt before every mission would be gone.
The greatest threat to the Return would end today. As a bonus, the Ever Victorious Army would return to the Empress, may she liver forever, with a bounty of new damane. The greatest concentration of channelers in the world, well except for the Ever Victorious Army's, and soon it would be hers.
A vertical slash appeared in the air and then fizzled into a bright shower of sparks. What in the Light?
Fear struck through her heart. This had never happened before. She couldn't be trapped here, she'd heard of the things that happened! Alosa took a moment to get herself under control, everyone here had been hand-picked because they were level headed and could keep their emotions under control, even the damane. Anything else was dangerous in this place. The gateway would not open. Fine. She would establish why, perhaps another damane could do it. Perhaps they could open it a little way away from their target. Or in the worst case they would return to Seandar. It would be a disappointment, but not a true defeat.
The Empress understood the difficulties of this place. Her orders were clear, if it was not possible to launch the attack then Alosa's priority was the preservation of her forces.
========
Taija sat back in her chair, the breath leaving her in a decisive woosh. She'd thought Nynaeve's discovery would be the biggest surprise that day. Taim's confession had just trumped it. She had to admit that it wasn't even that surprising that he was a darkfriend, the man's demeanour almost screamed it. The surprise was his coming to her and confessing. She'd thought he hated her!
Taija took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Thank you for coming to me with this Mazrim. I understand how," she thought carefully, he was a prickly man she didn't want to suggest he was scared, "difficult it can be to escape someone like Demandred if he can find you in a vulnerable situation. I appreciate you coming to me. If you don't mind, I'd like to get Tel and Nynaeve in here so that we can discuss the best way to deal with this." Taija hesitated as his face tightened. "Don't worry, I'm not looking to punish you. From what you've told me there's little to punish. All you need to do is work for the Light, but you're giving us an opportunity here too and I want to be make the best use of it." She'd be double-checking what he'd been up to of course, but she'd already made sure an eye had been kept on him while he'd been at the Hall and he hadn't done anything.
At least she was unlikely to get any more surprises today. Despite the extra work Taim was causing her, it had actually turned into a very good day.
========
Alosa breathed a small sigh of relief as the hole in the air appeared. It seemed that the marath'damane had woven something over their home to prevent gateways from opening. She looked forward to getting the knowledge of how to do that from the future damane. It would be invaluable for the protection of the Empress and Seanchan.
She stepped through the gateway, along with a small number of damane and troops. They would need to observe this nest of marath'damane from the real world and reconsider their plans on how to get to it. Hopefully they would be able to open gateways closer to it. What she wouldn't give for raken and to'raken now…
=======
"Enter." Lelaine put down the papers she had been reading as the guardsman came in.
He gave her a low bow. "Lelaine sedai, Vandene sedai sent me. She is on watch duty today, she said that there may have been some channeling on the Dragonmount. She said it was too far for her to be sure, but with the far-viewing weave she thought she saw some movement."
A jolt of nervous energy shot through her. She had thought that some of Siuan's proposals had been paranoia, until she had seen what the Hall had done to the Tower in their absence. It was probably nothing. Probably. But if the Hall thought they could repeat their actions with the Tower's rightful owners back in place, well they would find that the true aes sedai were no easy meat.
"Thank you, it is probably nothing significant, but the warning has been noted. You may return to your post and thank Vandene for her vigilance."
Burin had already unfolded himself from where he had sat, a reassuring presence at the back of the room as well as in the back of her head and she turned to him as the guardsman left.
"Please could you go and find the commander of the Tower guard. Tell him to ready them. For now we shall treat this as an exercise. It will do no harm to practise. I will go to speak to Maigan, return to me when you are done."
Siuan had sitters acting in rotation to hold responsibility for monitoring the Tower's defences. She would not pretend that she liked having to do it, but if there was something wrong then at least it had come today when she could be sure that someone competent would be in charge.
=======
Alosa surveyed Tar Valon in the distance from the slopes of the huge mountain overlooking it. Her far-seer allowed her to study it and its approaches in more detail. If they could get close this would not be a total failure. It all depended on where that barrier was.
They had studied the maps of the city made from scouting it in the world of dreams. If they got into the city, they could reach the tower that hosted the marath'damane quickly. She needed to decide. Attack or retreat.
In the end it was an easy decision. The Ever Victorious Army did not win wars by retreating. The marath'damane could not be allowed to continue to run free. They could be defeated piecemeal, of course, but this was an opportunity to end their threat once and for all that was unlikely to repeat itself.
Four hundred damane would struggle to hold a city of that size without a true army backing them, but they made a strike force that nothing in the world could stand up to. With a decisive nod she snapped her far-seer shut and returned it to her belt. They would attack.
=======
Olum stood at the centre of the Daghain Bridge watching as the guards under his command checked the sparse flow of traffic coming across it. A very quiet day today.
Not for the first time he glanced across at the young man dressed in white with the colours of the ajahs at his cuffs and ankles and suppressed a shudder. It simply wasn't right allowing that. Not that he would ever voice that opinion out loud after the Amyrlin's declaration. But in the privacy of his own head, he could think the truth. They should all be gentled as was right and proper.
Now that Siuan Sanche had resumed residence in the White Tower, the aes sedai had certainly increased security. Perhaps that wasn't surprising after the battle that took place in the Tower some weeks ago. Of course they pretended it hadn't happened and no one was foolish enough to discuss it, but the whole city had seen the effects. People still whispered about the bar of light that had blasted straight through the Tower.
Now every bridge and each harbour had an accepted or aes sedai to check those entering the city. He was not sure exactly how they checked them or what they checked them for, but that was aes sedai business.
His attention was drawn away from the unimposing and yet still frightening young man by a commotion on the far bank. Something going on in Daghain? He pushed up onto the tips of his toes to see further. Was that screaming?
He was about to send one of the guards back into Tar Valon to ask for reinforcements when he saw people coming running towards the bridge. Sprinting in fact. Behind them. Was that troops? It was hard to see at that distance, but it looked like troops. Fire suddenly erupted among the running citizens. The One Power? He stood stunned, his mouth hanging open for a couple of seconds until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
It was the accepted, Aruen. "Lieutenant Olum, you need to send for help. Now! They're channeling!"
"Yes… Yes! Silan, Valim, run back as fast as you can. Sound the alarm and call for reinforcements. Tar Valon may be under attack. Go, run!" He turned back to the advancing troops. Should he try to hold the bridge? He had ten men and an accepted. It looked like far far more than that and channelers too. Light!
He heard a roar from the far bank, some kind of battle cry. The soldiers were running forward, hundreds of them, more. So many. At least a thousand. "But why aren't they attacking us with the One Power?"
He murmured the words but Aruen must have heard. "Maybe they're worried about damaging the bridge?"
"But it's indestructible, it's stood for thousands of years."
"They might not know that though." Aruen's voice was a bit distant, he was studying the onrushing troops. Still, his words made up Olum's mind for him.
"Men, we will hold the bridge until we are reinforced. We are the best of Tar Valon." A white lie. "No one will get past us, we protect the city, we protect the Tower!"
He winced as a glowing fireball suddenly appeared in the air in front of Aruen and shot towards the enemy, because what else could they be. It was unnatural, a man channeling like that, but he was suddenly glad Aruen was there. As his men steadied their spears and formed a line he drew his own sword. There were enough of them to hold the bridge, it was narrow. With a slow, fighting retreat they might even survive.
======
It took Erulin a valuable moment to get over her surprise at the fireball flying towards them. She had felt nothing. Was it one of these marath'damane tricks that they had been warned about?
She saw one of the men at the top of the bridge's arch was dressed in white, another fireball forming in front of him. Surely that wasn't saidin? Allowing a man to channel for them?! Madness! The marath'damane showed yet again why they needed to be leashed.
With a thought she directed her Alivia and the fireball guttered out. She had one of the strongest damane in the Empire and she would use her well. A shield for the male channeler and then air for all of the men on the bridge, her Alivia had no problem splitting her threads that many ways. The soldiers could kill them as they passed. They would not even slow down the Seanchan forces and there would be no risk to the bridge. As long as they could get into the city then the marath'damane would fall.
=======
Another little flash of something, maybe saidar, in the distance. Vandene sighed and wondered whether she should send another runner to Lelaine. She did not want to be berated by the woman for jumping at shadows. Even if it was saidar, it might just be the Hall watching the White Tower, or something completely different. Even an aes sedai doing something up there. It was not a crime to channel on the Dragonmount after all.
After a moment she decided to leave it. If things continued maybe she would make another report. Only another hour to go before she could get out of the heat, standing there on top of the White Tower, and hand the task over to one of her sisters. She glanced over at the boy in white standing beside her. He was gazing determinedly outwards. At least this one was not trying to slack off.
A few minutes later she felt a flash of saidar from Daghain. It was unlikely anything troublesome was going on there. Sisters were always coming and going from the Tower and it was at the edge of the anti-Traveling wards. Nevertheless, she glanced down at the village. Nothing. It had been a lot of saidar though. More than any sister could channel unaided. Her eyes went back to the village.
Her vigilance was rewarded when she saw movement down there. It was hard to see what was going on at that distance, but there seemed to be people running. More saidar, was that a fireball? Was it the Hall? The Forsaken? Stifling a curse she spun to one of the guardsmen. "Tar Valon is under under attack! Channelers! The Daghain Bridge, inform Lelaine immediately!" The man did not even bow, just took off at a sprint.
Vandene wove her own weave, a small thread of spirit that she touched to the sophisticated wards Siuan had put up around the Tower. After a moment the sound of clanging bells started to ring out.
After seeing what the Hall had done to the White Tower, no sane aes sedai called Siuan paranoid anymore.
=======
Maigan sighed as Lelaine explained what was going on. While she could not criticise the woman for her diligence, she still thought she was excessively paranoid. The Hall were not their enemies. Well not to the point of attacking the Tower certainly.
"Thank you for informing me, but I do not think…" She was cut off by the sudden clanging of bells around the Tower. The wards. Light! She shared a glance with Lelaine. "Go, I will find the Amyrlin." Lelaine took off at a run, aes sedai composure forgotten.
=======
The bodies of the bridge guards were floating away down the river and the Ever Victorious Army had reached the gates of Tar Valon. Unsurprisingly they were closed and a desultory flow of arrows rained down on the Seanchan force from the walls. Of course they were deflected by a barrier put up by the sul'dam and their damane. They were not even facing channelers yet, arrows were no danger to the cream of the army and they would not be stopped.
"Take us through!" Alosa shouted the command and the sul'dam obeyed. A line of damane focused and the gates crumpled in front of them before tearing from their hinges, cast away as if they were nothing. Other sul'dam pointed and fire erupted along the top of the walls. Then they were through, hurrying through the gap in the walls and on towards the huge Tower looming in the distance. They might not have the level of surprise they had hoped for, but the marath'damane would not expect anyone to be able to strike at them in their very nest. By the time they realised what was happening and organised themselves the Seanchan would be among them.
========
Miad leapt from her desk when the bells started to ring. She still felt out of sorts a week after she had completed the test to become accepted, but she knew what those bells meant. They had practised often enough in the Village and the Amyrlin had insisted on further drills when they reoccupied their rightful place in the Tower. Was this another?
She came out of her room, intending to walk with the dignity of an aes sedai to her meeting point by the office of the Mistress of Novices. Then she saw a pair of aes sedai hurtle past her at a full sprint. She had never seen an aes sedai run before. If they were running… she accelerated to a jog and then a run.
======
Alosa jogged through the streets of Tar Valon, surrounded by the troops of the Ever Victorious Army. They had their orders, anyone who got in their way died. It was a pity to kill future subjects of the Empress. They had not done anything wrong beyond being born outside the protection of the Seanchan Empire; however, at that point speed was of the essence. Their deaths would be for the greater good of the world.
Ahead of her another clump of panicked civilians exploded into fire.
=======
Erinea reached her rally point, gasping for breath as the bells continued to sound all around the Tower. She was not fit enough for this! Lelaine gave her an inscrutable look and a second later she had joined the circle. A quick count of the women around her told her that she had completed it. Thirteen of them overlooking the Tower's grounds and the city beyond it. Saidar flowed through them, coming together under Lelaine's control.
Looking out over the balcony she could see smaller figures below her. Women moving to the Tower's walls. Soon they would see how Siuan's preparations had worked out. She was under no illusion, she had seen al'Thor fight, or would it be the Forsaken this time? At least they would put up a better showing than the turned aes sedai had.
Her job was just to provide saidar for the circle and to be ready to move as soon as they struck. Numerous aes sedai, mostly greens plus a couple of the few remaining reds, had interviewed her at great length about what she had witnessed in al'Thor's fight. It had been combined with the knowledge the Tower had gained from other battles at the Hall's side and this was what they had come up with. One thing was absolutely clear, the importance of mobility, where possible. That was why the Amyrlin, Siuan of course, not Elaida, had layered the anti-Traveling wards. The Hall would have a nasty surprise when they reached the Tower's walls. Manned by sisters strong enough to Travel and in a gap between layers of wards. The attackers would be hemmed in, unable to move around, while the Tower's aes sedai could Travel along the walls or to the space immediately behind them to evade retaliation.
=======
"It must be the Hall. They're coming for us, finally. We're going to die." Elaida resisted the urge to snap at the aes sedai beside her on the walls to stop her inane mutterings. She needed to remember her place in the Tower was not what it once was.
As for this attack, she did not believe it was the Hall. She had stared Taija in the eye, she thought she had some of the measure of the woman. She was far tougher than some of the more foolish aes sedai thought, but she was not a woman who would launch an unprovoked attack on the White Tower. That left the question of who it was. If it was the Black Ajah coming to reclaim the Tower they would be in for a truly nasty surprise. If it was the Forsaken though... If they were even close to al'Thor in capability…
=======
Siuan glanced behind her at the scared huddle of novices and accepted behind her. Boys and girls together, far more than when she had left the Tower. If the Tower was under attack there was nowhere safe for them, but at least here they would be out of the direct line of fire. She drew a trickle of the Power from them. Her job was to command and coordinate, not to fight on the front lines, but if she saw an opportunity… She might only get time to make one strike, so she would need to make it count. As soon as she drew fully on the circle behind her whoever was attacking would no doubt target her location.
So be it. She was under no illusion that the Tower would win this battle anyway. The only thing that confused her was why. Was it the Forsaken or Taija? The Forsaken had shown no inclination to engage in head on battles, other than at the cleansing. As for Taija, she had always struggled with her, but the woman was not violent to those she considered allies. If some of the Tower's aes sedai had done something to offend her, she would have come to speak about it with Siuan before taking action. Their relationship was not that bad.
Could the Forsaken have manipulated things somehow? How could they have? If they had killed Taija and made it look like the Tower…
Siuan caught her first sight of the attackers, a group of them hurrying down one of Tar Valon's wide streets towards the Tower. Saidar blazed and a group of fleeing Tar Valoners disappeared in fire. They did not look like the Hall. All the women wore dresses for one thing and there were no unarmoured men. Grey dresses, pairs of women. Siuan's heart soared as she realised. It was just the Seanchan!
Light though, if it was the Seanchan then they could only be here for one thing. Not just to kill the aes sedai, but to enslave them. Light only knew how they had even reached Tar Valon, had they also rediscovered Traveling? Another leak in the boat that she would need to patch, but for now it did not matter. If the Seanchan were attacking then that meant the Hall was not and that was important.
Maigan knew the limits of each of the wards. She was strong enough to Travel. Siuan whirled to face her. "Maigan, I need you to go to the Hall and tell them the Seanchan are attacking us, ask them for help, beg if you have to."
It took her a moment to realise. "Not the Hall or the Forsaken? Oh thank the Light!" She dropped a brief curtsy. "I will bring help."
"Do not let them catch you. It would be better to die."
Maigan gave her a quick nod and opened a gateway to the middle of the Tower. There was only so far that they had been able to segment the Tower and Tar Valon, but it did mean those who knew the layout of the wards could maneuver more freely.
========
Padaul nodded at the bolt of cloth the tailor was showing him, ignoring the sideways looks the man gave him when he thought he wasn't looking. Despite the distrust it was nice to be home in Tar Valon, not that this was the kind of establishment that he would have been able to afford before he had joined the White Tower. He had done well for himself before, but not on this level. However, since Siuan had politely, at least by her standards, suggested that he should upgrade his wardrobe, here he was.
"Will there be anything else Padaul sedai?" The man managed to not wince at the title, better than most, he might continue to patronise the place.
"The royal blue is good, but I would quite like to see the sky blue as well." He did find himself dressing in blue rather more these days. His attention was drawn away from the tailor by the sound of screams outside followed by a series of explosions. What in the Light was going on out there? He hesitated for a second, but no, if Tar Valon was under attack then he had his duty. "My apologies, I think I may be needed at the White Tower. I will take five shirts in white and five in the royal blue. I will think further on the sky blue on my return. Please send your bill to me at the White Tower." He gave the tailor a thin smile and headed for the door.
Chapter CVI - The Battle of Tar Valon
As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter CVI - The Battle of Tar Valon
Siuan watched as the Seanchan troops started to split apart, filtering down back streets and moving close to the buildings lining them as they approached the Tower's grounds. "Send the order down, reinforce the Eastern Wall, this isn't the Hall, they're not going to suddenly appear on the other side. Don't send everyone, but we can afford to be weaker in the west."
Suddenly saidar flared in the streets below, huge amounts. How many of them were there?! Fire leapt out towards the walls surrounding the Tower grounds. If the aes sedai on those walls had any sense and remembered their practice they would be keeping low and out of sight, not presenting targets for the Seanchan. Of course some aes sedai were so lacking in sense that they would take a boat out to sea without oars or a sail, but hopefully most would remember.
In seconds saidar weaves were flying back and forth between the walls and the buildings surrounding the Tower grounds.
Siuan would wait. When a suitable concentration of Seanchan presented themselves she would reveal herself. Unlike in a fight with the Hall or Forsaken she might actually survive doing so.
=======
Elaida wove fire, air and water, drawing lightning down from the sky in a storm of strikes where she had seen some Seanchan troops move. Before the lightning had faded she was already weaving a gateway, jumping through it to further along the wall to escape retaliation. She had not had much time to train in these new methods of combat, they felt awkward and power intensive, but she could not deny their effectiveness compared to what she had learnt. Standing in the open and relying on your superior strength and skill to win seemed… foolish at best after that.
=======
Alosa winced as fire exploded out of a nearby building showering her and the gaggle of damane around her, with debris. This was not what she had expected. There had clearly been a significant intelligence failure on the capabilities of the White Tower. She had been told there were perhaps six hundred marath'damane in it, of which few would have any real knowledge of how to fight. That was what the marath'damane captured from the Tower before the disaster at Falme had reported and by all accounts they were utterly incapable of lying. Had they somehow fooled the sul'dam? Were they simply mistaken?
The numbers on the wall were sparse, no more than fifty or so if she had her guess, but they were all strong. She could judge that for herself and it seemed they had an accursed habit of moving every time they attacked. The damane were well trained, as soon as a marath'damane struck they would weave a far more powerful retaliation, obliterating the place the woman had occupied. It was not survivable, yet the rate of fire from the walls had barely diminished.
They needed to take control of the situation. If they simply sat here and dueled with the White Tower's forces they would take unacceptable casualties. They needed to seize the initiative, force the enemy to react to them. Action, not reaction, was the way of the Ever Victorious Army.
She turned to the der'sul'dam and began to issue orders. The wall needed to come down.
=======
Erulin heard the shouted orders and focused her will through Alivia, joining tens of other sul'dam and their damane. Working with earth was always harder for damane, well for most of them anyway. Her Alivia was strong in every element. If she was not so deadly in combat she would no doubt have been assigned to civilian use. As it was…
She felt Alivia draw hard on saidar, directed her in unison with the others. With a grinding shriek the walls ahead of them seemed to simply come apart. There had definitely been marath'damane on that section of wall, now buried under rubble.
Soldiers sprinted forward as sul'dam and damane sent weaves spiralling over them to suppress the defences. She was an experienced sul'dam, one of the most experienced. She had an instinct for weaves. She certainly noticed these. Suddenly there was a huge amount of the Power being channeled from several spots in the Tower itself. A storm of lightning, fire and other weaves coming down upon the charging soldiers sending bodies spiralling into the air.
Barriers of air were woven above them, skilled damane, among the best, interlocking their weaves to make them stronger. Her assigned role for these circumstances was attack. "There. Good girl." Alivia channeled and weaves arced out from her spiralling towards the Tower, ripping through an attempt at deflecting them and tearing apart a stone balcony.
=======
Lelaine nearly fell as she and the other women threw themselves through a gateway to another section of the Tower. As it closed behind her she saw the balcony she had been stood on disappearing in fire. She gave Siuan a grudging mental nod and tried to suppress the trembles going through her. She would find another spot and attack again.
=======
Padaul rode the raging storm of saidin that flowed through him. It still felt like a mad luxury, being able to enjoy clean, untainted saidin. Yet it remained a fight for his life, dominating and controlling the One Power to stop it from burning him away.
The streets of Tar Valon were unnaturally empty as he jogged through them towards the Tower. No dignified gliding along for him. From the growing noise one thing was clear, the White Tower was under attack. He was needed back there.
He nearly ran into the first of the attackers. He didn't recognise them at first, two women in lightning panelled dresses, one with strange segmented silver draped over her shoulders and the other with a third woman on some kind of leash, along with a pair of soldiers with odd insect-like helmets. One of the women saw him and shouted something. Almost instinctively he lashed out with fire and spirit, meeting momentary resistance as his weave cut through something.
There was no time to think, he was already weaving. Simple earth and fire, ripping apart the flagstones under them. Broken, bleeding bodies tumbled away.
He stopped dead. He'd just killed them. Just like that. They'd been alive and now they were dead. This wasn't him. He'd never killed anyone before, he hadn't even warned them. Padaul shuddered convulsively, unable to look away from their mangled bodies.
=======
Elaida found herself on her hands and knees. What had just happened? Why were her ears ringing? With an effort she raised her head. She was on rubble, the wall?
She gave her head a shake, she needed to pull herself together. One of her sisters lay a few feet away and she crawled over to her. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she realised the woman was dead. Her neck at an unnatural angle, eyes staring emptily at the sky.
For a second Elaida let herself slump. Then, despite the ongoing chaos of combat she felt a presence by her. Turning to look she saw a soldier's boot flying towards her. A moment later it impacted with her side sending her sprawling as the breath left her.
Disoriented she franticly looked around. A woman with a silver collar outstretched advanced on her. What? Why? Light! Terror made her pull herself together, she reached for the source. She was shielded!
She pushed against the shield, hard. She was strong. She had to be strong enough! The sul'dam reached out with the collar. With a gasp of relief Elaida felt the shield shatter, saidar flooded into her. Instantly she was weaving. The sul'dam was flung away with air. A fireball sent at the damane who had shielded her, then she was crawling through a gateway, back to an intact section of wall. She couldn't Travel away from the walls, not with the wards. She stood on tottering feet and then threw herself back down with a shriek when a bar of fire speared through the space her head had just been in.
Elaida lay on the floor of the wall for a few seconds, panting for breath as she tried to pull herself together. Below her men and women fought and died. She needed to move. How many of the Seanchan were there? They were past the walls, hordes of them. So much channeling all around her. She was no coward, she had survived the Black Ajah, she would survive this!
After a long moment Elaida looked up and picked her first target. If she stayed lying down she would be harder to see and perhaps she could just roll through a small gateway after she struck. Her face set into a grimace she channeled a blade of air straight through one of the damane.
=======
Erulin struggled forward through the rubble of the wall. For a second she felt an oppressive weight all around her and then it was gone. Alivia had fended it off. "Good girl." She patted her damane's shoulder.
A moment later they were retaliating, Alivia tearing apart a section of that huge tower with lightning. With a tug on the leash she pulled Alivia along, if they stayed out in the open they were dead. Bodies of sul'dam, damane and soldiers were already spread around the open ground. Some burnt or battered beyond recognition. Worryingly few of the marath'damane were among them.
========
Siuan looked down from near the top of the Tower, occasionally barking orders to be relayed down its stairs. Perhaps this had been a mistake. She was out of the action, too far away to control her forces. Not that she was sure there was much controlling to do in this chaos.
The plan had made sense against the Hall or the Forsaken. The novices and accepted would be kept safe and the strongest among them would be available for an emergency. Her Callandor-killer. However, that was not what was needed now. She had restrained herself from striking in the knowledge that she would make herself a target. One thing the Green Ajah were sure of was that in Taija's style of combat, whoever revealed themselves first was the more likely to die. However, the Seanchan did not appear to have any sa'angreal, although some of their damane were monstrously strong. If she shepherded her resources for too long, was too cautious, she might find it was too late to intervene.
No, she needed to act now.
Siuan drew fully on the 71 novices and accepted in the circle with her. It was not Vora's Sa'angreal, but it was still a gigantic amount of the One Power. Saidin mixed with saidar. Raging torrent and smooth river. She could not attack directly into the courtyard, there were too many aes sedai mixed in among the Seanchan. However, there were concentrations of Seanchan outside, bombarding the Tower from the comfort of the buildings surrounding the Tower's walls. The homes of some of the richest Tar Valoners. They would no doubt be sending carefully worded petitions for compensation by tomorrow, if they survived.
=======
Alosa winced as a building a hundred or so spans from her simply vanished, exploding into fire. What in the Light had that been? These marath'damane were insane. They should have been utterly outmatched, yet they seemed to be able to apply horrific amounts of strength. Was it one of their sa'angreal?
Another building further away from her exploded. One thing was clear, these houses no longer gave any protection. They needed to be inside the White Tower where whatever that was couldn't strike if they were to survive.
Lightning blasted at the top of the Tower, before being deflected away. Fireballs rose up towards it, but she doubted that they would be enough to overcome whoever was there.
"Signal general advance! Keep thirty damane back to attack whatever that is and keep it distracted!" She gave the order to the nearest sul'dam and it was shortly followed by a loud boom and a green explosion in the sky. A moment later soldiers, sul'dam and damane came streaming forward. Alosa took a deep breath and joined them.
========
Lyrelle sprinted forward across the Tower grounds, a pair of soldiers rose in front of her and she flung fire at them. A damane! She swerved to the right, diving for cover. Where was everyone? There was so much saidar being channeled, so many explosions going on around her, it was deeply disorienting.
Weaves of air shot towards her and she sliced them before striking back. Then a shield hammered at her connection to saidar. No! She sliced the weave and drew lightning down on where she thought the damane was. It was deflected and then with no warning a fist of air hit her in the stomach sending her tumbling backwards, saidar slipping away from her. It took her valuable seconds to recover herself, looking up with bleary eyes to see a silver collar descending on her. It closed around her neck with a definitive click.
========
Siuan continued to hold off the almost constant stream of weaves blasting at her position. She knew she had killed a lot of those Seanchan, but now those remaining outside the Tower were focusing their fire on her. It was all that she could do to hold them off. Still the link had been a success. The novices and accepted would have been useless in combat without it, but with her and the link they had made a significant difference. The only problem was most of them were weak, the circle did not come close to fulfilling the sheer potential that it could have had with some truly strong channelers in it.
Regardless, she was being useful. There must have been thirty damane, all strong, trying to kill her. Those damane were not attacking the rest of the Tower. She would take that. Next time though… There were enough novices and accepted now and their numbers were growing. One link to defend, another to strike.
=======
Zariad resisted the urge to clench her fists as her Lily duelled with one of the marath'damane inside the Tower. Weaves flashed back and forth between them, occasional explosions ripping chunks out of the corridor's walls. She thought they were evenly matched, but then Lily staggered backwards as something got through. With a gasp Lilly looked back at her "I am shielded!"
======
Aiden adjusted her brown shawl nervously. She was no fighter, nor was she strong in the Power, but Siuan had tasked her, among others, with considering emergency uses for the Tower's ter'angreal. Her own research had involved a few interesting ones and she thought this might just work. If it did not she was likely dead or worse anyway.
She carefully shifted the black box so that its grill faced away from her and picked up her lute. A small weave of air and spirit connected the two and the back of the box lit up before growing outwards, buttons and symbols appearing on it. She had not been able to work out everything on there, but there was one little knob where if you turned it… She had never put it past the Old Tongue symbol for 7 before, that had been bad enough. Now she turned it all the way to the right, where it was marked with an '11' in the Old Tongue's numerals. There, now she just needed to make very sure she stood behind the box.
A sul'dam and damane came running round the corner, followed by another sul'dam. The damane was stronger than her, much too strong. She could see the shield being woven. With a decisive movement she brought her hand down, across the lute's strings.
=======
Kairen sunk to her knees as she heard the most indescribably loud noise she had ever heard in her life. Was that… music? She scrambled back to her feet and hurried towards it, her ears still ringing. Rounding a corner she nearly tripped over the battered remains of two or three women, blood seeping from every orifice. Horrified she looked up from them to see a stunned looking Aiden at the far end of the corridor a lute in her hands and some kind of box on the ground in front of her.
=========
Elaida staggered into the Tower. She was almost surprised she had survived the killing ground that was the courtyard in front of it, but too many of the Seanchan had made it inside. She needed to be there too, to help the others.
It wasn't long before she came across the first Seanchan. A damane and her sul'dam guarding a second sul'dam who was stood over a weeping aes sedai, curled into a ball with a collar around her neck. That would not stand. She would give no warning. She wove air, bisecting the damane and her sul'dam. Another weave lashed out, unlocking the a'dam from the aes sedai's neck. The other sul'dam was no longer a danger to her, she could not just kill her with the Power, however much she wished to. So she wove air, tying it off and leaving her as a statue to be dealt with later.
Elaida hurried over grasping the weeping aes sedai and helping her to her feet. "It is alright Meramor. You will be alright. You are free. You are…" she was going to say safe, but the oaths stopped her. "I am here."
She was not the most comforting of women, but she tried. Awkwardly patting Meramor on her back. Fortunately after a few seconds her sister gathered herself.
"Thank you Elaida." Her voice trembled, but she seemed to be functional. She shivered under Elaida's hand before straightening up. "We should see if more sisters need help."
Excellent, this was how an aes sedai should be.
=========
Rosyesh advanced through the corridors of the marath'damane's 'White Tower', her Molli beside her. They were ready to take any marath'damane that showed themselves. A terrified servant ran out of a side corridor and Molli flung him into a wall with air. Anyone who was willing to serve among the marath'damane did not deserve to live.
There! A dumpy, grey haired woman wearing brown had stepped out into the passage ahead of them. "You do not need to do this, we can free you!"
The foolish marath'damane seemed to be addressing Molli. Laughable! "Shield her." Molli was a good damane and a strong one, she did as she was told. Panic suddenly appeared on the woman's face. A moment later a hard-faced man came charging out, sword outstretched. Molli smashed him into the wall, leaving him to slump bonelessly to the ground, bloodied and broken.
The woman shrieked in apparent agony even as Denois advanced from behind Rosyesh, the open collar in her hands. How odd, if Rosyesh hadn't known better she'd have thought Molli had done something to the marath'damane to make her react like that. As Denois approached with the a'dam in her hands the marath'damane fumbled in her dress for something and then pulled out a small, golden sphere. "Stop her!" Rosyesh barked the order. She had no idea what it was, but she was not going to allow the marath'damane to do it, it could be nothing good for them.
Before Molli could do anything the marath'damane had screwed her eyes shut and pressed a button on the sphere. Weaves of air sprang towards her and then the world around them vanished.
Rosyesh blinked, they were now in a dark room, guttering torches on the walls. Torture implements scattered around them. All of them were there. Her, Molli, Denois and the marath'damane.
"Bind her!" She snapped the words at Molli who cringed.
"I cannot, the Power is gone." Her stomach sank. The marath'damane must have done this with that sphere. But if the marath'damane was free, why was she trembling in terror, like she was about to die?
Then a smooth female voice spoke, announcing incomprehensible words across the room. "Welcome to Captain Crop's Dungeon of Pleasure and Pain. Scenario setting level, extreme. Realism maximum. Warning, safety protocols are non functional, urgent maintenance is recommended. To terminate scenario please say the safe word." Was that the Old Tongue?
"What in the Light?!" Denois' words matched Rosyesh's feelings.
Before she could say anymore a deep, rolling chuckle echoed across the room they found themselves in followed by a man's voice, deep, dark and smooth in a way that sent shivers down her spine. "Welcome my sweetlings we are going to have such fun. Well, I am anyway…" What were these voices saying?!
=========
Padaul forced himself to keep going. He didn't want to kill anyone else, but his sisters were in danger. The novices and accepted, in fact everyone who lived and worked in the Tower. He could not call himself aes sedai and not aid them.
With a shudder he turned away from the corpses of the women he'd killed and started to make his way closer to the Tower, closer to the sounds of battle that echoed across the city. Corpses of Tar Valon citizens littered the streets. They hadn't deserved that, they weren't even involved with the White Tower. Anger sparked in him. Who did these scum think they were coming here, to the greatest city in the world, hurting its people!? They were no better than darkfriends, assuming they weren't in fact darkfriends.
There! He saw a woman in a grey dress crouched behind some rubble, staring up at the Tower, fire streaming from her. He'd worked out who these people were by then. What was it they'd said about the Seanchan? The ones in grey dresses were the enslaved channelers? Damane? It didn't matter. She was attacking the Tower. Steeling himself he drew on saidin, weaving fire, water and air into the sky and guiding it back down. Lightning struck. The woman had no warning. Suddenly it was exploding around her, sending her spinning broken and bloody into the air along with another woman he hadn't seen.
Now to find the next one. As he turned away his instincts screamed. A huge fireball fkew towards him, franticly he channeled fire, drawing the heat from it. There was another, he reached for it only for a wall of air to blast him off his feet. Two of the damane. He didn't know how to fight them. Not well enough.
Padaul rolled to his feet, channeling a wave of fire at them even as he ran. He needed to get away from them and then he could try to attack from a different angle.
========
Alosa breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the inside of the White Tower. The bodies of her forces littered the courtyard outside. They were mixed in with the marath'damane's and their guards, but far more Seanchan. Far far more. This was turning into a disaster. Their gateways wouldn't form here. The sul'dam had speculated that it was a new kind of wards before they attacked. Maybe…
She grabbed Erulin's shoulder. "You said you thought it might be wards. Can your Alivia find them?" She knew the damane was the strongest in her force. One of the strongest in the Empire.
Eurlin glanced at Alivia. "They are invisible. Hidden like the marath'damane in the Imperial Palace."
"Yes, but can she find them? Feel them? I don't know? Something! We need them brought down or we will die here!" Her eyes were lowered by her desperation, but she didn't want to die in this nest of marath'damane. She was almost grabbing the front of Erulin's dress, staring down at her.
Erulin stepped back nervously. "She will try General. Alivia is a good damane, if it can be done she will do it.
Alosa got her temper back under control. "Of course." She glanced at the other two sul'dam and their damane and the accompanying squad of soldiers. "Guard her with your lives. The damane is not to be bothered."
Alivia seemed to be staring into the distance. Hopefully what she was doing something.
Another pair of sul'dam and damane joined them, along with another sul'dam dragging a collared marath'damane behind her. Good, they would help protect Erulin while she worked through Alivia.
========
A loud gong sounded through the room they were sheltering in. Immediately afterwards Alosa heard a gasp and spun back towards Erulin and Alivia. The sul'dam spoke quickly. "Alivia has brought down one set of wards. She says there are more though. She will keep working."
Alosa resisted the urge to tell her to hurry. Erulin would be aware of the urgency, she would work Alivia as fast as possible. If they were found hopefully the other damane would be enough to defend them.
========
Lelaine looked up with a jerk from the healing weave she had been putting through one of her sisters as a gong sounded through the Tower. One of the anti-Traveling wards had fallen. If she remembered the sounds correctly, it was the one covering the lower floors of the Tower. The Seanchan must be bringing them down. Where from though?
Another gong sounded, in a higher tone. The upper floors. Light, they needed to be stopped! Who knew what would happen without the protection of those wards! There was no time for discussion.
"We move!" She wove saidar, opening a gateway to the lower floors of the Tower. That was where the first ward had fallen. Most likely that was where the Seanchan were. They needed to die.
She stepped through the gateway, head held high, gliding like an aes sedai should. Light, she needed to get her head straight, what was she thinking?! She flattened herself against the wall and started to advance cautiously.
There was a great deal of saidar being channeled nearby. Nearly as much as her link could produce. Nearly, but not as much. That was her best guess for who would be taking down the wards. If not, well they were still almost certainly Seanchan.
She quickened her pace, but still kept to the walls, trying to make herself as small a target as possible, the other sisters trailing behind her, hopefully out of reach of trouble. If they got into a fight they would just be targets.
They reached an intersection, movement! Lelaine took a breath and then leapt out, saidar hurtling through her, already weaving all of the elements, splitting the threads multiple ways. There! Two sul'dam and damane. She hit them with fists of air, fireballs and a chunk of rock pulled from the wall, all at the same time. They did not even have time to react.
========
A clang rang out, different to the two gongs that had sounded before.
"That's one more." Erulin went back to whispering encouragement to her Alivia. Alosa resisted the urge to bite her bottom lip, a nervous tic that only manifested itself at the worst times. How many Light-damned wards were there?! With easy practice she tuned out the weeping of the newly collared damane in the corner.
=========
In there! Lelaine could feel huge amounts of saidar being channeled behind the closed door to one of the many halls in the lower floors of the Tower. She took a breath, readied her weaves and then tore the door away with air.
She only took a moment to assess the situation in the room. Several damane, some soldiers, what looked like an officer and one of her sisters weeping in the corner with a collar round her neck.
Lelaine channeled, drawing on the full power of her link. She could not simply fill the room with fire. She sent precise weaves flying at the damane. They were all cut or deflected and she found herself having to defend against their counterattacks. Rapidly slicing and blocking weaves. The four of them were strong! Stronger than any aes sedai in the Tower.
=========
Alosa winced as the door was suddenly ripped away. An angry looking marath'damane appearing in it. Nothing seemed to be happening, but she was staring intently into the room and the damane, other than Alivia were staring back. They must be fighting, but careful not to use overly large weaves because of the danger of killing their own allies.
The woman took a step back, she looked like she was under strain. That was a relief, those four damane was strong, no single woman should have been able to stand up to them by herself.
Another bell rang. A moment later Erulin looked up from her Alivia, glancing at the struggle going on next to them. "That's not all of them, some areas of the city are still covered, but Alivia says it's enough that we can escape."
"Thank the Light!" Alosa muttered, then raised her voice. "Sound the general retreat! Then take us to the world of dreams."
Erulin nodded. A second later a small window blew out and a loud gong of their own sounded followed by red light streaming from the window. That would have to do. Hopefully everyone had heard and seen. As the gateway opened at the side of the room Alosa hurried through it to be followed by the sul'dam and damane accompanying her, the damane going through backwards, still battling the marath'damane.
======
Padaul crept through the deserted streets of Tar Valon. He could hear battle raging nearby, but since that last loud boom it had been diminishing. He thought he'd killed two more damane and their leash women, but he wasn't sure about the second pair. He'd already learnt to strike and then run, so he hadn't hung around to check. They didn't seem to expect to face saidin, but once they realised what was happening they were deadly.
He heard movement ahead of him and flattened himself into an arched doorway. Peering out carefully he saw a group of enemies jogging down the street. Two of the damane, a squad of soldiers and… was that two sisters over soldiers' shoulders?! There were women in lightning dresses running beside them, silver cable running from their wrists to the aes sedai's necks.
Rage flared in him. How dare they! To do that to an aes sedai was… unspeakable!
He wasn't sure he could take on that many enemies at once, but he couldn't let them past him. If they got past him there was likely nothing left in the city to stop them. Fine. He had been honoured to be the first true male aes sedai since the Breaking. He would live up to that honour.
He took a deep breath, it might be one of his last. Then he pulled saidin through him as he stepped out onto the street. He wove instinctively, as fast as he ever had. Fire, earth, water and spirit came together on the first of the damane and she vanished in a bloody explosion of gore. He didn't let himself shudder at the sight, the other one needed to be dealt with.
He was already moving, sprinting sideways. The damane paused for a moment clearly confused and that probably saved his life because a second later the space he'd been in vanished in a storm of fire. He wove fire of his own, he had to be careful, he didn't want to hurt the aes sedai.
Ouch! Padaul winced as his weave snapped back into him, cut by unseen saidar. With a grunt he tore a huge chunk of stone from the wall of a house with earth and air and flung it at the damane. She had a moment for her eyes to widen and then it froze above her as she staggered under the strain. He didn't give her time to recover. Fire, earth, water and spirit again and she died. Just the soldiers now, only they were running. Running with his sisters!
He wove air, razor sharp and precise. One by one the soldiers fell, leaving only the women holding the leashes. Them he didn't need to kill. He froze them in air. Now to get those collars off.
==========
It had taken Alosa and her party the best part of an hour to reach their rally point in the World of Dreams. They had made sure it was not too close to the White Tower. The last thing they wanted to do was to find that they had been followed. Once they had reached it, they had made camp and waited. Six hours. That was the agreed time, to stay longer in the World of Dreams would be to invite disaster. After that they would head for Seandar and anyone who was late would have to make their own way back.
It was a depressing six hours. Sul'dam and damane, even a few soldiers trailed back over it. A thin trickle. Many of them were injured. It was rapidly becoming clear that a devastating defeat had been inflicted on them. When the time was up there were fewer than fifty sul'dam returned with their damane. Perhaps a few more would make it back later, but Alosa doubted it, the marath'damane would be looking for revenge and with the instant Traveling they had demonstrated they would have little trouble in hunting down any Seanchan who had not escaped into the World of Dreams.
Fewer than fifty out of four hundred... A tiny bonus was the marath'damane that had been captured. Another ten to bring back. It was a worse than meagre haul given the sheer magnitude of the losses they had suffered. She would need to think very carefully about how she was going to explain this to the Empress if she was going to survive the next few days.
=========
As the weary remnants of the Seanchan picked themselves up and readied themselves for the journey home Alivia kept her eyes on her feet like a good damane should. She had never seen more than one or two marath'damane in one place before, it had been fascinating and terrifying at the same time. A pity that she had had to fight them, but that was the way of the world. Marath'damane would be collared. There was no other way. At least Erulin was a good mistress, she was kind, hardly ever punished Alivia, occasionally she'd even give her treats. Although Alivia of course did her best to be a good damane and avoid the need for punishment. Still, it would be nice to be free, just for a while, to see what life was like without the collar. She drifted off into a fantasy of being able to have tea and laugh with friends like she'd sometimes seen younger women doing in Seandar. Even just to be able to have friends...
Her fantasy was broken by gasps around her and a feeling of absence. She looked around in confusion, careful to keep her eyes lowered. What had happened? Why was everyone staring at her.
Erulin stepped forward, "just hold still Alivia."
Why? She reached up to her neck. The collar. It was gone.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Erulin's voice was level, reassuring, but there was an undertone of tension to it. Another sul'dam was coming over, empty a'dam held open.
Alivia's eyes widened. Of course, that was correct, she should be collared. But… For the first time in centuries she had no collar on her. Did she want this? It was right for marath'damane to be collared but…
She didn't think. She embraced saidar and someone screamed, but she was already weaving. A gateway back to the real world. She stepped through it and allowed it to close behind her a straight afterwards. Then she wove again. One of those gateways she had seen the marath'damane on the walls weaving. She didn't know where to, but in a way it didn't matter. She stepped through it and was gone.
Chapter CVI - The Battle of Tar Valon
Siuan watched as the Seanchan troops started to split apart, filtering down back streets and moving close to the buildings lining them as they approached the Tower's grounds. "Send the order down, reinforce the Eastern Wall, this isn't the Hall, they're not going to suddenly appear on the other side. Don't send everyone, but we can afford to be weaker in the west."
Suddenly saidar flared in the streets below, huge amounts. How many of them were there?! Fire leapt out towards the walls surrounding the Tower grounds. If the aes sedai on those walls had any sense and remembered their practice they would be keeping low and out of sight, not presenting targets for the Seanchan. Of course some aes sedai were so lacking in sense that they would take a boat out to sea without oars or a sail, but hopefully most would remember.
In seconds saidar weaves were flying back and forth between the walls and the buildings surrounding the Tower grounds.
Siuan would wait. When a suitable concentration of Seanchan presented themselves she would reveal herself. Unlike in a fight with the Hall or Forsaken she might actually survive doing so.
=======
Elaida wove fire, air and water, drawing lightning down from the sky in a storm of strikes where she had seen some Seanchan troops move. Before the lightning had faded she was already weaving a gateway, jumping through it to further along the wall to escape retaliation. She had not had much time to train in these new methods of combat, they felt awkward and power intensive, but she could not deny their effectiveness compared to what she had learnt. Standing in the open and relying on your superior strength and skill to win seemed… foolish at best after that.
=======
Alosa winced as fire exploded out of a nearby building showering her and the gaggle of damane around her, with debris. This was not what she had expected. There had clearly been a significant intelligence failure on the capabilities of the White Tower. She had been told there were perhaps six hundred marath'damane in it, of which few would have any real knowledge of how to fight. That was what the marath'damane captured from the Tower before the disaster at Falme had reported and by all accounts they were utterly incapable of lying. Had they somehow fooled the sul'dam? Were they simply mistaken?
The numbers on the wall were sparse, no more than fifty or so if she had her guess, but they were all strong. She could judge that for herself and it seemed they had an accursed habit of moving every time they attacked. The damane were well trained, as soon as a marath'damane struck they would weave a far more powerful retaliation, obliterating the place the woman had occupied. It was not survivable, yet the rate of fire from the walls had barely diminished.
They needed to take control of the situation. If they simply sat here and dueled with the White Tower's forces they would take unacceptable casualties. They needed to seize the initiative, force the enemy to react to them. Action, not reaction, was the way of the Ever Victorious Army.
She turned to the der'sul'dam and began to issue orders. The wall needed to come down.
=======
Erulin heard the shouted orders and focused her will through Alivia, joining tens of other sul'dam and their damane. Working with earth was always harder for damane, well for most of them anyway. Her Alivia was strong in every element. If she was not so deadly in combat she would no doubt have been assigned to civilian use. As it was…
She felt Alivia draw hard on saidar, directed her in unison with the others. With a grinding shriek the walls ahead of them seemed to simply come apart. There had definitely been marath'damane on that section of wall, now buried under rubble.
Soldiers sprinted forward as sul'dam and damane sent weaves spiralling over them to suppress the defences. She was an experienced sul'dam, one of the most experienced. She had an instinct for weaves. She certainly noticed these. Suddenly there was a huge amount of the Power being channeled from several spots in the Tower itself. A storm of lightning, fire and other weaves coming down upon the charging soldiers sending bodies spiralling into the air.
Barriers of air were woven above them, skilled damane, among the best, interlocking their weaves to make them stronger. Her assigned role for these circumstances was attack. "There. Good girl." Alivia channeled and weaves arced out from her spiralling towards the Tower, ripping through an attempt at deflecting them and tearing apart a stone balcony.
=======
Lelaine nearly fell as she and the other women threw themselves through a gateway to another section of the Tower. As it closed behind her she saw the balcony she had been stood on disappearing in fire. She gave Siuan a grudging mental nod and tried to suppress the trembles going through her. She would find another spot and attack again.
=======
Padaul rode the raging storm of saidin that flowed through him. It still felt like a mad luxury, being able to enjoy clean, untainted saidin. Yet it remained a fight for his life, dominating and controlling the One Power to stop it from burning him away.
The streets of Tar Valon were unnaturally empty as he jogged through them towards the Tower. No dignified gliding along for him. From the growing noise one thing was clear, the White Tower was under attack. He was needed back there.
He nearly ran into the first of the attackers. He didn't recognise them at first, two women in lightning panelled dresses, one with strange segmented silver draped over her shoulders and the other with a third woman on some kind of leash, along with a pair of soldiers with odd insect-like helmets. One of the women saw him and shouted something. Almost instinctively he lashed out with fire and spirit, meeting momentary resistance as his weave cut through something.
There was no time to think, he was already weaving. Simple earth and fire, ripping apart the flagstones under them. Broken, bleeding bodies tumbled away.
He stopped dead. He'd just killed them. Just like that. They'd been alive and now they were dead. This wasn't him. He'd never killed anyone before, he hadn't even warned them. Padaul shuddered convulsively, unable to look away from their mangled bodies.
=======
Elaida found herself on her hands and knees. What had just happened? Why were her ears ringing? With an effort she raised her head. She was on rubble, the wall?
She gave her head a shake, she needed to pull herself together. One of her sisters lay a few feet away and she crawled over to her. With a sinking feeling in her stomach she realised the woman was dead. Her neck at an unnatural angle, eyes staring emptily at the sky.
For a second Elaida let herself slump. Then, despite the ongoing chaos of combat she felt a presence by her. Turning to look she saw a soldier's boot flying towards her. A moment later it impacted with her side sending her sprawling as the breath left her.
Disoriented she franticly looked around. A woman with a silver collar outstretched advanced on her. What? Why? Light! Terror made her pull herself together, she reached for the source. She was shielded!
She pushed against the shield, hard. She was strong. She had to be strong enough! The sul'dam reached out with the collar. With a gasp of relief Elaida felt the shield shatter, saidar flooded into her. Instantly she was weaving. The sul'dam was flung away with air. A fireball sent at the damane who had shielded her, then she was crawling through a gateway, back to an intact section of wall. She couldn't Travel away from the walls, not with the wards. She stood on tottering feet and then threw herself back down with a shriek when a bar of fire speared through the space her head had just been in.
Elaida lay on the floor of the wall for a few seconds, panting for breath as she tried to pull herself together. Below her men and women fought and died. She needed to move. How many of the Seanchan were there? They were past the walls, hordes of them. So much channeling all around her. She was no coward, she had survived the Black Ajah, she would survive this!
After a long moment Elaida looked up and picked her first target. If she stayed lying down she would be harder to see and perhaps she could just roll through a small gateway after she struck. Her face set into a grimace she channeled a blade of air straight through one of the damane.
=======
Erulin struggled forward through the rubble of the wall. For a second she felt an oppressive weight all around her and then it was gone. Alivia had fended it off. "Good girl." She patted her damane's shoulder.
A moment later they were retaliating, Alivia tearing apart a section of that huge tower with lightning. With a tug on the leash she pulled Alivia along, if they stayed out in the open they were dead. Bodies of sul'dam, damane and soldiers were already spread around the open ground. Some burnt or battered beyond recognition. Worryingly few of the marath'damane were among them.
========
Siuan looked down from near the top of the Tower, occasionally barking orders to be relayed down its stairs. Perhaps this had been a mistake. She was out of the action, too far away to control her forces. Not that she was sure there was much controlling to do in this chaos.
The plan had made sense against the Hall or the Forsaken. The novices and accepted would be kept safe and the strongest among them would be available for an emergency. Her Callandor-killer. However, that was not what was needed now. She had restrained herself from striking in the knowledge that she would make herself a target. One thing the Green Ajah were sure of was that in Taija's style of combat, whoever revealed themselves first was the more likely to die. However, the Seanchan did not appear to have any sa'angreal, although some of their damane were monstrously strong. If she shepherded her resources for too long, was too cautious, she might find it was too late to intervene.
No, she needed to act now.
Siuan drew fully on the 71 novices and accepted in the circle with her. It was not Vora's Sa'angreal, but it was still a gigantic amount of the One Power. Saidin mixed with saidar. Raging torrent and smooth river. She could not attack directly into the courtyard, there were too many aes sedai mixed in among the Seanchan. However, there were concentrations of Seanchan outside, bombarding the Tower from the comfort of the buildings surrounding the Tower's walls. The homes of some of the richest Tar Valoners. They would no doubt be sending carefully worded petitions for compensation by tomorrow, if they survived.
=======
Alosa winced as a building a hundred or so spans from her simply vanished, exploding into fire. What in the Light had that been? These marath'damane were insane. They should have been utterly outmatched, yet they seemed to be able to apply horrific amounts of strength. Was it one of their sa'angreal?
Another building further away from her exploded. One thing was clear, these houses no longer gave any protection. They needed to be inside the White Tower where whatever that was couldn't strike if they were to survive.
Lightning blasted at the top of the Tower, before being deflected away. Fireballs rose up towards it, but she doubted that they would be enough to overcome whoever was there.
"Signal general advance! Keep thirty damane back to attack whatever that is and keep it distracted!" She gave the order to the nearest sul'dam and it was shortly followed by a loud boom and a green explosion in the sky. A moment later soldiers, sul'dam and damane came streaming forward. Alosa took a deep breath and joined them.
========
Lyrelle sprinted forward across the Tower grounds, a pair of soldiers rose in front of her and she flung fire at them. A damane! She swerved to the right, diving for cover. Where was everyone? There was so much saidar being channeled, so many explosions going on around her, it was deeply disorienting.
Weaves of air shot towards her and she sliced them before striking back. Then a shield hammered at her connection to saidar. No! She sliced the weave and drew lightning down on where she thought the damane was. It was deflected and then with no warning a fist of air hit her in the stomach sending her tumbling backwards, saidar slipping away from her. It took her valuable seconds to recover herself, looking up with bleary eyes to see a silver collar descending on her. It closed around her neck with a definitive click.
========
Siuan continued to hold off the almost constant stream of weaves blasting at her position. She knew she had killed a lot of those Seanchan, but now those remaining outside the Tower were focusing their fire on her. It was all that she could do to hold them off. Still the link had been a success. The novices and accepted would have been useless in combat without it, but with her and the link they had made a significant difference. The only problem was most of them were weak, the circle did not come close to fulfilling the sheer potential that it could have had with some truly strong channelers in it.
Regardless, she was being useful. There must have been thirty damane, all strong, trying to kill her. Those damane were not attacking the rest of the Tower. She would take that. Next time though… There were enough novices and accepted now and their numbers were growing. One link to defend, another to strike.
=======
Zariad resisted the urge to clench her fists as her Lily duelled with one of the marath'damane inside the Tower. Weaves flashed back and forth between them, occasional explosions ripping chunks out of the corridor's walls. She thought they were evenly matched, but then Lily staggered backwards as something got through. With a gasp Lilly looked back at her "I am shielded!"
======
Aiden adjusted her brown shawl nervously. She was no fighter, nor was she strong in the Power, but Siuan had tasked her, among others, with considering emergency uses for the Tower's ter'angreal. Her own research had involved a few interesting ones and she thought this might just work. If it did not she was likely dead or worse anyway.
She carefully shifted the black box so that its grill faced away from her and picked up her lute. A small weave of air and spirit connected the two and the back of the box lit up before growing outwards, buttons and symbols appearing on it. She had not been able to work out everything on there, but there was one little knob where if you turned it… She had never put it past the Old Tongue symbol for 7 before, that had been bad enough. Now she turned it all the way to the right, where it was marked with an '11' in the Old Tongue's numerals. There, now she just needed to make very sure she stood behind the box.
A sul'dam and damane came running round the corner, followed by another sul'dam. The damane was stronger than her, much too strong. She could see the shield being woven. With a decisive movement she brought her hand down, across the lute's strings.
=======
Kairen sunk to her knees as she heard the most indescribably loud noise she had ever heard in her life. Was that… music? She scrambled back to her feet and hurried towards it, her ears still ringing. Rounding a corner she nearly tripped over the battered remains of two or three women, blood seeping from every orifice. Horrified she looked up from them to see a stunned looking Aiden at the far end of the corridor a lute in her hands and some kind of box on the ground in front of her.
=========
Elaida staggered into the Tower. She was almost surprised she had survived the killing ground that was the courtyard in front of it, but too many of the Seanchan had made it inside. She needed to be there too, to help the others.
It wasn't long before she came across the first Seanchan. A damane and her sul'dam guarding a second sul'dam who was stood over a weeping aes sedai, curled into a ball with a collar around her neck. That would not stand. She would give no warning. She wove air, bisecting the damane and her sul'dam. Another weave lashed out, unlocking the a'dam from the aes sedai's neck. The other sul'dam was no longer a danger to her, she could not just kill her with the Power, however much she wished to. So she wove air, tying it off and leaving her as a statue to be dealt with later.
Elaida hurried over grasping the weeping aes sedai and helping her to her feet. "It is alright Meramor. You will be alright. You are free. You are…" she was going to say safe, but the oaths stopped her. "I am here."
She was not the most comforting of women, but she tried. Awkwardly patting Meramor on her back. Fortunately after a few seconds her sister gathered herself.
"Thank you Elaida." Her voice trembled, but she seemed to be functional. She shivered under Elaida's hand before straightening up. "We should see if more sisters need help."
Excellent, this was how an aes sedai should be.
=========
Rosyesh advanced through the corridors of the marath'damane's 'White Tower', her Molli beside her. They were ready to take any marath'damane that showed themselves. A terrified servant ran out of a side corridor and Molli flung him into a wall with air. Anyone who was willing to serve among the marath'damane did not deserve to live.
There! A dumpy, grey haired woman wearing brown had stepped out into the passage ahead of them. "You do not need to do this, we can free you!"
The foolish marath'damane seemed to be addressing Molli. Laughable! "Shield her." Molli was a good damane and a strong one, she did as she was told. Panic suddenly appeared on the woman's face. A moment later a hard-faced man came charging out, sword outstretched. Molli smashed him into the wall, leaving him to slump bonelessly to the ground, bloodied and broken.
The woman shrieked in apparent agony even as Denois advanced from behind Rosyesh, the open collar in her hands. How odd, if Rosyesh hadn't known better she'd have thought Molli had done something to the marath'damane to make her react like that. As Denois approached with the a'dam in her hands the marath'damane fumbled in her dress for something and then pulled out a small, golden sphere. "Stop her!" Rosyesh barked the order. She had no idea what it was, but she was not going to allow the marath'damane to do it, it could be nothing good for them.
Before Molli could do anything the marath'damane had screwed her eyes shut and pressed a button on the sphere. Weaves of air sprang towards her and then the world around them vanished.
Rosyesh blinked, they were now in a dark room, guttering torches on the walls. Torture implements scattered around them. All of them were there. Her, Molli, Denois and the marath'damane.
"Bind her!" She snapped the words at Molli who cringed.
"I cannot, the Power is gone." Her stomach sank. The marath'damane must have done this with that sphere. But if the marath'damane was free, why was she trembling in terror, like she was about to die?
Then a smooth female voice spoke, announcing incomprehensible words across the room. "Welcome to Captain Crop's Dungeon of Pleasure and Pain. Scenario setting level, extreme. Realism maximum. Warning, safety protocols are non functional, urgent maintenance is recommended. To terminate scenario please say the safe word." Was that the Old Tongue?
"What in the Light?!" Denois' words matched Rosyesh's feelings.
Before she could say anymore a deep, rolling chuckle echoed across the room they found themselves in followed by a man's voice, deep, dark and smooth in a way that sent shivers down her spine. "Welcome my sweetlings we are going to have such fun. Well, I am anyway…" What were these voices saying?!
=========
Padaul forced himself to keep going. He didn't want to kill anyone else, but his sisters were in danger. The novices and accepted, in fact everyone who lived and worked in the Tower. He could not call himself aes sedai and not aid them.
With a shudder he turned away from the corpses of the women he'd killed and started to make his way closer to the Tower, closer to the sounds of battle that echoed across the city. Corpses of Tar Valon citizens littered the streets. They hadn't deserved that, they weren't even involved with the White Tower. Anger sparked in him. Who did these scum think they were coming here, to the greatest city in the world, hurting its people!? They were no better than darkfriends, assuming they weren't in fact darkfriends.
There! He saw a woman in a grey dress crouched behind some rubble, staring up at the Tower, fire streaming from her. He'd worked out who these people were by then. What was it they'd said about the Seanchan? The ones in grey dresses were the enslaved channelers? Damane? It didn't matter. She was attacking the Tower. Steeling himself he drew on saidin, weaving fire, water and air into the sky and guiding it back down. Lightning struck. The woman had no warning. Suddenly it was exploding around her, sending her spinning broken and bloody into the air along with another woman he hadn't seen.
Now to find the next one. As he turned away his instincts screamed. A huge fireball fkew towards him, franticly he channeled fire, drawing the heat from it. There was another, he reached for it only for a wall of air to blast him off his feet. Two of the damane. He didn't know how to fight them. Not well enough.
Padaul rolled to his feet, channeling a wave of fire at them even as he ran. He needed to get away from them and then he could try to attack from a different angle.
========
Alosa breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the inside of the White Tower. The bodies of her forces littered the courtyard outside. They were mixed in with the marath'damane's and their guards, but far more Seanchan. Far far more. This was turning into a disaster. Their gateways wouldn't form here. The sul'dam had speculated that it was a new kind of wards before they attacked. Maybe…
She grabbed Erulin's shoulder. "You said you thought it might be wards. Can your Alivia find them?" She knew the damane was the strongest in her force. One of the strongest in the Empire.
Eurlin glanced at Alivia. "They are invisible. Hidden like the marath'damane in the Imperial Palace."
"Yes, but can she find them? Feel them? I don't know? Something! We need them brought down or we will die here!" Her eyes were lowered by her desperation, but she didn't want to die in this nest of marath'damane. She was almost grabbing the front of Erulin's dress, staring down at her.
Erulin stepped back nervously. "She will try General. Alivia is a good damane, if it can be done she will do it.
Alosa got her temper back under control. "Of course." She glanced at the other two sul'dam and their damane and the accompanying squad of soldiers. "Guard her with your lives. The damane is not to be bothered."
Alivia seemed to be staring into the distance. Hopefully what she was doing something.
Another pair of sul'dam and damane joined them, along with another sul'dam dragging a collared marath'damane behind her. Good, they would help protect Erulin while she worked through Alivia.
========
A loud gong sounded through the room they were sheltering in. Immediately afterwards Alosa heard a gasp and spun back towards Erulin and Alivia. The sul'dam spoke quickly. "Alivia has brought down one set of wards. She says there are more though. She will keep working."
Alosa resisted the urge to tell her to hurry. Erulin would be aware of the urgency, she would work Alivia as fast as possible. If they were found hopefully the other damane would be enough to defend them.
========
Lelaine looked up with a jerk from the healing weave she had been putting through one of her sisters as a gong sounded through the Tower. One of the anti-Traveling wards had fallen. If she remembered the sounds correctly, it was the one covering the lower floors of the Tower. The Seanchan must be bringing them down. Where from though?
Another gong sounded, in a higher tone. The upper floors. Light, they needed to be stopped! Who knew what would happen without the protection of those wards! There was no time for discussion.
"We move!" She wove saidar, opening a gateway to the lower floors of the Tower. That was where the first ward had fallen. Most likely that was where the Seanchan were. They needed to die.
She stepped through the gateway, head held high, gliding like an aes sedai should. Light, she needed to get her head straight, what was she thinking?! She flattened herself against the wall and started to advance cautiously.
There was a great deal of saidar being channeled nearby. Nearly as much as her link could produce. Nearly, but not as much. That was her best guess for who would be taking down the wards. If not, well they were still almost certainly Seanchan.
She quickened her pace, but still kept to the walls, trying to make herself as small a target as possible, the other sisters trailing behind her, hopefully out of reach of trouble. If they got into a fight they would just be targets.
They reached an intersection, movement! Lelaine took a breath and then leapt out, saidar hurtling through her, already weaving all of the elements, splitting the threads multiple ways. There! Two sul'dam and damane. She hit them with fists of air, fireballs and a chunk of rock pulled from the wall, all at the same time. They did not even have time to react.
========
A clang rang out, different to the two gongs that had sounded before.
"That's one more." Erulin went back to whispering encouragement to her Alivia. Alosa resisted the urge to bite her bottom lip, a nervous tic that only manifested itself at the worst times. How many Light-damned wards were there?! With easy practice she tuned out the weeping of the newly collared damane in the corner.
=========
In there! Lelaine could feel huge amounts of saidar being channeled behind the closed door to one of the many halls in the lower floors of the Tower. She took a breath, readied her weaves and then tore the door away with air.
She only took a moment to assess the situation in the room. Several damane, some soldiers, what looked like an officer and one of her sisters weeping in the corner with a collar round her neck.
Lelaine channeled, drawing on the full power of her link. She could not simply fill the room with fire. She sent precise weaves flying at the damane. They were all cut or deflected and she found herself having to defend against their counterattacks. Rapidly slicing and blocking weaves. The four of them were strong! Stronger than any aes sedai in the Tower.
=========
Alosa winced as the door was suddenly ripped away. An angry looking marath'damane appearing in it. Nothing seemed to be happening, but she was staring intently into the room and the damane, other than Alivia were staring back. They must be fighting, but careful not to use overly large weaves because of the danger of killing their own allies.
The woman took a step back, she looked like she was under strain. That was a relief, those four damane was strong, no single woman should have been able to stand up to them by herself.
Another bell rang. A moment later Erulin looked up from her Alivia, glancing at the struggle going on next to them. "That's not all of them, some areas of the city are still covered, but Alivia says it's enough that we can escape."
"Thank the Light!" Alosa muttered, then raised her voice. "Sound the general retreat! Then take us to the world of dreams."
Erulin nodded. A second later a small window blew out and a loud gong of their own sounded followed by red light streaming from the window. That would have to do. Hopefully everyone had heard and seen. As the gateway opened at the side of the room Alosa hurried through it to be followed by the sul'dam and damane accompanying her, the damane going through backwards, still battling the marath'damane.
======
Padaul crept through the deserted streets of Tar Valon. He could hear battle raging nearby, but since that last loud boom it had been diminishing. He thought he'd killed two more damane and their leash women, but he wasn't sure about the second pair. He'd already learnt to strike and then run, so he hadn't hung around to check. They didn't seem to expect to face saidin, but once they realised what was happening they were deadly.
He heard movement ahead of him and flattened himself into an arched doorway. Peering out carefully he saw a group of enemies jogging down the street. Two of the damane, a squad of soldiers and… was that two sisters over soldiers' shoulders?! There were women in lightning dresses running beside them, silver cable running from their wrists to the aes sedai's necks.
Rage flared in him. How dare they! To do that to an aes sedai was… unspeakable!
He wasn't sure he could take on that many enemies at once, but he couldn't let them past him. If they got past him there was likely nothing left in the city to stop them. Fine. He had been honoured to be the first true male aes sedai since the Breaking. He would live up to that honour.
He took a deep breath, it might be one of his last. Then he pulled saidin through him as he stepped out onto the street. He wove instinctively, as fast as he ever had. Fire, earth, water and spirit came together on the first of the damane and she vanished in a bloody explosion of gore. He didn't let himself shudder at the sight, the other one needed to be dealt with.
He was already moving, sprinting sideways. The damane paused for a moment clearly confused and that probably saved his life because a second later the space he'd been in vanished in a storm of fire. He wove fire of his own, he had to be careful, he didn't want to hurt the aes sedai.
Ouch! Padaul winced as his weave snapped back into him, cut by unseen saidar. With a grunt he tore a huge chunk of stone from the wall of a house with earth and air and flung it at the damane. She had a moment for her eyes to widen and then it froze above her as she staggered under the strain. He didn't give her time to recover. Fire, earth, water and spirit again and she died. Just the soldiers now, only they were running. Running with his sisters!
He wove air, razor sharp and precise. One by one the soldiers fell, leaving only the women holding the leashes. Them he didn't need to kill. He froze them in air. Now to get those collars off.
==========
It had taken Alosa and her party the best part of an hour to reach their rally point in the World of Dreams. They had made sure it was not too close to the White Tower. The last thing they wanted to do was to find that they had been followed. Once they had reached it, they had made camp and waited. Six hours. That was the agreed time, to stay longer in the World of Dreams would be to invite disaster. After that they would head for Seandar and anyone who was late would have to make their own way back.
It was a depressing six hours. Sul'dam and damane, even a few soldiers trailed back over it. A thin trickle. Many of them were injured. It was rapidly becoming clear that a devastating defeat had been inflicted on them. When the time was up there were fewer than fifty sul'dam returned with their damane. Perhaps a few more would make it back later, but Alosa doubted it, the marath'damane would be looking for revenge and with the instant Traveling they had demonstrated they would have little trouble in hunting down any Seanchan who had not escaped into the World of Dreams.
Fewer than fifty out of four hundred... A tiny bonus was the marath'damane that had been captured. Another ten to bring back. It was a worse than meagre haul given the sheer magnitude of the losses they had suffered. She would need to think very carefully about how she was going to explain this to the Empress if she was going to survive the next few days.
=========
As the weary remnants of the Seanchan picked themselves up and readied themselves for the journey home Alivia kept her eyes on her feet like a good damane should. She had never seen more than one or two marath'damane in one place before, it had been fascinating and terrifying at the same time. A pity that she had had to fight them, but that was the way of the world. Marath'damane would be collared. There was no other way. At least Erulin was a good mistress, she was kind, hardly ever punished Alivia, occasionally she'd even give her treats. Although Alivia of course did her best to be a good damane and avoid the need for punishment. Still, it would be nice to be free, just for a while, to see what life was like without the collar. She drifted off into a fantasy of being able to have tea and laugh with friends like she'd sometimes seen younger women doing in Seandar. Even just to be able to have friends...
Her fantasy was broken by gasps around her and a feeling of absence. She looked around in confusion, careful to keep her eyes lowered. What had happened? Why was everyone staring at her.
Erulin stepped forward, "just hold still Alivia."
Why? She reached up to her neck. The collar. It was gone.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Erulin's voice was level, reassuring, but there was an undertone of tension to it. Another sul'dam was coming over, empty a'dam held open.
Alivia's eyes widened. Of course, that was correct, she should be collared. But… For the first time in centuries she had no collar on her. Did she want this? It was right for marath'damane to be collared but…
She didn't think. She embraced saidar and someone screamed, but she was already weaving. A gateway back to the real world. She stepped through it and allowed it to close behind her a straight afterwards. Then she wove again. One of those gateways she had seen the marath'damane on the walls weaving. She didn't know where to, but in a way it didn't matter. She stepped through it and was gone.
Last edited:
Well well it looks like the Sean's will find out the world of dreams is quite literal. Also do the captured Aes Sedai know that they can will themselves free?
I can't wait until Siuan and Taija retaliate, I hope they nuke that stupid Empress and her entire line or what's left of it.
Also what is that golden sphere because that took me by surprise.
I can't wait until Siuan and Taija retaliate, I hope they nuke that stupid Empress and her entire line or what's left of it.
Also what is that golden sphere because that took me by surprise.
Last edited:
Nope the world of dreams isn't something the aes sedai know much at all about at this point.
Also the Seanchan aren't stupid, they would absolutely drug them.
Cool, I doubt that they can force their channeled slaves to make a gate for them while drugged so that's still a problem. Also can Seanchan be severed? As in the collar holders?
- Location
- Texas
Probably. There's no obvious reason why they couldn't.
It never comes up in the books, but in the books people don't sever each other very often at all. It's generally treated as more difficult than just killing a channeler, and also horrifyingly cruel.
I think there have been more people stilled in this fic than in the whole original series.
The other thing is you have to know the leash holders are channelers in the first place to even think it's an option. And most people don't know that. Plus, there are lots of them, so from a larger strategy perspective, it's kind of useless. Getting rid of a damane hurts the Seanchan war machine. Getting rid of a sul'dam is barely an inconvenience.
The properly broken damane wouldn't be drugged, they're nice and stable, just the new prisoners, who wouldn't be asked to channel until they get back to the real world anyway.
It's never specified in the books whether you could sever a sul'dam. My view is no because they're not actually channelers, just potential channelers at that point, but your mileage may vary.
Chapter CVII - The Aftermath
As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue
Chapter CVII - The Aftermath
As the sound of partying echoed across the Hall late into the night, Taija was lying in bed with Tel still feeling a bit stunned. Healing severing and Taim, both in one day. What could be next? With a sigh she spun a web against eavesdropping around the room and the sound faded away. A good night's sleep would help settle her mind.
=======
One consequence of Nynaeve and Damer's discovery was that Taija needed to consider what to do about the aes sedai that she'd severed for their crimes against Eben and Noruan. It kept her up the night before, thinking about what she wanted, but obviously it wasn't just her decision. The Hall wasn't the White Tower, decisions like that required some level of consensus.
That was why the next day she was sat down with Tel, Aleksi, Nynaeve, Rand and Damer. It was lucky Rand was around actually, he was becoming quite hard to get hold of, but Taija did feel this was something that he should get a say on since he was actually a victim of their crimes, although not the one they were severed for. While Cadsuane had been one of the judges, Taija didn't invite her, the meeting wasn't judicial and it was purely the Hall's business. Damer on the other hand, despite not being aes sedai had been invited since Nynaeve insisted it was just as much his discovery as hers.
The arguments went back and forth, Taija's comrades' positions weren't what she'd necessarily expected. Rand and Tel were inclined towards mercy. Rand mostly because the Light needed every channeler available to it. Tel because he thought they should have the chance to redeem themselves, which made sense although Taija prefered not to think about that.
Aleksi on the other hand, despite his usual compassion had no sympathy. As far as he was concerned they'd made their bed and they could sleep in it. Nynaeve had a similar view, although Taija suspected it was because she'd spent so much time with Eben and Noruan trying to heal them and saw the way they suffered. Beneath her gruff exterior she was a deeply compassionate woman, but Taija supposed that was manifesting itself in a lack of sympathy for the severed aes sedai on that occasion. Damer leaned towards Rand's point of view, maybe it was his age that made him more sympathetic to the aes sedai's failings. The others, excluding Tel, really were quite young.
As for Taija, well she was torn. On balance though… Severing was a terrible fate, if those women were left as they were they'd most likely be dead soon. Was that excessive given that Eben and Noruan had been healed? Maybe. What swung it for her was Rand's arguments. She had limited sympathy for the aes sedai, they'd fucked around and they'd found out, but the Light did need every channeler that it could get. If they'd accept the same punishment as Turanna then they could be healed that was her view.
Nynaeve wasn't so against it that she was unwilling to heal them, Taija wouldn't try to force her. However, with Damer having a more moderate view it made sense for him to do it. It would also make a nice point to those aes sedai that they were only regaining their channeling by the grace of a man like the ones they'd severed.
With that proposal from Taija, the consensus was that she should make the offer, although no one was desperately enthusiastic about it.
She'd have to set up a meeting with Siuan. At least that would be one where the White Tower would probably actually like her more afterwards.
========
The next day Taija was pondering who to send to speak to Siuan when a breathless aspirant ran up with a Tower aes sedai… Maigan. She looked like she was on the verge of collapse. Not as fit as she could be clearly. As soon as Maigan saw Taija she started to talk a garble of words.
"Stop, take a breath, slow down!"
"Sorry…" She breathed deeply. "The White Tower is under attack. The Seanchan, I do not know how they reached it, but they're attacking it. Hundreds of leashed. Please, we need your help."
"Oh fuck me." Taija's mind flashed back to Falme. Had the Seanchan discovered Traveling? It didn't matter. She couldn't let the White Tower fall. Taija briefly considered whether it was a trap for her and then dismissed the idea after discretely running an inverted slicing web across Maigan. The aspirant should have done it when she arrived, but it was good to be careful. "Of course, we're coming. As soon as possible." She turned to the aspirant. "Please find Maigan sedai some water and anything else she needs."
What did Taija need? How much dud she want to take? After a moment's thought she spun a web so that her voice boomed out across the Hall. "All aes sedai and aspirants please come to the assembly hall immediately." It was nice having a proper hall to gather in now, although her little band of channelers was already starting to outgrow it. Luckily it was very easy to build bigger when one had hordes of channelers eager to practise using the Power.
Now where was Aleksi? She was going to want Callandor for this and it would be better not to have him waste time looking for it. Then Tel. He was better placed to command a big force. She'd need to leave some heavy hitters behind too. Just in case it was a distraction. She couldn't leave the Hall undefended. Fucking Seanchan.
========
Half an hour later Taija was alternating between jogging and Traveling to the edge of the Hall's anti-Traveling wards with about thirty aspirants beside her, along with Nynaeve, Aleksi and Maigan. It was a small force, but highly skilled.
In the end she needed to leave at least one full aes sedai behind to protect the Hall and Tel seemed to be the best one. She couldn't have him in charge of the rescue force without her there, given the Tower's possible reaction to him. Nynaeve Taija wanted for her healing skills. The severed aes sedai could wait, but there would no doubt be large numbers of injured people. Aleksi she wanted for Callandor. It would be a waste of Tel's capability to have him sitting at the back in a circle led by someone else, so Aleksi was a better choice there. Unfortunately with Rand and the girls away that was it for full aes sedai.
========
Taija stepped out of the gateway outside Tar Valon, already feeling for the anti-Traveling wards Siuan had no doubt put up. They were gone. Some of them anyway. She needed to be careful, she didn't want to end up in a friendly fire situation with the Tower. It was lucky the Seanchan couldn't really disguise their leashed. For a moment Taija paused, listening. She couldn't hear the sounds of battle, could it already be over?
Another more difficult consideration was that she didn't want to leave aspirants fighting on their own. It might be necessary at some point, but some of them were basically kids.
"We're going to have to go in unsubtly. Silenen, Calon, you Travel with Maigan to let them know we're coming. You're to obey her orders until the battle's over. The rest of us will Travel into Tar Valon and then make to the White Tower on foot. Nynaeve, you take the Callandor circle, keep us covered from any attacks. The rest of us will provide offensive capability. If we come under heavy attack I'll give the order to split and then we fight in small units like we trained. I'm hoping there's nothing there that can come close to stopping us while we're together though."
Everyone nodded and Maigan opened her gateway followed by Silenen and Calon. A few seconds later Taija opened her own gateway into the city, a safe distance from the Tower. As she emerged everyone was on high alert, scanning their surroundings and there was a haze in the air from whatever barrier Nynaeve had spun around them. With that in place they advanced on the worryingly quiet Tower. Passing through streets littered with the bodies of Tar Valoners.
=======
Siuan breathed a sigh of relief when Maigan stepped out of a gateway, accompanied by two young men. She had survived. Thank the Light.
She curtsied and the two young men gave deep bows. "Mother, Taija and the Hall are in Tar Valon. I fear we are too late though."
"Sadly so, the fighting is largely over. However, it was a victory. The Seanchan have fled. There are just a few hold outs and the Tower has survived." She resisted the urge to look around at the rubble and still burning fires that polluted much of the space around her.
One of the young men stepped forward and bowed again. "Mother," he hesitated slightly at the title, "Taija sedai has brought a number of skilled healers, I can fetch her to the Tower and we can also help with any hold outs."
"Thank you," Siuan resisted the urge to call him son or child. She knew the Hall did not like that and now was not the time to play games. "If you could bring her here we can coordinate better."
With a final bow he stepped away and wove a gateway.
========
When a gateway opened in front of her, Taija held up her hand, everyone coming to a halt, ready to lash out with the Power. Fortunately it was just Calon who stepped through it, hurrying up to her with a bow to explain the situation.
In no time they'd all Traveled to the Tower proper. Taija hurried over to Siuan and gave her a perfunctory bow. "Siuan, I came as fast as I could. What can we do? We're at your disposal."
Siuan gave her a relieved look. "Thank you Taija. If you have healers, Romanda is organising the efforts, send them to her. There are also a couple of places where there's still fighting going on. If you have some way of dealing with those…" She glanced at Aleksi holding Callandor.
Taija started barking orders, there was no consensus decision-making in a combat situation. "Nynaeve, drop the link with Aleksi, take the aspirants who are skilled at healing and go to Romanda. Please do whatever she asks, she'll have a better idea of the situation than we do." She paused and glanced at Siuan, "if she gives you any disrespect just… put up with it, this is too important."
Siuan's face darkened briefly. "She will not, rest assured. Maigan please accompany them and let Romanda know they are here at my request." Nynaeve gave Taija a quick bow before heading off with Maigan and about twenty of the aspirants in tow. Taija really hoped none of the aes sedai would have issues with being healed by men.
That left her, Aleksi and another ten or so of the aspirants. "So where do you want us?"
Siuan hesitated then says, "there are two places. One mansion in the city where we think a number of them have holed up and there's an annex of the Tower that they are still occupying. We are reluctant to risk more casualties attacking them when so many of us are already dead or injured."
Taija nodded at that. "How many did you lose?"
"I am not entirely sure yet, but I think around thirty aes sedai dead and some captured."
Taija winced, that was a devastating number considering the Tower's already diminished position. They'd all have lost friends. "I'm sorry Siuan. Do the remaining Seanchan have any prisoners?"
"I think the ones in the Tower have, the ones outside, I would be very surprised."
"Fine." Which one of the female aspirants was the most responsible… If she didn't trust them she wouldn't have made them aspirants, but still… No, she didn't have time to worry, efficiency was needed. "Dolena, you're to lead the link with Aleksi sedai, but he's in charge. You'll obey his orders to the letter. I'm giving you a great responsibility, don't abuse it."
The middle aged woman gave Taija a low bow. "I won't disappoint you Taija sedai."
"I know,"Taija looked them over and then pick out six more aspirants to go with them. "Aleksi, take them and deal with the mansion. Don't risk yourselves. I'll deal with the Seanchan in the Tower myself, we can't just batter them with a sa'angreal without risking their captives." Taija pointed at the last two aspirants. "You're with me, keep behind me and watch my back." Orders given, she whirled around and headed for the Tower. If the situation wasn't so serious, she'd wish she had a cloak to swirl.
==========
Aleksi stepped out of the gateway, saidin hammering through him. It was becoming a little frustrating always acting as the battery for Callandor. He understood the reasoning. He was one of the few people trusted to hold the sa'angreal and it was dangerous to use outside a circle. However, rationality didn't erase all of the frustration. Oh well. He knew his duty and there would no doubt be more aes sedai who could take his place soon enough.
Several aes sedai huddled behind cover, occasionally poking their heads out to throw a fireball at a scarred, ornately decorated house.
Dolena already had a barrier of invisible air up, using saidin. Excellent. She'd been a good choice. "Keep the barrier up, let's make this dramatic." He strode over to the aes sedai, not bothering to take cover, Callandor blazing on his hip. Several fireballs shot out from the mansion and spattered against the barrier to no effect.
He gave the three aes sedai a short bow. "I'm here from the Hall of Servants, my name is Alek…"
"I know who you are," the aes sedai interrupted him rudely. "We are glad you are here, any help you can provide will be gratefully received." Given those words he decided not to be offended at the interruption.
He glanced at the mansion. "Are there any innocents inside and do you care whether you get the Seanchan alive or not?"
She glanced at the glowing crystal sword on his belt and then back up at him. Was that a smile? It was always hard to tell with Tower aes sedai and her face was covered in dirt and blood. "They have been killing everyone they could find, there are likely no innocents left there, except the damane of course. If you can, it would be better to take them alive, but if not I believe few tears will be shed."
"Fine." Aleksi gestured with his head to Dolena. "Let's go." They both walked out in front of the the mansion, blasts of the Power sparking against the barrier she had woven. "Take it down, gently."
Dolena drew on saidin through him, mixing it with unseen saidar. Callandor blazed brighter. In front of them the mansion started to come apart. Flagstone by flagstone, but with terrifying speed, it almost seemed to unravel as Dolena deconstructed it from the top down, stacking piles of detritus beside it. As she worked Seanchan were revealed and bound in air, shielded where necessary. With the amount of saidin available through Callandor the Seanchan's attempts at stopping her were about as effective as a toddler trying to overpower a fully grown man. A couple of minutes later, with nothing left of the mansion, Aleksi turned away and returned to the aes sedai with a small bow.
"Your prisoners." He gestured behind him at the bound Seanchan.
=========
Taija followed the aes sedai assigned to lead her to where the Seanchan were holding out, pondering her options. They'd said that some of the leashed were quite strong, but it seemed that the anti-Traveling wards were still in place over this annex, so they couldn't Travel away like the rest of the surviving Seanchan. She had to wonder how many leashed the Seanchan had thrown at the Tower, it seems to have been a devastating battle.
She quickly reached the area, there were a few aes sedai around, although they didn't seem to be doing much to try to defeat the remaining Seanchan. She supposed if they were trapped there then there wasn't much point in the aes sedai risking their lives to try to get rid of them. Better to let them stew. Fortunately Taija was a bit more capable.
This wasn't going to be something for the aspirants though. "You two stay back with the aes sedai. If I need help I'll shout."
Taija got a quick briefing on the layout inside and where they thought the Seanchan were in the rooms ahead of you. She'd need to be careful. She really didn't want to kill any captured aes sedai and she'd rather not kill any of the leashed. It wasn't their fault. She'd killed more than she really wanted to in Falme and while she didn't think she could have done anything differently, that didn't mean she didn't sometimes wake up in the night thinking of them.
Taija cast those thoughts out of her mind, it wasn't the time. She'd passed under the limits of the remaining anti-Traveling wards already. So she could just use a gateway to get amongst them, but without line of sight that was a lot harder. She could just walk in and trust that she could take anything they could throw at her, but that was a bit risky. Taija expected she could, but the last thing she wanted to find was multiple leashed in there who could match her for strength. That left shock and awe.
No time like the present, Taija glanced round the corner, saw empty corridor, scarred with potshots taken from both sides. Great.
"Cover your ears." She waited a second and then spun a gateway, sending another web through it to go off as it closed. She didn't see the flash of light round the corner, but the thunderous crash of the explosion shook the walls around her. Taija was already moving, round the corner and then sprinting.
A leashed and leash holder staggered out into view, bleeding from their ears. Taija lashed out with the Power. The collar came open, a shield forced into place on the leashed and air around both.
She skidded into the first room. Clear! The room across the corridor's door was shut. It crumpled in front of her. That one was clear too. Forward!
Taija ducked a razor sharp web of air, fire following it. Crude and slow. She sliced the following webs, hooked an inverted web of air round the leashed's feet and pulled them out from under her. Her collar came off in mid air and Taija had her shielded and bound before she hits the ground next to her leash holder.
In front of Taija the final two stepped out, they were quite strong. Maybe on Egwene or Elayne's level. They were also slow, responding to commands from the leash holders. Seconds later it was all over. In less than a minute Taija was helping a weeping, captured aes sedai to her feet muttering comforting words to her as she led her back out.
========
Samitsu shook her head. "She is too far gone, I cannot help her." As she straightened up Romanda sighed. If Samitsu could not do it then no one could.
"Stop! What are you doing?" She resisted the urge to sigh as Nynaeve, the wilder runaway shouldered her way in.
"We cannot spend the effort on someone who will not survive. There are too many wounded."
The girl just gave her a look and came closer. "I'll be the judge of that thank you very much." She looked down at the aes sedai who lay there, pale from loss of blood, a deep gash across her belly and one of her legs missing above the knee. The light of saidar never lit up around Nynaeve, but then a storm of threads came out in a weave of incredible complexity. All five elements coming together in an explosion of saidar. In front of Romanda's eyes flesh knit together, colour returned to the injured woman's cheeks. It was impossible. Not that the wounds could be healed, but that it could be done without killing her.
"How…?" That was Samitsu, Romanda wanted to echo her. "Did Taija teach you that?"
Nynaeve gave her an annoyed look, "no she's a terrible healer, this is all mine." She ignored Samitsu's gasp and hurried over to another injured person. This time a Tower servant.
Samitsu started to follow and then headed for another one of the wounded, but she could not resist calling over her shoulder, "you must teach me!"
Nynaeve ignored her and Romanda realised that she too was neglecting her duties and moved on. All of the channeling she had been doing today was very much wearing on her, but if she rested people would die.
The next one she came across was another aes sedai, one of the Tower's few surviving reds. She was about to shake her head and move on when she reminded herself that Nynaeve was here. "Nynaeve sedai," she made herself add the title, she had heard the Hall could be prickly about it, "would you be able to…" She hated to admit weakness, but these people's lives were more important than petty pride.
"Just Nynaeve is fine for you. Damer, could you help her please."
"Of course Nynaeve sedai." The grizzled, ageing man hurried over, Nynaeve was busy healing someone else, but she must have felt Romanda's scepticism because she spoke without looking back at her. "Damer is as good as I am, he might be better, I'd trust him with my life."
Maybe better? Surely that was not possible. The man gave her a small bow, "Romanda sedai." His attention was already on the injured woman lying in front of them. A moment later her wounds began to knit together, with none of the signs of the stress caused by the White Tower's healing. Had Nynaeve, an aes sedai by the Hall's measure, no an aes sedai in truth, just suggested a man who was not even aes sedai might be better than her? That was madness, you did not say such things to accepted, or aspirants or whatever he was.
"How are you doing that? You will tell me!" Samitsu was suddenly in front of Damer staring up at him. "I will do whatever you ask, bear your children, but you will explain exactly what you did!"
"Samitsu!" Romanda could sympathise with the sentiment, but there were people to heal.
========
Taija ended up staying the night in the White Tower, sending one of the aspirants back to the Hall to let Tel know what was going on. There was just so much to do. Those that could heal were exhausting themselves with all of the work. Those who couldn't heal were working on rebuilding. All around her aes sedai who were probably half dead from exhaustion were doing their best to clear things up, help the injured and rebuild what they could. How could she do anything but stay and help?
There were Seanchan prisoners. Terrified leashed who were demanding to have their collars returned. Angry leash holders shouting abuse and even a few soldiers. Taija left them to Siuan, they weren't her problem.
She did send another message to Tel asking him to send the older more experienced initiates the next morning. She wouldn't want them working unsupervised, but they could do construction work and provide strength through circles for the healers. The number of injured Tar Valoners was huge, on top of all of the injuries to people directly involved in the battle.
It was late in the night when Taija decided it was time for her and the Hall's party to rest. Siuan looked dead on her feet, but as Taija headed inside she called her over. Someone had taken the time to find a gigantic banner with the Flame of Tar Valon on it and hung it from the Tower. Taija would have called it a waste of time when there was so much work to do, but there was a certain poignancy to it hanging there. The Tower still stood, after the Forsaken, the Black Ajah and now the Seanchan. It was just a pity that she didn't overly like what the Tower had stood for. But then its current leadership were so much more tolerable than the average Tower aes sedai and maybe their general attitude would improve over time. Sometimes people just needed time to adapt.
When Taija came over Siuan pulled out a small flask from somewhere in her dress, unscrewed it and took a deep swig before passing it to her. Taija took a sniff and then raised her eyebrows at Siuan.
"I didn't know you drank."
"I do not. Not normally, but when your ship has survived a storm…"
Taija shrugged, took a swig and immediately start coughing. "Fuck me, how strong is that?!" She took another smaller sip, ignoring Siuan's small smile when she passed it back.
"I just wanted to thank you for coming. While the battle was largely over by the time you reached here, without your assistance far more aes sedai would be dead. Many of them owe their lives to you."
Taija shrugged slightly awkwardly. "Of course I came. Just because we don't see eye to eye on some things doesn't mean we have to be enemies. The only true enemy is the Shadow."
"Well said." The two of them spent a silent moment staring at the night sky.
"So how bad was it in the end?"
"Forty two dead or missing aes sedai. More warders and hundreds of guards, civilians and servants."
Taija hissed. "That's… a lot. What about the accepted and novices?"
"One accepted died guarding the bridge, other than that they all survived."
That was a relief at least. "How many of them did you get?"
"It is hard to say, we estimate perhaps five hundred leashed attacked the Tower. We have found more than three hundred bodies and have captured almost twenty of them." There was a certain pride overlaying the sadness in her voice. "We sent them running back to their masters."
"Yes," Taija nodded. "You won this battle decisively. But even the greatest of victories hurt when it's your friends and comrades dying to achieve them." She couldn't quite keep all of the sadness out of her voice. Antero's last words echoed through your head. The last thing she heard in her own time, one of her best friends desperately shouting them before he died.
Siuan glanced at her. "Yes you of all people would understand that. To absent friends." She took another swig and passed Taija the flask.
"We'll never see their like again." Taija took a sip of her own.
=======
In the end Taija stayed in the Tower for three days, with a large party of aspirants and initiates helping. Her strength with earth and her angreal helped and she spent some time teaching some of the webs she knew for shaping and strengthening stone to the Tower aes sedai. With circles providing strength it already looked somewhat recovered from the devastating battle.
Taija had discussed it with Siuan and agreed that it would be the last day before she headed back to the Hall. There'd be plenty more to discuss in the near future, including what to do about the Seanchan, but she had her own affairs to deal with.
If the Seanchan had Traveling something would need to be done to prevent a repeat of their attack. One thing they'd both agreed on already was a faster communication system. Someone capable of Traveling waiting at the edge of each of their respective wards ready to immediately go to the other's home to ask for help if needed. All it would take was a flare of the right colour being sent up from the Tower or Hall and off theydl go.
Really after this Taija felt much better about the Tower. It was hard for the Tower aes sedai to keep up their haughtiness when they were exhausted and her people were helping them to rebuild their home. It was also hard for her to dislike them as much when she was there with them at such a bad time.
Before it was time to leave Taija just had one more thing to discuss with Siuan. She took her aside, pulling her away from a group pushing stone back into place in the Tower's walls.
"I wanted to tell you, Nynaeve and Damer have worked out how to heal severing."
"Excuse me?"
Taija repeated herself, trying hard not to look smug. "We have healed severing."
"So Eben and Noruan…"
She nodded. "Yes." Well . She'd never seen Siuan look this stunned before. "We've also discussed the aes sedai that we severed as punishment. We're willing to heal them as a gesture of good will."
Siuan's eyes widened and Taija quickly added, "subject to a few conditions."
Siuan sighed. "Of course, what are they?"
"Nothing unreasonable. They agree to accept the same punishment as Turanna, they're tested for being darkfriends with the oath rod and they'll be healed by Damer."
"By Damer, not Nynaeve?" Of course Siuan jumped on that one.
Taija wasn't going to say Nynaeve didn't want to. "They were severed because they couldn't accept that the taint has been cleansed and hurt innocent men. If they can't accept healing from a man then they won't be healed."
Siuan have her a long look. "Very well. Those are reasonable conditions. They will be presented to them." She paused, "actually, there was one aes sedai who was stilled during the battle, we had thought it was impossible, but if you can…"
"Oh. Yes. Of course! No conditions! I think Nynaeve's over there. Let's grab her and go now!"
=======
Alivia followed the crowd of people through the city's gates. She didn't really feel that she fit in there. She stood out in her simple grey dress, stained with dirt and burn marks from the battle. Everyone else was dressed neatly, either in simple brown wool or in more colourful wool or silk. Still, hardly anyone looked at her. She wanted to cringe whenever anyone did. They would know she was, had been, damane. They might tell her to go back to the sul'dam. She wasn't ready for that yet. She wanted to experience freedom first. Just for a little while before she was sent back. Someone jostled into her and scowled at her, she looked down and muttered a profuse apology. To her surprise they were gone a moment later.
The city had so many sights and sounds for her to see. It was nothing like Seandar. Much dirtier, far smaller, but it was still hugely exciting. To be able to walk wherever she wanted, without being directed, without having to keep her eyes on the ground. There were no punishments here when she stopped to admire a hawker's wares. No one tugged on her leash to move her along when she decided she wanted to walk slowly.
She wasn't sure how long she walked for, gawking at her surroundings before she realised she was actually very hungry. She'd been fed by Erulin in the World of Dreams, but it had been some time since then. She would need to find something to eat. This presented something of a dilemma. Her sul'dam had always made sure that she was well fed. Nothing particularly tasty, unless she deserved a treat, but plenty of good healthy food to maintain her. But there were no sul'dam here. Was that a problem with freedom? What did normal people do? She tried to think back to her childhood, but it was so long ago…
What did people do here? There were lots of stalls with delicious smelling food. People lined up, they talked, and then the stall holders gave them food. She had even seen her sul'dam do that on occasion, although obviously that food was not for damane. But she wasn't damane right now, was she? Maybe that was a solution.
She turned her eyes towards a stall selling some delicious smelling roast meat. That one had a long queue. Did that mean it was good? It smelt good. After a moment's thought she joined the queue. Hopefully the stallholder wouldn't realise she was damane and would still give her food.
It took a little while to make her way to the front of the queue, her stomach rumbling as she went, but finally she was there. She looked over the man's goods and then did her best to meet his eyes, eventually settling on somewhere around his collar bone. "I would like two of those please." She pointed at skewers of meat cooking over his fire.
He looked at her, a hint of contempt in his eyes. "That'll be two silver pennies."
Silver pennies? What were those? She looked around in confusion, not sure what to say. Was that a free person thing? She didn't remember anything about pennies from when she was a child, although it was all a bit foggy, but she was sure her parents just gave her food.
Maybe she should ask? She didn't want to reveal her ignorance, but the man was clearly getting impatient. "What's a silver penny?"
There was a moment of stunned silence and then someone behind her started laughing. The stallholder however was not amused. "Get out of here wench! I don't have time for beggars. Go! Before I call the guards!"
Alivia fled.
Chapter CVII - The Aftermath
As the sound of partying echoed across the Hall late into the night, Taija was lying in bed with Tel still feeling a bit stunned. Healing severing and Taim, both in one day. What could be next? With a sigh she spun a web against eavesdropping around the room and the sound faded away. A good night's sleep would help settle her mind.
=======
One consequence of Nynaeve and Damer's discovery was that Taija needed to consider what to do about the aes sedai that she'd severed for their crimes against Eben and Noruan. It kept her up the night before, thinking about what she wanted, but obviously it wasn't just her decision. The Hall wasn't the White Tower, decisions like that required some level of consensus.
That was why the next day she was sat down with Tel, Aleksi, Nynaeve, Rand and Damer. It was lucky Rand was around actually, he was becoming quite hard to get hold of, but Taija did feel this was something that he should get a say on since he was actually a victim of their crimes, although not the one they were severed for. While Cadsuane had been one of the judges, Taija didn't invite her, the meeting wasn't judicial and it was purely the Hall's business. Damer on the other hand, despite not being aes sedai had been invited since Nynaeve insisted it was just as much his discovery as hers.
The arguments went back and forth, Taija's comrades' positions weren't what she'd necessarily expected. Rand and Tel were inclined towards mercy. Rand mostly because the Light needed every channeler available to it. Tel because he thought they should have the chance to redeem themselves, which made sense although Taija prefered not to think about that.
Aleksi on the other hand, despite his usual compassion had no sympathy. As far as he was concerned they'd made their bed and they could sleep in it. Nynaeve had a similar view, although Taija suspected it was because she'd spent so much time with Eben and Noruan trying to heal them and saw the way they suffered. Beneath her gruff exterior she was a deeply compassionate woman, but Taija supposed that was manifesting itself in a lack of sympathy for the severed aes sedai on that occasion. Damer leaned towards Rand's point of view, maybe it was his age that made him more sympathetic to the aes sedai's failings. The others, excluding Tel, really were quite young.
As for Taija, well she was torn. On balance though… Severing was a terrible fate, if those women were left as they were they'd most likely be dead soon. Was that excessive given that Eben and Noruan had been healed? Maybe. What swung it for her was Rand's arguments. She had limited sympathy for the aes sedai, they'd fucked around and they'd found out, but the Light did need every channeler that it could get. If they'd accept the same punishment as Turanna then they could be healed that was her view.
Nynaeve wasn't so against it that she was unwilling to heal them, Taija wouldn't try to force her. However, with Damer having a more moderate view it made sense for him to do it. It would also make a nice point to those aes sedai that they were only regaining their channeling by the grace of a man like the ones they'd severed.
With that proposal from Taija, the consensus was that she should make the offer, although no one was desperately enthusiastic about it.
She'd have to set up a meeting with Siuan. At least that would be one where the White Tower would probably actually like her more afterwards.
========
The next day Taija was pondering who to send to speak to Siuan when a breathless aspirant ran up with a Tower aes sedai… Maigan. She looked like she was on the verge of collapse. Not as fit as she could be clearly. As soon as Maigan saw Taija she started to talk a garble of words.
"Stop, take a breath, slow down!"
"Sorry…" She breathed deeply. "The White Tower is under attack. The Seanchan, I do not know how they reached it, but they're attacking it. Hundreds of leashed. Please, we need your help."
"Oh fuck me." Taija's mind flashed back to Falme. Had the Seanchan discovered Traveling? It didn't matter. She couldn't let the White Tower fall. Taija briefly considered whether it was a trap for her and then dismissed the idea after discretely running an inverted slicing web across Maigan. The aspirant should have done it when she arrived, but it was good to be careful. "Of course, we're coming. As soon as possible." She turned to the aspirant. "Please find Maigan sedai some water and anything else she needs."
What did Taija need? How much dud she want to take? After a moment's thought she spun a web so that her voice boomed out across the Hall. "All aes sedai and aspirants please come to the assembly hall immediately." It was nice having a proper hall to gather in now, although her little band of channelers was already starting to outgrow it. Luckily it was very easy to build bigger when one had hordes of channelers eager to practise using the Power.
Now where was Aleksi? She was going to want Callandor for this and it would be better not to have him waste time looking for it. Then Tel. He was better placed to command a big force. She'd need to leave some heavy hitters behind too. Just in case it was a distraction. She couldn't leave the Hall undefended. Fucking Seanchan.
========
Half an hour later Taija was alternating between jogging and Traveling to the edge of the Hall's anti-Traveling wards with about thirty aspirants beside her, along with Nynaeve, Aleksi and Maigan. It was a small force, but highly skilled.
In the end she needed to leave at least one full aes sedai behind to protect the Hall and Tel seemed to be the best one. She couldn't have him in charge of the rescue force without her there, given the Tower's possible reaction to him. Nynaeve Taija wanted for her healing skills. The severed aes sedai could wait, but there would no doubt be large numbers of injured people. Aleksi she wanted for Callandor. It would be a waste of Tel's capability to have him sitting at the back in a circle led by someone else, so Aleksi was a better choice there. Unfortunately with Rand and the girls away that was it for full aes sedai.
========
Taija stepped out of the gateway outside Tar Valon, already feeling for the anti-Traveling wards Siuan had no doubt put up. They were gone. Some of them anyway. She needed to be careful, she didn't want to end up in a friendly fire situation with the Tower. It was lucky the Seanchan couldn't really disguise their leashed. For a moment Taija paused, listening. She couldn't hear the sounds of battle, could it already be over?
Another more difficult consideration was that she didn't want to leave aspirants fighting on their own. It might be necessary at some point, but some of them were basically kids.
"We're going to have to go in unsubtly. Silenen, Calon, you Travel with Maigan to let them know we're coming. You're to obey her orders until the battle's over. The rest of us will Travel into Tar Valon and then make to the White Tower on foot. Nynaeve, you take the Callandor circle, keep us covered from any attacks. The rest of us will provide offensive capability. If we come under heavy attack I'll give the order to split and then we fight in small units like we trained. I'm hoping there's nothing there that can come close to stopping us while we're together though."
Everyone nodded and Maigan opened her gateway followed by Silenen and Calon. A few seconds later Taija opened her own gateway into the city, a safe distance from the Tower. As she emerged everyone was on high alert, scanning their surroundings and there was a haze in the air from whatever barrier Nynaeve had spun around them. With that in place they advanced on the worryingly quiet Tower. Passing through streets littered with the bodies of Tar Valoners.
=======
Siuan breathed a sigh of relief when Maigan stepped out of a gateway, accompanied by two young men. She had survived. Thank the Light.
She curtsied and the two young men gave deep bows. "Mother, Taija and the Hall are in Tar Valon. I fear we are too late though."
"Sadly so, the fighting is largely over. However, it was a victory. The Seanchan have fled. There are just a few hold outs and the Tower has survived." She resisted the urge to look around at the rubble and still burning fires that polluted much of the space around her.
One of the young men stepped forward and bowed again. "Mother," he hesitated slightly at the title, "Taija sedai has brought a number of skilled healers, I can fetch her to the Tower and we can also help with any hold outs."
"Thank you," Siuan resisted the urge to call him son or child. She knew the Hall did not like that and now was not the time to play games. "If you could bring her here we can coordinate better."
With a final bow he stepped away and wove a gateway.
========
When a gateway opened in front of her, Taija held up her hand, everyone coming to a halt, ready to lash out with the Power. Fortunately it was just Calon who stepped through it, hurrying up to her with a bow to explain the situation.
In no time they'd all Traveled to the Tower proper. Taija hurried over to Siuan and gave her a perfunctory bow. "Siuan, I came as fast as I could. What can we do? We're at your disposal."
Siuan gave her a relieved look. "Thank you Taija. If you have healers, Romanda is organising the efforts, send them to her. There are also a couple of places where there's still fighting going on. If you have some way of dealing with those…" She glanced at Aleksi holding Callandor.
Taija started barking orders, there was no consensus decision-making in a combat situation. "Nynaeve, drop the link with Aleksi, take the aspirants who are skilled at healing and go to Romanda. Please do whatever she asks, she'll have a better idea of the situation than we do." She paused and glanced at Siuan, "if she gives you any disrespect just… put up with it, this is too important."
Siuan's face darkened briefly. "She will not, rest assured. Maigan please accompany them and let Romanda know they are here at my request." Nynaeve gave Taija a quick bow before heading off with Maigan and about twenty of the aspirants in tow. Taija really hoped none of the aes sedai would have issues with being healed by men.
That left her, Aleksi and another ten or so of the aspirants. "So where do you want us?"
Siuan hesitated then says, "there are two places. One mansion in the city where we think a number of them have holed up and there's an annex of the Tower that they are still occupying. We are reluctant to risk more casualties attacking them when so many of us are already dead or injured."
Taija nodded at that. "How many did you lose?"
"I am not entirely sure yet, but I think around thirty aes sedai dead and some captured."
Taija winced, that was a devastating number considering the Tower's already diminished position. They'd all have lost friends. "I'm sorry Siuan. Do the remaining Seanchan have any prisoners?"
"I think the ones in the Tower have, the ones outside, I would be very surprised."
"Fine." Which one of the female aspirants was the most responsible… If she didn't trust them she wouldn't have made them aspirants, but still… No, she didn't have time to worry, efficiency was needed. "Dolena, you're to lead the link with Aleksi sedai, but he's in charge. You'll obey his orders to the letter. I'm giving you a great responsibility, don't abuse it."
The middle aged woman gave Taija a low bow. "I won't disappoint you Taija sedai."
"I know,"Taija looked them over and then pick out six more aspirants to go with them. "Aleksi, take them and deal with the mansion. Don't risk yourselves. I'll deal with the Seanchan in the Tower myself, we can't just batter them with a sa'angreal without risking their captives." Taija pointed at the last two aspirants. "You're with me, keep behind me and watch my back." Orders given, she whirled around and headed for the Tower. If the situation wasn't so serious, she'd wish she had a cloak to swirl.
==========
Aleksi stepped out of the gateway, saidin hammering through him. It was becoming a little frustrating always acting as the battery for Callandor. He understood the reasoning. He was one of the few people trusted to hold the sa'angreal and it was dangerous to use outside a circle. However, rationality didn't erase all of the frustration. Oh well. He knew his duty and there would no doubt be more aes sedai who could take his place soon enough.
Several aes sedai huddled behind cover, occasionally poking their heads out to throw a fireball at a scarred, ornately decorated house.
Dolena already had a barrier of invisible air up, using saidin. Excellent. She'd been a good choice. "Keep the barrier up, let's make this dramatic." He strode over to the aes sedai, not bothering to take cover, Callandor blazing on his hip. Several fireballs shot out from the mansion and spattered against the barrier to no effect.
He gave the three aes sedai a short bow. "I'm here from the Hall of Servants, my name is Alek…"
"I know who you are," the aes sedai interrupted him rudely. "We are glad you are here, any help you can provide will be gratefully received." Given those words he decided not to be offended at the interruption.
He glanced at the mansion. "Are there any innocents inside and do you care whether you get the Seanchan alive or not?"
She glanced at the glowing crystal sword on his belt and then back up at him. Was that a smile? It was always hard to tell with Tower aes sedai and her face was covered in dirt and blood. "They have been killing everyone they could find, there are likely no innocents left there, except the damane of course. If you can, it would be better to take them alive, but if not I believe few tears will be shed."
"Fine." Aleksi gestured with his head to Dolena. "Let's go." They both walked out in front of the the mansion, blasts of the Power sparking against the barrier she had woven. "Take it down, gently."
Dolena drew on saidin through him, mixing it with unseen saidar. Callandor blazed brighter. In front of them the mansion started to come apart. Flagstone by flagstone, but with terrifying speed, it almost seemed to unravel as Dolena deconstructed it from the top down, stacking piles of detritus beside it. As she worked Seanchan were revealed and bound in air, shielded where necessary. With the amount of saidin available through Callandor the Seanchan's attempts at stopping her were about as effective as a toddler trying to overpower a fully grown man. A couple of minutes later, with nothing left of the mansion, Aleksi turned away and returned to the aes sedai with a small bow.
"Your prisoners." He gestured behind him at the bound Seanchan.
=========
Taija followed the aes sedai assigned to lead her to where the Seanchan were holding out, pondering her options. They'd said that some of the leashed were quite strong, but it seemed that the anti-Traveling wards were still in place over this annex, so they couldn't Travel away like the rest of the surviving Seanchan. She had to wonder how many leashed the Seanchan had thrown at the Tower, it seems to have been a devastating battle.
She quickly reached the area, there were a few aes sedai around, although they didn't seem to be doing much to try to defeat the remaining Seanchan. She supposed if they were trapped there then there wasn't much point in the aes sedai risking their lives to try to get rid of them. Better to let them stew. Fortunately Taija was a bit more capable.
This wasn't going to be something for the aspirants though. "You two stay back with the aes sedai. If I need help I'll shout."
Taija got a quick briefing on the layout inside and where they thought the Seanchan were in the rooms ahead of you. She'd need to be careful. She really didn't want to kill any captured aes sedai and she'd rather not kill any of the leashed. It wasn't their fault. She'd killed more than she really wanted to in Falme and while she didn't think she could have done anything differently, that didn't mean she didn't sometimes wake up in the night thinking of them.
Taija cast those thoughts out of her mind, it wasn't the time. She'd passed under the limits of the remaining anti-Traveling wards already. So she could just use a gateway to get amongst them, but without line of sight that was a lot harder. She could just walk in and trust that she could take anything they could throw at her, but that was a bit risky. Taija expected she could, but the last thing she wanted to find was multiple leashed in there who could match her for strength. That left shock and awe.
No time like the present, Taija glanced round the corner, saw empty corridor, scarred with potshots taken from both sides. Great.
"Cover your ears." She waited a second and then spun a gateway, sending another web through it to go off as it closed. She didn't see the flash of light round the corner, but the thunderous crash of the explosion shook the walls around her. Taija was already moving, round the corner and then sprinting.
A leashed and leash holder staggered out into view, bleeding from their ears. Taija lashed out with the Power. The collar came open, a shield forced into place on the leashed and air around both.
She skidded into the first room. Clear! The room across the corridor's door was shut. It crumpled in front of her. That one was clear too. Forward!
Taija ducked a razor sharp web of air, fire following it. Crude and slow. She sliced the following webs, hooked an inverted web of air round the leashed's feet and pulled them out from under her. Her collar came off in mid air and Taija had her shielded and bound before she hits the ground next to her leash holder.
In front of Taija the final two stepped out, they were quite strong. Maybe on Egwene or Elayne's level. They were also slow, responding to commands from the leash holders. Seconds later it was all over. In less than a minute Taija was helping a weeping, captured aes sedai to her feet muttering comforting words to her as she led her back out.
========
Samitsu shook her head. "She is too far gone, I cannot help her." As she straightened up Romanda sighed. If Samitsu could not do it then no one could.
"Stop! What are you doing?" She resisted the urge to sigh as Nynaeve, the wilder runaway shouldered her way in.
"We cannot spend the effort on someone who will not survive. There are too many wounded."
The girl just gave her a look and came closer. "I'll be the judge of that thank you very much." She looked down at the aes sedai who lay there, pale from loss of blood, a deep gash across her belly and one of her legs missing above the knee. The light of saidar never lit up around Nynaeve, but then a storm of threads came out in a weave of incredible complexity. All five elements coming together in an explosion of saidar. In front of Romanda's eyes flesh knit together, colour returned to the injured woman's cheeks. It was impossible. Not that the wounds could be healed, but that it could be done without killing her.
"How…?" That was Samitsu, Romanda wanted to echo her. "Did Taija teach you that?"
Nynaeve gave her an annoyed look, "no she's a terrible healer, this is all mine." She ignored Samitsu's gasp and hurried over to another injured person. This time a Tower servant.
Samitsu started to follow and then headed for another one of the wounded, but she could not resist calling over her shoulder, "you must teach me!"
Nynaeve ignored her and Romanda realised that she too was neglecting her duties and moved on. All of the channeling she had been doing today was very much wearing on her, but if she rested people would die.
The next one she came across was another aes sedai, one of the Tower's few surviving reds. She was about to shake her head and move on when she reminded herself that Nynaeve was here. "Nynaeve sedai," she made herself add the title, she had heard the Hall could be prickly about it, "would you be able to…" She hated to admit weakness, but these people's lives were more important than petty pride.
"Just Nynaeve is fine for you. Damer, could you help her please."
"Of course Nynaeve sedai." The grizzled, ageing man hurried over, Nynaeve was busy healing someone else, but she must have felt Romanda's scepticism because she spoke without looking back at her. "Damer is as good as I am, he might be better, I'd trust him with my life."
Maybe better? Surely that was not possible. The man gave her a small bow, "Romanda sedai." His attention was already on the injured woman lying in front of them. A moment later her wounds began to knit together, with none of the signs of the stress caused by the White Tower's healing. Had Nynaeve, an aes sedai by the Hall's measure, no an aes sedai in truth, just suggested a man who was not even aes sedai might be better than her? That was madness, you did not say such things to accepted, or aspirants or whatever he was.
"How are you doing that? You will tell me!" Samitsu was suddenly in front of Damer staring up at him. "I will do whatever you ask, bear your children, but you will explain exactly what you did!"
"Samitsu!" Romanda could sympathise with the sentiment, but there were people to heal.
========
Taija ended up staying the night in the White Tower, sending one of the aspirants back to the Hall to let Tel know what was going on. There was just so much to do. Those that could heal were exhausting themselves with all of the work. Those who couldn't heal were working on rebuilding. All around her aes sedai who were probably half dead from exhaustion were doing their best to clear things up, help the injured and rebuild what they could. How could she do anything but stay and help?
There were Seanchan prisoners. Terrified leashed who were demanding to have their collars returned. Angry leash holders shouting abuse and even a few soldiers. Taija left them to Siuan, they weren't her problem.
She did send another message to Tel asking him to send the older more experienced initiates the next morning. She wouldn't want them working unsupervised, but they could do construction work and provide strength through circles for the healers. The number of injured Tar Valoners was huge, on top of all of the injuries to people directly involved in the battle.
It was late in the night when Taija decided it was time for her and the Hall's party to rest. Siuan looked dead on her feet, but as Taija headed inside she called her over. Someone had taken the time to find a gigantic banner with the Flame of Tar Valon on it and hung it from the Tower. Taija would have called it a waste of time when there was so much work to do, but there was a certain poignancy to it hanging there. The Tower still stood, after the Forsaken, the Black Ajah and now the Seanchan. It was just a pity that she didn't overly like what the Tower had stood for. But then its current leadership were so much more tolerable than the average Tower aes sedai and maybe their general attitude would improve over time. Sometimes people just needed time to adapt.
When Taija came over Siuan pulled out a small flask from somewhere in her dress, unscrewed it and took a deep swig before passing it to her. Taija took a sniff and then raised her eyebrows at Siuan.
"I didn't know you drank."
"I do not. Not normally, but when your ship has survived a storm…"
Taija shrugged, took a swig and immediately start coughing. "Fuck me, how strong is that?!" She took another smaller sip, ignoring Siuan's small smile when she passed it back.
"I just wanted to thank you for coming. While the battle was largely over by the time you reached here, without your assistance far more aes sedai would be dead. Many of them owe their lives to you."
Taija shrugged slightly awkwardly. "Of course I came. Just because we don't see eye to eye on some things doesn't mean we have to be enemies. The only true enemy is the Shadow."
"Well said." The two of them spent a silent moment staring at the night sky.
"So how bad was it in the end?"
"Forty two dead or missing aes sedai. More warders and hundreds of guards, civilians and servants."
Taija hissed. "That's… a lot. What about the accepted and novices?"
"One accepted died guarding the bridge, other than that they all survived."
That was a relief at least. "How many of them did you get?"
"It is hard to say, we estimate perhaps five hundred leashed attacked the Tower. We have found more than three hundred bodies and have captured almost twenty of them." There was a certain pride overlaying the sadness in her voice. "We sent them running back to their masters."
"Yes," Taija nodded. "You won this battle decisively. But even the greatest of victories hurt when it's your friends and comrades dying to achieve them." She couldn't quite keep all of the sadness out of her voice. Antero's last words echoed through your head. The last thing she heard in her own time, one of her best friends desperately shouting them before he died.
Siuan glanced at her. "Yes you of all people would understand that. To absent friends." She took another swig and passed Taija the flask.
"We'll never see their like again." Taija took a sip of her own.
=======
In the end Taija stayed in the Tower for three days, with a large party of aspirants and initiates helping. Her strength with earth and her angreal helped and she spent some time teaching some of the webs she knew for shaping and strengthening stone to the Tower aes sedai. With circles providing strength it already looked somewhat recovered from the devastating battle.
Taija had discussed it with Siuan and agreed that it would be the last day before she headed back to the Hall. There'd be plenty more to discuss in the near future, including what to do about the Seanchan, but she had her own affairs to deal with.
If the Seanchan had Traveling something would need to be done to prevent a repeat of their attack. One thing they'd both agreed on already was a faster communication system. Someone capable of Traveling waiting at the edge of each of their respective wards ready to immediately go to the other's home to ask for help if needed. All it would take was a flare of the right colour being sent up from the Tower or Hall and off theydl go.
Really after this Taija felt much better about the Tower. It was hard for the Tower aes sedai to keep up their haughtiness when they were exhausted and her people were helping them to rebuild their home. It was also hard for her to dislike them as much when she was there with them at such a bad time.
Before it was time to leave Taija just had one more thing to discuss with Siuan. She took her aside, pulling her away from a group pushing stone back into place in the Tower's walls.
"I wanted to tell you, Nynaeve and Damer have worked out how to heal severing."
"Excuse me?"
Taija repeated herself, trying hard not to look smug. "We have healed severing."
"So Eben and Noruan…"
She nodded. "Yes." Well . She'd never seen Siuan look this stunned before. "We've also discussed the aes sedai that we severed as punishment. We're willing to heal them as a gesture of good will."
Siuan's eyes widened and Taija quickly added, "subject to a few conditions."
Siuan sighed. "Of course, what are they?"
"Nothing unreasonable. They agree to accept the same punishment as Turanna, they're tested for being darkfriends with the oath rod and they'll be healed by Damer."
"By Damer, not Nynaeve?" Of course Siuan jumped on that one.
Taija wasn't going to say Nynaeve didn't want to. "They were severed because they couldn't accept that the taint has been cleansed and hurt innocent men. If they can't accept healing from a man then they won't be healed."
Siuan have her a long look. "Very well. Those are reasonable conditions. They will be presented to them." She paused, "actually, there was one aes sedai who was stilled during the battle, we had thought it was impossible, but if you can…"
"Oh. Yes. Of course! No conditions! I think Nynaeve's over there. Let's grab her and go now!"
=======
Alivia followed the crowd of people through the city's gates. She didn't really feel that she fit in there. She stood out in her simple grey dress, stained with dirt and burn marks from the battle. Everyone else was dressed neatly, either in simple brown wool or in more colourful wool or silk. Still, hardly anyone looked at her. She wanted to cringe whenever anyone did. They would know she was, had been, damane. They might tell her to go back to the sul'dam. She wasn't ready for that yet. She wanted to experience freedom first. Just for a little while before she was sent back. Someone jostled into her and scowled at her, she looked down and muttered a profuse apology. To her surprise they were gone a moment later.
The city had so many sights and sounds for her to see. It was nothing like Seandar. Much dirtier, far smaller, but it was still hugely exciting. To be able to walk wherever she wanted, without being directed, without having to keep her eyes on the ground. There were no punishments here when she stopped to admire a hawker's wares. No one tugged on her leash to move her along when she decided she wanted to walk slowly.
She wasn't sure how long she walked for, gawking at her surroundings before she realised she was actually very hungry. She'd been fed by Erulin in the World of Dreams, but it had been some time since then. She would need to find something to eat. This presented something of a dilemma. Her sul'dam had always made sure that she was well fed. Nothing particularly tasty, unless she deserved a treat, but plenty of good healthy food to maintain her. But there were no sul'dam here. Was that a problem with freedom? What did normal people do? She tried to think back to her childhood, but it was so long ago…
What did people do here? There were lots of stalls with delicious smelling food. People lined up, they talked, and then the stall holders gave them food. She had even seen her sul'dam do that on occasion, although obviously that food was not for damane. But she wasn't damane right now, was she? Maybe that was a solution.
She turned her eyes towards a stall selling some delicious smelling roast meat. That one had a long queue. Did that mean it was good? It smelt good. After a moment's thought she joined the queue. Hopefully the stallholder wouldn't realise she was damane and would still give her food.
It took a little while to make her way to the front of the queue, her stomach rumbling as she went, but finally she was there. She looked over the man's goods and then did her best to meet his eyes, eventually settling on somewhere around his collar bone. "I would like two of those please." She pointed at skewers of meat cooking over his fire.
He looked at her, a hint of contempt in his eyes. "That'll be two silver pennies."
Silver pennies? What were those? She looked around in confusion, not sure what to say. Was that a free person thing? She didn't remember anything about pennies from when she was a child, although it was all a bit foggy, but she was sure her parents just gave her food.
Maybe she should ask? She didn't want to reveal her ignorance, but the man was clearly getting impatient. "What's a silver penny?"
There was a moment of stunned silence and then someone behind her started laughing. The stallholder however was not amused. "Get out of here wench! I don't have time for beggars. Go! Before I call the guards!"
Alivia fled.
- Location
- Earth
Rest in pieces to the woman healed by a woman because they didn't understand how unsevering works
Chapter CVIII - Where's That Bloody Bowl?
As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter CVIII - Where's That Bloody Bowl?
Egwene resisted the urge to grumble as they made their way through the streets of the Rahad. She'd been so confident that she could find the building again when she first went there in the World of Dreams, but that optimism had quickly turned out to be misplaced. The place was a complete maze. A dangerous one too. The buildings were decrepit, groups of rough looking men lazed in doorways, staring at them as they passed and she'd already seen two knife fights. Elayne of course looked fascinated by it all, although she at least had the sense not to make that too obvious.
Egwene had changed back into a dress before coming here. She didn't think her mode of dress would mark her as affiliated with the Hall away from it and Caemlyn, but there was no point in making her status obvious to anyone who did know what they were seeing. Anyway, she liked wearing a proper dress. What was it Taija sometimes said? Variety is the spice of life?
It was getting frustrating though, the number of days they'd spent searching. She had her duty, she wouldn't allow frustration to overwhelm that, but it was still aggravating.
Another of those women with the red belts went by. She could channel. Not very strongly, but she could definitely channel. Did that mean she was a wilder? Egwene wasn't sure. She would have said yes, although Taija wasn't keen on the term, but she'd seen two other red belted women who were also channelers. Were they organised in some way? She'd have to discuss it with Elayne later.
She stepped carefully over a puddle of foul looking water and studiously didn't make eye contact with a rough looking group of men.
=====
One thing that Egwene was finding very frustrating was having to share the Tarasin Palace with Teslyn and Joline. They seemed to embody a lot of the worst traits of the Tower aes sedai. Obviously they knew about the Hall and even Siuan's treaty with it. However, they'd stood with Elaida and didn't seem particularly inclined to return to the White Tower now that Siuan was back in charge.
Their main goal in interacting with her and Elayne seemed to be try to provoke them. They never strayed into open rudeness, but everything they said had a patronising undertone. They spoke the same way that Egwene might to a precocious child who thought far too much of themselves. Of course she knew what they were doing. If she lost her temper and was rude to them then she would look like the child they made her out to be. If they were allowed to continue to behave as they were then it made it look like they were right.
Frustrating. She took a calming breath. "Thank you for your thoughts Teslyn. As I'm sure you're aware by now, the Hall takes a different view on appropriate training methods for aspirants."
========
Mat shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Queen Tylin had invited the party from the Hall to dine with her and of course they had to accept, even him. Elayne had made that very clear. He apparently had an obligation to uphold his status as a member of the Andoran nobility. House flaming Cauthon. Wouldn't his da laugh at that.
"Your young man really is a delight, you should put more lace on him though, he would look even better if he dressed properly." Tylin's eyes crawled over Mat and he resisted the urge to squirm in discomfort. He needed to get out of this palace really.
Elayne giggled, of course she would find this funny. It was the lace probably. She did keep trying to get him to dress more like a noble. Perhaps if he agreed to some lace, just a little, she'd agree to let him avoid Queen Tylin.
=======
Over the next few days Egwene kept on searching, working her way through the Rahad with growing irritation. Mostly at her own failure to relocate the building the ter'angreal had been in. She'd been so sure she'd pinned it down before she left the World of Dreams. At least Elayne hadn't been a pain about it, she was quite philosophical really and, Egwene suspected, somewhat enjoying exploring the Rahad.
They'd tried asking people a few times and been rebuffed with varying degrees of politeness. So the only solution seemed to be to keep looking.
Although she was starting to wonder, with the red belted women that she kept seeing, might they know the answer? She was growing increasingly sure that they must have some kind of organisation behind them. It made little sense otherwise. It was fascinating though, that the White Tower seemed to have no knowledge of them. As far as she knew anyway. Perhaps she should ask Teslyn or Joline, it would be painful, but she might find out something useful. Anyway, it would be quite the coincidence for there to be a valuable ter'angreal hidden away here without the local channeling organisation knowing about it.
========
Eben was rather enjoying his time in Ebou Dar. To be fair, since Nynaeve sedai had healed him, he rather enjoyed almost everything. It was like being reborn. Taija sedai couldn't really have been that angry with him and Helena or she wouldn't have sent them there together. He smiled at the thought of his… he didn't quite have a label. Maybe he should call her his warder? He felt a flash of exasperated amusement at that from her.
Still, they were both finding out the true consequences of their double bond. It seemed to be something unique in the world so far. The biggest surprise, other than the way they could practically read each other's thoughts, which had been rather awkward at times, was that they couldn't channel without pulling the other into a circle. That was a bit inconvenient when they wanted to practise their channeling. That being said, Egwene sedai had looked contemplative at that revelation and said she suspected they'd discover some interesting benefits in the longer run. So hopefully that would be true.
It did mean that while Helena was working her way down the row of people who'd come to ask for healing from the Hall he had to just follow along, lending her his strength. It wasn't the most interesting thing ever given his lack of talent with it.
But still important, she reminded him.
Which was true, it was still important. Anyway she'd get the same experience when they went to help with some construction work later, she really didn't have much strength in earth. He happily ignored the grumbling coming through their bond. Life was good.
=======
"The Hall has a most interesting set of morals. Do you take inspiration for them from your leader?"
Egwene stifled the urge to snap back at Teslyn. "I'm not sure what you mean, but no doubt you'll tell me soon enough."
"Oh well, far be it from me to lecture you on proper behaviour, but you do seem to tolerate some fascinating behaviour among your accepted, no? Oh you call them aspirants do you not? Nevertheless, I am surprised you let your two youths, Helena and Eben I believe, carry on the way they do. Why I am sure it would surprise anybody to see it. Some might even call it improper. They are not married are they?"
Egwene tried not to grind her teeth. It was all the harder to resist given that she somewhat agreed with Teslyn. "They're of age and they aren't hurting anyone." She directly quoted Taija's words, having little better to offer.
"I suppose it is difficult to impose discipline when you are younger than Helena. Elayne carrying on with Lord Mat cannot be helpful either. I wonder if her mother knows."
Breath in, breath out, so much for asking them about the wise women. "You remind me of many of your sisters Teslyn, if you put as much effort into helping people as you do into interfering in their business the White Tower might not have left aes sedai quite so distrusted by the world." That might not have been as diplomatic a response as she wanted, but she certainly meant it. Much as Helena and Eben mooning over each other irritated her, Teslyn had certainly made sure she wouldn't be saying anything about it to them.
=========
Another day, more searching in the sweaty summer heat. Elayne sighed to herself. Egwene was becoming increasingly irritable as if she took the failure to find the ter'angreal as her personal responsibility. This time they had split the group into two to cover more ground. Egwene had described the building she had seen to them so many times that they felt they could see the bloody thing whenever they closed their eyes.
Today she had Jaer and Mat while Eben and Helena went with Egwene. One thing had quickly become clear to her though. The smaller group meant they were getting more attention from the groups of men that loitered around the Rahad. While it was interesting exploring these places, she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. She could see Mat was as well. He never showed these things all that much, but he was standing closer to her and had started whistling one of his tunes. The one about dancing with death if she remembered correctly. Jaer of course was as inscrutable as ever.
It was maybe half an hour later that the inevitable happened. Five men armed with vicious looking knives and clubs stepped out in front of them. A glance behind her told her there were more there.
The apparent leader stepped forward, "we're here to collect the tax for visiting the Rahad," he paused, "my lady." His grin showed a number of missing teeth and his bare arms were covered in knife scars. "Hand over your money and no one needs to get hurt."
Elayne embraced saidar. She should have let Mat bring his Ashandarei. Even if it did stand out horribly. The staff he carried was far less intimidating without a long, black blade on it. Before Elayne could reply Jaer stepped forward, looming much taller than any of the men he faced. Not a sign of nervousness on his face despite his only weapon being a belt knife. "Stand aside wetlanders, unless you wish to wake from the dream."
While Elayne agreed with the sentiment, that was unhelpfully provocative. "There is no need for conflict good sirs. Please let us pass."
The leader ignored her. "Shut up. Alun, teach the big one a lesson we don't need no disrespect on our turf."
For fuck's sake. "Jaer, back off." She put the crack of command into her tone and he hesitated before stepping back. "You too Mat." There was no point in letting this degenerate into a knife fight. She met the leader's eyes, it was not like she would be able to escape this situation without revealing herself, but maybe she could "I am aes sedai, you are interfering in my business, step aside or face the consequences."
The leader hesitated for a moment and looked her up and down. "Nah. You're not. Take them."
Elayne nearly spun illusion and then remembered she was trying not to let half the Rahad know there were aes sedai in it. She twisted her web instead and fire erupted in a rotating ring around her, emitting a low whine as it spun. At the same time she spun air and earth, yanking the leader's knife from his hand and twisting it into a loop. "Leave before I become annoyed."
The robbers wavered for a moment and then suddenly they were running. Scattering like a flock of birds. Jaer watched them go. "You are too merciful Elayne sedai, they will only rob more people because you let them go."
"Perhaps, but I cannot go killing people without a trial." Jaer really could be blood thirsty sometimes. It reminded her of some of her conversations with Aviendha. Elayne gave herself a shake, this was no time for remembering the dead, they needed to move on quickly.
Another woman with a red belt hurried past them.
========
They'd been having so little luck in their search without revealing themselves that Egwene couldn't bring herself to be annoyed at Elayne openly announcing she was aes sedai. However, since then she'd noticed that wherever they went in the Rahad they were shadowed by groups of men. Someone had clearly assigned them to the task and she suspected she knew who.
Perhaps it was time to take a different tack and act openly. That was why today she was wearing the black coat of the Hall, the divided circle proud on her left breast. Elayne had the patch on her dress, but had declined to wear the coat. With them were Mat and Jaer, she'd decided Eben and Helena were better placed as back up, ready to go for help if they didn't return.
Of course now that she was looking there were none of the red belted women. In fact people seemed to be trying to avoid them, other than their constant shadows. Eventually her frustration hit the point that she just turned round and strode up to them. "You! Find one of your wise women and inform them that Egwene sedai wishes to speak to whoever leads them." Perhaps it was time to start leaning on her title.
She saw the smirk start to grow on the man's face and spun saidar into a small flame in front of her. That wiped away any suggestion of disrespect and sent him running.
=======
Reanne shot Avelle another furious look. They were going to be having words later, more than words. What in the Light was she thinking bringing these two girls here? They had been swanning around the Rahad for far too long and the Kin had been going to approach them discretely. Now the fool woman went and brought them straight to the home of the Knitting Circle, along with their two men. Going on about aes sedai, as if the girls were not obvious runaways.
She tuned back into the nonsense that the dark haired girl was spouting. They clearly had had some training at the Tower. They had been able to answer some of the questions put to them, before they lost their patience and refused to answer any more. With attitudes like that it was no wonder they had run away and were now pretending to be aes sedai. It was just a surprise they had not yet been caught. More of a surprise was that they apparently could channel given she could not feel the ability in them.
"Enough of this nonsense. I do not know why you persist in your claims. You may have trained at the Tower, but you are far too young to be aes sedai. You have not slowed yet, you lack the rings, I doubt you even know what the accepted test is."
"A ter'angreal, three arch ways, you have to go through them and experience something horrible and unpleasant three times, some people die doing it. It's almost certainly a virtual gaming system being misused."
Reanne blinked in surprise at that, who would have thought that the girl would know that much, although she had no idea what they were talking about it being misused or what a 'virtual gaming system' was. Clearly the girl remained ignorant despite her answer.
"That is as maybe, you are clearly not aes sedai. Only the White Tower can raise aes sedai and no doubt it will deal with this 'Hall of Servants' in due course. Now you are going to leave and be grateful that we do not punish you. The aes sedai in the Tarasin Palace will be informed of your presence in Ebou Dar, so if you have even a modicum of sense you will leave the city today." She gave Berowin a nod.
"You think you can shield us?" The darker one, Egwene she called herself, sounded incredulous. Then a moment later she looked worried.
Berowin smiled, "unlike you, we do not try to reach above our station, but skills are honed with time, and this was always nearly a Talent with me. I could hold one of the Forsaken."
The golden haired girl glanced at the taller of the two men. "Jaer, we are shielded. Her." She pointed at Berowin. Reanne immediately prepared herself to weave air to restrain the man if need be.
A moment later the light of saidar winked out from Berowin and appeared around the two girls. What had just happened? Oh, they were strong! Far stronger than anyone she had met before. Reanne drew deeply on saidar as did every other member of the Kin in the room.
=======
Fortuona listened stony faced to the general prostrated in front of her. This was a disaster of the highest order for the Empire. The loss of 350 damane, particularly ones of such quality, was a devastating blow and would set the nobility plotting even more than before. Worse was the knowledge that the marath'damane had developed new methods. From Alosa's report it appeared that they now had the ability to Travel at will and had integrated it fully into their tactics. The implications were worrying. More than worrying.
It was a small crumb of comfort that some of the damane had been able to pick up the weave themselves during the fighting, but they did not have the knowledge of how to weave the wards that prevented it. As soon as she had finished with Alosa, the first order of affairs would be to relocate herself on a regular basis. She was not going to die to a vengeful marath'damane strike. The captured 'aes sedai' would hopefully reveal how to make these special wards once they had been broken and then things would be safer. The Seanchan would not be caught out again.
She would also need to consider her own tenuous political position. She did not want to have her reign cut short by rebellion and without some victories that was what would happen. Two things had already become clear from interrogation of prisoners and the scouting of the Ever Victorious Army. The marath'damane of the White Tower had severely diminished numbers. Bound by their ridiculous oaths as they were, they did not have the ability to project power in large numbers away from their White Tower. The other thing that was clear was that their continent had huge untapped potential in untrained marath'damane. The fools did not even know what they were leaving lying around for the taking.
She came to a decision. A quick victory on the eastern continent would quell the noble dissent. They had planned to sail on 'Ebou Dar' before they had discovered Traveling. With these new developments, once it had prepared itself properly, the Ever Victorious Army could be transported there in hours and supplied with ease. The White Tower could send its marath'damane piecemeal against the Seanchan and they would find that their clever little tactics were no longer so clever.
She would also send parties of sul'dam out to the other continent, to smaller villages. Just because they were not yet part of the Empire did not mean that they could not help to replenish the ranks of its damane.
As for Alosa, she glanced down at the prostrated general, she had lost 350 damane and brought home ten marath'damane. An honourable execution was too merciful for her, given the magnitude of her failure. She would make an adequate da'covale.
========
Alivia was hungry. After being turned away from the food stall she'd wandered around a bit more trying to work out what she'd done wrong. Some surreptitious observation had brought her the answer eventually. Money! Of course. She had forgotten about that. It hadn't really seemed very relevant.
But when she thought about it, really thought about it, she could remember the sul'dam complaining about it sometimes, her parents handing it over to people before they gave her things. They must have paid for them with money. She was quite pleased with the deduction, but it left her with another problem. How did she get money?
She had no idea how her parents found it. The sul'dam just seemed to be given it, it certainly wasn't a damane thing. If no one knew she was damane then they might give her money too though? Did it work like that?
By that point she was becoming exhausted. The streets were clearing out, darkness had fallen and she'd already had a very long, stressful and exciting series of events. Stifling a yawn she looked around. This was another problem with being free. How did she know when and where to go to sleep? She had a bed in the kennels, it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was her spot to sleep in. When they off on campaign the sul'dam would make sure that she had a blanket to sleep on and tell her when to sleep. Now she had to choose.
She supposed she could always go back to Seanchan and find her kennel again, but she wasn't quite ready for that. There was still a lot to see and people here hadn't realised she was damane yet. Perhaps then the solution was to find somewhere for herself. Being free was hard, but kind of exhilarating! She'd never had to make so many decisions before.
Then another thought came to her. What if she needed money to sleep? She couldn't sleep out on the streets, someone would see her and send her back to the kennels and it wouldn't be comfortable anyway, but she didn't have any money. It was with a sinking heart that Alivia realised that she would need to do something bad. She would no doubt be punished when she went back to Seanchan anyway, but this wouldmake it worse. Still, if she slept out on the streets and got ill she'd be punished for that too.
Decision made, Alivia headed for the lights of a building that she'd seen. It had a sign on the front, crowds inside. She squinted at the sign, barely remembered skills coming to the fore of her mind. "The… Lord's… Hunt…" She sounded the words out slowly as she struggled to read them. Damane were not allowed to have things like books after all. Why would a damane need to read?
She wondered what the lord was hunting? Not that it mattered, Alivia carefully made her way round to the back of the inn. The gates to the stables were open and she could see inside from the street. There was a stablehand outside. He wasn't looking at her, but if she went in he'd no doubt see her and have her punished.
She hesitated. She was about to do a very bad thing, but if no one saw then without the a'dam they wouldn't know… She didn't think so anyway.
Alivia tentatively embraced saidar and wove spirit the same way she had seen those marath'damane do, making where she was and the hayloft the same place. A slash appeared in the air in front of her and rotated open. With a quick look around she hurried through it and let it close behind her before she collapsed into the hay.
========
Alivia woke to the sound of an angry man's voice.
"What in the Light do you think you're doing in my hayloft woman?"
Her eyes widened and she scrambled backwards. He was a big man and she didn't normally interact with men. Really she only interacted with sul'dam and that one time when one of the Blood had spoken to her. That had been exciting and scary.
He took a step forward, looming over her. "Well?"
She realised she hadn't answered. Should she run away? But he'd see if she channeled and then there'd be no visiting a tea shop for her. Maybe if she explained to him he might be less angry.
"I I I was tired and I needed somewhere to sleep. I didn't touch anything, I just wanted to sleep." Her stomach chose that moment to rumble and she cringed in embarrassment. Her stomach had rumbled in front of one of the High Blood once and her sul'dam hadn't let her eat for three days as punishment.
For some reason the man's facial expression changed to one she didn't really recognise. It felt a bit like when one of the sul'dam was pleased with her, but not quite. "You haven't touched anything?"
She shook her head.
"When did you last eat?" He looked her over and she cringed at the thought of how dirty she and her dress were. That wouldn't be acceptable at all to the sul'dam, but he'd asked a question so she should answer.
"I think maybe two days ago."
"Light woman, where are you from? You have the strangest accent."
Alivia thought fast. Lying would get her punished, but she didn't want to say she was from Seanchan. She wasn't sure where she was and the people here might not like the Seanchan or they might have sul'dam, although she hadn't seen any. "I'm from Dolana." She'd been born there, so it was technically true.
"Never heard of it." The man studied her for another second. "Look you can't go sleeping in people's haylofts." He hesitated. "I could do with a cleaner for the inn though. I'll give you a bed to sleep in, three square meals a day and a silver penny. It's not much, but it's an honest living."
It took Alivia a moment to work out what he was saying. "So you would give me these things and in return I will clean for you, but I can stop if I want to?" Like a servant?
He looked a bit bemused. "Yes that's how it works."
A servant was a much better thing to be than a damane. Even better than most da'covale!
Chapter CVIII - Where's That Bloody Bowl?
Egwene resisted the urge to grumble as they made their way through the streets of the Rahad. She'd been so confident that she could find the building again when she first went there in the World of Dreams, but that optimism had quickly turned out to be misplaced. The place was a complete maze. A dangerous one too. The buildings were decrepit, groups of rough looking men lazed in doorways, staring at them as they passed and she'd already seen two knife fights. Elayne of course looked fascinated by it all, although she at least had the sense not to make that too obvious.
Egwene had changed back into a dress before coming here. She didn't think her mode of dress would mark her as affiliated with the Hall away from it and Caemlyn, but there was no point in making her status obvious to anyone who did know what they were seeing. Anyway, she liked wearing a proper dress. What was it Taija sometimes said? Variety is the spice of life?
It was getting frustrating though, the number of days they'd spent searching. She had her duty, she wouldn't allow frustration to overwhelm that, but it was still aggravating.
Another of those women with the red belts went by. She could channel. Not very strongly, but she could definitely channel. Did that mean she was a wilder? Egwene wasn't sure. She would have said yes, although Taija wasn't keen on the term, but she'd seen two other red belted women who were also channelers. Were they organised in some way? She'd have to discuss it with Elayne later.
She stepped carefully over a puddle of foul looking water and studiously didn't make eye contact with a rough looking group of men.
=====
One thing that Egwene was finding very frustrating was having to share the Tarasin Palace with Teslyn and Joline. They seemed to embody a lot of the worst traits of the Tower aes sedai. Obviously they knew about the Hall and even Siuan's treaty with it. However, they'd stood with Elaida and didn't seem particularly inclined to return to the White Tower now that Siuan was back in charge.
Their main goal in interacting with her and Elayne seemed to be try to provoke them. They never strayed into open rudeness, but everything they said had a patronising undertone. They spoke the same way that Egwene might to a precocious child who thought far too much of themselves. Of course she knew what they were doing. If she lost her temper and was rude to them then she would look like the child they made her out to be. If they were allowed to continue to behave as they were then it made it look like they were right.
Frustrating. She took a calming breath. "Thank you for your thoughts Teslyn. As I'm sure you're aware by now, the Hall takes a different view on appropriate training methods for aspirants."
========
Mat shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Queen Tylin had invited the party from the Hall to dine with her and of course they had to accept, even him. Elayne had made that very clear. He apparently had an obligation to uphold his status as a member of the Andoran nobility. House flaming Cauthon. Wouldn't his da laugh at that.
"Your young man really is a delight, you should put more lace on him though, he would look even better if he dressed properly." Tylin's eyes crawled over Mat and he resisted the urge to squirm in discomfort. He needed to get out of this palace really.
Elayne giggled, of course she would find this funny. It was the lace probably. She did keep trying to get him to dress more like a noble. Perhaps if he agreed to some lace, just a little, she'd agree to let him avoid Queen Tylin.
=======
Over the next few days Egwene kept on searching, working her way through the Rahad with growing irritation. Mostly at her own failure to relocate the building the ter'angreal had been in. She'd been so sure she'd pinned it down before she left the World of Dreams. At least Elayne hadn't been a pain about it, she was quite philosophical really and, Egwene suspected, somewhat enjoying exploring the Rahad.
They'd tried asking people a few times and been rebuffed with varying degrees of politeness. So the only solution seemed to be to keep looking.
Although she was starting to wonder, with the red belted women that she kept seeing, might they know the answer? She was growing increasingly sure that they must have some kind of organisation behind them. It made little sense otherwise. It was fascinating though, that the White Tower seemed to have no knowledge of them. As far as she knew anyway. Perhaps she should ask Teslyn or Joline, it would be painful, but she might find out something useful. Anyway, it would be quite the coincidence for there to be a valuable ter'angreal hidden away here without the local channeling organisation knowing about it.
========
Eben was rather enjoying his time in Ebou Dar. To be fair, since Nynaeve sedai had healed him, he rather enjoyed almost everything. It was like being reborn. Taija sedai couldn't really have been that angry with him and Helena or she wouldn't have sent them there together. He smiled at the thought of his… he didn't quite have a label. Maybe he should call her his warder? He felt a flash of exasperated amusement at that from her.
Still, they were both finding out the true consequences of their double bond. It seemed to be something unique in the world so far. The biggest surprise, other than the way they could practically read each other's thoughts, which had been rather awkward at times, was that they couldn't channel without pulling the other into a circle. That was a bit inconvenient when they wanted to practise their channeling. That being said, Egwene sedai had looked contemplative at that revelation and said she suspected they'd discover some interesting benefits in the longer run. So hopefully that would be true.
It did mean that while Helena was working her way down the row of people who'd come to ask for healing from the Hall he had to just follow along, lending her his strength. It wasn't the most interesting thing ever given his lack of talent with it.
But still important, she reminded him.
Which was true, it was still important. Anyway she'd get the same experience when they went to help with some construction work later, she really didn't have much strength in earth. He happily ignored the grumbling coming through their bond. Life was good.
=======
"The Hall has a most interesting set of morals. Do you take inspiration for them from your leader?"
Egwene stifled the urge to snap back at Teslyn. "I'm not sure what you mean, but no doubt you'll tell me soon enough."
"Oh well, far be it from me to lecture you on proper behaviour, but you do seem to tolerate some fascinating behaviour among your accepted, no? Oh you call them aspirants do you not? Nevertheless, I am surprised you let your two youths, Helena and Eben I believe, carry on the way they do. Why I am sure it would surprise anybody to see it. Some might even call it improper. They are not married are they?"
Egwene tried not to grind her teeth. It was all the harder to resist given that she somewhat agreed with Teslyn. "They're of age and they aren't hurting anyone." She directly quoted Taija's words, having little better to offer.
"I suppose it is difficult to impose discipline when you are younger than Helena. Elayne carrying on with Lord Mat cannot be helpful either. I wonder if her mother knows."
Breath in, breath out, so much for asking them about the wise women. "You remind me of many of your sisters Teslyn, if you put as much effort into helping people as you do into interfering in their business the White Tower might not have left aes sedai quite so distrusted by the world." That might not have been as diplomatic a response as she wanted, but she certainly meant it. Much as Helena and Eben mooning over each other irritated her, Teslyn had certainly made sure she wouldn't be saying anything about it to them.
=========
Another day, more searching in the sweaty summer heat. Elayne sighed to herself. Egwene was becoming increasingly irritable as if she took the failure to find the ter'angreal as her personal responsibility. This time they had split the group into two to cover more ground. Egwene had described the building she had seen to them so many times that they felt they could see the bloody thing whenever they closed their eyes.
Today she had Jaer and Mat while Eben and Helena went with Egwene. One thing had quickly become clear to her though. The smaller group meant they were getting more attention from the groups of men that loitered around the Rahad. While it was interesting exploring these places, she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. She could see Mat was as well. He never showed these things all that much, but he was standing closer to her and had started whistling one of his tunes. The one about dancing with death if she remembered correctly. Jaer of course was as inscrutable as ever.
It was maybe half an hour later that the inevitable happened. Five men armed with vicious looking knives and clubs stepped out in front of them. A glance behind her told her there were more there.
The apparent leader stepped forward, "we're here to collect the tax for visiting the Rahad," he paused, "my lady." His grin showed a number of missing teeth and his bare arms were covered in knife scars. "Hand over your money and no one needs to get hurt."
Elayne embraced saidar. She should have let Mat bring his Ashandarei. Even if it did stand out horribly. The staff he carried was far less intimidating without a long, black blade on it. Before Elayne could reply Jaer stepped forward, looming much taller than any of the men he faced. Not a sign of nervousness on his face despite his only weapon being a belt knife. "Stand aside wetlanders, unless you wish to wake from the dream."
While Elayne agreed with the sentiment, that was unhelpfully provocative. "There is no need for conflict good sirs. Please let us pass."
The leader ignored her. "Shut up. Alun, teach the big one a lesson we don't need no disrespect on our turf."
For fuck's sake. "Jaer, back off." She put the crack of command into her tone and he hesitated before stepping back. "You too Mat." There was no point in letting this degenerate into a knife fight. She met the leader's eyes, it was not like she would be able to escape this situation without revealing herself, but maybe she could "I am aes sedai, you are interfering in my business, step aside or face the consequences."
The leader hesitated for a moment and looked her up and down. "Nah. You're not. Take them."
Elayne nearly spun illusion and then remembered she was trying not to let half the Rahad know there were aes sedai in it. She twisted her web instead and fire erupted in a rotating ring around her, emitting a low whine as it spun. At the same time she spun air and earth, yanking the leader's knife from his hand and twisting it into a loop. "Leave before I become annoyed."
The robbers wavered for a moment and then suddenly they were running. Scattering like a flock of birds. Jaer watched them go. "You are too merciful Elayne sedai, they will only rob more people because you let them go."
"Perhaps, but I cannot go killing people without a trial." Jaer really could be blood thirsty sometimes. It reminded her of some of her conversations with Aviendha. Elayne gave herself a shake, this was no time for remembering the dead, they needed to move on quickly.
Another woman with a red belt hurried past them.
========
They'd been having so little luck in their search without revealing themselves that Egwene couldn't bring herself to be annoyed at Elayne openly announcing she was aes sedai. However, since then she'd noticed that wherever they went in the Rahad they were shadowed by groups of men. Someone had clearly assigned them to the task and she suspected she knew who.
Perhaps it was time to take a different tack and act openly. That was why today she was wearing the black coat of the Hall, the divided circle proud on her left breast. Elayne had the patch on her dress, but had declined to wear the coat. With them were Mat and Jaer, she'd decided Eben and Helena were better placed as back up, ready to go for help if they didn't return.
Of course now that she was looking there were none of the red belted women. In fact people seemed to be trying to avoid them, other than their constant shadows. Eventually her frustration hit the point that she just turned round and strode up to them. "You! Find one of your wise women and inform them that Egwene sedai wishes to speak to whoever leads them." Perhaps it was time to start leaning on her title.
She saw the smirk start to grow on the man's face and spun saidar into a small flame in front of her. That wiped away any suggestion of disrespect and sent him running.
=======
Reanne shot Avelle another furious look. They were going to be having words later, more than words. What in the Light was she thinking bringing these two girls here? They had been swanning around the Rahad for far too long and the Kin had been going to approach them discretely. Now the fool woman went and brought them straight to the home of the Knitting Circle, along with their two men. Going on about aes sedai, as if the girls were not obvious runaways.
She tuned back into the nonsense that the dark haired girl was spouting. They clearly had had some training at the Tower. They had been able to answer some of the questions put to them, before they lost their patience and refused to answer any more. With attitudes like that it was no wonder they had run away and were now pretending to be aes sedai. It was just a surprise they had not yet been caught. More of a surprise was that they apparently could channel given she could not feel the ability in them.
"Enough of this nonsense. I do not know why you persist in your claims. You may have trained at the Tower, but you are far too young to be aes sedai. You have not slowed yet, you lack the rings, I doubt you even know what the accepted test is."
"A ter'angreal, three arch ways, you have to go through them and experience something horrible and unpleasant three times, some people die doing it. It's almost certainly a virtual gaming system being misused."
Reanne blinked in surprise at that, who would have thought that the girl would know that much, although she had no idea what they were talking about it being misused or what a 'virtual gaming system' was. Clearly the girl remained ignorant despite her answer.
"That is as maybe, you are clearly not aes sedai. Only the White Tower can raise aes sedai and no doubt it will deal with this 'Hall of Servants' in due course. Now you are going to leave and be grateful that we do not punish you. The aes sedai in the Tarasin Palace will be informed of your presence in Ebou Dar, so if you have even a modicum of sense you will leave the city today." She gave Berowin a nod.
"You think you can shield us?" The darker one, Egwene she called herself, sounded incredulous. Then a moment later she looked worried.
Berowin smiled, "unlike you, we do not try to reach above our station, but skills are honed with time, and this was always nearly a Talent with me. I could hold one of the Forsaken."
The golden haired girl glanced at the taller of the two men. "Jaer, we are shielded. Her." She pointed at Berowin. Reanne immediately prepared herself to weave air to restrain the man if need be.
A moment later the light of saidar winked out from Berowin and appeared around the two girls. What had just happened? Oh, they were strong! Far stronger than anyone she had met before. Reanne drew deeply on saidar as did every other member of the Kin in the room.
=======
Fortuona listened stony faced to the general prostrated in front of her. This was a disaster of the highest order for the Empire. The loss of 350 damane, particularly ones of such quality, was a devastating blow and would set the nobility plotting even more than before. Worse was the knowledge that the marath'damane had developed new methods. From Alosa's report it appeared that they now had the ability to Travel at will and had integrated it fully into their tactics. The implications were worrying. More than worrying.
It was a small crumb of comfort that some of the damane had been able to pick up the weave themselves during the fighting, but they did not have the knowledge of how to weave the wards that prevented it. As soon as she had finished with Alosa, the first order of affairs would be to relocate herself on a regular basis. She was not going to die to a vengeful marath'damane strike. The captured 'aes sedai' would hopefully reveal how to make these special wards once they had been broken and then things would be safer. The Seanchan would not be caught out again.
She would also need to consider her own tenuous political position. She did not want to have her reign cut short by rebellion and without some victories that was what would happen. Two things had already become clear from interrogation of prisoners and the scouting of the Ever Victorious Army. The marath'damane of the White Tower had severely diminished numbers. Bound by their ridiculous oaths as they were, they did not have the ability to project power in large numbers away from their White Tower. The other thing that was clear was that their continent had huge untapped potential in untrained marath'damane. The fools did not even know what they were leaving lying around for the taking.
She came to a decision. A quick victory on the eastern continent would quell the noble dissent. They had planned to sail on 'Ebou Dar' before they had discovered Traveling. With these new developments, once it had prepared itself properly, the Ever Victorious Army could be transported there in hours and supplied with ease. The White Tower could send its marath'damane piecemeal against the Seanchan and they would find that their clever little tactics were no longer so clever.
She would also send parties of sul'dam out to the other continent, to smaller villages. Just because they were not yet part of the Empire did not mean that they could not help to replenish the ranks of its damane.
As for Alosa, she glanced down at the prostrated general, she had lost 350 damane and brought home ten marath'damane. An honourable execution was too merciful for her, given the magnitude of her failure. She would make an adequate da'covale.
========
Alivia was hungry. After being turned away from the food stall she'd wandered around a bit more trying to work out what she'd done wrong. Some surreptitious observation had brought her the answer eventually. Money! Of course. She had forgotten about that. It hadn't really seemed very relevant.
But when she thought about it, really thought about it, she could remember the sul'dam complaining about it sometimes, her parents handing it over to people before they gave her things. They must have paid for them with money. She was quite pleased with the deduction, but it left her with another problem. How did she get money?
She had no idea how her parents found it. The sul'dam just seemed to be given it, it certainly wasn't a damane thing. If no one knew she was damane then they might give her money too though? Did it work like that?
By that point she was becoming exhausted. The streets were clearing out, darkness had fallen and she'd already had a very long, stressful and exciting series of events. Stifling a yawn she looked around. This was another problem with being free. How did she know when and where to go to sleep? She had a bed in the kennels, it wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was her spot to sleep in. When they off on campaign the sul'dam would make sure that she had a blanket to sleep on and tell her when to sleep. Now she had to choose.
She supposed she could always go back to Seanchan and find her kennel again, but she wasn't quite ready for that. There was still a lot to see and people here hadn't realised she was damane yet. Perhaps then the solution was to find somewhere for herself. Being free was hard, but kind of exhilarating! She'd never had to make so many decisions before.
Then another thought came to her. What if she needed money to sleep? She couldn't sleep out on the streets, someone would see her and send her back to the kennels and it wouldn't be comfortable anyway, but she didn't have any money. It was with a sinking heart that Alivia realised that she would need to do something bad. She would no doubt be punished when she went back to Seanchan anyway, but this wouldmake it worse. Still, if she slept out on the streets and got ill she'd be punished for that too.
Decision made, Alivia headed for the lights of a building that she'd seen. It had a sign on the front, crowds inside. She squinted at the sign, barely remembered skills coming to the fore of her mind. "The… Lord's… Hunt…" She sounded the words out slowly as she struggled to read them. Damane were not allowed to have things like books after all. Why would a damane need to read?
She wondered what the lord was hunting? Not that it mattered, Alivia carefully made her way round to the back of the inn. The gates to the stables were open and she could see inside from the street. There was a stablehand outside. He wasn't looking at her, but if she went in he'd no doubt see her and have her punished.
She hesitated. She was about to do a very bad thing, but if no one saw then without the a'dam they wouldn't know… She didn't think so anyway.
Alivia tentatively embraced saidar and wove spirit the same way she had seen those marath'damane do, making where she was and the hayloft the same place. A slash appeared in the air in front of her and rotated open. With a quick look around she hurried through it and let it close behind her before she collapsed into the hay.
========
Alivia woke to the sound of an angry man's voice.
"What in the Light do you think you're doing in my hayloft woman?"
Her eyes widened and she scrambled backwards. He was a big man and she didn't normally interact with men. Really she only interacted with sul'dam and that one time when one of the Blood had spoken to her. That had been exciting and scary.
He took a step forward, looming over her. "Well?"
She realised she hadn't answered. Should she run away? But he'd see if she channeled and then there'd be no visiting a tea shop for her. Maybe if she explained to him he might be less angry.
"I I I was tired and I needed somewhere to sleep. I didn't touch anything, I just wanted to sleep." Her stomach chose that moment to rumble and she cringed in embarrassment. Her stomach had rumbled in front of one of the High Blood once and her sul'dam hadn't let her eat for three days as punishment.
For some reason the man's facial expression changed to one she didn't really recognise. It felt a bit like when one of the sul'dam was pleased with her, but not quite. "You haven't touched anything?"
She shook her head.
"When did you last eat?" He looked her over and she cringed at the thought of how dirty she and her dress were. That wouldn't be acceptable at all to the sul'dam, but he'd asked a question so she should answer.
"I think maybe two days ago."
"Light woman, where are you from? You have the strangest accent."
Alivia thought fast. Lying would get her punished, but she didn't want to say she was from Seanchan. She wasn't sure where she was and the people here might not like the Seanchan or they might have sul'dam, although she hadn't seen any. "I'm from Dolana." She'd been born there, so it was technically true.
"Never heard of it." The man studied her for another second. "Look you can't go sleeping in people's haylofts." He hesitated. "I could do with a cleaner for the inn though. I'll give you a bed to sleep in, three square meals a day and a silver penny. It's not much, but it's an honest living."
It took Alivia a moment to work out what he was saying. "So you would give me these things and in return I will clean for you, but I can stop if I want to?" Like a servant?
He looked a bit bemused. "Yes that's how it works."
A servant was a much better thing to be than a damane. Even better than most da'covale!
I think at this point you need a dedicated thread mark for listing each character because it's becoming harder to keep track of all of them.
Character List
- Location
- Earth
First time reading wheel of time? There's only really two OCs that have super mattered so far in this story, the rest are canon or not that major? I guess Helena is an OC (I think?), and almost matters
Anyway here is the cast that has mattered so far:
Taija Kosola Miranen - our beloved and nerdy heroine, a fish out of temporal water (not a canon character)
Tel Janin Aellinsar - her dead fiance, then evil ex, then colleague seeking redemption, now lovers again (canon, but very divergent)
Rand Al'Thor - The Dragon Reborn, the Protagonist of the series this is based on. Jesus meets Thor meets Anakin Skywalker
Perrin Aybara - The Young Bull, and sort of this settings equivalent of a werewolf. He's also mostly been Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Fic. In this story he is married to Morgase Trakand, Queen of Andor
Mat Cauthon - Lord of Luck, the third of the main trio in canon, cursed/blessed with luck he can barely control and with the memories of thousands of the greatest generals ever stuck in his head. Unlike canon he has traded his power blocking medallion for one that can heal any wound. In this story he is romantically involved with Elayne Trakand, daughter-heir to Andor
The above three are sometimes called collectively as the Wonder Trio. All of them are Ta'veren - capable of bending fate and reality around them to some extent whether consciously or subconsciously.
I'm actually putting the next character in spoilers as I am unsure if he's appeared yet, as we haven't had many Rand POV chapters
Lews Therin Telamon - The Dragon. Rand appears to have the voice of the man he is a reincarnation of stuck in his head. Rand is, at this time of the fic I think, unsure if he went mad before the Taint could be cleansed, or if this really is Lews.
Egwene al'Vere - a female channeller from the same village as the main trio. She's naturally talented as a Dreamer giving her great strength in the World of Dreams. She's also an incredibly powerful and talented Channeler.
Nynaeve al'Meara - another female channeller from the above village. She is, probably, the 4th or so strongest female Channeler ever, and thus stronger than most male Channelers. She was a wilder - who actually learnt to touch the source without formal training, which created a block such that she could only do so angry. In this story the block was broken when alongside Egwene she was captured as a Damane by the Seanchan. She is romantically involved with Lan Mandragoran
Moiraine Damodred - the Tower aes sedai who found the above kids in their home village while seeking the Dragon Reborn. She was originally unsure which of the boys it was, but took all of them plus Egwene away with her after the Shadow attacked, Nynaeve tracked and joined them
Lan Mandragoran - her warder, and heir/king to a lost kingdom.
Elayne Trakand - daughter heir to Andor, a powerful and skilled channeler. Alongside the two women from the Two Rivers, she is one of what the fandom calls The Wonder Girls - the three most important female characters in the story. In this story she escapes the weird harem romance thing she's part of and is romantically involved with Mat.
Morgase Trakand - Queen of Andor. A minor channeler iirc. In this fic she has a happier fate than canon, and is married to Perrin.
Min Farshaw - a seer who can see the future via visions and foretellings. In this story she is the only person romantically involved with Rand. She has not appeared as much as canon but is still a major character.
Siuan Sanche - Amyrlin Seat of the White Tower, nominal leader of Aes Sedai and Channelers and perhaps even the Light before the story starts. When the White Tower splintered in this story she lead the faction that was cast out of the tower. She is allied to Taija and her Hall of Servants, but there are undeniable tensions between the group who have carried on the legacy of the Aes Sedai for 3000 years and the group founded a year ago by the 2.5 people who have some claim to being OG Aes Sedai
Cadsuane Melaidhrin - a Tower Aes Sedai, but one who is simultaneously Very Neutral (she only cares about The Dragon and defeating The Dark One, the politics of who is the real Aes Sedai don't matter to her), and also very friendly with both factions. One of the oldest Tower Aes Sedai if not the oldest, she is a powerful channeler, and owns many powerful and ancient items from the previous age
Elaida do Avriny a'Roihan - the first modern Aes Sedai Taija met, and the leader of the schism within the White Tower that has recently been resolved. Not actually a Dark Friend!
(I don't consider any of the other Tower Aes Sedai, even the reoccuring ones, to matter that much)
Aleksi Sedai - the second OC of our list! The first person Taija meets in the 3rd Age, and an Aes Sedai of the Hall. Emotionally stable and mature which is his greatest talent in this story, and also trusted by Rand to use Callandor.
Bennae Nalsad - a Tower Aes Sedai who defects and joins the hall. Incredibly smart, she saw through Taija's inflitration of the Tower but let her go after establishing she was on the side of The Light. Not very strong in the power but there are other strengths in this world. I think she's currently an Aspirant in The Hall, but is close to becoming a Hall Aes Sedai (and by Hall rules is still recognised as a Tower Aes Sedai I think)
Eben Hopwil - an Aspirant of The Hall, who was severed and later healed by Nynaeve. Bonded to and romantically involved with Helena. Not an OC I discovered recently!
Helena - an Aspirant of The Hall, bonded to and romantically involved with Eben. Our 3rd OC who makes this list, probably the last
Mazrim Taim - a false dragon who made his way to The Hall. He originally wanted to take over, but is seemingly content now being powerful and important but also safe. He has also this entire time been an agent sent by Demandred, one of The Forsaken, but has slowly been wooed and seduced back to The Light. He chose to betray Demandred and renounce The Shadow a few chapters ago.
(There are plenty of other reocurring Hall characters, but I'm skipping them)
Amys - An Aiel Wise one, who can both channel and dreamwalk.
Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag - Empress of the Seanchan, and rightful ruler of the entire Westlands as the heir to Artur Hawkwing. Or so she says.
Alivia - an escaped Damane from the Seanchan, the 2nd most powerful female channeler in the series
The Many Forces of Evil
I'm not going to go into full details for the Forsaken, but the Forsaken at the start of the series were: Sammael, Be'lal, Mesaana, Aginor, Asmodean, Demandred, Rahvin, Semirhage, Lanfear, Balthamel, Moghedien, Graendal, and Ishamael. Sammael was once Tel, and has returned to The Light, many of the others have died. But The Dark One does not appear to give up on their souls easily, and it seems some of the dead ones may have been resurrected?
I THINK that that is every character that matters that has appeared so far?
Last edited:
Nicely done, thanks for that. I'll thread mark it as an informational.
The only other one that springs to mind is Amys.
Chapter CVIX - Twisting the Blade
As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter CVIX - Twisting the Blade
With Taim's defection Taija had an opportunity. One that she simply couldn't overlook. The Seanchan were a concern, but they'd be licking their wounds and she couldn't just go charging over to another continent without a plan. That was how people ended up with a military disaster. So strikes on Seanchan were put on the backburner while some discrete scouting was undertaken.
In the meantime, Taija had suggested to Taim that he try fleeing the Hall as if he'd failed in his mission and then act as bait for her, Nynaeve and Tel. He'd rejected that out of hand, saying he had no intention whatsoever of risking himself like that. Reading between the lines Taija was fairly sure he was terrified of Demandred. She couldn't really judge him for that and she certainly didn't call him out on it at the time. Being bait for one of the most dangerous of the Forsaken was definitely a volunteers only mission.
Still that left her with a dilemma on how to take the opportunity.
"How about if we faked Mazrim's death?" Tel spoke slowly, as his thoughts came together. "So we go with the plan where it looks like he tried and failed to kill us. Then we chase him down to wherever it was he was meant to meet Demandred and make a big show of obliterating him."
"So then Demandred will want to come and investigate at some point, he'll want to see if he can get the angreal back for one thing." Nynaeve nodded, "I think that might work. Mazrim you'd need to disappear though. At least for a while and we'd need to have someone watching there."
Taim shrugged, "as long as I do not have to risk myself in your scheme, I am happy for you to try."
"We're going to have to keep someone watching though," Taija couldn't say she was keen on that. "In shifts maybe, depending on how long it takes Demandred to arrive. We can't keep a large team there, the risks of discovery grow and we don't have resources to tie up more than one of the Hall's aes sedai at a time. So, maybe a rotating shift with an aes sedai holding a sa'angreal. Then if he turns up we take one shot and run. The risks are too high otherwise. Demandred is a dangerous man and he'll certainly have a stronger angreal than Mazrim or there's no way he'd have given that one to him."
Tel muttered something that sounded worryingly like 'I could take him', but subsided when Taija shot him a warning look. She was absolutely not having him go off on some testosterone fueled duel with Demandred. Especially as she really wasn't sure which of them would win. If it was Aginor or something fine. Sometimes it was hard being the only sensible person in the relationship.
Once everyone had agreed on the general plan Taija turned her attention back to Taim. "So Mazrim, how do you feel about going on holiday for a while?"
"You would provide me with some funds?"
"Of course."
"Very well, I shall take Noruan and return after two weeks, I can see to his continued training. Is that acceptable?"
Why would he want to take Noruan? It took her a moment to realise and then Taija had to clamp down hard not to smirk at him. "Of course, that sounds perfect." Thank the Light Nynaeve didn't seem to have picked up on it.
========
Farnor watched with an open mouth as the area outside the village erupted into blinding light. The cold, hook nosed man had returned to his inn that morning. He had been a couple of days later than he had been told to expect and had had a very nervous air to him that did not fit at all with his normal mannerisms. All of this had, of course, been dutifully reported. What he had not expected was whatever this was.
The man had curtly said he was going for a walk to clear his head. That was perhaps twenty minutes ago. Now there was something going on over there. Great Lord preserve him. Something that must involve the One Power, it was the only explanation. Thunderous crashes, flashes of fire, lightning striking from a clear sky.
It wasn't long after that that a small, unimposing looking woman came to his inn. Unimposing until he met her hard eyes. He briefly considered denying her request to search the hook-nosed man's rooms, but he wasn't going to get in the way of an obvious aes sedai. She left empty handed and looking thunderous. That too he reported. If he continued to do his duty then perhaps there would be opportunities for advancement. The Great Lord would provide.
========
Demandred came to village of Demaran in disguise, because he was no fool. The innkeeper's reports had made it clear that Taim had failed, but been foolish enough not to die in the attempt. Based on what the man had said, Taim had fled to the inn and then been followed by the Hall where at the very least Taija Kosola, if not more of them, had put an end to him.
"So she searched the inn, but found nothing after the battle?"
The innkeeper nodded franticly. "That's right my lord. Just as I said in my message. She searched, found nothing and left frustrated and angry." The man seemed smarter than the average darkfriend, if nothing else he had quickly realised Demandred's superior status despite his disguise as an itinerant labourer.
"Very well." Demandred thought for a second, "and has anyone been to the site of the battle since then?"
"No one my lord. None of us would dare." So, the angreal might still be there. It might even still be functional, assuming Taim had had it on him of course. He would need to check, a male angreal was not something he would lightly give up on.
========
Taija watched the site of her mock battle with Taim from a couple of kilometres way, lying under the cover of a hedge and several inverted webs of illusion. It was a tedious task and she'd been doing four hour shifts with the other aes sedai from the Hall. Lying on the ground beside her was a gilded, ornately carved staff with a round crystal ball on the end, the strongest sa'angreal in the haul that she'd stolen from the Tower. It probably had some pretentious name from her time, but in the privacy of her own head she called it 'the Wizard's Staff'.
There, movement! A gateway rotated open in the middle of the burnt and torn up area and a handsome, dark-haired man stepped out, surveying his surroundings with arrogant eyes. Demandred, it couldn't have been anyone else! The face was different, but he'd never been stupid.
Taija drew hard on saidar, taking in the full power of the sa'angreal and spun all of the elements together. Not balefire, not after what Tel had told her it did to the pattern. She'd only use that in small amounts now, but when she had a sa'angreal she could do plenty of damage with almost anything.
Demandred never even had time to react. The air around him turned to fire in an instant, obliterating him and the surrounding area. Hard learned habits kicked in and Taija was already moving, spinning a small, low gateway beside her and rolling through it to another location out of sight. She immediately got up and Traveled again to a well concealed vantage point in the nearby hills, overlooking her previous position.
A few seconds later her paranoia was rewarded when she saw her previous location erupt into white-hot fire. Shit, she must have missed him, although she wasn't sure how. Taija spotted a flash of movement around there. One more shot and then she was gone. She didn't know what Demandred had on him or if he had allies with him and it wasn't worth finding out the hard way that he'd prepared for this.
Taija spun again, a wide area attack, taking advantage of the massive well of power available to her. It was no Callandor, but a sa'angreal was a sa'angreal. A huge swath of ground erupted into an explosion of earth and fire, but Taija was already Traveling, not waiting to check the results. She'd just have to assume it was a miss.
======
Demandred took a second to let the shakes subside. That had been far too close. Before his natural paranoia had kicked in he had been seconds away from Traveling to investigate the site of the battle. Thank the Great Lord that he had been too clever to do that. It was a pity that the innkeeper was dead, he had served well. However, there could have been no greater service he could provide than saving Demandred's life like that. He had never been the best of the Chosen at compulsion, but he knew enough that, combined with a web of illusion, it had been easy enough to have the man impersonate him. Briefly.
He had to assume it was Taija Kosola, certainly that was saidar being channeled. He had underestimated the woman. It was not the first time he had done so. He would have to take her more seriously before he found himself in a more difficult situation.
=========
The Hall was continuing to expand and while Taija's plans for Demandred had been a priority until her failed attempt at killing him, there was always more work to be done on her day job.
She'd already started testing everyone for various talents, which was taking time. The growing numbers were also needing more and more teaching. Obviously delegation was helpful, aspirants were teaching many of the basic classes and generally being helpful. It was necessary just to deal with the hundreds of initiates that the Hall now had, but it was also good training for them. Teaching something could really help a person to understand a subject properly. However, she needed more.
Some of those aspirants had really proven themselves. Faultless behaviour and impressive skill in the One Power. In some cases almost unbelievable skill, given how little time they'd had to learn.
That was why Taija found herself once again in front of a crowd of black-coated initiates and aspirants. Almost every single member of the Hall in fact. More than five hundred channelers in front of her and the number growing every day. The huge banner of the aes sedai hung behind her and Nynaeve and Aleksi were at her side.
"Damer Flinn you have proven yourself worthy under the eyes of the Light and of the Hall." Taija floated the patch over to his coat. "You knelt an aspirant, now stand and be welcomed as my brother. You are aes sedai."
Damer climbed slightly painfully back to his feet and Taija embraced the grizzled old man. He'd be off to heal the severed aes sedai with Nynaeve in a couple of days. Hopefully that could turn into a bit of an exchange of knowledge. The White Tower must have had some interesting healing webs. Surely they couldn't be completely useless. And healing was one thing that Taija wanted to spread as widely as possible, rivalry with the White Tower be damned, so she was happy for Nynaeve and Damer to share theirs. It would no doubt also be helpful for Damer to have the official title as well. The Tower aes sedai had a far steeper hierarchy than the Hall and were much more likely to dismiss anything said by an aspirant.
Nynaeve followed Taija to embrace Damer, whispering something to him. The prickly young woman had developed quite a close friendship with the older man. Taija supposed they were probably the only two who really understand what the other did with healing. Aleksi came after her.
Right, onto Jahar and then there were four more. Sooner or later Taija wouldn't have to do these ceremonies, but for now, with the Hall the size it was, it was important that she led them. There were so few true aes sedai after all. Just 13 after today.
=======
Taija was walking across the Hall's grounds when she heard a bit of a commotion. She diverted towards it to find a young woman, a girl really, arguing with one of the aspirants.
"No I want to speak to whoever is in charge here!"
"And I have already told you that that is not possible. The aes sedai are busy and in any event the Horn of Valere is not here."
"What's going on?" The aspirant jumped at Taija's appearance and gave her a low bow. "Oh Taija sedai! This woman says she is a hunter for the horn and is insisting that she wishes to speak to you."
"Oh. Well it looks like it's her lucky day." Taija turned to her. "I'm Taija Kosola, what can I do for you?"
The girl gave Taija a bow and Taija noted that she was dressed in a rather more masculine and practical way than most of the women of her time. "My name is Blade, as your… comrade said I am a hunter for the horn. I thought that it would be best to speak to you about it."
Taija had to suppress a snigger. The arrogant tone the girl was taking immediately irritated her. "You name is Blade? Do you know what that means?" It sounded ludicrous on a girl that Taija wasn't sure was even 18 yet.
"Of course I do. Now, you will tell me what you know of the horn."
Taija sighed, she could really work on both her manners and her subtlety. Given the quality of her clothes she probably came from wealth and would presumably have been taught better. "We don't have the Horn of Valere and I don't know where it is." All true, although Taija knew who to ask if you wanted that information. "Now unless you want to take the test and see if you can become an aes sedai, I think there are better uses for your time than bothering my aspirants. Good luck with your hunt."
With that dismissal Taija headed off, ignoring 'Blade's' angry shout after her. Hopefully she'd just leave, but Taija couldn't be bothered to worry about it, there were too many other things going on.
=======
Alivia finished scrubbing the floor of the inn's empty common room with a measure of relief. It wasn't that she didn't like being a servant here. No one punished her. In fact Tolan, the owner of the place, was very nice to her. Nicer than even the kindest of the sul'dam. However, it was very boring, being on her hands and knees scrubbing.
There were other downsides. Her bed wasn't very comfortable. It was itchy and too hard in some places, too soft in others. The bed in her kennel was much nicer and she could vaguely remember an even nicer one from her childhood. The food wasn't very good either. That being said, it at least made sense here. There was no being chased away over money. Tolan had told the cook to give her food and so she did. It was like being damane again, except she could say no, so only the good bits. The problem with the food was that it was all a bit bland, like she'd eat while on campaign. She missed some of the flavours of home where at least there'd be some spices.
She got back to her feet. Now it was time to do the rooms. It wasn't very exciting, but no one bothered her while she did it and that was nice too. She was always a bit nervous whenever anyone spoke to her. It wasn't that she didn't like speaking to people. It was thrilling actually, she'd even managed to briefly glance at Mistress Guilar's face yesterday! But if she kept talking to people they might realise she was meant to be in the kennels and then she'd have to go back.
As Alivia started on the first room she resisted the urge to grumble. Whoever had stayed there had left it in a real mess, not that it was her place to question them.
After a minute another thought came to her. She was doing the best job she could, of course she was, but it was slow and tedious, but could she make it easier? Just having the thought made her feel like a bad damane, one who was about to be severely punished. But…no one had caught her when she had channeled a gateway to the hayloft. Maybe if she was discrete? Without the a'dam how would anyone know she had channeled?
With a nervous look around her, Alivia embraced saidar, just a small amount, nothing like her full strength. For a moment she panicked just holding it, shouldn't there be a sul'dam to tell her what to weave? Then she remembered where she was, that she had to make up her own mind. She bit her bottom lip and after a moment's thought carefully wove a trickle of saidar - earth, air and water into the floor, another weave of air to pick things up and water for cleaning the washbasin.
========
When a shadow fell over her Alivia looked up from the floor she was scrubbing to see Tolan. She had to resist the urge to put her forehead on the ground. He wasn't a sul'dam or one of the Blood and they didn't do that here anyway. He'd been horrified the first time she'd done it. Instead she scrambled to her feet, still clutching the wet cloth in one hand.
He hesitated and then smiled. "You've done a great job Alivia, thank you. The place has never been this clean before. It's quiet today, me and the others can handle everything, take the rest of the day off, enjoy yourself. Here." He pressed two pieces of metal into her hand.
Alivia looked down at them. They looked like silver, just small circles of it. Money, it must be! It was odd though. She hadn't seen much of it before, but she was sure that money was square with a hole in the middle. Still, she wasn't going to argue. She glanced around, to make sure that no one else was going to get annoyed with her if she left. There was only one of the waitresses and Tolan's wife around. The waitress was busy herself and Mistress Guilar just smiled and nodded at her. One thing was clear, being a servant was much better than being da'covale.
"Thank you Master Tolan," she ducked her head and moved towards the door. These people were so nice to her, it was lucky they hadn't realised she was really damane. She hoped they wouldn't be punished for helping her! She thought about it for a few seconds. No, they'd probably be given a reward. Damane were valuable after all and they'd looked after her and made sure she'd be healthy when she returned. That was alright then.
With a slight spring in her step Alivia headed out into the city. Today was going to be fantastic. It was sunny, people were out and about and best of all she wasn't wearing a grey dress. Instead she was wearing rough brown wool that Mistress Guilar had given her. It itched, but it was the first time she'd worn anything other than grey in 400 years. The thought of what the sul'dam would say when they saw her made her shiver, but the thrill of being in something other than grey was delicious.
Speaking of delicious, her first thought was to find some food. She wanted to try some of the food stalls she'd seen. The stew that the inn served was alright, but just a bit tasteless. So Alivia wandered the streets of the city, searching for just the right food to spend her strange money on. She wanted to try something new. Something different and exciting. Different and exciting things didn't happen for damane.
She dismissed numerous food stalls, spotted the one who had turned her away and quickly hurried on past it. Then she smelt something delicious, something coming from inside a shop. The sign over it said… 'ba..ke..ry', but that didn't smell like the bread she was familiar with. It was different, warmer, more enticing.
Alivia found her feet taking her inside almost before she could think about it. There was no queue and the baker, a slightly dumpy middle aged woman with brown hair, smiled at her when she came in. It was nice. No one smiled at damane, other than sul'dam, sometimes, but this wasn't a sul'dam.
"What can I get for you my dear?"
Alivia hesitated. Should she let the baker choose? No, she needed to make decisions for herself while she was free. "One of…" suddenly she pointed, decisively, at a small, crusty looking loaf of bread, "one of those please."
"Oh good choice, it's still warm from the oven." Alivia held out one of her silver pennies. The baker gave her another smile and gave her some copper coins and then handed the loaf over. It was warm in her arms, like… she didn't have a good comparison, but she wanted to eat it right now! "Gosh, you look like you're about to eat the whole thing in front of me. My bread's pretty good, but it's better with something."
Alivia's face fell. She just wanted the bread, but if the baker said that… "What should I eat with it?" It was ok though, she needed to remember, the woman wasn't giving her orders, she didn't have to obey her.
"Hmm, well I'm partial to a bit of cheese."
Alivia mulled over the unfamiliar word. "What's… what's cheese?" She immediately winced, she might have just given herself away!
"What's cheese?" The woman burst out laughing and then stopped suddenly. "You're not from around here, are you?" Fortunately she didn't wait for Alivia to answer, just nattering on. "I don't know what the world's coming to. She doesn't know what cheese is. Well I suppose you're in for a treat, I've got some that you can have. I'll give it to you for your copper pennies, bargain. It's good stuff, from my brother's farm."
Alivia looked at the copper pieces in her hand. The baker must mean those. Did she want cheese? She didn't want to upset the woman and she'd been thinking about some spiced meat. But then she still had her other silver penny and she did want to try some new things before they collared her again…
After a long moment she smiled shyly and held out the coins. With a grin the woman took them, "don't worry, you won't regret it!" She bustled off into the back of the bakery and came back a minute later with something wrapped in cloth. She laid it on the counter and unwrapped it to reveal an oddly pale block of something. It had a faint, not unpleasant smell to it and small veins of blue running over it. It was intriguing.
The baker took out a knife and cut it in half. "Here you go."
"Thank you," Alivia nodded her head. It was important to be polite to your betters. She turned to leave but the woman called out.
"No wait, go on I want to see what you think, try it!"
For a moment Alivia considered running away, but then centuries of ingrained obedience came into play, also the woman had been very nice to her. She tore a piece off the loaf of bread and popped it into her mouth, it was everything she'd anticipated. Warm, crunchy and flavoursome. Then she took a bite from the hunk of cheese.
The texture was strange, but then the taste. Oh! It was tart, spongy, slightly sweet all at the same time. She wanted more! Alivia took another bite, her eyes closed. She'd never eaten anything like this and it was amazing. She knew what her other silver penny was going to be spent on now!
Eventually she was broken out of her focus on chewing and tasting the delicious food by the baker's chuckle. "Well you certainly like that! My name's Gilayne Tathor, what's yours?"
"I'm Alivia," she realised the woman wanted a family name too and panicked. Damane didn't have family names. She used to have one, she knew she did, but… With growing horror she realised she couldn't remember. She couldn't even remember whether her name had always been Alivia. She couldn't let her face crumple at that, she'd be sure to give herself away. "Alivia…" Tolan's inn was called the Lord's Hunt. He was nice to her. "Alivia Hunter."
Chapter CVIX - Twisting the Blade
With Taim's defection Taija had an opportunity. One that she simply couldn't overlook. The Seanchan were a concern, but they'd be licking their wounds and she couldn't just go charging over to another continent without a plan. That was how people ended up with a military disaster. So strikes on Seanchan were put on the backburner while some discrete scouting was undertaken.
In the meantime, Taija had suggested to Taim that he try fleeing the Hall as if he'd failed in his mission and then act as bait for her, Nynaeve and Tel. He'd rejected that out of hand, saying he had no intention whatsoever of risking himself like that. Reading between the lines Taija was fairly sure he was terrified of Demandred. She couldn't really judge him for that and she certainly didn't call him out on it at the time. Being bait for one of the most dangerous of the Forsaken was definitely a volunteers only mission.
Still that left her with a dilemma on how to take the opportunity.
"How about if we faked Mazrim's death?" Tel spoke slowly, as his thoughts came together. "So we go with the plan where it looks like he tried and failed to kill us. Then we chase him down to wherever it was he was meant to meet Demandred and make a big show of obliterating him."
"So then Demandred will want to come and investigate at some point, he'll want to see if he can get the angreal back for one thing." Nynaeve nodded, "I think that might work. Mazrim you'd need to disappear though. At least for a while and we'd need to have someone watching there."
Taim shrugged, "as long as I do not have to risk myself in your scheme, I am happy for you to try."
"We're going to have to keep someone watching though," Taija couldn't say she was keen on that. "In shifts maybe, depending on how long it takes Demandred to arrive. We can't keep a large team there, the risks of discovery grow and we don't have resources to tie up more than one of the Hall's aes sedai at a time. So, maybe a rotating shift with an aes sedai holding a sa'angreal. Then if he turns up we take one shot and run. The risks are too high otherwise. Demandred is a dangerous man and he'll certainly have a stronger angreal than Mazrim or there's no way he'd have given that one to him."
Tel muttered something that sounded worryingly like 'I could take him', but subsided when Taija shot him a warning look. She was absolutely not having him go off on some testosterone fueled duel with Demandred. Especially as she really wasn't sure which of them would win. If it was Aginor or something fine. Sometimes it was hard being the only sensible person in the relationship.
Once everyone had agreed on the general plan Taija turned her attention back to Taim. "So Mazrim, how do you feel about going on holiday for a while?"
"You would provide me with some funds?"
"Of course."
"Very well, I shall take Noruan and return after two weeks, I can see to his continued training. Is that acceptable?"
Why would he want to take Noruan? It took her a moment to realise and then Taija had to clamp down hard not to smirk at him. "Of course, that sounds perfect." Thank the Light Nynaeve didn't seem to have picked up on it.
========
Farnor watched with an open mouth as the area outside the village erupted into blinding light. The cold, hook nosed man had returned to his inn that morning. He had been a couple of days later than he had been told to expect and had had a very nervous air to him that did not fit at all with his normal mannerisms. All of this had, of course, been dutifully reported. What he had not expected was whatever this was.
The man had curtly said he was going for a walk to clear his head. That was perhaps twenty minutes ago. Now there was something going on over there. Great Lord preserve him. Something that must involve the One Power, it was the only explanation. Thunderous crashes, flashes of fire, lightning striking from a clear sky.
It wasn't long after that that a small, unimposing looking woman came to his inn. Unimposing until he met her hard eyes. He briefly considered denying her request to search the hook-nosed man's rooms, but he wasn't going to get in the way of an obvious aes sedai. She left empty handed and looking thunderous. That too he reported. If he continued to do his duty then perhaps there would be opportunities for advancement. The Great Lord would provide.
========
Demandred came to village of Demaran in disguise, because he was no fool. The innkeeper's reports had made it clear that Taim had failed, but been foolish enough not to die in the attempt. Based on what the man had said, Taim had fled to the inn and then been followed by the Hall where at the very least Taija Kosola, if not more of them, had put an end to him.
"So she searched the inn, but found nothing after the battle?"
The innkeeper nodded franticly. "That's right my lord. Just as I said in my message. She searched, found nothing and left frustrated and angry." The man seemed smarter than the average darkfriend, if nothing else he had quickly realised Demandred's superior status despite his disguise as an itinerant labourer.
"Very well." Demandred thought for a second, "and has anyone been to the site of the battle since then?"
"No one my lord. None of us would dare." So, the angreal might still be there. It might even still be functional, assuming Taim had had it on him of course. He would need to check, a male angreal was not something he would lightly give up on.
========
Taija watched the site of her mock battle with Taim from a couple of kilometres way, lying under the cover of a hedge and several inverted webs of illusion. It was a tedious task and she'd been doing four hour shifts with the other aes sedai from the Hall. Lying on the ground beside her was a gilded, ornately carved staff with a round crystal ball on the end, the strongest sa'angreal in the haul that she'd stolen from the Tower. It probably had some pretentious name from her time, but in the privacy of her own head she called it 'the Wizard's Staff'.
There, movement! A gateway rotated open in the middle of the burnt and torn up area and a handsome, dark-haired man stepped out, surveying his surroundings with arrogant eyes. Demandred, it couldn't have been anyone else! The face was different, but he'd never been stupid.
Taija drew hard on saidar, taking in the full power of the sa'angreal and spun all of the elements together. Not balefire, not after what Tel had told her it did to the pattern. She'd only use that in small amounts now, but when she had a sa'angreal she could do plenty of damage with almost anything.
Demandred never even had time to react. The air around him turned to fire in an instant, obliterating him and the surrounding area. Hard learned habits kicked in and Taija was already moving, spinning a small, low gateway beside her and rolling through it to another location out of sight. She immediately got up and Traveled again to a well concealed vantage point in the nearby hills, overlooking her previous position.
A few seconds later her paranoia was rewarded when she saw her previous location erupt into white-hot fire. Shit, she must have missed him, although she wasn't sure how. Taija spotted a flash of movement around there. One more shot and then she was gone. She didn't know what Demandred had on him or if he had allies with him and it wasn't worth finding out the hard way that he'd prepared for this.
Taija spun again, a wide area attack, taking advantage of the massive well of power available to her. It was no Callandor, but a sa'angreal was a sa'angreal. A huge swath of ground erupted into an explosion of earth and fire, but Taija was already Traveling, not waiting to check the results. She'd just have to assume it was a miss.
======
Demandred took a second to let the shakes subside. That had been far too close. Before his natural paranoia had kicked in he had been seconds away from Traveling to investigate the site of the battle. Thank the Great Lord that he had been too clever to do that. It was a pity that the innkeeper was dead, he had served well. However, there could have been no greater service he could provide than saving Demandred's life like that. He had never been the best of the Chosen at compulsion, but he knew enough that, combined with a web of illusion, it had been easy enough to have the man impersonate him. Briefly.
He had to assume it was Taija Kosola, certainly that was saidar being channeled. He had underestimated the woman. It was not the first time he had done so. He would have to take her more seriously before he found himself in a more difficult situation.
=========
The Hall was continuing to expand and while Taija's plans for Demandred had been a priority until her failed attempt at killing him, there was always more work to be done on her day job.
She'd already started testing everyone for various talents, which was taking time. The growing numbers were also needing more and more teaching. Obviously delegation was helpful, aspirants were teaching many of the basic classes and generally being helpful. It was necessary just to deal with the hundreds of initiates that the Hall now had, but it was also good training for them. Teaching something could really help a person to understand a subject properly. However, she needed more.
Some of those aspirants had really proven themselves. Faultless behaviour and impressive skill in the One Power. In some cases almost unbelievable skill, given how little time they'd had to learn.
That was why Taija found herself once again in front of a crowd of black-coated initiates and aspirants. Almost every single member of the Hall in fact. More than five hundred channelers in front of her and the number growing every day. The huge banner of the aes sedai hung behind her and Nynaeve and Aleksi were at her side.
"Damer Flinn you have proven yourself worthy under the eyes of the Light and of the Hall." Taija floated the patch over to his coat. "You knelt an aspirant, now stand and be welcomed as my brother. You are aes sedai."
Damer climbed slightly painfully back to his feet and Taija embraced the grizzled old man. He'd be off to heal the severed aes sedai with Nynaeve in a couple of days. Hopefully that could turn into a bit of an exchange of knowledge. The White Tower must have had some interesting healing webs. Surely they couldn't be completely useless. And healing was one thing that Taija wanted to spread as widely as possible, rivalry with the White Tower be damned, so she was happy for Nynaeve and Damer to share theirs. It would no doubt also be helpful for Damer to have the official title as well. The Tower aes sedai had a far steeper hierarchy than the Hall and were much more likely to dismiss anything said by an aspirant.
Nynaeve followed Taija to embrace Damer, whispering something to him. The prickly young woman had developed quite a close friendship with the older man. Taija supposed they were probably the only two who really understand what the other did with healing. Aleksi came after her.
Right, onto Jahar and then there were four more. Sooner or later Taija wouldn't have to do these ceremonies, but for now, with the Hall the size it was, it was important that she led them. There were so few true aes sedai after all. Just 13 after today.
=======
Taija was walking across the Hall's grounds when she heard a bit of a commotion. She diverted towards it to find a young woman, a girl really, arguing with one of the aspirants.
"No I want to speak to whoever is in charge here!"
"And I have already told you that that is not possible. The aes sedai are busy and in any event the Horn of Valere is not here."
"What's going on?" The aspirant jumped at Taija's appearance and gave her a low bow. "Oh Taija sedai! This woman says she is a hunter for the horn and is insisting that she wishes to speak to you."
"Oh. Well it looks like it's her lucky day." Taija turned to her. "I'm Taija Kosola, what can I do for you?"
The girl gave Taija a bow and Taija noted that she was dressed in a rather more masculine and practical way than most of the women of her time. "My name is Blade, as your… comrade said I am a hunter for the horn. I thought that it would be best to speak to you about it."
Taija had to suppress a snigger. The arrogant tone the girl was taking immediately irritated her. "You name is Blade? Do you know what that means?" It sounded ludicrous on a girl that Taija wasn't sure was even 18 yet.
"Of course I do. Now, you will tell me what you know of the horn."
Taija sighed, she could really work on both her manners and her subtlety. Given the quality of her clothes she probably came from wealth and would presumably have been taught better. "We don't have the Horn of Valere and I don't know where it is." All true, although Taija knew who to ask if you wanted that information. "Now unless you want to take the test and see if you can become an aes sedai, I think there are better uses for your time than bothering my aspirants. Good luck with your hunt."
With that dismissal Taija headed off, ignoring 'Blade's' angry shout after her. Hopefully she'd just leave, but Taija couldn't be bothered to worry about it, there were too many other things going on.
=======
Alivia finished scrubbing the floor of the inn's empty common room with a measure of relief. It wasn't that she didn't like being a servant here. No one punished her. In fact Tolan, the owner of the place, was very nice to her. Nicer than even the kindest of the sul'dam. However, it was very boring, being on her hands and knees scrubbing.
There were other downsides. Her bed wasn't very comfortable. It was itchy and too hard in some places, too soft in others. The bed in her kennel was much nicer and she could vaguely remember an even nicer one from her childhood. The food wasn't very good either. That being said, it at least made sense here. There was no being chased away over money. Tolan had told the cook to give her food and so she did. It was like being damane again, except she could say no, so only the good bits. The problem with the food was that it was all a bit bland, like she'd eat while on campaign. She missed some of the flavours of home where at least there'd be some spices.
She got back to her feet. Now it was time to do the rooms. It wasn't very exciting, but no one bothered her while she did it and that was nice too. She was always a bit nervous whenever anyone spoke to her. It wasn't that she didn't like speaking to people. It was thrilling actually, she'd even managed to briefly glance at Mistress Guilar's face yesterday! But if she kept talking to people they might realise she was meant to be in the kennels and then she'd have to go back.
As Alivia started on the first room she resisted the urge to grumble. Whoever had stayed there had left it in a real mess, not that it was her place to question them.
After a minute another thought came to her. She was doing the best job she could, of course she was, but it was slow and tedious, but could she make it easier? Just having the thought made her feel like a bad damane, one who was about to be severely punished. But…no one had caught her when she had channeled a gateway to the hayloft. Maybe if she was discrete? Without the a'dam how would anyone know she had channeled?
With a nervous look around her, Alivia embraced saidar, just a small amount, nothing like her full strength. For a moment she panicked just holding it, shouldn't there be a sul'dam to tell her what to weave? Then she remembered where she was, that she had to make up her own mind. She bit her bottom lip and after a moment's thought carefully wove a trickle of saidar - earth, air and water into the floor, another weave of air to pick things up and water for cleaning the washbasin.
========
When a shadow fell over her Alivia looked up from the floor she was scrubbing to see Tolan. She had to resist the urge to put her forehead on the ground. He wasn't a sul'dam or one of the Blood and they didn't do that here anyway. He'd been horrified the first time she'd done it. Instead she scrambled to her feet, still clutching the wet cloth in one hand.
He hesitated and then smiled. "You've done a great job Alivia, thank you. The place has never been this clean before. It's quiet today, me and the others can handle everything, take the rest of the day off, enjoy yourself. Here." He pressed two pieces of metal into her hand.
Alivia looked down at them. They looked like silver, just small circles of it. Money, it must be! It was odd though. She hadn't seen much of it before, but she was sure that money was square with a hole in the middle. Still, she wasn't going to argue. She glanced around, to make sure that no one else was going to get annoyed with her if she left. There was only one of the waitresses and Tolan's wife around. The waitress was busy herself and Mistress Guilar just smiled and nodded at her. One thing was clear, being a servant was much better than being da'covale.
"Thank you Master Tolan," she ducked her head and moved towards the door. These people were so nice to her, it was lucky they hadn't realised she was really damane. She hoped they wouldn't be punished for helping her! She thought about it for a few seconds. No, they'd probably be given a reward. Damane were valuable after all and they'd looked after her and made sure she'd be healthy when she returned. That was alright then.
With a slight spring in her step Alivia headed out into the city. Today was going to be fantastic. It was sunny, people were out and about and best of all she wasn't wearing a grey dress. Instead she was wearing rough brown wool that Mistress Guilar had given her. It itched, but it was the first time she'd worn anything other than grey in 400 years. The thought of what the sul'dam would say when they saw her made her shiver, but the thrill of being in something other than grey was delicious.
Speaking of delicious, her first thought was to find some food. She wanted to try some of the food stalls she'd seen. The stew that the inn served was alright, but just a bit tasteless. So Alivia wandered the streets of the city, searching for just the right food to spend her strange money on. She wanted to try something new. Something different and exciting. Different and exciting things didn't happen for damane.
She dismissed numerous food stalls, spotted the one who had turned her away and quickly hurried on past it. Then she smelt something delicious, something coming from inside a shop. The sign over it said… 'ba..ke..ry', but that didn't smell like the bread she was familiar with. It was different, warmer, more enticing.
Alivia found her feet taking her inside almost before she could think about it. There was no queue and the baker, a slightly dumpy middle aged woman with brown hair, smiled at her when she came in. It was nice. No one smiled at damane, other than sul'dam, sometimes, but this wasn't a sul'dam.
"What can I get for you my dear?"
Alivia hesitated. Should she let the baker choose? No, she needed to make decisions for herself while she was free. "One of…" suddenly she pointed, decisively, at a small, crusty looking loaf of bread, "one of those please."
"Oh good choice, it's still warm from the oven." Alivia held out one of her silver pennies. The baker gave her another smile and gave her some copper coins and then handed the loaf over. It was warm in her arms, like… she didn't have a good comparison, but she wanted to eat it right now! "Gosh, you look like you're about to eat the whole thing in front of me. My bread's pretty good, but it's better with something."
Alivia's face fell. She just wanted the bread, but if the baker said that… "What should I eat with it?" It was ok though, she needed to remember, the woman wasn't giving her orders, she didn't have to obey her.
"Hmm, well I'm partial to a bit of cheese."
Alivia mulled over the unfamiliar word. "What's… what's cheese?" She immediately winced, she might have just given herself away!
"What's cheese?" The woman burst out laughing and then stopped suddenly. "You're not from around here, are you?" Fortunately she didn't wait for Alivia to answer, just nattering on. "I don't know what the world's coming to. She doesn't know what cheese is. Well I suppose you're in for a treat, I've got some that you can have. I'll give it to you for your copper pennies, bargain. It's good stuff, from my brother's farm."
Alivia looked at the copper pieces in her hand. The baker must mean those. Did she want cheese? She didn't want to upset the woman and she'd been thinking about some spiced meat. But then she still had her other silver penny and she did want to try some new things before they collared her again…
After a long moment she smiled shyly and held out the coins. With a grin the woman took them, "don't worry, you won't regret it!" She bustled off into the back of the bakery and came back a minute later with something wrapped in cloth. She laid it on the counter and unwrapped it to reveal an oddly pale block of something. It had a faint, not unpleasant smell to it and small veins of blue running over it. It was intriguing.
The baker took out a knife and cut it in half. "Here you go."
"Thank you," Alivia nodded her head. It was important to be polite to your betters. She turned to leave but the woman called out.
"No wait, go on I want to see what you think, try it!"
For a moment Alivia considered running away, but then centuries of ingrained obedience came into play, also the woman had been very nice to her. She tore a piece off the loaf of bread and popped it into her mouth, it was everything she'd anticipated. Warm, crunchy and flavoursome. Then she took a bite from the hunk of cheese.
The texture was strange, but then the taste. Oh! It was tart, spongy, slightly sweet all at the same time. She wanted more! Alivia took another bite, her eyes closed. She'd never eaten anything like this and it was amazing. She knew what her other silver penny was going to be spent on now!
Eventually she was broken out of her focus on chewing and tasting the delicious food by the baker's chuckle. "Well you certainly like that! My name's Gilayne Tathor, what's yours?"
"I'm Alivia," she realised the woman wanted a family name too and panicked. Damane didn't have family names. She used to have one, she knew she did, but… With growing horror she realised she couldn't remember. She couldn't even remember whether her name had always been Alivia. She couldn't let her face crumple at that, she'd be sure to give herself away. "Alivia…" Tolan's inn was called the Lord's Hunt. He was nice to her. "Alivia Hunter."
- Location
- Earth
I chose to exclude her as she hasn't been appearing in the recent chapters much, but yes that's valid I will edit her in
- Location
- Earth
I'm going to copy a relevant line from her Wheel of Time wiki page
"She shed her prior identity to assume the name Mandarb; a word meaning blade in the Old Tongue"
In the books she stopped calling herself Blade when Perrin pointed out that was Lan's horse's name. She then changed it to Faile. Here she never met Lan's horse and Taija doesn't know Lan's horse's name because she dislikes horses, but she still thinks it's ridiculous because it's so edge lordy.