A Crown of Swords twot-7 Read online

  Bera moved her head uneasily, and he turned his attention back to her and Kiruna. "You swore fealty, and I trust that." He held up his hand, thumb and forefinger nearly touching to show how far. "Aes Sedai always know better than anybody else, or so they think. So I trust you to do what I say, but you won't so much as take a bath without my permission. Or a Wise One's."

  This time it was Bera who looked as though she had been struck. Her light brown eyes swiveled to Amys and Sorilea with astonished indignation, and Kiruna quivered with the effort of not doing the same. The two Wise Ones merely shifted their shawls, but once again their aromas were identical. Contentment rolled off of them in waves, a very grim contentment. Perrin thought it a good thing the Aes Sedai did not have his nose, or they would have been ready to go to war right then and there. Or maybe run, and dignity be hanged. That was what he would have done.

  Rhuarc stood there idly examining the point of one of his short spears. This was Wise Ones' business, and he always said he did not care what the Wise Ones did so long as they kept their fingers out of clan chiefs' business. But Taim… He made a show of not caring, folding his arms and looking around the camp with a bored expression, yet his scent was strange, complex. Perrin would have said the man was amused, definitely in a better humor than before.

  "The oath we took," Bera said at last, planting her hands, on her ample hips, "is sufficient to hold anyone but a Darkfriend." The twist she gave to "oath" was almost as bleak as the one she gave "Darkfriend." No, they did not like what they had sworn to. "Do you dare to accuse us—?"

  "If I thought that," Rand snapped, "you would be on your way to the Black Tower with Taim. You swore to obey. Well, obey!"

  For a long moment Bera hesitated, then in an instant was as regal from head to toe as any Aes Sedai could be. Which was saying something. An Aes Sedai could make a queen on her throne look a slattern. She curtsied slightly, stiffly inclining her head a fraction.

  Kiruna, on the other hand, made a visible effort to take hold of herself, the calm she assumed hard and brittle as her voice. "Must we then request permission of these worthy Aiel women to ask whether you are willing to be Healed yet? I know Galina treated you harshly. I know you are welts from shoulders to knees. Accept Healing. Please." Even "please" sounded part of an order.

  Min stirred at Rand's side. "You should be grateful for it, as I was, sheepherder. You don't like hurting. Somebody has to do it, or else…" She grinned mischievously, very nearly the Min Perrin remembered from before she was kidnapped. "… or else you won't be able to sit a saddle."

  "Young men and fools," Nandera said suddenly to no one in particular, "sometimes bear pain they do not have to as a badge of their pride. And their foolishness."

  "The Car'a'carn," Sulin added dryly, also to the air, "is not a fool. I think."

  Rand smiled back at Min fondly, and gave Nandera and Sulin wry looks, but when he raised his eyes to Kiruna again, they were stone once more. "Very well." As she started forward, he added, "But not from you." Her face grew so stiff it appeared ready to crack. Taim's mouth quirked in a wry almost-smile, and he stepped toward Rand, but without taking his eyes from Kiruna, Rand flung out a hand behind him. "From her. Come here, Alanna."

  Perrin gave a start. Rand had pointed straight to Alanna with never so much as a glance. That prickled something in the back of his head, but he could not make out what. It seemed to catch Taim, as well. The man's face became a bland mask, yet dark eyes flickered between Rand and Alanna, and the only name Perrin could put to the scent that writhed in his nose was "puzzled."

  Alanna gave a start, too. For whatever reason, she had been on edge ever since joining Perrin on his way here, her serenity at best a thin veneer. Now she smoothed her skirts, shot a defiant stare at Kiruna and Bera of all people, and glided around in front of Rand. The other two sisters watched her, like teachers intending to make sure a pupil performed well and still not convinced she would. Which made no sense. One of them might be the leader, yet Alanna was Aes Sedai, the same as they. It all deepened Perrin's suspicion. Mixing with Aes Sedai was too much like wading the streams in the Waterwood near to the Mire. However peaceful the surface, currents beneath could snatch you off your feet. More undercurrents seemed to appear here every moment, and not all from the sisters.

  Shockingly, Rand cupped Alanna's chin, turning her face up. There was a hiss of indrawn breath from Bera, and for once, Perrin agreed. Rand would not have been so forward with a girl at a dance back home, and Alanna was no girl at a dance. Just as surprising, her reaction was to blush and smell of uncertainty. Aes Sedai did not blush, in Perrin's experience, and they were never uncertain.

  "Heal me," Rand said, a command, not a request. The red in Alanna's face deepened, and anger touched her scent. Her hands trembled as she reached up to take his head between them.

  Unconsciously Perrin rubbed the palm of his hand, the one a Shaido spear had laid open yesterday. Kiruna had Healed several gashes in him, and he had had Healing before, too. It felt like being plunged headfirst into a freezing pond; it left you gasping and shaking and weak-kneed. Hungry, too, usually. The only sign Rand gave that anything had been done, though, was a slight shiver.

  "How do you stand the pain?" Alanna whispered at him.

  "It's done, then," he said, removing her hands. And turned from her without a word of thanks. Seeming on the point of speaking, he paused, half-turning to look back toward Dumai's Wells.

  "They have all been found, Rand al'Thor," Amys said gently.

  He nodded, then again, more briskly. "It's time to be gone. Sorilea, will you name Wise Ones to take over the prisoners from the Asha'man? And also as companions for Kiruna and… my other liegewomen." For an instant, he grinned. "I wouldn't want them to err through ignorance."

  "It shall be done as you say, Car'a'carn." Adjusting her shawl firmly, the leather-faced Wise One addressed the three sisters. "Join your friends until I can find someone to hold your hands." It was not unexpected that Bera would frown indignantly, or Kiruna become frost personified. Alanna gazed at the ground, resigned, almost sullen. Sorilea was having none of it. Clapping hands sharply, she, made brisk shooing motions. "Well? Move! Move!"

  Reluctantly, the Aes Sedai let themselves be herded, making it seem they simply were going where they wished. Joining Sorilea, Amys whispered something that Perrin did not quite catch. The three Aes Sedai apparently did, though. They stopped dead, three very startled faces looking back at the Wise Ones. Sorilea just clapped her hands again, louder than before, and shooed even more briskly.

  Scratching his beard, Perrin met Rhuarc's eyes. The clan chief smiled faintly and shrugged. Wise Ones' business. That was all very well for him; Aiel were fatalistic as wolves. Perrin glanced at Gedwyn. The fellow was watching Sorilea lecture the Aes Sedai. No, it was the sisters he watched, a fox staring at hens in a coop just out of his reach. The Wise Ones have to be better than the Asha'man, Perrin thought. They have to be.

  If Rand noticed the by-play, he ignored it. "Taim, you take the Asha'man back to the Black Tower as soon as the Wise Ones have charge of the prisoners. As soon as. Remember to keep an eye out for any man who learns too fast. And remember what I said about recruiting."

  "I can hardly forget, my Lord Dragon," the black-coated man replied dryly. "I will handle that trip personally. But if I may bring it up again… You need a proper honor guard."

  "We have been over that," Rand said curtly. "I have better uses for the Asha'man. If I need an honor guard, those I am keeping will do. Perrin, will you—?"

  "My Lord Dragon," Taim broke in, "you need more than a few Asha'man around you."

  Rand's head turned toward Taim. His face matched any Aes Sedai for giving nothing away, but his scent made Perrin's ears try to lie back. Razor-sharp rage abruptly vanished in curiosity and caution, the one thin and probing, the other foglike; then slashing, murderous fury consumed both. Rand shook his head just slightly, and his smell became stony determination. Nobody's scent changed th
at fast. Nobody's.

  Taim had only his eyes to go by, of course, and all they could tell him was that Rand had shaken his head, if just barely. "Think. You have chosen four Dedicated and four soldiers. You should have Asha'man." Perrin did not understand that; he thought they were all Asha'man.

  "You think I can't teach them as well as you?" Rand's voice was soft, the whisper of a blade sliding in its sheath.

  "I think the Lord Dragon is too busy for teaching," Taim replied smoothly, yet the anger smell rose again. "Too important. Take men who need the least of it. I can choose the furthest along —"

  "One," Rand cut in. "And I will choose." Taim smiled, spreading his hands in acquiescence, but the scent of frustration nearly overwhelmed anger. Again Rand pointed without looking. "Him." This time, he seemed surprised to find he was pointing directly at a man in his middle years sitting atop an upturned cask on the other side of the wagon circle, paying no attention to the gathering around Rand. Instead, elbow on his knee and chin propped on his hand, he was frowning at the Aes Sedai prisoners. The sword and Dragon glittered on the high collar of his black coat. "What is his name, Taim?"

  "Dashiva," Taim said slowly, studying Rand. He smelled even more surprised than Rand did, and irritated, too. "Corlan Dashiva. From a farm in the Black Hills."

  "He will do," Rand said, but he did not sound sure himself.

  "Dashiva is gaining his strength rapidly, but his head is in the clouds often as not. Even when it isn't, he is not always entirely there. Maybe he's just a daydreamer, and maybe the taint on saidin is touching his brain already. Better for you to chose Torval or Rochaid or —"

  Taim's opposition seemed to sweep away Rand's uncertainty. "I said Dashiva will do. Tell him he's to come with me, then turn the prisoners over to the Wise Ones and go. I don't intend to stand here all day arguing. Perrin, ready everyone to move. Find me when they are." Without another word he strode off, Min clinging to his arm, and Nandera and Sulin like shadows. Taim's dark eyes glittered; then he was stalking away himself, shouting for Gedwyn and Rochaid, Torval and Kisman. Black-coated men came running.

  Perrin grimaced. With everything he had to tell Rand, he had not opened his mouth once. At that, maybe it would come better away from the Aes Sedai and the Wise Ones. And Taim.

  Really there was not much for him to do. He was supposed to be in charge since he had brought the rescue, but Rhuarc knew what needed doing better than he ever would, and a word to Dobraine and Havien was sufficient for the Cairhienin and Mayeners. They still wanted to say something, though they held back until they were alone and Perrin asked what it was.

  Then Havien burst out, "Lord Perrin, it's the Lord Dragon. All that searching through the corpses —"

  "It seemed a little… excessive," Dobraine interrupted smoothly. "We worry for him, as you can understand. A great deal depends on him." He might look a soldier, and he was, but he was a Cairhienin lord, too, and steeped in the Game of Houses, with all its careful talk, like any other Cairhienin.

  Perrin was not steeped in the Game of Houses. "He's still sane," he said bluntly. Dobraine simply nodded, as if to say of course, shrugged to say he had never intended to question, but Havien went bright red. Watching them go to their men, Perrin shook his head. He hoped he was not lying.

  Gathering the Two Rivers men, he told them to saddle their horses and ignored all the bowing, most of which looked spur-of-the-moment. Even Faile said that sometimes Two Rivers people carried bowing too far; she said they were still working out how to behave with a lord. He thought about shouting "I am not a lord" at them, but he had done that before, and it never worked.

  When all the others rushed for their animals, Dannil Lewin and Ban al'Seen remained behind. Cousins, both were beanpoles and they looked much alike, except that Dannil affected mustaches like downturned horns in the Taraboner style, while Ban wore narrow lines of dark hair, in the fashion of Arad Doman, under a nose like a pickaxe. Refugees had brought a lot of new things into the Two Rivers.

  "Those Asha'man coming with us?" Dannil asked. When Perrin shook his head, he exhaled so hard in relief that his thick mustaches stirred.

  "What about the Aes Sedai?" Ban said anxiously. "They'll go free, now, won't they? I mean, Rand is free. The Lord Dragon, that is. They can't stay prisoners, not Aes Sedai."

  "You two just have everybody ready to ride," Perrin said. "Leave worrying about Aes Sedai to Rand." The pair even winced alike. Two fingers rose to scratch worriedly at mustaches, and Perrin jerked his hand away from his chin. A man looked as if he had fleas when he did that.

  The camp was abustle in no time. Everyone had been expecting to move soon, yet everyone had things left undone. The captive Aes Sedai's servants and wagon drivers hurriedly loaded the last items into the wagons and began hitching teams with a jingle of harness. Cairhienin and Mayeners seemed to be everywhere, checking saddles and bridles. Unclothed gai'shain went running every which way, though there did not seem to be much for the Aiel to ready.

  Flashes of light outside the wagons announced the departure of Taim and the Asha'man. That made Perrin feel better. Of the nine who remained, another besides Dashiva was in his middle years, a stocky fellow with a farmer's face, and one, with a limp and a fringe of white hair, might easily have been a grandfather. The rest were younger, some little more than boys, yet they watched all the hubbub with the self-possession of men who had seen as much a dozen times. They did keep to themselves, though, and together except for Dashiva, who stood a few paces apart staring at nothing. Remembering Taim's caution about the fellow, Perrin hoped he was daydreaming.

  He found Rand seated on a wooden crate with his elbows on his knees. Sulin and Nandera squatted easily to either side of Rand, both studiously avoiding looking at the sword at his hip. Holding their spears and bull-hide bucklers casually, here in the midst of people loyal to Rand, they kept a watch on anything that moved near him. Min sat on the ground at his feet with her legs tucked under, smiling up at him.

  "I hope you know what you're doing, Rand," Perrin said, shifting the axe haft so he could drop to his heels. No one was close enough to hear except for Rand and Min and the two Maidens. If Sulin or Nandera went running to the Wise Ones, so be it. Without more preamble he launched into what he had seen so far this morning. What he had smelled, too, though he did not say that. Rand was not among the few who knew about him and wolves; he made it all seem what he had seen and heard. The Asha'man and the Wise Ones. The Asha'man and the Aes Sedai. The Wise Ones and the Aes Sedai. The whole tangle of tinder that might burst into flame any moment. He did not spare the Two Rivers men. "They're worried, Rand, and if they are sweating, you can be sure some Cairhienin is thinking about doing something. Or a Tairen. Maybe just helping the prisoners escape, maybe something worse. Light, I could see Dannil and Ban and fifty more besides helping them get away, if they knew how."

  "You think something else would be that much worse?" Rand said quietly, and Perrin's skin prickled.

  He met Rand's gaze directly. "A thousand times," he said in just as quiet a voice. "I won't be part of murder. If you will be, I'll stand in your way." A silence stretched, unblinking blue-gray eyes meeting unblinking golden.

  Frowning at each of them in turn, Min made an exasperated sound in her throat. "You two woolheads! Rand, you know you'll never give an order like that, or let anyone else give it, either. Perrin, you know he won't. Now the pair of you stop acting like two strange roosters in a pen."

  Sulin chuckled, but Perrin wanted to ask Min how certain she was, although that was not a question he could voice here. Rand scrubbed his fingers through his hair, then shook his head, for all the world like a man disagreeing with somebody who was not there. The sort of voice that madmen heard.

  "It's never easy, is it?" Rand said after a time, looking sad. "The bitter truth is, I can't say which would be worse. I don't have any good choices. They saw to that themselves." His face was despondent, but rage boiled in his scent. "Alive or dead, they're a millstone
on my back, and either way, they could break it."

  Perrin followed his gaze to the Aes Sedai prisoners. They were on their feet now, and all together, though even so they managed to put a little distance between the three who had been stilled and the rest. The Wise Ones around them were being curt with their orders, by the gestures they made and the tight faces on the sisters. Maybe the Wise Ones were better than Rand keeping them, too. If only he could be sure.

  "Did you see anything, Min?" Rand said.

  Perrin gave a start and directed a warning glance at Sulin and Nandera, but Min laughed softly. Leaning against Rand's knee, she really did look the Min he knew, for the first time since finding her at the wells. "Perrin, they know about me. The Wise Ones, the Maidens, maybe all of them. And they don't care." She had a talent she kept hidden much as he did the wolves. Sometimes she saw images and auras around people, and sometimes she knew what they meant. "You can't know what that's like, Perrin. I was twelve when it started, and I didn't know to make a secret of it. Everybody thought I was just making, things up. Until I said a man on the next street was going to marry a woman I saw him with, only he was already married. When he ran off with her, his wife brought a mob to my aunts' house claiming I was responsible, that I'd used the One Power on her husband or given the two of them some kind of potion." Min shook her head. "She wasn't too clear. She just had to blame somebody. There was talk of me being a Darkfriend, too. There had been some Whitecloaks in town earlier, trying to stir people up. Anyway, Aunt Rana convinced me to say I had just overheard them talking, and Aunt Miren promised to spank me for spreading tales, and Aunt Jan said she'd dose me. They didn't, of course — they knew the truth — but if they hadn't been so matter-of-fact about it, about me just being a child, I could have been hurt, or even killed. Most people don't like somebody knowing things about their future; most people don't really want to know it themselves, not unless it's good anyway. Even my aunts didn't. But to the Aiel, I am sort of a Wise One by courtesy."