The Gathering Storm twot-12 Read online

  "As you say," Rhuarc agreed. "Let us move on, then. There is still a distance to run." He moved off to speak with Bael. Aviendha took a step away, but a harsh glance from Amys made her freeze.

  "Aviendha," said the hard, white-haired woman. "How many Wise Ones went with Rhuarc to scout this refugee train?"

  "None but me," Aviendha admitted.

  "Oh, and are you a Wise One now?" Bair asked.

  "No," Aviendha said, quickly, then shamed herself further by blushing. "I spoke poorly."

  "Then you shall be punished," Bair said. "You are no longer a Maiden, Aviendha. It is not your place to scout; that is a task for others."

  "Yes, Wise One," Aviendha said, looking down. She had not thought that going with Rhuarc would bring her shame — she had seen other Wise Ones do similar tasks.

  But I am not a Wise One, she reminded herself. / am an apprentice only. Bair had not said that a Wise One could not scout; only that it had not been Aviendha's place to go. It was about Aviendha herself. And about whatever it was she had done — or perhaps continued to do — to provoke the Wise Ones.

  Did they think she had grown soft by spending time with Elayne? Aviendha herself worried that that was true. During her days in Caem-lyn, she had begun to find herself enjoying the silks and baths. By the end, she had objected only feebly when Elayne had come up with an excuse to dress her in some impractical and frivolous garment with embroidery and lace. It was well that the others had come for her.

  The others just stood there, looking at her expectantly, faces like red desert stones, impassive and stern. Aviendha gritted her teeth again. She would complete her apprenticeship and find honor. She would.

  The call came to begin moving, and cadin'sor-c&d men and women did so, running together in small groups. The Wise Ones moved as easily as the soldiers, despite their bulky skirts. Amys touched Aviendha's arm. "You will run with me so that we can discuss your punishment."

  Aviendha fell into pace beside the Wise One at a brisk jog. It was a speed any Aiel could maintain almost indefinitely. Her group, from Caem-lyn, had met up with Rhuarc as he was traveling from Bandar Eban to meet with Rand al'Thor in the western part of the country. Dobraine Taborwin, a Cairhienin, was still maintaining order in the capital city, where he'd reportedly located a member of the Domani ruling body.

  Perhaps the group of Aiel could have Traveled through a gateway the rest of the distance. But it was not far — only a few days by foot — and they had left early enough to arrive at the appointed time without using the One Power. Rhuarc wanted to scout for himself some of the landscape near the manor house Rand al'Thor was using as a base. Other bodies of Goshien or Taardad Aiel would join them at the base, using gateways, if needed.

  "What do you think of the Car'a'carn's demands of us here in Arad Doman, Aviendha?" Amys asked as they ran.

  Aviendha stifled a frown. What of her punishment? "It is an irregular request," she said, "but Rand al'Thor has many strange ideas, even for a wetlander. This will not be the most unusual duty he has set for us."

  "And the fact that Rhuarc finds the duty discomforting?"

  "I doubt that the clan chief is uncomfortable," Aviendha said. "I suspect that Rhuarc speaks what he has heard others say, passing the information to the Wise Ones. He does not wish to shame others by revealing who has spoken of their fears."

  Amys nodded. What was the purpose of the questions? Surely the woman had guessed the same thing. She would not come to Aviendha for counsel.

  They ran in silence for a time, with no mention of punishments. Had the Wise Ones forgiven her unknown slight? Surely they wouldn't dishonor her in that way. Aviendha had to be given time to think out what she had done, otherwise her shame would be unbearable. She might err again, this time worse.

  Amys gave no clue as to her thoughts. The Wise One had been a Maiden once, like Aviendha. She was hard, even for an Aiel. "And al'Thor himself?" Amys asked. "What do you think of him?"

  "I love him," Aviendha said.

  "I did not ask Aviendha the silly girl," Amys said curtly. "I asked Aviendha the Wise One."

  "He is a man of many burdens," Aviendha said more carefully. "I fear that he makes many of those burdens heavier than they need be. I once thought that there was only one way to be strong, but I have learned from my first-sister that I was wrong. Rand al'Thor ... I do not think he has learned this yet. I worry that he mistakes hardness for strength."

  Amys nodded again, as if in approval. Were these questions a test of some sort?

  "You would marry him?" Amys asked.

  / thought ive weren't talking about Aviendha the "silly girl," Aviendha thought, but of course didn't say it. One did not say such things to Amys.

  "I will marry him," she said instead. "It is not a possibility, but a certainty." The tone earned her a glance from Amys, but Aviendha held her ground. Any Wise One who misspoke deserved to be corrected.

  "And the wetlander Min Farshaw?" Amys asked. "She obviously loves him. What will you do about her?"

  "She is my concern," Aviendha said. "We will reach an accommodation. I have spoken with Min Farshaw, and I believe she will be easy to work with."

  "You would become first-sisters with her as well?" Amys asked, sounding just faintly amused.

  "We will reach an accommodation, Wise One."

  "And if you cannot?"

  "We will," Aviendha said firmly.

  "And how can you be so certain?"

  Aviendha hesitated. Part of her wished to return only silence to that question, passing the leafless brush thickets and giving Amys no answer. But she was just an apprentice, and while she could not be forced to speak, she knew that Amys would keep pushing until the answer came out. Aviendha hoped she would not incur too much toh by her response.

  "You know of the woman Min's viewings?" Aviendha said.

  Amys nodded.

  "One of those viewings relates to Rand al'Thor and the three women he will love. Another relates to my children by the Car'a'cam."

  She said no more, and Amys pressed no more. It was enough. Both knew that one would sooner find a Stone Dog who would retreat than find a viewing of Min's that went wrong.

  On one hand, it was good to know that Rand al'Thor would be hers, although she would have to share him. She did not begrudge Elayne, of course, but Min . . . well, Aviendha did not really know her. Regardless, the viewing was a comfort. But it was also bothersome. Aviendha loved Rand al'Thor because she chose to, not because she was destined to. Of course, Min's viewing didn't guarantee that Aviendha would actually be able to marry Rand, so perhaps she had misspoken to Amys. Yes, he would love three women and three women would love him, but would Aviendha find a way to marry him?

  No, the future was not certain, and for some reason that brought her comfort. Perhaps she should have worried, but she did not. She would get her honor back, and then she would marry Rand al'Thor. Perhaps he would die soon after, but perhaps an ambush would come and she would fall to an arrow this day. Worrying solved nothing.

  Toh, however, was another matter.

  "I misspoke, Wise One," Aviendha said. "I implied that the viewing said I would marry Rand al'Thor. That is not true. All three of us will love him, and while that implies marriage, I do not know for certain."

  Amys nodded. There was no toh; Aviendha had corrected herself quickly enough. That was well. She would not add more shame on top of what she had already earned.

  "Very well, then," Amys said, watching the path ahead of her. "Let us discuss today's punishment."

  Aviendha relaxed slightly. So she still had time to discover what she had done wrong. Wetlanders often seemed confused by Aiel ways with punishment, but wetlanders had little understanding of honor. Honor didn't come from being punished, but accepting a punishment and bearing it restored honor. That was the soul of toh — the willing lowering of oneself in order to recover that which had been lost. It was strange to her that wetlanders couldn't see this; indeed, it was strange that they didn't follo
w ji'e'toh instinctively. What was life without honor?

  Amys, rightly, wouldn't tell Aviendha what she had done wrong. However, she was having no success thinking through the answer on her own, and it would cause less shame if she discovered the answer through conversation. "Yes," Aviendha said carefully. "I should be punished. My time in Caemlyn threatened to make me weak."

  Amys sniffed. "You are no more weak than you were when you carried the spears, girl. A fair bit stronger, I should think. Your time with your first-sister was important for you."

  So that wasn't it. When Dorindha and Nadere had come for her, they had said she needed to continue her training as an apprentice. Yet in the time since the Aiel had departed for Arad Doman, Aviendha had been given no lessons. She had been assigned to carry water, to mend shawls, and to serve tea. She had been given all manner of punishments with little explanation of what she had done wrong. And when she did something obvious — like going scouting when she shouldn't have — the severity of her punishment was always greater than the infraction should have merited.

  It was almost as if the punishment was the thing the Wise Ones wanted her to learn, but that could not be. She was not some wetlander who needed to be taught the ways of honor. What good would constant and unexplained punishment do, other than to warn of some grave mistake she had made?

  Amys reached to her side, untying something hanging at her waist. The woolen bag she held up was about the size of a fist. "We have decided," she said, "that we have been too lax in our instruction. Time is precious and we have no room left for delicacy."

  Aviendha covered her surprise. Their previous punishments were delicate?

  "Therefore," Amys said, handing over the small sack, "you will take this. Inside are seeds. Some are black, others are brown, others are white. This evening, before we sleep, you will separate the colors, then count how many there are of each one. If you are wrong, we will mix them together and you will start again."

  Aviendha found herself gaping, and she nearly stumbled to a stop. Hauling water was necessary work. Mending clothing was necessary work. Cooking meals was important work, particularly when no gai'sbain had been brought with the small advance group.

  But this . . . this was useless work! It was not only unimportant, it was frivolous. It was the kind of punishment reserved for only the most stubborn, or most shameful, of people. It almost . . . almost felt as though the Wise Ones were calling her da'tsang

  "By Sightblinder's eyes," she whispered as she forced herself to keep running. "What did I do?"

  Amys glanced at her, and Aviendha looked away. Both knew that she didn't want an answer to that question. She took the bag silently. It was the most humiliating punishment she had ever been given.

  Amys moved off to run with the other Wise Ones. Aviendha shook off her stupor, her determination returning. Her mistake must have been more profound than she had thought. Amys punishment was an indication of that, a hint.

  She opened the bag and glanced inside. There were three little empty algode bags inside to help with the separation, and thousands of tiny seeds nearly engulfed them. This punishment was meant to be seen, meant to bring her shame. Whatever she'd done, it was offensive not just to the Wise Ones, but to all around her, even if they — like Aviendha herself — were ignorant of it.

  That only meant she had to be more determined.

  CHAPTER 4

  Nightfall

  Gawyn watched the sun burn the clouds to death in the west, the final light fading. That haze of perpetual gloom kept the sun itself shrouded. Just as it hid the stars from his sight at night. Today the clouds were unnaturally high in the air. Often, Dragonmount's tip would be hidden on cloudy days, but this thick, gray haze hovered high enough that most of the time, it barely brushed the mountain's jagged, broken tip.

  "Let's engage them," Jisao whispered from where he crouched beside Gawyn on the hilltop.

  Gawyn glanced away from the sunset, back toward the small village below. It should have been still, save perhaps for a goodman checking on his livestock one last time before turning in. It should have been dim, unlit save for a few tallow candles burning in windows as people finished evening meals.

  But it was not dim. It was not quiet. The village was alight with angry torches carried by a dozen sturdy figures. By that torchlight and the light of the dying sun, Gawyn could make out that each was wearing a nondescript uniform of brown and black. Gawyn couldn't see the three-starred insignia on their uniforms, but he knew it was there.

  From his distant vantage, Gawyn watched a few latecomers stumble from their homes, looking frightened and worried as they gathered with the others in the crowded square. These villagers welcomed the armed force with reluctance. Women clutched children, men were careful to keep their eyes downcast. "We don't want trouble," the postures said. They'd undoubtedly heard from other villages that these invaders were orderly. The soldiers paid for goods they took, and no young men were pressed into service — though they weren't turned away either. A very odd invading army indeed. However, Gawyn knew what the people would think. This army was led by Aes Sedai, and who could say what was odd or normal when Aes Sedai were involved?

  There were no sisters with this particular patrol, thank the Light. The soldiers polite, but stern, lined up the villagers and looked them over. Then a pair of soldiers entered each house and barn, inspecting it. Nothing was taken and nothing was broken. All very neat and cordial. Gawyn could almost hear the officer offering apologies to the village mayor.

  "Gawyn?" Jisao asked. "I count barely a dozen of them. If we send Rodic's squad to come in from the north, we'll cut off both sides and smash them between us. It's getting dark enough that they won't see us coming. We could take them without so much as running up a lather."

  "And the villagers?" Gawyn asked. "There are children down there."

  "That hasn't stopped us other times."

  "Those times were different," Gawyn said, shaking his head. "The last three villages they've searched point a direct line toward Dorian. If this group vanishes, the next one will wonder what it was they nearly uncovered. We'd draw the entire army's eye in this direction."

  "But — "

  "No," Gawyn said softly. "We have to know when to fall back, Jisao."

  "So we came all this way for nothing."

  "We came all this way for an opportunity," Gawyn said, backing away from the hilltop, making certain he didn't show a profile on the horizon. "And now that I've inspected that opportunity, we're not going to take it. Only a fool looses his arrow just because he's got a bird in front of him."

  "Why wouldn't you loose it if it's right there in front of you?" Jisao asked as he joined Gawyn.

  "Because sometimes the prize isn't worth the arrow," Gawyn said. "Come on."

  Below, waiting in the dark with lanterns hooded, were some of the very men the soldiers in the village were searching for. Gareth Bryne must have been very displeased to learn there was a harrying force hiding somewhere nearby. He'd been diligent in trying to flush it out, but the countryside near Tar Valon was liberally sprinkled with villages, forests and secluded valleys that could hide a small, mobile strike force. So far, Gawyn had managed to keep his Younglings out of sight while pulling off the occasional raid or ambush on Bryne's forces. There was only so much you could do with three hundred men, however. Particularly when you faced one of the five Great Captains.

  Am I destined to end up fighting against each and every man who has been a mentor to me? Gawyn took the reins of his horse and gave a silent order to withdraw by raising his right hand, then gestured sharply away from the village. The men moved without comment, dismounting and leading their mounts for both stealth and safety.

  Gawyn had thought he was over Hammar and Coulin's deaths; Bryne himself had taught Gawyn that the battlefield sometimes made allies into sudden foes. Gawyn had fought his former teachers, and Gawyn had won. That was the end of it.

  Recently, however, his mind seemed determined to dred
ge up those corpses and carry them about. Why now, after so long?

  He suspected his sense of guilt had to do with facing Bryne, his first and most influential instructor in the arts of war. Gawyn shook his head as he guided Challenge across the darkening landscape; he kept his men away from the road in case Bryne's scouts had placed watchers. The fifty men around Gawyn walked as quietly as possible, the horses' hoofbeats deadened by the springy earth.

  If Bryne had been shocked to discover a harrying force striking at his outriders, then Gawyn had been equally shocked to discover those three stars on the uniforms of the men he slew. How had the White Tower's enemies recruited the greatest military mind in all of Andor? And what was the Captain-General of the Queen's Guard doing fighting with a group of Aes Sedai rebels in the first place? He should have been in Caemlyn protecting Elayne.

  Light send that Elayne had arrived in Andor. She couldn't still be with the rebels. Not with her homeland lacking a queen. Her duty to Andor outweighed her duty to the White Tower.

  And what of your duty, Gawyn Trakand? he thought to himself.

  He wasn't certain he had duty, or honor, left to him. Perhaps his guilt about Hammar, his nightmares of war and death at Dumai's Wells, were due to the slow realization that he might have given his allegiance to the wrong side. His loyalty belonged to Elayne and Egwene. What, then, was he still doing fighting a battle he didn't care about, helping a side that — by all accounts — was opposed to the one Elayne and Egwene had chosen?

  They're just Accepted, he told himself. Elayne and Egwene didn't choose this side — they are just doing what they've been ordered to do! But the things that Egwene had said to him all those months ago, back in Cairhien, suggested that she had made her decision willingly.