The Gathering Storm twot-12 Page 45

"What?" Sheriam asked, startled. A switch of Air cracked against her back, and it burned. Fool! Did she want to get herself killed? "My apologies, Great Mistress," she said quickly. "Forgive my outburst. But it was by orders from one of the Chosen that I helped raise her as Amyrlin in the first place!"

  "Yes, but she has proven to have been a ... poor choice. We needed a child, not a woman with merely the face of a child. She must be removed. You will make certain this group of foolish rebels stops supporting her. And end those blasted meetings in Tel'aran'rhiod. How is it so many of you get there?"

  "We have ter'angreal," Sheriam said, hesitantly. "Several in the shape of an amber plaque, several others in the shape of an iron disc. Then a handful of rings."

  "Ah, sleep weavers," the figure said. "Yes, those could be useful. How many?"

  Sheriam hesitated. Her first instinct was to lie or hedge — this seemed like information she could hold over the figure. But lying to one of the Chosen? A poor choice. "We had twenty," Sheriam said truthfully. "But one was with the woman Leane, who was captured. That leaves us with nineteen." Just enough for Egwene's meetings in the World of Dreams — one for each of the Sitters and one for Sheriam herself.

  "Yes," the figure hissed, shrouded in darkness. "Useful indeed. Steal the sleepweavers, then give them to me. This rabble has no business treading where the Chosen walk."

  "I. . . ." Steal the ter'angreal? How was she going to manage that! "I live to serve, Great Mistress."

  "Yes you do. Do these things for me, and you will find yourself greatly rewarded. Fail me. . . ." The figure contemplated for a moment. "You have three days. Each of the sleepweavers you fail to acquire in that time will cost you a finger or a toe." With that, the Chosen opened a gateway right in the middle of the room, then vanished through it. Sheriam caught a glimpse of the familiar tiled hallways of the White Tower on the other side.

  Steal the sleepweavers! All nineteen of them? In three days? Darkness above! Sheriam thought. / should have lied about the number we had! Why didn't I lie?

  She remained kneeling, breathing in and out, for a long time, thinking about her predicament. Her period of peace was at an end, it appeared.

  It had been brief.

  "She will be tried, of course," Seaine said. The soft-spoken White sat on a chair provided for her by the two Reds guarding Egwene's cell.

  The cell door was open, and Egwene sat on a stool inside — also provided by the Reds. Those two guards, plump Cariandre and stern Pa-trinda, watched carefully from the hallway, both holding the Source and maintaining Egwene's shield. They looked as if they expected her to dart away, scrambling for freedom.

  Egwene ignored them. Her two days of imprisonment had not been pleasant, but she would suffer them with dignity. Even if they locked her away in a tiny room with a door that wouldn't let in light. Even if they refused to let her change from the bloodied novice dress. Even if they beat her each day for how she had treated Elaida. Egwene would not bow.

  The Reds reluctantly allowed her visitors, as stipulated by Tower law. Egwene was surprised she had visitors, but Seaine wasn't the only one who had come to her. Several had been Sitters. Curious. Nevertheless, Egwene was starved for news. How was the Tower reacting to Egwene's imprisonment? Were the rifts between the Ajahs still deep and wide, or had her work started to bridge them?

  "Elaida broke Tower law quite explicitly," Seaine explained. "And it was witnessed by five Sitters of five different Ajahs. She has tried to forestall a trial, but was unsuccessful. However, there were some who listened to her argument."

  "Which was?" Egwene asked.

  "That you are a Darkfriend," Seaine said. "And, because of it, she expelled you from the Tower, and then beat you."

  Egwene felt a chill. If Elaida was able to get enough support for that argument. . . .

  "It will not stand," Seaine said, consolingly. "This is not some backward village, where the Dragon's Fang scrawled on someone's door is enough to convict."

  Egwene raised an eyebrow. She'd been raised in "some backward village," and they'd had enough sense to look for more than rumors in convicting someone, no matter what the crime. But she said nothing.

  "Proving that accusation is difficult by Tower standards," Seaine said. "And so I suspect that she will not try to prove it in trial — partially because doing so would require her to let you speak for yourself, and I suspect that she'll want to keep you hidden."

  "Yes," Egwene said, eyeing the Reds lounging nearby. "You are probably right. But if she can't prove I'm a Darkfriend and she couldn't stop this from going to trial ..."

  "It is not an offense worthy of deposing her," Seaine said. "The maximum punishment is formal censure from the Hall and penance for a month. She would retain the shawl."

  But would lose a great deal of credibility, Egwene thought. It was encouraging. But how to make certain that Elaida didn't just hide her away? She had to keep the pressure on Elaida — Light-cursed difficult while locked away in her tiny cell each day! It had been only a short time so far, but already the lost opportunities grated on her.

  "You will attend the trial?" Egwene asked.

  "Of course," Seaine said, even-tempered, as Egwene had come to expect from the White. Some Whites were all coolness and logic. Seaine was much warmer than that, but was still very reserved. "I am a Sitter, Egwene."

  "I assume that you're still seeing the effects of the Dark One's stirring?" Egwene shivered and glanced at her cell floor, remembering what had happened to Leane. Her own cell was far more austere than Leane's, perhaps because of the accusations of her being a Darkfriend.

  "Yes." Seaine's voice grew softer. "They seem to be getting worse. Servants dying. Food spoiling. Entire sections of the Tower rearranging at random. The second kitchen moved to the sixth level last night, moving an entire section of the Yellow Ajah quarters into the basement. It's like what happened with the Browns earlier, and that one still hasn't been worked out."

  Egwene nodded. With the way the rooms had shifted, those few novices whose rooms hadn't moved suddenly now had assigned accommodations on the twenty-first and twenty-second levels, where Brown Ajah quarters had been. The Browns were, reluctantly, all moving down to the wing. Would it be a permanent change? Always before, the sisters had lived in the Tower proper, the novices and Accepted living in the wing.

  "You have to bring these things up, Seaine," Egwene said softly. "Keep reminding the sisters that the Dark One stirs and that the Last Battle approaches. Keep their attention on working together, not dividing."

  Behind Seaine, one of the Red sisters checked the candle on the table. The time allotted for Egwene to receive visitors was ending. She'd soon be locked away again; she could smell the dusty, unchanged straw behind her.

  "You must work hard, Seaine," Egwene said, rising as the Reds approached. "Do what I cannot. Ask the others to do so as well."

  "I will try," Seaine said. She stood and watched as the Reds took Egwene's stool, then gestured her back into the cell. The ceiling was too low for her to stand without stooping.

  Egwene moved reluctantly, bending down. "The Last Battle comes, Seaine. Remember."

  The White nodded, and the door shut, locking Egwene into darkness. Egwene sat down. She felt so blind! What would happen at the trial? Even if Elaida was punished, what would be done with Egwene?

  Elaida would try to have her executed. And she still had grounds,

  as Egwene had — by the White Tower's definition — impersonated the Amyrlin Seat.

  / must stay firm, Egwene told herself in the darkness. I warmed this pot myself, and now I must boil in it, if that is what will protect the Tower. They knew she continued to resist. That was all she could give them.

  CHAPTER 26

  A Crack in the Stone

  Aviendha surveyed the manor grounds, swarming with people preparing to depart. Bashere's men and women were well trained for wetlanders, and they worked efficiently to stow their tents and prepare their gear. However, compared to the Aiel
, the other wetlanders — those who weren't actual soldiers — were a mess. Camp women skittered this way and that, as if sure they would leave some task undone or some item unpacked. The messenger boys ran with their friends, trying to look busy so that they wouldn't have to do anything. The civilians' tents and equipment were only slowly being packed and stowed, and they would need horses, wagons and teams of drivers to get them all where they needed to go.

  Aviendha shook her head. The Aiel brought only what they could carry, and their war band included only soldiers and Wise Ones. And when more than just spears were required for an extended campaign, all workers and craftspeople knew how to prepare themselves for departure with speed and efficiency. There was honor in that. Honor which demanded that each person be able to care for themselves and their own, not slowing the clan down.

  She shook her head, turning back to her task. The only ones who truly lacked honor on a day like this were those who did not work. She dipped a finger into the pail of water on the ground in front of her, then raised her hand and let it hover over a second pail. A drop of water dripped free. She moved her hand and did it again.

  It was the type of punishment in which no wetlander could have seen significance. They would have thought it easy work, sitting on the ground, leaning with her back against the wooden logs of the manor house. Moving her hand back and forth, emptying one pail and filling the other, one drop at a time. To them it would have been barely a punishment at all.

  That was because wetlanders were often lazy. They would rather drip water into pails than carry rocks. Carrying rocks, however, involved activity — and activity was good for the mind and the body. Moving water was meaningless. Useless. It didn't allow her to stretch her legs or work her muscles. And she did it while the rest of the camp gathered tents for the march. That made the punishment ten times as shameful! She earned toh for every moment she did not help, and there was not a thing she could do about it.

  Except move water. Drip, by drip, by drip.

  It made her angry. Then that anger made her ashamed. The Wise Ones never let their emotions dominate them in such a way. She had to remain patient and try to understand why she was being punished.

  Even trying to approach the problem made her want to scream. How many times could she go over the same conclusions in her mind? Perhaps she was too dense to sort it out. Perhaps she didn't deserve to be a Wise One.

  She stuck her hand back in the bucket, then moved another drop of water. She didn't like what these punishments were doing to her. She was a warrior, even if she no longer carried the spear. She did not fear punishment, nor did she fear pain. But, more and more, she did fear that she would lose heart and become as useless as one who sandstared.

  She wanted to become a Wise One, wanted it desperately. She was surprised to find that, for she'd never thought that she could desire anything with as much passion as she'd long ago wanted the spears. Yet as she had studied the Wise Ones during these last months, and her respect for them had grown, she had accepted herself as their equal, to help shepherd the Aiel in this most dangerous of days.

  The Last Battle would be a test unlike any her people had ever known. Amys and the others were working to protect the Aiel, and Aviendha sat and moved drops of water!

  "Are you all right?" a voice asked.

  Aviendha started, looking up, reaching for her knife so abruptly that she nearly spilled the pails of water. A woman with short, dark hair stood in the shade of the building a short distance away. Min Farshaw's arms were folded and she wore a coat the color of cobalt with silver embroidery. She wore a scarf at her neck.

  Aviendha settled back down, releasing her knife. Now she was letting wetlanders sneak up on her? "I am well," she said, struggling to keep from blushing.

  Her tone and actions should have indicated that she didn't wish to be shamed by conversation, but Min didn't seem to notice that. The woman turned and looked out over the camp. "Don't . . . you have anything to be doing?"

  Aviendha could not suppress the blush this time. "I am doing what I should."

  Min nodded, and Aviendha forced herself to still her breathing. She could not afford to grow angry at this woman. Her first-sister had asked her to be kind to Min. She decided not to take offense. Min didn't know what she was saying.

  "I thought that I could talk to you," Min said, still looking out at the camp. "I'm not sure who else I could approach. I don't trust the Aes Sedai, and neither does he. I'm not sure he trusts anyone, now. Maybe not even me."

  Aviendha glanced to the side, and saw that Min was watching Rand al'Thor as he moved through the camp, wearing a coat of black, gold-red hair ablaze in the afternoon light. He seemed to tower over the Saldaeans who attended him.

  Aviendha had heard about the events the night before, when he had been attacked by Semirhage. One of the Shadowsouled themselves; Aviendha wished she had seen the creature before she was killed. She shuddered.

  Rand al'Thor had fought and won. Though he acted the fool much of the time, he was a skilled — and lucky — warrior. Who else alive could claim to have personally defeated as many of the Shadowsouled as he had? There was much honor in him.

  His fight had left him scarred in ways she did not yet understand. She could feel his pain. She'd felt it during Semirhage's attack, too, though at first she'd mistakenly thought it to be a nightmare. She'd quickly realized that she was wrong. No nightmare could be that terrible. She could still feel echoes of that incredible pain, those waves of agony, the frenzy inside of him.

  Aviendha had raised the alarm, but not quickly enough. She had toh to him for her mistake; she would deal with that once she was finished with her punishments. If she ever did finish,

  "Rand al'Thor will deal with his problems," she said, dripping more water.

  "How can you say that?" Min asked, glancing at her. "Can't you feel his pain?"

  "I feel each and every moment of it," Aviendha said through gritted teeth. "But he must face his own trials, just as I face mine. Perhaps there will be a day when he and I can face ours together, but that time is not now."

  / must be his equal, first, she added in her head. / will not stand beside him as his inferior.

  Min studied her, and Aviendha felt a chill, wondering what visions the woman saw. Her predictions of the future were said always to come true.

  "You are not what I expected," Min finally said.

  "I have deceived you?" Aviendha said, frowning.

  "No, not that," Min said with a small laugh. "I mean, I was wrong about you, I guess. I wasn't certain what to think, after that night in Caem-lyn when . . . well, that night when we bonded Rand together. I feel close to you, yet distant from you at the same time." She shrugged. "I guess I expected you to come looking for me the moment you got into camp. We had things to discuss. When you didn't, I worried. I thought perhaps I had offended you."

  "You have no toh to me," Aviendha said.

  "Good," Min said. "I still worry sometimes that we'll . . . come to a confrontation."

  "And what good would a confrontation serve?"

  "I don't know," Min said with a shrug. "I figured it would be the Aiel way. Challenge me to a fight of honor. For him."

  Aviendha snorted. "Fight over a man? Who would do such a thing? If you had toh toward me, perhaps I could demand that we dance the spears — but only if you were a Maiden. And only if I were still one too. I suppose that we could fight with knives, but it would hardly be a fair fight. What honor would there to be gained in fighting one with no skill?"

  Min flushed, as if Aviendha had offered her an insult. What a curious reaction. "I don't know about that," Min said, flipping a knife from her sleeve and spinning it across her knuckles. "I'm hardly defenseless." She made the knife vanish up her other sleeve. Why was it that the wetlanders always showed off such flourishes with their knives? Thom Merrilin had been prone to that as well. Didn't Min understand that Aviendha could have slit the woman's throat thrice over during the time it took to flash that kni
fe like a street performer? Aviendha said nothing, however. Min was obviously proud of the skill, and there was no need to embarrass the woman.

  "It is unimportant," Aviendha said, continuing her work. "I would not fight with you unless you gave me grave insult. My first-sister considers you a friend, and I would like to do so as well."

  "All right," Min said, folding her arms and looking back at Rand. "Well, I guess that's a good thing. I have to admit, I don't much like the idea of sharing."

  Aviendha hesitated, then dipped her finger into the pail. "Neither do I." At least, she didn't like the idea of sharing with a woman she didn't know very well.

  "Then what do we do?"

  "We continue as we have," Aviendha said. "You have what you wish, and I am occupied by other matters. When it becomes a different time, I will inform you."

  "That's . . . straightforward of you," Min said, looking confused. "You have other matters to occupy you? Like dipping your finger in buckets of water?"

  Aviendha blushed again. "Yes," she snapped. "Just like that. You will excuse me." She stood and strode away, leaving the buckets. She knew that she should not have lost her temper, but she could not help it. Min, repeatedly pointing out her punishment. Her inability to decipher what the Wise Ones wished of her. Rand al'Thor, constantly putting himself into danger, and Aviendha unable to lift a finger to help him.

  She could stand it no longer. She crossed the brown thatch of the manor green, clenching and unclenching her fists, keeping her distance from Rand. The way this day was going, he'd notice her wrinkled finger and ask why she had been soaking it! If he discovered that the Wise Ones had been punishing her, he would probably do something rash and make a fool of himself. Men were like that, Rand al'Thor most of all.

  She stalked across the springy ground, the brown thatch patterned with square impressions where tents had stood, threading her way through wetlanders scurrying this way and that. She passed a line of soldiers tossing sacks of grain to the next and loading them in a wagon hitched to two thick-hoofed draft horses.