The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories
that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten
when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third
Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the
Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither
beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a
beginning.
After the wind blew through the ever-present clouds that gave the mountains their name, it traced across the Sand Hills, until it finally reached Two Rivers. It snaked through the gnarled trees of Westwood until it came upon a path and gusted into the three men traveling upon it.
On a particularly strong gust, a stray branch was whipped into Rand Al'Thor's face and he winced, bringing his had to his face to trace out the small welt it left on his cheek. His adopted father, Caleb, snickered slightly at Rand's flinch. He acknowledged the debris striking his face with little more than a gentle sweep of his hand, and that just to clear leaves from his rough brown hair. Caleb's birth son, Perrin, fared only slightly better than Rand in his struggle with the wind. His green cloak whipped behind him, the wind dancing with it in whichever way it chose. His head and face were protected by the deep hood, which was pulled tight in an attempt to avoid a scarlet kiss from a stray branch like Rand had.
Rand's cloak whipped around him, caught by the wind yet again, and he glanced behind to reassure himself that his father was still behind him with the cart. It was a foolish thing to do, but he had an odd feeling about him. Apparently Perrin did as well, because he had an arrow nocked in his stout Two Rivers bow and his eyes were darting around like a biteme caught in a jar. Rand deiced to follow suit, pulling an arrow from the quiver on his hip and glancing around. He justified his action by telling himself that it was for protection from the wolves, which had been especially bad that season.
It was not only the wolves that were peculiar about this season; everything seemed a bit…off. It was supposed to be winter, and Two Rivers was far enough north that there should have been snow on the ground. This was not the case, however. The wind carried a sickly hot feeling, like it came from a distant desert. It had almost an ominous smell to it, although Rand could not place why. There was no green visible, which would seem to be normal in the winter, except that there was not even a green needle on the Pines. Everything was barren and appeared as if it had been dead for seasons.
Rand still had that odd feeling about him, and it was really beginning to irritate him. "Hey Perrin, do you feel anything out of the ordinary? I almost feel as if we are being watched."
Perrin glanced around briefly before replying "No, is everything all right?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. Just keep your wits about you." Rand glanced around yet again and fell back with his father. He noticed that Caleb's eyes were almost as shifty as his own; Rand could tell that he was on edge.
Rand thought he saw a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he jumped around, his bowstring brought back to his ear. He was expecting wolves or other predators, but what he found was so unexpected that he almost dropped the arrow he had drawn.
Two cloaked figures stood next to each other on the dusty path, the one on the right towering over the other. The smaller of the two was obviously a woman, her face undistinguishable because of the black hood that enveloped her head. The other figure was one of the most intimidating men Rand had ever seen. Rand was the tallest of the Two Rivers folk, and this man topped him by a head. It originally appeared that the ominous figure was wearing a green cloak, however on closer inspection, Rand realized that the colors kept shifting to blend in with the surroundings. He had a feeling that it would make him ill if he watched the billowing cloak for too long. The tall man also had a large sword strapped to his hip, and the look of someone who knew how to use it. Rand was almost paralyzed with fear of the man. He wanted to run, to shout out, but his feet would not let him. Instead of staring at the man, he diverted his gaze to the woman. His eyes locked with hers, and he was as intimidated by her as he was by the giant man at her side. His thoughts were racing. What kind of people are these?
Rand had no idea how long he faced the pair. It felt like days, but it was probably only a minute or so. He finally mustered up enough courage to break the uncomfortable silence, and was about to do so, when he heard a galloping horse approaching. The man had his sword drawn before Rand could blink, and soon discovered why. A black horse came over the hill, and on it, a black rider. Rand could see nothing of the rider, every part of him was hidden by a cloak blacker than anything he had ever seen before. He could tell there was something wrong with the rider, as well as his cloak. He just felt…evil. There was really no other word to describe him. And even though the horse was at a full gallop, the rider's cloak did not move at all, almost as if some force kept the wind from reaching it. This new fear seemed to free his previous paralysis, and he attempted to assume the void. His father's words echoed in his head as he tried. Think of a candle in your mind, he had told him. Think of a candle in your head, and feed all of your thoughts into the flame until nothing remains. Then blow out the candle. He achieved it on the first try, the first time that had happened. This accomplishment did not even cross his thoughts though, all his thoughts were of killing the rider. He had never killed a person before, but somehow he knew that this man, this thing, was here to kill him. He aimed his still-drawn bow at the thing and released, becoming one with the bow as the shaft flew from the taught string and straight into the eye, or at least where he assumed the eye to be. The blow knocked the black rider back a bit, but still he continued his charge.
The man in the green cloak leapt to attack, and the shadow thing countered just as fast. He drew a large black sword that seemed as evil as its wielder. Even though one man was on horseback and one on foot, they were perfectly matched. The two fighters moved so fast that their twin blades were a blur. At one moment, Rand thought that the green cloak was winning, at another, the shadow man. The black blade seemed to be pushing the other back now; it even appeared as if he was about to win. Just as he was about to strike the finishing blow, the green cloaked man seemed to see an opening, and thrust his sword through the stomach of his opponent, causing him to double over. He withdrew his sword, and struck the finishing blow, cutting the shadow's head off.
Rand finally managed to break free of the horrendous scene, and ran back to Caleb and Perrin. They were no more than a quarter mile away, but Rand was out of breath by the time he reached them. "Father" he gasped, "There are people on the path! I saw two strange people behind us, and a black man rode up and I shot at him with my bow, but he kept coming, and two men fought and one cut the others head off!" By the end of the outburst, Rand's voice was shaking uncontrollably from the incident, and he appeared as if he were about to collapse.
"Calm down boy!" Caleb was busy getting a water skin for his shaken son, but he made sure to talk to him, to get the story as well as to relax. "Now start from the top. What happened?"
Rand recapped the entire story to his father's unbelieving ears, but he eventually convinced him to at least go back to the site of the incident. When they went back, there was no sign of the headless man, nor even that of a minor scuffle in the dust. Nothing. "I swear! It all happened!" Rand's voice was beginning to sound almost panicky, as if he doubted himself now.
"Calm down lad" Caleb said reassuringly. "There have been many strange occurrences lately. Maybe the Dark One's touch even reaches here. Let us continue our way to Emond's Field and enjoy the festivities. Maybe these two strangers who helped you will be there as well."
They continued their journey, hoping to have the remainder of the trip be an uneventful one. The wind had calmed down to an almost pleasant breeze, and the sun was out. This would have made for an enjoyable trip, if it were not for the fact that the two boys were on edge from the strangers. Perrin kept glancing around, not sure whether to believe Rand or not, but not about to take any chances. Rand looked like he was about to jump out of his skin every time a branch broke or a leaf brushed his face. He kept an arrow ready just in case anything happened again, but kept telling himself that it wouldn't.
Rand eventually started to relax, and was just about to put his bow over his shoulder, when he heard a rustling noise from the tree in front of them. He whipped out an arrow and aimed it at where he thought the noise to come from, a dense outcropping of leaves on a branch that went right over the path. That was big, he thought, too big to be just a woodlands animal. He frantically signaled to his father, pointing to the copse, but he just ignored his son. Rand was about to shout out, when a figure leapt from the tree and landed not three feet in front of him. Before he had time to react, the tree-creature jumped at him, throwing its arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug.
"I missed you," the creature said in a female voice. "But now you are back for Bel Tine, and I am going to spend the entire time with you!"
Rand searched his mind for some memory of this girl, and a slow realization came over him. "Edgwene?"
Edgwene was the daughter of the mayor of Emond's Field, and her and Rand had been friends all their lives. They were close in age, and their parents were good friends. Everyone in town knew that they were going to get married someday; there was no doubt in any of their minds. Even Rand and Edgwene knew, although they tried to hide the fact.
"Of course it's Edgwene! Who else would come all the way out here just to see a great lout like yourself! Oh, hello sir," she said, making a polite nod in Caleb's direction. "Hello Perrin. Keeping out of trouble?"
Perrin simply glared at her, not dignifying the comment with a response. She is the same age as I am! He furiously thought. Where does she get off acting like a part of the Women's Circle?
They made polite conversation the rest of the way to Emond's Field, with Edgwene talking of how the town had been doing, and all the latest gossip. What is it with women and gossip? Rand thought, Why is it that I can never understand women? I wonder if anyone can? Both young men continued thinking about how bothersome women could be, and the talkative girl kept filling the silence with her musical voice, all the way to town.
After the wind blew through the ever-present clouds that gave the mountains their name, it traced across the Sand Hills, until it finally reached Two Rivers. It snaked through the gnarled trees of Westwood until it came upon a path and gusted into the three men traveling upon it.
On a particularly strong gust, a stray branch was whipped into Rand Al'Thor's face and he winced, bringing his had to his face to trace out the small welt it left on his cheek. His adopted father, Caleb, snickered slightly at Rand's flinch. He acknowledged the debris striking his face with little more than a gentle sweep of his hand, and that just to clear leaves from his rough brown hair. Caleb's birth son, Perrin, fared only slightly better than Rand in his struggle with the wind. His green cloak whipped behind him, the wind dancing with it in whichever way it chose. His head and face were protected by the deep hood, which was pulled tight in an attempt to avoid a scarlet kiss from a stray branch like Rand had.
Rand's cloak whipped around him, caught by the wind yet again, and he glanced behind to reassure himself that his father was still behind him with the cart. It was a foolish thing to do, but he had an odd feeling about him. Apparently Perrin did as well, because he had an arrow nocked in his stout Two Rivers bow and his eyes were darting around like a biteme caught in a jar. Rand deiced to follow suit, pulling an arrow from the quiver on his hip and glancing around. He justified his action by telling himself that it was for protection from the wolves, which had been especially bad that season.
It was not only the wolves that were peculiar about this season; everything seemed a bit…off. It was supposed to be winter, and Two Rivers was far enough north that there should have been snow on the ground. This was not the case, however. The wind carried a sickly hot feeling, like it came from a distant desert. It had almost an ominous smell to it, although Rand could not place why. There was no green visible, which would seem to be normal in the winter, except that there was not even a green needle on the Pines. Everything was barren and appeared as if it had been dead for seasons.
Rand still had that odd feeling about him, and it was really beginning to irritate him. "Hey Perrin, do you feel anything out of the ordinary? I almost feel as if we are being watched."
Perrin glanced around briefly before replying "No, is everything all right?"
"Yeah, I suppose so. Just keep your wits about you." Rand glanced around yet again and fell back with his father. He noticed that Caleb's eyes were almost as shifty as his own; Rand could tell that he was on edge.
Rand thought he saw a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he jumped around, his bowstring brought back to his ear. He was expecting wolves or other predators, but what he found was so unexpected that he almost dropped the arrow he had drawn.
Two cloaked figures stood next to each other on the dusty path, the one on the right towering over the other. The smaller of the two was obviously a woman, her face undistinguishable because of the black hood that enveloped her head. The other figure was one of the most intimidating men Rand had ever seen. Rand was the tallest of the Two Rivers folk, and this man topped him by a head. It originally appeared that the ominous figure was wearing a green cloak, however on closer inspection, Rand realized that the colors kept shifting to blend in with the surroundings. He had a feeling that it would make him ill if he watched the billowing cloak for too long. The tall man also had a large sword strapped to his hip, and the look of someone who knew how to use it. Rand was almost paralyzed with fear of the man. He wanted to run, to shout out, but his feet would not let him. Instead of staring at the man, he diverted his gaze to the woman. His eyes locked with hers, and he was as intimidated by her as he was by the giant man at her side. His thoughts were racing. What kind of people are these?
Rand had no idea how long he faced the pair. It felt like days, but it was probably only a minute or so. He finally mustered up enough courage to break the uncomfortable silence, and was about to do so, when he heard a galloping horse approaching. The man had his sword drawn before Rand could blink, and soon discovered why. A black horse came over the hill, and on it, a black rider. Rand could see nothing of the rider, every part of him was hidden by a cloak blacker than anything he had ever seen before. He could tell there was something wrong with the rider, as well as his cloak. He just felt…evil. There was really no other word to describe him. And even though the horse was at a full gallop, the rider's cloak did not move at all, almost as if some force kept the wind from reaching it. This new fear seemed to free his previous paralysis, and he attempted to assume the void. His father's words echoed in his head as he tried. Think of a candle in your mind, he had told him. Think of a candle in your head, and feed all of your thoughts into the flame until nothing remains. Then blow out the candle. He achieved it on the first try, the first time that had happened. This accomplishment did not even cross his thoughts though, all his thoughts were of killing the rider. He had never killed a person before, but somehow he knew that this man, this thing, was here to kill him. He aimed his still-drawn bow at the thing and released, becoming one with the bow as the shaft flew from the taught string and straight into the eye, or at least where he assumed the eye to be. The blow knocked the black rider back a bit, but still he continued his charge.
The man in the green cloak leapt to attack, and the shadow thing countered just as fast. He drew a large black sword that seemed as evil as its wielder. Even though one man was on horseback and one on foot, they were perfectly matched. The two fighters moved so fast that their twin blades were a blur. At one moment, Rand thought that the green cloak was winning, at another, the shadow man. The black blade seemed to be pushing the other back now; it even appeared as if he was about to win. Just as he was about to strike the finishing blow, the green cloaked man seemed to see an opening, and thrust his sword through the stomach of his opponent, causing him to double over. He withdrew his sword, and struck the finishing blow, cutting the shadow's head off.
Rand finally managed to break free of the horrendous scene, and ran back to Caleb and Perrin. They were no more than a quarter mile away, but Rand was out of breath by the time he reached them. "Father" he gasped, "There are people on the path! I saw two strange people behind us, and a black man rode up and I shot at him with my bow, but he kept coming, and two men fought and one cut the others head off!" By the end of the outburst, Rand's voice was shaking uncontrollably from the incident, and he appeared as if he were about to collapse.
"Calm down boy!" Caleb was busy getting a water skin for his shaken son, but he made sure to talk to him, to get the story as well as to relax. "Now start from the top. What happened?"
Rand recapped the entire story to his father's unbelieving ears, but he eventually convinced him to at least go back to the site of the incident. When they went back, there was no sign of the headless man, nor even that of a minor scuffle in the dust. Nothing. "I swear! It all happened!" Rand's voice was beginning to sound almost panicky, as if he doubted himself now.
"Calm down lad" Caleb said reassuringly. "There have been many strange occurrences lately. Maybe the Dark One's touch even reaches here. Let us continue our way to Emond's Field and enjoy the festivities. Maybe these two strangers who helped you will be there as well."
They continued their journey, hoping to have the remainder of the trip be an uneventful one. The wind had calmed down to an almost pleasant breeze, and the sun was out. This would have made for an enjoyable trip, if it were not for the fact that the two boys were on edge from the strangers. Perrin kept glancing around, not sure whether to believe Rand or not, but not about to take any chances. Rand looked like he was about to jump out of his skin every time a branch broke or a leaf brushed his face. He kept an arrow ready just in case anything happened again, but kept telling himself that it wouldn't.
Rand eventually started to relax, and was just about to put his bow over his shoulder, when he heard a rustling noise from the tree in front of them. He whipped out an arrow and aimed it at where he thought the noise to come from, a dense outcropping of leaves on a branch that went right over the path. That was big, he thought, too big to be just a woodlands animal. He frantically signaled to his father, pointing to the copse, but he just ignored his son. Rand was about to shout out, when a figure leapt from the tree and landed not three feet in front of him. Before he had time to react, the tree-creature jumped at him, throwing its arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug.
"I missed you," the creature said in a female voice. "But now you are back for Bel Tine, and I am going to spend the entire time with you!"
Rand searched his mind for some memory of this girl, and a slow realization came over him. "Edgwene?"
Edgwene was the daughter of the mayor of Emond's Field, and her and Rand had been friends all their lives. They were close in age, and their parents were good friends. Everyone in town knew that they were going to get married someday; there was no doubt in any of their minds. Even Rand and Edgwene knew, although they tried to hide the fact.
"Of course it's Edgwene! Who else would come all the way out here just to see a great lout like yourself! Oh, hello sir," she said, making a polite nod in Caleb's direction. "Hello Perrin. Keeping out of trouble?"
Perrin simply glared at her, not dignifying the comment with a response. She is the same age as I am! He furiously thought. Where does she get off acting like a part of the Women's Circle?
They made polite conversation the rest of the way to Emond's Field, with Edgwene talking of how the town had been doing, and all the latest gossip. What is it with women and gossip? Rand thought, Why is it that I can never understand women? I wonder if anyone can? Both young men continued thinking about how bothersome women could be, and the talkative girl kept filling the silence with her musical voice, all the way to town.