Jed's sword rebounded from that of the myrddraal and he swiftly brought it round in an arc, aiming for its neck. The myrddraal moved like lightning, its black sword flashing up to meet Jed's in the light of the fires. The two swords met in another flash of blue light and Jed jumped back, putting himself between the myrddraal and the Red sister. The shadowspawn faced him, eyeless gaze piercing Jed's eyes and filling him with an unnatural urge to flee screaming, as far from that pale face as he could run. Jed instinctively slipped into the void, leaving fear, anger and the sounds of battle outside the bubble. Within, he could feel the glow of saidin beckoning to him and Jed yearned to grasp it and burn this abomination from existence. The myrddraal seemed to sense the change in Jed, the lack of fear. It snarled and brought its sword down on Jed's head. Jed parried with The Boar Rushes Downhill and retaliated with the move's offensive twin Boar Rushes down the Mountain, dealing several aggressive overhead strikes before slipping under the black sword as the myrddraal attempted to relieve his head from his shoulders. Jed dropped to one knee and twisted, his back facing the myrddraal as he stabbed back and up in the form Kissing the Adder, his blade stabbing the myrddraal in the chest. The creature screamed, the sound of its voice lifting the hairs on Jed's neck. It was undoubtedly dead but would not admit it until the setting of the sun, so Jed jumped forward, spinning and performed Plucking the Low-Hanging Apple, slicing the myrddraal's head neatly from its shoulders. The headless body staggered blindly forward, hacking at the air in an attempt to reach Jed. He easily avoided one the corpse's swings and quickly sliced through the back of the myrddraal's knees, bringing it down and then proceeded to cut off its arms at the elbow.

Jed wasted no time; the sound of shrieking reached his ears in the void and Jed looked up to see dozens of trollocs on the ground, thrashing wildly, and more charging towards him through the trees, another halfman urging them on. The Al'sieta Sedai were busy elsewhere, huddled in a group thirty paces away, but standing behind Jed were the two Reds holding on to his shield with their backs against a tree, looking terrified. Jed could imagine what they were feeling; they were being attacked by a trolloc raiding party and could do nothing with the Power unless they let go of his shield and so were completely defenceless but they could not let go of his shield because in their eyes he was a dreaded male channeller and, to the Red Ajah at least, was worse than anything the shadow could throw at them excepting a dreadlord or the forsaken themselves. Rashelle was standing before them, ready to defend against any attack, and next to her was Namelle, holding Jed's twin shortswords and looking determined. He could see no fear in her eyes, and could not decide whether that was a good thing or not. Jed turned back to the shadowspawn, taking the sword in both hands. He could not let them die, burn him.

As the creatures closed on him, Jed flew forward, Lizard in the Thornbush slicing through his opponents. He jumped up from one knee and quickly severed the third trolloc's head, its eagle beak snarling at him as it tumbled away into the bushes. Jed jumped back as the fourth trolloc hurled a barbed spear at him. Letting go of his sword with one hand he snagged the spear from the air and using its momentum spun around and rammed it into the trolloc's stomach just as the creature was about to crash into him. Jed heaved forward on the spear with one hand as he severed the trolloc's sword-arm, pushing the trolloc back into the myrddraal. The halfman stumbled under the weight of the trolloc and shoved the dying creature off it in time to raise its black sword to deflect Jed's strike to its head. Jed's arms jarred when the two swords met and, through pure luck, the black sword was knocked less than a hands-breadth from the top of his head. The myrddraal was not so lucky. Jed's sword cut down through its torso, almost cleaving it in two. The myrddraal screeched in pain and rage and struck Jed with its fist. Jed fell, slashing wildly at the creature's legs. He missed, and the myrddraal, one hand holding its innards in, raised its sword to finish him. Suddenly one of Jed's shortswords appeared in the creature's shoulder, causing it to drop its blade. The blade fell toward Jed's chest and he rolled out of the way as it hit the grass, feeling a slight sting as it scratched his shoulder. Jed looked up in time to see the myrddraal and two trollocs standing over him burst into flames. The heat washed over him and he staggered to his feet, moving away from the flames. Jed looked around. The Al'sieta Sedai were still huddled in their group at the edge of the clearing, a crowd of trollocs still attempting to reach them. Obviously the stupid creatures hadn't realised that both myrddraal were now dead. There were still more trollocs scattered around the clearing thrashing and clutching their heads on the ground. They must have been the ones Linked to that first myrddraal. There was a growing numbness in Jed's shoulder and the rest of him felt exhausted. He didn't think he would get far if he ran tonight, whether he managed to escape Rashelle anyway.

He turned his head to look at her. She was busy tending to Namelle, who seemed to have cut herself with his other sword. She must have thrown the first. A risky move; she might have hit him, but maybe that wouldn't have seemed such a bad thing to her, or even to the others. Jed retrieved his blade from the grass and sheathed it. He looked to the myrddraal. His shortsword was still in its shoulder where Namelle had thrown it. He walked over to the smouldering remains and yanked the sword out. It was slightly burned at the end but nothing a good oiling and sharpening wouldn't fix. Jed walked over to the tree where Rashelle had just finished Healing Namelle's wound. The two Reds holding his shield looked up at him fearfully, but he just put the shortsword on the grass next to Namelle.

"Here," he said, looking at her. "I've taken something from you which can never be replaced and for that I am sorry, but perhaps I can begin to make amends for my actions." He gestured to the two swords.

"If you would like I can teach you how to use those properly, then maybe you won't feel helpless the next time we are attacked." Jed didn't know what had made him say that but he couldn't take it back now. Namelle looked up at him, angrily wiping away tears from her face.

"I wouldn't have needed it if you hadn't...had..." she broke down, sobbing into her hands. One of the two Reds holding his shield glared up at him but made no move toward comforting her former Sister. Rashelle glared right back at the Red as she patted Namelle's shoulder and whispered comforting words to her. She then stood and faced Jed.

"You fight well, Jed," she said, before looking over at the other Al'sieta Sedai. "Perhaps you could put those sword-skills to use once again," she nodded toward the fighting still going on. Jed looked at the Reds. The trollocs were almost all dead, dying or running. Besides, he didn't feel much like aiding Alaria or Katerine. And not that other Red he had saved, either. The brunet Red was huddled in the middle of the group, not even fighting.

"What a coward," he said, nodding towards her. Rashelle nodded for a moment before catching herself.

"Her name is Elena," Rashelle said, sounding disgruntled. "She came to the Tower to learn when she was twelve, the youngest Novice taken in since the end of the Trolloc Wars. She's been Aes Sedai for fifty years and this is the first time she's left the Tower since she was raised." Rashelle looked at Jed with what looked like disappointment. "Weren't you scared and nervous the first time you left your village?" she asked.

Jed thought before answering. "Yes," he said, "but I was not so scared that I would not aid somebody who saved my life. Or is it that I am a man, and saving my life is beneath her?" he asked. The last of the trollocs had disappeared into the trees and Jed was surprised to see another myrddraal thrashing on the ground behind Alaria. It looked as if she had been torturing it. There were grooves and cuts all over its face and where the eyes should have been were two bleeding holes. Someone had cut eye sockets into the myrddraal's face. Jed's eyebrows lifted in surprise, and Rashelle looked at the halfman.

"Questioning it before they killed it," she said offhandedly.

"Why," he asked.

"To find out what it was doing this far south, of course," she said, frowning at him.

"I should think that was obvious without needing to put shadowspawn to the question," he laughed.

Rashelle and the other three women looked at him questioningly. Jed sighed.

"The raiding party has probably been shadowing us since you captured me, maybe following you since you left Garadrin," he said. Their eyebrows shot up in surprise and one of the Reds holding his shield said incredulously, "A trolloc raiding party following us?"

"Nine Al'sieta Sedai tracking a man who can channel across the borderlands," Jed said. "Imagine what a blow it would be to the White Tower if they had managed to kill you all." Jed thought they would have guessed this themselves, but Al'sieta Sedai were always full of themselves and probably thought that the trollocs were planning a new War and that they could have foiled the Shadow's plans by stopping of their advance scouting parties.

"Why do you think they would leave you alive?" one of them asked. Her green-eyed gaze tried to cut through him, and almost looked as if they could.

"Tomeine, surely you don't believe that he could have had anything to do with this attack. Two halfmen tried to skewer him for Light's sake," Rashelle said. The Red, Tomeine, snorted and looked away from Jed's suddenly hard expression.

"Maybe you should think about this for a moment, Tomeine," the other Red said. "Imagine the nine..." she looked at Namelle and corrected herself, "...the eight of us killed and a man who can channel left alive and free." She shuddered.

Tomeine's face paled. Jed knew very well what she was thinking. Nine Aes Sedai, for he still included Namelle in the group-the White Tower would not know that she had been severed-killed and a potential madman with the ability to grasp saidin left free. Jed knew how powerful he was and believed he could at the very least lay waste to everything he could see for miles, if only for a short time before he exhausted himself.

Jed looked over at Alaria and the other Al'sieta Sedai. They were walking among the trollocs, killing the ones that had been linked to the myrddraal. Katerine was looking his way. He met her eyes for an instant before she turned back to the shadowspawn. Jed shivered. He didn't think he had ever seen so much hate in someone's eyes before. He would have to keep his eyes open around her. 'Oh,' he thought, 'she will not have forgotten the twice-daily beatings for severing Namelle.'

Jed watched as Katerine walked over to Alaria and spoke to her. Alaria looked over to where Jed was standing and then glanced at the sword still clasped in his right hand. She frowned and nodded to Katerine, who smiled and called out to Elena and Salarme. Jed groaned. Salarme. That could only mean another beating. Jed looked to the east above the trees and saw lightness to the sky. Dawn was drawing near and a beating with it. He would have thought that they would let him off or forget were they anything but Red Ajah.

Katerine lead them like hounds towards him, Elena looking uncomfortable and Salarme resigned. Katerine had a smirk on her face.

Jed calmly wiped his sword on the grass and sheathed it before walking over to Rashelle who was busy moving the corpses out of the clearing. She looked up at him as he stopped in front of her.

"I would ask you to care for this while I am...indisposed," he said, glancing at the advancing Reds.

Rashelle looked in the direction he was and muttered angrily under her breath. "I will not allow this," she said angrily. "It is barbaric."

Namelle and the two Reds holding his shield looked up when Rashelle called to them.

"Stay here," she said firmly. Jed nodded. Rashelle turned to Rhemala and Tomeine as they walked over. "Jed defended us while we were vulnerable tonight, though he could just as easily have turned against us and used the attack to escape."

'Not likely,' he thought, 'otherwise I would have'. He knew he was lying to himself even as he thought it. Raised in the Land between Two Rivers he could no more think of abandoning women in need than he could lift himself with the Power.

The growing numbness in his shoulder had spread to the rest of his left arm and was now entering his chest. Jed was finding it more and more difficult to breath but thought it no more than his exhaustion catching up with him.

He turned his attention back to the Al'sieta Sedai. It seemed they were discussing whether or not he should be beaten this morning. Jed felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe they would leave him alone for a couple of days. They would not be able to punish him when they reached Jaroncen for fear of attracting too much attention, unless they meant to show him off to the people there. Jed was not a False Dragon so they probably would not.

"Move out of my way, Rashelle," Jed heard. He looked at the group and saw to his surprise that Rashelle, Rhemala and Namelle were in a line between him and Katerine. The numbness in his shoulder had begun to itch and was beginning to irritate him. Tomeine was to the side of the line, her eyes on Jed. He felt at the shield and saw that one of the dots had gone hard, but the other was still soft. 'Tomeine must be holding the shield,' Jed thought, 'while Rhemala tied hers and let go.'

Jed thought about making a break for it, but dashed the idea when he realised that he would not get far in his condition. Better to stay with the Al'sieta Sedai for now.

"You cannot punish him this morning, Katerine," Rhemala was saying, "he has risked his life to defend us, even when he knew the cost. For today at least, let him rest and his wounds heal."

"What you are doing is disgusting, Katerine," Rashelle added with a twist of her mouth.

Katerine looked surprised. "Her, I would have expected this from," she said, jabbing her thumb in Rashelle's direction, "but you, Rhemala? Namelle was your friend. How could you let this man," her face showed disgust, "get away without punishment?" she demanded.

Rhemala opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Namelle, standing next to her.

"How dare you!" she shouted in Katerine's face. The other Reds had all stopped what they were doing to watch. "You speak as if I am dead, Katerine! I'm not, I've just been...been...," she took a huge breath, closed her eyes and finished, "Stilled!" Katerine flinched when she spoke the dreaded word, and so did every other woman there.

Namelle opened her eyes. She glared at Katerine and the other women. "Ultimately, whether I am Aes Sedai or not, it is my choice whether the punishment continues." Katerine tried to protest but Namelle stopped her with a finger in the chest. Katerine stepped back in surprise and blushed crimson when she realised what she had done. "My choice!" she said. "And I choose to let him go free of punishments until we reach the Tower. He faces the same fate he gave me, and that is more than anyone should ever have to endure," she finished, sobbing. Rashelle patted her shoulder and Rhemala offered comforting words, even hesitantly laying a hand on her other shoulder. Jed realised suddenly that his arm was burning. He could barely breathe and his left lung felt like it was being crushed. He tried to speak but nothing came out.

"Katerine, Namelle is right." The voice belonged to Alaria. "However much I wish it were not so we cannot harm him unless Namelle asks. His life belongs to her in payment for what he did." Katerine scowled and Jed saw Rashelle's head shake. So she still wanted him punished, but thought he deserved to be let off, if only for one night. He should have known better. All Aes Sedai were the same, no matter how pleasant they seemed on the outside.

"Well then," Katerine said, smoothing her riding dress in frustration, "at least take that sword away from him. He is a man and whether or not he can channel he cannot be trusted with it." She pointed at Jed and froze, staring at him in shock. Jed could no longer feel anything but the pain in his arm and across his chest. He had lost control and was sweating profusely, his shirt damp and his hair soaked. He could barely stand and could not process the looks on all their faces as he struggled to stay conscious.

"Jed!" someone screamed, and he felt something rap him and lift him as he fell. Everything blurred, and Jed felt as if he had been dropped into a furnace. As he slipped out of consciousness he felt something cold fill him, but it did not relieve the flames burning him for long. Jed heard voices, or what he thought were voices, as the pain engulfed him once again.

"Stop the burning!" he screamed. Jed suddenly felt something release, and suddenly the pain was outside the void and he could feel a light over his shoulder. Saidin. He reached for it and had almost managed to grasp it when suddenly it was taken away from him. He could still feel it though, but it was rushing through him, going somewhere else. Was this it? Had he finally succumbed to the taint? But no, even as pain speared through him, he felt the taint, rushing to greet him as saidin raged through him but stopping once it reached his mind. Pure saidin flowed through him, and Jed had time only to wonder where it was going as he fell into blackness.


Jed didn't know where he was. It was strange, though; there were bright lights everywhere, like the stars in the night sky, and the space around him was indeed black. Some of the lights looked closer than others, and some seemed pale, indistinct, almost as if they were not truly there. Jed felt tired; though since he was sure he was already sleeping he didn't know how that was possible. Gently he slipped away, and dreams took him.

He stood on a rocky outcrop at the edge of a raging sea. Lightning struck down from dark clouds above him and in the distance Jed thought he could see mountains rising and falling. There were fires burning on those mountains, some seemed to be consumed in flame and disappeared in moments. Suddenly the scene before him changed and Jed saw two figures standing in the distance. He found himself moving towards them across the increasingly rough terrain. Jed saw that to his left the land was smooth and even, a large lake, or sea, maybe half a league away across the plain. He looked to his right and saw mountains and jagged peaks rising out of the earth. Huge glaciers of ice were crumbling and forming amid mountains of fire. When he looked up he saw that above him a storm was raging, lightning flashing down from the sky and cleaving great furrows in the land , leaving flashes of light but no sound, anywhere. The storm ended in a straight line going as far as Jed could see in both directions before and behind him. With a start Jed realised that the line where the storm ended and calm, clear skies began was directly above the place where the endless mountains met the smooth plains and calm sea. Struggling over the jagged landscape and fighting his way through the rough winds Jed made his way toward the two figures. He did not try to move onto the plains, but could not fathom why. Surely it would be easier going to walk there instead of on this mountainside. As he drew closer to the two figures Jed noticed that the land beneath his feet was coated in a sickly looking grass. When his foot came down on it the grass leaned toward him as if in a breeze. Instead of touching him though the grass seemed to melt away from his feet, leaving only the harsh rock and earth behind. Jed was close enough now to see that they figures before him were male and female. Soon he found himself close enough to see that they were twins, their faces exactly alike except for her full lips and curves and his obvious masculinity. She was more beautiful than Jed could ever have imagined and her brother just as handsome, though Jed noticed this only in passing. Their hair, hers long and straight to her waist and his, a wild mess to his shoulders were purest white and darkest black respectively, though there were fine streaks running through both that were red, brown, blue, yellow and violet. Jed drew up in front of the man. He looked twenty and she the same. The woman was standing on the edge of the plain and the boy leaning against her, his feet firmly planted on the rough grass. Now that Jed was close enough he saw that there were dark circles around the man's bloodshot eyes and his skin was covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

'Where am I?' Jed asked. 'Who are you?'

The woman smiled at him and the man ginned through his anguish. 'You know us, In'cendya Par'vulas,' she said.

'I do not know what you mean,' he said, though the name she had called him tugged at something within him.

The woman smiled again. The man tried to speak but coughed instead. The woman's smile turned sad as she supported him while he retched.

'Are you sick?' Jed asked. 'Is there anything I can do for you?' He moved closer to the pair and offered his arm to support the man. He leaned on Jed's arm and gave him an appreciative smile.

'Nothing can be done for me yet, In'cendya Par'vulas, not for a long time yet I fear. Still, it is no matter. Time has little meaning here.' His voice was strong and weak at the same time. Jed frowned, confused.

'Am I dreaming?' he asked.

The woman answered, her voice filling him with joy. 'Yes,' she said, 'but this place is not for you, not now that you have clothed yourself with flesh. Jed's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Clothed himself with flesh?

'Who are you,' he asked, 'and what is this place?' Jed felt a growing cold in his chest and the dream began to fade. The man began coughing again and the woman caught him as he slipped out of Jed's arm. Slipped through his arm he saw with horror. The man and woman were fading along with everything else. 'Wait,' he shouted, 'tell me who you are!' They were fading, everything fading as he was pulled away, the cold within him filling his entire body.

'I already told you,' she said, smiling sadly as she looked at the man, 'you have always known us, In'cendya Par'vulas.' Then he knew. Jed's eyes widened as he looked at the fading world around him and at the man and woman standing before him, both smiling now that the man had stopped coughing. Jed gasped as he was suddenly jerked back, the man and woman vanishing along with the dream.


Rashelle was furious at Elena for what she had been about to do. She glared at the other woman as Namelle shouted at Katerine. Whether he was able to touch saidin or not, it had been her duty to aid him after he saved her life. She had seen Jed take his scabbard and sword from Namelle and nod to her. Rashelle was still shocked to know that she had felt a sudden jealousy when Jed nodded at Namelle in thanks. She had taken out her anger on a trolloc, throwing a fireball right into its face. The next thing she knew a sword-wielding Jed had thrown himself between a myrdraal and Elena, stopping the blade that would have taken her head from her shoulders. Rashelle had been amazed to see his skill with the sword as he fought off the myrdraal and killed it. And Elena had repaid him by running for the safety of Alaria and the other Reds just before the group had been separated by the foul creatures. Now here she was, willing to beat him alongside Katerine even with the life-debt she owed him. The thought of the corruption in the Red Ajah sickened her, as much as it sickened most others of the Green. Since the Betrayal of Manetheren the Green Ajah had never sided with the Red for anything, opposing them in everything except when the Amyrlin demanded they work together. Rashelle was only aiding the Reds because Alaria had ordered her to join them. Being of higher standing in the Tower made no difference when a Red was hunting a man who could channel so Rashelle had had no choice but to join the hunting party, though it was expected of her anyway.

Elena avoided her eyes, looking at anything but at Rashelle or the man standing behind her. Rashelle admitted that she still felt a slight shiver whenever she turned her back on him. A man who could channel. She had been excited to join the hunt and horrified by what happened to Namelle, but when she had seen how handsome the man was and how sorry and resigned he had looked whenever his eyes had fallen on Namelle her fear and anger of him had begun to subside. He was a man who could channel, but that was not his fault.

Rashelle shook her head and focused on what was being said. "Well then," Katerine said, looking flustered, "at least take that sword away from him. He is a man and whether or not he can channel he cannot be trusted with it." Katerine pointed at Jed and her eyes suddenly widened as she froze in shock. Rashelle spun, along with Namelle, Rhemala and Tomeine, who had turned her attention away from Jed to watch the argument. She had expected to see Jed gone but nothing prepared her for what she did see.

Jed was swaying on his feet, barely able to stand and was dripping with sweat. His eyes were closed and he was gasping for breath. Suddenly his legs gave way and he fell.

"Jed!" she and Namelle shouted. Quickly Rashelle embraced saidar and wrapped him in flows of Air, catching him as he dropped. Namelle was at his side in an instant, which for some reason surprised and angered her at the same time, though she didn't understand why she was angry. Rashelle walked to his side as calmly as she could, though she also wanted to run. She knelt at his side and looked at his face. He was gasping for breath and looked hardly able to remain conscious.

"Salarme," Rashelle shouted.

"I'm here," she said. The rest of them gathered around as Salarme delved him and began to weave webs of Air, Spirit and Water to Heal him. "The wound is in his left shoulder she said calmly, laying the web over him. Rashelle watched Namelle out of the corner of her eye as the weave settled into his body. Namelle's face was pale and she was clasping Jed's heron blade to her breast, her knuckles white around the hilt and scabbard. Rashelle's eyes were drawn back to the Healing as she heard Salarme curse. Salarme never cursed. Even when angry she was always polite which was why Rashelle and the other Novices and Accepted had been astonished when she chose the Red Ajah over the Yellow. Everyone, even the Yellows, had expected her to choose them; so much so that it was believed that they had taught her their secret signs in preparation for her Raising to the Shawl.

"What's wrong?" Rashelle asked quickly. Namelle had opened her mouth, presumably to ask the same thing but closed it when Rashelle got there ahead of her.

"I am not powerful enough on my own. He fought the myrddraal?" she asked.

"Yes," Rhemala said before Rashelle could speak, "the thing dropped its sword when Namelle threw one of his shortswords at it. The boy managed to roll out of the way but the blade must have caught his shoulder."

"A Thakan'dar wrought blade," Katerine said in disgust. She seemed to say a lot with disgust but this time Rashelle did not disagree. Forged in the valley of Thakan'dar, and completed using the souls of people captured in trolloc raids, the black blades of myrddraal did not last forever but even a scratch meant death. "He is finished!" Katerine said, a small quirk of her mouth betraying her feelings at the thought of Jed dying. Rashelle fought a surge of anger that welled up in her at the other woman's words.

"If we form a circle we may have enough strength to save him," she said. Maybe enough, but they would not know unless they tried. "We cannot let him die, Alaria," Rashelle stated firmly.

"I have already sent a pigeon to Tar Valon," she said, "so it would be unwise to return without him. Whether or not his death was caused by us, the other Ajahs will see it differently." She looked pointedly at Rashelle when she finished. The Reds were still not in favour, since memories of Tetsuan were strong in the eyes of the other Ajahs. If they returned without a man to gentle they would be set hard penances, Rashelle along with them, though hers would be less since she was of the green Ajah.

One by one they agreed to try, reaching for the source without embracing it. Salarme Linked with them one by one until all eight of them were a part of the circle. Namelle looked pitifully out-of-place among them, the only one not glowing with Power. Rashelle knew that Namelle could still see the glow but the woman wasn't even looking at them, all her attention on the dying man in front of her. She looked as though she was holding onto a lifeline the way she stared at him. Rashelle realised suddenly that Salarme was not holding the shield on Jed. In fact it had dissipated completely. Tomeine had left the shield intact when she let go of the source to be drawn into the circle but Salarme had released it as soon as she had complete control.

"Why did you release his shield?" Alaria demanded, stepping closer to Salarme.

"I must have all my concentration if I am to Heal him," she retorted, "and a shield may interfere with the weave if it is still active." Not looking away from Jed's now still form she added, "Besides, he is not going to wake up unless I Heal him, so how is he going to embrace the source?" Alaria nodded grudgingly, and a few of the others gulped nervously.

Rashelle didn't care; she only wanted to see him awake and talking again. She still had questions for him. Rashelle suspected that Jed was a lot older than he looked. With smooth skin and red-streaked black hair and dark eyes he looked as if he had no more than twenty Namedays behind him. She had been studying him since his capture and, when he was conscious at least, she had seen experience and age in his eyes, more than the twenty summers he looked could have gathered in such a short life. She did not like to admit it, but he looked a lot like an Aes Sedai.

Salarme delved him again, drawing deeply through the seven of them. Rashelle had to focus not to be distracted by the amount of Power flowing through her. It was strange that the glow seemed to encompass all of them but Namelle without breaking or moulding around her. A true study of how this occurred had never been completed when it was discovered that they could not go beyond thirteen without men. Then, the Brown Ajah had completely forgotten about it. Rashelle shook her head in frustration. Not only had she been distracted but she had begun thinking like a Brown. She refocused on the Healing.

As Salarme reached into Jed with saidar something changed. Rashelle could not say what, but something in Jed's expression seemed to release, as if he was no longer feeling the pain of his wound. Suddenly Salarme gave a start and squealed, astounding Rashelle and the others. Then Rashelle felt it. Something else had entered the circle. Rashelle could feel a raging torrent of...something, something chaotic, beyond her comprehension. Perhaps it was the Healing.

"Alaria!" Katerine shouted. She looked terrified and was trying to break the circle.

"Stop, Katerine," Salarme held up her hand without turning her gaze from Jed's still form. Katerine, eyes wide, tried to speak but Salarme interrupted her. "I know," she said, closing her eyes quickly before opening them and beginning the Healing. "I know."

Saidar flowed into Jed, forming the standard Healing weaves, and suddenly the chaotic force that had invaded their circle was drawn into the weaving. As it disappeared something wound its way around the weaves of saidar, strengthening the web as it was laid into Jed's body. Rashelle could not see it. She could not feel it. A force of nothing seemed to be weaving itself into the Healing. Rashelle gasped as she realised what it was, and felt shivers freeze her spine. 'Saidin!' she thought frantically. Saidin, the tainted male half of the True Source was in their circle!

Rashelle, eyes wide, saw others in the circle begin to understand, saw their faces turn to horror. Alaria's jaws were clenched and sweat rolled down her face. Tarnia, a usually quiet but fierce woman from the nation of Farashelle, with dark eyes and mostly grey hair had not spoken since Jed had been captured. But now she was whispering, too quietly for Rashelle to understand. It sounded like the Common Tongue. Elena suddenly turned and retched, leaning away from the group. Rashelle and the others respectfully turned their heads away. Not everybody had the stomach to endure this. Salarme, still weaving flows of Air, Water and Spirit only looked determined.

Suddenly, Power stopped flowing into Jed, and Salarme stepped back, staggering slightly. Rashelle was surprised to feel her feet aching and looked around to see Rhemala, Tarnia and Katerine all sitting on the grass tiredly. How long had they been there? Namelle was still clutching Jed's sword to her breast, but she no longer looked afraid.

"Is it done?" Alaria asked. Salarme looked up and nodded.

"It is done," she said, before swaying her way over to one of the oaks and sitting down on one of its roots. Rashelle looked up and was surprised to see the sun almost directly above them. They had been there for almost half the day she realised.

Salarme spoke up from her position under the oak. "We should leave this place soon," she called out, "we have dallied here too long already." Suiting her own words she stood and began tiredly saddling her horse.

"Yes, thank you," Alaria muttered. "Katerine, Tarnia, Namelle, start loading the cart. Tomeine and Rhemala, would you lift him," she pointed at Jed, "onto the cart and then saddle your horses. Elena, clean yourself up and then stay with Salarme; she looks ready to fall off her horse." Salarme did indeed look ready to fall. She had barely managed to mount her brown mare. "Rashelle," Alaria said. She gestured to the road. Everyone was ready and mounted, except her.

"Yes, of course," she said, scrambling onto her bay gelding. Rashelle was very proud of Ashan, which meant sword in the Noble's Tongue, or the Old Tongue depending on your origins. He was a warhorse, bred in the borderlands. Rashelle had bought him in Maradon almost a year ago, when she had first come to the north. Her sisters of the Green Ajah had said that if none of the men in the Tower appealed to her the next best place to get a Warder would be in the borderlands, so she had come north to search, trading her timid grey and a gold mark in Maradon for Ashan. She hadn't thought it worth it then, but had grown to love the horse over the last year. Jed's horse was also a warhorse but she doubted he was as good as Ashan.

The party turned onto the road, Jed's horse leading the cart, and the Red sisters split into a group before and behind it, Alaria joining Rashelle at the front with Salarme and Katerine behind them, then Namelle in the cart watching Jed, her horse riding alongside and Rhemala, Tomeine, Elena and Tarnia riding behind the cart, keeping an eye on Jed and the surrounding countryside.

"It occurs to me," Alaria suddenly said as they rode, "that we could use some guards to ride with us." Rashelle stared at her in astonishment, Katerine and Salarme no less astounded by what Alaria had just said.

"What?" she asked. "You want guards?" she asked. Alaria was Red. Light! Why would she want guards?

"Don't look so surprised," she laughed. "I'm sure we could deal with any threat on our own, as we did last night, but doesn't it seem suspicious to you, nine women travelling without protection with an unconscious man in a cart?"

"I suppose it does, but these are the borderlands and this is the Border Road. There may be those who will recognise your faces as those of an Aes Sedai," Rashelle finished glumly. She had not yet been Aes Sedai long enough to gain the ageless face and it would be at least another five years before it began to show. It was said in the Tower that once, before Tetsuan's betrayal of Manetheren, Aes Sedai had not developed ageless features upon donning the shawl as full sisters. Nobody knew why this had begun to happen but there was a popular rumour among the novices that it was a curse on all Aes Sedai by the last queen of Manetheren, Eldrene the Rose of the Sun, for betraying Manetheren to its doom. It would not seem so much of a curse had it not been for the fact that, despite the Tower's best attempts to quell them, the facts remained that Aes Sedai had also lived for hundreds of years longer before Manetheren fell.

Alaria spoke, bringing Rashelle out of her wandering thoughts. "If there are those in Jaroncen who recognise an ageless face then we will have to either hire them as guards or convince them to keep quiet."

Rashelle frowned. "I would have thought that you would want to show Jed at every town, let the people see what he is."

Alaria laughed and Katerine and Salarme smiled in amusement. "That is just a rumour spread among the novices and the other Ajahs," she explained. "We only let everyone know False Dragons so that, if they escape, people they pass who have seen them will recognise them and, if they are smart, keep their mouths shut until they can send a message to us." Rashelle kept her face smooth but inside she was scolding herself for not working this out sooner.

"I don't understand though," she said, confused, "surely you would want to show the people that the Red Ajah capture all men who can channel, and not just those who claim to be the Dragon Reborn." That is what she had always assumed, that the Reds would want the world to know that they hunted down all men who could channel.

"Why would we need to show them all?" Alaria asked. "There are certainly less men now than there were five hundred years ago who can channel the One Power but would showing them all to the people give the idea that there must be even more that we do not find?" Rashelle thought she was beginning to understand.

"No," Alaria continued, "we do not want to frighten people into believing that there is a man channelling saidin around every corner so we only show off those who cannot be hidden. Since he," she pointed at the cart. Alaria never spoke his name for some reason, "was smart enough not to reveal to the population that he was channelling back in Garadrin we did not need to announce that there was a man wielding saidin on the loose."

"So that is how you help to protect, apart from hunting them down anyway, by hiding how many there really are," Rashelle said.

"Exactly," Alaria turned to Salarme. "When will he wake up?" she asked. Salarme looked back at the cart and the two forms inside.

"Maybe half a week, Alaria," she said, "five or six days, seven at the most. If he doesn't wake up after that he won't wake." Alaria nodded thoughtfully.

"Will Healing him every night help," Rashelle asked. Salarme frowned and shook her head.

"No, it will most likely only make things worse. I've removed the poison of the myrddraal's blade but his body must heal on its own." She looked at Rashelle and added, "It's up to him now."

When they stopped to rest for the night, after the horses had been tethered and their feedbags placed over their heads, Rashelle sat down around the sheltered fire with the others. They had placed wards around the camp, one that would warn of any shadowspawn or human approaching from more than a hundred paces and another to wrap them in flows of Air until the sisters could determine whether they were shadowspawn or not. Jed had not stirred since the Healing but his breathing was even and he did not look like he was in pain. Namelle was feeding him water and soup off to one side. It had shocked them all when she had taken his two shortswords, oiled and sharpened them and then sheathed them and placed them beside her pack, within reach of her blankets. Rashelle supposed that now that she no longer had the Power she needed something to fill the hole left behind and had decided to take on the swords Jed had offered her in an attempt to retain the will to live. They were all still uneasy around her but Rashelle and Rhemala at least were making the effort to treat her as they had before, asking her opinion and speaking to her as an equal.

The Reds were speaking to each other quietly. Salarme stood and announced that she was going to bed, before staggering slowly over to her blankets and falling asleep. A whole morning of Healing and a day in the saddle, she should have collapsed hours ago but somehow managed to remain awake until now. Rashelle smiled to herself. Besides Salarme, she herself was the best healer among them though her skills were only average. She had healed away some of Salarme's fatigue, but only enough to ensure that Salarme ate before collapsing in her blankets. Rashelle thought about when the Reds had passed through the village she had been staying in on her way to Elsalam in search of a Warder. It turned out now that Rashelle had already seen Jed in the village inn. He had been finishing a meal when she walked in the door but she had thought nothing of it until the next morning. She had seen his sword with a heron branded on the hilt as he was leaving for the stables to check on his horse and possessions. She had asked the innkeeper how long he was staying and the man told her that she had just missed him and that he was leaving that very moment after paying for a night's rent. When she went out to stop him, thinking that if he really was a blademaster she could take him before another sister found him he had already gone. Her saddle had broken upon reaching the village so she was stuck there until the leathersmith could replace it. Two days and several travellers and merchants guards later the Reds had rode in hunting a man who had channelled in Garadrin and she had been caught up in the hunt. She had been very surprised when she saw him in that little clearing.

"Alaria," she said, "you mentioned earlier that Jed had channelled in Garadrin." Alaria stopped eating and looked at her before answering.

"I suppose you ought to know," she said. Rashelle waited.

"We had been tracking signs of a man channelling, reading the resonances he left behind whenever he channelled you understand, when the trail went cold. We hired a tracker in a village six hours back along the road to find his trail. I suppose he realised that he was being followed, or just decided to stop channelling for as long as he could. These things happen, especially when they don't want to channel." She paused to finish her meal and embraced the Power briefly to clean the bowl and spoon.

"Anyway, the tracker led us, following traces we couldn't see in the earth. You can imagine what he must have felt like each day, saying we were no closer to him and that the man we were following was still several days ahead of us. The tracker, Jaril I think his name was, knew we were Aes Sedai and was terrified of us" She laughed and shook her head. "We were only four then; this was before Garadrin," she explained. "Somehow Jaril lost the trail, said that it was gone, had just ended. He reasoned that the man we were following must have left false trails and taken another route. We searched everywhere, Jaril looking for traces in the land and we looking for resonances left by uses of saidin. Nothing," she finished sourly. "I'm not even sure that he knew we were following him now. He might simply have been hiding his path from anyone. We," she gestured to herself, Katerine, Tomeine and Salarme, "were tired and fed up so we told Jaril to take us to the nearest town, which happened to be Garadrin. When we learned that it was on the edge of a river which joined the Arinelle further down and traded along it we travelled as fast as we could, almost killing our horses. If he was trying to escape us and knew where he was going it would likely be there, to board a ship to escape us. We were in the town for about a month or so, and gathered Namelle, Rhemala, Elena and Tarnia as they came." She stopped and grimaced, looking at Katerine. "While we were there Katerine learned that the Mayor of the town had a man in service to him who could somehow smell violence and death and she tried to kidnap him." Katerine scowled, and opened her mouth.

"He might very well have been able to channel and you know it, Alaria. Any man doing something unnatural or otherwise impossible should be taken to the Tower to be gentled or studied." Rashelle looked at Katerine in disbelief.

"If we dragged every man with any unusual abilities to the Tower it would be packed full by the end of the first month," she said. Rhemala smiled and Tarnia laughed out loud. Katerine looked like she was sulking, if an Aes Sedai could do that.

"As I was saying," Alaria interrupted, glaring at all of them, "the mayor wasn't best pleased that we had tried to kidnap his...sniffer," Alaria said awkwardly, " but we assured him that Katerine was very sorry and that we would not be taking the man away from him. He apparently depends on him quite a lot to find criminals and such. About a month and a half after we arrived, news came that a village ten miles north had been massacred by trollocs. Reports hadn't come sooner because the watchtower in the village hadn't been lit. The scouts reported that somebody had locked themselves in and slit her wrists." Alaria looked at her significantly and Rashelle nodded in understanding. The others muttered under their breaths angrily. "A day later the town was attacked. One of the townsmen unlocked and opened the main gates and killed the guards there. Trolloc raiding party got into the town, about two thousand of them and apparently one of the larger raiding parties. We were fighting them off, calling lightning and such when Namelle realised that a lot of the lightning bolts coming down on the filthy creatures were more powerful than hers. She said that at one point when she called one bolt, ten more struck down a moment later in quick succession, devastating the trollocs and myrddraal trying to get to her. After the battle we checked for resonances of saidin and found traces everywhere, all over the town and in the most devastated places where more trollocs had been killed than anywhere else. We tracked the damage back to an inn called the Wandering Servant," Alaria snorted, "and found a massive hole in the wall and roof where one the inn's more expensive rooms had been. The innkeeper assumed that it had been us and was actually thankful because apparently a large group had made straight for his inn and two myrddraal had gone up the stairs just before the alarm was raised and the innkeeper heard the first lightning strikes outside." Alaria looked at Jed's sleeping form.

"They were searching for him?" Rashelle asked.

"Maybe, but they could also have felt him and wanted to kill him before he could kill them. Several other groups did converge on our own rooms in the mayor's residence," Alaria said. Rashelle was surprised to hear Alaria speaking in favour of Jed, but supposed that it did make sense.

"So we learned that he had disappeared from the inn when his room exploded and the innkeeper assumed he had been killed, that is until he tried to claim Jed's possessions as his own. His horse and pack were gone. We tracked him to the village where you were staying, and you know the rest," she finished.

Rashelle laughed, and when Alaria and the others looked at her questioningly, Namelle even looking up from her place sitting in her blankets, she explained, "I saw him in that village, when I first entered the inn. He was eating, and the next morning as he was leaving I caught a glimpse of his sword. I saw the heron branded on the hilt and decided to bond him if it turned out that he was a blademaster." Alaria looked at her questioningly. Rashelle sighed. Reds were so single-minded when it came to men. "You have noticed how handsome he is haven't you?" she asked, "Not to mention that he's a blademaster."

"And what if he had not been what he is and you asked him to be your Warder?" Tarnia asked from her seat. "What if he refused your offer?"

"Rashelle looked at her oddly, "Then I would have taken him anyway, of course." Tarnia looked down at her soup and nodded as if she had expected no other answer. The others didn't bat an eye. They all knew that it was an Aes Sedai's right to be able to bond any man they wished if he carried a sword and was not married.

"Of course," Alaria said, "but I don't see why you need a Warder anyway..." she continued and Rashelle immediately engaged her in the age-old argument between the Reds and the Greens over whether or not Warders were necessary.


In her blankets, Namelle thought of Rashelle's words and wished that she could still channel, so that she could bond Jed for herself and to the Pit of Doom with her being Red Ajah. As it was, Rashelle still might decide to take him once he had been gentled. She felt that hole in the back of her mind every day, but somehow it seemed less when she was near Jed, more bearable. Since he had told her he would teach her the sword if she wished it she felt even more drawn to him. A purpose. She needed a purpose and she was determined to learn. She would be the first female blademaster she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

The party made good progress over the next few days, though they kept a close watch on the still sleeping form of Jed in the cart and on the surrounding countryside. Some of the trollocs had escaped the night of the attack, and no doubt had run for the nearest Hide outside of the blight. It was not well known outside the Tower or the borderlands, but shadowspawn raiding parties still had Hides and some minor battle camps below the blight. Not all had been found after the end of the Wars and sometimes raiding parties fleeing back to the blight disappeared before getting there if they knew they were being followed by borderland garrisons. The trail would go cold and there would be no trace; sometimes it would be found again but not before the creatures had already gone. Surprisingly, many of them led underground, though trollocs were supposed to be afraid of caves and tunnels. The third night after the Healing saw the arrival of a merchant band, six wagons carrying books, tools, strips of cloth and delicacies such as wines, ice peppers from the west of Basharande and an almost depleted stock of tabac from Farashelle. The band came within sight of the Aes Sedai camp in time for Alaria to instruct them to remove their shawls and Great Serpent rings.

The band leader introduced himself as Serdren Kinn. He was a tall man with greying black hair and a short beard, with laughter lines around his eyes and mouth. His eyes themselves were kind but his posture was rigid and his voice stern. He wore a merchant's clothes, fine but not too prosperous, so as to avoid the eyes of thieves or bandits. The caravan had over two hundred mounted guards, armed with swords and lances with short Hamarean horse bows in quivers strapped to their saddles. The merchants camped around the Aes Sedai, and the Namelle noted that the male guards and traders seemed very interested in her and the others. After a little harmless flirting with one of the traders, Namelle learned that the merchants had been attacked by roadside thieves after procuring the ice peppers and had lost two wagons, six traders and most of their previous guards. They had doubled their guard in Maradon and were now making their way to Shol Arbela to sell some of their wares and procure more books before making their way by road down to Al'cair'rahienallen where they would buy more books and tabac before heading to the Aiel Waste.

"Aye," one of the traders, Devin, said, "The Aiel, they are a fierce people but when we trade at their Holds, their towns I suppose, the books are always the first thing to go." Devin was a large man, with strong arms and a thick chest. His face was handsome Namelle supposed, in a rugged way, and he had a three-day growth of facial hair around a bushy moustache which rather reminded Namelle of a small rodent. His clothes were stout brown wool with a dark green cloak and black boots. Though his clothes were not especially expensive the black belt with a silver buckle betrayed his wealth. Strangely, he wore a dark blue strip of cloth around his upper left arm and his brown hair had blue beads dangling from a braid hanging down his right ear.

"Really," Namelle asked, squeezing Devin's arm in well-faked shock. Her eyes widened. "I always believed they were nothing but savages who would sooner kill you than even speak to you."

Devin laughed, his deep voice rich and healthy. "Nay," he said, smiling through his moustache, "though if you do not have an Aiel guide with you they will strip you of your clothes and send you back to the Spine with nothing but a waterskin." Namelle's eyes widened in true shock. She was a native of the nation of Tova and had heard stories of Aiel ferocity before she had gone to the Tower but she had never really believed they were true.

"So if you cannot find an Aiel guide at the Jangai Pass what will you do with all of your books?" she asked, smiling suggestively.

"That would never happen," Devin's voice said from behind her. She turned to see another Devin standing behind her, smiling widely at the look of shock that must have been on her face.

"Twins!" she said in disbelief. More than twins, it looked as though they were the same person, wearing the same clothes and the same belt, even the same facial hair; Light! The same, she noted, save for one small detail. Where Devin had blue beads and a blue strip of cloth on his left arm and right ear braid, this Devin had a red cloth on his right arm and red beads dangling from a braid over his left ear.

"Aye," Red-strip said, smiling over her shoulder at his brother. She looked over to see him smiling, but he looked rather put-out. "Forgive me," Red-strip said, taking her hand and lifting it to his lips, just as Devin had done when he came over to their camp with Serdren. "My name is Brannin and I have the unfortunate responsibility of being Devin's older and more attractive brother," he said.

Namelle laughed as Devin let out a snort; they both new perfectly well that they looked exactly the same.

The other sisters were mostly ignoring the exchange, save Rashelle who looked up interestedly from her place beside Jed. Namelle felt no little annoyance at that. Over the last few days Rashelle had been spending more and more time with her, especially when she was watching Jed sleep. Namelle was sure now that Rashelle intended to bond Jed as soon as he had been gentled and she was not sure what she could do to stop it, save taking Jed away before then. But no, she had been Red Ajah, and no matter what her feelings were for the boy, she could not let him loose on the world. She would wait, bide her time and, hopefully, be able to draw Jed way from Rashelle and to her through the sword training that he had promised her.

She turned back to the two brothers. "So, why are you so sure there will be a guide waiting for you?" she asked Brannin.

"I would have to say partly because there has always been one and partly because they always seem to know when we are coming," he said, smiling. "We are always met by the same man, a strange fellow with a scar here," he drew a line across his neck, causing Namelle to gasp, "and he leads us to a Hold in the waste, though they call it the Three-fold Land for some reason."

Devin jumped in, "We never could get out of him why they call it that, but there it is," he said.

"He had his throat slit?" Namelle asked.

"Apparently," Devin said, "he got it fighting with some other clan called the Shaido. Took us weeks to find out though, but we can be very persuasive," he said, grinning at his brother who grinned back. They looked so mischievous that Namelle didn't doubt that they had probably irritated the Aiel into telling them.

"You were lucky you didn't get yourselves killed," she breathed, examining their reactions to her voice. It was quite interesting knowing that she had this affect on people. She had never before noticed it in the Red Ajah, even when she had been hiding who she was after capturing a man for Trial and gentling. She was beginning to see why the Green Ajah usually took more than one Warder and why they took so much pleasure in attracting men and seeing them compete for the Green's affections. She remembered a time when she had seen two men come to blows over the affections of a Green who had led them both by the nose just to see who would make a better Warder. As she was thinking the twins competed to tell her more about the waste and the Aiel, along with all the other places they had been like Shandalle, Tremalking and even Tar Valon. She was amused at the way they described her former home, talking about it as if the Creator himself lived there. Again, she noticed their coloured strips. She could see why they wore them but did not understand why they allowed it. She asked them and they were about to answer when another voice interrupted.

"They wear those colours," Serdren said sternly, coming over to them with Alaria walking alongside him, "because the rest of us grew tired of their jokes at the expense of paying customers and our guards. Even we couldn't distinguish between them without the cloths or beads." He glared at the twins but there was an amused sparkle in his eyes. The twins looked sullen and to Namelle's amusement seemed to be sulking. They had to be entering their middle years yet they acted like children.

"Why do you not simply send them away?" Alaria asked, looking through the twins and glancing at Serdren not much differently. He was a man and she a Red after all.

Serdren smiled, "Because despite their annoying jokes they happen to be very good traders and, when they are not using their similarities to annoy us at least, they are good company."

"Couldn't you still joke by swapping colours though?" Namelle asked.

Devin shook his head sullenly and Serdren replied when the twins didn't say anything. "They tried that after we first held them down and slapped those colours on them," he said.

"What happened?" Alaria asked, interested despite the company.

Brannin answered, "Serdren announced to the rest that whichever of us wore red was Brannin and the other was Devin."

Namelle laughed, along with Rashelle and Rhemala who were close enough and listening to them. Devin's and Brannin's faces turned red with embarrassment. Serdren smiled and even Alaria looked amused.

The merchants left them the next morning, taking to the road early as the sun was rising. Devin and Brannin asked her to come with them, gesturing wildly with their hands as they told Namelle what adventures they would have together, exploring the waste, seeing the great fort towns of Shara, the Cliffs of Dawn and the Great Rift, how they could travel to the islands of the People of the Sea and see the great hand on Tremalking. Namelle refused, blushing furiously at the amount of attention she was receiving from the twins. She hadn't realised what an affect her flirting had had on the brothers. Some of the merchants looked forlorn as they bade farewell to the Aes Sedai, never knowing their true nature. At the head of the caravan, Serdren Finn was sitting astride his horse, waiting impatiently for the twins and the remaining stragglers to join the wagons. Namelle noticed that Alaria was looking after Serdren with concern, a frown marring her forehead.

It had now been four days since the attack and Jed still showed no signs of waking. Two more days, according to Salarme, and he would not wake. Uncomfortably facing Namelle the second night she had explained in more detail that every day his chances of recovery lessened and he would grow further from waking. She believed that after the sixth day, despite the water and soup Namelle fed him, his body would be too weak. After they reached that point of no return his body would begin to shut down, maybe over weeks, even a month unless they did something to quicken his death first. Salarme believed that they should end his life themselves if he did not wake up himself. Rashelle again mentioned Healing but Salarme quickly discouraged the idea.

"Healing him would require that there be an injury or sickness to Heal, Rashelle," Salarme stated, "and in the boy's case I have already done everything I can. His body is perfectly healthy, which is remarkable considering the condition he was in when we began. Already hungry and hardly a night's rest, not to mention his previous injuries that I was ordered not to Heal fully," she said, looking at both Rashelle and Namelle.

She glanced at Alaria, who was busy readying her horse and seemingly staring at nothing. "I would not mention this to the others," Salarme whispered to them, "but I believe that saidin may have Healed the boy's physical wounds and replaced his hunger while I was weaving the web to expel the poison of the blade from him." She shuddered as she mentioned the male half of the source and Namelle felt a shiver run down her spine as well. Rashelle seemed unaffected by it.

Namelle frowned. "I thought you...used it, along with saidar to Heal him," she said uncertainly. She had been able to see the glow around them, faintly, but had not been able to see the flows.

Salarme frowned and shook her head. "No, I tried not to even feel it; it was so alien and chaotic. And the taint..!" she paled and looked ready to throw up. "Saidin seemed to wind itself around my weave of its own will, pushing it away and sealing the wound itself."

"So saidin replaced his hunger and Healed his physical wounds. I noticed that there wasn't even a scar, though the wound was deep enough that it should have caused one even after Healing," Rashelle mused.

"My point is," Salarme said, "if I try to Heal him again it may weaken his body further. He will wake up on his own or die," she said firmly, causing Rashelle and herself to flinch.

They did not speak of Healing Jed again; in fact the whole group seemed somewhat subdued, only speaking to each other in passing or to ask Namelle to pass a waterskin from the cart. As another day passed Namelle grew more uneasy, keeping a constant eye on Jed, praying that he would wake soon. It had now been five days since the attack; another day and Salarme said she would give him a dose of something called Asping rot; she said it would be a peaceful way to die, painless and quick. As they travelled Namelle examined the countryside, Jed, counted the trees, anything to avoid the gaping hole in her mind. Rashelle must have seen her anguish because she climbed from her horse to the cart, secured the horse and offered to play Cat's Cradle with her for a while. Namelle lost herself in the game, forgetting about the absence of saidar and Jed and everything for a while. It came as a surprise to her and Rashelle when the cart halted and they looked up to find sun setting over the horizon and the Aes Sedai setting up the camp. Namelle unloaded Jed's and her own pack while Rashelle lifted him out of the cart with the Power, laying him carefully on the blankets that Namelle hastily put down under an old yew tree. Branches and kindling gathered with the Power went into a pile nearby and Namelle was amused to see Rhemala striking flint over the kindling before Tomeine snorted and, rolling her eyes, looked intently at the wood. Namelle saw a faint glow as Tomeine embraced the source before the wood suddenly burst into flames. Rhemala yelped and fell back on her ear looking startled. Everybody laughed at the look of startled outrage on her face as she demanded to know who had done that. Tomeine tried to look all innocent with a 'Who, me?' expression on her face. Later that night, after Namelle had fed Jed carefully with a spoon and done her best to wash his face and arms-she was not going to clean anything else thank you very much when Rashelle, frowning strangely at her, enquired as to where else she would take her cloth-she sat by Jed listening to the others speaking. Rashelle looked over at her, probably feeling sorry for her sitting alone way over here, and stood and walked over to her, sitting and arranging her skirts before speaking.

"You like him don't you," she said. It wasn't really a question and Namelle felt a blush rising in her cheeks.

"I need him," she replied, thinking furiously. She had learned the day after her Stilling that she could lie again when Tarnia had asked her if she was feeling well when of course she wasn't. She had just been 'Stilled!' and she'd immediately snapped that she was fine, not really thinking about her answer. She decided not to lie to Rashelle; besides, she would probably know. She didn't have to tell her the whole truth though.

"He said that he would teach me the sword in payment for what he did, and since I cannot use the Power," she barely stumbled over the word anymore, "to defend myself, being able to fight with weapons will be useful if I am ever attacked."

"That is not what I meant and you know it Namelle," Rashelle said frostily.

Namelle sighed. "Yes," she said, looking at Jed's sleeping form, "I like him."

"Then it seems that we have a problem," Rashelle said, also looking at him. "He is a blademaster," she whispered, reaching out a hand to smooth back his hair, "and I intend to bond him as soon as he has been dealt with in the Tower."

Namelle stiffened, looking at Rashelle and feeling anger beginning to boil inside of her. "That is one thing we have always been disgusted by," she hissed, glaring at Rashelle, "that you and the other Ajahs would forcibly bond a man whether or not he wanted it. Unlike popular opinion among the rest of you, one of the main reasons the first representatives of the Red Ajah forbade all who followed them from bonding men to our service was because in nearly all cases the man was given no choice and afterward, if he tried to leave anyway, his Aes Sedai would use the bond to compel him to do her bidding." Rashelle's eyes darkened at that.

"It is our right to take men into our service. We are Aes Sedai. The advantages of the Warder bond far outweigh the costs!" Rashelle whispered furiously.

"You cannot have him, Rashelle," Namelle started, but she was unable to finish. At that moment Jed suddenly convulsed, his back arching and his eyes wide. His mouth was open in a silent scream as his blankets flew off his body. The ground shook and a fierce wind suddenly shrieked through the trees around them, throwing the camp into disarray. The fire, which had moments before been crackling happily, suddenly roared upwards and the water boiling in a pot over the flames hissed as steam rose quickly above the camp, freezing suddenly and falling back as snow. Namelle sat there shocked, everything happening within moments of Jed's convulsions. Rashelle embraced the source, and the women around the fire jumped back from the flames, falling to the ground. They realised what was happening and scrambled to their feet, rushing over to stand beside Rashelle, around all of them a faint glow that Namelle could barely see. Suddenly the ground around Jed rose and fell, throwing her into the air. The Aes Sedai lost their footing and fell but were suddenly sent flying through the air by something invisible. Namelle looked down at Jed, terrified as she tried to keep her footing on the quaking earth. Dark clouds had begun to form in the sky and lightning struck a tree to her right, cleaving it in two. She saw to her horror that Jed's eyes had closed, though he was still screaming silently. The ground convulsed again and Namelle screamed as she fell beside him, something jarring her elbow as a rock struck her head. Pain filled her as she began to black out. The last thing she saw as her vision faded was lightning striking down from black clouds swollen with water and trees and rocks crashing to the ground around her.