Rand made another appearance a few days later.

There were now one hundred and four students at the school, about half as many women and thirty-six children. Saeric, the Red Water Goshien Rand had sent their way a few days earlier, was teaching the men some hand-to-hand combat forms, despite his grey hair and missing right hand. Neya and the Aiel alternated their lessons between the different groups of students, of which there were four at present, with the men divided according to the rapidity with which they progressed as well as their potential strength in the Power. The latest development, a whim on Mazrim's part, had been to provide each of the channelers with a black coat to mark them as students of what they were now ironically calling the Black Tower. Often as not, Mazrim now left the recruiting to the most seasoned students, Damer and Jur among them. As a result, the Saldaean spent more time giving lessons to the most promising pupils.

Despite Mazrim's refusal that Neya examined the men for early signs of madness and a potential Healing method to counter it, she had opened up to Damer about it. The former soldier had been enthusiastic about the idea and started to slip the word to some of the men he knew would keep their mouths shut around the others. Among them were Arlen Nalaam, a copper-skinned Domani just short of his thirtieth year, and a man going simply by Naeff, a tall, lean Andoran in his early forties. Damer himself agreed to be Delved first. They didn't have much time to experiment, however, and they had to be careful. But even so, during their third session, Neya managed to identify the projection of the madness inside the men's brains. It looked like a dark, intricate spider's web. Naeff's seemed to have spread the most, while Damer's only consisted of a small dark patch. Arlen's appeared to be somewhat in between and concentrated in one specific part of the brain.

It seemed that age or strength in the Power didn't have anything to do with the presence of the taint's contamination or its severity. On top of that, Neya had been studying all the books she could find on the brain, its different 'parts' and their functions. She noted that the webs affected different parts of the brain, which resulted in varying manifestations of the madness. Arlen, for example, sometimes switched his speech to a different language, one nobody recognised. It might not have been an actual language at all. He was never aware of these lapses and claimed that he heard the words in the Common Tongue. When Neya succeeded in localising the projection of madness in his brain, it was lodged in his temporal lobe, the part of the brain associated with speech and auditory stimuli.

Despite her discoveries, she hadn't yet dared try to alter the webs in any way, let alone remove them. She was afraid she would make a mistake, something that she couldn't afford since she was operating directly on the brain.

Rand arrived early in the morning, but everyone was already hard at work. He was greeted by Peral Torval, a middle-aged Taraboner who apparently said something he shouldn't have, because Mazrim knocked him out cold with what had to be a weave of saidin. After a few words shared with Mazrim, Rand made his way to the block the Saldaean used to make announcements. Everyone gathered to hear him, women and children included. As usual, Ilawen and Karys huddled around Neya.

The Dragon Reborn addressed the assembled crowd like someone unaccustomed to making speeches. He began by warning them that the White Tower had split, just like the rumours claimed. He informed the students that he had decided to call them asha'man, a word borrowed from the Old Tongue that translated literally as either 'guardian' or 'defender'. Furthermore, he had established ranks that more or less amounted to those used by the Aes Sedai. Every new recruit would now begin as a Soldier and be raised to the second rank, Dedicated, if they possessed the required level of skill. The Dedicated would be awarded a silver pin shaped as a sword, to be worn on the left side of their collars. The highest rank achievable, Asha'man, would be granted to the most advanced students and would earn them another pin representing a red and gold dragon that would be placed on the right side of their collars. Neya had to bite back laughter when she saw Mazrim's face as he was grandly awarded both pins. The man seemed ready to murder Rand where he stood.

There were no cheers as Rand concluded with some inspiring words on the battles to come. Mazrim sent everyone back to their lessons and chores as soon as Rand descended from the small platform and gestured for the older man to join him in the main house for a chat. Neya would have given much to hear that conversation, but she knew better than to intrude, especially with the Saldaean in such a foul mood.

She went to check on Peral instead. He lay pale-faced on his cot in one of the tents. She asked him if he wanted her to Heal him and he informed her with a condescending sneer that Mazrim had forbidden Healing to be performed on him. The men held Mazrim in high respect and were painfully aware of the cost of disobeying him, so Neya didn't insist and left him to nurse his headache. She found some of Mazrim's methods of discipline questionable, to say the least, but he seemed to know what he was doing. The men never went too far from fear of punishment and brawls were always broken before anyone could get seriously injured, when they were not averted altogether.

That evening, during their daily meeting, she asked Mazrim if Rand had given any noteworthy news, besides what he had already disclosed in his speech. "Not much of interest," he told her with a small shrug. "He's not worried about the Aes Sedai, which I find troubling, although there's nothing I can do about it." He seemed to consider whether to share the next piece of information. "I think he's going mad already," he said eventually, his voice almost too soft to hear.

Neya swallowed. "That's… not surprising, but certainly alarming," she murmured. "Unfortunately, there is little anyone can do to prevent it from happening," she went on casually, idly fingering the edge of her goblet.

Mazrim settled his dark eyes on her. "Do you seriously think I don't know what you're doing behind my back, your little experiments with Flinn and the others?" he asked her coolly.

"Always, you underestimate me. I make no such mistake regarding you," she told him with a crooked smile. "Of course you would know. I expect nothing less from you. I also know that you would have put an end to it if you truly disapproved," she went on matter-of-factly. "Though how you expected me to think Atal had joined us on his own initiative remains a complete mystery to me," she added with a wry chuckle.

"Have you learned anything that Mishraile might not have told me about?" Mazrim asked her offhandedly.

"We've learned a lot, but I'm afraid no breakthrough has been made so far," she replied carefully. "I don't dare pry further into their brains unless I'm absolutely certain of the proper method to apply. Damage to the brain is hard to recover from," she said with a faint grimace. "I've been trying to explain to Damer how to Delve the others properly, but it's tricky, what with us being unable to see each other's weaves."

Mazrim studied her for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Well, you might as well keep at it. Who knows? Perhaps you will actually stumble upon the answer. Besides," he went on, "I've watched you stitch back together an arm on a man's shoulder. If you can't figure it out, nobody can," he said simply. Neya felt her cheeks heat up slightly at the compliment.

Silence fell for a moment. "Rand said nothing else? About what he's doing, what he's going to do?" she asked eventually.

"As I said, he told me nothing of import," he said, somewhat irritably. "You know, he's more likely to share these things with you than with me. Why didn't he speak with you?"

"Maybe because he trusts me completely and doesn't feel the need to check on me every time he shows up?" Which was a rare enough occurrence, truth be told. When she'd embarked on this venture, Neya had assumed the Lord Dragon would supervise them - from afar, perhaps, but that he would involve himself somewhat, at the very least. When he'd put Mazrim and herself in charge, she'd never imagined he actually meant it. Well, he surely had other matters to attend to. Rand would take the lead at some point, wouldn't he?

Mazrim snorted and remained silent for a time. "Have you had dinner yet?" he asked her abruptly.

"No, not yet. I was busy having a secret gathering," she said wryly.

"I'll have Grady bring us something," he said, already walking to the door. Neya stared after him. Had he gone mad?

Sora came soon afterward, bearing two plates of roast mutton and mashed potatoes with gravy. Jur's wife kept her eyes on the floor and never said a word. She scurried out right after placing the plates in front of them.

They talked about Neya's experiments a little longer before moving on to Mazrim's previous encounters with men who could channel. He had found five such men in the years before he declared himself the Dragon Reborn. Four of them had gotten cold feet after he tested them, but the last one, Yerekhan Brazir, wanted to be taught. Mazrim had taken him under his wing and, together, they'd travelled along the Borderlands for two years, fighting Trollocs and other Shadowspawn creatures and devising new weaves to destroy them. Brazir was quite strong, if not quite as powerful as Mazrim himself, but during the last few weeks of his life, it became apparent that the taint had affected the other man. He would sometimes burst into inexplicable fits of laughter or get angry without reason. Then one day, out of the blue, he'd gotten up in the middle of the night and had tried to stick a knife in Mazrim's heart. Fortunately, Mazrim was a light sleeper and woke up as the man was bending over him. He seized him with the Power and tied him with weaves of Air. Brazir, in a blind rage, had demanded to be released, then had suddenly burst into tears, which were quickly followed by a hysterical cackle. Mazrim had done the only thing he could think of: he had killed the other man.

"How did you do it?" Neya asked him quietly.

"Slipped some poison into his wine. Asping rot," he answered flatly.

She was familiar with that herb; Egwene had taught her some of the things that Nynaeve had passed on to her as Wisdom. "Is that what you intend to do to them here, when they go mad? Provided I can't find a way to Heal them, of course," she added almost to herself.

His dark eyes flashed in sudden anger. "Yes, it is exactly what I intend to do. What else would you have me do?" he asked, his voice tight with fury.

She raised her hands in a placating gesture. "There's no need to get so defensive, I was just wondering. It was not a reproach. The Light knows, a quick, painless death would be a mercy," she whispered.

He seemed to regain his composure, his anger fading as quickly as it had flared. "A mercy," he murmured in agreement.

Not for the first time, Neya wondered if the man was aware of his own shifting moods.

The next day, Mazrim announced that they would build a wall around the Black Tower. The Saldaean seemed nervous about the increasing number of Aes Sedai assembling in Caemlyn and Neya could hardly blame him, considering his history with the White Tower. He reluctantly distributed the pins Rand had provided the previous day after making his announcement. Expectedly, Damer was the first to be awarded the silver sword pin along with a few others, including Atal and Peral. At this rate, Rand would have to provide more badges soon. Neya judged that most of the newly raised Dedicated would make it to the next level in a matter of weeks, if not days.

Their numbers kept growing, until they had to start building barracks to accommodate everyone; the tents were already crammed, as well as the house and barn. The farmyard quickly grew into a small hamlet. Mazrim even had some of the men build him his own house. 'A leader cannot mingle among his subordinates,' he told Neya pompously. 'He must set himself apart from his charges.' Neya gave him a shrug and remained in her own room in the original building. It was incredible how fast the men were learning; it had taken them only three days to build Mazrim's house. He had them working on extensions already. The man certainly did think highly of himself. At this rate, he would be living in a palace by the end of the year.

Neya kept her experiments going for a week longer, although most of the volunteers had been raised to Dedicated and were therefore increasingly occupied, but soon there was not much more to learn. The next step would be to actually develop a method to remove the black webs of madness, or try to, but she still couldn't bring herself to do it. With Damer's disappointed assent and later, Mazrim's falsely detached shrug, Neya put an end to it herself. Maybe she would get back to it when an opportunity presented itself; when, for example, one of the students had a sudden outburst of madness that required immediate attention and on which she would have no choice but to act, provided that it wasn't too late by then.

They welcomed over two hundred new Soldiers in the next month, as summer lingered impossibly into what should have been early winter. As expected, many of the earlier recruits were soon raised to Dedicated, Jahar among them. The men all seemed slightly awed by the youth's incredible strength, even though he still was no match for Mazrim. Of course, Jahar wasn't the only gifted student, far from it. Manel Rochaid and Charl Gedwyn were not far behind, and even Atal was said to have become as strong as Damer. Those three, among others, were soon given the dragon pin, although for some reason, Mazrim told her that Damer wasn't ready for it yet.

There were now fifteen Asha'man and four times as many Dedicated. Rand's army of doomed men was growing larger by the day.