Through The Ages - Chapter 8, part 2
He could have worked through the shield, and if he'd really felt like it, probably severed the man where he stood. Instead, Ranma chose to tear his shield down and see what the man's problem was. Spirit woven as a thousand tiny spikes blasted from Ranma's body, intangible to anyone but the man who had him shielded. He ignored the scream of agony that the technique tore from his victom's throat, focussing on removing the perforated shield. It tore apart like an old cacoon. He released his hold on the saidin within the well of his sa'angreal and drew on the Source as almost as heavily as he could without resorting to the device he wore on his right arm.
The pain had ceased the moment Ranma removed his shield and now his assaillant leaned against the wall of the building, his forehead beaded with sweat and his eyes wide in shock. Before the situation could detereorate to the point where the men in the auditorium could be alerted, Ranma forced himself to release the Power, feeling a longing ache in his bones as it fled his control.
Ranma regretted using the burst of Spirit, it was painful beyond imagining, but the only other way he knew to break a shield could have severed tha taller man and that would have been infinitely worse than inflicting a bit of pain on him. "I think we've had a misunderstanding here," Ranma said as he walked up to the man and extended his hand. His guard was raised now. He would be the first to reach saidin if it came down to it, and if the man reached for the Source again, he would die.
Warily, the man extended his hand. Ranma grasped it and tried not to grimace as it squeezed his hand in a vice-like grip. At his full height, he towered over Ranma a full head and shoulders. "Ranma Saotome," Ranma said as he pulled back his throbbing hand.
"Logain Ablar." Logain wiped his forehead with the back of his coat sleeve. "Nice trick with shield, kid Did the Dragon Reborn teach you that one?"
"The who?" Now Ranma knew what Nabiki had complained about earlier. He could have gotten by in his grandfather's time with ease, so much had the man told him since he was a child. This time, era, Age, whatever it was, was as alien to him as anything he could imagine. He counted his lucky stars that these people at least spoke Japanese. "Nevermind. I don't suppose you could tell me when the Dark One was released from his prison, can you?"
Logain looked down at him like he was daft, but did answer,"I don't know what game you're playing at boy, but I'll tell you. Before the Breaking," Ranma didn't miss the capital sound of the 'b' in Breaking,"three millenia ago give or take a century."
Despite his doubts and certainty, Ranma had held a small sliver of hope. He felt that sliver slip away from him, and he had no desire to go after it. He really was trapped here in the mixed up world. "Damnit, sometimes I hate being right."
The wary look Logain had not lost increased in instensity. "Boy, how long did ou say you've been channelling?"
Ranma didn't think as he answered. "Since I was nine. Oh you're worried about the madness that other guy was talking about, eh? There wasn't any Taint where I lived, so don't worry about that."
There was the look again. He seemed to think Ranma had been sniffing paint fumes or doing crack. "Now's as good a time as any with Taim and most of the others occupied," he muttered to himself, so quietly that Ranma barely heard him. "Follow me. We might as well get out of this blasted cold if we're going to continue this game."
Ranma wasn't all that cold himself. Arin had taught him the trick of ignoring temperature as a birthday gift when he'd turned ten. He agreed with Logain, though, and motioned to the other, who were looking at him and Logain quizzically. Akane wasn't actually paying much attention to him, buried as she was in Kuno's arms, though Ranma didn't care one way or another what she did. "We might as well go with him. He can explain what we've missed."
****
Logain's home resembled all the others they'd seen so far. It was small and cozy, with cloudy glass windows and a thatched roof. The furniture inside appeared well made, if a little battered. Logain preceded them into the home, calling,"Gabrelle," loudly as he did.
By the time everyone entered the front room, an attractive woman with dark brown hair and odd green eyes stood in a doorway leading farther into the house. "Yes?"
"Fix some tea for my guests and have Toveine bring it out." The woman nodded curtly and hurried out of sight.
Logain and the other seated themselves on an assortment of armchairs and a small sofa. Ranma chose to stand, taking the opportunity to pace from one end of the room to the other. He didn't know where to begin. The bound woman had thrown him off a little, too. He couldn't stop thinking about what she must have done to be required to use a binder. That meant she was most likely a channeller. It would be an ironic kind of justice if a woman who hunted male channellers was herself bound to serve one.
"Damnit, Ranma, I'm not in the mood to sit here all day." Nabiki still hadn't calmed down since her attack on Akane.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not exactly happy myself, you know?" Ranma snapped. Still pacing, he began,"This is all so screwed up, Logain. The world, I mean. How could the doorway have been so far off? What happened to my grandfather?" This was another time that he felt like hitting something.
"Slow down, Ranma," Logain said. He didn't know what was going on with these people, but Ranma had shown himself to be a very powerful channeller and it would not hurt to gain such an ally if he could manage it. "Start at the beginning."
"When the Dark One was sealed up at Shayol Ghul, my grandfather detected the contamination of saidin and used an altered doorway ter'angreal and a Portal stone to travel back in time. He was never sure just how far he went, but it had to be several Ages, at least. Eventually I came along and ended up having severely early Power Aquisition Syndrome. He trained me to use the Power and I helped him recharge the doorway so he could come back and prevent Lanfear from releasing the Dark One in the first place. We used it yesterday. When I came through there was no sign of my grandfather. The doorway is nothing dust now and we have no way of going back." Ranma took a deep breath and continued,"I heard some of what that other guy was saying about the Taint and stuff. If you could fill in the gaps, I'd appreciate it."
Logain didn't make his opinion known on whether he believed Ranma or not and his face was unreadable. "The Taint drove the men of the Age of Legends insane. They destroyed most of the civilized world. We never have recovered even a fraction of what was lost. Ever since then the Aes Sedai have controlled most of the governing bodies, either by manipulation or open command. The Red Ajah make a point of hunting down men like us and cutting us off from the Source. I myself was stilled by the Reds over a year ago, but Mistress al'Meara repaired the damage. Can't really blame them. If they hadn't done it the Breaking may never have ended." He stopped and raised a questioning eyebrow. Ranma was staring at him in complete disbelief.
"You were severed?" Ranma whispered. Logain nodded. "How could you possibly channel?"
Logain shrugged. "I know little of Healing. There are a few others here who could explain it in detail if you wish to learn more. Now, as I was saying. The Forsaken have been freed from their prison at Shayol Ghul and the Dark One will soon roam the Earth once again, if the prophecies are to be believed. The Dragon has been reborn to lead us against the Dark One and his forces at the Last Battle. And as of yesterday, there is no longer a Taint on saidon. That's a very abridged history lesson, boy."
Abridged indeed. Three thousand years squeezed into a double handful of sentences.
"A likely tale," a woman's voice commented. Ranma looked up to see another bound woman standing in the room, a tea service held before her. She, too, had the overly smooth features of a person who had been bound for a good number of years. Who was this Logain to have two captured Aes Sedai servants while his home was so plain and simple? Then, Ranma told himself he could be jumping to conclusions. They could have bound the women with a chair, or they could be channellers who weren't affiliated with the all women Aes Sedai.
"Toveine, how nice of you to join us," Logain said, no hint of reproach in his voice. "If you would serve the tea, please?" She went about passing tea cups around and filling them with steaming tea. Ranma declined the offered cup. Still not making his opinion known, Logain asked Toveine,"Perhaps you could poke some holes in the lad's story?"
"Of course I can not prove him false, Logain, for there is no evidence. I fear I overestimated your intelligence, though, if you allow yourself to be taken in by these children. Time travel, not even the Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends could manage such a feat. No one has ever heard of a channeller experiencing aquisiton syndrome before they were twelve, and that is in females. Male channellers aquire their power even later."
Ranma felt inclined to interrupt. "Time travel hadn't been attempted until my grandfather did it, and since he left no record, there is no proof, except for them and myself," Ranma pointed to Kuno, Nabiki, and Akane, all of whom hadn't uttered so much as a peep since Nabiki's one impatient comment. "I experienced the sickness early and almost died from it. My grandfather said that even in his time where channellers were common that a case like mine was rare. There are certain weaves that can force an individual to tell the truth for short periods of time. Do you know of it?"
"There is no such thing," the woman replied waspishly. She looked at Akane strangely for a split second and Ranma had a bad feeling that the girl was going to get her wish, as unlikely as that seemed.
"I should have thought of it sooner," Ranma said to Logain. "I can teach you the weave and you can use it on one of the girls. I don't trust you enough to let you use it on me, sorry, but you never can be too careful."
Logain waved his hand dismissively. "Teach me the weave later. I believe you. You can go now, Toveine. You can come in, Gabrelle," he finished, and the women from earlier stepped into the room, an almost sheepish expression on her face. Logain chuckled and said,"Tell no one what you learn of Ranma or his companions." He nodded and they both left for parts unknown.
Ranma introduced the others, barely mentioning Akane, who seemed zoned out, and paying particular attention to Kuno. "It's a block of some sort. My grandfather couldn't figure out how to remove it and I don't have a clue myself. The thing is harder than any metal I've ever come across, though, and he can use it pretty damned well, too, so it isn't much of a hinderance."
"How good are you with that stick, Kuno?" Logain asked, referring to the boy by his last name like Ranma and almost everyone else who had ever spoken to him.
Modestly, Kuno replied,"I have never met my equal, sir."
"Good, I can get you a place helping old Haslin with the arms training. You'll be accepted more readily if you have something to offer besides just channelling." He turned back to Ranma and said,"You'll have to simply be a new trainee until I can get word to the Dragon Reborn. How do you feel about being married?"
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked before any of the others could beat him to the punch.
"Enemies in the camp, enemies 'running' the camp. Ranma, you can't imagine how lucky you are that you ran into me and not Tain, the M'hael to you from now on, or one of his lackeys."
"The leader?" Ranma asked, translating the phrase into the common tongue of his grandfather's Age.
"He's either a Dark Friend or working against the Dragon Reborn, either of which makes him the enemy," Logain answered.
He'd trusted Ranma, so now Ranma was going to trust him. That kind of thing worked both ways. "That makes sense, but what about the marriage question?"
"Married couples get there own homes," Logain said, looking meaningfully at them. "You don't have to take advantage of the situation, of course, but I assume you would prefer greater privacy than that offered by the barracks."
"Ah, hehehe, was worried for a second there. We'll have to talk about that one amongst ourselves."
****
Author's Notes - I took a WoT personality test once and it said I was most like Logain. I can see it. He's probably my favorite character, too, since Rand is an arrogant asshole now and slightly bonkers to boot. So, no getting upset that Ranma didn't kill him or do something really bad. It would have been stupid and Ranma can act rashly on occassion, but he's not that dumb. What's up with Akane? She's not really in shock or anything. Kuno's just got a weave of Spirit over her to keep her docile, or at least that's what I'm planning to use for the excuse next chapter of why she was so calm and unconfrontational.
He could have worked through the shield, and if he'd really felt like it, probably severed the man where he stood. Instead, Ranma chose to tear his shield down and see what the man's problem was. Spirit woven as a thousand tiny spikes blasted from Ranma's body, intangible to anyone but the man who had him shielded. He ignored the scream of agony that the technique tore from his victom's throat, focussing on removing the perforated shield. It tore apart like an old cacoon. He released his hold on the saidin within the well of his sa'angreal and drew on the Source as almost as heavily as he could without resorting to the device he wore on his right arm.
The pain had ceased the moment Ranma removed his shield and now his assaillant leaned against the wall of the building, his forehead beaded with sweat and his eyes wide in shock. Before the situation could detereorate to the point where the men in the auditorium could be alerted, Ranma forced himself to release the Power, feeling a longing ache in his bones as it fled his control.
Ranma regretted using the burst of Spirit, it was painful beyond imagining, but the only other way he knew to break a shield could have severed tha taller man and that would have been infinitely worse than inflicting a bit of pain on him. "I think we've had a misunderstanding here," Ranma said as he walked up to the man and extended his hand. His guard was raised now. He would be the first to reach saidin if it came down to it, and if the man reached for the Source again, he would die.
Warily, the man extended his hand. Ranma grasped it and tried not to grimace as it squeezed his hand in a vice-like grip. At his full height, he towered over Ranma a full head and shoulders. "Ranma Saotome," Ranma said as he pulled back his throbbing hand.
"Logain Ablar." Logain wiped his forehead with the back of his coat sleeve. "Nice trick with shield, kid Did the Dragon Reborn teach you that one?"
"The who?" Now Ranma knew what Nabiki had complained about earlier. He could have gotten by in his grandfather's time with ease, so much had the man told him since he was a child. This time, era, Age, whatever it was, was as alien to him as anything he could imagine. He counted his lucky stars that these people at least spoke Japanese. "Nevermind. I don't suppose you could tell me when the Dark One was released from his prison, can you?"
Logain looked down at him like he was daft, but did answer,"I don't know what game you're playing at boy, but I'll tell you. Before the Breaking," Ranma didn't miss the capital sound of the 'b' in Breaking,"three millenia ago give or take a century."
Despite his doubts and certainty, Ranma had held a small sliver of hope. He felt that sliver slip away from him, and he had no desire to go after it. He really was trapped here in the mixed up world. "Damnit, sometimes I hate being right."
The wary look Logain had not lost increased in instensity. "Boy, how long did ou say you've been channelling?"
Ranma didn't think as he answered. "Since I was nine. Oh you're worried about the madness that other guy was talking about, eh? There wasn't any Taint where I lived, so don't worry about that."
There was the look again. He seemed to think Ranma had been sniffing paint fumes or doing crack. "Now's as good a time as any with Taim and most of the others occupied," he muttered to himself, so quietly that Ranma barely heard him. "Follow me. We might as well get out of this blasted cold if we're going to continue this game."
Ranma wasn't all that cold himself. Arin had taught him the trick of ignoring temperature as a birthday gift when he'd turned ten. He agreed with Logain, though, and motioned to the other, who were looking at him and Logain quizzically. Akane wasn't actually paying much attention to him, buried as she was in Kuno's arms, though Ranma didn't care one way or another what she did. "We might as well go with him. He can explain what we've missed."
****
Logain's home resembled all the others they'd seen so far. It was small and cozy, with cloudy glass windows and a thatched roof. The furniture inside appeared well made, if a little battered. Logain preceded them into the home, calling,"Gabrelle," loudly as he did.
By the time everyone entered the front room, an attractive woman with dark brown hair and odd green eyes stood in a doorway leading farther into the house. "Yes?"
"Fix some tea for my guests and have Toveine bring it out." The woman nodded curtly and hurried out of sight.
Logain and the other seated themselves on an assortment of armchairs and a small sofa. Ranma chose to stand, taking the opportunity to pace from one end of the room to the other. He didn't know where to begin. The bound woman had thrown him off a little, too. He couldn't stop thinking about what she must have done to be required to use a binder. That meant she was most likely a channeller. It would be an ironic kind of justice if a woman who hunted male channellers was herself bound to serve one.
"Damnit, Ranma, I'm not in the mood to sit here all day." Nabiki still hadn't calmed down since her attack on Akane.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm not exactly happy myself, you know?" Ranma snapped. Still pacing, he began,"This is all so screwed up, Logain. The world, I mean. How could the doorway have been so far off? What happened to my grandfather?" This was another time that he felt like hitting something.
"Slow down, Ranma," Logain said. He didn't know what was going on with these people, but Ranma had shown himself to be a very powerful channeller and it would not hurt to gain such an ally if he could manage it. "Start at the beginning."
"When the Dark One was sealed up at Shayol Ghul, my grandfather detected the contamination of saidin and used an altered doorway ter'angreal and a Portal stone to travel back in time. He was never sure just how far he went, but it had to be several Ages, at least. Eventually I came along and ended up having severely early Power Aquisition Syndrome. He trained me to use the Power and I helped him recharge the doorway so he could come back and prevent Lanfear from releasing the Dark One in the first place. We used it yesterday. When I came through there was no sign of my grandfather. The doorway is nothing dust now and we have no way of going back." Ranma took a deep breath and continued,"I heard some of what that other guy was saying about the Taint and stuff. If you could fill in the gaps, I'd appreciate it."
Logain didn't make his opinion known on whether he believed Ranma or not and his face was unreadable. "The Taint drove the men of the Age of Legends insane. They destroyed most of the civilized world. We never have recovered even a fraction of what was lost. Ever since then the Aes Sedai have controlled most of the governing bodies, either by manipulation or open command. The Red Ajah make a point of hunting down men like us and cutting us off from the Source. I myself was stilled by the Reds over a year ago, but Mistress al'Meara repaired the damage. Can't really blame them. If they hadn't done it the Breaking may never have ended." He stopped and raised a questioning eyebrow. Ranma was staring at him in complete disbelief.
"You were severed?" Ranma whispered. Logain nodded. "How could you possibly channel?"
Logain shrugged. "I know little of Healing. There are a few others here who could explain it in detail if you wish to learn more. Now, as I was saying. The Forsaken have been freed from their prison at Shayol Ghul and the Dark One will soon roam the Earth once again, if the prophecies are to be believed. The Dragon has been reborn to lead us against the Dark One and his forces at the Last Battle. And as of yesterday, there is no longer a Taint on saidon. That's a very abridged history lesson, boy."
Abridged indeed. Three thousand years squeezed into a double handful of sentences.
"A likely tale," a woman's voice commented. Ranma looked up to see another bound woman standing in the room, a tea service held before her. She, too, had the overly smooth features of a person who had been bound for a good number of years. Who was this Logain to have two captured Aes Sedai servants while his home was so plain and simple? Then, Ranma told himself he could be jumping to conclusions. They could have bound the women with a chair, or they could be channellers who weren't affiliated with the all women Aes Sedai.
"Toveine, how nice of you to join us," Logain said, no hint of reproach in his voice. "If you would serve the tea, please?" She went about passing tea cups around and filling them with steaming tea. Ranma declined the offered cup. Still not making his opinion known, Logain asked Toveine,"Perhaps you could poke some holes in the lad's story?"
"Of course I can not prove him false, Logain, for there is no evidence. I fear I overestimated your intelligence, though, if you allow yourself to be taken in by these children. Time travel, not even the Aes Sedai from the Age of Legends could manage such a feat. No one has ever heard of a channeller experiencing aquisiton syndrome before they were twelve, and that is in females. Male channellers aquire their power even later."
Ranma felt inclined to interrupt. "Time travel hadn't been attempted until my grandfather did it, and since he left no record, there is no proof, except for them and myself," Ranma pointed to Kuno, Nabiki, and Akane, all of whom hadn't uttered so much as a peep since Nabiki's one impatient comment. "I experienced the sickness early and almost died from it. My grandfather said that even in his time where channellers were common that a case like mine was rare. There are certain weaves that can force an individual to tell the truth for short periods of time. Do you know of it?"
"There is no such thing," the woman replied waspishly. She looked at Akane strangely for a split second and Ranma had a bad feeling that the girl was going to get her wish, as unlikely as that seemed.
"I should have thought of it sooner," Ranma said to Logain. "I can teach you the weave and you can use it on one of the girls. I don't trust you enough to let you use it on me, sorry, but you never can be too careful."
Logain waved his hand dismissively. "Teach me the weave later. I believe you. You can go now, Toveine. You can come in, Gabrelle," he finished, and the women from earlier stepped into the room, an almost sheepish expression on her face. Logain chuckled and said,"Tell no one what you learn of Ranma or his companions." He nodded and they both left for parts unknown.
Ranma introduced the others, barely mentioning Akane, who seemed zoned out, and paying particular attention to Kuno. "It's a block of some sort. My grandfather couldn't figure out how to remove it and I don't have a clue myself. The thing is harder than any metal I've ever come across, though, and he can use it pretty damned well, too, so it isn't much of a hinderance."
"How good are you with that stick, Kuno?" Logain asked, referring to the boy by his last name like Ranma and almost everyone else who had ever spoken to him.
Modestly, Kuno replied,"I have never met my equal, sir."
"Good, I can get you a place helping old Haslin with the arms training. You'll be accepted more readily if you have something to offer besides just channelling." He turned back to Ranma and said,"You'll have to simply be a new trainee until I can get word to the Dragon Reborn. How do you feel about being married?"
"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked before any of the others could beat him to the punch.
"Enemies in the camp, enemies 'running' the camp. Ranma, you can't imagine how lucky you are that you ran into me and not Tain, the M'hael to you from now on, or one of his lackeys."
"The leader?" Ranma asked, translating the phrase into the common tongue of his grandfather's Age.
"He's either a Dark Friend or working against the Dragon Reborn, either of which makes him the enemy," Logain answered.
He'd trusted Ranma, so now Ranma was going to trust him. That kind of thing worked both ways. "That makes sense, but what about the marriage question?"
"Married couples get there own homes," Logain said, looking meaningfully at them. "You don't have to take advantage of the situation, of course, but I assume you would prefer greater privacy than that offered by the barracks."
"Ah, hehehe, was worried for a second there. We'll have to talk about that one amongst ourselves."
****
Author's Notes - I took a WoT personality test once and it said I was most like Logain. I can see it. He's probably my favorite character, too, since Rand is an arrogant asshole now and slightly bonkers to boot. So, no getting upset that Ranma didn't kill him or do something really bad. It would have been stupid and Ranma can act rashly on occassion, but he's not that dumb. What's up with Akane? She's not really in shock or anything. Kuno's just got a weave of Spirit over her to keep her docile, or at least that's what I'm planning to use for the excuse next chapter of why she was so calm and unconfrontational.