Chapter 4: Shadar Logoth and Mashadar
Mat didn't move for a minute, hoping that the Whitecloaks will pass by him, and not notice him. Unfortunately, they came to every little gathering of people and preached to them about "Living under the Light", and how the Shadow is bad, and all their other crap. When reached the dice game Mat was watching they stopped and managed to get only two words out of their mouths before the gathering dispersed. Unfortunately, Mat didn't move fast enough. The three Children of the Light closed in on him, blocking off his escape route.
"Why do you walk in the Shadow, man?" said one, "come walk in the Light, may the Creator shelter you."
"Ummm… I don't walk in the Shadow…" mumbled Mat.
"The first step to forgiveness is acceptance." Intoned the first Whitecloak. "When you see that you walk in the Shadow, you can come back to the Light. Remember, no-one can walk so far in the Shadow that he may not return to the Light."
"Er… yes… of course…" Mat nodded along.
"Wait, Aline." Said a second Whitecloak. "How do we know he's trustworthy? How do we know that he is like the other good people of this town? Yes, he nods and agrees with us, but how does that make him different from any other citizen here?"
"Oh, Light!" exclaimed the third Whitecloak. "I just realized that no-one here really agreed with us! They are all Darkfriends! The world in full of them!"
"What say you, man! There but few Darkfriends in this world." The second Whitecloak was always boasting about the lessons he took in 'Flowery Language' from his best friend, a minor noble from Altara.
"No, no! Everyone here is a Darkfriend! They just don't want to be with us! We are unwelcome!" he sobbed. (A/N: a rare intelligent Whitecloak). "That's IT! I quit this stupid organization! Even though I stayed after that incident with the false Tar Valon witch, but this is too much!" he ripped off his white cloak, and threw it at the first Whitecloak. He turned to Mat. "Please, Darkfriend! Help me! I wish to become one, too!" he broke down in sobs. Mat backed away slowly. The Whitecloak that resigned followed him to the Stag and Lion, where Mat tried to explain as best he could to Egwene and Nyneave (Rand was still with Min) what happened.
The ex-Whitecloak, whose name was Daken, seemed convinced that everyone was a Darkfriend, so he wanted to become one too.
~~~ A few days later ~~~
~~~ Switch POV to Nyneave ~~~
The past few days were spent planning what to do, who to kill, who to balefire, and why. They decided that the group should go to Shadar Logoth, because the Manetheren Lord in Mat wanted to get even with Mordeth for not helping in the Trolloc Wars.
As they were leaving the inn, Min decided to join them, because of Rand. At the eastern gate, a guard stopped them. But, thanks to Rand's weaving of Compulsion, there wasn't much of a problem, except that he wanted to stay with Rand longer, and therefor delayed them. Nyneave did not want to hear what the guard said ever again, even from Lan. She never knew that Min's face could turn 15 different shades of red, or Rand's face 15 different shades of green.
A quarter of an hour later, when Nyneave didn't think she could stand the guard's sickeningly sweet voice, Mat had enough brains to knock the guard unconscious.
Five minutes later, passerby could still see the dust settling on the ground.
~~~ Switch POV to Rand ~~~
After the little group met up with Perrin and his wolves, they set out to Shadar Logoth. They were counting on meeting a few unhappy Myrdraal and Trollocs on the way, but they were not worried. For one thing, Rand, Egwene, Nyneave and Moiraine could channel (Nyneave definitely was angry enough. She kept tugging on her braid when she looked at Moiraine and Lan putting their heads together. Mat thought it was rather amusing). Another thing was that the wolves with Perrin hated Trollocs, even more than usual for wolves. The fact that there were two men with big swords present was just minor detail.
Min kept giving Rand sidelong looks, as if trying to figure out why she came along with him.
So far she wasn't getting anywhere.
'This is taking too long.' Rand thought. 'I should be making a gateway to Shadar Logoth right now, and cutting this bloody flaming trip short.'
'But that would mean that would mean that we can't have fun with the Trollocs and Myrdraal.' Said that ever-annoying voice that was Lews Therin Telamon. Rand groaned, causing everyone to look at him strangely. He didn't think Lews Therin would talk to him now, when he only began to channel.
'Aren't you glad to see me?' Lews Therin sounded hurt.
'No, I'm not!' Rand sounded very much annoyed.
'Is it because I killed Ilyena?' Lews Therin said in a timid voice. 'Light! Ilyena, I killed her! Light burn me, I killed her!'
Rand whimpered. He definitely did not want to listen to his pre-incarnation rant about his dead wife again.
Well, at least he was with Min.
Sort of.
Well… no.
Rand sighed. This was not going to be a good day.
A Trolloc hunting horn was heard in the distance.
'And it just got better' thought Rand sarcastically.
~~~ Switch POV to Egwene al'Vere ~~~
She heard the horn in the distance.
That could only mean one thing.
Someone blew that horn. And THAT meant something else.
That meant that the Trollocs finally caught up with them, and started to hunt them down.
Rather stupid when you think about it. After all, there were a few wolves and channelers around, not to mention that they were close to Shadar Logoth.
But Trollocs always were very stupid.
Egwene sighed and prepared a weave of Earth and Fire to make fire leap from the ground. Moiraine was making a weave of Air that would hold the advancing army for a few minutes while the group could escape. What the Aes Sedai did not know was that they were not planning on escaping.
But maybe they would allow some Trollocs to.
Maybe.
~~~ Switch POV to Rand al'Thor ~~~
Rand made a silent agreement with Nyneave. They would link, like they did with the Chodean Kal, while cleansing saidin.
Rand set himself on the edge of embracing the Source, feeling like agony, or something (A/N: for full detail, see the last chapter of the ninth book. Lets just skip to the part where Rand is in control of the circle).
Rand grinned. He liked being in control of both saidin and saidar. The weaves he set up were indescribable, mainly because the author didn't feel like it.
Basically what happened was that all the Trollocs died, leaving only three Myrdraal (Rand liked to keep up his "dancing" skills).
All three of the Halfmen (no, not Tyrion Lannister) unsheathed their swords and charged at the small group. With both halves of the Source still in him, Rand fashioned himself two swords, one from each half. Then he rode up to the Eyeless and began to make sure that the name wolves give them is justified. The reason Lan didn't join him was that he stayed close to the holder of his bond. Even days later, Rand could not get over the jealousy he felt from Nyneave through the link.
When the reincarnated madman met the three Trolloc-bred offspring (don't ask me how. You don't want the mental image of Trollocs breeding. Trust me) met in the middle of the road, the swords clashed and sparks flew. A few seconds later all that could be seen by Nyneave was Lan standing next to Moiraine. However, Rand was still fighting the Myrdraal, using every little bit of the One Power he could to kill them, but they deflected every move of his.
'I told you not to do this!' wailed Lews Therin inside his head.
'No, you didn't.'
'Oh, um… right, then. Uh… bye!' and the voice disappeared.
Eventually, the Fades died, leaving Rand unscathed, and the group moved on to Shadar Logoth.
~~~ A few hours later ~~~
They entered the deserted city half an hour before nightfall, leaving Mat plenty of time to hurt Mordeth. Badly.
Sadly, Mat was wrong.
As Mat, Rand and Perrin were walking the streets, night fell.
"Blood and bloody ashes!" exclaimed Mat. They were hurrying back to the building the rest were staying at, to get in-doors before Mashadar came out.
But they were too late.
Mat didn't move for a minute, hoping that the Whitecloaks will pass by him, and not notice him. Unfortunately, they came to every little gathering of people and preached to them about "Living under the Light", and how the Shadow is bad, and all their other crap. When reached the dice game Mat was watching they stopped and managed to get only two words out of their mouths before the gathering dispersed. Unfortunately, Mat didn't move fast enough. The three Children of the Light closed in on him, blocking off his escape route.
"Why do you walk in the Shadow, man?" said one, "come walk in the Light, may the Creator shelter you."
"Ummm… I don't walk in the Shadow…" mumbled Mat.
"The first step to forgiveness is acceptance." Intoned the first Whitecloak. "When you see that you walk in the Shadow, you can come back to the Light. Remember, no-one can walk so far in the Shadow that he may not return to the Light."
"Er… yes… of course…" Mat nodded along.
"Wait, Aline." Said a second Whitecloak. "How do we know he's trustworthy? How do we know that he is like the other good people of this town? Yes, he nods and agrees with us, but how does that make him different from any other citizen here?"
"Oh, Light!" exclaimed the third Whitecloak. "I just realized that no-one here really agreed with us! They are all Darkfriends! The world in full of them!"
"What say you, man! There but few Darkfriends in this world." The second Whitecloak was always boasting about the lessons he took in 'Flowery Language' from his best friend, a minor noble from Altara.
"No, no! Everyone here is a Darkfriend! They just don't want to be with us! We are unwelcome!" he sobbed. (A/N: a rare intelligent Whitecloak). "That's IT! I quit this stupid organization! Even though I stayed after that incident with the false Tar Valon witch, but this is too much!" he ripped off his white cloak, and threw it at the first Whitecloak. He turned to Mat. "Please, Darkfriend! Help me! I wish to become one, too!" he broke down in sobs. Mat backed away slowly. The Whitecloak that resigned followed him to the Stag and Lion, where Mat tried to explain as best he could to Egwene and Nyneave (Rand was still with Min) what happened.
The ex-Whitecloak, whose name was Daken, seemed convinced that everyone was a Darkfriend, so he wanted to become one too.
~~~ A few days later ~~~
~~~ Switch POV to Nyneave ~~~
The past few days were spent planning what to do, who to kill, who to balefire, and why. They decided that the group should go to Shadar Logoth, because the Manetheren Lord in Mat wanted to get even with Mordeth for not helping in the Trolloc Wars.
As they were leaving the inn, Min decided to join them, because of Rand. At the eastern gate, a guard stopped them. But, thanks to Rand's weaving of Compulsion, there wasn't much of a problem, except that he wanted to stay with Rand longer, and therefor delayed them. Nyneave did not want to hear what the guard said ever again, even from Lan. She never knew that Min's face could turn 15 different shades of red, or Rand's face 15 different shades of green.
A quarter of an hour later, when Nyneave didn't think she could stand the guard's sickeningly sweet voice, Mat had enough brains to knock the guard unconscious.
Five minutes later, passerby could still see the dust settling on the ground.
~~~ Switch POV to Rand ~~~
After the little group met up with Perrin and his wolves, they set out to Shadar Logoth. They were counting on meeting a few unhappy Myrdraal and Trollocs on the way, but they were not worried. For one thing, Rand, Egwene, Nyneave and Moiraine could channel (Nyneave definitely was angry enough. She kept tugging on her braid when she looked at Moiraine and Lan putting their heads together. Mat thought it was rather amusing). Another thing was that the wolves with Perrin hated Trollocs, even more than usual for wolves. The fact that there were two men with big swords present was just minor detail.
Min kept giving Rand sidelong looks, as if trying to figure out why she came along with him.
So far she wasn't getting anywhere.
'This is taking too long.' Rand thought. 'I should be making a gateway to Shadar Logoth right now, and cutting this bloody flaming trip short.'
'But that would mean that would mean that we can't have fun with the Trollocs and Myrdraal.' Said that ever-annoying voice that was Lews Therin Telamon. Rand groaned, causing everyone to look at him strangely. He didn't think Lews Therin would talk to him now, when he only began to channel.
'Aren't you glad to see me?' Lews Therin sounded hurt.
'No, I'm not!' Rand sounded very much annoyed.
'Is it because I killed Ilyena?' Lews Therin said in a timid voice. 'Light! Ilyena, I killed her! Light burn me, I killed her!'
Rand whimpered. He definitely did not want to listen to his pre-incarnation rant about his dead wife again.
Well, at least he was with Min.
Sort of.
Well… no.
Rand sighed. This was not going to be a good day.
A Trolloc hunting horn was heard in the distance.
'And it just got better' thought Rand sarcastically.
~~~ Switch POV to Egwene al'Vere ~~~
She heard the horn in the distance.
That could only mean one thing.
Someone blew that horn. And THAT meant something else.
That meant that the Trollocs finally caught up with them, and started to hunt them down.
Rather stupid when you think about it. After all, there were a few wolves and channelers around, not to mention that they were close to Shadar Logoth.
But Trollocs always were very stupid.
Egwene sighed and prepared a weave of Earth and Fire to make fire leap from the ground. Moiraine was making a weave of Air that would hold the advancing army for a few minutes while the group could escape. What the Aes Sedai did not know was that they were not planning on escaping.
But maybe they would allow some Trollocs to.
Maybe.
~~~ Switch POV to Rand al'Thor ~~~
Rand made a silent agreement with Nyneave. They would link, like they did with the Chodean Kal, while cleansing saidin.
Rand set himself on the edge of embracing the Source, feeling like agony, or something (A/N: for full detail, see the last chapter of the ninth book. Lets just skip to the part where Rand is in control of the circle).
Rand grinned. He liked being in control of both saidin and saidar. The weaves he set up were indescribable, mainly because the author didn't feel like it.
Basically what happened was that all the Trollocs died, leaving only three Myrdraal (Rand liked to keep up his "dancing" skills).
All three of the Halfmen (no, not Tyrion Lannister) unsheathed their swords and charged at the small group. With both halves of the Source still in him, Rand fashioned himself two swords, one from each half. Then he rode up to the Eyeless and began to make sure that the name wolves give them is justified. The reason Lan didn't join him was that he stayed close to the holder of his bond. Even days later, Rand could not get over the jealousy he felt from Nyneave through the link.
When the reincarnated madman met the three Trolloc-bred offspring (don't ask me how. You don't want the mental image of Trollocs breeding. Trust me) met in the middle of the road, the swords clashed and sparks flew. A few seconds later all that could be seen by Nyneave was Lan standing next to Moiraine. However, Rand was still fighting the Myrdraal, using every little bit of the One Power he could to kill them, but they deflected every move of his.
'I told you not to do this!' wailed Lews Therin inside his head.
'No, you didn't.'
'Oh, um… right, then. Uh… bye!' and the voice disappeared.
Eventually, the Fades died, leaving Rand unscathed, and the group moved on to Shadar Logoth.
~~~ A few hours later ~~~
They entered the deserted city half an hour before nightfall, leaving Mat plenty of time to hurt Mordeth. Badly.
Sadly, Mat was wrong.
As Mat, Rand and Perrin were walking the streets, night fell.
"Blood and bloody ashes!" exclaimed Mat. They were hurrying back to the building the rest were staying at, to get in-doors before Mashadar came out.
But they were too late.