A/N: I would like to apologies in advance to Nyneave Sedai for this chapter. She might be offended, but Light, I don't care. I hope everyone else out there enjoys this. Just to clarify, I am assuming that Mordeth can take any form he chooses, just so I can have fun here.
Chapter 5: The Joy of Balefire-ing
Rand saw the soft shimmering white of Mashadar, as some of the fog crept into sight. Immediately, Rand seized the Source and shot balefire at it like there is no tomorrow. The white fog seemed to scream and run away. The balefire did not kill/erase it. But it did leave a path open to the building where the others were, so the three ran there. When they reached the opening of the building, a horrible sight met their eyes. No, it wasn't Sevana.
Half a dozen Fades were inside, fighting Lan, Thom, and the former Whitecloak and Moiraine was channeling against them with Nyneave and Egwene, without much success.
'Ishamael must have put a ward against saidar on them.' Rand and Lews Therin thought simultaneously.
'Shut up! You are nothing but a voice of some dead insane guy!' Again both of them thought. 'Apparently, great minds think alike, and so do ours.'
When Rand tried to channel against the Fades, he wasn't successful either. He had to do something fast, because three men and four women with only two swords and a few knives were no match for 6 deadly Myrdraal. When Mat and Perrin got over what was happening, the three wolves jumped on the Fades, biting their arms, legs, and necks. Mat just stood there, waiting for Rand to make his weapon thingy.
Perrin smiled at the Fades while walking towards them, and drew his ax (the group set up camp in a long hall. One of those onion-shaped domes things). But it was only a smile in the sense that the corners of his mouth were upturned, and that all his teeth were showing.
Rand made a copy of Mat's ashandarei. Then he took out Tam's Power-made sword to use, just in case that fire-sword of his won't work, with those wards on the Fades.
~~~ Two minutes later ~~~
~~~ Switch POV to Min ~~~
Lan and the Whitecloak, who Min decided to call Bob, just because she thought the almighty author needed to call him something besides "the Whitecloak". And Bob is easy to type.
Anyway, Lan and Bob were cleaning their swords from the Myrdraal blood. Only Egwene, Nyneave, Moiraine, and Rand were not showing any signs of the fight that just took place. Min was huddled in a corner with Thom, trying to work out what just happened. All they knew was that creators from out of a gleeman's tale (the comment was acknowledged by Thom only with a distasteful twist of his mouth) had stepped out of a shadow, and started waving black swords at them, apparently at random. Lan and Bob were the first to react, and only just got their swords out in time. Bob decided that he was not yet ready for that much of the Shadow, and tried to kill a Fade. He was pretty good with a sword, even if not a bladesmaster. Then the three other women went forward and tried hitting them with knives after a few seconds of looking confused at something. Then the three young men ran in and the wolves jumped at the Fades' throats, and the men themselves came bearing weapons, and killed the Myrdraal after a few minutes' fight.
Right now, the tall redhead was in an argument with everyone else. They seemed to be sure that this was a bad choice, staying here, but one person, who people referred to as Mat, insisted on staying here to get some dagger or other. Min didn't hear every word, but she understood that tonight they would spend in this place, and next morning the three young men will look for this dagger and this person who needs to die for some old grudge, and by noon they will leave.
~~~ Switch POV to Mat Cauthon ~~~
A watch was set. Only those who could channel and Perrin were used as a watch, just in case the Power is used as an attack, or if Trollocs come, Perrin will know what to do.
The next morning came too early for Mat. The three friends got up at the crack of dawn to go look for the bloody flaming dagger and the Light-cursed Mordeth. He will make sure Mordeth pays for what happened during the Trolloc Wars. Ten bloody days! They held out for ten bloody flaming days waiting for reinforcements! And Mordeth is still alive and well! I am the one who dies and gets reborn, and nearly die again by those bloody doorway people. Mordeth is going to pay.
A few hours of fruitless search later Mat was ready to kill. Rand had suggested that they try searching in the building they found him in when they first came here in the Foretelling, but none could remember where it was.
Eventually, the three saw a figure at the top of a flight of stairs. Mat drew a knife out of each sleeve, and threw them up at Mordeth. Perrin growled deep in the back of his throat, and the wolves pounced. Rand just shrugged, and weaved balefire, aiming at the figure on the flight of stairs.
Mordeth, taken by surprise, was stunned for a second before running to hide in one of the buildings. Mat's knives missed their target, the wolves landed on nothing but air, and Rand's balefire took down the onion-shaped dome. The building collapsed in on itself, sending the three people running alongside the wolves. Mat could still hear the rubble falling on the ground 100 spans away.
"Blood and bloody ashes! Rand, that was scary!"
"Don't make me tug my braid at you, Mat! Watch your language." Nyneave was standing right behind him.
~~~ Switch POV to Mordeth ~~~
The evilness could feel new pray coming. It was walking along its streets, looking inside its buildings. After letting the pray wonder for a few hours, the evilness manifested itself into a human. It looked down at its pray, tasting their minds. Even the wolfbrother would do. But as soon as the pray saw it, they attacked.
Knives flashed.
Wolves pounced.
Balefire sped toward it.
Human instincts kicked in.
"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" they seemed to tell him.
As a human, Mordeth always followed the Rules of Running:
1. The main point isn't running to someplace. It is always away from someplace.
2. When in doubt, run.
3. Run as fast as you can. Always.
4. First sprint away from immediate danger, then take long, ground-eating strides, to make sure no-one is following you.
5. Never look back. If you are running as fast as you can, there is nothing that you can see that will make you run faster.
As soon as Mordeth was out of sight of the supposed pray, the evilness took control again.
"You Light-blinded fool!" he mentally kicked himself. "Now, go and look like someone they would like enough to follow into the trap." His other mind went off muttering about how idiotic he was.
So Mordeth followed his own advice, and transformed into whom he saw was riding with them. A young black haired, brown eyed woman, with a long braid. The Nyneave-look alike marched up to the three young men. Sometimes even 2000-year-old people can be that stupid.
"Blood and bloody ashes! Rand, that was scary!" Mat exclaimed.
"Don't make me tug my braid at you, Mat! Watch your language."
The three whipped around, looking scared. Perrin backed away from Mordeth, looking terrified. Rand and Mat looked as if seeing Nyneave about to lecture them was even worse than living to fight in the Last Battle (which it probably was).
~~~ Switch POV to Perrin ~~~
Nyneave didn't smell right. She didn't smell like a normal two-legs. The wolves were wondering about this, too. She didn't smell like a Twisted One, but she did not smell like a normal human either. Like a different sort of "bad". Now, Perrin was never one to jump to conclusions. He was going to think this through first.
The person in front of him looks like Nyneave. She does not smell like Nyneave. Light, she doesn't even smell human. She smells evil, but the wrong kind of evil. And there was another Nyneave standing right behind here holding a large crowbar.
Hmmmm…
This could take a while.
~~~ Switch POV to Nyneave. The REAL Nyneave ~~~
Nyneave woke up a few hours after the young men left, and went to look for them. "Just to make sure they are all right." She reminded herself. "I don't want to let people run loose with the idea that I want to get caught up in an adventure, Light forbid."
She found them in front of someone who looked familiar. The woman looked very attractive, Nyneave thought, even though, she reminded herself, she will only be with Lan in THAT sense. The long dark braid hung over the woman's shoulder. And she had a hand over it. And she was wearing a stout brown Two-Rivers cloak.
Nyneave's eyes narrowed. She felt anger rise in her. How does Mordeth DARE to insult her like that? She would never be seen in public wearing THAT, given a choice. She would only wear green, one of Lan's favorite colors. She felt the True Source flow into her. She weaved Earth to form a large crowbar, and advanced on Mordeth.
Perrin looked slightly confused, and Rand and Mat looked downright terrified at seeing not one but two Nyneaves.
Nyneave came up on Mordeth from behind, and raised the crowbar. Mordeth spun around too late. The crowbar came down with all the force Nyneave could muster, with the Power in her, and everything.
~~~ 30 seconds later ~~~
Rand was on his knees, begging Nyneave not to box his ears. They had made her show them the tug marks on her scalp to make sure that she really is Nyneave, and not Mordeth. Nyneave let them off the hook, because, after all, she doesn't know how to box someone's ears. She never did it before, so she didn't really know what to do. But she did not let them know that.
Meanwhile, Perrin was still trying to figure out what just happened, and Mat was jumping up and down on Mordeth, even though he was already knocked out. The wolves were just sitting there, looking at Perrin, waiting for him to figure it out. They already knew what was going on, but they were not going to give him any hints.
Perrin's mouth worked silent, trying to figure out what just happened. Nyneave let Rand and Mat know that they are off the hook, grudgingly.
As they were walking back to the rest of the group, Rand turned around and snuck a little balefire at the rubble. Balefire-ing was fun. When Nyneave heard the debris falling, she turned around and looked at Rand accusingly.
"I didn't do it." Rand and Lews Therin said simultaneously.
~~~ A few minutes later ~~~
"Wait! My dagger!" Mat exclaimed.
Rand looked at him strangely. "Why would you want the dagger? I thought you hated it."
Mat hesitated. "If I don't take the dagger, or something like it, then the entire weaving will change. And it could be for the worse. So I want to make sure it doesn't become too bad. So I will take something from this wretched place with me." Mat was having a rare moment of self-sacrifice. Of WILLING self-sacrifice. "But I don't want to take a dagger. Something different. Maybe there is an ashandarei here somewhere. Then you won't have to make me one every time, Rand." He was looking hopeful. Why Mat wanted a reminder of the Eelfinn was beyond Rand.
"I think you need something less conspicuous. A knife is good. Even a sword. But something as uncommon as an ashandarei will draw unwanted attention. Maybe a small knife? A ring? A coin?"
They debated between them for quite some time, using more threats than was necessary. At the end, Rand "persuaded" Mat to not look for an ashandarei, but instead to just use any weapon that might come in useful. As they looked for something, anything, Mat grumbled about ta'veren and about how he never got to make any decisions.
To make a long story short, Mat got bullied into using some plain-looking dagger they found. Rand wove the Mirrors of Mist around it to look like it had a ruby in its hilt. But, the Wheel Weaving as it Wills, Mat tripped, and the dagger fell out of his hand. Nyneave tugged her braid at him, but that's it. But the Wheel did not stop Weaving as it Wills. A few minutes later, a wind blew, and Mat got thrown into a shadow, and he saw there his well-known, well-hated ruby-hilted dagger. Mat let out a stream of unrepeatable words, because they were in the Old Tongue. But Rand, with the translation of Lews Therin Telamon, understood that Mat was "bloody surprised that his flaming dagger was in a shadow where any bloody flaming bystanders could bloody well get flaming cut."
Perrin stood there, looking politely confused; Nyneave was looking at Mat murderously, as if she knew what he was saying. She tugged on her braid several times, while Mat carefully put the dagger back in its sheath. (A/N: no, he did not sheath it in himself. That would be Sheathing of the Dagger, not Sheathing of the Sword.)
Before they met up with the others, Rand wove a trap thing on the Waygate near the city. The trap would kill anyone who went through it within two days, Shadowspawn within 12 hours.
When they got back to the building where everyone else was, they found them all packed and ready to go.
~~~ Switch POV to Perrin Aybara ~~~
"I think we should pay a visit to Elyas." Perrin said suddenly. Everyone's expression was different. Lan looked up suspiciously at him, Rand, Mat, Nyneave, and Egwene did not look surprised, Bob, Thom, and Min looked politely confused. Moiraine's expression did not change, but Perrin could smell her caution and confusion. (A/N: they are all CONFUZELED! YAY!)
Perrin just sighed, and led them out of the city, towards the river. Luckily they had no horses with them, so they would have no trouble crossing. Of course, Rand would just make a gateway, but it was the principle of the thing.
Chapter 5: The Joy of Balefire-ing
Rand saw the soft shimmering white of Mashadar, as some of the fog crept into sight. Immediately, Rand seized the Source and shot balefire at it like there is no tomorrow. The white fog seemed to scream and run away. The balefire did not kill/erase it. But it did leave a path open to the building where the others were, so the three ran there. When they reached the opening of the building, a horrible sight met their eyes. No, it wasn't Sevana.
Half a dozen Fades were inside, fighting Lan, Thom, and the former Whitecloak and Moiraine was channeling against them with Nyneave and Egwene, without much success.
'Ishamael must have put a ward against saidar on them.' Rand and Lews Therin thought simultaneously.
'Shut up! You are nothing but a voice of some dead insane guy!' Again both of them thought. 'Apparently, great minds think alike, and so do ours.'
When Rand tried to channel against the Fades, he wasn't successful either. He had to do something fast, because three men and four women with only two swords and a few knives were no match for 6 deadly Myrdraal. When Mat and Perrin got over what was happening, the three wolves jumped on the Fades, biting their arms, legs, and necks. Mat just stood there, waiting for Rand to make his weapon thingy.
Perrin smiled at the Fades while walking towards them, and drew his ax (the group set up camp in a long hall. One of those onion-shaped domes things). But it was only a smile in the sense that the corners of his mouth were upturned, and that all his teeth were showing.
Rand made a copy of Mat's ashandarei. Then he took out Tam's Power-made sword to use, just in case that fire-sword of his won't work, with those wards on the Fades.
~~~ Two minutes later ~~~
~~~ Switch POV to Min ~~~
Lan and the Whitecloak, who Min decided to call Bob, just because she thought the almighty author needed to call him something besides "the Whitecloak". And Bob is easy to type.
Anyway, Lan and Bob were cleaning their swords from the Myrdraal blood. Only Egwene, Nyneave, Moiraine, and Rand were not showing any signs of the fight that just took place. Min was huddled in a corner with Thom, trying to work out what just happened. All they knew was that creators from out of a gleeman's tale (the comment was acknowledged by Thom only with a distasteful twist of his mouth) had stepped out of a shadow, and started waving black swords at them, apparently at random. Lan and Bob were the first to react, and only just got their swords out in time. Bob decided that he was not yet ready for that much of the Shadow, and tried to kill a Fade. He was pretty good with a sword, even if not a bladesmaster. Then the three other women went forward and tried hitting them with knives after a few seconds of looking confused at something. Then the three young men ran in and the wolves jumped at the Fades' throats, and the men themselves came bearing weapons, and killed the Myrdraal after a few minutes' fight.
Right now, the tall redhead was in an argument with everyone else. They seemed to be sure that this was a bad choice, staying here, but one person, who people referred to as Mat, insisted on staying here to get some dagger or other. Min didn't hear every word, but she understood that tonight they would spend in this place, and next morning the three young men will look for this dagger and this person who needs to die for some old grudge, and by noon they will leave.
~~~ Switch POV to Mat Cauthon ~~~
A watch was set. Only those who could channel and Perrin were used as a watch, just in case the Power is used as an attack, or if Trollocs come, Perrin will know what to do.
The next morning came too early for Mat. The three friends got up at the crack of dawn to go look for the bloody flaming dagger and the Light-cursed Mordeth. He will make sure Mordeth pays for what happened during the Trolloc Wars. Ten bloody days! They held out for ten bloody flaming days waiting for reinforcements! And Mordeth is still alive and well! I am the one who dies and gets reborn, and nearly die again by those bloody doorway people. Mordeth is going to pay.
A few hours of fruitless search later Mat was ready to kill. Rand had suggested that they try searching in the building they found him in when they first came here in the Foretelling, but none could remember where it was.
Eventually, the three saw a figure at the top of a flight of stairs. Mat drew a knife out of each sleeve, and threw them up at Mordeth. Perrin growled deep in the back of his throat, and the wolves pounced. Rand just shrugged, and weaved balefire, aiming at the figure on the flight of stairs.
Mordeth, taken by surprise, was stunned for a second before running to hide in one of the buildings. Mat's knives missed their target, the wolves landed on nothing but air, and Rand's balefire took down the onion-shaped dome. The building collapsed in on itself, sending the three people running alongside the wolves. Mat could still hear the rubble falling on the ground 100 spans away.
"Blood and bloody ashes! Rand, that was scary!"
"Don't make me tug my braid at you, Mat! Watch your language." Nyneave was standing right behind him.
~~~ Switch POV to Mordeth ~~~
The evilness could feel new pray coming. It was walking along its streets, looking inside its buildings. After letting the pray wonder for a few hours, the evilness manifested itself into a human. It looked down at its pray, tasting their minds. Even the wolfbrother would do. But as soon as the pray saw it, they attacked.
Knives flashed.
Wolves pounced.
Balefire sped toward it.
Human instincts kicked in.
"RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" they seemed to tell him.
As a human, Mordeth always followed the Rules of Running:
1. The main point isn't running to someplace. It is always away from someplace.
2. When in doubt, run.
3. Run as fast as you can. Always.
4. First sprint away from immediate danger, then take long, ground-eating strides, to make sure no-one is following you.
5. Never look back. If you are running as fast as you can, there is nothing that you can see that will make you run faster.
As soon as Mordeth was out of sight of the supposed pray, the evilness took control again.
"You Light-blinded fool!" he mentally kicked himself. "Now, go and look like someone they would like enough to follow into the trap." His other mind went off muttering about how idiotic he was.
So Mordeth followed his own advice, and transformed into whom he saw was riding with them. A young black haired, brown eyed woman, with a long braid. The Nyneave-look alike marched up to the three young men. Sometimes even 2000-year-old people can be that stupid.
"Blood and bloody ashes! Rand, that was scary!" Mat exclaimed.
"Don't make me tug my braid at you, Mat! Watch your language."
The three whipped around, looking scared. Perrin backed away from Mordeth, looking terrified. Rand and Mat looked as if seeing Nyneave about to lecture them was even worse than living to fight in the Last Battle (which it probably was).
~~~ Switch POV to Perrin ~~~
Nyneave didn't smell right. She didn't smell like a normal two-legs. The wolves were wondering about this, too. She didn't smell like a Twisted One, but she did not smell like a normal human either. Like a different sort of "bad". Now, Perrin was never one to jump to conclusions. He was going to think this through first.
The person in front of him looks like Nyneave. She does not smell like Nyneave. Light, she doesn't even smell human. She smells evil, but the wrong kind of evil. And there was another Nyneave standing right behind here holding a large crowbar.
Hmmmm…
This could take a while.
~~~ Switch POV to Nyneave. The REAL Nyneave ~~~
Nyneave woke up a few hours after the young men left, and went to look for them. "Just to make sure they are all right." She reminded herself. "I don't want to let people run loose with the idea that I want to get caught up in an adventure, Light forbid."
She found them in front of someone who looked familiar. The woman looked very attractive, Nyneave thought, even though, she reminded herself, she will only be with Lan in THAT sense. The long dark braid hung over the woman's shoulder. And she had a hand over it. And she was wearing a stout brown Two-Rivers cloak.
Nyneave's eyes narrowed. She felt anger rise in her. How does Mordeth DARE to insult her like that? She would never be seen in public wearing THAT, given a choice. She would only wear green, one of Lan's favorite colors. She felt the True Source flow into her. She weaved Earth to form a large crowbar, and advanced on Mordeth.
Perrin looked slightly confused, and Rand and Mat looked downright terrified at seeing not one but two Nyneaves.
Nyneave came up on Mordeth from behind, and raised the crowbar. Mordeth spun around too late. The crowbar came down with all the force Nyneave could muster, with the Power in her, and everything.
~~~ 30 seconds later ~~~
Rand was on his knees, begging Nyneave not to box his ears. They had made her show them the tug marks on her scalp to make sure that she really is Nyneave, and not Mordeth. Nyneave let them off the hook, because, after all, she doesn't know how to box someone's ears. She never did it before, so she didn't really know what to do. But she did not let them know that.
Meanwhile, Perrin was still trying to figure out what just happened, and Mat was jumping up and down on Mordeth, even though he was already knocked out. The wolves were just sitting there, looking at Perrin, waiting for him to figure it out. They already knew what was going on, but they were not going to give him any hints.
Perrin's mouth worked silent, trying to figure out what just happened. Nyneave let Rand and Mat know that they are off the hook, grudgingly.
As they were walking back to the rest of the group, Rand turned around and snuck a little balefire at the rubble. Balefire-ing was fun. When Nyneave heard the debris falling, she turned around and looked at Rand accusingly.
"I didn't do it." Rand and Lews Therin said simultaneously.
~~~ A few minutes later ~~~
"Wait! My dagger!" Mat exclaimed.
Rand looked at him strangely. "Why would you want the dagger? I thought you hated it."
Mat hesitated. "If I don't take the dagger, or something like it, then the entire weaving will change. And it could be for the worse. So I want to make sure it doesn't become too bad. So I will take something from this wretched place with me." Mat was having a rare moment of self-sacrifice. Of WILLING self-sacrifice. "But I don't want to take a dagger. Something different. Maybe there is an ashandarei here somewhere. Then you won't have to make me one every time, Rand." He was looking hopeful. Why Mat wanted a reminder of the Eelfinn was beyond Rand.
"I think you need something less conspicuous. A knife is good. Even a sword. But something as uncommon as an ashandarei will draw unwanted attention. Maybe a small knife? A ring? A coin?"
They debated between them for quite some time, using more threats than was necessary. At the end, Rand "persuaded" Mat to not look for an ashandarei, but instead to just use any weapon that might come in useful. As they looked for something, anything, Mat grumbled about ta'veren and about how he never got to make any decisions.
To make a long story short, Mat got bullied into using some plain-looking dagger they found. Rand wove the Mirrors of Mist around it to look like it had a ruby in its hilt. But, the Wheel Weaving as it Wills, Mat tripped, and the dagger fell out of his hand. Nyneave tugged her braid at him, but that's it. But the Wheel did not stop Weaving as it Wills. A few minutes later, a wind blew, and Mat got thrown into a shadow, and he saw there his well-known, well-hated ruby-hilted dagger. Mat let out a stream of unrepeatable words, because they were in the Old Tongue. But Rand, with the translation of Lews Therin Telamon, understood that Mat was "bloody surprised that his flaming dagger was in a shadow where any bloody flaming bystanders could bloody well get flaming cut."
Perrin stood there, looking politely confused; Nyneave was looking at Mat murderously, as if she knew what he was saying. She tugged on her braid several times, while Mat carefully put the dagger back in its sheath. (A/N: no, he did not sheath it in himself. That would be Sheathing of the Dagger, not Sheathing of the Sword.)
Before they met up with the others, Rand wove a trap thing on the Waygate near the city. The trap would kill anyone who went through it within two days, Shadowspawn within 12 hours.
When they got back to the building where everyone else was, they found them all packed and ready to go.
~~~ Switch POV to Perrin Aybara ~~~
"I think we should pay a visit to Elyas." Perrin said suddenly. Everyone's expression was different. Lan looked up suspiciously at him, Rand, Mat, Nyneave, and Egwene did not look surprised, Bob, Thom, and Min looked politely confused. Moiraine's expression did not change, but Perrin could smell her caution and confusion. (A/N: they are all CONFUZELED! YAY!)
Perrin just sighed, and led them out of the city, towards the river. Luckily they had no horses with them, so they would have no trouble crossing. Of course, Rand would just make a gateway, but it was the principle of the thing.