The Third Arch (Betrayal).
Screams echoed through the labyrinth of her mind, reverberating with a jarring
sharpness that caused her to wince and clutch at her skull even now, hours
afterward. The memory was too strong, too overwhelming to allow her any peace
yet. Peace…she murmured silently, and slowly the truth dawned on her: I
will never know peace again.
As always, the truth fled quickly, and she was left with nothing more than a
dizzying hollowness. She couldn't vomit, for there was nothing to throw up; she
couldn't collapse—her bones were locked in place, and her tired muscles were
forced to comply. She couldn't cry—the hollowness extended right through her,
and the moisture within her, that which made her human, had evaporated
completely it seemed. She had no life in her, none of the spirit that had once
held her aloft.
They came and checked on her once every hour, though she could not have known
it—she recognised no small detail now. Her mind was focused on the memories
alone, fixated in a manner that allowed no space for anything else. Soon she
would be ready, they told one another in hushed tones. Ready for her first
meeting with her new kin. They saw her potential, had seen it long ago, and had
marked her as one of their own even then. They knew she would be great—but
everyone had to start at the bottom, and she would be no exception. They would
humble her as she had never thought to be humbled, and from the ashes she would
rise in a cloud of triumph.
Her learning would be necessarily shorter than many others', for she was needed
in the world, for the carrying out of great deeds. The information locked away
in her mind was treasure enough in itself. Soon they would uncover it.
They waited three days before judging her ready. When they came, they seemed
phantoms to her, and she shrunk away. They stole her away and into her new
chambers, and there she received a special visitor.
Soon enough she had been blinded by the light.
'*''*''*''*'
She pictured Raymal's face in
her head, and shivered involuntarily as she did so often these days. The Head
of the Black was a fearsome woman, mostly in the way she schooled her
expression to absolute stillness. Before the turning Rayel had never
encountered a channeler with such a well-maintained Aes Sedai mask. She still
wished, where others could not hear or read her thoughts, that she had never
had the pleasure of making that acquaintance.
"Ilia, come here," she snapped, feeling irritated that she had let
uncomfortable memories get to her yet again. She watched with quiet
satisfaction as the young novice scuttled towards her, ending up prostrating
herself at Rayel's dusty red slippers.
"My Lady, how may I serve?"
Rayel frowned down at her in silence for a moment. "You may begin by looking at
me while I speak to you." The girl rose abruptly, jerking taut like a
marionette. "Yes My Lady!" Rayel saw red dust on her nose and chin where her
face at met with the earth. Surely that is taking it too far? she
thought to herself, before remembering one important detail: she was used to
others' grovelling, and had come to expect it as due her.
"Good," she said slowly, and watched the girl's face freeze. "Now…I want you to
deliver a message to one of my Sisters. Here. Take this." She handed the girl a
small cylindrical container with a rolled-up square of parchment inside. "Take
it to Voda Sedai, and inform me when you have done so." She did not need to say
anymore—Ilia knew enough of what would happen to her if she failed to do as
Rayel asked.
The way back will come but once…
Rayel frowned as she spoke the words aloud. They seemed strangely familiar, but
she could not have said how. Ilia paused long enough to frown, but at the look
on Rayel's face she ran faster than ever. Rayel watched as she scurried off,
reminded of the days in which she had been new to the Ajah. At times it still
infuriated her, remembering the days when she had bobbed around like some lowly
novice on penance. That was what they had called her then—a novice. She may
have had the green-fringed shawl, but that did not constitute the shawl of the
Black Ajah. She had had to earn the right to wear the ring all over again.
Not long now…she thought for the hundredth time. I have been so long
away…but now I am going to see my Sisters and Brothers again. She
had become used to the idea of what she had to do, but every now and then she
felt a tearing inside her. She would reveal herself as the ultimate traitor,
and yet…it had not been her fault. She had been forced over. Would that matter
to them?
Be steadfast. "So I shall," she said quietly, though she was not sure
what the words had meant, or why she had thought them…or even if she had
thought them. They seemed alien somehow, as if they were not of this world.
That, of course, made no sense at all.
She felt annoyed with herself. Why should she care about what her former peers
thought of her? She may have been forced over, but she had been faithfully
converted. She had new loyalties now. She had adapted to her new existence. No
fond memory of her days in the Tower could make her want to go back now.
She sighed wearily and leaned against the wall of the carriage, awaiting Ilia's
return. When all the Sisters had gathered, she would inform them of what their
next actions would be.
Not long now…
'*''*''*''*'
The Tower looked so different
through Black Ajah eyes. The halls seemed far wider, the ceiling so out of
reach. The whiteness of it made her feel shrunken and crippled. She swallowed
against the disquiet and strode on, intent on her destination.
She heard gasps at certain intervals, and at one point a school of familiar
faces swam before her. Adrese. Feoneya. Kara and Migese. Former friends, former
Ajah Sisters. Some of them tried to touch her face, but she ducked away from
them and hastened her steps, waiting always for the sound that would signal the
next beginning.
"Rayel…" The once-beloved voice, so unexpected, sounded despairing and weak to
Rayel's ears. She turned on her heel, unable to resist this time, to see
Whenmae in her green-fringed shawl, stepping towards her lightly. "Ray…oh
Light, it is you. Where have you been…?"
Be steadfast… Rayel looked up and around, away from Whenmae and the
other Sisters. She wondered briefly where all the male Aes Sedai were.
Something caught her eye and she turned her head slightly to see a glowing
silver arch wink out of existence. Panic seized her and she did not know why,
but soon another sound caught her attention.
The thrice-blown whistle, and the distant sound of rising thunder—feet and
hooves on concrete and marble—marked that beginning she had awaited. The army
would be surging forth into the Tower grounds at this moment.
The faces crowding around her, both familiar and strange, turned as one
forty-five degrees to the right. Rayel stepped around them, embraced saidar,
flung out a hand and struck one of them in the back with a thudding fist of
Earth. Then she fled, the sound of agonised groaning echoing in her ears. "Not
long…" she murmured.
The fighting was spreading rapidly throughout the Tower. Rayel met up with her
fellows and ordered them to follow her. She could almost feel Raymal's
penetrating eyes on her, despite the fact that the Head of the Black was more
than two-hundred leagues away. She sees me still, she thought, and
realised that her stomach was churning. She let none of her hesitation show on
her face.
"She is here, they all are," Rayel said, seeing the understanding in her
comrades' eyes. "We do not want to kill them, remember. They are to be taken
safely. And…keep in mind the exceptions I spoke of earlier in the day. Whenmae
Benvlienze in particular."
She reminded them briefly of their respective tasks, taking no more than two
minutes to do so. Then the soldiers dispersed and Rayel was left alone with her
small gathering. She led them through the halls, at one point allowing two of
them to step ahead in order to act as guards.
They ambushed countless Aes Sedai, throwing on shields before the Light-loving
creatures knew what was happening. Rayel distanced herself, focusing on her
great loyalty to—and fear of—the Great Lord of the Dark whenever she began to
doubt herself or her actions. Aarin and Voda, her two most trusted Sisters,
honed in on one of the exceptions Rayel had mentioned. They backed the Yellow
Sister into a corner and dispatched of her, cutting off her voice in
mid-gurgling scream. Why? Rayel thought desperately, but there was no
time to think.
Whenmae reappeared, and before Rayel knew it Liannas and Voda hastened forth.
"She is powerful," she had informed them earlier. "A danger if left alone too
long." Liannas, whose own strength was renowned and the envy of many,
immediately shielded the unsuspecting Green. Whenmae cried out, flinching
against the invisible barrier that cut her off from saidar. Rayel almost
regretted what was happening, the look of anguish in Whenmae's eyes moving her
more than she had imagined it ever could. As Liannas and Voda advanced, Whenmae
spotted Rayel again, and now time seemed to freeze as the two old friends
regarded one another.
Realisation dawned on Whenmae's face as her eyes darted between Liannas and
Voda, and Rayel. Despite her predicament, the Green only stared at Rayel,
horror creeping into her face rapidly. Rayel was the one with whom she had
endured the most wearisome moments of training, and who had stood by her in
overcoming all obstacles to become Aes Sedai. She stared in disbelief, and
suddenly cried out. "Rayel! No! It cannot be! No–!" Her words came in jerking
gasps. Rayel's heart squeezed without warning, and she raised her hand. As the
fireball leapt seemingly from Voda's fingertips, Rayel cried out in horror,
begging them to stop, to save her best friend, the only one who had come close
to filling up the void left by Marana.
She threw out thick strands of Air in a last minute attempt to make a wall to
protect Whenmae.
Too late.
The Air weave slammed into Voda, missing its target, and the fireball flew forward.
Voda's aim was superior to Rayel's; she cried out in fury and agony as Whenmae
disappeared in a burst of flame. Her nostrils were soon filled with a
nauseating odour, her ears with the unbearable sound of dying screams. Whenmae…
Liannis was helping Voda to her feet, and the two Black Sisters now turned to
stare at Rayel. Behind them, the charred, twitching corpse of Whenmae fell to
the ground, lying now between Rayel and the glowing arch. Liannis and Voda each
had a calculating expression on her face. Not angry, or scared…just thoughtful.
"What has happened to your head, Rayel?" Liannis asked, arching one brow ever
so slightly. "I believe your wits have fled." And she began to walk, dusting
off her dress meticulously as she came.
Rayel knew her time was limited. She had faltered, and Voda and Liannas were
intent on finding out why. Rayel was not willing to give them the chance. She
raced for the arch without hesitation now, forgetting about glory and power and
eternal life, forcing herself not to think of all the other former friends she
left behind. She felt a tearing of countless oaths inside her, and knew that
she would bleed eternally. She mourned for Whenmae, the truest friend she had
ever known, the friend who had died by her own hand, or as well as.
As if in final punishment, she tripped over another corpse's leg and slammed to
the ground right beside what had once been Whenmae. She was transfixed for a
moment by the horror of what she saw, but soon enough she was up and lumbering
on, gagging but not able to vomit.
She slipped and fell into the arch, feeling that she had swallowed millions of
fragments of crushed glass which now cut her to ribbons, body and soul, from
the inside.
The Light burned her, and she sought peace with a tenacity that she had never
displayed before.
