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 awaybut 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.