The Darkened Falls

Disappearances

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose above the great buildings of Cairhien. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning."

As Rand al'Thor walked out of the Sun Palace, he noticed a faint gust of wind come from the southwest. This same gust of wind had been coming from the southwest for the past seven days and he wondered what happened there. But there was more on his mind.

"Why hasn't Elayne come yet?" he thought angrily. "She should have been here by now!" As he rounded a corner, he saw Min coming up to him,

"Hi Rand," she said. "I was hoping I'd see you here. I just heard that there is a camp of Aes Sedai on their way to Caemlyn. It 's probably the Aes Sedai from Salidar."

"Yes, Elayne is finally here!" Rand thought triumphantly. "Let's go!" They went back into the Sun Palace and Rand opened a gateway. He decided to make it just big enough to fit the two of them through abreast. They went through... and they came out to the Royal Palace of Caemlyn. Rand saw the Aes Sedai coming and embraced saidin. He saw them come up to the palace and then recognized one of them.

"Egwene!?!" he exclaimed. "How did you get here? I thought you were with the Wise Ones in Cairhien."

"I was with the Wise Ones, Rand." Egwene said. "But then the Aes Sedai sent me to Salidar and I had to leave right away......I.....Traveled..... " she uttered. "I went into Tel'aranrhiod completely and Traveled to Salidar. Once I got there, they told me....

"You mean to say that you can open a gateway into Tel'aranrhiod to!?! Rand exclaimed. "I thought that I was the only one who knew how to do that." Short of the Forsaken, of course. "And you can Travel!?!"

"Well... yes. I can do each of those." she muttered. When I...."

Just then, Rand noticed what was on her shoulders. "Egwene, why do you have that stole on your shoulders? I thought only the Amyrlin wore that stole."

"Before I was rudely interrupted, I was going to tell you that when I got to Salidar, the Aes Sedai brought me in front of them and told me I was to be Amyrlin."

Rand's jaw dropped.

"Stop fooling around, Egwene. Why would the Aes Sedai make you one of them when you're only eighteen? You'd have to wear the stole for at least the number of years that Siuan was Aes Sedai before you would be raised Amyrlin. Why did you have to leave?" he asked.

"Rand, I'm not joking. I am Aes Sedai and I am Amyrlin Seat!" she burst out.

Rand was flabbergasted after Egwene yelled. But they only went so far as to blink.

As Rand and the others neared the Hall, he noticed that the servants were wearing more livery that day and that there were more tapestries and paintings up on the wall. When they got to the Hall, Rand went straight to the Dragon Throne. The Lion Throne was just behind it.

"Egwene," he asked. "Why are you here?"

"Because, Rand, I have to go to Tar Valon to take Elaida off of the Amyrlin Seat. She unrightfully took Siuan off of the Seat and deposed of her. That is why I am here." she replied.

Then, one of the other Aes Sedai came up and spoke,

"Mother, we shouldn't be here. Al'Thor, I'm sure, doesn't want to be troubled. He probably has a lot to do with getting ready to kill the rest of the Forsaken and teaching at that Black Tower of his...."

"How do you know about the Black Tower?" Rand interrupted.

"I have my sources." she replied.

Then Rand noticed how familiar the voice sounded. It sounded like Siuan Sanche's voice. Then it all came together.

"Sanche, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Because I missed you." she replied dryly. "Because I am on some important Aes Sedai business also. I have to teach Mother how to act like the Amyrlin Seat."

Egwene snorted.

Just then, Davram Bashere came striding in.

"My Lord Dragon, I have just been notified that the Seanchan have arrived in the mountain pass west of Illian. There are thousands of them quitting the mountains right this second."

"Yes, they're finally here." he thought to himself. Now I can get one thing over with."

"Bashere, get Sulin and the other Maidens. We're going hunting."

Bashere looked surprised at what Rand said, but went to get Sulin and the Maidens.

"Light, how many more women will die for me today?" Rand thought bitterly to himself.

Bashere was gone only for an instant, then came into the room with two hundred Maidens and the rest of the Saldeans.

"We're ready for your orders, Car'a'carn." Sulin said as she came in with the two hundred Maidens. "We will follow wherever you go."

"I already now that." Rand thought angrily. "Let's go!" he said. "This won't take long, Egwene." he said as an afterthought.

Then he made a gateway to the west of Illian and they all went through, Maidens first, Saldeans bringing up the rear.

As she watched Rand go through the gateway, Egwene asked Siuan,

"What do you think we should do, Siuan?"

"Well, al'Thor said that he wouldn't be gone for long." she replied. "I guess we should stay here and wait, though I would like to get back to the camp."

"Well, let's wait." Egwene said.

As Rand went through the gateway, Bashere went to his tent straight away as Weiramon came up to him. He didn't look to happy.

"My Lord Dragon," Weiramon said. "The scouts just came back with news. Unfortunately, they were ambushed. Only one survived. He brought back these." He showed Rand the heads of the other seven scouts. It was a disgusting scene, but Rand was enclosed in the Void, saidar just out of reach. But he wasn't touched by it.

"Weiramon, did the scout tell you where the Seanchan were?" he asked.

"Um... yes he did." he replied. "They are a couple of miles away from us."

"Already!?!?" Rand thought. "That was too fast, unless the damane are able to Travel." he thought worriedly. "Now that's a big problem."

"My Lord?" Weiramon asked. "Shall I assemble my soldiers?" he asked for the third time, Rand found out.

"Weiramon, assemble your soldiers. We're going to war."

As soon as Rand ordered him, Weiramon left to get his soldiers ready. Rand went to the Asha'man and said,

"Asha'man?" he said. "It's time to go to war. Dashiva, Flinn, come with me. The rest, get ready."

As soon as Rand told them, the Asha'man left to get ready. Dashiva and Flinn followed Rand to the Saldean camp.

When they neared the camp, Bashere came out. He didn't look very happy.

"Lord Dragon, my scouts tell me that the Seanchan are two miles away from the camp and coming in fast. Is this true?" he asked as they headed to his tent.

"I'm afraid that it's true, Bashere." Rand said. "The Seanchan have their damane with them and my guess is that, somehow, they can Travel. Since they're coming from Ebou Dar, they probably saw the residue of Elayne's gateway."

Then, Rand heard them. The sounds of shrill horns coming towards them. The Seanchan were not alone.

"Trollocs." Rand thought horrendously. "How come they're with the Seanchan? How are they with the Seanchan?" "Let's go to war."

As he came out of Bashere's tent, Rand saw all the Saldeans, the Tairens, the Cairhiens and the Illianers getting ready for the oncoming battle. The Asha'man were already ready. Rand went to the front of the line. He embraced saidar and so did the rest of the Asha'man. Then he saw them. Nobody could mistake the bug-like helmets and the creatures called grolm, and the Seanchan came at full speed into Rand's defences. Then they started exploding. Seanchan and Trollocs exploding because of the Asha'man. The Asha'man were holding saidar and were using their weapon... Themselves. The Seanchan, after cutting through the defences, started falling back because of the Asha'man. Then Rand suddenly remembered what he forgot to say.

"Asha'man, kill all the men, but don't hurt the women." he shouted over the loud roiling of the thunder. "Don't hurt the women."

Then he noticed that something was wrong. The right flank, where Weiramon's forces were, was collapsing and the Seanchan were coming through. Rand fell back to behind the line and lashed out with saidar. Balefire hit the Seanchan and they disappeared. If you know anything about balefire, you know that if somebody uses balefire, you will disappear before getting killed. It is one of the ultimate weapons when using the True Source. Another is when the Asha'man use their weave. Unfortunately, the balfire hit some of the Tairens, too. Weiramon wasn't hit, though. The grolm were coming head on and weren't slowing down with all the arrows flying at them.

"Shoot at the eyes!" Rand yelled. "Hit the grolm in the eyes!"

Then the archers began shooting at the eyes of the grolm. They came down fast and hard. There were about ten grolm dead and lying on the ground. Rand was pleased with the accuracy of the archers, but knew he could do better, and that his foster-father, Tam al'Thor, could do a lot better than he could any day. He was the best in the Two Rivers. Then the Seanchan were falling back. They were retreating back to the west. It was a victory won. Some of the Asha'man wen't running after them. The Legionmen captured multiple sul'dam and damane, with the help of the other Asha'man. As Rand looked around the battle grounds, he noticed that there were some Cairhienin, some Illianers and some Tairens that were injured or dead on the ground. He noticed that all the Trollocs were killed and that the only full bodies of the Seanchan were the ones that were killed by the Legionmen and the rest of the Army, except for the Asha'man. The Saldeans were bloodied but in contact, none of them were dead. This was one of the messiest battles Rand had been to, besides Dumai's Wells. In the distance, he could see the ground erupting. Obviously the Asha'man were still fighting. Then he opened up a gateway back to Caemlyn and stepped through.

As Rand came out of the gatway, Egwene asked,

"How did it go, Rand?"

"It was a bloody battle, and there were a lot of deaths. But we drove them back to Ebou Dar." Rand replied. "We won."

"Wonderful." Egwene said.

"But there were Trollocs too." Rand interrupted. "They were the ones we killed the most of. And there were some damane and sul'dam who died, too. It was a disgusting sight."

"Oh Rand, I'm so sorry." Egwene said apologeticaly.

All this time Siuan was standing there patiently, but now she blew her top.

"Mother, this is no time for sympathy!" she she burst out. "Elaida will find out sooner or later that we're marching towards the White Tower and going to try to take her off of the Seat. We must go."

"If you want, you can stay in Caemlyn for a bit." Rand said. "I wouldn't mind."

"I guess we can stay for a little while, Rand." Egwene said. Siuan looked like she was going to burst out again.

A few hours later, as Rand was gettind into bed, he noticed that his window was open.

"Funny," he thought. "I don't remember opening the window." Then he noticed that he wasn't alone. He embraced saidar and bound the being in his room. When he saw who it was, he raised the alarm. Trollocs were in the Palace. He killed that Trolloc and left to find the rest of them. As he left his room, he nearly got stabbed by another Trolloc, but he moved just in time. He killed that one to and left the anti-chamber. He saw everybody running around the place because of Trollocs, but what he focused his gaze on was the Myrdraal. It's eyeless gaze was fear itself. He drew on saidar and formed a sword who's blade was flame. His Power-wrought sword cut through the Myrdrall in one easy strike and it started thrashing around. Myrdraal never new when to quit, even when they were already dead. But as soon as Rand killed the Myrdraal, the Trollocs, most of them, were screaming in those half human, half animal faces of their's that didn't look like they were supposed to make a sound like that. Rand went to Min's rooms and found her on the way there, just killing one of the Trollocs that wasn't attached to the Myrdraal that Rand had killed.

"Min, have you seen Egwene and Siuan? he asked.

"No, but I think they're doing fine. Remember that they're Aes Sedai. They can take care of themselves." she said.

"That's what I'm afraid of. Rand murmured.

Then he went looking for Egwene and Siuan around the Palace. Then he noticed that the Trollocs were carying two large sacs with them. Rand didn't worry about that, knowing that Egwene and Siuan, if they were in those sacs, would have gotten out with saidar. So he moved on and wasn't thinking of how dimwitted he was.

When he looked all over the Palace, the Trollocs had all been killed. But he couldn't find Egwene and Siuan anywhere.

"Maybe they're in their rooms." he thought hopefully. "Maybe they went to sleep." As the hours wore on, he began to realize that Egwene and Siuan had been taken away.

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