Lan tries to find the Emond's Fielder, while fighting some Trollocs, and helping the Aes Sedai and the Warders.
What could go wrong with that?
It was a nightmare. On his way through the fortress, Lan killed every Trolloc, who crossed his path, but it seemed as if two new ones would appear for the one who he had killed. When he finally found Perrin and Loial, they told him that Nynaeve and Egwene went to the rooms of the Amyrlin, searching for him and Moiraine. As quick as possible, he returned to Siuan's now-destroyed sitting room, hoping the girls had stayed out of trouble.
Nynaeve was the first who the Warder noticed when he entered the room. She and Egwene helped the injured Aes Sedai as best as possible. The Wisdom looked relieved when her eyes fell on Lan.
"Where is Moiraine?", Egwene asked. She had noticed the absence of the Aes Sedai immediately.
"I left her at the infirmary.", Lan explained. When he noticed Egwene and Nynaeve's shocked gazes, he continued: "She has a head wound, but otherwise she is fine. Ihvon helps Alanna and then he will help Moiraine as well. Are you two unhurt?"
"We've heard the explosions, and then the roars of the Trollocs. Perrin and Loial went to help Lord Agelmar, while we decided to look after you and Moiraine." Nynaeve looked at the destruction around them. "Did the Trollocs do this?"
"I don't know what caused it. We entered the room after the explosion had happened. Everything was on fire, the floor was broken, and the ceiling has come down."
Nynaeve nodded then her attention returned to the injured, unconscious Aes Sedai, who she had just helped. Lan saw that it was a sister of the Brown Ajah, but he didn't know her name.
"We need to get them to the infirmary before…" The rest of the Wisdom's sentence was interrupted by the roar of the Trollocs. Ten stormed the sitting room, and the Warders went into action.
A few Aes Sedai, who were already back on their feet – like Liandrin – tried to help the warriors by using the One Power though they were still shaken.
Lan didn't know how many Trollocs he killed, but there were constantly coming more. The Aes Sedai became weaker with every passing minute, while Nynaeve was yelling orders to help the injured ones.
At some point, Lan found himself lying on his back on the floor with a big ugly Trolloc leaning over him, trying to rip out his throat. His sword had fallen out of his hand, and he couldn't reach it now because he had to hold back the creature. Where was Maksim? Or one of the other Warders? He needed some help.
The roar of the Trolloc turned into a burble, then black blood dropped out of his mouth. He stopped struggling and didn't try to kill Lan anymore. Instead, his full dead body weight nearly crushed the poor Warder. And it seemed as if he would become heavier.
Maksim's blond head appeared above him. His friend was leaning on the Trolloc, and he looked exhausted. "I heard that Moiraine isn't a big cuddler, but you could've found someone way prettier than this thing, Lan."
Lan growled at his friend. He wasn't in the mood for jokes.
Suddenly, the ceiling above them cracked dangerously. Lan and Maksim watched how the cracks moved to the door. It wouldn't hold much longer.
But before any of them could do anything, more parts of the ceiling were coming down. First, only little stones, which became bigger pretty quickly. And Nynaeve and Egwene were standing below it!
"NYNAEVE!"
Quickly, Lan pushed the heavy Trolloc off him, but by the time he got to his feet, it was already over. A big dust cloud hung over the area where the Wisdom and Egwene had stood.
Lan wanted to storm inside, but Maksim stopped him. "Don't be stupid! You won't find her like that! Wait until the dust has settled!"
"Let me take care of that." Liandrin stepped in front of the two Warders. She moved her hands and the dust cloud started to move as well.
The men couldn't see her weaves. Instead, Lan saw how pale the red sister was, and she was trembling. She was exhausted, though she would never admit that, and Lan didn't have a death wish, so he didn't mention it. But the two men exchanged a quick glance. Apparently, Maksim had noticed Liandrin's condition as well and had decided not to say anything.
The cloud flew out of the broken windows, and finally, Lan was able to see what had happened. More fragments lay on the floor, and Nynaeve and Egwene… kneeled beside a big pile of stones. They were covered in dust, but alive.
When Lan ran towards the two young women, Liandrin sank to her knees panting. Maksim hesitated for a second. He was torn between helping an Aes Sedai or helping Lan with the women. Liandrin's cold eyes were the reason why he decided to help his friend. The red sister didn't want the help of a man.
"Are you alright?", Lan asked, while he checked on Nynaeve for injuries.
"We need to get away from the edge.", Maksim explained and pulled Egwene to her feet "I don't trust the floor not to break as well."
"We can't.", Egwene answered and freed herself. Surprised, the two men watched, how she moved to the big pile of stones and tried to move it.
Nynaeve wanted to help her, but Lan grabbed her arms. "Maksim is right! We have to get away from here!"
"Lan, we can't leave! We have to help her!"
"Help, who?"
"She pushed us out of the way before the stones came down on us." Tears rolled down Egwene's cheeks. Her attempts to move the stones were useless. She didn't have the strength to move even one of them.
Confused, Lan furrowed his forehead. Someone had pushed them out of the way? His eyes returned to Nynaeve, who looked apologetically at him. She was crying as well.
Lan's eyes widened when he finally realized what she was trying to tell him. The apologetical look of the Wisdom told him who was buried under the stones. "No."
His voice wasn't louder than a whisper, but Nynaeve had heard him. "I'm so sorry, Lan. I didn't notice her until she pushed us out of the way."
"She is at the infirmary. I left her there."
"Do you really believe that she stayed there?" She didn't wait for his answer. Instead, she freed herself from Lan's grip to help Egwene.
Maksim laid his hand on Lan's shoulder. "Lan, we don't have much time. The floor can collapse any minute."
"Help me.", the man from the Borderlands growled and went into action. He pushed Nynaeve and Egwene out of the way, then the two men lifted the heavy stones.
The floor cracked dangerously, but it didn't break yet.
"There!" Egwene was the first, who saw the hand between the stones.
For a moment, Lan felt how his stomach turned over. The arm was covered in blood and the owner wore a golden serpent ring on the middle finger. A blue stone was embedded in the middle. `Moiraine!´
Maksim saw it too, and the two men quickened their pace to free the injured Aes Sedai.
As soon as most of the stones were gone, Nynaeve kneeled down at the gap. The stones had built a small void around the person. Lan joined the young woman. They had to pull the Aes Sedai out before the floor would send them to the lower floor. He touched the bloody arm and a relieved sigh escaped his lips. It wasn't Moiraine! The Aes Sedai was one of her blue sisters. Lan thought that her name was Anaiya.
"We tried to help her before the stones came down.", Nynaeve explained when she heard his sigh.
"Are you sure that it was Moiraine, who…?"
The Wisdom lowered her upper body to get a better look at the void. "Lan, look!"
The Warder imitated her. The void was bigger than they had assumed. Behind the unconscious Anaiya lay another person. Beams of light fell on a blue dress. The golden serpent ring shimmered in the light, but Lan's eyes fell on the cut on her temple, which she obviously hadn't taken care of. Moiraine!
Groaning, his Aes Sedai rolled on her stomach, though to Lan's ears it sounded like music.
"She is alive!", Nynaeve said and even she sounded relieved.
"Let's pull out Anaiya." Lan couldn't hide the urgency in his voice. As long as Anaiya was in the way, he couldn't reach his own Aes Sedai.
Each of them took an arm of the injured and unconscious Aes Sedai. When they pulled her to Maksim and Egwene, the floor trembled under their feet and dropped a few inches.
"Nynaeve!" Egwene wanted to grab her friend. Luckily, Maksim was faster. He pulled her away from the dropping floor so that she wouldn't put more pressure on it.
Lan and Nynaeve waited until the floor stopped moving before they carefully moved up. As soon as they were within reach, Maksim took care of Anaiya, while Egwene wanted to help Nynaeve. But the Wisdom shook her head. "Moiraine is still buried under these stones. We have to help her or she will be crushed by them."
With scared eyes, Egwene looked at the void, which had become smaller since the floor had dropped. She couldn't see the woman of the Blue Ajah from her position.
"You go with Maksim." Lan pushed Nynaeve back to the floor, which wasn't cracked.
"What… Lan! You can't do this on your own!"
Frustrated, the Warder held up his hand to stop her from crawling back to him. "This floor keeps dropping and every extra weight makes it worse. Now leave before this whole room collapses."
"Lan…"
"Leave! Maksim get them out of here!"
The blonde Warder hesitated. He understood Lan's decision, but he also wanted to help him. "Alanna will be pissed if I don't help you."
"You've helped me. Now go and save Nynaeve and Egwene."
Finally, Maksim nodded. "Let's go." Egwene opened her mouth to protest. "Anaiya needs help. The Aes Sedai are busy fighting against the Trollocs. You two seem to be good at helping injured people. So, help me."
This time, Maksim didn't wait for their answer. Instead, he turned around and left the room. Egwene was torn. She wanted to help Moiraine and Lan, but Anaiya needed their help as well. A few heartbeats passed, then she threw a last sad look at Lan and ran after Maksim.
Nynaeve was harder to convince. She stared at Lan, who didn't feel intimidated. "Go."
"You need help."
"I'm losing time. Precious time, while she is stuck there, Nynaeve."
With tears in her eyes, the Wisdom leaned forward and kissed the Warder. "Don't die.", she whispered against his lips.
"Don't plan to. Go."
Relieved, Lan watched how she got to her feet and left the room. Now, he had to save his Aes Sedai – again. Carefully, he crawled back to the pile of stones. When he reached the void, the floor dropped a few inches again. The stones moved and the entrance of the void was almost completely closed. If Moiraine would crawl through it, while the floor would drop again…
"Moiraine? Can you hear me?"
"I'm here." Light, her voice sounded weak.
"We'll get you out of there."
"Nynaeve and Egwene, are they unhurt?"
Lan gnashed his teeth when he remembered that she had risked her life to save these two women. "They are. Can we now focus on getting you out of there?"
"You should leave. The floor keeps…"
"I'm not leaving you." Lan pushed his hands through the hole and grabbed her wrists. Maybe, if he would be quick…
"Hurry up."
Surprised, Lan turned his head. Siuan stood at the same spot, where Nynaeve had sat only a moment ago. She moved her hands, so the Warder assumed that she was using the One Power, though he couldn't see what she was doing. "I'll make sure that the fragments won't kill her. Pull her out."
The Amyrlin was sweating. Like her daughters, she was exhausted, and Lan didn't want to know how often she had used Saidar tonight.
Quickly, he pulled Moiraine through the hole. Although she already was a thin woman, it was hard to get her out of the void. Lan sighed relieved when she was out of there.
A few seconds later, the floor dropped again. Lan and Moiraine slid slowly toward the lower floor when suddenly, Lan was able to grab a stone. More stones came out of the floor, building an improvised ladder back to Siuan.
Lan looked up and saw Leane, who lowered her hands. Siuan was on her knees, clearly not able to use more of the One Power to help Lan and Moiraine. "Get back up here." Then the Keeper of the Chronicles helped Siuan to her feet and led her out of the room.
Sighing, the Warder returned his eyes to his Aes Sedai, who he pressed with his free arm against him. "Can you climb back up?"
Groaning, Moiraine examined the improvised ladder. She didn't look convinced.
`I could carry her on my back if she has enough strength left to hang on to me. Or would it be easier to slide down to the lower floor?´
Lan tried to estimate how far away the lower floor would be when Moiraine moved in his arms. Surprised, he watched how his Aes Sedai grabbed one of the stones and pulled herself higher. Lan had been sure that there was no strength left in her exhausted body, but like so many times before since he had met her, she proved him wrong. He still had to help her to reach the lowest stone with her foot, but then she climbed up on her own. Slowly, but she did it without his help.
Lan shook his head in disbelief, then he followed Moiraine. This woman was incredible.
The next chapter will be updated on Sunday.
Thank you for reading. Reviews are always appreciated ❤️