False Assumptions
A woman's shriek tore across the blackness of night and Sammael turned his head toward the source. A woman hung helplessly from a thin tendril of Mashadar on the outskirts of the square where he himself stood. With his saidin enhanced vision, he could see that she wore cadin'sor on her body and a shoufa wrapped around her neck. What is an Aiel woman doing here in Shadar Logoth? Sammael thought to himself. Suddenly he realized that the thin tendril of Mashadar was connected to a large mass that was surrounding him quickly. Panic rang through Sammael's mind as the situation became deadly to him and he lost grip on the Source as a result of the surprise. There was only one option left to him, and the option may not even exist if he was denied access to it. Frantically Sammael reached out towards a different Source, reached deeply inside his soul for the blackened cord that was the True Power. He reached- and gripped it. Sammael felt saidin being worked for a split second before balefire blazed across the square and struck the woman from a roof opposite her. Sammael ripped open a gateway and dove through, letting it close behind him just as the fog that was Mashadar closed in around him.
He released the True Power as soon as his gateway closed and he panted on his hands and knees in one of his towers back in Illian. There was no reason to hold the True Power a second more than was needed. Prolonged use of the True Power had deadly consequences he did not want to deal with. Sweat dripped from his nose to the cold tiles on the floor. That balefire must have been from al'Thor. Sammael felt a chill. Al'Thor must have seen him if he was looking anywhere in the square, and could have just as easily balefired him instead of the woman. The question was why he chose to balefire the woman instead of himself. Surely the woman was no threat, having been doomed to death by Mashadar as Sammael himself would have been.
Sammael found no answers to his question, and instead of contemplating more on it, scolded himself for his foolish actions back in the dark city. Parading myself in the middle of the square in plain sight, thinking al'Thor would just waltz in through the fenced entrance and set off my traps, what a fool I was! Had it not been for that woman, I would be dead right now or even worse. Sammael shuddered at the thought of balefire. He never much cared for the weave himself. Existence is something he did not want to mess with, let alone undo. If the Pattern unraveled there would be no world to rule when the Great Lord broke free from his prison. Al'Thor wields balefire like a child with a new toy. The fool will end up destroying himself yet! Speaking of control of the One Power, Sammael grimaced in remembrance of his childish response to fear. That slip of the True Source would have meant his own demise even without al'Thor's presence. He hadn't lost his control on saidin in over three thousand years and now as soon as death becomes a highly possible consequence, he panics and it slips away as if he were an untrained novice.
Sammael looked up suddenly. There was saidin being worked somewhere in the city. More than one area is producing saidin which means there are other men here who can channel. Sammael cursed al'Thor and his Asha'man. They would only cause trouble unless Demandred got his cursed apprentice to control them all. Mazrim Taim had been a False Dragon until he was captured by Aes Sedai in a battle in Saldaea. Sammael hated the Dragon enough, but men who pretended to be that cursed man were even worse… well they were bad if anything. Demandred had convinced Mazrim Taim that the title of Chosen would go over better than the title of Dragon Reborn once the Great Lord escaped from his prison. The former False Dragon now worked as al'Thor's leader of his newly founded Black Tower; a shanty farm that was suppose to rival the White Tower one day. Sammael grasped saidin firmly and stood. Those men would all pay for coming to his city and joining al'Thor. Sammael gathered the flows necessary for a gateway and opened one to the nearest source of saidin. The vertical slash opened up and Sammael jumped through and loosed fire from his hands. Osan'gar threw himself flat on his chest just in time to avoid the searing fire that blazed from Sammael's hands. The fire blasted the wall next to him outward and the rubble collapsed to the streets below.
"Stop you fool! What are you doing?" Osan'gar exclaimed with a surprised look at Sammael. Sammael let the gateway close and looked down at Osan'gar.
"I didn't expect to see you dragged along here with him, had you been a second slower, you'd be dead yet again my clumsy friend." Sammael said with a grin.
"Spare me your humor Sammael. Now tell me what happened. The last I could tell, Lews Therin followed you through a gateway to somewhere in the north." Osan'gar said with an eager look.
"Its al'Thor first off, not Lews Therin," Sammael said with a glare, "and second, he followed me to Aridhol where I had traps set to defeat him… but-"
"But he ended up defeating you it seems, yet you're still alive." Osan'gar said with a puzzled look. Sammael's blue eyes smoldered dangerously at Osan'gar's interruption.
"Yes, he almost killed me." Sammael said reluctantly. "He would have succeeded if he didn't balefire that Aiel woman instead of me." If Osan'gar looked puzzled before, he was downright lost now.
"Aiel woman? Balefire? Great Lord man, what happened down there?" Osan'gar exclaimed. Sammael looked down at the ground in thought for a moment before answering.
"Long story short: he took me by surprise and Mashadar would have killed me if I didn't tap into the… the True Power." Sammael said as he looked up at Osan'gar.
"You used the True Power?" Osan'gar exclaimed. "You know the consequences of using it! Why didn't you just use saidin?" Osan'gar asked with a frown.
"Because now he thinks I'm dead you fool." Sammael lied, he wasn't about to let this know-it-all have another reason to make fun of him by telling him he lost control of saidin in a moment of panic. Sammael paused a moment. Al'Thor would think he was dead now wouldn't he? That could be a very valuable advantage the next time Sammael confronted him. He wouldn't expect an attack from a dead man. Sammael smiled in spite of himself. He didn't smile often now-a-days but outsmarting Lews Therin always put a smile on his face. Osan'gar nodded slowly in deep thought. "Does Demandred have that fool of his, Mazrim Taim, under control?" Sammael asked out of no where.
"Last time I checked everything was going as he planned it. But plans do seem to go wrong at the worst possible times now-a-days don't they?" Osan'gar said with a grin. The man always prided himself on his sense of humor, and Sammael disliked the man for it although he disliked Demandred much more. The man would get in his way of defeating al'Thor someday, he just knew he would. "What do you plan to do now?" Osan'gar asked.
"Well I was going to destroy all you pesky Asha'man that he left here in my city." Sammael replied ruefully.
"Technically it's his city now, isn't that right 'recently deceased' Sammael?" Osan'gar said with a laugh. The man actually laughed! If the man let himself become too humorous he'd find himself in an early grave… again! Sammael scowled at Osan'gar and drew deeply on saidin. He felt Osan'gar do the same and before he knew it, Osan'gar had shielded him from saidin. It was a strong shield too; Sammael did not need to feel it out to know it was strong. Osan'gar was second to Moridin in strength, with maybe the exception of al'Thor. Osan'gar glared at Sammael for a moment and he wondered whether the man would dare to strike him now that he had him shielded. Osan'gar released his shield and Sammael gripped saidin again. If the man tried it again, Sammael would be ready.
"I suppose your right Osan'gar." Sammael said reluctantly. "Destroying all his Asha'man would practically announce that I'm still around, and killing all but you would make you the prime suspect. And I'm sure you're just as sick of murder mysteries as I am after puzzling over Asmodean's killer all that time." Sammael said with a shake of his head. Sammael still could not believe that Asmodean's killer had been who it turned out to be. He was sure al'Thor had killed the man himself.
"I suggest you hide a place to hide until you can sort out your plan of action. The Great Lord will be very displeased with you for attempting to kill the man, you know Moridin's orders." Osan'gar said. Sammael supposed Osan'gar disliked the newly named Nae'blis as much as he himself did and perhaps more, especially since Moridin was the only person alive besides al'Thor that really rivaled Osan'gar in strength. The news had struck Sammael like a gong. All of a sudden this young man showed up and announced that he had been named Nae'blis. It wasn't until Shaidar Haran confirmed this that he believed the man. Ishamael had always overused the necessary amount of True Power for everything, and now that he had been reborn, he picked up right where he left off. He already had hundreds of saa. Before long he'll have the same fiery eyes his old body had. Sammael snapped out of his daydream and remembered what Osan'gar just said.
"Yes I suppose I'll lay low for a while, no need to give up my only advantage as soon as I receive it." Sammael said.
"Where will you go?" Osan'gar asked curiously.
"I don't know, but I'll find a place. Not a big city like Illian, I'll save the ruling of cities for after the Great Lord enslaves the world." Sammael lied again. He knew exactly where he was going, and he didn't plan to let this fool of a man know where. Sammael looked out toward where he felt saidin being worked in the city. He longed to go kill them all, but he would have to restrain himself for now. They would all die sooner or later, by his hand or not. The taint on saidin could be their punishment for channeling anywhere near his city.
"You had better get going Sammael, Lews Therin's men have quelled most of the fighting by now and he will be returning. It's best that you be gone before he arrives." Osan'gar said unnecessarily. Did the man think he was an idiot? Sammael kept a control on his temper that had risen when he called the man Lews Therin.
"Yes, I will be gone by the time al'Thor returns," Sammael said, "but I must make one more trip before I go. As for you, keep up your undercover work. Al'Thor will never know that one of the Chosen is among his ranks of loyal Asha'man." Sammael assured Osan'gar. Osan'gar nodded and that was all. Sammael opened up a gateway to his own apartments in the city and stepped through. He let the gateway disappear and stalked over to the storeroom. After a bit of searching he found what he sought and grinned. The six inch long figurine of a man standing atop a mountain was tucked into Sammael's pocket and he turned away from the storeroom. He really should have taken this with him before he went to what was today known as Shadar Logoth, but there was no time and al'Thor would have felt his gateway here. Sammael thought back on today's events for a moment.
"Next time al'Thor won't be so lucky." Sammael said to himself as he gripped the angreal in his pocket and opened a gateway. He took one last look at his city before he stepped through the gateway into Graendal's apartments.