False Dragon
Logain, M' Hael of the Black Tower, now that Mazrim Taim, false dragon, or rather, Demandred in disguise, was dead, sat on the simple, yet elegant throne the Ogiers had sung for the Black Tower with a frown on his head.
Callandor, fabled crystal sword of prophecy, and the second most powerful sa' angreal to date, lay across his thighs, courtesy of the Lord Dragon.
Logain was of middling age, but his rugged and sharply defined features were considered more than middling, though, and his position, too, made him a worthy prize for any woman.
Except that Toveine would not easily let go of him after spending much effort convincing him to accept her offer of comfort after Gabrelle died. He still grieved every day, of course, for she had been the closest to forming a committed relationship with him in his whole life before Toveine, and also because of the bond, but with all the work he had to do all day as leader of a group of more than two thousand stubborn men, he could hardly spend much time, now.
"M' Hael." A Dedicated went down on one knee as he came down the hallway, and saluted, fist on heart.
"Yes, Jondion?"
"The Lord Dragon has been spotted near Caemlyn, and since gateways cannot be used till the storm passes, we dispatched an honor guard and our very best horses to fetch him and his company, however, movement is slow due to the Aes Sedai's (A/N: It can be used both as a singular and plural noun right?) insistence on carefulness. Nevertheless, our Lord should reach here by nightfall."
Jahar had been right after all. The man had died during the Last Battle, pulling in more of the Power than he could hold, and taking out a fist of Trollocs and more, when he had been about to die of a thrust between his ribs while secretly shadowing the Lord Dragon to the heart of Shayol Ghul. In doing so, he had effectively taken out the guard to its entrance, and the Lord Dragon was able to go on alone.
Then he turned up days later, appearing naked out of the air in some noblewoman's rooms in the city, causing her to faint on the spot. However, according to the story circulated by some of the more gossipy Soldiers, the lady's maids had not fainted at all, and had been brazen in their looking over of him.
He had reported to Logain as soon as he managed to get passable clothes, and informed them rather seriously that he had spoken with the Creator himself. Though his hypothesis that an upheaval in the Pattern, leading to dangerous fluctuations in the Power, had proved correct, but the idea that Creator was patching the holes left in the Pattern by the Dark One's absence was absurd, so Logain chose only to believe that the matter would right itself in a few days, and then they could start putting out raiding bands all around the countryside.
Brute force was essential to winning every battle now, but since even a single Asha' man could not be wasted and die in a hand-to-hand battle like any common soldier, the Band of the Red Hand, the Prince Consort of the Seanchan's personal army, had proved their capability even without the man himself, a brilliant commander, and who was also the Lord Dragon's childhood friend.
Jahar Narishma's bond with Merise was broken now through death, and Logain sure was glad for him, as he had one less to follow unto death, now. The prophecy foretold that he would die in service to the Dragon.
Hours later, Logain was at the gates, waiting.
"The Lord Dragon has arrived!" A Soldier managed to shout out from the road, before blaring trumpets drowned out whatever else he had to say.
The false Dragon awaiting the true Dragon. He mused, as the winding trail of humans began appearing slowly out of the trees.
--
The girl sniffed at the very same moment Cadsuane chose to, when they, at the front of the procession, saw the black walls and high ramparts of the Black Tower. Cadsuane raised her thick eyebrows, and Nynaeve blushed, looking away.
It was not as grand as the White Tower, of course. Cadsuane thought. But it sure looks hardier.
Her bracelet ter' angreal which reacted to the One Power had vibrated very strongly moments before, and she had been forced to take it off. These Asha'man had put very strong wards on their walls, indeed, much more powerful than those of the White Tower.
A short history of violence and bloodshed makes people paranoid.
She looked behind her. The boy was moving smoothly along on flows of Air and four mounted Asha' man flanked him.
The girl Elayne was slick in her use of the Power, Cadsuane grudgingly admitted. Much better than myself when I was her age.
Looking at the men again, she once again felt a burst of annoyance. They had insisted on bringing him to the Black Tower, and despite her imperious commands, excellently honed over the years, they had just laughed in her face.
Foolish men. Did they think that they, who had only less than a decade to work on their use of the Power, would match any experienced Sister in Tar Varlon?
She was still miffed that the others had agreed to the absurd idea. They still thought that the boy would feel much safer in the company of these very same madmen he had helped to train. Cadsuane thought once again of Dumai's Wells, but dismissed the idea.
Stilling, or severing as it was called now, due to the presence of the men – Cadsuane pinched in her mouth – could be healed fully by a wielder of the Power of the opposite sex. Though the women – what were their names again? – who had been healed by Nynaeve had nearly lost hope of ever regaining their full potential, Flinn had proved his worth as the Warder of one of the silly girls who called themselves Aes Sedai now by discovering how to strengthen the weaves used by Nynaeve, and the girls had thus been overjoyed.
As the walls of the Black Tower loomed high above them, they finally arrived at the great majestic-looking gate. At once, Cadsuane noticed Logain. The false Dragon. He was easy to pick out, for the rest of the men in black were in attendance to him, and like a wolf among sheep, he looked dangerous. That said much of the man, for the mildest Asha' man was more dangerous than fifty Trollocs, as they had been refined in the smithy of their training, fired and hammered till they became true weapons.
He came forward, straight toward the boy, without even so much as a glance at the numerous Aes Sedai ringed around him, and Cadsuane sniffed. And heard another, a moment after hers.
Looking coolly over her shoulder, she was surprised. It was the girl Nynaeve again. Looking at the girl and her husband – husband! The girl must be the first Aes Sedai since the Trolloc War to take a husband! – Cadsuane had an interesting thought. The girl reminded her of her younger self, when she was already stubborn but still unsure of the world, when she was an innocent. It was time, Cadsuane decided then, to create another cantankerous woman to trouble the world.