As usual, speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter LXVII - Sheen'mael
It hurt. Everything hurt. The whole world was vibrating around Taija and the access key to the Choedan Kal was shaking in her hands in sympathetic rhythm with it. How long had she been doing this?
So much Power, more than she could have imagined, she felt like she was on fire. Clinging onto control with her fingernails.
Taija was losing control of her breathing, hyperventilating. She desperately forced herself to breathe slowly, normally. Why did it feel like her skin was on fire? How much of the taint was there? She'd been bathing in filth for so long it felt like it was deep in her bones.
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Graendal smiled at her pets as they finished with her hair and nails. It was wonderful. Each person in their proper place, where they could use their hidden little talents to their fullest. Should she find something to eat before she left?
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Lanfear picked her way through the forest, her anger at Taija and Lews only burning hotter when she looked down at the mud on her shoes. She was sure there was still fighting going on ahead of her, but she could not hear anything over the crude roar of Taija's web. No finesse at all.
Her probing flows of inverted spirit picked up another inverted ward ahead of her and she deftly changed course to steer around it. The Great Lord only knew what kind of fool would think something like this would stop her.
Perhaps she should keep Taija as a pet. Those Seanchan had some intriguing ideas. The trick would be to make sure that she knew exactly what she had become, while leaving her no chance whatsoever of escape.
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"There." Cadsuane pointed to a spot in the forest just as a large fireball came arcing out of it. A couple of seconds later Moiraine wove fire into an expanding sphere obliterating it.
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Osan'gar stepped out of his gateway, back onto his hilltop and watched fire engulf his previous location. Job done. He could now honestly say that he had made an attempt to stop the cleansing and been driven back.
He settled against his tree once more. If Taija Kosola could overcome the constraints of this time to do something like this then maybe he could too. He was not one of those fools who resented talent like hers, no. He was inspired by it. Two geniuses in friendly competition to exceed themselves! He would have to give it some thought, but for now he would enjoy watching her change the world. Such a pity she had rejected his advances all those years ago, they could have been great together. He really could not guess what she saw in Tel Janin, but Osan'gar hoped that he at least made her happy.
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Someryn watched the forest with careful eyes. The Car'a'carn and Taija sedai had done the wise ones much honour asking them to be here. Not that honour was everything, but if the Shadow won the war then there would be little point worrying about honour, power or anything else.
The Car'a'carn brought change and with change came opportunities for those willing to take them. Fighting here to defend him would place her and her fellow Shaido wise ones in a prime position to take those opportunities.
At that point an incongruous sight broke her train of thought. Amys of all people, striding up the hill towards the clifftop. Why would Amys be there?
Someryn stepped from behind a tree and called out. "Amys, what are you doing here? I did not expect to see you!"
Amys gave her an impassive look before turning to head directly towards her. "The shadowsouled, there is news I must pass on."
"Of course," Someryn nodded. "Do you require assistance?"
As she said the last word, she struck, drawing hard on saidar through her link. There would be no foolish attempt at capture, she would not trifle with one of the shadowsouled. She wove fire, earth and air, splitting her weaves.
Somehow the woman anticipated it. Someryn jerked as some of her weaves snapped back into her. The woman wearing Amys' face was already running. Fleeing like a coward in the face of her superior strength. She broke into a run after her, hurling weaves as she went.
Were the shadowsouled truly so stupid as to think that they could fool her with such simple tricks?
Still, she would need to be careful not to go into what Taija sedai had termed the death zone. She had no desire to find out what her and that man, she shuddered at the idea of a man who could channel, had been doing there.
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Semirhage strode through the forest with death in her eyes. It was going to cause no end of problems that she had lost those leashed. It had been a good gambit, who would have thought that Lews Therin would have amassed quite so much firepower, but not every good gambit worked. She would have to get up close and personal. Just the way she liked it really.
Avoiding that circle, sa'angreal, whatever it was was easy enough in the forest. Similarly the inverted wards dotted around were an obvious trap. She almost hoped that Lews Therin had come up with something better to stop her.
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Demandred carefully made his way up to the edge of the trees. There was a clear space, perhaps 100 metres across where every tree had been burnt down to a stump. At the top, where he thought the cliff flattened out, there was a raised wall of earth and despite the light he could just see a couple of heads poking above it, watching. It was difficult looking in that direction, the blinding light of whatever Taija Kosola was doing behind it was just too much, but he could gather that much.
There was no way he could get close without being seen. Briefly he considered simply attacking, but given the monstrous power of the circle up there he doubted he would be able to actually do anything from a distance.
There was always balefire, but he could only just see two people and the Great Lord only knew which of them was leading the circle, if it was in fact either of them. The last thing he wanted to do was to literally draw a line between them and his position. Unaided by a circle or sa'angreal, balefire was hardly a long ranged weapon anyway.
He slowly withdrew back into the forest. He would work his way round and see whether there was a better angle to approach this from.
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A veritable wall of saidar descended on Lanfear, spirit woven into a shield of overwhelming strength. She sliced through it with a heavy flow, drawing on her angreal and wielding the Power like a lightning fast scalpel. Her retaliatory strike brought lightning down from the sky in a series of explosions thundering through the forest ahead of her.
She did not break her stride. She was going to reach Taija and the pathetic attempts at stopping her would not be allowed to even slow her. They would, however, help her to work off some of her frustration at the girl. She would not call her her nemesis or counterpart, that would be to giver her far too much credit.
Her scowl turned into a smile as she sliced another shield and then sent a trio of fireballs hissing into the forest. This time she was rewarded with the sound of a woman's scream. This was more like it. They would give way before her. She was the most powerful woman alive, she was inevitable.
This time her unseen attacker split her flows, sending a pair of fireballs towards her and bringing her own lightning from the sky. Pathetic.
Fire and air sent the fireballs off course, lines of air, water and spirit went into the sky and lightning bent around her, striking the ground tens of metres away.
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Edarra frantically wove saidar through her pounding headache. One of the wise ones was dead, another badly injured. She had felt her die in her head. The circle had weakened.
The aes sedai, Moiraine, had told her that a link of 13 would defeat anyone, no matter how powerful. Taija sedai had looked sceptical, but had been called away before she could speak. She was seeing now, it seemed Taija sedai had been correct. She had been too prideful, after her defeat of the first shadowsouled.
She sent razor sharp air and water flying into the forest and hoped she was wrong.
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Siuan drew on all of the saidar her link could provide, 13 aes sedai, every angreal her faction of the Tower had been able to scrap together. It was enough power to shatter an army. She wove it all into a shield, flung at the dark haired woman she had spotted walking through the forest.
When the shield seemed to bounce off an invisible, rock-hard connection to the Power she almost stopped from the shock. That was impossible, should have been impossible. No single person could resist a circle of 13.
Fortunately she did not hesitate. Siuan was already weaving, splitting her threads four ways, fire straight at the woman, lightning from the sky. She had come too far to die here.
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Semirhage dived aside as a series of webs slashed through the space she had been standing in. Where had these women come from? Four of them, none of them insignificant, but one was spinning with far too much strength, stronger than even Semirhage was unaided, she must have an angreal. Well fortunately Semirhage had an angreal of her own.
She spun a series of webs, an expanding cone of destruction flying out from her pulverising trees as it went. Lightning slashed down from the sky and she deflected it with a thought and then had to dive aside to avoid a fireball.
This was more than irritating, her opponents were clearly properly trained, they never had the decency to stay still and let her hit them. Far more competent than most of the channelers of this time. Every time she focused on one, the others would take full advantage. She outmatched them, of course, but her frustration was growing.
She managed to catch one with a small inverted web, eliciting a scream of pain, but the woman did not slow down and was already out of sight behind a clump of trees before Semirhage could follow up. She slashed a fireball out of the air, neatly side stepped a razor sharp web of air and redirected a lightning strike into a tree. She was going to make them suffer for this!
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Graendal finished her slice of cake with a deeply satisfied smile, that had been truly excellent. The latest pet she had added to her kitchen collection had very much excelled today. She glanced away to the south west. She really should go to deal with that. But…
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Moghedien staggered out of her gateway, letting the web of illusion over herself dissolve and nearly collapsing with relief at having escaped alive.
"Moghedien is that you?"
Her eyes snapped up to see Osan'gar sitting against a tree looking curiously at her. Well fuck.
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Maigan grimaced as she backed away from the towering statue with the crystal ball blazing brightly in its upheld hand. Taija had told them to keep it cool. Well she had spoken for a while about threshold temperatures, safe margins and degrees celsius, whatever they were, but the fundamental message had been to keep it cool.
They were failing. The air around it was hazy with heat shimmer and the grass near it had actually caught fire. She could not even stand close to it without discomfort.
Her link had diverted the entire flow of a small stream nearby onto the statue, the water hissing into steam before it even touched it, but that did not seem to be enough and there was no more water anywhere closer. She was already straining the link just reaching out that far.
She would do all that she could, but she feared it might not be enough.
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Edarra was retreating, trying to keep the trees between her and this shadowsouled. She had been so proud of her defeat of the first, but this one was different, a nightmare. She winced as a nearby tree exploded, sending razor sharp shards of bark flying through the forest. She winced again as she felt a bloom of pain from one of the other wise ones in her link.
She threw weaves of fire, air, earth back at the woman. It was madness. She did not even bother to hide herself, just kept advancing at a steady pace, never breaking her stride. Was she so over-confident? Was it even over-confidence? She was closing the gap even as the wise ones retreated. Yet whatever Edarra threw, whether with the full power of her link or its now diminished strength, it was just batted away.
Nausea twisted in her stomach as she felt another wise one die. They could not stop this woman, but they would sell their lives dearly.
She glanced behind her. They could at least make sure the Shadow suffered its own losses too. A flash of her fingers and the message flew between the wise ones. A moment later a knife slashed across the other shadowsouled woman's throat. She at least would not be freed and there would be no need to waste their strength holding her shield.
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Tel leapt over another fallen tree trunk as he ran towards the flashes of explosions. It seemed Edarra's circle was straying into his area. A fighting retreat perhaps.
He barreled past a couple of wise ones, noting the blood covered body of a woman in the dirt. Was that the woman he'd fought in Caemlyn? Either way she wouldn't be a problem. A bar of fire shot through the trees ahead of him and bored a hole straight through a wise one.
Even as her corpse sank to the ground Tel was channeling, forcing saidin into a series of webs and sending them screaming through the trees to the source of that fire. The taint washed through him, thank the Light he'd never have to feel that again after today.
He resisted the urge to glance at the beacon of saidin behind him. Taija had said it would work, but he knew her, she'd been terrified. He could only hope she was alright. If only he could be there with her…
As soon as he'd launched his webs Tel threw himself sideways, changing direction, moving away from any potential retaliation, this time spinning lightning from the clouds. He spared the remaining wise ones a glance as he ran, "pull back you can't win this fight, you'll just die!"
Ahead of him a woman stepped into view. Beautiful, all in white and silver, dark hair cascading down. An apparition to grace the finest galleries of Parran Disen. The sight repulsed him. Homicidal anger flared in him, yet he kept his voice calm, measured.
"Mierin Eronaile, I must admit I'd been hoping to see you today." He gestured behind himself at the wise ones to go. Lanfear another failure staring him in the face.
"Tel Janin," she gave him a predatory smile. "I see you're running after little Taija again. Disappointing really, you could do so much better you know."
Tel leant forward, balancing on his toes and drawing saidin into a series of webs in preparation. He had no doubt Lanfear would be doing the same, but she was in for a nasty surprise. The gem encrusted ivory tooth in his pocket would make sure of that. She wouldn't have understood why he'd given it to Rand when he surrendered. Nor would she understand why Rand had given it back to him, just before this all started.
He made himself laugh, "you're one to talk, judging someone for running after love. How are things going with young Lews?" If he could make her angry enough she might start making mistakes.
Anger flashed momentarily across Lanfear's face before vanishing back into a faint smile. They both started to move sideways, carefully picking their way across the rough ground, eyes locked, circling each other. "Words are wind Tel Janin and yours more than others. You've broken two sets of oaths, why would anyone listen to anything you have to say?"
"Funny, coming from you. A woman who's only loyalty is to her desperate need for Lews' dick, Taija told me all about how pathetic your attempts at grooming a teenage farmboy have been."
Lanfear's face twisted into rage. Success. As she started to reply Tel struck. Earth and fire into the ground under her, webs into the trees near her, turning them into improvised bombs as the water inside them superheated and fire spiraling towards her. There was no holding back. She was far too dangerous and he wanted her dead. He really really wanted her dead.
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Semirhage stopped a web dead in its tracks, tearing it apart in front of her. She had the strongest of these women pinned now, exchanging blows over a space between the trees. The other three were circling behind her, trying to strike from behind and soon she would have to relocate if she could not batter down this dark haired woman's defences.
She spotted a patch on the left breast of the woman's dress. Aes sedai. How she despised the aes sedai. Yet this one was worn in the style of her time. Perhaps there was an opportunity to cause her own distraction.
"Pathetic, you do not even know what that symbol that you wear means. You half trained girls think you can imitate your long-dead betters with your attempts at defeating me?" She laughed contemptuously and sent one of the circling girls flying with a web of air before ducking past a fireball and slicing through an attempt at a shield.