Chapter 6

Treasure Knowledge

It still took an hour to actually reach the city itself, which gave me plenty of time to argue with the captain of the Riverserpent about where he could drop us off. He wanted to dock in the Rahad, no doubt because it was a lot easier to unload his cargo there.

But I had no intention of getting lodgings for us all on that side of the river. The Rahad had a reputation, one that I remembered from the books as well, and was far too dangerous. The duels were one thing, but I didn't trust their hygiene standards when it came to food preparation; even I could get food poisoning.

From the riverfront, I led us through the city using the spires of the Tarasin Palace as a guide. We hadn't been dropped near the palace, but it was the tallest building as far as I could see, and even from here I could see the colored bands that broke up the otherwise white marble of the building. Topping the spires were pear-shaped domes painted in a checkered pattern of blue and red.

My goal wasn't the palace itself, however. On the same square as the palace was an inn, as I recalled from the books. Now, renting rooms from Setalle Anan might be a risk, but she wasn't actually part of the Kin. And it might prove necessary to make contact with them.

However, that reminded me of something I should have asked sooner. "Ah, so … how long have you worn the shawl?"

Sheraine studied me. She wasn't actually wearing a shawl or a cloak at the moment since we'd flown over a thousand kilometers south. It turned out it was quite warm, even in the middle of winter. With the sun out and nearing it's highest point in the sky, it had to be fifteen degrees Celsius or thereabout. However, the locals acted like it was ten or less.

"I was elevated five years ago now." The Aes Sedai looked away for a moment, hand going to her neck before she dropped it with a twitch of her shoulders and a deep breath. "Is there a reason why you'd want to know this? If you worry that the Aes Sedai advising the queen might recognize me, there's no need. I barely recognize myself these days when I look in the mirror."

"Why do you want to stay at this inn anyway?" Gemiad asked. "You said what we're looking for is in the Rahad. We've passed several decent-looking inns already, and we're only getting further away from the Rahad."

I shook my head. "That wasn't my worry," I told Sheraine before addressing Gemiad. "And you've seen the Rahad. I only know the general area so I'll have to look through all of that," I gestured behind me in the vague direction of the river and the other half of the city on the other side. "That might take me days, and I'd rather spend those days in comfort. Especially since once I have what I'm looking for, it will take some time to parse the information. The Wandering Woman's supposed to be one of the best inns in Ebou Dar." Had to be if both Mat and the Seanchan officers considered it a decent place to stay.

"If you're not worried about me being recognized," Sheraine said. "Why ask about how long I've worn the ring now?"

"Uh, well, I never said I wasn't worried about you being recognized." However, my greater worry had been that Sheraine might recognize our host. Given the rough timeline I had, that shouldn't be the case. "But I realize that I don't know much about you. Have you been to Ebou Dar before, for example?"

"If I had, I would have volunteered that while we discussed our travel plans." I wasn't looking in her direction, but I could still feel her staring. "I mostly traveled the Borderlands and south to Arad Doman or Tarabon. Toraul‒Toraul always joked we followed the geese around. South for the winter, north for the summer." She breathed through her nose, a deep inhalation that was almost a sob. "It's why we were close enough to investigate the rumors coming from Falme."

"I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough."

Sheraine gave a bark of laughter though there was no amusement in it. "Aren't we all? Not fast enough, not smart enough, not strong enough."

VVVV

"This is really not necessary," I repeated once more. "You can still go back with them." The boat that had ferried us across hadn't left yet, but they were about to. We were getting a few looks from people passing by, even though we all wore Altaran fashions and nothing expensive like silk.

"There are several reasons that's an absurd notion," Sheraine said. "Most of them, I won't say out here, but making sure there's no incident is one of them. You do know the people here duel just about every hour?"

"I heard even the women get into knife fights," Gemaid said, one hand on her knife as she looked at the apartment buildings that made up much of the Rahad.

I nodded. "I know that sometimes they don't even bother with the duel, they just stab you in the back. Not a big problem for me, but you two won't shrug that off."

"I've faced greater dangers than a couple of young cutthroats," the Aes Sedai said, checking if the knife I made for her could freely slide out. That should look ridiculous, given how short Sheraine was. But the motion was quick, and she didn't even look down at the knife as she did it.

"And you know my answer," Gemiad said. "Now, stop delaying this and start searching so we can leave as quickly as possible."

I relented and turned to face the Rahad. "You're right, time is of the essence. Let's go."

I led them into the Rahad, though I didn't call upon a miracle right away. There weren't that many details in the book about where the collection was, but it was clearly some ways into the Rahad and not right on the riverfront.

We walked down a cobblestone street with a canal to our right. The cobblestones were missing in a lot of places, and the canal itself was filthy and filled with trash. It even formed obstacles just below the water or breaking through the surface, forcing the small boats to slalom their way up the waterway.

Virtually every door was thrown open as they were one of the few openings letting in sunlight into the dark rooms beyond. Some of those rooms were painted blue or red, and that sparked another memory. Blue was for inns; I wasn't sure about what red meant. I first thought it was shops, but from what I could see, it looked more like a bar than a shop. So, red could be taverns instead. Taverns didn't do lodging, just drinking and eating.

The buildings themselves loomed high, made of brick with crumbling plaster slathered on top. Laundry hung from many windows, the wind plucking at them, which also sent light pieces of trash tumbling down the street or into the canal where they joined the rest of the refuge.

The clothes men and women wore were sturdy but not new. It all had signs of new or old repairs done with a variable level of skill. Both genders wore rings, bands, and other pieces of jewelry made from polished brash. Everybody openly wore curved daggers.

Now that we were into the Rahad, I had no more excuses, and I launched my first miracle. It was a variant of the one I'd used to find Rand back in Falme, this one traded in specificity at the cost of accuracy. I could feel ter'angreal if I got close enough, but only the direction.

We traveled deeper into the slum, there was no real other way to describe this place. As we went deeper, the streets narrowed, and the sun became only a memory.

As a miracle, the sensory Gift only lasted about fifteen minutes, and it cost me Effort for the whole day. My Effort pool might be bigger now, but even with that, I could only do about five of them and still keep some Effort in reserve. That would mean only an hour and fifteen minutes of searching, but I managed to stretch it out by not calling upon a new miracle the moment the old one wore off. Just kept walking for five minutes, and then I used it again, the theory was that I should still feel it behind us if we had managed to pass by in that time.

Over an hour and a half later and deep within the Rahad I came to a stop, finally having to admit defeat. "That's it for today. We've covered something like a third of the Rahad now, but I'm as tapped as I'm comfortable with. We'll have to try again tomorrow."

"How do you mean tapped?" Sheraine looked me up and down. "I didn't think your ability to sense the One Power could tire out. Or can you only keep it for a set amount of time?"

"It's not that. I used my kinship with all manmade objects to…" A thought occurred to me. Why couldn't I use that draconic sense and supercharge it with a miracle? Wouldn't be as precise, but could it be better for catching a trail? A probing of my own soul gave me the sense that, yes, it should work a lot better. "I'm an idiot."

Gemiad hung her head at my words. "Not as much as me for thinking you knew what you were doing. Are you saying we've wasted half the morning walking around this filth?"

I brushed some non-existent dust off my coat as I tried to laugh it off. "Can't look at it that way, this is a process. I now know something I didn't when I woke up this morning. We also know that it's not in this part of the Rahad, so we can start our search elsewhere tomorrow. And hey, look at it like this, the Rahad's supposed to be very dangerous, but nobody so much as flashed a knife at us." A part of me noted that the street had gotten quieter all of a sudden. A door somewhere behind me shut with some force.

"I believe that is about to change," Sheraine said, looking past me.

Turning around, I saw three men sauntering down the narrow street, all of them eyeing us. "We shouldn't make assumptions," I said, trying really hard to believe that. "They could just be out for a stroll."

Even as I said that, they came to a slow stop, still several meters away. "The light illumine you all," the one in the middle said.

"And you as well," I replied before turning away in the hopes of walking away, but there were two more men blocking that end of the street.

"Afraid we can't let you go just yet," the stranger said. "As outsiders, you might not know, but there's a tax for using these streets. And we're here to collect it."

I let out a sigh. Could they try being less of a cliché? And suddenly, I just didn't want to bother humoring these people. "Please, don't. I'm begging you to reconsider," I said, turning to face the speaker.

At least two of the group made sounds of amusement, which petered out at my next words. "There's no need to throw your lives away. I'm sure you've got something to live for, people that would miss you."

"What're you doing?" A shorter man with two brass rings in his left ear said.

"Begging for your lives," I said. "You might not care about dying, but my conscience would be troubled for probably the rest of the day if I didn't at least try to save your lives. I might even skip lunch, imagine that. So please, walk away while you can."

The first man, the only one with a ring of bronze on his finger rather than brass, pulled his knife fully free and took a step forward. "Enough! I don't care if you want to impress the women or just like playing the fool. This is no joke, and we will leave you bleeding on the street. Your money, drop it, now."

This wasn't even about the money. I wouldn't miss it, but I knew we were neither the first nor the last of their victims. In a world like this, with true evil, with mysteries still just over the horizon, why waste your life with this petty idiocy?

My lips drew back in a snarl, but before I could speak, Sheraine placed a hand on my arm as she joined my side. "I agree, this is enough. You will learn not to interfere in matters beyond your understanding."

One hand came up and the smell of flowers grew, then she twisted it. The knife in the robber's hand snapped just above the guard and everybody froze. Everybody, except Sheraine who brought her other hand up and wove both around before drawing her arms in and all three now cried out as the rings on their fingers and in their ears wrenched around and pulled in several directions that they were forced to move with lest the jewelry ripped through their flesh.

"Aes-" Someone began to yell behind us, but a second flowery scent filled the street now, and a thunderclap interrupted him. I only glanced back to see the two land on their backs. That hadn't been Sheraine who'd done that.

"Perhaps this will teach you not to accost strangers," Sheraine said. "You never know if you've cornered a bear by accident." A wave of her hand and the rings now moved away from her, forcing the men to walk back up the street, though they seemed more than eager to put some distance between them and us.

I leaned towards Sheraine. "And you were worried about me starting an incident?"

She sniffed. "Nothing's on fire, and these men now know better. I dare say I handled this better than you would have."

"Except you made as much of a mess as I would have, and there are those here who can trace your Weaves," I said, which earned me a sharp look that I ignored. "We need to leave, and we need to leave now."