Chapter 11

Mad at the Outside, Mad on the Inside

The sun was casting long shadows over the broken earth as we flew parallel with the coastline. Here and there, a shock of green broke through the black rock, even as white or yellow smoke escaped from cracks in the earth. When the wall of active and sleeping volcanoes finally turned inland, I did the same.

The thousand fingers of a river delta splayed out beneath us as I followed it south. The forest on its banks was thick, but none of those trees was taller than 8 meters if that. "I've never seen a land like this. It lacks the sickness of the Blight," Sheraine said, "but there's a sense of chaos nevertheless. How do you propose we find what you're looking for in all of this."

The Land of the Mad was, in fact, a continent, and seeing it from over a kilometer up drove it all home. There were volcanoes on our right and mountains far to the left, both perhaps twice as high as our current altitude. But ahead, we could see the lands stretch out for at least a hundred kilometers, a vast green carpet covering rolling hills and the broken remains of a mountain.

"Our last stop served as a waypoint, allowing me to estimate what heading we needed to follow to end up roughly in the area of Nol Caimaine. This heading."

"I'm hearing a lot of guesswork for a single sentence," Sheraine said.

"And I thought we were looking for a Portal Stone?" Gemiad added.

"We are. The entrance to the Night Road should be near the city, which in turn is near the Portal Stone." I glanced to my left through the porthole. "Honestly, given what I'm seeing, I doubt there's anything left of the city, but the Portal Stone should survive."

"You believe so," Sheraine said. "You're not planning on flying at night, are you?"

I shook my head. "Too risky. We could fly into a mountain or miss the Portal Stone we're looking for. I'm thinking of anchoring at that mountain," I said, pointing forward.

It looked like a gray-white broken tooth jutting out of the forest, plants growing on anything that wasn't a sheer cliff face.

"Well, nobody could get to us up there at least. Though I've seen no sign of anyone having lived here in a century at least. What will we do for food if we can't buy it?"

Some kind of hawk joined us for a moment. It had a short, blue comb which swept back along its short neck. Then, with a cry, it dove down. "The Atha'an Miere reported that people around here were extremely hostile to any outsider. To a degree that they just gave up on trying to trade, though that was some centuries ago. I think. So buying is probably not an option even when we find people."

"We'll have to try and forage then," Gemiad said. "We don't have that much left. Though, I don't recognize any of the trees from up here. If every plant is unfamiliar, we can only try and hunt."

"We'll have to see. I might recognize something, depending on what grows around here." The current biome looked to be tropical, something like the Amazon or Southeast Asia. That should have things like cassava or bananas, though I wasn't sure I would recognize the former and as I recalled, it required extensive preparation to make it edible.

"And how is that possible, if you've never been here?" Sheraine asked.

"Because it looks like some places I do know. Don't worry, I'll test anything I think I recognize myself. I've got a far better chance of surviving-"

"No/Don't be foolish," Gemiad and Sheraine said, speaking through one another. They looked at each other and Gemiad shrugged. The Aes Sedai turned back to me. "Without you, we're stranded here. This airship is a marvel, but don't think I'm unaware that you're keeping it working with those mysterious abilities of yours. With my help, of course, but I know I can't steer it back home without something going wrong in a week at most. And it took us two weeks to get here."

"We still need food, or none of us will make it back," I said as I tacked to starboard to counter the wind pushing us east.

"And there's better ways to test an unknown plant than just eating it," Gemiad said. "Leave that to me, then. Because both of you clearly have lived in a big city for most of your lives."

"It wasn't that big of a city," I said.

"And I learned how to survive in the Blight. Toraul … Toraul was an excellent teacher."

"I've only heard stories of the Blight," Gemiad said. "But I've gathered surviving there is more about just not touching anything."

"And certainly not eating anything," I added. "It looked … sick when I flew over it. This place, it's wild, but it's natural. Though I worry what we'll do if we come across people."

"Sheraine is an Aes Sedai," Gemiad said. "I can channel, and you, you're a dragon. We can handle anything."

I hung my head at those words. "Please don't taunt the Wheel like that. Those are some very famous last words."

"The Wheel cares nothing for our words, or our confidence," Sheraine said to both of us. "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills."

"Alright, if you think the Wheel doesn't care about irony, then tell me why I, a dragon, happen to get dragged into this world right at the moment that the Dragon Reborn is revealed. I even ended up near his hometown. Explain how that's not irony."

"I'm sure the Pattern has some design to your arrival," the Aes Sedai said. "Hopefully, not just to deliver me a constant headache."

VVVV

We'd slept at a small camp I'd set up at the top of the stone column, rather than in the bobbing Albatross. It had felt strange to walk on solid ground again after the near constant sway and tilt for the past two weeks.

Morning had come early, as it was late summer here. After a meager breakfast, I'd carried both women down to the jungle. We'd considered leaving someone behind to guard the Albatross, but the biggest threat was a channeler, and they could burn the airship down from the ground rather than having to climb up.

Hard to guard against that, so now we were navigating our way down the hill while a squad of metal puppets cut a path through the undergrowth for us. Another one trailed behind us, carrying a sack of what little we'd foraged so far.

It was still cool, but heating up rather fast now though none of us were sweating. Gemiad had been practicing the concentration trick and it looked like she was getting the hang of it. A riot of sounds and smells surrounded us, howls and chitters of birds and monkeys, the heavy, sweet scent of a thousand different flowers mixed with the odor of wet mud.

"It feels like we're in another world," Gemiad said, eyeing a tall bush with drapes of white flowers hanging from its slender branches. "Is your home like this?"

I looked around, then shook my head. "No. You weren't entirely wrong, I grew up in a fairly large town." Compared to this world, it could actually be called a city, but a place didn't turn into a city just by concentrating enough people. You needed something more. "Fairly temperate, summers not too hot, winters cold enough for snow." Used to, anyway, before climate change started becoming noticeable.

"How about you?" I asked Sheraine.

"I grew up in Cairhien," she said. "Until I was seventeen. Then I went to Tar Valon. Though Novices aren't supposed to see the city beyond the Tower until the Aes Sedai are satisfied, they will neither endanger nor embarrass the Tower." A smile stole across her lips.

We were on a more level spot now where the game trail we followed hugged the foot of an earthen rampart held together by tangles of roots. To our left was a thick jungle that could be a meter deep or three hundred before the slope started up again. Impossible to tell without cutting our way into it.

With my head still turned to keep an eye on Sheraine, something punched me in the back of my head, followed by a couple of jabs at my back. Only when I turned around did I spot the shattered remains of three flint-tipped arrows tumbling to the jungle floor.

Surprise had my thoughts spin in a hundred different directions, freezing me on the spot. Only when I heard that sound again, the whistle of an arrow flying through the air, did I act. As a godbound, even when not bound to the Word of Alacrity, my reaction time surpassed that of a mere mortal. It gave me just enough time to snap my wing out and cover both Gemiad and Sheraine with it.

I hissed as the arrows bit into the sensitive membrane, though even they were armored enough that the projectiles drew no blood. "It's an ambush," I said, my eyes roaming around. But all I saw was a dizzying array of flora.

Two new scents entered my nose, the smell of saidar, before Sheraine called out. "If we are trespassing in your land, I apologize! We are strangers to this land and merely seek to replenish our supplies! I'm Aes Sedai and-"

"Breaker!" someone shouted deep in the jungle in an accent I hadn't heard before, which almost added an extra syllable to the word. Another flurry of arrows came from our left, one went low and underneath my wing, Sheraine grunted.

But I spotted one this time. "Get them!" The iron puppets had kept going with their task and ignored the ambush so far. Now, they turned as one and ran in the direction I had pointed at. I stepped forward as well to stop any stray arrow from hitting my companions. The metal puppets broke through branches and trampled plants in their charge, but I could only keep track of them through sound, as it had only taken seconds for the jungle to swallow them.

The clatter of metal told me at least a couple had encountered resistance of some sort. Could be traps, could be channelers, or just one of the surprises the jungle harbored.

"Above us," Gemiad exclaimed.

I looked back just in time to see two people at the top of the overhang hurling spears at the women. Who had been hiding up above the overhang and now used the exposed roots to slide down. Gemiad threw her hands up, and a blue disc sprang up. Both spears and shield shattered on impact, and Gemiad stumbled, tripping over Sheraine, who cried out as the arrow in her leg got jostled.

Our attacker pulled a club, but my lightning bolt struck her in the chest, and she fell away. It should have only knocked her out. I still had questions and-

The sound of metal crunching and sliding against metal rang through the jungle. A moment later, a ball the size of my torso flew at me. I had just enough time to tuck my wing away before I caught the mass of crumpled-together metal puppets.

I grunted at the impact. My feet skidded over the slick mud before I came to a stop. I thought of throwing it back, but I had no idea what I'd hit, and I might just end up giving the channeler on the other end ammunition.

A glance over my shoulder told me the other attacker atop the overhang had disappeared. Silence filled the jungle, only broken by the sound of me setting down the ball of metal. Tentatively, one bird tried a chirp. "I think they're gone."

As more animals resumed their activities, I made my way to Sheraine and Gemiad. "I've gotten careless," the Aes Sedai said, trying and failing for a moment to hide the pain. "You've told me that Healing isn't one of your … tricks?"

"Sorry. Not unless you'd like to have a tasteful amount of decorative scales for the rest of your life?" If I empowered her using Dominion, that should heal her, I wouldn't need a great empowerment for that. "Or maybe you'd like bronze legs?"

"I would like to know what you consider a tasteful amount of scales, but not now," Sheraine said. "Gemiad, child, a woman can't Heal herself, but I can show you the weave. Copy it, and, well, we'll see if you have a Talent for it."

Gemiad looked from Sheraine to the arrow sticking out of the shorter woman's thigh and back again. "Are you certain?" Her eyes drifted to the arrow again. "What if I make a mistake?"

"That's why you practice first."

"And while I can't heal her, I can remove the arrow before you make the attempt," I said. "Just tell me when."

"I don't need you to make the wound disappear entirely. Just enough so I can walk," Sheraine said. "Now, pay attention." She hissed as she lifted up her hands, but the smell of flowers didn't waver for a second.

VVVV

"I'll not be left behind," Sheraine said, leaning lightly on the crutch I'd made for her. I'd also repaired her dress, but while Gemiad had managed to seal the flesh she couldn't quite repair all of Sheraine's thigh muscle. "But I don't believe we should chase these people, we are trespassing."

"They shot you," Gemiad protested. "Didn't even give us a warning, they started by trying to kill us."

"And I fail to see how tracking them down and confronting these people will end in a more peaceful encounter," Sheraine said, shifting her weight a little. "We didn't come here to speak to these people."

"No, but we do need supplies," I said. "And maybe, just maybe, they'll think twice about fighting if they can't ambush us but have to deal with us openly." I'd found a footpath when I'd jumped up to the top of the overhang as well as some tracks so fresh even I couldn't miss them. It was those tracks I'd proposed to follow.

"At least one of these people is not only a channeler, but a man as well," Sheraine explained. "There is no telling when he will succumb to the madness, it could be now, it could be when we speak to this people. And people that would tolerate such a danger in their community are mad enough themselves."

"Well, so do you," Gemiad said. "You left the … the Dragon Reborn alone. And he's a channeler as well."

Sheraine sniffed. "There is a great difference between the man chosen by the Pattern to fight the Dark One and a random male channeler skulking around the back of beyond. And even then it's like holding fireworks in your fist with the fuse lit."

"Even if we can't trade with them, just knowing where there camp is will help us," I said.

"How so? If you mean to avoid them with the airship, I'm afraid it won't matter. We'll be visible for many miles and what you can see, you can hit," Sheraine said.

"More than supplies, we need to know," Gemiad said. "Not just where these people live, but how they treat their neighbors, do they have regular contact with them, are they just as hostile? We've stumbled into this land ignorant, we can't hope to travel through it without knowing the first thing about what to expect." She slung the forage bag over her shoulder. "Are you planning on doing what we did with the Whitecloak camp?"

I nodded. "If we can't talk to them, we can still listen to them. Without them knowing."

Sheraine looked from me to Gemiad, studying us both. "What do you mean by that? You encountered the Whitecloaks before Falme?"

Gemiad gave me a questioning look and I shrugged. "I'm going to make some hatchets. I didn't see any metal in their weapons so they'll make an attractive trade good. And if we can't trade, I'll just chuck the hatches at them. I've got a trick that will allow me to listen in on anything I've made."

Sheraine's hand went to her knife. The one I'd made for her, then her eyes narrowed. "Why tell me you have the means of spying on me as well as the rest of the people we left Falme with?"

"Because spying is such an ugly word. I gave you all useful gifts, but also ones that would allow me to check and maybe even help if you get into trouble. Though, to be clear, I haven't used this trick since I gave those presents. It's not easy and I have to husband my resources carefully."

I could acquire the Gift now, I had enough potential in reserve for it. But it only allowed me to see and hear what was happening around my creations, it took more Effort to remotely manipulate an object and I would be restricted one action. Just not worth it at the moment.

"If that is so, why didn't you give Gemiad anything?"

"He's made all my clothes as well as my boots, my belt and pouch, and my knife," Gemiad said. She looked at me. "I know what can happen when he can't find me. And I trust Ron."

I ducked my head. "Thank you." I cleared my throat. "I'll carry you both up and we'll see where the trail takes us. Chances are, we'll lose it anyway and I'm not planning on spending the night down here. So we only have a few hours."