Chapter LXVI - All Must Wake From the Dream
Why had Taija made this plan?! This was fucking horrible. Couldn't she have palmed it off on Nynaeve? She was aes sedai now, she could spin the web. She'd even be stronger than Taija soon enough. Taija's body, her brain, just… she wasn't made to channel this much of the Power. Untested sa'angreal being used at full intensity for hours, all through her. It was madness! There was no way they'd been designed for this.
Waves of the Power battered at Taija's consciousness. She clung on with iron willpower and self-discipline. One misstep and it was over. At best she'd burn herself and Rand out, at worst kill every living thing on the planet. She'd fought her way across the planet in two different wars with the Shadow. She'd survived finding out that every single thing she loved was dead. She could survive this.
Light it hurt. Taija wanted to stop, take a break, but if she did that might be it, no second chances. The weight of the world was on her shoulders and it was only getting heavier.
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Demandred scowled and froze as he saw a group of women picking their way through the forest. So-called Dedicated if his guess about their clothing was correct. He could not be sure that they were channeling, he had felt goose pimples on his skin since he arrived here, no doubt due to Taija Kosola's working. However, he would bet money that they were holding the Power. He would also bet money there were thirteen of them, although he only counted five.
Now, if he were Tel, there would be no more death wards once the patrolling defenders were reached, too much risk of hitting his own channelers there. There would, however, be multiple layers of anti-Traveling wards. He would not want someone penetrating the outer defences and then simply Traveling to the centre. If he was using weaker pawns in circles he'd also want to prevent people from using Traveling in combat.
That gave Demandred a certain freedom of action though. The backwards women of this time were always over confident in their circles. Of course it gave an advantage in power, but when you were in combat, flexibility and speed were also key. As they would find out.
One of the women spotted him and started to call out. She died first. An inverted web of saidin tore her in half before more than a syllable left her mouth. Another two of the Dedicated became guttering torches.
Demandred was already moving, running sideways as a series of huge fireballs flew towards him. They were not even that close. He spun saidin and lightning struck down from the sky, blasting amidst the Dedicated women. Even over the omnipresent rumble of whatever Taija Kosola was doing he heard a woman scream.
His own beam of fire, not balefire, just a bar of white hot heat cut through the forest, slicing through trees and another of the Dedicated women. A shield, powerful, but nothing like a full circle's battered futilely at his connection to saidin. They might not realise it, but he had already won. He just needed to make this quick before any reinforcements could come.
Demandred started to jog towards where the Dedicated women were, slicing their increasingly frantic webs. He spotted another and decapitated her with a flow of air. One threw herself at him, impressive she had gotten so close without him seeing her. A smooth side step and draw of his sword and she fell grasping her own innards as they spilled from her stomach.
There, more of them. He channeled and another two died in fire, even though his other webs were sliced. This was as good as over.
Demandred barely needed to exert himself to deflect the pathetic webs from the few survivors. Still, it would be foolish to play with his food. He was no Semirhage or Graendal. Another Dedicated died, her neck snapped with air. He spotted one staring intently at him, she had been impressively well hidden, he had almost missed her.
Even as he spun his next web, her face changed somehow, focused anger turning to grim determination. A flare of green light intertwined with purple shot into the air above them just before he crushed her into a twisted mess of blood and bone in a fist of air.
Demandred was already sprinting downhill, perpendicular to the Dedicated's location. Damn these anti-Traveling wards! He tripped, threw himself into a painful roll and came up on his feet, still running full pelt. Three seconds, four time stretched out. His mental count reached five, it was too late he frantically started to spin a new web.
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Moiraine blanched when the flare of light shot into the sky not so far below the cliff-top. Green and purple, it meant one thing. So soon! She had hoped not to see it at all.
Despite herself she hesitated. No, this was the Forsaken. The people down there were already dead. She had to believe that. Drawing everything she could through the link she funneled it down on the spot that flare had come from, a circle of white hot fire obliterating it and everything around it before she spiraled the weave in a widening circle around the location. She hoped the Creator would have mercy on their souls.
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Lanfear smoothly stepped out of her inverted gateway, her dress, hair everything as perfectly arranged as ever. Lews would see what he was missing before she broke him. The deep rumbling sound she could hear was annoying, as was the blinding light. Of course Taija would have some crude solution, kludged together. She might as well just be hitting the problem with a hammer. She lacked the finesse of true genius.
With shaded eyes Lanfear quickly took in the scene. Explosions flared in the forest below the cliff top, clearly others of the Chosen were here and finding out the sort of defences Tel Janin had put up. Well he was not ready to deal with someone like her clearly.
Lanfear Traveled straight into the forest, stepping out of her inverted hole in the air. Saidar flowed through her as deep a river as it ever had, not that anyone would be able to tell. She would calmly walk through their 'death zone', ha as if, and then kill anyone who got between her Lews and Taija. Simple plans were often the best.
She started to walk, a measured, calm pace, preparing several inverted webs as a nasty little surprise for anyone she might meet. At the same time she spun tiny flows of inverted spirit out ahead of her gently probing and feeling for any wards.
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Nynaeve reached up to the neck of her dress again to touch the pendant hanging between her breasts and shivered. She'd seen gouts of fire spouting up from the forest below, but so far nothing more than that. She knew it wouldn't last. She'd like to tell herself that she felt a thrill of anticipation at the idea of facing the Forsaken, but really all she felt was sick fear. She still remembered the last two times she'd met them. The casualness with which Aginor and Balthamel had brushed Moiraine away. The desperate fight she and Elayne had had against Rahvin until Cadsuane intervened.
She was stronger now she reminded herself. More skilled. Every Forsaken she had faced was dead. Also, she had something special to help her.
Taija's face had been a picture of reluctance when she'd handed her the angreal with trembling. It had felt like she was having to force herself to let go of it. Nynaeve could understand that, an angreal was an incredibly valuable tool, but there was clearly more, she didn't know what. Taija had started to say something. "This is…" Then she'd trailed off and left Nynaeve with just two words. "Don't die."
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Graendal sighed happily to herself as she climbed out of the bath, another pet running up to towel her dry while the first two hurried away to fetch her clothes. She was nearly ready to leave, but first she would need to make sure that her hair and nails were as immaculate as ever.
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Edarra watched the storm of fire rising into the sky from where the flare had come only moments before. She was not sure who it had been, but they had spat in Sightblinder's eye until the last. She could only hope that they had taken the shadowsouled with them when they woke from the dream.
She could not hear the sound of footsteps over the omnipresent roar, but her eyes were drawn to movement up ahead. She froze and made a hand-sign to the wise ones behind her, all former maidens.
A beautiful wetlander woman was picking her way through the forest, carefully scanning the trees. She did not hold saidar, but Taija sedai had told her enough, the woman could be 'inverting' her weaves, or she might be the strange one they had been warned about, who could channel saidin.
No matter, one of the shadowsouled would be a valuable captive. She was not stupid enough to imagine that one could be made gai'shain, but simply capturing one would be more than enough to gain ji in the eyes of all. She drew heavily on her link and wove spirit into a shield. With a thought, she slammed it into place on the unsuspecting woman. A brief moment of resistance was all she felt and then the woman's eyes bulged as she looked frantically around.
Edarra did not hesitate, she wove air around the shadowsouled and yanked her back to them, deeper in the forest. Behind her Tialin drove a knee into the shadowsouled's stomach and then struck her across the jaw. As long as the shield held on her, there would be little a soft wetlander woman could do against 13 wise ones.
Confident that the woman was secured, Edarra resumed scanning the forest. If the woman caused too much trouble, a knife through her throat would end any threat.
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Mesaana stepped through her inverted gateway, the 12 black sisters trailing behind her. Like all of these so-called aes sedai they were haughty and composed wherever they went, but she could still feel their nervousness, their fear through the circle. They would also be able to feel her raging fury. It had barely receded in the time it had taken her to get here.
She should have been arriving with a sa'angreal in hand and several circles backing her. Instead this was all that she had been able to scrape together in the time that she'd allowed herself. The White Tower was hers, but not completely and she could not risk the further split that would have resulted from storming the holding rooms in the short time available before she felt she had to Travel here. They were already too many aes sedai fleeing the Tower. She was also not willing to face whatever punishment would come from arriving after it was all over.
If she hadn't been told she had weeks it would be a very different situation. Still, even if she didn't quite have the cream of the crop from the Black Ajah with her, she was here and she wasn't too late.
Whatever Taija Kosola was doing, it certainly wasn't subtle. Despite herself Mesaana would have been fascinated to see the web the woman had spun, but the light was just too bright. She had no desire to blind herself trying to find out. Taija must be using the sea as a cooling mechanism given the gigantic column of steam blasting into the sky. Was that boiling water the cause of the all-encompassing sound or was it the web itself?
She turned away, it didn't matter. Whatever it was, it would end when she killed Lews Therin and Taija Kosola. First though she should see if Demandred had waited. She suspected not, the man was far too impetuous, but still their alliance had held so far so she should check.
Mesaana did some mental calculations and spun another gateway, stepping out of it to emerge onto ground fused into muddy brown glass by an incredible heat. Well that answered that question. It would be inconvenient if he'd gotten himself killed. It also put paid to her plan of just sitting at a distance and bombarding the cliff top. To do this from that distance would have taken someone strong with a sa'angreal or a very large circle. No thank you.
She tutted to herself, it looked like she was going to have to get her hands dirty. Absolutely not her preferred way of doing things, but needs must. She spun a gateway, inverting her web and stepped through into the forest, followed by her coterie of so-called aes sedai.
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Moghedien watched the towering column of fire swirling into the sky, the light behind it so bright that it gave her a headache even when she didn't look directly at it. She was an intelligence operative, not a fighter, this was no place for her.
If they failed today though there would be questions, fingers would be pointed and she knew who they'd be pointed at. She had warned them of course. She had remembered little from Taija Kosola's dossier, but enough to know that she was a very respected physicist before the War. They shouldn't have dismissed her warnings. Of course all they would remember was that she'd said they had longer. Intelligence wasn't infallible, they should have been delighted that she could even warn them. They wouldn't see it that way though.
She'd have to do something, if she just sat this out it might be the end of her. She shuddered, this was not her style at all. Still, even if she had no desire to fight, she was one of the strongest channelers alive and one didn't have to act like fuckwits such as Be'lal or Balthamel.
She spun a series of webs over herself and her face and form wavered as she took on the appearance of the apparent leader of the Dedicateds' 'wise ones'. A mirror web showed her that she'd got it just right, blue eyes looking back at her and long white hair framing her face. She had her name for a reason, she would strike from the shadows. If she ever found herself in a fair fight her planning had gone wrong.
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Aran'gar tried to suppress her panic. She was shielded! By these so-called Dedicated barbarians. How had this happened?! For middle aged women they certainly packed a punch too, she worked her jaw. Were some of her teeth loose? The Great Lord's joke suddenly seemed much less funny, if only she were back in her original body, strong and muscled.
Two of the Dedicated watched her, fingering their belt knives, not that they needed them with the shield in place. This should never have happened, she was one of the Chosen!
As time went on she tried to suppress the panic that was starting to bubble up inside her.
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Elaida's eyes were drawn back towards the west. While she hated the lack of discipline it showed, it was no surprise that even she could not fully control herself. Something was going on out there, far away. Something huge. That much saidar being channeled, it was beyond what the entire Tower could channel with every angreal and sa'angreal together.
There was to be a meeting of the Hall soon to discuss it. Not that she expected anyone to have anything useful to say. The Dragon? Darkfriends? A mystery. Pointless speculation. That and there would just be more of those overly vacant eyes with almost invisible smirks. She was sure the Sitters had had more dynamism to them in the past, more respect too. If she did not have one hundred other worries on her shoulders she would be looking into that.
As it was, the Dragon was the largest concern. That and Siuan's activities, standing in rebellion against the Tower. She had lied about Taija and the Dragon. Those had been the final straws, but did they mean she was Black Ajah or had she simply twisted the truth? Elaida shook her head. A pawn of the Shadow at best. It was the worst of timing though, the Tower needed to be united. The Dragon needed to be managed and the nations led to face the Shadow in the Last Battle. Any other concern was secondary.
Her eyes turned west once more. It was since Cadsuane, or the woman pretending to be her, made those ludicrous accusations. That was when things had started to change in the Tower.
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Semirhage was struggling to control herself by this point, but fortunately not as much as Tuon was. The woman's face remained impassive, but she could see the tiny signs of discomfort in her. How long had it been now?
Tuon stood abruptly, interrupting the sul'dam who was explaining what was agitating the damane. Her Voice announced, "the Daughter of the Nine Moons wishes to retire."
The room prostrated themselves and Tuon strode out. Finally!
Semirhage did not even have time to enjoy the woman's discomfort, she needed to move fast now. If she was too late then at best it would severely hurt her standing among the Chosen. At worst… She preferred not to think about that.
After informing some of the slaves that she was tired and was returning to her rooms to rest, her first stop was the leashed kennels with some trusted leash holders. Of course she was not wearing her own face for this. It might well trigger a whole new investigation and purge in Seandar if her actions were discovered and she had no intention of being a victim of it. Graendal seemed to enjoy visiting, so hers would do.
There were only a limited number of leash holders that she could find in the short time available, at least ones she knew were servants of the Dark. That meant she could only have five of the leashed, but she still had her pick of the Imperial kennels, some of the strongest leashed in the whole Empire.
The sound of sobs and quiet voices permeated the kennels. The leashed were all agitated by the huge amount of saidar being channeled halfway across the world and the leash holders were trying to comfort them, but she had no time for their weakness.
A few minutes later she stepped through her inverted gateway followed by the other ten women. The first thing to strike her was the sheer wall of sound and the blinding light behind the clifftop. Shading her eyes, she judged the distance, noting smaller explosions in the forest on the slope up to the top of the cliff. There was no point trying to meet with Mesaana and Demandred, she was far too late, but there was also no reason for her to go in and fight alone. She had brought enough firepower with her to overwhelm any realistic defences.
Semirhage chose a hill somewhat closer, perhaps six kilometres from the insanely strong beacon of saidar and opened another inverted gateway.
The ground seemed to be shaking under her feet, the world permeated by that roaring, rumbling sound. One of the leashed was crying and the others looked close to it. They would still obey though. The leash holders were fortunately made of sterner stuff.
Semirhage turned to the leash holders. "The top of the cliffs, you can tell where. I want it gone."
They gave her sharp nods. The leashed were really rather limited, but when it came to destruction, they were more than sufficient. Here she had five women, all of them veterans of tens of battles and any of them strong enough to stand toe to toe with one of the Chosen. See how Lews Therin and his hangers on enjoyed that.
Commands rang out from the leash holders and the light of saidar sprang up around the five leashed. Semirhage's own light would have joined them if she was not concealing the ability. They reached out with saidar, spinning webs into the roiling clouds above the cliff-top. Semirhage did too, drawing through her own angreal and inverting her webs.
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Cadsuane saw the weaves of saidar forming in the clouds above, she was confident she could hold the barrier of air above them against any one of the Forsaken. This though, this was too much. "Moiraine!" She could not keep the fear out of her voice.
She saw Moiraine look up as a storm of lightning started to fall, slamming into her barrier making her grunt from the exertion, the strain already biting at her. A long series of explosions rumbled over their heads.
After no more than a couple of seconds the barrier broke and a several bolts of lightning struck the ground behind Moiraine just before more saidar, uninverted, and mixed with saidin Cadsuane assumed, formed its own barrier above them, absorbing the storm of lightning for now. At least one of the women in Moiraine's link was screaming.
This was bad. It must be most of the Forsaken attacking them at once, which did not explain the battles going on in the forest below. Had they underestimated them? Were they working together?
She glanced at Moiraine, the woman was glowing with the Power, but just a guttering candle compared to the Sun behind them. She was clutching her head though, the effects of someone dying while you were linked to them were less than enviable.
Fortunately she pulled herself together, a far more impressive woman than the first time they had met 20 years ago. Aes sedai composure was gone, she looked a mess, but the grim determination on her face and the glowing crystal sword in Aleksi's hands said it all. The glow from the sword intensified, dazzling, although nothing compared to the harsh light behind them.
She did not see Moiraine try to slice or deflect the weaves above them. Wise, she had Power to spare but the link would not add to her dexterity. Instead saidar shot out of her, spiralling around something invisible.
A moment later a storm of lightning so intense it almost appeared to be a single giant bolt descended on the hilltop those weaves of saidar had come from. It was briefly blocked by something and then the lightning was through, covering the hilltop in a roiling sea of explosions.
Cadsuane saw movement on another nearby hilltop. "There." As she spoke she rewove her barrier of air.
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Osan'gar watched the battle unfolding with half an eye. What he was really interested in was Taija Kosola and what she was doing. If only he could get closer, he might be able to see better.
A storm of lightning descended on a nearby hilltop. That was saidin and saidar mixed together, he was sure of it. Whoever was supporting Taija Kosola up there clearly had either a very large circle or a sa'angreal. Perhaps both. Cleverly planned, not that that surprised him.
He idly wondered whether whichever of the Chosen had been targeted there had escaped and went back to watching things unfold. He could not even start to work out what Taija Kosola had done, not that there was any shame in that. She was like him, a genius in her own field.
After a few more minutes, he sighed. He would need to do something. If he did not, then there would no doubt be punishments and his standing had already fallen far after his unfortunate demise overdrawing saidin at the Eye of the World. The Great Lord only knew what had come over him then. Perhaps it was madness induced by how close he was to the Bore when it was sealed? The Wheel of Time certainly ground thin.
He winced at the memory, not only had he managed to idiotically kill himself in a test of strength against an untrained farmboy, he had also sounded like a two bit villain from some cheap drama. 'Forgotten the pleasures of the flesh' indeed. Thank the Wheel that Taija Kosola had not been there, it would have been so embarrassing. If he had been himself he would simply have killed them and moved on, like any logical man.
Osan'gar reluctantly levered himself up from his position against a tree trunk. He'd sobered up enough. Time to do something.