Chapter LXIII - Not you too?!
After Taija made her speech to the Sitters and the 'Hall of the Tower' dispersed Siuan made a show of inviting her and Cadsuane to stay the night in the village as honoured guests. Of course Taija accepted, it was all part of the plan. A slightly riskier part it was true, but definitely part of it. The sheer unending arrogance of the aes sedai could be used against them. Not that that was how she'd worded it to Siuan!
Siuan, Cadsuane, Anaiya and Maighan, as the only aes sedai Taija could be sure weren't Black Ajah, would be watching out for any sisters trying to run. She'd be playing a different role. Actually it was a pity they weren't able to bring any of the converted black sisters with them when they'd fled the Tower, ironically those darkfriends would be among the few Taija could actually trust, bound as they were. They were probably dead or resworn to the Shadow now though.
Taija didn't really want to sleep in Siuan's village, in fact she wouldn't be sleeping at all. She'd be bait. It was probably a bit stupid to be putting herself out there in the first place, although she was confident that she could take on any realistic number of black sisters, but going to sleep would be insane negligence.
After some more conversation Taija made a big show of yawning and heading up to the room she'd been given. It was surprisingly nice actually, particularly given the generally unimpressive condition of the village as a whole, maybe she was finally getting some of the respect she deserved from the Tower sedai. Certainly nicer than a tent in the Waste.
Before Taija extinguished the light in the room she spun an array of wards around it, layering them inwards step by by step. First was an anti-Traveling ward. She didn't want anyone Traveling in or hitting the room through a gateway, then various sensory wards that would alert her to channelers, male or female, movement, humans or webs. Finally round the room itself she spun a pair of wards with verbal triggers. One like the she'd used to escape Siuan and Moiraine back in Fal Dara that would slice any web in its vicinity. The other would hit anyone who was holding saidar or saidin in its bounds with a storm of lightning. She'd only need either of those if things went very badly wrong for her though.
With that done, Taija settled down to wait. It was a tedious process. Especially when she was already tired, but Taija passed the time by working on her taint-destruction web.
She sat there spinning and re-spinning the inverted web, tweaking parameters and seeing how things fit together. She wouldn't be able to test anything until she had Aleksi with her again, but she hadn't really had time to just sit down like that and think up until then.
It was getting into the early hours of the morning when the Black Ajah made their move, or some of them anyway. Taija's outer layer of wards pulled on her mind, a channeler, no three channelers had just crossed their threshold near her building. She smiled slightly, stood up and stretched, invisible from the street behind the shutters covering her window. Taija's bed still looked like someone was sleeping in it, an inverted tied off web making a convincing illusion of her sleeping form.
Taija couldn't feel anyone holding saidar, so that suggested they'd learnt how to conceal that, interesting. Not how to hide the ability to channel though, or perhaps they didn't want to. Tower sedai did seem to determine their hierarchy by strength in the Power after all. They really were ridiculous.
It wasn't long before more of her wards triggered, this time set off by people entering the building. They didn't seem to be aware of the risk of inverted wards, or perhaps they were stupid enough to think she wouldn't set any. Taija had learnt not to underestimate the arrogance of Tower aes sedai.
Carefully, she maneuvered herself round so that she was standing behind where the door would open and spun an inverted web of concealment over herself. Faded into the darkness against the wall Taija settled down to wait. She'd have been worried about them just trying to blow up the whole room, but they'd want to make a clean escape, which wouldn't be possible with too much noise. Darkfriends were never willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Or greater evil she supposed. If they had any sense, which was debatable given they were both darkfriends and Tower aes sedai, they'd be worried about missing too. They must know they wouldn't get a second shot.
Taija heard footsteps creaking on the stairs as more of her wards weretripped. A whispered conversation and a tiny amount of saidar being channeled. Then her door slowly slid open and the three women entered. Hidden behind it and in the dark, Taija couldn't see who they were, but she did see them creep over to her bed and one of them raise her arm.
So they were going to stab her to death. Clever, no signs of channeling, could have been done by a non-aes sedai.
For a brief moment Taija thought about dramatically revealing herself. just for the sheer terror it would cause, but that would be stupid. As the woman's arm descended towards 'her' sleeping form she draw fully on saidar through her angreal inverting all of her webs.
Air slammed the door shut. Another web of air seized the left and right aes sedai throwing them into the walls, hard, and she forced a shield straight through the centre one's connection to saidar. Taija had power to spare. A moment later she shielded the other two as well, their connection to saidar broken by their impact on the walls. A quick web of air to bind them in place and the only casualties were her blanket and mattress which now had a large slash through them. Lucky she wasn't planning on sleeping later.
Taija came out of her corner and moved the air holding the darkfriends in place to turn them to face her at the same time as she spun a globe of light just below the ceiling. They were all wearing hooded cloaks, but it was easy enough to pull those back with a flow of air.
When Taija saw their faces her eyes widened. "Sheriam, I really didn't expect to see you here." The woman looked terrified and angry. All three of them did actually.
"Release us at once, unless you want to face the wrath of the White Tower!"
"Delana too!" Taija recognised the Sitter, even if she'd never spoken to her before. "You I don't recognise though." She nodded to the third one.
The woman didn't volunteer a name so Taija continued to talk, ignoring Sheriam's threats. "All three of you are Black Ajah, there's no point denying it. You've snuck into my room in the night to try to murder me right after I announced to the Hall that I had a way of finding black sisters. I suppose we'll have to wait and see whether Siuan has caught any of your compatriots, but I'm sure she'll be very interested in having a long talk with the three of you. Especially you Sheriam. Her Keeper! I actually quite liked you you know."
Haughty defiance was plastered over Sheriam's features. "Your accusations hold no water, we are not Black Ajah and you have no proof."
Taija raised her eyebrows. "You came to my room in the middle of the night and tried to stab me to death. After I announced a way to hunt down the Black Ajah."
"Realisation flashed across Sheriam's face. Oh! I see, it does not work does it? This was a trap. Very cunning Mistress Kosola, but a pity. I had of course hoped that it would result in the capture of some of the Black Ajah." Suddenly smooth confidence returned to Sheriam. "You may be right about how this would be seen. However, you have just demonstrated to the Hall that you cannot be trusted. That you will lie to their face, like a member of the Black Ajah. Who is to say that you, someone I know does not think much of the White Tower, are not seeking to undermine it."
Worry sparked in Taija as Sheriam continued.
"Why would the Hall believe you, someone who is not even associated with the White Tower but claims the title of aes sedai, someone who has lied to them, over us? Women who cannot tell a lie. Yes we tried to kill you, because we know that you are an enemy of the White Tower and probably a darkfriend. Elaida cannot lie after all. Why do you think we used a knife rather than the Power though? Because we could not be sure you were in fact a darkfriend rather than a mere enemy of the Tower and we are bound by the three oaths. The Hall will not accept the words of an outsider over ours."
Certainty rang through Sheriam's voice and Taija took a small step back, the worry growing in her. "If you release us and flee now, then maybe you will be able to avoid your own arrest."
Taija stared at her, it was worryingly plausible, but surely she was just being paranoid. Siuan hated darkfriends nearly as much as she did. She wouldn't be that stupid would she? The Sitters wouldn't be. Surely? "I very much doubt they'll believe you given the circumstances, but… You do make a good point, especially about the three oaths." She came to a decision. "Perhaps you're right and I can't trust the Hall of the Tower to back me on this and the risks really are huge, especially with the cleansing coming."
She gave Sheriam a faint smile, seeing the gleam of triumph in her eyes. Sheriam couldn't see the three inverted webs Taija was spinning.
Razor sharp spirit sliced into the three aes sedai and Taija released their shields. "But even in the vanishingly unlikely event that you're telling the truth, you did still try to murder me in my sleep."
Triumph turned to horror and then they were screaming, clutching at their heads and collapsing. Delana vomited. That was going to smell. After a few more seconds of screaming Taija spun a ward against eavesdropping around them and settled down to wait. She'd never torture someone, but she hadn't the slightest sympathy for them either.
She'd really have liked to get some sleep, but there might be another attempt from more black sisters. They seemed to be so compartmentalised that it was not impossible. So Taija stayed awake staring grouchily at the silenced, sobbing former aes sedai on her floor. When Siuan found out about this she was really not going to be pleased.
She tried to think about happier things as silenced mouths pled for mercy, but for some reason her mind just went back to Mierin, to ever worse memories.