As usual all speech in italics is in the Old Tongue.
Chapter XXXI - Thank the Light for Aleksi
When Taija woke up the next morning, all she could do for a while was stare at the wooden beamed ceiling. It felt too difficult to get out bed. She hadn't really felt ok since she worked out when she was, that she was three thousand years away from anything and anyone she'd known.
The crushing revelation of how Sammael had survived had ripped a hole through her psyche and his pathetic attempt at self-justification only widened it. How could she have been so stupid?! She couldn't even mourn what she'd lost now, he'd ruined that too. Everything was tainted. Every moment of love and joy.
Taija knew that she needed to keep going, but it was so hard. What was even the point? She didn't want to be looked up to by the girls. She was still furious with Rand even though really she knew he was just a kid. The aes sedai were a twisted perversion of her own beliefs. She was tired.
She needed equals, friends she could ask for help, who'd look after her just as much as she did them. Aleksi did his best, he really did, but the fact that she was relying on a twenty five year old farmer for emotional support, to hold herself together, illustrated the problem.
It would just be so much easier to just go and become a hermit in the mountains, or go to the Blight and kill shadowspawn until she couldn't fight anymore.
In the end what got Taija out of bed was the realisation that her thought processes were starting to sound like Sammel's 'explanations'. She'd die before she started to travel down his road.
So Taija hauled herself out of bed and achingly slowly got herself ready to go out. She'd thought she should keep training the others, but in the end she decided that she wasn't ready to face the girls or Rand. Not today. At least there was work she could set them to.
Taija grabbed Aleksi on her way out and told him that she needed to do some things outside Tear and that he and the others should arrange a move to a new inn with new names. If she'd been thinking straight she'd have moved last night as soon as Sammael left, but even if the best time to move was then, the second best time was now. She arranged to meet Aleksi later so he could tell her where they'd moved to.
Then Taija spun a gateway back to Falme. Sammael found her and she wasn't sure how. The most obvious explanation though is that he found out from someone in Falme. She wasn't likely to find any darkfriend spies, but it was possible that he got the information more directly. Taija didn't much like Moiraine, but she felt she needed to make sure that the woman was alright.
However, when Taija got to Falme Moiraine was nowhere to be found. In fact, the only people she recognised other than servants from the palace were some of the Shienarans that accompanied Rand from Cairhien. They were very respectful to her, but all they could tell her was that Moiraine left the day after she and the 'Dragon Reborn' did. If she had to guess, she'd probably either gone to Siuan or was looking for her in Tear. Either way a problem for another time. She'd check in on Siuan, but she and Moiraine had carefully not told her where the rebel aes sedai were based. Perhaps it was for the best.
=====
Back in Tear Taija met with Aleksi, changed her appearance and headed over to the new inn. Actually one of the girls had done a very solid job of spinning him a new identity, if she hadn't known he'd be there she'd never have recognised him. She'd have been proud if she had the mental energy for it.
Aleksi briefed Taija on her and the rest of the group's new identities on the way back to the inn. She took it in without saying much, just going through the motions.
By the time Taija got to the inn Aleksi was visibly worried about her. He was never great at hiding his feelings, but then neither was she.
Taija saw Rand, or at least someone who looked distinctly like his new disguise, in the common room when they entered the inn. As soon as he saw her with Aleksi he leapt to his feet. "Lady Gisel, I…"
Oh yes, that was her new name. At least he remembered that. Taija really couldn't face talking to Rand at that moment though so she just kept walking while Aleksi made an apologetic face at him.
When she'd been escorted to her room Taija thanked Aleksi, firmly shut the door and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling again. She knew she was being self-indulgent, that those kids needed leadership, but it was hard. She didn't want to be there, she didn't want to be in charge.
Around an hour later Taija heard a tentative knock on her door. She ignored it. She didn't want to talk to anyone right now, unfortunately whoever it was didn't seem to be going away. She heard another knock. A pause and then another, much less tentative.
When she didn't answer again the door handle rattled and the door swung open. Taija immediately embraced saidar, but released it when she saw it was just Aleksi. He stepped in past the threshold of the room, looking down at her. "Taija," his voice was gentle, "what's wrong?"
"Didn't Rand tell you?" She snapped. Unfairly defensive, but she couldn't help herself.
"No, he didn't. He's upset about something, but just told me it's none of my business." Aleksi came over to her bed, "now what's wrong? You look halfway between wanting to kill someone and wanting someone to kill you." He gave a weak chuckle at his own joke.
"I don't want to talk about it," she said. There was a tearing feeling in her chest where her heart should be, a painful tightness and suddenly she was twisting her mouth into a grimace as her eyes swam. She wouldn't cry, not over him and not in front of Aleksi. Taija forced a slow breath through a rib cage that didn't want to cooperate. "Please just… just leave me alone. I'll be fine in the morning Aleksi." She knew he could hear the roughness in her voice but forced a steady look at his face to convince him.
Aleksi sat down on the bed beside her. "Taija, I've known you longer than anyone else here. You are not fine." He enveloped her hand in his, calluses scraping her softer skin. "If you don't want to tell me then, don't tell me, but I'm your warder and you can trust me whatever happens."
Taija sat silently and rigidly for a long moment, fighting herself and a rising swell of emotion that could drown her if she let it. A single tear broke past her control and ran down her face and she gasped silently for one last breath to try to hold it in.
In the end she told him everything.
======
Rand was not enjoying life. The last few months had been bad enough, but now things just seemed to be getting worse.
He'd fought the Forsaken before and every time it had been a terrifying experience he'd barely survived. He'd even spoken with Ishamael, although that was in dreams. What he hadn't been was utterly helpless at the hands of one of them.
When Sammael had walked into the dining room… He'd barely acknowledged him, a child facing an adult man. A mere glance and he'd been blocked from the Power and wrapped in air like a lamb for the butcher. If he was actually the Dragon Reborn, and he had his doubts about that, he'd need to fight these people, to beat them and yet there he was failing at the first hurdle.
He hadn't understood what Taija and Sammael were saying to each other, at times it had felt like he almost could, but he didn't know how to speak the Old Tongue. He could see the hate filled looks Sammael had shot at him though and Taija's own face had shown her emotions like an open book.
She really wasn't like Moiraine or the other aes sedai he'd met. She didn't hide her emotions well at all and what he'd seen made his heart break for her. Disgust and revulsion, absolute fury too, but dominating it all was just devastation and pain.
He knew that and yet he'd made that idiotic comment to her afterwards. He didn't know where it came from, he didn't even know anything about Sammael, but he'd said it nonetheless.
It felt true, somehow he knew that, but he couldn't get the dead look in her eyes when she'd looked at him out of his head. The sheer disappointment and hurt in her voice when she said she'd thought he was kinder than that.
Sometimes he felt like she was the only person who really believed in him as a person. The one person who didn't care that he could channel. Those long conversations telling him that he was who he was, not just the Kinslayer reborn, that he could make his own destiny. That even if he was the Dragon Reborn, he could still be a better person than the Dragon had been.
Then there were her words, comparing him to the one person he desperately wanted to avoid becoming. Words coming from someone who'd known Lews Therin personally. He knew he needed to be strong, so he hadn't fled, but the words had penetrated to his core.
It had made it still worse when she'd just walked past him this evening in the inn's common room, not even acknowledging him. Nynaeve and Egwene certainly knew how to snub a man, but he'd never seen her do that to anyone before.
How could he have been so stupid? Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?! She must be absolutely furious and he wasn't sure what he could do to fix it.
So he sat morosely in the common room, sipping at a mug of ale and wondering if he should just climb the walls of the Stone of Tear and try to reach Callandor that night. At least then he'd have an answer.
Rand had just about decided that he'd finish his drink and then head for the Stone when someone's hand descended onto his shoulder. He jumped, groping for his sword before he realised it was just Aleski.
He looked up at Taija's warder, the slightly older man normally looked relaxed and cheerful, but today he seemed to be doing his best imitation of Lan. "Walk with me," Rand could almost hear the 'sheepherder' at the end of the sentence.
It didn't matter that Aleksi was nearly as odd a warder as Taija was an aes sedai, it seemed he could still be intimidating when he wanted to be. Rand hurriedly got out of the seat and followed the man out of the inn. He wasn't sure what Aleksi wanted, but he was sure he'd never seen him looking so grimly serious before.
They walked in silence for a while, until Rand broke it. "Is Taija alright?"
Aleksi paused and then sighed, letting out a great huff of air, some of the tension leaving his body. "Yes, she'll be alright, she's sleeping now." He hesitated, "why in the Light did you say that to her though?"
Rand thought briefly about denying it and then gave a sigh of his own. "I don't know, it just came out. Like I knew something about him, even though I'd never seen him before. It felt true, but I wasn't thinking."
"Clearly," Aleksi's voice was dry.
"I wish I knew what he'd said to her though. I don't think I've ever seen her so angry or so hurt and then…" his voice dropped. "I know I hurt her more."
"Look Rand, you need to understand what's going on." Aleksi ran his hand over his face, Rand knew he was only in his mid twenties, but for a moment he looked much older. "Whatever you think, I believe you're the Dragon Reborn. More importantly, I like you and Taija likes you."
Aleksi hesitated, glancing up at the night sky, before seeming to come to a decision. "If she finds out I told you she'll kill me… well probably not literally she's too nice but she'll be very angry. Still, I think you need to know, so that you can understand what she's going through and why it was so stupid of you to say that. Maybe then next time you'll keep your mouth shut."
Rand couldn't say he liked being called stupid, but he could take it if he needed to and he knew he needed to hear this. He nodded his assent, "I won't breathe a word of it to anyone."
Aleksi thought for a second and then he began to speak. "You know she was betrothed to Sammael? Well to the man before he became Sammael anyway?" Without waiting for Rand to respond he continued, "whatever face she puts on for you or anyone else, she's deeply unhappy and lonely." He grimaced, "if you reveal I told you this, she won't need to kill you because I'll do it for her, but I'm fairly sure she cries herself to sleep many nights. She's not in a good place. Not at all… I think she's mostly keeping herself together out of a sense of duty to the Light and desire you to protect you, Egwene and Elayne. And Nynaeve too I suppose. Think about it, she was living in a paradise that we can only imagine, with friends, family, a home. Now she's here, with none of that, squabbling with aes sedai and with half the Forsaken desperate to kill her."
Rand winced, he'd had no idea about any of this. She always seemed so strong, so comfortable in herself whenever she spoke to him.
"Anyway," Aleski continued, not giving him the chance to say anything. "As you know, Sammael came to speak to her. He was… Well she's not quite sure, maybe halfway between trying to turn her to the Shadow and trying to convince her he'd done nothing wrong."
"But it's Sammael, one of the Forsaken! Why would she even listen to anything he said?" Rand protested.
Aleksi gave him a deeply unimpressed look. "Try to get some empathy into that thick skull of yours. She's alone here, with nothing except memories of the man she loved, who I'm fairly sure was a hero when she was in the Age of Legends." A look of distaste flashed across Aleksi's face. "She's already struggling and then the man she loves turns up and has committed crimes you and I can't even imagine. Except, believe me she can, because she's met the Forsaken she's seen what they did. How would you feel if you went home and found your father had murdered and raped everyone you knew?"
With a sinking feeling in his stomach Rand thought maybe he did understand why Taija had been so upset. "So what did Sammael say to her?"
======
The next day Taija was feeling more functional. She wasn't ok, she wasn't sure that she'd ever be ok again, but she could at least face speaking to people. Talking to Aleksi helped and not for the first time she thanked the Creator that he was the one that found her after the stasis box.
At breakfast she informed the others that they were all going to be heading out of Tear to train again. She'd decided, especially with the Black Ajah seemingly being aware of Egwene, that they needed to move against the Stone soon. No more than a week from now. However, she wanted them to be as ready as they could be when they did make their move. Be'lal would no doubt be expecting an attack, but hopefully he wouldn't be expecting all six of them working together.
In no time at all they were all back on the hill that they'd started the training on. This time Taija told them, they wouldn't be trying to beat her. Instead she wanted to work on tactics involving gateways.
So far only Egwene and Nynaeve were strong enough to open useful gateways, but that didn't matter. To be fair, Rand also thought he'd done it before, but he wasn't sure how and Elayne was getting close to strong enough.
"Today we're going to be practising using gateways as a mobility tool." She started her lecture. "Staying still in battle is making yourself a target, a slow fighter is a dead one. With gateways you're not limited to your own legs, you can disappear and reappear anywhere on the battlefield, or even flee if you need to."
Taija gestured across the field, "so we're going to play a game of tag." They didn't seem to understand what tag was so she took a moment to explain with a sigh. She quickly found out that they each had different names for the game. "Anyway…" Taija tried not to sound irritated by the diversion, "your objective is to 'survive'. You're not allowed to attack me, but I'll be spinning webs that cover an area that will sting you if you stay in them for too long. You'll be able to see them as they form to let you dodge. The rules are, if you're stung then you're dead, if you can dodge on foot or with gateways for long enough then you win. Got it?"
At their nods she clapped her hands together, "let's go."
It turned out the painful stinging sensation that came from being caught in Taija's colourful webs was a good incentive and they quickly improved. Not only did they get better at staying moving, but also at working together to Travel back and forth. At first the girls ignored the boys to keep themselves safe, but Taija quickly corrected that.
Interestingly, it was also exhausting work for the girls. Rand and Aleksi were very physically fit, probably from all the time they spent training with Lan, but the girls could definitely do with a bit more exercise. Taija wasn't sure how to discuss that with them though. She couldn't really see them running in the inconvenient dresses that they favoured. Even she'd had to be sneaking out by gateway at odd hours for runs in what everyone in that Light-forsaken time considered to be men's clothing and hence deeply inappropriate. There wasn't much she could do about it now, but she was going to have to put some thought into it after the Stone, assuming they survived.
Over the rest of the week Taija also took them through another two key uses of gateways in combat. The first was simply attack, using gateways to redirect your own attacks to hit an enemy from a different angle or bypass their defences. For that she split them into two teams. Egwene on one and Nynaeve on the other and had them compete with each other.
Second, she had them practicing using gateways to 'assault' somewhere. Rather than dodging through them, they used gateways to bypass defences and strong points and to support each other. Again Taija had them competing in teams against each other, with her running interference to keep things interesting.
It was all a very watered down version of the tactics Lightbringer teams used to use. She'd never truly been one of them, but she'd worked with them often enough when they needed more of a heavy hitter and trained with them occasionally.
Taija would never forget the terrifying efficiency with which those teams could fight their way through enemy channelers and if she could get even a fraction of that into the heads of her companions they'd be terrifying in modern times. If nothing else, their sheer combined strength in the Power would make up for a lot of deficiencies. Once they reached their full potential anyway.
Taija also took the time one evening to talk Egwene through what she knew of the Unseen World. Mostly she told her about the dangers to her, but she was at least able to explain the basics of how to manipulate the place. In particular that it was all a question of willpower and visualisation and that everything was malleable.
Taija made sure to tell her some of the horror stories that she'd heard in her time and how the Forsaken and other predators stalked through that place. In particular, emphasising how Egwene should avoid it at all possible. The girl looked suitably scared, but Taija still suspected that she was going to be ignoring much of her advice. It was the problem with teenagers.
=====
The whole group was getting better fast as they got towards the end of the week that Taija had given for preparation, they were all impressively talented youths and very willing to work hard. Back in her time Taija would never have even considered assaulting a member of the Forsaken on their home territory with a team like this, but nowadays… She might actually have a chance.
Working on training the others took up most of her time and that was good. Not having much time to think meant she was holding herself together better than she had any right to expect, but sometimes Taija just couldn't make herself face the world and she needed to be alone.
She wasn't sure what triggered it, but one morning when she got out of bed, going out suddenly felt unmanageable. The empty hole torn out of her heart by being in that time, by Sammael was just too big.
Eventually Aleksi came to Taija's room to find her curled up on the bed staring emptily at the wall.
"Taija…" His voice trailed off.
"I'll be fine, please…" she just wanted to be left alone for a while, "please just tell them I'm not feeling well. I'll look after myself, you all go and train, Nynaeve or Egwene can get you there fine without me."
Aleksi didn't want to go, but Taija insisted and eventually he left to marshal the others. She was left alone, with her thoughts.
======
Tel allowed himself a nod of satisfaction. He wasn't sure what she was doing instead, but she'd left Lews Therin unattended.
He didn't want to attack him inside the city, that would bring unwanted attention, but now the timing was perfect. He'd been watching and she hadn't left her room, so when the web he'd placed on Lews Therin's sword the last time he saw him told him that he had Traveled outside the city he knew his opportunity had come. He did briefly consider whether it might be a trap and then dismissed the idea. If she had any idea he was here she'd already have acted.
He'd give Lews Therin a little longer, just to make sure that Taija didn't show any signs of joining them and then he would strike.
Tel leant back in his chair and pretended to take another sip of ale. Everything was coming together nicely.
Another fifteen minutes passed and it was time to leave. Straightening his finely-cut coat he headed out of the inn to find somewhere discrete for his gateway. Better not to be seen in general, but particularly when he was working in a city claimed by one of his 'colleagues'. Be'lal certainly didn't scare him, but it could be inconvenient.
Turning into an alleyway, he spun an inverted web, opening a gateway to a hilly area somewhere to the north-west. Then he hesitated, caught in a rare moment of indecision.
No. He would have his revenge on Lews Therin and nothing would stand in the way of that. A moment and he'd spun a web of illusion over himself. An outside observer would have seen him ripple until he seemed to be replaced by a much shorter, slim, brown-skinned woman. He ignored the moment of discomfort he felt at his choice, really he should be enjoying the dark irony of taking on this appearance.
Given how much bigger he was than her, he didn't expect the illusion to hold up to close scrutiny, but it would let him get nearer to the unsuspecting Third Agers.
Seconds later he was striding through the grass towards them, Tear left far behind. His steps were those of a grim executioner, a job to be done. Finally he would get his revenge and then he'd be able to continue with his plans, undistracted by the doubts that had been cropping up more and more over the last few days.
As Tel got closer, he could see that they had stopped whatever they were doing, apparently taking a break. Lews Therin and that boy that followed Taija around were lazing on the grass while the girls were standing over them. They looked tired and sweaty, but seemed to be happily talking to each other, laughing at some joke, which was something of a surprise. He'd thought that Lews Therin was surlier than that in his current incarnation. Still, no matter. It would be a pity to kill them while they were unsuspecting, but victory came before honour.
As he got closer they looked up and saw him, so he waved and kept walking forward, preparing several inverted webs for when he felt he was close enough to ensure a quick victory. It was easy enough to spin a web to change his voice too, especially when he was so familiar with hers. "Hello!" He called out, making his voice enthusiastic.
The boys got up and Lews Therin waved back at him, taking a step forward before the other one stopped him with a hand across his body. "Taija sedai," he shouted back. "It's good to see you on your feet, has your stomach improved?"
Internally Tel scowled, the boy might well be on to him. He was fairly sure this was a trap of some kind, but there was still a chance and either way he'd get closer if he could keep them talking. "Yes, must have been something I ate, I'm feeling much better now, so I thought I'd come to supervise your training."
There it was. Just a glance from the boy and fire was erupting around Tel. It was impressive coordination, saidar of course, he doubted Lews Therin had learnt how to invert his webs. It was actually admirable how well they worked together. If only the forces of the Shadow could do the same.
Contemptuously he sliced the webs assailing him and let loose with his own inverted webs.
They would die, five children one of whom couldn't even channel were no match for him. Fire sprang forth from him, shrieking through the air to engulf the five of them. At the same time, lightning bolts struck down dragged by him from a clear sky.
Irritatingly they all shattered against a barrier and finally Lews Therin seized saidin. Far too slow, he really was just a boy still. Killing him would hardly be a challenge. A pity, but Tel knew victory was more important than glory. He wanted his revenge. Idly he spun more webs bringing together the elements to send huge balls of fire mixed with whirling, razor-sharp blades of air, this time focusing them all straight towards Lews Therin.
A gateway snapped open beside Lews Therin and he dived through, escaping Tel's attack. He hadn't felt saidin in that, so it must be the girls. He was already starting to get irritated by them. Without thinking he fended off a web of saidin that Lews Therin had sent his way. Powerful for someone as inexperienced as he was, but crudely spun.
With an irritated grunt Tel began to bombard the girls with lightning and fire while absently slicing anything that came from Lews Therin. Even together they wouldn't be able to stand up to him and he could take his time.
His bombardment came to a sudden end when his instincts screamed and he threw himself to the ground, just dodging the end of a staff as it whistled through the space his head had been occupying a moment ago.
What the fuck just happened? He scrambled back franticly fending off the sudden flurry of webs thrown at him while also trying to get away from the swiping staff. Of course. The boy had come through another gateway behind him. Impressive for untrained peasants. Taija had clearly been busy.
He rolled sideways to dodge the whirling and jabbing end of the staff. No time to get distracted by thoughts of the time they'd spent training together.
There, the boy came too close and he hooked a foot behind his ankle. A quick grab, push with the other foot and he was down, Sammael jumping to his feet over him, fending off webs of saidar and saidin as he moved.
Air to seize the boy. He needed to change position before the others battered down his defences. It was quickly becoming clear that much as he could dominate any of them one on one, he couldn't quickly win a contest of brute strength against the four of them.
He spun a gateway and leapt through it, bringing the boy with him. He'd make him pay for nearly killing one of the Chosen, but he deserved an honourable death, not just to be obliterated by a channeler. Tel glanced towards the girls and sent a series of webs of fire and earth their way. He'd get back to them.
Drawing his sword he turned towards the boy, lining it up, level with his exposed neck. Above him lightning detonated futilely against his wall of air. The boy's eyes widened, fear painted across his face as he realised what was about to happen.
Tel swung only for his sword to slam into solid air with a clang. Another web of air sprang up between them, too close and unexpected for him to stop it, picking him up and throwing him away from the boy in a tumbling heap.
Ever-present anger surged in him. He treated them with honour and this is what he got in return. Fine, he would show them why he was known as the destroyer of hope. He channeled, forcing saidin into a series of complex webs. Fire erupted around the girls as the earth exploded under them, lightning struck down towards the boy. Only Lews Therin was already there. Poorly spun, but powerful, a web of air shattering his lightning bolts with deafening roars.
"Why?!" He didn't sound much like Lews Therin. "Why are you doing this?! Haven't you done enough? You walk around trying to justify your crimes while every day you add to them." Fire burst from Lews Therin's hands, a stone was ripped from the ground and spun through the space Tel would have been in if he hadn't stepped through a gateway.
"You speak of crimes Lews Therin, what about your crimes?" Tel sliced a web from one of the girls and casually flung her backwards with his counterstroke. "Opposing me, for glory, letting the Light wither, refusing to do what needed to be done." Lews Therin staggered backwards under the onslaught of saidin that Sammael threw at him. "You want to talk about crimes, you killed everyone you love and everyone that I loved too!"
"You Light-blasted hypocrite! Everyone you loved? I look into Taija's eyes every day and see what you did to her." Tel dived to the side as fire streaked at him out of a gateway from an unexpected angle. "How can you talk about love when you treated her like that. She lost everything and then you came in and somehow managed to make it worse!" Fury twisted Lews Therin's face and Tel staggered backwards barely deflecting the flurry of fire, air and earth bombarding him.
"You don't understand! How can you? You're just a farmer, some boy from this Light-forsaken age!" He channeled and Lews Therin was thrown off his feet, barely rolling out of the way of a blade of air that would have cut him in half. "You ask me what I did to her? I did what needed to be done, if she can't see that then that's her fault! It's nothing but her own weakness showing through. She never deserved me!" His voice rose to a scream, his killing stroke sliding off a barrier of saidar.
Lews Therin climbed to his feet again, "if you truly believe that then she's right. Tel Janin is dead." Suddenly attacks were coming at Tel from three different angles, the girls had clearly repositioned themselves while he was focused on Lews Therin. "You had your friends, your allies, your whole world and yet you still turned to the Shadow. Taija has nothing, she cries herself to sleep and then gets up to help us like nothing ever went wrong because unlike you she's strong. All she had was memories and now you're turning even those to ashes. Someone like you could never truly understand love, loyalty, friendship. That's why the Shadow will lose!"
"The Shadow's victory is inevitable." Tel Traveled out from between the girls and flung a blossom of fire at them, only to see them step through gateways of their own. "I gave everything I had for the Light and it wasn't enough." He staggered as a web of air clipped him. His own fire came close to incinerating Lews Therin and the boy before it was sliced. "You stand there judging me when you can never understand. With your friends, allies working together," he deflected a gigantic fireball into the sky, "how could you understand."
His voice trailed off. Tel didn't know how it was happening, but combined they were holding him off. He'd taken their measure, they weren't that good, yet he was struggling. Suddenly he just felt tired. This had been a mistake, four of them, maybe even five, together, maybe another time. Too much strength, too much talent, even if undeveloped.
Lews Therin shouted to one of the girls and more gateways opened. Fury surged in him. He wasn't going to lose to a gang of barely trained children. With a snarl he started to spin balefire, he wasn't going to end his journey at hands of half-trained children.
Yet he didn't finish the web. For a long second he held it and then finally he let it dissipate with a grunt of frustration. His first contact with the Shadow, the start of his fall, no ascension, had been with the aim of stopping the use of balefire. What was he even thinking? What was the point of this?
With a roar of frustration he channeled and a gateway opened behind him. A second later he was back in Illian. There would be better opportunities, Lews Therin would be alone sooner or later.
====
At the end of the day Taija was feeling a little more functional. She'd managed to make her way down to the inn's common room for a light dinner and she thought she could just about face seeing the others.
However, when Aleksi and Rand came in they were grim faced. They quickly spotted her and hurried over to her table.
"Taija!" Rand jumped at his own indiscretion and looked around to see if anyone heard before dropping his voice to a whisper, "Nynaeve, Egwene and Elayne, they've been taken!"
"What do you mean they've been taken!?" In a flash Taija went from dull apathy to fully awake, sitting up straight and adrenaline shooting through her.
"Aes sedai. The Black Ajah it must have been," Aleksi jumped in. "There were lots of them, at least ten, and they surrounded the girls out of nowhere. We were walking a bit behind them and I don't think they realised we were together."
Rand interjected, "I thought the girls were going to channel, blow them away, but then they just stood there. They looked so scared. I was going to try to help them, but Aleksi stopped me and said we needed to get help first, he said there were too many." He sounded half apologetic, half accusatory.
Taija stood, mind whirling, "Aleksi was right, you did the right thing. You couldn't have taken on that many 'aes sedai'." Light everything was falling apart, but at the same time she felt more alive than she had all week. At least here she had a purpose. "Did you see where they took them?"
"Yes," Aleksi nodded, "we followed at a safe distance, they were taken straight to the Stone."
"Fuck." So they were almost certainly working with Be'lal. Taija remembered Siuan's list of black aes sedai. Thirteen darkfriend channelers… She tried to suppress her shudder. "Alright, fine. We need to move. Fast." She stopped and took a closer look at them. "Why do you smell burnt? Have you been ignoring what I said about safety."
Rand and Aleksi looked at each other, but Rand spoke first, "Tel… he…"
Aleksi followed right behind, speaking over him, "Sammael, he attacked us. We fought him off." There was something more going on there, Taija knew him well enough, there was something bothering him. A lot.
"Sammael attacked you?" She felt a spike of pain in her heart and ruthlessly suppressed it, she didn't have time for that. "Are you hurt? What about the girls?"
"No, we fought him off!" Rand answered looking proud, "we worked together just like you taught us, all of us together and we were beating him!"
Taija gave him a flat look. "The five of you beat Sammael?"
Rand's nod was enthusiastic, Aleksi's was slower, more thoughtful.
Taija shook her head, "no… No, I don't think so. I'm sorry Rand, but the five of you can't beat me yet and…" memories of long training sessions together flashed through her head. "And Sammael is at least as good as me, he's stronger in the Power and he's a skilled soldier, he must have had some sort of scheme."
They clearly wanted to argue, but kept their mouths shut. Then Rand glanced nervously at Aleksi who winced. "There's something else too," he said slowly.
Taija was too busy trying to think through the consequences of everything and work out how Sammael found them and absently asked, "what's that?"
"I can channel."
Oh. Taija looked up and actually focused on him. She nearly said 'congratulations', but just caught herself. His face told her everything she needed to know about how he felt. "Oh Aleksi, I'm so sorry." When she thought about it, even without this 'taint' and the bigotry, it was deeply worrying. Without a teacher his odds were poor and she didn't think Rand was anywhere near being able to realistically teach someone how to channel. That was a problem for tomorrow though. "I'm so sorry Aleksi," she repeated and reached out to give his arm a squeeze. "We'll talk more and work out what we're going to do, but that can wait. It has to wait. For now we need to move on the Stone. The girls need us and we need to get Rand in there before Sammael tries again."
Aleksi steeled himself and nodded although she could still see the worry in his eyes, "you're right. What do we need to do?"
They were both looking to her for leadership that she wasn't sure she could provide. She needed to try though, to live up to their expectations, not to live down to Sammael's example. "Alright, here's what…"
Taija stopped when the two of them suddenly lost focus. A moment later she turned to see what they were staring at behind her. Moiraine. Gliding into the common room like she owned it, Lan stalking behind her looking as dangerous as ever and finally Perrin trailing awkwardly after them.
"How the fuck is everyone fucking finding me?! For fuck's sake!" Taija wanted to scream the words, but kept her voice low. It was getting ridiculous. "Right! You two, upstairs. Now. We'll continue this in my room." She caught Moiraine's eye and gestured with a jerk of her chin before following after the boys.
In her room Taija waited for the arrival of Moiraine and her party. When they came in she stood and gave her a shallow bow, "Moiraine sedai, I didn't expect to see you here."
"Taija sedai," she gave her a tiny nod of acknowledgment, "I go where the Light needs me and that is currently at the Dragon Reborn's side." She shot a glance at Rand.
Great, if she wasn't going to bring up Taija's disappearance with Rand and the girls, then neither was Taija. She was sure she'd be hearing about it at length later.
"Well it's good to see you Moiraine sedai," Taija was only half lying, her strength in the Power wasn't insignificant and she had no doubt Lan was deadly with his blade. "We have several problems and we were just discussing what action to take."
Taija quickly updated her on the day's events.
"Given this, we need to act immediately, I plan to enter the Stone tonight with Rand and Aleksi. We will rescue the girls and then take Callandor if Rand can, so we can settle this whole Dragon Reborn thing once and for all. Of course your help would be invaluable if you're willing."
Moiraine gazed at her with infuriating serenity. "Well, it seems you have placed yourself and your charges in a difficult position." The worst thing was Taija couldn't even argue. She wanted to protest that Moiraine didn't understand, but she couldn't bring yourself to use the same words as Sammael. When Taija kept quiet Moiraine gave a small, satisfied nod. "Of course I will assist you, we work towards the same goals. Perhaps this time you will listen to my advice though. What is your plan?"
Taija quickly descended into the nitty gritty of planning with Moiraine and the others. Much as she disliked the woman, she had to admit she knew what she was talking about and actually gave useful advice. The biggest surprise though was her revelation that Callandor was a male sa'angreal. With that Rand would be unbeatable, as would any of the Forsaken, if they could get their hands on it. Taija thought she was starting to see at least the outline of the net that Be'lal was weaving…