Mist of Shadows
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Dawn and Reincarnation part 28
🕑 Added 2019-10-29 02:56:33 +0000 UTC
Xander glanced away from where Egwene was melting iron into a pipe mold and looked at Moiraine and Dawn as they walked over to the construction area. “How are the screaming idiots doing?”
“Most of them are annoyed that the sul’dam are being given trials,” Dawn explained as she watched Egwene’s weaves, happy at her friend’s progress.
“Seven of them are demanding that Dawn and Willow turn over all of their ter’angreal and a few of them are trying to decide how to retake the Tower,” Moiraine said as she studied Egwene’s progress, fairly sure that most Aes Sedai wouldn’t be doing half as well as the girl.
Dawn shook her head. “Sorry, I found or traded for all of the ter’angreal or angreal that I didn’t create or inherit, I’m not handing everything over to a group that is unwilling to study them or even use them productively.” She might have handed over some of the angreal or ter’angreal if the Tower actually had anyone that could reverse engineer them, but she didn’t see a point in giving them to people that would just stick them in a storeroom.
Moiraine could understand Dawn’s point of view even if she knew the Tower would never stop trying to control her if they learned about her talents, regardless of the fact that doing so was playing with fire.
“Are any of the plans decent?” Xander asked, curious if the Aes Sedai had come up with something better than his own plan of luring most of their forces elsewhere then burning them to ash.
“I’ve heard better plans from seven year olds,” Moiraine admitted. “Most of their plans involve tossing soldiers they don’t have at the problem and ignoring the fact that the Seanchan have hundreds of damane that are trained to use the Power in combat.”
“That sounds particularly stupid,” Xander said. “Even if they only had a handful of damane, all they’d have to do is weave razor sharp lines of hardened air across the bridges and use archers to defend the city. I doubt most people are fanatical enough to charge into a meat grinder for Aes Sedai considering the Tower’s behavior over the last three thousand years.”
Dawn pulled her attention off Egwene’s weaves and looked at Moiraine. “I’m more than happy to sneak in and kill the noble in charge of this mess and his generals but that doesn’t really change things for the captured novices and accepted. We’ll have to carefully sneak in and extract them and the easiest way to do that is with saidin which means we should probably table dealing with it until we’ve cleansed the source which we should be able to start in six hours.”
“How many of the Forsaken are going to show up to stop you?” Xander asked, wishing he had a gun or something a bit more impressive than magic he could barely use.
“Anywhere from none to all of them,” Dawn said cheerfully.
Egwene let go of the source and turned to look at Dawn. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Nope, I have a plan that should keep them from being able to jump right on top of us,” Dawn explained.
“How?” Moiraine asked, curious what Dawn had found in the collection of ter’angreal that would help against the Forsaken.
“I have a dreamspike,” Dawn said smugly. “It should keep the Forsaken from opening gates anywhere near us which means they’ll have to travel to the dream world and cross the barrier then find the dreamspike and disable it before they can jump back to the real world.”
“How many of the Forsaken are familiar with the dream world?” Xander asked.
“All of them,” Dawn admitted. “Though only three of them are actually dreamers according to Mat. I’m planning on asking some of the Aiel dreamers to help defend the area while Rand and Ethan cleanse the source. If they go to sleep wearing one of the ter’angreal that protects them from the Power, they should have it in the dream world.”
“How are you planning on beating the Forsaken?” Egwene asked, thinking about the horror stories she’d grown up with. “Even if everyone has something that protects them from the Power, the Forsaken have probably dealt with people using similar ter’angreal.”
“They probably know various ways to deal with them but that doesn’t mean they’ll be expecting a bunch of savages to have them. It should buy the defenders a couple of seconds and limit the Forsaken’s options,” Dawn said, hoping for the best but willing to acknowledge that the Forsaken had hundreds of years of experience on her.
“Which might be enough to kill one of them. How long does it take for the Dark One to bring them back if we kill them?” Xander asked, hoping it wasn’t instant.
“I don’t recall Mat mentioning any of the Forsaken reappearing in a particular battle after being killed, which probably means the process takes longer than a few hours,” Moiraine said thoughtfully. “Of course, the Dark One might have held onto them for his own reasons, it’s hard to say.”
“I’m not sure it matters,” Dawn admitted. “We’re not going to be able to talk to the people in the dream world and we’re going to have to worry about some of the Forsaken taking their time and sneaking toward Rand and Ethan in the real world, knowing that anyone that could set up a dreamspike must have protected it. The best thing we can do is to keep killing anyone that shows up to stop us.”
“We should probably discuss the plan with Lan and Mat,” Moiraine said, wanting to iron out the details a bit more.
“Sounds good,” Dawn agreed.
0o0o0
Willow wasn’t sure how to feel as she shoved yet another child with the potential to channel through a gateway into the camp where some of her friends were waiting for them. Other than the very young, almost no one in the Blight’s only Town was even close to what she’d call innocent, some of the slightly older children might have a chance if they had the right type of support and structure in their lives but for the most part they were already lost.
Of course lost did not mean useless, it just meant they were more than a little sociopathic and needed direction and maybe a shove through Dawn’s giant ring after telling them stories of heroes and legends if they couldn’t be turned into productive citizens. She knew it was terrible but at the same time, leaving the Town to fester wasn’t a viable option either, it was a breeding pit for corrupted channelers and twisted cultists which meant that it had to go if they ever wanted to win against the Dark One.
Willow turned her attention back toward the pale skinned, red haired and blue eyed teenage girl that she’d gagged and tied to a chair when she realized just how much of a fanatic she was. The sad part was, she would have been attractive if it wasn’t for the look of hatred twisting her features. “I’m going to enjoy watching your god die screaming.”
The girl glared at Willow, unable to respond thanks to her gag. ‘You’re insane if you think you can defeat the Great Lord.”
“I’ll find a way,” Willow assured her as she used a thread of air and lifted the girl and her chair through the gateway. “Be careful of that one, she bites.”
“You give us the best gifts,” Sally replied sarcastically as she grabbed the girl’s chair with a thread of air.
“I know.” Willow let the gate close as she slipped back out the ‘door’ of the ramshackle building that could generously be called a daycare for a group of Samma N'Sei but was mostly just a brainwashing center and glanced around the street at the trollocs and cultists walking around.
She kept to the shadows as she moved to the next building where she could sense more potential channelers, one of them quite strong. ‘I wasn’t expecting any of them to be quite this strong, at least I have a sa’angreal.’
Willow followed a myrddraal into the building, rather amused that he couldn’t sense her thanks to her dagger. She glanced between a well dressed glowing man that was a few steps below her in strength and the five glowing men that looked like red veiled aiel that were a decent amount below her in strength.
Asmodean blinked and pulled his attention back to the shadows that his mind was trying to ignore behind the myrddraal. He stared at the girl covered in shadows, surprised that she was using a weave without him getting goosebumps. “Where did you learn that?”
Willow froze as she caught the well dressed man’s thoughts about her weave and realized who she was looking at. She quickly reached through Dawn’s sa’angreal and slammed the strongest shield she could make between Asmodean and the source then worked on shielding the rest of the men in the room.
The myrddraal spun around, looking for the person that dared attack one of the Chosen but didn’t see anything even though he could sense something wrong.
Asmodean stared in shock at the person pretending to be a girl, he was drawing an impossible amount of power, enough that he had to have a sa’angreal and be frighteningly strong. “How are you channeling?”
Willow bound the aiel that jumped at her in threads of air, surprised that the rest of the aiel hadn’t noticed her. She used a blade of air and hacked the fade’s head off then tossed him into a corner and bound his limbs with ropes of air so he couldn’t hit anyone in his death throes. She tied off the thread then bound the rest of the men in the room with threads of air. “My name is unimportant, what’s important is that you’re going to help me destroy the Dark One.”
The Samma N'Sei that had attacked her laughed darkly while the rest looked around the room, trying to find something they couldn’t see. “The Great Lord is going to destroy you.”
“If he could, he would have,” Willow said as she wove a gateway to just outside of the abandoned stedding they were using as a temporary prison.
“Who taught you that?” Asmodean asked in disbelief.
“My uncle,” Willow replied with amusement as she started tossing the corrupted aiel through the gate into the stedding where her friends were waiting for the corrupted channelers. “Joar Addam Nessosin, how would you like to live forever?”
“How do you know that name?” Asmodean asked, curious where the person in front of him had unearthed his name.
“Lews Therin told me in a different life.” Willow smiled slightly as several thoughts ran through the man’s mind, mostly wondering which one of his fellow Forsaken was screwing with him and where they found someone with such strength.
“What makes you think I’m not immortal?” Asmodean asked.
“You’ve seen Aginor and Balthamel,” Willow lied. “What part of that looks like they’re immortal?” she asked as she finished tossing the corrupted aiel through the gateway.
‘Fair enough,’ Asmodean thought as he was reminded of Balthamel’s face and lack of tongue. “Have you found a weave that makes you ageless?” he asked, humoring the man.
“No, we found a ter’angreal that allows you to jump bodies,” Willow said smugly, knowing that her ability to channel the male half of the Power would sell her story.
“The Great Lord can pull people back from death itself,” Asmodean said, trying to hide his interest in the woman’s ter’angreal. ‘And yet, he wasn’t able to bring Ishamael back from the dead.’
Willow smiled as she read the Forsaken’s mind and realized that Dawn had actually killed Ishamael at Taren Ferry. “How did that work for Ishamael?”
Asmodean glared at Willow. “How do you know about that?”
“My friend killed him with balefire when he was playing general.”
“Do you know how dangerous using balefire is?” Asmodean asked warily.
“It causes damage to the pattern of reality and it also keeps the Dark One from grabbing your soul when you die.”
“What do you want?” Asmodean asked, less than happy that someone had worked out a way to kill him beyond the Great Lord’s ability to bring him back.
“I want your help to destroy the Dark One,” Willow said cheerfully.
“And then you’ll allow me to leave?” Asmodean asked in disbelief.
“I’ll even give you a new body and a ticket elsewhere so that no one will come after you.”
Asmodean raised his eyebrows. “Never mind what I did in the War of Power?”
“You’ll have to live with that for the rest of your life but everyone you killed would have died over two and a half thousand years ago at most. Killing a dark god buys a lot of forgiveness,” Willow assured him.
“What makes you think I’d betray the Great Lord?” Asmodean asked.
“Because if you don’t swear to follow my orders, I’ll kill you with balefire and I know you want to live forever, not just get reborn again and again in an endless cycle without your memories. Besides, assume for a second that the Dark One wins, what makes you think the world would have music or be worth living in? Ishamael created the Town 2,000 years ago, it’s still a run down piece of shit designed to crush the souls of the people that live here.”
“That’s because Ishamael was a twisted nihilist,” Asmodean muttered the last part, fairly sure that he wouldn’t understand the word.
“Now imagine that on a grander scale, there would be no soul to the music, no passion and no fire. It would be technically profection at best and yet, completely soulless.”
Asmodean shook his head. “You’re asking me to take a swing at a god.”
“For a chance at a life worth living,” Willow offered. “If you don’t help, Mierin Eronaile would most likely jump at the chance to kill the Dark One and claim his power. How long do you think you’d survive if she got even a fraction of the Dark One’s power?”
“You haven’t explained how you’re planning on killing him,” Asmodean complained, interested in stealing the Great Lord’s power despite himself.
“I’m not going to explain this close to Shayol Ghul. You’ll have to come with me if you’re interested.”
Asmodean knew the best choice would be to scream or do something to attract someone’s attention and hope to be brought back but at the same time, he knew that she’d kill him with balefire before she let him die to anything else and then he’d be gone or close enough. He also knew that she was right about the Great Lord and music even if he didn’t want to admit it, they’d had every chance to turn the Town into the center of an Empire or something worthy of fear beyond the shadowspawn wandering around and they’d never bothered. The truth was bitter, but she was right, they lost by winning. “Fine, I’ll come with you.”
“Excellent, after you,” Willow said as she gestured toward the gateway. ‘I’ve saved the children I could save and did the best I can.’
Asmodean reluctantly stepped through the gateway then sighed when a man with arms like small tree trunks grabbed his arm in a firm grip and he realized that he couldn’t even sense the source. ‘Great, I’m in a stedding.’
Willow jumped through the gateway, knowing it would start to close as soon as she entered the stedding. She smiled at Perrin. “Play nice, he’s in the process of making a deal.”
Asmodean ignored the large man holding his arm as he stared at Willow as the darkness vanished. “Nice body.”
“I like it,” Willow replied as calmly as she could, glad that Perrin was there to turn the man into a pretzel if he tried anything stupid. She pulled a copy of the Oath Rod and a tiny Well in the form of a coin out of her belt pouch. “This has just enough saidin to swear on the Oath Rod. If you try to disguise your voice, I’ll know and I’ll kill you in a way you’re not coming back from.”
“You are a violent girl, aren’t you?” Asmodean asked, trying to find the humor in things even if he was fairly sure she was going to kill him once he’d outlived his usefulness.
“I’d have to be insane to trust you considering who you are. If you play your part, I’ll let you remove your oath when we’re done.”
Asmodean briefly considered running then decided that he was curious if he could actually kill the Great Lord or at least steal enough power to matter from him as she obviously had a way to hide from his sight. “What do I have to swear?”
Willow grinned then laid out the oath he’d have to swear, knowing that he’d want some assurances and a time limit on the service.
“Twenty days?” Asmodean asked, surprised that she was giving him such a generous deal.
Willow shrugged. “We should be done by the end of the day but there might be delays.”
“You already have everything planned out, don’t you?” Asmodean asked.
“My friend is getting the last piece as we speak then we’ll see if we can kill a god,” Willow said as she handed him the well and the oath rod. ‘This should be easier than killing Glory.’
“This better work,” Asmodean muttered then tapped the tiny well and channeled into the oath rod, knowing there wasn’t enough saidin to pull the voice trick and swear the oath.
0o0o0
Rand stared at the crystal sword floating over the stone floor. “This can’t possibly work, I haven’t completed any of the steps in the prophecy.”
William snorted. “I’ve listened to Drusilla’s prophecies, I’ve heard foretellings, most of them are vague as shit. If I was the one dealing with hiding the sword, I’d spread the prophecy to prepare people then I’d link the sword to your soul so that you’re the only person that can remove it. I mean Lews Therin was already dead so he was the one person they didn’t have to worry about getting it.”
“And what if you’re wrong?” Rand asked as he stared at the crystal sword floating over the ground.
“Then we have Dawn grab it and eat the wards,” William replied with amusement.
Rand reached out and grabbed Callandor. He blinked as the wards vanished when he touched the sword that wasn’t a sword or rather wasn’t just a sword. “I wasn’t expecting that to actually work.”
William laughed. “To be honest, I was sort of expecting to have to have Dawn eat the wards considering you’re not this world’s Dragon, apparently it’s close enough or maybe they just fell apart after three thousand years and anyone could have grabbed it.”
“That’s less than helpful,” Rand muttered as he handed William the sword, knowing the sword wasn’t safe to use outside of a linked circle.
Willam studied the crystal blade in his hand, even knowing it wouldn’t work as a sa’angreal for anyone that couldn’t channel saidin, it was still like holding a piece of a legend. He pulled his gaze off the sword and looked around the storeroom at the various ter’angreal and pieces of junk the High Lords had secreted away in hopes of forgetting Callandor and the prophecy that came with it. “We should probably have the girls quietly loot the vault before the Forsaken get around to picking it clean.”
“Why do you think they haven’t?” Rand asked.
“If I had to guess, paranoia. Ishamael couldn’t be certain that someone hadn’t left traps and it wouldn’t have taken the other Forsaken long to realize that he’d been running around at other points in history which would have left him plenty of time to place any number of lethal inverted weaves on the area. He’d have no reason to steal anything when doing that would have stopped the High Lords from collecting things.”
“So, basically no one claimed anything because they thought Ishamael had trapped it and he didn’t bother because there was no one to steal it?” Rand asked.
“It probably boosted his ego to think about using the greatest stronghold in the world as his personal vault,” William said as he gestured and created a gateway back to the portal to the island. “Either way, we should probably make sure everyone is wearing their defensive gear.”
“Probably a good idea,” Rand agreed as he walked over and grabbed a box filled with trinkets and ter’angreal. “How sure are you about your insane plan to cheat the final battle?”
“I’ll give it a one in twenty chance of winning,” William said after thinking about it for a couple of seconds.
Rand winced as he thought about the odds. “In that case, we should probably grab Mat. Are you going to actually explain the plan?”
William scowled slightly as he tried to pick up a box and it came apart in his hands, the wood brittle from age. “Not unless I have to, we’ve only got one shot at this and I want to make it count.”
“Don’t break my sword before I can use it,” Rand warned as he walked through the gate and into the portal to recruit some help carting off all of the ter’angreal and angreal.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” William replied absently as he started sorting the large collection into piles while he waited for help. ‘You’re not escaping this time, this time you die Father of Lies.’
