Mist of Shadows
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Dawn and Reincarnation Part 11
🕑 Added 2019-04-26 23:36:19 +0000 UTCDawn frowned slightly as the guys hauled the last of the boxes filled with odds and ends through Willow’s gateway. “This still feels like stealing.”
Willow shook her head. “More like borrowing, you can always give it back after you figure out how to duplicate it.”
“I’m guessing the other version of me forgot to teach you morals?” Dawn asked with a touch of exasperation as she walked through Willow’s gateway and looked around the burned out town.
“I have morals, I just know what’s at stake,” Willow explained as she followed Dawn through the gateway then let it close behind her. “If you hadn’t taken the ter’angreal in the Kin’s stash, one of the Forsaken would have found it using the world of dreams.”
“Doesn’t make it right, just makes it better than leaving it. Have you figured out how to deal with the Seanchan?” Dawn asked as she started walking toward the building that contained the portal to her island.
“Pretty much,” Willow replied as she started following Dawn. “The bracelet means I can open gates without getting tainted which means I should be able to drop a team at each of the major cities so they can raid the damane kennels. Once the teams have bought all of the damane they can with the fake jewels and gold, they’ll leash the remaining sul’dam and torch the fleet of ships the empire is planning on using to launch the return. The defensive ter’angreal should keep the girls reasonably safe.”
“I have a feeling reasonable is about the best we’re going to get,” Dawn admitted, not particularly happy with that part of the plan. “Any idea how we’re going to feed everyone?”
Willow smirked. “I’m not going to burn the boats before I loot them, that’s just silly and wasteful.”
Dawn shook her head. “Stealing doesn’t bother you does it?”
“Not when the people I’m stealing from want to rule the world with an iron fist or kill everyone that looks at them funny.” Willow didn’t see a point in telling her mother’s alternate that she was planning on crushing the Seanchan Empire before they could be a problem for the rest of the world even if it meant plunging Seanchan into civil war.
“Fair enough, I feel the same way about the White Cloaks. How useful were they in the Last Battle?”
“More or less useless,” Willow replied as they walked into the shop. Sure, some of them had fought in the Last Battle under Galad but it wasn’t like they’d been any more effective than the rest of the mundane soldiers and they’d all contributed to the death of innocent people by being part of the organization. “The battle basically came down to Lan and Dad’s armies and the channelers on our side against everything the Dreadlords could throw at us while uncle Rand confronted the Dark One. All things considered, they’re not worth the hassle of saving.”
Dawn thought about the idiots that had attacked her and Tara as they walked through the living room and stepped through the doorway onto her island. “In that case, we should probably loot their storeroom to the ground then cripple their organization while pointing them at the Blight.”
Willow smiled coldly as she thought about the Whitecloaks and the torturers they employed. “I’ll grab a team and take care of it while you’re duplicating communication ter’angreal for the raid on Seanchan.”
“In that case, I’ll start working on sorting and duplicating the various ter’angreal from the stash,” Dawn replied as she headed toward the table where Ethan was working on creating more ter’angreal boxes.
Willow couldn’t help the spring in her steps and the vindictive smile on her lips as she went to collect her strike team.
0o0o0
Pedron Niall glared at the scarred looking fat old man that had managed to slip into his chambers. “Does this mean my guards are dead?”
“If it makes you feel better one of them was a rapist and one was a darkfriend, amusingly enough the darkfriend was actually the better person,” William replied as he studied the white haired old man that was mostly skin, bones and sinew. He’d heard a number of stories about the old commander of the Whitecloaks, mostly a combination of how he was supposed to be an excellent commander and a rabid zealot.
“You’re lying,” Pedron snapped.
William shrugged. “I’m not, your entire organization is infested with rot.”
“Let me guess, you’ve come to kill me for your dark god?” Pedron sneered.
William might have been more offended about being called a cultist but Whitecloaks called nearly everyone darkfriends that looked at them wrong. “I don’t serve the Dark One and I’m here to put you on trial.”
“By what authority?” Pedron snapped as he lunged for his sword.
“I could claim that the king sold you out or that the Tower wants you dead,” William paused as Pedron stabbed him, rather amused with the way the blade skittered off his stomach. “But I think I’ll simply say, because I can.”
“Fiend!” Pedron shouted as he hacked at the man’s right arm, rather shocked when the blade just bounced off his flesh. “What are you!”
William gestured and lifted Pedron Niall up by his arms using flows of air. “Your judge, jury and executioner,” he said smugly.
“Do your worst!” Pedron said, knowing his people would avenge him. “We’ve killed your kind before.”
Willow stepped into the room from where she’d been leaning against the wall ‘reading’ the commander’s thoughts. “Let me ask you a question, if you had the chance to lead an army against the Blight would you take it?”
Pedron turned his attention toward the yellow haired older woman with an ageless face. “This isn’t going to end well for you. You might have managed to kill my guards but you’ll never make it out alive, you can’t use your magic to cause harm.”
Willow sighed as she realized that Pedron Niall would let the world burn out of spite if he couldn’t be the one to save it. “You’d let innocent people die for glory…” she trailed off as she tried to wrap her mind around the man’s insanity. “I knew you were a monster but you’re insane.” She reached over and took Pedron’s sword from his hand. “I really should change your face and give you to the Questioners so they can torture you.”
“I’m not a darkfriend,” Pedron stated firmly, rock solid in his belief that he could survive the questioners.
“I doubt most of the people they tortured were but most ended up admitting it just to get the pain to stop, I doubt you’re any different.” Willow dodged to the left as he tried spitting at her. “Yeah, that was rude.” She lashed out and kicked Pedron in the testicles as hard as she could which caused him to shriek and try to fold in half despite the bands of air holding him.
William winced as his sister kicked the old man in the testicles a couple more times before cutting off his head with his own sword when he tried to spit at her again. “You have to give the old man points for being a tough bastard.”
“One dead, a couple thousand to go,” Willow said coldly, thinking about the rest of the Children of the Light.
William shivered as he noticed the nightmare worthy look on his sister’s face. It wasn’t that he didn’t think the Whitecloaks deserved to be crushed and scattered to the winds but she didn’t have to look quite that happy about it. “I wish we could have stolen his military skills before you hacked off his head.”
“If only,” Willow muttered, knowing they needed some exceptional commanders if they wanted to avoid dying horribly in the Last Battle.
He glanced down at the man’s severed head that was looking up at them with a shocked look on his face. He knew he should feel something other than satisfaction that another piece of shit murderer was dead but he didn’t. Mostly because he understood that despite the man’s tactical brilliance, he loathed Aes Sedai and anyone that could use the power which meant that he was effectively useless for directing channelers. “How many of the Whitecloaks are salvageable?”
“Maybe a tenth or a fifth depending on what you want to do with them,” Willow replied absently as she used a thread of earth and spirit to check the quality of Pedron’s blade. She wasn’t terribly surprised to find that it was quite mundane other than being well crafted. “It might be as high as a third but I doubt it.”
“Any idea how long we’re going to be able to hold the fortress?” William asked warily as he started searching the old man’s desk.
Willow shrugged. “I wove a barrier of air around the complex and collapsed the secret tunnels I could sense with my earth delving so which means no one is going anywhere until we put everyone on trial. I should be able to skim their surface thoughts to see if they’re actually guilty.”
“I have a feeling the Tower is going to get blamed for this,” William pointed out.
“Not if we claim it was the work of Yorik Bonecrusher, Dragon Reborn. We’re already using disguises so it’s not like there is anything to trace things back to us,” Willow pointed out as she used the disguise weave to change her appearance to a tall man with a blonde beard and black eyes. “Besides, with a touch of tweaking, they won’t even blame it on the Tower.”
“Probably for the best,” William agreed. He wanted as much of the inevitable violence creating a false dragon was going to cause contained to a country that hated channelers rather than spilling over the rest of the Westlands. “Any idea what we should use as a standard?”
“How about a dragon’s hand?” Willow asked, figuring it was close enough to scream Dragon Reborn but different enough from her uncle’s dragon that people wouldn’t blame him for Yorick's ‘crimes’.
“That could work,” William replied absently as he pulled a ledger out of a secret compartment in the man’s desk that looked to be in code. “We probably should have asked him a couple pointed questions before you killed him.”
“I’m not Mom, my compulsion isn’t the best,” Willow replied as she turned toward the door. “We should probably check on the guys looting the vault.”
“Lead the way,” William replied with amusement as he pocketed the journal.
0o0o0
Ethan grumbled slightly as he managed to flop over the wall into the private garden. He wasn’t sure how his father had managed to climb the mostly sheer wall in the middle of a parade during the day without being seen other than blatant ta'veren shit. He was wearing a complete fancloth suit and he’d still had to stop a couple of times to avoid getting spotted. He grinned slightly as he saw his mother’s alternate sitting at a bench bundled up in several blankets listening to music coming from somewhere in the palace. ‘We’re going to have to work on your situational awareness.’
He pulled the hood of his fancloth cloak off then walked over to where his mother’s alternate was sitting. “Can I interest you in magic training?”
Elayne Trakand twisted around to shout at the woman that shouldn’t be in her private garden and froze when she saw a floating head. “How?”
“Magic,” Ethan offered with amusement. It was slightly disconcerting to see his mother without the stupid ‘ageless’ look the oath rod inflicted on everyone that used it. “Speaking of magic, how would you like to skip the ten years of mindless boredom and rules for a chance to learn how to create wonders unseen by the Tower in thousands of years?”
“Like what?” Elayne asked despite herself as she wasn’t looking forward to letting a bunch of Aes Sedai and Accepted boss her around for the next five to ten years.
“The ability to create ter’angreal, something the Tower hasn’t had for over two thousand years,” Ethan offered, knowing that she’d be interested.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” Elayne asked warily, knowing that the Tower hadn’t created anything for at least that long.
“Would turning two silver marks into rings that let us whisper back and forth be enough to prove that I’m serious?”
“It would be a start,” Elayne said as she reached into her coin purse to grab a silver coin.
“Step away from the Daughter-Heir,” Elaida Sedai stated firmly as she drew on the Power, not sure what to make of the woman dressed in cut up warder cloaks.
Ethan turned to look at the woman dressed completely in red that was glowing with the Power. “Ah, you might want to drop the source before you hurt Elayne.”
Elayne turned to look at her mother’s advisor. “She claims she can make ter’angreal, I was curious.”
“That is obviously a lie…” Elaida trailed off as she realized just how mindnumblingly strong the other woman was in the Power. “What are you?”
Ethan smirked at Elaida. “Just a girl that wants to make Elayne Trakand an offer of training so that she can avoid selling herself into slavery to the Tower for the rest of her life.”
“Slavery?” Elaida asked scornfully.
Ethan snorted. “What else do you call it when you can be ordered around for the rest of your life in exchange for less than a decade of instruction in the Power? The Tower has a nasty habit of thinking it owns anyone that signs the Book of Novices. You’d be far better learning in a more relaxed and interesting location than signing your life away.”
Elaida glared at Ethan. “Get away from her.”
“Note that she didn’t call me a liar, she just resorted to threats.” Ethan laughed as Elaida reached out with threads of spirit to shield him. “You shouldn’t attack the princess’s guest, it’s rude,” he taunted her as he cut her shield apart with threads of spirit and air.
“Stop!” Elayne snapped at Elaida. “I want to hear what she has to say!”
“She is obviously trying to turn you against the Tower,” Elaida said smoothly.
Ethan turned to look at Elayne. “I’m merely offering her an alternative to the long and overly boring future she’d have with the Tower. She’s a future queen, she shouldn’t be beholden to anyone other than the people of Andor.”
“In exchange for what?” Elayne asked, curious what the other woman wanted.
“In exchange for following a couple basic rules while you’re training and a promise not to teach the Tower any of our skills. They have a nasty history of trying to strong arm anyone that can channel into obeying them.”
“As if you have anything worth learning,” Elaida said with a sneer. “Surrender and I’ll make sure you’re only banished as long as you agree to enroll in the Tower. We can’t have a wilder with your power running around hurting people, can we?” she asked a touch sarcastically.
Ethan casually slammed a shield between Elaida and the source then tied it off in a complicated mess of knots that would take Elaida months or possibly years to unravel if she managed it at all. “No thanks.”
“How?” Elayne stared at the insanely complicated shield in disbelief, that was far more complicated than anything she’d seen Elaida weave.
“What did you do?” Elaida shrieked, shocked that the wilder knew how to shield people and that she’d managed to shield her while she was holding the source.
“I shielded you and tied it off, that should take months or possibly years to unravel without help.”
“Who are you?” Elaida demanded, more than a little worried about the other woman now that she knew she was at least partially trained.
“That is something I’d like to know,” Gawyn Trakand said from the hallway as he walked into the garden with Galad and half a dozen angry looking guards. “Step away from my sister!” He ordered, not sure what to make of the floating head.
Ethan took two steps to the left away from Elayne then wrapped Elaida in bands of air as the Aes Sedai took an angry step toward him. “You can call me Ethana, Elayne was never in any danger.”
Elayne snorted. “I’m fine. We were just talking.”
Galad frowned as he noticed the glare the stranger was directing toward Elaida looked personal. “Why are you here and what do you want with Elaida Sedai?”
“She is a murderer,” Ethan replied, managing to keep most of the venom out of his voice. “She intentionally severed men that could channel then informed the townsfolk about their channeling, knowing that the crowd would kill them or at least banish them which often resulted in the same thing.”
“How dare you!” Elaida shouted.
“And yet you don’t deny that you were part of the vileness or was it troubles? You helped kill dozens of people, flaunted Tower law and escaped with a slap on the wrist.”
“Where did you hear that?” Elaida demanded angrily.
“So it’s true?” Galad asked.
“I didn’t murder anyone!” Elaida snapped.
“So you didn’t allow the crowd to kill people or let ‘slip’ that certain people could channel in such a way that people died?” Ethan asked spitefully thinking about the bitch ordering his father beaten and locked in a box.
“How dare you!” Elaida snarled.
“And we’re back to threats so she doesn’t have to admit that she allowed people to die.”
Martyn Tallanvor spoke up, “None of that matters, you shouldn’t be in the garden.”
Ethan turned to look at the guard that had spoken. It felt a touch strange seeing Martyn without the grey in his hair but his step grandfather’s voice was easily recognizable. “If the princess wants me to leave, I’ll leave but I’d like an answer to my question first.”
“What question?” Martyn asked warily as he glanced between Elayne and the stranger that was obviously wearing an outfit made from warders’ cloaks.
“I’m offering Elayne a chance to learn to use her abilities without being bound to the Tower and secrets like you couldn’t imagine.”
Gawyn shook his head. “Andor has a long relationship with the Tower.”
Ethan snorted. “Considering they sent a murderer to be the Queen’s advisor, I’m not inclined to care all that much about the Tower. Besides, I’m not saying that Andor needs to sever ties with the White Tower, I’m simply offering her an alternative. Give my friends and I a year and I doubt Elayne will want to study with the Tower or need to.”
“She’s lying!” Elaida shouted.
Ethan shook her head. “Unlike you, I have no reason to lie.”
“Other than to escape punishment for attacking the Queen’s advisor and being where you’re not supposed to,” Gawyn said, a touch amused at the woman’s confidence facing eight people with weapons.
Ethan laughed. “I have a ter’angreal that gives me armor…” he trailed off as one of the guards tossed a dagger at his leg so that it hit pommel first. “See?”
Martyn spun to look at the guard that had just attacked the woman. “Stop that!”
“I hit her leg with the pommel,” the guard replied unrepentantly. “Worst case she would have gotten a nasty bruise.”
Ethan shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. It saves me from having to hand my ter’angreal to Elaida then toss rocks at her until you believe me.”
“Ter’angreal are the property of the Tower,” Elaida argued, trying to pretend that she was still in control of the situation.
Ethan snorted and used a flow of air to gag Elaida. “That’s enough from the peanut gallery.”
“You really don’t like her do you?” Gawyn asked with a hint of amusement and a dash of fear as he realized that the woman could channel and had managed to neutralize an Aes Sedai.
“Not in the least,” Ethan replied, thinking about the mess that Elaida had caused the last time around for no other reason than she was a power hungry bitch.
“You’ll have to come with us,” Martyn said more calmly than he felt.
“I’m willing to talk with the Queen about Elaida’s crimes and Elayne’s education but if you think I’m going to waste my time in a cell, you’re sadly mistaken,” Ethan replied, ready to weave a barrier if he had to keep the guards from doing something stupid.
“You think you can stop us from tossing you in a cell?” one of the guards asked.
Ethan held his hand out and created a ball of fire over it. “Yes.”
“This is pointless,” Elayne snapped as she glared at the guard that had spoken up. “She managed to shield Elaida Sedai and tie her up with threads of air, if she wanted us dead, we’d be dead.”
Ethan said, “I wish no harm on anyone here other than Elaida but I’m willing to discuss her eventual fate with the queen.”
“You think she’ll turn on her advisor?” Gawyn asked in surprise.
“Considering what I can offer, most likely,” Ethan replied with amusement as he glared at Elaida. “Can you honestly tell me that the Queen won’t sell a murderer down the river in exchange for three newly created ter’angreal that will keep the three of you safe?”
“When you put it like that, you’re probably right,” Gawyn admitted, knowing his mother would jump at the chance to protect them even if it meant getting a different advisor, perhaps especially if it meant getting a different advisor given how nasty Elaida Sedai was toward anyone that happened to be male.
Martyn turned to one of his men. “Inform the Queen about the request.”
The man nodded then rushed back into the palace to inform the queen.
“Now we wait,” Martyn said firmly, figuring waiting in the gardens was better than trying and failing to capture a dangerous channeler with unknown magical defenses that was mostly invisible.
0o0o0
Aisling Noon frowned slightly as she watched the string of young men walk through the portal carrying boxes, crates and the occasional basket filled with dried goods or produce. “At least we’ll have something to eat other than fish.”
“I don’t mind fish but it will be nice to have side dishes to go with it.” Pevara reluctantly pulled her gaze away from where half a dozen warders in training were juggling small balls of fire in the courtyard under the watch of one of the girls that could channel Saidin and focused on the ter’angreal that Dawn was crafting. “Air and spirit.”
“In strange combinations,” Aisling agreed as Dawn started carefully tying the threads off with a degree of skill or natural talent that most Aes Sedai would envy.
Dawn carefully finished tying off the threads she’d woven into and around the communication ring then looked at the two Aes Sedai. “Would it have killed the crafters from the Age of Legends to leave notes?”
“It would have made things easier,” Pevara agreed, understanding Dawn’s frustration as there were a lot of things she’d wished the Tower had done a better job preserving.
“To be fair, it has been three thousand years,” Darla pointed out as she walked over carrying a small statue of a man with a beard that was holding a book. “We’re lucky anyone even still understands any of the old tongue.”
Pevara had to resist the urge to reach out and grab the statue from the younger woman. “That’s it?”
Darla grinned at the Aes Sedai. “It has thousands or maybe even tens of thousands of books from the Age of Legends. My world’s version of the Tower had the statue for twenty years, they’re still not done copying everything out of it.”
“Any idea how it works?” Aisling asked, hoping that the ter’angreal library contained some records of lost weaves.
“I know how to make it display the books it contains but I’m not sure how they added books to the collection, probably a separate ter’angreal or a weave that I don’t know.” Darla handed the statue to Dawn. “Anything?”
Dawn frowned slightly as she studied the weaves that went into creating the ter’angreal. “Give me a minute.”
“We’re going to need parchment and some assistants,” Pevara mused, knowing that reproducing even a fraction of the books would be the work of a lifetime.
Aisling smiled as she thought about some of the accepted she knew that would love the chance to help with their project. “I’ll talk to some of the girls.”
“Let me know if you need any help, I need to talk to some of the girls about forming groups for recruiting more channelers.” Darla smiled as she turned and headed toward the group of naked young women she could see playing some type of kickball game on the edge of the courtyard with some of the younger kids.
“Don’t worry, we will,” Aisling replied as she glanced over the collection of ter’angreal on the table that Dawn and the others had crafted. ‘I can’t see the Tower taking no for an answer if they figure out some of the girls can make ter’angreal. It will be worse if they figure out how to create angreal.’.
Dawn sighed as she realized she probably needed a ter’angreal she didn’t have to add books to the statue’s archives. “I can’t see any way to add books which means there is no point in duplicating the statue right now,” she explained as she showed the Aes Sedai how to activate the ter’angreal.
Pevara smiled as she saw saw words appear on the statue’s book. “Truth and lies or fiction and nonfiction.”
“Most likely,” Dawn agreed as she handed Pevara the statue and let go of the Power. “On that note, I should get back to work sorting through the rest of the stash.”
“Good, it’s bound to be useful. Let’s see if any of the young men brought back any writing supplies.”
Aisling shook her head. “I think I’m going to find a comfortable chair and practice singing for a while unless you need the help?”
“No, that’s fine,” Pevara replied as she turned and headed toward the section of the courtyard where the young men were sorting through the supplies they’d acquired. She knew there were plenty of accepted that would have picked the Brown Ajah that would be more than willing to help.
0o0o0
