Mist of Shadows
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Dawn and Reincarnation
🕑 Added 2018-12-24 23:26:18 +0000 UTCDisclaimer: Don't own any of the Buffy characters or Wheel of Time characters... this is something I was playing with for fun. Merry early Christmas have a free story fragment. Normal chapter will be some point after Christmas.
“Save the world, I can do that,” Dawn al’Thor trailed off as she woke up from her quickly fading dream of another life with strange sounds coming from outside and a nasty oiling feeling in the air that was hauntingly familiar and yet completely unfamiliar at the same time. “That’s nasty…” she trailed off as she heard several of the sheep bleating like something was trying to get into the barn to kill it.
“Shit!” She rolled out of bed and grabbed her long wooden staff on the way out of her room. She stared in shock for a second as the front door was violently forced in by a ram headed monster. She summoned up her courage as she lunged forward and slammed the edge of her staff into the monster’s groin as hard as she could.
Rand stared in shock as his twin dropped the monster with a well placed hit then crushed the monster’s throat. “What?”
“Get your bow!” Dawn shouted as she blocked the swing of a large sword from a wolf headed monster that stepped over the monster she’d killed or at least crippled. She winced as she had to take a step back to bleed off the impact. She brought the tip of her staff around and hit the creature in the ankle then jumped back as it roared at her and pressed the attack. “Giles! Attack!”
Rand sprinted back to his room to grab his bow.
“Arh-woooooooooooooooo!” Dawn smiled as she heard her dog howl from outside followed by some pain filled screams she knew weren’t coming from her dog. She twitched as something large jumped through the window. “Shit!”
Tam al’Thor charged out of his room with his sword in hand then proceeded to cut down the monster that had jumped through the window. “Cover the door.”
“Working on it,” Dawn replied as she did her best to keep the monsters out. She smiled as one of the monsters trying to get into the house was pulled backwards from behind. “Ravage!”
Tam did his best to ignore the trolloc’s screams as he concentrated on killing the trolloc trying to get into the window. “Flame and void, Rand!”
Rand focused on the flame and fed his emotions to it as he worked on shooting the monsters trying to kill them.
Dawn winced as she heard a pained yelp from her puppy. “Leave him alone!” She dropped her staff as she bent down and grabbed the sword one of the monsters had dropped then rushed out into the night despite her father’s protests. “Giles!”
The fade glanced away from the pony sized dog that was currently growling at it and looked at the tall female with red hair. “You’re not the one I’m looking for.”
“Die!” Dawn screamed at the creature that had hurt her dog as she charged him. She blocked the first lightning quick shot then brought her stolen blade back around and scored a glancing blow on the creature’s armor before she had to take a step back to avoid the creature’s counter attack.
Giles pounced on a trolloc and ripped its throat out then jumped for the next one that was trying to get to Dawn.
Tam rushed out and stopped as he saw his daughter trading blows with the fade without any hint of fear or concern, stranger still she appeared to be winning. He brought his sword up and deflected a trolloc’s large spear then cut its cuts out as he stepped closer to his next target.
Rand pushed his confusion away as he fired arrow after arrow into the creatures.
Dawn winced as she was forced to block one of the creature’s hits with her mother’s bracer so she could stab it through the neck. She jumped back as the creature went wild and started thrashing and swinging at everything as it fell to the ground. “Why won’t you die?”
“They die hard,” Tam said softly as he scanned the dark, listening to the screams as the trollocs followed the fade into death. “It’s already dead, it won’t truly die until morning, just stay away from it.”
Dawn looked around the ‘darkness’ looking for more of the creatures, thankfully her night vision was the best around, mostly because nothing ever got darker than twilight. “We should get to the village.”
“What were those?” Rand asked warily, trying not to let the terror creep into the void.
Dawn dodged to the side as the fade tossed its blade at her. “Nice try.”
“Are you okay?” Rand asked in surprise, not sure how his sister had managed to avoid the sword that had came out of nowhere.
“I’m fine,” Dawn replied absently, trying to ignore the series of flashes of using the same move thousands of times in a hundred lands that were playing out in her mind’s eye. She appreciated the skills she’d been picking up the last couple years but she could have done without the flashes as far as she was concerned. ‘I wish Nynaeve had something for random visions.’
Tam said, “We need to let the village know.”
Dawn walked over and grabbed a sword off one of the trollocs then walked over and hacked the fade’s head off. “We’ll drag it behind us, otherwise no one is going to believe me when I tell them I killed it.”
Tam shook his head. “We can bring the head, we need to hurry.”
Rand shivered, just glimpsing the creature earlier had been enough to unnerve him and his sister had fought and killed it without blinking. “I’ll grab Bella.”
“Be careful,” he glanced at Dawn’s dog that came up to his shoulder, “most animals don’t want anything to do with shadowspawn.”
“I can’t say I blame them,” Dawn said as she gave her dog a once over to make sure that he wasn’t injured. She smiled as he walked over and happily nuzzled her hand with his muzzle. She used her other hand to scratch between his ears. “You’re a good dog aren’t you?”
“Let’s grab some supplies, we can trade off riding Bella.” Tam glanced at Giles. “Dawn can ride Giles.”
“Not like he’d let either of us ride him,” Rand said as he hustled back into the house.
“Not my fault he has good taste,” Dawn said as she headed into the house to grab her bow and get dressed in something other than her shift.
Rand finished getting dressed then helped his father wedge the door shut and close the shutters to keep out the worst of the weather until they could fix things.
0o0o0
Dawn scowled as they left the cover of trees and she saw the smoke that hovered over the village. “Crap.”
“What do you see?” Tam asked, everything still too dark to get a decent image.
“There’s a lot more smoke than there should be,” Dawn complained as Giles broke into a run.
Bella snorted then picked up the pace, leaving Rand to run to keep up with the horse and Dawn’s dog.
Dawn was rather relieved when she saw that the fires had been put out and there were people out and about. “Slow down.”
Giles came to a stop at the edge of town in front of some nervous looking villagers.
Dawn dismounted and patted Giles on the head. “Good dog.”
“I swear that beast gets larger every time I see it,” one of the townsfolk said.
Giles looked at the man and let his tongue hang out at him.
“What happened?” Dawn asked, worried about her various friends.
“Trollocs if you’ll believe it!” one of the ‘guards’ said a touch hysterically.
“How many?” Tam asked warily, wondering why the town wasn’t ash.
“At least a dozen,” the other man says nervously.
“We managed to fight them off, well, not us but the lady and the soldier from earlier,” one of the other guys said.
“Was anyone hurt?” Dawn asked warily as she glanced toward the inn. She didn’t hear the man’s reply as she caught sight of the peddler in front of the inn and everything exploded in a torrent of images and fragmented ‘memories’ of dark cultists and dark robes. It took her several seconds and her brother touching her leg before the images faded enough that she could focus on the real world again. “What?”
“Are you alright?” Rand asked.
“Just a headache from lack of sleep,” Dawn replied, not wanting to give the villagers another reason to think her strange.
“I need to talk to the mayor,” Tam said as he flicked Bella’s reins so that she’d move forward and he could talk to someone that knew something.
“Of course,” one of the ‘guards’ said as he puffed himself up as he went back to watching the road.
Dawn was fairly sure they’d get themselves killed if the trollocs came back but at least they might give the rest of the town some warning. She shivered as they passed various buildings that had been burned or at least partially burned. The damage to the town looked a bit random to her but maybe the trollocs had been in a hurry. She blinked as they approached the inn and she noticed that two of the people she could ‘feel’ in the inn were bright rather than the dull feeling she got from her brother and a number of the people in town.
Giles came to a stop in front of the stone building then flopped down to make it easier for Dawn to dismount.
“Thanks,” Dawn said as she hopped off her dog. “Don’t wander too far.”
Giles nodded then walked over out of the way and flopped down.
Tam dismounted then gave Bella a pat to get her heading toward the stable, not that she needed it as she’d already been walking in that direction eager to get some sleep. “Get her settled then we’ll get something to eat, I need to talk to Bran.”
Rand nodded then followed Bella.
Dawn tightened her grip on the bag that contained the fade’s head as she followed her father into the inn. She smiled as she spotted her brother’s crush handing out food to the various villagers that were waiting around for answers. She waved to Mat on her way to the backroom where the mayor was discussing things with the soldier she’d seen the day before.
Bran turned to look at Tam. “I’m glad you made it, did you have problems last night?”
“He wouldn’t be here if he’d been attacked,” Cenn Buie complained.
“You could say that,” Tam said as he took the bag from Dawn and set it on the table. “We killed at least a half a dozen trollocs and a fade.”
“Fade?” Lan asked warily.
“Bullshit…” Cenn trailed off as Tam opened the bag and revealed the eyeless head. “Bloody ashes!”
“How?” Lan asked as most of the council jumped back terrified of the creature out of ‘legend’ even though it was already dead.
“Most things die when you cut off their heads,” Tam replied, not wanting to tell the gossiping idiots on the council that his daughter had been the one to kill it but not wanting to claim the credit either.
Lan glanced at the man’s sword, rather surprised to see the heron on the blade. “Where did you find that?”
“I was a solder,” Tam replied, hoping the man would drop it. “Luckily the rest of the trollocs died when the fade did.”
Tam turned to look at Bran. “Is there a bonfire going where we can burn the creature’s head?”
“On the green,” Bran said after a second to pull himself together.
“Best way to deal with them,” Lan agreed, glad that someone had their head on straight.
Cenn frowned at Dawn. “What is she doing here? You shouldn’t let a child see that,” he snapped.
“It’s dead, Cenn. Unlike you, I hunt for my food and to feed my dog. I’ve seen plenty of dead things.” Dawn finished in her head, ‘and people if you count my dreams.’
“That thing is an abomination,” Cenn snapped.
“So are you,” Dawn snapped as she recovered the head and left with it.
“You should take a switch to her,” Cenn snapped.
Tam glared at Cenn. “If you ever hit my daughter, I won’t stop her from beating you half to death or worse, I’ll tell your wife and let her deal with you first.”
Cenn shivered as he thought about what his wife would do to him if she caught him interfering in women’s circle business. “I’m not afraid of a girl.”
“Consider this, how much business would you lose if she went down to Devon’s ride or up to Watch Hill and recruited another thatcher?”
“She wouldn’t,” Cenn sputtered.
Brann spoke up, “Of course she would, stop digging yourself into a hole Cenn.”
Dawn smiled as she quietly started headed toward the exit. ‘Would serve the bastard right,’ she quickened her step as she felt Nynaeve coming toward her from the kitchen. “Damn it,” she muttered as Nynaeve quickened her pace and walked out of the kitchen before she could get out the door. ‘Crap.’
“Dawn, just the girl I wanted to see,” Nynaeve said as she stalked over.
Dawn briefly considered making a dash for it but didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. “I’m running an errand for my dad,” she said as she kept walking toward the exit.
Nynaeve glared at the girl that refused to keep her hair braided. Oh, she’d braid it when she went hunting or into the woods but the second it wasn’t needed, she’d take the braid out never mind that she was old enough it should have stayed braided in public. “I need help making bandages for the wounded.”
Dawn sighed as she realized that Nyaeve had a legitimate excuse for needing her help after the attack. “I need to make a stop at the fire first for my dad but that shouldn’t take more than a couple seconds.” She turned to look at Egwene who was coming out of the kitchen with several bowls on a try. “Can you tell my dad that I got drafted?”
“Sure, I’ll let him know when he comes out,” Egwene assured her friend.
“Thanks. We’ll catch up later when it’s not so busy,” Dawn assured her then headed outside before Nynaeve could hit her with a stick for ‘wasting’ her time.
Nynaeve frowned as she followed Dawn out of the inn. “What is in the bag?”
Giles glanced up at Dawn as she walked out of the inn then dropped his head back onto his paws as he saw Nynaeve with her.
Dawn smiled at Giles. “I’ll be back in a bit, catch a nap.”
“It’s disturbing how well it understands you.”
“He’s a smart dog,” Dawn replied as headed toward the village green. She glanced around to make sure no one was all that close then handed her the bag. “Try not to scream, we’re burning it.”
Nynaeve nearly dropped the bag as she opened it and saw the severed head. “What?!”
“It attacked the farm last night, we’re burning it,” Dawn said as she took the bag back from the shocked wisdom then turned and headed toward the fire. ‘So that’s what it takes to shut her up, good to know.’ She was rather amused that she made it most of the way to the fire before Nynaeve caught up. She tossed the bag into the rather nasty smelling bonfire where several villagers were tossing trollocs.
“How did you get away?” Nynaeve asked in a whisper.
“The trollocs died when the fade did,” Dawn explained quietly as she headed toward the Wisdom’s house. “Rand shot a bunch of them,” she offered, knowing that Cenn would make sure to let ‘slip’ a tale about her cowering behind her brother and father while they did the real work.
“Good,” Nynaeve stated firmly as she lead the way back to her house.
Dawn twitched slightly as she stepped into the wisdom’s home and saw the strange lines of glowing thread floating over the various injured people. She frowned as saw a girl a couple years younger than her with burns on her arm whimpering on one of the beds. She glanced at the threads over the girl’s head, “Five colors, five elements?”
“What are you talking about?” Nynaeve asked as she walked in.
“The threads,” Dawn said as she pointed at the threads hovering over the patients.
Nynaeve turned to look. “There’s nothing there, have you gotten enough sleep?”
“Not really,” Dawn replied as she concentrated on the threads. She smiled as the fire thread glowed brighter. ‘Neat, let’s see, brown should be earth.’ She focused on the brown thread, feeling like she’d done this a thousand times before but at the same time knowing that she hadn’t. She pushed her confusion away as she focused on the blue thread and realized it ‘felt’ wet which meant water or at least she was reasonably sure it meant water.
“Let’s get this done and the bandages changed and we can both get some sleep unless some idiot trips over their own feet again…” Nynaeve trailed off as she saw a glow surround Dawn and a red thread and a brown thread appeared in the air near Dawn. “What are you doing?” she demanded.
“Not sure,” Dawn replied absently as the wind thread lit up. She focused on the shimmering almost not there thread and realized it was wind. “Wind,” she focused on the last thread and realized it was spirit. “Spirit…” she trailed off as the threads started moving and twisting forcing her to concentrate to keep her threads moving so she could match the threads she could see.
Nynaeve stared in disbelief as the threads twisted together into a glorious pattern as they touched Kari Thane’s burn and new skin grew before her eyes to replace the old.
Kari stared at her arm in wild eyed shock for a couple seconds as the pain vanished. “Thank you!”
Nynaeve pulled herself out of her shock. “Can you do that again?”
“They’re all different but I think so,” Dawn admitted, hoping it would be as ‘easy’ as weaving the threads together.
Nynaeve walked over to the counter where she’d placed the already sterilized rags to cool and grabbed one. She walked back over and carefully scrubbed at Kari’s arm to remove the last of the burned skin, revealing undamaged skin under it. She glared at the other patients. “You’ll keep your mouths shut while we have strangers in town if you know what’s good for you.”
The others quickly agreed, not wanting to get on Nynaeve’s bad side.
Nynaeve snorted, knowing the story would get out eventually but hoping they’d keep their mouth shut while the strangers were in town.
Dawn smiled as she started weaving the next collection of threads.
0o0o0
Lan had barely walked into Moiraine’s room to check on her when she twitched and looked toward the village green. “What’s the matter?”
“Someone is channeling,” Moiraine said as she stood up and stepped away from the bed.
“The wisdom?” Lan asked warily, wondering how many more surprises they’d run into in the sleepy town.
“Possibly, it’s certainly coming from that direction though it might be the innkeeper’s daughter channeling for the first time or one of the other girls that have the potential,” Moiraine explained as she walked over to the window. She blinked as she glanced down and saw what looked like a pony sized dog curled up near the front of the inn. “Are you feeling any shadowspawn around?”
“Not presently, why?”
“Because there is a pony sized dog curled up in front of the inn.”
Lan said, “I’ll raise you a farmer with a heron marked blade that killed a fade.”
“He claimed to kill a fade?” Moiraine asked, thinking about the trollocs that had died while attacking the town.
“He brought in its severed head as proof. His farm was attacked.”
“What did he look like?” Moiraine frowned as she turned her attention toward the wisdom’s house as the channeling changed. “Curious, I think I need to have another discussion with the wisdom.”
“You barely slept,” he cautioned.
“It still needs to be done,” Moiraine said as she headed for the door. She wasn’t surprised when he slipped past her to check the hall. She’d call him paranoid but his paranoia had saved their lives more than a few times over the years. She frowned slightly as she walked down the stairs and noticed the innkeeper’s daughter which meant the girl wasn’t responsible for the channeling she could still feel.
Lan frowned slightly as he walked out of the inn and saw the pony sized dog. “Have you seen any other large dogs?”
Giles looked up at the two strangers then put his head back down.
“The closest I’ve seen are tinker dogs and they aren’t even close,” Moiraine answered as she continued walking, they’d have time to study the strange dog later.
Lan made a mental note to ask the red haired girl about her dog when he had a chance. ‘Maybe the old man has a point.’
Moiraine frowned slightly as she walked past yet another girl that would have great strength in the power if she were trained. ‘We’ll have to send sisters to collect the girls.’ Her thoughts derailed as the door to the wisdom’s home was opened. The girl that stepped out had the potential to channel and a fair bit of it but the glowing girl with red hair made Nynaeve’s potential look like a torch next to a bonfire, a rather large bonfire at that. To say nothing of the complex weaves she was weaving with all five powers.
Dawn ignored the magic user she could feel outside as she focused on following the complicated threads as they twisted and wove themselves together in odd ways. She smiled as she finished knitting the man’s bone together or at least she was reasonably sure that was what the weave was for. “That should do it.”
“Good,” Nynaeve said as she poked at the man’s arm, a touch surprised when he didn’t flinch. “Move it around a bit.”
The man carefully moved his arm and sighed in relief when it didn’t hurt. “Thank you!”
Nynaeve said, “Make sure you eat a couple good meals for the next couple days and try not to do anything too strenuous for a week. And no that is not an excuse to be lazy, just take it easy,” she cautioned not wanting him to reinjure it by doing something boneheaded.
“I will, thank you,” the man said then rushed out before she could dose him with something foul like she usually did.
“What are you doing?” Moiraine asked as she stepped inside the wisdom’s home.
“Magic, probably,” Dawn replied, reasonably sure she was using magic because people generally didn’t just get better because you looked at them funny barring the idiots that whined about spraining something to get out of work then suddenly got better once Nynaeve showed up.
“Probably?” Moiraine asked as she glanced between the wisdom and the girl with long red hair.
Dawn stumbled slightly as several thousand scenes of being stuck in white dresses doing chores danced through her mind’s eye as she turned to look at the glowing woman. She grabbed the table to steady herself. “I’m not sure what else you’d call spontaneous healing other than magic.”
“Can you control it?” Moiraine asked intently as she studied the young woman’s face.
Nynaeve glared at the Aes Sedai but kept her mouth shut as she was curious about the threads that Dawn claimed to see.
“Sure, I just focus on the threads and they light up then I start weaving, it’s just a matter of making sure I don’t go out of the lines.”
“Lines?” Moiraine asked, curious what she meant.
“There are threads over the patients, three for that guy and five for the other two,” Dawn replied as she reached out with her mind and felt the threads hovering over the next patient, making sure the feel matched the colors. “Fire, water and spirit…” she trailed off as she started the process and had to pay attention to how she wove the threads together.
Moiraine frowned as she followed the complex weaving. ‘Spirit to find the problem, water to flush it out and fire to destroy it? More elegant than most healers manage and I doubt it cost the patient any energy which is interesting.’ She smiled as the girl finished her weaving. “Nicely done.”
“Thank you, I need to practice a bit more but you can’t expect perfection your first day,” Dawn replied as she turned back to look at her last two patients.
Lan frowned as he noticed the girl’s strange crystal bracer. “Where did you get your bracer?”
“From my mother,” Dawn replied as she started weaving threads into the man with a nasty gash on his arm that he’d gotten from a piece of broken glass.
Moiraine pulled her attention off the interesting bracer and focused on the weave the girl was using for healing. She had a feeling the girl would cause the yellows a lot of grief with her various weaves. She waited for the girl to finish healing the man then asked, “Do you mind if I check your work?”
“Go for it,” Dawn said, curious how the Aes Sedai would check her patient’s health. She smiled as she watched the Aes Sedai weave several glowing threads. “What does it tell you?”
“Their general health,” Moiraine said as she dropped the weave, not wanting to channel longer than she had to.
Dawn smiled as threads appeared as she thought about the new technique. She touched the threads in the right order and wove them together, to see what exactly was wrong with her last patient as Nynaeve sent her previous patient to the inn to get a good meal. “Dislocated shoulder, a fever and a tainted cut the idiot didn’t mention.”
The man scowled at Dawn. “You’ve been spending too much time with the wisdom. It was just a nick,” he complained.
“She gets that naturally,” Nynaeve replied, not willing to take credit for Dawn’s rough edges.
“Let’s fix that…” Dawn trailed off as another set of threads appeared. “Great, how am I supposed to do two of these at once?”
Nynaeve shook her head. “Don’t bother, let me fix the shoulder first.”
“Shit,” the man muttered as Nynaeve walked over.
Nynaeve turned to look at Lan. “A little help, please.”
Lan waited for Moiraine’s nod before walking over and helping pop the man’s shoulder back in place.
Dawn smiled as one of the sets of threads vanished. “That certainly makes it easier. Let’s deal with the corruption.”
“Dealing with a tainted wound isn’t easy,” Moiraine cut in, unwilling to let the girl screw up and lose her nerve when she’d been doing so well.
Dawn frowned as she focused on the threads and let them play out. “How do you make the threads thicker?”
“Assuming you’re talking about the flows, you should be able to direct more of the power into the threads, just take it slow.” Moiraine winced as Dawn hit a candle with a finger thick thread of fire and the top half of the candle instantly melted. “A bit too much.”
Dawn scaled back the amount of fire then tried again, rather happy with the result. She turned her attention to the last patient and started weaving the threads.
Moiraine took mental notes as the girl almost casually healed the man’s fever and tainted wound without the weave stealing his energy to do it. ‘Yeah, the yellows are going to scream bloody murder if she ends up in a different Ajah.’
Dawn finished healing the man then yawned and grabbed the side of the table. “I shouldn’t have skipped breakfast.”
Moiraine embraced the source and wove the thinnest threads she could into the man to check his health. “He should be fine.”
Lan removed his hand from the man’s chest and stepped back.
The man looked at Nynaeve nervously. “Can I leave?”
“Get something to eat,” Nynaeve ordered as she glanced back at Dawn. “You should do the same. I’ll finish the bandages myself now that I don’t need to worry about patients.”
“Sounds good, you’re better at it,” Dawn yawned then turned and headed toward the exit, trying not to look too excited at escaping having to listen to yet another lecture about her hair.
Moiraine smiled slightly as she saw through the girl’s ploy. “Lan, make sure she gets back to the inn without falling asleep, I have some questions for the wisdom.”
Lan frowned as he considered Moiraine’s health. “I’ll be back in shortly.”
“Thank you,” Moiraine replied as she studied the wisdom. She waited until Lan and the red haired girl left before she asked, “How much of that did you catch?”
“Some,” Nynaeve admitted. “Is there where you tell me the White Tower could teach her how to use her gifts?”
“Three out of four wilders die without training.”
Nynaeve shook her head. “Best of luck convincing her of that, she’s stubborn.”
Lan smiled slightly as the girl perked up as soon as they walked around the corner and out of sight of the wisdom. “You were faking, weren’t you?”
Dawn smirked. “Yep, I didn’t want to listen to yet another lecture about braiding my hair or settling down with one of the local idiots.”
“What really happened at the farm?” Lan asked casually as they headed back toward the inn.
“I woke up when the sheep started bleating like something was trying to kill them. I figured it was just a wolf or maybe some idiot down from Taren Ferry that had decided to make trouble so I grabbed my staff. Before I could get out there a trolloc broke down the door. I screamed at my brother to get his bow and did my best to kill it.”
“To kill it?” Lan asked, a touch surprised at the girl’s matter of fact reaction considering the general hysteria that usually followed a trolloc attack even in the north.
“Most things breathe, if you hit them hard enough in the neck they die. Another trolloc burst in through the window, thankfully my father came out of his room with a sword and started killing the ones that came out of the window while I held the door.”
“That must have been a relief,” Lan offered.
“It certainly helped, so did my brother filling them with arrows. I heard something harassing my dog outside so I picked up a sword off the dead body and cut my way outside. Giles was growling at the fade so I charged it.”
‘You’re insane,’ Lan thought to himself as he listened to her tale about dueling the fade, fairly sure that she wasn’t lying or that she was a better liar than anyone he’d ever ran into before which was equally as scary. “You cut off a fade’s head to protect your dog?” he asked in a whisper.
“No, I cut off his head so we’d have proof that we were attacked,” Dawn said in a whisper, “I stabbed him in the throat because he was trying to hurt my dog.”
“You were lucky he didn’t cut you,” Lan whispered as they walked up to the inn.
“I know, fighting in my shift wasn’t my idea of fun but getting run down in the woods wasn’t a good idea either,” Dawn complained as she walked over to where Giles was relaxing. “Not that my normal jacket would have been much better.”
“I’m Lan, what’s your name?” Lan asked, wanting to remember the girl’s name.
“Dawn, pleased to meet you,” Dawn as she reached down and scratched her dog between his ears.
Giles stuck his tongue out at her and wagged his tail.
“Yeah, I’ll play with you later, I need to get something to eat, I’ll see about getting some scraps for you.”
Giles nodded then put his head back on his paws.
“I should make sure the wisdom hasn’t tied Moiraine to a bed or anything.” Lan smiled slightly as he turned and headed back toward the wisdom’s house.
“Have fun,” Dawn said as she headed into the inn to get something to eat. Glanced around the busy room then walked over to where Mat and Rand were sitting and sat down across from Matrim Cauthon. “Did I miss anything?”
“Just your brother making eyes at Egwene,” Mat replied with amusement as the girl in question walked over with a bowl of stew.
“Nothing wrong with looking,” Dawn said as with a grin as she looked at her friend.
“What made Nynaeve decide that she didn’t need your help?” Mat asked, curious how Dawn had slipped out of trouble.
“If I told you, you’re try it and mess things up for the rest of us,” Dawn said with amusement as Egwene set the bowl of stew in front of her. “For me?”
Egwene yawned. “It was going to your brother but you look like you could use it more.”
“Thanks,” Dawn said as she dug into the bowl of stew.
“That’s cold,” Mat said in amusement as he glanced at Rand’s face.
“See what I have to deal with?” Rand complained good naturedly.
Mat snorted. “I have four younger sisters Rand, you’ll get no sympathy from me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right back with another bowl,” Egwene assured him as she headed back toward the kitchen to get Rand a bowl.
“Did you learn anything?” Mat asked in a whisper.
Dawn smirked. “Yep, I can set candles on fire with my mind.”
Mat snorted. “Don’t joke about that, what if someone heard you?”
“They already think I’m weird,” Dawn replied, fairly sure everyone would know that she could heal people by dinner. “Have you seen the gleeman?”
Rand shook his head. “He hasn’t come down from his room.”
Dawn listened with half an ear as she worked on eating her stew. ‘We’re going to need to do something about the trollocs.’ She knew there was no way they marched all the way from the blight then snuck past Watch Hill and Taren Ferry to attack them for no reason. She scowled as she caught sight of Padan Fain walking into the inn with a smug grin on his face that he quickly turned into something less honest and more charming. ‘Yep, that’s why I dislike you, you slimy bastard.’
She wasn’t sure what it was about the man but he’d always given her the creeps even before she’d noticed him giving her the same look as some of the creepy merchants had given her in the past if she wasn’t around her brother or father. She pulled her attention off the peddler as she noticed the threads floating over her bracer. ‘That’s new.’
Dawn carefully poked at her bracer with a tiny thread of spirit and earth trying to figure out what was supposed to happen. ‘Oh, that’s how you do that…’ she trailed off as she realized she knew how to twist stone into the same crystal as her bracer and make it stronger than it had any right to be. ‘I wonder if that would work with metal?’
“Dawn?” Mat noticing that his friend had zoned out.
“What?” Dawn asked as she focused on her friend.
“You were drifting and I didn’t want you to fall asleep and land face first in your bowl.”
“Thanks,” Dawn admitted. “Are we staying or getting back home?”
“I don’t know, Dad’s still talking with the council about what they’re going to do,” Rand whispered.
“Obviously we kill them,” Dawn said in a whisper.
“That sounds like trouble,” Mat complained, thinking about how much trouble a dozen had caused this morning.
“We can fight, better us than your sisters,” Dawn said, thinking about the trollocs that had attacked them.
Mat scowled. “Don’t even joke about that.”
“I’m not, I’m just saying the sooner the shadowspawn are dead the better,” Dawn pointed out reasonably. “I’m not saying we should go hunt them down or anything without a lot of help.”
“We have our bows and you’re a good shot,” Rand reminded him.
“What happens if they get close?” Mat asked sarcastically.
“If they get close, we’re probably out of arrows,” Dawn replied as Perrin walked over, happy for the change of topic. “How are you doing?”
“Taking a break from helping people move things,” Perrin admitted as he sat down next to Mat, being careful not to just drop onto the bench.
Dawn grinned. “I’m suddenly glad that I’m not a large strapping young man.”
“You’re taller and stronger than I am,” Mat said.
“That’s because of the honest work we have to do around the farm,” Dawn said mock seriously.
“You’re welcome to it,” Mat said as he watched the gleeman walk down the stairs. “I’d rather get paid for telling stories.”
“It’s not that easy, a lot of the times you barely make enough to eat,” Dawn pointed out in a whisper as she looked at the white haired man with the long mustache and the multicolored cloak. She liked telling stories but wouldn’t want to depend on her storytelling to support her or even her musical skills.
“At least you can sing,” Rand said as he watched the gleeman get a bowl of food from Mrs. al’Vere.
“Better than some,” Dawn agreed as she looked at Mat.
“I have other talents,” Mat defended himself.
Perrin said, “Horses.”
“Yeah, don’t remind me, I still need to help with my father with that at some point,” Mat admitted as he glanced toward the back of the inn where his father was with the rest of the town council trying to figure out what they were supposed to do about monsters of legend showing up in the town.
Dawn glanced toward the door as she felt the Aes Sedai enter her range. She had no intention of selling herself to the Tower for instruction she could probably get from her threads but she didn’t see a point turning down some free instruction if she could talk her into it. She turned her attention to the back room as it opened and several of the town council walked out including her father. “Trouble?”
Tam sighed. “Just Cenn being his usual self.”
Cenn puffed himself up. “See here, we were fine until the strangers came.”
“Lady Moiraine healed a number of people that would have died or been crippled without her. If they hadn’t been there it would have been worse.”
Dawn sighed as the Aes Sedai walked into the middle of the argument with Lan at her side. ‘Great, there goes my chance for some answers.’
“Great,” Perrin grumbled as he glanced between Cenn and the strangers.
“All sorts of strangeness,” Cenn complained.
Haral Luhhan spoke up, “You can’t just accuse people of being trouble magnets.”
Cenn pointed at Mat. “Of course I can.”
Abel Cauthon snorted. “Cenn, you better not be accusing my son of bringing trollocs here.”
Moiraine spoke up, “I expected better from the last remains of Manetheren.”
“What are you talking about?” Cenn demanded.
Dawn listened with rapt attention as Moiraine spun a tale about the ancient glories of the people that used to call the area home over two thousand years ago. She wasn’t sure how to take the Aes Sedai’s tale, stories said they couldn’t lie but all of the stories agreed that the truth you heard from their lips wasn’t always the truth. The truth was that other than some names and a certain amount of stubborness there wasn’t much left of the previous culture other than maybe their tradition of archery and a certain distrust for the Tower.
She frowned as she noticed the sneer on one of Padan Fain’s guards. She glanced at the rest of his guards, one of them seemed to be smiling as did Fain at first glance until you realized he was smirking rather than smiling as if he knew something they didn’t. ‘Something broken in his head.’ Her attention was pulled back to the gleeman as the gleeman spoke up.
“Stories of ancient times, I have several, I should earn my keep after all,” Thom cut in as he noticed the Aes Sedai flagging. Normally he wouldn’t have bothered but the pain had been honest in her voice when she’d talked about the Tower’s failure to help so he’d cut her some slack, not to mention it let him draw everyone’s attention.
Dawn did her best to focus on the gleeman’s stories but her mind kept wandering to Fain even as she drifted off against her brother’s shoulder. She frowned as she found herself in the mountains near a strangely alive door into darkness. ‘Great, I fell asleep.’ She twitched slightly as she saw Fain and two of his guards talking to a fade in a dark cloak while trollocs came out of the dark door. ‘Great, now I’m imagining him as a villain.’ She frowned as the fade looked up and locked eyes with her. She blinked as she woke up with a start. “I need to stop doing that.”
“You should see if you can borrow Egwene’s bed for a bit and get some actual sleep,” Mat whispered.
Dawn glanced over at the gleeman who was enjoying a drink. “I just need some fresh air.”
Tam looked at his daughter. “Don’t wander far.”
“I won’t,” Dawn said as she got up and headed toward the door. She wanted to ignore her dream, push it to the back of her mind and move on but she couldn’t. A part of her knew there was truth in her dream, sadly she also knew she couldn’t just take her findings to the council and expect them to believe her. She walked out of the inn and frowned as she saw Fain standing next to his wagon looking disgruntled about something. She frowned at the complex web of threads over his head that involved all five elements. ‘Maybe I can get him to confess.’
Dawn glanced around, wanting to make sure no one was paying too much attention, thankfully between the work on the green and the gleeman in the inn there wasn’t anyone close enough to see, provided her weaves weren’t especially noticeable. She shook her head. ‘I can’t just test things on him, I could just be imaging it.’ She walked over to the peddler’s cart.
“Ah, Dawn, what can I help you with?” Fain asked in a pleasant voice with just a touch of oil hidden below the surface.
“You’ve traveled all over, right?” Dawn asked, trying to ignore how fake he sounded.
“Of course, traveling is my life,” Fain agreed.
“Maybe you’ve heard of a stone door that opens into darkness…” Dawn trailed off as Fain’s expression slipped for a second, showing naked fear for a second. “You’ve seen it haven’t you?” She dodged to the side and grabbed his hand as he tried to put a dagger in her. She blinked as everything went silent and the wagon vanished leaving her and Fain alone under a dark sky, the same dark sky she’d seen in some of her more vivid dreams now and then. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” Fain shouted as he took the chance to ram the knife home in the girl’s stomach. He stared in disbelief as the knife skittered off her flesh. “What are you?”
“A god!” Dawn shouted then blinked as she realized she wasn’t sure why she’d said that, it’d just slipped out for some reason. She smiled as she saw a brief flash of a dark haired man in his early twenties with a kind smile. ‘Xander… Xander?’ she asked herself, not sure why she’d been so sure about his name a second ago.
“You’re not a god,” Fain snapped as he tried again to stab her, finding his knife bouncing off, the same as before.
“We’re in a dream idiot,” Dawn replied, knowing it was a dream though she wasn’t sure how she’d gotten there or even how to get back. Thankfully judging by the man’s expression he didn’t either which probably meant it was her ability rather than his. “Why did you sell out the village?”
“Because the Great Lord told me to,” Fain said seeing no point in lying anymore as his cover was blown.
“Why?” Dawn demanded.
“Because he’s looking for people in the Two Rivers,” Fain replied smugly. “Once I die, he’ll know where to find them.”
“You’re bluffing,” Dawn snapped as he tried to stab her again.
“He is the Lord of the Grave you stupid bitch,” Fain snapped, happy that he could finally drop the nice guy act as it really didn’t suit him.
‘Shit, what if he’s right?’ Dawn asked herself as she wracked her brain trying to think of a way to deal with him without killing him so he could report. She smiled grimly as the threads over his head changed. She ‘touched’ the spirit thread then the rest and started weaving as he tried to run. She blinked as a bar of white hot fire appeared out of thin air and struct Fain in the back, turning him purple for a brief second then erasing him from existence and burning a hole for as far as she could see. “Shit, what the fuck was that?”
Dawn shivered as a word bubbled up in her mind, balefire. She felt her breath catch as she realized exactly what she’d just used, a forbidden weave that burned things out of the pattern. ‘How the hell do I know that?’ She was sure of the information just not where she’d learned it. ‘Okay, figure that out later, how do I get out of here?’
“No place like home?” Dawn asked then blinked as she found herself back at the farm. She glanced up at the dark sky and sighed. “Not quite.” She frowned as the door went from being intact to broken then opened revealing an empty house. She stepped into the house and looked around. Other than several of the items on the table shifting position when she looked away, it looked like her home.
“This would work better if I was in the real world...” she trailed off as the light in the room increased and she saw the blood stains on the floor where she’d killed the trollocs. She glanced around then made her way to her bedroom, thankful that nothing else had been disturbed in their absence. She stopped as she walked into her room and saw the threads over several of the items she’d found in the hills over the years. “I should have expected that.”
Dawn picked up the locket with a broken chain that had a picture of a girl with red hair and the stone cylinder carved with runes. She blinked as she got the sense that the locket summoned something and the stone created something that would let her get somewhere. She picked up the skeleton key on a necklace that she’d found with the stone cylinder. “And you open a door somewhere or maybe show me where things lead.”
Dawn stuffed them into her bag as she had a feeling that she wasn’t coming back. “Now I just need to get back to town without anyone knowing I was gone or that I killed Fain…” she trailed off as she tried to figure how how she felt about his death, on the one hand he’d been alive and now he wasn’t, on the other hand he’d tried to kill her so she didn’t feel all that guilty. She knew she should but she didn’t feel guilty about the darkfriend. “Yeah, no tears for the dark.”
She looked through her collection of interesting rocks she’d collected over the years and grabbed four large agates and stuffed them in her bag hoping she could get her new weave to work on the rocks so she could make a sword. “Stop stalling, you need to get back.” She focused on the dream world and smiled as she slipped into the dream. “Okay, now it’s just a matter of jumping to the…” she smirked as she appeared outside the inn. “Inn.”
Dawn sighed as she realized Mat would probably freak if she told him about her new ability. She glanced around then walked around to the back of the inn. “Okay, let’s hope this works.” She smiled as she managed to slip back to the real world without anyone screaming or being around to see her. She turned around and headed back toward the front of the inn, hoping that no one had seen her vanish with Fain.
Thankfully everything seemed normal enough though one of the guards was glancing around, looking mildly annoying that he couldn’t find Fain but he didn’t even glance at her twice as she headed for her dog.
Giles sat up when he saw Dawn and licked her face when she got close enough.
“Dog slobber,” Dawn complained as she wiped her face. “Just for that, I won’t scratch behind your ears.”
Giles whined as he looked down at her with his best puppy dog expression.
“Weaponized cuteness,” Dawn complained as she reached up and scratched between his ears. She yawned as she realized the lack of sleep was catching up with her. “I’m going to see if I can get some sleep.”
Giles huffed. “I’ll check the kitchen first.”
Giles licked her face.
“Yeah, I got it, you like treats,” she said as she headed toward the inn to get her some treats.
0o0o0
