Knife of Dreams

by Robert Jordan

  As she dismounted—well, at least she managed to turn half-falling off into something akin to jumping down—one of the Warders, Sheriam's Arinvar, a lean Cairhienin little taller than she, stepped forward to reach for the reins with a small bow, but she waved him away. Releasing saidar, she tied the mare to one of the wooden slats of the walkway using a knot that would have held a sizable boat against heavy wind and a strong current. None of those casual loops that others used, not for her. She might dislike riding, but when she tied a horse, she wanted it there when she came back. Arinvar's eyebrows climbed as he watched her finish the knot, but he would not be the one who had to pay for the bloody animal if it got loose and lost itself.

  Only one of the other two Warders belonged to Myrelle, Avar Hachami, a Saldaean with a nose like an eagle's beak and thick, gray-streaked mustaches. After sparing her one glance and a slight inclination of his head, he returned to watching the night. Morvrin's Jori, short and bald and nearly as wide as he was tall, did not acknowledge her at all. His eyes studied the darkness, and his hand rested lightly on his long sword hilt. Supposedly he was among the best of the Warders with a blade. Where were the others? She could not ask, of course, any more than she could ask who was within. The men would have been shocked to their bones. None of them tried to stop her from entering. At least matters had not gotten that bad.

  Inside, where two braziers gave off the scent of roses and made the air almost toasty compared to the night, she found almost everyone she had hoped for, and all watching to see who entered.

  Myrelle herself, sitting on a sturdy straight-chair in a silk robe covered with red and yellow flowers, her arms folded beneath her breasts, wore such a perfect expression of calm on her olive face that it only pointed up the heat in her dark eyes. The light of the Power shone around her. It was her tent, after all; she would be the one to weave a ward here. Sheriam, seated on one end of Myrelle's cot with a straight back, pretended to be adjusting her blue-slashed skirts; her expression was as fiery as her hair, and it grew hotter when she saw Siuan. She was not wearing the Keeper's stole, a bad sign.

  "I might have expected it would be you," Carlinya said coldly, fists on her hips. She was never a warm woman, but now the ringlets that stopped well short of her shoulders framed a face that seemed carved from ice nearly as pale as her dress. "I will not have you trying to listen in on my private conversations, Siuan." Oh, yes; they thought everything was at an end.

  Round-faced Morvrin, for once not appearing at all absentminded or sleepy-eyed despite the creases in her brown wool skirt, walked around the small table where a tall silver pitcher and five silver cups sat on a lacquered tray. It seemed no one felt like tea; the cups were all dry. Dipping into her belt pouch, the graying sister thrust a carved horn comb into Siuan's hand. "You are all windblown, woman. Fix your hair before some lout takes you for a tavern trull instead of an Aes Sedai and tries to dandle you on his knee."

  "Egwene and Leane are alive and prisoners inside the Tower," Siuan announced, more calmly than she felt. A tavern trull? Touching her hair, she discovered that the other woman was right and began working the comb through the tangles. If you wanted to be taken seriously, you could not look as though you had been tussling in an alley. She had enough difficulty with that as it was, now, and would have until some years after she could lay hands on the Oath Rod again. "Egwene spoke to me in my dreams. They succeeded in blocking the harbors, near enough, but they were captured. Where are Beonin and Nisao? One of you go fetch them. I don't want to scale the same fish twice."

  There. If they thought themselves free of their oaths, and free of Egwene's orders to obey her, that should disabuse them. Except that no one moved to obey.

  "Beonin wanted her bed," Morvrin said slowly, studying Siuan. A very intense study. A sharp mind hid behind that placid face. "She was too tired to talk any more. And why would we have asked Nisao to join us?" That earned a small frown from Myrelle, who was Nisao's friend, but the other two nodded agreement. They and Beonin thought of Nisao as apart from themselves in spite of the oaths of fealty they shared. In Siuan's opinion, these women had never stopped believing they might still guide events somehow, even after the rudder had long since been taken from their hands.

  Sheriam rose from the cot as though about to rush off, even gathering her skirts, but that had nothing to do with Siuan's command. Anger had vanished, replaced by shining eagerness. "We dont need them for the moment in any case. 'Prisoners' means the deep cells until the Hall convenes for a trial. We can Travel there and free them before Elaida knows what is happening."

  Myrelle gave a sharp nod and stood, reaching to undo the sash of her robe. "Best if we leave the Warders behind, I think. They won't be needed in this." She drew more deeply on the Source, already anticipating.

  "No!" Siuan said sharply, and winced as the comb caught in her hair. Sometimes she thought of cutting it shorter than Carlinya's, for convenience, but Gareth had complimented her, saying how much he liked the way it brushed her shoulders. Light, could she not escape the man even here? "Egwene isn't to be tried, and she isn't in the deep cells. She wouldn't tell me where she is being held except to say that she is guarded constantly. And she orders that there be no attempt to rescue her that involves sisters."

  The other women stared at her in shocked silence. In truth, she herself had argued the point with Egwene, to no avail. It had been an order, delivered by the Amyrlin Seat in full fig.

  "What you're saying is irrational," Carlinya said finally. Her tone was still cool, her face serene, but her hands smoothed her embroidered white skirts unnecessarily. "If we capture Elaida, we will try her and very likely still her." If. Their doubts and fears were not put to rest yet. "Since she has Egwene, surely she will do the same. I don't need Beonin to tell me what the law says in that regard."

  "We must rescue her, whatever she wants!" Sheriam's voice was hot as Carlinya's was chill, and her green eyes sparkled. Her hands had turned to fists gripping her skirts. "She cannot realize the danger she is in. She must be in shock. Did she give you any hints where she's held?"

  "Don't try to hide things from us, Siuan," Myrelle said firmly. Her eyes seemed almost on fire, and she jerked the silk sash tighter for emphasis. "Why would she hide where she's being held?"

  "For fear of what you and Sheriam suggest." Giving up on the wind-whipped tangles, Siuan tossed the comb down on the table. She could not stand there combing her hair and expect them to pay attention. Tousled would have to do. "She is guarded, Myrelle. By sisters. And they won't give her up easily. If we try a rescue, Aes Sedai will die at the hands of Aes Sedai, sure as silverpike spawn in the reeds. It's happened once, but it must not happen again, or all hope dies of reuniting the Tower peacefully. We cannot allow it to happen again. So there is to be no rescue. As to why Elaida has decided not to try her, I can't say." Egwene had been vague on that, as if she did not understand either. But she had been definite on the facts, and it was not a claim she would make unless she was sure.

  "Peacefully," Sheriam muttered, sinking back onto the cot. She imbued the word with a world of bitterness. "Was there ever any chance of that, from the beginning? Elaida has abolished the Blue Ajah! What chance of peace is there?"

  "Elaida cannot simply do away with an Ajah," Morvrin murmured, as though that had anything to do with anything. She patted Sheriam's shoulder, but the fire-haired woman sullenly shrugged off her plump hand.

  "There is always a chance," Carlinya said. "The harbors are blocked, strengthening our position. The negotiators meet every morning . . ." Trailing off with a troubled look in her eyes, she poured a cup of tea and drank half of it down in one go without adding honey. Blocking the harbors likely would have put an end to the negotiations by itself, not that they had seemed to be going anywhere. Would Elaida let them continue with Egwene in her hands besides?

  "I do not comprehend why Elaida would not have Egwene put on trial," Morvrin said, "since conviction would be sure and certain, but the fact remains tha
t she is a prisoner." She displayed none of Sheriam or Myrelle's heat and none of Carlinya's coldness. She was simply presenting the facts, with only a slight tightness of her mouth. "If she is not to be tried, then without any doubt she is to be broken. She has proven to be a stronger woman than I took her for at first, but no one is strong enough to resist the White Tower when it decides to break her. We must consider the consequences if we don't get her out before it can."

  Siuan shook her head. "She isn't even going to be birched, Morvrin. I don't understand why either, but she'd hardly tell us to leave her if she thought they were going to torture—"

  She broke off as the tentflap was pushed open and Lelaine Akashi stepped in, blue-fringed shawl draped along her arms. Sheriam stood, though she need not have; Lelaine was a Sitter, but Sheriam was the Keeper. Then again, Lelaine was imposing in blue-slashed velvet despite her slenderness, dignity made flesh, with an air of authority that seemed greater than ever tonight. Every hair in place, she might have been entering the Hall after a sound night's sleep.

  Smoothly Siuan turned to the table and picked up the pitcher as if in anticipation. That normally would have been her role in this company, to pour tea and speak when her opinion was sought. Perhaps if she remained quiet, Lelaine would be about her business with the others and leave quickly without giving her a second glance. The woman seldom did give her that much.

  "I thought that horse outside was the same I saw you ride in on, Siuan." Lelaine's gaze ran over the other sisters, each of them absolutely smooth-faced now. "Am I interrupting?"

  "Siuan says Egwene is alive," Sheriam said as though relating the price of delta perch on the dockhead. "And Leane. Egwene spoke to Siuan's dreams. She refuses any attempt at a rescue." Myrelle gave her a sidelong glance, unreadable, but Siuan could have boxed her ears! Likely Lelaine would have been the next she sought out, but to tell her in her own way, not spilled out on the wharf like this. Of late, Sheriam had become as flighty as a novice!

  Pursing her lips, Lelaine directed a look like twin awls at Siuan. "Did she, now? You really should be wearing your stole, Sheriam. You are the Keeper. Will you walk with me, Siuan? It's been far too long since we had a conversation alone." With one hand, she drew back the doorflap, shifting that penetrating gaze to the other sisters. Sheriam blushed as only a redhead could, brilliantly, and fumbled the narrow blue stole from her belt pouch to lay it across her shoulders, but Myrelle and Carlinya met Lelaine's study with level eyes. Morvrin had begun tapping her round chin with a fingertip as though unaware of anyone else. She might well have been. Morvrin was like that.

  Had Egwene's orders sunk in? Siuan had no chance even for a firm look while putting the pitcher down. A suggestion from a sister of Lelaine's standing, Sitter or not, was a command to one of Siuan's standing. Gathering her cloak and skirts, she went out, murmuring thanks to Lelaine for holding the flap for her. Light, she hoped those fools had listened to what she said.

  Four Warders stood outside now, but one of them was Lelaine's Burin, a copper-skinned stump of a Domani wrapped in a Warder cloak that made most of him seem not there, and Avar had been replaced by another of Myrelle's, Nuhel Dromand, a tall, burly man with an Illianer beard that left his upper lip bare. The man was so still you might have thought him a statue if not for the wisps of mist in front of his nostrils. Arinvar bowed to Lelaine, a quick courtesy, though formal. Nuhel and Jori did not let their vigilance slacken. Nor did Burin, for that matter.

  The knot that secured Nightlily took as long to undo as it had to tie, but Lelaine waited patiently until Siuan straightened with the reins in her hands, then set off at a slow pace along the wooden walkway past dark tents. Moonshadows masked her face. She did not embrace the Power, so Siuan could not either. Trailed by Burin, Siuan walked beside Lelaine leading the mare, holding her silence. It was the Sitter's place to begin, and not only because she was a Sitter. Siuan fought the urge to bend her neck and so lose the extra inch she had on the other woman. She seldom thought any longer of the time when she had been Amyrlin. She had been embraced as Aes Sedai once more, and part of being Aes Sedai meant fitting into your niche among the sisters instinctively. The bloody horse nuzzled at her hand as though it thought itself a pet, and she shifted the reins to her other hand long enough to wipe her fingers on her cloak. Filthy slobbering beast. Lelaine eyed her sideways, and she felt her cheeks heating. Instinct.

  "Strange friends you have, Siuan. I believe some of them were in favor of sending you away when you first appeared in Salidar. Sheriam, I might comprehend, though I'd think the fact that she stands so much higher than you now would make for awkwardness. That was the major reason I avoided you myself, to avoid awkwardness."

  Siuan nearly gaped in astonishment. That came very near to talking about what was never to be talked about, very near, a transgression she would never have expected from this woman. From herself, perhaps—she had fitted herself into her niche, yet she was who she was—but never from Lelaine!

  "I hope you and I can become friends again, Siuan, though I can understand if that proves impossible. This meeting tonight confirms what Faolain told me." Lelaine gave a small laugh and folded her hands at her waist. "Oh, don't grimace so, Siuan. She didn't betray you, at least not intentionally. She made one slip too many, and I decided to press her, rather hard. Not the way to treat another sister, but then, she's really just an Accepted until she can be tested and passes. Faolain will make a fine Aes Sedai. She was very reluctant to surrender everything she gave. Just bits and pieces, really, and a few names, but put together with you in that gathering, it gives me a complete picture, I think. I suppose I can let her free of confinement now. She certainly won't think of spying on me again. You and your friends have been very faithful to Egwene, Siuan. Can you be as faithful to me?"

  So that was why Faolain had seemed to go into hiding. How many "bits and pieces" had she revealed while being "pressed hard"? Faolain did not know everything, yet it would be best to assume that Lelaine did. But assume while revealing nothing unless she herself was pressed hard.

  Siuan stopped dead, drawing herself up. Lelaine halted, too, clearly waiting for her to speak. Even with her face half in shadow that was clear. Siuan had to steel herself to confront this woman. Some instincts were buried in the bone for Aes Sedai. "I'm faithful to you as a Sitter for my Ajah, but Egwene al'Vere is the Amyrlin Seat."

  "So she is." Lelaine's expression remained unruffled, as much as Siuan could make out. "She spoke in your dreams? Tell me what you know of her situation, Siuan." Siuan glanced over her shoulder at the stocky Warder. "Don't mind him," the Sitter said. "I haven't kept a secret from Burin in twenty years."

  "In my dreams," Siuan agreed. She certainly did not intend to admit that had been only to summon her to Salidar in Tel'aran'rhiod. She was not supposed to have that ring in her possession. The Hall would take it away if they learned of it. Calmly—outwardly calm, at least— she related what she had told Myrelle and the others, and more. But not everything. Not the certainty of betrayal. That had to have come from the Hall itself—no one else had known of the plan to block the harbor, except the women involved—though whoever was accountable could not have known they were betraying Egwene. Only helping Elaida, which was mystery enough. Why would any among them want to help Elaida? There had been talk of Elaida's secret adherents from the start, yet she herself had long since dismissed the notion. Most assuredly every Blue fervently wanted Elaida pulled down, but until she knew who was responsible, no Sitter, not even a Blue, would learn everything. "She's called a sitting of the Hall for tomorrow . . . no, it would be tonight, now, when Last sounds," she finished. "Inside the Tower, in the Hall of the Tower."

  Lelaine laughed so hard that she had to brush a tear from her eye. "Oh, that is priceless. The Hall to sit right under Elaida's nose, as it were. I almost wish I could let her know just to see her face." Just as abruptly, she turned serious again. Lelaine had always had a ready laugh, when she chose to let it out, but the core of her was
always serious. "So Egwene thinks the Ajahs may be turning on one another. That hardly seems possible. She's only seen a handful of sisters, you say. Still, it bears looking into the next time in Tel'aran'rhiod. Perhaps someone can see what they can find in the Ajah quarters instead of concentrating on Elaida's study."

  Siuan barely suppressed a wince. She planned to do a little searching in Tel'aran'rhiod herself. Whenever she went to the Tower in the World of Dreams, she was a different woman in a different dress every time she turned a corner, but she would have to be even more cautious than usual.

  "Refusing rescue is understandable, I suppose, even laudable—no one wants any more dead sisters—but very risky," Lelaine went on. "No trial, and not even a birching? What can Elaida be playing at? Can she think to make her take up as Accepted again? That hardly seems likely." But she gave a small nod, as though considering it.

  This was heading in a dangerous direction. If sisters convinced themselves they knew where Egwene might be, the chance increased that someone would try to bring her out, Aes Sedai guards or no. Trying at the wrong place could be as risky as at the right one, if not more so. Worse, Lelaine was ignoring something.

  "Egwene has called the Hall to sit," Siuan asked acidly. "Will you go?" Reproving silence answered her, and her cheeks grew hot again. Some things were buried in the bone.

  "Of course, I will go," Lelaine said at last. A direct statement, yet there had been a pause. "The entire Hall will go. Egwene al'Vere is the Amyrlin Seat, and we have more than sufficient dream ter’angreal. Perhaps she will explain how she believes she can hold out if Elaida orders her broken. I would very much like to hear that."

  "Then what are you asking me to be faithful to you about?"