The Gathering Storm

by Robert Jordan

  “This doesn’t say for certain Elaida has Traveling,” Romanda noted from inside the tent. “The Red sister could have gotten to Kandor by other means.”

  Ashmanaille shook her head. “They saw a gateway made. The chief clerk discovered an accounting error and sent a scribe out after Elaida’s delegation to give them a few extra coins. The man described what he saw perfectly. The horses were riding through a black hole in the air. It stunned him so deeply that he called for the guard—but by then Elaida’s people were already gone. I interrogated him myself.”

  “I dislike trusting the word of one man,” said Moria, sitting near the front of the group.

  “The chief clerk described in detail the woman who took the money from him,” Ashmanaille said. “I am confident that it was Nesita. Perhaps we could discover if she is in the Tower? That would give us further proof.”

  Others raised objections, but Siuan ceased to listen closely. Perhaps this was a very clever ruse intended to distract them, but they couldn’t take that chance. Light! Was she the only one with a head on her shoulders?

  She grabbed the nearest novice, a mousy girl who was probably older than she looked—she’d have to be, since she looked no older than nine. “I need a courier,” Siuan informed her. “Fetch one of the messengers Lord Bryne left at the camp for running news to him. Quickly.”

  The girl yelped, dashing away.

  “What was that about?” Sheriam asked.

  “Saving our lives,” Siuan said, glaring at the crowding novices. “All right!” she growled. “Enough gawking! If your classes are postponed because of this fiasco, then find some work to do. Any novice still standing on this walkway in ten seconds will find herself doing penance until she can’t count straight!”

  That initiated a mass exodus of white, the families of women bustling away with hurried steps. In moments, only the small group of Accepted remained, along with Sheriam and Siuan. The Accepted cringed when Siuan glanced at them, but she said nothing. Part of the privilege of being an Accepted was increased freedom. Besides, as long as Siuan could move without bumping someone, she was satisfied.

  “Why wasn’t this meeting Sealed to the Flame in the first place?” she asked Sheriam.

  “I don’t know,” Sheriam admitted, glancing into the large tent. “It’s daunting news, if it’s true.”

  “This was bound to occur eventually,” Siuan said, though she was nowhere near that calm on the inside. “News of Traveling has to be spreading.”

  What happened? she thought. They didn’t break Egwene, did they? Light send it wasn’t her or Leane who was forced to give up this secret. Beonin. It had to be her. Burn it all!

  She shook her head. “Light send that we can keep Traveling secret from the Seanchan. When they do assault the White Tower, we’ll want at least that advantage.”

  Sheriam eyed her, skepticism showing. Most of the sisters didn’t believe Egwene’s Dreaming of the attack. Fools—they wanted to catch the fish, but didn’t want to gut it. You didn’t raise a woman to Amyrlin, then treat her warnings lightly.

  Siuan waited impatiently, tapping her foot, listening to the conversation inside the tent. Just as she was beginning to wonder if she’d need to send another novice, one of Bryne’s couriers trotted up to the tent on horseback. The ill-tempered brute he was riding was midnight black with white just above the hooves, and it snorted at Siuan as the rider pulled up short, wearing a neat uniform and close-cropped brown hair. Did he have to bring that creature with him?

  “Aes Sedai?” the man asked, bowing to her from horseback. “You have a message for Lord Bryne?”

  “Yes,” Siuan said. “And you’ll see it delivered with all haste. You understand me? All of our lives could depend on it.”

  The soldier nodded sharply.

  “Tell Lord Bryne . . .” Siuan began. “Tell him to watch his flanks. Our enemy has been taught the method we used to get here.”

  “It shall be done.”

  “Repeat it back to me,” Siuan said.

  “Of course, Aes Sedai,” the slender man said, bowing again. “Just so you know, I have been a messenger in the general’s command for over a decade. My memory—”

  “Stop,” Siuan interrupted. “I don’t care how long you’ve been doing this. I don’t care how good your memory is. I don’t care if, by some twist of fate, you’ve been asked to run this very same message a thousand times before. You will repeat it back to me.”

  “Um, yes, Aes Sedai. I’m to tell the Lord General to watch his flanks. Our enemy has been taught the method we used to get here.”

  “Good. Go.”

  The man nodded.

  “Now!”

  He reared that awful horse and galloped out of the camp, cloak flapping behind him.

  “What was that about?” Sheriam asked, glancing away from the proceedings inside the Hall.

  “Making certain we don’t wake up with Elaida’s army surrounding us,” Siuan said. “I’ll bet I’m the only one who thought to warn our general that the enemy may have just undone our biggest tactical advantage. So much for a siege.”

  Sheriam frowned, as if she hadn’t considered that. She wouldn’t be alone. Oh, some would think of Bryne, and would be planning to send word to the general eventually. But for many, the catastrophe here wasn’t the fact that Elaida could now move her armies to flank them, or that now Bryne’s siege was useless. The catastrophe would be more personal for them: the knowledge they’d worked to keep secret had fallen into the hands of others. Traveling was theirs, and now Elaida had it! Very Aes Sedai. Indignation first, implication second.

  Or perhaps Siuan was just feeling bitter. Someone inside the tent finally thought to call for the meeting to be Sealed to the Flame, and so Siuan withdrew, stepping off the walkway and onto the hard-packed earth. Novices scuttled this way and that, heads bowed to avoid her eyes, though they were quick to curtsy. I haven’t been doing a very good job of acting weak today, Siuan thought with a grimace.

  The White Tower was crumbling. The Ajahs weakened one another with petty infighting. Even here, in Egwene’s camp, more time was spent politicking than preparing for the coming storm.

  And Siuan was partially responsible for those failures.

  Elaida and her Ajah certainly bore the lionfish’s share of the blame. But would the Tower have split in the first place if Siuan had fostered cooperation between the Ajahs? Elaida hadn’t had that long to work. Every rift that appeared in the Tower could likely be traced back to tiny cracks during Siuan’s tenure as Amyrlin. If she’d been more of a mediator among the factions of the White Tower, could she have pounded strength into the bones of these women? Could she have kept them from turning on one another like razorfish in a blood frenzy?

  The Dragon Reborn was important. But he was only one figure in the weaving of these final days. It was too easy to forget that, too easy to watch the dramatic figure of legend and forget everyone else.

  She sighed, picking up her laundry and—out of habit—checking to make certain everything was there. As she did so, a figure in white approached her from one of the branching pathways. “Siuan Sedai?”

  Siuan looked up, frowning. The novice before her was one of the strangest in the camp. Nearly seventy years old, Sharina had the weathered, creased face of a grandmother. She kept her silver hair up in a bun, and while she walked without a stoop, there was a certain distinct weight to her. She had seen so much, done so much, passed so many years. And unlike an Aes Sedai, Sharina had lived all of those years. Working, raising a family, even burying children.

  She was strong in the power. Remarkably so; she would wear the shawl for certain, and as soon as she did, she’d be far above Siuan. For now, though, Sharina curtsied deeply. She gave an almost perfect show of deference. Of all of the novices, she was known to complain the least, make the least trouble, and study the most assiduously. As a novice, she understood things that most Aes Sedai had never learned—or had forgotten the moment they took the shawl. How to
be humble when necessary, how to take a punishment, how to know when you needed to learn rather than pretend you already knew. If only we had a few score more of her, Siuan thought, and a few score less Elaidas and Romandas.

  “Yes, child?” Siuan asked. “What is it?”

  “I saw you picking up that wash, Siuan Sedai,” Sharina said. “And I thought that perhaps I should carry it for you.”

  Siuan hesitated. “I wouldn’t want you to tire yourself.”

  Sharina raised an eyebrow in a very un-novice-like expression. “These old arms carried loads twice that heavy back and forth from the river just last year, Siuan Sedai, juggling three grandchildren all the way. I think I’ll be all right.” There was something in her eyes, a hint that her offer was not all it seemed to be. This one was adept at more than just Healing weaves, it appeared.

  Curious, Siuan let the aged woman take the basket. They began to walk down the pathway toward the novices’ tents.

  “It’s curious,” Sharina said, “that such a large disturbance could be caused by such a seemingly simple revelation, wouldn’t you say, Siuan Sedai?”

  “Elaida’s discovery of Traveling is an important revelation.”

  “And yet nowhere near as important as the ones rumored to have come during the meeting a few months back, when that man who can channel visited. Odd that this should create such a scene.”

  Siuan shook her head. “The thinking of crowds is often odd at first consideration, Sharina. Everyone is still talking about that Asha’man visit, and they’re thirsty for more. So they react with excitement at the chance to hear something else. In that way, the great revelations can come in secret, but then cause lesser ones to be received in an explosion of anxiety.”

  “One could put that observation to good use, I should think.” Sharina nodded to a group of novices as they passed. “If one wanted to cause worry, that is.”

  “What are you saying?” Siuan asked, eyes narrowing.

  “Ashmanaille reported first to Lelaine Sedai,” Sharina said softly. “I’ve heard that Lelaine was the one who let the news slip. She spoke it out loud in the hearing of a family of novices while calling for the Hall to meet. She also deflected several early calls for the meeting to be Sealed to the Flame.”

  “Ah,” Siuan said. “So that’s why!”

  “I relate only hearsay, of course,” Sharina explained, pausing in the shade of a scraggly blackwood tree. “It is probably just foolishness. Why, an Aes Sedai of Lelaine’s stature would know that if she let information slip in the hearing of novices, it would soon pass to all willing ears.”

  “And in the Tower, every ear is willing.”

  “Exactly, Siuan Sedai,” Sharina said, smiling.

  Lelaine had wanted to create a menagerie of a meeting—she’d wanted novices listening in, and every sister in the camp joining in the discussion. Why? And why was Sharina confiding her very un-novice-like opinions?

  The answer was obvious. The more threatened the women in the camp felt—the more danger they saw from Elaida—the easier it would be for a firm hand to seize control. Though the sisters were indignant now over the mere loss of a closely guarded secret, they would soon realize the danger that Siuan had already seen. Soon there would be fear. Worry. Anxiety. The siege would never work, not now that the Aes Sedai inside it could Travel wherever and whenever they wished. Bryne’s army at the bridges had become useless.

  Unless Siuan missed her guess, Lelaine would be making certain that everyone else noticed the implications, too.

  “She wants us scared,” Siuan said. “She wants a crisis.” It was clever. Siuan should have seen this coming. The fact that she hadn’t—and the fact that she’d gotten no wind of Lelaine’s plans—also whispered an important fact. The woman might not trust Siuan as deeply as she seemed to. Blast!

  She focused on Sharina. The gray-haired woman stood patiently, waiting as Siuan worked through what she’d revealed.

  “Why did you tell me this?” Siuan asked. “For all you know, I’m Lelaine’s lackey.”

  Sharina raised her eyebrows. “Please, Siuan Sedai. These eyes aren’t blind, and they see a woman working very hard to keep the Amyrlin’s enemies occupied.”

  “Fine,” Siuan said. “But you are still exposing yourself for very little reward.”

  “Little reward?” Sharina asked. “Excuse me, Siuan Sedai, but what do you suppose my fate will be if the Amyrlin doesn’t return? No matter what she says now, we can sense Lelaine Sedai’s true opinions.”

  Siuan hesitated. Though Lelaine now played the part of Egwene’s pious advocate, not too long ago she had been as displeased as everyone else over the too-old novices. Few liked it when traditions changed.

  Now that the new novices had been entered into the novice book, it would be very difficult to put them out of the Tower. But that didn’t mean the Aes Sedai would continue to let older women in. Beyond that, there was a good chance that Lelaine—or whoever ended up with the Amyrlin Seat—would find a way to delay or disrupt the progression of the women who had been accepted against tradition. That would certainly include Sharina.

  “I will let the Amyrlin know of your actions here,” Siuan said. “You will be rewarded.”

  “My reward will be Egwene Sedai’s return, Siuan Sedai. Pray it be swift. She entangled our fate with her own the moment she took us in. After what I’ve seen, and what I’ve felt, I have no intention of stopping my training.” The woman hefted the basket. “I assume you wish these washed and returned to you?”

  “Yes. Thank you.”

  “I am a novice, Siuan Sedai. It is my duty and my pleasure.” The elderly woman bowed in respect and continued on down the path, walking with a step younger than her years.

  Siuan watched her go, then stopped another novice. Another messenger to Bryne. Just in case. Hurry up, girl, Siuan thought to Egwene, glancing toward the spire of the White Tower. Sharina isn’t the only one whose fate is entangled with yours. You’ve got us all wound up in that net of yours.

  CHAPTER 19

  Gambits

  Chaos. The entire world was chaos.

  Tuon stood on the balcony of her audience hall in the palace of Ebou Dar, hands clasped behind her back. In the palace grounds—flagstones washed white, like so many surfaces in the city—a group of Altaran armsmen in gold and black practiced formations beneath the watchful eyes of a pair of her own officers. Beyond them, the city proper rose, white domes banded with colors spreading alongside tall, white spires.

  Order. Here in Ebou Dar, there was order, even in the fields of tents and wagons outside the city. Seanchan soldiers patrolled and kept the peace; there were plans to clean out the Rahad. Just because one was poor was not a reason—or an excuse—to live without law.

  But this city was just a tiny, tiny pocket of order in a world of tempest. Seanchan itself was broken by civil war, now that the Empress had died. The Corenne had come, but recapturing these lands of Artur Hawkwing progressed slowly, stalled by the Dragon Reborn in the east and Domani armies in the north. She still waited to hear news of Lieutenant-General Turan, but the signs were not good. Galgan maintained that they might be surprised at the outcome, but Tuon had seen a black dove the hour she was informed of Turan’s predicament. The omen had been clear. He would not return alive.

  Chaos. She glanced to the side, where faithful Karede stood in his thick armor, colored blood-red and a deep green, nearly black. He was a tall man, square face nearly as solid as the armor he wore. He had fully two dozen Deathwatch Guards with him this day—the day after Tuon’s return to Ebou Dar—along with six Ogier Gardeners, all standing along the walls. They lined the sides of the high-ceilinged, white-pillared room. Karede sensed the chaos, and did not intend to let her be taken again. Chaos was the most deadly when you made assumptions about what it could and couldn’t infect. Here in Ebou Dar, it manifested in the form of a faction intent on taking Tuon’s own life.

  She had been dodging assassinations since she could walk, and sh
e had survived them all. She anticipated them. In a way, she thrived because of them. How were you to know that you were powerful unless assassins were sent to kill you?

  Suroth’s betrayal, however . . . Chaos, indeed, when the leader of the Forerunners herself turned traitor. Bringing the world back into order was going to be very, very difficult. Perhaps impossible.

  Tuon straightened her back. She had not thought to become Empress for many years yet. But she would do her duty.

  She turned away from the balcony and walked back into the audience chamber to face the crowd awaiting her. Like the others of the Blood, she wore ashes on her cheeks to mourn the loss of the Empress. Tuon had little affection for her mother, but affection was not needed for an empress. She provided order and stability. Tuon had only begun to understand the importance of these things as the weight had settled on her shoulders.

  The chamber was wide and rectangular, lit with candelabras between the pillars and the radiant glow of sunlight through the wide balcony behind. Tuon had ordered the room’s rugs removed, preferring the bright white tiles. The ceiling bore a painted mural of fishers at sea, with gulls in the clear air, and the walls were a soft blue. A group of ten da’covale knelt before the candelabras to Tuon’s right. They wore filmy costumes, waiting for a command. Suroth was not among them. The Deathwatch Guard saw to her, at least until her hair grew out.

  As soon as Tuon entered the room, all of the commoners bowed on knees with foreheads to the ground. Those of the Blood knelt, bowing their heads.

  Across from the da’covale, on the other side of the hall, Lanelle and Melitene knelt in dresses emblazoned with silver lightning bolts in red panels on their skirts. Their leashed damane knelt facedown. Tuon’s kidnapping had been unbearable to several of the damane; they had taken to inconsolable weeping during her absence.