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Jakob opened his eyes and clamped his mouth shut against his heaving stomach. The world seemed strangely dull and muted, but the tiny room spun like a top. With a supreme effort, he made himself stagger against one of walls and collapsed against it until his nausea disappeared. Only then did he become aware of the pain stabbing him from inside his own skull. The two women must have done this to him.
The Amyrlin. What had they done with the Amyrlin?
He stumbled drunkenly to the wooden door and fumbled until he found the latch. The air in the hallway outside was blessedly cool. It was dusty here. He was still in the so-called White Tower.
The pain in his head dulled to an ache as, more out of habit than any conscious thought, he made his way to the Amyrlin's room. There was no sign of anyone so far. No Ae'dai, no demons - he might as well have been the only one left alive. That chilling thought was the worst of all. He suppressed it ruthlessly. They were alive. They had to be.
He pushed open the door of the Amyrlin's rooms.
No.
The bodies had been discarded like so much refuse, left to rot where their remains would not be found for many years, if at all. The Novices were the worst. Small and frail, they watched him with unseeing eyes.
"Boy. Jakob."
He spun too quickly, nearly toppling in his haste. But his own pain was forgotten when he saw the Amyrlin pushing herself up the wall. The agony in her face seemed to etch itself in her mind.
"Listen to me," she ordered, still imperious even now. "There is a Novice out there. Elena. She can defeat the demons. She has the power to stop the Dark One." She sucked in a ragged breath. "If she has any brains, she ran to Quentin. Find one, and you find the other."
Jakob nodded mutely. "Amyrlin, I - "
"No. Quiet." She gulped another breath. "I don't know what they did to me, but I'm not going to last long. You need to find your brother and sister."
"Jonaton and Elza?" He shook his head. "They're in the Manifest."
"They're important. Quentin and I always knew that." She shivered and started to fall; Jakob caught her and held her weightless body as gently as he could. "It was a Seeing I had: sight for the third, power for the second, glory for the first. The demons left you alive because they think you're not a threat anymore." She coughed raggedly. "They were wrong. Without you, she won't be where she is needed."
"The Paladin?"
"No." The light faded from her eyes. "The other."
"Amyrlin?" Jakob shook her slightly. "Alwen Asuwa?"
But she was gone.
There was no feeling left in him. Even idan, distant and alluring, seemed to flicker like a dying flame. He was the only one left, spared only because he was so unimportant that he could safely be ignored. And now he had been given a mission by the last Amyrlin of the White Tower. Find Elena, a Novice he knew only by name. Find Quentin. And then what? Tell the girl that she was the only one who could still claim the Tower's teachings? Explain to the A'sh'man how his sister had died?
This distant feeling, as if watching through another's eyes. This, then, was shock and denial.
He reached for idan, trying to steady himself with the familiar battle against fire and ice.
And found nothing.
The Power was still there, still gleaming and flickering, still enticing him. But what separated him and it was a vast chasm wider than a thousand seas. He could never hope to cross it.
"They left you because they think you're not a threat anymore."
Not a threat. After all, what threat could a Severed man be?
The bitter laugh sounded like it came from another. How could he have made such a choked, hopeless half-sob? A Severed man was no use to anyone. A Severed man was no threat.
Glory for the first. Glory in what?
Elza. Jonaton. Power and sight.
Laughter and sobs mingled and mixed until they were inseparable. And he realized, in the most distant and sheltered part of himself, that both sounded more than a little mad.
***
Rill bit out a curse that would have made a trader blush. "How did they find us?" she demanded after she had let loose a few more of her choice profanities. "How did they bloody find us?"
"Signal fires." Jayshani reined her horse around and tried to look in all directions at once. "There must have been an army nearby anyway." She could hear the drums in the distance. The small band had been reduced to a few scattered groups in a day as panic overtook them. Cowing villagers was one thing, but a Dician army meant certain death even for her trained men and women.
"What were they doing with an army up here?" Rill demanded. The girl fingered her bow as if waiting for a soldier to show himself. Her helmet was askew and her lurid curses made her the very antithesis of the virtuous warrior women of ballads, but she still seemed someone who had stepped out of a story. It was hard to imagine Rill as a child - or as anyone besides the perfect archer Jayshani saw now.
"Probably trying to hunt down the Children. Or invade South Manthrin." That dark thought turned her stomach. Another war like the one her own father had started less than twenty years ago, men and women slaughtered, children fleeing in terror…
I am the Captain of the Red Hand, not the Princess of the Tashiri. I swore a battle oath before I knew what a sword was. She counted her troops silently. Eighteen. And running like scared sheep, all of them. Because of the High Seat and his designs against my father's empire.
A grim smile crossed her face. "Listen carefully. It is still night. We can escape this if we move carefully and quietly. The Light is with us and the wind blows us where it will. We ride north."
Hands on their weapons, the remnants of the raiding party began to make their way home.
***
Why are you here, cub?
Jaia stopped short, not sure what to make of this newest vision. She had had many strange dreams since she began her journey with Mai and Tem, but not once had they included this enormous wolf.
Why are you here?
Correction. This enormous intelligent wolf.
She recognized her surroundings, although they had a misty quality and seemed slightly transparent. This was the camp she had made with Merion and Dav. "I don't know why I'm here," she said slowly, turning so she could scan the landscape. Yes, it was indeed the same forest.
The wolf padded over to her. Great She-Bear is reckless.
"Great She-Bear is getting a bit tired of being kept in the dark." Jaia rested her hands on the creature's powerful shoulder. "Now was there something you wanted to tell me, or are you just here to berate me?"
Follow. You are needed.
The world shifted and became the vegetation on the edge of a clearing. Jaia curled her fingers in the wolf's fur as a rank smell burned her nose. "What is that?" she whispered.
Silence now. Watch.
Jaia squinted at the three figures standing in the clearing. She did not recognize any of them, nor did she understand what it was they argued about. But they smelled horribly wrong. She understood that much. And they were huddled around something - a small bundle on the ground.
Then a familiar scent wafted on a breeze and Jaia felt her breath freeze in her lungs. Her voice was a hoarse whisper. "Tem!"
***
Tem bit her lip to keep a sob from escaping and twisted around, trying to find a way to free herself from the bonds the demons had made from the air. She had given up attempting to keep tears from running down her cheeks, but she would not give them the satisfaction of hearing her weep.
"You're taking this a bit hard," Elador said conversationally. "This is hardly a personal strike against you."
"Devilspawn." Tem's voice broke, but that did not keep her from being stubbornly defiant. I'm trying, Mai. I'm really trying.
"With all due respect, my lord, stop torturing the girl." The sharp-faced woman - Leese, Tem thought - crossed her arms and glared balefully at the towering man. "She's not stupid. Don't patronize her."
"She's the enemy," the younger woman snapped. "One of the Paladin's supports. Or is your brain so addled that you don't remember?"
Leese did not answer. Instead she brushed past Elador and looked down at Tem. "She didn't choose to be vereni."
"And DeShellay didn't choose to be the Paladin, I'm sure. Great Lord give me patience!" The young woman - Layla - settled herself on a throne that simply appeared out of thin air. "Nae'blis, either do something with this brat or I might have to hurt her."
Tem curled her leg back and did her best to aim a kick at the horrible young woman. She missed, naturally, but it felt good to actually do something.
"Do be still." Elador gestured vaguely in her direction. Agony spiked through her legs, leaving her gasping through sobs.
"Well?" Layla demanded.
He smiled indulgently, like a parent patronizing a particularly slow child. "Very well. I will send word that DeShellay should show herself. But you are not to harm her." His eyes locked first on Leese, then on Layla. "Either of you."
"Of course, Nae'blis." Leese bowed her head stiffly.
Layla merely smiled. "As you wish, I'm sure."
Tem curled one hand into a fist, her nails digging into her palm until warm blood ran down her hand. The pain reminded her that this was all real. Wherever she was, she was a captive of demons and she was being used as bait.
She managed to reach Elador's chest with her spittle. For a moment she had the satisfaction of seeing that horrid icy composure break before another gesture forced a scream from her.
***
Brendell shook his head. "No. I'm not letting you do this. Not for all the gold in Tashar."
Mai eyed him. "Do you two have a better idea?"
"Do we have a better idea than you marching up to this thing and just trying to outfight it?" Wat stared at her as if she had sprouted a few more heads. "Mai, are you insane? That...that thing nearly killed you in the tent!"
"So you don't have any better ideas." Mai nodded slightly. "I thought so."
"We could keep you as far away from it as possible," Wat retorted. "That seems like a better plan to me. Brendell and I can - "
"Do what?" Mai looked from one to the other. "You two can't Link." She did not know how she knew that, but she did. The voices rumbled in her head. "I'm supposed to be this great savior of the world. Let me act like it for once."
"You want to get yourself killed because your bloody stupid plan's the first we came up with?" Brendell threw his hands in the air. "Fine."
"My plan's not bloody stupid!" Mai jabbed a finger at him. "Unless you can give me another idea, Brendell bloody Cane, I'm going to do exactly what - "
"Paladin!"
One moment there was empty forest all around them, the next moment a regal, ageless woman strode out. Her hands were clasped in front of her and the shawl hiding her hair was rumpled, as if she had been running just a short while ago.
The voices were screaming incoherently at her. Mai ground her teeth and forced them back so she could hear herself think. "Who are you?"
"The Protector," Brendell answered. "I've seen her once or twice. She wouldn't hurt us." He glanced at Mai uneasily. "At least, I think so."
The Protector looked from Wat to Brendell, her eyes narrowing. "The companions we find are not always the ones we would choose, it seems." Her eyes returned to Mai. "Paladin - "
"Don't call me that."
"Mai DeShellay, then. Your friend has need of you."
An icy fist closed around Mai's heart. "Who?"
"Tem E'Brell. I would not have left her, but I cannot face three on my own. I am not a channeler."
Mai started toward her, barely aware of her hand closing around the dagger at her side. "Three of who?" she asked softly. Dangerously.
"Demons."
"And you just left her?!" Mai grabbed the woman by her high collar and dragged her down just far enough to bring those ageless eyes to her level. "I don't care who you are!" she hissed. "If you left her to die - "
"If you knew who I am, you would know that I would never have left her willingly. I had no choice."
There was something liquid glimmering in the Protector's eyes.
Tears, Mai realized distantly.
She let the woman go. "I believe you." The voices screamed again. "I don't know why, but I do."
"If demons have Tem..." Wat swallowed hard. "Mai, you'll need my help."
"Our help," Brendell corrected.
"No." Mai looked from one to the other. "You're not the bloody Paladin, remember?" She turned back to the Protector. "Lead the way."
The woman hesitated for a moment, clearly unbalanced. "You do not look as I last remember you."
"Last time you saw me, I was probably a boy." Mai held out her hand. "Come on. Hurry."
The Protector took her hand and the world shifted, leaving Wat and Brendell behind.
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