Knife of Dreams (The Wheel of Time 11)

Faile grimaced. How often in the last few hours had she wished she had that slap back? Galina had promised. Could the woman be Black Ajah? "That doesn't matter now. One way or another, I'll see her repaid." How was another matter. Galina was Aes Sedai, after all. "Aravine, how many people did you bring? Can you—?"

Large hands took Aravine by the shoulders and moved her aside. "Enough talk." Rolan's face appeared in the gap, shoufa around his neck and veil hanging onto his chest. Rolan! "We cannot clear anything with you standing there, Faile Bashere. This thing may fall in when we start. Go to the other end and huddle against the far wall."

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

The man chuckled. He chuckled! "You still wear white, woman. Do as you are told, or when I have you out of there, I will smack your bottom soundly. And then maybe we will soothe your tears with a kissing game."

She showed him her teeth, hoping he did not take it for a grin. But he was right about them needing to move away, so she led her companions across the board-strewn stone floor to the far end of the basement where they crouched against the wall. She could hear voices muttering outside, likely discussing exactly how to go about clearing a path without making the rest of the building collapse on her head.

"All this for nothing," Alliandre said bitterly. "How many Shaido do you suppose are up there?''

Wood scraped loudly, and with a groan, the leaning pile of rubble leaned inward a little more. The voices began again.

"I haven't any idea," Faile told her. "But they must all be Mera'dhi, not Shaido." The Shaido did not mingle with the Brotherless. "There might be some hope in that." Surely Rolan would let her go once he learned about Dairaine. Of course, he would. And if he remained stubborn. ... In that case, she would do whatever was necessary to convince him. Perrin would never have to find out.

Wood scraped on wood again, and once more the heap of burned timbers and boards tilted inward a little further.

The fog hid the sun, but Perrin estimated it must be near midmorning. Grady would be coming soon. He should have been there by now. If the man had grown too tired to make another gateway. . . . No. Grady would come. Soon. But his shoulders were as tight as if he had been working a forge for a full day and longer.

"I tell you, I don't like this one bit," Gallenne muttered. In the thick mist, his red eyepatch was just another shadow. His heavy-chested bay nosed his back, impatient to be moving, and he patted the animal's neck absently. "If Masema really wants to kill the Lady First, I say we finish him now. We outnumber him. We can overwhelm his bodyguard in minutes."

"Fool,'' Arganda growled, glancing off to his right as if he could see Masema and his men through the curling grayness. Unlike the Mayener, he had put on his silvered helmet with its three fat white plumes. It and his breastplate, worked in gold and silver, glistened with condensation. Fog or no fog, his armor seemed almost to glow. "You think we can kill two hundred men without making a sound? Shouts will be heard the other side of this ridge. You have your ruler where you can surround her with nine hundred men and maybe get her away. Alliandre is still in that bloody town, and surrounded by Shaido."

Gallenne bristled, hand going to his sword hilt, as though he might practice on Arganda before moving on to Masema.

"We're not killing anybody but Shaido today," Perrin said firmly. Gallenne grunted, but he did not try to argue. He stank of discontent, though. Protecting Berelain would keep the Winged Guards out of the fighting.

Off to the left, a bluish flash appeared, dimmed by the thick mist, and the tightness in Perrin's shoulders loosened. Grady appeared in the fog, peering about him. His step picked up when he saw Perrin, but it was unsteady. Another man was with him, leading a tall, dark horse. Perrin smiled for the first time in a long while. "It's good to see you, Tam,'' he said.

"Good to see you, too, my Lord." Tam al'Thor was still a blocky man who looked ready to work fr

om sunup to sundown without slacking, but the hair on his head had gone completely gray since Perrin had seen him last, and he had a few more lines on his bluff face. He took in Arganda and Gallenne with a steady gaze. Fancy armor did not impress him.

"How are you holding up, Grady?" Perrin asked.

"I'm holding up, my Lord." The weathered man's voice sounded bone weary. Shadowed by the fog as it was, his face still looked older than Tarn's.

"Well, as soon as you're done here, join Mishima. I want somebody keeping an eye on him. Somebody who makes him too nervous to think they can change what they agreed to." He would have liked to tell Grady to tie off this gateway. It would make a short path to take Faile back to the Two Rivers. But if things went wrong today, it would make a short path for the Shaido, too.

"Don't know as I could make a cat nervous right now, my Lord, but I'll do what I can.''

Frowning, Tam watched Grady vanish into the gray murk. "I could wish I'd had some other way to get here," he said. "Fellows like him visited the Two Rivers a while back. One called himself Mazrim Taim, a name we'd all heard. A false Dragon. Only now he wears a black coat with fancy embroidery and calls himself the M'Hael. They talked everywhere about teaching men to channel, about this Black Tower." He freighted the words with sourness. "The Village Councils tried to put a stop to it, and the Women's Circles, but they ended up taking above forty men and boys with them. Thank the Light some listened to sense, or I think they'd have had ten times that." His gaze shifted to Perrin. "Taim said Rand sent him. He said Rand is the Dragon Reborn." There was a touch of questioning in that, perhaps a hope for denial, perhaps a demand to know why Perrin had kept silent.

Those hues whirled in Perrin's head, but he batted them away and answered by not answering. What was, was. "Nothing to be done about it now, Tam." According to Grady and Neald, the Black Tower did not just let men go once they signed on.

Sadness entered Tam 's scent, though he let nothing show on his face. He knew the fate of men who could channel. Grady and Neald claimed the male half of the Source was clean, now, but Perrin could not see how that could be. What was, was. You did the job you were given, followed the road you had to follow, and that was that. There was no point complaining about blisters, or rocks underfoot.

Perrin went on. "This is Bertain Gallenne, Lord Captain of the Winged Guards, and Gerard Arganda, First Captain of the Legion of the Wall." Arganda shrugged uncomfortably. That name carried political weight in Ghealdan, and apparently Alliandre had not felt strong enough to announce that she was reconstituting the Legion. Balwer had a nose for sniffing out secrets, though. This one made sure Arganda would not go wild trying to reach his queen. "Gallenne, Arganda, this is Tam al'Thor. He's my First Captain. You studied the map, Tam, and my plan?"

"I studied them, my Lord," Tam said dryly. Of course he would have. "It looks a good plan to me. As good as any till the arrows start flying."

Arganda put a booted foot in his roan's stirrup. "So long as he's your First Captain, my Lord, I have no objections." He had offered plenty earlier. Neither he nor Gallenne had been pleased that Perrin was putting someone over them.

From up the slope came a black-winged mocker's shrill cry of alarm. Only one. If it had been a real bird, the call would have been repeated.

Perrin scrambled up the slope as fast he could. Arganda and Gallenne passed him on their mounts, but they divided to ride to their men, disappearing into the thick gray haze. Perrin continued to the top and beyond. Dannil was standing almost at the edge of the fog, peering toward the Shaido encampment. He pointed, but the reason for the alarm was obvious. A large group of algai'd'siswai was leaving the tents, maybe four hundred or more. The Shaido sent out raiding parties frequently, but this one was aimed straight at Perrin. They were just walking, but it would not take them long to reach the ridge.

"It's time to let them see us, Dannil," he said, unpinning his cloak and draping it over a low bush. He would come back for it later. If he could. It would only get in his way, now.