The Past Undying, Redeux [Attn: Ravak Darrow Gaidin]

[Bella]

As Miahala put on the rest of her clothing, she could not suppress a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. Dreams were always unsettling in their own right, as they left her unsure of what was real and what wasn't for some while after she'd woken. Sometimes, however, the Dreams did not play as harbinger of such darkness.

She stepped out of the tent, pulling her cloak close around her. She nodded to him and let him go into the tent to seek his own respite without saying anything or asking anything of him.

The tent flap closed and she found herself in the dark and alone. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms against the chill that no touch could reach. What was she getting them into, she wondered. However, she knew that it could not be avoided. There was evil there, that much was obvious, and what else did they two exist for but to combat it?

Listening to the area around them and hearing nothing, she paced slowly around their small camp area and the gently flickering fire. It was nothing that would attract attention, but afforded a little light and heat to ward off against the Blightborder night. Time passed slowly and she tried to pull apart the details of her Dream, despite knowing how futile that was.

Much of it she would not understand until it was upon her. She knew that from over a century of experience, but that didn't stop her from trying.

One connection, however, occurred to her later than it had occurred to Ravak. (Not that she knew this, of course.) She thought of the dragon, and recalled what had likely been a rather inappropriate moment on her part with his forearm and its tattoo. That seemed like so long ago now, in many ways.

As soon as the thoughts were linked, however, she stopped it with cold practicality before it went any further.

He is here as your warder, and shall do so. The Dream is telling you that he will protect you against whatever this evil before you is, because that is his duty to the Tower, and in the short-term to you. Your duty is to focus on what that evil is, and figure out how to stop it before it spreads. And so you shall.

From there, the hours passed until light rose on the horizon.

She was, in equal parts, wary and relieved for the sight of the sun rising. What brought better comfort were the sounds of Ravak stirring within the tent, and the knowledge her solitude--for the moment--was soon to end. As she had already brought out some provisions from the saddlebags, it was easy enough to start breakfast.

Besides, it gave her something to do other than think. She was contented to not spend too much more time thinking. The meal was already cooking, with her kneeling beside the fire no longer caring about the pain, when he emerged minutes later. She glanced at him as he came out and offered a faint smile, though there was as little emotion in it. "Good morning, Ravak."

[Craig]

Ravak

The triumphant grin slid off the Shienaran's face when he saw the tightness around the Captain-General's eyes. He chastised himself silently before taking a seat near the fire. Rav simply said "morning" as he took a place beside her at the fireside.

It was hard not to think about the day ahead. Feelings that were all too familiar on the eve of battle stirred within. There was a great feeling of accomplishment, knowing how far he'd come since his days in Fal Dara. The boy who had wanted to fight the Shadow could now fight, and had fought. There was also anxiety. Not from the knowledge that this day could be his last, but from his fear over how Kaira would fare if he wasn't to return. She's too damn young to lose both parents. Knowing one of Miahala's children had endured and prospered in spite of a worse fate did nothing to alleviate that concern.

His swords came out for inspection as he rode the waves of the other feelings that came to him. He needed this mental ritual to prepare himself. To be a Gaidin is to know sacrifice: that was the mantra he had produced for the Test of Honour. Moving through these thoughts and accepting them made any impending sacrifice easier.

Fighting Shadowspawn whilst defending an Aes Sedai. It seemed a perfect way to die, if such a thing existed.

Ravak checked to see if either of his weapons needed sharpening. The Tower-forged longsword seemed in a good enough state. At least, it wasn't so bad that it would impair his ability to kill Trollocs or Fades if it came to that. His other weapon, the sword-breaker his father had gifted him, was in near perfect condition. Funny how that had survived this entire time when he was around onto his second longsword, and already thinking about a third.

Putting both weapons away, he looked to Miahala. Breakfast seemed almost done. He waited impatiently, rubbing at the skin between his fingers for something to do. Eventually he just spoke up. "We should get there just after the sun is highest," he suggested. "Puts the light on our back; puts the sun in their eyes. Unless we find ourselves with this building or tower to investigate, then it'll make no real difference." Shrugging, he leaned back using his hands to support himself.

[Bella]

She found the food to be rather tasteless, but she made herself eat it because she knew that her body needed the strength. Sheer will alone had gotten her quite far in life and she had no doubt that it would continue to take her further, but she was not fool enough to rely on that on its own unless she had entirely no choice.

As he leaned back, she decided she couldn't eat anymore and started to clean up. "The interpretation of a Dream is not a reliable things, at least not before the events happen," she said thoughtfully as she worked. "From the Dream, however, I think the most resistance will be encountered outside.

"It seemed to me," she continued, pausing just as she rose to her feet to finish up, "that dark things took place within, but it was protected from without. So to have the sun in their eyes suits our purposes until we must enter the building. Then..." Frowning, she shook her head slightly and moved to the saddlebags. She returned a moment later.

Kneeling beside him, she could not escape the feeling in her chest but she put forward her carefully crafted mask of impassivity. "We should probably not dally," she said softly. "I am ready to depart and see this done if you are."

OOC: Yes, alas, it would be stretching. But was an amusing thought.

[Craig]

Ravak

Sadly there was no more reason to delay. After finishing off the morning meal, Ravak got to the business of dismantling the tent. He was very careful with the order of taking down the poles, so not to repeat yesterday's unfortunate event.

He found himself rolling up canvasses and bedrolls, and stuffing smaller items into bags, before handing them off to Miahala to place on the mounts. Impala and Seren seemed at peace, for now, as the Green sister strapped bundles behind their saddles. Ravak put out the fire, kicking snow onto the ashes to conceal their trail. Not that anyone would follow them into the Blight, but why take the risk?

Shortly thereafter they were on their way north and eastwards. As anticipated, the ground became rockier and more hilly as they preceded towards the Blight. Snow still covered vast swathes of the land and the cold was biting this far north. Just because there was no visible impact on the two travellers didn't mean they couldn't feel the chill running through their bones.

There was no conversation as they rode. What point would there be to it? For Ravak's part, he thought about what was to come whilst keeping a vigil on the landscape around them. He's knew the Shadow's tactics, both from his first-hand encounters and from the various treatises and tracts he'd studied. Trollocs would not a problem on the whole, but nothing protected you from a Myrddraal's gaze. Darkfriends were their own problem, and far more varied than their Shadowspawn compatriots.

Eventually the land on the horizon changed. Endless white snow and grey rock gave way to land the colour of burnt sienna. Orange dust caked the Blight. Rav didn't know the reason, but the land was dead beyond the reaches of Shienar. Snow ended a half-mile before the Blightborder proper, as the temperature shot up from below freezing to a humid summer's day.

As if sight and touch weren't enough of an indicator that this was now the Shadow's domain, the smell was impossible to ignore. Even breathing through his mouth, the stench was choking. Shadowspawn had to have crossed by this area in the last few days from the strength of the fumes. It was Trollocs specifically. Murder had its own scent, but the butchery that Trollocs demonstrated gave way to its own unique odour. If their task was just to kill some Trolloc raiding parties, he could have handled it alone with his eyes shut.

Their pace slowed. Orange dust rose behind them from the hooves of the two horses. Rav did his best to comfort Impala, resting a bare hand on his neck and stroking him affectionately. Blue-grey eyes looked to the sky. They had an hour, maybe less, if the map was accurate and his assumptions were correct.

[Bella]

Miahala was deep in her mind that morning. The path they rode was so like the ones she had ridden and walked so many times in her long life that she could almost see each memory as on overlay to both reality and her other memories, making the landscape almost shift before her eyes as they moved inexorably forward.

As the colors of the landscape shifted, and the feeling in the air, other memories pervaded. She looked everywhere and nowhere, saw everything and nothing.

Waking up in agony. Feeling like there was a line of fire radiating down her chest. A freshly healed wound, leaving an ugly new-looking scar with blood still crusted around it. Raging in her head. Every beat of her heart hurt. Why did it beat? Death. How could she be awake when she was dead? Staring at the sky. Screaming until her throat ran out of flesh to scream...

The Green Aes Sedai was not a woman who had ever learned or embraced the Void, or ko'di, but she did have a place of...Aes Sedai-ness that she went to when she needed to suppress everything she was and felt. That was where she took her mind to now, lest the past run rampant over her and render her useless.

She would not be made useless.

The scars on her back screamed for her attention just before she pulled that impassivity around her. The Blight had caused her such pain through her life, physical and emotional, so why did the border of it always sing to her? Why did Saldaea never cease to lure her back? And Shienar? And Arafel? And Kandor? Malkier, long swallowed the dirt.

It all called to her, and she would always march off to that call. It was in her blood, and she could do nothing less.

More silence. More riding. Seren danced beneath her at times, and she whispered to him and stroked his neck and eased him. They were getting close, and the horses were even more acutely aware of it than she and Ravak were. It would not be long now. Her heart began to feel like it was being squeezed. Somehow, she knew they were close.

"We should find a safe place to leave the horses," she declared, almost doubting her own voice as she heard it. It felt so distant that she didn't think it was hers. "As safe as can be here, but they will do nothing for us in what lay ahead but possibly be eaten." Somehow, she just knew...felt things. "It is very close now."

And so that was what they did. It wasn't ideal to have to leave the horses anywhere, and Seren was a trained warhorse, but she knew that this was better.

They moved towards a hill that rose up enough to obscure what lay before it and they both just knew. She did not know the source of his knowledge. In fact, she didn't understand the source of her own. It just was and she trusted her intuition. They crested the rise carefully and could see a valley on the other side.

And there, at the bottom of that shallow valley, was the building she had seen in her dreams. It wasn't very large, a one-story modest farmhouse of a sort, but built out of some sort of pale stone. She couldn't imagine there were more than a few rooms within, though it was big enough to...to what she didn't know. Just...enough.

There before it were Trollocs. Many Trollocs. Enough to give Miahala and Ravak quite a go of things to get into that building, but into that building they must go.

"Let it never be said I don't know how to show a man a good time," she whispered, just loud enough for Ravak's ears. Her quiet, almost emotionless delivery might lose her humor but she did offer him the faintest of sidelong smiles. It was as much emotion as could be pressed past the impassive mantle she wrapped around her, but she made the effort.

[Craig]

Ravak

Ravak knew what was in the valley some time before he saw it. Putrid fumes of carnage seemed to waft up from the valley floor; a scent that only derived from one source. The Blight was so defiant in the face of logic and reality that Ravak wondered why Miahala couldn't also detect them from their stench alone. The Blight had unnatural heat, unnatural soil, unnatural flora and fauna. Why did it not also have an unnatural scent for those with regular noses to encounter?

His focus returned to less philosophical questions as he built up a plan of action. His plans never accounted for the One Power, firstly because each channeller had different skills, and secondly because he could never wrap his mind around invisible weapons. So the plan involved himself and dealing with the small group of Trollocs that guarded this incongruous structure.

Sadly that plan ended as soon as it had began. Without better cover, there was no way to transverse the distance between the Trollocs and their current location without being seen. Ravak wasn't worried about crossing a field of arrows, although he had scars from the last time he'd attempted that. Trollocs didn't use bows, but they had spears, and they could throw them with both power and accuracy.

Kneeling down, Rav pressed a hand flat against the dry soil. He took up a pinch of the orange dust, then cast Miahala a questioning look. "What can you do with the wind?"

The answer pleased the Gaidin Captain.

A short time later, one of the Shadowspawn on guard grunted something harsh in the Trolloc tongue. That drew the attention of most of the others, who all moved round to see what the commotion was about. Further up the valley, a powerful wind started to kick up the loose ground. A thin cloud of orange dust covered the southern approach into the valley. There was more Trolloc shouting, gathering the rest of the grotesque creatures' attentions. A wind like this was not ordinary for the Blight, if the Blight could ever be considered ordinary.

A few minutes more and the storm of dust had rolled down into the valley. Some of the closest beasts held talons or hands up to shield their eyes from the sandstorm. As it neared, the particles seemed to snip and nick at their exposed skin. One Trolloc reared away as a cut opened up along one of its calves. Slowly the Shadowspawn moved towards the back of the farmhouse, dividing themselves into two retreating groups along the west and east flanks.

Ravak watched the storm uneasily. It surrounded him on all sides and howled like a dying animal. In contempt of this fact, the Gaidin Captain was unaffected by the Power-wrought weather. His fancloak hung limply down his back as he took one careful step after another. Somehow Miahala had placed him within a bubble of calm in the midst of this orange terror.

The howling dissipated quickly as lightning bolts started to crash down from the sky to Ravak's left. He glanced at the flashes, their impact sites hidden by a farmhouse only ten feet away. The Shienaran turned back to see what lay before him. He moved forward whilst his prey were still reeling with confusion.

The closest Trolloc lost both hands and its beak as the Gaidin Captain's blade slid through the air before its face. Luckily for the Trolloc, its confusion and agony was short-lived as a sword-breaker was driven hilt-deep into its neck.

Rav drew the weapon free and immediately clashed with a second opponent. A fist surrounded by dark fur punched away the shorter of his blades only to catch the edge of the longsword. The result was three clawed fingers abandoned the Trolloc's hand.

Ravak ducked low whilst spinning around for a second assault. His blades met the creature's right ankle, both cutting through to the bone. A recollection of a different fight flickered in his mind as he kicked out with one leg. Bone shattered under the Gaidin's strike and the Trolloc toppled to the ground.

Only moments had passed, but the rest of the farmhouse's defenders had recovered from the ambush. A massive boar spear was thrust through the spot where Rav had been a mere instant before. He charged forward before the lion-faced Trolloc had the opportunity to bring its weapon in for defense. Both weapons sunk into the beast's chest, although only the sword-breaker found a gap between ribs. He partially withdrew the weapon, only to thrust it back in again at a different angle, and then at a third. The warm bulk of Shadow-tainted meat crumpled backwards as it released hold of its weapon and attempted to plug its wound. Had it been human, and had the ko'di not vanquished all extraneous thought away, then Rav may have felt sorrow. The Shienaran would end a person's suffering out of mercy, but the spawn of the Dark One did not deserve mercy.

Two Trollocs approached from opposite directions. Flicking blood from his swords, Ravak adopted the Swallow Glides to the Branch. He protected each side with a weapon, ready to guard against any sort of attack.

The monster to his left moved first, stabbing towards the Gaidin's chest with an oversized longsword. Rav stepped backwards, then moved in after the retreating attack. He flowed with practiced ease into the Cat on Hot Sand. Spinning like a top, the tip of his blades made incisions against his sword-wielding opponent whilst threatening the gap between his other assailant. When he finished his third rotation, Rav's longsword rose in a smooth arc from chest height up to the Trolloc's head. A gash as long as the Gaidin's hand opened up along the Shadowspawn's neck, but Rav had no time to confirm the lethality of the strike.

Behind him the second Trolloc advanced. Ravak raised both of his blades up above his head in the form called the Hawk Surveys the Plain. He felt very little like a hawk, looking up towards a snake's head awkwardly juxtaposed on a bear-like body. Like one of his prior opponents, the snake-headed Trolloc punched at the two swords, knocking them groundwards. Rav held onto his grip, but had to hastily dance backwards as massive claws attempted to maul him.

The snake-headed Trolloc used its overwhelming girth to bully the Gaidin about the farmyard. Parting the Silk followed Lightning of Three Prongs, but none of the jabs or slashes struck true. Ravak rolled away to the side after one aggressive thrust of both claws, leaving a swathe of orange dust across half of his body. The sword-breaker vanished into its scabbard whilst Ravak rubbed away the dust from his eye.

Snake-head approached. Even though his blurred vision, the massive form was unmissable. An emotion rippled against the walls of the ko'di as Ravak stepped backwards to maintain his distance. His heartbeat quickened as he scoured at his face. At first he thought the emotion was fear, but then a memory struck him. Rav's grip on his longsword shifted until he held the blade underneath the bottom of his fist.

He lacked the reach to strike out safely. Miahala's aid, if available, could come too late. The dark figure approached so the Gaidin drew his arm up. It was a rare form, seldom used, but the Shienaran had used it twice before. The first time he had taken out a training dummy in the Training Yards. The second time had left Julian with a hole between his office and his private study in the Warder Yards. Pressing his other palm into the bottom of the pommel, Rav stepped forward as he launched his sword as a projectile.

The weapon stood out from the creature's chest, but it wasn't dead. It hissed, thin tongue darting between its oversized fangs. Ravak ran towards it with a formless cry of anger. The ko'di had dissipated, leaving anger and hurt in its wake.

Two claws started to come together as he drew his sword-breaker in Unfolding the Fan. The blade struck into one of the beast's forearms, but Rav didn't follow up the attack. Releasing the sword-breaker, Rav took hold of his impaled longsword and drew it out. Snake-head hissed as its wound was opened. Half scrambling and half rolling away, Ravak gave the Trolloc some distance as he watched for the creature to expire. When it collapsed onto the ground, a faint smile dashed across the Gaidin's face. It was gone in the next instant as he remembered his charge. Only pausing to retrieve his father's sword-breaker, Ravak dashed around to the other side of the building, and hopefully to a living Miahala.

[Bella]

"What can you do with the wind?"

Mia turned her head slightly to meet his gaze and a faint smile curved her mouth. The smile itself did not touch her eyes, but even without that, it was clearly not a thing of mirth. She was readying herself for a fight, and that whisper of bloodlust was settling into her. It permeated her eyes, her expression, her stance.

"I can do anything you bloody well want," she said easily. It was not hubris, either. She was a strong channeler, and had the decades and experience behind her to use that raw power to many different ends...

...although his plan was actually something she had not attempted in the past. Still, she felt confident she could do it, and there was a part of her (quiet before the battle-hardened woman at the forefront) that noted his trust in her. Even if Gaidin were trained as they were, trust was still a delicate game. This was their first time in battle together, but there was...something here.

She couldn't think about that now.

The Green took a deep breath and pulled Saidar deep within her very essence. It washed through her like a river and she felt the power dancing at her fingertips. All else was forgot but Ravak and what they needed to do here. She formed their plan in her mind and gave him a single nod when she was ready.

Pulling strands of Air, both thick and thin, she spun them up from the Blight benighted earth like a true weaver crafting something to wear, which wasn't far from the case as she placed it around Ravak as he moved. She barely blinked. She barely moved. She would not misstep the delicate dance as she spun the Air up and down in an ever-moving pattern forward with his motion.

The orange dirt kicked up and spat out at the Trollocs with little threads of Air. Mia barely breathed with the focus required, but she saw her Gaidin to the goal.

Within an instant's change, she dropped the Air around the Shienaran swordsman and drew it with Fire. Lightning struck and the concussive force sent the Trollocs further into frenzy, and there the Gaidin was in the midst of those who'd shifted east in their uncertainty. As he battled them, she knew she had her own task before her.

There was a force to the near-west of the house that needed seeing to.

"Let's dance," she whispered and then moved away from her place still upon the hill. Not that she needed to, but she did not like being too far separated from Ravak. She could still see him--or his works, at least. The group she honed in on seemed like they might want to join that fray, but she made sure it was not to be.

A wall of Air leaped into place, and the dumb beasts ran into it and fell back. As they did, Mia pulled a cord of Earth and the ground trembled with the slight fissure that formed at the place of her efforts. Several bounced off her wall and fell back into the trench that had just formed, though the brighter ones used their comrades to climb back out.

The wall was pulled across them, bowling the lot of them over.

Well, she had their attention now.

Those who could now began walking toward her. Some walked, some ran. She smiled as her cords of Air wrapped around the one in front and she lifted him into the Air, he hand rising as if she lifted it with just her fist. The ones behind him stumbled at the move, looking up just in time to see the lightning fall from the sky and electrocute the hawk-headed beast.

From his burning internal fluids, the Air and Fire leaped to the ground and found each of his nearest fellows so the chorus of their screams could rise to the sky.

She let the charred, still smoldering body fall onto the others as some beasts were still dumb enough to charge her while others ran. That was no good. She caught the ones nearest her in Air while tripping the others with Earth, then the Air-Rows that disemboweled the front ranks left them in pieces to catch those that had tried to flee her rage...

[Craig]

Ravak

The other side of the building had more dead Trollocs. Fortunately there were no human bodies in their midst. As Ravak's gaze followed the line of Trollocs up the valley, he finally caught sight of Miahala. Even without the destroyed Shadowspawn around her, she looked dangerous. As inappropriate as it was, Rav felt a buzz of excitement rush through him.

As he crossed the battlefield, Rav's longsword ensured that each of the Trollocs was dead and not just acting. The smell of the Trollocs faded as the Captain-General's scent started to overpower it. He gave a slight grin. Note to self: don't ever get Miahala in a bad mood.

The Gaidin moved in step with the Green as they both approached the building. "Unless there's a ward against sound, they'll be ready."

"Leave that to me," the Aes Sedai declared.

When they got within twenty feet of the front side of the building, the door exploded. Wooden splinters and panels flew off in every direction. Those fragments that came their way hit an invisible barrier, leaving a pathway of shredded bark to follow inside. Ravak naturally took the lead.

The brawny Shienaran only got just beyond the entrance before pulling to an abrupt halt. It can't be-- That thought ended as he expanded his focus to spot the five people inside. Four already had weapons drawn, whilst the fifth stood by the back wall. Somehow Rav knew this was a Dreadlord, but that was Miahala's battle.

Enveloping himself in the serenity of the ko'di, Ravak moved deeper into the house of his dreams, blades flashing red and silver as he began his deadly dance anew.

[Bella]

The weaves were already flying at them as they stepped through the door, but with a sweep of her hand, razor thing filaments of Spirit sliced through them before they could touch either her or Ravak. Her blood was up and fire was raging in her mind. There were four others in the room but she just knew they weren't channelers.

She had to leave them to her Gaidin, for the moment.

Her very next move was a block of Air that sent her fellow Saidar user flying into the back wall and a shield of Spirit to wrap around her, cutting her off from the One Power. The woman was no weakling, however, and she snarled outwardly while inwardly she battered at the barrier between her and the source of her power.

"Is it worth it to ask you questions, you black witch, or should I just end you now?" Mia asked, holding both weaves against the woman as she drew nearer. She could hear the sound of Ravak's battle, but she didn't join him just yet.

"My lord and master will sweep down upon you all and draw you under a tide of blood," the woman hissed.

The Green almost rolled her eyes. She was so of hearing the Black Ajah prattle. There would be no use to question the woman, at least not worth taking the risk to transport her back to the Tower, and how could one trust anything she said in the meantime?

Just as Miahala was about to take care of matters, the witch broke through the shield. Instantly, Air and Fire curled into a ball between them, ready to light the Green aflame-- Then she suddenly screamed and clutched her head, losing the weave. Mia glanced over her shoulder and saw that one of the swordsman was dead.

They're bonded, the thought struck Mia.

Another cut down. Another shriek before the woman could even launch a weave. For the most brief of moments, Mia almost felt bad for her. She knew what losing a bond was like...but that moment passed almost as instantly as it started. In a flicker of necessity that was near mercy, a razorwire of Air sliced through the woman's neck.

Her headless body toppled to the ground and splattered yet more blood on Mia's dress. The men who had once been her warders cried out, and she knew they would be easy target for the Gaidin Captain now.

[Craig]

Ravak

The shaggy-haired Shienaran noticed none of what happened between the two channellers. The two battles, whilst in the same physical space, could not co-exist in his mind. There was a point when quantity could out-do quality, and Ravak did not favour the four-to-one odds he was stacked against.

Lizard in the Thornbush became The Cat on Hot Sand. The Cyclone on the Plain transitioned into Twisting the Wind. His four attackers reacted poorly, or at least poorly by his standards, so he risked the Whirlwind on the Mountain. His two swords made a circular wall of death into which one of the men fell. His longsword became lodged into the swordsman's neck.

Everything changed. The three remaining swordsmen all... stumbled was the best word for it. Ravak didn't question it. His longsword found itself another exposed neck, cutting bone-deep.

Two versus one. The odds were far more favourable. Ravak crossed between the two women by necessity, twin blades set in Kingfishers Watch the Sky. He approached, ready to strike at both opponents simultaneously, or prepared to defend against each attacker.

Everything changed again. The men cried out as one, as if they have both been... stabbed? Rav cast a confused glance over his shoulder towards the Dreadlord and understood. Raising both swords, he plunged them into each of the two Warders. The ko'di faded away as a cold sweat crawled over Ravak's skin. He had no idea what those two men had felt in those final few seconds, but it scared him. No-one deserves that. He drew out both of his blades, letting the two bodies slump to the ground. They were mercy killings, pure and simple.

"Light," Rav exclaimed as he shook off the feeling of dread. The Creator shelter him from having to suffer through that. Thank the Light he wasn't bonded any more, so that was never a possibility.

Turning back towards the rest of the room, the Gaidin eyes fell onto Miahala. He couldn't muster even a smile, and he suspected he looks as pale as a Fade. "Is that it?" he asked, looking for reassurance.