Shift 2: Saboteurs and Synergists

[Ashfalcon]

Dar sighed. "I'm going to try to help you. Camissa, can you help...?"

The Accepted -- Andoran, he remembered now, a palace maid before the Aes Sedai noticed her and scooped her up -- nodded sharply. "I might be able to..." She fell silent for a long moment, then sighed. "Much better. I didn't dare try it, in case the driver could channel. But... I think I can pick apart the weaves on the women. Can you release the men?"

Darthalien shoved the corpse over the side of the cart, and used a weave of Earth to bury it. "You've broken the Shield?" he asked. "You can Channel again?"

Camissa nooded. "As much as I'm able," she told him.

He sighed in relief. "All right." He turned to the nearest Dedicated, studied him for a long moment, and then reached out with a Delving weave, trying to sense for the Shield that would hold his fellow student back from the One Power.

He found nothing.

He tried again, sensing and studying, and found the shield itself, but couldn't feel a way past it. He tried again, and then again. Finally, he shook his head. "I can't unweave it," he said said quietly. "Either I'm not going about it properly, or I just don't have the Talent."

Camissa came and knelt beside him. "Verith?" she asked. "It's a tied-off weave for a Shield. Can you focus on summoning Saidin? Push really, really hard?"

Verith drew a deep breath and seemed to sink into himself. After half a minute he gasped. "Nothing."

Carissa cursed with a vivid imagination that set Darth back a pace. "Keep trying." She turned to look at Darthalien. "Did you have a plan, or were you just rescuing people where you could?"

"Bit of both," he said. "I'm mainly trying to put a stick in the wheels and report anything that seems helpful -- surely the Tower will come after us. I could use some help."

Camissa nodded. "If the male Channelers can't channel, I have to watch over them. I'll start breaking shields on the ones that were woven from Saidar, and maybe some of them can help you."

Dar nodded, and turned to the Novice who had asked what he intended to do with them. "Free you," he said, "And take any help you're willing to give." He turned back to regard the larger group. "We're escaped prisoners here, which makes us mostly targets. We can use that to gather information, create ambushes, or simply do our best to rescue others and get them out of here." He paused, sighed, and shrugged. "It's a holding action. The Tower will come for us. Our job is to make that as easy as possible. If that just means keeping some prisoners out of reach of our captors, that's fine. If we can add information on what these infiltrators have done or plan to do, so much the better." He sighed again, profoundly. "I'm about to do something very stupid. I wouldn't mind having some company."

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

It did not take long for Liaran to realize that as she walked towards her Warder, Haeden was also approaching her. She even managed a smile when she saw him at the other end of one of the Grey Tower’s many hallways, but the expression had long since faded by the time the two of them reached each other. Though the hall was mostly empty, the Aes Sedai moved to the side to allow other people to pass by.

She listened quietly to what Haeden had to say and nodded, not at all surprised that he was able to guess why she was looking for him. “I had a single novice this morning for my first class, and she never showed up,” Liaran told him. “While I was looking for her, I met Otarin Asha’man searching for two of his students, and he found a very concerning note left in one of the Dedicated’s rooms.”

Looking up at her husband, Liaran took a deep breath before explaining, “Haeden….we believe some of the students were taken to Tar Valon, though I couldn’t tell you what a False Dragon would want with them. From what I learned earlier and what you just told me, at least five people are missing, and the Dedicated who left the note escaped being caught, but chose to follow behind them instead of getting help.”

“So not only do we have some of the learning ranks missing, but we need to locate this Dedicated before the False Dragon’s people find him. Otarin Asha’man is informing those who need to know, and will be getting a group together to go after the students, but I told him I was planning to leave for Tar Valon as soon as I found you.”

Meeting her husband’s eyes, the Blue sister added, “That is, of course, if you agree to go.” He was her Warder, and Liaran knew that he would want to be with her, but did not consider it acceptable to tell Haeden what he had to do, either as a Warder or as her husband. If he came with her it would be by his own choice, and if he did raise any kind of objection, Liaran would listen and give his words serious consideration.

[Bella]

Haeden was both amused and appreciative of her consideration, even if they both knew that he would follow her wherever she went, whether he liked the choice of where they were going on. If he did have a legitimate concern, he would still voice it, of course, but if Liaran was going somewhere and either wanted his presence and/or there might be danger...

Well, she would have Haeden there.

"Time is of the essence, then," he agreed simply, just inclining his head toward her. "I can be ready to go almost immediately." After all, he already had his sword. Clothes, boots. If they were riding somewhere, there'd be time to get their horses. Otherwise, he could live off the land if it came down to it. Or they could add a few minutes for more supplies, if they expected this to take days.

Either way, he could be ready very quickly.

While they did not have children of their own, both Haeden and Liaran shared a strong responsibility to their students and the young ones of the Grey Tower. As a child of the Tower, Haeden's loyalty went even deeper, even if he did not know the children personally. Even if he wasn't their teacher. His mother's blood ran hot on this for him: Protect the children.

"Tell me what you believe we'll need and I'll have it ready immediately, then we can be on our way." He would follow her lead on whether time or supplies were the first priority, as this was a matter of channelers.

[Alianora]

Ekaitza, Novice

For a moment, Ekaitza stared at the man as if she hadn’t understood a single word. Then the novice caught herself and looked away, still struggling to make sense of what he’d said. Perhaps the man wasn’t a danger to them, but Ekaitza still found him rather frightening. The Tuatha’an novice retreated from the larger group, standing by a tree, every instinct she’d ever had demanding that she flee, now, as far and as fast as she could. She even considered it, glancing around at all of her surroundings, before reluctantly deciding that running away was probably the worst of what choices were available to her. She didn’t know this place, had no idea how to return to the Grey Tower, and while she did know how to travel, she had never once had to take to the road alone without even the shelter of a wagon.

Looking down, Ekaitza considered what else to do. All her life, she had been taught that the only response to danger was to run. What else was there? She could not touch a weapon, and would not know what to do with one even if she did. Just thinking of doing so was enough to make her shudder. That earned her an odd look from the Accepted who had come to free her hands, and remove the shield she’d barely realized was there. She quietly thanked the woman before returning to her silent contemplation.

Do I really want to wait here until someone from the Grey Tower comes for us? That was probably the best chance she would have to stay safe, yet Ekaitza wasn’t sure waiting was a good idea. How will I know who to trust? After her encounter with Jalinda Sedai, who she’d thought she liked, Ekaitza couldn’t help but think that anyone she knew might turn on her in the same way.

She sighed in frustration, feeling trapped, then lifted her head and looked out towards the road they’d taken to get here. How many others like us are still held there? The question wasn’t one Ekaitza could answer with any accuracy, but she remembered at least two groups being taken away from the building before she had been. Where they had been going, where their group had been meant to go, she did not know and could not even guess. Ekaitza did not want to think for long of what might happen to the people who were still captive.

Anger at whoever had brought them here rose up within the Tuatha’an woman, an emotion that was more familiar to her than she wished it were. At home, or even back in the Grey Tower, she could have ignored it. She’d known how since she was a small girl. Here, wherever this was, she was finding it more difficult. Why should she not be angry at being brought here by those she should have been able to trust? Her parents would have scolded her for even thinking such a thought, but her parents were not here, and she was.

Ekaitza took a deep breath, not willing to let her anger control her. Surely it could not be so wrong just to feel it. With her next breath, she felt the emotion begin to fade, but what remained encouraged her to act, rather than wait here, hoping that whatever rescue came was indeed rescue and not a return to captivity.

Returning to the group, the novice spoke up, if rather quietly. “I’ll help if I can, but I won’t hurt anyone. It isn’t the Way.” The rest of them might find that funny, certainly some of the other girls liked to mock her, but after three years Ekaitza was as used to that as she would ever be. “I could try to find out why we were brought here,” she suggested, “if I can just get back into the city.”

[Alianora]

Liaran Sedai

Liaran looked up at her husband and shrugged. “I don’t think we’ll need much,” she said. “We should probably take the horses, maybe some water. I hope we won’t be there for more than a day or two at most…but I can’t be sure. I don’t know much more about what’s happening than we learned this morning, plus what I just told you, and the only way to find out more is to go there.” She did not like not having much information on what they would be facing, and she doubted Haeden liked it any better than she did. The Aes Sedai sighed, annoyed that she knew so little of the situation, then addressed Haeden again. “Should we meet at the stables when you’re ready?”

A very short time later, she stood at the stables with Seawind’s reins in her hand. Once Haeden joined her, Liaran led them to the Traveling grounds. Instead of opening the gateway immediately, the Aes Sedai first wove the complicated construction of Spirit that would mask her ability to channel, then inverted the weave before settling it on herself. Still holding the One Power, she met her husband’s eyes. “Once we get there, I am going to try not to channel unless there is no other choice,” she warned him. Without channeling, she would be nearly helpless, which she hated, but drawing the attention of any other woman who could channel would be an unnecessary risk she wasn’t going to take.

She allowed herself a few seconds of rest before forming the equally difficult weave for Traveling. The slash of light that split the air before them opened on a small wooded area on the outer edge of the island that was Tar Valon. It was as close to the city itself as Liaran could get, which she hoped would allow them time to determine how to enter Tar Valon without being seen.

[Ashfalcon]

Darthalien nodded, then glanced down at the burial nearly at his feet. "As you wish," he said. "I'm not over-fond of murder myself, despite... this. If we can free others, and discover why you were brought here, will you accompany me? I will do my best to keep the two of you out of the trolloc's dinner-pots, so to speak."

He wouldn't swear not to do any further killing; the situation was still dangerous. But he could do his best to keep them concealed, and even a pair of novices could be of help -- to do what they could, and to keep him from doing anything foolish.

Camissa glared at him. "You're taking Novices with you?"

Darthalien considered, then shrugged. "Only if they're willing to go. Whatever we do, we'll need to be as careful as possible, and a Novice can be as cautious as the most experienced Warder. I'm not planning to lead them into battle. This is subterfuge, sabotage, and -- but -- most important, gathering information."

Camissa locked eyes with him for a long moment. Finally she said, "All right. Keep them safe."

Darthalien considered that. "I swear by the Light and my hope of salvation and rebirth, I will do my best to keep us all safe." He turned back to the two women. "Let's go see what we can find."