The Gathering Storm - By Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson Page 0,178

meant a Darkfriend in their camp. It wasn’t unlikely—if Darkfriends existed in the White Tower, then they could undoubtedly be found here. But what Darkfriend could incapacitate three Aes Sedai? Surely channeling on that level should have been felt by every sister or Asha’man in the camp.

“Was the tea involved?” Cadsuane asked Merise quietly.

“Not that we can tell,” the Green replied. “We’ll know more when the other two wake. They fell unconscious as soon as we brought them out of their trance.”

Cadsuane nodded. Al’Thor’s door was open, and Maidens swarmed outside it like wasps who had just discovered their nest was gone. Cadsuane couldn’t say that she blamed them. Apparently, al’Thor had said little of what had happened. The fool boy was lucky to still be alive! What a Light-cursed mess, Cadsuane thought, passing the Maidens and entering the chamber.

A small knot of Aes Sedai clustered on the far side of the room, speaking quietly. Sarene, Erian, Beldeine—all of those in the camp who weren’t either dead or incapacitated. Except Elza. Where was Elza?

The three nodded to Cadsuane as she entered, but she spared them barely a glance. Min sat on the bed, rubbing her neck, eyes red, short hair disheveled, face pale. Al’Thor stood beside the open far window, looking out at the night, his hand clasping his stump behind him. His coat lay rumpled on the floor, and he stood in white shirtsleeves, a cool wind blowing in and ruffling his red-gold hair. Nynaeve watched him, frowning.

Cadsuane surveyed the room; behind her, in the hall, the Wise Ones began to interrogate the Maidens. “Well?” Cadsuane said. “What happened?”

Min looked up. There were red marks on her neck, the beginnings of bruises. Rand did not turn from the window. Insolent boy, Cadsuane thought, coming farther into the room. “Speak up, boy!” she said. “We need to know if the camp is in danger.”

“The danger has been dealt with,” he said softly. Something in his voice made her hesitate. She had been expecting anger, or perhaps satisfaction, from him. Fatigue at the very least. Instead, his voice sounded cool.

“Will you explain what that means?” Cadsuane demanded.

Finally, he turned, looking at her. She took an involuntary step backward, though she couldn’t say why. He was still the same foolish boy. Too tall, too self-confident, and too blunt-headed. There was a strange serenity about him now, but it had a dark edge. Like the serenity one saw in the eyes of a condemned man the moment before he stepped up to the hangman’s noose.

“Narishma,” Rand said, looking past Cadsuane. “I have a weave for you. Memorize it; I will show it to you only once.” With that, al’Thor put his hand out to the side and a bar of brilliant white fire shot from between his fingers and struck his coat, which lay on the floor. It vanished in a burst of light.

Cadsuane hissed. “I told you never to use that weave, boy! You will never do so again. Do you hear me! This is not—”

“That is the weave we must use when fighting Forsaken, Narishma,” al’Thor said, his quiet voice cutting straight through Cadsuane’s. “If we kill them with anything else, they can be reborn. It is a dangerous tool, but still just a tool. Like any other.”

“It is forbidden,” Cadsuane said.

“I have decided that it is not,” al’Thor said calmly.

“You don’t have any idea what that weave can do! You’re a child playing with—”

“I have seen balefire destroy cities,” al’Thor said, eyes growing haunted. “I have seen thousands burned from the Pattern by its purifying flames. If you call me a child, Cadsuane, then what are those of you who are thousands of years my juniors?”

He met her gaze. Light! What had happened to him? She struggled to collect her thoughts. “So Semirhage is dead?”

“Worse than dead,” al’Thor said. “And far better off, in many ways, I should think.”

“Well, then. I suppose we can get on with—”

“Do you recognize that, Cadsuane?” al’Thor said, nodding toward something metallic sitting on the bed, mostly hidden by the sheets.

Hesitantly she walked forward. Sorilea looked over, expression unreadable. Apparently, she didn’t wish to be drawn into the conversation when al’Thor was in such a mood. Cadsuane didn’t blame her.

Cadsuane pulled back the sheets, revealing a familiar pair of bracelets. There was no collar.

“Impossible,” she whispered.

“That is what I assumed,” al’Thor said in that terribly calm voice of his. “I told myself that it obviously couldn’t be one of the same ter’angreal I relinquished to